UTC part 2

OKAY...I must admit, I liked the last half of the book much more than the first. Stowe did a great job at expressing the importance of religion and religious values. Her writing brought forth so many emotions. Many of which I felt over and over again. When babies were taken from their mothers, my heart hurt. When Eva died, I had to skip one or two pages (sorry Ms. S.) But tears filled my eyes and my heart was breaking even more.

Tom was truly made in the image of "God." He never questioned or gave up on his faith, even in the most desperate of times. Many people question "God" when bad things happen to them but Tom never did. He looked at it as an opportunity to preach his faith. It seemed the more he suffered the stronger his faith became. Darla suggested we put our self in the place of one of the characters. I don't think I would have been able to survive. First I would not have had the strength to survive slavery. Next... on a lighter note..I would not have been able to keep my opinions to myself..probably getting myself into a lot of trouble!!!

Legree was a horrible man. Unfortunately, this world still has people like this. Our society does not value human life.Children being sexually and physically abused. Abandoned by their parents left to be raised by their grand parents. Women being battered. Kids shooting kids. Gangs killing other gang members.

Freedom..we all have freedom yet we take it for granted. Our society tends to concentrate on what material things we have...money, house, car and fun toys. Maybe it is time to get back to what we should really be grateful for in our life. Family, friends, health and love for our fellow man. Darla made a good point when she posted the amount of money that was/is put on human life. How much is my life worth? How much are my children's lives worth? No amount can replace or compensate for my children's lives. Tom did not care for the "good" things in life. He just wanted his freedom, nothing else mattered.

"Mas'r, I'd rather have poor clothes, poor house, poor everything, and have 'em mine, than have the best and haven 'em any man's else, -I had so, Mas'r; I think it's natur Mas'r." pg. 314

But, we must keep the faith. That is the only way to survive. Do our part to make the world better and keep the faith.
One of my favorite lines from the book:

One had given him money;

and one had given him what he wanted far more,--

a kind word, kindly spoken.

(pg.276)

REMEMBER

KIND WORDS ARE FREE

BUT

CAN BE WORTH MILLIONS :)

UTC pages1-250

Stowes, Uncle Tom's Cabin is a story about slavery and the various levels of Christianity shown by the different characters. Over all Stowe presents the more positive relationships between owner and slave. Many of the slave owning families portrayed in this book don't believe that slavery is moral yet they do not give up their ownership. The Shelby's are good Christian people and treat their slaves with kindness and concern, often encouraging them to seek out groups for worship. But non-mistreatment does not make it right. It is still not moral.
I find it some what hypocritical. Owning slaves and being Christian just don't go together. They are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. How can people declare themselves to be Christian and enslave human beings. I can't imagine ever living that way. It made me sick to my stomach when the women on the ferry had her baby taken from her and to think that this is not an uncommon happening. As a mom I know that if I had my baby taken from me...I would just want to shrivel up and die!! But this is a fear that they had to live with every day. In today's world parents now have to fear sending their kids off to college in fear of that one disgruntled student that wants revenge. Is the world just trading off one set of horrible events for another?

Stowe makes reference to the bible frequently. It had me wondering...Are they reading the same bible? Did the bible of the slave owners make mention it was right to enslave humans? Was the bible of the slave owners different of that of the slaves? How can the same bible be interpreted so differently?

Actually, I see this happening in the world today. There are as many churches as there are banks. ( ALOT) It seems to me that the criteria has changed. We no longer base our faith in a religion...we want a religion to be based on our beliefs....hope that makes sense!!

Asher was now entering into a new phase in life. He was spending more time away from his family to work on his art with Jacob Kahn. Even though Asher was mature for his age he was still just a young boy who needed the love and support of his family. I'm sure it was difficult to be torn between the love of a God given gift (although his parnets did not feel it was a gift from God) and your religous heritage. I give credit to Potok and his writing .....when reading the book his words had me feeling the lonliness and pain felt by Asher and his parents.


Asher did not receive much encouragement for his "happy" art work. His mother often asked Asher to draw something pretty but rarely was it given much accredidation when he did. It seemed that any art work that received recognition was that of pain and sorrow. Kahn told Asher that he drew with too much love. "No man can love as much as you and survive as an artist."(215) I actually find this somewhat contradictory. With any "talent" that a person has...artist, professional athletes, dancers.etc... they put their hearts and souls into their talent so how could too much love interfere? Just a question.


It is sad that Asher had to expierence so much pain before he could make it as a painter. Pain that caused Asher to even doubt his gift....(350) "I used to think the gift was a blessing."


I think it is sad that Asher ended up having to leave his home because of the lack of understanding but if he did not leave he would not have been able to pursue his dream. I do wonder if Asher would have had the encouragement from his parents.... would he have become a great painter displaying the pain that Jewish people suffered? Would he have been a master painter depicting the pain ad suffering from the holocaust? What a great compromise that could have been.

Asher Lev

I had not heard of the book My Name is Asher Lev. At first I had a little trouble understanding some of the wordage used but it wasn't too difficult to figure out as I kept reading.


Asher did not have an easy childhood, with the steady absence of his father and the loss of his uncle that lead to his mother's breakdown.


I think Asher represents many children that were raised in a family that based their life style on those of their ancestors. Of course that is not always a bad thing unless you have someone like Asher who needs to be able to break away from the "norm"... go outside of the box to achieve his dreams.


Although Asher was able to overlook much of his parental negativity regarding his art work, he still needed as any child would to feel love and support from his parents. Through out his early years in life Asher did not get this support. It had to be very difficult for a young boy to hear that he "shamed" his father and his father's good name. Asher may not have had the support or encouragement he needed for his art but he did have parents who loved him and did what they thought was best for him, even though, ultimately it was not in Asher's best interest.



There are so many "Asher" children in today's world that lack parental support for many different reasons. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I don't think religious beliefs is the primary reason for stunting children's growth in achieving their highest potential.


Many of the children that I work with at the children's psych hospital fall into the "Asher" category. These children come from parents who just don't care. Maybe because they were raised or not raised by absent parents or parents who just don't care...I don't know.... It seems to be a vicious cycle. But I do feel that selfishness if one of the key factors. Selfishness on the side of the parent/guardian. I just finished with a class on the American dream and how it has changed through the years. I think that some Americans are so caught up in materialistic success that they forget to appreciate the things God them for free...family, children, friends and health (hopefully). Parents need to give more of their time and spend it with their children and enjoy what the bring to life. I know that much of my time is spent, whether I want to or not, watching endless, not so exciting little league games and MANY endless high school games.


Okay..I'm getting off my soap box now :)