The Globe

The End of the Journey (o_o)

Here it comes the time when I pack my stuff and prepare to leave this country.

My feelings are a combination between sadness and happiness, though the later is overwhelming.

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It is a great experience that I've always wanted to undertake and by the end of it I can say that I’ve got the most out of it.

My gladness has been fulfilled by the approaching of my family whom I spent an enjoyable time with.

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I’ve been through ups and downs moments and many awful things have happened in my country while I was away.

Things that kept me awaken numerous nights

Things that alarmed me and forced me to reconsider the purpose of me being here.

I faced countless situations where I didn't know which is the right and which one is wrong!!

I don't regret what have occurred as I’ve learned from it.

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It was the first time in my entire life that I live such a long period away from all of those whom I used to depend completely on.

My family,,,

I love them ever since I was a little girl but now I’ve just realized why I carry all of these feelings toward them

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Many hopes,,,

I hope this experience would provide me with something to rely on in the future

To attempt to change some serious issues in myself firstly and in my society afterwards

I hope that it would be an encouraging step, not only now but later on when I transfer my experience to various people.

And who knows, maybe one day I will start another experience that might be greater than this one

Finally, grateful messages to

- My parents who supported me continually since I landed here and used to do the same thing when I was home.

My dear parents, this isn't the end and I am still waiting lots from you as I'm still your daughter wherever I go and whatever I do.

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- My friends whom I spent a pleasant time with, full with enjoyments and excitements.

And if it comes to a situaion where one of us is depressed, we all stand up for each other till we feel better.

 My lovely friends, I hope our friendship will remain the same whether we stayed here or went back home.
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-My tutors who have taught me many things from the time that I began this course till now and it would be impossible for me to forget them.

 My dear tutors, I will always remember you with all the challenging things that you’ve helped me to overcome.

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- My brother who has spent the whole year with me giving up his life, friends and school. Just to stay with, his sister, so I wouldn't be alone.

To my brother, I convey all the love and the respect and the appreciation.

My dear brother Mohammed, I owe you a lot, more than anyone else as you were next to me in both cheerful and miserable moments though I'm your bigger sister and as you know it should be the other way round.

 my brother, I apologize for everything that made you mad because of me,

I apologize for the moments that I've been harsh on you,

I apologize for the awkward situations that I've put you through,

I apologize and apologize and apologize

I just want you to know that I truly love you more than anyone else and the only people who compete you in that are my parents.

 

For everyone, if I did something wrong to you, I ask your forgiveness and I hope that we forget all the awful touches that might have happened between us.

Now it's the time to say goodbye Britain and hopefully I will make it once more to your land.

Happy Eid ^_^

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK9wAvkQ0Os

Tomorrow will be the first day of Eid Alfitr and for that I say Happy Eid to all my dear friends and my lovely family.

 

And special congrats to my father who is spending this eid alone..

 

Happy Eid daddy and we all miss you so much:(

 

kol 3am w ento b5air

 

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Chris McCandless: Idiot or Hero?

More than reading the story, I enjoyed readers' discussion about McCandless's character where they go into two different directions. Those who support him completely and think of him as a hero, often argue that he is a spiritual person who gives up the fancy life for an extreme adventure. In contrast; others observe him as an idiot and irresponsible individual who is full with excitement that blinds his eyes from seeing the real tough world.

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What I honestly think of him is that he seems to be a successful person who managed to be elite throughout his studying life and many of those who have met him during his travels realized his good manners and his intelligence, so he is a special guy that rarely found in this world.
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The strange thing about him that made me believe he has got some issues is when he first burned his money and abandoned his life to live in the wilderness. Why would he burn his money??? Why couldn't he gave them to those who are in need for a little of what he had???? Why didn't he take them with him so he would buy food and rent a place to live in?? I clearly know that he wanted to find himself freely without all of these materialistic stuff, but is that possible i.e. who can live without these basic things????
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I think he could’ve found his lost soul in other ways even if he would insist in travelling alone to the wilderness, its fine if he just prepared himself for everything. The fact is that he appears to be an idealism person who thinks that he can live in another world that hardly anyone has been to.
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Another thing is that no one can live alone in this world. We were created to live in societies. We weren't born alone but with our parents around us and in life full with people with different races, religions and classes. Even animals can't make it alone, they mostly travel in groups to protect each other and when one loses the group, killing by other animals is a great possibility to happen and the same thing happens with human being.
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The mainly thing that I really dislike about McCandless is when he stopped contacting his parents. He didn't call them back, didn't reply to their letters. They were so worried that they travelled all the way to see him and he wasn’t there.
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I think that I criticized him a lot because of his naïveté. On the other hand, I liked him for his good values and morals.

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My Response to Sam's Question (2)...

talbot_sam said...


This is an interesting observation Ameerah - what do your peers think? Schizophrenia is a deluded state, a mental illness, perhaps Alex was playing with identity and pushing boundaries, but I doubt he was experiencing this psychotic state in a clinical sense. By attending to himself as 'Alexander Supertramp' in his journals he is also referencing Niezche's 'Superman' ideal. Can you find out a bit about this ideal? What kind of a man was Niezche describing? And why do you think Alex alluded to this?


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Some of them believe in the idea of McCandless being mentally ill. Others, however, disagree to that and think of him as a hero and spiritual person.

 I considered this idea after reading a lot about his character and many things have drawn my attention such as changing his name to 'Alexander Supertramp' and refusing to let anyone to know his real identity.



He also wrote some letters to his best friend using the third person narrative which in my opinion makes him look unsatisfied enough about himself. He writes as if he is talking about a different person that has nothing to do with the real McCandless.



He refused to contact his parents or any of his old friends which means that he wanted to end any relation to the old McCandless even if it means forgetting his own parents.





I truly believe that there was something wrong about him. Otherwise, he wouldn't do what he has done.

 Regarding your question about Niezche's 'Superman' ideal, I tried to find out more about it but understood nothing.

My Response to Sam's Question!!

talbot_sam said...

Good work Ameerah! You have told us about two important influences upon McCandless. Can you see why McCandless felt an affinity with Tolstoy? Or why he adheared to Tolstoyean values.

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Thank you Sam..

Regarding your question, yes I do believe that McCandless is really influenced by Tolstoy and he admired the author's values and ethics and tried a lot to imitate his way of living, and some other authors,. A good example for that would be getting rid of all of his money and living the freedom life without being tied to materialism boundaries.

Tolstoy tried to do the same thing but he was stopped from doing so by his wife who admired to be a wealthy woman living a fancy life.

Tolstoy was uncomfortable with his life, so he went on an Odyssey and died there. The same thing has happened to McCandless.

I think they have got many common beliefs and attitudes and have had nearly similar way of living

Into the Wild...McCandless’ Literary Influences???

It is known that McCandless was influenced by some f the famous writers and there were many quotes found with his remain or he had written them in some of his letters.

What influence did those writers had on him and what are the reasons beyond that???

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1- Leo Tolstoy and Realism.

He was a Russian author, essayist and moral philosopher wrote the epic novel War and Peace (1865-69) and Anna Karenina (1873 to 1877 ) .

Realism broadly defined as "the faithful representation of reality" or "verisimilitude," realism is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life(A Handbook to Literature 428).

Leo Tolstoy ranks as one of the world's great writers, and his War and Peace has been called the greatest novel ever written.It was also the peak of Tolstoy's personal life.

He wanted to give his wealth away, but his wife would not hear of it. An unhappy compromise was reached in 1884, when Tolstoy assigned to his wife the copyright to all his works before 1881.

Unable to deal with the family quarrels, in 1910 he set out on his last pilgrimage accompanied by his youngest daughter and his doctor.

The trip proved too much, and he died in Astapovo, Russia, on November 9, 1910.

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2- Jack London and Naturalism..

 

He was an American author, journalist, and social activist and his novel "The Call of the Wild" believed to have been the biggest impact on McCandless.

The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zola's phrase, "human beasts," characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings(http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm).

In London’s adolescent, he worked at various hard labor jobs, pirated for oysters on San Francisco Bay, served on a fish patrol to capture poachers, sailed the Pacific on a sealing ship, joined Kelly's Army of unemployed working men, hoboed around the country, and returned to attend high school at age 19

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3- Thoreau and Transcendentalism..

He was an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist

Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century. It is sometimes called American transcendentalism to distinguish it from other uses of the word transcendental(Wikipedia).

He spent his life in his home community, whose flora and fauna he explored with a microscopic eye, recording his observations

Early interpreters of Thoreau thought of him as a naturalist, due to his observations of botanical phenomena and the amount of time roaming the environs of Concord with spyglass, notebook, and pencil, recording the seasonal changes and life cycles of hundreds of plants.

He wrote disparagingly of the destruction of the natural environment, of which human beings were an integral part.

He deplored the implications of the rise of industrialism, with its emphasis upon materialistic values.

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