This story about a nineteen year old named Thembi who lives in South Africa and has AIDS. When I read the title of this story, I thought it was going to be about how much Thembi hates to have AIDS and that she would be depressed. However, I was very surprised from the very first minute of the story. When she said that she wakes up every morning, looks in the mirror and decides to take control between her and AIDS, I thought she was a very courageous being. Thembi was infected by an ex-boyfriend. How she found out that it was her ex-boyfriend was when her ex-boyfriend's sister told Thembi symptoms that were familiar to AIDS. She decided to make sure that her suspicion was incorrect, but unfortunately she was mistaken, she had AIDS. She now has a boyfriend who's perfectly aware of her disease and loves her just the way she is. For her, it was very hard to tell him since she was terrified of his rejection towards her because of her disease. She goes to the doctor quite often for check ups. Time passes and she begin to speak of the symptoms that have started to take effect. She says that she did not want to look into the mirror because she was afraid to the physical changes. Also, she did not like going out because of what people were saying due to her physical changes. Later, Thembi and her boyfriend have a child and luckily, the child was HIV negative. She compares her relationship with her child, with the relationship with her mother, in a way explaining that she now knows what it is like to be a mother. She then confesses to her father that she has AIDS, someone who thinks awfully about this disease, but all she wanted him to know was that she was not afraid and that everything was going to be fine. Thembi is not scared of dying, she is afraid of not being here, in Earth and not watching her daughter grow. She wants a future, and as she says, "I'm just going on with my life."
What If God...-Ricky's Diary
This story was about Ricky trying to find out what he believes. His father is atheist, which is why he decided to go in search of what he believed in. He says it is no big deal, except the small things that his father does not like;for example "bless you"when he someone sneezes. He says it is hard for him because people make fun of him by telling him that he worships the devil. Ricky,is however, knows that is not true. He is very confused. His mother does not have a stable belief. Ricky has been through many situations because of his father's strong will towards atheism. His father thinks that we are all born atheist, but that some of us are taught to be superstitious. Ricky then asks his father about he thinks happens when we die. His father's response is that we all just rot, in other words he does not believe in the afterlife. He also hopes that Ricky grows up and becomes an atheist along the way. In my opinion, I thought that was interesting thesis to go off of. I chose this story because I am very curious as to what paths people decide to choose from out of the millions out there, therefore I wanted to see what he chooses in the end. In the end, he does not choose a religion. Ricky says that he would most likely be whatever his wife's religion is.
No comments:
Post a Comment