On the Rez

The reservation, as Junior stated in the book, was made originally to kill Indians. They were death camps in disguise, similar to the "concentration camps" that Jews were put into during the Holocaust, to kill them. However, the reservation might not have killed them physically, but it did figuratively. It really killed their spirits. Doing some research, I found out that the reason Indians have a very bad record of alcoholism is because by being forced onto the reservation, they lose their land: they are treated like savages and slammed into poverty. They drink to escape their pain, to escape shame that has been given to them by Europeans. And drinking really does kill their hopes and dreams (In Part Time Indian, most of the fathers (or mothers) are alcoholics).

There aren't just alcoholics, there are abusive parents, and there are children of those abusive or alcoholic parents that can't go to college because they are too poor, and they become just like their parents. It's a vicious cycle that Indians cannot escape. Junior is a different case: he is trying to escape, trying to build a better future for himself by going to a good school, and he will work hard in his life to avoid the bad path his parents went down and go another way, and we applaud him for that, of course. He has been criticized by his fellow tribe members, when really, they should applaud him for his noble efforts: none of them realize that they have a future that has been robbed from them, which means that they will be forever reading from their parents' textbooks, forever going to powwows and getting drunk, because that's really all they can do. Junior will fly just like Penelope is.

Be the Judge and Jury of Bigger

The question this time is address whether Bigger really deserved to die.

My answer is yes, but of course I should support this with evidence:
Very good arguments for Bigger have been made, most of which I agree: yes, Bigger has been oppressed and pressed down by white people in a very messed up society. Yes, he has felt like he could not breathe, that he did not have options in his life because they have been taken away from him. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll have to say that word a thousand times to justify that most of the things in Bigger life are unfair and unjust. But his actions, although influenced by the people in his life and the way the world was, are unjustifiable.

You could definitely say that what happened with Mary was a mistake: because it was! Although him touching her was not, he certainly did not mean to kill her. Because I do think that he killed her out of fear. However, chopping off her head and throwing it in the furnace was a serious stretch. People might ask, "But what else could he have done?" ANYTHING BUT CHOP OFF HER HEAD AND THROW IT IN THE FURNACE. Yes, these actions were also influenced by his fear, but they were so extreme that they border-lined on insanity.

People are naturally more interested in the fact that he "raped and killed" a white woman and Bessie sort of fades out of the picture, because Mary is white and Bessie is black. But really, Bessie's crime is the reason I feel that Bigger owes his life. The things that Bigger did to Mary are described as sexual assult and second degree murder, both of which he owes time in jail but not his life. However, with Bessie, he actually DID rape her, it is shown in the book, and he did kill her, very intentionally. Unlike with Mary, these actions could DEFINITELY have been avoided. He hit her several times in the head with a brick! I look to his second crime as what influences me to make the decision of the death penalty, and to his first as icing on the cake.

Principle to Keep

I do not consider myself a principled person. This goes along with the fact that although I consider myself opinionated, I do not have enough support in those opinions to keep them and have them never change. But with principles, I feel like the trivial ones I have don't mean much, and they can be bent in my mind while facing different scenarios. However, there are two that I have that I think will not be bent in any situation, and one of them is very important to me:

Do not make anyone feel significantly small for no reason. If I say something bad to someone, most of the times it is meant as either a joke, or retaliation for that person making me feel like less of a human being. For every action I go through, for every thing I say, there is always an ulterior motive. But in no situation would I be able to call someone a derogatory name, or somehow point out one of their flaws for just no reason at all. Even when I make fun of someone for a joke, or maybe as retaliation for that person "starting it first", I will lie in bed and stare at the ceiling and over think every word I've said, and feel this sickening feeling of guilt.

The reason for that is because many times in my life this has happened to me: people pointing out my flaws, calling me names, for no reason at all. Well of course there was a reason: to make me feel bad about myself, and just because they're bored with their own lives that they feel the need to disrupt mine. But would I do that willingly? Would I want a person to over-think their flaws as they lay and try to sleep? No, I wouldn't. I'm sure that there are definitely some people who don't care about other's opinions of themselves. Everyone says that they don't care, but it makes me feel weak, hearing insults about myself. Of course, I understand the fact that I do not like everybody and that nobody can be liked by everyone and that nobody likes everybody. This is not a principle that I could have everybody live by, not even the people that I really like. But regardless for myself, I do not want to make the people I care about feel weak. 

Janie

With Janie, the one thing I can say that I admire about her is her maturity. Did she really need the hardships she received from both Logan and Joe in order for her to get to a mature point? I think so. I observed this maturity in certain points of the book. After Joe died, she complained about how much she hated Nanny, what a horrible woman she was! Making her marry a person that she doesn't love. As she grows older, she realizes that Nanny was only trying to do the best for her. She didn't want Janie to end up like her and Leaky. I feel like had Nanny not made Janie marry Logan, she would've run off with Johnny from the peach tree, and who knows how that would've gone.

All Janie really wanted was love. I can't say that this is a good thing, because this desire of her for that love rushed her into the obvious bad decision, running away with Joe. Although she does make a good decision for love and herself by going with Tea Cake, it does make for a tragedy in the end. But really, who can blame her? As human beings, we naturally have a desire to seek affection and love. Janie is just human. She made decisions with her heart and what she believed would be the best for her, although it didn't really work out.

I also feel bad for Janie. How unlucky could you be? To have a relationship that wasn't even a relationship (Logan), rather than her being forced to work, then to be stuck in a store 30 years with her hair put up (Joe), and finally when she does meet that person who is the ONE, he gets sick and she's forced to kill him. To go through just one of these horrible scenarios would scar a person for life, and Janie was forced through all three of these! I believe the universe works in a system of karma, but I don't think karma was an issue with Janie, but I do think she is certainly very unlucky to have to go through all of these hardships in her life.

Classmates I'm Thankful For

First of all, I have to say that I'm thankful in general for everything, especially the fact I get to type this on a laptop in a heated home, and that I go to a school that is accelerated. Related to my classmates though, I am grateful for a couple of people:

I'm thankful for Lauren. Lauren, we've talked about this, but in seventh grade, we were pretty good friends. However, we drifted apart throughout the middle of the year and in eighth grade because we started to make friends that were so different. When I found that you were in my English class, even though I was disappointed like you were that we didn't get to be in a class with one of our actual friends, I was glad I was in a class with you. I would much rather have you than a lot of the other thirsty people in our grade. You seem to be so chill and relaxed all the time and you always know the right thing to say, like you're thinking about what you're going to say. I am not that person, as you already know. I'm glad that we're friends again, and you're just a good person. Also, I always like what you're wearing. You have good fashion taste.

Evan, I looked at a couple people's blogs just to see if they did it or not and then I looked at yours. And I was like, holy crap, how did he do this before I did? I'm really losing my touch.
First of all, I'm really surprised at what you said about me. But I agree. Somewhat. Wait, what does chunk mean? Urban Dictionary didn't really help.
I just knew you as a guy who was in my division and also in my gym class in eighth grade. I still have so many horrible pictures on my phone by the way. I never really considered you my friend until this year. And I'm happy about that, because like Lauren, you're one of the only popular frackies that I actually like. I look forward to English because I get to talk to you, and Lauren. You're just such an easygoing guy and you're also hilarious. Also, you've been getting really good at doing your homework. Better than me. Congratulations.

Happy Thanksgiving to you both, and even though I told Evan already that I don't celebrate it at all, I hope you guys eat a lot of turkey, which I think is disgusting and I feel really bad for those turkeys. The holiday season must be, like, their mass massacre season. Oh, and eat cranberries? Or stuffing? Is chestnuts for Christmas? You know that Costco only sells them right now?

Oh, and I'm sure Mr. McCarthy is reading this and shaking his head in sadness, so happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Hemingway.

I didn't even know who he was, although my mother did always tell me about a book about an old man that goes to the sea. And I did hear bits and pieces about how he was a depressed guy who got married four times and killed himself in the end. I think for a lot of us, after hearing this documentary about his life, we still have that same feeling that he was a depressed guy who got married four times and killed himself in the end.

Ernest Hemingway's life was like a roller-coaster though, and no, there was no Fault in the Stars, let's go on a roller coaster that only goes up, because that's not true, and he is not Augustus Waters. He was a man who thoroughly enjoyed life and at the same time, suffered from it. He had really sucky people who probably made him die the way he did - his dysfunctional family basically is the root for all this, because his mom was too domineering and dad too....suicidal? But he also did have these amazing moments that made him feel like an accomplished writer and person.

He's not the man I would want to meet, let alone have a friendship with. From what I've heard, he's kind of a jerk in general: he doesn't really pay attention to his family, he's jealous and arrogant, and most importantly, he cheats. I can understand if you want to go from relationship to relationship because you feel as though you can't just love one person. But don't marry all those people and then cheat on them. You promised them that you would only love them, and then you're off flirting with another "them". Not just related to marriage, but when you cheat, you're saying that your current relationship with a person is not important, that it's diminished by some chick you met in Paris.

I just have one more statement. He was probably the most accomplished writer ever - he's definitely not my favorite, but he's probably influenced the people I read from today.Hemingway should be considered lucky to have his life. He went through all these amazing journeys - Cuba, Africa, Spain, Paris - and therefore, had so many things to write about and publish and be known for. I am not that person. I do not have oodles of ideas to write from, I have not experienced amazing things that blurt out a story from my fingertips, onto this laptop. However, that is the only aspect of true Hemingway that I enjoy, that he put every aspect of himself and his life into words, into a book - an old man who fishes by the sea, a lonely man who wants to let the cafe be open for an extra hour, a Nick Adams who looks at grasshoppers, a safari hunter who feels courage. He lived through his characters, and that is something that I'd like to do.

6 word Stories:

Wanted: Queen Sharkeisha. Dead or alive
His tears became my River Styx.
Your eyes glistened, your heart stopped.
Without a song, what's my life?
They see your grades, not you.
She left her ring beside me.