Blinded by the Flag

Many people think of patriotism and God as higher ideals with no flaws, they are considered sacred. To question, or show the downsides or defects of such sacred ideals is controversial. The War Prayer by the great and inspirational Mark Twain touches upon these sensitive topics and questions these in a forceful, violent way. It has led to a debate, should it or should it not be banned from middle school book shelves. The short story is about the Philippine-American War (1899–1902), and takes place in a church as the local townsfolk say a prayer for victory on the nation's behalf. During the prayer, the priest is interrupted by an old cloaked man, who claims to be a messenger from "God" himself. "Is it one prayer?" the stranger asks, "No, it is two", he answers, meaning there is more to what they are praying for than meets the eye. This prayer is a double sided sword, in praying for their own victory they are also praying for the destruction of the other side. This amazingly written short by Twain should not be banned from Middle school shelves. The story sheds light on the negative side of our driving force for pride in our country, and the satisfaction of experiencing victory. Young adult need to be exposed to all sides of an argument.

What is mostly at debate in this parable is patriotism. Pride for your country, in this case America, is great, but too much can blind us to certain realities and humanity. During a time of war, we are all so confident and energetic and full of pride that we don't take a moment to step back and see what is really going on. War kills civilization and innocent people, on both sides of the conflict. Twain makes the case: "When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory." This includes gruesome murders, savage injuries, rapes, and many more horribly unmentionable acts. While soldiers are shipped to the front lines and other stations, family and friends back home pray for them, not realizing the damage their praying can cause. They wish for victory, but without meaning to do so they wish upon destruction of life, of civilization, of friendship and innocence. Patriotism leads them to have this blind insatiable need for victory.

In addition to this controversial warning about too much patriotism, The War Prayer also brings to question the stature of God. When the old cloaked man disrupts the prayer and says, "O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded writhing in pain…” , the old man is brutally graphic, and honest about what they are praying to their God for. He continues and is relentless in showing the horribly bloody cost of war and their prayers, “...help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire, turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst...” He speaks continuously, strenuously making his point, in an attempt to open the eyes and minds of the locals. One should be skeptical of a God with a point of view so biased he would murder hundreds, and thousands of people for the sake of one side’s survival over the other’s. This is a very deep and profound concept, produced by Mr.Twain. It is a manner of thinking that should not be censored to anyone, it may even bring peace to this generation if we are willing to question our so called sacred ways of living.

Some may say that The War Prayer is a short story full of nonsense and backward thinking ideas. One of the local worshipping patriots in the church says: "It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said." During the time of Mark Twain's authoring of this story, his family and friends begged him to not publish it, for fear of bad publicity as well as their safety. Multiple publishers that he visited refused to publish it for fear that it would taint his career. Twain caved in and decided to have it published after his death. He said his wisest words: "None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth." I disagree with the mentality disapproving of his ideals during times of war. People need to understand that there's more to praying for their nation’s victory than meets the eye. War tears apart limbs, lives and love. Most people could not accept Mark Twain and what he wrote in this short at the time. Back then, the United States was not as diverse. We were a nation that believed, for the most part, there was only one God and he was a white Christian man. However, there is more to this world than us and our self-pride, there are billions of more people in world with their own beliefs and ideals. It is time to respect and understand them. It is time to be tolerant of others. Allow children to read this material, allow them to question, and don’t censor it.

This short story’s old cloaked man comes to us with a message, he warns us to keep an open mind, and not be so consumed by patriotic passions. To be careful for what we pray for. Most importantly, Twain helps us understand the results of our actions, and what the other side experiences as a result. If we listen to the message, it can help us accept the other side for who they are. Why would such a book be banned, it is about peacefulness, saving the lives of others through tolerance, thus eliminating bloodshed. It is simply written beautifully. It is amazing that anyone would consider this book controversial, it is about peace. No one will be worse off by reading it. To ban this book would be unpatriotic, to censor it and ignore freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be wrong. The War Prayer teaches an important lesson.


Bibliography

Drum, Kevin. "The Washington Monthly." The Washington Monthly. The Washington Monthly, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

Twain, Mark, and John Groth. The War Prayer. New York: Published in Association with Harper & Row, 1968. Print.

The Umbrella Revolution

Since the beginning of fall, the streets of Hong Kong have been bustling with student protesters fighting for the right to have a democratic government. Led by a skinny 18 year old with black glasses,  Joshua Wong has "whipped up crowds with fiery speeches" into action against the current communist ruling party. The protests began in September when Mr. Wong rounded up two hundred Hong Kong students and blocked the entrance to a government building, unhappy with the lack of a democratic process promised to the people of Hong Kong. Police countered with force, blinding people with tear gas and pepper spray, and arresting Mr. Wong and his fellow rebels. This had the opposite affect it intended to have. Word spread on social media and thousands more joined the movement. Since then, many have been beaten ruthlessly by police officials, as well as the Chinese Mafia working for the government.  "To shield themselves from the pepper spray, they've use umbrellas, which have given  the movement a symbol and a name: The Umbrella Revolution."

To understand the Umbrella Revolution, it helps to understand Hong Kong's history. In 1842, China lost Hong Kong to Great Britain in the First Opium War. The small colony eventually experienced democracy for the first time under British rule. However, in 1997, due to the Treaty of Nanking, the British government handed Hong Kong back to communist China, depriving them of democracy, and other rights. The "One Country Two Systems" treaty signed in 1984 was a promise that Hong Kong for the next fifty years would have freedom of speech and other basic rights that the mainland does not have. Still this worried many Hong Kong citizens. They knew they would be deprived of their rights. And they were, the Umbrella Revolution is the fight for what was theirs and should be today.

History repeats itself. In 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests ended in gruesome cold blood. Police officials were unsuccessful in breaking up a peaceful protest, the government brought in the Army and murdered, arrested, or disposed of hundreds possibly thousands of innocent citizens. One of which was 'Tank Man', an unidentified person that stood his ground in front of a convoy of tanks issued to destroy those that protested. Amazingly, China's inter web bans this sort of information that may make them look bad in their need to protect their communist power. This filter and censorship of these facts have been effective, barely anyone in the mainland knows about Tiananmen Square, and Tank Man and what happened that horrible day. This lack of freedom to know a people's own history is not acceptable, and Joshua Wong and his raging followers are fighting to end secrecy and earn democratic freedom for Hong Kong.

Nobody knows what will happen in the near future to Hong Kong, these courageous protesting students, China, or even my mother's home country, Taiwan. China claims Taiwan is theirs, however, Taiwan has their own president, language, culture, currency, democracy and has never been under communist rule. Based off what they are seeing in Hong Kong, Taiwan is getting nervous as well. As China gains power, and cracks down on human rights, brave people of Hong Kong and their Umbrella Revolution must stand up and fight for their freedom.

The Museum of the City of New York

During last week's class trip to the Museum of the City of New York, class 811 visited the Activism Exhibit. We learned about the history of activism in New York City, as well as many ways to act against a cause. There were many examples of people standing against authority or the wrong doings of others. Some were fairly new protests with recent impacts on the city, and others old. I myself, learned many new facts, some on topics that I had prior knowledge of,  and some topics that were totally new to me. I found the exhibit interesting and intriguing.

What I found to be the most interesting was how protests first started four-hundred years ago when New York was New Amsterdam. As a Dutch Colony,  only Christianity was allowed to be practiced in public. People, such as the Quakers, were not allowed to openly express their religion. The city's citizens didn't agree with Peter Stuyvesant and the government and this regulation. Why was the government treating respectful law abiding people who were not hurting anyone so disrespectfully?  As a result of this mistreatment, thirty one non-Quaker citizens signed a petition arguing and questioning the law and  its effects. Through this, the first protesting activists in New York arose. A more recent intriguing fact I learned of was the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969. Being gay was not allowed and homosexuals were discriminated against and were labeled as wusses for never having the guts to fight back against the bigoted society. For years, even being in the Stonewall Bar (a gay bar) was punishable by jail time. However, on this night, June 28, 1969, they did fight back. They were joined in this battle with many other activist groups such as the Black Panthers who had their own battles against police brutality just  as the  gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transvestite community did. This was the beginning of gay rights and equality.

I enjoyed the visit to the Museum of the City of New York. It was interesting to learn more about the history of our diverse city. Without this history of activism we would be living in more blind, scary, and unjust times. These activists were right for what they did, they were brave and our city is safer and more complete because of them.

Amir's Path to Redemption

Friendships ruined by lies and cowardice, Amir, the protagonist in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner struggles with his dishonest past. His life resembles the war zone of his Afghan childhood, where relationships and culture are violently ruined. It is not until late in the book when Amir gets a chance to redeem himself by saving the son of Hassan, his childhood friend.

Amir and Hassan grow up together as great buddies, spending all their free times together. Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. As the son of a rich Pashtun business man Amir is high in the social hierarchy. Hazaras are slaves, own nothing and make no money and have very few rights, and this is Hassan's place in society. Amir lives in the richest part of his neighborhood, gets what he wants, except his fathers approval as a worthy son. Thus he is a bit insecure. Hassan is comfortable with who he is, humble, obedient, and knows his place.

This wonderful friendship of these two kids of such different backgrounds shrivels and dies during the Kite Fighting Competition. As Amir's trusty Kite Runner, Hassan runs after the kite to secure a victory. Unfortunately, Hassan runs into the big, bad, Assef, the stories antagonist. He is a Pashtun German  psychopath who carries brass knuckles and speaks admiringly of Hitler. Assef brutally assaults Hassan, physically and sexually. " He kept one hand on Hassan's back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. dropped his under wear." ... " Hassan didn't struggle." Amir watched all of it go down in vain and never did anything to disrupt it, or go to authorities to report it aftrwords. He never even told Hassan that he saw it either. His behavior is cowardly and he knows it. "In the end I ran. I ran becauseI was a coward. I was scared of Assef". He cannot live with the guilt of not defending his friend and schemes to have Hassan removed from his home so as not to see him, or have to deal with the awful episode any more. His father gave him money and a watch, and the first thing Amir did with it was hide it under Hassan's bed to frame him and accuse him of stealing. Hassan's reaction to this was true to his status as a Hazara, he just accepted the accusations and his fate.

Amir  continues to live with this guilt into adulthood, while Hassan's life is cut short, murdered by Assef who becomes a general in the Taliban Government. While the two friends were never to meet again, Amir receives the chance to avenge his friend, save a life, and put his conscience at ease. In order to do this, he must go back to Afghanistan and face Assef, who not only killed Hassan and his wife, but has also imprisoned and raped Hassan's son, Sohrab.  Finally an opportunity to do what is right, not be a coward and give up like he did all those years back. Amir is successful during a final battle in saving Hassan's son, though he nearly dies of a ruptured stomach and spleen and lungs, broken ribs, and many more sever injuries caused by Assef's brass knuckles, which he still carried with him.

The Kite Runner is a bitter sweet ending. Although Amir does recover Sohrab from Assef and the Taliban, and leaves Assef behind defeated, he can never bring his friend back. Amir's life is no longer a hell hole seeking a way to happiness and making things right. Now, he has found inner peace with himself kite fighting with Sohrab as he did with Hassan decades ago. From Amir to Hassan for all those years apart and finally finding each other again in a different form. He'd do anything for Sohrab, "For you, a thousand times over."

The Grapes Of Wrath Synthesis Page

The Grapes of Wrath

Beginning:

Nobody is used to the tough times and they are desperate, even the dog killed himself because he knows that these times are tough and unbearable.

"He raised his head, and looked across, and then started over"... " Didn't know how we was gonna feed him anyway"

Middle:

Everybody is trying to make the best out of the situation they are in right now. They have found a government camp that has every thing they need to live comfortably, hot water, running water, clean bathrooms, some work, no cops, and best of all, a good group of good human beings.

" she felt the hot water dripping from her chin, soaking through her dress."

End:

Life is going back to what it was before, running and living a horrible life, Tom killed someone, Casy died, and they have no money.

" 'You sleep' she said. 'You sleep off. I'll watch the door. Nobody won' get in.' "

Archetypes:

Tom: the man that means good but just keeps going wrong, kind of like the unfortunate protagonist.

Ma: She works for everybody but is not repaid, she just keeps losing her family to death. The unfortunate

Claim:

Grapes of Wrath is a very interesting story of looking for a good decent life for their family through a tough past. 

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a sad story about the gritty travel to the west fleeing the dust bowl of Oklahoma during the slow and endless Great depression. Times were hard back then and Steinbeck made spot on metaphors to make the famine of food and opportunity come to life again. Of the many meaningful and true images and symbols he used throughout the story, which gave shape and character to the book, one specifically stood out to me.

This metaphor in the story takes place at the beginning of the adventure. The Joad family stops for gas and water, and their dog walks aimlessly around the camp until he walks purposely onto the high way and gets smashed by a speeding car. He knowingly ended his life! This is an extremely powerful metaphor, it signals that nobody, not even the dog wants to live through this horrible, depressing time in American history. It also foreshadows dark times for the Joad family as many deaths will occur in their future.

This tale, I see through the metaphor of the dog's suicide, gave me a much better understanding of what life was like in this time and place. Hot, dry, lonely, hungry, and thirsty, and completely hopeless. The Joad Family lost their farm to a bank foreclosure because the dust bowl turned their land to waste. With the economics of the Great Depression, there was no opportunity for other jobs, so they were forced to leave the only home they knew, and travel west to California. They were hill billy desperate Okies that nobody liked. Everything was backwards and awful for the Joads. It was as if the dog knew this before hand and avoided such catastrophes. Grandpa died of heat stroke, grandma died of thirst, Preacher Casey gets murdered, and Tom winds upon the run for killing Casey's murderer. Again, the dogs death seemed to foretell this.

I love this book. It is an interesting history that taught me of what went on in America's horrible past. It also represented the manner people behaved in such such times while trying to survive and stay together as a family. Furthermore, it is a great reminder to me of the present, and  how good I have it right now. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, however, The Grapes of Wrath are still sour. So sour that the beloved family hound refused to endure it.

1984, By George Orwell

Beware of people with too much governmental power over you. They may abuse their power and make society a frightening and horrible place to live. This is what happens in the masterpiece 1984 by George Orwell. The totalitarian government led by Big Brother watches everything everyone does, twenty-four seven, with hidden cameras, telescreens, and spies. The main character Winston Smith, and his girlfriend Julia, learn what the Brotherhood does to people who think their own thoughts, experience their own emotions or disagree with the Party in any way. They torture people until they gladly comply  with the rules of Big Brother. "Big Brother is watching you", forever and hard.

What were Winston's crimes? The simple human need of writing a diary! This is not aloud, it is an expression his own ideas and emotions, something the Brotherhood cannot control, and if they can't control something, it is not aloud. Another of Winston's crimes was loving another human, Julia. Love is absolutely uncontrollable, love could lead to emotions and passions that could turn into revolt and the Party will stop at nothing to abolish it. Food, beverages, and literature are potential reminders of the past and are also a threat. However, the most asinine aspect of this dystopian society is that there are no laws against these acts. they will kill, such as they did to Julia, or even worse, torture, such as they did to Winston, one for braking one of these nonexistent laws. It is crazy. The Party kicked  "his (Winston) ribs in his belly, on his elbows, on his shins, in his groin, in his testicles, on the bone at the base of his spine." They make people so frail, nauseatingly weak, and pathetically hopeless that they have no choice, either die, or agree with them. Most vile of all, they exploited  person's phobias, this completely flips their mind into agreeing with every aspect of the government. They manipulate and control peoples minds  and make them follow these confusing and inconceivable mottos :

"War is Peace,
Freedom is Slavery,
Ignorance is Strength"

This propaganda just goes to show that the Party is selfish and wants to brainwash their citizens into believing these thoughtless thoughts. They want their soldiers to fight fight endless wars, The Party destroyed the past just as they destroyed Winston.

He was once a quiet man that loved to work in peace, though he was rightly paranoid that everyone was a potential spy or working for Big Brother. As the story continued, he grew into a confident man,  he loved a women, and broke laws because he wanted to live and be nothing more than a human being. He feared becoming a brainwashed robot like so many others who believed the ridiculous sayings and mottos enforced by the disturbing government. He went so far as begin a revolt with the "revolution". He was becoming courageous, but sadly, the Party broke him and forced him into being a thoughtless vegetable who believed in the Brotherhood. The novel's final sentence: "I love Big Brother" is powerful and sad. Winston is gone.

War Prayer By Mark Twain

Be careful for what you wish for. War Prayer, by Mark Twain, says just that. Written during the Philippine War, this thoughtful and philosophical story is a prayer for the victory of the American warriors that are leaving for battle. During the prayer, the priest is interrupted by an old cloaked man, who claims to be a messenger from "God" himself. "Is it one prayer?" the stranger asks, "No, it is two", he answers, meaning there is more to this prayer than meets the eye. This prayer is a double sided sword, in praying for their own victory they are also praying for the destruction of the other side. Not only will a country be destroyed in war, but soldiers will die, and their loved ones, families and friends, will be in distress, grieving and mourning."If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you may invoke a curse upon your neighbor at the same time."

Twain's opinion in this short story reflects the bad influence too much patriotism has on mankind. The men going into battle, and those whom prayed for their victory, never thought of the other side and the repercussions that would occur. "When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory." This blindness leads the fact that we treat other nations with without decency. Horrible actions occur in war and people are bound to die bloody gruesome deaths. “Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames in summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it —" This is what they prayed for. This is what happens in battles. Afterward, the messengers wisdom was not excepted, the prayers dismissed him, the prayer was doomed.

I have never read anything like this, it is a parable I will remember. Mark Twain is bold and daring in his message questioning patriotism. The book was so controversial that his publisher rejected it, and it was not published until after his death. I can understand that many people disagree with this idea of un-patriotism, however, he isn't fighting patriotism, after all it is good to have some pride in your country, but too much can potentially make you naive to the consequences of such a strong fanatic beliefs, and that is what he despises. I had never thought of this before I read this. It has changed my view of war and overly proud nationalistic people, beliefs, and actions.