This Title is a Lie

It's a question people have wrestled over for millenia, and now we, Ms. Froehlich's Enriched English class, will settle it: Is lying ever ethically or morally justified?

As a general rule, I believe not. People sometimes say lying is moral if it prevents a greater harm, but I don't think this is a valid justification; it is usually hard to know what the consequences of one's actions will be. In Much Ado About Nothing, Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio lie to trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice. So far, their scheme seems to be working, but it could easily have gone the other way; Benedick could have chosen to mock Beatrice for her supposed infatuation with him, or even simply have confronted her about it. Shakespeare seems to consider lying okay when done in the service of love, but if this were real life, Benedick probably would not have fallen in love, and the whole plan would have gone awry. Because we do not fully control the consequences of our actions, lying to prevent harm to others may as easily backfire as succeed.

The results of not lying may be as unknowable as those of lying, but honesty is preferable because it allows people to deal with circumstances more directly. If a person does not know the full truth about their situation, they cannot respond to it in the manner they would deem best for that situation. Because Benedick now thinks that Beatrice loves him so much as to die, he decides that he must love her in return. This love is not based on any of his own true feelings, merely the duty he feels as a result of Leonato, Don Pedro, and Claudio's lies. Shakespeare would probably say that it is good that Benedick is starting to love, no matter what the cause. But I think that true love cannot result simply because Benedick thinks it is his duty– if true love does eventually form, then it probably would have done so without any deception, just a bit later in time.

I will admit that lying may sometimes have a seemingly better result, but I don't think this is a reason to make lying in itself ethical. I'm sure people will continue to lie and try to justify it, however.

Why Everyone Should See Neil Gaiman's Movie "Stardust"

The Day the Saucers Came

By Neil Gaiman

That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,

Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,

And the people of Earth stood and stared as they descended,

Waiting, dry-mouthed to find what waited inside for us

And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow

But you didn't notice it because

That day, the day the saucers came, by some coincidence,

Was the day that the graves gave up their dead

And the zombies pushed up through soft earth

or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,

Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,

But you did not notice this because

On the saucer day, which was the zombie day, it was

Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us

A ship built of dead-man's nails, a serpent, a wolf,

All bigger than the mind could hold, and the cameraman could

Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out

But you did not see them coming because

On the saucer-zombie-battling gods day the floodgates broke

And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites

Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities

And charm and cleverness and true brave hearts and pots of gold

While giants feefofummed across the land, and killer bees,

But you had no idea of any of this because

That day, the saucer day the zombie day

The Ragnarok and fairies day, the day the great winds came

And snows, and the cities turned to crystal, the day

All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the

Computers turned, the screens telling us we would obey, the day

Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,

And all the bells of London were sounded, the day

Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,

The fluttering capes and arrival of the Time Machine day,

You didn't notice any of this because

you were sitting in your room, not doing anything

not even reading, not really, just

looking at your telephone,

wondering if I was going to call.

Citation:

Gaiman, Neil. "The Day the Saucers Came." SpiderWords Magazine 2.1 (2006) 28 Nov 2007

Analysis:

The Day the Saucers Came, by Neil Gaiman, is about a day when all sorts of amazing things happen, but "you" do not notice, because you are sitting in your room, waiting for the narrator to call. Every paragraph, a new event is added, until the last paragraph when everything piles on each other, then zooms in on "you" in your room. An allusion is made in this poem is to Ragnarok, which in Scandinavian mythology is the final battle between the gods and the forces of evil.

I enjoy Gaiman's descriptions of the supernatural events. It probably is partly because I'm a fantasy geek, but also, as he writes, I can totally picture these bizarre things happening in real life, like when he describes Ragnarok, he says "...and the cameraman could/not get far enough away..." (16-17). I can imagine the headline "Breaking News: Giant Wolf Tramples IDS Tower" on a TV screen. I also find the idea of "Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars" (30) rather interesting. He words this semi-disturbing picture very ordinarily and realistically.

The other reason this is one of my favorite poems is that the ending never fails to make me think, Aww.... This poem communicates so effectively the person's devotion to the teller of the poem; natural laws are being broken and myths vindicated left and right and it's all over the media, yet still this one person is still just sitting alone in his/her room, doing nothing but wait for his/her love to call.

EE10: Quarter One in Review

If you'd asked me at the end of ninth grade how good I was at writing, I probably would have said, "Oh, pretty good. Not perfect, or anything, but not bad, either." And my expectations for next year? "Well, it'll be different, harder, I guess, but I doubt it'll be a problem."

My first-quarter-tenth-grader response to these naïve statements? Essentially, rolling on the floor with laughter.

At the start of the year, Ms. Froehlich said that this was a writing-intensive course; she did not lie. I have discovered just how mediocre a writer I am (at least compared to where I'm expected to be at the end of the year). At the same time, I'm probably twice as good a writer now than I was at the end of ninth grade, in terms of thesis statements, attention-getters, cappers, quote lead-ins, and more. If I continue to learn at this rate (hard to guarantee, but...), I think I might actually have a shot at earning an 'A' on the last paper in fourth quarter. Also, as we've studied rebellion the entire quarter, EE10 has started to make me want to take on the middle school Language Arts curriculum. Honestly, they could have at least taught us how to write a proper outline. Outlines are so helpful, even if they are moderately labor-intensive.

Some specific goals I have for second quarter are to stop procrastinating on blog assignments; to get better at attention-getters, cappers, transitions, and ideas; and to force myself to work on a paper every day until it is due.

In short, Enriched English is a challenge, but for me it's an inspiring challenge, as nerdy as that sounds. Don't ask me about that when I'm up to my neck in English homework, though.

The Kite Runner: Post Five

To wrap up this wonderful novel, it seems proper to reflect over the book as a whole and link it to other novels and events.

Like Black Boy, this story has several characters who do not follow the norms of society. In Black Boy, Richard rebels against his family's commands and the unspoken rules of relations between whites and blacks. In The Kite Runner, Amir crosses the gap between Hazaras and Pashtuns in Afghanistan, by playing with Hassan. However, Amir is still partially swayed by his society's bias, as shown in his feelings of superiority over Hassan, and his sacrifice of Hassan's well-being for a kite. Also, both leave their homes due to their abnormal beliefs. Richard travels to Memphis, then to the North in an attempt to escape the limits placed on him by his family and Southern society. Amir leaves his home and security in America and returns to war-ravaged Afghanistan for the sake of Hassan's son, regardless of his cultural background. Indeed, many people are surprised by Amir's action:
[Amir said,] "I'm going to Kabul to find a boy."
"A boy," Wahid repeated.
"Yes." I fished the Polaroid from the pocket of my shirt... He studied the photo. Looked from me to the photo and back again. "This boy?"
I nodded.
"This Hazara boy." (Hosseini 237)
It is very unusual for a Pashtun to care about a Hazara at all, much less venture into Afghanistan for one.

In both On the Waterfront and The Kite Runner, the protagonist attempts to atone for past mistakes. In On the Waterfront, Terry helps the bosses of the corrupt union murder Joey Doyle, then testifies against the union to make up for his misdeed. In The Kite Runner, Amir allows a bully to rape Hassan, and falsely implicates Hassan in stealing money and a watch. Many years later, Amir is finally able to make up for his wrongdoing by rescuing Hassan's son from Afghanistan.

The 400 Blows and The Kite Runner are similar in that neither of their endings are certain. At the end of The 400 Blows, Antoine has escaped from the detention center and accomplished his goal of seeing the sea, but the movie ends there, without any hint of what Antoine's fate will be. At the end of The Kite Runner, Sohrab is depressed and has not smiled or spoken to anyone for months. But when Amir flies a kite for him, and is able to cut down another kite, he smiles a bit. Amir thinks, "It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right... But I'll take it" (Hosseini 371). There is no way to know if Sohrab will ever stop being depressed, and so the book leaves us stranded here, hopeful, but without certainty.

The Kite Runner: Post Four

At the start of The Kite Runner, Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba and Amir's, calls the grown-up Amir from Pakistan, and at the end of the call, he says, "There is a way to be good again" (Hosseini 2). The story then shifts to Amir's childhood, and it comes to appear that there is nothing Amir could possibly do to make up for his wrongdoings. The story now catches up to the beginning, however, and the right action for Amir to take to resolve his internal conflict is revealed.

Rahim Khan asks Amir to visit him, so Amir flies to Pakistan. When they finally meet face to face, Khan tells Amir about what has happened to him and Hassan since Amir left. When Khan came to Pakistan six months earlier for medical treatment, Hassan was taking care of Baba's old house with his wife, Farzana, and his son, Sohrab. A month ago, however, Khan received the news that Hassan and Farzana were killed by the Taliban, and Sohrab was placed in a Kabul orphanage. Khan asks Amir to go to Kabul and bring back Sohrab so he can live in an American orphanage in Pakistan. At first, Amir refuses, but eventually his conscience persuades him to return to Afghanistan. He thinks, "I wished Rahim Khan hadn't called me... But he had called me. And what Rahim Khan revealed to me changed things... There is a way to be good again, he'd said. A way to end the cycle" (Hosseini 226-227).

When Amir finds the orphanage, however, he learns that Sohrab has been taken by a Taliban official, whom Amir discovers is the bully from his childhood, Assef, who raped Hassan. Amir finally does what he should have done then: he fights Assef. He is injured horribly in his losing battle, but he and Sohrab manage to escape together.

Upon returning to Pakistan, however, they are unable to find the American orphanage Rahim Khan had described. After a few days, Amir thinks of a solution: he and his wife, Soraya, could adopt Sohrab. They go through many trials before they can adopt Sohrab and bring him to the U.S., but eventually, they achieve their goal.

By standing up to Assef and taking in the only remaining family of Hassan, Amir finally atones for his inaction 26 years ago. If he had only confessed and tried to mend the hurt he had caused right away rather than try to hide from it, he might not have had to bear his guilt for so long.

The Kite Runner: Post Three

In the past, I have been inside countless classrooms with a poster on the wall that says, "Ten years from now, it won't matter what shoes you wore, what clothing you had, or how popular you were... What will matter is how well you treated others" or something to that effect. Amir, the protagonist in The Kite Runner, is learning just how true this saying is as he tries to cope with his guilt for his crimes against his childhood friend, Hassan.

After Hassan was raped by Assef, Amir is filled with guilt for not stopping the crime. He avoids Hassan, shutting himself up in is room and reading rather than going out and playing with Hassan (Hosseini 88). Eventually, Amir's remorse becomes so great that he frames Hassan in stealing some of Amir's birthday presents. Baba forgives Hassan, but his father, Ali, refuses to stay any longer, and the father and son move to Hazarajat (Hosseini 105-107). None of this makes Amir feel any better. Even that which Amir had hoped to attain by his wrongdoing, his father's approval, soon wanes (Hosseini 93).

But life must go on. When Amir is eighteen, Russia takes over Afghanistan, so Baba and he flee to America. But still Amir does not escape his memories of Hassan. After he graduates from high school, Amir and his father is overjoyed. He says, "'I wish Hassan had been with us today...'" (Hosseini 133). Immediately Amir has a pang of regret. "A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan's name" (Hosseini 134). Even as Amir makes a new life for himself in the U.S., his past still weighs him down.

By now, I hope Amir has finally learned that doing the right thing and sticking up for one's friends is more important than the transient approval of others. In the short term, approval may be more comfortable, but as life goes on, doing the right thing is the only thing that will allow true peace of mind. At this point, it's hard to see how Amir will be able to overcome his conflict with his conscience. All that is left to do, it seems, is attempt to make fewer such mistakes in the future.

Master Photographer I Ain't

But oh well, here's my photo:

The Kite Runner: Post Two

As I read The Kite Runner, a theme that really stands out to me is how the way people influence each other can have good and bad consequences.

One relationship where this is the case is the bond between Amir and Hassan. Amir holds a lot of sway over Hassan, and he is very much aware of this. He sometimes trifles with Hassan's loyalty, like when Hassan said, "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" (Hosseini 54). Amir responds, "I don't know. Would you?" (Hosseini 54). Hassan vows, "I'd sooner eat dirt" (Hosseini 54). Amir decides to tease him, and asks, "Really? You'd do that?" But Hassan continues to be loyal and earnest, replying, "If you asked, I would" (Hosseini 54). Amir sometimes takes this devotion, and the power it gives him, for granted, not realizing how lucky he is to have such a faithful friend as Hassan. As Amir later thinks, "He was just a Hazara, wasn't he?" (Hosseini 77).

Amir has much influence over Hassan, but in turn, Amir's father, Baba, has a great hold over Amir. Throughout his life, Amir has never been able to meet Baba's expectations. The one thing Amir does well that Baba values is fly kites. So when Baba suggests to Amir, "I think maybe you'll win the tournament this year" (Hosseini 56), winning the kite-flying tournament becomes Amir's raison d'etre. Amir yearns for acceptance from his father, and forgiveness for his mother's death when he was born, and believes winning the tournament and bringing the losing kite home to be the only way to earn these things. This influence helps Amir in that it encourages him to do his best to win.

On the other hand, these two influential relationships and the struggles contained in them soon converge into an event of utter malevolence. When Amir finally cuts the string of his last opponent, he is overjoyed, but is concerned about getting that last kite. He scarcely has to tell Hassan, who is an extraordinary 'kite runner'; Hassan assures him, saying, "I'm going to run that kite for you... For you a thousand times over!" (Hosseini 66-67). However, after Hassan has gotten the kite, a group of bullies, whom Hassan previously offended in his defense of Amir, corners him. They offer not to pulverize him if he will give them the kite, but in his loyalty to Amir, Hassan refuses (Hosseini 72). Amir has gone searching for Hassan and his kite, and finds him with the bullies, but he does not interfere, throughout the whole awful episode of violence, because his desire for the kite, and through it his father's approval, is so deep (Hosseini 77).

Because Amir does not fully understand the nature of the many influences in his life, and doesn't have his priorities very well-ordered, his conflicts grow even more twisted and deep. Having betrayed his staunchest ally for the sake of transient attention from his father, it remains to be seen if Amir can find a way to mend the harm he has caused.

Memoirs

Why do people write memoirs?

What power is there in telling our own stories?

Judging by memoirs' status as a standard part of an English curriculum, there clearly must be something that makes memoirs important and educational. Yet it takes few qualifications to write a story about something that happened to yourself. Perhaps people write memoirs to teach others a lesson the writer has learned through life, or to communicate one's point of view in a way to which others may relate.

When a person writes about an event, it usually is one of significance, for it to be remembered. Often the things that affect us most carry some sort of lesson that was useful. The lesson is valuable to one's own life, but if it is shared with others, it can reach even further. By telling other people the story, they can learn the same lesson without a similar bad experience. Some might say that people learn better through experience than when simply told. However, memoirs have the power to allow the reader to see the event, and resulting lesson, through the eyes of the writer; they experience the incident without it actually happening to them. These stories serve as a happy medium between rules and lectures from grown-ups and unfortunate experiences for everyone.

Similarly, a memoir can help other people understand a person's opinion or point of view. If a person tells the story of how they came to think or be something, then other people can sympathize better. As I wrote in an earlier post, people don't live in a vacuum; circumstances play a large role in the development of our personalities and beliefs. Unfortunately, it can be hard for others to see the past events that helped shape a person into the present individual. The power of a memoir is in how readers get a glimpse into a person's thoughts. They may not understand everything about a person– it's only a memoir, not a mind-reader or even an autobiography– but the snapshot received can still illuminate much about a person.

By the sharing of lives and lessons, we begin to see the people around us a bit more clearly than we would have otherwise. If these things weren't written down, then we would have to start over every generation, and we'd never make progress in sympathizing with each other. So, power to English class, I guess.

Black Boy: Post Two

What types of things does Richard "hunger" for

and what are the effects (positive and negative) of hunger?

Throughout his life so far, Richard has had to endure much pain and want. As a result of this, he hungers for many things, which impacts his life in many ways.

A nearly omnipresent hunger throughout Richard's life is the longing for his physical needs to be met. For almost his whole life, his family has been poor and scarcely manages to survive. He is always acutely aware of those around him who have enough to eat. At lunchtime at school, he pretends not to be hungry, but is really salivating at the sight of the others' food. This inspires him to begin working so he can have food, too, which is good in that food improves his health and the money helps his family get by. However, Richard's jobs also make clear the way most white people treat black people, which disturbs him.

Another unfortunate hunger of Richard's is his need for sympathy and understanding. Virtually all the grown-ups in his life have severely punished Richard for his every misdeed without ever taking the time to listen to his side of the story or explaining what he did wrong. For instance, when Granny was washing Richard and he said something rude, she immediately begins yelling at him and tries to beat him; he runs away. If he had understood what he had done wrong, he would have taken his punishment quietly, but to him it seems that Granny is just randomly attacking him, and so is deeply frightened. All these seemingly unjustified punishments lead Richard to resent authority, and to refuse to allow himself to be punished by anyone. This makes everyone consider him a ne'er-do-well, although he isn't.

A third hunger, deeply engrained in Richard's personality, is his desire for knowledge. Even when Richard was a very small boy, his setting the curtains on fire and pestering his mother with questions show that he is curious and bright. As he gets older, he asks even deeper questions about the world, particularly the hardships imposed on blacks, and develops a thirst for reading and writing. The good thing about Richard's intelligence is that it opens up more possibilities in life for him. Unfortunately, the Jim Crow South seeks to prevents blacks from having any opportunites. Closer to home, Richard's family interprets his questions as being smart-alecky, and his Granny thinks the stories he reads and writes are sinful.

It is not fair for any kid to have to grow up with such deep hunger in him, especially a kid with as much potential as Richard. Hopefully, he will be able to find a way to satisfy his hungers in subsequent chapters.

The Kite Runner: Post One

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the story so far is about two boys, Amir and Hassan, along with Amir's father, Baba.

Amir, the story's narrator, has grown up with Hassan and they play together every day, but he still doesn't consider Hassan his friend, due to their cultural and socioeconomic differences. Amir thinks, "In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing" (Hosseini 25). Along with this, Amir's father is among the wealthiest businessmen in Kabul, while Hassan's father is a lowly servant (Hosseini 4, 6). Possibly due to this belief in his superiority, Amir is always the leader when he plays with Hassan, but if they get in trouble, Hassan takes the blame (Hosseini 4). However, when other kids bully Amir, he never sticks up for himself; Hassan drives them off instead (Hosseini 22).

Hassan might have less than Amir does, but he makes up for it with his perpetual cheerfulness (Hosseini 25). He is also very loyal to Amir; he never tells on Amir when he gets in trouble for Amir's schemes (Hosseini 4). Although it might seem that Hassan does not care to question the world much, he is actually very bright despite his lack of schooling. This sometimes irks Amir; he says, " I read him poems and stories, sometimes riddles– though I stopped reading those when I saw he was far better at solving them than I was" (Hosseini 28).

Amir's father, Baba, although often distant toward Amir, nevertheless has a deep influence on him. His nickname, Toophan agha or "Mr. Hurricane" (Hosseini 12), sums it up best: he has a very forceful personality. Whatever he wants to happen, happens, except for where his son is concerned. Amir is very different from Baba, which worries him. He tells his friend Rahim Khan, "'He needs someone who... understands him, because God knows I don't'" (Hosseini 23).

Although it is very early in the book, Khaled Hosseini uses a lot of foreshadowing. It is clear that in the pages to come, these three characters will have great impacts on each other's lives.

Black Boy: Post One

Is Richard a "bad" boy?

When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?

I think that Richard is not an inherently bad boy, but much of his bad behavior is at least partly explained by his environment. One place where this seems to be the case is when Richard burns down his house at age four. The reason he chose to play with fire in the first place is because his mother told him to keep completely quiet and still, which is a lot to expect from almost any four-year-old. His decision to burn things was only intended to entertain, not destroy.

Another misdeed that I feel Richard is not fully culpable for is when he kills a kitten. In contrast to when Richard set the house on fire, the murder of the kitten did arise from an evil impulse, so some blame rests on Richard. However, the idea of killing the kitten came to him because his mean-spirited father, who ought to have known better due to his greater age, told him to do so in anger; Richard saw a chance to get back at his father without being beaten. Therefore, Richard's father's abuse also bears some responsibility.

A third event where Richard behaved badly, but was not truly accountable is when he became an alcoholic at age six. The original reason for this is because he was fascinated by the frightening, mysterious saloon; I don't think it's especially surprising that a young boy would be amazed at the odd behaviors exhibited by drunk people. Unfortunately, Richard was captured by a customer, after which all the patrons pressured him to drink, and on top of that paid him for doing so. Thanks to the drunkards' poor influence, Richard soon became addicted to alcohol and to the money he received. He should not have returned to the saloon, but the blame rests far more heavily on the drunks who encouraged him.

Basically, I think behavior can be blamed on people to a certain extent, but the circumstances are very important to determine the degree of culpability. If a person isn't old enough or smart enough. for instance, to know their actions are wrong, they certainly are not accountable for them. Circumstances also come into play when things such as provocation and motive are taken into account. If a person was adequately provoked into a misdeed, then the provoker deserves part of the blame. If a person's intent was harmless when they acted, they should not be considered completely evil for their deed.

After all, people don't live in a vacuum. Our surroundings affect our lives as much as we do.

Welcome to my Enriched English blog! Isn't it delightful? So... This welcome has to be 5-10 sentences long. What more can I say? Well, props to Blogger on the template and the font. They both seem fairly good-quality for a website. Of course, this is run by Google. They tend to have fairly good-quality products.
Anyway, TTFN and TGIF!