Various accounts, whether non-fictional or fictional, collective or objective, are meant to come together to form collective significant--a multifaceted story. It is dangerous just to listen to one account when so many exist. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie notes, "I've always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of the ... [Read more...]
Children are notorious for having "untainted" imagination, allowing them to visualize life events and more intangible (unseen) concepts in a way that adults are often unable to. Marjane Satrapi's religious identity is of such a high level. She thinks outside the box. Marjane believes she is a prophet and was "born with religion" (pg. 6), ... [Read more...]
In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, An Artist of the Floating World, artist Masuji Ono narrates the story, reminiscing on the world he used to know before the war. Mr. Ono recalls his past as an artist, even though I believe a person never truly stops being an artist. Although he may have stopped creating art with ... [Read more...]
Nervous conditions exist often unrecognized, unacknowledged, or unspoken. A nervous condition is anything that involves a tension between two things; it is no stranger to internal war, as it usually involves a silent battle of self. In Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, Babamakuru wrestles with expectations of being a masculine provider that are placed upon him ... [Read more...]
I chose the image above because it represents the purpose of protest in communities that have been oppressed by acts of terrorism, violations committed for the purpose of inspiring fear and causing political, emotional, and social upheaval. On an example of protest from the New York Times... According to reporter Liz Alderman of the New ... [Read more...]
Explanation of the image... I chose this photograph because it represents taking on a new flesh and becoming a survivor, representing strength and perseverance amidst oppression and/or objectification. The very word survivor is transformative, shifting the identity of a character from a victim, a person who has been stripped of his or her humanity through ... [Read more...]
What does it mean to protest through literature or with cultural forms? How are these forms of performing democracy? Literature and other forms of free expression have the power to unveil injustice, tell stories of heritage, suffering, and abuse. They can attempt to counter dehumanization, preserve memory, and empower those who have been oppressed and ... [Read more...]