Escape

Clouds clustered in a

Configuration of my greatest

Consternations

A hollow, menacing skull

I run

The raging beast

Sniffing with its monstrous, gray snout

Charges forward with threatening determination

Trees fall and plants razed

I run

Thunder roars overhead

Nothing can be heard aside from

The sound of footsteps in the rain

and snarls in the background

I cover my ears

Wishing for this day to be over

as I tread through this depraved swamp

Fear grabs on to me

and slowly begins to envelop my heart

I run

Past the glittering stones

Littered throughout the flourished forest floor

Past the tropical birds

Gawking at me with their outstretched beaks

All in a straight line of green, blue, red and black

I run

The path converges

Sending me to the verge

of disaster

Bending down

I pick up a stick

I turn around

I stand.

Twisting Alone

Assef is a religious leader. The image shows Assef among others in society as represented through sticks. Assef’s stick is like a broken twisted stick that stands out and does not fit in with other sticks since Assef twists religion and turns it into something violent when it is not like the stick is broken and twisted. Usually in muslim tradition the prayer rug is on the floor; however for Assef, the rug is on his wall, showing how he is a religious leader and does not follow religious traditions. Since Assef is part of the Taliban, he twists religion out of context, turning it into something violent when that is not what it means. Other sticks are grouped together and bond with each other; Assef’s stick lies alone and its ends stick out towards, showing violence and unfriendliness.

Reenter the Cycle

The Hutu, one of the ethnic groups of Rwanda, patrol the unfriendly streets as they continue to sniff around, digging for any more Tuti to hunt down. The government has decided to take action; as local officials and large radio stations ask of their Rwandan civilians to turn against their own neighbors, over 800,000 people will die within the next three days, forcing another 2 million to eventually evacuate the country (“The Rwandan Genocide”). This is only a small part of the massive chaos within Africa, and with new generations each as corrupt as the previous, endless occurrences of violence continue to inflict damage on the people (Gettleman).

Why do these pointless and violent events continue to show up in various regions of Africa? An important contributing cause is from the influence of many corrupt leaders. Many of them fight for the wrong cause; rather than aiming to eliminate tyranny or injustice, they instead advocate for groundless violence, leading to one-sided destruction that has no explanation. One such example is the LRA, or Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group enraged with the poverty existing in the country’s ethnic Acholi areas. Although supposedly protecting many civilians and fighting against injustice, the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, was an unlawful barbarian who began to break even his own rules. Eventually, he would push out extremely violent measures that included setting even his own troops against the people who they were supposed to be protecting (Gettleman).

Another large cause for such conflict can be attributed to the large number of different ethnic groups in Africa. Diversity causes people to care only for their own smaller groups, but as a country there is very little nationalistic feelings,  instilling very little affection and hesitation in the killers before harming members from other groups (Oyeniyi). Across Africa, conflicts emerge from every region, including Sudan in the northeast, Mali, Algeria, and Libya in the northwest, and the Central African Republic and South Sudan near the center, due to the lack of unity (Dörrie).

One of the largest internal conflicts to erupt in Africa was the Congo War, a grueling war that raged for eight long years. Two tribes of different ethnicities, both inhabiting parts of the Congo, began to stir up tensions when the Rwandans mass-killed Tutsis in a genocide in 1994, soon leading to a retaliation led by the opposing political party. After repeated exchanges between the two groups, the war was finally settled in 2003 and left almost 4 million dead (Zapata).

These issues are still rampant today, as shown in the South Sudan tensions that are currently rising today. Yasmin Sooka, the head of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, expresses her concern with the country’s instability, referring to it as a “Rwanda-like” genocide. Its origins are similar to that of many other African civil wars: the president and his deputy split apart in 2013, engendering a military conflict that would eventually result in starvation, rape, and the burning of villages. This pointless violence inspired by the leaders has already produced thousands of tragedies and displaced three million, with tensions continuing to increase during this time.

The situation in Africa continues to remain a large problem at hand; with leaders who promote violence for unsupported reasons combined with the exceedingly high number of different ethnic groups in Africa, internal conflicts are common with little thought being put into why they are occurring. In 2014, with just 16 percent of the world’s population, Africa harbored half of the world’s conflicts, representing far more than any other region (Dörrie). As its share of the world’s conflicts continues to rise today, it is evident that new reforms and changes must take place for Africa to settle down and solve its current issues.

Works Cited: 

Dörrie, Peter, Samuel Rines, Daniel R. DePetris, and Anthony Fensom. "The Wars Ravaging Africa in 2016." The National Interest. The Center for the National Interest, 22 Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Africa’s Forever Wars." Foreign Policy. N.p., 11 Feb. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Oyeniyi, Adeleye. "Conflict and Violence in Africa: Causes, Sources and Types."TRANSCEND Media Service. N.p., 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Zapata, Mollie. "Congo: The First and Second Wars, 1996-2003." Enough. N.p., 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

"The Rwandan Genocide." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

The High Brow

The High Brow
In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the narrator’s coat and Four-Eyes glasses are used to symbolize perspective and intellectual liberty. The glasses are a symbol for perspective. When you look through glasses you see things in a new way. The characters all have different views on other characters and to justify the motives of characters requires you to see through different peoples “glasses.” To Four-Eyes the boys are mischievous, manipulative kids who can’t be trusted. Yet, for the narrator Four-Eyes is a selfish man who has succumbed to the communist control. The many different perspectives make this story interesting so it is quite important to look through different perspectives to see why the characters do certain things and how that might benefit them.

The narrator’s coat is the only outlet the narrator has to cherish and connect more to Balzac’s words, as shown in the quote, “It was the first time in my life that I had felt any desire to copy sentences from a book. I ransacked the room for paper, but all I could find was a few sheets of notepaper intended for letters to our parents. I decided I would write directly onto the inside of my sheepskin coat,” (58). Being able to have such a focus on the text allows him to see new perspectives. He can now identify with the author’s perspective, as well as seeing how people who don’t live in China may think. The jacket is his way of connecting and being closer to the words. It also touches on the severity of which intellectual liberty was banned, that he’s secretly writing banned words from a banned book on the hidden inside of a jacket. He has become so desperate to bask in the knowledge from the book that he has gone to the extreme of writing in his jacket. Intellectual liberty was harshly limited, and that can be seen in how desperately and committed he was writing, “By the time I had covered the entire inside of the jacket, including the sleeves, my fingers were aching so badly it felt as if the bones were broken,” (59).

“Luo and I set out at once to visit Four-Eyes. We had heard about his stroke of bad luck: as was bound to happen, the lenses of his spectacles had been broken. I was sure however, that he wouldn’t allow this mishap to interfere with his work, in case his myopia was taken as a sign of physically deficiency by the revolutionary peasants and they thought he was a slacker” (52)  

“‘Without your glasses you won’t be able to manage that mountain path...I’ve got an idea: we’ll help you carry your hod to the rice station, and when we get back you can lend us some of those books you’ve got hidden in your suitcase. How’s that for a deal’” (53)

“By the time I had covered the entire inside of the jacket, including the sleeves, my fingers were aching so badly it felt as if the bones were broken” (59).

“It was the first time in my life that I had felt any desire to copy sentences from a book. I ransacked the room for paper, but all I could find was a few sheets of notepaper intended for letters to our parents. I decided I would write directly onto the inside of my sheepskin coat” (58).

Control

The more dependent you become,

The less virtues you will gain.

The more you do and less you think,

Will only lead to depression and forfeiture.

Therefore do not follow the governing source,

But learn to be one with yourself.

Approach your goal with wit and judgment,

And the path will show itself to you.

One who happily works under the hand of another

Is no more than a follower.

One who waits to be given instructions

Is no more than a pet.

One who stands firm to his beliefs

Is a role model to others.

Think clearly before you act.

Approach steadfast, but cautiously,

Be confident, but act humble,

Be firm, but flexible,

Advance forwards, but always retrace your steps,

Think thoroughly, but do not overthink.

Only through these values,

Will you be able to control your peace and meaning within.