chapter twenty five!

In the last chapter of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo commits suicide: an act that is a grave sin in the Ibo culture. Obierika praises Okonkwo's greatness and blames the district commissioner for driving him to commit this crime. The fellow countrymen ask the district commissioner to help remove Okonkwo's body as once the body is subject to suicide, it can only be touched and buried by strangers. The commissioner refuses to touch the body, as he considers himself above these duties, but tells his men to assist the countrymen. As the commissioner is leaving, he reflects upon his time here in Africa and especially his struggle of power against Okonkwo. The commissioner reveals that he is planning to write a book, in which he will talk about his time in Africa, "toiling" to bring civilization to the numerous tribes. He prides himself on learning about the different African customs, however, its apparent there is no true appreciation for their traditions and ways of life: he calls their language"an infuriating habit of...superfluous words." When reflecting on his interactions with Okonkwo, he sees Okonkwo's story as one that would make "interesting reading," but only for a paragraph or, at best, a chapter. Achebe, on the other hand, has managed to write a whole novel on Okonkwo's struggle within Umofia.

What drove Okonkwo to commit suicide in the first place? What is Achebe trying to say by revealing the commissioner's stereotypical view on Okonkwo and African tribes as a whole?

chapter nine!

Ekwefi's dedication to Ezinma exemplifies the level of importance a child plays in a woman's life in Umofian society. Before Ezinma was born, Ekwefi's life was consumed with the desire to have a healthy child, however, nine out of the ten times she lost her child in infancy. Ekwefi says that children are a "woman's crowning glory," as a woman's status in Igbo society is related to how many children she bears and how many of them are male. If Igbo society rates their woman on how many children they have, why does Achebe make Ekwefi's role in this story bigger than any of the other wives? Nwoye's mother has three sons, yet is barely mentioned in the story, and is never mentioned by her real name, rather her title. Also, why does Okonkwo favor Ekwefi more than his other two wives? We have heard of him beating the other two wives and their children, but have never witnessed any harm done to either Ekwefi and Ezinma. He holds Ekwife in a different place than his other two wives, as he knows that out "of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door." Why is that?

one day in the life of dean

HONK! HONK! HONK!

Dean glanced at his clock. Late again?! Struggling to pull on his sneakers and grab his breakfast bar, Dean bolted out of his apartment and straight into the car apologizing to the impatient Salisha.

“You are late like everyday!” Salisha retorted as they sped off. Their car was pumping the newest Nelly track on their way to yet another dance practice.

“Home sweet home!” Dean sarcastically said as they unloaded their gear from the car. The ten-minute car ride had been the usual: Salisha going off about her newest boy trouble – this time with a new guy from a rival dance team. Drama! But now, it was time to focus: Mark was freaking out about the performance coming up, and he did not look happy.

The usual warm up was ready for the dancers the minute they walked into the gym: trampolines were out, weights were ready, and yoga mats were all lined up. Predictably, the other guys went straight to the weights in hopes of showing off to the “ladies,” while Dean made his way to the yoga mats. A little stretching before dancing never hurt a guy’s reputation, and plus it helped with the tricks. After about forty-five minutes of warm up, a routine check-up was called. All twelve members of the dance team were to perform their newest routine perfectly until Mark was going to give them a water break. Great!

After four tries, (it always takes Keisha a little longer than everyone else) water break was called. As usual, break seemed to go by in thirty seconds and practice began yet again. Time for tricks: Dean’s favorite part. Although he was the youngest in the crew, he liked to think of himself as the expert at tricks. Apparently that was the only reason he got asked to join in the first place.

They began with some simple flips and slowly, but surely, graduated to the higher tricks. Dean flawlessly preformed each one with grace and ease as if there were nothing to it, Mark, as always, watched in awe as he marveled the newest member of the crew. A couple more hours of practice went by quickly and it was suddenly time for lunch.

Dean quickly grabbed his bag and ran to the bus stop. Glancing at his watch, he started sprinting, and got to the bus right as it was about to leave. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dean got on and mechanically walked to his normal seat, his stop was the third one away, so he need not go too far. As the bus pulled up to the huge, gray, concrete building, Dean felt queasy as always. One would think that after five months of coming to the jail everyday, you would get used to it, but Dean never did.

He flashed his visitor’s badge to the guard and headed straight to the visitor’s room to talk to his dad. Thankfully, the two of them passed the awkward “it’s weird to talk to each other when we are sitting in a jail” stage, so they got right to chatting about Dean’s latest problems and the dance crew. The 85 minutes seem to pass to quickly as Dean had to say goodbye to his dad, and wait for tomorrow to see him again. The bus brought him back to dance practice, and as always the last couple hours went by in a blur as they were learning a new routine.

The car ride back to his apartment was quiet with both Salisha and Dean tired from yet another rough practice. Dean slowly walked up to his apartment, took a shower, ate his dinner, and collapsed on his bed.

When his dad went to jail, he had two options: live with his aunt and uncle in Iowa, or get his own apartment and join Mike’s dance crew. As he sat there on his bed, Dean told himself he made the right decision. Everyday there was a constant battle inside his head questioning if he had taken the right road to independence, but when the day ended, it became apparent: this is where he belonged. (691)

if only i were a princes..

I WISH I WERE A PRINCESS.

They have the perfect lives, don't they? Their dresses are always gorgeous and one-of-a-kind, their hair is always the perfect style, they never have to do housework, and they always get the prince at the end. From their side of the castle, life is easy, peasy, lemon squeezie. Or is it? They also have to deal with the evil uncle/stepmother, the poisoning, the constant battle for their seat in the kingdom, and the over-protective father. So, which side wins? Is their life considered the perfect fairy-tale that we all dream of having, or is it as brutal and harsh as our everyday reality?

Maybe that’s the problem though, everyone wants that “perfect life.” The life where you have the perfect family, the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend, the perfect clothes, the perfect hair, the perfect EVERYTHING. But what if it’s not so perfect? Everyone has something about his or her life that is annoying to no end. Like the princesses: I will be the first to admit that they seem to have the world’s most perfect lives. Have you seen Jasmine? She has an amazing house/castle, a pet tiger (who doesn’t bite her and is adorable to no end), the cutest little sultan father, and Aladdin as an admirer (who is probably one of the cuter Disney suitors out of the lot). Who wouldn’t want to be her? When I was little, all I dreamed of being was Jasmine: having that gorgeous outfit, with the beautiful room, and the handsome prince. But was it really that perfect? After watching the movie when I was older (as in a couple months ago), I realized something different. The princess’s life really wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought it to be. I mean Jasmine had to deal with Jafar: the sultan’s creepy older brother who was trying to marry her! Talk about the creepy incest. She also had the castle guards constantly following her and making sure she wasn’t talking to anyone that wasn’t “fit” for her. So she was never free to be independent and do what she pleased. So when did we decide that the pros outweighed the cons and Jasmine’s life was the perfect life?

Maybe that’s why our “suits” are all so “fwame wesistant.” If we could wish to have the perfect lives, one day they would turn out to be not so perfect. If I could get rid of certain suits in my life, I certainly wouldn’t be the person I am today: I would make myself have the perfect life, the “princess life.” But there is a reason you can’t custom build your life. What seems right and perfect to you today, may trigger the complete, opposite emotion tomorrow. If Spiderman just “buined” his Spiderman suit and became a “wace car dwiver” wouldn’t he eventually write a poem about how boring it is to be a wace car dwiver having to drive around the same twack over and over and over again?

So we are who we are, we wear the suits that we wear, and we complain about it everyday. But I guess that’s the point of life. If we had a closet full of suits to choose from, we would find something wrong with each and every one of them, even the princess ones. Maybe that’s a good thing, at least the suits we are wearing right now match our tiaras. (569)

haemon vs. creon....students vs. administration?

In Antigone, a rift appears between father and son when the issue of Antigone’s fate is a question. Principle guides Haemon in an argument against his father, Creon, to try and convince him that Antigone deserves to live. He uses logic and reason to convince Creon that despite the fact that Antigone broke the law, she deserves a chance to live as she was only following her beliefs and morals. Creon on the other hand is arguing based solely on his emotions and his stubborn belief that he is right in punishing Antigone because according to him the king is always right and “that’s the law!” (39). However, Haemon tactfully points out Creon’s faults and his “empty, mindless judgments” (39). Although Creon does not change his mind about Antigone’s punishment, Haemon does successfully prove that Creon’s punishment is wrong and unjust.
Similarly, another area where the smaller power has overruled the larger power is right here in our own Phoenix Country Day School. Last year, it was mandatory for all students to say on campus, regardless of what grade they were in, during block 6 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For most seniors this became a punishment as it restricted the amount of time they were allowed to go off campus for lunch. As most students know, you wait four years for the opportunity to go off-campus as a senior and get lunch from a variety of delicious restaurants. However, last year this was unachievable by many seniors. As we are known to speak out against the rules we see unfit, the student body complained to faculty and administration about how this rule was unfair and was not helping anyone. Later in the year, a group of senators that represented the student body met with the administration and they decided that block six office hours would no longer be mandatory to stay on campus. The administration agreed with our logical examples and decided to change the rules and allow seniors to go off campus during those blocks.
This argument, while not the same, parallels the disagreement between Creon and Haemon. While the elder powers had a point (both Creon and the school’s administration), ultimately the logical reasons exemplified by the younger powers (both Haemon and the student body) proved to be right. On one hand, Creon did not learn from his mistakes and it ultimately resulted in a tragic ending, however, the PCDS administration learnt and changed the rules for this 2009-2010 school year (of which the senior class is very grateful)

i love books

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

I really liked these books because I loved how Meyer managed to create a world where everything was perfectly normal except for this one special family of vampires. I loved how she brought a totally different third person into their lives in order for the readers to understand the family's depth.

The Deception Point by Dan Brown

This book really made an impact on me because the thriller aspect of it was so intense, that while reading it I felt like I was watching a movie. The language Dan Brown used was very detailed that it really painted a picture in front of you.

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue by Lilian Jackson Braun

To be honest, I first picked up this book because of the interesting title. However, when I started reading it I came to enjoy the murder mystery where you never learnt who the real murderer was.

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

As it was written by the same author, this book made the same impact on me as the Deception Point. Also, I liked how Brown managed to tell the story using different people at different times like Hemingway did in The Sun Also Rises

Watership Down by Richard Adams

I really liked this novel because I thought it was interesting how Adams managed to display the rabbits as creatures that had this epic adventure.

Almost Single by Advaita Kala

This girly book made an impression on me because I found it really funny, yet surprisingly true for many older,

single, Indian women that I know.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The biggest impression that this book made on me was that it has probably been the saddest book I ever read. I

originally read it because I wanted to see the movie, and I loved them both.

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater

This was my favorite book as a child and has always stayed as one of my favorites because I love how Mr. Popper comes up with the idea to bring home penguins and then turn his basement into an ice room, and on top of that turn them into an entertainment show.

The BFG by Rohd Dahl

Another childhood favorite, this book always entertained me because I love Dahl's quirky writing styles and interesting novel ideas.

murder, friendship, seperation...

The aspect of The Lovely Bones that impacted me the most was a quote about relationships from Susie Salmon towards the end of the novel:

“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections-sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been all my life.”

When Susie first entered her personalized heaven, she could not imagine how her world would look without her there; however, at this point in the novel it is apparent that she now realizes her loss in the community would have lasting effects that would help them all. As she says, the connections were essentially the “lovely bones” that had grown with her absence, and would ultimately become a whole sometime in the future. Many connections stemmed from Susie’s death including relationships that were both beneficial and hurtful. For example, the relationship between Abigail Salmon, her mother, and Len Fenerman, the detective, quickly turned into an affair that was primarily fueled by Abigail’s frustration that her growing family hindered her youthful dreams. This affair came to be one of the factors for the breaking of Jack and Abigail’s marriage. However, the real reason is the difficulty both parents had with coping with their loss. Jack’s obsession with finding Mr. Harvey ultimately caused Abigail to turn to Len for advice and a solid foundation.

On the other hand, Susie’s death provided a foundation for more positive relationships as well. Lindsey Salmon, Susie’s younger sister, and Samuel, her boyfriend, only grew closer with the news of Susie’s murder. As the novel goes on it becomes clearer that, for Lindsey, Samuel is the only consistent person in her life whom she knows will always be there. As her parents’ marriage is falling apart, Lindsey depends on Samuel more and more. Their relationship grows stronger, and while Susie watches her sister grow into a woman, a newborn daughter, Abigail Suzanne, graces the couple. Another positive relationship that stemmed from Susie’s murder was the beginning of a close friendship between Ruth Connors and Ray Singh. Ruth Connors went to school with Susie, however never really knew her until Susie’s spirit touches her on its way to heaven. Ray Singh was Susie’s first crush and first, and only, boy to kiss her. As Ruth becomes more fascinated with Susie, she finds herself getting closer to Ray who is lost without Susie there. Although they are totally different people, the obsession with Susie’s murder draws the two into a tight friendship.

I found it truly fascinating that Alice Sebold was able to take an event as gruesome as rape and murder, and turn it into convoluted ties of friendship and love. It really taught me that no matter how horrible the situation is, in the end the “lovely bones” will piece together to create a wonderful whole that will benefit all who are involved. (539)