The Taj Mahal

Today in class Mrs. Quinet was discussing the Taj Mahal and I thought I would look up some background on this amazing building. So here it goes! The building was commissioned in the year 1632. It took more than 20 years to build the whole complex. It was built of white marble on the bank of the Yamuna river. This amazing structure was built to house the tomb of Shah Jahan's dead wife. The whole complex cost about 32 million rupees, the indian currency, which equals about 52.8 billion rupees today, or about $827 million today. I just thought it was interesting that this amazing building was built such a long time ago.

Throwback to Things Fall Apart

Last weekend I went to a Model UN conference, where I represented Nigera in the African Union.  We were discussing possible  Solutions to the Islamic terrorism problem in Africa. One proposed solution was a program to fight terrorism funded by a new farming regime. The delegate from Tanzania suggested growing sweet potatoes because they are a native crop to Africa. In the next caucus the delegate from Rwanda stood up and corrected the previous delegate as there are multiple species of sweet potatoes and that the YAM is species indigenous to Africa. I immediately sent him a note asking if he read things fall apart at which he replied "OKONKWO's RAGE CANNOT BE CONTAINED!" We then had a nice conversation during the next unmod.

Hindu Gods

I decided to do a "recap" post going over the information of the Hindu gods and goddesses we learned the other day just for studying purposes later down the road.

Hanuman

Hanuman:
-the king of the monkeys
-renowned for courage, power, and faithful, selfless service
-major hero in the Ramyana

Ganesh

Vishnu:
-the "preserver"
-keeps chaos from happening

Brahma:
-the "creator"
-earth spirit

Shiva:

Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva

-the "destroyer"
-in his domestic role, he is a family man

Parvati:
-Shiva's wife (better half of Shiva)
-goddess of fertility, love and devotion
-gentle, nurturing

Ganesh:
-Shiva's son
-elephant-headed god of wisdom and learning
-remover of obstacles

Ram:
-incarnation of Vishnu
-suppresses supernatural powers and doesn't remind people all the time that he's a god

Ravana

Ravana:

Parvati

-a negative influence, trickster
-10-headed king of demons

Ram

Indian vs. Native American

As we started reading and discussing Midnight's Children, I thought about the terms "Indians" and "Native Americans." I know I've always used Indian and Native American interchangeably when talking about the French and Indian War, for example. Columbus applied the name "Indian" mistakenly to the indigenous people he first encountered when he came to the New World. By giving these people the title of Native American, there was no confusion between the indigenous people of America and the indigenous people of India. So why do people still associate the term "Indian" with Native Americans and Indians from the Republican of India?

Religion And English Connections

It's been great that throughout this school year I have been able to see a large amount of connections between my religion class and Humanities. Upon reading last night, I was immediately able to recognize the letter written by Nadir Khan that said "I divorce thee" three times. This was a big deal in our religion class because we talked about how crazy it was that in the Islam religion, women are treated very differently than men. All the man has to do is say that he wants to divorce the woman and she has no say. This perfectly describes the divorce that we see in Midnight''s Children. I've witnessed many great connections throughout the year with English and Religion and it really enhances my experience in each class.

Is Love A Choice?

In Midnight's Children, Amina does not really love Ahmed but she forces herself to love him day by day by picking a feature to admire each day. This concept reminded me of a post that I saw on the internet. It basically said that some young people were asked if love was a choice or a feeling and they all said a feeling. When older, married couples were asked, they all said a choice. This study became an observation of the difference between a working relationship and one that will eventually fail. This study definitely relates to how Amina chooses to fall in love with Ahmed. Do you think love is a choice?

Beloved=Slavery

Today in class, we talked about the many things that Beloved represents. She is the true to life presence of the baby's ghost, an African girl who experienced the Middle Passage, and she is the material manifestation of the many Africans that suffered from slavery and the Middle Passage. I think, in a way, Beloved also represents slavery as a whole. Throughout the ways that Morrison portrays Beloved's character and how people think of her, we see the similarities between the girl and this widely discussed topic. Like slavery, Beloved is seen as a very negative character. However, she is still for some reason accepted. Many white people in the book didn't like slavery, but they still just kind of accepted that it occurred. Also, at the end of the book, as time goes on, they all work together to get rid of Beloved just like people all over had to work together to get rid of slavery. In these ways, Morrison is using Beloved to represent the issues of slavery.