Marrying Absurd

What can you get for just five dollars?  You could get some candy bars, a gallon of gas, or even a classic five dollar foot-long from Subway (Eat Fresh).  According to Joan Didion, you could also get married!  In her essay, "Marrying Absurd," Didion mocks the wedding industry in Las Vegas and shows the meaninglessness of such weddings.

"There are nineteen such wedding chapels in Las Vegas, intensely competitive, each offering better, faster, and, by implication, more sincere services than the next" (102-103)  Didion's description of these chapels makes them appear to be similar to a fast food restaurant or a car service store, which also advertise that they are " the best and fastest service out there!"  Through this mocking diction, Didion shows that the marriages in Las Vegas are meaningless.  In addition, while describing the process of the marriages in Las Vegas, Didion writes, "One bride out, another in, and again the sign goes up on the chapel door:  'One moment please- Wedding'" (103).  These descriptions make act of marriage seem as important and special as buying a sandwich or going to the doctor's office.  This allows Didion to mock the business as a whole and to convey a condescending tone.

Marrying someone is a very big deal.  It is promising that you will always love and support the person you are marrying; that no matter what happens, you will go through it together.  When this is compared to the "better and faster" Las Vegas weddings, the powerful bond that marriage creates becomes absolutely insignificant.

Arm Wrestling with My Father

"Arm Wrestling with My Father," by Brad Manning, recounts the tale of Manning's relationship with his father.  Through physical means, Manning and his father are able to "communicate" to each other with emotions.  When Manning is a child, he is unable to beat his father; however, he grows older, strong, and smarter, and is finally able to beat his father, signifying his coming of age and becoming the protective arm of support for his family.  

While and after reading this story, I was able to connect Manning's relationship to his father to my own relationship with my father.  Since I am pretty weak, arm wrestling was not the physical means of communication.  However, the constant battles on the tennis court are the way my father and I communicate and express emotion.  Since I was 9, we have constantly headed to the tennis courts, with my only goal to finally beat him.  Just as Manning when he was a child, I would naively attempt to beat the unbeatable, and at the end of every defeat look at my father as if he was an all powerful tennis god.  Further, just as when Manning grows up, I have begun to beat my father at tennis.  Now 16, I am a smarter, larger, and stronger person and competitor.  Additionally, I constantly see that, although I am growing up and becoming a bigger and better man, my father is getting older.  And although I have not reached this full state of manhood that Manning achieve at the end of his piece, I do recognized the transition that many people face where they must switch roles with the person they once looked up to and admired.  They find that they must take over the responsibilities and powers that their role models had once done.

The Uncanny Indian Smell

    After reading "Fish Cheeks," by Amy Tan, I began to wonder about my own culture and heritage.  Both of my parents are Indian (although I have been repeatedly asked otherwise), and I frequently meet immerse in my culture.  I am Indian and proud, unlike adolescent Amy Tan toward her own culture; however, if there is one thing I am embarrassed by, it would be the uncanny Indian smell.

     The moment I walk by anyone with that distinct Indian smell, whether I see them or not, I instantly know their ethnic background and what they ate for dinner.  Although Indian food tastes amazing, it can have its draw backs.  Being very pungent, it often leaves a strong odor on people's clothes.  This is the very odor I have been running away from my entire life, working hard daily to avoid having it on my clothes.  I usually wear different clothes than those that I wear to school when eating dinner, and above all I make sure my mom has the air vents on while cooking, just to save myself from the strong odor.  To me, this smell is what the fish cheeks were for Amy Tan.  Although I am familiar with it, the moment others smell it, I instantly become embarrassed.  

     However, as I was saying before, although Indian culture has some of its humorous aspects (the Indian smell and the almighty Indian accent, as seen by the video), I still am proud of it.  The food, the people, the customs, and the holidays:  all of it makes me happy to know that whatever I choose to be on the outside, I will always be Indian on the inside.  

What Defines You?

What defines you? Is it your appearance, your character, or your actions?  For most, people, all of these attributes define who they are as a person.  Unfortunately, this is not the case for people such as author Nancy Mairs.  In her essay, "Disability," Mairs argues that people's disabilities define them, thus preventing their true complexities to be shown.

Mairs, a woman with Multiple Sclerosis, describes how she has noticed people's disabilities portrayed in media, such as television, are "the determining factor of [the person's] existence" (14).  In her essay, she explains a television drama where a young lady is diagnosed with MS.  Heartbroken she attempts to flee to live her life to the fullest until the disease fully takes effect.  She eventually succumbs to her reality and accepts her fate.  In her blunt candidness, Mairs points out that the woman's character is defined by this disability, and that this portrayal of disabled people is wrong.  "Take it from me, physical disability looms pretty large in one's life.  But it doesn't devour one wholly.  I'm not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease" (14).  I could not agree more.  As Mairs describes, people with disabilities are still people, with complexities and attribute that everyone else has.  To judge and view them solely based on their disabilities would prevent you from knowing someone who could truly be a great person.  In order to change this view, Mairs suggests that disabled people should be put into media while being portrayed as normal people to make the disabled appear natural in everyday life.

Now about two decades after "Disability" was published, I believe that Joe Swanson from the television show Family Guy perfectly embodies how all handicapped people should be viewed and portrayed in media.  Joe Swanson is an honorable policeman who carries on an ordinary life.  He has a wife, a daughter, an ordinary job, and an ordinary group of friends.  Although he is handicapped, the show rarely shows this as a problem or even focuses on this aspect of his life unless in a joking manner.  In fact, he is usually portrayed as the hero cop who makes his non-handicapped neighbor, Peter, jealous.

Mama...They Took the Raisins, Every Last One of Them

Imagine gaining the ability to finally fulfill your dreams after years of struggling.  Then imagine this golden opportunity slip from your grasp in an instant.  This is how Walter Lee and his family felt in the play, "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. The amount of excruciating pain they went through is unfathomable; however, the family's strength at the very end of the play shows that you should never lose faith in yourself or your dreams.

Living in a crowded little building in the ghettos of Chicago, the Younger family lives a bleak life in which every character dreams that one day, their life will be better.  For example, Walter wishes to become a liquor store owner so that he can support his family financially.  Mama wishes to move out of the small house they live in to live in an actual house with their own bathroom and bedrooms.  These dreams suddenly become a plausible reality when Mama gets a check for ten thousand dollars.  Suddenly, everyone becomes more hopefully as Mama sets off to buy her house and, later, Walter goes off to buy his liquor store.  Just at the peak of their happiness, however, things turn for the worse.  Willy, one of Walter's business partner's, stole of the money he had that wasn't put into the house.  Heartbroken the family looks bleakly to their future.

The true theme of this entire incident is the family's response to their situation.  Despite losing all of their money, their hopes, and their dreams, the family still moves into the house in the white neighborhood.  Knowing very well that by moving there they put themselves in great danger, they still look hopeful to their future and to improving their situation.  This resilience is something that everyone can learn from: that even in the face of utter defeat, never give up hope.  

Great Gatsby: A final look

(A blog post inspired by the esteemed Gaurav Gadgeel)

Earlier, before reading the Great Gatsby, I had discussed what it meant to succeed and how it is different in every person's perspective; I now, however, see success in a completely new way having read a book revolved around success.  In my earlier post I was oblivious to one simple fact that was so evident in The Great Gatsby: wealth does not equal success.  Throughout The Great Gatsby, Gatsby himself does not ever feel truly successful.  Why is this?  It is because he has not achieved happiness in life.  I now realize that success can only be obtained when someone has achieved true happiness.

Gatsby, a resident of West Egg, lives in a giant mansion, buys extravagant things, and throws many large parties.  He clearly is a very wealthy man; however, has he succeeded in life.  The answer is actually no, simply because he is not happy.  Even at his own parties, while everyone is having a great time, he stands off to the side and watches his parties instead of enjoying himself at them.  He does not even know half the people who come to his own house!  The only thing that can make him happy is Daisy, his golden girl.  After falling in love with her, Gatsby was sent off to the war.  While he was away, Daisy married to another wealth man.  Heartbroken, Gatsby gained wealth and became materialistic in hopes of getting Daisy back.  In the end, however, he is not successful and become very depressed moments before his death.  And so, since he never truly managed to find happiness, in my view, Gatsby has not succeeded in life.  

So all in all, do not get consumed with the idea of gaining wealth.  Even if you work hard to get good grades to get into that good college to get a good job to get a good income, make sure that you make time to "succeed" and find what will make you happy for the rest of your life.

Reading Between the Lines:  A closer look at The Great Gatsby

After reading The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald for the first time, it is easy to miss some of the subtle messages that Fitzgerald conveys throughout the novels. In fact, the after I read The Great Gatsby, topics such as women and gays completely alluded me; however, after a closer read into the text, I could suddenly and clearly see Fitzgerald's opinions on each of these topics.

Throughout The Great Gatsby, the reader truly only explores the story of three female characters: Jordan, Daisy, and Myrtle.  Of these three women, all of them are having affairs with various men and one of them is a mother who does not even care for her daughter.  By portraying these three women in a negative way, the reader can easily see Fitzgerald's sexist views toward women.  For example, Myrtle cheats on her husband, George Wilson, frequently when she goes out to town with Tom.  As Nick describes his experiences and opinions of Myrtle, it is clear to see that Myrtle is not a character to hold in high regard or esteem.  In fact, she is described several times as obnoxious.  Her ultimate fate best exemplifies Fitzgerald's sexist and negative view of women.  After her husband has found out about her cheating on him, she rushes out to the street and is killed when Daisy identically crashes into her.  By having Myrtle, a woman who commits adultery, killed, Fitzgerald shows that her behavior  and loose, easy-going morals are not to be admired.
Another hidden message (and Pranav's favorite by far) that Fitzgerald put into his story is that Nick, the narrator, is gay.  Although it may be a bit of a stretch, the "queer theory" could be seen in various parts of the novel.  One view of it is that all of the heterosexual relationships are shown to be corrupted with cheating, thus hinting that a homosexual relationship is not.  Also, in Chapter 2, one passage involving Nick and Mr. McKee suggests that Nick is gay.  When Nick is leaving the party with Mr. McKee, Fitzgerald writes, "...I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands" (38).  This "queer theory" may also suggest that Fitzgerald himself could have been gay; however, the book is open for anyone's interpretation.