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This is a college level tranfer course, the second in a series where we will examine the poetics of life lived on the ground...as in rough and tumble, as in America at war with herself. This is a world art alone makes sense of, an artist's work is a gift freely shared like air...sympathetic systems aligned, the the fictive or imaginary worlds of possiblity simply an inhale or exhale away. This class is an opportunity to close your eyes and believe.
11 comments:
Marie Heide
18 April 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
Tuesday's reading really pulled me in with juicy details as to why and how one of the girls had ended up working at Mama's brothel. So far, we know why Sophie has come to make Mama's bar her new home. In a sense, I can kind of assume that the other girls are there because their bodies have been shamed as well. Salima is one of the girls that works for mama and in Act II, Scene II, I am introduced to Salima's world.
Thanks to Prof. Sabir, I learn the Salima means peace, and she has a husband named Fortune. Unfortunately, like so many other women in the war torn Congo, Salima is another casuality to rape and is taken prisoner as a sex slave. When the soldiers are through with her, they toss her out like garbage. The Congolese society greatly frowns upon rape and considers it to be the woman's fault, thus disgracing herself and her family. Salima was taken from her home when her husband Fortune was out purchasing a pot for her. When Fortune goes looking for Salima at Mama's bar, he is holding the very pot he initially bought for her that fateful day. I think he has held onto that pot all this time because he is filled with guilt. Guilt that he wasn't there to protect her like he should have. Consequently, he has brought disgrace upon himself and Salima. Now that Fortune is looking for Salima, I believe that he feels that all may be forgiven if he shows her that he actually did go out and by this pot for while she was being disgraced and being a witness to the death of her daughter- Beatrice. Fortune has held onto this pot perhaps to show Salima that he needs her to cook his meals and that he is ready to accept her once again to serve him, as she serves the customers at Mama's.
Ironically enough, Salima has not leave a peaceful life and will likewise continue not to as long as the war continues to rage on and discipline and rule cease to exist.
Marie Heide
18 April 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
Today, Thursday, in Act II and Scene IV, Christian recites the following poem to Mama:
"The black rop of water
towing
a rusted ferry
fighting the current of time
an insatiable flow,
Drifting, withour enough kerosene to get
through the dark nights.
The destination
always a port away."
To me, it sounds as if Christian is describing the fighting that is taking place in the Congo. "The black rope of water" is the invisible forces of the rebel soldiers and the government soldiers are relentlessly pulling the people who are continuously plundered by violence ("a rusted ferry") of the Congo along with the soldiers. Each side, the innocent people and the soldiers on both sides of the fighting, they are "fighting the current of time." The soldiers wanting to move forward and progress for financial gain and power, while the residents remember the way their lives were- happy memories- and wish to return to those better days. The civilians of the Congo survive day in and day out only by a thread. Each night they make it through, salvation to the end of the war is just a next day ahead.
Billy Russell
19 April 2012
Professor Sabir
English 1B
Today we finished the play. I read the part of Christian, so I think that it is only fitting for me to reflect on his final lines of the play, which happened to be a poem.
"A branch lists to and fro,
An answer to the insurgent wind,
A circle dance, grace nearly broken,
But it ends peacefully stillness welcome."
Christian and Mama start dancing after he recites this short poem, so I think it’s a pretty safe bet that the poem was his way of asking her to dance. Christian could be using the branch as a metaphor for Mama, while he is the insurgent wind. The branch listing to and fro in the wind is symbolic of the circle dance. The wind moving the branch may be blowing slightly too hard, causing the branch to sway back and forth almost in an unpleasant way, but in the end, the wind will die down and the branch will be still again. I believe Christian is saying that even if the dance isn't graceful, Mama, like the branch moving with the breeze, will be unaffected and unchanged when the dance is over. He is simply asking her to a carefree dance, nothing more nothing less.
Marie Heide
19 April 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
Today we were able to finish the reading the play. I cannot say that I was totally surprised with the ending, but I had a feeling that in some way, the play was going to end badly. My husband was in the United States Army for seven years, and he had been deployed to a couple of wars/conflicts (Black Hawk incident in Somalia), the only way he could describe the whole incident and many others that he was involved with, is that there are no winners in a war, just different levels of loosing. This play demonstrates that perfectly.
Salima was troubled from the word go. Once we were introduced to her dark and troubled world, her demise was inevitable. She had no choice to do what she did. Her husband had not stood by her and was not there to protect her and her baby, then her unexpected pregnancy was not going to earn her any "brownie" points with her family or the village that she was from. Salima circumstances continued to grow deeper and deeper until she had no other choice but to lie in them.
It may seem that Mama had a happy ending to all of this, but she lost too. Although she was able to get "prince charming" in the end, she lost her diamond that was her security to a promising future, and her business has declined and has a responsibility to the girls, to some extent, to feed and provide a place of shelter for them. In the end, Salima looses out the biggest, but so does Mama.
Karesha Lillard
22 April 2012
Professor Sabir
English 1B
In class on Thursday we read up to scene four, act two. In the play, Christina recited a poem to Mama and it reads:
"The black rop of water
towing
a rusted ferry
fighting the current of time
an insatiable flow,
Drifting, without enough kerosene to get
through the dark nights.
The destination
always a port away.
When i first read this poem, it didnt make sense to me and I had to read it about four or five times. After reading it constantly, it sounded like a fight took place in the Congo. In my history class last semester, we did a bit of research on this topic so the information was a little clear and the poem made a sense. The fight was between the soldiers and the innocent people in Congo.
Karesha Lillard
22 April 2012
Profesor Sabir
English 1B
The play was extremely beautiful. There was indeed some sensitive moments and scenes where I felt sorry for the young women, but there was a few scenes that left me in awe. We finished reading the play and I do have to say the ending was my favorite part. I always knew something was wrong with Mama and she was entirely too mean for no reason. Now, she will finally be able to smile again and hopefully be less cruel. Hopefully she will shut her business down and not make the young ladies go through what she called "taking care of them". It ended in a good way but I did think Salima would have eventually talked to Fortune. I guess not.
Sherrlyne Apostol
Professor Sabir
English 1B
23 April 2012
On Thursday we finished the play. I was a bit sad to find out Salima dies and Fortune was "unfortunately" present to witness his loves death. The climax of the play had no joyful arch so the end of the story didn't surprise me. However, Mama natti, in the end, finally gives in to Christian. The play ends with christian and mama dancing until the lights fade.
Thou the play did not have many happy parts to it. The ending to me wasn't as dim than I had imagined it to be.
(he holds his hand out to Mama. A long moment. Finally, she takes his hand and he pulls her into his arms. They begin to dance. At first she's a bit stiff and resistant, but slowly gives in. Guitar music: "Rare Bird." Sophie pulls Josephine into the doorway. They watch the pair dance, incredulously)
The ending was not quite a "happy ending" but I guess you can say, it ended it "peacefully". The play began with mama and christian and ended with mama and chistian. I suppose that being alive in this case was closest to "happy ending" as people in their situation may achieve.
Sherrlyne Apostol
Professor Sbair
English 1B
23 April 2012
On tuesday we read the beginning of act II and was given information about one of the main girls in Mama's brothel, Salima.
Reading the descriptive details in this act made me cringe. Especially the part when Salima shares her past with Sophie. The way the author describes the torture Salima went through for five months. It made me feel incredibly sad. The part when the soldier capture Salima and the description of the soldiers boots crushing down on her baby's head. It's awful to think that, the violence mentioned in this play is currently still present in certain parts of the world.
This part of the play really identifies the torture women in that area encountered. Women being used as weapons and tools in the war. Being abducted away from home, being beat, tortured and raped. Women like Salima and Sophie don't have many options. It's either they become prostitutes or they go back to the war where they are passed around from soldier to soldier and eventually rot away and die.
Demetria Owens
Eng 1B
Wanda Sabir
Apirl 23,2012
The play Ruined written by Lynn Nottage , was eye opeing ,breath taking and sarrow because of the time zone the play took place, the scene and the hart breaking events of rape, disrespect ,mental and physical abause and self mutalation that took place upon so many women at Moma Bar and Hoe House.
My favorite charater was sophia because although she had been sotomized , raped mentally and phyicaly , disowned and shamed by her family and force to leave her native village and placed in Moma's Bar and Hoe house by her Uncle for shelter and food ironically all by the time she was the time she was eighteen years old . The young bright teenager never gave up her hopes and dream of fixing her body "back to normal after" the sexual damage had occoured. She was given a Job at the bar as a Singer / entertainer who would bring about a good ora,style and much needed mistqe to the bar.
The play itself is a masterpiece I believe. Most of the characters in the play have their own identity and how they make the genetic makeup of realism of the scene.
One thing about the play I thought was interesting was the fact that Mama Nadi thought the place was home for the batter women within the congo. The war going on wasn't safe for the women becuase, the hands of the men hurt them for a metaphor of their anger. The story took us inside a world of prositution, hate, abuse, and ruined.
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1B
9 May 2012
Reflection on Ruined
I think the author, Lynn Nottage, does a great job on weaving together contradictions. It can be said of various characters lives in the story, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” In the mist of war, death, destruction, and chaos, there is order, peace, life, building, and order. On the outside of Mama Nadi’s brothel there are rival soldiers killing in the name of land and greed. On the inside of the brothel there is laughter, songs, and relaxation. All that cannot be found for miles and miles outside is found inside. What is even more astounding is that the women the soldiers rape outside are then gathered up and shipped to Mama Nadi’s where they can enjoy them with no resistance, again.
Another aspect of the play that I like is the many different and complex characters. There is Mama Nadi, a brothel keeper that brutally sells women who have become useless, although, she herself in the same respect is useless as well. There is Josephine a sworn atheist of love who falls for a customer and prances about telling everyone how they are going to ride into the sunset together. The last character that exhibits contradictory characteristics is Christian. He seems to be the “hooker with the heart of gold” in the story. He sells fantas, soap, and human stock; all the while his intentions are earnest and pure while he leads an illegal life.
Lynn did a great job with highlighting contradictories and the more I read the play the more they were illuminated to me. I think that this quality of a writer really sets them apart from the rest, because their plot doesn’t just follow a linear path, it has gray areas, making it more realistic and intriguing to follow. She allowed us a look not only into the war in the Congo, but also the human heart.
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