"All right, then, I'll go to Hell"

If you don’t believe, if you aren’t reborn, you will go to Hell. I can guarantee it. Well, actually, I can’t guarantee it. But John Edwards can. This week he reached out to all of us 11AP students from beyond the grave to deliver his special message to us. We are all spiders. And God is dangling us above a fiery pit. So beware! You might just fall in at this very moment!

In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards warns of the dangers of Hell and eternal damnation. He tells us it is not enough to be religious and attend Church every Sunday. He calls us insignificant, evil creatures, worthy of everlasting punishment from God. Only in the end does Edwards offer a sliver of hope. We must be “reborn” in order to be saved from eternal punishment. But for all of his vast knowledge of Godly affairs, I don’t believe Edwards ever informed us of how to achieve this wonderful rebirth.

But do not worry friends! I believe there is still hope for us. Jonathan Edwards does not know you or me. He does not possess the power to judge us or determine our destiny. As a famous preacher of modern America once said, “I believe God gives you the grace to do what you need to do.” We will do what he gives us the ability to do, whether that means the power to be saved from Hell, or the power to be sent to Hell. 

My Grass is Greener Than Yours

            The human race has a tendency to view itself as the object of misfortune. As the famous saying goes, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” People always think others lead better, easier lives. Reading Sherman Alexie’s stories enlightened me to the cruelties and harsh treatment Native Americans face.

            Native Americans have been bullied and pushed around to other peoples’ wills ever since Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 and “discovered America,” claiming it as Europe’s New World. Soon after, more and more Europeans settled in the Americas, spreading their diseases, infecting and killing Native Americans off in masses. As European nations began warring for the New World, Native Americans were tangled in these foreign affairs and forced to choose sides over and over again. Once colonists won the revolution and continued their westward expansion with Manifest Destiny, Native Americans were continually forced from their homelands and thrown in small reservations far away from tradition. They suffered through the Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and the suppressing of their culture. Today, with a miniscule population making up only 1.7% of the United States, Native Americans are largely forgotten, remembered only once a year on camping trips to Yellowstone and in the cowboy vs. Indian battles of innocent children.

            Sherman Alexie portrays the Native Americans and their alcohol-soaked, long-haired, danger-filled stereotype with a personal passion. He shows how hurtful the stereotype can be and also just how insignificant Native Americans are in the mind of Americans. Alexie describes his father wasting away in alcohol and his mother’s suffering, their constant lack of food, the racist comments and marginalization by whites, and the uncertainty of the future he and other Indians constantly faced. These experiences mark his life with sorrow and loneliness. He is unable to fit into modern culture and mocked for his long braid. Most of his cohort merely “looks back toward tradition” and reunites over alcohol each week in order to escape the difficulties of life. Even the night shift manager of 7-11 looks down upon Alexie and stereotypes him as different and dangerous.

Alexie describes the plight of the Native Americans with an intensely intimate understanding. However, despite all of this, Alexie shows that each culture has its own difficulties; while he starved, white girls starved, too, forced by the expectations of their own culture. Each culture faces its own stereotypes and demons. Though the grass might seem greener on the other side, it is most likely not. 

“NO! You don’t get to influence me!”

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Does heritage determine who we are as people?

Heritage is defined as “legacy, inheritance, tradition, or something possessed as a result of one's natural situation or birth.” To me, parental expectations are a large part of the heritage passed onto us as children; we are, by birth, more or less bound to our parents’ wishes. As a child of Asian descent living in America, I face many expectations passed down to me by my heritage. Though my parents are lenient compared to most, I still face the pressures of the Asian stereotype and am pushed to try to succeed.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces many different expectations set by his father. Huck’s father sets a very low standard, expecting Huck to live an uneducated, lowly, and racist life just as he does. He cannot even tolerate the thought of Huck becoming any better than him—this would be an insult equivalent to Huck disobeying his heritage. However, Huck realizes he cannot survive with his father and escapes, learning to trust his conscience, and disregarding his heritage to become one of the most moral and kind people of the pre-Civil War South. 

But what if you are forced to give up your heritage? Forced to comply to their master’s every wish, slaves often had no choice whether they wanted to adhere to their traditions or not. Being forced to assimilate into American society made them want to rebel and hold on to their culture. Their efforts to reconcile with their abandoned culture were embodied in the Harlem Renaissance. Perhaps in this situation, the former slaves wanted to embrace their heritage and wanted to be defined by it.

Huck shows that heritage does not determine a person. Everyone, no matter his birth or parental situation, has his own free will and the power to be the person he chooses to be; a person has the ability to completely defy tradition or to embrace his heritage. Just as Huck’s heritage does not define him, my heritage does not define me either. I may be Asian by descent, but I am American by birth, and defy many of the stereotypes and expectations placed upon me by my heritage.