Wednesday, February 15, 2012

[bearshorty]

I finished “Things Fall Apart” this morning. If it wasn’t for work, I would have read it in a few days instead of two weeks. It is a really good book. I can see why it is a classic. And it should make for an interesting discussion in my Global class. I didn’t like Okonkwo that much in the beginning – since a lot of his values were grounded in the local ideas of masculinity and were not very appealing to me as a modern female audience. But I understood him within his own culture. And I could see where he was coming from. He was so worried for his favorite daughter and he struggled to express it in his way. And I was sad for him when he had to leave his tribe for seven years. And the end did make me upset. I get teary at literature lately – it is a little weird. But when the white man at the end talks about the title of his future book, it made me irrationally angry. This book gets to you. And really presents cultural conflict really well.

And now I can start “A Passion for History” book – interviews with Natalie Zemon Davis – she is such an inspiration.

I did the lecture on the First Opium War between China and England today. Only two people knew about the current situation with opium in Afghanistan. I’m enjoying this class so much more than I thought I would. I’m not generally a fan of modern history as much but I love learning about the non-Western aspects of it. And focusing on Global connections is certainly fun. And next week I get to read Voltaire for the class.