Connor Zimmerman 24-28
1. I don’t believe Mark’s thoughts on suicide throughout the 28th chapter are justifiable. He relates his own suicide to that of the white people in movies, where they would “die with honor” by driving a dagger through themselves. He doesn’t have enough knowledge of the white people to actually contemplate whether they still partake in “dying with honor.” In addition, Mark does not know enough about movies, where he believes that most of the actions that partake in film in reality do not occur. He just doesn’t have enough knowledge about the world to kill himself with cause.
Secondly, Mark doesn’t contemplate his decision about how the absence of his presence would affect those around him. Sure, it would be one less mouth to feed around the house, but by the time he turns 16, Mark could pay for his own meals and take care of his family. Mark doesn’t realize his importance. Next, Mark’s absence would have an effect on his sisters more than what his mother explains. Having an older brother myself, I know how important he his to me. If he were to kill himself (and especially at a young age), that would have a tremendous effect on me and might even send me into depression. Thirdly, his mother would not find a reason to live anymore. He doesn’t realize this, but Mark is her rock. She has no husband to talk to anymore, so she relies on Mark not just as a son, but as a friend. Without him, she has nobody as mature and adult-like as Mark to talk to. She has lost her rock, and thus loses her reason to live.
Lastly, Mark’s reasons for suicide are not justifiable because he doesn’t take into account his age. He is only 10 years old and already he is thinking like somebody who is 30. Is it because of the society that they live in, where children are given responsibility at such infantile ages? Or is it because Mark is different from the rest, that he is an “old soul” and is sympathetic. It might never be known. But he still has an entire lifetime of actions, achievements, and other great parts of life ahead of him that it would be sad to miss out on. Besides, Mark is so smart at this point that by the time he is old enough, he will be smart enough to get out of Alexandra and live his life the way that he wanted to and not the way the white men want him to.
2. On page 166, Paragraph 3:
“One thing I do know was that I could never understand the morbid cruelty and satanic impulses that drove people to kill others. For what? I asked myself. What is to be gained from killing a fellow sufferer? Why, instead of reaching out and helping each other, were some people bent on hurting one another? Why, in the place of love and compassion, were there implacable hate and anger and jealousy? I could not see myself living the rest of my life under such conditions- to me life meant love, understanding, compassion. Yet, I asked myself, “What other world was there to run to?”
This paragraph sums up Mark’s mindset about the world before and after the murder of the man. He believed that the world was full of compassion and love for one another, yet he realized, after the beatings and raids and the horrible things that white people did, that life was not full of love and compassion. This proves Mark’s fighting spirit to get past all of the pessimistic things in life and to look on the bright, simple sides of life. Yet, this also explains his thoughts of suicide, where he believes that in order to get away from this hate-filled, criminal world that he would have to take his own life.
3. Some questions:
a) What are Mark’s interactions with his sisters and brothers? I know he has a lot of them, yet only through his reflection while contemplating suicide do we ever hear about them. I feel like more knowledge of that could help better explain Mark’s personality.
b) What happened to the raids? Did they become so routine that whenever they occurred nobody even took any notice to them? Or did they die down?