Zombie Essay

My plan for my essay is to draw similarities between zombie apocalypses and general catastrophes. I want to look at certain elements that are present in any disaster and see if they can correlate to zombie apocalypses. For instance, both include the need for individuals in society to confront dangerous situations and to find a particular solution for the problem at hand. Also, I want to analyze the similarities with the adoption of unconventional roles in both disasters, such as with children having to grow up fast and assimilate into a world that forces them to grow up, or with women having to adopt roles that force them to use weaponry or force. I don't know; I'm very excited to see what type of sources I can come up. I want to construct a comparative analysis with movies, books, and historical events, especially like with wars, which showed women having to fight in battles or assume their husband's occupation when he was at war, or evidence of young men having to fight in war at such a young age. It'll be interesting to see what I can use as sources.

Walking Dead

I had always heard from everyone how great this show is, but I never really got myself to sit down and actually watch an episode, let alone read the comic book. It was really exciting and it does reveal a lot about some qualities and afflictions humans personally face, even though it was about zombies. The end part where the son saves the dad from Shane was very touchy and beautiful. It was nice to see strong family bonds. The show sort of took that scene in a different way. The father kills Shane, but the son still saves the dad by killing Shane as he wakes up from the dead. I also enjoyed the drama in the story. It relates to many shows that I watch where the girl has to pick between two guys. It also sheds some ideas about the reason Lori doesn't pick Shane; she has to stay loyal and committed to Rick because she is married to him. Shane becomes somewhat irrelevant and it was very sad and interesting to see how he spirals and dies. Overall, great show and story! It really is what the author said in the beginning of the book; it shows a lot of "reflections" of what friends, neighbors, and families might react and do in such extreme situations. 

Flame Alphabet Part 2

"Even in the sunshine my mood did not ease. It pulled at my breath, drew my sight into a darkened hole. It was a wordless despair I felt, a final sense of certainty that one's maneuverings were all tethered to some vector of, not even folly, but something far worse. Something much more terrible than folly." (282)

I picked this package because it undoubtedly emphasizes the difficulties of describing a feeling through language. Our thoughts are so complex that when we relay them through language, it's almost restricting or limiting to the bounds of our mind. Ben Marcus does an incredible job by highlighting it in this passage and others that words cannot describe the full effect of a feeling or action. Sometimes we don't have the right words to translate what we feel. It's like when a person just overcame a calamity or a traumatic situation and he/she don't know how to describe it because it's much more than the words he/she can say or know. This also can be compared to the beginning of the book where Claire would say "really" to emphasize an emotion or an idea and how it was "a desperate little adjective" (28). It comes to a moment where we cannot effectively transmit our thoughts and ideas to concrete language.

Flame Alphabet

 Passage:

"I know you've probably thought of this," Claire said, her words slurred, "but maybe it's not the best thing for Essie with us taking all this new medicine, in terms of how it might make her feel."
"It's not for her. It's for us."
I knew I was missing the point, but I couldn't tiptoe around the euphemism. Esther's well-being had become a distant concern, like worrying about the flesh wound of a god.

"Is there something, or are we …" Claire started.
I waited, but the sentence never finished. It dug a little hole in the air between us, and the hole throbbed, until I realized it was there for me to fill.
"The busses," I said, giving it my worst guess. There was a chance Claire wanted me to finish her sentence this way, didn't have the heart to do it herself. Maybe I was the one who had to say it out loud.
"We could bring her down there and see," I continued. "That would remove her from anything unpleasant at home, and then we wouldn't need to interrupt our work. Best of both worlds, maybe."
"Best of both worlds?" asked Claire. "Really."
She shook her head, wouldn't look at me. (90)

I picked this passage because it showed how each of the parents viewed the situation. In this passage, Claire was relaying her worries and care for her daughter. She was more worried about how her use of medication may psychologically affect her daughter, even though the medication she was using was saving her life. I felt this situation could illustrate the unconditional love she has for Esther. Claire's unwavering care and affection for her daughter is also illustrated by the way she uses the nickname, Essie--still being able to refer to her daughter in a positive way than identifying her as a toxin to her life. In contrast, Sam didn't feel like that at all. There was an evident disconnect with his daughter. He didn't care anymore if something affected Esther. To him, she still wasn't suffering as much as him, comparing the effect on his daughter's feelings to "the flesh wound of a god." I felt that this situation could apply to different reactions to calamity. Would you be Claire in the situation where the parent would still love the child even though the child was a detriment to her health? Or Sam, the parent who would rather save himself instead and put his health and happiness over anything? I thought it was very interesting that Claire still had that mother-daughter bond, and how sad it was that Sam could brush off or feel less affected with his duties as a parent and only worry about himself. He was trying to be pragmatic and relate his real thoughts; I get that. It just would have been nice if he still felt loyal as a parent to his child.

The next lines just highlight the tension between the pair. There was a definite lack of communication and disagreement. Sam was already suggesting a way to get rid of their daughter. It might solve their problems for now, but how could a parent give up their child? Claire couldn't believe what he said because she still has that shred of parental love. This emphasizes how hard a situation can get for someone to give up like that or offer those types of suggestions.

Bounty

The reading was very interesting. Cole was flawed because of his deformed feet, something he had no control of; and he was marked by his bracelet, so people could literally identify him as a man that "may literally be purchased and enslaved". It reminded me a lot about the Holocaust, in which many were marked with symbols so that other people could identify them as inferior and to be enslaved like in the Concentration Camps. One specific type of people were Jewish identical twins. They had no control of being genetically identical. This was something they were born with, but were considered flawed and the people in power felt that they could enslave and experiment as much as they want on the young children who were twins. Or even more comparative to the story were the disabled people during the Holocaust who were tortured and enslaved because of their physical disabilities. This story really helps to draw parallels to many types of discrimination that occurred throughout history.

Black Hole

I don't really know how to link an image; so I'm just going to describe it. The image I'm referring to is before Chris leaves, when she looks at all her achievements and a picture of her holding a trophy- it was a like an album she was holding of her old memories when she didn't have the "bug". She never used to skip classes and was a good student, but now she was referring to all her awards and work she accumulated over the years as "stupid little things." This highlights how people tend to completely transform themselves when they feel they are in an apocalyptic or horrible situation. She changed herself completely and felt lost. I feel like that happens a lot during traumatic or catastrophic situations. Like in Iraq, if young teenagers didn't have a stable family and lots of faith during the war, then they ended up resorting to drugs and violent behavior. It was an apocalypse for them, seeing people they knew, family members or friends, being killed off as civilian casualties. As a result, some adopted toxic behaviors, and dropped out of school ruining all their hard work. Like the situation with Chris, in apocalyptic times, some people give up what they've always been working for and completely alter their lives because of these terrible situations.

Sources

1. Bryant, Clifton D. Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2009. Print.

This is from an academic journal. The main argument of the source I picked is that even if religions have a fundamental approach to life, when apocalypses happen, religions are beneficial. The article continues that religions supply comfort in chaotic situations. When individuals provide “religious meaning to the man-made tragedies and natural disasters of life,” it brings clarity for many when it appears “unbearable”. The implication is that even if some religions may seem nonsensical to one person, it still provides benefits and hope to others when there is a tragedy.

2. Hedstrom, Matthew. The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture And American Spirituality In the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

In this journal, Hedstrom argues that the fight between faith and science has come to an end and that the real battle lies between religion and contempt for religion. He describes that the “apocalyptic conflict” is “between authorities over the human spirit”. It supports the idea that religion is not the reason for conflicts in the world. It’s when authorities can manipulate religion or the contempt for religion to support their violence. Ultimately, it’s not religion that causes apocalypses; it’s the yield of power of authorities using religion or contempt for religion that make apocalyses.

3. Leeming, David Adams. Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. New York: Springer, 2010. Print.

Another scholarly journal, David Leeming maintains the argument that religious apocalypses are at the same time “grim” and “profoundly hopeful.” That with an apocalypse, great violence is distributed, but later, out of this tremendous violence, will come “redemption, renewal, hope.” That amidst the bleak tragedies, the apocalypses or endings, are "by definition beginnings."

Ragnarok

“The thin child, despite the war that was raging, was more afraid of eternal boredom, of doing nothing that mattered, of day after day going nowhere, than she was of death or the end of things . When she thought of death she thought of the little boy across the road who had died of diabetes.”

I picked this passage because this selection explains why the “thin child” would rather read fantasy, mythological stories, as opposed to a religious book, like the Bible. To the thin child, religion and the idea of an eternal life after death bored her. So to counteract with what she was continuously taught in school and in religion, she would read or make up stories with multiple gods; they involved more action and relatable events. Instead of an all-powerful God, her characters were much more than just powerful; they had flaws and personalities such as being a bully or too cunning. She had created them to escape the daily life apocalypses she was experiencing. She wanted her life to have more meaning. These stories gave her life more meaning when she reread them; she was reviving and ending life through her characters.

In addition, most people use religion to give there lives more meaning because of the “story” aspect in religious texts to imagine something much greater. Similar to the thin child, instead of using religion literature-since she found the idea of God and religion to be boring-she would supplement her own stories she found fascinating to cope with the time.  Everyone has their own way with handling situations; she chose stories that broadened her imagination. Also, I wanted to mention the significance of the last line I quoted. She had a very limited personal experience with death. When she thought of death, she thought of the “little boy across the road who had died of diabetes.” This highlights how as a child, she may not have completely had a grasp or a developed idea of death. She was a child who was much more stimulated by the stories she read. They were much larger than life to her. Throughout this book, this premature developed mind helped her completely transform the idea of “death” with the gods.

Quran Selections

Usually the Quran is not read in English because it's hard to get the meaning of an Arabic word precisely. It was even confusing for me. When I was reading these selections, I kept relating them back to psychology with the "delay of gratificiation. That if you believe in God and repent/don't commit sins, you'll get heaven or be rewarded. You hold out for your sins because you know there is something better. I also wanted to use this quote: "And this Quran is not such as could be forged by those besides Allah, but it is a verification of that which is before it and a clear explanation of the book, there is no doubt in it, from the Lord of the worlds." I wanted to relate it back to Bill Maher's "Religulous." He used the idea of similar stories to discredit religion, while in Islam, they use it to credit religion. It's really interesting to see the dichotomy between those meanings.

Books of Daniel and Revelation

I started off with the Book of Daniel and thought the dreams were hard to keep up with. It was an interesting subject of dream interpretations, but I found myself many times getting confused or having to refer back to previous wording. However, I was much more engaged with the text in the Book of Revelation. The text, although much longer, was much more fascinating. It had a lot of imagery with many metaphors and similes. Also, I recommend reading the explanation for the Book of Revelation before reading it. (Like understanding that the lamb represents Jesus.)

The Tower

I was surprised to read these versions of the story of Babel and the tower because it was such a different story than the one I had always referenced from prior knowledge. Before reading these text selections, the only story that I knew about a tower and the intention to somehow confront God by building a tower to reach the heavens was from the Quran. The Quran references this story in a very different light than what was said in the Hebrew Bible selections. It was very interesting to see those stark contrasts and still see some similar attributes. In the Quran, the tower is referenced when the Pharaoh laughs at Moses’ statement of belief in one God and says that he doesn’t know of any God but himself, so he orders a guy named Haman to “bake bricks out of clay and set up for [him] a lofty tower in order that [he] may look at the God of Moses.” The similarities lie with the idea of “baking bricks” and making a tower to be at the same level of God, but this story never included the mention of “one language.” Also, the punishment in the Quran was that they (the disbelievers and Pharaoh) were drowned because of this action and others, but it had nothing to say about the dispersing of people as a punishment. I just thought it was so interesting that the Bible told a story of how language began and spread throughout the world and how the Quran didn’t have that story.

Gilgamesh

When I was watching the video, once it mentioned that it originated in Iraq, I quickly asked my parents about this story. My family is from Iraq and it was interesting to see how this story was very famous to the Iraqis. Also, an interesting fact about the video: the city nineveh, in Arabic, it's naynawah and it's also the present city of Mosul. This story was regarded highly in Iraq because Iraq was always known to be the first successful civilization and here was proof of a book that originated more than 4,000 years. Also, religiously, Iraq was always regarded as where all the prophets originate from. So I found it very interesting that this story had religious similarities in prophethood like Noah. Most people support the theory that the reason these stories bear many similarities to what we have in religion is because the story may have some truth in it but the differences lie where people change the story overtime if it's not preserved. So when that guy in the video said I'm surprised it survived in the Middle East. It shouldn't create the idea that when you read Gilgamesh, it makes you a pagan, just the same way that reading the Odyssey doesn't make you a believer in the Greek gods. You can somehow defend your religion or read it like any other story.

"Religulous"

Bill Maher in "Religulous" was rude in some ways, because he did criticize religions. However, when he explained how some religions force or impose their beliefs on others, I agreed with the idea that people should be free to have religious discussions and not feel afraid. Also, he stressed the concept of “doubt” and how it’s okay to have it. And I agree with that, sometimes people argue on matters even with they're wrong just to stay adamant in their claims. What I had a problem with was how he was very a staunch believer in promoting Athiesm, instead of arguing that religions may not have the right answer and they may also not be wrong either. Doubt could work for him too. He should also be able to critique science and how he lives. He should try to see the positives in religion too. He said the absence of religion would solve problems, but what about how religion can solve problems? It was a hasty generalization.

Y-The Last Man

Oh my God, I loved it! I also was on the edge of my seat the entire time hoping to see what would happen. I think why most of us loved it is because it relates to some of the realistic reactions we would actually have. Like, sometimes, in some situations we do curse or use humor to take some pressure off a situation. It also revealed how drastic situations reveal the worst in us. A world without men and chaos still ensues. I loved how the characters were developed and how dynamic they were. I’m so glad that I got to read this comic book.

My Imaginary Bunker

I found it very interesting that the author, Megan Mayhew Bergman, in “My Imaginary Bunker” was someone who regularly tried her best to help the environment, but thought her own “righteousness” felt “useless”. If a vegetarian who would recycle, drive a hybrid, and do other energy-saving techniques thought her own efforts were inadequate, what does that say about the ordinary person who doesn’t? Does that person also feel the “environment apocalypse” as strongly as Bergman? I know I didn’t before reading the article. I only began recycling a couple of years ago when my neighborhood received huge green trash bins where a truck would come every two weeks to collect. However, I never thought that climate change would ever amount to a huge problem even though I knew it existed and affected our lives.  And I guess, like Bergman said, if I thought it was really crucial, then  “someone would approach the President, tug on his sleeve, and whisper in his ear:  It’s time. Roll out the Teslas and solar panels.”  The problem is that when tragedy or something catastrophic happens, people usually would wait for or rely on change from others, thinking that there is already someone out there who will save us. It’s a really strong message to help people reevaluate their current living.

Shock Doctrine

I really enjoyed Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine.” She presented the idea that when countries are “shocked” by natural disasters, wars, terrorism, etc., that they would be shocked again; but instead by corporations who would try to gain economic or political gains from whichever catastrophe. The example of Iraq was really eye-opening where she described the US was trying to “build a model country,” but they were really torturing them and erasing them and trying to profit from them. Also, I thought the example at the end of the text  was very important where a psychologist, Ewen Cameron, tried to erase the minds of his patients who had like anxiety so he can fix them up from a new blank state; and the CIA was using the information for their own benefit. However, both situations didn’t work to help the people. The people in both situations were being tortured to the beniefit of big corporations.

Justice: What's the right thing to do?

In "Justice...", I found the trolley problem and the situation of the soldier with the goat herders to be really interesting. Was killing one or a few better than allowing a larger group of people to die? These two scenarios present moral problems that can be debated, regardless of which side you choose. Also, the situation wherein the soldier decides to let the goat herders go, not knowing that his troop would be surrounded by the Taliban and that a lot of his people would die, was from the movie, "Lone Survivor." I just thought it was interesting because you're presented with an ethical dilemma. Should you kill people who may be innocent because you foresee a bigger problem? Sometimes we are presented with difficult situations and it may be difficult to differentiate from what is right and wrong.

Slavoj Zizek

I was actually surprised to see a lot of similarities between Junot Diaz and Slavoj Zizek. This was not the first time I was introduced to the idea that a catastrophe should be regarded as a revelation. In “Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal,” Diaz interpreted apocalypses as ways to learn something about ourselves and that they reveal important insights about human nature. Also, I want to point out how Zizek illustrates the situation or the veil of ignorance America experiences on a daily basis. Yes, 9/11 was a catastrophe and a horrible event. But the reality that we live in also includes millions of people dying in third world countries or in places we don’t know are occurring because of our own selfish need to live in a fantasy.

Response to "Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal" by Junot Díaz

I really enjoyed Diaz's explanation of an apocalypse and emphasizing that it can be meant as "a disruptive event that provokes revelation." I wanted to interject how relative and amazing that statement is. I really didn't know anything about Haiti until the earthquake. Catastrophes are not just about destruction or ruin, they bring to light a lot of things we forget is happening in the world. They really do "expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities." It helped the world bring a lot of attention to these critical matters that we should have paid attention to from earlier on.