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This is Water

This is Water, By David Foster Wallace

In his essay 'This is Water' David Foster Wallace suggests that true freedom acquired through education is the ability to be adjusted, conscious, and sympathetic. He develops this thesis through his use of metaphors everyday examples that we can relate to. He begins his essay, video (as can be seen in the video above), through his use of fish in a fishbowl, when one fish says to the other two "Morning, boys, how’s the water?" and one of them replies "what the hell is water?", and ends his essay with "This is water, this is water". Throughout the essay everyone is trying to understand what Wallace meant through his symbolism of the fish, in my opinion the two fish represent average people who he later describes as having a judgmental pessimistic default setting when put in certain situations that will later be discussed. And the other fish that says "this is water" could symbolise an empathetic person who has developed the ability to change their process of thinking through a quality education.

Throughout most of the video/essay Wallace describes to university students what their future will soon look like when they get a job and grow, he uses relatable situations such as going to the grocery and driving to places one would need to go, to show the different perspectives one could have for approaching these situations. He describes the thought process of two people waiting in line at the grocery checkout line, at first he shows the more usual situation where the person waiting in line would be complaining and thinking rudely of all the other people surrounding them, which Wallace describes as everyone’s ‘default setting’, which we need to change.

He discusses changing your default setting by empathising with people and trying to look at everyone’s situations in another perspective, he gives examples such as while you’re being cut off by someone on the road, they could be driving their loved one to a hospital, or the woman who appears rude at first in the grocery store could be the automobile worker that helped you settle a misunderstand the other day, although unlikely he reminds us that it is not completely impossible.

This can all be related to our unit inquiry question stating “how can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?”, because our knowledge of literature helps us develop greater skills to be able to turn off our ‘default setting’ and be able to empathise with people better. As this famous quote by George R. Martin states “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies”. Which could further relate to the topic at hand. Reading different stories and understanding different contexts and perspectives helps people greater develop the skill to understanding others, and helps change ones mindset into a more understanding one that can help people go on through their lives feeling better about themselves, and their surroundings.

CAP Activity: Creativity - Whats your story?

Title: A mans world

Theme: Gender inequality & sexism

Plot: The story starts in a company. The audience soon finds out is the company owned by the protagonist’s father. As being introduced by the protagonist, he is described as a very old fashioned man who also suffers from ALS. As this disease is fatal, the father aims to have one of his two kids, either his daughter Aurora (the protagonist) or his son Noah to take over the company after he is no longer able to. The siblings start out in the story very friendly and close but as the story progresses their relationship becomes weaker due to their competition to take over the company. Throughout the story it becomes more obvious that Aurora is more qualified to run the company but their father is determined to lean towards Noah, as he believes that a woman cannot run the company. Although his thoughts are not expressed literally, Aurora constantly notices the subtle comments and arrangements that prove to her that her brother is bound to take over the company, but she is still persistent to prove him wrong. Everything was going okay up until one night in a club where Aurora has gone with her friends and comes across an aggressive drunk man, where the events lead to her coming out with a fatal head wound, which further distort the audiences predictions for the rest of the story.

Rising action/ External conflict: Aurora goes to a club with a few of her friends one night. Where a very intoxicated man approaches her trying to flirt with her. She firstly politely rejects him but he then becomes more physical with her in attempts to persuade her to leave with him. The moment the man begins to move his hand towards a more inappropriate part of her body Aurora tries to be released from his grip, which only makes him more aggressive. This is where she panics and throws her drink on the man as she quickly tries to get away from him. The man furiously follows and strikes her. After Aurora falls to the ground the man feels flustered and runs away as he notices some blood surrounding her head. She is then later spotted by one of her friends who were looking for her after her long absence.

Climax: Aurora is rushed to the hospital after being found by her friend, it appears that she suffered head force trauma to her left frontal lobe and was in need of immediate surgery. This event was the beginning of Aurora’s downfall. While still in the hospital bed, Noah kept on excelling and gaining the acceptance of their father. Noticing that her brother was on the road to fulfilling their father’s wishes of taking over the company, she is struck with an epiphany; that at this point she will most likely be overthrown at the hand of her brother. The audience should then start to reminisce over the scenes in this story and come to the conclusion that it might not end the protagonist’s way.

Denouement: A few days after Auroras incident she was released from the hospital, and was sent to go stay with her family (being that she needed to be cared for). Aurora being frustrated with her brother and father’s collusion she begins to argue with Noah. Aurora finally decides to voice her opinion on the topic and confronts her family on the fact that she was only not getting the position of her father’s company because she is a woman. Midway through this argument Aurora begins having a seizure and is immediately rushed back to the hospital, with her family at side.

Tragedy: After a rigorous operation Aurora wakes up in a hospital room feeling confused. At this point in the story the readers are guided through the eyes of Aurora, waking up and feeling hazy. She sees her mother and the doctor talking (where the mother is looking very distraught). This was due to the fact that the doctor had just explained that the frontal lobe of Aurora’s brain had been permanently damaged due to internal bleeding, and that it was this part in the brain that controls speech. The doctor then walks away and the mother begins to cry. Aurora tries to call out for her and tries to scream but her mother is not hearing her, nothing was coming out. Still in shock Aurora was not able to move, she sees her mother start to walk away.

Narrator: first person Narrator

Point of view: The style of this short story is inspired by the writer Abbi Glines, who in her stories names her chapters after the character that will be narrating in first person. This allows the readers to understand all the characters thought process’ and allows the audience to understand the events through more than just one perspective, this eliminates there being a biased narration.

So in this story although Aurora is obviously the main character, the rest of the characters still get to voice their experiences from their own point of view. Although Aurora is still the most one who narrates overall, Noah and her father each had certain times where they are able to narrate how they are feeling at that particular time in the story in relation to the current events.

Characters:

Protagonist: Aurora

Passive character: Noah

How to Write About Women

First of all when you start your story and you introduce a female character make sure she's in the kitchen, because lets be honest here thats all women are good for, probably making a sandwich or cooking a meal for her husband to come home to. Make sure her husband is the only source of income in the family, because women cant work and they don't provide anything for the family besides cleaning and cooking and taking care of the kids, there can be no such thing as a househusband, only a housewife. 
If you do decide to make the female character work, make sure her job is not a dominant one, she cannot be the boss of any company at all, and if she is she probably doesn't make as much as a man, even if they have the same working hours and qualifications, the woman will most definitely get paid less, simply because she's a woman.
 If there is a female teenager in this family you have to show the conversation before the girl goes out, her parents need to warn her not to show any skin whatsoever, even if she is wearing a tank top, she is basically asking for trouble and we don't want any guys to have to control themselves or their hormones. Also before she goes to school make sure she knows she can not wear any shorts or cut sleeves, even if its 45 degrees outside, we wouldn't want to distract any of the other boys from their learning, because their lack of control is more important than her comfort. Otherwise she'll get sent home, she doesn't need to learn anything that day its okay for her to miss school if anyone feels she's inappropriately dressed. Also when mentioning her hobbies, since it obviously cant be a sport because girls are weak and fragile, maybe something like piano or ballet would be more appropriate. 
Now that we've established the two female characters in the family, whenever they are in a bad mood or get into a fight, automatically point out that its probably because of a guy or a broken nail or some stupid gossip, cause really, when do girls have real problems?
Also referring back to the country they are in you have to mention their obviously MALE leader, women cant be leaders what if they get their periods? They might start a war for a bad reason because they're always so moody, something men have never ever done before.
Basically, you just need to establish that men are better and equality does not exist.

Why Thinks Fell Apart

If I could re-do it all I would, but I cannot go back now, the damage has been done. I should’ve taken action earlier before it all got too messed up, now everything has fallen apart beyond repair. I should have known the moment the white people came into our territory and began changing everything that they were going to be our downfall. I should’ve known that although the Christians were accepting of all people and have opened the doors to many opportunities for the people in Umofia, that they still had an agenda. Just as the famous quote by Jomo Kenyatta goes “When the missionaries came, the Africans had the land and the Christians had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed.
When we opened them they had the land and we had the Bible”

The missionaries have deceived us by enforcing Christianity when in reality all they wanted was to take over and destroy our homeland.

I should have listened to Okonkwo, my best friend. For he was able to see the true strategy of the missionaries. For ignoring him and disregarding his thoughts on rebellion is in fact one of my greatest regrets, for all along he was right, and had I stood by him and supported him maybe things would have turned out differently.

However I was deceived and I ignored Okonkwo, which led him to kill himself, and led the missionaries destroy the core of Umofia, its Ibo culture and traditions. Besides with the destruction of the core, everything around it must fall apart.

-Obierika

Paper 2 Analytical Response

To what extent has an awareness of context enriched or enhanced your understand of Things Fall Apart?

I have read the novel Things Fall Apart,  by Chinua Achebe twice, once before i had any background knowledge on the Igbo culture and once after a thorough understanding of their history and traditions. 

We recently read an article called "Problems of Gender & History in the teaching of Things Fall Apart" that looks at how different people from different cultures view and understand the novel based on their background knowledge and tradition. It talked about the two woman's opinion, one western white woman, and another African one. The way the two perceived the text was completely contradictory. This is most likely due to the fact that the African woman is aware of all the actions and events within the novel because it is part of her personal culture, it is something she understands and can relate to, whereas the western woman was very offended and did not have an enriched understanding of the novel because the confusion of the events was preventing her to look deeper into the story and understand what Achebe was actually trying to portray throughout the novel.  


First time reading the novel, I agreed with the perspective of the western woman in the article- who argued that the book was extremely sexist and degrading to women, which is what i believe the first time i read the book, throughout the novel there has been extreme and several acts of domestic violence against women and they have been degraded and empowered throughout the entire novel by aspects such as the men being 'in control' of the households and being able to have several wives, such as Okonkwo having three wives himself, and beating them when he saw fit. 

In between the two times re reading the novel, i read several articles and texts talking about the culture, traditions and history of the Igbo people, which were being referenced throughout the novel. Knowing these facts about their tribe really impacted my understanding of the novel, for example, in the novel they describe many times where twins were sent to die in an 'evil forest', first time hearing this seemed inhumane. After understanding their culture i comprehended that it was all part of their belief systems that discusses their luck and their afterlife and constant need to obey their chosen gods, and it discusses the fact that having twins is unnatural and an unlucky event in which they can attempt to solve by letting them die in this forest, which keeps all their lives balanced.

In conclusion, after reading and understanding more about the Igbo people that are being referred to in the novel, i think that my understanding of the novel has expanded and that i am more open and apprehensive of their different traditions and beliefs.