The Namesake and The Overcoat

These two stories need to be brought together when. Both are about transformation and the failure of each character to be able to successfully do so. We see in both stories and instant where they work for a particular goal; i.e. a legal name change in one story and a new cloak in the other. In both stories the main character gets to that goal only to have it be less fulfilling than they had hoped. Throughout the rest of both stories, our characters struggle to find their true identity when in fact they already have it. They are simply not happy with what they have become and where they have come from. There are many parallels throughout both stories thank link the two of them together. I think that the ultimate failure of finding that identity truly defines both characters. It really shows them what they already know.

The Motorcycle Diaries

This story is near to my heart. I have always felt a close kinship to "Che" and the changes that he feels within himself throughout this South American journey. My experience is a little reversed. I grew up on the poor side here in the United States. My mother and father were always scrapping to make money in a world were the poor and less educated have been left behind and in some instances forgotten about. I feel a connection with "Che" and the way he feels for the poor. I feel like a country where over half of our citizens make less than $26,000 and cannot file taxes may be on collision course with collapse. The gap between the rich and the poor widens and I felt like the scene where Che swims across the Amazon is a symbolic gesture that many of us today can learn from. We need to reach across class and party lines to help those who need it most.

A Very Old Man

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings was one of the more obscure stories that we have read so far. I thought that it was a kind of dark and creepy story though. I have my own opinions on how people use religion throughout their lives. I grew up going to church and being "Christian". I no longer am religious and I don't want to make it sound as if I have problems with those who are. I do feel like this story illustrates how people use religion as a convenience item. What I mean by that is that religion is good for a person when they decide that it is good for them and on their own time. The family in this story really take advantage of the situation that has been set before them and they make their wealth of the angel and when it is no longer beneficial to them, they think the angel is a hassle and they want it out of their lives. I saw it many times when I was growing up and I see it reflected in this story.

Yellow Woman

Throughout Silko's Yellow Woman, I felt as if I might be actually on a journey with someone who is hallucinating. I think that that might be the magical part of the story. Silko seemed to me like a master of story in her native way. When I think of Native American Culture I feel like they rely heavily on spirits and this story is no different even though we find out that it is set in a more modern time. I felt like Yellow Woman had an otherworldly excuse for cheating on her husband. I also felt like that the story almost didn't even happen. The families non reaction to her returning from her sexual encounter a couple of days after the fact. The part of the book where the cowboy chases the two on horseback because of the stolen cattle even resounds the fact. It still seems like this story is almost not happening at all and that Yellow Woman wish making it all up.

Things Fall Apart

To date, this is my favorite story. I think Achebe is a master of story telling. He took an entire culture and embodied it into a single man. Okonkwo was the vessel of an entire piece of dark history. The end of Things Fall Apart gives the reader a sense that the Igbo Culture, the true Igbo Culture, died along with Okonkwo. That the Igbo were not the same people after the introduction of white mans governments and religious beliefs. Some might call it a period of enlightenment if those people are on the side of the Europeans. To think that the editors didn't touch a single piece of Achebe's writing really sums up the importance of this literature. The development of Okonkwo throughout the story is really a tragedy in most ways. Even though he is seen as a leader among his people, tragedy surrounds him. It is as if Karma and not his che is catching up with him.