Colonel Joll's Heartless Motives

Colonel Joll is clearly a man after adventure and power, and a man devoid of morals, which is a trait that comes in handy as he asserts his dominance over the barbarians and the magistrate. Colonel Joll comes across the first set of prisoners, a young boy and his grandfather who were supposedly caught after a stock-raid, though the grandfather claims they were only traveling to see the doctor as his grandson has a soar to prove it, and treats them without any humanity. Even with the evidence of the boy's soar and the unthreatening nature of the prisoners, Colonel Joll persists on interrogating the prisoners, and when the magistrate volunteers to translate for him, the Colonel tells him the job will be too “tedious,” and would be better left to the guard. When the magistrate next sees the prisoners, the boy has been beaten and is sleeping in the same hut with his dead grandfather’s body, which is disgusting and crude. It is therefore apparent the magistrate already planned on torturing these prisoners, regardless of their guilt or innocence, and therefore needed a subordinate translator who he could perform his ruthless interrogations in front of, unlike the magistrate. The colonel is obviously lying when he claims the grandfather, an old and calm man, attacked his interrogators and was killed when he fell against a wall. It is apparent the man was tortured to death as the magistrate describes his body when he says, “the lips are crushed and drawn back, the teeth are broken. One eye is rolled back, the other eye-socket is a bloody hole.” The colonel is therefore not after the truth, but is after fulfilling the sense of satisfaction he gets by imprisoning, torturing, and killing the barbarians.

It also becomes apparent that the colonel does not have a clear-cut plan to find these “dangerous barbarians” he speaks of, and is overly eager to set out on his expedition to find prisoners. The fact that the Colonel’s first batch of prisoners are members of a fishing village, which includes old women and even a newborn baby, shows his only intention was to find any barbarians and imprison them, as the fishermen’s crime was hiding and trying to run from the Colonel and his men. The Colonel therefore proves himself to be heartless and already holding onto set beliefs about the barbarians, as he will imprison and torture any he comes across, regardless of the fact that they are peaceful and innocent of any crimes.

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1910 Encyclopedia Britannica [European Reaction to Leopold's Abuses]

* Article explains how King Leopold exploited the natives of the Congo Free State through his control of the land.

* In 1891 when wealth in ivory and rubber were discovered in vast regions, a secret decree was made that state had control of the ivory and rubber monopoly in "vacant lands." Vacant lands=lands belonging to the state (disregarded natives).

*Trade between the natives and private trading companies was ruined, this goes against Berlin Act.

* Ended up giving some power to private companies though natives were still restricted (couldn't leave certain territories).

* Leopold II created The Fondation (most valuable rubber region) where natives were treated with the most severity.

*Charges against the state were brought at the end of 19th century: humanitarian charges and exploitation of land.

*Series of "reforms" in June 1906-no real change.

*King Leopold wrote a letter where he described his plan to restrict Belgium's liberty of action in the Congo State when it became a Belgian colony. Native restrictions (enslavement), and state's land control would be law.

*Great Britain intervened first. Sir Edward Grey said, " it will be impossible for us to continue to recognize indefinitely the present state of things without a very close examination of our treaty rights and the treaty obligations of the Congo State."

*Reform associations for the Congo in America, France, and Belgium also started reforming public opinion.

*In July 1907, the Belgian premier announced that negotiations with the Congo State would be renewed. Grey intervened and said the Congo State had "morally forfeited every right to international recognition."

*Forced to surrender The Fondation ("government within a government") though Leopold still received 155 sq. mi. in Africa and other subsidies.

Dilsey

Dilsey clearly stands out as being the main force of love and motherhood in the last section of the novel, as she cares for Luster, Quentin, Mrs. Comspon, and Benjy. Though she often scolds Luster as any mother would do to a sometimes rebellious son, she stands up for him when she tells Jason, "Luster say he didn't do it," as Jason tries to figure out who broke his window. Mrs. Compson also shows her dependence on Dilsey as she cries out for help when she says, "you know I never let anyone take my keys Dilsey," as Jason pushes her aside, and takes her keys to enter Quentin's room. Dilsey therefore acts as a savior to everyone in the house excluding Jason, as she protects them and often repeats she will not let Jason hurt Quentin. Dilsey is also the only caring person present in Benjy's life, as she does not treat him with the disrespect the rest of the characters show him. When Fronny tells her folks talk at church when they see Benjy, Dilsey replies by saying, "Den you send um to me,"..."Tell um de good Lawd dont keer whether he bright or not." Dilsey therefore cares for each character, and often sacrifices herself to help any of the children. She helps to maintain some composure in the beginning of the section when Jason realizes Quentin is gone, as Dilsey reassures Mrs. Compson her daughter will be back, tells her to rest, brings Benjy to church, and calms down Luster.

Would the Compson family be able to function without her?
Do you think Dilsey acts as an obstacle towards Jason?

The Slipper and The Pear Tree

In "Meaningful Images in The Sound and the Fury," Eben Bass cleverly explains it is the physical objects such as, a "yellow satin slipper...now cracked and soiled," and a blossoming pear tree, that abstractly explain to us the relationships between the characters over time. Eben Bass describes the slipper as being to Benjy what a pacifier would be to a baby, as it calms him down and acts as a relic. Bass explains, "the daughter (Quentin) hates the slipper as a soiled, worn reminder of her mother's and her own disgrace." This is because after the wedding, where Caddy wore the slipper, Herbet Head figures out Quentin is not his child, and Caddy and Quentin are forever separated. The slipper therefore represents this separation, and the feelings of anguish Quentin feels when she sees her mother's wedding-slipper. Caddy's wedding (includes the slipper) along with Quentin's harvard tuition were paid for by selling Benjy's pasture, this is ironic because Caddy's wedding and Quentin's going to college were two events that lead up to them never coming back to the Compson household. We do not figure out the slipper was worn by Caddy at her wedding till the end of the story, which wraps up its significance because the wedding acts as a turning point for Caddy's relationship with her family, especially Quentin who never knew her mother.  According to Bass, the pear tree also holds extreme significance in the novel. We first witness the pear tree when Caddy climbs up it and soils her under garments. This foreshadows her future promiscuity. This is interesting because it is the same tree that her daughter Quentin climbs down from at night to meet her many lovers. Therefore the tree connects the mother and daughter's promiscuous ways. I thought it was powerful when Bass explained that as the tree blooms on Easter it represents Quentin's escape, using the same tree her mother climbed when she symbolically soiled her under garments. The point Bass makes throughout the article is that both these symbols appear in Benjy's section, but we do not fully understand their significance till the last section where they are able to show us relationships between characters that otherwise hard to understand. 

• Meaningful Images in The Sound and the Fury
• Eben Bass
• Modern Language Notes, Vol. 76, No. 8 (Dec., 1961), pp. 728-731
• Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• http://www.jstor.org/stable/3039942?seq=2
  

Time

Time is a huge factor in the second part of this novel. The first scene is introduced as Quentin is lying in bed listening to the ticking of his watch, which he then breaks on his dresser. The ticking of his watch seems to have control over Quentin’s head. On the way to get his watch fixed Quentin explains, “I could only hear my watch ticking away in my pocket and after a while I had all the other sounds shut away.” Yet when he arrives to get his watch fixed he changes his mind and leaves the store with his broken yet still ticking watch. Though before he leaves he inquires if the clocks outside say the correct time, though he does not wish to know the actual time. At the end of the section, Quentin listens closely to the bells chime and the affect is has on people around him. As the last bell of the hour sounds, Quentin describes the darkness as still once again. Therefore, though Quentin may not know the actual time, it is the ticking and sound of the bells that are always present in his head.

Why can’t Quentin ignore the ticking of his watch?

What does Quentin’s father mean when he says, “Only when the clock stops does time come to life?”

Review # 2 The House Behind a Weeping Cherry by Ha Jin

The House Behind a Weeping Cherry is a beautiful story of a man named Wanren, and a prostitute named Huong who run off together to start a new life. At the end of the story Wanren describes them leaving their old life, "as we strode away, arm in arm, without looking back," as if they had no doubts about leaving for the unknown. Wanren is a tenant whose housemates consist of three prostitutes, Nana, Lili, and Huong. He also drives the girls around to their clients, because the owner of the building helps oversee the prostitues and therefore allows him to pay less rent. Wanren works in a sweat shop and encourages the girls to work there so they can escape their lives of prostitution, which he views as a waste of their youth. The only one who has interest in a new life is Huong, but she is in dept of $14,ooo to the man she works under, because he brought her illegally into New York from China. The other thing Huong and Wanren have in common is their homesickness, and Wanren feels the most happy when Huong makes him wheaton noodles (which could only be found in his home province). The two decide to run away together as it is the only way to escape Huong's debt. I think this is a beautiful story, as it really concentrates on how these immigrants are looked down upon, and the lack of opportunity there actually is in America for these people. 

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Review #1, The Fountain House by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

The Fountain House was an eerie story with Gothic elements. An unnamed girl dies in a bus accident, and her father will not accept the fact that she is dead. He therefore goes back to the hospital and pays a doctor (who badly needs the money, and likes a challenge) to try and revive her before the autopsy is performed. He therefore steals his daughter's body from the morgue and brings it to the ICU where the doctor awaits. I do not exactly understand what happens next because the father falls asleep and has a dream where he brings his daughter a sandwich, and in the sandwich there is a human heart. The daughter looks at him as if she does not want to see him. The father then proceeds to eat the sandwich (though his daughter wants to eat it and I can not figure out why) because she will die if she eats it. The father wakes up and the daughter has been revived. The father actually had a blood transfusion while he was sleeping because his daughter needed his blood. What I do not understand is the dream, or what the heart sandwich represents. Obviously a heart represents life, so maybe by eating the sandwich (which represents death) it shows him saving his daughters life by eliminating death. Also the pain the sandwich causes may represent the pain he felt due to the blood leaving his body, but the sacrifice was backed up with love. I also believe in the dream he was visiting his daughter in the after-life and her "I do not want to be bothered" attitude and wish to eat the heart sandwich might represent the fact that she understands her time had come, and the father might be messing with death and fate by trying to revive her, when he should just let her be. After typing that I understand this story a lot better, and it is extremely interesting because there could be many interpretations. 

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