It's Okay

It's Okay

She walked in.

First period of the day

and the first day of school.

She was scared.

She couldn’t recognize anyone.

She saw faces,

Some she recognized,

But didn’t talk to,

and

Others,

she had no idea who they were.

She was scared.

She had no idea what she would face.

She was never a good writer

Or reader

What was she doing here.

She didn’t belong.

Days had passed

and she still felt bad.

Every time the teacher called on someone,

she would pray,

pray that it wasn’t her.

Just thinking about giving the wrong answer,

made her sweat.

Her hands would shake

and all she could think of,

was an escape.

Her head telling her,

“You don’t belong here,”

“This place is not for you.”

She focused  and realized

That it was okay.

She was okay,

And she could do it.

Months had gone by.

She made it,

It was finally December

and the first semester had ended.

Don’t know how she survived

or how she did it,

but she did.

And she never quit.

Not once.

Blooming Flower

Blooming Flower

This image represents how the past influences the present, specifically the parallelisms that a father and son share in their lives. The characters of Baba and Amir, along with Hassan and Sohrab, represent how the past repeats itself. Just like Baba and Hassan, the crumpled petals alongside the three flowers illustrate the conflict that occurs in their lives. As time goes on, people naturally endure hardships. Baba and Hassan, depicted as the most crumbled flower, represent the oldest of the three. The hardships of life have taken a toll on it, as it loses its petals to the environment. This is the natural cycle of life as the old pass down it’s influences to the hopeful youth. The blooming flower in it’s prime at the bottom illustrate the hope for the next generation. This is especially true for Sohrab as he is viewed as the “good” in the world, Amir believes that he can atone for his past sins through Hassan’s son. The offspring take influence and learn from those before, just like Sohrab takes after his father Hassan. Despite the different conditions of each flower, each possess the same innate likeliness of each other, displaying the similarities that are shared between father and son.

Women = Men

Women = Men

Why is that men have more rights than women? Is it because they're “stronger” or supposedly more “intelligent”? No one really knows the reason to this. People might say that it is because it has always been that way or that it's because women aren't capable of doing what men can do. Some people, like women, fight for their rights, they protest or try to find a way fix their rights, but nothing seems to change.

One of the reasons why gender inequality impacts women is because it hurts them physically and sometimes even mentally. Women in Africa are letting men take advantage of them, thus deteriorating their health, meaning that they are getting hurt. Also, some women think that men are the ones in charge which causes them to do whatever men want causing them to get hurt. According to the UN News Center, “Compounding the situation are setbacks such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic that is destroying the health of more women than men in Africa” (UN News Center). This is describing how health is an issue in Africa for women and since they don't really have the same amount of rights than men, then they are getting sick and it stops them from being better. Women are also not achieving things in life because they are dying. There are families in Africa whose daughters get killed and because they die the family gets money. Global research states, “A vast majority of South Sudanese girls will have been victims of at least one form of gender-based violence in their young lives”(Global Research). This demonstrates how families don't care about what the situation about rights is, these girls who are killed for money can’t say anything since their families are not on their side. Because of this girls are getting hurt physically or mentally and some are even dying

Another way gender inequality impacts women, is by how it affects their future. In Africa women are getting pregnant and most of them are on accident. Also, most of the women are young. An elections article describes, “South Africa's high rates of teenage pregnancy affect women's ability to remain in schools” (South African Elections). When women get pregnant at a young age, they don't get to experience things and go to school, therefore their future ends up being horrible. Women need to go to school to get a good future. An article about women empowerment stated, “Around the world 62 million girls are not in school” (Genders equality). This statistic is global, meaning that this is a number for all the girls and it’s a big number. Because women are not receiving the education they need, they aren’t having the future they want or need. Education is the key to success and if women don't get an education then their future will turn out to be a disaster.

No one really knows how to fix gender inequality in Africa and even when they try to fix it, there are people who do not care. It is not fair for the women who have to suffer this. Gender inequality impacts women by affecting their future and hurting them. Everyone should have the rights they need in order to succeed.

Works Cited

"African Women Battle for Equality | Africa Renewal Online." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.

"Women's Rights in Africa: Land Reform, Gender Equality and Social Equity." Global Research. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

"Voting for Change? Women and Gender Equality in the 2014 South African Elections | Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southern Africa."Voting for Change? Women and Gender Equality in the 2014 South African Elections | Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southern Africa. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

"Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment." Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Into the Depths of the Stomach

Into the Depths of the Stomach

“A band of plaited straw that served as his belt began to undulate too. Every now and then it disappeared into a roll of skin, but just as it seemed lost forever in the tidal flow it re-emerged, dignified and pristine. A magical waistband” (73).

In this passage, the belt can be interpreted as hope. Just like the belt, which disappears in the folds of the stomach, hope often leaves but eventually comes back. Even in the countryside, where hope is not to be found, Four-Eyes, Luo and the narrator find some in the form of the Old Miller. Four-Eyes hopes to use the miller’s songs to get him out of the countryside, and Luo and the narrator hope to use the miller’s songs to get to Four-Eye’s suitcase of books.

“‘Let’s drink to your incredible stomach,’ Luo proposed. Waving his beaker, our singer invited us to lay our hands on his abdomen. He began taking deep breaths, without singing, just for the fun of setting off the spectacular ripples across his stomach” (74).

Luo and the narrator’s emotional journey throughout their brief experience with re-education is resounding. The waves of the Old Miller’s stomach can also illustrate teenagers’ up and down stages during adolescence and the theme of coming of age. When Luo and the narrator first arrived in the countryside, Luo quickly became depressed and the two struggled to find hope in their three in a thousand chance of leaving. However, their perspectives change and they now can find happiness and joy in the smallest of things, like an undulating stomach. Even in the darkest of times, hope can be found. Life isn't always straightforward, and it has its bumps. These bumps represent problems you're facing.

Thesis: Sijie uses the symbol of the stomach and the belt to illustrate how even in the darkest of times, you can still find hope in the smallest of things. The emotional journey of the narrator and Luo shows that by Coming of Age their perspectives are changing, and thus their attitudes towards life has changed as well.

Hope:     Waves:

Belong Together

Why yin
Why yang
Well who knows

The yin is the dark
The yang is the light
They're stuck together like the moon and the night sky
They're inseparable,

but why
who knows, that's just life
They're better together then they are apart

The yin
The yang
belong together no matter what

The Environment's Effect on the Brain