Prezzzzziiii

Man, I only now learned about this, so decided to step back on doing the layout and presentation, but there is definitely some cool stuff you can do with this...

Alrighty, here ya go :)

Prezzziii

There Will Be Blood

So, finally, after 15 chapters, the praised, fearless, passionate, calculating Bakayoko makes his return, into the midst of the conflict.
Overall, I think he is my favorite character. He is imperfectly good, and able to bring progress, in conflict, while showing no emotional attachment at all. In total, he just seems to be extremely necessary. It was interesting to see the calm, quiet beginning to his appearance, leading into a display of the power and the passion fueling his ideas and actions, during the negotiations. Displayed too, are some of his flaws of character, principally his arrogance and his lack of self control.
In short, Bakayoko is portrayed as both savior and trigger, in simple terms someone able and determined to make things better but, because of his passion and his temper, unable to help making things worse.
Hero, anti-hero, and neutral force to be reckoned with. 

The march of the women seemed to be a sort of temporary climax to the influence that the women are holding in the story, yet filled with tragedy.There are the deaths of Penda and Samba, both of which are viewed by those on the march as martyrdoms. Yet, they are the latest in a series of deaths that begins in chapter two with the accidental death of Maimouna's unnamed second twin and that continues with the deaths of Hiakoro, Houdia M'Baye and even Sounkare. The thematic and narrative suggestion here is that there is no price too high to pay for freedom, and as such I can't help but think of the futility of the entire situation.

It appears as if death will be the victor, regardless of any outcome.

Quick shameless plug

Just another quick link to my soundcloud. Have 2 new tracks up: a remix of Turbulence (by Steve Aoki) and a new original. Check it out! Thanks :)

Running Wild

Still, I am surprised by the book, in a positive way. Here is to hoping that there are no more let-downs.
The entire episode of the apprentices was of high note to me. While this was also a large part of the discussion in class, the importance of the destruction of modern inventions/man made things stood out to me while reading. Since we covered this to a large extent, I won't repeat the arguments, but I do believe that the main intent here was to display the fragility of modern rule, and especially the french rule in africa. (I would not necessary think this was supposed to be applied universally.) 

The next chapter I found equally as interesting, mainly because it displayed what can be considered one of the pivotal aspects of cultural interaction. Especially in this context, when reality was brutal domination, it is fairly interesting to see attempts, or at least thoughts, of peaceful interaction. The specific part of the narration that interested me here was the reaction that ensued after Pierrot expresses his wishes. The extreme disdain towards so much as the idea of this, that is expressed from the guests is one thing, but the reaction that caught my attention more was that of Leblanc. While we are not given much detail of his interactions, only the rejection he received, it still displays an interesting aspect to the brutal nature of colonization, which is explored so often in this novel. It raises a question of whether or not the brutal domination is necessary to accomplish this process of cultural merging. However, this is a much larger question.

Overall, still looking forward to the development of the story, interested to see which arc they continue next.

Chapters 11 and 12, still diggin it

Still no change in my enjoyment of this book. Although these chapters are much calmer, at least in comparison to the giant outburst of emotions and flames in the last few, the story continues to keep me captivated. What I did not expect to capture me as much was the tale of Penda. While it seemed to be a rather uninteresting story of a return into a different life. Yet, her aggressiveness, which she pertains while remaining fairly insensitive captivated me to great pleasure. The entirety of her conflict adds a next level of discourse into the society (as if there weren't enough). As such, she appears to interact with most of the groups. Her hatred for men (which I found interesting since she herself cannot answer the question why she hates them so much, at least not directly), her taking control of the women, and her aiding in the distribution of the food; all this serves to create an interesting character, and I look forward to the continuation of her story.

Chapter 12, I found to be of small importance, as I did not see too much depth in the conflict/interaction present. It was (to me) a fairly base interaction between a union leader and a french official, pertaining to the integrity of the union leadership, and the strength (or lack thereof) of the french government (due to them having to reach out to the union workers, in order to achieve anything.)
While this story did not capture my interest as much as the one of chapter 11, it still did not avert my interest and liking for the book.

Also, new track up on soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/necr0step/turbulencenecr0/s-u3CiN

Remixxxxxx :D

Wow.. I stand SO corrected.

Wow... All this time, I've been complaining. I've been whining. I've been a pretentious, argumentative .....
Well....
I must say, I am just about over the verge of change. I am now genuinely enjoying the novel. (And that is not just because you did not appreciate my blog posts of the last quarter, Mr. Brammer....)
Honestly, the story, especially in these last two chapters (which I suppose I read more carefully since I had to present them) just takes a turn for awesome, exciting, intriguing. Put it how you like. The entire situation during the conflict in the streets, the fires, the aftermath, the reactions... In the beginning of this blog, I started going off on how the novel focused too much on what I believed to be superficial, and extraneous (the strike, the lives of the women in the community). I now realize the foolishness of this point. The strike, the lives of the women, all this is the most vital, most paramount part to life, at this specific time. The entire outburst of emotion, from someone as reserved as N'Deye Touti, who embraced the French culture, and who appeared to be a link, holding on to what she held dear, yet open to change, she is absolutely enraged, infuriated even, by the disappointment she feels at the remarks of some petty soldiers. It is (as said in class) a sort of brutality, which pulls her into the madness that is the realization of human base, and vile nature. This alone could make for pages, upon pages of argument.
Then, the story of the lone, and proud watchman. Holy hell... I would make that into a movie in an instant. Well, maybe not... very little movies with dying protagonists do well. But I mean come on?!?! The struggle between grace and death, honor and basic instincts, along with the tragedy of ending up as food? Man, that scene was just awesomely interesting.
So yeah, I suppose no more criticizing attitude, and sassy comments... Mostly shock and awe. Let's hope this continues in the fashion...
Also, I might start promoting my music through this blog... Will see if can't finish another track by next week. I feel as if my life consists of school, FL studio, and sleep.
Alrighty, time to make some beats flow.

beepboopBOOOM
Much more appropriate, don't ya think? :)

Short lived excitement I suppose

Well that was just incredibly uninteresting. The two chapters felt extremely tacked on, and I relied mostly on re-reading summaries of them to come up with the only point that I personally found worth noting. That point is the way Bakayoko's influence begins to become less theoretical and more literal and/or actual. Granted, that influence is understood through a book which, it could be argued, is itself theoretical. It does, nevertheless, and in this manifestation, have an actual physical presence and effect. People literally act on Bakayoko's ideas and ideals, as opposed to just thinking about them. Not to be misled by the statements in the beginning, I find this to be an important point to be made, it was merely that I could not get into these two chapters, story and character wise at all. Oh well, read on it is...

By the way, this is just about sums up this reading. NotForYouMrTeacher

Seems about right....

So from the beginning of these two chapters, I am quite content in saying that what I pointed out for chapters 3 and 4 appears to indeed be a theme in the novel: the overcoming of the oppression of genders within the oppressed culture. The two scenes of the women at the outset of chapter 5, we see that some women are stepping up, and taking a stand. The first one in a more external way, as Mame Sofi is able to get the water from the water seller for free, by means that would normally be associated with a male dominant figure, in this setting. Next, we have the internal conflict of N'Deye Touti, who considers herself vastly superior (bit of a b*tch if you ask me, especially in regard to her relationship situation...) but she does appear to have superior cultural, worldly knowledge, all accompanied by her beauty (which can be considered very European). So here again, there is a certain emphasis on the diminishing barrier between the genders, which appears to be a preliminary step to accomplishing anything in regards to the colonization, which is also highlighted in the conflict that she faces, and portrays.
This theme continues, with the killing of the ram (pretty bad*ss...) which again displays a rising of a female character to the level of what would be considered male status. 
Finally, it seems that in the final moments of the chapter, the narrative again "zooms out", looking at the experiences of the community as a whole, essentially defining them as both manifestations and triggers of individual transformations discussed pages before.
Overall, this book is growing on me. There are some parts I still can not enjoy (the second part of chapter 5, I pretty much skipped) but as a whole, it is quite an interesting work.

On to Chapter 3 and 4...

Well, as far as these two chapters are concerned I can really not focus on anything but the outset of chapter 3. While the brutality at the end of chapter two already gave me a hint towards this development, the entire situation of the violent protests, and the deaths that ensue, to me symbolize the inherent nature of  the process of colonization. Domination. Along with the brutality that reigns this episode, and the non-negotiable standpoints of the superior force here (the management) it seems to reinforce the point that this book seems to make in regards to colonization, which is that there will be a superior (how to define this superiority is a larger discussion) which will subjugate the community that is being colonized.

Before I continue upon this point, another thing that struck me as interesting has to be pointed out. This is the hierarchy of this oppression. To me, it seemed as if the story tells of the struggle of a subjugated community within a subjugated community. The struggles of the oppressed women of the oppressed community in the setting shows that they will have to cut their way through two levels of subjugation in order to achieve freedom, integrity and empowerment, which I found to be an interesting way to include several levels of plot into the story.


Now, to continue on the point of the oppression, and more specifically, in terms of antagonists in the story (not only as specific persons, but as an idea in general) this seemed to relate to the title, as by the narrative it seems that the general message of the novel appears to be humility, faith, and some manner of connection with the divine which to me indicates some sort of inherent human dignity. Those "bits" who do not seem to conform to this general image appear to be driving the conflict of the novel, and will play into the plot as obstacles, it seems. 

so far ... meh

alrighty, so what is happening here? I am not all that sure as to what I think of the book so far. The setting is most definitely interesting, and I would love to enjoy the story. Sadly, the story... well... I just don't like it, to make it short. The gossipy, upbeat, fast paced and most importantly, moving, narration has me sitting there, feeling and looking something like this. This is mainly because I just can not come to terms with the gossipy, character focused narrative. I end up thinking about all the things that are occurring outside of the story, in these extremely interesting settings. So, unless the story takes a drastic turn for the better in the next few chapters, I am afraid that I will end up here, all too often, during reading time....