Saturday, October 19, 2013

A Black Name



A Black Name
I was listening to The Takeaway program on NPR one afternoon, and there was an interview playing with a black woman who was discussing her concerns about naming her son with a name that would identify him as black or a “black-sounding” name.  There were two responses from other black listeners expressing their offense at the woman’s aversion to using a name that would identify her child as black.  Their position was that racism and discrimination will not go away if you strategically give your children names.  The listeners felt that an individuals name was not that important.  But I wonder?
            A name is a source of identity and can reveal your ancestry, religious beliefs and interests.  It can tell about your life experiences and expectancy, your upbringing and societal influences.  An excellent example of how powerful and enduring a name is, is illustrated by the scene in the movie Roots adapted from Alex Haley’s book of the same name, where the character of Kunta Kinte is being tortured on the order of a white overseer because he refuses to change his name to Toby.
            A name is very profound and can have an impact on your experiences in life, according to some philosophies and cultures.  The Kabalarian Philosophy believes that a “balanced name can channel you toward your true purpose in life and can impact on the way you look at yourself, the way others perceive and treat you, your level of confidence, your energy, creativity and self-esteem.”  When Christians convert to Islam they adopt an Arabic name in order to identify themselves as Muslims.  Reportedly, Native Americans have been known to wait up to a year before naming their children in order to see what their child’s personality traits will be to be able to give him a name suitable to their personality.  In some African cultures, a baby is named for the circumstances surrounding their birth, and again for the family’s hopes for the future or for a beloved relative so that the child will grow to be like that person.  In Japan, they name their children after moral or virtuous qualities or for their position in the family structure (http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/role-names-racism-cultural-pride/).
            “Black-sounding” or “ghetto” names such as Lynishia, Laquisha, Shaqueen, or Marquise are common in the black community and are controversial.  They are connected to stereotypes about black people: ignorant, inner-city, “welfare-mamma’s”.  People like the woman being interviewed on the radio program believe that these kinds of names serve as a disadvantage to the people who have to wear them.  Tests using Google have clarified the negative association that these names have.  The image results that come up when these names are entered into Google are usually mug shots of young black men or women or of women that are dressed as strippers.
            Critics of these names believe these names are without authentic cultural roots and can be a source of embarrassment and a hindrance to social and economic advancement.  According to one educational consultant, the longer, more uniquely spelled a child’s name is, the less likely the child is to be called on to participate in school.  People have reported that employers throw out the resume’s that are from people with “black-sounding” names without looking at the person’s credentials.  Individuals with “ghetto” names have been known to shorten them in order to avoid embarrassment in casual and professional situations.  So where do these names come from?
            During slavery, when Africans were made into slaves in America, they were stripped of their tribal and clan names and they were given the names of their slave master in order to dehumanize them and void their identity, hopes and dreams.  After the Civil War, blacks wanted to reinvent their identity.  They did not know about their ancient naming ceremonies due to being cut off from their roots, and in order to be unique, they began embellishing their names.  During the Civil Rights Movement, black people rediscovered their African roots, and along with the rise of Islam, they began using Arabic and Swahili names.  As the sounds of jazz and hip-hop grew in influence, they were occasioned by an increase in lyrical expression.  As a result, black people’s names became a mixture of Swahili names and percussive sounds which gave rise to names such as Lacretia, Aniqua, DeShawn, DeVonta, or Shaquille.  Economic disadvantage inspired parents to name their children for their dreams and material desires for luxury items and gave rise to names the like of Gucci, Lexus and Mercedes.  Qualities that parents felt described their children produced names in the vein of Serenity, Heaven or Precious (http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html?t=9542689#page:showThread,9542689)

            These names illustrate a lack of cultural awareness attendant to a people who have been deprived of a proper education about their history, and serve as a reminder of the damage that has been done as a result of this miseducation.  They illustrate the struggle black people are enduring in order to carve out an identity.
Published:  http://www.democracychronicles.com/origins-black-name/

Monday, September 9, 2013



Pinky 
            The sinister role that skin color plays in a society that limits its perception to it is undoubtedly highlighted in films such as “Pinky”.  Exploring the experiences of a black woman so light that she passes for white forces one to really examine definitions of race and the rigidity of perception in a racially biased environment.  Patricia “Pinky” Johnson played by Jeanne Crain, returns to the “Deep South” under Jim Crow laws after graduating from nursing school in Boston.  While in Boston, she lived life as a white woman.  She returns to the South because she has, as she says: “nowhere else to go.”
Her return is heralded as good news.  The local black community is happy about her arrival because she would be a great asset to the community due to her medical training.  Her grandmother is expecting her to continue the family tradition of servitude by providing bed-side care to old, dying Miss Em., and a local black doctor is soliciting her to start a nursing school to help provide education and training to the young black women of the community who are high school graduates.
“Pinky” is conflicted and disgusted by what she has to face.  Her grandmother is still providing washer-woman services to the aging and dying Miss Em., who no longer has any money to provide any pittance to her servant.  Everyone in town suspects her of “passing” for white “up yonder” and she is constantly being admonished to stay true to who she is and not deny being black.  This provides an undeniable conflict for the character because who she is, is a woman who looks white.  She has frequent and intense arguments with her grandmother where she declares that she has been treated like an “equal” in Boston and does not want to accept the low-class status that she is being forced into in the South.  “Pinky” determines to leave, however she reluctantly stays out of reverence for her grandmother’s request.
“Pinky” bristles at having to accept a servile position.  She has several venom-filled exchanges with Miss Em. while tending to her.  She demands that Miss Em. respect her due to her training as a nurse.  She fights back against Miss Em.’s subtle accusations of theft, her domineering tone of voice and her requests that she perform servile tasks.
“Pinky’s” past finally comes back to haunt her.  Her white boyfriend that she had in Boston comes looking for her after receiving a mysterious telegram about her, confirming to her grandmother that she was living a lie in Boston.  She confesses to her boyfriend that she is really black.  They reconcile and make plans to be reunited and marry after she finishes working for Miss Em.
In one very illuminative scene, the viewer truly catches a glimpse of the thin racial line that the character has to walk, and is exposed to the strong enticement that the character faces to pass for white.  “Pinky” walks into a fabric store and is immediately waited upon by a white sales woman.  She is shown the best fabric that the store has.  Her money is accepted for payment until it is pointed out by another white patron that she is actually “colored”.  Instantly, she is transported into second-class status and is ganged up on by the patron, the sales woman and the shop owner and is accused of having stolen the money she is using to pay for the fabric.
The film toned down the harshness of racism in the “Deep South”.  Things turned out surprisingly “well” for the young black woman who looks white.  She is made heir to her grandmother’s “employer’s” property and is victorious over Miss Em.’s legal relatives in court as they fight over her will, a rare experience for blacks in the “Deep South”.  Due to the white woman’s benevolent bequeathal, the black community is provided with a nursing training center, hospital and nursery in the home of a former slave owner.  “Pinky’s” boyfriend, played by William Lundigan is surprisingly understanding of being lied to and deceived by his black lover and still wants to marry her and keep their racial differences a secret.
“Pinky’s” grandmother, Dicey Johnson is played by Ethel Waters who does an excellent job of portraying the servile, worshipful mentality of many blacks who worked for whites.  She encourages her granddaughter to stay and work for the family’s owner, even though she sent her away to school in order to improve her station in life.  She relishes any scrap she receives from her owner.  She is “proud” to be left with her deceased owners clothes and does not complain about working for no pay.

“Pinky” was a bold piece for the time it was made in 1949.  It shattered many societal taboos and was banned in some areas of the country for its “suggestive influence”.  Some objected to the onscreen portrayal of miscegenation and for some uncomfortable sexual situations.  The movie director Elia Kazan had a strong history of making movies that tugged at the social fabric of society.  “Pinky” was Elias second film and was one of the first films in America to address racism against blacks.  The film does a wonderful job of bringing society face to face with the juxtaposed lives of whites and blacks in America.  It provides an artful and palatable way for the larger society to face its demons.  “Pinky” is a thought provoking, classic movie whose themes are still relevant to society today.  In a society still struggling with inter-racial unions, legal justice for blacks and providing a level playing field for all its members of society, a contemporary review of this movie’s themes would be a relevant, useful and welcome commentary.

Published: www.democracychronicles.com/pinky-skin-color-identity

Commentary on The Halfway House by Guillermo Rosales


Commentary on The Halfway House by Guillermo Rosales

“The Halfway House” by Guillermo Rosales offers penetration into a world most people do not know exists.  It is a captivating, honest, straightforward viewing of the darker side of human reality.  The unfortunate end of those who fall through the cracks of time is expertly detailed by Mr. Rosales.  This is a frightening tale about the conditions of individuals who barely exist as humans.  It gets its realism from the actual life experiences of the author.  It is unimaginable how anyone could survive or eek out an existence in one of these “places.”
            William Figueras is no longer mentally viable.  He has arrived in Miami from Cuba to relatives who, upon discovering his uselessness, dutifully, resolutely and in an organized, matter of fact way, deposit him at the “boarding home”, assured that “nothing more can be done.”
            The encounters, circumstances and the souls that have been collected in the “boarding house” are beyond belief.  The horror that the denizens of the “boarding house” are enduring is what you find at the end of the road of life.  The cast of personages presented in “The Halfway House” is an array of feeble-mindedness and insanity.  There is: Reyes a man with a glass eye that drips with yellow pus and who urinates all over the “boarding house” as, William puts it, out of “revenge”; Rene and Pepe “mental retards” that inflict violence upon each other; Eddy, a Cuban immigrant that suffers with seizures and Hilda, “the decrepit old hag” who urinates on her clothes, to name a few.
            Arsenio and Mr. Curbelo are the demons who guard the inhabitants of the “boarding house”.  According to William, “I also think that you have to be made of the same stuff as hyenas or vultures to own this halfway house.”  This two-headed Cerberus presides over a reign of terror.  They steal money from the inmates’ government checks, and they burglarize their meager earnings.  They offer them crudely prepared concoctions construed as food.  The residents are harassed.  Their property is stolen.  They are raped, sexually abused and assaulted.
            The internees are trapped and have nowhere to go.  The only options available to them if they escape are jail and the street.  They are too mentally eroded to defend themselves, and they have been abandoned by their families and society.

            Deliverance from the “boarding house” proves to be impossible.  In a fleeting moment of hope, William manages to find a decent place to live and arranges to get his government check from the brutes that guard the “boarding house”.  As William leaves, his jailers call the police, and as Konerak Sinthasomphone was returned to Jeffrey Dahmer after he escaped the latter’s apartment, William is arrested and returned to the filth and stench of the last circle of hell on earth, the “boarding house”.

Published:  http://www.squidoo.com/commentary-on-the-halfway-house-by-guillermo-rosales

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Hanging of Paul Bogle







The Hanging of Paul Bogle


            When Paul Bogle learned his fate, he felt vindication.  He was proud to die.  Being falsely accused and imprisoned by evil colonial authorities for fighting against the injustices being perpetrated against his people, and being put to death on a tree, is similar to the life and death of Jesus Christ whose message he preached.

            Even though England abolished slavery in its former colony of Jamaica, and the former slaves were able to choose their employer, field of work and allowed to vote, they were still desperately impoverished and as a result, they could not vote being unable to afford the high poll tax.  Even though blacks outnumbered whites thirty-two to one, whites had all the political and economic power.  Abuse was constantly being inflicted against the so-called “emancipated” blacks.  The desperate conditions produced many organizers to fight for their liberation.

The final straw came when a destitute black squatter who was using a part of an abandoned plantation to grow food for himself and his family, was arrested for trespassing.  The local blacks protested.

Paul Bogle was at the forefront of organizing poverty-stricken blacks to strive for their freedom from colonial tyranny and oppression.  He organized a group of protesters to march to Morant Bay to join their other brothers in solidarity. 

When they arrived at the courthouse in Morant Bay, they were attacked by a group of colonial vigilantes.  A riot erupted.  Eighteen people were killed and the black protesters took over the town of Morant Bay.  Two thousand black rebels roamed the countryside and killed two white planters and forced others to flee.  This resulted in the colonial government of an emancipated population to send troops to Morant Bay to kill the poorly armed rebels and bring Paul Bogle to be executed.

            Being lead to death by 10, 000 soldiers, Paul meditated on his life.  It was all worth it.  On the day of his martyrdom, it was 96 degrees in the shade.  With hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck, he addressed his soon to be vanquished colonial slave drivers:

“Some may suffer and some may burn;

but I know that one day my people will learn;

as sure as the sun shines, way up in the sky;

today I stand here a victim – the truth is I’ll never die”

As his body hung from the cotton tree and swayed in the wind, he thought - “Now the revolution can begin.”

Published: http://the-nyc-mind.tumblr.com/  (17th Aug 2013)

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Reflections on Brokeback Mountain



Reflections on Brokeback Mountain


            If there ever was a threat to “heteronormativity” it was with the movie Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee.  It is a story of love unrealized between two of America’s most revered symbols of masculinity, the cowboy.  The seemingly invisible fabric that homosexuality weaves in the enclaves of American life is wonderfully presented in this film.  Ang Lee does a phenomenal job of bringing to the screen the pain, frustration and longing that accompanies homosexual relationships in a staunchly heterosexual society.
            Ang Lee presents “heteronormativity” as a ferocious device that provides homosexuals at once with societal acceptance and simultaneously with their demise, as they are not able to truly achieve the fruition that their orientation designs.  The homosexual men in the movie were married to women and their marriages were in various stages of dysfunction.  The men are desperate and ensnared.  They want affection.  They want attention.  They want a real connection.  They want love.  And they find it in each other.
            The lengths to which the same-gender-loving individuals in the movie go to in order to experience being together are very reveling.  The movie’s main characters try repeatedly to make plans to be together, but the violent threat of “heteronormative” reprisal was an ever present barrier.  The two main characters in the movie, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist continue a long distance relationship for over ten years.  They spend months apart and see each other only once or twice a year so they can re-experience their homosexual passions.  The character Jack Twist has to take sporadic trips to Mexico in order to fulfill his homosexual longings in the absence of Ennis.

            The bonds between the two main characters last a life time.  After the violent and tragic death of Jack Twist, Ennis kept the mementos of their union when they were cowboys on Brokeback Mountain.  The last scene in the movie shows Ennis pining for the love he was never able to fulfill at the hand of “heteronormativity”.

Published:  http://www.cafedelapensee.com/node/1310

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Judas Iscariot



             I was living a disillusioned life in Judea.  Life was hard.  Injustice was rampant.  Taxes were high and the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Sadducees and Romans were oppressing the masses and stealing from them in the name of God.  I want to change this injustice.  This type of life is unfair.

            There is a growing movement among the people that seek to change this mode of existence.  The name everyone mentions is Jesus.  When I heard his message it was like water to my soul.  He was for the people.  He was liberating them.  Blessing the poor, feeding the needy, and breaking the established rules on the Sabbath.  This is the revolution.  I would follow him.

            After (3) long years with Jesus, I am at a breaking point.  Like a lover who has discovered his beloved’s unfaithfulness, knowing Jesus has left a bitter taste in my mouth.  I have no use for money as many may think.  I want to pay him back for his fraud.

            The Roman government has not been overthrown.  Jesus is saying things that show his weakness.  He is not as strong as he used to be.  He is making statements that are not helping our people.  Do onto others as you would have them do onto you?!  Turn the other cheek?!  Forgiveness?!  The kingdom of God is within you?!  He is misleading the people and does not deserve their devotion.  I have grown tired of Jesus and at times cannot stand to be in his company.  I have spoken to him about our differences, but he persists.  He needs to be gotten rid of.  I have wasted my time and energy with this man.  He has betrayed ME!!

            Like a jilted lover driven to desperate acts out of frustrated passion, unable to see my way out of my anger, I went to the chief priests to pay Jesus back for his deception.  “…I will deliver him unto you?  And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver.” - Matthew 26: 14 & 15

            We arranged to meet in the Garden of Gethsemane.  After our last meal together, I kissed Jesus and the soldiers took him away.

            A temporary victory, that passes upon the shock of hindsight.  I am overcome with iniquity with the accomplishment of my treachery.  I am so taken with anguish, shame and sorrow.  I beg my co-conspirators to take the money back, but they have gotten what they want from me.  I am alone.  I can’t stand myself.  I can’t live with what I have done.  A rope around my neck and a tree will be my only escape.

Published: www.revistacruce.com/artes/judas-iscariot.html and
                  www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/1120


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The White Witch of Rose Hall


            After my parents died of yellow fever in Haiti, I was reared to maturity by my nanny.  When I came of age, I left the island of Haiti for the island of Jamaica in search of a better life.  I intend to have financial security.  I met and married John Palmer and lived on his beautiful plantation estate, Rose Hall.  Complete with a sugar plantation and thousands of slaves.
            I have a way with men, and I have way with my male slaves.  I’m as brutal and sadistic as any male plantation slave owner.  I’m also gaining a reputation as a “black widow”.  People are starting to wonder why every husband I have gets sick and dies.  My fortune grows after each husband’s untimely demise.  I am three times a widow.  My slaves are also getting restless.  They don’t like my treatment of them.

            Well, no party lasts forever.  I was done in by my black lover and company.  But I still can’t leave this place, its beauty, the scenery, the memories.  People claim to see me riding on horseback and hear my footsteps in the mansion halls.  Come by and see me sometime.  Tours of my former estate are a popular attraction.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Star Spangled Banner Deconstructed




The national anthem of America, typically invokes feelings of pride, devotion and loyalty.  It symbolizes freedom and the championing of human rights.  However, a second look at this national symbol exposes one to its warmongering, gory, pro-slavery themes.

The Star Spangled Banner is actually a four stanza poem, of which the first cadence is most commonly known as the American national anthem.  It was written in 1812 by Francis Scott Key, after seeing the American flag still flying after the battle of Fort McHenry during the U.S. War of 1812 against England.  The original title of the poem was “Defense of Fort McHenry”.  The poem is set to a popular British tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven”, a drinking song that celebrates, women, wine and carousing. 

Mr. Key was a slave owner and a lawyer who prosecuted anti-slavery activists for their abolitionist work.  Upon closer inspection, his activities seem to be in stark contrast to the last sentence in each verse of the poem “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”  The poem continues on with its pro-slavery sentiments with the verbiage in the third stanza and line “No refuge could save the hireling and slave.”

The poem is a call to war with bloodthirsty imagery.  This could possibly serve as a prelude to the many wars and invasions the United States has been involved in over the years.  This is embodied by the usage found in the second line of the third stanza “Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution” and in the fifth line of the fourth stanza “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just”.

These are concepts far removed from the more popular view of this national symbol.  A deeper look at the history of the poem provides the opportunity to inspect uncomfortable aspects of its message.

Published:  http://www.democracychronicles.com/star-spangled-banner/

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Psychoanalytic Criticism of the Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman


Psychoanalytic Criticism: Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman


            This critique will look at a screen director’s use of his film to project his contempt for religion, the religious and women.  He goes to great lengths to explain a tumultuous, tortured view of the part religion plays in the lives of its adherents.  The dialogue in the film is very captivating and poetic.  It is laden with jarring scenes imitating the directors’ belief in the human torment that can be inflicted by blind religious fervor.

            The film maker allows his id to run amuck in his version of women.  The image of women is paradoxical in this work.  The Virgin Mary and Jesus permeate the visions of the characters.  Women are cast as devoted mothers and caretakers, or as untrustworthy seductresses that summon death to befall their community due to having carnal knowledge of the devil.  Misogyny is palpable in the scenes where woman are being tortured and burned at the stake, and where they are pitting men against each other.

            The cinematographer’s ego is in conflict about the reality of God and the relevance of faith.  The character relationship between a knight and death portraits this conflict.  A knight and his knave have recently returned to their homeland from fighting in the Crusades.  The specter of death appears to claim the knight.  The knight challenges death to a game of chess in exchange for his life.  In a very profound scene, the knight bares his soul regarding his conflicted beliefs about God.  The knight reveals:  His indifference to mankind and his inability to be around others.  He speaks of living in a world of phantoms and of being a prisoner of his dreams.  He wants to die.  He believes God’s promises are half-spoken.  He wants to believe in God, but he can’t.  He believes God is a mocking reality that he cannot shake.  He wants to know God, but God is silent and doesn’t answer him.  Without this knowledge of God he is unable to face death due to life being meaningless and lived in vain.  He needs God in order to find meaning in life.

            Initially the knight believes that he can beat death at chess, however, as he journey’s through the film and resolves his conflicts with God and life, he is beaten in the end by death.  This answers the director’s ego and reconciles his conflicted views about God, life and death.

            This is a thought provoking movie by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman that really speaks to man’s eternal search for the meaning of life.

Published: 
http://senuxjohnson.hubpages.com/hub/-Psychoanalytic-Criticism-Seventh-Seal-by-Ingmar-Bergman

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Marxist Criticism of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis


Marxist Criticism of the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka


           There is a very oppressive, top down theme present in this writing.  The feeling of fear and hopelessness is very evident.  As I am preparing this writing, I too am feeling the residual effects of working class terror - fear, guilt, shame and anxiety for not adhering to a predetermined schedule. 

            There is a tug-of-war incident between the harsh and dismissive perspective of the “boss” and “the insurance doctor” in that they believe “everyone is completely healthy but really lazy about work”; versus the general perspective of “the worker” who is trying to  resolve his right to survive, which is entangled with dehumanizing, miserable work conditions.  The “boss” and “insurance doctor” gang-up and crush the worker with their policies.

            Throughout the composition, there is an absence of the names of the characters.  There are only functions: the boss, the errand boy, the insurance doctor and traveling salesman, erasing the need to be concerned with the individual, only with their utility. 

            The “worker” does not have control of his own life.  His life is run by machines - clocks, watches and trains.  His life is excruciatingly regimented.  He has never missed a day of work in (5) years.  He must get up at 4.  He can’t be late.  He must get up early.  He has an ever looming fear of losing his livelihood.

            The image that comes to my mind when I read the description of Gregor’s boss is of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  A fat, loud, domineering, red-faced, cigar chewing, type A personality.  The boss is placed physically above “the workers”, talking down to them, forcing them to look up at him in an uncomfortable, awkward way; amplifying their insignificance and his dominance.  Gregor’s boss is apparently “the boss” everywhere.  He is able to enter into the personal home and family life of “the worker” and can usurp the family hierarchy.  The “boss” knows Gregor’s parents.  The “boss” is able to disrespect and criticize the parent’s child rearing skills.  There is an indentured servant relationship between “the boss”, Gregor’s family and Gregor.  The parents are indebted to the boss, and have handed over their son to work off their debt.

            Our protagonist is so dehumanized that he is in the form of an insect.  He finds himself on his back, wriggling and writhing, unable to stand, turnover or control his legs.  His underbelly is exposed, which is the Achilles heel of an insect.  An insect is something that you step on.  It is miniscule.  It is unwanted.  It is something that disgusts others.  It embodies how the worker feels, and how he is viewed by “the boss” and society.

            Gregor is isolated and has no one to talk to about his feelings.  His family serves as reinforcement of servile working class values.  Everyone in the house comes to the door to encourage him to go to work.  He is unable to share with them that he has serious “physical problems”. 

Gregor wants to break free from his servile life.   He states: “If I were to try that with my boss, I’d be thrown out on the spot.  Still, who knows whether that mightn’t be really good for me.” And further when the insurance doctor makes his poorly thought out statements about everyone being healthy but lazy, Gregor adds “And besides, would the doctor in this case be totally wrong?”

This excerpt from Franz Kafka is a wonderfully creative and thought provoking way of presenting working class struggles, worker vexation and iron-handed capitalism.

Published:  http://www.cafedelapensee.com/node/1222

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Twilight Zone: The Hitchhiker


The Twilight Zone: The Hitchhiker

 

            In this episode of the Twilight Zone, a woman is being followed by a strange man everywhere she goes, foreshadowing her death.  The writers of this scene were expert in casting a woman as the protagonist.  The use of a woman heightens the thrill of the story, and serves to further perpetuate stereotypes of women.

            A young, attractive, 27 year-old woman, seeming to take charge of her life is driving alone on a difficult journey from New York to California.  The casting of this feature shows gender bias.  The only other characters in the episode are men.  This delivers a message that it is a man’s world and women are incidental in it.  The men facilitate her journey.  Whenever she runs into trouble, a man comes to her rescue.  They change her car tire.  They escort her on her trip and provide her with advice, fortifying the convention that women need men to solve their problems.  The scene where the woman begs the sailor to stay with her is an excellent illustration of this point.

            Throughout the story, there is a frightening acceptance of the objectification of a woman.  The character of death is an unassuming older man that leers, stalks and targets the woman, disturbing her peace of mind, violating her right to privacy and ignoring all of her wishes to be left alone.

            The woman is shown as a poor decision maker.  She decides to make an ill-fated, poorly planned trip.  She is careless.  She abandons her car in the night and walks alone looking for gas.  She takes no safety precautions.  She foolishly stops on the rail road tracks and narrowly escapes her demise.

            The woman is also represented as emotionally frail and irresponsible.  She cracks under pressure.  She has no coping skills and is unable to resolve her own problems.  She falls apart emotionally when the character of death talks to her.  When she runs into trouble, she calls her mother to hear a familiar reassuring voice.  She asks the sailor, whom she doesn’t know, to accompany her on her journey, again carelessly putting herself in a potentially dangerous situation.

            This feature leaves the viewer, particularly the female viewer with a considerable message that it is perilous for women to venture out alone.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The War Prayer


The War Prayer

by Mark Twain


            “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”.  This is the quote that came to mind after reading “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain.  It is a very short perusal.  Mark Twain’s profundity and beliefs are very evident in this composition.  It is very simply written and easy to read.

            There are two sides of life.  This writing is divided into (2) parts.  I had no idea what this writing was about, however as I read the first part of the piece, I thought about the thin veneer of life; the appearance of things.  The way things seem to be on the surface.  The way things are presented.  The efforts made to hide the truth, and the often inaccessibility of reality.

            The community of people in this work is at war.  They are sending their sons and fathers off to war.  There is a lot of patriotic zeal and, oddly enough, a lot of praying to God for divine protection and victory in fighting this war.  The protagonist of this work enters at the height of the community’s zealousness.  He proclaims to be a messenger of God, who will deliver and explain God’s answer to their prayers.  The messenger explains that their prayers for protection, guidance and victory are simultaneously prayers for destruction, violence and persecution against the people they are fighting.  There can only be one conqueror in a fight.  One alleged victor.  If you are praying to win, you are also praying to annihilate your opponent.  Another creation of the God you serve.

            The simplicity of this piece speaks to its timelessness.  The absence of geographic descriptions, dates, names, the name of the war, allows it to be transposed over any time period or place.  I naturally compared it to the current wars that America is engaged in with Afghanistan and Syria, and the previous wars with Iraq and Libya, and the call to defend America during the 9/11 incident.

            This discourse, with its practical and subtle ending, reinforces the profound blindness of “patriotism”.  Like most of those who deliver calls to reason in a community drunk on patriotism, the messenger was branded a lunatic by a community puzzled by his message.

Published: 
 http://opencaravan.com/2013/07/25/throwback-thursday-recommended-reading-the-war-prayer/