'How Does a Person Get to be That Way?'

After reading the first part of Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid, I found I was absolutely repulsed by the character of Lucy. She was so negative toward everything, her new surroundings, her job, the snow, and everyone around her. She was especially hostile toward her mother, which I thought was horrible. The most confusing part of this reading to me was in all Lucy's interactions, she wondered how the other person got to be a certain way. For example, when Mariah was excited by the thought of spring and "made to feel alive by some flowers bending in the breeze" (17). Lucy did not ask that question out of admiration for Mariah, but more looking down on her and thinking such a thing was stupid. What bothered me the most in these instances was that the book did not give any insight into her past that made her so bitter.
I feel the character of Lucy is very cynical for no reason. It was her choice to leave her friends, family, and homeland behind and now she should embrace her new life.

Tables Turn..

"This Blessed House" by Jhumpa Lahiri reminded me in a way of "The Yellow Wallpaper". At first, Sanjeev looked down upon Twinkle for wanting to keep her "treasures" and thought she was childish. This was similar to how the husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper" treated his wife. Telling Twinkle what he will and will not tolerate in his home, it shows the domination and superiority Sanjeev thinks he has over his wife.
Another part that showed male domination and women's inferiority was when Sanjeev expected Twinkle to unpack boxes, sweep the attic, and repaint the windowsill, etc. because she was home all day while he was at work. It made no difference to him that she was working on her Masters' thesis, if she was home, he expected her to do housework.
As the story went on however, the tables are somewhat turned. This is where the story differs from "The Yellow Wallpaper". Twinkle becomes the dominant person, with everyone at the party following her and going on her treasure hunt. Sanjeev becomes disgruntled and pouts when Twinkle gets all the attention. I thought this was a perfect way for the story to end, with Sanjeev going along with Twinkle, and becoming the inferior person in the relationship.

Ma NI pUL a t i On

The movie "O" brings to modern life Shakespeare's tale of Othello. In watching it, we can see the ease of manipulating other people. Hugo, played by the oh-so-good looking Josh Hartnett, plays the villain (Iago) who is the "brains" behind the series of events. In the movie, many of the same situations occur as in the play, and it is easy to see the correlation between the two. Because the story of Othello is brought to modern terms, the situations in it can be applied to our everyday lives, and not just things that would happen in the past, or during Shakespeare's time. I think the most important thing to take away from this movie is that people are easily manipulated, and those being manipulated do not even realize. Odin, for example, was made to believe Dezi was cheating on him, based on what Hugo was telling him.

The real question is: can we really trust what others are telling us? Like Odin and Hugo, Odin took drastic action on the basis of what Hugo told him, and never questioned what Hugo said. Like the characters in the movie, I feel we can all relate to this and question how much we can believe of what other people tell us. Do they have ulterior motives? Are we, like Odin, simply naive pawns of other people, just waiting to be toyed with? And if so, what can we do to protect ourselves, without becoming cynical and guarded people?