The Importance of a Name

In the last section of reading of the book Lucy, Lucy began to talk about her discontent with that she felt with her name. She felt that her name had no substance and that it was picked with no real meaning attached. Because of this she decided that she would try to call herself different names she said, "I called myself other names: Emily, Charlotte, Jane. They were names of the authoresses whose books I loved." After reading this I was brought back to the idea that Jamaica, the author of Lucy, had also changed her name and that this book was based loosely off of her life. I then began to wonder, how much of this book is actually a true life account? I guess that I could assume that many of the big things that took place in Lucy's life could have taken place in Jamaica's which caused her to want to write about them.
I then was also thinking that Jamaica's real name was Elaine Potter Richardson, the main character's name was Lucy Josephine Potter. They even shared a name, "Potter". Thinking about this I think that Jamaica must have had a deeper connection with the idea of "Potter" being a slave owners name. I wish that I could ask her many of the questions that I am thinking about.

Another thing that I also thought about when I read this passage was how there are so many other authors that have pen names when they write.

• Samuel Clemens--Mark Twain
• Richard Bachman--Stephen King
• Charles Lutwidge Dodgson--Lewis Carroll
• Theodore Suess Giesel--Dr. Suess

Do you think that giving yourself another name would allow you to write with a more unabashed style? Would you censor yourself as much if you were able to hide behind a name? I wonder these things both about myself, you, and Jamaica Kincaid. Because she wrote with a different name, did she feel as she was writing this that she could write more openly?

My Life?

As I was reading Lucy today after every page I wondered, does Jamaica Kincaid know my life? It seemed that almost everything she said had some relation to me. Reading through the couple of chapters we had to for class I was constantly thinking, "wow, that totally goes with my life".

Some of the most disheartening times that this happened included when Lucy struggled with her feelings with her mother. "I was not like my mother-I was my mother" This rang so true with me. There are so many days that I go through the day saying that I will never become like my mother. There are so many things that I dislike about her but then at the end of the day I realize that as much as I try not to be like her I am like my mom in so many ways. My mother is always the maternal figure for many people, at work she has so many "adopted" children. She is always willing to help people who are struggling it almost becomes a fault. These things about her I often times get frustrated but in the end I realize that I am exactly the same. I am willing to give everything to everyone with almost nothing in return. And the most frustrating thing is that I do it again and again, which I have seen my mother do more than once.

I felt what Lucy felt when she struggled with this emotional battle. Trying to become your own self only knowing that you are going to become something that you have fought to be.

After this emotional battle I was SHOCKED when Maude came and told Lucy about her dad. Then I wanted to cry when Lucy explained what happened "My father had died...Though for a long time he had suffered from a weak heart, still it was unexpected...My father died leaving my mother a pauper" Those few sentences were my life. Kincaid had summed up my life in just a few short sentences. My dad had struggled with heart disease for a couple of years, but being optimistic lead me to believe that nothing would ever happen to him. He would always be strong and never get sick. Then when my dad did die it was extremely unexpected. I never thought that he would be gone. Then shortly after he passed away my mom and I realized that he had not kept up on his life insurance. My mom was then forced to take on some of his bills with no help from his life insurance policy. Because of my own emotional struggle I felt what Lucy was going through more than I had ever wished to. At the moment I read that I wished I could just reach through and give her a hug and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

The new and the old

"I was reminded of how uncomfortable the new can make you feel" Lucy pg. 4. I think this is so true. The biggest situation I can remember is going into college. I was so excited to leave high school, to make new friends, to be in the marching band, but I hadn't really given much thought to the idea of being uncomfortable. Then the day came that I was fully immersed into college life. It was the first day of band camp and I knew NO ONE.

Going into band I was incredibly insured that I would be able to start over fresh. I could become anyone or anything that I wanted to be. I was no longer going to have to play up the role that I had become from elementary school to high school. I could be the "cool" kid now...Then I walked into the band building and I was petrified. I knew NO ONE and it was no longer a nice thing. The new was horrifying and I just wanted to go back to high school band where I knew everyone and they knew me. It was then that I, like Lucy, was reminded of how uncomfortable the new can make you feel.

Unresolved?

I've been walking around the past few days mulling over in my head a major idea that we talked about in class. The idea that Lahiri's short story was unresolved. Although I feel that everyone's arguments as to why Lahiri's story was unresolved were valid, I never felt that way until I went into class. I thought the ending was nearly perfect and that there was an amazing resolution at the end. I felt like the whole story was an observation of Sanjeev's feelings for Twinkle. He was trying to sort out why exactly he married her and in the end he realized that although she did so many things that irritated him he loved her for them.

"It was the same pang he used to feel before they were married, when he would hang up the phone after one of their conversations, or when he would drive back from the airport, wondering which ascending plane in the sky was hers"

I loved the story to say the least. It might be my romantization of love and marriage, but I think that Sanjeev and Twinkle's relationship is perfect. Although they often got on eachothers nerves, at the end of the day they realized that there was nobody else better for them.

Do Opposites Attract?

Sanjeeve and Twinkle in This Blessed House seem to be exact opposites. Sanjeev seems to be the business man that has everything together and wants to put up a front to show the rest of the world that him and his family are just like the rest of America. Twinkle, on the other hand, is very free-spirited. She doesn't seem to let things get her down and she is always on the go but not in the most productive manner.

I believe that opposites can attract, and they do. I don't think that polar opposites will form a lasting relationship. A good relationship must be formed on some similiarities but I feel that some difference will make a relationship work.

When I thought about this couple, Sanjeev and Twinkle, I was quickly reminded of another beloved "opposites attract" couple...Lucy and Ricky. It seemed that almost everything Lucy did Ricky hated but at the end of each episode they were always together.

I Love Lucy - Lucy Plays Cupid
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Behind the Veil

I attended a lecture at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference this past week. Professor Qazi introduced to the group very interesting points about the stereotypes that the West and Western culture have put on women of the Middle East. In the West it has seemed that the idea of the veil and head covering has become synonymous with the words of oppression and lack of woman's rights. Instead Qazi showed that for many women the veil shows their religious devotion and is in no way a political way of oppression. One of the most interesting things that she showed was a series of pictures in which we had to guess what the people were doing. In this picture she cropped it so that just the heads were showing. Not one person would have guessed that it was a group of women in a soccer league playing. She also explained that many muslim countries are far ahead in women's rights in that they have already had a woman head political leader. Qazi's lecture was very informative and broke many social stereotypes that I had formed in my head about the muslim culture and women oppression. As she talked I was also reminded of a book that I read last semester by Shirin Ebadi called Iran Awakening.