Final Thoughts

I must say that the books we read were very interesting. Two I very much enjoyed. I was very impressed with My Name is Asher Lev and Uncle Tom's Cabin. There was such a strong faith connection in both of those novels. They were very good choices for this type of course. I say a strong connection between these books and continue to find ways to use them in my classroom. Besides the group writing, I thought the variety of writing was very good. It keep me thinking and allowed me to look at the novels in different ways. The blogs were good to read and respond to. The connections between the religions and the novels were good. Although the Jewish faith and Christianity are predominate in our world, I would have liked to read something that explored a religion that is less explored. I would not replace Asher Lev or UTC, but I would replace A Wrinkle in Time and The Power and the Glory. The Life of Pi is a good book that combines three religions, Hinduism, Muslim and Christianity. It is very long and can sometimes go on and on, but great for realizing the power and presents of god. I was very happy to be exposed to new literature that explored religious perspectives and would love to know the titles of other books that were not possible to include in the limitations of this class. The blogs and discussion boards were very effective in expressing ideas. I learned so much from everyone. Again, this would have been a great group to discuss the books with in person. I would say that this course met all the objectives from the syllabus.
Thanks to everyone for a great class!!!!!!!!

Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory

Greene’s The Power and the Glory

Graham Greene’s novel The Power and the Glory represents people in a way that goes outside of the stereotypical box that we find most comfortable. The whiskey priest is the first example of breaking away from the stereotypes. A priest should be pious and hold himself to the highest standard. The whiskey priest admits that he falls short as an example for what the clergy should look like. He drinks too much and has had an affair, which produced a child. He admits that he is not worthy of the sacrifices that others are making for him. “Oh God, send them someone more worthwhile to suffer for. It seemed to him a damnable mockery that they should sacrifice themselves for a whiskey priest with a bastard child.” (Greene 135) The whiskey priest feels an enormous burden when his status changes from being a priest to being “the priest.” His image may be the only idea of a priest the people will ever have. The priest is someone who should be humble but is only able to be truly humble when he endures the hardships of life on the run. When he finally abandons his own will and sacrifices to serve the dying criminal, he becomes the priest that can be admired. The irony lies in the fact that no one but the unbelieving lieutenant is a witness to his elevated state. What the priest does not realize is the lasting impact he does have on those around him. The lieutenant is changed for having known and spent time with the priest. The criminals in the prison have risen to the occasion to protect him and thus are better for having known him. Mr. Trench is moved by his execution and vows to leave Mexico for good. I find comfort in the fact that we can be flawed characters, yet capable of greatness much like the whiskey priest. Another example of irony can be found in the pious woman in the jail. She is a woman of conviction but has no tolerance for the human condition. She criticizes the priest and her fellow prisoners. Her piety is only skin- deep. The true heroes of the prison are the other prisoners who try to understand the priest and will not turn him in for “blood money.”
Like Asher Lev felt the need to paint life as he willing saw it, no matter what the cost, Greene paint an image of a priest that prone to humane frailty and weakness. It is not the pretty picture of the priest, but perhaps a true picture. The theme that greatness can come from the most flawed human being. When we take our struggles and hardships and allow them to help us to greatness, we are capable of many Christ-like acts. Uncle Tom was definitely the most perfect of our protagonist and his perfect nature was heightened through his sufferings. The whiskey priest needed his sufferings to make him a more perfect version.

Uncle Tom Part II

As I finished this book, Tom's character becomes more deeply connected to his Christ-like image. As his character is tested, Tom's reliance on his faith becomes even more important. Although it is tested and shows human frailty, Tom is truly humble by admitting that he cannot do this on his own and needs the Lord's help. "'Lord Jesus!' said Tom, 'you will take care of my soul? O Lord, do!--don't let me give out!'"(370) Tom connects his suffering with the suffering of Jesus. He advises Cassy to suffer with the Lord,"If we suffer with him, we shall also reign, Scripture says; but, if we deny Him, he also will deny us. Didn't they all suffer?- the Lord and all his? ....but jest the contrary, if only we hold on to him and doesn't give up to sin." (370) I have often looked at the crucifix and meditated on why did Jesus have to die in this way? He spread the Good News of the Gospel and taught mankind how to live, but why die such a horrible death? There are so many ways to die, why this? One explanation, I'm not sure it is correct, that came to me was when I was at the funeral of a young mother of 34 who left behind a husband and three children, the oldest 10. I thought about all the ways in which people suffer, and what do you do when the physical suffering is so difficult. Like Tom, you look to the cross for your answer. Jesus suffered physically and emotionally. He was subjected to betrayal, rejection, loneliness, torture, humiliation, taunting, and suffocation, and his last words were, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they have done." He was talking to the soldiers and his persecutors but also to us because it is our sins that put him there. Through his suffering, we have someone to look to during our suffering. He can relate, literally. He could not have died in any other way. No matter what our sufferings, we can look to HIm as Tom did. After all Tom's pain and suffering, he finds the will to stay true to God and himself. He keeps control over the one thing no one can take away from him, his attitude; his SOUL. "Mas'r Legree, as ye bought me, I’ll be true and faithful servant to ye. I’ll give ye all the work of my hands, all my time, all my strength; but my soul I won’t give up to mortal man. I will hold on to the Lord, and put his commands before all,--- die or live; you may be sure on it.” (389) Eva comes back to save Tom through the lock of hair that she gave him. In seeing the lock, Legree thinks it is from his past and stops beating Tom for the time being. Tom is the mirror image of Jesus especially in one of his final acts. Tom forgives. “Tom opened his eyes, and looked upon his master. “’Ye poor miserable critter!’ he said, ‘there an’t no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul!’ and he fainted entirely away.” (422) Tom’s redemptive suffering comes to light when Sambo and Quimbo convert. “’Poor critters!’ said Tom, I’d be willing to bar’ all I have, if it’ll only bring ye to Christ! O, Lord! Give me these two more sould, I pray.” (423) One of the best lines in the book comes when Tom is speaking to Mas’r George and George wants to finally buy him and Tom answers, “’O, Mas’r George, ye’re too late. The Lord bought me, and is going to take me home,---- and I long to go. Heaven is better than Kintuck.’” (426)

Throughout the reading of this novel, I was often reminded of Elie Wiesel’s Night. There was so much suffering endured by Elie and his father. The same family connections that tore apart many of the slaves in UTC were seen in Night. Elie and his father made sure that they stayed together, and they lived for each other; they sacrificed for each other. Cassy and many others question how God could allow this to happen. In Night, many ask, “Where is God?” Both novels showed how difficult it is to remain faithful during these times of injustice and oppressions. Both novels had big questions for God and how could he allow such sufferings to happen. Both novels questions how the world could remain silent when such evil acts were happening.
This is an excellent novel and can lead to so much discussion. I would like to have the African-American viewpoint on this novel. I know that the name “Uncle Tom” came to have negative connotations, but is that still the same?

Uncle Tom Part I

When reading Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it is important to keep in mind that she does have a set agenda for writing this novel. Since her audience is one that has found it easy to dehumanize slaves, she must do her best to humanize them in the eyes of a very prejudice reader. Her style of direct address to the audience in a break from the long prose and engages and directs the audience toward her topic. Even though many find themselves a part of the system, a few try to make a difference in their small way. This can be seen in Mrs. Shelby, Mas’r George, and Senator and Mrs. Bird. Mrs. Shelby treats her slaves with compassion and understanding. She is limited to what she can accomplish but asserts herself and her moral Christian values for the betterment of all. Mas’r George has a very personal connection with Uncle Tom and the slaves and will need to be more proactive in the future. This early relationship hopefully will set in motion his mother’s ideals and values. Mrs. Bird uses her influence over the Senator and convinces him to help Eliza even though politically it can be dangerous for him. The Quaker settlement is another place of refuge for Eliza and George. The Quakers show strength in their convictions and are left alone by the outside world. This allows them to help the slaves in need that come their way. Stowe highlights these characters as an example on how we should view and treat slaves and hopefully allow them to be free. They show the goodness of many slaves and put a human face on them when the rest of the world wants to treat them as dogs.

As Tom travels further down south, we see the prejudice attitudes highlighted. Marie St. Clare is one of those characters that are so self-absorbed and self-indignant that the irony jumps off the pages in her words. As she indulges her “sickness,” she is the first to scold Mammy when she is sick. “ O, that’s just one of Mammy’s fidgets! Mammy is just like all the rest of them- makes such a fuss about every little head-ache or finger-ache.”(177) I can only laugh because Marie St. Clare goes on for pages about how sick she is and how Mammy should cater to her every movement. Another ironic and prejudice statement comes when Marie speaks of Mammy and her family. Marie pays little attention to Eva and certainly does not have a loving relationship with her husband, but convinces herself that she does. She is the ultimate “Queen of D’Nile” when she makes herself to be more loving. She cannot see that Mammy could possibly be missing her husband and children. Now, St. Clare pretends not to see it. And just as if Mammy could love her little dirty babies as I love Eva! Yet St. Clare once really and soberly tried to persuade me that it was my duty, with my weak health, and all suffer, to let Mammy go back, and take somebody else in her place. That was a little too much even for me to bear.” (181) Marie St. Clare reminds me of a weak Scarlet O’Hara who is so self-absorbed that she cannot look out the window and can only see her reflection in the mirror.


I have realized through this reading how terrible the oppression of the slaves were. The tearing apart of the families was especially touching. I think that Stowe’s descriptions of the pain and desperation when families were torn apart was very effective and relatable to every reader. I see many parallels in the language used to oppress the slaves and the language used to oppress the Jews during the Holocaust. In order to treat people in the manner that existed in slavery and the Holocaust, they had to be seen as non-human.

I do see a big connection with Jesus' life, and the people connected in Stowe's novel. If Tom is the Christ-like sacraficial lamb, the people who surround him could also be connected to His Biblical story. I see Mrs. Shelby as the "Mary" figure who taught Tom his faith just as Mary passed on her faith to Jesus. The transaction between Mr. Shelby and Haley was much like Judas selling out Jesus for some justified notion. Haley I see as the Pontius Pilot who participates but acts as though his hands are tied in such matters. Who is his Peter? the Sanhedrin? Who would be Mary Magdelin? John? etc.

My Name is Asher Lev pages 197-end Full book reflection

One motif in My Name is Asher Lev was that of the “woman waiting at the window.” Rivkeh waits at the window many times during the novel. She changes and becomes very frightened after the death of her brother Yaakov. “She was no longer a light-hearted elder sister. She had become instead an efficient organizer of the temporal traffic that governed our lives.” (54) When Asher strays for the first time and comes home late, he is met with her fear and rage, “But on occasion I had the feeling there was more to it than that. Once I returned late from school after a wandering detour along Kingston Avenue. My Mother met me at the door to our apartment and screamed at me. I did not recognize her then… I did not detour again for a long time.” (54) It is this fear of the loved one that will never return that drives Rivkeh to the window on many occasions. Aryeh knows how consuming the fear can be and warns Asher to not give into his fears, which can change you. “Please Asher, don’t be like your mother. Don’t be easily frightened.” (65) This image of his mother at the widow haunts Asher, which culminates in the “Brooklyn Crucifixions.” “ I looked up as I came to the apartment house and saw my mother framed in the living room window, looking down at me.” (345) This motif can also be found in Sandra Cisneros' House on Mango Street. Many of the women sit at the window and wait. They are waiting because they find themselves in a world where they have no control. The women on Mango Street are oppressed by the men of their culture and the poverty that surrounds them. Rivkeh is oppressed by her fear and the safety of her family she cannot control. The window is a view to the outside world that cannot be controlled. No matter how many times she stands be the window, she still cannot get used to it. Asher is a grown and ready to go to Europe after graduation and his mother is still at the window. “She turned back to the window and was silent a long time. Then she said very quietly, ‘It’s strange, Asher, how a person can do something for half a lifetime and still not get used to it. I thought I was used to it. But I was fooling myself.’ ” (307) Asher is finally able to come to an understanding of his mother’s waiting by the window in the end when he decides to paint the “Brooklyn Crucifixion,” “…she had once waited for me to return from the museum, as she had once waited for my father to return in a snowstorm? And I could understand her torment now; I could see her waiting endlessly with the fear that someone she loved would be brought to her dead. I could feel her anguish.” (325)

The theme of the power of art can also be found in My Name is Asher Lev. Asher’s art has the power to make the world pretty and thus soothe his mother by painting the pretty birds and flowers. “Paint pretty pictures, Asher, she had said. Make the world pretty.” (325) As Asher fosters his gift, he discovers even more power in his art. His art has the power to consume him. “ I found myself flooded with the shapes and textures of the world around me… I was seeing with another pair of eyes that had suddenly come awake. I sat still in my chair and felt frightened.” (108) “ I did not even know I was drawing it.” (125) Asher is able to seek revenge through his art. When a classmate continuously teases and taunts Asher, Asher uses the power of his art to seek vengeance for himself and stop the teasing. “I drew the terror on the faces of the dead and the damned. I made all the faces his face, pimply, scrawny---eyes bulging, mouths open, shrieking in horror. I exaggerated the talons and painted ears of Charon; I darkened his face, bringing out the whites of his raging eyes.” (241) Asher puts the drawing in his classmate’s Gemorra. The classmate avoided Asher. Asher’s art becomes so much a part of him that he panics when his work is sold and taken away. The years of his life was poured out into his paintings and now they were gone. Asher felt empty. “My God, they’re swallowing up my world faster than I can paint it.” (301) Finally, Asher decides to paint the truth and feelings that he sees. Once the idea of painting his mother’s torment and anguish came to him, he had to truthfully paint what he knew to be the truth. “I knew there would be no other way to do it. No one says you have to paint ultimate anguish and torment. But if you are driven to paint it, you have no other way.” (326) This was an act of betrayal and Asher knew it as soon as the painting was complete. “I took the canvas down and put it against a wall. I felt vaguely unclean, as if I had betrayed a friend.” The final power of art is the God-like ability to create something out of nothing. Having done so he prays for forgiveness and understanding from the Master of the Universe. “I had not imagined them to be so powerful…and saw my father and mother looking at the paintings. Then I turned away, terrified before such an act of creation.” (357) The final realization of the power of art and the artist is when Asher looks at his hands and reflects on the power that is contained in his hands. “Power to create and destroy. Power to bring pleasure and pain. Power to amuse and horrify. There was in that hand the demonic and the divine at one and the same time…Asher Lev paints good pictures and hurts people he loves. Then be a great painter, Asher Lev; that will be the only justification for all the pain you will cause.” (367) In this final statement we also see the many ironies that are at play in this novel. The irony that when his father is away, he becomes more apart of Asher’s life and thoughts than when he is in his apartment on a daily basis. It is also ironic that he must seek out Christian art to find the true level of anguish and torment seen in his mother. Once again, like his grandfather, the Christians have an influence in destroying the family. Although Asher and his father are in constant conflict with each other, they are so much alike. They are both so passionate about their work. They are both able to create something out of nothing. It is their mother that provides a balance to their worlds. The idea of balance can also be seen in this novel. The ideas of a balance between the individual and the community they are a apart of. The balance of family desires and beliefs and the individuals.

This was an excellent novel rich in themes, allusions, religious imagery, and literary interpretations. I could write for a very long time on the many insights this novel gives.
~ An excellent read.

Writing group

This bog is to open up our format for writing this paper. I am not a fan of this style but will try to make the most of it.

I have looked up some historical and background information about the Hasidic community in the new world.
Let me know if we want a different format.

My Name is Asher Lev pages 100-197

This is a very interesting book. A few things came to my mind while I was reading these pages. One theme that I am seeing is that of the unfinished work. Aryeh is continually talking about the unfinished work. There is so much work for him to do in Europe. He travels and works very hard to set up the yeshivas all over Europe. He continually refers to it as his "unfinished work." Rivkeh has decided to go to college and get her master's degree and now a doctorate in Russian studies. Her motivation for this is to complete the "unfinished work" of her beloved brother Yaakov. There is great importance placed on the "unfinished work" by the adults in this book. I think that Asher also has some unfinished work. Each time he creates a drawing or is drawing in his mind, he cannot accomplish anything until the drawing is complete. He tunes the world out and is unaware of the events around him until his work is complete. He also will have "unfinished work" if he is not allowed to continue drawing. I don't know that the adults in his world see his gift as a continual process. The same feelings and drive that they have for their work, Asher also has for his work. I look forward to the understandings that come as the story unfolds.
I have new insight into the Jewish religion. I was especially amazed at the perceptions of this Jewish community on Jesus. Aryeh will not even say his name and will only refer to him as "that man." The feelings are very hostile, for example Aryeh describes this in the recollection of his speech to Asher on page 173.
"He kept talking about my drawings of "that man." He would not pronounce his name. Did I know how much Jewish blood had been spilled because of that man? Did I know how many Jews had been killed in the name of that man during the Crusades? Did I know the reason Hitler had been able to slaughter six million Jews without too much complaint from the world was for two thousand years the world had been taught that Jews, not Romans, had killed that man?..."
This quotation was very profound and insightful for me. I knew when "The Passion of Christ" came out that there was some controversy in regards to how the Jewish people were depicted, but I didn't see it in the same light. This passage makes it clear what the Jewish perspective and point of view of Christianity is for them.
The painting are very interesting to me. I am now going to have to find a way to view them,"The Massacre of the Innocents" especially. I look forward to the new conflicts that will arise with the introduction of Jacob Kahn.

My Name is Asher Lev

So far I love this book. The Jewish terminology can sometimes be difficult, but I am enjoying the storyline. I felt a connection when his mother went into such a deep depression after her brother died. Recently, I have had some friends who are suffering from depression also. I don't understand this disease, and I am sure it looks different for each person. At times I found myself getting very angry with the mother. I kept wondering what was in her mind that the love and loss of this brother was so much stronger than the love and care for her son and husband. I'm sure if she could have done something sooner she would have, and I can't imagine what that type on inability to even move would be like. Asher kept asking questions and it seemed that the parents would not give him very good information. From his point of view, he was suffering. I wonder how often I give my children a vague answer and think that they are ok with it.

A Wrinkle in Time

At first when I began reading A Wrinkle in Time I did not like, but as I continued to read the story became more interesting. This would be a good book for younger readers. The strong and interesting protagonist who comes to appreciate her differences and finds the strength within to save her brother. The simple theme of inner strength and love conquers all was easily revealed. In the basic good vs. evil plot, the author over simplifies the idea that Meg who represents good has what no evil presence can have and that is love. This book could lead to some interesting discussions with a class. The religious references and images add to the interest of the novel.