Two Sets of Natives

Though Douglas Kerr’s article focuses more on comparing the main characters of Waiting for the Barbarians and The Heart of Darkness, I believe the more intriguing comparison is between the natives of the two stories. Both Conrad and Coetzee’s natives are feared, demeaned, and despised. However, they do in fact serve as the unifying link between the two novels’ protagonists, Marlow and the Magistrate. Both of these characters are set apart from the rest of the non-natives in their respective stories because they view the natives as, if not equals, at least not enemies whose only purpose in their lives is to evoke fear. In fact, both sets of natives serve far larger purposes even than the protagonists, as they simultaneously emphasize society’s racism and fear of the unknown.
In such a role, both the natives of Africa of The Heart of Darkness and the nomads and fisher-people of Waiting for the Barbarians portray a number of similar traits. For example, they are both far more primitive than the invaders who now control their land, leading society as a whole to look down on them. However, both sets of natives have cultures of their own which have been crushed by the people who conquered them. Additionally, both sets of natives have been seriously misunderstood (whether deliberately or not), which led to violence in both cases. The fisher-people, barbarians, and cannibals all have ways of life that are vastly different from those of their urban conquerors, and they are persecuted because of this. Additionally, they are far more adaptable than their conquerors believe them to be. From the fisher-people’s bartering to the African cannibal’s serving as Marlowe’s helmsman, native people were able to bring themselves up to speed with modern customs, as long as they were given opportunities and training rather than simply tossed into army barracks as prisoners.
The major difference between the two novels’ natives, though, and what makes the contrast between them so severe is their resilience. While by the end of The Heart of Darkness, Africa is just as suffocated by the European presence as it was in the beginning, the barbarians are portrayed as the victors in Waiting for the Barbarians. Even if that belief has no credence, both the fisher-people, in rebuilding their huts just one day after the soldiers of the Empire tear them down, and the nomadic barbarians, who refuse to succumb to the vast armies, show that they are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve their ways. All in all, though the natives are treated similarly in these two novels, the manner in which they react is totally different, creating two very different outcomes. Though the Empire has not fallen any more than the Company has given up on Africa, I as a reader felt that Coetzee’s natives had a far better chance of preservation that Conrad’s simply because of the resiliency of their actions and their innate ability to persevere.

The Magistrate's Mixed Emotions

Due to the fact that he is the narrator of J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, it is easy enough for the magistrate to quickly become the center of attention of the story. Throughout the first three sections of the novel, I was especially intrigued by the actions that he takes when dealing with the Barbarians. It is clear from said actions that the magistrate is deeply conflicted on how he should regard the Barbarians. From cursing Colonel Joll for bringing the fishing people to telling the new officer that he hopes the Barbarians one day rise against the Empire to even taking one of the Barbarians into his bed, it seems as if he has decided that the Barbarians are in every way the equals of those people who live within the walls of the Empire. However, the vast amount of internal conflict present in the magistrate’s thought allows readers to see that there is more to his seemingly pro-Barbarian attitude than meets the eye. The way in which Coetzee depicts some of his interior dialogue allows us to see how even the magistrate himself realizes how radical it is for a high-ranking official located on the frontier to view the Barbarians as anything more than their name implies.
Through both the magistrate’s thoughts and actions, it becomes clear that the tension between the citizens of the Empire and the Barbarians is rapidly coming to a head. In the opening parts of the book, it is apparent that the gap between the inhabitants of the magistrate’s city and the Barbarians living just outside the border is larger than he initially cares to admit. Through his dealing with the prisoners and later the woman he takes a fancy to, we see that despite his desire to remain unprejudiced in his dealings with the Barbarians, he best sums up his current views on relations with them in the quote, “I [caught] myself in a moment of astonishment that I could have loved someone from so remote a kingdom. All I wanted now is to live out my life in ease in a familiar world, to die in my own bed and be followed to the grave by old friends.” (74), a saying which shows that though his ideals might be in the right place, reality dictates that he lives in a far different way than the utopian equality with the Barbarians that he desires suggests that he would. 409

Darwin and Hegel: Views from the Past

G.W.F. Hegel’s “The African Character”

• Focuses on the fundamental differences between Africans and Europeans as percieved in the Nineteenth century
• Claims that “negroes” lack religion, and thus humanity
• No conception of anything higher than themselves, which he views as a very negative attribute
• Hegel also discusses how African people during this time enslaved and sold each other (even their relatives) and uses this as evidence that they are morally on a lower plane than whites.
• Talks about traditions of African tribes, which he views as barbaric.
• Closes his argument by stating European slavery (and its gradual abolition) is a good thing for the Africans, so they can acknowledge a “higher being” and that immediately ending slavery would have been a regression.
• Finally, he claims Africa is historically irrelevant and that all the great societies of Africa were merely “not part of the African spirit.”

Darwin’s “On the Races of Man”

• Talks about the intrinsic similarities of man amongst the many outward differences.
• Gives a much more objective account that deals mostly with observed evidence of difference between the races of man.
• Claims that all men share a common ancestor, thus meaning that at most, different races should be considered “sub-species.”
• States that natural selection should be held accountable for the differences along the spectrum of humankind, not inferiority or superiority of certain ways of life.
• Sums up his argument with the quote “[t]he great variability of all the external differences between the races of man, likewise indicates that the cannot be of much importance.”

The End...or A New Beginning?!?!

In Section 4 of The Sound and The Fury, we are able to see the conclusion of the process that begins with Caddy’s loss of innocence, which we learn about way back in Section 1: the fall of the once-mighty Compson family. This process is finalized towards the end of the novel when Caddy’s daughter Quentin, the one remaining hope for a bright future for the family, finally calls Jason’s bluff and runs away from home with no prospect of being discovered.

The question I have is whether this serves as the beginning of a new branch of the Compsons, a final blow to an already defeated family, or a little bit of both. Has Quentin’s running away destroyed the Compson tradition forever, or was her leaving the toxic environment in which she grew up the only way she could hope to gain a normal future? Or again, was it a little bit of both: a reprieve for Quentin, but a knockout blow for the rest of the family? (169)

Caddy and Conifers: The Lady Compson's Strange Connection to Our Earthy Friends

Article: Bass, Eben. “Meaningful Images in The Sound and the Fury.” Modern Language Notes, Vol. 76, No. 8. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1961.

Through its discussion of significant objects related to recurring themes throughout The Sound and the Fury, this article helped me to think more about Caddy’s unusual relationship to trees. Whether it is through Benjy’s relating her scent to trees or in climbing up the trees surrounding the Compson house, many of the scenes of Caddy’s youth involve trees in some way, shape, or form. Mostly, this comparison serves to reference her loss of innocence throughout the story. With regard to Benjy, the few times in which he gets upset with her occur when she no longer smells like trees: when she first wears perfume, kisses a boy, and finally loses her virginity. Though not quite on the same level, her relationship to Quentin is also tied to her relationship to trees. The one defining scene for this connection occurs the night that Damuddy dies and Caddy climbs the tree to see what is going on inside the house. This occurs right after she has been playing in the branch, and as she is ascending the tree, Quentin sees and is disappointed by her muddy drawers, potentially symbolic of the struggles their relationship will undergo. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Quentin thinks back to this day, both on the day he commits suicide, and on the day when he discusses hysterically how muddy drawers used to be the biggest problem in Caddy’s life. Though Quentin’s relationship with Caddy is drastically different from Benjy’s, it is clear that she means the world to both of them and that her connection to trees is integral to each of these relationships. This article helped me to make this connection, and I am looking forward to more instances of this bond between Caddy and trees in the final section of The Sound and the Fury. (303)

What About Caddy?

From the way Quentin’s narration ends at the conclusion of section 2, it is clear that he is about to commit suicide. One question that I have about this is what has happened to the one person Quentin loved above all else, Caddy? When Quentin recalls the scene in which he holds the knife to Caddy, after saying that she will be permit him to kill her, she asks “Can you do yours by yourself?” (152). At the end of section 2, we finally see Quentin doing his by himself. My question is this: has Caddy already taken care of her part? Will the two of them finally be united in death, as they once dreamed of being?

By the end of section 2, all that we know of Caddy’s present situation is that nobody in the Compson household ever speaks her name. We do not know the particulars behind this, but it certainly fits that a suicide would be reason enough not for the Compsons not to mention their relative. Perhaps Caddy’s death was just one more example of the curse that seems to haunt the Compson family, particularly the children. (192)

Short Story Update

So far, in preparation for the Independent Short Story project, I have read four stories:

The Order of Things by Judy Troy
The Camera and the Cobra by Roger Nash
Admiral by T.C. Boyle
Puppy by George Saunders

Of these stories, I think the one that most attracts me is Puppy, which I believe could potentially lend itself to an excellent essay. Though I have not yet done extensive research on the author, George Saunders, the whole premise of this story intrigues me: an upper-class family visiting a much poorer one and deciding not to buy their dog because the rich mother judges the living situation of the family in question. In under ten pages, this story drags the reader through a gamut of emotions and uses two very different viewpoints to draw in the reader. I believe that this premise will make for abundant analysis and that I will be able to do enough research on Saunders, whose writing seems to have a common theme of morality, in order to make for a compelling essay. Overall, I believe that learning about an author that I have no past experience with and writing about such a loaded story will make for an interesting essay topic that will be reasonable for me to accomplish, but will still provide enough information to allow me to give a detailed account of both the writer and the specific story. (235)

True Rebellion?

T. Coraghessan Boyle’s nameless protagonist is the epitome of a sheep. Though he and his friends pride themselves on their rebellious nature and their devil-may-care attitudes, it is clear from the events of the story that their true identities are as slaves to a trend for which they have no real respect. Since the narrator is older at the time when he tells this story, he makes it clear that he and his “bad” friends were a far cry from true rebels by describing their drugs as “what somebody claimed was cocaine” (130) and their transportation as “[their] parents’ whining station wagons” (130). With such subtle acknowledgements, the narrator is able to convey the idea that he and his friends were merely pretenders looking for shock value who were not ready to face the real world.

As the story progresses and the characters’ actions become more severe, it becomes clear that the characters’ actions are indicative of young people not ready to face the reality of a world in which they will be forced to act as adults. At the time of the story, Digby and Jeff, two characters that have clearly earned the respect of the narrator, both exude unwillingness to become an adult. This is perfectly reasonable, as both of them have built their reputations on traits that are useless to the majority of adults, such as their ability to roll tight joints and look cool at all times with their mirrored shades. At the same time, both of them appear to be struggling with taking control over their own lives, as Digby attends Cornell on his father’s dime and Jeff is contemplating dropping out of school entirely in order to pursue a career with little money and no future. From such accounts, we as readers are able to develop our idea of the people who earn the narrator’s classification of “bad.”

Despite idolizing such characteristics in his friends and taking up rebellious pursuits like drinking, smoking, and burning rubber, the narrator is not ready to make a lifestyle out of being bad either. During the encounter with the man in the ’57 Chevy, the narrator admits to not having been in a fight since sixth grade, a fact that surely would have embarrassed the narrator, should his friends have found out. Additionally, the narrator’s encounter with the body in Greasy Lake serves as a final piece of discouragement from his current life path. The narrator also uses his favorite characterization of “bad” to describe Al the biker. Though this might have been just a throwaway adjective, it comes off as much more. It appears as if upon seeing the dead body of a fellow “bad” guy, the narrator realizes what the end result of a life of bad choices could be. By seeing someone who looked like he could have been his friend, the narrator is shocked into speaking, despite knowing how dire the consequences of such an choice could be. This reckless action seems to be the beginning of a change in the narrator that could potentially end his career as a rabble-rousing rebel.

From that point onward in the story, the narrator seems clueless: exactly like someone whose past misdeeds have caught up to him would be expected to. Unfortunately for us as readers, the story ends before we get to see what the end result of this experience is on the narrator’s life. Though we see that he and his friends are not tempted to try the drugs offered by the drunk girls that they meet in the parking lot, all three of them are still in a state of shock and cannot reasonably be expected to function normally. However, it is plausible that such a shocking experience might be the very change that sparked the narrator’s present attitude: that his actions in the story were foolish and reckless. Since we do not know what occurs in the narrator’s life from the conclusion of the events in the story to the telling of it, we must assume that this was the event that made the narrator want to stop being bad. Luckily for him, it also allowed him to stop being a follower and develop his own opinions on the world. By stopping his rebellion, perhaps the narrator was finally able to stand for something and actually start rather than follow a trend, making himself “badder” than any of the so-called rebels that he once idolized.

Carver's Exploration of the Primal Male

In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral,” we as readers are presented with an interesting triangular relationship right from the very beginning. From the first paragraph of the story we learn that the blind man, later introduced as Robert, is visiting on the narrator’s home in order to reconnect with the narrator’s wife, his old friend. From the very beginning, this visit feels like an invasion. This is because of one simple reason: his wife’s presence. From the moment that the narrator spies their car in the driveway, he feels awkward and out of place: essentially a third wheel. Though Robert and his wife have known each other for many years, it still seems odd that his mere presence (or blindness) should be enough to alienate the narrator from his own home. Through the course of the story, it becomes clear that the narrator is dissatisfied with his life, but I believe that there is a different reason for his awkwardness. In the most primal of ways, the narrator sees Robert as competition for his wife, and thus feels threatened in a very base, animalistic way.

For the duration of Robert’s interactions with the narrator’s wife, it appears that the narrator believes that he is romantically interested in his wife. From the controlling way with which his wife behaves towards him whenever he does something that she feels might upset Robert, it is certainly possible to see how the narrator might view his wife’s relationship with Robert as more than mere friendship. However, almost as soon as his wife is out of the picture, the narrator begins to open up to Robert. When his wife is awake, all of the narrator’s statements are awkward or do not come out the way that he wanted them to, but once she passes out, he begins to feel more in tune with Robert’s feelings, culminating with the dramatic scene in which they draw the cathedral together.

The act that starts this avalanche of emotion is a simple yet symbolic one: the narrator’s flipping his wife’s robe back open. Though this action at first appears innocent enough and merely linked to Robert’s not being able to see her anyway, it seems to symbolize much more. From this moment onward, the narrator really begins to connect with Robert on a person-to-person level, rather than just as a grudging acquiescence to his wife. He begins making sure that Robert is truly comfortable, which eventually leads to his determination to show Robert the cathedrals that he cannot see, and even sharing his own personal feelings of loneliness. The way in which Robert seems to bring out the best in the narrator is undoubtedly accentuated by his wife’s absence from their relationship. Without feeling that Robert was stealing his wife from him, or even viewing him as a rival, the narrator is able to see the sadness in Robert’s situation and wants to help him of his own accord.

Though the narrator’s wife does eventually wake up, and in the middle of the story’s most intimate scene no less, by the end of the story, she has lost the importance that she originally had in her husband’s relationship with Robert. This is exemplified by one of the shortest but most profound paragraphs of the story, in which, after his wife asks what he and Robert are doing he simply states, “I didn’t answer her.” (108) This short but sweet statement proves that he has truly devoted himself to Robert’s pleasure, without even considering what his wife wants. In my opinion, this shows that the friendship formed from hardship is the strongest, and though the narrator’s short struggle with Robert over the attention of his wife is innocent enough, it makes him realize how unhappy he is in his current life, and how willing he is to change. By the culmination of his and Robert’s project, the narrator might be talking about his newfound friendship rather than the drawing when he closes the story by saying “It’s really something.” (108) (668)

Fight or Flight? A study of Donny's Emotional State

In Anne Tyler’s story “Teenage Wasteland,” one particular discrepancy piqued my interest. In Donny’s follow-up conference with his psychologist, he and his parents are told that he has “no serious emotional problem,” (37) a statement in direct contrast with what Cal says when Donny’s parents decided to stop their tutoring: that “he’d made no headway with Donny…because Donny was emotionally disturbed.” (42) Though these contrasting opinions could simply be explained by Cal’s deeper understanding of Donny or Donny’s regression throughout the story, being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I believe that Tyler purposefully set up this contrast for a very different reason. I believe that Donny’s psychologist knew exactly what he was doing when he sent Donny to Cal Beadle, which was a far bigger problem than that it originally seems.

In the brief time period between Donny’s first meeting with the psychologist and his first meeting with Cal, he undergoes quite a change in his attitude regarding his sessions with the psychologist. After initially despising both the psychologist and his tests, by the final meeting Donny was willing to comb his hair and keep his attitude in check. To me, it seems like he had reached a deal with the psychologist, something along the lines of a reward for keeping his appointments and taking the tests. Judging by Donny’s supplication, it appears that Donny was aware of the type of situation he would be in under Cal’s tutelage. The crux of this theory is Donny’s actions after being told that he is being sent to a tutor. Depending on one’s point of view, his outrage at being tutored can either be interpreted as genuine teenage rebellion and a sign that my theory is incorrect, or that he is smoothly playing his parents, whom he knows well enough to be sure that any resistance on his part will only make them more eager to send him to the tutor: his real goal all along.

In the context of Donny’s character, it seems plausible that Donny believes the best way to get his parents to believe in his tutor was to show his own opposition to the idea. The best evidence for Donny’s having an ulterior motive is the way in which Donny opens up to Cal at the very beginning of their first session. After just a few minutes, Donny already is expressing how he feels that his life is a prison and is talking more than he has in the rest of the story up to this point combined. If Donny had really been resentful of the situation, he would have regarded Cal with a measure of skepticism, no matter how receptive he seemed to be. The only explanation for the way that Donny opened up so quickly was that the psychologist had told Donny who Cal truly was: a kindred spirit, rather than a figurehead of authority.

All in all, it seems that Donny quickly realizes that getting a tutor would be the simplest way to get his mother off his back, even if he never realized just how liberating Cal would be. Whether or not Donny had emotional problems at the beginning of the story, developed them through the time he spent with Cal, or never really had them at all, it seems likely that psychologist at least knew what Donny would experience as a pupil of Cal’s. Even if the psychologist knew that Donny had emotional problems, he believed that liberation from his parents and guidance from someone whose goal in life seems to be “sticking it to the man” would be beneficial to him. Thus, I believe that Donny’s emotional problems might not have been any fault of his own. They might simply have stemmed from too many people telling him what was “right” for him. Whether it was because of his mother’s breathing down his neck while he did his homework, his principal’s sending him to a psychologist, his psychologist’s sending him to a tutor, or simply Cal’s telling him what he needed to be happy, perhaps the ultimate reason that Donny runs away at the end of the story is simply so that no one can dictate his life anymore. After finally escaping from all the people who think they have Donny’s best interest at heart, he is finally free and able to make his own decisions for once. Perhaps this is the only way that he can rebuild his self-esteem and move forward on his journey of becoming a man. (750)

Some Very Influential Books

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. This was the book that first made me love reading.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. This was my favorite book of the Harry Potter series, which is my favorite series. It is a great culmination of the story of the boy with whom I feel that I grew up.
3. 1984 by George Orwell. This book fascinated me with its views of a dystopia and how society could be today if America's democracy had not persevered through its rough patches.
4. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. This book made me really think about my subconscious in a whole new way. I really liked the way that Gladwell introduced his themes in such intriguing manners.
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This was the first satirical book that I read and it was the most humorous book that I have ever read.
6. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. This book revolutionized the views that I had on authority. It helped me to find the balance between questioning all authority and obeying every decree from authority.
7. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. This is another fantasy book that I have re-read many times. I really enjoyed the way that Card makes even the most extraordinary aspects of his fiction believable and the way that his characters interact.
8. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book helped me realize the importance of books in attaining knowledge and how the freedom to read is a vital one.
9. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This book had all of the aspects of adventure in it that made it interesting yet still was able to be serious enough for me to take its purpose seriously.
10. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. This was a very moving account of such a traumatic experience. I was particularly drawn to the way that Remarque employed Paul as a frank, reliable narrator who expressed his emotion extremely clearly.
11. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. This was another humorous book that I really enjoyed. Vonnegut's tongue-in-cheek style really appeals to me, and I felt that the content of this book was enjoyable in and of itself.
12. Mind Gym by Gary Mack. This book sparked my interest in psychology, specifically sports psychology.
13. Let the Trumpet Sound by Stephen B. Oates. I admire Martin Luther King Jr. for all that he accomplished in his short lifetime, so it was intriguing to go into the specifics of his life.
14. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. This was a really interesting book for me to read as a child because of its fantasy aspects, but when I became old enough to realize the religious allusions, I was able to analyze it in a whole new light.
15. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. As a supporter of President Obama, I felt it my duty to study his past, and this novel really gave me a new insight into where his political drive comes from.

Reading, Pondering, and Tipping (Points)

Over the summer, I read a number of books, including Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the required list. The rest of the books I read this summer are as follows:

• Now I Can Die in Peace by Bill Simmons
• Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
• Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
• Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
  

Of these books, the one that I found most thought provoking was Gladwell's The Tipping Point. I had already read Blink, a similar work of his, so I was already familiar with his style of combining interesting anecdotes in order to make broad generalizations about seemingly basic aspects of life. In this case, Gladwell studied epidemics of all varieties and the proximate causes that allowed them to "tip" into prominence. Though I read most of the early stories within their own contexts, I was gradually able to connect the widely varied examples of everything from Sesame Street to syphilis to sneakers to smoking into a superb example of Gladwell's keys for what marks an epidemic as prime for tipping. I believe that it was the categorization of the types of people necessary for tipping an epidemic that made me view this book as a more cohesive work than I originally imagined it to be. After finding out about Mavens, the members of society who always know the best deals, Connectors, the ones with the best and most prolific connections, and Salesmen, the ones who ultimately sell the idea of the epidemic, I began to go back and see how each of these types of people was involved in all of Gladwell's examples.

Once I began to realize that virtually every epidemic originated from similar Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen, I began to look more closely for the three properties that Gladwell implied were necessary for a trend to reach a Tipping Point: Stickiness, or how likely its content was to be well-received, the Law of the Few, the focus on the power of the Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen who spread the epidemic along, and the Power of Context, meaning that the time as well as the content of an epidemic must be right in order for a Tipping Point to take place. I found these concepts to be most interesting because they can be applied to many parts of everyday life. Whenever an idea is spread, whether it is trying to get people to support a PCDS sports team, attend a college information session, or go to a new place for lunch, its success depends largely on word of mouth. However, if the idea is "sticky" enough, becomes know by the right people, and finds its own niche, it can reach an immense number of people in a very short time.

In reading this book, I realized that I could never again view even common phenomena such as popular restaurants or highly touted concerts without considering which Salesman finally got me to buy into the fad, which Mavens had originally discovered it, or why the Law of Context dictated that the time was right for just such a trend. After reading The Tipping Point, I can now better explain the power that word of mouth has in our increasingly well-connected world: a world where cell phones and the internet give everyone the chance to be a Connector and spread a "sticky" new idea. With this book, Malcolm Gladwell succeeded as a Salesman in getting me to buy into his book's idea. Or maybe, because of the Law of Context, I merely read this book at a time when I was particularly likely to be influenced by it. Either way, the epidemic of understanding Tipping Points has reached another willing participant (642).