The Rabbi's Cat

I really enjoyed the story "the Rabbi's Cat". This book was really interesting. I have never read a book that was like a comic book. It kept my attention a lot because, it was not long at all. To me the story was really funny. The cat eats the bird and ends up talking. In the story the cat was really funny. I think that Joann Sfar kept the story interesting by making the cat talk. Towards the middle of the story the cat lost his voice and was no longer able to talk. Kitties owner and master who is the rabbi was a man who truly believed in his religion. He has been a rabbi for 30 years, and he wanted to continue on with being the rabbi. He didn't want to be just a rabbi, he wanted to be the rabbi of Algeria. In order to do this he had to take the dictation to show that he could speak French. Kitty helped him out with this. The way he did this was he gave up the ability to talk, so the rabbi would pass the test. I really liked how Joann Sfar made kitty seem like a cold hearted cat, and then show that he has a sensitive side. He was willing to give up something to make his master happy.


The way that the pictures were presented in the story was really interesting to me. In Algeria, the pictures were really colorful and nice. He made it seem like Algeria was this great place. When  they traveled over seas to Paris, he made every picture really Grey, black and gloomy. The rabbi didn't have anywhere to stay and it was always rainy. It was almost like Joann Sfar was saying that Algeria is a much better place than Paris because, people in Algeria are religious and much better people.


I liked in the story how the rabbi ends up going against his religion, but at the same time kept it respectful. This can relate to me because i am christian but i do not do everything the way most Christians do when they practice the religion. I'm not a religious person, but i do believe in god and the things that he did for people. In the end, the rabbi almost made it seem like to me, that its OK to be the way i am. As long as i believe then that is all i need to do. I do not need to go above and beyond to show that. It is OK to break a couple rules without disappointing the people of your religion or even god himself.

Nervous Conditions

Nervous conditions was a very interesting book. I honestly do not read books at all, but this one kept my attention. Every chapter was great. I sometimes found my self wanting to read more, this is very unusual for me. The story had man y different issues as far as poverty vs. wealth, men vs, women, but the main problem that the author Tsitsi concentrated on was colonization. She compared true shonas to Africans who were raised in Britain. To me this was a big difference. In the story it even started to tear the families apart. Tambu who was raised shona, and Nyasha who was raised in Britain we two different people. Tambu who's is the main character was very respectful, quiet, smart, motivated and most importantly she was obedient. Nyasha was the complete opposite of her. This is a demonstration of how Nyasha has been colonized. I thought the entire story was great.

I can relate to this because even today being wealthy can change a person. I have a wealthy side of a family that has completely changed on how they look at people. They are very disrespectful and also stuck up. This side of my family has lost friends because of how they act ever since they made a lot of money. Today it is kind of hard to deal with because at one point we use to be really close to them. If i would have to say it after reading this story i would say they have been colonized and the rest of the family are like the shona's.

Ngugi writing

To me Ingugi was a creative writer. He talked about the colonization of the mind in his stories. I feel he was kind of confusing as a writer. He write the stories to people who understand some of the African Language. After discussing it in class i felt like his stories were great! Talking about it kept my attention the entire time.

My favorite story that we read was "Wedding at the Cross" This story was very interesting to me. Miriamu and Wariuki were just two people in love with one another. The only problem was that Miriamu came from a very wealthy family. Her dad mainly tried to act like one of the British. He was a man of great expectations from his daughter. He demanded that she marry a man just as wealthy as them. Miriamu went against her dads wishes. She fell in love with Wariuki who was just a milk clerk. He had no money whats so ever. The only thing that Miriamu worried about was that she was in love with the man and that's who she really wanted to be with. Her father disapproved of Wariuki. He was not a rich man who could take care of his daughter the proper way. One day they both ran away and lived together. Wariuki gave her children. They always made love to one another. Neither of them could be happier. Wariuki was determined to change her fathers mind. He did whatever he could to become a wealthy man. When he returned he was changed. He was not the man that Miriamu fell in love with. Her father fell in love with the man he became. At the end she refused to marry him. She said in the story that he became her father and she did not like that one bit.

This is how Ngugi is trying to describe Colonization. He was a true man, that is what Miriamu loved about him. He went off away from her to become rich and that is how the mind becomes colonized. That part really made me mad! Your wife loves you for the way that you are. Impressing her father is what most wives do not care about. Living with someone that is completely changed would be really hard to live with.  Money and wealth colonizes the mind. Most of our country is like this and that is what has to change. People need to stick to what is true to them, not how much money they have so they are better than others. No one is better than anyone. We are all equal no matter how much money we have and that is what people do not understand. I have family that stopped talking to the rest of the family because they got wealthy really quick. Now they think they are better than everyone else. This is why this story bothers me so much.

Gordimer's Writing

Nadine Gordimer is a talented writer in my opinion. She paints a very good picture when she tells a story. Gordimer explains the story's she tells with very good detail so that the writer can picture it as fine as possible. Some very good stories that Gordimer has written are, "Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants", "Amnesty" and "Six Feet of the Country". In all of these stories that she wrote had something to do with apartheid. This was something that had been going on in South Africa. It was a very racist time for Africa.

In the short story "Amnesty" I thought it was a very good  story. This entire story kept me interested. When reading this piece i felt very Angy, especially after we went over it in class. The nameless women in the story, i felt like was very strong! Her husband was gone probably 90% of the time. He ended up getting arrested and being sent to Robins Island. She had a child with him that she had to raise on her own. My sisters husband is in the army, and for a year of her child's life he was in Afghanistan. I know how hard it is to raise a child on your own just from watching my sister do it. The man who was her husband was a dick, just like we discussed in class about the man in the story of "Six Feet of the Country". But he felt like he had a purpose in his life. He wanted to fight for his African people and children. That's when he joined the movement. The man gave her what she wanted, which was children. In the end i think she is brave, strong, and driven. This story should inspire all of those single mom's who do not have a husband or boyfriend there to support them.

In the short story " Six Feet of the Country" this story made me SO FURIOUS! This story shows a perfect example of Apartheid. Family is so important to me, especially my brothers and sisters. If anyone of them were to pass away i would want to have a funeral for them. I would hate to see their body being shipped off to only god know where. During Apartheid whites felt like they had so much power that they could do anything. Like digging up a random body and telling the black man that it is his brother. That is so wrong on so many different levels! What really pissed me off was that they gathered so much money for nothing! Baas did not care either way. In this story i think that Gordimer made it pretty clear that the whites treated the blacks like animals. They acted like there were no feelings involved when it came to the black community. Really the black people were better people than the white people.

I really enjoyed these two stories. They kept my attention the entire time, plus they made me feel like i could picture what was going on. There was a lot of drama that went on in the story and that is what i like to read about. Gordimer is a very good writer, and i would read some more of her stories, also i would recommend them to a friend.

Achebes Writing

     The story that i liked the most was the story "Girls at War". This text was very interesting to me. It made me think a lot about the situations that were going on in the story. They were at war in the story. Girls at War made me really think about what would i do in that situation. Like the character Gladys,; she was doing whatever it took for her to survive. Some people think doing things like prostitution is insane and they would never do something like that. Gladys probably thought the same thing, but she had to do what ever it took. I liked Gladys in the story. She seemed like a really good person at heart, she just made some bad choices. Like we discussed in class, she had to do something bad to make a good. At the end of the story it was very surprising because, she stopped for a soldier who was wounded. That shows that she is a good person at heart. Then when the plane flew over to bomb the area, she went back for the soldier in the car to try to save him. Overall the events that took place in this story were very interesting. I liked this story the most because it was all about survival.
     The "Mad Man" Was my second favorite story. I actually found this story really funny. Achebe compared a "mad man" in two different ways. He told a story about an actual crazy man who will walk down the road and talk to it like it is actually his friend. If you see someone talking to the road then you automatically think that the arey really crazy. The actual "mad man" would sleep at the market and believe it was his home. The second "mad man" he told us about is just an angry man. He is a guy that is fed up with his wives fighting with eachother, and just how his life is going. His pants get stolen while he is bathing in the river. So he chases the actual crazy guy through the mall completely nude. People look at him as the "mad man".
     I thought it was interesting how he compared the "mad man" in two different ways. Achebe made it seem like the guy that would talk to the road was very happy with his life, and made the one that was sane seem very unhappy with his life. I liked how he mad the sane one look like the "mad man" in the eyes of the public.

The Strangle Hold of English Lit-Chad McGuffey

In this blog i will be responding to The Stranle Hold of English Lit by Felix Mnthali.

I the text it has something to do with me in a way because it says Jane Austin and her people sat back and did nothing but, they still got wealthy. It relates to me bacause i have family that has done the same thing in life. It was like they didnt have to do nothing at all and took controll over a situation, and then got wealthy.

I agree with the guy that is giving the speech. I feel like people have to work for what they get. It is not fair to the people for someone to sit back and get wealthy. It is not fair for people to conquer someone elses land. I feel like what was going on in this story was not the right thing to do in africa. The way things worked at this time was not fair. The way the british took over wasnt the right thing to do.

I learned by this story by knowing that the british took over african land. They made other people do their work because they had more power. This changed the way i felt about the speaker because at first i just he was complaining, buit now i feel like his anger is necessary and he has every right to be angry at Jane Austin.

It adresses the things that are important to me very well. Someones personal items are important to them but, having someone come over and take that from them is very wrong! It is even worse when they dont have any power to do anything about it. To me having land and owning it is very important to a person.

I think this piece is interesting. He is angry at one person and their people. He has the right to be angry. I like the way he called the british "aliens". The way he was angry about the british conquering the land kept me very interested in the poem.

I enjoyed the text a lot actually. At first i did not enjoy it because i didnt understand it too much. I think i enjoyed it more as art.

My overall reaction to the text was surprised. I wasnt shure of the tone of the speaker at first. I would read another text like this but only if i had someone with me who knew what was going on. They used some words that i did not understand who they were talking about at first. I would reccomend this text to another student who is interested in this kind of work