Lit Circle Notes: Song of Three Sisters

Our class had a discussion about the final chapters of The Poisonwood Bible.
Living with Nathan Price, Orleana and her three girls developed a place for religion in their lifestyle. After they branched away from Nathan Price, they all have to fill the void in their life that was once occupied by Christianity. Adah goes into science, Leah gets involved with her African communities and helping those in her village, Rachel fills the void with her love for herself and money, and Orleana dedicates herself to her garden. She does this because it gives her a chance to start off with new seeds and give them the care she wanted to give her daughters. Religion is also significant because religion is used to get over guilt. Each character searches for new religion to help relieve themselves of their guilt.

There are several important symbols in the book that can take on several meanings. The eyes in the tree represent Ruth May’s muntu or the mamba snake. The tree represents Orleana, a safe place, and holds everything together. The vines could represent Ruth May because she wants Orleana to see her as if she were still growing. They could also represent Nathan because the vines strangle the branches of the tree and in many ways Nathan strangled the rest of the family. The snake represents everything falling apart or Ruth May. The seedlings represent the sisters growing. The rotting stump represents Ruth May’s death or Orleana. The okapi can represent the Congo because the people hunted the okapi and people have also hunted down the spirit of the Congo. It can also represent Ruth May because she was special to Orleana and when they meet the lady in the market selling figurines, there was only one okapi. Methuselah could also represent Ruth May because when they died, they were both set free.

Orleana says that her three daughters are like lock, stock, and barrel. This is significant because lock, stock, and barrel all are parts of a gun. When they are assembled correctly the gun is complete and operable. Similarly, the girls all go there separate ways and for the most part are hardly ever together. Lock, stock, and barrel could imply that they are not complete without each other. However, when the different parts are assembled, it creates a gun, which is a weapon used to destroy. So it could also mean the girls form a destructive or in general negative combination.

We also discussed the quote “every life is different because you passed this way and touched history” (538). The Price family affected all the people in which they encountered in Africa. Similarly, every person they met in Africa changed their lives. A significant example is that, the tragedy of Ruth May’s death also lead to the others leaving Nathan and finding lives of their own. If it were not for Ruth May, more terrible things would have happened. This idea is also similar to John Wolfe’s speech in chapel about his visit to Africa because his encounters with each person he met were memorable for both him and the other person.

The idea of lightness and darkness was also brought up. We realized that you see light in both birth in death. Also that darkness represents Africa and guilt, and light ultimately represents forgiveness.

Lit Circle Notes: Exodus

In our discussion about the chapter, Exodus, in The Poisonwood Bible, we talked and reflected about all of the following events, themes, issues and other significant concepts in the chapter.

We first talked about the three different girls. We realized that Leah is totally apart from her father, who she wanted to be so close to in the beginning. We brought up that from her experience in the Congo, Rachel became more independent, self-reliant, and responsible, which helped her move on in her life. We discussed how Adah struggles to accept her new self because she misses her abnormalities that were and are very much part of her identity. She searches for love from her mother when she asks her why she chose to save her. All the girls feel grief from the incidents, which happened in the Congo. Each girl has many questions about their lives and tries to find ways to deal with her grief and insecurity in order to redeem her self.

Further we discussed that Orleana felt that she had to get Adah safely back to the United States in order to cope with her own grief. She felt it was necessary to protect Adah because she, a mother, loves her children from the bottom up. Adah may have been hiding behind her disability before. We see that she has had a longing desire and need by to be loved by her mother. This is fulfilled when she calls her mother and asks her why she chose to save her.

The book also makes a parallel between Patrice Lumumba and Ruth May Price. They both died on January 17, 1961, after which, both the Congo and the Price family started to fall apart. Lumumba and Ruth May both have an innocence in that they both wanted to help the people around them from the good of their hearts.

Throughout the book Nathan Price was a headstrong, stubborn character that risked his family to try to spread his way of the Bible to the people of the Congo. When he dies in the book, he can also be seen as a martyr because goes to such lengths as to die for his religion. However in some terms he had received what he deserved and his own verse as well. The verse ends with “so this will be the end” (487), which represents the death of Nathan Price and brings the girls the realization that he is no longer part of their lives. Nathan’s death is also like the crucifixion. Both of them were raised in the air for all to see and killed by those opposing them.

We also focused on something Leah said, “We’re all co-conspirators here. I mean, all of us, not just my family. So what do you do now?” It first brings up the idea that while they may have never acted harmfully, all those in Africa that stood witness to the events taking place were not innocent, and that they were all responsible and all died to some degree together. It also extends to the reader, who has also witnessed the events through the story told in The Poisonwood Bible and who has also been given some of the responsibility. Also, all of us, as citizens of the world are pressed with these global, political, and poverty issues. Like in Singer and Kravinsky’s articles, after the information has become available to us, the question is what we are going to do in response to the knowledge or experience we now have.

Lit Circle- Lexicographer

Our English class is having another Literature circle to discuss the chapter The Song of Three Children in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. This is a list of words and phrases used in this chapter along with definitions and possible explanations.

Achetez un cadeau pour votre fils – buy a present for your son
beto nki tutsala? – What are we doing?
boudoir – a woman’s bedroom or private sitting room
bottleflies – common blowflies, found in most parts of the world, slightly larger than houseflies
cadeux – present
civets – carnivorous cat-like mammals that have extended muzzles and are native to most of the Old World Tropics
cornea – a transparent part of the eye, which externally coats the iris and the pupil
elephantiasis – a chronic filarial disease that causes enlargement and hardening of cutaneous tissues and lymphatic obstruction.
Eros – an ancient Greek god, paralleled by the Roman god, Cupid.
filaires – small roundworms carried as mosquito larva which become parasitic when
frangipani flowers – plumeria
Great Rift Valley – a large geological feature that runs from Syria to Mozambique, which was formed due to a process called rifting
Guinea worms – an infection caused by drancuculus parasites
Gullah – an African American people who live in the south of America
Her character is meant to be corrupt, manipulative, and abusive.
Jezebel – a woman character that appears in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Holy Bible.
present in the blood of vertebrae in adult form (filaria)
mbika vines – any type of plant in the gourd, melon, squash family
mbote – hello or goodbye
microbes – a microscopic organism, typically disease causing bacteria
muntu – a state of existence, living, dead, or unborn
pagnes – a piece of clothe to wrap around the body
palmetto – a palm having fan shaped leaves
Pour vous, madame – for you, ms.
red laterite – a form of reddish soil or clay
schistosomiasis – an infection caused by parasitic flukes commonly found in tropical regions transmitted by feces polluted water or snails. It can cause, pain, anemia, and malfunction of the infected organ.
tuberculosis – an infectious disease that can affect almost any tissue of the body and especially damaging to the lungs

“Death is the common right of Toads and Men. Why swagger?” (527)
Swagger might possibly suggest hesitation but might also refer to the way that Adah used to walk. Death introduces the idea that all life will eventually die.

“Lock, stock, and barrel” (531)
A common phrase used to mean in completion. It was derived from Charlevill muskets that were used in the American Revolutionary. The muskets were shipped from France in three different parts, lock, stock, and barrel, which had to be assembled when they arrived in America.

Lit Circle- Historian

Our English class is having another Literature circle to discuss the chapter Exodus in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. This is a historical summary of the events in history taking place during this book of the novel.

Exodus starts in the year 1961 when Patrice Lumumba was arrested and murdered in mid-February. The secession of Katanga, a region of Congo valued heavily for its resources, caused upraise between UN forces and the Katangese. Kasavubu, Tshombe, Kimba and Mobutu, constantly found themselves in a struggle for power over Congo. U.S. arms, Belgian troops, and white mercenaries helped Congo’s central government gradually regain control.

By 1966, Tshombe had fled to Spain, Kasavubu was dismissed by Mobutu, Kimba was defeated, and Mobutu appointed himself president. He abolished the office of prime minister and established a presidential system in the Congo. The US heavily backed Mobutu because he opposed communism. He renamed all cities and landmarks to African names in an “African Authenticity” reform. In 1971, he changed country’s name to Zaire. Zaire refers to the Kikongan word nzere or nzadi, which means “the river that swallows all rivers” but is pronounced Zaire in Portuguese.

The government was strongly guided by Mobutu for a while. He strongly tried to improve the state of his country and increase good foreign relations. However there was dispute over the fact that he gave jurisdiction of security matters only to people of his own ethnicity. There were many other accounts of corruption with in the government. In the year 1984, it was said that Mobutu had four billion US dollars in his Swiss Bank account, a close sum to the country’s national debt.

During the late 1970’s, many groups opposing Mobutu were established, consisting mostly of rebellious Katangese people. A large organization was the Front Libération Nationale du Congo (FNLC). They invaded Zaire from their base in Angola, but were defeated by French and Belgium troops and exiled from the country. In the 1980’s there was much agitation between students and soldiers. Opposition became heavily organized and those opposed, hoped to eventually overthrow Mobutu.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, relations between the US and Kinshasa, the former Leopoldville, eased. The US no longer needed Mobutu as an ally in the Cold War. However this also increased demands from opposing groups within Zaire, for Mobutu to reform the country.

Free Post

The chapel the other day really made me think. I never realized how much of a loser Jesus must have felt like, and how much people must have seen him as one at the time. I also didn’t realize how encouraging it is that Jesus was a loser. This idea I think was meant to give us hope that when we feel like losers, we can remember that Jesus, felt like a loser too.

Chaplain Hamada told us this story of his days of youth when he fell in love with a girl. They became very close they cared about each other a lot. However, after a while, she told him that she couldn’t be with him any longer. Later he found out that the reason she could not be with him any more was because her parents were uncomfortable with the fact that she was Caucasian and he was Japanese.

His story is well taken, and the idea that they could not be together because of ethnicity is powerful. However, I also believe that it can somewhat be used as an excuse. He does not have to pry himself a part thinking that she actually didn’t like him. I believe that rejection with no excuses is much harder to deal with because they make you question yourself.

My friend has told me that he has been on a losing streak for about two years. However, I admire him for this. Mostly because he puts him self out there, to be judged, rejected or ridiculed. I believe that that takes a lot of courage, which is why I admire him. I try to help him see this, but I know that it can be very difficult.

My brother however always has an interesting way of looking at things. One of his favorite quotes is, "It's easy to be humble, anyone can do it. Only an idiot with a crazy dream would take on the title of 'strongest'-- take it on himself to carry that type of crazy responsibility." I also believe that individuals who can use this approach are very strong because after numerous failures and evidence that they are not strong, they still have faith in themselves. I believe that that mental and emotional capacity is powerful.

Essential Question Cycle 21 Response 1

I saw Puccini’s Madama Butterfly when Hawaii Opera Theatre was playing it this last opera season. My parents thought that I should definitely go because it is part of the opera canon. I was already vaguely familiar with the plot because I saw Miss Saigon when it came to Hawaii around six years ago, but that was a long time ago. In both productions, the heroine of the story lives in an Asian country. An American soldier falls in love with her during the war. They get married, and she is impregnated. The American soldier goes back to America not knowing that she is expecting a child. He promises her that he will come back soon, but instead settles down with an American woman. When he eventually returns to the Asian country with his wife, he finds that she has been waiting all this time with his child. In desperation, the heroine of the story commits suicide and the American family is left to take car of the child. The actor in both the productions I saw vividly portrayed the character’s grief and anguish.

Watching Madama Butterfly made me think about my essential question. I thought about how one woman’s anguish is kept in a beautiful opera, telling her story decades later. It made me think about how all that emotion is stored and that the woman is immortalized in this story. I also realized that because a similar story is told in Miss Saigon, that many other woman have found them selves in similar situations and felt similar emotions in history. I wondered if these stories also captured the lives of these women as well as the grief and anguish that they also felt. I also wondered if it stopped here. I wondered if the stories representation stopped at women from Asian countries who have felt grief or anguish because of complications due to love for American soldier who they met during the war. But I thought, if the production did not end its representation here where would it? I wondered whether this production could immortalize all individuals who have ever felt similarly to the heroine of the story. I wasn’t sure if this was possible, but I am sure that these productions are a way to immortalize the events of history and the grief and anguish of such individuals affected by these events in history.

Lit Circle Notes: Bel and the Serpent

After reading the Book Bel and the Serpent from The Poisonwood Bible, our class had a literature circle and discussed the following.

We first talked about Ruth May’s death and how Nathan Price reacted. Nathan Price’s reaction was not as sentimental as the reaction of everyone else. After her death, his main comment is that he wished she had been baptized before she died. We felt that he took advantage of Ruth May’s death as an opportunity to baptize the children of Kilango. We also felt that the daughters felt some resentment toward their father because of his reaction to Ruth May’s death.

We thought that Rachel seemed the most concerned about Ruth May’s death. It is also an earth-shattering event to Rachel because she realizes that she can never just forget or block out the part of her life that she leads in the Congo. We also felt that Adah felt closer to Ruth May after she died because she can see Ruth May’s life like a palindrome. Also that Adah feels closer to Ruth May because they both are like eyes watching the family. This is important for Adah, because she always felt somewhat of an outcast from the rest of her family, but now she can relate to Ruth May.

Orleana’s reaction however was very calm and collected. She completely drew within herself, and it seemed like there was nothing left in her. She had been so drained that she had no emotional drive to kick or scream and she completely gives up. It seems that her experience in the Congo put her through so much that she can no longer feel anything.

We also felt that the Price family learns more in the silence after Ruth May dies, than anywhere else in the story so far.

Important words from this book were bantu, which means people or a group of people, and muntu, which an entity or being (living, unborn, or dead). This is relevant to this chapter because when Ruth May dies, the idea rises of existence, physical, spiritual, and her as an entity watching the family. Another important word is nkento, which means woman. Nelson uses this word to insult Gybene because it is a huge insult in Kilangan culture.

We also brought up religion and politics and the role they play in this book. Nathan Price, in one of his attempt to impress his ideas on the Kilangan people, introduces to them the idea of democracy. However, it backfires at him, when the Kilangan people decide to vote on whether they want Jesus, and Jesus looses. Religion and politics are two important ideas in The Poisonwood Bible and it is symbolic to see that when the two mix, they blow up in the face of Nathan Price.

The title of this book is very significant. In the story Bel and the Serpent, a group of monks create a false idol named Bel. As people give offerings to Bel, the monks steal the offerings and use them for their own means. The people in The Poisonwood Bible follow this story to find the person who is putting fake curses on people using green mamba snakes. We discussed that Serpent could represent the monks as well as Tata Kuvundu, because both create false idols. Bel however could represent Nathan Price, Tata Kuvundu, or Tata Ndu, because all act like false idols.

The Mosquito Coast

In class we watched The Mosquito Coast and were asked what similarities and differences there are between the film and Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible.

A main difference in the two stories is that Nathan Price is a missionary trying to spread the message of Christianity, while Allie is more of a scientist who dislikes missionaries. The first similarity is that the way Leah feels about Nathan Price is similar to the way Charlie feels about his father. In the beginning they both believe everything their father says and want him to be proud of them, and want to follow him. However, further into their father’s mission, they realize that they do not want the same things as their father, and drift away from him and his ideas. I thought that Mr. Hattie was a lot like Mama Tataba, because both characters try to help the family adjust to the new environment and give them advice, but the father in both situations stubbornly ignores their advice. Another similarity is that in both stories the mother was calm and collected when a member of the family died. However in The Poisonwood Bible Orleana expresses extensively her guilt about the entire situation, while we never see whether the mother from the movie was plagued by guilt after the incident. However, maybe it was not as much because it was not her child. Another similarity is that the father in both stories lies for the sake of his mission. However, they are different, because in The Poisonwood Bible Nathan Price lies to the people of Kilanga and makes fake miracles with fish, while in The Mosquito Coast Allie lies to his family, telling them that America has exploded.

Lit Circle-Moderator

The following are ten questions posed for purposes of discussing book four, bel and serpent, of Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

1. Each of the books begins with a quote, which has significance to the following book. What significance does the quote have for book four?

2. What are some things that the Price family lost?

3. Compare and contrast Reverend Price and Tata Kuvundu. How are there characters similar and different? How are there messages and beliefs similar or different?

4. What significance does the information Orleana talks about in the beginning have with the plot, which unfolds for the rest of the book?

5. How have the roles of the members of the Price family changed since prior to this book?

6. What are similarities and differences between The Poisonwood Bible and The Mosquito Ghost?

7. Why does Ruth May not have a chapter in this book? Why do you think Kingsolver chose not to speak through Ruth May in this book?

8. How do think things are going to change after Ruth Mays death? How do you think people are going to change?

9. What did Ruth May give to the Price family? What did she give to the people of Kilanga? What did she give to the reader?

10. How does guilt play a part in this book?

History of the Congo

The following is a brief historical outline of important dates in the Congo. I wrote this to help me better understand the setting and political implications that are relevent to Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

1955-1966
In the mid 1950s, the people of Congo, under Belgian rule started an uprising against the Belgians in the name of their independence. The Belgians realized that they no longer had enough power to control Congo and January 27, 1960, they announced that they would relinquish their control after six months. On, June 30, 1960, the Congo gained its independence and renamed itself the Republic of Congo. Congolese elected Patrice Lumumba as Prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu President. The country was however not being managed well and Congo’s two richest provinces, Katanga, and Kasai, separated themselves from the country. Moise Tshombe now ruled Katanga, and Europeans still had access to its resources. Patrice asked the USSR for help and Nikita Khrushchev greed to do so. However, the USA thought this was a bad idea, and the UN ended up not allowing Nikita Khrushchev aid the Congo. Tension between Lumumba and Kasavubu rose and eventually led Colonel Mobutu, with the help of Kasavubu and the USA to imprison Lumumba and eventually execute him. The UN and the Congolese government gained control of the two stray provinces while Lumumba followers rose in rebellion.

2000-2007
At this time, a second Congolese war was brewing. In January 2001, Laurent-Desire Kabila, Congolese president was assassinated by one of his bodyguards. Kabila’s son Joseph gained the position of president after his father’s death. He held peace talks with Uganda and Rwanda, which had control over much of Congo at the time. Ethnic clashes made peace even more difficult to obtain, however, in June 2002, the countries signed a peace treaty, equaling power. To establish the government, the Congolese held elections on July 30, 2006 and elected Kabila over his opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba. Bemba supporters were very upset and held riots after the throughout the country.

Lit Circle Notes: Judges

First, we picked up on key, meaningful words used in Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. Batiza means baptism. However when pronounced incorrectly it means to terrify. The Kikongan people have a hard time comprehending the meaning of Reverend Price’s message because of this linguistic barrier. Báza is the word to refer to twins. In Kikongan culture, gods are punishing those who keep their twins, making life difficult for the members of the village. Il trompe son monde is a phrase, which means bluff in French. Tata Bidibidi is what the people of Kikongo call Brother Fowles, also known as, Mr. Bird and Reverend Santa. Lastly, nsongonya is the Kikongan word for ants. The ants start crawling out is masses because the drought has deprived them of water. The ants’ act of revolt when pushed to live a certain way can represent the Congolese revolting when other ideas such as Nathan Price’s are pushed onto them. As well as the Congolese people being fed up with not having their own resources as well as being stomped on by Belgians and Americans and possibly the Congolese people rising against these powers with the help of Patrice Lumumba.

Each of the girls has changed significantly in Judges. Leah feels that her father and perhaps God have turned their backs to her and her family. The time she spends with Anatole leads her to believe opinions other than her father’s. The Congo is sucking the life out of Rachel. The mirror shattering into pieces can signify Rachel’s life falling apart. Tata Ndu wants to marry her because she is white, want to take advantage of the Price family’s vulnerable state caused by their lack of supplies. Rachel doesn’t like Tata Ndu and pretends to be engaged to Axelroot. Ruth May is much weaker. She notices the tension between her mother and father. She keeps wishing she were a green mamba snake. Her lack of childhood energy and her wanting to be a snake, make Ruth May seem almost ghostly in this book. Adah starts to question her own value. Her family never realizes where she is, Leah left her to be eaten by the lion, and Nelson tells her that twins are very bad. When the ants attack her, she wishes to die right then. All the girls feel as if they aren’t given enough attention, and act on that need for attention.

Guilt is a theme that plays into the characters of both Nathan and Orleana. Nathan feels guilty about all the people in his troupe that died in the war. He feels like he has to save everyone to save himself in order to make up for the lives lost in the war. Orleana has this tremendous guilt about what she did and didn’t do for her children as well as what she did and didn’t do for the Congolese people. In many ways Nathan is like Zell Kravinsky. They both don’t value the lives of two of their own children over the lives of two children they hardly know. Nathan doesn’t help Orleana and Ruth May when they desperately needed it.

Brother Fowles approach to spread faith is much different than Nathan’s. He trusts and relies on the Congolese in order to build a relationship. He also uses ideas that are relevant to their lives and compares them to Christian ideas to help the Congolese understand Christianity’s message.

Lit Circle- Psychological Critic

Leah’s character at the beginning of judges seems to be as it typically is from the beginning of the book on. You can tell in the way she talks about Christianity and her authority over Ruth May. However over the course of judges, Leah’s character changes dramatically. When Orleana starts to act on her own will and on her own means, Leah finds new respect for her. She also considers other perspectives than her father’s through her discussions with Anatole.

Similarly to Leah, Orleana also seems to be her usual self at the beginning of judges. She reveals a lot to us about what her life was like when she was younger. I wonder if this recollection in some way had an affect on her behavior after she gets out of bed. As a result, she stands up to Nathan for the first time in the book. She also finds determination to fulfill a responsibility as a mother to fight for her children’s future. Consequently, she actively tries to find a way to get them out of the Congo.

Essential Question Cycle 18 Response 1

My brother is an artist. He is really into this new art form called aquascaping. It is composing pieces of living breathing art using aquatic nature (fish, plants, substrate). In address to my essential question: Is there such a thing as human immortality and does it have any significance? his art makes me believe that no there is not. The world is always changing, and to consider someone or something not being in that cycle and ending existence, would be conceit. His art makes me feel that trivial things like human immortality have no significance, and the only amazing thing is that we are part of this world and part of nature and that we are here in this cycle to witness the beauty of it all. I know that if I actually talked to my brother, he would say something along the lines of, biological survival is the only means of living and reproduction is the only meaning of life. I feel, however, that his art expresses the ideas in a much better way. It makes me wonder how I can contemplate about why or whether people can be remembered after death, when there’s so much to live with and so much to be a part of in this world. It makes me marvel at the natural world and how in this world, the question of immortality is completely irrelevant, and I think that’s part of what makes it so beautiful. That’s why it makes me believe that human immortality is not significant at all and if it even exists, it must only be a concept that humans have created for security. Maybe humans in some sense need that security to as if there is importance in the world and a way to improve our selves and not live our life in vain. However, this artwork, along with other things that have influenced me, make me reason that life purpose may lie in just being a part of the cylce of life and witnessing as well as living in the natural world.

Lit Circle Notes: Revalation

In our literature circle discussing Revelation from The Poisonwood Bible, our group mainly discussed the significance of Nathan Prices life in the Congo. We talked about his relationship with the Congolese, Orleana Price, and the Price daughters. We then discussed the family’s relationship as a whole.

To begin, we shared our gathered information from our different roles, touching on the importance of historical figures. This included Patrice Lumumba, a Congolese freedom leader, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, Baudoin and Leopold, kings of Belgium in relative order, and Eisenhower, the president of the United States. For, these people were important political figures of that time. We also discussed key passages from the text and what importance they may have to the story.

In our literature circle, the question was raised of why Nathan Price is still in the Congo. We concluded that for the most part, his presence in Congo was both not beneficial to the Congolese as well as draining on his family. We inferred through how Nathan Price is portrayed that he stays in the Congo because he is a very stubborn person. He also believes in his religion and his way of life, and his conceit may lead to him feeling that his way is the best way and everyone should conform. We also realized that many of his relationships with others, Mama Tataba, Tata Ndu, Methuselah and so forth have turned out to be very bad.

This led us to discuss his relationship with his wife and daughters. Orleana is often times drained by Nathan. She has freaks out and has mental and emotional breakdowns. She is also very submissive to Nathan. When he breaks the plate, he justifies himself by saying that Orleana was getting to attached to it and that it is bad to become attached to worldly goods. Orleana agrees with him. Nathan Price also never seems too concerned about his daughters and what they’re going through. We concluded that as a whole, the Price family isn’t a very together family.

Other groups discussed key points including how Axelroot is like Nathan just in a more material manner. They both (try to) steel precious things from people of Kilanga. They also brought up the idea that Congo and Georgia are going through very similar ordeals in this time period. The other idea was that Methuselah could still be compared with the Congolese people. His constant returning to the village and the Price’s house can be paralleled with how the Congolese people want to be freed but can’t successfully find freedom on their own.

Lit Circle- New Critic

We are having our first literature circle in class. I am going to be the new critic, who contributes to the discussion based on the just the text itself. These are the passages that I though would be useful in this discussion.

Oh, that river of wishes, the slippery crocodile dream of it, how it might have carried my body down through all the glittering sandbars to the sea. The hardest work of every day was deciding, once again, to stay with my family. They never even knew. When I pried open the lock meant to keep the beasts and curious children out of our kitchen hut, I nearly had to loch it again behind me, to keep myself in. The gloom, the humidity, the permanent sour breath of rainy season all bore down on me like a bothersome lover. The fresh stench of night soil in the bushes. And our own latrine, which was only one step removed. (91)

I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence. I can understand a wrathful God who’d just as soon dangle us all from a hook. And I can understand a tender, unprejudiced Jesus. But I could never quite feature the two of them living in the same house. You wind up walking on eggshells, never knowing which Tata Nzolo is home at the moment. Under that uncertain roof, where was the place for my girls? No wonder they hardly seemed to love me half the time—I couldn’t step in front of my husband to shelter them from his scorching light. They were expected to look straight at him and go blind. (96)

I could see the whole idea and business of Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress. For the first time ever I felt a stirring of anger against my father for making me a white preacher’s child from Georgia. This wasn’t my fault. I bit my lip and labored on my own small house under the guava tree, but beside the perfect talents of Pascal, my own hands lumbered like pale flippers on a walrus out of its element. My embarrassment ran scarlet and deep, hidden under my clothes. (115)

Free Writing 2

This past weekend was Chinese New Year’s. I went to Chinatown with a couple of my friends for just a few hours. We stayed in cultural plaza and mainly watched the lion dancing that they had on the stage. I used to go to Chinatown for Chinese New Year’s when I was a lot younger. I remember the first time I fed a lion, I was so incredibly scared of it that I just got as close to it as I could and dropped my dollar at it’s feet. The lion was really nice about it and just pretended to be eating something off the ground. I hadn’t gone back for a while, but I’m glad that I went this year.

Now that I am older, I’m able to better appreciate the culture and the experiences that I had growing up. When I saw the lion’s dance this year, I was impressed by the physical strength, balance, coordination, and sensitivity to their partners, that each of the lion dancers were equipped with. I could appreciate the mental, physical, and emotional stress that the dancers must have gone through to be able to perform as they did. I was especially impressed with one lion that had fallen a couple of times from the poles it was dancing on. Each time one of them fell down, they would just mount the pole again in a respectable manner.

I had gone with a couple of friends because the two of them had really wanted to go. It was interesting for me because had never gone to a Chinese New Year’s in Chinatown, but used to go to them in China when she was younger and living there. The other friend, while she is part Chinese, and has lived here her whole life, had never been to a Chinese New Year’s in Chinatown. It was a culturally enlightening experience for me because I learned a lot of things from my friends. I was also able to appreciate the culture that I grew up in.

Free Writing 1

Mouse in Manhattan
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“Mouse in Manhattan”, one of the many clips from our beloved series Tom and Jerry. Every time I see this it brings me back to my childhood, sitting back on my grandma’s couch watching TV on a weekday. I especially like this particular clip, number one, because it deals with the greatness of home, which I have always related to. I also like it because it shows that while Tom and Jerry are almost always at odds, they still understand a mutual relationship. I believe this because when Jerry comes back from Manhattan, he is so overjoyed to see Tom. It makes it a really cute, sweet, and touching clip. Kind of like that episode where Jerry becomes a mousicle, just not as heart wrenching.

I also especially like this clip because Jerry has so much personality and so much charisma. Jerry of course is a great actor in all the episodes, but in this one, I love the way he moves, his expressions, and especially the part where he dances with the dolls. I remember dancing everywhere, in restaurants, or streets, in my own world much like Jerry. I remember feeling as if I moved with as much fluidity and charisma as Jerry does in this episode. I believed that I looked like I was moving the same way I felt that I was moving. However, countless years of ballet, and modern devices such as cameras and photos caused a harsher reality materialize. Jerry in this episode makes me laugh, gives me hope, inspires me, and gives me a magical experience.

Rachel

In English class, we were asked to walk outside the classroom walls and see our school and our world through the eyes of one of the Price daughter’s, Leah, Adah, Rachel, Ruth May, from Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible. I chose to be Rachel and this is what I saw and felt in her place.

The bright sun pierces my soft fair skin. I squint to help shield my crystal light blue eyes from the sun’s penetrating rays. That’s another thing we forgot to bring sunscreen. Normally I hate the strange the oily texture on my sensitive skin, but I could use some nonetheless right about now. The last thing I want is a painful, scratchy sunburn. I can’t stand pain.

They have a chapel here. I think Father and Leah would like it because of all the plants and shrubbery growing around it. The two of them like that kind of stuff. Personally, I hardly think it’s a place of worship. The chapel itself is practically smack dab in the middle of a ducky pond inhabiting only God knows what. What I can only guess as to be mold crawls up the chapel walls, staining the once pure, cleansing white to a dark sluggish brown.

The clothes they wear here all look the same. The shirts are mostly solid generic colors all in the same style and of very low quality. They are probably all manufactured in a warehouse with a frumpy middle-aged man pressing a bright red button. The wardrobes themselves look pretty unindulgent, practically boring, but the people here seem very comfortable in them.

After walking around with my sisters, we decided to sit down one of the cement benches. I’ve never seen so many things made out of cement, benches, buildings stairs, and the rest. I leaned my hand back when I felt something inexplicably gooey and unsettling. I lifted my hand to feel the long strings of chewing gum stretched beneath my palm. I’ve only had chewing gum a couple other times in my life. Father says that it is one of those unnecessary evils. Ruth May, who is of course hiding under the bench, shows me the thousands of globs of gum under the bench. I run of to the lady’s room, about to vomit, and of course, in a moment of complete disgust with this new place.

Some Significant Quotes

In Response to reading pages 35 to 68 of The Poisonwood Bible I have chosen to quotes from each chapter within the reading. I believe that the following quotes have all have either significance or potential significance to the book.

“God merely expects us to do our own share of the perspiring for life’s bounty, Leah” (37)

This is shows a belief that Nathan Price has. So far I think that he is someone very diligent and who finds it his duty and responsibility to work his hardest. He faced war, probably giving his all, receiving “injur[ies] he doesn’t ever talk about, nor being one to boast” (37). I think this trait of his may show up later in the book as part of his character.

“Some people find him overly stern and frightening, but that is only because he was gifted with such keen judgment and purity of heart” (41)

Leah really looks up to father. She sees in him things that most other people don’t that she can admire. I think this quote shows that Leah doesn’t just want to suck up to her father because he is her father and holds a high position in the household. I think she sees this person in him that she thinks is really special and that is why she acts the way she does.

“In a certain way they seemed naked irregardless”(47)

Nakedness has been an issue in this book so far. It starts with Nathan Price’s speech against “Nakedness…and the darkness of the soul! (27) and is brought again by both Rachel and Adah. Before it mainly referred to physical nakedness and its consequences, but this quote expresses them as being naked even when they are clothed. It makes me wonder how they would still seem naked.

“Considering my whole situation, I was not about to be bothered by the spectrum of death at our picnic” (48)

Here, Rachel sets herself aside from her other sisters, not bothered by the fact that the chickens they are eating were just killed while her sisters are. The conclusion is that somehow Rachel is self centered in feeling sorry for herself and that she is morally different than her sisters for her conscience to not be bothered. On the other hand, Rachel might also be more realistic and logical in the ways of life, which might come with her older age and possibly maturity.

“A child shouldn’t think of herself better than others because she is blonde as a white rabbit”(52)

I think this quote is important because it answers Rachel’s question as to why “[her] parents allow the situation to present itself” (48). They are hoping that this experience will make Rachel a more modest person. I also think that this quote is important because it deals with the fact that someone should not think higher of himself just because he looks a certain. This seems to also be an issue in the book.

“It appears to me that their bodies just get worn our, about the same way as our worldly goods do” (53)

Here is one of the few times Orleana has spoken up in the book so far. She tries to reason with Nathan that the Congolese people put there bodies through a lot because they don’t have the same worldly goods that people who are better off have. Orleana has her own opinion other than Nathan’s that seems possibly logical. I also think that this shows that she feels somewhat sorry for the Congolese people because they have to put their bodies through so much.

“Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes” (56)

I believe that Nathan Price has a certain opinion about women that may include that they are not intelligent or even worthy. This can reflect a lot of things about Nathan Price and the time period and setting of the book. Although Leah and Adah are said to be very intelligent girls he still feels that sending a girl to college is a waste.

“This is our permanent order: Leah, Ruth May, Rachel, Adah. Neither chronological nor alphabetical but it rarely varies, unless Ruth May gets distracted and falls out of line” (62)

This quote says a lot about the girls respectively and as a group. I also think this quote may have importance later in the book because it describes the order as permanent and to hardly ever be changed. This is also somewhat how the order of the chapters has been although Ruth May and Rachel were switched in the previous four chapters. Perhaps somehow Ruth May was distracted.

“The mote in his brother’s eye, not the sin in his own household” (66)

I’m not sure what the “mote in his brother’s eye” means. Maybe it means the lack of his fellow Christian’s judgment. In this quote you can tell that it isn’t Nathan’s fault that the bird says the words “piss off” (65) and therefore he considers it not the sin of him or his household. I wonder if Nathan Price really sees it that way, or if Leah is articulating it so as to defend her father.

“For Adah that’s normal, of course, and for that very reason she often gets accused when none of us speaks up”(66)

I find it interesting that here silence has worked against Adah. Adah justifies that “silence has many advantages” (34) and also describes speaking as a distraction. However here, silence is clearly a disadvantage. I also find it unfair that Nathan Price targets Adah just because she is usually silent.

Roles of the Price Daughters

Pages 13 to 34 of The Poisonwood Bible are the first stories from the daughters when they arrive in Africa. Each of these four chapters begins to tell the story of the Price family’s stay in the Congo. As best as I can, I have compiled what I believe the book has told us so far about each daughter’s character and the role they might play in the book.

I think that Leah is going to be a very active character in the book. She has a tremendous amount of faith in her father and his mission and that her own “Mother failed to grasp our mission” (13). I think that she will follow and act in her fathers mission as well as either encourage the others to do the same or scorn them when they do not. Hopefully along the way she will find more of her identity instead of always following her father. We already know that She likes nature, expecting to see “jungle flowers, wild roaring beasts. God’s Kingdom in its pure, unenlightened glory” in Africa.

Ruth May is very honest. I think that she can tell to some extent what she feels is good and bad. She’s very honest in admitting that “Ham was the youngest one, like me, and was bad. Sometimes [she] [is] bad too” (20). I think that she will give an honest unbiased perspective to the events going on in the The Poisonwood Bible. Also, maybe she will help to bring love in the hard times the family might have because she “hate[s] the Devil, and love[s] everybody else” (21)

When they arrive in the Congo, Rachel seems reluctant and unwilling, always saying “man oh man are we in for it now” (22), or “Lordy!” (22). Therefore I think that Rachel will give us a perspective on the life style and conditions in the Congo as well as the significant differences between Georgia and where they are in the Congo now. She is always thinking of more things they should have brought and wishes that she had “stuffed in [her] purse those five-day deodorant pads” (22). Rachel hasn’t shown any leadership related qualities, so I’m guessing that her role in the story will be different from that of most eldest siblings.

Adah always refers to her father as “Our Father”, and I wonder if she connects her father with God somehow. It is interesting to see the way her mind works. I think that her presence in the book will give us an insight to what life would be like as a physically different person in the time period and setting of the book. Maybe she will be able to relate to the Congolese people in a way that the others won’t because she also does not look like her family members. She knows that “Leah, and [her] are identical in theory, just as in theory we are all made in God’s image”, which may extend to the Congolese people as well.

Essential Question Cycle 17 Response 1

I’m mostly answering my personal essential question in my journal. However, now and then I’ll post one on my blog in addition to in my journal for various reasons. My essential question is “What is human immortality, and does it have any significance?”

Yesterday, I was trying to do my homework, but unfortunately got distracted. Actually, I got distracted several times, but this time it was by Garage Band, an application that let’s you write your own music. I started writing this little splurge thing until I decided that I should really finish my homework. But, before I could start working, I got distracted again, this time fortunately. Listening to my nameless splurge, I began to think about what I had just written. If I hadn’t gotten distracted, then the thing that I had just created wouldn’t even exist today. However, that’s not a big deal because no one even cares if it exists or not, frankly, not even me. But what about other songs and their existence? I wonder what the world would be like if Beethoven’s fifth didn’t exist today, or if all of Elvis Preseley’s work no longer existed. But is doesn’t only apply to music, it could apply to anything. What would the world be like without Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa? There is no doubt that the world would be a different place.

The following made me conclude that there are indeed certain things that humans hold onto long after the creator is gone. I would also have to say that it does hold some significance to our lives because our society would be very different without these works. These creators to some extent are immortal. Their names will forever hold meaning in our society and will be associated with their work as well as the lives they led and the people they were. The question that bothers me now is whether this significance is really important. Significance by definition refers to importance, but does the significance hold a greater importance? The world would keep turning and humans would keep living if all of Da Vinci’s work was somehow destroyed and eventually forgotten. If we forget a historical being, we forget about our culture and our past, but are there greater reasons to remember? I’m still boggled to whether human immortality is highly significant or not.

Response to Genesis 1:28

For English we are starting to read Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. The first of the seven books within the The Poisonwood Bible begins on page one and refers to Genesis 1:28 from the Holy Bible

And God said to them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
And subdue it: and have dominion
Over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
And over every living thing that moveth upon the earth

My first response was that God must have really wanted humans to think that they were somehow superior to the other creatures and that they had higher power over the earth. The phrase that really caught me was “subdue it”. Here I thought that God was really telling them to use and enforce their power over the earth to gain power and establish their higher ranking in the world. The word “subdue” made me think of the word “submerge”. This made me imagine humans submerging everything else on the earth under some defining level. The phrase “subdue it” leads to the logical next phrase “and have dominion”, which just justifies them establishing their higher ranking in the world. The rest of the quote, I felt, was just an elaboration on that main idea.

The beginning of the quote just has God telling humans to grow and prosper as a race. So while reading, I didn’t think too much of it. The phrase “replenish the earth” was what gave me a hard time and forced me to think about its meaning after reading the whole quote. I had a hard time with it because I kept wondering: to replenish the earth, wouldn’t it have had to been full and then empty? The bible never talks about the earth ever becoming empty before Genesis, it just starts out empty, and then God fills it. I came to the conclusion that God had assumed that humans, after having established their power over the earth, would then execute according to their power and use the resources of the earth for their own means. Because God makes this assumption, he gives humans the responsibility to give back, to take care, and to replenish the earth after doing so.

I context to the The Poisonwood Bible, I would have to infer a number of things. Because I know that Price family is a very religious family having an evangelical Baptist as a father and husband, the book may be about how the Price family lives in response to the message God has sent them through this passage of Genesis. As a human myself, God has put me in a superior position over other, has given me guidelines and permissions for me to interpret into my behavior, as well as responsibilities for the world and other life forms. I believe that the Price family also felt various indications of how to live that God places on them in this passage. The book could be about how they respond to these indications in the way they live. It could also be about how they interpret God’s message or how they find they have misinterpreted it, or if they learn to interpret it differently. It could be about how they treat others, not necessarily plants, animals and resources of the world but other people as well.

World Morals?

For cycle sixteen, four morally contemplative questions were posed. The following is a response to one of them.

Are morals and values so different from country to country, person to person, that there can be no common values? Do you think there should be some universal common values? If so, what do you think they should be? If not, why not?

To me, a moral or a value is a very meaningful piece of advice that can be used in many situations. People get their morals and values just by living. For example, an important lesson learned through experience, advice from a trustworthy person, or a slowly acquired state of mind can all become morals. If these instances help us to gain knowledge of what we feel is right and what is wrong, then they become our morals or values.

In response to my definition of a moral or a value, I’d have to conclude that yes, everyone’s morals and values are different in the world. Because everyone is exposed to different experiences, everyone has different morals and values. It is only a guided coincidence that those who live in the same parts of the world will be exposed to similar experiences and therefore will have higher chances of having similar morals.

In Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, he mainly addresses American’s, asking his heavily American audience “what is the ethical distinction between a Brazillian who sells a homeless child to organ peddlers and an American who already has a TV and upgrades to a better one—knowing that the money could be donated to an organization that would use it to save the lives of kids in need?” I believe that Singer is morally challenging Americans because in general, they might have more to give, but that doesn’t mean that their morality is greater, lesser, or even different from those from other places of the world.

There are underlying feelings like guilt and righteousness that help us infer right from wrong based on what’s around us. So while morals come in all different shapes and sizes, their shared goal of valuing right over wrong make them all very similar. There are common values because human nature values common things. Just like how a Brazilian, a Swede, and an Australian would all value drinking water, their life, and even a television, they would all value self-respect, loyalty, and humility. People know for the most part a good thing when they see it. They’ll value it no matter where they are in the world.

I also believe that there are common goods. Because, people from all over can appreciate value in the same certain things, I also believe that many people around the world believe that as a whole, certain things are good for the world from any stand point. For example, the end of world poverty would be one. I believe that many people around the world feel that it is morally correct for some reason or another, or in some way or another, to try to contribute to this common good. This is why I think Singer addresses the fact that “the United States Government is not going to meet even the very modest United Nations-recommended target of 0.7 percent of gross national product; at the moment it lags far below that, at 0.09 percent, not even half of Japan's 0.22 percent or a tenth of Denmark's 0.97 percent”.

I don’t think that there should be universal values. To have universal values would be to tell everyone what to believe. I have faith in humans no matter where they are or who they are. I have faith that they’ll find morals of their own to guide them and help them do what they feel is right. Because I have this faith in people I don’t even know, I don’t feel like I have to have common morals with them just so that we can understand each other, or accept each other. In terms of values and morals, I feel that if we respect each other’s morals we can all live by what we believe while still living peacefully with others.

People may think that universal values will end wars, but I don’t. Morals don’t start wars because morals strive to help people make righteous decisions. Sure values are different around the world, from person to person, from religion to religion, Christianity may stress faith in the divine, Confucianism may stress caring human relationships, and Shintoism may stress wholeness with nature, but these are all peaceful benevolent morals. People go to war for their family, for their pride, for their country, for the sake of their religion, for knowledge, and so forth because people fight for what they have to protect. People don’t fight for morals because they can’t be lost and they can’t be proven. They are embedded within our consciences and each individual has the decision everyday, to live by their morals, to discard their morals or to change their morals. Others can have an influence on these decisions, but the decision itself is ultimately the individuals.

The Quintessential Meal

Something of highest quality and importance to a person or on a person's way of living can be described as quintessential. When I thought of something that is quintessential to my life, I concluded that breakfast is the quintessential meal of my day. Sure, it happens to be at a time when we aren’t that hungry and can easily skip eating, but the importance of breakfast lies deeper within its core. Breakfast wakes you up and keeps you going. It is truly an amazing meal.

The great thing about breakfast is that there are a wide of choices you have. You can easily have a very healthy breakfast if you eat cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, fruits and other health items without the person next to asking, “that’s all your eating?” which he would’ve asked had you been eating just a salad for dinner. If you have a sweet tooth you can eat pancakes, french-toast, or waffles. Similarly, if you crave protein you can have bacon, eggs, or sausages. The choices are endless at the breakfast table.

Breakfast is an important part of everyone’s nutritional diet. Your body, including your brain gets its energy from glucose. Your body runs for ten to twelve hours without any food intake from super to when you wake up. As your glucose levels drop, “your body compensates by releasing the glucose that has been stored in your muscle tissue and liver, called glycogen. Once all of the energy from the glycogen stores is used up, the body breaks down fatty acids to produce energy”.

Waking up to a nice breakfast can even help those who are watching their weight. Eating breakfast can help to quicken the metabolism. When breakfast isn’t eaten,
“excess kilojoules [“a unit equivalent to 0.239 nutritional calories” (www.dictionary.com)] eaten during one sitting are stored as body fat, once the glycogen storage areas are full. People who skip breakfast are usually ravenous by lunchtime and tend to eat more to compensate”.

Breakfast is a fulfilling part of life. Research from Australia proves that “children who eat an inadequate breakfast are more likely to make poor food choices for the rest of the day and in the long term”. In addition, “skipping breakfast can diminish mental performance”. Therefore having breakfast as a part of your day now, can help you in the future.

Family meals are also important to the wellbeing and stability of a family and it’s individuals. While most families eat together at dinner, breakfast can be a great meal to share. After having to wake up early in the morning, families can feed off of each other’s energy making them emotionally and mentally ready for the day ahead.

As you can see, breakfast is the most important meal. I would never go a day without it. It gives me something to wake up for, something to look forward to. It gives me the boost of energy I need makes me feel like I started my day doing something right. Sure, we all look forward to lunch to take a break from our busy lives and help tie us to the end of the day. Dinner is nice as well and is very relaxing and enjoyable at the end of the day. However breakfast’s purpose is true, as it helps us all lead better lives.

See the

Interview

Peter Singer, a utilitarian philosopher wrote the article The Singer Solution to World Poverty . In response to his article I asked Anna, a fellow classmate of mine a few questions on what she thought about Singer’s article. The interview is as follows:

T: Though Singer has great faith for his solution to world poverty, he accepts that “that we are unlikely to see, in the near or even medium-term future, a world in which it is normal for wealthy Americans to give the bulk of their wealth to strangers”. Do you think that people will live by Singer’s solution in the near or distant future?

A: No, that is unreasonable because not everyone will believe in one man’s solution to world poverty. There are also people who don’t have 30,000 dollars who would not be able to donate anything. Singer has an unreasonable expectation. When I talk to you or my parents or anyone in the general public I don’t see that much happening so I can’t see such a drastic change happening in the future. It’s not human nature to give that much away so I don’t think it will happen. Especially because the problems are so far away so you won’t be able to relate personally to the situation at hand. Therefore you probably won’t be as compassionate to the people you don’t know so people are less likely to donate.

T: Singer’s entire article tells us what we have to do to be morally decent people as well as what we have to do to improve the world by solving the problem of world poverty. Do you think that poverty is the biggest issue in the world today?

A: I don’t know if it is the biggest issue. However I do feel that is a very big issue because so many problems stem from world poverty such as separation, wars, and hunger. Because of world poverty people don’t have resources to be self-sufficient and their situations becomes worse and worse.

T: Singer compels his readers to consider how the money they are spending on everyday luxuries could be used to help the less fortunate. The apparent lack of willingness from Americans to donate the majority of their savings to oversea organizations drives Singer to ask us to “at least know that we are failing to live a morally decent life”. How did you react to his accusation?

A: I didn’t agree with him. I also don’t judge him on it because that’s what he believes is a morally decent life. My definition of a morally decent life is just different from his. Everyone has a different definition of what a morally decent life is and shouldn’t be judged by that. Everyone has different reasons on why they believe what they believe is morally decent. His standards aren’t more important as anyone else’s so I don’t feel that offended.


T: Using a story from Peter Unger’s book Living High and Letting Die, Singer draws the conclusion that an American that fails to donate most of his savings to help people that would other wise die are the same as Bob, a middle-aged man who saves his Bughatti at the cost of a child’s life. He asks us to realize that “when Bob first grasped the dilemma that faced him as he stood by that railway switch, he must have thought how extraordinarily unlucky he was to be placed in a situation in which he must choose between the life of an innocent child and the sacrifice of most of his savings. But he was not unlucky at all. We are all in that situation.” Have you felt like you were in Bob’s situation because you weren’t doing as much as possible to help the less fortunate?

A: No, I have never felt exactly in that situation. On the other hand, when I analyze it more thoroughly I can see how I am constantly making choices to not help people, like how Bob didn’t decide to flip the switch. We both didn’t choose to hurt anyone, but also didn’t choose to help anyone. Bob’s situation however gave him a more direct influence on the life or death of the child while my situation gives me a more indirect influence on the lives I could be saving.

T: As part of his solution, Singer describes how he reaches the exact amounts everyone should donate. He rationalizes that “An American household with an income of $50,000 spends around $30,000 annually on necessities, according to the Conference Board, a nonprofit economic research organization. Therefore, for a household bringing in $50,000 a year, donations to help the world's poor should be as close as possible to $20,000. The $30,000 required for necessities holds for higher incomes as well. So a household making $100,000 could cut a yearly check for $70,000. Again, the formula is simple: whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away”. Are there other ways than Singer’s solution that can solve the problem of world poverty?

A: There are more reasonable sacrifices. It depends on how much that person cares, and how much that person has to give. You can really make a difference using your time, energy and resources other than financial. Everyone can help solve the problem of world poverty by doing two things, taking social action and advocating for whatever they want to happen. If everyone followed singer’s solution and did nothing else, charities wouldn’t stand for anything; they would just be dead charities with money. But if everyone advocates and speaks out in the community it will make a bigger difference. If you donate less than all your savings excluding the 30,000 for necessities, fly over to wherever the problem is and becoming and active part of the solution. Philanthropy isn’t the only solution, time and energy are more important than money.

Introduction

Hi I'm Trisha, as you might be able to guess. I didn't really know what to call my blog. I guess I thought of a shoebox because it's kind of cozy. Well, it could be cozy anyway if you were four inches tall. I also think a shoebox is a good place to stuff ideas, maybe. I'll probably end up changing the name eventually.

If I were four inches tall I could dance in a shoebox. I love to dance. But then again, you don’t need to be four inches tall or in a shoebox to dance. I could put furniture in the shoebox and my parent’s and brother whom I love dearly could live with me. I’d get sad though, because the shoebox has cardboard walls so I’d never see nature or the world for that matter. Maybe it would be better if I were eight inches tall. Then I could look over the side of the wall and see the world and people could come and talk to me like how some neighbors do over picket fences.

I’d rather not live in a shoebox. Then, I could get some rubber bands and make an instrument out of the shoebox. The shoebox could make music. But now, outside of the shoebox, I’d have to live by my morals and stress on myself what is right and wrong. It’s much easier to do living in a shoebox. Living in the world is more morally challenging, but it’s a good challenge. I guess shoeboxes are best for stuffing ideas into, and for holding shoes.

This was and interesting introduction, I had a nice time writing though.