Final reflection about the book "I know why the caged bird sings"

The book written by Maya Angelou called “I know why the caged bird sings” shows us the life of an African American girl, that has to struggle with society, rules, agency, discrimination, violence and many other things.

What I can say is that through his book I have seen a whole new point of view of the situation of United States in those years which will be probably around the 1930’s. I have seen a new perspective of things how it has change and the way people had to live through the eyes of a girl that grows and changes as the book goes chapter by chapter.  The characters in it had to go against many problems like racial discrimination which was a very difficult topic in those times because of segregation.  It also shows us a way people fight for the equality in many different ways, like passive ones or active ones.

In conclusion this has been a book that has taught me many things about historic things, because even if this text had some of fantasy it showed real life situations. I think it is a wonderful book that has always had my attention from the moment when I got it, because of the uniqueness of the way of delivering the life of the author

hAnalysis of the book "I know why the caged bird sings"

-Read chapters 1 – 4 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Outline the key characters that are mentioned and briefly describe the picture the author creates of the lives of black people in Stamps, Arkansas. Refer to the text to give your evidence.

The book written by Maya Angelou called Why the caged bird sings  was published in 1969.

In the firsts chapters the narrator mentions some important characters like the name of the narrator Marguerite Johnson who is the protagonist, Bailey Johnson her  older brother  by one year, the grand mother of them named Mrs Annie Henderson and which the sisters called Momma who took care of them and Uncle Willie who was a crippled man because of an accident that occurred to him in his childhood. All of these characters are members of an African american family.

In chapter 1 to 4 there are some descriptions of how African american people live in those years. 

One way is that they were separated, white from black. They lived in different parts of the cities  like in chapter 4 when Marguerite says that some children never saw how a white man looked because like the quotation says "the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know how whites looked like" p.21.

Another aspect that she give as an image of is that no matter how much some people worked they could barely feed their families "Without the money or credit necessary to sustain a family for three months"p.8 in this quotation we can see an evidence of how she pictures us the black population working all the time that they can. This was what she called "the harshness of Black Southern life"p.8. This element can tell us that those works were kind of the slavers ones because they worked a lot earning the minimum they can "at best to eke out only the necessities of life" p.10.

The concept that they had of the black people was the lowest that they can have like the example from page 15 "to convey his authority and power over even dumb animals. How much more capable he would be with Negroes". They put them in a lower state than animals they did not have respect for them.

Also it was really weird to see an independent man in the neighbourhood of Marguerite  like it's said on the citation of page 18 " An independent Black man, A near anachronism in Stamps" in here we can see that it was really unique and strange that a Black men would have enough to have it's own house and live prosperously.

Finally I can say that the author is giving us the real idea of how things were the disrespectful treatment that African american people have how they live in a really poor way and that they were despised by the white population. 

Analysis of Sympathy poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar

- Re-read the poem, Sympathy, and post a critical analysis on your blog. Use the skills we practiced in our analysis of Caged Bird on Thursday. Aim to write at least three body paragraphs using P.E.A.

The poem wrote by Paul Laurence Dunbar  called Sympathy is the inspiration of the poem Caged bird wrote by Maya Angelou.

In this poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar the topic is the point of view of the author about the life of African people and how they were feeling and being threaten. The purpose of the writing is to show how this caged bird feels and to emphasize his feeling and it´s actions.

Through the poem they use some literary devices to show more the topic like the analogy which  is used to empathise "And the river flows like a stream of glass" in this citation that I took from the poem the analogy is used to show how the river flows by saying that it's harmful and too pleasant because glass is not too safe also that is transparent.

The use of the repetition of the words is also an important common element that is used to produce some effect that magnifies the sentence that the poet says. In the quote "And a pain still throbs in the old,old scars" the word "old" is used to show that those wounds were made long ago and they still hurt. At the same time it give us an idea that those things are not paid attention to but at the same way common or recurrent. It can also be metaphor because this citation can be used as explaining how African people have been threaten in the past years and that nothing has changed but on the same way they feel bad an harmed by this aspects.

There are some parts in which the poet uses images to make the poem be easier to understand and to connect us with the meaning of the sentences and with what was happening to the caged bid like in "the caged bird beats his wings Till it's blood is red on the cruel bars" in this citation I found the way they use the emotive language also to make bigger the description and appealing to the reader by using the word "cruel bars" or "blood" those are strong words that define some feeling like indignation. On the other hand it shows that the caged bird is so determined  that he uses everything to set himself free not minding that his making it's wings bleed, he is trying to be free with all his forces.

impressions of Umuofia-Ekwefi

the main scene in which the whole  experience took place was when Okonkwo was in the moment in which he beat Ekwefi. She after being hit decided to go and look after Ezinma she found her, Ekwefi told her what happened and then they went to the district commissioner.   Mr. Smith, Mr. Brown and Ezinma are in there so Ekwefi stood in there. First they star complaining and they talk bad about Okonkwo so Ekwefi as his wife started to feel mad and uncomfortable so she told Ezinma to leave with her.At the end  we get into a tense argument about what should be done Umuofia and finally we finished saying that we cant live together.

In conclusion I really enjoyed doing this role play in Umuofia and understanding more where this story was settle.

Español

http://soundcloud.com/alejandra12345/sounds-from-monday-morning-1

Aqui escucharan mi grabación en la cual comparo las novelas Como agua para chocolate y La casa de los espíritus.

Ekwefi

My character is Ekwefi, Okonkwo's second wife and the mother of Ezinma.

The things that are important to my character are the strength , the hard working will, that people should be determined and other values that every women had. Some of her beliefs was the oracle she was a close friend of Chielo, the Agbala goddess priestess.

She relates in a good way with people from the village, she is a hard-working woman. Some of the characters that she relates with are Okonkwo's wifes. The relationship that she has with her daughter is really close as if she was a really close friend, equals. This is because she was her only child that is still alive not like her other nine children that died. Another person that she interacts with frequently is Okonkwo, she sometimes faces him, she might be afraid at times of him but there are other in which she does not keep everything to herself instead she says what she thinks, what has brought her beats.

There is almost no description of how Ekwefi feels when this new events or changes happen, but recognizing her way of reacting, she will be mad and angry and also like Ezinma happy that some action took place. I think that these reactions would be caused because of how she is a person that agrees with Okonkwo, who is loyal and strong.

first impression

http://www.literaryworlds.wmich.edu/umuofia/umuofiamap.html
http://brn227.brown.wmich.edu:7000/

Well what  I first though about the village, was that it would be like a savannah and using the information of it that I found on the webpage and the images. I'ts really similar to what I thought because it gives me a descriptin of how things were.

The place I visited was the meeting path, what I first see is people join together making probably discussions.They have also a kind of instrument. The second part I visited is the ceremony in which what I first see is a guy with a huge kind of hat, maybe it has a religius significance.

 felt really impressed of the things that I saw it was a fun experience which I would like to do again.

Things fall apart - reading journal part 2

 
How is Okonkwo affected by his exile?

Okonkwo is exile because of a shooting that took place in his village one that was by accident as the community call it it was a "female, because it had been inadvertent"p.91 in this quote we can see why he was banish  from his village. Okonkwo felt bad, sad and bored because of his exile and living in the house of her mother's brother. In the quote from page 96  there is an example of how was work for him at his exile "Work no longer had for him the pleasure it  used to have..."  The narrator also uses the metaphor and contrast to express the way he felt "He had been cast out of his clan like a fish on to a dry, sandy beach, panting"p.96.

2. How is Nwoye affected?

With the exile of Okonkwo from the village, Nwoye gets the opportunity to put distance between him and 
his father. He uses the religion to separate them, Nwoye turns into a missionary which did not have Okonkwo's approvement . This problem evidence the way Nwoye thinks about his father "How is your father?... I don't know. He is not my father" p.96


3. How does their relationship change?

The relationship between  Okonkwo and Nwoye  changed in a drastic way. Compare to the first part of the book when Nwoye was a afraid of his father and couldn't stand up against him, now he has find the courage to tell people how he felt. On the other side, Okonkwo has also broke the relationship with his son as the quote form page 96 says "Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye" he was upset and mad with Nwoye so from both sides the relationship was broken.

4. Predict the end of the book.

I think that the end of the book would be that Okonkwo would finish his exile and find all his village turn into a whole different place by the colonists. He would find that some of the people of his community would be treated bad and that things would never be the same for him as how it was when he was at the village. Another aspect that I think would happen is that more people will turn into Christianity and that he would have a huge conflict with his self and the environment in which he would have to live.

Reading journal until Chapter 5

In chapter three we can analyze different strong female characters that have important places in the life in Umuofia. the first one to appear is,the priestess Chika "go home and work as a man" p.14 that is what she said to Unoka,the father of Okonkwo, this is a way of showing how even though she was a women, because of being a spiritual person, woman could
also have the same status as men.

Secondly it was Anasi the first wife of Nwakibie, the wealthiest man in those primary years of Okonkwo's life. Anasi was a strong women who made men had he feeling that she was powerful like an authority "there was authority in her bearing..." P.16.

On the other hand something important of this chapter is that it has some sayings like "an old women is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb" p.16 this refers to the part when a joke is said about a son that speaks as if his father never has something on his own and that reminded Okonkwo of his father.

Also something important is that it tells us their traditions an the way they lived for example: that a father should always give their sons some barns or a young wife. That the first person to drink in a reunion is the oldest person and then the first wife is the one thy leads the other women.

In chapter four harmatia is a repeating theme becuase many of the actions of Okonkwo have a bad result.
First "this meeting is for men" this is a quote taken from page 20 in which he tells this,to a man that disagrees with him and Okonkwo uses as a response the insult of calling him a woman because he didn't had tittles. This is seen as bad reaction by the people of the meeting and it can also mean that he could have someone looking for revenge.

Another aspect is when he hits his wife and as a result he "has no respect for our gods and ancestors" p. 23 that is what the priest says to him. The reason was that it was a sacred week for the village in which they stay in peace with its surroundings as a grateful response to the gods. Harmatia is shown because everyone saw him a sign of bad luck and maybe in the future someone could take it against him.

In this chapter the narrator also describes to us the way the farming life was. "The women planted maize, melons and beans between the jam bounds" p. 25 this quotation shows that women and men had different types of crops to plant. Yams were planted by men because of the difficulties "Yam, the king of crops" p.25.


In chapter 5 the description
Ani the "the earth goddess and the source of fertility" p.27

Another important fact about this chapter is that it shows the women status and how they behave in their homes.

They talk about preparing their dishes for the husband. Again the power of the first wife is shown because her dish is the first one to be taste by the husband.

One important character is Ezinma because she has a strong behavior and she is always trying to make as many work as she can. One problem that she has is that because of being a woman she can't do certain things.

Through all the chapters there is apart in which the narrator gives the reader a anecdote of the village "a wealthy man who set before...a amount of foo-foo so high that those who sat. On one side could not see what was happening on the other" p. 27 this is an anecdote of the Feast of the New Yam.
In addition in chapter three "my father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace..." p.24 this quote is an example of an anecdote which is delivered through a dialogue said by the oldest men in the village about the punishment that a man had because of breaking the peace ion the sacred week.

Reading journal until Chapter 5

"Things fall apart" reading journal

First chapter of the book "things fall apart"

This book was written by Chinua Achebe.
The narrator that the novel has is an omniscient narrator, which means that he narrates in third person knowing what the characters think and what they do " He had no patience with the unsuccessful men" p.3.


In this first chapter the main parts are the description of Okonkwo and the the breve explanation if how his father was.
The chapter gives a physical description of Okonkwo"He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows..." p.3 and also a description of his behavior "and whenever hi was angry...he would use his fits." p 3

In this chapter, 2 sayings appear " the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them" and "the child that washes his hands he could eat with kings" this means that after a kid pays everything and stays clean of anything bas he could be respected.

catholic doctrines:

Abortion:
One of the famous doctrines that the catholic religion has is to be against abortion. They say that it is considered as murder and that the ones that make it happen should have a penalty for what they make because it's like the saying an eye for an eye.They say that is unacceptable because the babies have souls from the moment of their conception as David says.Also pope John Paul II in 1995 said that this rule is "unchanged unchangeable" calling abortion a moral disorder.

Abortion in peru is not legal giving the women that proceed the abortion up to 2 years in jail and for the ones that make the abortion can be from one to six years. As the big event happening in Lima in the 23rd of march called "marcha por la vida" that consist on making people aware of the negative aspects of abortion and to preserve life, this route will go from 9:00 am at the "Campo de marte"-jesus maria until the arrival at the "parque castilla -lince.

The consequence of this doctrine around the world is half half because there are persons that are against it and some that agree with it, even though Peru is a country that does not allow
The abortion there are people that make it in certain cases like when they are abuse or just because they don't want the baby you can even see some papers in the street with numbers to call for it.