Critique of the Crown

A savage war ravages the floor of my living room

The war’s brutality makes mockery of even the Great Wars

Screams of the wounded can be heard from the adjacent room

But there is no sound

For they would not allow it

The rulers of the two Armies

Abandoned the black and white battlefield

The Battle remains

Unfinished

Yet, there still remains

Agony all around

Alas, the noble horsemen are dead

Fallen to the ground

Forever forgotten

Strewn carelessly off the side of the war zone

Alas, the once-formidable castles are cracked

Under siege and deserted

Left to be destroyed

Alas, the honorable bishops have been kidnapped

Knocked off to the side of the board

Surrounded by their fallen brethren

Alas, worst of all

The suffering peasantry, those brave little pawns

Crying out for salvation  

From the cracks, scratches, and fatality

Unable to move away quick enough

From the massacre that fell upon them

But there are 4 curious figures still on that checkered battlefield

Two pieces remain on each side of the chess board in my living room

Safe from harm

Without a scratch or a chip

Overlooking the suffering from their regal perch

Reaping the rewards that were born from blood

Sending the valiant peasantry into battle

Not warning them of the death that comes with battle

Not letting them hear the shouts and cries of those that came before them

They have been doing this since the beginning of time, without criticism

For these 4 are beloved and feared among us all

Can you guess who they are?

Rahim Khan's Offer

This locker represents the situation of Rahim Khan offering Amir a chance to go back to Afghanistan to get Sohrab. In this situation, the interior of the locker represents Afghanistan and the unatoned sins of Amir. In order to avoid his feelings and the guilt that he felt, Amir shut the locker and closed the door on Hassan and Afghanistan. By Rahim giving him a chance to go back to help Sohrab, he is offering him a sliver of a chance to go back to be good again. The partially opened locker represents the opportunity that Rahim Khan has given to Amir. However, until this point, that locker has been closed for Amir. He locked it when he left to America and abandoned all of his problems that existed back in Afghanistan. The lock represents the trip to America that Amir took, and how it gave him an opportunity to avoid his problems rather than confront him. However, Amir’s accepting of the opportunity has unlocked the lock, allowing him to travel back to Afghanistan and try to make amends for his past actions. 

The Snowball with the Power of a Wrecking Ball

In the 1800’s, the English statesman Charles Colton said, “Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must increase”. In Africa, this ball of corruption has turned into a wrecking ball, corrupting numerous African governments in the past few decades. Corruption has become increasingly prevalent, with 80% of South African civilians and 75% of Nigerian civilians believing that corruption has been escalating (Veselinovic). Despite the increased movements to stop corruption, systemic issues have made it nearly impossible to stop corruption in governments.

In the 1990’s, native government parties began to use corrupt means to gain power over the white colonialist parties. They did this primarily by seizing control over the economy. For example, in South Africa, the African National Congress attempted to increase support for themselves by giving the natives control of state enterprises (Southall). In 1987, they urged the few native leaders to transform the Railways and Harbour Administration into the corporation TRANSNET which was sold at a discount to natives (Watkins). Native parties are continuing to use the economy as a weapon, as shown by their ties to shady capitalists. A notable example is the Gupta family, a prominent immigrant family, who privately funded Zuma in the 2009 elections as well as employed his children in their corporations (Harding). In return, they have enjoyed access to air force bases for their private planes, as well as other amenities (Harding). Unfortunately, this has set a precedent for other African countries. Increasingly, native political parties have formed connections with capitalists to gain power, money, and support. Across Africa, governments are losing an average of 148 billion dollars a year to corruption, which is devastating the economy and impoverishing the very population they are supposed to protect (Corruption).

In addition, in order to preserve power during elections, old regime leaders use military force and other extreme methods to sway election results. Due to the lack of sufficient protective legislature in place, governments are able to commit heinous actions that violate human rights. A prime example is the Zimbabwe president Mugabe, who is not being indicted solely because of lack of legislature. He conducts violent elections where he threatens or kills protesters and his opposition in order to be re-elected (Mutsaka). This has worked for him so far since he has been in power since 1987. By conducting these elections, he makes it impossible for a new leader to be sworn in. Other countries also follow a similar trend. For example, Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term and cracked down on journalists (HRW). In addition, Nkurunziza froze the bank accounts of his opposers without any reason, a clear human rights violation (HRW). These leaders are ensuring that the cycle of corruption in Africa never stops.

During the late 20th century, the native government parties began to adopt an “any means necessary attitude” and saw corruption as an easy way to gain power over the white-colonialist governments. These native leaders have set the precedent of government corruption, and are refusing to change it. The issues caused by this corruption pertain to us on a fundamental human level. In places like Ethiopia and Burundi, governments are violating citizens’ rights of freedom of expression. The military is allowed to murder civilians without the fear of being subject to the judicial system. Journalists are losing their homes and lives, as shown by recent crackdowns in Burundi (HRW). The economy is being destroyed and people are in poverty. It is truly up to the people of Africa to choose to either let this continue or band together and take action to stop the ball of corruption.

Works Cited

"How Corruption Destroys the Nigerian Economy [opinion]." Africa News Service 9 Sept. 2016. Global Issues in Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2017.

"East Africa: Little Progress, Worsening Repression." Human Rights Watch. HRW, 10 Nov. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Harding, Andrew. "Guptagate: The Scandal South Africa's Zuma Can't Shake." BBC News. BBC, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Mutsaka, Farai. "The Fight to Unseat One of Africa's Longest Ruling Dictators Is Heating up."Business Insider. Business Insider, 07 Sept. 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

Newham, Gareth. "Why Is Corruption Getting Worse in South Africa?" Corruption Watch. CorruptionWatch, 18 July 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Southall, Roger. "How ANC's Path to Corruption Was Set in South Africa's 1994 Transition." The Conversation. The Conversation, 03 Mar. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.  

Veselinovic, Milena. "Why Corruption Is Holding Africa Back." CNN. Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Watkins, Thayer. "Economic History of South Africa." Economic History of South Africa. SJSU, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

A Key to the Cage

Narrator’s Sheepskin Coat:

“I decided I would write directly onto the inside of my sheepskin coat… I copied out the chapter where Ursule somnambulates. I longed to be like her: to be able, while I lay asleep, to see what my mother was doing … Better still, like Ursule, I would visit, in my dreams, places I had never set eyes on before…” (58).

“After I had read the passage from Balzac to her word for word, he explained, “‘she took your coat and reread the whole thing, in silence. When she’d finish reading she sat there quite still, open-mouthed. Your coat was resting on the flat of her hands, the way a sacred object lies in the palms of the pious. “‘He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger, and she was transformed,carried away in a dream.It took a while for her to come down to earth. She ended up putting your wretched coat on.She said having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent" (62).  

Four-Eyes’ Suitcase:

“So I could ask him what sort of treasure he had so securely hidden away in his secret cache” (49).

“We crept up to the suitcase. It was tied with a thick rope of plaited straw, knotted crosswise. We removed the rope and raised the lid in silence. Inside, piles of books shone in the light of our torch: a company of great Western writers welcomed us with open arms. On top was our friend Balzac, with five or six novels” (99).

Main Idea/Summary of the Two Symbols relating to a Novel Topic:

In the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the locked suitcase full of books and the sheepskin coat represent Luo and the narrator’s journey to intellectual liberty during their re-education. The boys view the suitcase as a cage which locks their knowledge away and prevents them from learning. Once they get exposure to free thinking from the Balzac book, they want to experience the ability to think for themselves again. This makes the suitcase turn into their cage, because it denies them of the additional knowledge they want to gain. Eventually, the boys will do anything to break the cage open, which is for them stealing the suitcase from Four-Eyes. They succeed, allowing them a whole stash of books which gives them the knowledge they were craving. During the time that the knowledge is locked in the cage (when the books are in the suitcase), the narrator is desperate to feel close to this knowledge again. His sheepskin coat is the solution- he can feel close to the works and his intellectual freedom again when he writes the passage inside the coat. This allows him to remember the passages even when the book is gone, as well as feeling close to the books and reminding him to think freely despite this being something Mao looks down on. Overall, the books inside the suitcase represent the only knowledge the boys have access to up high on the mountain. The suitcase denies their ability to continue thinking freely, and to maintain this intellectual liberty, they turn to the writings inside the sheepskin coat for that access.

Symmetry Among All Things

Symmetry can not be taught

It is not something that we can observe

It flows through all things, fueling the world

Everything has a mirror in the world

A parallel image

This is stability

Ying has a Yang

A sea has a fire

Schoolwork has fun

Without this balance

There are only two alternatives

Too much light will burn you up

Too much darkness and you will lose yourself in it

The Tao holds light in one hand, and dark in the other

The mortal world must be equal

Without balance, there is no world