Blog 28: Interpreter of Maladies

The difficulty of communication is a major theme in the story Interpreter of Maladies. Communication appears repeatedly in Interpreter of Maladies, often with negative or painful consequences. Mr. Kapasi, who is the interpreter of maladies, has lost his ability to communicate with his wife. He also lost his ability to communicate in some of the languages he learned as a younger man, leaving him with only the English language. He realizes that his kids speak better English than him. Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das are unable to reach a level of friendship that they both may have had at one point. I wish they could speak with one another openly. When Mrs. Das loses Mr. Kapasi's address at the end of the story, it marks the end of the possibility that they could reach out to each other.

"The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did, the children in stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors" (Lahiri pg. 13) . This quotation explains the difficulty of communication between the Indians and Indian Americans. The author describes the Das family and explains ways in which they do not display Indian behaviors. To me, the family seems both Indian and American, which fools Mr. Kapasi into thinking that he can communicate closely with Mrs. Das. With his other tourists, who are foreign but not Indian, Mrs. Kapasi keeps a distance. He feels he does not feel any sort of connection. The similarities between Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi leads him to mistakenly think they will find something significant in common. Their idea that the cultural gap between Indian immigrants and those they leave behind in India can be huge. This gap between the second generation Indians and Indians they leave behind in India gets even bigger. She includes this theme in her work because she does not really adapt herself to either culture, and she admits that she feels neither Indian or American.

Blog 27: TBCC, The End

On some weeks, Torey posts some "awards" for fun. Some of the "awards" include Most Flattering Reply, Most Insulting Reply, Reply Most Likely to Be From Chris Creed In Disguise, and Reply That Makes Me Believe Totally That Creed Is Alive. Reply Most Likely to be from Chris Creed in Disguise sounds consistent with the way Chris would have responded to the website. For example Torey's friend Alex said "You guys, he actually spell-checked his suicide note." "He might have gotten malice right, but he would not have gotten accommodate-" (Ucci pg. 38). This was consistent with Christopher Creed's obsession with grammar, which annoyed people.

Blog 26: Dishonesty Breeds Dishonesty/ Ch. 17

I do sympathize with Mrs. Creed at this point of the story. Her son is missing. She received a phone call that only assuredly made it worse for her. She might not be a well liked person, she might not be a terrific mother, but she is in a horrifying predicament. She wants answers. I have sympathy for so many of the characters in this story except possibly Alex. Everyone else has some turmoil going on. Almost all of the characters in the story are trying to find answers to Chris' disappearance. However, not all are on the right track, including the police. At this point I feel Bo Richardson and Ali made the greatest headway in finding Chris by locating the diary and finding the name Isabella Karzden whom Chris was infatuated with. When Chief Bowen came to arrest Bo, Torey screamed out "You stupid people, you know he didn't kill anybody! You just have to find some way to keep your own screwed-up version of reality going-" (Ucci pgs. 222-223). Torey has had the opportunity to view the people and their situations very differently and begins to question so much of what he believed previously. He honestly wants to find Chris.

Blog 25: Chapter 6: Torey's Lyrics

Is he alive, or is he dead? Freight train running all thru my head means that Torey is worried about Christopher Creed's death and whether or not he is still alive. He is also thinking about Christopher Creed a lot and can't seem to get him out of his head.

Catch Me If You Can...

Is he alive, or is he dead?

Freight train running all thru my head.

I wonder if he sleeps

Beyond the woods oh so deep.

If only we were to hear a peep.

Then we'd hear this noisy creep.

No matter how hard we search

You will always be on the verge.

To look.

To look.

To look.

Once we're through, we will eventually find you.

The Body of Christopher Creed.

Blog 24: Chapter 1 in The Body of Christopher Creed

Christopher Creed was the class outcast and a geek no one understood or wanted to understand. Everyone victimized Christopher Creed at some point, including Torey. Once Christopher Creed is missing, Torey finds himself regretting his own behavior that he showed towards Christopher Creed and everyone else's behavior toward him. When Torey says "People can love their lies, tell their own lies, believe their own lies until hell pays a visit," he means that you can lie to yourself all you want, but at some point you will be faced with the truth. As hard as Torey tried to forget Christopher Creed, the memories would come back to him. He says this to convince the reader that the story he is about to tell is absolutely true; that he does not intend to lie about it no matter how difficult and that he will tell the whole story and the truth is the point to the story.

Blog 23: Issues in Our American Society

In the article Is Your Lunch Causing Global Warming, the author makes a very strong and solid argument that it is contributing greatly. After reading the statistics and the chain of events that take place to put the food on our table, any skeptic would be convinced that we need to make some appropriate changes to our diet. The biggest culprit of creating the most greenhouse gases we learn is beef . It is amazing to me that it creates 100 times more greenhouse gases throughout production than the same weight in carrots. We always hear about cars and factories creating the problem, but the author reveals how much more our food consumption is responsible. It is not good for us to eat so much red meat anyway, we have another reason to cut back. I will definitely think twice before ordering my meals.

In the article Driven to Distraction, the author discusses the toughest law to crackdown on texting behind the wheel that was passed by Utah. It basically treats texting while driving in the same manner as driving while intoxicated. Alaska is the only other state with such penalties, while 17 states ban texting while driving. The author makes a strong argument against texting and driving citing several accidents with convictions and quoting the Harvard study of 2600 deaths a year linked to the multitasking of texting and driving. I agree that they should be treated equally, my only problem is the need for proof that the person held responsible was definitely texting and driving. When there is a drunk driving accident, a blood alcohol level can confirm the link, but there is no such test or way to definitively link texting unless it was witnessed somehow, or possibly with confiscating the cellphone. In order to put someone in prison for fifteen years if a death occurred, I would need proof. In one case that was cited where two people were killed, the cellphone was used one minute before 911 was called. Does that prove it was the cause of the accident. Even the author expressed this issue. There is no doubt that texting and driving must be banned and punished, but each case and crime needs to be reviewed individually at this time.

Blog 22: The "Birds" & The Bees

1. What if Ms. Angelou was living in Stamps when she became pregnant? How would Momma have handled the pregnancy?

Since Momma was a deep religious person, she would probably welcome a new life even though she would be disappointed in how it came about.

2. Would Ms. Angelou have experimented with sex on her own if she hadn't been raped as a child?

I do not believe there is any relevance with her sexual experimentation and her childhood rape. I think the opposite could of happened. She might have been afraid to experiment with sex after such an experience. But generally speaking, teenagers experiment.

3. What is the likelihood of Ms. Angelou becoming pregnant if Momma or Vivian had discussed the subject with her earlier?

Probably Ms. Angelou would not have allowed herself to become pregnant if she was sexually educated. She was bright and wanted to do something with her life.

4. What if Ms. Angelou had never been sexually abused? Could her pregnancy have happened anyway? Why or why not?

Absolutely. Ms Angelou's pregnancy had nothing to do with the rape. She wanted to experiment sexually and she was uneducated about it, which led to her pregnancy.

5. What qualities has Ms. Angelou developed as she matures that will help raise a child alone?

Ms. Angelou has developed many good qualities and traits the novel, but her best trait is that she was headstrong. She becomes much more independent and levelheaded and she faces all of her fears of raising a child. She also learned the importance of accepting herself and fond of who she is.

Challenge:

1. What if Maya Angelou didn't write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

If Maya Angelou did not write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, we as readers would not be able to hear or listen to what Maya Angelou went through most of her life. We as readers would also not be exposed to such an inspirational writer who can open her literature and life to the world.

2. What if there was no identity in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

If there was no identity in the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, then there would be no "caged bird." In the course of the The "caged bird," Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice. The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. If there was no identity, none of these important things would appear anywhere in the novel.