IRA: VOLT: The Straying Freight

Winslow gets his mouth wired shut then goes to work for the guy the destroyed it with his gun.  While there the farmer arranges for Winslow to get in "Fights" where people paid to hit him and whoever could knock the wind out of him in one punch made money (They never win because Winslow is a beast).  The only reason that Winslow agrees to this is not for the money he gets, but because he sees this as a pennance for his wrongdoing.  After a while of doing this he misses his wife and wants to see her again.
He gets in a final fight and while scoping out the competition he sees the Train driver he keeps looking for the driver and spots him again, he doesn't prepare for the fight and gets knocked down for the first time.  He wakes up in the hospital, and a day later his wife walks in!  She takes him home and they don't talk lot.
The foreshadowing that I thought would happen happened, Winslow goes to church and sees all of the people that he thought would judge him kinda freaks out and runs away from his wife into a muddy feild toward the woods.  The congregation comes out and the preist runs toward him and gives him a hug.  In this foreshadowing Winslow was the dog, and the congregation was Winslow trying to accept the "dog".
The very last words that are said in this story are "Your hair has turned so white."  White hair is the one of the only things that Winslow remembers about the Train conductor.  This makes me think that when he saw the conductor in the bar all he really saw was himself in a mirror.

IRA: Volt

So far this is a great book.  It is a collection of short stories written by the same author.  I'm only a little ways through the first book and so far what has happened is this:  He runs over his son and kills him when his son slips and falls below his tractor while he is discing after the harvest; the after a long time of being sad he gets back to work on the farm but he gets hit by a train when he wasn't patient for it to cross, the train driver comes running back and yells at him because he might of killed him;  then he hits his wife after she got him mad and he started just walking away from all of his troubles; after about 2 weeks of walking he is attacked by a hunting dog and hunters and he is tied up.
First thing I can relate this to is of course, Forest Gump, he just started getting away from his problems and giving himself time to think, he has no real place to go and no objective just walking.
The train conductor actually appeared to the farmer while he was walking away, I think the conductor will appear in the book alot but I haven't figured out what he symbolizes yet.
I think that the dog attacking him will foreshadow his return to society.  He tries to hug and pet the dog even though it is biting him, since this was the first time he saw civalized things in weeks.  So when he returns to society one of two things may happen, he will try to get in with the community but they will chew him up, or the community will try to accept him back with loving arms but he will try to keep his distance and be defensive.

Things Fall Apart Critique

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I liked that it was more up to date and not like beowulf which was an epic written in old english.  Once I got started reading it I was hooked because their aren't many dull moments or parts where you are just thinking "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?".

I enjoyed the subject of the book and how people are forced to deal with change and how they take on that change.  Okonkwo lived his whole life knowing one thing, that a man must be a man, get titles, and do hard work.  Then within the course of 7 years his world is turned upside down and he doesn't like it.  I too am a person that is not keen to change, I hate that the laptops don't have word, even though I lose my flash drive and that is more practical technically I just hate it.

My favorite part of this book has to be when Okonkwo shows up after Enzima is taken.  this is the only time where he stops being all manly and really cares for someone.  If he showed this compasion more he wouldn't have lost his son to the church.  All in all this was a good book that I enjoyed reading.

Tragic Hero

In my deffinition of a tragic hero would be a person who tries his/her best to do what they think is right, but they are plagued by everything going horribly wrong.  Okonkwo is a tragic hero because in his mind he is doing everything he should do.  However he is cursed with bad luck, he accidently kills the boy at the funeral and has to leave.  Another time when he thinks he is doing the right thing is when he kills the messenger assuming everyone would join in and support the war but they don't.  He kills himself because he loses everything he holds dear, his way of life and his honor.  No matter what he does it never works out.

FEAR!!!

I know that every one fears something, even if they won't admit it, all the tribes fear the Umofia because lets face it they are just awesome and would win any war vs. another tribe.  Okonkwo doesn't fear much and he is a brave man but he does fear weakness, ever being thought of being weak; and he fears the loss of his loved ones, which he will never admit.  When he loses Ikemafuna he is distraught and doesn't eat or rest for like 3 days and is all depressed.  When the witch doctor comes to take Ekwefi to the caves he tries to stop the priestess because he loves Ekwefi and fears what will happen to her.  If I had to go away from my family for a long time I would probably be fine wih it for awhile, unless I was ripped away like Ikemafuna, then after awhile I would start to miss my family.