TCU

I went to TCU this weekend to see some friends and the school. As most of you know, I have been set on LSU since I was a fetus. That hasn't changed, I am very excited to be attending Louisiana State University in the fall, but I do wish I kept somewhat of an open mind before deciding. Being at TCU was so interesting, it was my first time being at a college campus that was not LSU. I got there friday at about 1:30 so I had time to see classrooms, students, and I met some professors. I did not go on a scheduled visit, my friends brought me around I just thought it was so interesting seeing a different school. I could not be happier with my decision of LSU and I think I would have chosen LSU no matter what, just looking back on it, I wish I visited more places. Does anyone else wish they would've visited more colleges or done anything differently during their college searching process?

Tear Drops

One scene in the book that keep playing over and over in my head and a constant battle on whether or not I like the Brass Monkey, is when the Monkey beats up Sonney. That whole scene was so vivid in my head, I could just picture Sonney bunched up in a ball with beefy swimmers towering over him and kicking and punching over and over again and poor Sonny just crying his eyes out because all he did was love. For the importance of this scene, I am not sure, other than it being incredibly disturbing. The only thing that I can think of, but sounds like a stretch, is a relation to the language riots. The language riot is all about how the language said indian loves is the one they one to be prevalent, but there are multiple groups who want the same thing, so they beat each other up about it. The Brass Monkey and Sonney both have different view on love so the monkey beats him up with her swim gang.

French Quarter Beggars

I was walking in the French Quarter today and I saw your typical beggar on the side of the street. I noticed that a lot of them had dogs and I got really sad, but seeing them also reminded me of the beggars in Midnight's Children. Wee Willie Winkie wanted to break Shiva's legs in order to get people to want to donate more money to them; likewise, I felt that most of the beggars in the quarter bring their animals so people will feel upset for the animal and thus give more money. If you think about it, there is definitely something very corrupt about this system - tugging at people's heart strings for more donations and using someone innocent (like a dog or your injured children) to gain something. 

Women Leaders

Today in class, Mrs. Quinet said something that stuck with me. She was talking about Indira Gandhi and she said "It was weird because her husband died and she was not tied to any man at that point except for the fact that her father was Nehru." I thought that it was interesting that a woman had to be tied to a man to mean something. But if you thought about it, Indira Gandhi did so much for India as a country. She did all of this without a man by her side and did it very well. She reminds me of Queen Elizabeth. Even though the current queen of England has a husband, she is the one you always hear about. Both of these ladies are strong leaders who did great for their country. I just hate that women always need to be compared to the men they are with when women can shine all alone.

Definition of Nation

The other day in class we discussed what exactly it means to be a nation. They split up the territories of India based solely on their languages. Is that what it should be based on? Nations are thought of as one shared culture. Language is definitely a major aspect of a culture. In some ways, this split could be thought of as more understandable than if the territory was actually just split up by natural divisions such as rivers. It's hard to define what makes a nation a nation. My younger sister came home from school the other day with a paper that had the pledge of allegiance on it. However, each word that would be considered tough for a second grader had a flap and under the flap was a simpler and more understandable word. The world for nation was simply country, but as we discussed in class, there is so much more to the meaning of nation than that. What do y'all think it means to be a nation?

Passing On Your Story

I was listening to a song in the car yesterday and the lyrics were "I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my bed / They beg me write them so they'll never die when I'm dead". It reminded me of the whole point of the story of Midnight's Children. He is writing the story in order to pass it on to the readers and share his story. That way when he finally "falls apart" his story will still live on. This song lyrics by Halsey is saying that these "villains" want her to write about them so that when she dies their beings will live on. This has been the main purpose of the past few stories that we've read so it immediately clicked in my mind as extremely relevant.

Saleem=India

Throughout the entirety of Midnight's Children, Salem is meant to represent India. Upon the language march, there is definitely a parallel between this situation and Saleem. Saleem has to hear the many different voices in his head and he has no choice about that. Just as he must hear these many voices in his head, the Indian government and India in general must hear the many languages of the protestors in this march. This is yet another way that Saleem represents India as a whole. The government would probably rather not hear the protesting voices but they have to. Just as Saleem has no choice but to hear the voices of others and of all of the midnight's children who also represent India.