A Mayan Life #6

In the beginning passage of the book, Gaspar describes the rituals that take place for birth of a baby, in this case Lwin. According to Mayan custom, the parents must go find godparents for their child and have many parties celebrating the child's birth. Also, the mother must participate in a ceremonial sweat bath after the child is born and the child's umbilical chord must be buried in a special place. The author's descriptions in the beginning of the book lead the reader to anticipate a similar situation at its end, except one that has to do with death instead of birth. It is fitting for a book that begins with life to end with death. This is evident in Gaspar's book. It begins with the birth of Lwin, and ends with his death. As he lies in the same bed that he was born in, withered with age and ready to die, Lwin's many grandchildren stand over him. He looks over to the patch of earth where is umbilical chord was buried so many years ago. He begins to flash back to his childhood, seeing his cruel school teacher in front of him. Lwin begs her not to beat him with her ruler as he slips further and further into delirium. Finally, he dies and the book is ended. Gaspar's book had so much to do with the hardships of the life of a Maya that really, the only fitting ending would be the death of a Maya. A Maya who had a long, hard life, who fought against racial oppression, and got an education even when others said it was impossible. Although Lwin never fully separated himself from Mayan culture like I predicted, he did separate himself from the other Mayans by the fact that he was aware of the oppression that the Hispanics forced upon them; he was aware of his own intelligence and capabilities when other Mayans were not.

A Mayan Life #5

The defining moment for Lwin is when he, in the eighth grade, walks home from school in a torrential downpour with his friend. The walk is four miles long and neither of the boys have proper raincoats are shoes. Their school work gets soaked and they wade through ankle high mud just to get home. As Lwin and his friend talk, they discuss their schooling and their mean, outrageous teacher. Lwin has a short monologue in which he brilliantly states how it is completely unfair for the Mayan students; they have to walk eight miles a day in any sort of weather, can barely understand the lessons in school, have the burdens of helping their family make money to keep from starving, and are in poor health because of all the physical labour they have to do, which affects their astuteness in school. Lwin's monologue is exactly the opposite sort of thing that one would expect, based on the stereotypes enforced by the Hispanics, a Mayan to say. Lwin's understanding of the situation is astounding; he is very intelligent, yet his teachers and classmates are not able to see that because of the language barrier and predetermined stereotypes. This moment is defining for Lwin because he shows his true colors, his true intelligence and intellectual capabilities, even though the world tells him that he's stupid and worthless. Lwin may now realize his potential and go on through school to earn diplomas and degrees. I really hope he does; he's already come so far. He is only the second Mayan to have ever graduated from the eight grade.

A Mayan Life #4

How is Lwin like the boy in "A Bilingual Childhood"?

Many instances throughout the book, Gaspar inserts quotes from different characters in the book. These quotes are from older versions of the characters as they look back on the situations that the book describes. For example, Gaspar writes, "'For me,' Lwin said, 'school and family were two worlds, two life styles and two self-concepts.' " This statement by Lwin brings to mind the passage we read in class, "A Bilingual Childhood;" Lwin is going through the near exact same thing as the child in that story did. Lwin goes to a school where they speak a language that he doesn't know, Spanish. His parnts wanted him to get an education, for they just lost alot of land becasue they signed a contract that outlined things they cuold not read. At school, all the kids think Lwin is strange because he never speaks, the teachers think he is stupid because he never understands what is going on because of the language barrier, and everyone makes derogatory comments to Lwin because of his heritage. Lwin's family life is very different from his school life; at home, he abides by Mayan customs and speaks freely and confidently, but at school, he is ashamed of his Mayan ancestry and rarely speaks. Lwin is Still having trouble with learning the Spanish language, but he is picking up simple words very quickly. Much like in "Bilingual Childhood," Lwin is becoming a different boy, one who is educated and influenced by Spanish, rather than Mayan, society. I suspect that soon, Lwin will begin to break the close bonds he has with his family, and, like the boy in "Bilingual Childhood," become a more permanent member of Spanish society, doing things that other Mayans would never do, like go on to college and get a good paying job.

A Mayan Life #3

The author's relationship with the book's material is hard to pin down. He obviously has pride for his people and country; he describes the landscapes as beautiful and the people as polite and hardworking. But, as Mekel works in the fincas, a place where there are hard working conditions, little food, and death everywhere, the author's diction is loaded with words that imply hatred and disgust; he uses words like "vile" and "infested." The conditions in the fincas are so bad that Malaria sweeps amongst the people like the common cold; so many people have the disease that the one doctor present hardly tries to cure it any more. Gaspar must also feel sadness towards his book's material; so much pain and suffering is inflicted on his people and homeland. Mekel witnesses the deaths of small children, with their parents sobbing over their small bodies. The Mayans are so impoverished that starvation and disease are daily occurrences. While Mekel is off doing his work in the fincas, trying to earn his family some money, his wife and son are back home, harvesting crops. Mekel's son, Lwin, is described with much affection by the author. Gaspar chronicles Lwin's growth from a small child to a man, all the while boasting of Lwin's strength, wit, and intelligence. The author's attitude toward Mekel's family is very loving; his descriptions of Mekel's wife, Lotahx, paint her as a hard working woman willing to sacrifice her comfort and time for the sake of her family. Gaspar's emotion towards his book's material is loving towards the people of Mekel's hometown and family, but hateful towards the fincas.

A Mayan Life #2

The author does not state his purpose overtly, but one can guess that his purpose is not just to tell a little story about one family in the mountains of Guatemala. Gaspar is the only Mayan to have ever published a book; his story does not just represent the one single storyline that he writes, but all the lives of the Mayan population; all of their hardships and triumphs. So many people rely on Gaspar to tell their own stories; to inform the rest of the world about what being a Maya really means. I am only about half way through the book, and I am already learning new things about the Mayan population, causing previously believed stereotypes to be shattered. For example, it is widely thought that both Mayans and Hispanics have had few disputes. Upon reading this book, I have learned that, much like the discrimination against African Americans in America, the Mayans are discriminated against by Hispanics in many countries. Mayans are looked upon as stupid, worthless, and poor by many Hispanics. I had no idea that this was going on, and many other Americans probably don't either. In short, Gaspar's purpose is to inform the world about the hardships of the Maya, while also sharing the heartfelt story of a single family.

A Mayan Life (By Gaspar Pedro Gonzales 1995)

How does the English translation affect the language?

In the back of the book, where there is a mini-biography of Gaspar, it is written that Gaspar is the only Mayan to ever have published a book. His story, "A Mayan Life," chronicles the life of Lwin and his father Mekel as they live in the poor city of Cuchamatan in the mountains of Guatemala. Mekel is forced to work under brutal conditions in labor camps in order to provide money for his son and wife. This book is very interesting; it details the lives of modern day Mayans, something that has never been done from the point of view of a native Mayan before. Originally, written in Spanish, the book was translated into English a few years after it was published. I assume that in Spanish, the diction and flow of the sentences are much better than they are in English. The sentences are very choppy in places and the dialogue does not sound natural. Whoever translated this book did not do a very good job. For example, a line of dialogue reads, "Those are the ones who take their small children to the fincas and don't come back with them. They take them only to bury them." The translator could have done a better job with making these sentences flow better; maybe by saying "they take their small children to the fincas and don't come back with them...etc." I wish I was better at understanding Spanish so I could read the Spanish addition of the book and the original words that Gaspar had written. Thankfully, though, these awkward sentences don't take away any of the book's meaning, so the story line is still very understandable.

Origins#6

I chose to read this book because I thought it would offer me a good way to learn more about astronomy and physics. I expected the book to be more difficult to understand than it actually is. Towards the end of the book, the author's write about the search for life on other planets and the ways in which new galaxies can be formed. These topics are very interesting, yet I still found it hard to push myself into reading this book. As I read, the subject matter was pretty much what I expected, but I did expect to be more confused as I read farther; the subject matter getting more complex as the book progressed. To my delight, I found this not to be true. There were a couple chapters where I just had no idea what the book was talking about; there was a section about the universal constant that made absolutely no sense. But all in all, the subject matter was very interesting. I find that if a book is overly complicated, I stop trying to understand the content; I just let my eyes skim over the words without really understanding them. I let myself do this a few times within the complicated chapters, but overall, I was usually engaged with the book's content and was actively trying to understand it.

Origins #5

Why is this book so boring now?

This always seems to happen whenever I read a science book; I get excited at the beginning and read a lot, but then near the middle, I get bored and crave a book with an actual storyline. Unfortunately, I find myself in a similar situation right now. I'm getting bored, even though I like the subject, simply because it takes too much energy to try and understand the subject matter after a long day of trying to understand other things at school. So I find myself payinging less attention to what I'm reading, consequently getting confused, and wanting to stop reading even more. I have probably started at least three other books about astronomy, one also written by Tyson, and have found myself fizzled out near the middle, unable to finish the book. But I will persevere; I will finish this book by blog #6. The book's content is written so well, that I feel bad about getting bored while reading it. My boredom really has nothing to do with the writing or content itself, just me not exerting enough energy to try and understand the subject. At the end of the day, it's so much easier to read a mindless book with an easy story line that you can get lost in. With "Origins" that is just not possible, and I am now paying the price for picking a book with no story line to blog about and to finish reading in 3 weeks. It's really hard to find topics to blog about when reading a book like this; most topics revolve around character and plot development, while this book has neither.

Origins #4

One concept in this book that I just could not wrap my head around was cosmic microwave background radiation, or CBR. I have heard it mentioned many times before in other science texts, but I have never really understood what it is. "Origins" actually does not do a very a good job of explaining what this concept is. The book's lack of information is probably due to the authors simply assuming that the reader already knows what the CBR is. Although the authors explain all other concepts beautifully, they could use some work in their explanation of the CBR. Many things in the past two chapters I have read have depended on the reader understanding this concept; the CBR tells scientists many things about the Big Bang and other such things. So I decided to just look the CBR up on the Internet to supplement the information in the book. I found that cosmic microwave background radiation is just microwaves in space that astronomers are able to see through special telescopes. The Big Bang theory says that when the universe was still very dense and hot, there was an abundance of plasma that caused the universe to look opaque. As the universe cooled, the plasma cooled as well, emitting thermal radiation. Because atoms cannot absorb this thermal radiation, it has stuck around until modern times.

Origins #3

The authors definitely have a friendly relationship with the audience. As implied in my other posts, Tyson and Goldsmith do a very good job of keeping the language light, friendly, and easy to understand, while the actual content is scientific and very educational. The authors bring up extremely interesting topics, though it might not seem that way to anyone not interested in science. One example is the properties of dark matter; the most common form of matter in the universe but also something that scientists no nearly nothing about. The authors describe, in very friendly language, how the only reason that astronomers are able to detect dark matter is through its gravitational pull. If not for dark matter, each galaxy in the universe would have only one sixth of the gravitational pull that it does. Scientists are able to calculate this number by finding the average speed traveled by all the stars in each galaxy. Any object in a galaxy needs to maintain a certain speed based on the gravitational pull of the galaxy; all objects need to maintain a speed that will allow them to not be sucked into the center of the galaxy or cause them to fly out of the galaxy. So scientists use this average speed to estimate the gravitational pull of a galaxy. When first finding the gravitational pull, it does not match up with the amount of "normal" matter in each galaxy; it is the gravitational pull of a galaxy with six times the amount of "normal" matter. So then dark matter comes into the equation; it makes up for the amount of missing matter that gives the galaxy its high gravitational pull.
I'm sorry if that was cinfusing, but the authors do a much better job of explaining it in the book. This information about dark matter is just some of the many compliated concepts that the book makes easy to understand.