Vladimir and Estrogen Stick Together

Throughout the play, Vladimir and Estragon had a fair amount of disagreements. At times the disagreements led to talk of one of them leaving and even hanging themselves became a solution they contemplated, but despite their talk of being apart, Vladimir and Estragon remain partners for all of act one. The relationship between Vladimir and Estragon is complex, especially since the reader is given very little information about what their day to day lives are like. We do not know the history of their friendship, the origin, or if they had any relation prior to waiting for Godot. From the dialogue, I have found that Vladimir is a bit dominating, while Estragon is more submissive. I say this because many times Estragon will have an idea, then Vladimir will repeat it as if it is his own, and since their memories are terrible, Estragon truly believes that the idea was Vladimir's first. This instance seems to represent the relationship because it shows Vladimir's dominant nature, but also his dependence on Estragon. I think that both the characters depend on each other because they have curiosities and keep each other working towards their common goal: meeting with Godot

First Impressions of Waiting for Godot

So far, I'm a big fan of the play, Waiting for Godot, and to me, it seems that my classmates are all having very different reactions to it. With a work that is based on absurdity, that does not surprise me at all. I noticed that some students are frustrated with the play because the characters don't make sense. The characters cannot keep one train of thought, their memories are horrible, and none of them seem to know their purpose, meaning no one has stopped to say, "Why are we waiting for Godot?" Others seem to take the play as a jumping off point for their philosophical thinking. Since the playwright made the details of the play so vague (i.e. the setting, history, characters, and dialogue) these readers believe that they must interpret what is not being said. I am one of those students. I read this play and could not help but ask myself what the playwright is trying to tell us. I keep thinking that this nonsense is some elaborate allegory for something, but that may just be me looking for some closure in the absurdity. The other way that students in my class reacted to the play was with laughter. I think the play is really funny. These characters remind me a bit of the the three stooges, just because we laugh at how absent-minded the characters are behaving. I also can't help but laugh when they speak to each other with such strong emotion over something silly, like getting angry because of a boot or crying because of the words of another character. I am sure that by the end of the play I will find some meaning in it because there must be a greater reason why we are studying it than simply the comedic aspects.

Not an allegory The Metamorphosis

When I first began to study events in The Metamorphosis, I was convinced that the story was an allegory for teenagers going off to college. I thought that the metamorphosis was a result of the new college environment that one would live in, and the bug represents a newer version of the student or a post-high school self. It has been said that once someone goes off to college, home is never the same. I think this is because the person is no longer the same after living away from home. When Gregor is in his own home, newly as a bug, he doesn't enjoy the same foods that he used to, much like a college student may not enjoy the same activities that he or she enjoyed in high school. Also, similarly to the way that Gregor's family became more productive and happier people when he was a bug, I think that parents have the time to restore their individuality when they are not busy with their child's lives. While I now know that The Metamorphosis is not an allegory, I still believe that the story can be applied to many different situations and phases of life. People change and I don't think Kafka would disagree with me on that.

Why a bug? The Metamorphosis

In the beginning of the story, Gregor wakes up as a bug for no apparent reason. If such a transformation can occur without any logic or reason to support it, then what other shapes could Gregor have taken on? Perhaps he could have transformed into a giant duck, only able to communicate with his family through annoying quacks, or maybe Gregor could have become a human-sized lizard where is outward appearance would send his family running in fear. However, I think the reason Kafta chose to change Gregor into a bug was because he wanted to reflect his own personality in the character. After reading a letter published by one of Kafka's friends, Max Brod, I realized that Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis during a time in his life when he was contemplating suicide. Perhaps he felt as if he identified with the bug, being something that people are commonly disgusted at or scared of. He might have also felt the uselessness that Gregor feels in the novel after not being able to work, and he may have related to the fact that many people think of bugs as useless creatures.

The Pilkings

My two favorite characters to study in the play, Death and the King's Horseman, are Jane and Simon Pilkings. While they are both inherently culture-insensitive and ignorant, they are not portrayed as hateful characters. Both of them seem to mean well when speaking to their servant, even if Simon did accidentally offend the man by belittling the concept of holy water. The couple simply doesn't realize that they are being rude when speaking to people with differing cultures. For example, when Simon and Jane wore the sacred outfits to a European ball, this was not a hateful act, because they just thought the costume was pretty. They do not know enough about Joseph's culture to purposefully share a hateful comment or express a hateful action, so they just end up looking uncultured. I think the culturally insensitive actions of the couple are supposed to represent the ignorance in those who are not diverse  in the real world. Soyinka may have been trying to express that there are many people who do not intend to hurt others, but also do not care to know enough about their cultures to prevent themselves from hurting them.

Insults

In Death and the King's Horseman, there are plenty of good insults that angry characters throw at one another. Some of the harshest ones are also a bit comedic. For example, when Iyaloja calls Elesin a "self-vaunted stem of the plantain, how hollow it all proves," and when a market girl stung Amusa by calling her, "The eater of white left-overs." These insults are very creative and hurtful. What is interesting, is that their insults are not like the insults we hear today, which are usually thought of within seconds and sting because they are not politically correct. There are plenty of racial undertones in the play, but when one character is insulting another, their racial differences are usually left out. It was common language to call others "white one" or the n-word, but to compare someone to the stem of a plantain was an act full of hate. What the characters referred to each other as would be considered an insult today. However, what the characters used to insult each other would be considered so over the top that it is comedic today. Whether the author is insulting someone in the 1970s or 2016, Soyinka really knows how to slander someone through the use of his words.

Most Beautiful Words

I have always been upfront about my affinity for words. So much so, that this is not the first piece of writing I have written not only with, but also about words. I have an infatuation with the study of language and the uses of each word. However, when it comes to choosing the most beautiful words... I find myself getting distracted. You see, a word can be beautiful for three reasons: 1) the sound of it  2) the meaning behind it, or 3) the circumstance in which it was used.

If you take one word and examine it for all three of these characteristics, you will find it coming up short in most cases. For example, take the word "claw." It is a fun word to say, partly because it makes us Americans feel as though we have a British accent for a moment, but it also easily rolls off of the tongue. However, there is nothing beautiful about the act of clawing or the image that comes to mind when the word is said. One could imagine a cat clawing a dead bird or a man trapped in a box, clawing for his freedom.

To examine the latter, a word that is beautiful in the meaning behind it, but not the actual sounds that make up its pronunciation, could be a name. Not all names are beautiful-sounding in their pronunciation alone. However, when someone hears their own name, it feels a bit like being wanted. Whether it is your peers talking about something you have done recently, or the beckoning call of a friend, hearing one's name is instantly personal and possibly the most interesting and beautiful word one person can hear. Also, this word is universally beautiful in each circumstance in which it is used, because whether the news is good or bad, it pertains to you and that is beautiful.

Perhaps the word "money" is a beautiful word, solely based on its meaning, because when people read or hear the word, they perk up. While "money" has been given a negative connotation before, due to authors who have claimed it as a "curse" or something that ruined mankind, it still exists as an important word today. For example, if you tell anyone today, "You can have all my money," then flocks of people will most likely succumb to your use of a beautiful word. However, the word isn't beautiful-sounding. When you form the word it makes the "uh" noise as if you are confused about something, and adding the "ee" sound at the end is something a child does. Like the word "doggie," or "veggie" it makes the speaker sound unsophisticated. Perhaps a more beautiful word would be "cash" or "currency," but each of those words has a different connotation and does not equate to the word "money."

The beauty of language comes from its complexity, the delicate piecing together of consonants and vowels which can sound so similar to another word yet have a completely different meaning in the same language. While I would love to have one word that has a flawless relationship between its literal sound and its meaning, I have not found one yet. Perhaps there is a truly beautiful word that sounds beautiful, means something beautiful, is always used in a beautiful environment, and pertains to me, however, the mission of finding this word, may be impossible...

Why not a tragicomedy?

After going back in forth, arguing in class over whether The Tempest was a tragedy or a comedy, Charlie brought up the point that the play must be a tragicomedy, since it can be argued strongly both ways. However, then Ms.Maxey set us straight, telling us that it is officially a comedy. However, I think today it should be considered a tragedy, or at least a tragicomedy, because there is a really small percentage of people who would find this play funny. Also, there are some serious topics that are covered in the play, which make me think that it would be better suited as a tragedy when looked at today. For example, the shipwreck in the beginning, Prospero's loss of power, and the inclusion of characters like Ariel and Caliban who are similar to slaves, point towards the play being more tragic than funny. However, I understand that during that time, Shakespeare had a better sense of humor than most students think he has now.

Miranda's Innocence - The Tempest

Being the daughter of Prospero and a character with many lines, Miranda can be classified as one of the main characters in the play. However, Miranda is possibly the most uninteresting characters in the play. She is a flat character and can be described adequately in 5 words or less. Simply put, she is young, loving, and loyal to Prospero. When she met Ferdinand she fell in love and it was an obstacle-free relationship. In many ways, Miranda can be considered child-like. Since she has been stranded on the island for her entire life, she knows very little about relationships and the world. When new people came to her island, it was like her first day of school, because she met many new people for the first time in her life. Also, her relationship to Prospero as a young and submissive daughter further asserts the image of her being a boring and child-like character.

Poem Project

The poem that I am doing for my project is "Funny... But Not" by Arianna Loshnowsky:

it's funny how hello is always accompanied with goodbye 

it's funny how good memories can start to make you cry 

it's funny how forever never seems to last 

it's funny how much you'd lose if you forgot about your past 

it's funny how “friends” can just leave when you are down 

it's funny how when you need someone they never are around 

it's funny how people change and think they're so much better 

it's funny how many lies are packed into one “love letter” 

it's funny how one night can contain so much regret 

it's funny how you can forgive but not forget 

it's funny how ironic life turns out to bebut the funniest part of all, is none of thats funny to me 

 I chose this poem, because even though I just found it, I feel that I could have written it myself. In my video, I plan to talk about her use of sarcasm and how a lot of times in my life, I use humor to cope with difficult situations. Also, I want to relate the issues that she describes to my personal life. To me, the talk of people changing, love letters, talk of "forever," and friends sounds like basic high school drama, which is something I hear about every day. Even though Loshnowsky is making a statement about life, she is using issues that are seemingly petty to help illustrate how people can hurt on the inside without others realizing it. Starting each sentence with "it's funny how" is sort of a mask that many people hide behind to not show their true feelings. I will talk a bit about how having friends and family members with depression has affected the way I deal with my own problems and how I choose to interact with others who may or may not seem to be hurting.

Who was Shakespeare?

It seems like no one actually knows who Shakespeare was. Of course, there is a myriad of websites and sources providing information on the man and there have been plenty of rumors about old "Billy Shakes." One rumor being, that he used to be called "Billy Shakes." I've heard that he was left-handed, pirated his plots, wore a gold hoop earring, and was possibly homosexual. I understand that there will always be a certain amount of false information circulating when an author is so widely studied and old, but this seems to be ridiculous. In my opinion, we should just study his works and the culture during the time, because speculating about one person's personal life doesn't really help the reader to learn about the work.

Spirits in The Tempest

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster makes the point that authors of literature do not give characters disabilities unless there is a reason for it. For example, he states that making a character blind must have literary significance because it is much harder to make a plot when the character has to remain blind for the entire book. Shakespeare takes the risk of involving spirits in his play, even though they are difficult to stage. Sometimes spirits are not able to be on stage because the spirit does not have a body. According to Foster's logic, there must be an important reason to use them. However, since Ariel is a spirit, she has magical powers.  So while it may be difficult for the stage director to represent Ariel's character, in the printed version of the play, the use of spirits gives the author tremendous freedom due to the unlimited capabilities of magic.

QuickWrite: Illusions

Illusions are a beautiful thing in life. Believing in illusions is a natural coping mechanism for humans to deal with the hardships that life will inevitably throw at you. This reminds me of lucid dreamers. There are people who spend most of their life controlling their dreams. They dream so vividly, that sometimes they confuse their real life with their dreams. Although the feelings they have during dreams is an illusion, it feels completely real to them. If we believe that it something is real, and we enjoy the illusion or dream being set up in front of us, then what is the harm? Is it even worth living a real life if your dream life leaves you so much more fulfilled? Other than the fact of living a life of dreams is a very selfish life, the detachment from the real world is no issue to the rest of the world, because if the person is enough of a fool to believe the illusion, then he or she probably would not offer much to the world anyways. 

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature that is plagued with a bad image. Many people know poetry to be very abstract, and because of this, many people characterize the entire genre as unimportant. The poor image is reflected in our current curriculum. As a 12th grader, preparing to graduate, I am just now getting my first glimpse of poetry. Throughout my high school English classes or any classes for that matter, I have not spent more than two weeks learning or appreciating poetry. I feel as though my teachers have cheated me of the pleasure of reading poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes' poetry circles. I like that poems are quick to read yet, there is still so much take away from them. This is especially good for my generation's short attention span, making poems much more pleasurable to read than a novel. Good poets can create a vivid character in 5 words or less, and in modernist poems, 5 words can evoke emotions about an image that may leave the reader puzzled as to why they are feeling that way. I am happy that I have found another form of literature that I enjoy to read, even if the joy is a bit overdue.

Faulkner - Backstage at Morning Meeting

I tried to come in on time but I couldn't and I kicked the door but the door wouldn't budge and it was dark down there so I ran up the stairs.  I kept hollering for Darl. Darl. Darl. Darl! He saw me. I bet he saw me but he didn't do a thing about it. He sat in his chair and didn't do a thing about it. I stood behind the curtains and I was scared that someone would come up from behind me and open the curtains and then everyone would look at me. I ran over to the side of the stage to make sure that no one could see me if someone did sneak up on me and pull those curtains open. There were hats. There were sparkly costumes too and plastic shiny batons and a stuffed animal bear and a stuffed animal fish. It reminded me of my mom and I started to cry because my mother is a fish.

Dialect - As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner is often praised for his raw writing style. His style allows the reader to get inside the minds of characters, and he does this through stream of consciousness writings and dialogue. The dialect of the characters is very apparent to the reader. Though, it helps the reader to fully immerse themselves in the culture of Mississippi during the 1930s. There is a sharp contrast between those who have lived in Mississippi their whole lives, like Vardaman, and those who have lived elsewhere, like Darl. Since Darl has been to war and became educated, his dialect is a bit easier to follow. He speaks with proper grammar and an impressive vocabulary. Unlike most other characters, who use lots slang and have not yet mastered the art of subject-verb agreement. 

Harkness Discussion

In my opinion, the Harkness discussion in my class went pretty well. We seemed to have a fair distribution of contributors, and no one stayed quiet the entire time. That seems to be the goal of Harkness discussions: include everyone. This goal seems like a great way to get a discussion rolling, but once the conversation begins, the problem quickly becomes too much contribution. Once ideas are flowing in the room, everyone wants to get their ideas in before the discussion shifts to another topic. This requires fast thinking, shrinking down big ideas into palatable ones, and assertiveness when more than one student begins speaking about an idea. The main issue I have with the Harkness discussion is the pressure of getting a word in. Some students speak more freely than others, and they are rewarded for their participation. In a classroom without shy students, the Harkness discussion becomes a battle for airtime and instead of learning from each other's ideas, the students begin to only hear themselves and what they plan to say next.

Timmy O'Brien and Tim O'Brien

“I’m young and happy. I’ll never die. I’m skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blasts, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story.” p246

O'Brien closes his story with a fascinating image, revealing his personal man against self conflict. O'Brien touches on the natural inclination of youths to feel invincible. To help distinguish between young Tim and current Tim, he refers to his naive self as Timmy. Timmy has no strong feelings about the war, other than the fact that he does not believe in it, and he has trouble picturing himself a part of it. The image of Timmy skating through his life and history reflects on his inability to accept the idea that his life is fragile. The "loops and spins" that Timmy does shows him dodging responsibilities, not thinking things through, and enjoying life without war. The "dark" that O'Brien speaks of symbolizes the war and the relationship strains that he faced because of it. This includes when he returned home, feeling alone and lost because he could not tell his story in a way that would warn others like he wanted to warm himself. Thirty years later, Tim recognizes the dark in his life and clears his problems through therapeutic writing that led to The Things They Carried.

"Church"

In this chapter, O'Brien gives the reader insight to Dobbins' life by including quotes about religion, which is normally a topic that Dobbins dismisses. However, Dobbins shares his feelings, "I just didn't have the smarts for it. And that's the religious thing, too. All these years, man, I still hate church" (121). Throughout the discussion, O'Brien develops Dobbins' character as we begin to see a sensitive side to a man who has only been viewed as another soldier who kills water buffalo and is deeply, mentally distraught. We learn that Dobbins feels that his intelligence does not measure up. He repeats his feelings of not feeling smart enough several times, "it takes brains" and "you have to be sharp" to mention the necessity of intelligence, and how he is lacking (121). Perhaps he was told throughout his childhood that he was dumb, or maybe he has experienced a lot of failure in his life, but whatever it is, the author has shown us that the man feels less competent because of it.

Contradictions in TTTC

It is human nature to look for ways to generalize or simplify complex situations. However, Tim O'Brien makes the point that with war, generalizing accurately is an impossible task, even though those uninvolved in the war generalize often. To assert this idea, O'Brien deliberately contradicts himself multiple times, "War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead" (80). While words like "thrilling" and "drudgery" seem to be opposites, they both make sense when describing war. The paradox of war is too complex of a topic to simplify into one story. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche speaks of in her Ted Talk, it is dangerous to know only one story. Tim O'Brien uses contrasting words to show various aspects of the war to his audience and by doing that he has introduced the audience to the possibility other "stories."

Senior Year

Time is a funny thing. I remember looking at the senior class when I was a freshman thinking, wow those kids look like adults- and I was right. They looked like regular people who I could envision in a business meeting or shopping at a grocery store alone. Some of the boys had grown out beards over the summer and all of them could drive. After field hockey one day, my team finished earlier than the previously scheduled practice, so my coach just told us we could leave. It was such a foreign idea to me, that when we were done working we could leave. You mean you aren't gonna wait here while my mom comes to pick me up? You mean I'm allowed to go off by myself? You trust me to choose what I want to do with my time? As a senior, I've gotten used to the freedom. Now, I even get a little angry when I am held in class after we are done working. I'm sure that the freshmen look to me the same way that I did to the class of 2014, but I'm not an adult. That's how time works. 

The Magic of a Book Response

Reading is important. This idea is well-known due to the myriad of established authors with works that we know to be valuable. Unfortunately, the act of reading has become a chore to young generations and reading will continue to lose its popularity to other forms of entertainment. As much as I would like younger kids to have the momentum and willingness to read, I don't believe that the children will invest the time that a good book is owed to appreciate it. The internet has made our attention spans short. For example, the average teenager spends 2 seconds on an internet page before clicking away. If an author cannot capture his or her audience quick enough, the reader will stop reading. Although Hesse argues that “the cinema will be no more able to damage literature than for example, photography has hurt painting,” he neglects the difference in the experience of watching a movie versus reading a book. By telling a story with audio, video, and words, a movie cuts out the work of imagining the story. This allows the audience to watch passively and sit back to watch the world that has been created for them. Also, it only takes two hours out of the day, so it is easy to commit. Movies are easier than books to enjoy because it doesn't take up as much time or mental stamina, and younger kids have already begun to notice this. 

Quote Analysis 2 - A Room with a View

 "You are nearer his age, and if you let yourself go I am sure you are sensible... Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them. By understanding George you may learn to understand yourself. It will be good for both of you"p29

After Lucy asked the question that expressed her curiosities as what to do with the troubled boy George, Mr. Emerson responds with this speech. Mr. Emerson is very blunt with his words and does not worry about possibly offending someone. Lucy was at first surprised by the tone of his response, so much so that she was unable to formulate words to continue the conversation. Forester says she "found no answer"(29). Mr. Emerson caused Lucy to look inward. He thinks of Lucy as a closed minded woman and describes the new thoughts that she may discover through getting to know George as sunlight. In this quote, he is trying to say that judging one person will do know good if proper time is not allotted to get to know someone. He is trying to convince Lucy to simply give George a chance. This later becomes significant, as this conversation helps Lucy realize her close-mindedness which will later motivate her to grow closer to George and eventually develop a love for him because she chose to "pull out from the depths of those thoughts" that she cannot understand.

Why I stopped reading - Sophie's World

When I first started this book, I was excited to include some philosophy in my life while still getting my summer assignments done, but that excitement was slowly interrupted as I continued reading. The pages started to read like a textbook, a long, in depth, history lesson. Of course, there were characters included in the novel, but each of them seemed like flat, 2-dimensional characters. For example, Sophie is a young girl and she is overwhelmed by the questions that her philosophy teacher has asked her to ponder. Many times, the author would merely state "Sophie cried." Whenever I would read "Sophie cried" it would feel out of place. When did this happen? When did she get so upset? What is she thinking? It seemed like the characters in the novel were all flat. The mother, for example, was a parental figure and a voice of reason in Sophie's life. Basically, she worried about her daughter and that was pretty much the extent of her role in the novel (at least thus far). Sophie too is a flat character. She feels exhausted by the tasks given to her by the philosopher, but believes and reflects his ideas back onto her mother. Sophie interacts with only a few characters regularly, her mom, her friend at school, and her teachers. Each character served a purpose and nothing more. I wish that the book included more insight as to how each of the characters felt so that I could have grown more attached to them and finished the novel happily. 

Misunderstanding - TTAYN

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attempts to restore the image of Africans in western media by stringing together stories that will hopefully give readers a reality check about their lives. Throughout the novel, there seems to be a common theme of misunderstanding. Whether it is the police that misunderstands Nnambia's intentions and mistreats him in jail or the American embassy worker who cannot sympathize with the mother of late Ugonna, there is a disconnect. Perhaps the motive of money forces the misunderstanding between the police officers and their own people and the cultural difference between the American and the foreigner forced her not to complete immigration. Throughout the novel, Adichie portrays the Americans as ignorant and confident people and plenty of times, they are shown accidentally offending the Nigerians. Although the Americans may look ignorant for not understanding the Nigerians,  the Nigerians do not understand the Americans either. It seems as if they come from different worlds because their problems are so different. The American "sated belly" forces them to worry about things that have not yet happened, which is an odd idea for some of the Nigerian characters in the book. It seems that misunderstanding between characters in this book is unavoidable, as it can be found in each chapter.

Quote Analysis 1 - TTAYN

"The next day, he took you to dinner at Chang's and your fortune cookie had two slips of paper. Both of them were blank."p121


This quote is taken from the chapter, "The Thing Around Your Neck" which is a chapter that stands out in the book due to the fact that it shares the title of the novel and also is one of the only chapters that is set entirely in second person. In this quote, Akunna was reaching the end her date with a man whom she had recently met and was not yet comfortable with. The blank strip of paper that she pulls from her fortune cookie tells Akunna that she literally has no future. The fortune cookie highlights the fact that Akunna has very few meaningful relationships in her life. She no longer writes to her family in Nigeria or anyone else for that matter, so her relationships back at home are deteriorating. Her new life in America seems bleak as well since she does not have any real friends. The only person who was willing to help her was her uncle who offered her the house. However, he turned out to be abusive towards Akunna. The significance of Akunna's fortune cookie containing two fortunes is that one of them represents her future in America while the other represents her life back in Nigeria. This symbol helps show that Akunn's feelings of hopelessness. She is lost and alone with an unhappy future ahead of her.

The Scarf - TTAYN

As I begin to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, I have noticed a highlight on the cultural differences between characters. In the chapter titled, “A Private Experience” Chika finds herself in close quarters with a “northerner” with a “strong Hausa accent” (44). Although the accent helps clue Chika into the woman’s identity, the scarf that she is wearing becomes an interesting symbol. The scarf represents the barrier between the two women. For example, their difference in religious beliefs and the language and accent obstacle are very apparent to both women. Later in the chapter, when the woman removes her scarf, the barrier of Chika's individual beliefs fades away. As soon as the scarf comes off, Chika’s mind is opened and she observes another culture practicing religion much more passionately then Chika probably ever had. As Chika witnesses the woman's spiritual experience, Adiche writes, “[Chika] wishes that she could leave the store. Or that she, too, could pray, could believe in a god, see an omniscient presence in the stale air of the store” (52). Although the physical closeness of the two women primarily sets the stage for Chika’s observation of the woman’s intimate praying experience, the scarf marked her identity and caused Chika to feel some distance between herself and the other woman.