writing log 4b

It was hard to find a “hotspot” in this short essay. On page 202 Said explained that Arab’s feel, “that’s the way the Arabs are” when it comes to their stereotypical interpretation from the West. In other words, because the U.S. and other Western Countries see the Middle East as a dangerous and extremely tense place, the Middle East needs to be a dangerous and extremely tense place. I would certainly hope that that is not true. Because if it is true then the Middle East might actually be worse then we thought it was. The fact is that only a small segment of the Middle East is truly dangerous. These dangerous men are the extremists and the rest of the population is actually rather gentle. This small extremist group is just obtusely dense when they come to interpreting their religion. I would hope that Said’s belief that the rest of the Middle East acts the way they do only to live up to their name is false.

My second “hotspot” was on page 200 when Said talked about how American propaganda talks down about the Middle East. Said says that American’s source of information about Arabs and Islam is woefully inadequate. I would have to disagree with that. Most Americans do have a negative stereotype on the Middle East but are we not entitled to our opinions. Especially, after all the terrorist attacks that we have seen around the world mainly caused by some crazy sub group of the Middle East. I would also declare that the Middle East holds stereotypes about the U.S.

I am by no means a poet, so this poem was tough to decipher. I got a religious vibe from it, mainly because of “The Second Coming” but that vibe was further strengthened by lines like, “Slouches to Bethlehem to be born?” and “That twenty centuries of stony sleep.” But I really do not know what this poem was about. Maybe Jesus is the falcon and God is the falconer in the beginning of the poem. And Jesus loses God while he is on earth, thus leading to his crucifixion.

My first “hotspot” is the line, “that twenty centuries of stony sleep”. If that is in fact a reference towards Jesus Christ and his time spent in the cave after his crucifixion then it is wrong when it uses the word “centuries”. Jesus according to the bible was only in the cave for less than two weeks. I actually think that it was the seventh day, so a week. I thought that saying “twenty centuries” was a bit of a stretch even for poetry.

“Hotspot” number 2 is about all the animals mentioned in this passage. Lion, falcon, man, birds, and beast, are all mentioned in the poem. It was hard to follow what each animal was a symbol for. Maybe the animals weren’t even symbols but just imagery. Either way it was difficult for me to understand what Yeats was trying to say and all the animals switching throughout the poem didn’t help. This poem was ultimately difficult to understand for me, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s probably great.