Keziah Tutu's Blogs
Monday, April 16, 2018
Progress Report on Bronx Healthy Eating Project Week2
This week I visited two South Bronx Bodegas to find out if they are participants in the Bodega healthy foods initiative. The first one I visited was in the West Tremont section of the Bronx. It's owned by Carmela Soto (40) who has been in the area for over a decade. Her daughter Keily Soto (24), who volunteers at the store translated our conversation and also spoke about her experience working there. She said the most popular foods there are hot meals specifically Dominican food. They said a representative from the Bodega program, (she was not specific about which organization he came from) came to tell them about the program and invited Mrs. Soto to an orientation but left out the details. He told her he would come back but he never did. Mrs. Soto and her husband have included healthy food items in their store. In the summer they have a fruits and vegetable stand and offer fresh-squeezed juice. Their most popular juice is the sugarcane juice that runs for $4 a cup. Her husband goes out every few weeks to speak to distributors and buys the fresh produce himself. They said it is expensive but it's something they feel good about doing for their community. I also visited Makey Deli Grocery on 2704 Third Avenue and spoke to the owner William Troncoso. Mr. Troncoso has a mini-fridge full of vegetables and fruits, as well as a display of bananas on the counter and by the front door going for 99 cents a pound. He says he heard about the program when he attended an event at the nearby school, South Bronx Preparatory. Then a representative from City Harvest came to his store and gave him a blender he uses to make smoothies. He says the program is good but it's very expensive. At first, the community was excited about it but the people who came to buy healthier foods stopped coming because of the cost. He says the two most popular items are cigarettes and bear. He went to buy a box of lemons and said they usually go for 25-30 dollars, the day I visited they were $60. It's hard to stock up the fresh produce because of the expense but he cuts corners by cutting up some of the fruit and selling them in pieces. However, there is a silver lining. Some of the kids from the school set up a stand in the summer and help sell some of the fruits! They do it on their own and free of charge. I got in contact with one of the organizations involved, BronxHealthReach and they want to tell me more about the program. They are holding an event for students and parents tonight that I'm planning on going to. Also, I'll call the school up and see if they can get me in contact with these kids who sell in front of Mr. Troncosco's store. I reached out to the Bodega Association but they did not respond. I'm planning on going to their location if I need to after speaking with a nutritionist from BronxHealthReach. I'm hoping to speak to some kids and their parents tonight. Remember that urban planner that worked with the Bronx Salad people? I'm going to reach out to him after sending this to get his explanation of why the Bronx is known as a food desert and if there is a map or any numerical data that prove this point.
Monday, April 9, 2018
Progress Report on South Bronx Healthy Eating Project Week 1
Topic: Healthy eating in the South Bronx.
I am looking at how
the South Bronx community is changing the systemic cycle of unhealthy eating by
targeting the youth within the communities.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
draft of paper 4
Keziah Tutu Tutu
Prof. Whitley
ENG 201 102
12/20/12
Mark Twain knew this wasn't a Christian country back when we were killing Filipinos and it isn't a Christian country now."(15). When we think about it we are trying to force God to bring us victory, just like martyrs who commit suicide by bombs and take the lives of others with them but claim it's for God. Forcing God's name into blood shead of the poor, weak, or under developed is just not morally a righteous thing. However when it comes to religion in war, religion looses it's spiritual value, and faith is poured not onto God but onto flag. Like the short story stated "…sent forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of deaths."(1). Our nations value is not in God it's in the Flag, the thrill to be the best, most advanced and richest and non of these things come with out imperialism, which means blood, war, and not to mention prayer to God to bring death upon the lands of our foe. Who have normally through out history been poorer, weaker, or less developed than we are as a nation. The article stated this about war and religion "If there is anything that contradicts religion, it is war. Nothing on this earth is more evil, cruel, wicked, irrational, horrible, ungodly, diabolical or injurious than war. Nothing. When this nation wages war and sings "God Bless America!" it smells like blasphemy, doesn't it?"(15).
Twains short story told of events that occurred during the war and a common theme of events that has repeated it's self through out time, even though Twain was an activist ahead of his time, one thing he does not help us with is the answer to the Christian Right. In the last article by Jack Kenny "Mark Twain's Tabooed Talk" Kenny explains the type of opinion Twain had towards the war and how it can be applied today however, Twains choice of publishing this story after his death in order to avoid any governmental issues may also be something to consider if he was in this day and age. The article states "Twain re- fered to American soldiers in the Philip- pines as “our uniformed assassins,” though his invective was more often and more appropriately aimed at the government that sent them there. Still, it is not hard to imagine the outrage that description would provoke were it uttered today about our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq." (33). Even though this was something many people could not talk openly about back then it's still a very controversial issue that may be seen as radical in this day and age.As the previous articles and short story have proven, religion has been used as a tool of distraction instead of salvation it's hard to understand or even come to terms with what the right thing to do is.Christians have a right to pray and seek the favor of God, however, asking for something that will affect others must be thought of because in this case the war killed thousands of Philipine more than the spanish American war which they were members of as well. Instead of doing something that will only benefit one party, we must all think about the circumstances then come up with another solution where both parties can become victorious. Even the Bible which has been used to justify war says this about the "foe" or wicked on Mark 12:31 "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Then goes on to say on Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." However, this goes beyond religion and the Bible. We need to think about the influence we have on others and think of them before we act out in a way that will bring them amens amount of trouble. The short story even stated this "If you pray for a blessing of rain upon your crop which need it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not ned rain and can be injured by it".(2).
Caplan, David. "That grotesque and laughable word':Rethinking patriotism in the time of war." The Virginia Quarterly Review 83.2 (2007):139-151.
Print.
O'Leary, Jim. "We're not a Christian country. (Viewpoint)." National Catholic Reporter 39.26 (2003):
Print
Tyson, Louis. Learning For A Diverse World:Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature. New York:Routledge, 2009.
Print.
Kenny, Jack. "Mark Twain's Tabooed Talk." New American 27.1 (2011): 33-36.
Print.
Twain, Mark. A War Prayer.1916.
Print
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Paper 3
Keziah Tutu Tutu ENG201 102
ENG201 102
Prof. Whitley
11/25/12
The Dangerous Games of Society
"Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves" (Ibsen, 80). The book A Doll's house by Henrik Ibsen is about a woman finally figuring out that she is more than just her husband’s play thing, which he can tell what to do at any time of day, she discovers she has self-worth and in order to break free of the tyranny she feels herself worth has been under all these years by her families quest of perfection in there patriarchal society; she must abandon everyone and everything, in order to end the abandonment she had been doing all her life, towards herself. At a first glance I made a quick judgment about the story and the main characters, I blamed Nora's husband for patronizing her, and acquiring the image of an average 19th century patriarchal male, however after some research I've come to realize that the characters were just acting upon what they thought was right and acceptable in their society. Articles like "Gender Struggles over Ideological Power in Ibsens's A Doll's House" by Guo Yuehua, explained the gender struggles between both males and females, how both sex are trying to fit into that perfect image of a perfect organized family, and when Nora finally "discovers" herself or has a break though, she becomes out spoken and takes a stand in what she believes in. This goes against everything that society has in a way advertised about the "perfect family, so it brings even more trouble to the house hold, and Louis Tyson's book on critical theory used for reading and writing literature called Learning for a Diverse World would argue the power categorization has when it comes to gender and especially relationships, once categorized, both women and men are labeled and they are either with or without society, and when you are with society you are looked upon as normal and intelligent, however once you go against society it is presumed that there is something wrong somewhere. The only way the two categories can be identified is if a family follows or abandons the rules of society. Then lastly the article "Intertextuality in Eleanor Marx-Aveling's A Dolls House and Madame Bovary", by Denise Merkle dissects two literary works which holds a common theme of gender struggles in society for males and females caused by society. The combination of all these works together deliver an in depth explanation of Ibsens's A Dolls House they come together and explain that these men who portrayed overbearing, un-emotional, power hungry figures were just mear "doll's" themselves.
They were acting upon what they have lived around and what society has been feeding them their entire lives, however Nora was the only character to realize the life she lived was not her own, she was the one brave enough to stand up for herself in the end and walk away from the "doll's house" she once called home, and the life she soon realized was being played with instead of lived. In the end it becomes clear that society’s strict rules influences both men and women into living artificial lives, portraying models of perfection in a perfect patriarchal society.
In Tysons book she explains the difference between males and females in a perfect patriarchal society, what they are expected to do, and if they do anything but what is expected they are seen as negative, bad, or wrong, basically they are either with or against society. In Ibsens's book, there are clear examples of gender roles in a patriarchal society, Tyson starts of by first explaining what patriarchy is, she states "a patriarchy is any society in which men hold all or most of the power. Usually, a patriarchy gives men power by promoting traditional gender roles." (86). Already we can see that society has laid a foundation of the way things are supposed to be ran, society is telling men and women in the patriarchal society that all men must take the leadership role and claim "all or most of the power". The system does not give leeway to the men who are more laid back, men who don't want so much power, what about those men who don't want such power, or gay men do they abandon all their power or do they share it equally between them and their partners, the laws of the system is very authoritative and vague, it's either men and women who engage in a heterosexual relationship follow these rules or not, either way society has a hand in their relationship. Tyson goes on to speak about the traditional gender role in this type of society, she states "According to traditional gender roles, men are naturally rational, strong, protective, and decisive, In contrast, traditional gender roles define women as naturally emotional (which, in a patriarchy, usually means irrational), weak, nurturing, and submissive." (87). The characteristics of these gender roles fit Torvald and Nora's characters, (in the beginning of the play) however, the roles that Tysons explains are not really asking both men and women to follow these qualifications but they are telling them "this is the way it should be". The patriarchal society in my view likes to keep everything organized and in control, it tells people how they should be instead of giving them an option, and for those who don't fit into these criteria’s they are seen as "bad" or "wrong" in the image of society, these rules strip people of their identity, instead of giving people the room to be themselves, the freedom of expression their freedom is narrowed and lives become more structural, organized, and artificial because they begin to live a life that is not their own, which is the same argument Nora brings up at the end of the play. In the Patriarchal society a woman is either a "good girl or a bad girl" in the words of Tyson the good girls are those who are submissive and fit the gender role in the society, and the bad girl is the one who does not, so we can say that if we were the supreme overlords in the Patriarchal society we can place judgment on Nora by saying she was "a good girl gone bad". Tyson states good girls are seen as "…pure, angelic creature whose sense of self consist mainly or entirely or their usefulness to their husbands, fathers, or brothers." (87) "Bad girls" are those that do everything a traditional patriarchal woman won't, in other words a "bad girl" is herself. Even though Tyson focused on females because she was giving her thoughts based on the feminist theory, I’m sure the same rules for women that are put in place to protect the image of the society goes for men as well. Even though the rules may be different when it comes to gender, they are the same when we look at it from the basis of protecting the image of the Patriarchy society. This can be seen in the play when Torvald goes a bit insane when he finds out that his wife borrowed money from his employee and has not paid it back, even when she is willing to kill herself to save his name he does not try to stop her because he need to save his image. In his view his status in society is far more important than the love he and his wife share. This is seen clearly when he states "Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves" (Ibsen, 80). His character may come off as a heinous person, but we must also remember the kind of society he lives in, he may love his wife unconditionally however, how he has been brought up and the rules he has been exposed to by society has altered that love, now status is love, it’s important, and its life instead of one’s own family and their wellbeing.
In the article by Guo Yuehua "Gender Struggle over Ideological Power In Ibsen's A Doll's House", Yuehua explains the gender roles of all the characters and the dilemma it brings, but if we take a closer look it is clear that the artificial life that Nora and Torvald lived ends in ruins because of their obsession with societies expectations of perfection, however the life that Ms. Linde lived ends in complete bliss and joy. Even though Torvald may come off as an over protective, controlling, and at times authoritative man, he was only doing exactly what society expected him to do, nothing less. In Yuehua’s article he stated this about the men in the book “In A Doll’s House, men are seemingly in the dominant position, and they manipulate their power to control women in ideological sphere so that their own identity and social status may be retained and be acknowledged by the society.” (80). Even though Torvald calls her a child because he sees himself as not only a husband but a father figure because he is the dominant male figure he himself is also a child in the eyes of society. In the words of Yuehua Torvald wants to be “acknowledged by the society” he wants to be noticed that he is doing the right thing, just like the way I child wants a parent to see and acknowledge them whenever they accomplish something great like riding a bike without training wheels or tying their shoe laces on their own, Torvald is seeking that same attention and acknowledgement, that why he is very strict when it comes to his image in society. Another phase Yuehua uses was the word seemingly, when he spoke of the power Torvald has, in the beginning he has all the power he is like a king and the people in his kingdom are his servants obeying and catering to his every whim. However when Nora becomes a “bad girl” and speaks about their lack of communication, and teamwork he shows a weaker more exposed Torvald because this is something he has no control over, society has not prepared him to lose power, his wife speaking out, leaving, and telling him what he must do in front of him, and him having no power to tell her to stop was a loos of power he was not prepared for. Yuehua’s article goes on to state “As Bertens points out: Once the social and cultural restraints on women have been lifted, women will be as autonomous and self-determining as men” (Bertens, p. 101)” (83). When the women speak out or turn bad in this society it becomes something un-usual and it is clear that Torvald could not control Nora’s behavior, he became powerless and Nora had the power, in the end of the book when Torvald is doing his best to try to get Nora to stay he is almost beginning which is very new for him, it almost becomes sad, it’s almost as if he has become the victim in this society, when all he did was try to follow the rules and his life was brought to ruins. Yuehua goes on to say “Now her resentment is not only directed against individual man, but the whole patriarchal system”.(83). At the end of the story it’s hard to tell who the dominant being in the home really is, the law says Torvald but the messages goes for Nora, Yuehua goes on to quote another writer who sums up the whole war and power struggle issue. He states “There is, in the lives of men, a strange combination of power and powerlessness, privilege and pain. Men enjoy social power and many forms of privilege by virtue of being male. But the way we have set up that world or power causes immense pain, isolation, and alienation not only for women but also for men…This combination of power and pain is the hidden story in the lives of men. (Kaufman, p. 23)” (84). We can see the pain that Torvald and Nora are experiencing when we compare their love and life to that of Ms. Linde and Mr. Krogstad. Ms. Linde is a widow who has lost her job and husband Mr. Krogstad is a man with two children and no wife, even though they are not the perfect image of love or fit the ideal model of the perfect patriarchal family they end up together in perfect joy. These two were not wealthy or high in society like Torvald and Nora but they were not obsessed with the views and patriarchal laws in society so they expressed their selves and found happiness in the end.
In the third and final article by Denise Merkle, the ideology of society and their obsession with order and gender classification is also one of the factors that brought the marriage and artificial love Nora and Torvald shared to an end.
Society played a major role in the lives of these two characters Nora and Torvald, it was as if society symbolically represented the hand that played with the doll house and it played with the marriage of the two characters until Nora realized this was not life but she and her family were just dolls. Having structure and order is important in ever society however when that becomes obsessive and begins to tamper with the personal lives of people, that’s when things turn ugly. Torvald and Nora were both victims to the dangerous games which society was playing, they thought life was supposed to be like this, submissive childlike women, and an overbearing husband. Everything was going just the way it was supposed to be in the society until Nora realized she was just a doll being played with in a dolls house, and Torvald lost her when he lost the power society gave him in the game, this just goes to show that the Doll’s House is a dangerous game to play.
work cited
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. New York: Pestwick House, 1910. Print.
Tyson, Lois. Learning for a Diverse World. New york:The Haworth Press, 2001. Print
Yuehua, Guo. "Gender Struggles over Ideological Power in Ibsen's A Doll's House". Canadian Social Science 5.1 (2009): 80-87. Print
Markle, Denise. "Intertexuality in Eleanor Marx-Aveling's A Dolls House and Madame Bovary". Communications & Mass Media Complete 50.2 (2004): 97-113. Print
Paper Two draft
Religion has a major influence on the characters in the book “All Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, it effects personality, culture, and laws; so when the missionaries introduce a new religion to the Ibo people, it slowly peels away the many layers of their culture until it get to the core and eventually strips them of their identity. (Religion creates the laws the law create the culture and the culture creates the personality)
In the book “All Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe the importance of religion is not only expressed through the religious practices of the Ibo people but its also presented in the individual personalities and cultural practices of these people. We can take our main character Okonkwo’s personality as an example, Okonkwo had a harsh early life because of his fathers gentle and lazy lifestyle, he did not get any inheritance from him so he had to literally create a life for himself and his family at a very tender age. This caused him to shield his heart from any form of emotional intimacy because he did not want to inherit any sign of weakness like his father; in the book it states “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (9). Okonkwo does everything to be different from his father, who died a shameful death and was buried in the evil forest, even though his father had his personal chi (wooden god) he would visit the oracle in the hills to ask why his crops were not abundant or flourishing; he would seek consultancy to make sure he had not insulted the gods in any way. However no matter what he did whether it was prayer or consult from an oracle with out the expected hard work from an Ibo man on his crops the gods could not provide the abundance which he seeked. Unlike Okonkwo who was hard working and made sure to respect the gods by not only providing the proper sacrifices but also the hard work they expected an Ibo mad to do to flourish the land. The book states this about Okonkwo’s home “Near the barn was a small house, the, ‘Medicine house’ or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and his ancestral spirits. He worshipped them on behalf of himself, his three wives and eight children” (10). He did everything in his power to make sure his gods and ancestral spirits were represented and respected, his struggle in his younger years and determination to never be like his father created his serious demeanor, life style, work ethics, and most of all in his faith, because with his faith came his culture and these are his roots which mean the world to him, so much so that he would kill for it. Okonkwo realized he was blessed in his life the book states “At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not good luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed” (19). Knowing all this Okonkwo was a man who had no limitations for his gods or spirits, even if they wanted to see blood on his hands or death upon his family he was willing to give his god way because he knew he would be ok because they were looking out for him, so when a murder was committed by the near by tribe, taking the life of one of Umofia’s (Okonkwo’s tribe) children, and as a result the tribal elders decided to keep the son of the murderer in the home of Okonkwo until the Oracle decided what she wanted to do with him, Okonkwo did not object, in fact he became found of the boy and when the oracle decided the boy must die, Okonkwo the same man who this boy has come to know as his father and he saw the boy as his son took part in the killing, and even boasted about it to prove that the sacrifices he made for the sake of the gods causes him no pain; the scene stated “He heard Ikemwfuna cry, ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (43). Okonkwo’s religion influenced his culture, which was linked with the idea of the “ideal Ibo man” who must be strong, the provider, and the head of his home; Okonkwo does his best to fulfill all these requirement however, when it comes to the root of his culture, his religious laws were followed to the letter, in a way when he did such things it did not require moral values, which were the teachings of the missionaries. Okonkwo is a very strong willed man who dies not dwell on emotion, and is obsessed with the ideas of what it means to be a manly man. When his gods or spirits require something to be done, no matter how emotionally draining or painful he does it because it not only shows his loyalty to his gods but it also strengthens his lack of emotional attachment to his feelings and that of other, which he sees as a positive thing because that is how he believes a man should be like. The strong respect for his culture and strong personal views are all linked with his religion, it has become apart of him, it’s all he has allowed himself to know and he does everything in his power to protect those views.
Okonkwo is not the only person in the Ibo community who has strong religious values for his gods, religion is the basis of their culture and no one stands in the way of that. Another person who sacrificed for the sake of the gods was one of Okonkwo’s wives Ekwefi, whose only child is Ezinma Okonkwo’s favorite child. Chielo was the priestess of the Oracle in the hill, at times she would be a normal person in fact the book states she was friends with Ekwefi, and called Ezinma “my daughter”, however one night she comes to the home of Okonkwo and demands that Ezinma goes with her and from the moment of arrival everyone could tell she was possessed, she request for Ezinma in the dark of the night and takes her to the hills where the cave of her god is, the book states “She walked through Okonkwo’s hut into the circular compound and went straight towards Ekwefi’s hut. Okonkwo came after her. ‘Ekwefi,’ she called, ‘Agbabla (the god possessing Chielo‘s body) greets you. Where is my daughter, Ezinma? Agbabla wants to see her.’(71). With plenty fear in her eyes and heart Ekwefi asks no questions and makes no objections but allows her only child who she loves dearly to be taken away very late at night by a possessed woman very late at night. This shows her respect for the gods in her culture, not only that but it also exposes her personality as a woman who obeys anyone who uses fear tactics. Even though Chielo is a woman just like herself and also a friend she obeys her because she is afraid of the god which possesses Chielo’s body. Religion in this community is highly respected and has no boundaries even when it threatens what one loves, or what is nearest and dearest. Religion is deeply rooted in the Ibo’s lives, so much that is has become a part of their personality. Having such deeply rooted views, it is difficult for one to abandon them just because someone says its wrong, however when the missionaries arrive it is done by many of the Ibo people. When one takes a step back and anylizes the religious views of the Ibo people and the various sacrifices they made, we the people in the 21st century would say this is primitive behavior, however when we consider the influence religion has on people we will understand. For example Christianity, the religion the missionaries were teaching the Ibo people, in the book it takles about Okonkwo killing his beloved step child, Ekwefi allowing her only child who she stuggled to conceive to be taken away by a possessed woman, and many other Ibo women abandoning their children in the evil forest because they were twins and twins were seen as a taboo in the Ibo culture. However, in the biblical story of an elderly man named Abraham and his barren wife Sarah a similar story is presented. Abraham longed for a child and when God finally blessed him with one, the same God also asks him to sacrifice that beloved child to him. Even though God prevents the killing from occurring in the end, Abraham was still willing to do it because of his faith. His faith had given him a new personality of humbleness and obedience, Okonkwo killed for his faith, Ekwefi allowed her child to be taken for the sake of her faith and many, many Ibo women abandoned their twin babies because of their faith, so sacrifices are not something new. People are influenced to do many things that would make no sense to those who don’t have or understand the faith, and even though Abraham went to great lengths to prove his faith to God, many people still practiced Christianity and have contributed many of the teachings in their culture as well, so you see even though he went to great extents many Christians see his willingness as greatness instead of murderous, strong faith also altars the personalities of its believes.
Religion also influences the laws practiced by it followers. In the Ibo society there are laws that condemn those who offend or disobey the natural laws of the land, there are laws for the season and laws for the ancestral spirits and separate laws for individuals, the laws are created by the elders of the land who either follow the practices of the ancestral spirits or enforce any law created by the gods at any time. For example one of the most commonly known ones in the Ibo society which the books speaks about is the fact that a man can marry many wives, women are scored for having twins, and another comely known one is women are allowed to speak up when they are being abused, the book gives two examples of how women’s rights are not entirely ignored in this society. The first example is when Okonkwo strikes his wife and nearly shoots her with his fire arm during the week of peace and gets an angry visit from the priest of the earth goddess Ani and is immediately commanded to cleanse his home with sacrifices or else he would hear the wrath of the earth goddess. The book states “We live in peace with our fellows to honour our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. You have committed a great evil.’ He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. ‘You wife was at fault, but even if you came into your obi(house) and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to have beat her.’…‘The evil you done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us increase, and we will all perish.’ His tone now changed from anger to command. (22). Another example is when a woman ran away from her husbands home to that of her brothers because her husband was beating her day in and day out, so her brothers went to defend her sister by beating the husband, so their was a huge trial before the nine ancestral spirits which represented the village of the clan. As a result of the trial the husband was told to compensate his wife and in laws and if his abusive behavior towards his wife shall not subside his genitals would be cut off . The book stated “Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent. The eight other eqwugwu (ancestral spirits) were as still as statues. ’We have heard both sides of the case,’ said Evil Forest. ’Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that, but to settle the dispute… ‘Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman.’ (66). This system of religious laws to protect the followers of that said faith is seen again when the missionaries come to spread their faith and develop their own system of government to protect their followers, the book states “But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only bought a religion but also a government. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. (110) . Even though both religions created laws to protect their followers they were going against each others religious practices, when ever the Ibo laws abandoned twins in the evil forest the missionaries would save them, when ever people were shunned from their clan the missionary took them in, even Okonkwo’s own son left his home, abandoned everything he ever knew about the Ibo religion, culture and law to follow the new religion, culture, and laws of the missionaries. These types of practices are not new to our generation, but they may be new to our culture, when we look at the religious practices of the people of Iran we can see the religious influence their faith has on their laws and government, even today. They have a religious leader called the supreme leader and instead of a congress they have something called the guardian council who vet (veto) laws that are not religious in their society. Their religion gives them order when it comes to the courts and the numerous cases present to the governmental leaders by women who want divorces because their husbands just like that of the woman who ran to her brothers home, beat them continuously. Whether the out come of the cases are fair or not that will all depend on which system of government you are dealing with, the culture and most important of all the religion you are involved with, so religion can also depend the fate of a life when it comes to law because it has a very large contribution when it come to laws and government.
In the book “All Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe the importance of religion is not only expressed through the religious practices of the Ibo people but its also presented in the individual personalities and cultural practices of these people. We can take our main character Okonkwo’s personality as an example, Okonkwo had a harsh early life because of his fathers gentle and lazy lifestyle, he did not get any inheritance from him so he had to literally create a life for himself and his family at a very tender age. This caused him to shield his heart from any form of emotional intimacy because he did not want to inherit any sign of weakness like his father; in the book it states “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (9). Okonkwo does everything to be different from his father, who died a shameful death and was buried in the evil forest, even though his father had his personal chi (wooden god) he would visit the oracle in the hills to ask why his crops were not abundant or flourishing; he would seek consultancy to make sure he had not insulted the gods in any way. However no matter what he did whether it was prayer or consult from an oracle with out the expected hard work from an Ibo man on his crops the gods could not provide the abundance which he seeked. Unlike Okonkwo who was hard working and made sure to respect the gods by not only providing the proper sacrifices but also the hard work they expected an Ibo mad to do to flourish the land. The book states this about Okonkwo’s home “Near the barn was a small house, the, ‘Medicine house’ or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and his ancestral spirits. He worshipped them on behalf of himself, his three wives and eight children” (10). He did everything in his power to make sure his gods and ancestral spirits were represented and respected, his struggle in his younger years and determination to never be like his father created his serious demeanor, life style, work ethics, and most of all in his faith, because with his faith came his culture and these are his roots which mean the world to him, so much so that he would kill for it. Okonkwo realized he was blessed in his life the book states “At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not good luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed” (19). Knowing all this Okonkwo was a man who had no limitations for his gods or spirits, even if they wanted to see blood on his hands or death upon his family he was willing to give his god way because he knew he would be ok because they were looking out for him, so when a murder was committed by the near by tribe, taking the life of one of Umofia’s (Okonkwo’s tribe) children, and as a result the tribal elders decided to keep the son of the murderer in the home of Okonkwo until the Oracle decided what she wanted to do with him, Okonkwo did not object, in fact he became found of the boy and when the oracle decided the boy must die, Okonkwo the same man who this boy has come to know as his father and he saw the boy as his son took part in the killing, and even boasted about it to prove that the sacrifices he made for the sake of the gods causes him no pain; the scene stated “He heard Ikemwfuna cry, ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (43). Okonkwo’s religion influenced his culture, which was linked with the idea of the “ideal Ibo man” who must be strong, the provider, and the head of his home; Okonkwo does his best to fulfill all these requirement however, when it comes to the root of his culture, his religious laws were followed to the letter, in a way when he did such things it did not require moral values, which were the teachings of the missionaries. Okonkwo is a very strong willed man who dies not dwell on emotion, and is obsessed with the ideas of what it means to be a manly man. When his gods or spirits require something to be done, no matter how emotionally draining or painful he does it because it not only shows his loyalty to his gods but it also strengthens his lack of emotional attachment to his feelings and that of other, which he sees as a positive thing because that is how he believes a man should be like. The strong respect for his culture and strong personal views are all linked with his religion, it has become apart of him, it’s all he has allowed himself to know and he does everything in his power to protect those views.
Okonkwo is not the only person in the Ibo community who has strong religious values for his gods, religion is the basis of their culture and no one stands in the way of that. Another person who sacrificed for the sake of the gods was one of Okonkwo’s wives Ekwefi, whose only child is Ezinma Okonkwo’s favorite child. Chielo was the priestess of the Oracle in the hill, at times she would be a normal person in fact the book states she was friends with Ekwefi, and called Ezinma “my daughter”, however one night she comes to the home of Okonkwo and demands that Ezinma goes with her and from the moment of arrival everyone could tell she was possessed, she request for Ezinma in the dark of the night and takes her to the hills where the cave of her god is, the book states “She walked through Okonkwo’s hut into the circular compound and went straight towards Ekwefi’s hut. Okonkwo came after her. ‘Ekwefi,’ she called, ‘Agbabla (the god possessing Chielo‘s body) greets you. Where is my daughter, Ezinma? Agbabla wants to see her.’(71). With plenty fear in her eyes and heart Ekwefi asks no questions and makes no objections but allows her only child who she loves dearly to be taken away very late at night by a possessed woman very late at night. This shows her respect for the gods in her culture, not only that but it also exposes her personality as a woman who obeys anyone who uses fear tactics. Even though Chielo is a woman just like herself and also a friend she obeys her because she is afraid of the god which possesses Chielo’s body. Religion in this community is highly respected and has no boundaries even when it threatens what one loves, or what is nearest and dearest. Religion is deeply rooted in the Ibo’s lives, so much that is has become a part of their personality. Having such deeply rooted views, it is difficult for one to abandon them just because someone says its wrong, however when the missionaries arrive it is done by many of the Ibo people. When one takes a step back and anylizes the religious views of the Ibo people and the various sacrifices they made, we the people in the 21st century would say this is primitive behavior, however when we consider the influence religion has on people we will understand. For example Christianity, the religion the missionaries were teaching the Ibo people, in the book it takles about Okonkwo killing his beloved step child, Ekwefi allowing her only child who she stuggled to conceive to be taken away by a possessed woman, and many other Ibo women abandoning their children in the evil forest because they were twins and twins were seen as a taboo in the Ibo culture. However, in the biblical story of an elderly man named Abraham and his barren wife Sarah a similar story is presented. Abraham longed for a child and when God finally blessed him with one, the same God also asks him to sacrifice that beloved child to him. Even though God prevents the killing from occurring in the end, Abraham was still willing to do it because of his faith. His faith had given him a new personality of humbleness and obedience, Okonkwo killed for his faith, Ekwefi allowed her child to be taken for the sake of her faith and many, many Ibo women abandoned their twin babies because of their faith, so sacrifices are not something new. People are influenced to do many things that would make no sense to those who don’t have or understand the faith, and even though Abraham went to great lengths to prove his faith to God, many people still practiced Christianity and have contributed many of the teachings in their culture as well, so you see even though he went to great extents many Christians see his willingness as greatness instead of murderous, strong faith also altars the personalities of its believes.
Religion also influences the laws practiced by it followers. In the Ibo society there are laws that condemn those who offend or disobey the natural laws of the land, there are laws for the season and laws for the ancestral spirits and separate laws for individuals, the laws are created by the elders of the land who either follow the practices of the ancestral spirits or enforce any law created by the gods at any time. For example one of the most commonly known ones in the Ibo society which the books speaks about is the fact that a man can marry many wives, women are scored for having twins, and another comely known one is women are allowed to speak up when they are being abused, the book gives two examples of how women’s rights are not entirely ignored in this society. The first example is when Okonkwo strikes his wife and nearly shoots her with his fire arm during the week of peace and gets an angry visit from the priest of the earth goddess Ani and is immediately commanded to cleanse his home with sacrifices or else he would hear the wrath of the earth goddess. The book states “We live in peace with our fellows to honour our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. You have committed a great evil.’ He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. ‘You wife was at fault, but even if you came into your obi(house) and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to have beat her.’…‘The evil you done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us increase, and we will all perish.’ His tone now changed from anger to command. (22). Another example is when a woman ran away from her husbands home to that of her brothers because her husband was beating her day in and day out, so her brothers went to defend her sister by beating the husband, so their was a huge trial before the nine ancestral spirits which represented the village of the clan. As a result of the trial the husband was told to compensate his wife and in laws and if his abusive behavior towards his wife shall not subside his genitals would be cut off . The book stated “Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent. The eight other eqwugwu (ancestral spirits) were as still as statues. ’We have heard both sides of the case,’ said Evil Forest. ’Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that, but to settle the dispute… ‘Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman.’ (66). This system of religious laws to protect the followers of that said faith is seen again when the missionaries come to spread their faith and develop their own system of government to protect their followers, the book states “But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only bought a religion but also a government. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. (110) . Even though both religions created laws to protect their followers they were going against each others religious practices, when ever the Ibo laws abandoned twins in the evil forest the missionaries would save them, when ever people were shunned from their clan the missionary took them in, even Okonkwo’s own son left his home, abandoned everything he ever knew about the Ibo religion, culture and law to follow the new religion, culture, and laws of the missionaries. These types of practices are not new to our generation, but they may be new to our culture, when we look at the religious practices of the people of Iran we can see the religious influence their faith has on their laws and government, even today. They have a religious leader called the supreme leader and instead of a congress they have something called the guardian council who vet (veto) laws that are not religious in their society. Their religion gives them order when it comes to the courts and the numerous cases present to the governmental leaders by women who want divorces because their husbands just like that of the woman who ran to her brothers home, beat them continuously. Whether the out come of the cases are fair or not that will all depend on which system of government you are dealing with, the culture and most important of all the religion you are involved with, so religion can also depend the fate of a life when it comes to law because it has a very large contribution when it come to laws and government.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
RR on Feminist Perspective for "A dolls House"
The book "A dolls house" by Henrik Ibsen is a story about a woman who has never had to make any major decisions her whole life, she has been treated like a child from her father to her husband and she does the same thing to her children, but one day she realizes that the life she is living is not her own. She has been a play toy or in the authors words a "doll" her whole life, she has been told what to do, where to go, what to wear etc; and all this time she enjoyed the life of a doll with out questioning it. However she begins to think of herself for the first time and decides to abandon her wealthy home, husband, kids, basically her entire life which was started for her by her now dead father and continued by her husband, all they did was place her in it and they told her what she must do, like a doll. Lois Tyson's book "Living For a Diverse World" explains the meaning of feminism and why the active portal of a feminist in a patriarchal society may be misleading or misunderstood. First of all Tyson explains what patriarchal means, she states "a patriarchy is any society in which men hold all or most of the power." (86). In a patriarchy there are basic gender roles, the ones that are pro-patriarchy are when the male is given the role of the "strong, rational, protector.(84). Tyson also stated that the dominant power in the home, for the female it's "submissive, emotional nurturer, (84) normally the house wife who cooks and cleans but does not complain to her husband about any of the chores because he is the "bread winner" in this case. However, Tyson claims at times in literary works that are based in a patriarchal society women who have power or the ones who do not fit the role of the "average" house wife or the description of the pro-patriarchal female are stereotyped as "nags, gossips, seductresses, and "bitches"". (84). When I apply this theory to Ibsen's book, from a feminist perspective I can see how this book can be argued on both sides of the panels, it can be argued as being pro-patriarchy or anti-patriarchy, anti patriarchy is used in books to show how the patriarchal society is wrong. In Nora's case (the main character in Ibsen's book) we can see that she first starts of as a traditional patriarchal female. She did what ever her husband told her to do, at one point to distract her husband from opening the mailbox so he can not discover the evidence of her doings, she ask him what she should wear to the party, and he tells her to wear what she wants but she then says, why cant he be her brain and tell her what to wear, and do, which is pro-patriarchal because her husband is not only taking up the role of the dominant sex but he is also playing the protector, he tells her what to do and she does it, and it's even more pro-patriarchal because she is the one asking him to be her protector instead of him being completely dominant Nora plays the perfect submissive wife because she asks for it, as if to say to him and the audience that she enjoys his dominance. However the story can be seen as anti-patriarchal because she abandons everything she has ever been given in the ens because she believes that she has not been given a fair chance in living her life. This shows the suffering that women go through in a pro-patriarchal society. Tyson states this about literary works that portray anti-patriarchal societies "for example a novel or a poem may show us that the character who conforms to traditional gender roles are harmed by the role." (85). In the book Nora is willing to commit suicide just to save her husbands reputation however when she realizes he was not willing to do the same for her she decides to leave and live life for herself. This can also be argued as being a negative depiction of a patriarchal society because some may argue that it was wrong for Nora to abandon the children she had with her husband, they may say it was cruel, and if she played a traditional patriarchal gender role she would have never been so cruel to leave her children.
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