Free Response-
Diego is trying hard to impress his sweetheart, Juliana, the host's daughter. He isn't getting very far, for her courtier is much better looking and he views her much more highly. Also, Juliana has taken to viewing him as a brother. This change of events for Diego is devastating, but not mission stopping. He is very much ready to accept the challenge to get Juliana's heart. He meets some Gypsies along the way too. One with which he finds a very nice relationship. The gypsy clan allows him to participate in their circus, in which Diego juggles fire, swallows it, make money appear, and loads of other tricks that wow the audience... and Juliana. I think it's exceptionally naive of Juliana not to notice the motives of Diego, and kind of mean of her not to acknowledge them. A reaction I had to this 'chapter of sorts' is how odd it would be to be forced to marry by your father. I can't imagine saying 'Yes, Father.' and being married away to the wealthiest man who only liked me for my looks. Also, I can't imagine marrying someone 40 years older than me. It's just occured to me how amazing it is to be living here at this time, how lucky I am to have such priviledges. It makes me want to get my life moving, you know? To stop worrying about studies and progress, and to just relax and find a little love in the world. That might be a little exaturation on the point you might've thought I was making, but I'm really starting to get this book.
A cultural difference-
One simply does not find gypsies wandering around the streets- gypsies who get chased out of the community and killed just for being what they are. To say that they were disrupting the community life is not the right excuse for beheading them. Gypsies to me, are a people who are completely nomadic, and... yeah, they steal things at times, but how else are you supposed to live without food and money? I think Gypsies are people with beautiful traditions and should be treated with respect for who they are. Personally, I would not want to be a gypsy in the 1400s however...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307-0-524&artno=0000274756&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=The%20Dalai%20Lama%20As%20Dupe&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
Dalai Lama puppet
http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar146900&st=china+tibet+struggle
Dalai Lama to free Tibet
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dalailama/interview.html
interview
Dalai Lama puppet
http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar146900&st=china+tibet+struggle
Dalai Lama to free Tibet
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dalailama/interview.html
interview
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Post 2.5
Three sources on my chosen topic, China and Tibet's quarreling:
China terrorizes Tibet: New York Times Opinion collumn
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/opinion/18tue3.html
China and Tibet: Tibet is part of China
http://www.index-china.com/index-english/Tibet-s.html
Free Tibet
http://www.freetibet.org/
China terrorizes Tibet: New York Times Opinion collumn
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/opinion/18tue3.html
China and Tibet: Tibet is part of China
http://www.index-china.com/index-english/Tibet-s.html
Free Tibet
http://www.freetibet.org/
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Blog 2
Something intriguing about the cultural differences....
I thought it very peculiar how Don Alejandro de la Vega sent his son, Diego on a boat to Spain without any supervision except those who would rather sweep the poop deck than babysit. It's the strangest thing to me that a parent would care more about having his son be sent away somewhere than for his absolutely certain safety. Then again, on the other side of that concern lies the fact that the parents in our time send children to Japan unsupervised on a plane. So nobody can technically hi-jack the kid on the flight, but you never know what could happen before the kid reaches the house of the person they're getting to. However, I think that it's still safer than putting them on a boat that's creaking it's way across the ocean!
Something else that intrigued me that has to be at least 250 words...
To fill you in on what's happening, Diego and Bernardo have not been eaten by sharks or mutinied by their crew. The worst that happened to them on the voyage was falling in the water and being considered by sharks (hence, not eaten), getting a little drunk and then shipsick, and losing all of the valuable clothes that Diego's father sent along with the boys (which Diego doesn't really care about anyhow). So, it's them, in the strange city so far away from the Californian landscape that they know by heart. What's different from the two settings is the hatred, revenge methods, and the way to court girls. The hatred is shot not at American Indians by the Spanish, but at the French by the Spanish. It's really the same ignorance of the people who won't go out and learn about the different culture, so they hate eachother for being different. Secondly, the revenge methods vary from California to Spain. When one is angry in America, one usually talked it out and tried to get their way thoruhg sneaky methods. In Spain, one just shoots at one's rival in a duel to solve the issue of burnt pride. Once again, pretty similar. Finally, the courting girls methods are different. In America, you waited for the girls to come to you as a male. In Spain, you generally court the girl, and make her feel special enough to give you her riches, and her person. So, tradition technically holds out around the world, and nothing much changes.
I thought it very peculiar how Don Alejandro de la Vega sent his son, Diego on a boat to Spain without any supervision except those who would rather sweep the poop deck than babysit. It's the strangest thing to me that a parent would care more about having his son be sent away somewhere than for his absolutely certain safety. Then again, on the other side of that concern lies the fact that the parents in our time send children to Japan unsupervised on a plane. So nobody can technically hi-jack the kid on the flight, but you never know what could happen before the kid reaches the house of the person they're getting to. However, I think that it's still safer than putting them on a boat that's creaking it's way across the ocean!
Something else that intrigued me that has to be at least 250 words...
To fill you in on what's happening, Diego and Bernardo have not been eaten by sharks or mutinied by their crew. The worst that happened to them on the voyage was falling in the water and being considered by sharks (hence, not eaten), getting a little drunk and then shipsick, and losing all of the valuable clothes that Diego's father sent along with the boys (which Diego doesn't really care about anyhow). So, it's them, in the strange city so far away from the Californian landscape that they know by heart. What's different from the two settings is the hatred, revenge methods, and the way to court girls. The hatred is shot not at American Indians by the Spanish, but at the French by the Spanish. It's really the same ignorance of the people who won't go out and learn about the different culture, so they hate eachother for being different. Secondly, the revenge methods vary from California to Spain. When one is angry in America, one usually talked it out and tried to get their way thoruhg sneaky methods. In Spain, one just shoots at one's rival in a duel to solve the issue of burnt pride. Once again, pretty similar. Finally, the courting girls methods are different. In America, you waited for the girls to come to you as a male. In Spain, you generally court the girl, and make her feel special enough to give you her riches, and her person. So, tradition technically holds out around the world, and nothing much changes.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Cultural Difference that I stumbled upon...
I was astonished by how differenly time and place affect outlook on a single subject. The way that the spaniards in the 18th century treated the native Americans, the enslaved native Americans (who were called neophytes), and mixed blooded Spanish-Native Americas is so vastly different, it's hard for me not to be negatively biased about the conversion of the natives to Christinity, or the enslavement and sometimes downright murder of a people who were so peaceful. The Spaniards, as with most nations who colonized around the 18th century, paid no heed to the grievances of the native people, and thus, the outcry became an ignorable whisper. In modern times, anti racism laws prevent most cases of outright bigotry, and the 18th century Spaniards could learn a thing or two from them too!
In terms of other responses to the story so far...
So it turns out that the life of a half Native American, half Spaniard is anything but boring. The quote that gives the most significance to what I'm feeling here is: "In the meantime, Ana, with her habitual good nature, had taken Regina's child, whimpering with hunger, to her breast; thus Diego and Bernardo, Ana's son, began their lives with the same milk and inthe same arms. This made them milk brothers for as long as they lived." So our main character, Diego, is born to a mother who cannot feed him straightaway. This results in a friendly bit of compassion on her friend, Ana's part, when she takes both her son and Diego to her breast. I don't know what sort of significance this has to any sort of theme, but I thought it was interesting. This 'milk brother' bond holds out too through Bernardo and Diego's youth. While Bernardo, supposedly fully Native American is subject to (and accepts) scorn and resentment, Diego, being the son of a Spaniard, goes to school, learns to fence, and gets respect. Together, Diego and Bernardo learn together what it means to be brothers and also, they learn to face a world full to the brim with hatred for people like Diego's 'brother'.
I was astonished by how differenly time and place affect outlook on a single subject. The way that the spaniards in the 18th century treated the native Americans, the enslaved native Americans (who were called neophytes), and mixed blooded Spanish-Native Americas is so vastly different, it's hard for me not to be negatively biased about the conversion of the natives to Christinity, or the enslavement and sometimes downright murder of a people who were so peaceful. The Spaniards, as with most nations who colonized around the 18th century, paid no heed to the grievances of the native people, and thus, the outcry became an ignorable whisper. In modern times, anti racism laws prevent most cases of outright bigotry, and the 18th century Spaniards could learn a thing or two from them too!
In terms of other responses to the story so far...
So it turns out that the life of a half Native American, half Spaniard is anything but boring. The quote that gives the most significance to what I'm feeling here is: "In the meantime, Ana, with her habitual good nature, had taken Regina's child, whimpering with hunger, to her breast; thus Diego and Bernardo, Ana's son, began their lives with the same milk and inthe same arms. This made them milk brothers for as long as they lived." So our main character, Diego, is born to a mother who cannot feed him straightaway. This results in a friendly bit of compassion on her friend, Ana's part, when she takes both her son and Diego to her breast. I don't know what sort of significance this has to any sort of theme, but I thought it was interesting. This 'milk brother' bond holds out too through Bernardo and Diego's youth. While Bernardo, supposedly fully Native American is subject to (and accepts) scorn and resentment, Diego, being the son of a Spaniard, goes to school, learns to fence, and gets respect. Together, Diego and Bernardo learn together what it means to be brothers and also, they learn to face a world full to the brim with hatred for people like Diego's 'brother'.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Why I chose this book
I chose the novel Zorro by Isable Alende because it looked like a mature version of a story many associate with lassos, masks, and a 'z' slashed into various objects. For this reason it intruigued my on a niggling childish level, but I was also hesitant to pick it up. It was passed onto my by a friend who lives in France, who I admire for her intelligence and worldly view on books. SO I decided that I couldn't hurt myself by trying to rub up on some of that knowledge. The best books are the ones which one is pursuaded hesitnaly into, I've found. It's not as though it's a bad story either. The origins of Zorro, our hereo happen to be Spanish AND Native American, so it''s interesting to seethe 2 sides clash. I'm liking it so far too, gobbling up the words.
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