Here is your second blog post topic. How did reading these literary works ('the experience of the exterior landscape') shape the 'interior landscape of your brains' as Barry Lopez puts it? Feel free to comment on any aspect that strikes you the most.
The Whale Rider, for me, has been more educational than I thought it would be before I started reading the book. I was impressed- just like everyone else, I believe, mostly by the must-have oneness and the unity, which was the whole point of the book for me. Like one of our friends said in the class, honestly, I’ve never sat down and thoght about whales before reading The Whale Rider. However, together with the Maori Culture which was amazingly embodied in the book, there occured a whole new understanding of the world in me. I have always been a person that was well aware of the fact that we share this world with every other living creature and that this world doesn’t belong to human beings only. But, after The Whale Rider, this personal characteristic of mine jumped to a new level, which was all sorts of enlightening. I now look at whales not just as animals to feel sorry for because they strand, but also as amazing beings that have a special way of communication and an infallible oneness which is sometimes so hard to find in other circumstances as human beings. The way that they think Kahu cannot be the whale rider but still follow that whale, was highly impressive for me.
ReplyDeleteBarry Lopez’s A Presentation of Whales, as a non-fiction text, had its effect on me on another but not less striking level. Reading the article, I felt both startled and sad. The reactions given to the stranding of forty-one whales had their own kind of disparateness and were all equally weird for me to read. People trying to take photos with the dying animals, people trying to dislocate parts of them, scientists that wanted themselves to deal with the animals, drunkards, children… Some were cruel reactions and some were reasonable (for the sake of science), but none were the appropriate reaction for me. This brings me to a question in the article, which is the point that occupied my mind the most. Should we help the whales die, or watch them die? Because the article openly says that no matter what, the whales were going to die. If I was there I wouldn’t stand watching the poor whales die, I also wouldn’t be able to help them die, both for sentimental reasons. But I believe, they were supposed to help them die without pain instead of cutting the dead animals open on the beach in front of the whales that were still alive.
Both texts caused me to have two different points of view, both equally striking. Whales are now legendary animals for me, truly. I didn’t look at these two texts as “stuff to read for school”, they both touched to a place in me. The Whale Rider caused me to open up my mind and it made whales mythical creatures for me. A Presentation of Whales made me want to make some people see something: a life does not become less valuable when it belongs to something that cannot speak. As Barry Lopez puts it, nobody knows why whales strand. We don’t know enough about them, or enough about anything for that matter, so how is it that some people make everything about themselves? Stranding of whales should be about whales, not about some people that try to take whales’ teeth because they “worth so much money”.
Gökçe Demirdağ
In the journey of experience of the exterior landscape to interior landscape in our brains, The Whale Rider is crucial factor that pushes people to be aware of the other worlds existing in nature, especially whales' world that some readers may never see them and been there. In this context, it is a connecter for readers and whales, also a screen that shows the effects of some nuclear works by human on whales, which makes the feeling of oneness and balance in nature on people stronger; so that is why a highlighter about unity, also. It brings whales' lifes to us and makes us visualize them and because it has imaginative (so very powerful in terms of being conceived) elements, it makes readers perceive their situation, the connection between them and readers themselves. I believe that it is much more significant to see nature from a deep perspective than to be there. That is, in this context this kind of literary works lead to see and understand places, animals briefly other worlds deeply, cause to be there is not enough an interior landscape in our brains. So, the most importantly I can say that reading these kind of materials especially The Whale Rider makes people feel like whales, one of them for a while, which is a significant component of shaping the experience of exterior landscape in our brains. Additionally, in A Presentation of Whales, Barry Lopez highlights ethical side of this connection between nature and humans. He shows typical human behaviours to whales as just a symbol of nature and he puts some elements like kind of cruel scientists trying to get blood examples from the whales that are about to die. That is, he is underlines the dramatic situation. It is again an event that we, most of readers, may never face maybe during our whole lifetime and he brings these real dramatic scenes to us and definitely leads us to not only know the situation but also perceive the suffering, tragedy (can be said) and the most importantly be aware all of it. Awareness, in my opinion, is the main goal of these kind of literary works. For example, both in The Whale Rider and A Presentation of Whales, to see what is beyond about natural world except what we know, to feel like a whale, to pity them and feel sad for them , is for creating the closest feeling to reality and it makes people not only see what is happening in the other worlds and how we affect or mostly harm animals but also make people realise it and be on the alert for the natural life that they have not realize so far, and which lifes they are harming by demonstrating the lifes having harmed so far.
ReplyDeleteMerve Yavaş
The Whale Rider is a kind of enlightening book for me; moreover it is also a kind of a guide for the ones who are interested in and study on any environmental field. Because it leads us to realize that there are another creatures which live in this world besides humans. As we mentioned during our discussion in the class, I have never thought of a whale consciously before reading and talking about them. Actually, I really do not know the reason why I never thought about them. I started to question myself about the reasons behind this unawareness. For instance, why the death of a dog affect us more than that of a whale? I tried to find a logical answer for this question and I can say that we see dogs as a domestic animals. We live with them and try to show empathy towards them. However, it is not valid for the whales. We should not forget that they are also domestic animals in their own places, in oceans. We are humans and also a part of nature. Similarly, whales are a part of nature too like all living creatures in this world. But we know that we abuse the nature and also abuse the whales, too. We set apart them from the place where they can live freely. Again, I must question myself for the independence of whales. Humans do not want to be restricted and they struggle for their independence during their life. Instead of showing the same respect to the whales, we limit their lives by putting them in a huge aquarium because of our economic profits. In the Whale Rider, Maori culture leads us to view this subject from a different standpoint. We are enlightened by the book Whale Rider and the article of a Presentation of Whales. While I was reading them, I realized that we should try to understand how much we make their life difficult. We learned a lot about the whales thanks to our sensitive course. Furthermore, we will spread this awareness to the other people around us. We are like links in the chain, and we will add more and more links to it.
ReplyDeleteÜlkü Selin Yıldız
Despite all of Koro’s restrictions, negligence, and rejection, the protagonist of The Whale Rider, Kahu, manages to become the leader of the Maori tribe, a tribe where men are considered superior and sacred. As Witi Ihimaera’s daughters point out, in most works heroes are men, whereas those who wait to be rescued are women. This novel unsettles this cycle and refutes Koro, who insists that “she [Kahu] is of no use to me”. In fact, not only Koro, but also the whole tribe needs Kahu for their future. The author’s feminist approach was one of the aspects that struck my attention. Also, when we look at the whales’ lives, we see that the dominant one is the female whale who stands up to the ancient bull whale. In much the same way, as Nanny Flowers explains: “Koro isn’t any chief, I’m his chief.” Both of the female characters, with what they say, cause their husbands to experience an epiphany. The ancient bull whale realizes that the person standing on his back is not the past leader, but the future chief of the Maori tribe. Nanny Flowers makes Koro realize the truth by giving him the “carved stone”.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect which struck my attention in the novel is that Kahu has a lot in common with sea creatures. She, just like a whale, prefers the cold water over the refreshments that many children prefer to drink, and there are some recurrent references which state the similarity of Kahu’s face to that of a dolphin. The novel is successful in pointing out how much whales are similar to human beings. Whales are able to communicate, feel just as people are, and they do not want to be separated from those whom they love. The Whale Rider took me on a journey into the lives of both the whales and of Kahu, and helped me realize how similar these two different worlds are.
As for Barry Lopez’s “A Presentation of Whales”, one needs not to be a scientist, nor a veterinary, nor a Greenpeace volunteer in order to help those 41 stranded whales. Instead, one needs to be a “human being”. On this beach where there is blood everywhere and where whales lie in pain, people act as if at an art exhibition. They try to take photographs and fathers want to show this terrible scene to their sons as if it is something to be proud of. These cruel people to whom money is all that matters -and it is not even appropriate to call them human- try to pull the whales’ teeth out, and they do not give up in spite of the risk of being crushed under the whales’ tails. On the other hand, we have real people who try to help the whales, even though they know it is not possible to save them. These real people cover the whales with drenched blankets and never leave them alone. I think their course of action is the right one to follow, especially when one is aware of the whales’ feelings. Leaving the whales to themselves, to die, is not a worthy action for humanity, no matter how hopeless the situation may be. Barry Lopez’s “A Presentation of Whales” has showed me in an effective and at the same time upsetting way that one of the worst enemies of whales is “commercial whalers’’, that is, human beings.
Zübeyde Şahin
Witi Ihimaera’s fictional book The Whale Rider is a versatile novel in terms of subjects dealt with in. It gives reader a number of crucial different perspectives like importance of women’s status in society, humankind’s relationship with nature and its place in it, and as all post-colonial works it reflects a culture’s, which is on the verge of extinction, concerns. Witi Ihimaera parallels two leaderless societies’ fates; Maori people and whales. From the very first metaphor “monster” we see that Witi Ihimaera wants to draw attention to extinction of both whales and Maori culture. I can say that Ihimaera’s this intention is worked on me. Before reading The Whale Rider I just knew Maori people by name and where they belong to and barely about whales. Thanks to this book I got a chance to go Waharanga and meet with these good people which seems nearly impossible for me in real life. However more importantly, beyond this nearly impossible chance I have got, the novel gave me a chance which is literally impossible; to be with those gorgeous “monsters” even hear their souls which touched my soul. Especially in italicized parts which are narrated in omniscient point of view I saw how whales and we as humankind resemble and bonded to each other. The role of this point of view and deep meaning in these parts reminded me the importance of “thinking like a mountain”. We must realize that each living creature in the world needs other creatures to live. It is easy to feel “oneness emphasize” in the whole book. However, it is given clearly at the end of each chapter in Maori language “Haumi e, hui e, taiki e” which means “join everything together, bind it together, let it be done”. Of course these words mean being one with nature but the point which I found it striking is what it reminded me. Because of its place of use and meaning I associated it with “amen” which is used in all Semitic religions and means “so be it”. I think it demonstrates how important to being together with nature for Maori people.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Presentation of Whales” which is written by Barry Lopez shows us our relationship with whales based on scientific objectivity. I think this text has a gloomy mood but it also make the reader angry towards humankind, especially “commercial whalers”. While reading the text I asked myself how we became such cruel and soulless creatures. I think Barry Lopez wants us to question ourselves and to find our real place in nature. When I saw so much cruelty I thought that Witi Ihimaera is not only drawing attention to danger of extinction of Maori culture and whales but also “humanity”. I hope there is still a “spear” for all of us.
While reading The Whale Rider written by Witi Ihimaera, I realised that all I knew about the whales and the Maori people were just superficial and inadequate information. Moreover, I comprehend that I actually did care about neither the whales nor the Maori people before reading the book. When I bought the book, I didn’t quite grasp what the book was trying to tell me or what was hidden inside it. Furthermore, I thought it was just an ordinary book telling us the story of the protagonist who rides a whale. I couldn’t imagine what a tremendous work Ihimaera did at first. I started learning new things about those people living in New Zealand and the whales, those marvellous creatures, page by page. While keeping reading the book, I recalled two quotations, “ in wildness also lay the hope for continued preservation of political freedom in the world ”, said by Edward Abbey and “ in wildness is the salvation of the world” by Thoreau. These quotations reminds me of the significance of being part of nature that Ihimaera states this idea as “oneness”. He portrays “oneness” with the unity of Kahu and the ancient bull whale. Whilst reading the text “A Presentation of Whales” written by Barry Lopez, I was ashamed of being a human. Even if all of us are not so evil as those “commercial whalers”, we, all the human race, are guilty of the massacre which has been carrying out for years. To me, Lopez’s attempts are to make us aware of our guilt and provoke us to stand against the slaughter. After studying those works, I know what my responsibilities are and what to do in the workplace after being graduated. Lopez , it is crystal clear I guess, is trying to warn us about how some of us is treating toward the whales( he probably means every single kind of creatures) is totally wrong and has to be changed.
ReplyDeleteHaving read both The Whale Rider and Barry Lopez’s article, what has stricken me most is the theme of oneness notion which shines out throughout these works. In the novel, nearly in every chapter, oneness theme is shown very strongly and it gives me a second thought about natural and physical world; in the sense of how we have been separating from environment gradually. The book shows this separation in a very dramatic way. One of the best examples to this is, as Koro Apirana usually says, how men and other creatures lived in close communication one another with the world in earlier times. According to me, one of the aims that the author wrote this book is criticizing the modernity through oneness notion. That the author’s talking about modernity as a progress could be the reason for breaking off the bond in between and endangering the tradition, the whales as well as the environment. By modernity and progress as technological developments how oneness was destroyed and other was created have attracted my attention. In addition to this, throughout the novel I can get the idea that human beings are not so different from the whales, for example in old times, people were so in touch with whale’s nature that -as Koro mentioned how the other tribe leader was able to speak with the whales, they were in a unity and could understand each other very well. There was a communication in between. And with the character called Kahu as she can speak with whales, the book shows an optimistic alternative future. Moreover, with oneness, the author tries to point out whales’ death telling it is a significant circumstance for the balance of the world. The author has transferred the suffering of the whales to people by making an awareness through a literary work. Since I have been interested in watching documentaries, I have been aware of some of the studies of scientists and how merchants make trade for gaining benefit from whales and ignoring how these animals suffer. As reading the article by Barry Lopez, I was able to penetrate how the whales’ studies are limited by scientists, whereas any novelist, historian, painter or theologian have been on the beach, not experiencing or trying some kind of connection. However, what I learned and experienced through reading the novel, I have learned about Maori Tribe and the term of whale rider is in real. All in all, the author created an awareness to the environmental world in an optimistic way and how we are a part of the nature apparently.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider three years ago, I realize that we are not alone on this earth. The humankind is not in one type. There are various countries and traditional tribes. With this book, I learn the life of Mauri tribe. I can connect vicarously with their experiences. That tribe try to keep alive their culture and language. Especially the whales are very important for their culture, since they believe that whales are their ancestors. Hovewer, because they live in nature, they care the nature and the other animals, too. And this also affects my caring for the physical world. I distinguish that we share our world with lots of different living creatures. There is another world over there that we do not know its verge and how it is. I realize that all animals and of course the whales have their own world and language. With Ihimaera’s way of using the language and the narration of the book we have a chance to observe whale’s life. In our minds we create their world, we can hear their voices and we can see their movements. I can say that we are not so different to each other. They have families, they live and move in some unities and they try to find oneness in their community. I feel as if they are humans but in a different shape. I establish intimacy with them and this is why I felt so sorry about them while I was reading Barry Lopez’s A Presentation of Whales. They also have feeling and they also know the feeling of love like us. This make me very bad, because when their friends have pain they also can not bare and feel their pain, too. From these literary Works we have to take a lesson that we should be aware of the other lifes, the other living creatures. We are not only on this world, so we must not behave like we are. From this works we can create our alternative futures, and make our world a better place to all of us. We can start to esteem the others’ lifes.
ReplyDeleteBeste YILDIRIM
To understand a culture precisely, you have to know their language, their traditional values and their everyday life. Learning all of the detailed points about a society may take years. To bring solutions on their problems can be trouble, or even impossible, without knowing anything about them. But Ihimera eliminates these hardships and demonstrates a culture with its values from their mythology to their social hierarchy. “The Whale Rider” is a successful example about designing the interior landscape of the reader’s mind.
ReplyDeleteConveying a human society may seem unexceptional. But bonding it with another culture is an unusual job. On the top of it, the societies, which Ihimera links, are different kinds. Whales and humans. Ihimera, with the light of the mythology of the native people, reunites the two kinds and proves that their future is the same. With the idea which she develops, Ihimera finds a common way for the both societies. This very idea is just a small demonstration about harmony of the creatures on earth. With this function, Ihimera plays a mirror role for all creatures on earth and makes them aware of their linked future.
While Ihimera makes it via fictional novel, Barry Lopez uses nonfiction and handles a depressing topic. In his article “A Presentation of Whales”, Lopez hits like a ton of bricks with his sentences and directness. The moments of whales and the experiences of Lopez on seeing them saddens us influentially. With the actions of people around whales and the decisions of the authorized people, Lopez leads a way to the discussions on how to treat animals. He shows all the sides from Greenpeace activists to curious eyes. Their reactions on the incident cause us to think who we are and what our responsibility on other creatures are. Inconsistency on euthanasia processes and the postmortem applications ruin the feelings of the reader.
Besides Ihimera, Lopez undertakes the mirror role with literature and achieves to convey his ideas by changing the reader’s point of view. Improving a consciousness about whales is inevitable while reading the article and feeling empathy on them is the utmost crushing part.
Görkem GÖK
ReplyDeleteThese two literary works are notable for creating awareness. Since, both novel and the article lead us to experience all the events that the writer or the characters face with, even if we have no chance to encounter all of them in our daily lives. As for me, I cannot state that I have never been interested in or unaware of these significant issues but I acquired different things about the whales from these works in a detailed way. One of those things I learned from the book of Whale Rider is the term of “oneness”. It shows us the unity between nature and people. Ihimaera underlines this term by saying man, beasts, and Gods lived in close. It means that they were very close to each other and in a kind of connection once upon a time. As we mentioned in the class, everything is connected to everything and we need to balance to perpetuate this aspect. Moreover, we are able to provide this balance by having a respect for nature and taking care of animals which are our neighbours on earth. Again, once we were golden humans for them and some of us could communicate with the whales. Yet, with the developing technology and the arousal of capitalism, we lost that unity and departed from the term of oneness that we cannot foresee what would happen if the whales or other species became extinct. It is capitalism which leads us to forget and become numb. Using the animals to entertain humanity by pulling them apart from their natural habitat is a great example for the effects of it. Also, we created “otherness” by ignoring the resemblances between the animals and humanity, and we can see some of these resemblances in Witi Ihimarea’s book. We sometimes lose our way of life just like the whales and come to a dead end; both of us wait for a hand to save us from the conundrum and when we cannot receive any assistance, we will be stranded from the open seas of our lives. In addition to that, what I comprehend Barry Lopez’s article is that the whales can understand us, and when they are dying, we should be with them and make them feel that we are there for their last minutes of their lives if there is no hope for them. Besides, taking samples from dead whales to improve some technics to save their lives is not that bad but it should not be done in a violent way because their fleshes should be shown some respect. Also, we should not think our luxury as this anthropocentric aspect ignores their right of living and independence, which is not ethical. All we need to do is to make a move.
Let it be done.
Reading The whale rider was like watching a movie to me.Because the descriptions about Maori tribe and whales created vivid images in my mind and what impressed me most in the book are both the unusual struggle of female protogonist and the way this book makes you more aware of living creatures when you finish it.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Kahu's dedication and braveness supported by Nanny Flower, the idea that ''it is actually always a woman who regulates even if it is not seem in this way'' is given by the author and even if i am already aware of this fact,seeing it is the same in tribes and even in the nature impressed me once more.Besides this, the power of this book in terms of creating awareness about the unity of human with nature is very intense.Especially the saying ''man, beasts, and Gods lived in close'' makes you consider the things that caused this to be broken and its highly informative and most of the time the answer why onenness is not current today is ''human cruelity''.We,as people treated the nature so harsh that it deteched itself from humanbeing with all its creatures.
"A Presentation of Whales",on the other hand,is naturally not fascinating as a novel but it promts you to question the ethical approach towards a dying animal and shows the effects of capitalism on people's affaction and awareness and while doing this ,Lopez,also, shows the indifference and cruelity of human in his article.
To conclude, both the book and the novel were didactic in terms of showing the human's attitude towards nature and they were also quite thought-provoking.I can say that reading these texts developed a consciousness in me and made me think twice before doing anything that can harm nature or animals.
Whale Rider is a fictional book,which sugggests how humans and animals live in oneness in this world. Maori culture and its traditions are mentioned in the book by Witi Ihımaera. The combination of Maori culture and current situation and also some major social issues such as family relationships, gender discrimination and generational differences are represented very well. For example, Kahu is the next leader of the tribe, despite her gender, tribe’s (Maori) traditions,because she who is a descendant of Kahutia Te Rangi -the Whale Rider- is the only one who can communicate the whales. The story influenced me, because it combines two opposite elements, such as land and sea, present and past. Koro contunies his life by thinking about past and Maori tradition,but circumstances change and he should follow the new changes. Aside from the present and past, the opposite elements,land and sea, are also seen in the Whale Rider. Whales try to be survived, whereas people who live depending upon their culture and tradition try to find their new leader. This people try to protect their culture and their tribe. There is a believe that people can be in danger, if whales are in danger. A term mentioned in the book is “oneness”. It symbolises the unity of whale and its rider, while they are in the sea. Kahu’s Uncle became a narrator,which makes the reader more influenced and understand the “oneness”. The whales and the people resemble each other, because they both do not have a leader. The writer comes up with feminist theory and asks why all the supermen are men and why women are second class people. Additionally, the presentation of whales asks the reader whether we should help the whales die or just watch them while they are dying. I think that both are impossible for me. While we were discussing the presentation of whales, I became to be aware of whales’ sensibility. I have never thought that they can have felt pains, because I have never witnessed their habitat and conditions of living and may be I have never established mutual relation between I and whales.
ReplyDeleteI did not have an interest to the whales and also I did not know anything about the Maori of The Maori people of New Zealand. This book shows me that anything is possible. It is not only a family book but it also shows us the statue of woman and the importance of nature for us. The characters in the book have different and unusual abilities and thanks to this book I can apprehend some informations about these people and their culture. Moreover, this book provoked nice feelings about nature and animals. These people are trying to protect their lineage and they consider the whales as significant figure in their life. Thanks to this book I also understand the term of oneness. It shows me that people and animals, nature should be considered as a complete. In "A Presentation of Whales" Lopez is trying to show us that we should not stay silent when the animals are dying because of the capitalism. According to these works and what we mentioned in the class I became more concerned about the nature.
ReplyDeleteReading Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider was a very striking experience for me. The parts which is written in the omniscient point of view show me how animals resemble the humankind. The whales and the Maori people are very alike. The whales are like a microsociety. While reading The Whale Rider I bear witness to whales’ world which is impossible in the real world. This showed me that they are just like us and I think this resemblance creates a great awarenesss for me and for my colleagues. The book made me feel an empathy with the whales. I did not read many books about environmental issues before taking this class but after seeing the awareness which a book about environment can create, I learned the importance of ecocriticism. Another striking point for me is the connection between the Maori people and the environment. The nature and the people are the one. But their culture is under the danger of extinction. For example, it is stated in the book that the older leader of the Maori people was able to communicate with the whales. Not only their tie between their culture but also their tie between the nature gets weaker. But it is obvious that they are still in a harmony with the nature.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Barry Lopez’s non-fiction work “The Presentation of Whales’’ is as striking as The Whale Rider. The article shows the ignorance of people towards the animals. It is not so hard to imagine the people who are trying to take photographs instead of helping the dying animals. The article makes a big ethical question which worths to think about. In such a case, should we help the animals die or should we show our companionship while they are dying? The answer is hard to find because humankind is so helpless against this situation.
One of the most dreary characteristics of human beings is no doubt selfishness. Since ancident times, humans live only for themselves, for their benefit and interest. While doing this, they disregards some virtues. Although each human being has a brain to think sensible, which is a separator factor from other living creatures, brain becomes useless when thinking not only their advantage but also other living creatures’. If we take nature as a whole, we are just a part of it, not the ruler or owner of it. Unfortunately, world doesn’t turn around humans. We have to accept this and treat nature and other living creatures in this way. For this reason, reading The Whale Rider and A Presentation of Whales is a good intensifier for my point of view. For example, in The Whale Rider, the most striking part to me is the relationship between whales and Maori people, especially with Kahu. There is an interesting connection between Maori people and whales, this connection is even stronger with Kahu. She accepts that she is the part of nature and she doesn’t put herself on a different and higher level from other living creatures. She lives her life as they are one. Her sensibility is surprising when considering her age. I’ve found a part of myself in Kahu, which i’ve already discovered in myself before i read this book, spirit of sharing. On the other hand, in A Presentation of Whales, i have a chance to take a different approach to whales. Before reading this article, i would say carrying out an experiment on a living creature which is about to die is cruel. But after reading it, i can say that it depends on the sincerity of an experiment. If it is for something really beneficial for both sides- i mean scientists and whales- it won’t be a cruelty then. Besides, letting an alive die without interfering is not a cruelty if you don’t have any other choice. It is about how you see it, with pure-minded or with a cruel heart which is ready to abuse.
ReplyDeleteThe readings "The Whale Rider" and "A Presentation of Whales" both lead us new viewpoints about whales and their natural life areas. In my opinion the book "The Whale Rider" is a stunning book that makes us walk between the past and present and the sea and land with the landscapes of human's eyes against whales and the human's life from whale's view. Generally, before I have met with these readings I only can think that the whales generation will end one day, but there is another question comes from "A Presentation of Whales" that will we watch them die or help them die? I see. After reading this article, I feel sorry about my human race again and again that all we know is selfishness against nature and the desire of being leadership among all other natural races. Now I know that I am not the leader race on the earth and especially I was thinking about in that way before I read them. Both writings have tragic scenes not only about dying of whales but also the human's ruthless and the societies survive about conversation themselves against other countries. The beaching of the whales in The Whale Rider and the whale that reactions the scientist's working on its friend's death body from the article were the most stunning scenes that I can not make them out of my mind and I think about how the people could continue the captures of pictures and trying to handle a tooth from them while they were watching that scene one step near them. These readings make so many different windows for me to look from another point of view that about the society too. For example the book's surface between the ancient mythology and the struggle of a young girl. This one was an exactly the best point for people's behavior againts women in the society and the girl's proving of her love, destiny and leadership. The book also showed me the nature of woman in the settlements has so many negative sides not only for our country but also all in others too. I feel that Kahu is like a monster for them like they are seeing whales like her too, both Kahu and whales represented the survive of the nature in my opinion and people were wathing and commenting in their own reasons and beliefs. No matter how far it takes time in my viewpoint people must learn how to behave each other as everyone's uniqeness and change their point of view against environment with a little try of finding an understandable way for each other. Than we can be sure that the world can be a better place to live with nature.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading these two literary works I always wondered why would whales get beached in the vast vast ocean. After learning about the causes and some of them being human related, I felt sad. People offering their presences to dying whales really got to me, we as a species should realize everything has the right to live and we should think a lot before taking any living thing's life. Whale Rider also taught me to care for whales one does not need to live near the ocean. Whales as other animals that live near us are part of our nature and as Leopold said "Everything is connected to everything.".Harming one of nature's creations will only result in human's harming themselves, but they might not realize it before it's too late. Literary works like these help human beings to realize the responsibility they are in. Also Whale Rider's Oneness concept, is very important. "Without them, we can not be." as the Old Paka said. The similarities between tribe leader, his wife and whale rider and his wife was beautifully put. It has shown that we are not so different at all and to live we need each other. As humans we need to be one with nature's all aspects as we are also a part of it and in dire need of it.
ReplyDeleteCan you guys help me a little?
ReplyDeleteI need help with this task:
The third student talks about: The movies we have seen to show how literature or movies make us aware of the current situation of the indigenous peoples you have chosen to talk about. Make sure that you give concrete examples and quote from the texts. Cite properly. Also, include the strategies you have used to prepare this task. For example, how did you collect the information and how you worked on this task.
Could someone please help me with this task?
ReplyDeleteThe third student talks about: The movies we have seen to show how literature or movies make us aware of the current situation of the indigenous peoples you have chosen to talk about. Make sure that you give concrete examples and quote from the texts. Cite properly. Also, include the strategies you have used to prepare this task. For example, how did you collect the information and how you worked on this task.