The Ibo People vs. The White men

Lily Tikijian
September 24, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt


Ibo People vs. The White Man

The Ibo people first believe that the white people aren’t so bad at first. They think this because of Reverend Brown. He tries to learn about their religion and there culture by talking to them. He tries to understand them and there belief system. All of the Ibo people respect him and think he is a nice man. Reverend Brown is the only one of the missionaries that tries to learn and respect their cultures and beliefs. Even though he doesn’t agree with them, he still tries to respect them and try to set them straight. He tells them about how there is only one main god and then they explain that they do only have on god but he created many other gods as his messengers. This starts to become clearer to Brown. The rest of the white men just automatically assume that the Ibo people are savages and that the culture is stupid and it doesn’t make any sense. When Reverend Brown falls ill, he must return to England. When he leaves Reverend James Smith takes over. Reverend Smith sees only in black and white, whatever he says goes, and he is very arrogant and selfish. This is really when the culture turns around and things start falling apart. The British think that the Africans way of life and culture is ridiculous and they don’t understand it. They think this because they don’t even try and understand it. They just think that what they belief in is right and everyone else is wrong. The Ibo people are taken advantage of and are the victims by the end of the story. They were once a string culture and now everything they ever knew has just fallen apart.

"Mother is Supreme"

In Mbanta, Okonkwo is scolded for not understanding the Ibo proverb that “mother is supreme.” In this culture the women are known for being more caring and compassionate about everything. They are supposed to cook and look after the children. That is there main part in society. Men are more known for physical and mental strength. They have to be able to hunt and take care of their family. Men don’t really show emotions in this society. If they do they are considered “weak.” Okonkwo ignores and refused to acknowledge the “female” virtues by acting manly. He has emotion but he thinks if he shows them that he is going to be considered weak and womanly. Because of this he is rude, self-absorbed, and mean. He beats his wives and children; he never shows that he cares about them. His one-sidedness creates many problems in his life. His son ends up hating him and refusing to be his son or call him his father. His wives and children are all scared to death of his. He beat his wife on the Week of Peace, so now the earth goddess supposedly will give him a bad year of crops. He just has a lot of problems because he only shows the “manly” side of himself. In a way, I think that makes him womanlier because he is afraid of what people would think. He just needs to show some emotion and maybe his life would make a turn for the better. Instead of getting worse like it has been.

My Opinions of Okonkwo

Lily Tikijian
September 4, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

My Opinions of Okonkwo

Now that I have read the first 7 chapters of the book, I have a lot of opinions of Okonkwo. First of all, I think he is insane. If he was living in this time period, he would be in like in serious intensive care. He has a lot of problems that he needs to get in control of. The thing I don’t understand is that all of his problems revolve around his dead father. He doesn’t want to be known as a failure or to be known as a coward. But, he is turning out to be those things. He beats his wife and children, he murders his “son,” and he doesn’t enjoy anything but working. He does all of these things to prove that he is strong and isn’t afraid of anything and also to prove he is not a failure. But killing your own son, makes you a failure as a father and makes people lose respect for you. In a way all of those things make him a coward. He is a coward because he is afraid of what people think of him. And he does some really stupid things to prove he isn’t. But, since he does those things you know he is. Even though things like beating your wives and children was acceptable back then, he abuses that right. He beats them for simply picking leaves off of a tree. He beats his son for being “lazy” and for crying when he finds out his “brother” is being taken away. He also shoots at his wife but thankfully misses. I just think he is a terrible father, husband, and all together person who needs to go through some serious psychoanalysis.

So Much Unfairness of Things

Lily Tikijian
August 27, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

So Much Unfairness of Things

I thought that the treatment for P.S. punishment was fair. If he cheated, he should be kicked off. Even if he didn’t mean to cheat and even though he didn’t plan to cheat, it still wasn’t right. He violated the “code” for his school and if you do, you get thrown out. I don’t see why they would even have considered keeping him in school. I mean, I understand that his family is a part of the school and that they have built buildings and he is one of the most popular kids in the class, but it still wasn’t right. I think everyone treated him pretty well. Except for maybe his friend, Jumbo. I don’t think I could have ever turned in a friend if I had known they would have been kicked out. I don’t think I could have done that, knowing that I was the reason that they were kicked out. In the end, I kind of see his been kicked out as a positive thing. I mean, he gets to clear things up with his dad, which was one of the reasons this whole thing happened. I did feel sorry for P.S. though. He was ashamed and you could tell he felt terrible about what he had done. He ruined a family tradition, got kicked out of school, and possibly ruined his reputation. Even though I felt bad for him, I think kicking him out was the right decision. Because, if people found out that he cheated and got to stay at school, they might try it too and then the “code” would be ruined forever. The school would go from being a highly respected school to just another private school. I thought it was a god choice to kick him out.

Friday Fill-In

1. the last meal I had at a restaurant was steak & mash potatoes
2. getting up in the morning is something i intensely dislike
3. the full moon is bright
4. hoosiers is one of my favorite local expression
5. sometimes it's best to sleep in!
6. Baby Mama is the best movie I've seen so far this year
7. and as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to is sleeping, tomorrow my plans include playing in 3 volleyball games, and sunday I want to sleep!!

"Not Waving but Drowning"

Lily Tikijian
August 21, 2008
Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

“Not Waving But Drowning”

In my life, I have had many people tell me that they thought I was one thing and I turned out to be very different. The most common things that people says about me is that I am blonde, bubbly, and I am “high” on life. That is usually people’s first impressions of me. All of these happen to be true. I am blonde, I am very bubbly and happy, and I love life. I don’t think there is a person in my life who would say any of those are wrong.
I have changed my mind on other people before. When I was in fifth grade, I meet my soon-to-be best friend, though at the time I had no idea. She was shy, quiet, and didn’t really state her own opinions. From the start my first impressions of her were that she was introverted, calm, and smart. I just thought to my self that this girl was never going to be my friend cause we had to many differences. I was wrong. Once I started talking to her and got to know her I found out she was an amazing person. She wasn’t quiet anymore; she was loud and obnoxious, just like me. She became funny and started to state her opinions and started to stand up for what she believed in. Today, we are still best friends but when I look back at what I used to think about her, it just makes me laugh. We talk all the time about what we first thought of each other and how all of our opinions have changed. From then on I have tried not to judge a book by its cover and I have tried to make better first impressions about people.

Monitoring Sites With a Hawkeye

Lily Tikijian
August 14, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

Monitoring Sites With a Hawkeye

As I first glanced at the article, I had no idea it would be about MySpace or Facebook or any social network for that matter. I thought it was going to be another one of those boring reading assignments that has nothing what so ever to do with me. But after reading it, it has a lot to do with me. I don’t mean to be addicted to sites like Facebook, but I am. Like almost every other teenage, it started off as just another way to talk to friends and keep up on what is going with people’s lives. I soon found myself spending more and more time on Facebook. It has become like an addiction that I can’t get rid of. Everyday when I get home, I grab a snack and run up to my room to see if I have any new notifications or alerts. Every time I open up my laptop, I have to check my profile or see who is online. I just can’t seem to be able to help it.
Even though I think people have the right to privacy, I think that athletic departments should have people monitoring sites like Facebook. If one of their athletes is, for example, a crazy party person who stays out until 2am drinking, then post pictures on Facebook, I think the team has the right to suspend or kick that person off. Facebook isn’t a private website either, its not like no one would find that out anyway. People might not tell the coach or athletic department it though. That’s why I think it is a good reason to have people monitoring people’s profiles.
I think this rule affects me because I am one of those people who is addicted to Facebook. But, I don’t think people monitoring my profile will have an impact on me because I don’t put wild crazy pictures up or my status won’t ever say something like, out partying and drinking. That will never be me. So I do think people have the right to monitor social networks. Even though most consider it a violation of personal rights, I don’t. I hope this will never affect me anyway and I think it is a very good thing.