Oedipus

         Oedipus Rex and Hamlet are two chronologically disparate works which were influenced by the combination of culture and affectations of their prospective patrons. This being said, there is a marked similarity between the protagonist of each play, similarities which can trace their roots back to the origin of written theater. Although Hamlet deviates from the three act standard of Greek theater, the hero’s journey is coyly like Oedipus’. What actions Oedipus necessitates by virtue of his hubris Hamlet fails to disparage because of his inaction. Both plays derive much of their theme from a character’s tragic flaw. This can be further observed in other elements analogous between the two plays. This includes some few lesser characters as well as general motifs and plot progression. Each man spends much of his play acting most heavily on one tragic impulse prior to receiving a forced revelation. Oedipus tries in the beginning of his story arc to outdistance the prophecy tacked on to his birth by fleeing who he thought to be his birth parents. Already his hubris is clouding his judgement, a fact pointedly expounded upon by Tiresias. The blind prophet can ‘see’ in a way that is far superior to Oedipus. As his story progresses he continues to forcefully delay the moment of realization which his inquiries are surely beginning to illuminate. Oedipus is loathe to believe the prophecy even if Apollo himself affirms it: “Vile slanderer, thou blurtest forth these taunts,
And think'st forsooth as seer to go scot free.”(350)And think'st forsooth as seer to go scot free.”(350)This lesson would have played well with the sensibilities of the audience, as many regarded hubris in the face of the gods as the day’s mortal sin. To see Oedipus receive his comeuppance after what can be interpreted as a hostile and deceitful ascent to the throne (he killed Laius then defeated the Sphinx by sheer luck) would have gone over well with the general populace. Hamlet, on the other hand, is plagued by an excess of pragmatism. He finds himself unable to act in a direct manner, preferring to try and use subterfuge to trick the truth out of Cladius. This problem persists even after a being capable of clairvoyance (in this case his father’s ghost) repeatedly tells him the circumstances surrounding his own death. Cladius shares some traits with Oedipus which are in fact more pronounced albeit not as important as the title character’s. He gained the throne by killing a member of his family and is carnally involved with his wife, as Oedipus is with his mother. His hubris shines through in the final act, wherein he poisons the drink and sword, confident that one will finish off Hamlet. The people of Denmark are implied to view the relationship as incestuous, and while it is obviously not one can easily sympathize with their views. Oedipus’ relationship is literally of this nature.  The resolution of each work is a statement about royalty in general. Both seem to be subtly implying that royalty is killing itself off through incest, intrigue and other unholy practices. In Hamlet the result is the death of the entire royal family. Their ceaseless attempts at power grabbing and the act of drinking from the same chalice (a feminine analogue) or death at the hands of a poisoned sword tip (probably a phallic analogue) further point toward how painfully aware both works are of the problems inherent to royalty. Hamlet himself is oddly concerned with his mother’s personal life. This can be argued as an extension of his brooding nature which in itself constitutes his fatal flaw. In an interesting inversion of the ‘earned power is better than birthright power’ convention, Hamlet is more adept and fair in wielding his public influence than Oedipus could ever hope to be. Oedipus treats the incest motif much more bluntly- he is his own mother’s personal life yet refuses to acknowledge it. Both works are rife with instances of both dramatic irony and classic, unabashed irony. The audience is aware of Oedipus’ unfortunate living arrangement from the start of the play, and the disparity between what they are aware of and what Oedipus is willing to accept only increases over time. After finally acknowledging the truth Oedipus is so disgusted that he gouges out his own eyes. This prompts his realization that true ‘sight’ is measured not in physical prowess but humility and insight. His world is essentially the opposite of the Harry Potter universe- prophecies always come true, be they ignored or emphasized. Hamlet’s flippant demeanor and Cladius’ pride clash to create ironic dialogue throughout the play. Cladius at one point tells Hamlet he should be proud to be in the position he finds himself: “It is sweet and commendable”, this after a moderately experienced reader of tragedies should have deduced that everyone will die by the story’s end. Hamlet calls his mother “common” in a manner which is lost on all bystanders. He even manages to shroud some such remarks as compliments or at the least expressions of agreement, as is often the case with Polonius. More moments of dramatic irony in Hamlet include the episode with the poisoned swords and Hamlet’s trip to England which is expected to result in the death of all on board. In each of these cases it is the tragic flaw of one or more characters which informs the theme. Although Oedipus’ birthmother cannot be faulted for a reluctance to commit infanticide, she too falls into the category of individuals who’s reservations ultimately created larger problems. Both characters are fairly static in their development until the point at which their flaws are thrown in their faces. For Hamlet this moment is a prolonged series of events beginning with Ophelia’s suicide. Seeing that he cannot win for trying, Hamlet enters the duel with his cousin with reckless abandon. This is a yet another example of dramatic irony and a sort of double entendre for the audience, as Hamlet only interprets the match to have fake consequences, this being within the play which the audience has been asked to accept as the ‘real’ layer of reality. In Oedipus’ case the horror of his life finally occurs to him in the face of overwhelming evidence, causing him to break down and lose the arrogance which had defined his actions. Hamlet and Oedipus facilitate much of the action in their plays as a result of one undesirable personality trait. Their tragic flaws help to illuminate their author’s chosen themes and drive the classic tropes of theater present in both works. In spite of the vast amount of time that passed between the point at which the two were popular, there are many elements of each work that are universal to tragic storytelling.

Recent Revolutions

USA vs. China- In the wake of the cold war, the economies of the U.S. and China have emerged as two of the largest and most influential variables on the world stage. A flux in either can result in inconceivably far flung ramifications. Recent years have seen a widening disparity in these two forces, not in the present state of the individual for either nation, but the general trend each economy is following. Whereas the United States has long been secure in having the world’s highest G.D.P, (approximately 15 trillion to China’s 7 trillion) our nation has come to the collective realization that there are other factors at play which skew our sense of superiority. The growth rate of China’s G.D.P has outweighed that of America for twelve years running, and China’s national debt accounts for less than 20% of its G.D.P, while America’s makes up over 50%. China’s manpower is objectively superior to America’s in both number and scores on standardized intelligence tests. Fear that their children are receiving an inferior education ranks among the topmost complaints of adults 30-55 as conducted by Time Magazine. In fact, the most recent analysis ranked U.S. schoolchildren 17th overall. Much has been made of America’s decreased credit rating on the world stage as well, as this is another tangible sign of our nation’s distress. It is interesting to note that America on the whole sees China as a competitor rather than an ally in the global economy. This stems from a deep seeded conviction that America has the right to use its wealth to dictate events far beyond its juristiction, a belief that was cultivated in our success in world war dos and the staunch nationalism encouraged by the cold war. However, although our defense budget exceeds that of China by several billion, the U.S. is no longer the world authority it once was. What has ensued is an identity crisis of sorts, the tremors of which can be felt all across America. As our debt increases and unemployment increases, China’s ‘state-run capitalism’ continues to make up ground on us. Herein lies another basic American fear- that the lassiez faire economy idealized by our forefathers may perish now that it is pitted against a much less humane, yet infinitely more efficient rival.

Poor People- For decades, American culture has idealized, or at the least condoned, those who work their way to the top of the civilian economy by means nefarious or otherwise. During times of prosperity the majority of the nation was willing to entrust their hard earned money to bankers and investors, as it was in their best interest to keep their customers happy by making more money. The economy was practically down to a science, there was even a formula which could predict with alarming accuracy any minor changes. Unfortunately, this equation had several variables which became its fatal flaws. For instance, the housing market (which is now in shambles) was an assumed constant. When the predictability of the profession vanished, America in general was kept out of the loop for long enough for a minor disaster to become a full scale economic downturn. Those at the top were affected in a statistically proportionate manner to everyone else, but their troubles did not bring them below the poverty line or force them to stare down the prospect of unemployment. The already widening gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ became an issue of major contention among several fringe groups, and ultimately gained a foothold in many political races. From this point on out it has appeared in every campaign for any level of office in the country. It is the most divisive and identifiable issue between the two major political parties and has shaped our culture to the point that many took to the streets to participate in 99% rallies in the past year. Aside from drawing America’s attention to the obvious damage inflicted on our people and capitol, the new air of distrust surrounding the extremely wealthy has helped expose many shocking acts of corporate greed. It has also served to illuminate the business practices the general population finds acceptable, thus providing what may one day be the template for responsible but free business methods in America.

The Internet- Electronics (especially anything internet capable) are changing the way that human beings operate. People in developed countries have all felt the impact of more time spent with electronic devices- obvious side effects such as weight gain and augmented social skills aside, electronics are literally rewiring the human brain. The availability of obscure facts and formulas in search engines has made the ability to retain trivial information all but obsolete. Even the simple notion that a sentence is being recorded by a computer made participants in one study more than 50% less likely to recall the given information. The stress which accompanies being within reach of one’s job, friends and family 24/7 has decreased the brain’s capacity for relaxation and changed the way human beings sleep. For better or for worse, every member of the current generation is going to think and act in a way profoundly and, for the moment, unpredictably different from its predecessors.

What causes a Genocide?

The main cause to genocides in the world are from people trying to gain power. In each leaders rise to power there is a struggle because that means they must get rid of the person who was in power before them. This power struggle always takes many lives, and with that rise to power comes change. Many of these include a targeted group of people. If it is mainly political than it is their opposing party that they try to overthrow or kill. In more tribal situations there is usually one group of people that have more power so they will target the other group to destroy to either gain power, or destroy the other group of power so that they do not have to be threatened from their possible rise to power (Sally Girouard's Blog). Another cause for genocide can be when the government feels threatened about a possible up rising. In Darfur the government was threatened by the threat of an uprising from their citizens so they enlisted the help of the Janjaweed which is the armed militia. The Janjaweed went around from village to village killing anyone and burning down the village as they left so nothing remained (Mariah's Blog).

Mao Zedong Genocide

One of the worst recorded genocides in history is the China- Tibet genocide, started by Mao Zedong. Beginning in the middle of the 1950s, Mao repeatedly sacrificed up to a third of the Chinese population in a nuclear war in order to bring the downfall of world capitalism. Mao in the early 1940s pushed for a party purge, with the goal of installing his version of communism, once the Civil War began. A small number of protesters were driven to commit suicide or killed. Although he made a public apology for the brutality of his campaign, it did set an example for future campaigns and whether they were real or imagined, all of the precautions taken to avoid them were called for “greater freedom”. In result, anyone from campaigns that went against what Mao was standing for and trying to lead toward were persecuted, lost their positions, and were sent to reeducation camps, these were any of the leaders to the groups. An unspecified, but probably large, number of victims died or suffered permanent damage to their health from forced labor, abuse, and malnutrition in the camps.

The greatest loss of life during Mao's regime resulted from the deadly spring famines (1,959,961 deaths) of the Great Leap Forward. Once Mao realized by the mid-1960s that his goal for total leadership had been thwarted, he turned to forces outside the CCP to attack what he considered a reserved party that would be against accepting his values and beliefs. Another example of the cruelties that Mao Zedong inflicted upon the people of China and Tibet include; there were no medicines for a ten-year-old boy who died in my arms after being shot by a sniper, a 23-year-old man who had been shot through the heart, or a mother pouring water onto her16-year-old son’s unresponsive lips (the boy had been beaten to death, with a shovel, inside the police station).

The Cultural Revolution was a mixture of party purge and class warfare, during which radicalized students persecuted, humiliated, tortured, and even murdered alleged rightists or counterrevolutionaries. In this one genocide there were approximately 49-78,000,000 deaths that were cause from Mao Zedong’s rise to power. There is no exact number because there was no way to know exactly what happened or how many people were killed. Especially from the famines, there is an unknown value of deaths that have been recorded. In more recent times, the Spanish National court has ruled that China’s policies in Tibet of torture, forced abortions, sterilizations, infanticide, disappearances, arbitrary execution, religious persecution, racial discrimination, and population transfer all present a prima facie case for genocide.

Works Cited

"Mao Zedong." Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Vol. 2. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 1 Mar, 2012 <http://www.enotes.com/mao-zedong-reference/>

Kerr, Blake. "Mao Zedong." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, 26 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.enotes.com/mao-zedong-reference/mao-zedong>.

Freetibet.com. 2008. Web. <http://www.freetibet.org/>.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

The story Monster, by  Walter Dean Myers, is about a boy who attends a film school, but is friends with members of gangs. He lives in a neighborhood that could be considered as unsafe with characters of questionable morals. In and around where he lives there are many gangs all of the blacks in the area are judged harshly. In this story the main character Steven is accused of being a part of a crime where a drugstore was robbed and the owner of the store gets shot and killed. Steve is arrested from his home  based on the accusations of a man that he has never met and brought to jail awaiting trial. While he is in jail he decided to write out all of his experiences as if it were a screen play and make it into a movie so that what was happening to him did not seem as bad. Steven was accused of being the lookout man in the plan, to have been the one to go into the store to make sure it was clear with no other customers or cops. When he left the store he was supposed to give the other two men the all clear. Although in the trial there was never any real evidence implicating him into the incident, even the witness that was there did not recognize him or see him there. Because there was no real evidence they had to let Steve go and make him not guilty.
Although I did like the way that they author set the book up as if it were a screen play i would not do that for my own book.
The reason I choose this book as my mentor text is because the main character is very similar to my main character. Emily is caught in the middle of a murder trial of a man. In my story she is involved in the robbery of a convienent store and she is meant to be the lookout. It is her job to go into the store and make sure that no one else is there and to then give her boyfriend and his friends the all clear. Although she decides that it is immoral and backs out, but her friends go ahead with the plan and the manager gets shot. When she is on trial she goes through the same stages of panic that Steven did which has helped me in my writing for Emily's reaction once she gets to jail.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and suggest it to others to read, it was a good book and did not take me very long to read. It was nice and relaxing to enjoy over vacation, and a great mentor text for the story I am writing.