Who has the power in "What is the What" by Dave Eggers

        Currently I am reading "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. "What is the What" is the memoir of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. The book takes place during a break-in of the narrators' apartment, and flashes back to his childhood throughout the series of the book. Power and power-struggles are obviously a very important subject in "What is the What". The book shows the feeling of being powerless in a rapidly changing environment and staying strong to stay alive.

       In the flashbacks of the main character's childhood, he is portrayed very clearly as being powerless. One quote that illustrates that is "--Stay close and stay close to each other, Dut said. In the region he said, dwelled tribes that would rob boys like us. They would kill boys or kidnap boys and make them tend to their livestock." Also the power divide is great between the people, the government and the rebels, and it seems that no one is in charge of anything and that it is a free-for-all all across the country. Also it seems that anyone with power is killed pretty much instantly so only the children that are helpless are able to survive.

       When the narrator is living in America he also has a sense of incapability. He feels powerless and people are racist towards him as an immigrant. He also especially feels the extent of his powerlessness as his house is broken into.  "The simple robbery had been in a way acceptable. I have seen robberies, have been robbed, on scales much smaller than this. Until I arrived in the United States the most valuable thing I owned was the mattress I slept on". After the robbers steal a large percentage of the narrator's valuables, they knock him out and tie him up and leave a little boy to wait with him until the robbers can come back and retrieve the TV. The little boy is terrified of the narrator which adds a whole other level to the power inequality.

        The narrator feels his powerlessness expressed many times but also emphasizes his moral strength and his hopeful personality. Though the book expresses how little just one person can do, it gives the reader a sense of internal connection to all the people overlooked.

Monday Muses

I chose the poem "Manhattan" by Joseph Aprile because it represents the tolerance and diversity of Manhattan and all of New York.The poem has creative and poetic language describing the sounds and sights of Manhattan.It has a simplistic list like format that makes it interesting to read. The poem uses sentence structures like newspaper headlines and little one sentence scenes.

The poem also describes the state of mind of new york.Both those visiting like the poems author and the people that live in it.The poem is fairly un opinionated and an accurate portrayal of the city we live in. 

Final Draft

Books are one of the most important tools for learning in existence. Books can communicate controversial ideas and issues to those who need a solution or are just curious and want to learn about the world around them. Book banners may believe that by getting rid of books, they can get rid of topics that make them feel uncomfortable, such as suicide, magic or homosexuality. They may think that without the support of popular literature in such subjects those subjects will just go away. This obviously is incorrect.

     Interestingly, many worthwhile pieces of classic literature have been challenged and banned. This shows that banning might not be wholly on content but be also based on popularity. Jen Doll of the Atlantic Wire said, "The list of “most frequently banned books is like a who’s who of great American Young Adult and kid literature.” Also, she said that authors take banning as a metaphorical badge of honor. These examples show that book banning is biased toward well known books.

     One negative outcome of book banning is that kids can’t learn about issues that have been controversial and concern them. Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why, claimed that he received an email from a girl saying that his book kept her from committing suicide. If a book so commonly challenged can save a life, why not give all books a chance? Another book that  received challenges was And Tango Makes Three, the story of two male penguins hatching an egg. The authors said they were writing it for all the people with families like those in the book. It is always nice to know one isn’t the only one with particular problems and that there are other people experiencing these things as well.

     There can’t be really be any consensus about what’s appropriate for kids. For example, Harry Potter typically is seen as a wholesome book, but was banned by a Catholic school. On the other hand, Ender’s Game has very violent content, such as animal abuse and small children killing and beating each other up. Yet even though it is a very well known book, everyone seems to find it suitable for children to read. Which just shows all the varying views on whether books should be banned. And if so, which books?

     As a society, we may want to protect children from ideas and themes that are harsh or disturbing, but children will need to grow up and live in the real world. Parents should take responsibility for their children and monitor what they are reading when children are young. But, book banning of any sort, no matter the intent, is unconstitutional. The first Amendment gives the freedom of speech which the banning of books restricts greatly. In a country that prides itself on being a "melting pot", no one voice should ever be allowed to quiet the others.

                                           

    Works Cited

CNN.com "Banned Books Week:'Captain Underpants' tops list of challenged books"

 Web. September 24 2013

Doll, Jen. "The Banned Books We Have Loved." The Atlantic Wire 12 April 2012. Web.             14 Nov. 2013.

DeLuzuriaga, Tania "Man from ministry bans Potter" Boston Globe October 17 2013

Critica Thinking Question: How does this book help you to think about Social Issues you care about or causes you are committed to?

I just finished reading "When We Wake" by Karen Healey. It is the story of a teenage girl named Teagan brought back to life hundreds of years after her death. She joined her friends at a protest at the Parliament House in Australia and was shot and killed by a sniper aiming for the Prime Minister. She was frozen for a hundred years as the technology to bring her back to life was created. Teagan has an interesting point of view on the social issues of her time. Protesting them one day and the next seeing their effect and extent.

One issue expressed very strongly is the extent of global warming and the need to finding greener sources of energy. The future earth has been altered so drastically that the oceans mean temperature has been raised many degrees and some crops do not grow anywhere on earth anymore do to altered climates. The Australian government has banned meat from the national diet and is using "Humanure" to grow their food. Eating meat is bad for the environment, it wastes food and there is nothing that meat provides that cannot be satisfied with a non meat product. I agree with this solution it just seems like it would be hard to enforce. The governments other solution, "Humanure" is exactly what it sounds like human waste products use as manure for growing crops. Even though this seems alright it is very thoroughly disgusting.

Another issue expressed is immigration.  In the future Australia there is a no migrant policy and concentration camps for illegal immigrants that are caught.The economy is doing very well in comparison to the rest of the world with the capabilities to support much of the rest of the world. The main character is strongly against this law as am I. The USA has somewhat similar laws with many people having trouble being able to immigrate. As land of the free it should at least be more accessable to those who want to move.

In conclusion, this book brings up many important issues and addresses them well. The character  does not have much of a strong opinion in politics and was mainly brought into politics by her friends. Having a narrator that is un-biased helps the reader to decide there opinion on different issues.