Response to Others

Okay, I read and posted to three blog, Alaina's, Kyrstin's and Lauren's. The reason I did three was because I really didn't understand what Lauren was talking about, it confused me a lot. Where as Alaina and Kyrstin helped explain a little bit about the topic at hand. Alaina and I both find the religion very interesting, and Kyrstin finds it kind of odd.

Like Alaina said in her response to others section, Hinduism is an open-ended religion because it does allow other to think and believe what they want. That is pretty much what I felt the picture example that was used was explaining. Also since there is so much diversity in the religion I too wonder how the heck everyone keeps every thing strait, there is so much that would have to be learned, and would take forever, if a person decided to convert late in life, I don't think that they could do it. To close Hinduism is very complex, and to be Hindu you pretty much must grow up in it, and start learning very young, otherwise, you'll never get it. But I also think you probably don't get it all, at all, because there are so many different books to the religion.

Mythology of Hinduism # 2

Okay, first of all I had a heck of a time trying to listen to this, I couldn’t get it to down load on any computers at first. But now that I have gotten to listen to it, I have decided that it was very boring. It was a boring lecture, where he just went on and on and on kind of like the song that never ends, and I found the guy’s voice very annoying, but loved his accent. At first, I was not sure where he was going with the black and white/bad and good thing, but eventually got it I think, it was kind of confusing. I thought he was talking about how everything could be compared to black and white, evil and good. When he talked about the, I think it was a black circle on white paper, or vise versa, I found it very interesting, because I agree with him totally, every one views things in different ways, you might see a circle on the paper, someone else may see like he said, a hole in the wall, or what ever else you mind might put to it, maybe a wheel, I don’t know. To tie this in with religion, I figured he was talking about how every religion views God in different way, and that even in the Hindu religion, they view God differently. They believe in reincarnation, and the way it was explained in class, they have a very good point, especially with the remembering things when they happen, I am not saying I believe in it, but it is an interesting point of view. Along with the reincarnation, is the karma was cool learning about. Then there is Kalpa, where Brahma becomes a human, every 4,320,000 years, who forgets who he is, and then rediscovers himself. And to close with, I think I like learning the stuff from class, not from a philosopher who annoys me to listen to.

My Final Thoughts

I kind of liked the book, but it was not a favorite. I just don’t think that I would have read it on my own. I there were times when I felt lost, because I thought it was a bit jumpy, and some topics brought up seemed to be randomly put in spots. Yes, they were explained better in other chapters, but still I felt like some chapters were starting in the middle of the story, and later explained better in other chapters. I think the reason why I it was a little bit hard for me to get into was because I am a fantasy, mystery and horror reader, not a nonfiction reader. It just doesn’t interest me, but like a history class does.

ChapterTwenty-five

When the DC came to get Okonkwo, they had found out that he had hung himself. This culture is very, sort of superstitious. They would not take down his body from the tree because it is against the Earth to commit suicide. So they ask the soldiers to take him down. They also cannot bury him; a stranger must do all of this, that is why they ask the DC’s soldiers. Then they must again clense the land because he is now considered evil. I liked the way that Obierika just started yelling at the DC, pretty much saying he made Okonkwo, who was a great man, stoup to killing himself over overcoming the problems. Oh yeah, that ending about the writing of the book I didn't quite get. It was kind of random.

Chapter Twenty-four

The prisoners were let go and walked home in silence. The women and children, on their way to the river, that they passed, were afraid of them. They were very angry and upset about the incident. When Okonkwo go home, Ezinma made a meal for him. That night, a meeting is called for the next morning. The next day, Okonkwo wants war, and thinks about a certain person who he fears will not want to go to war, his name is Egonwanne, and he is very influential. That is why he hopes he will not be able to attend the meeting. The next day at the meeting, Okonkwo and Obierika go to the meeting, and Egonwanne is there, but the meeting is interrupted by white messengers. They say the meeting must end now. Okonkwo confronts them and ends up using his machete and cutting off the lead messenger’s head off. He then leaves, and now knows that the clan will never go to war. I think it was irrational for him to do that because now he has cause more problems for his clan. With him being a warrior, he is disappointed in the clan, it seem like he is very depressed. I wonder where he went, and what the clan will do with him now

Chapter Twenty-three

The District Commissioner called “friendly” meeting and invited Okonkwo and five other men of Umuofia. They were to discuss the incident that had taken place while the DC was on tour, the burning of the church. They men went to the meeting and were asked to tell their story but were told that nothing would be done until both sides of the story were heard. One guy started telling the story, and the DC paused him and invited twelve other guys in to hear the story as well. A scuffle took place and next thing the six men knew were that that they were cuffed and imprisoned. They stayed in jail for three days before talking about the price of getting out. When they were imprisoned, the price was 200 bags of cowries, but when the clan found out, the price was 250 bags. There were also many rumors that went around, that the men were hung, and that men were on their way to wipe out Umuofia, just like what happened to Abame. I didn’t like how they were lied to. It is not right; they did not get to tell their side of the story. All men are equal; this is truly what I believe.

Chapter Twenty-two

Since Mr. Brown died his place was taken by Reverend James Smith. None of the cultural clan like him, after a few weeks of him, he suspended a woman from church for putting new wine in old bottles, WHAT does it matter? It won’t hurt the wine. Then a guy name Enoch, who is very devoted to Christianity, defaced the African religion by tearing the mask off of a egwugwu, which is thought to kill the spirit. This was very bad, and had never happened before, so for this, the clan burns down Enoch’s compound, and Mr. Smith hid Enoch from them. The clan is fed up with the Christians. Since they defaced their religion, the egwugwu defaced the Christians, by burning down the church. Enoch was trying to start religions war between the two. Both of these were very wrong, but well deserved. Just because you don’t like another religion don’t mean you should treat them different. This is kind of like what Hitler did to the Jews, and I strongly disagree with that too.