What He Hath Lost, Noble Macbeth Hath Won.

Hail!

A stanchless avarice,
It is a kneel that summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame,
That the devil speak true?
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
There's no art To find the mind's construction on the face.
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are.

Hail!

Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
When the battle's lost and won,
The tears shall drown the wind.

Hail!

The night is long that never finds the day;
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But the serpent under it.
An equivocator could not equivocate to heaven
To plague the inventor.
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?

All hail, Macbeth. Hail! Hail! Hail!

The Other Side

Sigh... Oh dear Ikenga... Recently, my so-called best friend, Okonkwo, suffered great turmoil. But seriously, did he think I cared or something? Wel if he did.... AHEM!! He was wrong! His ways of life are morally unacceptable and there were so many circumstances where I wanted to say that to his face! When he was in exile, the only thing that kept me from cutting ties with him was his yams. I made a huge profit selling his harvest in he marketplace! He didn't even know I took half the money that was earned, how stupid! All he's got ion for him is his strength. Imagine, he beats his wives and his children; the only thing he hasn't eaten is himself! He should learn how to control his emotions like me, and maybe he wouldn't be so unfortunate today!...Hahaha that doesn't sound like me at all doesn't it? I think I drank a little too much palm wine today! Honestly speaking though, I can see our society falling apart, can't you? First, Okonkwo is forced into exile, then losers we call Ashy-Buttocks try to educate us! Why can't we be left alone, for goodness sakes? We have been prosperous since our ancestor's ancestors, I'm pretty sure we have no need for whatever change they are planning for us. But! ... There IS one thing that has stirred my interest; and that is their religion. Whoever we cast aside, they take in. What is the meaning of doing so? Do they gain anything from such an act? I guess... Since they have managed to recruit some average village people; even I have been tempted to try what they call Christianity many many times. The thought actually still lingers in my mind... But I'd better keep my distance, because if Okonkwo ever found out, I'm sure I'd serve as chicken feed. Plus, I still have my whole family to take care of; I have no time to fool around with some new belief. I feel bad for his son, Nwoye, though...who's now a Christian. But the more I think about it, the more it seems inevitable since he was always put down and beaten by Okonkwo. Speaking of him, he should seriously stop using violence to solve all his problems! I'm starting to get sick and tired of watching the back of such a dangerous creature! He may see his explosive actions as manly but people like me... See it as shameful. Regardless, even if Okonkwo was here at this moment in time to fight back against these buttocks, we would still witness our culture fall apart. So, Ikenga... What should we do?

Let us Pity the "Oh so Tragic Hero"

     Instead of him not being a hero, my opinion is that Okonkwo is more so a tragic hero. The modern version of a tragic hero is that of an anti-hero, and I believe that defines Okonkwo perfectly. I know he has attributes of not being a hero, one of them being his unwillingness to admit his many mistakes. When he accused his second wife, Ekwefi, of killing a banana tree, which had only a few leaves missing due to a need to wrap some food, he beat her. Even after knowing that the tree was alive, not only did he not apologize, he continued to release his anger. A typical hero is "flawless"; therefore, earning such a title. On the contrary, though Okonkwo is physically flawless, his personality is the exact opposite. Because of many hardships when he was young, he was forced to experience the worst life a child would want in the Igbo society, and that shaped his ice-cold and merciless individuality. Unlike a classical tragic hero, Okonkwo is aware of his flaws and ultimately chooses to continue his actions due to his belief that he is doing the right thing. I believe he is responsible for everything that happens to him in the novel, even the shooting that took place before his seven year exile. Though I may not believe in karma, Okonkwo, in my opinion, got what he deserved. After returning to his fatherland after his exile, he finds that Christians are trying to take over the Igbo culture, and recommends violence to solve the problem. Being the only person that thinks that way, Okonkwo makes a final step and hangs himself, his ultimate downfall; thus, I believe the protagonist of the novel Things Fall Apart, is a tragic hero

Ignoring the Real You

There are many kinds of conflicts a story can exhibit but the conflict I find the most fascinating is Man vs. Self. Every character in a story is different and unique in their own way, each time producing a new kind of inner challenge. Also, it is always very enlightening to discover how the character in a Man vs. Self situation solves their own problems, and if they do.
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the main character, Dorian, encounters the devil within him through his self portrait. It all began with the passionate acting of a beautiful young lady named Sybil Vane. In every play that she acted in, she became the character, and that is what captured Dorian's affinity. Until one evening, when Love decided to show its true form. Before that moment, acting was Sybil's only venue of escape; but after meeting Dorian Gray, she was freed from her cage. She was taught how "false,...vulgar, and...unreal" her reality was (Pg.90). Dorian's tainted soul corrupted Sybil's and she began to focus on the aesthetic factors of life. Not realizing what he had done, Dorian dumped her in disappointment. After cooling his head, he made his way back home, only to find that there was a slight change with his twin on canvas: "The portrait... Showed him the lines of cruelty round the mouth as clearly as if he had been looking into a mirror after he had done some dreadful thing"(Pg.94). In fact, what he had done caused Sybil to commit suicide but after a few words of reconciliation, Dorian decided to let the portrait be: "If the picture was to alter, it was to alter. That was all" (Pg.110). Because of his wish to stay forever beautiful, Dorian began to succumb to his selfish desires as well as let his inner devil take over. "Smiling" as he hid his real self away from the world, Dorian continued on with his life, not even making an effort to solve his problems(Pg.110).

Just checking if my post is working...

When Will the World Reach an Equilibrium?

     Post colonialism can be seen as the aftermath of a colonised country gaining independence from a foreign power. For example, Haiti was under the influence of the French colony until the Haitian Revolution in 1791. They were successful and gained permanent independence as well as the abolishment of slavery. Although this event was considered as the "defining moment in the history of Africans in the New World", there are obvious effects that have remained (Haitian Revolution - Wikipedia).
     Africans in Haiti were subjected to french education and military because of the french settlement. Due to this, there were many children with both white and black parents (mulatto descendants). After the Haitian struggle for individuality, you would expect equality; instead, you find mulatto descendants titled as the elite. What makes them better than their fellow kinsmen? The fact that they have European blood in them? Also, though of African descent, "nearly all of the 8.7 million [Haitian] residents [today] ... speak Creole and French" (The New York Times). Clearly, these are effects of the colonization of Haiti that happened many years ago.
     Just last year, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.0 hit near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Many actions were done to help the catastrophe but there were also many critiques on this event. Being the poorest nation in the northern hemisphere without much modern technology, this country was still criticized for its "flimsy" homes (Article from 'The Takeaway'). Furthermore, because of what the critics have said, people are left with an "impression ...that these [Haitians] are just inherently poor savages who don’t know how to construct decent homes for themselves" (Alison Kilkenny's blog post). Today, a majority of people claim that everyone is equivalent to one another. So why are people mentioning the word savage when talking about these African descendants? Nonetheless, post colonialism is quite evident in countries such as Haiti, but as time passes, our goal is to rid the world of such biases and ultimately treat each other as equals.

Sites where I got the quotes above:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/haiti/index.html
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2010/jan/13/earthquake-ravages-haiti/

Nerdy?

   Glasses are for nerds. Everyone knows that smart people wear glasses. If we weren't to differentiate the nerds from the normal people, then God wouldn't have allowed us to invent glasses, now would He? Also, if people actually had extremely bad eyesight, then they should just get contacts instead; therefore, looking more natural and being more attractive. Nowadays, all people care about is the appearance so if we don't wear glasses, we'll all look pretty. Though this may be the case, some may retort back and say that glasses work better than contacts, but my friend's parent believes that if they don't wear glasses, their eyes will get better; so glasses must not help. Thus, if people don't want to be made fun of, then they should do themselves a favor by stopping themselves from wearing glasses.