Beloved - A Classics Challenge October: Chapter Musing

October prompt for A Classics Challenge is….

Chapter Musing

Jot down some notes about the chapter you've just read or one that struck you the most. It can be as simple as a few words you learned, some quotes, a summary, or your thoughts and impressions.

This time I’ll pick a powerful novel by Toni Morrison: Beloved. This is a dark chronicle about slavery, and the particular passage I choose is from Chapter 15 (p. 140 – 141). Baby Suggs was a black old woman slave who has been freed by her son. This passage reflected how she felt on the day of her freedom, after having been a slave for sixty years!

“The sadness was at her center, the desolated center where the self that was no self made its home. Sad as it was that she did not know where her children were buried or what they looked like if alive, fact was she knew more about them than she knew about herself, having never had the map to discover what she was alike."

 "Could she sing? (was it nice to hear when she did?) Was she pretty? Was she a good friend? Could she have been a loving mother? A faithful wife? Have I got a sister and does she favor me? If my mother knew me, would she like me?” ~ p.140

Hope by George Frederic Watts, 
an oil on canvas, 1885

“She didn’t know what she looked like and was not curious. But suddenly she saw her hands and thought with a clarity as simple as it was dazzling, “These hands belong to me. These my hands.” Next she felt a knocking in her chest and discovered something else new: her own heartbeat. Had it been there all along? She felt like a fool and began to laugh out loud.” ~ p.141

I was kind of struck by this passage. It will never have occurred to me that when ones were born as slaves, they could never possess anything in their life. Everything belonged to their masters, and everything they could get, they got from the masters, even their names. The masters used to split families, and sold children to separate buyers to cut any relationship of the slaves. They never knew who they were in this world, they just did not have the root and probably have never existed, if nobody bought them freedom. They would never know many things about their qualities, and…well…there were so many things they would never experienced, although they had never done anything wrong.

It’s really a tragedy when innocent people were dehumanized by others; when they did not permitted to have even themselves as a human. Reading about how Baby Suggs was surprised to realize that her hands now belonged to her, that her heart was pounding to give herself a life was...well, that was a powerful image, really!

And I just realized something, which one is better for them: living their whole lives as slaves, or like Baby Suggs, could experience freedom at last? But after they have been enslaved for all their lives, could they manage to survive in the world alone (if they had been separated from the families)? That would be awful… :(

Weekend Quote 9: Beloved

Beloved is one powerful book about slavery that I’m currently reading; it depicted the sorrowful life of black men and women in the rural Ohio, sometime after Civil War. This week I picked two quotes from Baby Suggs (an old woman ex-slave who had been freed by her son) which showed a similarity in idea…

“There was no bad luck in the world but white people. They don’t know when to stop.” 

“Everything depends on knowing how much. Good is knowing when to stop.”

I think the quote has spoken for itself. Men did have the bad side along with his good side, but in the case of slavery in this story, the white people’s brutality had been way too much. It’s not just cruel, they had been dehumanizing their brothers, just because they came from different race and culture.

This Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can: 

• Give the context of the quote
• Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
• Share your experience related to the quote
• Share similar quotes you remember
• Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.

Which Literary Characters Am I?

It’s time for a little fun… :) I am following Ao Bibliophile to take quizzes/tests that reveals which characters in classics or literary novels I am. Here are the results of the 3 tests I took…

Oxford Dictionary dot com

You are Penelope. Loyal and patient you tend to avoid conflict. Everyone admires your restraint and elegance but sometimes you can be a bit of a doormat – but you never give up on someone you believe in.

Note: Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus in Homer’s epic, who keeps her suitors at bay in his husband’s long absence.

Overall I’m satisfied with the result, but the doormat part..LOL, well….maybe in old times when I was still very young, I used to be rather submissive to other’s domination, especially ones who I like or love, but I’m much more mature now to be my own and don’t let anyone use me as doormat.

AbeBooks

You are Hermione from the Harry Potter series. You are smart, witty, and love a challenge. You use rationality and reason in all things. You are measured and stable and you don't let people push you around.

This one is better, but still…do you think I’m witty? I don’t… ;)

Hello Quizzy

Wendy DarlingGood, Human, Side Thinker You are basically good.  Overcoming selfish desires or cruel ways, you focus on doing the right thing, when possible, and acting in a way to benefit everyone.  You recognize your human weaknesses and imperfections, and are able to respond to them in well balanced ways.  You are clever and analytical.  You think about various angles of something, and you calculate the best way to achieve goals. Kind, generous, and even motherly, Wendy serves as the only mother the Lost Boys have ever known.  Strong willed, still, but ready for adventure, Wendy is both child and woman, and slowly bridging the gap in her own life.  She is quick witted and can come up with new ways of helping the situation along, often in ways that had never be thought of before.

Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional character, the female protagonist of Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie, and in most adaptations in other media.

This last test does not quite reflect me, especially in the ‘motherly’ part. I have never felt myself motherly :P

Do you want to try? Just click the link on each test, and you are through. And don’t forget to share your result here….

Geneviève in Courrier Sud

It’s rather difficult to portrait Geneviève—the only woman ever caught Bernis’ heart—through Éxupery’s poetic writing style in Courrier Sud (Southern Mail). I imagine she spent all her life at home, always encircled by the warm familial love, always feel safe in her routine life; the kind of person who love rules and orders. In Bernis eyes, Geneviève was bound too tightly to her possession, house, furniture, and simple and silly stuffs that reflected her entire life. I know a lot of people like this, they usually reluctant to throw away old useless stuffs, not because they are valuable but because they keep memories about the owner’s old days, and make their houses like museums.

Geneviève lived in her own false world—her dream if you want to say—where everything always happened as expected, as it should be, in ideal form. That’s why she did not prepared when disaster came. She chose to run from the reality, and change her focus to beautiful yet false things around her.

As a woman, I think Geneviève needed safety more than love. He chose her husband instead of Bernis at the first place, because she found safety and certainty in her husband, while Bernis was more a free man. Then, after the disaster, when she could not bore her husband, she turned away to Bernis. This time she sought shield of protection in Bernis’ love and promise of a new life. However, when Bernis could not make his promise, when things didn’t come as she’s expected, she left Bernis as well.

In short, Geneviève could not live by herself, she would always need others to rely on. Her life was what she already knew, and when she was out of that, she would be ruined. I always felt pity to people like Geneviève….

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

It’s Fanda Classiclit 1st Blogoversary!

October 10^th 2011… a blog has born :), and I can’t believe that Fanda Classiclit is turning ONE today! If you go through my archives, you are going to find several of my posts dated far before; I actually created this blog last year, then posted my reviews from my first blog using the original dates. Why I created this blog in the first place? I have answered this during interview for August Classics Clubber of The Month, I will quote it here:

“Around 2008 I have just been introduced to blogging world, and then I thought, why not blogging about books, since reading is always my biggest passion? So I created my first book blog on November 2008. I have read so many books, and I think it will be good to write what I think about the book, as well as their main plot, so I won’t ever forget them after years. My second purpose is to share my thoughts to the world. I blogged then in Bahasa Indonesia (my first language); so that other Indonesian bloggers who do not quite like reading, can have information about new good books. I started my Fanda Classiclit blog only last year, because I felt that my interest has been narrowing to certain focuses.”

In these twelve months many things had happened, and it’s all because of you, my dearest followers and classics clubbers, because you all have burnt my spirit to keep reading and blogging. One year ago I have never dreamt that I would join the coolest classics reading community in the blogosphere—that is The Classics Club :)—make a commitment to read 100+ classics in 5 years, socialize with classics clubbers around the world, create a Character Thursday weekly meme, and host events for classics readings! If someone foretold these a year ago, I would have said: wow…certainly not me! But then, here I am, doing exactly all of them. And being a non-English speaker doubled my amazement to myself (sorry guys, I don’t mean to be snob). But that’s the fact, and now….in the celebration of Fanda Classiclit 1^st blogoversary, I would like to reward all of you and invite you to share my excitement…

1^st Blogoversary Giveaway

The winner is: Astrid.. Congratz!

I am giving away any books from authors in my ‘Authors’ category at the right sidebar.

The book must be $10 or less, and will be shipped from Amazon (for US participant) or The Book Depository (as long as TBD ship to your country) for international participant.

The giveaway is opened for everyone, whether you are a follower or not (but if you do like my blog and want to get my updates, please feel free to follow me through GFC or subscribe by email). I won’t force anyone to follow me here, because I prefer to get followers who really like reading my posts.

All you must do to be entered in the giveaway is:

Considering of my personality, my reading taste, books I have read or books I have listed for The Classics Club Project so far, recommend one (or more) book(s) you think I’d love and enjoy, and why. It can be books beyond my CCP list, or if it is within the list, recommend me which book I should read first.

• Answer in the comment box, and let me know the book you'd choose if you win (I'm just curious! You can change the title later)
• Don’t forget to mention how I can contact you if you win (email/twitter/FB/blog).
• The giveaway will be closed on 24 October 2012.
• The winner would be picked randomly using random dot org.
• If the winner failed to answer back with the shipping details within 48 hours after my email, I will choose another winner.

P.S. This is not mandatory and not counted in the giveaway, but I would be pleased if you’d put little effort to tell me about Fanda Classiclit blog. What you like most of it? What you dislike? And what suggestion(s) can you give me to improve it? Many thanks if you’d like to do this! :)

What We Are Going To Have During Let’s Read Plays Event

This is an update for next month yearlong event: Let’s Read Plays. As you might have known, I have opened opportunities for you to host something in your blog (meme, giveaway, quiz, etc) or write a guest post for the event (if you’re interested, just fill in this form). Listra of Half-Filled Attic blog has been very enthusiastic to host a monthly meme during the event. She has announced the meme, which include the schedule and theme for each prompts, which I found very interesting.

Apart from that, I will also combine my Character Thursdays with Let’s Read Plays. It means that you can post about any characters from plays you’re reading for the event every Thursday. One of Listra’s meme will be about character too, but you can share as many as Character Thursdays in every week during the event. I plan to create a page to update all Character Thursday posts for this event, and at the end of the event, there will be a giveaway too.

I just can’t wait for November to come and kicking off our Let’s Read Plays, as I could already imagine how fun this would be! How about you? :) You can join us here.

Jacques Bernis in Courrier du Sud

Bernis was the main character in this philosophical—and I believe quite autobiographical—novel of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Courrier Sud (Southern Mail). Bernis was a pilot for the airmail service from Paris to Dakkar. In the early 20^th century aircraft was a new technology, thus working as a pilot meant you faced a great danger everytime you fly. Bernis’ risk was doubled as his route forced him to fly over Sahara desert which was difficult to navigate with such simple equipment they had at that time.

However, although people underestimate his career (and called him as ‘ghost’, as they could not imagine how a human being could fly), Bernis could feel happy only when he was alone in his cockpit, flying the atmosphere and threw his gaze to the horizon. Bernis loved the sense of freedom, where everything was moving when he passed them. He also loved the change of the atmosphere and the weather along the flight. I can imagine how it feels, to think that we could leave one place and kept on moving to another, never be in the same place, like the flow of water which never stays at the same place.

Bernis was a kind of man who can never feel happy in this life. Unlike ordinary people who need to have a home (a real house and routine life), Bernis’ home was beyond the society; his true home was in the air, when he was surrounded by wind and clouds, sun and moon, sky and earth. When Bernis lived ordinary life, he was distressed and bored because everything was so routine and unchanged. I feel pity on him, he must be the most lonesome guy in the universe, never belonged to anywhere or anyone…well..except, perhaps, God.

Bernis was not a man who insisted his will. When he loved a woman (his childhood friend), but the woman chose to be with another man, Bernis did not get angry of her, he just let her go—bitterly though. **spoiler** However, when the woman got troubled and wanted to leave her present life, Bernis was happy to take her with him. But when at the end the woman could not live Berni’s way of life, Bernis let her go, for a second time. And I felt sorry even more for poor Bernis…**spoiler ends**

This is Exupery, but I always take Bernis as
Exupery himself, anyway...

I always wonder, was Bernis happy with the life he had chosen? I think yes, if only he never loved Geneviève, and if he has courage to stand on his own life, no matter how strange or different it was from the world, and if he cherished what he had or what he loved. I sometimes felt different from ordinary people (although not as extreme as Bernis), but I have learned to be happy with who I am, what I have and what I love in this life.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.