Retaliation of Banquo

Macbeth, he is full so valiant,

Of noble having and royal hope,

But too full o’ the milk of human kindness.

If you look into the seeds of time,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths.

I’ll mounch, and mounch, and mounch,

Of direst cruelty, unseam him from the nave to the chaps,

Dash’d the brains out,

Until I drain him dry as hay.

Unlike the poor cat i’ the adage,

I dare not wash this filthy witness from my hand.

I shall fix his head upon our battlements.

When the hurlyburly’s done,

Fleance, son of mine, succeeding,

The sovereignty will fall upon him,

The seed of Banquo kings.

What Macbeth hath lost, noble Fleance hath won!

Uzowulu: Anger Management Help?

As the title says, my character was Uzowulu, and my monologue was based on the scene on pages 64-66. Here is the "script":

Fathers, I am Uzowulu, and my hand has touched the ground.  Today, I ask that all of you listen and pass judgment on my saddening story.  My wife Mgbafo, is the beautiful young lady standing over there.  I married her nine years ago with my own hard work and money.  I never cheated my in-laws any money or any yams, nor did I ever consider doing so; yet, how do they repay me? They break into my home, beat me to an inch away from death, and steal my wife and children away from me!  Two weeks!  I waited patiently for my wife to return for two whole weeks, yet she never came home even once.  She could have at least brought the children to see me!  So, I had no choice but to go find her at her in-law’s place.  I begged them...yes, me of all people, on my knees, to let Mgbafo come home with me.  Despite my humble acts, they refused me and even threatened to beat me if I did not leave.  So, I had to ask them to AT LEAST return the bride price.  But those greedy fools! Once again, they responded with nothing but anger and violence! If they were going to take away my wife, they could AT LEAST show the respect to return the money that I paid for her! 

So, today I bring this case to you.  I hope you understand that the reason why I asked for the return of the bride price was not because I no longer love her, but because her family won’t let her return!  I understand that perhaps in the past, I may have been a bit overly harsh in punishing her.  But I can promise you that if she comes home, I will never harm her ever again.  Also, if she were to come home, not only would I forget all the harm that her family has done to me, but I’ll even give them my largest pot of wine as a gift.  All I ask, fathers, is that you ask them to give me a chance.  Fathers, my case is finished.  No matter what your decision may be, I will respect it.  Fathers, I salute you.

I sort of changed and made up sentences during the presentation, but I tried to retain as much of it as possible. =]

Underrated Hero

After completing the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, my opinion of Okonkwo’s heroic traits has not changed.  Today, there are certain “requirements” (especially in movies and novels) that a character has in order for him/her to be regarded as a hero.  The character must either have superpowers that they can use to save his community, or he must have a kind and brave heart that gives him courage to face his fears, miraculously solve his conflict, and save his friends.  Despite how he not only does not have superpowers but is also often depicted as a heartless man in the novel, I believe that he is still a true hero in the Igbo community.  As I mentioned in my essay, this is because he has dedication to his village, great physical strength, and the villagers’ trust.  His dedication is clearly shown when he is forced to kill Ikemefuna because although most readers would see this as an act of a villain, this actually shows his dedication because he was willing to kill his own son in order to obey the traditions of his village.  As a result, he gained the villagers’ trust, which is certainly an important trait to have as a hero.  Also, his physical strength is not only well known throughout all the villages, but is also feared by them.  This was shown when Okwonkwo went to Mbaino to negotiate at the beginning of the story.  When Okwonkwo arrived at Mbaino, the villagers there had already prepared a young boy and girl to give to Umofia due to their fear of Okwonkwo's strength if a war was to start.

In addition, he is a hero because he completely matches the description of a “Dark Hero”.  Throughout the novel, Okwonkwo displays a lack of control over his anger, and his love for violent ways to solve his problems.  His flawed personality traits are clearly seen at the end of the story where his anger causes him to kill a white messenger from the church.  As a result, he is forced to commit suicide, causing the downfall of the great hero of the Igbo.

Search for Self-Identity

             In the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian, the protagonist Jasira has two different types of conflict.  The first and most important type of conflict is man versus self because throughout the novel, Jasira is trying to discover a purpose in her life by trying to find people that truly care for her.  Although most thirteen year old children seek love from their parents, Jasira has to look elsewhere for this love because her parents are divorced and cannot seem to love her like most parents would.  Jasira’s mother trusts her boyfriend more than her daughter, and Jasira’s father is not only extremely strict but is also away home for most of the day.  As a result, Jasira seeks attention from the wrong people.  For example, her neighbour Mr. Vuoso takes sexual advantage of her by pretending to love and care for her.  Another example of how she seeks attention is how she gets close with a boy, called Thomas, at school despite the fact that her parents do not wish for her to date at such a young age.  In addition, before Jasira was sent to live with her father, she had actually attracted too much attention from her mother’s boyfriend Barry.  As a result, her mother had no choice but to send her to live in Texas with her father. 

            The second type of conflict that Jasira had to go through is man versus society.  As a citizen of the United States of America, Jasira is a victim of racism.  At school and when she babysits her neighbour, she is called a towelhead because her father is Arabian.  In addition, because the United States are currently at war with Iraq, she is teased even more.  As a result, she must fight racism in her society and find a way to gain respect from others.  Another example of how she has to fight racism is when she dates Thomas.  Her parents forced her to stop dating Thomas because he was a black boy. Jasira’s parents felt that she would have to face even more discrimination than she was already enduring.  Even Jasira’s neighbour Mr. Vuoso said to Jasira, “You’re going to ruin your reputation.  Do you understand me? If you hand around with [Thomas] no one will ever want you” (100).  As a result, Jasira not only has to fight racism against herself, but also against those that she cares about. 

            Although none of the conflicts have been completely solved, the situations have improved.  For example, Jasira’s father is beginning to grow a better relationship with Jasira, and is beginning to care for her more.  In addition, Jasira’s new neighbour Melina truly cares for her wellbeing.  This is demonstrated when Melina, despite being pregnant, sits outside Mr. Vuoso’s house on the ground waiting for Jasira to return after entering his house alone because she feels that Mr. Vuoso will take advantage of Jasira.

I cannot relate to Jasira because not only have I never had to face racism at school or in my neighbourhood, but I also have a loving family that is not divorced.  As a result, unlike Jasira, I do not need to search for love from others at school and at home.  Of course, I believe that there are many children that are currently experiencing a similar situation as because not only are divorce rates extremely high today, but racism and discrimination is still really common at schools.

Fight For Rights

Post-colonialism describes the period of struggle that multiply countries are enduring due to the previous colonialism, especially from the Europeans.  Colonialism was where a mother country would colonize smaller and weaker nations around the world.  These smaller nations would then provide resources that they would sell back to the mother country.  At first, there was a mutual relationship between the nations because the colony would be able to gain money from selling the resources, and the mother country would make goods that they could benefit off of.  However, the mother countries often also forced their culture and laws onto the colonies.  As a result, as the colonial period ended, the mother countries abandoned the colonies after all they used up all the resources, causing the colonies to fall apart both economically and politically.  Thus, post-colonialism is the attempt to repair all the damage done by colonialism.



Although Intel denied an intentional use of racism, one can clearly see that six brown men are bowing down to a single white man.  This advertisement clearly shows how many people still view the white people are superior to other races due to the colonialism period where the Europeans took advantage of their colonies around the world.

Below is another, althought less serious but still strong, example of post-colonialism is our everyday lives.  As you may know, Tom and Jerry is childrens cartoon; however, it still depicts the black people as being inferior people.  In Tom and Jerry, the maids are always black!

If you're looking for proof, the maid appears in about 2:16 of the video above =].

Due to colonialism by the Europeans in the past, the whites were often viewed as superior to other ethnicities.  For example, many companies have advertisements that depict the whites as being superior to the blacks.  Below is an ad that was actually released by Intel Company in 2007! (It actually amazes me how recent this ad was!) 

Fear the Green Pickles

So I actually do hate pickles, but this is obviously just for fun =]

Every time I go to McDonalds and order a hamburger, the first thing I always do is to remove the pickles.  My parents used to tell me that I was picky, but as I grew up, I realized that everybody hated pickles.  If you look around when you are at fast food restaurants, everybody always removes the pickles from their burgers before beginning to eat.  Five years ago, after accidentally eating pickles in my meal at lunch, I had a stomach ache.  From then on, I knew that pickles were unhealthy.  Besides, there’s absolutely no evidence that pickles are healthy, so there’s probably a large chance that they’re bad for you; as a result, you should never eat pickles!  If you get sick, you could miss classes at school, and if you miss classes, your grades could drop.  If your grades drop, you could miss your chance to get accepted into a good university and therefore, your entire career would be ruined.  You wouldn’t want your entire life because you decided to eat pickles would you?  And then there’s the appearance: why would anybody want to eat green, slimy, disgusting food?  After all, even the president of the United States hates pickles!  Therefore, don’t you ever dare eat pickles!  If you do, you’ll regret doing so after you ruin your entire life.  By then, it will be too late!

Searching For Someone To Care

             Alicia Erian’s novel The Towelhead tells the story of the troubles of a thirteen year old Arab-American girl Jasira.  The title “Towelhead” refers to her father’s Arabian background. Although he no longer wore a turban, her classmates and neighbours still made fun of her and as a result, they nicknamed her “Towelhead”.  Her parents were divorced, and for most of her life, she had lived with her mother because she hated her father.  However, her mother’s boyfriend Barry began to like Jasira, and even began to shave Jasira’s pubic hair for Jasira without her mother knowing.  When she finally discovered that her boyfriend had been taking advantage of her daughter, she not only blamed her daughter for “seducing” him, but even forced Jasira to leave and go live with her father.   As a result, Jasira’s troubles began after she was sent to Houston, Texas to live with her father.  There, she faces problems not only at school but also at home with her father and her neighbours.

As the protagonist the novel, Jasira’s goal is to find someone who truly appreciates her for who she is so that she can have a purpose in her life.  However, because of her desire, she admired the wrong kind of people- perverts.  Although Jasira is only thirteen, her puberty had already begun and her body is much further developed than most girls at her age. In fact, her body is often even more attractive than a full grown woman.  As a result, multiple men became sexually attracted to her.  First, it was her mother’s boyfriend Barry.  Secondly, after Jasira moved to Texus, her neighbour Mr. Vuoso began sexually harassing her without anyone knowing; however, Jasira, despite knowing that he loved her body and not her, actually fell in love with Mr. Vuoso because she believed that he appreciated her, and because he made her “feel good” in certain parts of her body.

I believe that I am unable to relate to Jasira because although I was a Chinese boy that moved into a Caucasian society at a young age, I have never had to face racism from fellow classmates or from my neighbours.  Also, not only are my parents not divorced, they both love me so I do not need to be constantly search for somebody to appreciate me for who I am.  However, the novel is plausible because I know that many children with divorced parents have to face many problems because they often feel that their parents no longer love them (such as in Jasira’s case, where she has to find other people aside from her parents to love her).  In addition, since, racism occurred extremely often in the United States of America until a couple decades ago, it is extremely probable that there were children like Jasira who had to face racism at school.