Making sense of things…is it really necessary?

Making sense of things…Now is that really necessary?

Our discussion on Tuesday really had my mind working. When we began to talk about things making sense, and how it is hard for us to be able to come up with our own opinions since we are so used to people telling us “this is what it is and that is the finial answer.” Now we are able to make sense of things on our own and can think whatever we want about it without being lead into a certain direction, in most cases anyways. Than I started to think why do people always try to make sense of things why can’t we just read a book when we are done just have the simple thought of whether it was good, bad, or okay? Why can’t things just happen in our lives and instead of figuring out why it happened that way, just simply think that happened and now its done I must move on? I really don’t have an answer to these questions because I do this all the time in my life, and I read many books where throughout the entire book the main character is trying to figure out why they are in the situation they are dealing with. I’m not sure if I will ever figure out why so many people do this, but I was always be wondering.

The other thing that I really wanted to touch on was the discussion we were having about stereotypes on Thursday. One movie that kept running through my mind that shows so many stereotypes, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and most have been brought on from the political aspect. It isn’t the best movie, but there is a ridiculously large amount of stereotypes. Here are just a few examples: a woman on a plane looks at Kumar and starts imagining him in a turban, another one is after they escape the police bring their parents in to be questioned, and they have a Indian translated and I think a Chinese translator, even after the parents start speaking English the head investigator still uses the translators to speak to them, and finally Kumar’ dad and brother are both doctor’s. These are just a few cases, but I am sure I could come up with many more if I watched the movie again. Although it is supposed to be a funny movie, it still shows these stereotypes and they had to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, its from our own government.

I didn’t bring it up in class because I hate bringing up my accident but, since it was such a big part of my life it is hard not to relate things to it once in a while. While we were talking about Boku being alone up north and how it started to go crazy, it made me think about how that really does happen. The things that he was doing, cleaning, reading, sleeping, and running all made sense to me. Although, I wasn’t able to do those things because I couldn’t walk after a while I started to get a little stir crazy like him, I knew everyone in my neighbors schedule from watching out the window, I needed someone to talk me for a walk in my wheelchair, and I needed to have contact with people other than my family everyday. So I can’t imagine how it was for Boku not having anyone to talk to for a few days in a row, even for a guy who doesn’t seem like he would care. The other thing that we talked about was time and how it over powers our lives. I think that it is one of those things we don’t realize the effect it is having on us. I think it was the opposite for Boku. Before he went up north time didn’t seem like a big thing for him, but than once he started on his journey it seemed like he mentioned time a lot. Like train times and how long it will take him to walk somewhere and finally having to wind the grandfather clock.

The most interesting thing that we talked about this week is the “Hard Boiled Detective.” I have never heard of this before. I can see how it relates to Murakami though. The book is in first person narrative for the most part, and just like the Hard Boiled Detective films it is pretty secretive, you only know what you need to know as you read. The other thing that I wanted to add was, when the group presented on Tuesday and talked about the musical influences Murakami has in his work it made me think of a person I met this summer. I met a person from Japan this summer. (He was the owner of the toner factory I worked in.) While talking to him I could tell he didn’t understand a lot what the people around him were saying, but as soon as we started talking to him about our music his eye lit up. Like Murakami he also likes CCR and the Beatles. It was just fun knowing that what Ricky was talking about I could somewhat relate to and understand.

While comparing Haroun to Wizard of Oz in class some of the things that I noticed that paralleled while reading were not discussed. The first was when we are introduced to the Water Genies on page 81; they reminded me of the munchkins from the Lollipop Gild. The next thing that I noticed was how Chup and Gup were somewhat like the East in West in the Wizard of Oz, Chup being the west and Gup being the east. Then I also noticed that some things reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. The first thing was that the Plentimaw Fish reminded me of Tweedledee and Tweedledum because of the way that they talk. The next thing was how the Gups’ army or “Library” was made up of actual Pages like in a book. That reminded me of the Queen of Hearts people who were made up of playing cards. (I’m not sure if I remember exactly correct because it has been a long time since I have seen Alice in Wonderland.) I also want to add that I really liked the phrase that you introduced us to “magic realism.” I am going to be sure to bring this idea into my classroom.