God or Carwin

 Unquestionable faith in God is what helps most people get through hard times in their lives, and, in Wieland, we see that Wieland is willing to trust his faith to the point of murdering his family and almost murdering his sister. In the last chapters of the book, we find that Wieland’s premonitions of God were really the vocal throwings of Carwin, the guy from out of town. Before discovering this, Wieland’s faith in God is infallible, and seemed like it could withstand anything. The real question would be upon finding that Carwin was, in a way, playing God for Wieland, was Wieland’s reaction rational? Finding that your whole world is gone just because one person decided to have a little fun at your expense could be rather infuriating. But should he have gone so far as to kill himself with Clara’s penknife? Was there another way that he could have reacted?

            Wieland was so strong in his faith that he believed that he was being called upon by God himself to make a sacrifice, which ended up being his wife and children, and then, almost Clara. Someone with this amount of faith would not necessarily question hearing their deity from above telling them to do something that is their will. The most famous story that this parallels is the story of Abraham and his son. Abraham was told by God to kill his son Isaac as a test of faith and was at the point of almost killing him and then an angel was sent to stop them. In Wieland’s case, there was no angel sent from God to stop these gruesome murders. Although, in Clara’s case, Carwin may have been the “angel” that was sent to protect her from Wieland’s wrath.

            After finding out that Carwin had been the one portraying God, Wieland was furious and ended up killing himself. This response was sort of out there, very big. Although, would there really be any other way that we would expect him to react? He had just murdered his wife and children and was just about to make the next “sacrifice” of his sister. The man really had nothing left to lose. He had murdered himself in the heat of the moment though, so he wasn’t necessarily thinking clearly when this happened. The way this horrible act was described was horrific as well. “I shrieked aloud, but it was too late. He plunged it to the hilt in his neck; and his life instantly escaped with the stream that gushed from the wound. He was stretched at my feet; and my hands were sprinkled with his blood as he fell” (Brown 222). Okay, so this death would have made a great horror movie scene for sure, but he didn’t really let much else happen to him when he decided to kill himself. He could have made amends or turned himself in to the police. There were other rational options. Maybe this was the best way for him because his entire world as he knew it was gone. His faith was just tarnished, he was compromised. It made sense for him to actually decide to kill himself. As a man who had so much faith in God just to have it all dashed away in a single instant could kill a man. And it did. 

Serena vs. Caroline vs. The World

Serena, Caroline, & You

            In class we had a discussion on the Claudia Rankine book, Citizen. This book is filled with many eye opening and shocking stories that cross the line of racism and fulfills many immoral actions portrayed by the everyday human being. My classmates and I were asked to select a particular theme or concept that we thought the book could follow. In a quick manner I was able to notice the “you” point of view and how not every story has just two sides. There can be various sides and opinions to such a small issue that could ultimately lead into a catastrophe. An example I was able to draw further evidence on was the conflict between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki during a 2012 exhibition match. For those of you that know, both of these women are professional tennis players that have battled amongst each other for the top seed in the rankings for many years now.

            On December 12, 2012 shortly after the crowning of the WTA player of the year (Serena Williams), Caroline Wozniacki pulled a stunt that would be to this day a highly controversial issue. During the match Wozniacki came out onto the court with towels stuffed into both her top and shorts the mock her opponent Serena. With Wozniacki and Williams being of different races some people thought this was a huge portrayal of racism even though from Wozniacki’s point of view she was just “razzing” one of her fellow opponents and friends.  She was not trying to offend Serena nor was she mocking her race.

            This is where the “You” point of view was really entertained. With Wozniacki’s actions happening on national television it gave the whole world a look at what happened. There could have been a random tennis fan in Minnesota that could have seen this and assumed that these two athletes were not friends and that in fact Woniacki was making fun of who Serena is. With that in mind, I really want to point out that the media can sometimes take a perspective that is not necessarily correct and make it seem much worse. By realizing that if not on a national stage and maybe in lets say on normal neighborhood tennis court, this action from Wozniacki could have been seen as funny amongst the two girls. By blowing up the proportion of location and crowd is where you run into a line of interpretations that could prove to be very faulty.

            After our class discussion I went back to my house and reflected upon everything I learned that day and for some reason I was unable to focus on anything but this topic. To realize that a childish stunt pulled between two athletes was blown to this scale and for media (CNN to be specific) to have such a field day was shocking to me. A good part of me thinks that if both of these women were in the same race the end results would have not ended in the way that it did. By the “You” perspective being entered in the situation it leaves a huge amount of room for anyone to voice an opinion. I am coming to a vast appreciation of what Claudia has portrayed in her book. With very bold stories like these I was able to really open my mind and realize that the world is much larger and not everyone has the same ideals as what I believe in.

Hi and welcome to our group blog! My name is Judy Bassett and I'm a junior at Redlands and I'm from Lake Oswego, Oregon. I'm a global business major with an emphasis in Spanish and marketing. I am also a member of Beta Lambda as well as one of Beta's co-community service chairs. In my free time I like to hang out with friends, find new places to go hiking or if the weather is nice, sitting outside and reading. Two days ago I finished reading Gone Girl (which I highly recommend!) and I'm looking for my next book to start reading soon. This is my first blog post so please excuse me while I get the hang of this. Enjoy!

Gone Girl

Univeristy of Redlands

Lake Oswego, Oregon

 
 

Greetings all,

My name is Coltan Kissler. I am Junior Global Business major and an active member of the Pi Chi fraternity. I am from a small town in the mountains of Colorado. In my free time I love to ski and fish; I am fully entranced in the outdoor active lifestyle. Attached is a photo from one of my favorite places in my town. Enjoy.