Star Wars Love

The Courtship of Princes Leia

by

Dave Wolverton

I don't see Star Wars as a lovey dovey type story even when it is all about relationships. For that I am thankful. This story shows a large range of just how love is found. The book starts out with a contrast between Han and Isolder and their love for Leia. Isolder is obviously a foil for Han to highlight his maturity. I probably can't get away with calling Han mature since a major part of the plot comes from him kidnapping Leia but lets ignore that bit for now.. Contrasted to Han, with much of his life is a struggle for financial gain, Isolder has everything he needs. Isolder, despite not knowing Leia, professed his love for her right away. Yet the only thing the two have in common is their duty to their people. Han does state his love for Leia after a slow growth of affection. This leads to the most important contrast. Isolder saw Leia as the perfect Queen Mother, strong but kind, he could only love her in that limited view. Han, by contrast, love Leia for who she is. The plot does a very good job of showing the readers this.  Both Han and Leia give consideration to each other throughout the story. Even with all the possible relationships this commitment is not see elsewhere, even by those who are not lovers but have other relationships.

Luke and Teneniel's potential relationship is intriguing but obviously not one that would work. Teneniel has strong and fast proclamations which is far from what Luke needs. Rapid change has left Luke wounded. His quick attachment to Obiwan and his subsequent loss had a strong impact on Luke. This loss isn't the only one that happened in a short amount of time after uniting with an individual. The current loving relationship that he has is with Leia. It would be slow to form but unyielding in strength.

(Sadly this was meant to be uploaded in August but do to time restraints my writing has taken a back seat.)

A Sense of Self

It is amazing to see how two people with such similarities as those found in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Johnson and Quicksand by Nella Larsen can have such distinct personalities from each other. The child hood and even the events of later life correspond greatly in the Ex-colored man’s and Helga Crane’s life from their family and even who they associate with. Despite these similarities the Ex-colored man has a naivety that doesn’t dissipate and Helga Crane would hold an escapist need and dissatisfaction.

                Both the Ex-colored man and Helga Crane both had white, absentee fathers. These fathers play a strong role in the lives of both these individuals. The Ex-colored man’s father supported his mother despite the fact they would not marry and he would later go to marry another. The love his mother felt for his white father also allowed her to deeply love her son. She shared her time with him and made the Ex-colored man her focus and would give him the skills that would lead him through life, his music. Her love, I believe, also kept her from marrying another. Crane would not have this caring home life. Her mother did not lavish her attention on her daughter. She would marry again for financial stability. Crane’s stepfather would resent her and would lead to Crane’s critical view of the world. She had no place at home and would struggle to find one elsewhere. The Ex-colored man would be more at ease in wherever he went. He would have the advantage of looking white and was in a position to change his status because of this.

                The Ex-colored man has a different perspective, a white perspective, compared to Helga Crane. They both have the same parental background but the color of their skin changes their opportunities. The Ex-colored man can choose to ignore the race problem if he wanted to but Helga is submerged. This is most evident by the two rich individuals in the stories.  The Ex-colored man, through the Rich man’s employment, is taken away from the very place where the Ex-colored man would need to question his place and the race question. In Europe his music was what mattered, not if he was a black or a white musician. The Rich man himself need not question his place in a world with white power do to him being a white power. Crane’s rich friend Anne would not allow for this avoidance. Anne herself is black and very much involved in what is called the race question. Talking about race is her main topic because of this she can never place race aside and gain true equality. She judges others of her race for who they associate with and in what manner. This leads to some of Crane’s dissatisfaction.

                The dissatisfaction both these individuals felt would come from the inequality blacks have in society.  The Ex-colored man, despite his ability to appear white to others, could not escape his unfulfillment. He knew who he was, a musician, and played black music. His conflict was to have the safety of having white skin or fulfill his needs to play and gain recognition for it. His children would be the deciding factor of choosing to live as a white man but this required the denial of his race. His ability to take an active part in gaining recognition for blacks that would allow him to find his place in the world was taken by putting his children first. It was a high price to pay. Helga Crane also felt dissatisfaction do to her place in the world but I feel this is less because of her color. I believe Crane had expectations well beyond equality. She expects a very particular person and full acceptance of her. This probably wouldn’t happen even with equality in place. She would not have acceptance from her family, either black or white, and she had very little tolerance for those in her life. Both these characters would suffer for their lack of place in the world.

                The race question is not one easily answered as the Ex-colored man and Helga Crane would find. It wasn’t just about making your way, both managed to find work and friendly people to guide them, but it was about finding satisfaction. When a large part of the population is set against you and the other part unambitious it results in inner turmoil for both these characters. Even with a life time to search and the ability to travel and start anew these issues of who you are is not easily answered.

Underground

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I already know this is a book I will need to return too. I can only begin to talk about the inclinations presented in this book. Consciousness, the awareness of self and others, is the main concept within this book. The question is the effects of this consciousness but I feel this isn’t the important view point. It is more important to ask what we will do with it. Consciousness is here, it is not going away. The first bit I needed to reconcile with myself is my wondering if the Underground Man really is conscious. Obviously part of him has to be. He sees too much in himself and others to not have awareness; however what are its limitations? The limitations to me are he does not address the possibility of changing thoughts and actions. The Underground Man will stay the same by his own demands but what does this mean for the reader? Nothing, seeing as the Underground Man states, in the end, we are all underground. You have to make of that what you will.

Limitations are the best way to talk about what the underground is. Consciousness only allows us to see what our situation is. Consciousness does not tell us how to change the situation or our perceptions. In this case, yes, we are all underground. Is there a way out? The enlightenment brings with it the belief that the more we learn, the more we observe of the world, and the better we’ll be. I’m siding with the Underground Man on this one that the concept is flawed and will not work. There will always be an Underground Man, which is how the system works. To be alive is to adapt and often this comes from some weird goof, something that can be good or bad, who knows that isn’t too important.

Another way out to consider is books. Lisa was the first to bring up books and it comes at a key point, while her perspective was changing. Books are the best way to see the world through another person. It expands our view farther than we can. Lives and ideas are changed through words. At the same time the Underground Man was not changed, only Lisa. With her we do not know to what extent she was changed. The most important piece would be not that she changed, but the fact she would have changed because of someone else. The prostitute is the only redeemable person within “Notes from the Underground.” This is remarkable seeing as she is not in an admirable position. No one would like to be her and in her spot in life. At the same time we want to live with youthful hope and openness. The cruelty and carelessness of others is something to be rejected. Even the Underground Man knows we do this and calls it out as he speaks with us. What makes her so different? For one thing she is in a lowly position and has no filter. By this I mean she is not in a place to ignore others. Because of this her reactions gain an admirable quality. The dignity she shows is the last thing she has to lose.

The Underground man also clings to what he is at risk of losing as well. His view of himself is the only thing he regards. How he looks to others and his superiority is what his focus is on. He cannot see others without forming an opinion they must hold about him. He cannot see others only versions of himself in them.

Optimism

 Candide by Voltaire

Optimism is streaked through Candide. It is even in the title. At first glance it would seem that optimism fades from the start. Candide first thought the world a happy place and believed Pangloss when told this is a good world. It took him going out into the world to see it isn’t a good place. This doesn’t have to mean that optimism can’t still be alive and well. This is hit home with the old woman saying “a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more (Candide 118).” Their very life is what allows them to be optimistic.

Pangloss believes that all good things come from bad and that this, the world, is the right. He says all things in this world are for the best. A lot of his arguments come from if this happens then this happens, this type of argument believes if one is true the other is also true. There are a lot of holes in this. Pangloss can’t prove that the bad caused the good as he claims. Even if he could that cannot prove that the good could not have come without the bad. He cannot prove that if we tried we couldn’t improve the bad and make only good improvements. He also fails to take into account wroth. Was the bad worth what was gained in good things? He even states a disease “which thus strikes at and defeats the greatest end of Nature herself-we should have neither chocolate nor cachineal (Candide 106).” Something that prevents a great part of nature is completely forgiven because of chocolate. I know we like chocolate but really? Later on it even says chocolate killed the prince of Massa-Carrara. Of course it wasn’t the chocolate that would kill him but shouldn’t it be enough that it was called chocolate? Either way it isn’t seen as a good thing and makes even Pangloss’s good things seem less so.

Voltaire makes Pangloss look very useless. He doesn’t do anything, he maintains no active part in the world, and in the end he impacts no one, or at least does not maintain whatever impact he did focus on others. Pangloss’s only importance was while he was teaching. When his students left he had nothing. Beyond that his teachings where undermined throughout the whole story by Candide’s experiences. At the same time Pangloss’s believe means he takes no responsibility. In his tail of what befell Cunegonde and her family he says nothing about what he went through. More than likely he was hiding like a cowered and watched the raping of women and the splattering of those whose castle he resided in. He speaks in such a way that even the most horrible thing is considered an everyday event and without distinction other than to wax poetically.

The experiences within the story are all of comedic horror. You would think that this was being out of the way in writing this way because of the time period but we do the same thing nowadays. Rape jokes, gold diggers, and anything else is thrown in. All this builds up to the main point of the story. We are constantly trying to one up each other. Candide is born from this nature. His father is believed to be a “respectable, honest gentleman (Candide 100),” yet his mother refused to marry him leaving Candide fatherless. The old woman believes she has suffered more than anyone, as if that is to be bragged about!

I feel, within the old woman’s story, is among the most profound lines of the entire book. “These are such common matters that they are not worth describing (Candide 116).” This is an awful thing to say after telling of a rape. This story takes place during the enlightenment, a time period where people are realizing they have control of their actions. We take this for a given today. Yet this line still has a great deal of impact because it is still not something we talk about. The very belief behind why rape happens hasn’t changed much since this time period. This is a line that is meant to be satire and has nothing to do with speaking to the future but I can’t help but take it that way seeing as this is a story about change in the time period that did a great deal of it. I don’t see this as a bad thing though. Voltaire put his humor right up against real life events, such as the conditions of Moracco and the great Lisbon earthquake.

I want to take a moment to look at Paquette because she stands out from the other women of the story. Marrying was never brought up with her and most, if not all, of her sexual encounters are of her own free will. She is working class and seems a very fitting representative of society. She has to work for whoever is around and isn't happy about it. The most important part is she is expected to be happy about it.

Now optimism is the question within this story but I can't help but feel I interchange it with hope. So is there hope? I would say there is. Candide expressed it every time he found someone he lost along the way, starting with the sheep that he would find the life he wanted to lead. "Candide was more joyful to recover this one sheep than he had been afflicted to lose a hundred of them, all loaded with big Eldorado diamonds. (Candide 135)." He did not find this life but as Pangloss says all is for the best. His view may be flawed but Candide's hope made him gather the people he meet together and they now have a chance to be happy.

Voltaire is full of hard truths and conflicting personality views. "Very little virtue or happiness upon earth, except perhaps in El Dorado, where nobody could gain admittance (Optimism 87)." Eldorado is everything you would think of in the perfect place and yet Candide leaves. Why? There are two ways I see this, mine and what I believe Voltaire wanted. First Voltaire, he implies that Eldorado means nothing to Candide because it lacks status. He cannot be rich or important here at all. This is seen again when he wishes to marry Cunegonde, even when she is ugly, because her brother blatantly says Candide is not good enough. My view depends on Compassion.

Compassion means, in the original Latin of this time period, co-suffering. Candide could not be happy in Eldorado because no one there shared his suffering. "Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities (Optimism 70)." We need each other and I believe Candide knew this, after all he took the time to buy the freedom of those he traveled with, and he knew at the very end that they could come together to build a world for themselves. No the book did not tell of them finding some great happiness but it does tell of them gaining value in themselves and with each other.

"So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (637-41)(Genesis 1: 27)." "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (589-91)(Genesis 2:15)."

Ok so the Bible is a pretty common thing and a good many people feel they know it but I'm betting most would say God made man to worship him but you are wrong. At the end Candide says "we must cultivate our garden (Optimism 113)." Eve is mother of all reason; her eating of the fruit allows us to see what we could not before. If you know anything of logic and philosophy you know there are three stages information, knowledge, and finally wisdom. Information is just facts, you don't have to know what they can do, knowledge is applying facts with some degree of understanding, and finally wisdom is having a grasp of how knowledge can be used. I bring up the garden, Eve, and logic all at once to make one firm point, Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good an evil. With Eve bringing reason into the world we only gained a light understanding of what is good or bad; it takes time to build wisdom from knowledge. They, and us, need to cultivate our gardens.

Throughout these hard ships they have gained empathy, understanding, and now rely on each other for compassion. They start to learn what skills they each have and enrich themselves as well as their company. They no longer have value in what they are born to but what they, themselves, do.

"Genesis." 2011. The Holy Bible ESV: English Standard Version : Containing the Old and New Testaments. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001. N. pag.Ebook reader.

Voltaire. Candide. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1918. Ebook Reader.

 Voltaire. "Candide, or Optimism." 2013. The Norton Anthology World Literature. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 97-159. Print. 1650 to the Present.

Death Star Intros Part 2

Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry

Spoilers: You have been Warned

Chapter(s): 5,6, and 7

Dr. Kornell Divini is another example of things to remember when dealing with the military, the possibility of a draft. Last time I brought up how Rebels had to kill all those on the Death Star in order to take down the Empire. Knowing that a doctor, a man meant to help people, that doesn't want to be there in the first place, is on the space station does not sit well. Nether does his being from Tatooine, same as our hero. Let's take a look at the effects of the Empire. The doctors are to give extra care to Wookiees because of their working ability but others are expendable. He is noticing the wills around him but he isn't fully like them yet, he is still the new boy. He has the sense to wonder why wookiees are working for the Empire. It doesn't take long for him to realize they are like him, not there by choice.

Darth Vader is the only person so far we should have any expectations of. I don't really think mine where met. That doesn't have to be a bad thing though. This is what I didn't like, the fact he still feels he "reverts...to what Obi Wan Kenobi...has made of him (52)." I don't feel that is something he would have thought, that he was still what he once was. I'll see where it goes though. Other than this feeling of disapproval of the 4 pages of Vader's first appearance, I feel one thing was really worth commenting on that adds to what we know of him and ties into some of the earliest comments made about him. "Fear was good- in others (50)." This to me screams that he has not forgotten what put him by the side of the Empire, his own fear. This is a great flash back to "Episode 1"'s first meeting of Anakin and Yoda. I like this allusion because it is not overly blatant like I have seen some references be.

Sergeant Nova Stihl intrigues me. He is into philosophy and quotes a philosopher who says, "I know myself to be only as I appear to myself (45)." Nova heavily implies he thinks of himself as a good man but a simple one. The problem with good men is they rationalize how they are good men. He is a good man, he really is and I'm not taking that away from him, but he clearly tones down the wrong that is clearly around him. He feels sympathy for political prisoners, at the same time though he is a bit harsh about the world around him. Part of him knows that lack of free speech is wrong but he expects you to know your society and where you stand in it. In his would you act in the interest of your government for the good of all. He has one major flaw, he knows he is a good person, this is the government he works for, and he has no reason to question the goodness of that government.

 Reaves, Michael, and Steve Perry. Star Wars: Death Star. New York: Lucas/Del Rey/Ballantine, 2007. Print.

We Hate Women

Mary Sue, What are you?

or why the concept of a Sue is sexist.

From Poisoned by Hatred

This essay is witty and straight to the point. Mary Sue was a concept I just didn't get till I read this and maybe for a good reason. I never got how to tell what a Mary Sue was or how to spot one. I believe this comes down to the way I read. I like a character or I don't and that is pretty much all the justification I need. I feel this keeps the focus right where it needs to be, on my enjoyment. This essay's question reminds me there is more to look at and reason with. Do I, as a girl and a person, give slack to guys because they have been uplifted for so long?

I'm not much into movement and never cared about women's power. I believe an individual is capable so long as they work. Do that and there is no problem. That sounds so naive, doesn't it? Well my dad works hard, believes in working hard, and wanted a boy. Maybe I was doomed. Of course there are others who will judge women more harshly than a man. They are just one type of person though; I don't have to deal with them. But yes you do they are your boss and others in your life. That is true but I feel leading by example is probably more effective. How can I do that if I am paying attention to the thing I don't want to be like?

Ok, so I believe in learning and potential in the real world but what about the written worlds? I feel things are not as favorable. I always seem to be more attracted to male characters. I can't be fully objective; I am after all a member of society even if I've never been the best with current events or happenings. I can't say I'm above the traps that you can fall into with this kind of gender bias. For all I know I already have and have been programmed to fall in love with these characters or wish I was them because men are so much better. Either way I can't rule it out. What can I do? I can start by looking at what I read and which characters I like.

The first thing that came to mind for female characters was Anime. From there I think I can sum up some of the things a character does or is for me to like them. There has to be some form of fighting. They have to be at least a bit of a hard ass. Well placed or earned power is a good thing. Jerks need love too. Some of the thoughts that got me here were asking me why I liked Sango better then Kagome in Inuyasha or why I didn't think of Sakura, from Naruto, as useless as people like to say she is. What finally brought it all together was Eowyn killing the Witch-King as the coolest thing ever.

Does this mean I can respect women as traditional women? After all Eowyn was posing as a man. Can I love femininity? I have to say yes and no. I feel I can like characters femininity only to a point. The only one that comes to mind that has any femininity, and lacks overtly male traits, is Hermione. Even she has to remind Ron that she is a girl. Maybe that is one of the reasons I like her, they are so close that the details of her gender are erased. The only house wife that I like and can think of is from Shin Chan. Oh my. Well till I gave it was pointed out that Izumi, FMA, is also a housewife, kick ass. I've also thought a little on Sailor Moon, I tried to watch it and read a good bit of the manga, I hated it. That makes no sense to me because I love to hear little summaries about it and I feel the art, or fan art, for it is to die for. Maybe that is a bit much, let’s just say I am attracted. I blame the plot and bad lines for my issue. Could it be more than that? I don't know.

This really is a lovely essay and I am so glad I found it. I don't feel my comments are needed but this makes for a good personal review. There are a ton of other women I could point out about but I'm blanking and wanting to keep this fairly short. It isn't about the women, over all, it is about how we view them. I liked Jurassic Park as a kid and I still like it now. Let’s leave it at that.