Inflicting Pain on Ourselves

           We judge the Underground Man because he is contradictory to himself, and he inflicts suffering on himself, but we do not realize that we do the same things to ourselves in more subtle ways.

In the novel Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Underground man continuously calls himself a spiteful and contradicts most of the things that he initially states. He says “I am educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am,” and “I am educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am” (3). These are just a few of the contradictions that he states in the first chapter of the novel. We need these contractions and judge him harshly for being conflicting with himself, but we unknowingly do this constantly throughout our lives.

There are weeks when I am swamped with homework and things to do. I have a lot of assignments, tests, and quizzes, and I know that I am going to struggle because there is so much to do, and not enough time to do it. Even though I know how much work that I have and how I really need to focus and do my work, I still waste time by watching television or listening to music or doing something with my friends. In the end, I end up having to stay up extremely late to finish my work and prepare for the tests or quizzes that I have during the week. This is just one of the ways that I unknowingly contradict myself.

Another way that we initially judge the Underground Man is we trace the different ways that he inflicts suffering on himself, yet we also unknowingly do this constantly throughout our lives without knowing or even realizing what we are doing. One of the ways that the Underground Man inflicts suffering on himself is because he does not consult doctors about his liver, but he believes that his liver is diseased. He says, “I am perfectly well aware that I cannot ‘get even’ with the doctors by not consulting them” (4). He talks about his liver pain and how he thinks that there is a problem with his liver, but he refuses to go talk to a doctor and figure out a solution to the problem.

The most constant example of how I inflict suffering upon myself is when I procrastinate on my schoolwork. Like I said, there are many times throughout the year when I procrastinate on my work. I am inflicting suffering on myself because I would not suffer at all if I did my homework ahead of a time, but instead, I inflict suffering on myself by waiting to do my homework.

Things Fall Apart Essay

            Both the tribes in Africa and Christianity have apparent single stories. Many people make assumptions about the traits, beliefs, and actions of a Christian and mistake the intents and mentality that a Christian has. Many people commonly label and categorize the Ibo people in Africa as deprived, uncivilized, and destitute. In the book Things Fall Apart and the poem “When I Say, I am a Christian,” Chinua Achebe and Carol Wimmer go against the single stories of these two focuses and try to give them a more accurate and complete description.

Carol Wimmer depicts a more accurate illustration of what it means to be a Christian through her poem, “When I Say, I am a Christian.” Hi-Call Gospel Magazine and Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul by Health Communications have published her poem. In the poem, Wimmer expresses her view of Christianity. She shows that Christians do no think that they are superior or more able than any other race. One of the significant lines in the poem, “When I say, I am a Christian / I’m not trying to be strong / I’m professing that I’m weak / and pray for strength to carry on.” This line demonstrates that being Christian doesn’t correspond to thinking they have more skills and abilities than anyone or that they are more competent than anyone. It means that Christians understand that they are going to struggle and have difficulties throughout life. The goal of a Christian is not to strive to believe that they are better than anyone. According to Wimmer, Christians understand that they will struggle and there will be many moments of weakness in their lives, but they look to God when they are in these situations. They admit that they are weak, but settle these problems by praying to God for the strength to carry on throughout life.

            Carol Wimmer shows that there are different perspectives of what it means to be a Christian. There is no one perfect definition of what actions a Christian can or cannot do. According the Bible, it is a sin to get divorced, but around fifty percent of Christians have experienced a divorce. Just because these people have been divorced, that does not mean that they are no longer Christians. Christians believe that there is one God and believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If a person believes in this, but has experienced a divorce, that does not mean that they are any less of a Christian than any other Christian. There are obviously going to be people that believe that they are a “better Christian” than another because they think that they are a more successful “follower of God.” Carol Wimmer expresses a more complete story of Christianity in the same way that Chinua Achebe expresses his perspective of a more complete story of Africa.

            Chinua Achebe provides a more complete and full story of Africa, and specifically Nigeria with his novel Things Fall Apart. In the poem, Wimmer shows that Christianity isn’t some perfect religion where everything in life works out. That is not anywhere close to what being a Christian means. Being Christian means making mistakes and a life with just as many struggles and challenges as there are in any other life. Christianity doesn’t prevent problems from entering and taking over your life. It changes the effect that it has on the person and how the person chooses to respond to the issue. Achebe uses a similar method in his novel Things Fall Apart. Achebe creates a protagonist Okonkwo who clearly has many issues and flaws. This is a similar method to Wimmer’s because he is demonstrating that Nigerians are not perfect. He traces the good and bad sides that Okonkwo has throughout the story. This is important because he is actively showing that Okonkwo is nowhere near perfect, which relates to the same view that Wimmer has on Christians.

            Both Achebe and Wimmer stray from the single story of Africa by showing a more complete story of what they believe presented in a very straightforward manner. Achebe creates the characters and group in Nigeria the way that he thinks that it is. He does not create a perfect Nigerian culture where everything is perfect. He had no intention of writing a book about a perfect Nigerian civilization. He wrote this book to show his view of Africa from the way that he sees it. He does not depict Okonkwo as a flawless man, and he does depict Umuofia as a perfect and sophisticated civilization. There is no doubt that the Ibo people are much more civilized than they are given credit for because of the single story that people have about Africans in general, but there are many flaws and problems with their society.

There is an excessive amount of religion, violence, and injustice in their civilization. Achebe does not ignore these factors to make it seem like a perfect tribe. He uses these flaws to strengthen the story of the Ibo people because people can relate to the problems and injustice occurring throughout the book. Wimmer uses this same method to show a more complete story of Christianity. In her poem, she does not describe a perfect Christian who is strong and powerful. She depicts the Christians in her poem by showing their strength but also their weakness. She does not deny the fact that Christians, just like anyone else, have their moments of weakness, vulnerability, and doubt. Christians are normal people whose lives are sometimes full of hesitation and challenges they must overcome. Like Achebe, Wimmer does not display a perfect Christian with a perfect life and no problems. She admits that “When I say, I am a Christian / I’m not claiming to be perfect / My flaws are far too visible / but God believes I’m worth it.” She does not want people to read her poem and conclude that Christians are better and any more significant than anyone. She wants people to understand that when she says that she is a Christian, it means that she is equal to everyone else in the problems that occur in her life but she has a different way of coping with them, which is by relying on the strength and her belief of God.

            Like Achebe, Wimmer traces the beliefs of Christians throughout her poem and provides a more accurate story than the typical and single story of what it means to be a Christian. Because many people do not look further in Christianity and base their thoughts solely on the single story, many people think that certain things make someone less of a Christian than someone else. Like Wimmer points out in her poem, there is no single and “right” description of a Christian because all Christians have a different extent and belief as to what it means to be Christian. Because many people do not understand this concept, they automatically make assumptions about people or assume that they are not Christian because they go off of what is typically known about a Christian.

This applies to Achebe’s depiction of the Ibo people in his book because before reading the book and gaining knowledge of the true story of Africa, many people would judge them based on things that they think are uncivilized in the same way a person would judge someone based on things that seem “un-Christian-like.” An example in Things Fall Apart is that they harvest crops throughout the year as a main source of food and economy. Many people automatically assume a civilization is uncivilized because they are gathering crops, but in the book, the harvest measures a man’s respect and success. "Yams stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a great man indeed." (33) Both Achebe and Wimmer make these points to add detail to the single and incomplete story of Christianity and Africa.

            By creating flawed people and concepts, Achebe and Wimmer are able to demonstrate a more truthful and genuine portrayal of Nigerian people and Christianity. They show how assumptions can be extremely far off from the actual matter being discussed in the single story. Both Achebe and Wimmer show the different sides of the civilization, character, or religion to the point where people understand both sides of the situation. If Achebe or Wimmer had written a poem about how perfect Umuofia or Christianity was, then they would just be creating another single story, instead of defending the single story already being told about the topic, but instead, he creates an imperfect civilization to help show his more complete depiction of the Ibo people.  

Be A Man

In Chinua Achebe's book "Things Fall Apart", Okonkwo has a strong and clear philosophy of what being man really means. This definition involves being everything that his father was not, and he is constantly in fear that he will become like his father.

Okonkwo takes in Ikemefuna, a young boy who has been taken from his village in family due to his father’s actions. Okonkwo begins to care for the boy and admires many of his qualities. He grows fond of him for the three years that he lives with his family, but things begin to crumble when he is faced with a decision on whether to be loyal or to be what he thinks defines him as a man. He is given a choice. He has the option to go into the woods and be a part of the death of Ikemefuna, or he can stay home because the others understand it may be difficult to destroy someone who has helped and positively affected your family. Okonkwo knows that the progress in the manhood of his son, Nwoye is because the influence that Ikemefuna has over him. “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna” (Achebe 52). Okonkwo turns his back on the child who loved him like a father and who deserved more than he was given.

            Another way that Okonkwo “controls” his manhood is by holding full power and influence over his wife and children. It is apparent that he loves his children, some more than others, but he very rarely  admits to them that he loves him. He thinks that that affection and emotion makes him vulnerable, weak, and less than a man than he hopes to be. He wants to be a man, and so he thinks that the way to achieve this is by putting a guard up and never truly letting people in. “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions” (Achebe 44). 

            There is no doubt that Okonkwo has total control over his wives. He has all of the power in the relationship with each of his wives. He tells them to do something, and they do it. End of story. If they fail to meet his standards and expectations, then they can expect a punishment, and an extremely angry Okonkwo.

            There are many ways to describe a man. It is very upsetting that Okonkwo’s definition of being a man leads him to be a part of the murder of a child who loved him and whom he loves, but never admitted. The wall Okonkwo put up guards him and prevents him from ever having true emotions and feelings for any of his wives or kids.

Key to Happiness

Most people have the same goal in life: to be happy. When I was a little girl, my dad used to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said that I wanted to be happy. We all have different definitions of what happiness is and how it can be achieved. For some, it means having a family, and for others, it means being successful in their career. Even though there are different ways to achieve happiness, it is what most of us strive for throughout our lives.

In this TED talk, David Steindl-Rast explains his belief that there is a direct connection between happiness and gratefulness. He believes that people are happy when they are grateful, and in every given moment, we have an opportunity to be grateful. There are some people who have everything they want, but have still not achieved the happiness that they hope for. Others have lives filled with hardships and challenges, but somehow find a way to create their own happiness.

Many people believe that happiness makes us grateful, but Steindl-Rast’s opinion contradicts this statement. He believes that gratefulness leads to happiness, and every given moment is a gift. We cannot be grateful for every moment in life because most of us will encounter some form of tragedy, but we can be grateful for the opportunity given in the moment. We always have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and respond to the opportunity given.

I agree with his ideas and concepts. We may not always be able to avoid the difficulties in life, but in every given moment, we have the opportunity to be grateful. Being grateful is the only way that we can achieve that happiness that we dream of. We may not be able to get everything that we want in life, but as long as we are grateful for what we have, we have the capacity to create happiness for ourselves, in a way that ungrateful people cannot.

Hamlet: Gossip Girl Style

            I think that it would be very fun to imagine what the play Hamlet would be like if it took place in a Gossip Girl setting. There are many similar themes, characters, and ideas that relate Hamlet to Gossip Girl which would be fun to explore. I think that they could relate because in the play Hamlet, he and his family have a very high social status because they are royal which is much like some of the characters in Gossip Girl. Denmark is like the equivalent of the New York in Gossip Girl. The people with a high status are the ones living in the Upper East Side. Hamlet would be a part of the Upper East Side and live an extremely privileged life. He and his family would have a very high status, which relates to their royal status in the play. Hamlet would be Chuck Bass and King Hamlet would be like a better version of Bart Bass. They are in general a very successful family with an extremely high status.  After Bart’s death, Jack Bass (Bart’s brother) wants to take over Bass Industries and goes to many extreme measures to get what he wants. King Claudius would be similar to a character like Jack Bass.

            If I were to stage Act 3, Scene 2 of Hamlet in a Gossip Girl and modern New York setting, I would have Hamlet be a privileged kid living a rich and fortunate life. He would be focusing on his education, and his father would be in control of a large company, which is why their family is so wealthy. Suddenly his father dies, and he is left to take over the company, but his uncle wants to take over the company as well. His uncle goes to many extremes to try to take over the company and sees Hamlet as a threat. Hamlet finds out that his uncle killed his father with the intentions of taking over the company and tries to get revenge on his uncle. 

            In the actual scene, Hamlet comes up with a plan to put on a play to try to get Claudius to feel so guilty about what he has done that he has to confess. I would keep the intentions of Hamlet’s plan, but change it to something more modern. I would make this more like sabotage and more of a take down by having Hamlet anonymously spread and leek (onto the internet) what his uncle has done to try to cause controversy and make sure that his uncle cannot take over the company.