If you need help on a topic, consider:
- How does the author use the plot to examine the unique culture of the Mozambique/Zimbabwe region?
- How does the author use symbolism in this novel?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A Girl Named Disaster: Week of August 16
Now that you have gotten into the "meat" of the novel, write another paragraph about your thoughts and feelings as you read. Remember to also respond to two other students' posts.
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After the class discussion, when we talked about different religions and if one religion was the correct one, I reflected about all my classmates opinions and I concluded my thought:
ReplyDeleteI think that, even though this book takes place in Africa, the religion shown in Nhamo´s village is not a myth (using the following definition: something not true). A religion is simply a thought that was brought by our own family members and decendents, whereas you should follow. The religion shown in the village is very similar to the Christians. They believe in spirits, and in a spirit life after death, and Christians also believe in spirits, even though in a different way.
Concluding, we should respect all the other religions (Muslim, Judaism, Budism, etc.), when, at the same time, believe in our own religion beliefs.
The author's way of using the plot to describe is also very unique. By having Nhamo travel a long time by herself, the author is able to explore the entire environment of Mozambique and Zimbabwe with detail. She is able to show us the various animals that Nhamo both eats and fears. She also explores nature. When Nhamo ends up on an island, we can see that it's very diserted, and that it has a lot of plant life. So I think that the author's way of really exploring the setting of the story is very good, since, at the same time, she is also adding some adventure and making the plot interesting and fun.
ReplyDeleteThough no religion is right or wrong, I think that most religions of the world teach their followers that animals don’t have spirits. I think this because while discussing in class a lot of people said that animals don’t have spirits and that they are just there. When you look at other religions in Africa they think every living thing and sometimes even the non living things have spirits, and after all why not. We think they don’t because our religions teach us that animals and non living things don’t have spirits. Maybe since humans are above every living thing in the world, religions don’t want to compare you to the lower living being below you in the food chain since they see spirits as supreme heaven beings. That’s why I think that religions teach their followers that animals don’t have spirits.
ReplyDeleteAfter yesterday’s class discussion about “religion vs. myth,” I concluded they are the same thing, when the definition of myth is the explanation to the unknown. A myth is a story explaining morals and why things happen, and so is religion. I believe it is how humans manage to explain ideas and concepts beyond our knowledge and understanding. Since people have been raised differently and in different parts of the world, it is completely normal and expected that they will have different opinions about such complex subjects. Everyone should respect and try to understand a person’s religious belief so that they would not be ignorant and uneducated. In Nhamo’s case, I think her religion makes perfect sense to her village and community because of a main factor. They live very close to nature and live from its natural resources. Because of that, they learned to respect it much more than any of us and I think that is why Nhamo’s community believes everything (plants, rocks, water) has spirits. As you can see, I think religion and myth both explain the unknown, and it does not matter how many followers they have, they are the same and we should respect them equally.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Natasha’s comment:
ReplyDeleteI disagree with her because if Christianity and Nhamo’s religion where the same they would both believe that animals have spirits and aren’t spiritless. One example of this is that since early when you go to church the priests tell you that God made animals but they don’t have any spirits though they are living. Now Nhamo’s religion teaches her that everything even the non living have spirits, and after all what’s wrong with them having spirits and why not? This is why I disagree with Natasha’s comment.
There are many ways the author of the book “A Girl Named Disaster”, Nancy Farmer, uses Nhamo’s culture to demonstrate aspects of her culture. One of the ways would be through Nhamo’s religion, being then brought up the following debate: is it a myth or an actual religion? After some search and further analysis, we can conclude that for most religion that do not directly include the fact of spirits, her religion would be considered then not to be true. In the book, Nhamo talks about being constantly in touch with her dead mother and other dead villagers. She also believes in supernatural beings that basically control her destiny. Observing the following facts, we can conclude she has a very vivid religion where nearly every activity has its own symbolism and deeper meaning. Seeing this story from another point of view, possibly by a Catholic one, we would say it was a myth, meaning it was considered not to be true. They are not accustomed to the relevance and presence of spirits; ergo, it seems senseless for such a fantastic story to contain true facts. Another way the author chose to demonstrate the African culture would be by showing the daily chores presented by Nhamo and different aspects of her beliefs, not to say her religion. If carefully analyzed, the hierarchy of Nhamo’s village works the following way: men and boys, elders, women, young children and then girls. In the tribes and villages of Africa, this is probably the sovereign model for hierarchy. We can also notice how chores and activities are distributes among the village and how that affects the people and who they are. By this, the author then breaks the same stereotypes we always listen to about Africa and therefore she presents many different aspects of Nhamo’s culture, presenting us to the facts in renewing and innovating ways.
ReplyDeleteThe author of “A Girl Named Disaster”, uses the plot to examine the unique culture of the Mozambique/ Zimbabwe region by, demonstrating how Nhamo’s village believes in spirits, and “supernatural beings”. One example is how they believe in the “spirit leopard”, and how Nhamo said how she saw it. Another example is how they believe that when a member of the village dies, the spirit of that person still wanders the village and protects his/her family from danger. But also, the author makes Nhamo talk to her dead mother’s spirit, and we find that extremely odd, because we think that she was faking seeing her mother’s spirit, and we are not used to believing that people who have died turn into spirits and still wander around. But you may also believe in that thought if you were Christian/ Catholic. On the other hand, if Nhamo saw how our religions function, then she would think our beliefs were weird. But we should all learn to accept others religions, and not make fun of them, even though they seem odd to us.
ReplyDeleteThe author seems to be comparing Mozambique and Zimbabwe by Nhamo's point of view, making it seem like Mozambique is more isolated, les advanced while Zmbabwe already has cities and electric light in the streets. Nhamo, when she is traveling upriver, sees the electric light and imagines a place where she'll has better life. Zimbabwe seems to have the same culture but better technology more advanced while Mozambique, or the region Nhamo lived, was more traditional culture and lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, there are lots of symbolism such as the dreams of the njuzu. There is also symbolism when the mouse comes on top of the knife and is eaten, making Nhamo think it means that she can have the knife. These symbolisms and comparisons help building the book plot and understanding the story.
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ReplyDeleteThere is a grave brake on the verisimilitude of the book on page 146. In it, Nhamo talks to spirits again, but the way Ms. Farmer wrote the passage make Nhamo seem crazy. It is important to observe that the author is giving Nhamo’s side of the story and is trying to show us the religions, culture and beliefs of African people. One of the most remarkable ones is the belief in spirits. Since the beginning of the novel, Nhamo is always talking to her mother and receiving awkwardly vivid messages from her. As the plot advances, the messages from her mother and from other people (after the cholera epidemics) become almost real experiences, with Goré Mtoko’s possession of Aunt Chipo and the dreams and long talks she has with the njuzu, her mother and Crocodile Guts. Until then, the verisimilitude of the book is not broken, that means, I, at least, could really picture Nhamo talking to spirits. However, on page 146, it breaks apart with the following quote, “Don’t you burn my mukwa wood, Crocodile Guts cried. He stood in front of the craft to protect it.” This represents a very severe break on the verisimilitude of the book because it pictures the spirit of Crocodile Guts protecting his own boat from being destroyed. This apparently simple quote destroyed the whole system of belief of Nhamo’s tribe and made her seem like an insane girl gone crazy after some days alone in a boat. By so, if the author wants to keep the novel verisimilar, she must pay more attention in the way she choose her words to show the African religion system.
ReplyDeleteResponding to Isabela Vitta:
ReplyDeleteIn the last class, we talked about religion being equal or different to a myth and how this applies to Nhamo’s story; however, I believe neither that religion is equal to a myth nor that humans think other religions they don’t believe are myths. According to Mrs. Kuhn, a myth is a false anecdote invented to explain the unknown; she also said that myth and religion are the same thing. I disagree: religion is used not only to explain facts unknown by humans, but also as a set of moral rules used by some people and as a book of instructions of “how to enter heaven”, or how to be compensated and live peacefully in the afterlife. The Bible and the Qur’an have many laws explaining how a man should behave toward his equals and toward God and rules for people to follow if they want to have a reward after their death. The Hercules’ myth doesn’t have those items: Greeks never tried to be like Hercules because they believed in him or believed that, if they did exactly what the famous demigod did, they would enter the Elysium Champs. On the other hand, Catholics do what is possible to imitate the morals the Bible or any other holy book passed to mankind to have a sinless life and enter heaven after death. We were also discussing about how we think our religion is special and all the others are myths. I also disagree with that. In Nhamo’s story, her tribe believes in spirits and honors the ancestors: it is not because I don’t believe in these values that I’ll call their religion a myth. She is also afraid of Jesus and calls him a ngozi, but, how we can see, she is even trying to adapt our belief to her religion, using a nomenclature existent in hers, but never calling ours a myth. I would accept that Africans believe in that but never call their belief a myth because I don’t have proofs it is not true. Actually, there’s no proof that the beliefs of my religion are true as well, and I don’t call it a myth. By so, I disagree that religion is equal to myth and that we believe that other religions that we don’t believe are also myths.
Responding to Thales:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you especially about most religion don’t teach their followers that animals doesn’t have spirits. For example, in Japan Buddhism is the most popular religion in Japan. They tell if they prey and chant sutra they will go to heaven. They don’t teach about spirit of animals. They only talk about human’s spirits and souls will go to heaven and have fun after death. They say because animals don’t pray and they don’t have spirit, they will not go to heaven. This teaching is close to other religion, so I also think most religion teach animals don’t have spirit.
After the class discussion I have come to the conclusion that although the words ‘’ myth’’ and ‘’religion’’ are supposed to have the same literal definition, they have different connotations. If you call a system of beliefs a myth, you most probably believe it to be untrue and illogical , whereas when you call a set of beliefs a religion , you recognize that although it may not be what YOU believe in , it seems like a valid logic. Mythology, another words which should have that same definition, carries that same connotation of something untrue, a line of logic not accepted. While myth and mythology carry that pejorative connotation of something untrue , religion usually carries a connotation of acceptance, if not understanding. I find it truly interesting that words which so closely resemble each other in definitions can have such different interpretations.
ReplyDeleteResponding to Clara's post,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Clara that the author uses the setting of the places Nhamo goes by to ilustrate how Mozambique and Zimbabwe are. I also think she uses the setting to show , in detail , how the people there strugle to live in that environment. The author shows how they live in a way which to us seems the past , but for them is the only way they know. The way they cook their food, the way the move from one place to another, the author illustrates it all.
Responding to Thales,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that most religions don't don't believe in spirits. I think it's because we are superior compared to other things, animals, that makes religions think that we are special, we have a spirit. In Africa, the religions developed by the idea of spirits since most things are important for their survival, they make these things important. It could also serve to teach others of survival. There are other religions that believe in spirits and blend with the idea that humans are superior. Hinduism treats that every living being, not including plants, has a spirit. Those humans who failed to live up to their expectations reincarnate as animals. I believe in spirits and blend it with Christianism, just like later African tribes did with Islam.
Nhamo grew up believing that everything had a spirit so she treats many things with respect or fear. She also collects tools to use, which seem to be an exception to their spiritualisn.
Reponding to Natasha's post,
ReplyDeleteLike Thales , I disagree to Natasha's opinion about Nhamo's village religion being similar to Christianity. I believe that their belief in spirits is totaly diferent one from the other. Also , their traditions, how they see life after death and even how they see evil is totaly diferent. If their religions were similar , Nhamo wouldnt have been so surprised by Jesus comign back and forgiving his enemies. I think Nhamo has an African religion which greatly differs from Christianity. On the other hand, I also think that Nhamo's religion shouldnt be called a myth ( by the false definition) , it should be aknowledged as a religion.
The author uses the plot of the sroty to examine Mozambiques culture by making Nhamo come across many challenges. Most have to do with spirits and their culture has to do with spirits so therefore when Nhamo encounters a difficulty that is related to spirits the author has the oppurtunity to go deeper into spirits and their culture.
ReplyDelete