Week 6: Dependency

A centralized theme throughout What is the What is dependency. As a refugee, Valentino struggles in Ethiopia and Kenya and is dependent upon people like Dut and Noriyake to help him survive. When he comes to the United States, he is dependent upon people like Phil and Mary to help him with every day things. When he leaves the hospital and arrives at his house, he has no desire to stay there. Instead, he travels to the Newton's house and wants to take a nap on their couch for an hour before he has to head off to work. When he gets to their house, he realizes that nobody would be home and starts to get frustrated that he drove all this way to bug them. He's tired of always being dependent upon others and always needing help. Today, Valentino has built schools in Sudan and has started non-profit organizations. What he didn't realize at the time, was in order to be successful here, he needed to be dependent upon people like Phil and Mary. He needed them to teach him the ways of Americans. Although he was frustrated, it was for the better. He now has the tools to help others that are in the position he was in back home. Being dependent helped him gain access to resources he wouldn't have had otherwise, such as an education, a car, and an apartment.

Week 5: Is Valentino credible?

While I am entrenched in my readings, I completely trust Achak/Valentino as a narrator, but if I step back later and think critically, I start to let some of the one-line admissions sink in, and I know that he is pretty much confessing to us that he's embellishing or at least making assumptions at certain points, “None of the boys who walked with me say Monynhial perish in his hole but we all know this story to be true, It is very easy for a boy to die in Sudan” (160), and quotes like that prove it. I am fascinated, though, at the subtle ways that Eggers establishes a sort of overarching air of credibility for Valentino (at least in my eyes). I Think the story telling aspects do a lot to this end. For example, when he is telling the story of how William K made it to the river, he stays in William's mind using only direct quotes, and then without any commentary, he falls back into his own story. Now, I know William K's story is thrown in for effect, but I forget that seeing it recounted this way; it just seems like an honest conversation with his best friend. Secondly, I feel that Eggers keeping Valentino in story telling mode is very effective as well. Valentino recounts the story frankly, and he speaks frankly to his audience--Powder, Michael, and Julian (even if they are unaware they are his audience), and this calm tone doesn't make me feel as if I am trying to be convinced of anything. Lastly, the intimate way he talks to his audience reminds me of a father or a teacher--some who is wise with authority--always calling them by name, and asking them questions as he goes, "Do you know what she wants, Julian?"
(249). I guess what I am trying to say is that, intellectually, I know I am being convinced of something, but not until I think about it; it is innocuous to me while I'm reading.

Week 5: Are All of Valentino's Stories Reliable?

In regards to question 2, Valentino is reliable to what he believes happened with his storytelling. For when he is told someone died he does not feel the need to actually check because death seems to surround him. It is understandable that he would not want to see another dead body, for just seeing one dead body in a lifetime is more than enough. But this does not make him reliable in a factual sense because when someone wants to be taken as credible they should have evidence to back that point up (just like in any essay you need specific reliable sources to back up your claim). Valentino may not have seen the need to see for himself that this death had happened, but since most of his audience for his stories have really no idea what happened there is a sense that he may say something and whoever he is telling this to really has no idea if this is fact or fiction. I think that Valentino does believe what he is telling happened, I just think that he needs to provide solid credible evidence to what he says so there is no leftover questions such as why didn’t he check to see that Monynhial had actually died or just decided to move to a different area. For an example, “On the third day he decided to die in the hole, because it was warm there and there were no sounds inside. And he did die that day because he was ready”(160). This shows that a reader may question what Valentino has to say actually happened for if no one looked to see that Monynhial had died how does he know what happened to him? Who told him? But it is a good book with people like President Obama and Angelina Jolie reading this book and recommending it, it seems like most people will not think about credible Sources. But it is also to be taken into fact that this book is said to be fiction instead of non fiction explaining why there aren't credible sources.

Week 5: True or False

Valentino has two types of truth, the first being factual, and the second being known. Most of his stories are based on known truths. Does this mean he isn't a reliable source? I don't think it does. Growing up, all he ever experienced was friends and family being killed in front of him, dying in their sleep from starvation and dehydration, and boys being carried away by lions or hyenas. He assumes his friend is dead because he has seen this happen to other loved ones. This is why he doesn't need to check on him. One of the examples my group used to support that his knowledge holds true is in Chapter 1 when Valentino is getting robbed by Powder and Tonya, he admits to himself that he "has survived many oppressions, but have never fought with a man standing in front of me" (9). The way we interpreted this is that the oppression he's faced are his known truths. When Powder is standing in front of him, this conflict is present, thus being factual. I trust his narrative because I think that what he's endured in the past is enough to believe him. Not only that, but I've done the research to know he is being truthful. Another blogger had mentioned that we are moved by watching the Lost Boys more than we are by reading about them. I think this is another reason why I trust him; in class we saw them going through the situations Valentino has described to us.

Extra Post: Deng, "the most commonly found name in Dinka."

I found this on wikipedia, and I thought that others might find it interesting, too :)

"Deng is a first or last name used among the tribes of Southern Sudan. It's shared by the Dinkas, Nuers and shilluk. Its meaning various for instant, in Dinka, it means "Rain" and it also refers to heavens or God. The Dinkas believe that the most powerful God, god of all gods is 'Deng". It's the most commonly found name in Dinka."

Week 4: An Attempt at Democracy and Peace

While doing research about the current state of Sudan, I learned that there will be elections for Sudan’s presidency and parliament from April 5, 2010 to April 12, 2010. The elections were supposed to be held in 2008 according to the peace agreement signed between the Sudan’s People Liberation Movement of the south and the National Congress of the north. Throughout the year, 6 elections will be held: national presidency and parliamentary, the south Sudanese presidency, state governors, the southern parliament and state assemblies. The elections that will be held in April will be the first that have been held in the troubled country in over 20 years. Relations between the two political parties remains tense, however, most are optimistic that true democracy will prevail. According to the peace agreement, southern Sudan should by granted independence from Sudan by 2011. More information about the Sudanese elections can be found here.

Week 4: Lost Boys and Post Traumatic Stress

I couldn’t stop thinking about the lost boy in the film who went missing and then turned up on a city bus in the throes of a nervous breakdown, so I decided to find out if there are any statistics on how the lost boys are getting along emotionally and what, if anything, is being done to help them. Here’s what I found out: A 2005 study of 304 Sudanese Lost Boy refugees found that at least 1/5 of them had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (which seems low to me, PTSD in the AZ Lost Boys population has been put somewhere between 80 and 90%). The boys in the study had a mean age of seventeen-and-a-half. 93% of them said that their villages had been attacked and they had witnessed loved ones being killed, and 20% of them said they had been tortured themselves. The boys living in U.S. foster care or group institutions fared the worst with respect to developing PTSD. An article in the Arizona Republic states that the symptoms of PTSD can sometimes take years to develop, but when they do, they put these men and boys a greater risk for broken relationships, domestic violence, and alcoholism. Thankfully the problem isn’t going ignored, and there are avenues of assistance. For example, Outreach Africa: Lost Boy Foundation doesn’t mention mental health directly, but it says that it provides medical and emotional support. Also, the Arizona Lost Boys Center recently received $155,000 that would be used specifically to “address the mental-health issues in the Sudanese community…” In a last example, The Hope of Sudan Foundation provides not only educational and vocational scholarships for NY area lost boys but also trauma healing and emotional support. In short, thankfully, every group I found that works within or to help the Lost Boy community is working in one way or another to offer emotional healing as well, whether that is through counseling, reconciliation with family members, or medical care.