Saboter

Saboteur
Ha Jin
"Comrade policemen, your duty is to keep order, but you purposely tortured us common citizens. Why violate the law you are supposed to enforce?

Thus quote, along with the rest of the story made me think of the American judicial system and the other freedoms we have. I know this story is set in China so their rules are different but it made me think about all of the things we take for granted. The biggest one being Freedom of Speech. While we are taught not to talk back to adults, especially those who are of a higher status than ourselves, we are allowed to raise our own opinions and ask questions. It is called freedom of speech and we take in for granted.

Before I start, I would like to clarify that I am not a communist, and am not anti-american in any way, but I wold like to argue a different perspective than I would usually take. I don't know that I believe all of what I am about to say, but I certainly think it would be interesting to entertain these ideas.

When I read this story, initially I was appalled by how their justice system worked. I thought ti was terrible, until I started thinking. What exactly was so bad? Is it possible I was just shocked because it is different than how we do things here? Maybe its a good thing that its different. We are certainly not perfect. In this story, nothing horrible was done to Mr. Chiu. He was arrested for talking back to a police officer. Now, he wouldn't have been arrested for something like that here, however that is the law where he lives. He, as a professor especially should know that is the law. You don't have to agree with every law, but you should certainly abide by them. He should know that he cannot talk back to a police officer. Then, he was put in jail and was told that he couldn't leave until he apologized. Is that such a horrible punishment? Yes he was stuck in jail when he thought his hepatitis was acting up, but all he had to do was apologize and he would have been set free. I think it was his own stubbornness that was the real problem here.

No obviously, this system is not perfect. What they did to the man who cam to rescue Mr. Chiu was horrible and should not be allowed. Also, in a perfect world Mr. Chiu should not have been arrested for asking a question. Their system is not perfect, but neither is ours. People talk about how amazing America is because of our freedoms, but once you get passed the freedom (something a lot of countries now have) we still have a lot of flaws in out system.

This debate is discussed a lot thorough out the HBO show The Newsroom. (My favorite Show) IN this clip a TV News Anchor is asked What makes America the greatest country in the world. People in the show get very mad at him for his answer here. He tells people America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. He lists all of the reasons why it isn'. However, then he makes what he later calls, "A Rising Call to Actin, " in which he talks about how America used to be the greatest country in the world and how if we can get back to these things, we could be the greatest once again. A lot of what he says in this clip directly applies to Mr. Chiu's experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBIMb5ZAY3g

In another scene in the same show, a reporter goes to cover an Occupy Wall street protest where people are being arrested for no reason. Even though the reporter identifies himself as  reporter, he is still arrested for the same thing Mr. Chiu is arrested for. WHen the head anchor goes to bail his reporter out of jail he discusses the judicial system in different parts of the world and how every system has a flaw, but that we should start by fixing ours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlInwQ9aFn4

Brokeback Mountain

Bokeback Mountain
Annie Proulx

"There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand."

This quote from Brokeback Mountain talks a lot about the characters struggle between knowledge and feelings. I think it is important to see how this quote relates to a couple of the stories we have read this far.

Immediately when I read this quote, I thought about Everything that Rises much Converge and hoe Julain was in a similar conundrum. He too was fighting with himself on how to hand people of other races. He doesn't know if he should handle things the way he grow up, the way his mother taught him, or what he was taught in school.

It also made me think about the Voorman Problem. The lawyer struggled between the space of what he knew and what he thought be believed. There was no way that Voorman was gd. Intellectually, he knew that. However once Belgium disappeared, he had to battle between what he thought he knew and what he was feeling.

Everything That Rises Must Converge

Everything That Rises Must Converge
Flannery O'Conner

"What she meant when she said she had won was that she had brought him up successfully and had sent him to college and that he had turned out so well—good looking (her teeth had gone unfilled so that his could be straightened), intelligent (he realized he was too intelligent to be a success), and with a future ahead of him (there was of course no future ahead of him). "

I love this quote because it says a lot about Julian's mother. While she is quite racist and is not the perfect, she really does try her best. Julian is less racist than his mother, and seems more okay with the new integration, but his moral compass doesn't exactly point due north. He is "okay," with the idea of sitting next to a black person on a bus, not because he sees the black man as his equal, but because he wants to prove to his mother and the other people around him that he has black friends. So while technically he is more accepting towards the people on the bus, it is not for the right reason.

His mother, on the other side, isn't the most accepting, but tries very hard to be the best person she can be. She does not believe she is hurting anyone around her. She tries really hard to be sweet to everyone. It is probably generational. She grew up segregated and doesn't know how to live somewhere that is integrated. Other than her ignorance of race, she is a very good mother and member of society. She gave up everything to encourage her son to follow his dreams and tries to make conversation with everyone on the bus.

The Voorman Problem

The Voorman Problem

"May I ask how long you have believed yourself a g-d?
I am ask you the same question.
I don't believe myself to be a g-d.
You believe yourself to be a psychiatrist.
Yes. Since I began practicing my profession."

I liked this exchange a lot because implies that the truths are what you believe to be true. One man believes he is a psychiatrist the other, g-d. While to us, it seams more likely that one would be a psychiatrist than a g-d, if you believe something hard enough it becomes true. Its a self fulfilling prophecy.

Form a psychological point of view a self fulfilling prophecy is "a prediction that causes itself to come true due to the simple fact that the prediction was made. This happens because our beliefs influence our actions."

Read more: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Self%20Fulfilling%20Prophecy#ixzz3GL0UQ6Jx

It is clear here that both men act a certain way because they have predicted their professional labels. Dr. William goes into evaluate a prisoner because he believes he is a psychiatrist was as asked to do so. Mr. Voorman is playing a game with a human because he believes thats what g-d would do and he is g-d. 

Both men entertain the other's beliefs which completes the prophecy, 

It Pours

"It Pours"
Tim Parrish

"Why you think your daddy does his car like that?" I asked. "You know, starting it and all at the same time?" "I don't know. Ask him." Donny spat again arching a white glad into the swirling water where it circled and went down. "Didn't he start after Tootsie got busted?" I asked. "Maybe. Why's your old man keep shoveling the drain?"

I chose this passage because in the beginning of the story a lot of detail about the two families were given. It seamed like the two were more similar that they realized. Both families have two sons far a part in age. For one reason or another, both families' older sons were out of the house. Both fathers had a strange habit; one starting and stopping a car and the other shoveling a drain. It seems to me that both fathers continued with their habit because they were worried about their son that wasn't home. Tootsie's father started working on the car when he left and Bob's father goes outside when the news is on because the news reminds him of his son.

This quote made me realize that while I can see the similarities, the two families could not. Both families thought the other family was odd. In this quote the two young boys ask each other why their father does what they do.

I thought this was funny because they say you never really know what someone is going through until you've walked a mile in their shoes. In this case, however, both people are wearing the same shoes and don't realize it. I know that Bob left the house for an honorable reason, but both father's still care about their sons and worry about their safety when they are not home.

August 2026:There Will Come Soft Rains

"August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rain"

Ray Bradbury

"The house tried to save itself. Doors sprang tightly shut, but the windows were broken by the heat and the wind blew and sucked upon the fire."

I know a lot of people read this and want to talk about the technology behind the story. It is very cool to think about a house that can fully sustain a family. When I pictured the house I pictured the house form the kids show Rolie Polie Ollie. The house in this show was alive and helped the family a lot, not quite tot extent of the house in the story, but nonetheless the house was a caretaker. 

Here is a picture of the family in front of their living house. 

The technology in this story is certainly incredible, but I want to focus on the emotional aspect. I chose this quote because it honestly made me sad. The house was always there for the family, for whatever they needed. The house was there to help with every day tasks like wake up calls and bathing, and also for added things to just make the family happy, like a poetry reading. The house was always there, giving everything of itself, and the family was not there for the house the one time it needed someone to help it. 

This aspect reminded me of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The tree gave all she could to the little boy (her shade, her apples, her leaves, her branches, her truck) until she was nothing but a stump all so that the little boy would be happy. When the tree was not happy, the boy was never there. He was off using all the tree had given him. The same thing happened to the house