"Death By Scrabble" (Problematize Post)

"Death By Scrabble" by Charlie Fish is an interesting story of irony. It is supposed to be funny in the fact that the outcome is completely opposite of what is expected from the beginning of the story.  In class we discussed that the humor presented in this story is dealing with laughing at other people because they are not in our same state.  Also, we talked about how we laugh at dangerous situations that we know is not real.  It is a sense of release because that event it is not happening to us.  What I find a bit puzzling about this text is that it is supposed to be very humorous.  I get that it is using irony and I get that it is abnormal and a bit strange to be that vocal about hatred towards someone.  I am still wondering what Charlie Fish was trying to accomplish and if that was all he was pronouncing.  The part of the text that I really enjoyed was that at the end, he ended up dying.  The whole story he was plotting to kill his wife and the game returned back on him.  

This text may be a challenge to the way SEU's culture thinks based on the use of words that are dark and evil.  The man playing the game against his wife was clearly hating himself and his wife and he used many words to express it (in the game of scrabble).  I really enjoyed how the words were in depth because I believe people have these deep feelings of anger.  This story was also addressing problems between a marriage with unspoken issues that are not resolved.  They were casually going about their average day playing scrabble, yet had so much unforgiveness.  The challenge for SEU culture would be to get past the general cruelty of the text and realize what it is actually addressing.

Realizing that a story like this is not funny, but rather a very deep introspection on a human’s anger issues challenged my faith.  If I were to read this casually I would laugh and think it was funny because of how casual they portrayed death and hate.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that if we read it with humor we are also covering up and not thinking about what is really happening.  

"My wife sleeps all the time.  She slept through an argument our next-door neighbours had that resulted in a broken door, a smashed TV and a Teletubby Lala doll with all the stuffing coming out.  And then she bitched at me for being moody the next day from lack of sleep," (part 3 paragraph 5).  This sentence is like one of those sentences that are found in most conversations today.  Many people talk like this when wanting to make something very serious, light and not emotional.  It is a way to cover up the pain.  My faith has realized that this kind of humor is a cover up of something greater.

Sonny (reflective post)

"Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin could be interpreted in many different ways when it comes to Sonny and the narrator’s relationship.  My thoughts through out the text lined up with what we talked about in class.  In class a few of us explained which character we related to more, either Sonny or the narrator.  I said Sonny even though I am not similar to him when it came to Heroin addiction, but rather, I am similar to him in the way he talks and thinks.  Some others in class related to the narrator perhaps having someone like Sonny in their life to rescue.  The narrator is not a guy I disliked, but I found him not as interesting and alert as Sonny.  In class some of us came to the conclusion that Sonny was a character who was easy to relate to because he was very “real.”  What made him “real” was the way in which he interacted with the world.  When the narrator first picked up Sonny to bring him back home, Sonny was so excited to see his brother.  From the previous letter the narrator received from Sonny, I could tell that Sonny was a very warm and loving person.  He sounded as if he had compassion for others.  His character is shown throughout the story in examples like wanting to drive through the city because he hasn’t seen it in awhile.  He appreciates his past and where he has come from.  Another example of his character is shown when he arrives home with his brother and his brother’s family.  Immediately he talks to Isabel with ease.  “Sonny has never been talkative,” said the narrator (391).  The narrator also addresses how easy it always was for Isabel and Sonny to relate to one another and laugh.  It seems to me that the narrator judges Sonny based on his personal issues with relating to Sonny. 

The text starts to describe Sonny and the narrator’s past.  “Don’t you worry, I won’t forget. I won’t let nothing happen to Sonny,” the narrator said to his mom (pg.395).  This simple statement to his mother explains the reason why the narrator lives with guilt when it comes to his relationship with his brother. 

I want to address Sonny’s character.  Class today enriched my thoughts about Sonny.  I would have never noticed in depth the realness and authentic spirit that Sonny had unless we spoke about it.  I came to the conclusion that both brothers did try to escape their inward suffering.  Sonny used drugs as a means and his brother seemed to harden himself to reality.  This story is a great parallel two different people and two different personalities.  We must recognize that people use different routes to cope with suffering, but we must learn to use good things to cope.  Sonny did not use a good means to cope, we he did work on his inward soul it seems like.