Ignorance

          Ignorance, or the lack of knowledge about a subject, can be associated with many things.  People may call you ignorant if you don’t know about the history of your own country, or not knowing about the holidays that other cultures celebrate.  They may call you ignorant for never going out of your neighborhood and exploring places, or not knowing what crisis is currently happening in the world such as an earthquake in Haiti or Japan.  There are many forms of ignorance that are talked about, written about, sung about, etc.  Although Martin Espada’s poems speak of many themes, I believe that his poems, The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 mainly circle around the theme of ignorance.  I think this because in each poem, there is a victim or some victims that are targeted by people who just don’t seem to care about their culture or other parts of their lives.

            In Espada’s poem The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, the group targeted is Spanish students.  The poem describes that a group of boys were talking in Spanish in the school bathroom.  As the principal listens in, “The only word he recognizes/is his own name.”  After that, the principal of the school banned speaking Spanish in the bathrooms.  I think he did this because he was worried that they were talking poorly of him, just because he heard his name. Since the poem never mentions that the principal asked the boys what they were talking about, I feel that the principal was being ignorant and made no effort to solve the problem differently because he didn’t care to know what they were talking about.  Or maybe if the principal had cared to learn the language that some children spoke in his school, he wouldn’t have banned it. Maybe he also would have been able to know if the boys were talking about what a wonderful school it was and how they really admired the principal or the other way around.  However, because he was ignorant, the principal did expel Spanish so that, “Now he can relax,” as the poem says in the last line.  The principal was also being ignorant because it seemed as though he didn’t care how the Spanish children would be affected by this decision and the poem does not describe him asking them at all.  Although the boys’ opinions were not written in the poem, I can only imagine what it would be like not to be able to speak their own language.  Language is part of everyone’s culture and to ban it seems very disrespectful.  The principal was ignorant not to realize how important one’s culture, or way of life can be.  Maybe before, the bathroom was a safe place to socialize and be one’s self with other people who spoke the same language, but after the language was banned, Spanish kids felt separated and unwelcome.  Because the principal was being ignorant of their culture, their feelings, and their language, the effect had a negative impact on the students.  By using this poem, Martin Espada exposed examples of ignorance.

            In the poem Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, Espada once again unearths examples of ignorance.  In this poem, the narrator speaks of how his name is often mispronounced.  The reason for this could be because others don’t care to learn how his name is pronounced, or that they know but say it incorrectly anyway.  Either way, they are being ignorant of the narrator’s culture and feelings.  For example, the narrator is obviously hurt when this happens to him because the poem says, “Whenever my name/is mispronounced/I want to…hijack a busload/of Republican tourists/from Wisconsin/force them to chant/anti-American Slogans/in Spanish…”  People who mispronounce his name should be considered ignorant because they should realize that he is angered by it.   I bet that they probably wouldn’t appreciate it if people always ignored how strongly they felt about something.  Also, different cultures and languages pronounce words and names differently, and it can be very ignorant not to know or care about that.  The narrator is most likely not just American, but maybe Spanish as well.  I interpret this because the narrator emphasizes that when they mispronounce his name, he wants to put on an outfit described as resembling that of a Spanish Revolutionary and wants the Republicans to chant “in Spanish/and wait/for the bilingual SWAT team.” Spanish and bilingual are the key words there.  And yet, the people who say his name incorrectly choose to disrespect his culture and his feelings out of ignorance that he is of a different descent and his people may say things differently. Overall, the theme of this poem is also ignorance.

            Finally, in Espada’s poem Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877, he described an actual historical event where two were hung because they were Mexican.  The author stresses how the vigilantes didn’t even care because even though the event was horrible, more than anything else, they were, “all crowding into the photograph.”  This makes me think that in some way, all of them wanted to be remembered as part of this event. Because of this, they were being ignorant and rude about the affect it would have on the two lynched.  I think this because the poem describes the two men as, “trussed like cousins of the slaughterhouse/dangling in the bowed mute humility/of the condemned.” I think this quote means that the men will forever be humiliated.  The vigilantes involved also were ignorant of their culture because they didn’t seem to care about how the men will become, “Guitar-plucking skeletons/…on the Dia de los Muertos.”   Because they all crowded into the photograph shows that they had no respect for the culture, affects, or family of the two men hung.  Maybe if they had cared to know about those things, they would have had more of a conscience over whether it was such a just thing to do.  The main idea in this poem is ignorance, which is expressed through the vigilantes in the photograph.

            In conclusion, the poems The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 clearly show the affects of ignorance by using ignorance as the main theme.  These poems demonstrate ignorance of personal feelings, culture, language, the affects on the victim and their families, etc.  I think that Martin Espada wants to let us know that this type of ignorance does occur and that we should be wary of if we ever do it or see others disrespecting people through it.  Maybe he is also telling us to open their minds to the idea of how being ignorant, even in small ways can make someone feel bad or how it can be disrespectful and harmful.  I hope that more people will want to know about other cultures or things going on outside of their life and try to prevent this type of social injustice.

Be Your Own Person

     "In serving you father and mother, remonstrate with them gently.  On seeing that they do not heed your suggestions, remain respectful and do not act contrary.  Although concerned, voice no resentment."  This is just one rule Frances, from the book Bitter Melon, by Cara Chow has to follow.  Like many other things in her life, it demonstrates that others must control her life, and that she must bend her wants to the wants of others.  Throughout the book, I have realized the importance of doing things just for yourself.  This does not mean I believe in being selfish, but I think that we shouldn't always do things for others because it can end up hurting us.

     The reason I think this is because of how others have impacted Frances' life by making her do just that. For example, although she doesn't really want to become a doctor, she is working herself to get into UC Berkeley to take up medical practice.  The only reason for this is that her mother wants her to become a doctor, fix her stomach, and her mom wants to live with Frances in a nice house.  Frances' whole life is planned out by her tiger mom, and is afraid to do anything she actually wants to do because it would displease her mother.  Another example that affects Frances slightly less, was when her teacher told her to join the speech team.  Although she didn't want to, she didn't want to upset her teacher by declining.  And when her teacher asked her if she could practice after school that day, she didn't want to say no, even though she had her expensive Princeton Review class.  "Ms. Taylor is already going out of her way for me.  How can I inconvenience her any further?"  Frances had thought.  These things have all affected her negatively.

     Overall, by only doing what others wish of her, Frances has made her own life worse for herself.  She has to miss her class and take a job she doesn't want, and go to a college that she doesn't actually care if she gets into or not.  Although, her mom may beat her for doing so, I hope that later in the book, Frances will stand up for herself.  Why should everyone be happy but not her?  This is why I now realize how just doing some things for yourself is sort of mandatory for your own health and happiness.  You shouldn't always be miserable to just please others.

Everything Means Nothing If There Isn't Happiness

In the book "Nothing," by Janne Teller, Agnes' class searches for the meaning of everything after Pierre Anthon says that nothing has meaning.  While Pierre sat in a tree hollering at them, her class decided to make a pile of meaning.  Each person would demand something important from someone, such as their shoes, and then that person would demand something from the next person.  However, by the end, they had grave robbed someone's little brother, cut off a finger, killed a dog, and more.  Things just got more gruesome as they went along, and they were all unhappy with their losses.  However, they were only doing this to feel content with themselves that there was actually a meaning to life and the world in general.  I believe that they shouldn't have made themselves miserable.  I think that the true meaning of anything shouldn't be fought over if nobody is happy.  To me enjoying what you have is the most important thing in life.

I think that happiness is more important than stressing over the meaning of everything because of what it led the kids in Agnes' class to do.  Almost every person cried or was miserable after they had to give up something.  For example, Ann Li cried when she had to give up her pet hamster, who ended up dying.  Holy Karl had to go against his religion and steal the statue of Jesus from the Church.  In the end, his parents said he wasn't a good Christian, and the book described him as one who appeared to have lost everything.  Unfortunately, after months os sacrifice and suffering, Pierre said the pile was a bunch of junk!  In fact, they were even going to sell the pile to a museum.  I think that all of those months could have been used for the class to enjoy their childhood.  Instead they saw and did things that were unnecessary and led them to no success.  In conclusion, I think that happiness and enjoying life is way too important to waste.  It is also something you can't put a price on, like they did for their pile.  I just didn't understand why they put so much tears into something that could probably never be answered.  This draws me to the conclusion that happiness is the true meaning of life, and overcomes everything else.

Victims

Child soldiers ages eighteen and under is a problem discussed all around the world.  Unfortunately most of them are fourteen or younger.  The articles “Children at War,” by P.W Singer, “Armed and Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman and a documentary, a CBS interview with Ishmael Beah, explain the life, dangers, and misfortune of child soldiers.  They give details about how the children were forced or tricked into service, how they were manipulated and/or brainwashed while in service, and how they were traumatized after they were released from the army.   Although some might say child soliers are perpetrators, I see them as victims.

One reason child soldiers are victims is because they were forced and tricked into service without choice.  For example, in the article “Children at War,” by P.W Singer, a boy from Liberia who had experienced this was interviewed.  He said, “The rebels came and attacked us.  They killed my mother and father in front of my eyes.  I was 10 years  old.  They took me with them.”  This directly shows one way how many child soldiers were forced into service.  It also shows the boy had no choice because the people would probably kill him too if he did otherwise. He also had nowhere to go because his family was dead.  In the CBS interview with Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone, Beah explained, “We thought if we went to the military base we would be protected.  That was not the case.”  The army gave them false impressions that ended up in Beah becoming a child soldier.  Both Beah and the other boy who was interviewed, tell us that child soldiers are victims because they were forced or tricked into service without choice.

Another reason child soldiers are victims is because they were manipulated and/or brainwashed to be killers while in service.  For example, in the CBS interview with Ishmael Beah, he discussed what it was like to be part of the army and kill people.  “You’ve lost yourself.  It completely becomes your life.  You have to do it to survive,” he said.  He was manipulated by fear of being killed if he didn’t cooperate.  Beah also talked about how the soldiers were manipulated into drugs by the commanders, in order not to fully comprehend the awful things they were doing.  In the article “Armed and Underage,” by Jeffrey Gettleman, it said that in the 1980s, an army from Iran gave “12 to 16 year old boys ‘keys to heaven’ to hang around their necks as they cleared minefields during the Iran-Iraq war.”  These keys were meant to “protect them,” but this just shows how child soldiers were brainwashed into thinking that they were protected or doing the right thing. Through these examples, it is shown that child soldiers are victims because they were manipulated and brainwashed to kill while in service.

A final reason child soldiers are victims is because they were traumatized afterwards.  For example, in the article “Children at War,” by P.W Singer, it said, “Girl soldiers are often singled out for sexual abuse, even by their own commanders, and have a harder time integrating back into society at wars end.” I feel utterly horrified that these girls were emotionally damaged to the extent that it was difficult to go back to society!  When Ishmael Beah was interviewed, he said that after UNICEF rescued him, he’d turn on the shower, but see only blood.  This is an example of mental trauma that many of the soldiers faced afterwards.  I feel that it’s very difficult to hear about how these people’s childhoods were ruined, and the rest of their lives affected because they were child soldiers.  In the end, child soldiers are victims because they were traumatized after they fought as child soldiers.

In conclusion, because child soldiers are forced or tricked into servitude, manipulated and brainwashed while in service and traumatized after they were released from the army, they are victims.  Some may still argue that they are perpetrators because they killed people, and that’s a crime.  However, I believe they say this because they are looking at these children from the outside.  Instead, they should imagine what it would be like to face all of those horrors (that were really in the hands of those who captured them) at such a young age, and then come out of it traumatized and charged as a criminal.  Hopefully then, those who believe these child soldiers are perpetrators would realize that they are truly victims.

The Power of Self-Importance

Sad, alone, useless, unimportant.  These are words that you could use to describe how Jobyfelt about himself in the beginning of the short story, “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh,” by Ray Bradbury.  However, words such as self confident, hopeful, and important are words to describe Joby at the end of the story.  This sweet short story brought me to see the true power of self-importance because it is shown while the main character changes throughout the story.  At first he was miserable when he thought he had no importance, but when the General made him realize he did have a reason in this world, Joby seemed like a new and improved person.

When Joby thought that he wasn’t important and was useless to the others around him, he had no hope in himself and was very pessimistic.  For example, he had very little confidence in himself that he’d make it out of the war alive.  For example, the lines, “Me, thought the boy, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield,” and the fact that he thought that the soldiers were all thinking, “’Me, I’m the one, I’m the one of all the rest who won’t die.  I’ll live through it.  I’ll go home.  The band will play.  And I will be there to hear it.’”  These interpretations that the drummer boy made tell me that he felt weak.  Also in the text when the General first approached him, Joby “shut his eyes to hide inside himself,” and was caught off guard crying.  This shows me that he was insecure, frightened and depressed.  If I were him, I would’ve felt the same way, being all alone and scared like that. All together, these pieces of text evidence tell me that before Joby realized his importance, he was miserable.

When Joby was finally told his importance by the army’s General, he became a happier and more self-confident person.  The General said that he was “the heart of the army” and that “if he beat a sure, steady, ever faster rhythm, then, then, their knees would come up in a long line down over that hill, one knee after the other, like a wave on the ocean floor.”  Joby realized his importance of his drum, which he was told “He must keep at it, at it!  Long and steady, steady and long!  Then, even though shot or torn, those wounds got in hot blood-in blood he’d helped stir-would feel less pain.”  This section of the text, “He swallowed.  He wiped his eyes.  He cleared his throat.  He settled himself.  Then, at last, very slowly and firmly he turned the drum so it faced up toward the sky,” make me infer that Joby changed from an insecure boy to the ever so important Drummer Boy of Shiloh.  I think this because, he realized he had no need to cry and be afraid.  The General had told him to be proud of his role in the army.  I wonder how grand I would’ve felt if I were Joby.  Afterall, he was very important.

In conclusion, “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” has shown me how powerful self-importance is.  It was all the drummer boy needed to feel like he had anything in life to cling on to.  Without it, I felt the worthlessness that he felt and the feelings he had about questioning his life altogether.  This makes me think about the depressed people in our world today.  Maybe they feel the way they do because they think that their life is meaningless.  I hear people talk about hope, but maybe you need something before you can hope.  Maybe you just need someone to tell you that you are important in this world, just like the army General told The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.