Human Nature is Evil, Love is our only Nuture

                The Shawl is a sub story in Cynthia Ozick’s novella. The story named The Shawl is the story of a single mother and her two young daughters. One named Stella who was 14 years old and jealous of her younger sister Magda who was only a few months old. The Shawl only happened to be a very brief seven page story about the short life of Magda.

                Magda from the little information in which we gathered about her life was a very unique child; because she never cried. Rose the mother and her children were in a Jewish war camp. There were very few details in the story but as a reader we were able to pick up the details on the Star of David that was sworn into their jackets and that they were imprisoned in cold barracks at a camp. Magda was forced to be hidden from the guards because if such a small child was found it would be instantly murdered. So in order to conceal Magda, Rose held her in her arms at all times under a shawl. In which Magda was able to keep warmness and suck on the shawl to keep quiet. It’s hard to hear that the family could conceal something like an infant child at the camp for as long as they had.

                There is always a debate on how a child grows up, is it nature that teaches the child or is it nurture. “Sometimes she laughed- it seemed a laugh, but how could it be? Magda had never seen anyone laugh. But still Magda laughed at her shawl when the wind blew its corners.” (Page 6) Magda was able to be hidden in the shawl for only a short time until the guards found her. They picked Magda up right in front of Rose and they threw little Magda into the electric fence. Rose and Stella were already becoming ghosts from the pain and mistreatment they received in the camps. Now Rose became even more of a ghost because she saw the murder of her young child she fought so hard to keep alive.

Can't Go Back

                The ordeal that this family had to ensue in the story When the Emperor was Divine, is something that I hope our country doesn’t inflict on another one of its citizens for the rest of our history. Since I didn’t live in the time surrounding Pearl Harbor, I can’t really begin to understand the fear that American citizens faced with their everyday lives. But I couldn’t imagine myself even for a split second thinking that every person of Japanese decent could be the ones directly responsible for the major attack. The family in the novel had to deal with the fact that their husband and father was one of the many Japanese men actually imprisoned because of the belief that he was directly connected to Pearl Harbor. And throughout the story are the family’s attempts at having the deal with the aftermath.

                The father was taken just months before the rest of the family was moved out to Utah. Sometimes the greatest way to get one’s mind off a great tragedy is through hope. And the only thing that this family had anything to be hopeful for is that one day they would see their beloved father and husband again. Throughout the families 4 year ordeal at the camps in Utah, the idea of their father was the only thing that held them together. And while it was a constant reminder that the rest of the family knew that their lives were forever changed after the camps they really didn’t take the time to consider that their father could never go back to being the man he was before his own personal ordeal. The travesties of thinking that imprisoning the entire Japanese population would save our nation are horrible enough. But invoking such fear in others is so much worse.

                Invoking massive fears in exactly what happened to the father in this story. When he was finally released even months after his family, he wasn’t even a resemblance of his old self. He lost the personality that the rest of his family craved. He lost his faith in people and the country in which he was so proud of. He couldn’t sleep through horrible reoccurring nightmares. And eventually he couldn’t even leave the house. “He’d get dressed and put on his coat but he could not make himself walk out the front door.” (Page 137) For I think the greatest sadness is that both the father and the rest of the family yearned to all be united again. But it could never be that way again. For in times of great tragedies there’s no hope for just going back to normal life.

Trying to Understand Emotionless Pieces

As I continue to read When The Emperor Was Divine, I continue to question various events wondering what exactly is there significance. So far the author has yet to even state the characters names, but she has also omitted out some other important details. Yet that’s why we continue to read a book, to see if all of our questions are answered.

                The author has a very quick to the point type of writing style. In which there may not be many interjections of emotions but there are various events that make the readers figure out how the characters must be feeling. The family has no idea to where there final destination is, but there isn’t an over whelming sense of worry on their parts. Even when you attempt to compare the Japanese being relocated verse the Jews being relocated the entire mind frame is different, and the two incidents aren’t even many years apart. The family isn’t worried about being separated; they’re not worried about a brick smashing through the window. Other then the mother’s worrisome face, no one even aboard the train is worried for their future.

                But yet what puzzles me is that the author went on a rant about how the girl had heard water in hear dream. And when she awoke they had already traveled past Utah’s Salt Lake. “When she woke she did not remember the sound of the rippling water but it was with her, without her knowing. The sound of the lake was inside of her.” (Page 46) This description goes completely over my head. For I can’t understand what the relevance of the passing the Salt Lake and her dream of water had to do with any events of the story. I continue to read to hopefully piece this description with other important events.  

May the pets not be reclassified too

           Our country has a sordid past. There are many incidents throughout our countries history, in which government officials especially wish could just never be spoken of again. During World War II one of our governments greats tragedies accorded to our citizens of Japanese ancestry. Thousands of Japanese United States citizens were forced from their homes in which to be displaced throughout the west. This was done in “fear” that these Japanese citizens were spies in which they were going to report back to the Japanese government all the secrets that the USA possessed. Such raciest acts of ignorance are shameful on our countries behalf. Not to mention that this is almost dubbed as a recent event. It hurts and sickens me that this ever happened and I’m glad to hear that this book is capturing what the USA has tried to bury for the last 69 years.

            Though there may not be names used to describe the characters in the book, their actions are used to form their character. In the first chapter the only character that is focused on is the mother. She has an 11 year old daughter, a 7 year old son and her husband is detained in jail. She is forced to pack up her family and have them be ready to be moved to an unknown location in a matter of a week. As readers we don’t hear about her emotions we know only of the actions in which she takes.

            The measures in which she takes while packing up her family are quite thought out and aggressive. She packs up the entire houses’ possessions and locks them in a sunroom, in fear that she has no idea who will enter her home. The mother then goes on to kill the family’s dog and let the family’s bird free. “White Dog’s body shuddered twice and his hind legs kicked out into the air, as though he were trying to run. Then he grew still. A trickle of blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth. She untied him from the tree and let out a deep breath.” (Page 11) Now the mother didn’t do this because she was violent or wanted to murder the dog. The mother had got rid of the pets because after her family had to move away, no one would take care of or feed the pets. Forcing them to die long painful deaths. Not to mention having the pets gone, her young children could not beg to take them with them. I’m sure it was a hard decision on the mother’s part, but in the long run it was sadly the right one.

Precious Couldn't Do it Alone

Precious had ambition, she had the power and desire to learn. But she would have never been able to make the great progress she did without the people that newly came into her life. One can only get so far in life having to do everything for themselves. It's the people that we meet throughout our lifetime that inspire us and help us to meet our goals. For without the assistance from loved ones, I don't think anyone can really live up to their full potential.

      Starting to live up to her full potential is exactly what Precious was achieving towards the end of the story. She went from not even being able to recognize numbers to the point that she was about to obtain her GED. And her great learning strides is to be accredited to Ms Rain. For Precious soon after being in the class found Ms Rain to be almost the role model in her life that she never had. It's for teachers like Ms Rain who inspire struggling students that we have inspirational stories like Push to be able to awe at their glory. Precious's first great accomplishment was getting herself into Each One Teach One a program in which I would say saved her life. Ms Rain also had a great part in saving her life because without Ms Rain after her mama kicked her out, Precious and baby Abdul would have been starving and homeless.
       The girls in the class; were the first friends that Precious really ever had. And the author tried to make sure that as a reader we understood that their story was almost as important as Precious'. Great travesties in our government systems don't just happen to one person like Precious. They happen to thousands but for the most part as citizens it's not always directly apparent that such horrors are happening. That is the reason why I think the other girls in class writing stories were posted in the back of the book. So that our final thoughts as a reader was that heartbreaking stories like Precious, isn't a rarity. But insufficient aid happens to thousands of people everyday.

Harm to Hate Who you are.

            Why would a young woman of Harlem hate her color? The main character Precious feels as though the reason why all of these horrible events that have happened to her are in result of the color of her skin. But why would she think this?

            Precious doesn’t idolize white people but she hates that she is African American. She feels as though if she was white or “butter colored” as she calls it, that she would have a different life completely. Precious feels as though if she was even a heavy white woman that she would have found a man to love her. But I can’t get past the idea why she hates her skin color so much. She has only grown up around African Americans, she praises Farrakhan who is black religious leader and is living in Harlem, New York in which African American’s are the main population of the city. But for what reason would such hatred of her own race be created or inspired? It wasn’t until her first few meetings with local support groups did she learn that problems of rape and incest are in other races as well. I think that was really the first big stepping stone in which she realized that her horrible childhood wasn’t the result of her being black.

            I get such a strong visual image of Precious when I read this book, especially since I haven’t seen the movie. Though it’s apparent that she is overweight she now carries herself proud. New newfound ambition and determination has given her something to live for, something to be prideful of. She said it herself she understands that she is young but she has learned things about horrible topics that are making her an old soul. “I don’t know what “realism” mean but I do know what REALITY is and it’s a mutherfu____, lemme tell you.” (Page 83)Precious is learning, she is becoming educated and though she may not match up with her age groups educational level she has made such a vast improvement.  One doesn’t have to know the definitions to all the words in the English language if they are able to use street smarts to put the pieces together.

First Horrors

       In a country in which we are suppose to protect all of our citizens, it sickens me that some unfortunate souls sneak through the cracks. But in Miss Precious's case, there was no sneaking but complete avoid meant. Push is a story of a young 16 year old who is currently impregnated with her second child, both of which her father is the child's father. Her story is brutal, the emotional pain as a reader you feel is undeniable. But never the less, painful stories like these are out there. Where in the only thought that crosses one's mind is that no person deserves to live a life in which they are beaten and raped by their own parents.
      Precious wants to learn, wants to be like the other kids. But is illiterate and her first child has down syndrome. Reality for Precious is quite grim but never the less she tries her best to fight through it. The style of writing in which the story is produced is through the writing of Precious herself. Since she is illiterate she is truly unable to spell, let alone build a proper sentence so the entire context of the writing is at first glance a little hard to read. But then you are drawn into the story. You realize when she says muther she means her horrible excuse for a MOTHER. And you begin to pick up on things like ax means ask. Then the story is a quick read.
      She may be illiterate but Precious is doing the best she can to cope with such a disability. She learns to find her own way. "I'm in the kitchen for two hours, I know that, even though I dont tell time so good, cause man on the radio say four o'clock, tell some news, play music, and by the time I'm fixing Mama's plate man says six o'clock." (Page 19) Being illiterate is one of the greatest disabilities that one can have in times such as our modern day. Not to mention Precious was facing this in the 1970's when there wasn't much support to fix such a problem. But Precious has the strongest gift of all, the desire to learn and for that I hope it leads her into a better end for this story.