Suheir Hammad & Marjane Satrapi on War

"I will not hate for you or even hate you." She choses not to follow them, yet not to oppose them. I found this line really interesting. If she chooses to work for those she dislikes then she's forced to hate for for a cause, but isn't hating those she dislikes still hating for a cause, even if it's a different cause? "Rhythm is half silence." This line just blew me away. It's just something so interesting. It reminds me of "The glass is always empty," really just a pessimistic view of the world, even if it's pessimistic, it's really such a different view of the world. 


Suheir was speaking about how she "Wouldn't dance for that war drum", that she wouldn't follow the ideas of the military, or who's fighting. Marjane, really opposed the government, everything they did. Marjane despised their ideas so much that she in fact ended up moving to a completely different country for the rest of her life. Suheir's words aren't as strong an idea, but rather print the idea in your head through hidden messagesm the way her poetry is written.


Overall, I think that hearing the story and emotions of somebody who lived in a country that had a war going on in it really strikes something in me. I never really saw the world in many different ways, thinking of the world as such a frightening place really adds some thoughts to my head. Hearing the emotions displayed poetically, though, makes the emotions easier to feel.


PART II


"The sky where once was steel." Suheir is talking about the building, the embodiment of the government, shown high above the people, a strong building, enforced with power. The people of the revolution took away the building, leaving just sky, but if there is but sky then the modernism is being taken away. She's explaining the faults of a revolution that may have looked good at the time. The revolutionaries, the ones tearing down the building didn't look ahead to what the world would be if they didn't have their government. They didn't think of the war that could come to be without their higher power. They didn't think of what the next rulers might be or what they might do.


Marjane as a child really defines what the revolution can do to somebody. She was really just swayed in whatever direction she was told to follow. When the Shah was in power she liked the Shah, but after her dad talked with her she hated the Shah, and after, when the Islamic Regime took over she simply hated them, too. She later started to make sense of her hatred and realized how she could revolt against the Regime passive-aggressively, in her own way.  

Islam

The Islamic law (Sharia) is a very interesting thing, as are the rules for most religions. For example, a Muslim is only supposed to rely on information told by they're faith, not necessarily what others say. And, a Muslim is supposed to follow the rule of a Mujtahid, an Islamic scholar who's able to understand the Sharia. The rules of a Mujtahid are decided by what he thinks is best. Even if others say that what he does are incorrect, he still should only do what he thinks he should do. 


The Islamic religion also has an equivalent of Kosher things, what you can eat/ ingest and what you can't. Things that cannot be ingested are Najis. Things that can be ingested are Pak. Things that are officially stated as a Najisat are urine, faeces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dog, pig, kafir (something that isn't Islamic), liquor and the sweat of an animal that has ingested a Najisat. Technically, a Muslim is allowed to eat something that's Najis, but only if they don't know it's Najis or if it's been made Pak, by water, earth, the sun, through transformation, through change, through transfer and through other methods. If meat is Hallal, though, it's been cut from an animal that's been killed under certain conditions. It must be killed while sane, across the throat with a not serrated blade, while saying the name of 'Allah'. 


These are but two rules among thousands of the others stated in the Sharia, but I don't think I should completely study all these rules, because I don't understand a great deal of them and I don't think I will unless I accept and study this as my main religion for a few years.

Asia Current Events

Syria is located in western Asia. It neighbors Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. The country just barely touches the Mediterranean Sea on it's western border. The majority of the religious studies in Syria are Islamic or branched from Islam, though there are some Christians, too. The main language spoken in Syria is Arabic, but different regions sometimes choose another language. 


Recently, in 2006 riots started in Syria due to controversial cartoons made in Denmark about one of the prophets of Islam, Muhammad. During the riots the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish embassies were attacked. Suddenly President Bashar Assad, the leader of Syria, said that the message had gone through and the riots halted immediately. 

Street Art

I noticed how simple a powerful message could be and that I could probably do the same with my piece. 


I was amazed that each artist was able to do so much, for very little. Banksy and Space Invader don't make much money off their art, considering most of the time they put it up illegally. And each of them put up so much work around the world, it's just amazing. 


The artists always seemed to display their message in a sarcastic tone, especially Banksy. I thought his art was really powerful due to this, because it was making fun of things to try and get them to change. 

Political Cartoon for Harrison Bergeron

(Please excuse the position of the photo, I couldn't fix it)

My piece holds a very close connection to the story of Harrison Bergeron, as it's meant to be placed in the time period of the story. My piece displays how the handicaps really harm people, and what might happen if the government goes over the top with it. It is a clear exaggeration, but could possibly happen, story-wise. 

"The Metamorphosis" Chapter 3

I think Kafka decided to make Gregor into an insect to try and display how some people feel overly obligated to do their work, pushing themselves too hard. When Gregor first changed his first concern was that he wouldn't be able to follow through with his regular duties. Later, though, he did figure that being a roach was a problem, but that was way after he worried about his job and family. 


Kafka probably chose the roach because of the repulsion humans have toward them. Reptiles and frogs are actually pretty cool and not that bad. A roach, though, is a disgusting creature that is often considered to be ridden with disease. The size of the bug further increased the fear it would bring, because unlike reptiles up close bugs are pretty detailed and they can be pretty frightening. 

"The Metamorphosis" Chapter 2

As Franz Kafka knew from his own life and as portrayed in "The Metamorphosis," families possess the power to both improve and injure the psychological well-being of their members. Discuss the ways that the Samsa family benefit and harm each other, citing examples from the text. Then, use the family in the novella, along with examples from real life, to create a set of FIVE important rules for creating and maintaining a healthy family life. Finally, grade (A-F) the Samsa family on how well they follow your rules and provide your reasoning.

Certain members of the family are benefited by other members, but the only people who seem to benefit the family as a whole is the mother and Gregor, until after the transformation when it moved to Grete. The mother would make dinner, along with the servant girl (who I don't consider part of the family). I assume she would perform other tasks involving cleaning the house and making sure the rest of the family could get along at home. Gregor went to work everyday, and, according to the entire fifth paragraph on page 10, it seems nobody else in the family helps provide. Gregor is also trying to pay off his parents' debt, so he's really trying to help the family out.

The only member of the family that really seems to harm everyone else is the father. He helps out in no way at all and is actually a problem to have around. The way he treated Gregor is dehumanizing, he brought about the debt and he just sits around, eating,reading his newspaper and drinking beers, as stated by the sixth paragraph on page 10. And now, when Gregor has become a monster, all he wants to do is kill Gregor, not settle it. 

Rules

1. Conversing

2. Knowing about others

3. Being open to ideas

4. Try to help others

5. Don't intentionally harm a situation

(These rules also apply to a regular group of people, not just a family)

I would give the Samsa family a C on how well they follow my rules. I counted how many of my rules they really follow versus how many they don't and I got 3/5, which seems to be around a C area. Not too good, but they aren't completely dysfunctional. 

"The Metamorphosis" Chapter 1

What circumstances in Gregor's life might have caused him to feel dehumanized even before the metamorphosis took place?


It seems that Gregor's father doesn't see much in him, similar to Franz Kafka's own father. His father seems to see Gregor as just a tool to get his debts paid off. He treats Gregor in such a terrible way, like he's not a living creature, just something for his own benefit. It seems that due to this factor Gregor has even placed himself in a position where  he only cares about his work, being on time for something that he seems  to dislike so much. 


Which brings me to my next point. He hates his job, though it's for several reasons one of the big ones seems to be the way his boss and customers treat him. His boss sees him as just a tool to make money, the same as his dad, because that's all Gregor is to him. He doesn't have to pay Gregor because his income all goes to his parent's debt, so he really just gets money out of it. Gregor's customers dislike him because he's a door-to-door salesman, who just seem irritating trying to sell you stuff you don't want. Nobody in Gregor's life seems to treat him like an actual human other than his mother and sister, but no other characters seem to have been introduced, so I can't say otherwise.