Perspective

Christian and Muslim Dialogue

by

Varo Borja

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
--Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)


The ancient world as well as the modern has witnessed the struggle and strife of two of the most widespread and militantly devout religious groups ever known to man: Christians and Muslims. Christianity is the older of the two, but it has only known world hegemony since the time of Constantine. Islam, a faith that at its very core has been at odds with not only other religions, but with itself, is the younger by about five hundred years. Quite possibly, the dawn of the atomic age has brought about the impetus for Muslims and Christians to finally destroy each other in a great conflagration, or to finally come to terms, each with the other’s differences of opinion and dogma. Three primary differences, or sources of contention exist between these faiths that act as stumbling blocks to peace and reconciliation. History, politics and views on women ensure that the dialogue between Islam and Christianity will be very difficult but absolutely necessary if the world is to truly know the peace of God.

First of all, the history of warfare between both religions is long and arduous. From Abu Bakr to Pope Urban, to the reign of Mohammed II and the fall of Constantinople, Christians and Muslims slaughtered each other for possession of pieces of earth and dry rocks (Gibbon 753). The fall of Constantinople at the hands of Muslims was engineered by the greed of the Greek Christians who inhabited the city, and by the resentment and power motives of Mohammed II, quite possibly one of the most ruthless men who ever lived (Gibbon 752). After building a fortress on the banks of the Bosphorus to control the flow of goods into and out of Constantinople, in other words after sealing the fate of the Greek Christians who lived there, Mohammed II received a startlingly prophetic declaration from the last emperor of the eastern Roman Empire. In his magnum opus, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon relates the emperor’s words:

“Since nether oaths, nor treaty, nor submission can secure peace, pursue,” said he to Mohammed, “your impious warfare. My trust is in God alone: if it should please him to mollify your heart, I shall rejoice in the happy change; if he delivers the city into your hands, I submit without a murmur to His holy will. But until the Judge of the earth shall pronounce between us, it is my duty to live and die in the defense of my people” (Gibbon 753).

This statement of defiance is just one of many made over the almost 1500 years of sporadic warfare between Muslims and Christians. With a long history of hate and misunderstanding such as this, the successful dialogue between Christians and Muslims will surely be difficult to accomplish, but if the lion is to finally lie down with lamb, an understanding must be reached (Isaiah 11:6).

The realm of politics is also a source of contention for the Muslim nations of the Middle East and the Western, predominantly Christian nations. Issues with Israel and arguments over oil reserves promote a climate of strife for these warring factions of differing ideologies. In the United States, opinions as to Western involvement in Middle Eastern affairs are drawn along two distinct lines: the paleoconservative, libertarian, and Leftist groups advocating almost total isolationism from Middle Eastern entanglements, and the neoconservative Right who maintain that Middle Eastern involvement is absolutely necessary and pragmatic (Stephens 25). According to Bret Stephens, author of the article How to Manage Savagery, “the (isolationist) view hardly bears discussion: all mention of Israel aside, access to Middle Eastern energy resources is a vital American interest and will almost certainly remain so for decades” (25). However, even with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq seeming to take an upturn, western political and economic aggrandizement in the Middle East will be difficult, partly because of extremist Muslim hatred for the West, and also because of sectarian strife. According to Bret Stephens, Islamic society usually segments itself into three distinct entities: the middle class, the “anti-modern” element (comprising the various extremists), and poor, rural tribesmen (26). Also according to Mr. Stephens,

so far, many of our democracy-promotion efforts have been aimed at the middle class, the one most familiar to us (but) it is necessary to isolate anti-moderns by creating political alliances between the urban middle class and the tribes (26).

These barriers present political challenges to both sides of the ideological spectrum. For the West, a shift in policy to reflect the sociological dynamic of Islamic culture is in order, and for Muslims, a willingness to put aside both hatred of the Christian infidels, and a deep desire to heal sectarian differences must come to pass. This political reconciliation will certainly be challenging and may take decades, or even centuries to complete, but a willingness to try is vital if the citizens of the earth are to know true harmony.

Lastly, differing views on women present a difficult obstacle for the peace process between Muslims and Christians. The Christian West has witnessed liberation of women on an unprecedented scale in the last century. Women wield more power in the United States and Europe than ever before. The previous presidential race here in the U.S. saw two viable, women contenders for high political office; this feat was unthinkable for Americans less than one hundred years ago. Islamic culture too has undergone some dramatic changes regarding the status of women, with many Middle Eastern females adopting the garb and enlightened familial roles of their Western counterparts. However, there has been a strong backlash in the Middle East against this trend. In her book, Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, Geraldine Brooks chronicles some of the struggles of Islamic women and their acquiescence to the prescribed, fundamentalist code of dress called hijab (Brooks 8). Ms. Brooks describes a young, Egyptian woman named Sahar, who:

had opted to wear (the hijab) in Egypt’s tormenting heat (therefore) signifying her acceptance of a legal code that valued her testimony at half the worth of a man’s, an inheritance system that allotted her half the legacy of her brother, a future domestic life in which her husband could beat her if she disobeyed, make her share his attentions with three or more wives, divorce her at whim and get absolute custody of her children (Brooks 8).

Certainly mind boggling to Western Christians, and particularly to liberated American women, this ultra-conservative dress code trend and all that it entails has and will create ever more difficult barriers for Christians and Muslims. The hijab is a political tool, a religious phenomenon, and an anachronistic vice to keep women, who traditionally seek peace rather than war, in bondage. This foundational schism between the Muslim Middle East and the Christian West, although not the most blatant of differences, certainly will be problematic for the dialogue between these two cultures, especially as women grow more powerful in nations like America. However, both cultures must strive for equilibrium in their attitudes toward women if peace is to reign in the future.


In conclusion, it is important to remember that, although Christianity, in the present day, seems to favor much more progressive political and gender equality policies in the nations where it is the predominant religion, the searchlight of history does not always cast a favorable glow upon the followers of Jesus. In the eighth century, under the Abbasids, Muslim culture entered its “golden age” and became the flower of the world, while in Christian Europe the Dark Ages clouded the landscape where the mighty Roman Empire once stood (Fisher 408). Perhaps the measuring stick of time in relation to enlightened culture and progressive ideologies need not be a stick at all, but a circle instead. From all evidence, great civilizations only follow linear time to a certain extent—they rise for perhaps a few hundred years and then sink into decline, only to rise again at a later date. Religions seem to follow the same pattern, as they are inextricably woven into the fabric of civilization. Perhaps also the great Islamic faith is undergoing a period of cleansing in the great circle of time, much as the Christian world did during the Dark Ages and later, the Reformation. Finally, couldn’t it come to pass that both Christianity and Islam, the two most populous faiths of the world, could have their next golden ages coincide on the wheel of time, and therefore bring about a better world than we have ever known? Surely through the prayers and service of saints from all faiths,
brought about by a long sought, common goal, the historical, political, and gender related issues of both creeds will no longer be impediments to the power and peace of God’s love.

Virginia's Voice

Virginia and Obama

By

Varo Borja

An article in the Christian Science Monitor today cried hope for the Democratic presidential bid in the state of Virginia, an otherwise and aforetime staunch bastion of Republican sympathy. According to the article, Mr. Obama stands a good chance of winning Virginia in some polls, but according to one academic mentioned in the article, we are not to count Virginia’s electors before November 4. The article gave two opposing pictures: one of a pseudo-glorious McCain on stage with Hank Williams Jr. at a rally in Richmond. The other snapshot was of Mr. Obama kissing an elderly black lady at a hair salon somewhere in the state. I think this photo comparison does justice to both candidates, especially in regard to the slogans for their respective support centers: McCain’s, “victory centers” and Obama’s, “Campaign for Change” offices. Mr. McCain represents the tired old hegemony of the wealthy, white, landed gentry while Mr. Obama stands for a departure from traditional views and an enfranchisement of little old African American ladies who not only get their hair done on Saturdays, but topple whole socioeconomic structures, as was the case with Rosa Parks in the 1960’s. The state of Virginia has a long history of rebellion; some of the most prominent and levelheaded leaders of the American Revolution and the Civil War hailed from Virginia. Virginia also has a history of economic and racial disparity, coupled with the long arm of the Tidewater Elite and the old planter class. It remains to be seen what direction one of the greatest, and oldest, states in the Union will take on November 4th, but one thing is for certain: the result of Virginia’s vote will most likely determine who will reside on Pennsylvania Avenue in January.

Last Debate

Last Debate

By

Varo Borja

The Economist, on October 16, 2008 heralded the last presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain to be the finest so far. I must agree. For the most part, John McCain was on the offensive, jabbing, huffing, snorting, pouting and gouging at Mr. Obama for all he was worth. Mr. McCain knew he was desperate, and according to the polls, he still is. Mr. McCain brought up some valid points, but his body language and mental inferiority to Mr. Obama clouded what could otherwise be seen as a determined effort to close the gap in the polls. Mr. McCain made some very obvious blunders. He dwelt on petty issues, such as Mr. Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, and he seemed to be losing his dwindling acumen for the facts. Mr. McCain even went as far as to say that he would hire troops, just back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to teach high school students, all without undergoing the process to achieve a teaching license! With all due respect, Mr. McCain is more ready for the rest home than the White House, and I believe that this final debate will seal the victory for Mr. Obama and Joe Biden. Mr. Obama, throughout the debate, kept a cool head and steady pressure on John McCain, who seemed to be on the verge of physical assault upon both the mediator, Bob Schieffer, and Mr. Obama himself. Surely the American public sensed the desperation in Mr. McCain’s tone and body language, and much like the dying gurgle of the annual Thanksgiving turkey, Mr. McCain and Sarah Palin’s chances for a prolongation of the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney legacy have all but given up the ghost in favor of the economic Santa Claus: Barack Obama.

Debt Before Dishonor

Bailout Plan Passes the Senate

By

Varo Borja

The Economist, on October 2, 2008 stated that the Wall Street bailout plan proposed by George W. Bush and Henry Paulson has passed the Senate by a large margin. However, the bailout is somewhat revised and includes several “sweetners”, including a raising of the FDIC bar to 250,000 dollars and several giveaways to parties unnamed. My thoughts on this issue are myriad in scope, but my first reaction to this entire crisis is a cry of disbelief at the shamelessness of Wall Street. A legion of robber barons and petty gentry who in aforetimes decried almost as a whole the institution of public welfare and social services in general, now cries for a gargantuan aid package from the Federal government to “sweeten” their demise. What in God’s name is this “bailout” other than corporate welfare—a payoff for failure, greed, and irresponsibility of a magnitude hitherto unknown in the annals of economic history? Meanwhile, residents of ghettos, slums, and tenements across the United States live in such degradation and squalor as to make even the most stolid members of “decent” society cringe in disgust, and John McCain squawks about cutting all “unnecessary” spending. I suppose the good old spirit of greed, profiteering, and what was termed in the Middle Ages as usury will continue as sovereign in the land of the American Dream. Exactly how much wealth does one group of our population need? In Africa and Asia, starving denizens grasp for a bowl of rice and a little rat meat, while the baronial manors of the Hamptons burst at the seams with the amenities of the modern age. How, in God’s name can a generation of thieves and corporate Pilates underwrite their actions with the name of the Son of Man who hung on a tree in the desert, penniless and abandoned by his followers? Exactly what would Jesus do in this situation? Would he cosign this orgy of profiteering and abashed extravagance, or would he cast the money changers from the temple and feed the more than five million poor, hungry residents of America who borrow to the hilt just so they won’t be turned out on the streets? Something must change. Individual liberty relies not on a single document or 700 billion green pieces of paper, but on personal responsibility and justice for the downtrodden and the oppressed. Otherwise, we shall reap the harvest of our actions and fade into oblivion with the rest of the dynasties who turned a deaf ear to suffering and clothed themselves in the purple robes of dishonor.

Obama and the Jewish Vote

Obama and the Jewish Vote

by

Varo Borja

Recently I was perusing an article entitled, “Obama’s Jews” by Bernard Avishai for Harper’s Magazine, and I found it very interesting the shift that has taken place among a large section of the American Jewish population. According to Mr. Avishai, the Jewish American voter was traditionally a Democrat, mainly because of FDR’s opposition to Nazi Germany and then later in the century, because of civil rights. Mr. Avishai goes on to state though, that a large bloc of the Jewish American population didn’t feel well served by the civil rights movement, especially in regards to the empowerment and economic liberation of, as Mr. Avishai says, “black toughs”. It goes without saying that Jewish American voters aren’t thrilled with the likes of Louis Farrahkan and Al Sharpton, and Mr. Avishai goes on to say that American Jews lampooned themselves as, “earning like Episcopalians and voting like Puerto Ricans”. Mr. Avishai notes, however, that the 1968 Israeli war brought about a shift in the Jewish vote to a more conservative stance, progressing even further with the 1973 Israeli/Egyptian war and culminating in the support, by a significant section of the American Jewish population, of Ronald Reagan. Mr. Avishai does note though that there has always been a large section of American Jews loyal to the Democratic party—he also says that neoconservative Zionists in the media and the political arena misrepresent the majority of American Jews. He goes on to state that what the American Jewish population is looking for is a movement, a grand cause, to revive their interest in liberal American politics. Mr. Avishai states, in a matter of fact manner, that Barack Obama can and will provide that impetus. The days of the Paul Wolfowitz’s and the William Kristol’s won’t soon come to an end however, and Mr. Obama will likely be rejected by the majority of Jews over 65, but I am glad to know that the progressive spirit hasn’t left the Jewish community. Even more so I will be glad when the trumpet of Zionism blares its last note. Zionism is one of the major setbacks for the Middle East and especially the Palestinian/Israeli peace movement, and parties such as the Israeli Likud and its malefactors will hopefully tire of their collective psychosis and relent for the good of us all.

No Cash Left Behind

NCLB: No Cash Left Behind

by

Varo Borja

I was perusing an article in Harper’s magazine the other day about the implementation of testing preparatory agencies in America’s schools. This article paid particular attention to the Kaplan testing agency, and was written by a current employee of that company. The article stated, in sum, that because of the No Child Left Behind act, test prep agencies are raking in an enormous amount of revenue, especially from Title I schools. Furthermore, the article stated that these test prep agencies don’t show results, other than inflated budgets and downtown Manhattan office suites. The author of the article, Jeremy Miller, also stated that many of the teacher s in the schools that he has worked with are indignant about having to implement curriculum bonuses such as the Kaplan method into their already time constrained schedules. The Kaplan method takes 40 hours of class time to complete, and many schools, once they have failed to meet NCLB criteria, have no choice but to employ agencies such as Kaplan at inflated rates, with little to show for their efforts. Mr. Miller states that the Kaplan company pays him at least 10,000 dollars more a year than the highest paid first year teachers in the nation make, and the total revenue from the Kaplan company, which is a part of the Washington Post group, has exceeded 2 billion dollars for the past fiscal year. Mr. Miller goes on to say that companies such as the Kaplan group focus solely on “correct answers” to tests such as the SAT, and slight or totally ignore education philosophies that focus their efforts on process learning, or to put it mildly, real education. Companies such as Kaplan are bilking the U.S. taxpayer of billions of dollars, and what does the average citizen have to show for it? Nothing other than the discarded Kaplan materials passed out in under-achieving schools that most of the students don’t even bother to read, let alone comprehend. The Kaplan company has been evasive at best when questioned by journalists as to its credibility and viability, but as long as the NCLB act stands, companies such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review (another spurious test prep agency) will continue to prosper, and Title I funds that could be spent on worthwhile programs and teacher salary increases will go down the proverbial toilet along with the future of many underprivileged children.

Parallels

Beauty and the Beast

by

Varo Borja

I am shocked, nay, astounded at the turn in the polls in the McCain/Palin ticket’s favor. I was reading an article in The Economist today which states:

A post-convention poll shows the two candidates nearly tied in perceptions of who would change Washington. Independents are moving towards Mr McCain despite Mr Obama’s strong advocacy of “change” in his campaign. The “enthusiasm” gap is closing, too: before, many voters told pollsters that they would vote for Mr McCain, but not happily. Now, many more are pleased with their pick. Again, Mrs Palin's elevation has much to do with this. At the Republican convention in St Paul, she generated such enthusiasm that there was jocular talk of flipping the ticket to put her at the top and Mr McCain in the vice-presidential slot.

What in God’s holy name are the American people thinking? The current crisis on Wall Street brings to mind another period in American history that I think should be adequately addressed: The Great Depression. At the time of the crash of 1929, a similar administration to the one currently in residence on Pennsylvania Avenue was in office. That administration, after a large, seething boom and the subsequent crash due to, much like today, easy credit, offered the cheap condolences to the American people that, and I quote, “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism…I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring and that during the coming year the country will make steady progress” (Mitchell 31). That quote was taken from Andrew W. Mellon, then Secretary of the Treasury for the Hoover administration. Another interesting, contemporary quote from a member of the current administration reads thus:

I can count many, many times that people have said that America had lost its competitive edge. We had lost our competitive edge vis-a-vis Japan. We were a power that was over-stretched in the '80s. We were going to converge with the Soviet Union, by the way, in the 1970s. So there have been many premature sentences for America losing its competitive edge. We're going through a difficult time in the economy; adjustments to a number of circumstances, including in the housing markets and in the financial markets, that will work their way out (ontheissues.org).

This quote is all the more interesting in what Ms. Rice doesn’t say. She fails to mention any parallels between the current crisis and that of 1929. What she offers is smoke and mirrors, and the lingering effigy/myth of Ronald Reagan as a sword of truth wielding, Caucasian crusader with the red cross of the Republican templars blazoned upon his breast. Do the American people desire more of the same smoke and mirrors, cross brandishing (and burning), and slick, blindfolded tomfoolery that was offered us by the same party who brought us the Hoover, Bush, and God forbid, McCain/Palin administrations? Will the American people actually take time to digest some information that isn’t brought to them in savvy sound bites, O’Reilly factor diatribes, or “straight talk” ads denouncing the Democratic candidate as a man who would corrupt our kindergartners by bringing them sex education, when in fact Mr. Obama desired to prevent the molestation of children? It is time for the American people to wake up, to rise from their self-indulgent lethargy and assert their right to a better future. It is time for us to denounce the slick maneuverings of those who would hoodoo our country by appealing to our religious leanings, gender preferences, and fears of “axis of evil” terror. For the love of God, we must use reason, instead of emotion to decide who will govern our country for the next four years. If we don’t, then we cast our heritage to the wolves as we pretend, all too innocently, to be sheep led to pasture by a warmonger and a prom queen.

Works Cited

“Condoleeza Rice on Budget and Economy.” Ontheissues.org.

23 May 2008. CNBC. 15 September 2008.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Condoleezza_Rice_Budget_+_Economy.htm

Mitchell, Broadus. Depression Decade: From New Era Through New Deal.

New York: Rhinehart and Co., 1947.

“The Palin Effect.” The Economist 16 September 2008.

Free Speech and the Sarah Palin Campaign

Free Speech and the Sarah Palin Campaign

by

Varo Borja

Today I was browsing through the Christian Science Monitor and I happened upon an article titled, “Don’t Be Swept Away By Hype in the Palin Campaign”. The author, Jerry Lanson, stated in a nutshell that it was the media’s job to, “unearth facts, not repeat myths.” I found this statement quite interesting with all the media glam surrounding the Republican VP nominee. Every time I’m in the grocery store line I glance at the tabloid headlines and see Sarah Palin’s face emblazoned upon the covers of these rags with sensational text surrounding her either smiling or scowling face. Apparently, the McCain campaign has lashed back at the “liberal media” for its preoccupation with Sarah Palin’s personal life. Good for him. What is not good for him and also for us, as Americans, is Sarah Palin’s record and qualifications. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Sarah Palin, “went to 5 schools in six years before graduating” and has flip flopped on very important issues to not only her state, but by proxy to the American people. Mr. Lanson of the Christian Science Monitor berates mass media for its sensationalist, sexist, and sometimes ignorant coverage of such important events in the history of this nation, and I for one would like to see, as Mr. Lanson says, more “tough (sic and) fair” reporting instead of “balanced” coverage of the presidential election. In this instant, “balance” can translate to a virtual smearing of both parties’ candidates in an attempt to garner sales revenue, instead of covering the tough, but sometimes unpopular issues such as what each candidate has done and most likely will do, if elected. I agree with Mr. Lanson wholeheartedly in that the catchword of the moment, CHANGE, needs not only to come to Washington, but to The Washington Post, The New York Times, People Magazine, and most unlikely, The National Enquirer. Truly enquiring minds want to know facts, not a plethora of should-be’s, could-be’s, and delectable morsels about the irrelevant, private aspects of the lives of public citizens.

Hockey Sticks, Ice Tiaras and Moose Dung

Sarah Palin as choice of Republican Party VP

by

Varo Borja

I was reading an article in The Economist today discussing the merits of John McCain’s choice of running mate, and I found the article to be quite in line with my thoughts on the issue. The article declared that John McCain’s choice was a major blunder, and gave statistics to back it up. According to the article, 31 % of undecided voters are less likely to vote for McCain now than they were a month ago, with only six percent of undecided voters more likely to swing for McCain now that Palin is his VP choice. Sarah Palin is an obnoxious, hockey stick waving, political dilettante who has neither the experience, nor the knowledge to pick up the reins of government should John McCain die an untimely death. McCain’s probability of an early death is quite substantial, even in a four year term, considering the fact that he is 72 years old and not in the best of health. Contrasted with Barack Obama’s choice of running mate, Sarah Palin pales in comparison. On foreign policy, domestic policy, or any other facet of American government, Joe Biden is a much better choice. Quite ironically, inexperience is one of the principle barbs that McCain has thrown at the Obama campaign. That barb is no longer in the Republican’s arsenal. Also, according to The Economist, John McCain is repeating mistakes made by the Bush administration, especially his choice of basing a candidate’s viability upon that candidate’s stand on the Roe v. Wade decision. The Bush administration, according to The Economist, almost without deviation put people in positions of power, regardless of their experience or qualifications, based upon said person’s stance on abortion. The Economist criticizes American politics from both sides of the spectrum based upon this criteria, and seemingly we as Americans remain the laughing stock of Europe because of the extremist views on abortion held in this country. Not only do opinions run to extremes on this issue, but a plurality of American voters are still willing to ignore much more important qualifications of their representatives in favor of said representatives’ respective pro-life or pro-choice positions. I, for one, am quite sick of the whole gambit, and would welcome a return to common sense government and pragmatic economic policies in this country in favor of a woman’s right, or lack thereof, to do whatever she would like with her uterus.

A Few Words

Thoughts on American Government

by

Varo Borja

The framers of the constitution certainly had their work cut out for them. I’m sure that with all their divisions, self-interested vanity, and the particular regional wants and needs that they brought to the table, there was much to be overcome to agree on a document that would work for the blossoming nation. I’m re-reading “The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin”, and I find his life to be the most fascinating of the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin led a life devoted to the conquest of the almighty dollar, but he did much to improve himself and his faculties, especially in regards to practical wisdom. Mr. Franklin surely had much to do with the compromises that were reached during the constitutional deliberations, and I’m sure that even though he feared what might befall this nation from the British as well as what might happen because of the immorality of slavery, he valiantly upheld a basic American, if not universal virtue: the art of compromise. Compromise certainly didn’t make Mr. Franklin weak. Nor did it make the founding fathers weaker to put aside their self-interest and aggrandizement in favor of a workable solution. The willow tree is strong because it can bend with the breeze instead of being stiff as iron and breaking with the first gale of summer. This thought brings to mind the many avenues for compromise and diplomacy that we as a nation are faced with today. Should we talk to the Iranians, the Russians, the Venezuelans, and the Cubans, or should we just steel our faces and present an iron fist instead? These seem to be the questions of paramount importance to the American people in making their decisions for a future president. Perhaps we should take a lesson from Mr. Franklin and all men of wisdom and greatness, from Socrates forward, and bend with the breeze if we are to survive the storm.

Obama/Biden

Obama/Biden

by

Varo Borja

I find Barack Obama’s choice of a vice presidential candidate to be in line with the prevailing opinion that a candidate who is seeking to bring change, not only in the economic and international arenas, but also because of his race, must seek to allay certain fears of the electorate by choosing a man with not only experience, but pale skin. Joe Biden seems to have most of his ducks in a row. He certainly has experience, character, and charisma, but some of the comments he has made concerning Barack may hurt both of them in the long run. Also, Mr. Biden wasn’t too well received in his own bid for the presidency, so it remains to be seen how much he will bolster Barack’s campaign. I think that Barack made a wise choice in not selecting Hillary Clinton. In fact, according to the New York Times last week, he hadn’t ever seriously considered her. Apparently Ms. Clinton went too far in her fight to gain the nomination, and Mr. Obama is still nursing a grudge for her valiant, although somewhat belligerent, fight against him. Foreign policy will certainly play more of a role now that the situation in Georgia is in the forefront, and let us not forget that there are still two wars going on in the Middle East. Gas prices have taken a downturn, possibly with some assistance by certain supporters of the Republican party who would like to see their candidate not get crucified in November. Senator McCain certainly will have difficulties convincing the electorate that he is not bringing to the table more of the same (as the Bush administration), and God forbid that we go to war with Iran. Mr. Obama still has my vote, for the time being, but I would like to see him ramp up his stance on domestic issues and hold a steadier course in the foreign policy arena

To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time

The Laudian Libertine and the Liber Pater: Christian and Pagan Themes in Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time”

By

Varo Borja

Love seeketh not itself to please,Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives its ease,And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair. –William Blake

A candle burns long into the night in the English countryside near Devonshire, the chill winds of winter flicker the flame as an aging, defamed and soon-to-be deposed priest pens the last few lines of a mammoth work. Myriad pastoral and priestly scenes are scribbled in the tome over which the priest labors, but the contents of his volume reflect not only the enlightened musings of an Anglican prelate, the poems in his book are full of sylvan scenes where flowers and lovers are found to be as sacred as the communion chalice and the tears of long dead saints. The year is 1647, and the priestly poet is Robert Herrick, author of a work containing more than 1,000 poems. One poem in particular stands out from the rest as the golden apple of Grecian myth stands out from an ordinary orchard. “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is perhaps the greatest work of the more than a thousand found in Herrick’s volume, Hesperides, published in 1648. “To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is the epitome of Herrick’s quest to marry the lore of the pagans to the sacraments of the church. Thomas Whitaker, in his article titled, “Herrick and the Fruits of the Garden” for the Johns Hopkins University Press, explores in depth the relation of ancient myths and Christian themes found in Robert Herrick’s poetry, and refutes the claim made by some scholars that Herrick’s poetry was “trivial.” I will explore the claims made by Whitaker, and by using other scholarly sources as well, attempt to disclose some of the pagan and Christian motifs in “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” and build upon the ethos of Whitaker’s statement that Herrick sought to, “transcend death, and escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” (Whitaker 33).

In the first section of Thomas Whitaker’s article, he enumerates the many themes found in Herrick’s poetry, stating, “This is a realm of nature, ritual, youth, love, perfumes, tran-shifting times, dainty myths, faeries, and religion” (Whitaker 17). “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” displays theses motifs in microcosm, with the first stanza focusing on nature, youth, and love particularly (Lines 1-4). However, as with most of Herrick’s poetry, the underlying root is of a religious nature. The first stanza not only evokes scenes of soon-to-be-wilting rosebuds, but slyly hints at the dual nature of Christ, as both corruptible flesh and eternal spirit. Also, the lines “And this same flower that smiles today / tomorrow will be dying” are references to the life and death of Christ (the Lily of the Valley) on the Cross. According to Orthodox Christian tradition, Jesus of Nazareth lived and died as a virgin, and was plucked from the cruel earth in the hither verge of his ripest maturity. In “Fruits of the Garden,” Thomas Whitaker states, “We see the eternal sickness of the rose that was later to prompt Blake’s cry, the transience of beauty which dies in the very act of smiling” (19). Certainly this first stanza of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is more than an admonition to marry; this thinly-veiled exhortation is a call to live in holiness while there is yet time, before the “transience of beauty” which is the world as we know it, passes away in the death before rebirth. Here Herrick is seeking, through clever allusions, to prolong his own youthful nature through association with “wilting rosebuds,” and to seek, as Christ did through adoption, the welfare of not only his young parishioners, but the best good of the universal “youth” of 17th century England. With so many “children” in his flock, Herrick would certainly transcend the confines of mortality and enter into the eternal priesthood of the saints and martyrs through the agent of his poetry.

Herrick continues with his Christian themes in the next stanza when he cries, “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun / The higher he's a-getting / The sooner will his race be run / And nearer he's to setting” (5-8). Here Herrick is making a reference to the omnipresent and omniscient Father God, who views the world from heaven and is near to completing the current dispensation and the end of Second Age of Man. With the coming of the New Jerusalem and the rapture of the saints, the marriage of Christ and his Bride (the Church) will be complete and the time of earthly marriage will be over (Matthew 22:30). Once again, Herrick seeks, through thinly-veiled imagery, to exalt the Son of Man and God the Father and by art enter into deeper communion with the Triune God; a sort of poetic communion ceremony whereby Herrick escapes the death of the flesh by casting his eyes upon “the glorious lamp of heaven” (5).

In the next stanza of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time,” Herrick longs once again for youth—not only bodily youth but spiritual youth when he exclaims, “That age is best which is the first / When youth and blood are warmer / But being spent, the worse, and worst / Times still succeed the former” (9-12). As Randall Ingram notes in Studies In English Literature, “His [Herrick’s] poetry must be simultaneously monumental and malleable, stone and living” (Ingram 5). The eternal stone and the malleable branches of childlike faith resound throughout these lines from “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.” These lines also pay homage to the First Age of Man, the millennia before Christ when men lived by faith in the coming Messiah and his reign of justice. Here Herrick pays homage to the Old Testament saints through allusion to youth; the iconic, virginal state of Israel making preparations, through ages of foolish, yet necessary strivings for the coming of Christ, a time that shall surely, “succeed the former.” Herrick also makes reference to the blood of youth, the blood shed at Calvary that made propitiation for sin and insured eternal life; this blood also is the latter half of the Eucharist, the “former” sacrifice for sin which, portrayed through ceremony and Herrick’s artful verses alike, bequeaths immortality upon the recipient and the artist in transcendent harmony.

In his article, “Fruits of the Garden”, Thomas Whitaker states that Herrick’s poetry is above all “ceremonial” and concerned with images “drawn from nature [that] are delicately symbolic” (17). The natural union between man and woman, God and man, and Christ and God the Father is the underlying religious theme of this poem. The last stanza expresses this topic beautifully when Herrick writes, “Then be not coy, but use your time / And while ye may go marry / For having lost but once your prime / You may for ever tarry” (13-16). In these lines Herrick provides a dual exhortation to unbelievers, both unbelievers in the sacrament of marriage and wayward souls lacking eternal salvation. He adjures them to, “use” their “time” wisely, to accept the gift of marriage both in the physical and the spiritual sense “while ye may”, and not “tarry” until their “prime” is “lost” (13-16). This exhortation mirrors the verse from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew which states, “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). After the wedding invitations have been sent, and the bride and the bridegroom have undertaken the sacrament, the “door [will be] shut” and those who have tarried will be lost forever. Once again, Herrick sets his eyes on the eternal through the medium of the temporal, and seeks through his art to “transcend death” and sit, arrayed in his priestly garb, at the wedding ceremony of the Lamb (Whitaker 33).

Robert Herrick also includes, in true Renaissance fashion, many allusions to pagan myths within his poetry. Herrick is concerned with the natural, and natural man in his pristine, mythologized state was a lover of wine and beauty and a devotee of the English Liber Pater, or Dionysus. Thomas Whitaker states in “Fruits of the Garden” that:

His [Herrick’s] ‘rustic’ religion draws upon classical, Christian, and native English sources; his images drawn from nature are delicately symbolic; and his ‘love’ is often the refined badinage of the Roman and Alexandrine poets (17).

Robert Herrick also lived in a time of religious extremism, particularly concerning the doctrines of John Calvin and the English Puritans. Robert Herrick was an Anglican vicar of the Laudian sect; a theological school that sought, by a type of marriage, to join the physical world (which was heavily denigrated by the Puritans) with the spiritual realm—a philosophy more in line with the prevailing, 17th century Renaissance humanism than with the grim, gaunt and draconian dogma of the Calvinists (Johnson 2). In his article titled, “In Vino—et in Amore—Veritas; Transformational Animation in Herrick’s ‘Sack’ Poems” William C. Johnson states:

For Herrick, Laudian vicar of a tiny village church, Puritan restrictions and social restructuring remained not only intellectually and aesthetically, but morally and theologically, antithetical to his sense of God’s permeating presence in the world (2).

Consequently, Herrick looked to the ancients for wisdom and found it within the pages of sages such as Homer, Euripides, Virgil, and the other multitude of poets, playwrights, and penmen of Greece and Rome. When Herrick speaks of “rosebuds” in the first stanza of his poem, could he not also be referring to the myth of Narcissus by the pool, “tarrying” long in amazement at the reflection of his own beauty, and sacrificing his own mortality, not in dissolution or devil-flame as the Calvinists would prophesy, but in splendid rapture at the sight of his own magnificence? Furthermore, when Herrick speaks in the second stanza of, “the glorious lamp of heaven” running “his race,” he most assuredly refers also to Apollo, son of Zeus, who in Greek mythology drove his glorious, golden chariot across the sky every day to shed light upon the earth (5-7). In the last stanza, Herrick refers to an eternal “tarrying” on the part of those who have either spurned love or have been the victims of fate, such as the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, who fell victims to the cruel desire of the god of the Underworld and spent eternity in bereavement within the confines of the abyss. Ironically, but not without design, these mythological truths have their counterparts in Christian theology, and lend an air of continuity and Classical perfection to Herrick’s poetry that wouldn’t be found had he succumbed to the stern ravings of his Puritan contemporaries. Herrick’s immersion in Classical motifs also serves his manifest purpose of transcending the grave, and through the continuity of spiritual truths allows him to, “escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” (Whitaker 33).

In conclusion, it must be said that Herrick suffered for his broadness of vision and his devotion to a faith that encompassed not only Orthodox Christianity but, “May-poles, Hock-carts, Wassails, [and] Wakes” (Whitaker 17). Robert Herrick has been considered by some to be a “minor poet” (Ingram 1), but upon deliberate study of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” I have found him to be quite skilled at what he set out to do, which was, in part, to marry the natural to the spiritual world. Robert Herrick lived in a time of great political and religious upheaval; he not only witnessed the violent overthrow of the Stuart monarchy (to which he was loyal), but the reign of his nemeses, the Puritans, under Oliver Cromwell. He also lived in the time of the Thirty Years War, the bloodiest conflict that Europe had ever seen, which was propagandized as a religious struggle and ended the same year that Herrick’s volume, Hesperides was published. Herrick was deposed from his position as vicar and cast into ill repute by the Puritan majority in England shortly before Hesperides was published, yet despite all these difficulties, Robert Herrick maintained the ability to see beauty in the world, and in his religion as well (Johnson 2). William C. Johnson states:

It [Herrick’s poetry] is a world in which people, things, and times commingle, in which Christian and pagan, classical and current, co-exist in harmonious contemporality, a dynamic world in which red roses not only suggest other things but actually do become white cheeks. It is an environment where anything, at any time, may trans-form, blend, or shift to something else (2).

It was in this shifting of paradigm, this confluence of themes and images, and in his ever-vigilant eye for the beauty of nature and the sacramental holiness of marriage in all its forms, that Robert Herrick truly was able to, “escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” and join the pantheon of English literature’s living gods.

Works Cited

Herrick, Robert. “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.” Works of Robert Herrick. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1891. Luminarium. 11 March 2000.
29 April 2008. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/tovirgins.htm

Holy Bible. New International Version. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2003.

Ingram, Randall. “Robert Herrick and the Makings of Hersperides” Studies
In English Literature (Rice) 38 (1998): 127—. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. Academic Support Center, Caldwell Community College and Technical
Institute, Boone, NC. 24 April 2008. http://wf2dnvr2.webfeat.org/

Johnson, William C. “In Vino—et in Amore—Veritas: Transformational Animation in
Herrick’s ‘Sack’ Poems” Papers on Language and Literature 41 (2005): 89-108.
Masterfile Premier. EBSCO. Academic Support Center, Caldwell Community
College and Technical Institute, Boone, NC. 22 April 2008.
http://wf2dnvr2.webfeat.org/

Whitaker, Thomas R. “Herrick and the Fruits of the Garden” ELH 22 (1955): 16-33.
JSTOR. Appalachian State University Library, Boone, NC. 28 April 2008.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2872002

We Will Be Heard

Article Summary from the Christian Science Monitor: African’s Newest Form of
Dissent: Blogs

By

Varo Borja


This article from the Christian Science Monitor discusses the use of blogging as a means for residents of Sub-Saharan African nations to voice their opinions on local, national, and regional events, and even voice dissent against their respective governments. The article opens with some comments from a Congolese blogger named Cedric Kalonji. Mr. Kalonji states, in regard to his blog, “I am Congolese and I talk about what is happening around me—the truth.” Mr. Kalonji’s blog is on congoblog.net, and is:


read by thousands of people around the world…it [sic] receives about 250 pageviews per day and has won international awards including the prestigious Best of Blogs award for the top French-language blog in 2007.


Mr. Kalonji states in the article that blogging provides a means of voicing his opinions about the state of the Congolese government that wouldn’t be afforded to him in any other manner. The article goes on to state that Bob LaGamma, director of a Washington-based advocacy group named Council for a Community of Democracies, supports these efforts by African bloggers as a means of exercising free speech. However, some of the recent African blogs go beyond free speech and delve into the realm of propaganda, such as the Niger rebel group, Movement of Nigeriens for Justice. Another rebel group makes its news known to the world on a blog found at makaila.over-blog.com, where posts are made on developments in the country of Chad, some of the posts calling for the deposition of the Chadian president, Idriss Deby. A tale of heroism and determination comes from the blogger responsible for the makaila.over-blog.com site, Makaila Nguebla, who sleeps next to his computer and takes phone calls and text messages twenty-four hours a day in support of the Chadian rebels. Mr. Nguebla states in the article that the Chadian government is, “not happy about his blog”, but he will post anything that, “serves to destabilize the regime.”


On a more disturbing note, Africa expert Leonard Vincent states that, “while expanding freedom of speech in Africa is important, some opposition and rebel blogs are taking it [blogging] too far.” Mr. Vincent states that, in particular, the political blogs in Sub-Saharan Africa publish, “whatever they want—full of libel, defamation, violence, [and] sometimes very graphic images.” However, Mr. Vincent states that the African governments, for the time being, have much more important issues at hand, and haven’t really begun to suppress blogs of dissent in the region. He does state that as the internet becomes a ubiquitous feature of African daily life, as it has in the west, the repressive regimes of the Sub-Saharan region will become increasingly more intolerant and belligerent towards these bloggers, who with enough pageviews per day, could lend a hand in either the elimination of tyranny or the continuance of the same in the Sub-Saharan region.


For further analysis, I have chosen to compare the situation of the bloggers in Sub-Saharan Africa to the arguments of Stephen D. Krasner and Kimberly Weir in their article on the survival of the sovereign state titled, “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?”. Stephen D. Krasner states in “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?” that, “states are better able to respond [to threats to their sovereignty] than in the past.” This is a double-sided statement, because, according to the Christian Science Monitor article, the Sub-Saharan states are aware of African bloggers, but aren’t taking any real steps to suppress them. Mr. Krasner also states that, “the impact of the global media on political authority (the so-called CNN effect) pales in comparison to the havoc that followed the invention of the printing press.” Is the lack of action on the part of the African authorities a sign that the bloggers of the Sub-Saharan region aren’t causing enough “havoc” to merit a crackdown? According to the article, the authorities were completely aware of Mr. Nguebla’s blog, but had only threatened him with censorship; a mild form of punishment considering the usual savagery displayed by Sub-Saharan leaders. Or are the African authorities afraid of global repercussions for the suppression of the dissenting blogs, like Mr. Nguebla’s, because of their worldwide readerships? According to Kimberly Weir’s argument (that state sovereignty will not survive Globalism) in “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?”, “communications have been chipping away at the state since the printing press was invented.” Ms. Weir also states that the proliferation of technology, especially of the internet, will continue to threaten state sovereignty because technology puts power in the hands of the erstwhile disenfranchised and powerless denizens of nations like Chad and Zimbabwe, and makes the suppression of political dissent, within a sovereign state, more difficult. The question is then, is blogging chipping away at state sovereignty enough to merit widespread suppression? This too is a double-sided query, answerable depending on the time frame in question. In the Christian Science Monitor article, Mr. Leonard Vincent states that the issue of dissenting blogs in Sub-Saharan Africa, for the time being, is a minor issue, but in the long term, he expects to see the widespread suppression of dissenting blogs there, in full accordance with the characters of Sub-Saharan rulers. This statement lends credence to both arguments, with the lion’s share going to Ms. Weir, who in the long term, will most certainly be proved correct.


My thoughts on this issue, as a blogger myself, are in support of free speech everywhere, but with the responsibility of telling the truth. I do not agree with the practice of needless defamation, or the proliferation of violent scenes across the web where children may view them carelessly. However, I visited the two blogs mentioned in the article (m-n-j.blogspot.com and makaila.over-blog.com) and found them to be quite harmless, if a little too politically charged. I read very little French, but the m-n-j.blogspot.com blog featured mostly name calling, red-ink propaganda, and harmless pictures of freedom fighters arrayed in battle garb. The makaila.over-blog.com blog seemed to me more intelligent and better put together, and featured what seemed to be insightful, concise articles and commentary on the state of the Chadian government. I found nothing in either blog that was objectionable, let alone reprehensible, or unworthy to be viewed by anyone surfing the web. I also feel that, with the current tyrannies in existence in the Sub-Saharan region, political defamation, in most cases, would be an inappropriate term when connected with the rulers of Chad, Niger, and Zimbabwe. I believe, like Malcolm X and the Chadian blogger Makaila Nguebla, that political freedom, equality, and justice, must be attained for all people by “any means necessary”, and I applaud the determined efforts of Mr. Nguebla and his associates throughout Sub-Saharan Africa for their non-violent, expressive means of achieving those goals.

Ashes of American Dreams

Ashes of American Dreams: An Analysis of Death of a Salesman

by

Varo Borja

The jungle is dark but full of diamonds – Arthur Miller

The American Dream, according to Arthur Miller, is a type of ubiquitous delusion, fueled by the fumes of the Reformation, leaving in its wake the bones of the Willy Lomans of this world to bleach in the setting sun of the modern age. However, Mr. Miller’s vision was almost assuredly clouded by his resentment of the white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant path to success. In Death of a Salesman, the victors are those devoted to efficient study—not just the perusal of mathematics books and law treatises, but the profitable study of human nature. Willy Loman’s brother Charles and his son Bernard, if not for the implied ties of blood to the other Loman’s, could easily be mistaken for Brooklyn Jews: shrewd, studious, and devoted to the realistic conquest of the Almighty Dollar, be it through a game of casino or a case tried before the highest court in the land. This stereotype is at first misleading and ultimately erroneous. However, Mr. Miller portrays Willy Loman and his sons as red-blooded, pugilistic, yet foolish Anglo-Saxon social warriors bent on the appropriation of the American Dream to their hot-tempered wills—a much more harmonious characterization. Whatever Mr. Miller’s motives for the way he crafts his characters, there seem to be forces at work within the play other than that of race. Socio-economic, psychological, and religious connotations abound throughout Death of a Salesman. In reference to these determinants, I have selected an article titled, “Is There a Science of Success?” by Nicholas Lemann that explores these elements from the point of view of a social scientist, the noted Dr. David McClelland. Dr. McClelland propounded that, in light of certain personality tests that he created, the American psyche is composed of three distinct elements: the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation. Furthermore, in Death of a Salesman these three underlying personality motivators are displayed quite distinctly in the characters of Willy Loman and his nephew Bernard, and contribute on the one hand to Willy’s eventual demise and Bernard’s ultimate success.

The need for achievement, or more properly termed, the ability to be efficient, is considered by Dr. David McClelland to be of prime importance to the young man or woman determined to succeed in the American system (Lemann 88). Dr. McClelland compares the man or woman driven by the need for achievement to be like a person competing in a ring toss who takes the position from the goal with the maximum prospect of success (Lemann 95). In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s focus on achievement is low, based on the qualifications that Dr. McClelland sets down, and Willy’s achievement is based almost solely upon the attainment of money, material comforts, and personal glory: a goal that Dr. McClelland deprecates as an end in itself (Lemann 92). By contrast, Bernard’s character in the story is highly focused on achievement, as set down by Dr. McClelland’s principles, and consequently Bernard succeeds where Willy Loman and his progeny fail. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman asks of Bernard regarding the latter’s success,

Willy (small and alone): What—what’s the secret?

Bernard: What secret?

Willy: How—how did you? Why didn’t he [Biff] ever catch on?

Bernard: I wouldn’t know that Willy.

Willy (confidentially, desperately): You were his friend, his boyhood friend. His life ended after that Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him.

Bernard: He never trained himself for anything. (Act II)

This quiet conversation between Willy and Bernard is quite revealing. Willy, the once proud purveyor of charm and physical prowess cowers at the feet of his erstwhile despised, yet now successful nephew, pleading with Bernard to pass on to him the secret of success that is almost self-evident after reading Dr. David McClelland’s principles. Bernard valued achievement through patient study and training, while Willy Loman and his sons placed their bets in the gamble of life on fleeting displays of vainglory such as the Ebbets Field game, thereby equipping themselves poorly for the quest for success and engendering their eventual failure in the race for the American Dream.

Next, Dr. McClelland propounds that the desire for power is one that can either lead to extreme fortune or abject poverty (Lemann 92). Dr. McClelland uses an analogy of two gamblers to contrast the seeker of achievement and the pursuant of power. Dr. McClelland relates that at a hypothetical roulette wheel, the seeker of achievement would bet on a color, while the power hungry person would bet on a number, therefore lowering his/her odds dramatically, but raising the possible stakes of a win exponentially (Lemann 95). Furthermore, Dr. McClelland states those primarily in need of power are, “more likely to have glamorous lives” (Lemann 94), but that they also, “want the world to beat a path to their door” (Lemann 95). Willy Loman is certainly a devotee of the power cult in America, but his quest for power turns on him like a boomerang and all but cuts him to pieces. Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman, is akin to the man who bets all he has on a number on the roulette wheel (his sons, his ability to physically dominate, and his ability to sell himself, or be “well-liked”) and loses in pathetic fashion, taking his fortune and his family down into the abyss together (Requiem). Conversely, Bernard channels his desire for power into a patient and determined, yet educated effort to succeed by surer measures. Bernard doesn’t count on his ability to be liked or to physically dominate other men and women; he counts on his training, his ability to perform his job, and ultimately on his aptitude for achieving realistic, worthwhile goals (Act II). In Death of a Salesman, while Biff, Happy, and Willy are indulging in dreams of pomp, power, and the subjugation of others by their overly-masculine dominance, Bernard seeks more realistic aims,

Bernard: Biff, where are you? You’re supposed to study with me today.

Willy: Hey, looka Bernard. What’re you lookin’ so anemic about, Bernard?

Bernard: He’s gotta study, Uncle Willy. He’s got Regents next week.

Happy (taunting, spinning Bernard around): Let’s box, Bernard!

Bernard: Biff! (He gets away from Happy.) Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math, he’s gonna flunk you, and you won’t graduate. I heard him!

Willy: You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now.

Biff: Oh, Pop, you didn’t see my sneakers! (He holds up a foot for Willy to look at.)

Willy: Hey, that’s a beautiful job of printing!

Bernard (wiping his glasses): Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him, Uncle Willy!

Willy (angrily): What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?

Bernard: But I heard Mr. Birnbaum say—

Willy: Don’t be a pest, Bernard! (To his boys.) What an anemic! (Act I)

Bernard is cast off as a harbinger of doom by the Lomans, when in reality Bernard seeks a much surer path to victory in the American system than Willy and Biff with their fancied sense of entitlement based on dominance, or Happy with his foolish boxing antics in the midst of a real crisis. This “channeling of the Power motive” by Bernard and contrasting lack of balance displayed by Willy, Happy, and Biff is fully in line with the McClelland system, and at least in Bernard’s case, results in long-term success within the American system (Lemann 98).

Finally, the need for affiliation is evident in Death of a Salesman through the constant and unsuccessful attempts of Willy Loman and his offspring to be both “well-liked” and exert undue influence upon their peers (Act I). Throughout the story, Willy Loman is obsessed with who he is connected to and with how other people feel about him and about his ability to sell himself. Dr. David McClelland, in his book The Drinking Man, explored the need for Affiliation and likened it to the ability to “love and be loved” or “a feeling of optimism and of being in control of one’s life” (Lemann 96) expressed through interaction with one’s family and society at large. Willy Loman certainly places a high rating on the need for affiliation, but overly so. Willy Loman is not only interdependent with his wife, sons, brothers, and with society, he is ultimately in abject dependence upon them for both his livelihood and his sense of well-being (Act II). When Willy Loman pays his final visit to his brother Charlie to ask for money, this abject dependence, coupled still with the desire to exert the power motive, is quite evident,

Willy (moving toward the chair): I’m keeping an account of everything, remember. I’ll pay every penny back. (He sits.)

Charley: Now listen to me, Willy.

Willy: I want you to know I appreciate…

Charley (sitting down on the table): Willy, what’re you doin’? What the hell is goin’ on in your head?

Willy: Why? I’m simply…

Charley: I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week. And I won’t send you on the road.

Willy: I’ve got a job.

Charley: Without pay? What kind of a job is a job without pay? (He rises.) Now, look, kid, enough is enough. I’m no genius but I know when I’m being insulted.

Willy: Insulted!

Charley: Why don’t you want to work for me?

Willy: What’s the matter with you? I’ve got a job…

Charley: Then what’re you walkin’ in here every week for?

Willy (getting up): Well, if you don’t want me to walk in here—

Charley: I’m offering you a job.

Willy: I don’t want your goddam job!

Charley: When the hell are you going to grow up? (Act II)

Such dependence could only lead to an unbalanced life, and eventually, to the ruin experienced by Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. In opposition to this sort of dependence stands Bernard, the once quiet, shy and socially unacceptable lad who becomes, through the relinquishing of this sort of dependence for a healthier interdependence with co-workers and family, a man brimming over with self-assurance and quiet contentment. Perhaps the starkest contrast between the McClelland-type healthy, successful man and that of the man suffering from a “cruel delusion” (Lemann 98) is in the last meeting of Willy and Bernard before Bernard leaves to try a case before the Supreme Court (Act II). Willy Loman’s high reliance on affiliation, in the end, places him in the position of both a beggar of money from his brother Charlie and a humble, broken and nearly psychotic flatterer of the nephew he once regarded as a “pest” (Act II).

In conclusion, the “cruel delusion” (Lemann 98) suffered by Willy Loman throughout Death of a Salesman is all too accurate, but still quite pessimistic. Dr. David McClelland, although well-meaning in his attempts to define human motivations and train men to, “become the kind of people economists think everybody is” (Lemann 92) still falls far short of defining what truly makes life worthwhile. Perhaps Willy Loman and his kind are too aware of the systems laid down by Dr. David McClelland and his brood of social scientists. McClelland’s system, like most of the social propaganda of the 20^th century, is based on the tenets of Charles Darwin and his “process of natural selection” (Lemann 98) which likens men more to beasts of burden than intelligent, compassionate, and loving sons of God. Perhaps the greatest fault of Dr. David McClelland’s theories and of the American system is the absence of grace and mercy found in the writings of the men whom Dr. McClelland ascribes the promulgation of the American Way: the fathers of the Reformation (Lemann 89). To go back even further, the writings of Solomon might be ascribed to the competition of man against man when he said, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men” (Proverbs 22: 28-29). However, it is in the words of Jesus of Nazareth that we find the solution to the infinite and vain struggle for achievement, power, and affiliation, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Perhaps the trouble with Willy Loman and his like is the ultimate absence of the ability for true relation to both man and God. Bernard, in Death of a Salesman, seeks neither to dominate nor to manipulate Willy Loman and his sons—Bernard seeks only to love Biff and humbly “carry his shoulder guards” (Act I). Near the end of the play, Bernard fistfights with Biff after Biff’s return from New England, not out of a desire to dominate Biff, but out of a sense of brotherly concern for his failing hero (Act II). In a final act of generosity and magnanimity, Bernard seeks to cheer Willy Loman when Willy’s metaphorical roulette number had finally cost him all (Act II). It is chiefly in this aptitude of Bernard for quiet, humble service and genuine concern for his fellow man that he dignifiedly lives out the American Dream, and not only is he a winner in the American system, but in the grander scope of Creation as a whole.

Works Cited

Holy Bible. New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985.

Lemann, Nicholas. “Is There a Science of Success?” Atlantic Monthly 1072

(1994): 83-98. MasterFile Premier. EBSCO. Caldwell Community College

and Technical Institute Learning Center, Boone, NC. 25 March 2008

http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/

Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature.

Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 1908-1972.

Zimbabwe

Article Summary and Analysis: Coming to a Crunch: From The Economist March 18, 2008

by

Varo Borja

This article, from The Economist March 18 edition, discusses the coming parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe on March 29. The article begins with a warning: Don’t re-elect Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe, through extreme leftist disbursements of land and capital to his cronies, violent suppression of dissenting voices, and outright corruption, has almost bankrupted the sovreign state of Zimbabwe since it won its independence from British control in 1980. The 84-year-old Mr. Mugabe, instead of retiring and handing over power to his nominal successor, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, is scheming for continued control over the state of Zimbabwe by his tired methods of nepotism, subversion, bribery, and threatened violence. However, Mr. Mugabe faces at least one viable rival in the person of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, and a lesser, but perhaps more capable opponent in Mr. Simba Makoni, “a former finance minister whom many of Zimbabwe's black and shrinking white professional middle class see as the decent and competent face of ZANU-PF” (the mostly corrupt ruling party in Zimbabwe). Mr. Mugabe has already begun to rig the elections and, according to the article,

The media are hugely stacked against the opposition, which is rarely given even a cursorily polite airing by the all-state-run radio and television services. The election commission is chaired by a Mugabe man, a former general. The registrar-general, another loyalist, presides over an electoral roll that is notoriously unreliable and incomplete, and contains thousands of dead people whose votes are expected to go to the president. Unless voting is extended beyond one day, many town-dwellers may be unable to cast their ballots, because there are too few urban polling stations. The diaspora, some 2m-3m mostly disenchanted Zimbabweans, is barred from voting.

Also, many Zimbabweans see Mr. Makoni as entering the election too late to make a difference, with some Zimbabweans going as far as to label him an agent of Mr. Mugabe’s, sent to disrupt the rallying party of Mr. Tsvangirai, much like the Nader vote has done and will do in the American election of 2008. Also, Mr. Tsvangirai is seen by many to talk loudly and carry a big stick, but to have no real plan for bolstering the economy should he win on March 29. According to the article, the economy is certainly the biggest contributing factor in the discontent of most Zimbabweans, with astronomical inflation rates of 100,000 % yearly, and an almost worthless Zimbabwean dollar weighing in at 30,000 to 1 U.S. dollar. According to the article, in most sections of the country basic necessities such as maize, sugar, and salt in are in desperately low supply, with most the of the nation subsisting on either remittances from exiled Zimbabweans or UN relief. Astonishingly, the Zimbabwean unemployment rate is at around 80%, mainly because of the nepotism and greed displayed by the Mugabe administration. The article ends with a sobering, if gloomy thought that even if Mr. Makoni or Mr. Tsvangirai win the presidential election on March 29, it may be too late for the sinking ship that is the nation of Zimbabwe to recover from its long, corrupt and violent lethargy.

For further analysis of this article I’ve chosen to relate this piece to the machinations of the International Criminal Court. According to the article,

Mr Makoni has called for a government of national unity, bringing together both wings of the MDC and the supposedly acceptable bits of ZANU-PF, along with his own team. Mr Mugabe would be allowed to go into a dignified retirement, and not be sent to The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Would this action, or lack of action, be just? The International Criminal Court is in place to try those accused of “crimes against humanity” and other global offences. Mr Mugabe clearly meets this criterion through his ruining of the Zimbabwean economy, his underhanded political dealings and overt theft of private property, and his various violent crimes against the citizens of Zimbabwe. The manifesto for the ICC also states that there must be “repeat offences” to merit an inquiry by the ICC, but Mr. Mugabe has been in power for over 20 years and repeatedly violated the statutes set up by the court. Perhaps this lack of action by the ICC is in accordance with John R. Bolton’s argument that the court is both ineffective and hindered by the same bureaucratic straight-jacket that the UN and other multi-national organizations wear.
If this is the case, perhaps the United States should further decline membership in the ICC, in accordance with (ugh) President Bush’s former refusals.

My thoughts on this article are myriad in scope. How can such a tyrannical, unjust, violent and oppressive regime be allowed to continue in power with the means available to depose it? Obviously, the ICC isn’t fulfilling its obligation to enforce global justice. The United States is stretched to the hilt in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa is in such turmoil as to be ineffective in combating injustice. From an idealistic standpoint, I can’t help but look with chagrin at the inaction of the rest of the world on this issue. However, I am ever more becoming a realist in the realm of global politics. Perhaps Zimbabweans and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa aren’t ready for peace, justice, prosperity and equality. Obviously, the imperial pursuits of European nations have played havoc with Africa and Africans in the past. Mr. Mugabe and his lot sought to completely cast off the shackles of their former European masters, but what have they gained? Chaos, cruelty, starvation, and bankruptcy seem to permeate the African landscape. It seems that only time and evolution will heal the hurts of the sub-Saharan African nations. In the meantime, I suppose it is up to the UN and the rest of the civilized world to act as midwife for sub-Saharan pre-adolescent growing pains.

Venerable Oaks and Steel Magnolias

Venerable Oaks and Steel Magnolias: A Response to “A Rose for Emily"

By

Varo Borja

The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past. – William Faulkner

The sun set properly upon the Southern Way in the wake of the red tide of defeat suffered by the gray coats that ended the Civil War and ushered in the period of carpetbaggers, worthless Confederate cash, and corrupted traditions known as Reconstruction. Out of the alloy of war, defeat, dissimulation, poverty, and time was hammered some of the finest prose ever to be composed by an American. William Faulkner presented to the world, through his stories, the stage on which the great drama of the human condition could be explored at depths previously unforeseen, but perhaps his greatest gift to the world of letters was to explore this drama in microcosm, especially as the theatre of the human heart was beheld in the South. In “A Rose for Emily” Faulkner laid bare the duties and passions of a woman and a town confined within the amphitheater of Jefferson, Mississippi many years after the last, thin, gray wraiths had disappeared beneath the tombstones of Faulkner’s, “cedar-bemused cemetery” (Meyer 95). However, the specters of Southern pride and antebellum anachronism are alive throughout this self-proclaimed “ghost story” as the passage of time refuses to give rest to these ever-present phantoms of the past. Primarily, in “A Rose for Emily,” the past exerts its influence upon the present through the machinations of tradition and duty; these devices exert their sway upon each of the sexes in different ways and assign each sex specific roles, but much like the gray uniforms of their not-so-distant kin, the gender roles of the good people of Jefferson become blurred at times, if not entirely inextricable from each other.

As the only real first-class citizens of the American south, the traditional role of southern white men was to fulfill their duty as protectors and patriarchs. First and foremost, the past holds sway in the present tense through the role assigned the southern man of protector of the weak; in this case the “weak” one happens to be Emily. Near the beginning of the story, we are informed that Colonel Sartoris, the once-renowned patriarch of Jefferson, protected Emily in a financial sense by remitting her taxes (Meyer 96). However, to preserve not only Emily’s livelihood but her pride as well, Colonel Sartoris is forced to resort to an elaborate ruse to accomplish this feat of contrivance, therefore resorting to silly, feminine subterfuge (Meyer 96). Furthermore, the men of Jefferson protected Emily’s reputation by scattering lime on her yard to avoid a lingering stench emanating from her mansion. However, the good men of the town “slunk about the house like burglars” (Meyer 97) in a tragic-comedic act of desperate, duty-bound civil service, taking special care not to be seen and further Ms. Emily’s disgrace. This scene portrays the elders of Jefferson more as hens than as roosters, and lends a feminine subtlety to their innate southern chivalry.

The traditional duty of patriarch was exemplified by southern men as the heads of their families and their towns; the supreme patriarch in “A Rose for Emily” is her father. Emily’s father exerts his influence, from the past, upon Emily in a figurative sense by becoming irreplaceable in her life and demanding, from the grave, utter obedience and ongoing implied deference. The childlike crayon drawing found in Emily’s home at the end of the story is the perfect example of Emily’s unwavering devotion to her father, and represents a lifetime, by her, paid in homage to the ghost of a dead patriarch (Meyer 101). Emily’s father also exerts his influence, from the past, upon Emily in a literal sense as shown by the choices she makes well into adulthood. Emily would rather kill her lover than suffer her father’s name to be tarnished through the unutterable act of adultery. However, the traditional role of patriarch is somewhat blurred by Emily’s character in the story. Emily also demands utter obedience from the druggist (Meyer 99) and deference, although somewhat backhanded and hypocritical, is paid her throughout the story, especially in her encounter with the city authorities (Meyer 96) and the visit paid her by the Baptist minister (Meyer 99).

The traditional role of the Southern woman, as portrayed in “A Rose for Emily” is one of pity-driven and gossip-laden domestic service, dutiful subversion and silly subterfuge. When Emily’s father dies, the ladies of the town fulfill their domestic duties by calling on Emily in her time of crisis. Faulkner must add, however, that “at last they could pity Miss Emily”, as if pity were a pre-requisite for love (Meyer 97). The ladies of the town also fulfill their domestic duties via the traditional Southern ingredient of gossip, which they relish as if it were a fine Swiss chocolate or a respectable form of vice, much like Homer Barron’s cigar (Meyer 99). The distant relatives of Emily, the Alabama Griersons, fulfill their obligation to subvert the scandalous activities of their wayward cousin and Homer Barron upon their arrival in Jefferson, all at the pious behest of the minister’s wife (Meyer 99). Finally, the ladies of the town fulfill their time- honored penchant for silly subterfuge when they enter Emily’s house, upon her death, with “hushed, sibilant voices and…quick, curious glances” (Meyer 101). Faulkner implies that the ladies of the town are more concerned with the lurid pleasure of seeing the inside of Emily Grierson’s house one final time than in paying proper tribute to the fallen, once-dreaded matriarch of Jefferson. However, upon further perusal of the text these same silly, traditionally feminine, and half-cowardly actions are found to be carried out by the men of the town as well in the sometimes-begrudged and constantly-chronicled domestic service performed by the Aldermen and elders of Jefferson on Emily’s behalf, particularly displayed in the awe and respect shown her when confronted (Meyer 96). Moreover, it is the voice of the town itself, not just the women, that claims alternate pity and indignation at the eccentricities and extravagances of the Grierson matriarch (Meyer 99).

In conclusion, the gender roles exemplified in “A Rose for Emily”, although interwoven and ambiguous at times, are just as true today as when this story was penned over fifty years ago. I am a Southerner and always have been, and I have experience with each of the roles portrayed in this story through the agency of my own family. My grandmother, the alternating spy, backbone, and comfort for our family here in Boone could just as easily be a staunch Alabama Grierson. Furthermore, my grandfather, a quiet, reserved and brave, yet compassionate man would most certainly spread lime on the yard of a neighbor in the dead of night to avoid general embarrassment, yet he still had the fortitude to serve his country during times of trouble. I have ghosts of my own in local “cedar bemused cemeteries”. Several of my relatives have served both the home front and the front lines in the conflicts of this country, much like those elders of Jefferson who stemmed the tide of Northern aggression in the 1860’s. Faulkner portrayed his subjects accurately in all their anachronisms and ambiguities, but the gender roles of the southern people are more than an admixture of cowardice and fortitude. These roles add vibrant splashes of color to the gray clothing of the south found in Faulkner’s stories and still provide diversity, humor, and depth to the experience of living in the south today.