Shattered

She could feel her hair blowing in the breeze, each shiny strand flowing like an undulating wave. Michelle strutted down the filthy sidewalk like a gem; every part of her body sparkled--from her shiny new nail polish, twirling pink dress, and defined eyeliner that glistened in the morning light.     

“Good afternoon,” she skipped down to Mr. Geoffrey, her local mailman, who was placing packages in a mailbox.

Mr. Geoffrey cringed and scowled, turning away immediately.“Excuse me, you’re only fourteen! I’ve had enough of this. You’re making us all feel uncomfortable.”

Michelle averted her eyes, sauntering past him and up the hill. She could feel a lump form in her throat as her eyes grew heavy. The sun felt hidden behind the clouds as she was enveloped by the muck of the unkempt town. She knew her mother had told her to ignore the public, but she couldn’t help but wince after witnessing the mailman’s words.

“Mom, I’m home,” Michelle trudged up the front steps of her house, feet dragging behind her like heavy stones. Opening the front door, she took off her coat, hung it on the rack, and walked down the long corridor to her bedroom, where she slammed the door shut.

“Who is it? Michelle? Is that you?” Michelle’s mother howled from the kitchen. There was no response.

Meanwhile, Michelle sat slumped along her bed. Tears rushing down her face, she could feel the streams of salt and water converge to form rivers. She brought up a mirror to her face and carefully cleared her eyeliner with the icy cold remover. Covering herself with her soft, pink blanket, not even her face could be seen. She let out a long sigh.

“Why don’t they just leave me alone?” she whispered under her breath, hiccuping between sobs.

The sound of the doorbell awoke Michelle from her state of stillness. She crept out of bed, cupping her ears to the door to hear her mother’s quivering voice.

“Mom, who is it?” She chimed in, voice cracking.

She responded sternly, “None of your business, Michelle.”

Michelle continued to rise from her bed and crept down the corridor, arriving at the main entrance of her home. Standing there, with his full gear and garment, was Officer Blakely, the chief police sergeant of their neighborhood.

Michelle stopped in her tracks, standing idly. Stating matter-of-factly, she confessed, “Um, excuse me, why is he here, mom?”

“Just go back to your room.” Her eyebrows furrowed, pointing for her daughter to march back to her room.

The officer interjected. “Um, ma’am,” he hesitated. “This is a private conversation. It would be best if you left your mother and I here alone.”

Michelle felt as if a giant stone was crushing her body. She felt beguiled. Slumping back down on her bed, her head face down, Michelle could feel the weight of her bones pressing against her body, her frail soul crushed underneath. It’s about me, isn’t it?

She heard a knock on the door. Oh, no. It’s happening. Her heart sank.

“Mom, please, just tell me straight up,” she ordered.

“This isn’t as easy to tell as it may seem. It’s about you. Officer Blakely came to talk to me about you,” she paused, “About how, well, there have been some complaints.” Her voiced cracked, and her face turned a rosy red. “About...your attributes, your characteristics, your body...”

“Are you seriously saying I’m unacceptable? I’m your damn daughter for god’s sake! let me be myself!” she turned to sobbing, her hiccups turning to loud roars that shook the house.

“I would do something but, well, it’s the law,” she responded indignantly. “Don’t worry, honey, it’ll just take a few quick changes and you’re back to normal, right?”

These few words crushed Michelle into a million tiny pieces. What is normal, though? How could she change herself? How could she take her mind and body and tear them apart? Her mother spoke the very words that would bring her mind into a state of confusion. A state where her body was separated from her persona. Where her mind would forever be lost in a state of the unknown.

“Michelle, honey, I’ll give you some time to process this. I know this is hard, but trust me, we’ll get through it.” She turned around and shut the door behind her.

Her sobs began to grow into a fiery burst of anger. Michelle let out a deafening shriek, her feet pounding against the ground.

“Screw my life!” she yelled. Michelle took her hand, clenched her fists, and felt a strong energy rush through her veins. She eyed her mirror, strewn up on the wall, and launched her hands to it, leaving no time to process what was happening. She grabbed the mirror, smashing it against the hardwood floor, leaving it to shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Michelle tumbled to the floor, her knees penetrating the jagged edges of the glass. Her eyes lit up, remembering all of the hardship she went through to appease so many. Age five, she flashed back to when her mother forced men’s pants to her frail body she squirmed wildly. Age twelve, on her birthday, she was given a birthday cake filled with racecars. She could still remember the bitter taste of the cake in her mouth as her parents watched her eat it intently.

She forced her now limp hands, fumbling for dark gray scissors under her bed. Staring glumly into the shattered mirror on the ground, she took her shiny hair, the same hair that twisted and turned in the breeze, and cut them off into fine pieces. The glimmering chunks now lay limp on the floor among the jagged glass.

As he looked down in the mirror and saw the reflection of his short, trimmed hair, he realized who they wanted him to be. His make-up was gone, hair gone, and face pale white. He wasn’t Michelle, the quirky little girl who pranced along the street, but Michael, a boy who could never reveal to the world who she really is.

Mauritania’s Hidden Secret: A Nation Menaced by Slavery

On the outskirts of Nouakchott, Mauritania, on a one-lane dirt road, a prominent Arab noble operates a truck maniacally, swerving from one side of the road to another. In the back seat of the car lay Selek’ha Mint Hamane, a sixteen year old ethnic African girl of the Fula tribe, who was raped by her master nine months prior. Now, as she goes into labor, hands tied behind her back, her childbirth is forcefully aborted as the car jerks back and forth. Hamane writhes in agony while her near lifeless body is thrown carelessly against the unforgiving floor of the truck. As the car passes through Nouakchott, an army general stops the truck operator for driving recklessly, who, after seeing Hamane’s mutilated child, simply ignores the sight, and allows the car to pass into the central business district with a simple traffic violation.

According to CNN Documentary, brutal events like the forced abortion of Hamane’s child, although inhumane, are commonplace in rural Mauritania. As wealthy Arabs enslave their black African counterparts and put them through hardships such as that of Hamane, the government ignores these occurrences completely.

The Mauritanian government, dominated by Muslim Arabs, has continued to deny these cruel practices that affect “40 percent of Mauritania's population,” according to EFE World News (Otazu). Every day, as black Africans are marginalized, the government ignores these cases in order to perpetuate the power inequality between ethnic groups. The system of slavery in Mauritania by wealthy Arabs unto the black Africans is continually perpetuated by the government in order to create a system of hierarchy that puts Muslim Arabs at the top of the social ladder.

The vast majority of Mauritania are of the Maliki faith of Islam, in contrast to the minority black Africans who are of tribal religions. As the government’s goal is to create homogeneity with Islam as the state religion, Muslim Sharia Law takes precedent. According to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, “Many still postulate the legality of slavery due to the dominance of the Maliki interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence, or Sharia Law” (Biram). Under Islamic faith, slavery is not overtly stated as illegal. As the Muslim-dominated government strives to continue to have Islam as the dominant religion by a large margin, they completely ignore and deny the harsh effects that slavery has upon the non-Muslims of the nation.

In addition to the implementation of Islam as the state religion, many scholars have argued that the Mauritanian government has tried to consolidate the power in hands of the wealthy Arab elite. As evidence, an NPR article cites that “they point to the decision to declare Arabic the country's official language” (Watson). With Arabic as the lingua franca, the wealth of the nation is held among the Arab people, who are historically more wealthy than the black Africans. Creating a national language other than that of the enslaved peoples, it details the government’s desires to have more power than the tribal Africans.  

Although numerous groups have arose to combat this, such as SOS Slavery and IRA Mauritania, the government’s superiority over these tribal groups continues to affect millions of rural workers every day. According to an article by Al Jazeera News, IRA Mauritania carried out a peaceful rally, of which “Mauritanian officials attacked and wounded 30” (Mauritania). As the fight for greater rights continues, the government is steadfast to continue slavery in hopes of perpetuating Mauritania’s political structure.

Selek’ha Mint Hamane, now twenty-one years old, has been freed from her slave owner, but still lives in fear of wealthy Arab nobles to this day. She will forever be scarred after being raped, tortured, and eventually having a miscarriage as she went into labor. The government’s inability to fathom the cruelty that the tribal Africans of Mauritania experience directly leads to the decline in human rights throughout the nation. But as Hamane looks to the future, she feels a change brewing from the darkest depths of the nation.

Works Cited

Mauritania: Slavery's Last Stronghold. CNN, 2012. Youtube. 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.

Otazu, Javier. "In Mauritania, Children Are Still Born into Slavery." EFE World News Service (2015): n. pag. Global Issues in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.

"Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization." UNPO: Biram Dah Abeid Still

Imprisoned: Latest Developments. IBIS Services, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.

Watson, Ivan. "Slavery Lives on in Mauritania." NPR. NPR, 28 Aug. 2011. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

"Mauritania Anti-slavery Verdict Sparks Riot." Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera Media Network, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

John Kumalo

John Kumalo (A Blogged Analysis)

John Kumalo, in contrast to Stephen's innocence and loyalty, shows an acute sense of anger and also his loss of faith, two characteristics that he has gained through his experiences with racism in Johannesburg.

"I do not say we are free here. I do not say we are free as men should be. But at least I am free of the chief. At least I am free of an old and ignorant man, who is nothing but a white man's dog"(35).

"His voice grew louder, and he was again addressing people who were not there"(36).

"'That is my experience,' he said. 'That is why I no longer go to the church.' 'And that is why you did not right anymore.' 'Well, well, it could be the reason.' 'That, and your wife Esther?' 'Yes, yes, both perhaps. It is hard to explain in a letter. Our customs are different here'"(37).

Impeding Success

Impeding Success

by Sean, Uma, Jaclyn, and Simardeep

Thesis: Dai Sijie uses the symbols of Four Eyes’ glasses and the buffalo to illustrate how one’s success is impeded by external forces.

Four Eyes’s Glasses:

“For all his efforts to dodge the relentless lashes, one split second of inattention was enough for Four-Eyes to receive a blow to the face from the buffalo’s tail, which sent his spectacles hurtling through the air. He swore and dropped the reins from his right hand and the plough from his left. Clapping his hands over his eyes, he let out a stream of abuse, as if he had been blinded” (47).

“I was sure, however, that he wouldn’t allow this mishap to interfere with his work, in case his myopia was taken as a sign of physical deficiency by the revolutionary peasants and they thought he was a slacker” (52-53).

Analysis: In this community, buffalos are used for hard labor tasks and to help the proletariat people to farm and harvest their food. Buffalos are looked upon as generally peaceful and helpful creatures, and the fact that it is constantly whipping Four-Eyes in the face describes how Four-Eyes does not give it respect, so it will not give Four-Eyes respect either. Four-Eyes is not a very genuine person, and will simply do whatever he can to leave the Phoenix Mountain. This signifies the buffalos distrust in what Four-Eyes plans to do in the future, and is trying to impede Four-Eyes from continuing. When his glasses are knocked out, it is shown how helpless he is without it. His lack of sight and how the buffalo is trying to knock them out signifies how he will not garner success in the future, and that he will not get far without them. Even though he didn’t have have his glasses and was making a journey up the mountain he was determined to do anything to get out the phoenix mountain.  

Buffalo:

“The buffalo was of medium size, but boasted an exceptionally long tail, which it swung vigorously from side to side, as though determined to splatter its timid, inexperienced master with as much filth as possible” (47).

“On top of the neatly stacked books lay the buffalo tail black, with a tufted end, and stained with dark blood. It was exceptionally long, and no doubt once belonged to the unfortunate buffalo responsible for breaking Four-Eye’s glasses” (105).

Analysis: The significance of the buffalo is that it represents the agricultural life that is trying to be promoted by Chairman Mao and the Communist Party in China. The buffalo is trying to impede the progress of Four-Eyes while he is trying to complete tilling the soil, representing that the agricultural life and people who are in charge of it are doing everything that they can to stop the intellectual youths from escaping re-education and getting back to where they came from.

Flow with the Wind

Flow with the Wind

By Sean Adibi

When the wind seizes you by the feet

And spins you around in an endless orbit,

Do not fuss over the initial disorientation you will experience,

But rather how this will give you one more adventure to look back on.

As you walk along a rugged trail

And a jagged stone lies in your path,

Impeding you from continuing,

Do not mourn over the fact that the destination will not be reached

But that you can take a different path that will garner success.

And when you see a downpour of rain interfering with your afternoon plans,

Realize that each voluminous droplet brings life to all it touches,

And soothes your skin.

Every change in life should not be looked upon as a problem,

But rather an adjustment that will benefit you differently.

Don’t be frustrated about something beyond your control.

But thrive from it

And flow with the wind.

Different Perspectives, Different Memories

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