Reading Blog # 2 - Invisible Man

The story of Invisilbe Man shows what it's like to be constantly kicked down by society. The majority of people that have been thrown out by society are mintories, just like the speaker, and the rest of society (whites) will never experience what the speaker goes through. I am part of that group of society that is lucky enough to not be discriminated against. However, my anscestors were the cause of the speakers harsh life. Given that it takes place in the 1950's - after slavery but still in the mindset of segregation - the speaker cannot seem to get the power that he wants. The thirst for power comes from the discrimination that he kept recieving his whole life. For myself, I don't crave this power that he wants. I've never had to deal with being beaten up to recieve a scholariship or sent to another city for "punnishment". However, I connect with this book because I know people who had to go through trials to get to the power they crave. Power, for the speaker, is something that is granted for people who want to make a change but at the same time for people who are kicked down by society. His crave for power relates to people who also crave this type of power. Power, though, is only able to help you if you use it wisely. The speaker could be doomded if he doesn't use it to help him.

Reading Blog #1 - Invisible Man

What I've noticed a lot about Invisible Man is that it relates to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The main character in Invisible Man is very similar to Bromden in Cuckoo's Nest. Both want to suppress authority and have their own mental issues that stop them from preforming their full potential. However, there are differences between the two. For example, the speaker in Invisible Man continues to do the things he wants to do, even though he is paranoid about everything, and fights for what he believes in. Bromden, however, only does what he does because he is asked to or finally has an example (McMurphy) to help him want to be free of the hospital and authority.
Even with their differences, they both show examples of two different sides of society that are always oppressed and aren't given the same chances as many other groups of society receive. The speaker in Invisible Man represents the black community during segregation and coming from the south to the north. His struggles deal with government and society and how they treat him and the rest of his community. His struggles also help the reader understand what it was like for the black community (for those who never experienced it) to have to go through segregation and not be able to have their voice heard.
Bromden in Cuckoo's Nest is the example of the mental society. During the 60's mental patients weren't granted the same rights as the rest of society. McMurphy's arrival helped Bromden see the light and want to leave the hospital. He starts to oppress authority just like the speaker does in Invisible Man. They both realize that they have options and rights just like anyone else. Even though they fight what society calls for them, they both do it violently in their own ways. They do this because they have been "trained" to be like this and only this. Their violence is just issues that they had to keep inside, they were also treated poorly in poor conditions. They become expected to be angry and violent.
Invisible Man and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are two stories about people in society who aren't given the same chances as the rest of society. Both of the main characters react to authority and want to suppress it. Their motives are the same and Cuckoo's Nest helps the reader understand and connect to Invisible Man. They both teach the reader that people need to be given the same chances and shouldn't be looked down upon.

Procrastination

In all honesty I have a terrible case of "senioritis" or procrastination that all seniors use as an excuse for being lazy. While I know that being a procrastinator is wrong, I enjoy sleeping and watching movies on Netflix rather than doing homework ahead of schedule. However, that could be the case of my ADD. When I read the article you asked us to read, I thought that the author was 100% correct in describing what it feels like to be a procrastinator. Even though it is "bad" to put off something for so long, it can be rewarding depending on the situation. Regarding Hamlet, his decisiveness is actually okay. His decision to kill Claudius or not is life changing, and therefore should be taken with caution when contemplating if he should or shouldn't go through with his plan. When people say that "procrastination is a bad habit", I don't think they realize that not everything can be done immediately because there are consequences to everything. Hamlet is able to understand this without directly stating this. His indecisiveness is actually good and shouldn't be condemned. There are moments when procrastination is good such as Hamlet contemplating his plan to kill Claudius. However, there are moments when procrastination can set you back, such as me writing this blog post and I keep playing with my phone or find music videos to watch on YouTube. In Hamlet's case, he's doing society a favour in taking his sweet time to kill Claudius.    

Act V - This American Life

The podcast for This American Life about Act V really changed what I thought of Hamlet. I, for one, do not like Shakespeare and have always had a hard time understanding what he means in most of his plays. The members of the prison, however, were able to understand each character better than I can; or at least have a better perception on the characters. What I loved the most about this podcast was that you hear from different people what they think of the characters. For example, Big Hutch explains that Hamlet doesn't really have a dilemma when it comes to killing his uncle. This decision is something that you do or you don't, not should I or should I not. The prison members, however, are able to see much more into the souls of the characters through their own experiences. This, I believe, makes Shakespeare's characters more alive for me than reading the play and then having a discussion in class. They each understand an aspect of the characters and the play through the crimes they've committed themselves. One of the prison members explains that he doesn't think he's a bad guy anymore and wouldn't commit another crime, but he killed someone and doesn't think he belongs anymore. He connects his own crime to the play in that he doesn't think that Claudius is a bad guy but rather as someone who's made a mistake. I think the personal connections to the play is what makes this take on Hamlet so interesting, that anyone can find a meaning to the play and now I think that I can understand the play thanks to the men of the Missouri Easter Correctional Center.

J. Alfred Prufrock & Hamlet.

J. Alfred Prufrock and Hamlet are two different people who resemble the lives of many people. They both experience the feeling of self doubt. They cannot make their own decisions on their lives and their deaths. My belief on their ways is that they aren't much different from each other.
You see Hamlet contemplating whether or not he should kill Claudius  and then you also see Prufrock debating if he should go for his love or not because he has all the time in the world. Both of these characters are going through an internal struggle with decision because they cannot make a knowledgeable decision.
Knowledgeable doesn't mean that they have to be smart, but that these characters can't think for themselves. They let everything else factor into what they want to do. For example: Prufrock blames time in not making a decision. He has too much time and can wait until the last minute of his life to tell his love that he loves her. Hamlet, he lets his family and other outside sources factor into him not killing Claudius (yet).
Things like these show that Hamlet and Prufrock aren't too different from each other. They each have internal struggles with the outside world that prevent them from making the decisions that they can either benefit from or let them ruin their lives. The negative and positive consequences will never be reached if they don't make a decision and not let the outside world factor into their own lives and thoughts to let them move on to what they want to do and with their own lives. 

Chimamanda Adichie's TED Talk

I'm not sure what to do about stereotypes. How can you diminish something that everyone knows about if you can't let them see another side? Chimamanda brings up an excellent point, the one sided story can create a lot of harm. It's hard to let others see another side if half of the world is so ignorant to others. That's what I saw when I told my best friend in Texas that I was moving to Colombia. To me it wasn't a big deal. I've live in Brasil, Argentina, and The United States, one more country couldn't harm my experience. However, my friend thought it was the strangest thing ever. She told me, "what's it going to be like to live in Africa?" That shocked me. I mean, I've heard jokes about people thinking that Colombia is in Africa, but to actually hear it shocked me. Then my Pre-AP English teacher told me, "You're not in the cocaine business are you?" A full grown man told me this! I couldn't handle this ignorance coming from people that I personally knew.
I decided to explore what it meant to hear only one side to every story. Stereotypes harm so many ideas, people, and cultures. For me, I never believe one thing until I either researched the topic or went to the place myself. Then again, I've had a lot more experience with other cultures; 14 other countries worth of cultures. Maybe it isn't a personal problem but more of a societal problem. It's going to be hard to get ride of one-sided stories, if it is even possible. People need to get out of their ignorance bubble and explore the world a little more in order to escape their single world.

Heart of Darkness Part 3

Response to Matt Alvarez

While I agree that we become obsessed with our objects that we want to obtain, I do not think it's the only way that people have wanted to gain power. I believe that power is also gained through the means of emotion. Kurtz may be able to gain power from Ivory and may be obsessed with it, but I also think he was able to gain his power through his means of emotion. I know that leaders from the past, example would be Hitler, were able to conform others into what they want them to do by changing and challenging what they know and feel. I think that this method is more effective into what Kurtz wants.