Tribe Member.

Join me as I enter the void - ominously titled the "AP Lit project".

[bookshelfporn]

Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago. 

Image: Tom Harris © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of Rebuild Foundation.

[yourcoffeeguru]

[mydaisysoul]

[aparnareads]

Reading the Work 5: What If?

“Damn it! How will I ever make it out of this labyrinth?” (267).  He’s weak, he’s lost his independence, his title, his prestige, and basically himself. He’s a man void of sanity, and is a shadow. The surrealism is present in elements, as it is Marquez’s signature style, but he ties it into the historical, political, and social elements that tore a man apart. Here he is, on his deathbed, proclaiming to himself that he’s just stuck. So I guess the answer is that death is the liberation from the labyrinth of life. It seems a little unglamorous; I’m not going to lie. Even though he dies unfulfilled right after this iconic line, I don’t think that’s it. I don’t think the Labyrinth is simply just life. I think it’s heartbreak. It’s not like the General didn’t accomplish anything. He’s the reason the continent is the way it is today, blooming with industry. What tore him apart is he was unfulfilled by everything: Manuela, the blindness of his politicians, and the failure of his body before his mind was ready for it. The Labyrinth is everything keeping fulfillment from you. It’s your own fears, your own memories, and your discomforts. The only way to free yourself from the Labyrinth is acceptance and embracement. Thinking about the this quote, they’re this General’s last words – and they’re really a big “what if?” So I feel like I, as the reader, am being asked, “what if?”

[aparnareads]

Reading the Work 4: Revolution and the Aftermath

The next whole part just had one quote that opened up some of my inquisition: “My dreams began to fall apart the day they were realized”(138). This applies to pretty much everything he’s experienced, and also to young revolution and its aftermath. The pattern of new government is a mess all around the world. Almost no one knows what to do. After fighting for a cause so long, and after being used to chasing after something, what happens when you finally get it? Either you have a plan and a new goal, or you’re stuck at that point. Most new governments are in the latter phase, and the very people who helped him achieve it are destroying The General’s dream of a liberated Latin America. The same was said about Gandhiji’s passing. India was in a state of emergency after Independence, and no one knew what they wanted for the country. The dream of a united India was lost on the warring communists and nationals, with the tearing away of several nations hanging in the balance. They say that Gandhiji would’ve been horrified to have lived to see such an India. The difference is that the General did live to see such a Colombia, and it’s broken his heart in this fictitious version of him. 

[aparnareads]

Reading the Work 3: Mazes

Despite his physical deterioration, the General is continuing to travel to different areas of his youth, which he’d liberated in the days of his prime revolution. Each place triggers flashbacks, and memories of what he’d experienced. The most interesting isn’t a flashback, but rather that at a point through the middle of the novel, he’s in Puerto Real, taking a break from a downriver trip, and he hears a woman singing in the night. There’s no other explanation for what he hears, but I’m still wondering if it’s Manuela, or his wife, or someone else? The General’s trips are just becoming more painful for him, but I’m not really sure who’s the trigger. What is he looking to get rid of? What’s the goal? What’s the Labyrinth? It kind of makes me think of the maze in Harry Potter, where there are tons of obstacles, the woman’s singing possibly being a version of those obstacles. My favorite obstacle that Harry encountered is still the Sphinx, who’s known to give riddles, and that’s a classic diversion in any type of maze. I think the General is trying to answer the riddle of his own purpose, and whether he fulfilled it. 

labyrinth |ˈlab(ə)ˌrinTH| .noun.

1.  a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze:

a labyrinth of passages and secret chambers.

2. an intricate and confusing arrangement: a labyrinth of conflicting laws and regulations

ORIGIN late Middle English (referring to the maze constructed by Daedalus to house the Minotaur): from French labyrinthe or Latin labyrinthus, from Greek laburinthos .

[aparnareads]

Reading the Work 2: War vs. Politics

I’m continuing on this literary adventure and a favorite character of mine is Manuela. The General is painted as a Casanova, as many leaders and diplomats are, and he’s had many a woman. He’s widowed, but he has an inexplicable bond with Manuela, who can take care of herself in her own right, and is the General’s lover, caretaker, and soul companion. Her character is as ambiguous as the General’s but it’s clear that she’s not there to wait around for him, no matter how much they mean to each other. The General, his relationships, and his spirit reminds me of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, which I’ve been reading intermittently. The General is a born soldier and warrior. He’s necessarily harsh, but an effective leader in batter and a master tactician. But it’s no secret that war and politics, however jointly related they may be, are completely different animals. When you put a man who’s used to a fight, and throw him in a political arena, where he thinks being fair, just, a team player, and not cruel unless necessary are the basic rules of the game, how is he going to fare? Caius Marcius, who obtains the title Coriolanus from his victory in battle, where he takes the city Corioles in the name of Rome, is made a hero, and asked to be a politician, but he has no idea what to do in a political arena. He makes himself a lot of enemies because he’s just not the guy for the job. His relationships with his wife and mother have quite an effect on his character, and he’s infallibly proud, just like the General. I’m holding onto that thought as we explore more of who he is.  links to trailers for Coriolanus (even though I'm reading the play) Ralph Fiennes Modern Film Adaptation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsYrGIQnmxo National Theater Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R89zLp3ECMA

[aparnareads]

The process of choosing my book for this project was quite an endeavor, mostly because there are a lot of things weighing on this choice. It’s the last paper we’ll write in high school, and probably the most important one as well. I also have such a long personal list of books that would work and that I want to read as well, that it completely jumbled up my usually quick decision-making process. Kreinbring can attest to how many of his suggestions I went through – I possibly made his hair whiter in the process. I really wanted to enjoy this particular work, mainly because when you’re going to spend months on something, you want to enjoy the subject matter, but be able to analyze it critically and produce good work. It’s a rare opportunity to choose what you want to read in a pre-set curriculum, so it should be taken advantage of. I wanted to examine gender roles and female representation, as well as POC/WOC representation in literature, but I ended up going with The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez, my independent read from this summer. I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time, and I think it’ll be beneficial to write a paper based on the second reading of a novel, because the second read is often the more analytical one. Even though it doesn’t match my goals for subject matter, it’s still a piece I love and by an author I love, and while it’s not his most popular work, it’s often regarded as his most complete work in terms of character and thematic exploration. That’ll give me a lot to work with come time to write/research.

[aparnareads]

Film was an original creation; the idea of taking a several single frames of a picture in a row in order to capture real time was ground breaking. However, a few people had the idea around the same time, and were developing it. The Lumiere brothers were the first to succeed in France. I think complete originality is really difficult to achieve, because there's so much culture and innovation that's already preceded our time. However, I think it's also a part of human nature to want to be special, and therefore the strive for originality will always be there.

[aparnareads]

http://sassynotions.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/the-evolution-of-the-word-%E2%80%9Cbitch%E2%80%9D-sexist-slight-or-empowering-expression/

For the conversation about the word "bitch" that we had a few weeks ago, here's an article which eloquently presents my point of view. I couldn't find the words when we were actually discussing it, but here. 

[aparnareads]

"I beheld the wretch, the miserable monster I had created." ~Mary Shelley

This quote is a direct parallel to the encounters Staples has in the piece. Each time he's judged and discriminated against, or taken for a criminal because of his race and appearance, we have to remember that society created this stereotype throughout the years. Dr. Victor Frankenstein created his own creature, borne from his ego and ambition, but he was repulsed by it, and therefore discarded it as property that was no longer of worth. He didn't realize that the creature was its own being now. Similarly, in the early 50's, around when the suburbs came into existence, "white flight" created a divide between the Caucasian and the African-American populations. The latter were often isolated in poorer areas, which is what caused a lot of crime. This eventually led to that stereotype, and many African-American men like Staples couldn't escape it, no matter what their disposition or intentions. 

[safe-abortion-womens-right-blog]

Senegal: 12 months in 12 days (day 1): my unsafe abortion experience

Marie Stopes International at:

http://www.mariestopes.org/what-we-do/safe-abortion-and-post-abortion-care/having-unsafe-abortion

…In Senegal abortion is neither legal nor safe, and reliable statistics on how many women...

[aparnareads]

            I mentioned this briefly in the previous post I made, but that was a general analysis of the entire pro-choice argument. This is part of the structure of the pro-choice argument, however it isn’t entirely that. This article is a short recollection of a young girl who was forced to have an unsafe abortion. Its presentation is both raw and touching.The way in which this article works is twofold. It is both encouragement for safe-abortion practices to continue and be innovated, as well as providing a major reason not to pass anti-abortion law. The argument is unfortunately supported by the fact that the young girl in question is from what is considered a third-world country. While it isn’t the most pleasant thing to mention, much of an audience of first-world voters would immediately think themselves above those people. However, if this is their first thought, and a third-world country’s abortion legislation has caused the trauma of a young girl, then voters would immediately be motivated to not allow that to happen in a first-world country, especially not in the “land of the free”. 

[alittlecoconuttart-deactivated2]

[aparnareads]

An analysis of the pro-choice argument: This is a kind of interpretive text; again it’s simply put and to the point. It has the effect of an advocacy poster, again, and it is structured like a checklist so it catches the eye in passing. It makes the point that “pro-life” arguments are ignorant of both the lives and rights of the mothers who are carrying these unborn children. The pro-life movement mentions only the life that is an unborn fetus, but in doing that, the life of the mother is automatically de-valued. She has the right to make a decision which will literally alter the entire course of her life, but that is being taken away by removing the right to choose abortion. She no longer has a safe alternative in her life. A pregnancy is both an obligation and a commitment in this case, and to “choose” pregnancy means the mother is short of alternatives. Pregnancy takes time away from a woman’s working life and career building, and the process of giving up a child for adoption can be long and difficult. Not to mention, before safe abortion methods came into practice and made available to the public, illegal, unsafe and harmful methods of abortion would be forced onto some young prospective mothers by their partners and/or families, often resulting in deathly illness and sometimes death. Similar to the ever-present drug market and the smuggling of alcohol during prohibition, outlawing abortion won’t get rid of it; it will just make it unsafe and more difficult for the mothers.

[spamalicioussammi-deactivated20]

One of my Facebook friend’s posted this tripe. Really? Anyone that’s logical would realize that if someone’s body is inside the body of another person than both of those people are involved. And in my opinion if one of the people can’t make decisions for itself because it’s inside the body of another then it’s that person’s decision to make. Some people…

[aparnareads]

Okay so I know this one has an opinion on it already (one which I fully agree with, by the way) but this was intended to be an analysis of the picture.

            This “diagram” (of sorts) obviously isn’t one that requires interpretation. The message is clear and point-blank. Its simplicity and color scheme remind me of pro-human rights and charity advocacy posters. This leads me to believe that the creator of the poster is likening abortion to something as black and white as basic human rights in order to target the psyche of both pro-choice or pro-abortion people, as well as those who possibly don’t have a definitive opinion on the matter, (in my opinion the latter are part of every political audience).  Human rights is a matter of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and pro-lifers qualify a fetus, at any stage in the pregnancy, a life form, and therefore, a human being with rights. 

[aparnareads]

Human Value

To look at human beings as units of monetary value is not only cynical but inhumane. Anyone who doesn't contribute to society or hasn't contributed to society is of general lesser value than someone who does, but to say that any one human being is worthless is in itself immoral. It's not even basic sentimentality, rather it's humanity, what makes us human beings is that we all have the ability to think, speak, and rationalize, and this gives us value. If this isn't nurtured at a young infantile age, then there's no hope for those children to become useful adults. It's a cycle. Human beings become disabled either because they are dealt that hand at birth, or they become disabled most often in an endeavor to become a productive citizen, such as a job in a factory or the military. Neither of these consequence worthlessness, and we should not treat them as such. It's just wrong. As for the elderly, they had their time to contribute to society. They raised the current participants in our world and if it weren't for their effort in raising a good new generation, there wouldn't be a present as we know it. It's cyclical, and again, if these people are judged monetarily at face value, we lose our humanity.

[aparnareads]

Mao (Tse-Tung? Zedong? Sedong? I don't know...)

(I'm not going to re-type the quote because everyone knows what it is) This is one of those questions that calls for a layout of relevant historical events. There is an aspect of this quote that is 100% true. Battles between political power, imperialism, and the sustenance of regimes have all come from having the most advanced weaponry. The Cold War was an arms race between the two major political powers of the time, and this arms race, while eventually bankrupting both nations, kept them ahead. Political expansion has started with trade in some cases, but most had to do with superior military strategy and the most menacing weapons. Remembering Teddy Roosevelt, his whole principle was "having the bigger stick means no one will mess with you". It's true. Regimes have kept their power because they had the means. The threat of being beaten and having their armies slaughtered because of sheer inferiority isn't appealing to any nation, so they allow themselves to be subjugated. Having grandparents and other elders whom I respect who grew up in British-controlled India, a certain personal contempt for imperialism and military intimidation has always surrounded me. I often hear something along the lines of "The British used guns to control the whole world." This made Mao's quote hit home. I've contemplated this in the context of India alone. There has to be a political aspect to subjugation. The phrasing of the quote mentions politics, but in all honesty, politics is certainly not just having the bigger stick. It's to do with who has the wittiest, slickest way of controlling a population. It has to do with whether that population will allow themselves to be politically controlled, whether it's through weapons or policy. It also has to do with who can keep their power through whatever means necessary.

[passialata]

“People understand me so little that they do not even understand when I complain of being misunderstood.”

—

Søren Kierkegaard

[aparnareads]

another great example of how people are unable to feel connections with other human beings, especially the people most far away from the typical person in society.