Features of the world of Hitting Budapest

In Hitting Budapest, there was an obvious divide between two seemingly completely different worlds side by side. The ironically named Paradise seemed to be the slums of Hungary, referred to as the shanty The children probably have no idea what the word Paradise is supposed to mean. It’s a place where ten year olds such as Chico get impregnated by their grandfathers. It’s a place where you have to go to the brush to go to the bathroom and you don’t go after dark because no one will go with you. When they find a dead body they take the shoes to sell and it isn’t even mentioned if they alert the authorities or not. It’s the normal for them. When they cross the road into Budapest, it’s an entire separate world.

It’s described as a place “where people not like us live.” It’s a place with fenced homes and clean streets. Where people stay to themselves indoors and throw food out without even finishing it. Where people don’t eat fruit off of trees because “nobody around here seems to know what fruit is for.” And the people that live in these homes don’t seem too concerned about it. The children seem to use a regular pattern, going street to street. If anyone truly cared it wouldn’t be that difficult to stop the children from stealing them.

One of the similarities between both worlds seems to be ignorance and/or lack of education. The children are clueless what the word paradise means, and they have wishful thinking to eventually live in Budapest but they have no idea what it would probably take to live there. The woman is ignorant of the real hardships these children face. To her they seem to be more animals, things to take pictures of rather than to be helped or fed. Instead of offering the children food, she throws away what she is eating before she even finishes it. What is this nice city doing to help those that live in the shanty? They probably pretend it isn’t there. The only person that does take notice is a woman visiting from the United States.

Even the Queen

Even the Queen was the most interesting piece of writing I believe I have read in class up to this point so I would like to focus on it in particular for this post. In the story I found myself relating to the main character Perdita. Not entirely with what she is going through but with the structure of her family. Much like her I cannot learn without experience. She defies her parents to go off and join the cyclists who well, want to have all natural menstrual cycles even though there is a drug to prevent it. In the end she goes back to her mother and exclaimed that the mother didn’t tell her that it would hurt. I cannot learn from someone simply telling me that something is a bad idea. I have to try it for myself.

What I found most interesting in the story was the power relationships between the men and women. There was only one man in the story who had a very minor role. For the most part in Even the Queen it was almost like men were this otherworldly force who’s only goal is to repress and control women’s reproduction. Yet, the men are not seen at all repressing anyone. The family wants Perdita to go back on Ammenerol, a drug that makes it so women have no periods. But Perdita believes there are bad side effects and that it represses their womanhood. The older women in the family are trying to convince Perdita back into conforming to their beliefs. There are no men running around shoving these pills down women’s throats.  In the end, Perdita realizes that Ammenerol isn’t perhaps such a bad thing. This can be seen as either her agreeing to conform, or the realization that men aren’t this huge repressive force. The older women in the family state that “There are some things worth giving up anything for, even your freedom, are worth giving up your freedom for, and getting rid of your period would definitely be one of them.”

So in the end does Perdita fall into just conformity and become brainwashed by the male patriarchy by not agreeing to join the cyclists? Or was she wrong in believing that it was the agenda of men to control women’s reproduction rights to begin with? After all, women had to fight for the “liberation” and their right to not have periods. It’s up to the reader to decide.

True Grit: A Coming-Of-Age Western

When I first heard we were going to read True Grit, all I knew was that it was a Western Movie. My father is a fan of westerns and as a kid I simply found them boring. But I was entertained with True Grit from beginning to end. It wasn’t just another John Wayne movie. The protagonist, a young female immediately had my attention and I related to her. She reminded me almost of Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. Both strong female leads that go against the grain so to speak. Mattie, a fourteen year old girl sets out to avenge her father’s death.

It defied the traditional western in many ways. The biggest being the blurry line between good and evil. In most Westerns there are the good guys, and the bad guys, who is who is obvious, and the good guys win. But what is considered justice is blurred in True Grit. When it comes to Chaney, the only justice for Mattie is to see him killed in her hometown. For Rooster it isn’t about justice as much as the money which brings into question his moral code, which is also questioned earlier in the courts. For LeBoeuf it’s about his honor as a Texas Ranger. He’s a dedicated lawman. That, and the money.

The other thing that caught my attention about this movie used the western backdrop to create a coming-of-age story. There were less scenes of fighting the bad guys than there were the development of Mattie. It’s about her setting out on her own to avenge her father’s death and doing everything in her power to make it happen despite how the adults looked down upon her. She was growing up, becoming independent. She wouldn’t take no for an answer when Rooster and LeBoeuf tried to leave without her. During the long rides we learned of her struggles and how she refused to complain. In the end, what I found to be the climax was Mattie falling into the snake-pit and her struggle to survive. And when she did at the end of the adventure she was an adult. The climax wasn’t about catching the bad guy, but that was rather a way to help move the story of Mattie.

This is why I believe I enjoyed the book so much, because it was a coming-of-age story disguised as a western.