Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness started off pretty strong, the use of description was really great but I think at parts it just took away from the story. I feel like it was good but after a while I was just like "Dude, get on with the story!"

I thought it was very interesting how Fresleven was killed in a "scuffle" over hens, and then he was left to die because the people were so superstitious that they had to move on. That is a very weird custom to me, I wonder why they didn't just move his body to a forest or bury it? Did they not believe he deserved a burial?

I'm sure that the uneasiness felt by Marlow and his company did not change much after the laborers dance to the grass shed which held goods burning down. But at the same time, I wouldn't blame them, with the mistreatment they have seen, I would have done the same. But it was unfair to just accuse one of the natives and beat him, when it could have well be anybody or even maybe it was the weather that caused it.

I was really intrigued by the mystery of Mr. Kurtz, who throughout the book is not present but mentioned a lot. It made me wonder what was truly going on with him.But I do not trust the brickmaker when he told Marlow that he was "a favorite of the administration." In my eyes, Marlow hasn't done enough at this point to make an impact at all. I felt like there may have been a conspiracy going on at this point. But I don't know, Until the brickmaker reveals his promotion that was taken away and then he threatens Marlow. Is that what happened to Kurtz?


Through most of the description Kurtz sounds like a jerk. It seems his morals may be in tact but he is a man who is very authority-driven in his way.

The mysteries keep coming as the Eldorado Expedition disappears into the wilderness, and I wonder what kind of conspiracy lies within this group of men....

In their shoes

Whenever I read a story all I can do is try to put myself in the shoes of those people, especially in the face of tragedy. And my feelings just left me distraught as I tried to put myself in the shoes of the victims of the Congo. I don't know how I could choose life or death?

How could I choose my life as I'm forced under the chicotte to put my neighbor, my best friend or even my family member to death? How would be able to watch my father, who is my best friend be beaten in front of my face and be able to walk away?
Could I choose life, or would I just step away and denounce everything to end it all?

Could I be able to fight even if I only got one step forward in the fight for freedom, or would I stay still under the gun?

If I had a choice to play a role, I'd take on George Washington Williams and write for the victims, help to fight. I know my role as a woman would not put me in a great place but maybe I could write under an alias of a man and travel the African Congo and try to alert the world of brutality that face children being killed, the hands of victims being cut off, men worked near death and woman treated as sexual slaves.

AS victims are forced to work as military, and people are treated as disposables, I would what role I would play as the victim, or if at all....
... living in that time, would I know it was even going on at all???

King Leopold's Ghost

I know this is weird and theres so much going on, but after the reading on King Leopold's Ghost, I have to laugh and scratch my head all at the same time.

My sights fall back to the Epilogue and Introduction
I find it comical all the listings of the things that Europeans thought of when they thought of AFrica, all the wild ideas they had about one-eyed people, heads of lions, etc, etc. It brings me back to my childhood when I had a friend from the middle east who told me that when she died, she would go to a place where she would stay the same age and her face would be on the top of her head. It's a culture shock really, and that's the definition to a point.

I wonder where these ideas came from, if people had actually saw them or made their own ideas. Were they rumors a basis to justify why they should colonize these people? Or were they just because people were truly scared. I wonder if back then the powers from Africa seemed more than the almighty Europe. I wonder how the world would have been had Europe not had their guns, would the fight have turned around and would the strength of Africa be unbearable. It's sad to think that they had more people but lost an unfair fight.

And this may be my minimal background and education on Africa (hence, why I take this class) but my mind is boggled that slavery in fact, did exist in Africa and how easy it was. Not that it was a gracious attempt but slaves were able to earn back freedom and be able to marry outside.

I didn't know slaves existed in Africa, but I suppose in every culture, there was the lower class that carried the burden of hard-labour. (With the way our economy is today, you just might say those working for minimum wage might as well be slaves.)

There way of classification fascinated me. These people had a very interesting system, and there was a lot of imagery associated with Congo. And it was amazing that people were trying to colonize the country, and yet, still taken back so much that they just stood back for a while watching these people.

IT makes me think the Europeans weren't so organized. =]

General Horatio Kitchener

In 1898, General Horatio Kitchener brought an army of 8,200 British troops, 17,600 Sudanese and Egyptians up the Nile river to capture a city in Sudan called Omdurman. This battle was an attempt to re-conquer Sudan.


It was said to be on of the largest battles in African history with 90,000 men in a battle line that stretched for more than three miles.

The battle was a drown out process as British powers realized the potential of power that existed in the Sudan nation after it had defeated four British armies and capturing over 20,000 of their weapons. After an unsuccessful attempt of trying to evacuate Sudan, a decision was made.
Kitchener had his forces around the village Egeiga, near the bank of the Nile were gunboats waited. The Dervishes, who were protecting Omdurman, considered to be around 50,000 including 3,000 cavalry split into five groups surrounding the British troops.

The battle began very early in the day as the Dervish were first to charge and the British artillery opened fire reducing the Dervish forces quickly, with about 4,000 casualties and barely advancing near the British.

Kitchener decided to advance into Omdurman before any more Dervish could come so they began to move forward. One cavalry was sent and surprisingly attacked by more men than they had thought to be on the other side.

Kitchener then led his men up the Surgham ridge and southwards, to protect the back, 3,000 men who consisted mainly of Sudanse, commanded by Hector MacDonald. MacDonal was told of the 15,000 Dervish troops coming from the west and he readied his men for an attack.
The troops came in two prongs and after this, Kitchener began to throw many of his men into the battle. This had diminished the Dervish side quite a bit.

Hector MacDonald

Around 10,000 protecting Omdurman were killed, 13,000 wounded and 5,000 imprisoned. Kitchener lost 48, 382 wounded, several days after the Kitchener left and was later ennobled for his victory.

Winston Churchill was also present at the battle and published a piece called “The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan.”

Winston Churchill



Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Omdurman
pw1.netcom.com/~reincke/omdurman.html - Cached
www.afro-vision.com/Omdurman

Eye opening

This picture struck me very well. As someone who truly enjoys photography, the black and white photo not only depicts a true art in its form but really represents this era as the story stands. Although I know the gap between us and Africa keeps us quite ahead, I know this story was placed long ago because it describes the "Coming of the white man" so this sets a general time in history for me.



I can sense the background the sets a story that I became so wrapped in and involved in. The village that I see here completely that just separates my life. IT sets me aside to see a place where others life their lives looking at it as normal and I'm wondering "NO ELECTRICITY?"

IT really opens my eyes.

And the little boy (who is very quite skinny) is sitting by himself and I see the youth that represents this boy and I wonder all the things that he lacked that I had and all the opportunities set before me now that he'll never get to experience.

I wonder what his education will be like and where his worries set next to mine.

I'm worrying about getting a job out of college and social security and health care.

I'm sure he'll never see a hospital... he'll find no need for social security, and may have to work all his life.... I wonder if he even knows college exists, or 13 year education.


It makes me really set beside myself, and as I keep feeling like I'm getting screwed by someone, I understand that there are people who don't have a quarter as much as I do.

Maybe for a day, I'll complain less.......

Things Fall Apart

I was shocked to find myself drawn away from the main character at first when I read the story. Okonkwo was presented as such a hero that I thought might carry myself with him in his journey and find myself enlighted by him. He was introduced as this great man, but as the story furthered him, I found my subjective inner being saying, "I really don't think so."

I myself have a great temper but I was more appalled at the character's behaviors to choose the actions he did. I'm sure that as my place in society as a woman, my biggest conflict with him was the fact that he beat his wives and his children. And I'm sure it should bother me as well that he had multiple wives but reading this story, I was prepared to understand that this may be related to a different time and not even that, but a different culture. I felt that this was a culture that was not my own and their reasons for setting up their own lives in their various manners would not be as comprehensive to me. Which is probably why the caged feminist inside of me that finds various insults from masculinity in society wasn't so beside herself because I had kept her aware of the differences in our perspectives (that is I, and the characters in the book).

I was very intrigued by the cultural abundance in this piece. There were so many customs unknown to me, and I really enjoyed this insight to this culture. Like the various stories about how things were this way and that, (for Example the mosquito and the ear).... it was very interesting to me how some cultures viewed the world around them with explanations that were not so scientific and yet made as perfect sense.

Another factor in this was that this culture viewed sick children as evil spirits. In our society, if you have a sick child, it is your life's duty to nurse it to health and baby it. But in their society, a sick child could only mean that you have birthed an evil spirit and not a child. I am so glad that I grew up in a house where I was fed chicken noodle soup and given sprite, instead of dragged in to a forest to die for my poor health. This makes me wonder just in fact, how many children were able to keep their lives, as my knowledge stands that children can easily get sick and if you place sick children together, the chances of a healthy one are minimal.

So, I'd have to say overall, this story brought me to a different light with its various themes that rounded about a civilization that my knowledge stands at the bare minimum. I could say my first exploration was a great and enjoyable success!

No photos, no paper... just song & dance

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=African+song+and+dance&n=21&ei=utf-8&js=1&fr=yfp-t-501&tnr=20&vid=000164692337

African Oral Tradition or "Orature" as it is called is a fascinating realm of African culture. Better known as the folktales of African culture, it is was a form of expression during times of oppression and times of joy. Orature became a way for Africans to pass on their heritage to each other, back when slave owners would try to suppress their heritage. It became not only recreation, but necessity to keep their entities so that they would never be lost.



Even more fascinating was that even in the darkest times that became a part of African history, these traditions kept a drive and willigness to survive for people. Forced into slavery and only the madness that could drive within a person, one could only imagine what most went through during these times. The one thing they held on to was the culture and the willigness of song and dance that created a spritualness and became an expression of the paths in which they traveled. Even though forms of expression that was came from African culture was forbidden, folk tales survived through the dark.



Oratures even became a way for different African cultures to tell stories of how the world began. The different aspects and views that sprouted from the cultures helped the storytellers pass on to their listeners the creation of earth. It also helped elders pass on their morals and traditions to younger beings, which could be again taught to others when they grew up.



Oratures developed with so much emotion and bursted with the excitement because back when Africans lacked the physical means or even the education to pass these stories, this what they had. Song, dance, gestures and acting in a way to convey the spirit of what was their past, present and future. It became an intense trip of knowing that if these stories were not passed, they would be lost forever. Hard to imagine that our past could be erased because our ability pass it on was limited. But for the African cultures the lived during the period before colonialism, it was a heartbreaking reality.



For more information:http://www.gwu.edu/~e73afram/ag-am-mp.html
http://www.helium.com/items/1104390-an-analysis-of-oral-tradition-in-african-music

Topic on how importance of drums and the relation to African orature:http://home.acceleration.net/clark/papervu/Rossiter.htm

For more pictures check: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ghana_song_and_dance.htm

This is me.

My name is Ashley Jane Wioskowski. I am a sophomore here at Western Michigan University majoring in journalism with a minor in writing emphasis (basically creative writing but the lady at the advisor's office wouldn't let me say it unless I was a major) and I also have a minor in Imaging

I am a writer first and foremost.


I am a firefighter (4 years) (currently on seasonal leave)..My father is the chief (he's been on for 15 years)..



I work for the Western Herald (so pick one up!!!)
I am a reporter and a copy editor (currently the youngest editor on the Herald... and it's quite exciting and intimidating at times.


Other things about me:
I've wanted to publish a book since second grade (sounds kind of weird, but I've never surfed the wave of normal I suppose).
I want to go to London next summer to study literature.
I don't know exactly what I want to do with my writing but I want to able to write for someone someday. That is all I've ever wanted.
I'd like to get a degree in photography and become my own one woman show. This could open the realms to travel the world writing/taking picture for my own articles.


But the future is FULL of possibilities.