Pippin's blog

Cairo“Yom assal, yom basal”
“Some days are honey, some days are onion.”
-Arabic Proverb

Feras was young, but not too young. He had just come into manhood and was very proud of that fact. There were now plenty of opportunities available to an energetic young Bedouin such as himself. He could now begin his search for a wife; he could start a business as a merchant since he did, after all, know everything there was to know about the desert. He knew the quickest ways to water, he knew where all the oases were, he knew how to hunt desert game; he had all the skills for success.

That was why he was out in the middle of the desert. He had left his family to go to Cairo and start his business and his life. His trusty camel Laila moseyed along next to him looking thoroughly bored with the entire enterprise. Feras, on the other hand, was very excited, this was his first time traveling on his own without the noise and irritation of his family. He knew the path well and judged that he would be in Cairo in about more three days. He could barely contain himself and couldn’t wait until he got there. His father had taken his family there many times before but the children were all made to wait outside the city with the women. The men would go into the city and sell what ever they had to sell. This was the way it was with every city the family approached, and Feras had always felt very annoyed with the fact that his father never allowed to see the inside of the city walls.

Adorable Chinese Kid The writing in this novel is, I would say, rather ingenious. But not in the sense of great imagery and flowery language because it by no means is written in good English, but that is the beauty of it. The main character Z has only a limited knowledge of the English language and the fact that we can experience her experiences through her misunderstandings and struggles to understand clearly put us in the exact mindset of Z. This is very different than being told by some outside observe (even if it is the same character reflecting on past events) because it is more real and makes the story more valid in our minds, as well as more gripping.
On top of that, this lack of understanding of necessary concepts brings us back to our early, early years of life. Not many of us can really remember that (I’m not even sure I do) but think back, way back when your English vocabulary was quite small. What I remember is not exactly that there were things that I wasn’t understanding, everything going through my head made perfect sense, no matter what those outside people said, this is what I understand. That is kind of what Z is experiencing. Not to say that Chinese understanding is like that of a child, but her culture is severely different than that of the English and when things occur to her she will process it in her understanding and come up with an appropriate responding action, or at least, what she thinks is appropriate.

Book Cover I was completely surprised by the views of Tancredi. In the beginning of the novel when he meets Sophie, all of small things that he says in his own mind are all so condescending toward women and I was totally surprised that a female author would write that in there. I’m guessing that she might be retaliating as a woman against what she might think that men really think. If this is the case then I am very sad to think that these archaic views are what the men in her life see, that this is the only kind of man she knows.
As the story just begins to unfold, Tancredi is given the task of offering wine to all of the guests at his sister’s party. The only one who accepts his offer is this strange, foreign-looking woman whom he knows nothing about. He immediately begins building his image of her based solely on his evaluation of her looks. And he is not at all lenient. His critical analysis leads him to the conclusion that she is not that special. So his first impression is already set. Then there are small instances where she will say something and he will think some snarky remark. Like when she tells him that she studied in Florence and he thinks, “Of course, she studied art history because they never study anything else.”

Movie Poster I thought that the whole underlying tone of feminism was slightly off. I’m not sure how to describe it exactly but I felt like every scenario in which it came up kind of brushed it off. For example, Mary was an actress in a recently disbanded theatre troupe of all women actors who did plays with only women in them. When first introduced to this, I’m not sure how others felt, but I felt like it was ever so slightly ridiculous. Like it was taking feminism to the extreme level, almost, and trying to cut out men altogether. In my opinion this is a ridiculous way of going about women’s rights; we should be looking for equality not female dominance. Also in the beginning of the novel Mary states that the women of the country are more radical and active than back home, and Colin easily brushes off the topic and moves on. It is never mentioned again. Lastly, when Mary is describing her children to Robert and Caroline she seems to take special care in saying that her daughter is on the guys’ football team in her school. Although I am all for this and if the girl can play then she can play, but Mary tells us that she was pummeled in practice and had to stay in bed for a week and that Mary cut her hair so that she could look less like a girl and more like “one of the guys.” Not only is Mary’s audience only mildly interested in this, but again we get the sense that the feminism in the novel is take to be ridiculous. I get the sense that Mary is almost pushing her daughter to become one of the guys so that she can establish a sense of equality, however false it may be. Like I said, if the girl can keep up with the guys then go for it, but if she can’t and is injured to the point of staying in bed for a week just to prove her equality with the male “race,” then no, that is too much.

Behind me is the San Marco Square, mentioned in the book What is weird about this book is it is like middle school crushes all over again in the mind of a 50-YEAR-OLD MAN! I mean, in all honesty, we all know that at some point in our lives it was actually this traumatizing to have a chance encounter with a crush, to maybe finally have the courage to say, “Hi” to her and thus you start to know the very moment that she enters every single room. But this becomes a little too creepy because his entire day becomes scheduled upon stalking his affection. On top of it all, there is an inexcusable age difference. It doesn’t bother me at all that his affections are towards another person of the same sex, but that they are toward somebody at least 36 years his younger! This is the part that begins to freak me out a little bit.
Though it is difficult for me to look past and understand the story, I think that it may be a story about traveling to a place where you do not have to be yourself and thus begin to behave more freely and act on your emotions rather than what society has taught you. When you are younger you are seeing the world for the first time and your excitement about exploring this grand place is enormous. Once you begin to feel that you’ve seen it all, that is when you begin to feel old and like you’ve run your race, so to speak. Any opportunity you now get to rekindle the youngster in you is precious. This is why, I believe, Aschenbach becomes obsessed with Tadzio, this silent pursuit of his makes Aschenbach feel young once again. As it stands, I do not connect with Aschenbach at all, I have no way of relating to the main story, but I guess that that might be due to my severe lack in years, at only 18 I am thankful that there is still much more to this world for me to explore.

Mole Hill Mountain I feel like I’ve known too many of this type of person in my life; this type of sinister and untrusting person that Allie Fox is. Perhaps not to the extreme as Fox himself but there seem to be plenty of people nowadays who think that they know better and more than the current institution gives us. Frankly I’m getting slightly annoyed by it. This current volatile political situation that we’re in opens up alleyways for all kinds of radical and extremists who think the government is only out to screw us over and dominate the entire world. I have sat audience to so many people preaching about the changes that need to be made NOW and all of the conspiracies of the government that must be brought to an end. It’s such bolax sometimes! (Yes, I said “bolax”) I guess I sort of put myself up to it by choosing to live in one of the most liberal cities in the country and study in one of the most liberal universities in the country, but sometimes I just look at these radical activists and think that they just go too far. You know, maybe the government is NOT out to get us, we just elected a president who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
In the case of the Fox family, these radical and highly unsatisfied feelings end up getting them into real trouble. Now I haven’t yet finished the whole book, but when I do I’m almost positive I will not be reading about their amazing success in the jungle; I’ll be reading about how it was an epic fail. (I’m pretty sure that’s how it’ll turn out =/ ) It will all have come from the inability of Allie to remain satisfied with what amazing opportunities America’s got and focusing only on the mass consumerism as a bad thing. There is even an expression that fits this situation exactly, it goes, “Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.”

Map of Africa When I was reading this I couldn’t get the beginning encounters with the aunt out of my head. In one of these she straight up tells Marlow to help bring the “savages” out of their “horrid ways.” I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry not for the natives of Africa, but for her, for her inexcusable ignorance. Of course I know that back then people were much more inclined to think that way because they were never taught any better. The church basically controlled all of their ways of thinking and that meant that those who didn’t follow their ways were savages and the humane thing to do was to want to teach them right, rather than kill them. I’m glad, obviously, that there were people who did think that they didn’t deserve to die, but to think that the goodhearted people still couldn’t fathom people living in anyway other than theirs.
I myself never understood why people feel that they must take it upon themselves to convert other people to their way of thinking, whether it be in a religion, philosophy, or even scientific theory. I never thought that anybody who thought differently than me posed any specific threat to my wellbeing.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Marlow did not share the same views as his aunt and left for Africa not on some self-proclaimed mission to save the souls of the natives. And on top of that, as he traveled down the coast of Africa he saw what the natives were experiencing and truly felt for them.

Eiffel Tower People of all different backgrounds travel. It is never always totally clear why anyone travels, and a lot of times it is not even clear to the traveler; he just seems to have the need to go experience someplace else. This need to journey to a distant land comes directly from his comfort, happiness, and satisfaction with his current home and life, or lack thereof. When he finds himself unsatisfied he begins to look elsewhere for what would make him whole. There are different types and levels of travelers, or tourists, as the modern day traveler is called, and these levels are determined by how unsatisfied the tourist is with his life. The levels are known as recreational, diversional, experiential, experimental, and existential, according to the theory of Erik Cohen. However, the possibility stands that the former three categories can be grouped into one category, as can the latter two. The distinction being between those tourists who still think about going “home,” and those tourists who are actually travelers in search of a new home.

Traveling Through Switzerland This story, more than any of the others, reminds me of what a true traveler is in my mind: someone who has no attachments or need to stay in one place or another. A true traveler is as free as a feather in the wind to change direction and float in whatever direction he pleases. It is a strange sense of freedom, no not have any responsibility other than to feed yourself every day and see to it that you don’t die. Getting lost is never a bad thing. This is the kind of trip that I’ve always wanted to take across Europe. With no itinerary, no plan, and nobody else, just maybe 1 or 2 other people who are as easy-going as you are.
My own father lived his life like this for a few years when he first came to the United States. After leaving the Israeli Army his only really marketable skill was welding and that’s what made him his money. His only possessions were his few clothes, his truck, and his dog, Crystal, and he bounced around the Western United States going from one welding job to another, never remaining in one place for more than 4 months. He traveled from South Dakota, to Colorado Springs, to Austin, and even to Mexico.

Sheltering SkyI feel that a lot of the relationship between the three main characters is an image of the manipulative-ness of human nature. It seems that neither Port or Kit like each other very much, bringing into question the reason for their marriage, so it turns out that a lot of their relationship is trying to play the other. There are tricks of resentment and jealousy constantly throughout the story. They seem to be the perfect model of a dysfunctional relationship, getting angry over the pettiest things and making issues out of nothings. They sound just about due for a divorce.
And playing completely into this dysfunction is the character of Tunner. He is one of the ways that Kit plays with the mind of Port, and completely content to be the concubine of Kit. Though he feels that he is successfully playing his charm to win over the favor of the couple, he is actually being completely used beyond his ability of social sight. Contrary to Kit, Port goes outside their little group to go looking for ways to make his wife jealous. Though this might bring each momentary satisfaction, the pleasure never lasts in the long run and tensions only continue to increase.