Polly the Dog

During class we started a discussion over the kind of things each of us played with when we were little. Some of the things listed were: Barbies, Bratz, Pokemon, Polly Pockets, and figurines. At the end of class we came to the conclusion that it was more of the girls that played with such unrealistic toys. Although it might have applied to many of the guys in our class, I disagree.

When I was growing up I had a friend, who was a guy, that ALWAYS wanted to play Polly Pockets with me; this differs from the wide known stereotype that only girls play with such toys. I would gladly agree to play and we would begin playing with "once upon a time Polly did this...and then that." Back then and even up to today, I have had to keep my promise to him that I would not tell anyone just because he thought everyone would make fun of him.  That is what I don't understand, why can't an innocent boy play with a toy he thinks is fun? Why is a toy such as a pink elephant associated with a baby girl, why not a blue elephant? Emily Prager used rhetoric through asking herself and her readers the same "what's wrong with this picture?" kind of questions. Jesus did not create the two genders with a specific color or toy picked out for each. I do not think that gender matters when relating how much a boy or a girl played with toys, I think it was just a matter of what they thought was fun.

Breeds

This week I was asked a question I never really put much thought into, is race a socially constructed concept? At first my immediate answer was yes because I have been raised not to discriminate against others. So I thought this conditioning to think of everyone as equal was what caused be to think that we all weren't equal in the first place because why else would I have to be taught that. 

Although then I thought about it, even if society didn't teach me to try and look at everyone in the same way, it would be inevitable to oversee the physical differences we all have. The factors that determine these physical differences are not constructed by society, we do not pick the color of our skin, the color of our hair, the shape of our eyes, etc. This is all genetics. I therefore believe that race itself is not a socially constructed concept but rather the stereotypes that we give each race is what is being socially constructed. As presented in the picture above Art Spiegelman states "was he really a German! Who knows. It was German prisoners also...but for the Germans this guy was Jewish." In this case the way the German is portrayed changes from a mouse to a cat. The way animal looks says nothing about them, its solely the stereotypes that go with each that changes their true view.

Sniffing for Jews

When I first opened "Maus," I didn't think much of it. I saw some pictures and some words that went along with the pictures and I though oh okay this for once might be an easy read. I was wrong. After I read a few pages of the book and further discussed it in class I realized that the use of words and pictures doesn't make it an easier read, in fact it gave it much more depth.

The words individually told a story, the pictures on the other hand told their own story as well, but when put together they told one story that told the story of a thousand others. "Maus" did not illustrate the experience of just one Holocaust survivor, it serves a greater purpose of telling the story of all of the Jews, Poles, Germans, and anyone else that was involved in the Holocaust. Each picture gave a different perspective with a different representation of each person. Wether a mouse, a pig, or a cat, each was depicted in different ways. By allowing for there to be different ways of interpreting each picture and its meaning it shows that although each person involved in the Holocaust had their own experience it all revolved around a few key factors. Art shows a frame of a cat and says,"framed photo of pet cat. Really!" This shows that in previous panels the portrayal of germans as cats was on purpose and served as one of the key factors that gave each panel its meaning. The words that went along with the pictures simply allowed for the reader to apply the individual story of Vladek to what they interpreted from the picture about all of the representatives of the Holocaust.

The Bleeding Dog

In "Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston she symbolizes the true love Fa Mu Lan had for not only herself but for her fellow citizens with the color red. Various times she uses phrases such as "I saw my back covered entirely with words in red and black files, like an army, like my army." Fa Mu Lan looks past the pain she went through while those scratches were being carved into her back and how she had to sacrifice her body for these people she was fighting for. She looks at the red on her back as being the bleeding passion she has for fighting for what she believes in for a better outcome. I believe the black represents her schemes in making the government believe she was a man in order for her to live to be a warrior.

Kingston shows a different view of feminism by using the color red to represent a love different from the one most women think of. When most women think of the word "love" they think of meeting the perfect man who has all the right qualities to support her and their future lives. Although in this chapter she Fa Mu Lan does get married it does not distract her from her true purpose, it empowers her to fight harder.  Kingston represents love as being a passion that leads Fa Mu Lan to do things that takes more guts than any man could have. A different perception of feminism is portrayed in this piece through the use of the color red and its symbolism.

The Dogs on Their Leashes

I was born in Romania, my parents were born and raised in Romania. Despite how beautiful the country is, while my parents were growing up it was under a harsh communist rule. The citizens of the country had little to very few rights. My parents always tell me about the harsh conditions they lived under such as the limited amounts of electricity they got per day, each family only received half a liter of milk per day, depending on your license plate number you were only allowed to drive certain days, and much more following these harsh conditions.

                                                            

Henry David Thoreau wrote about the importance of civil disobedience in "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience." Based on his ideas he thought that men "think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them." In the case of communism the action of one man against the government would most likely get him killed, so of course they need a larger force in order to conquer the government. The majority of Romanian citizens and citizens of other communist countries all were against the government but for a long time they did not have the power or opportunity to oppose the government. I think that it is not so much that men feel the need to wait for others to take action, I think it is more that men need to have time to confide in their fellow citizens. I also think that if a revolution took place at the wrong time it would not work out in the favor of the brave citizens.