Author: ava patelli

King Lear, The Big Short, A Mercy, and Parable of the Sower. Novels that were taught throughout the semester. Novels that have meaningful messages and countless amounts of interpretations. All novels consist of tragedy, hope, and mankind’s societal systems. All novels that don’t have any correlation with each other, but the 2008 housing crisis in different ways. 

Rewind, what was taught throughout this course based on the 2008 expulsion and housing crisis? At the beginning of the semester, it was just another class. Most students can say all they wanted out of it was a good grade, I for one, am. Expanding our knowledge on words we don’t fully understand or apply to our everyday lives. For example, apophenia. We were given this word at the beginning of the semester not knowing by the end it would impact everyone’s life in a different way. Countless amounts of dissecting novels, podcasts, movies, etc. that are based on this concept. So what does any of this mean and why is it related to any of these novels? Apophenia is the tendency to see patterns and connections between things that are unrelated or random (Google). Throughout these novels you can see patterns of random connections that all relate to the 2008 housing crisis and the world itself today.  

Earthseed. Character Lauren Olamina’s religion in the novel “Parable of Sower” by author Octavia Butler. The question is, why does she follow her own made-up religion and what does it essentially mean? She writes her own religion as a way to release her feelings and emotions towards the chaos going on around her as a way to find hope in the life she is living. Her family dying, her Hyper empathy emotion, and the dehumanizing civilization around her. Throughout this novel, many struggles can be seen; survival and expulsion. Laurens whole family passed away and she is forced to survive and migrate north due to her community being taken over by scavengers and fire, leaving nothing left. She has questioned whether she can survive and continue to write her religion and spread it to those who want to believe. Throughout her journey she has faced many obstacles, murder, finding food and water for her group and protecting them, and her hyperempathy which makes her feel pain from others around her. This can be in correspondence to the 2008 housing crisis and the world today because she was expelled from her home and since then has not been able to find safety, as in people who were affected by the crisis losing their money and houses and the people who had to survive. Lauren compares her group to the “crew of  modern underground railroad” in the sense that they are escaping the brutality of mankind. “So we become the crew of a modern underground railroad” (Butler 292). Of course, the brutality of the underground railroad cannot be compared to Laurens interpretation because slavery is an unspeakable horrid act of mankind but it can be compared to the journey of trying to escape oppression and violence around her. 

In the novel, A Mercy by Toni Morrison, it can become visible to readers that expulsion and survival play a major part throughout the story. A Mercy is a story about a young girl named Florens who was abandoned by her mother in hopes she lived a better life than her mother did. The story focuses on the brutality of slavery throughout the 1800s. Florens is consistently looking for the love of a mother or a parental figure while undergoing the abuse as being a slave. An act of expulsion can be seen when Florens puts the letter from the mistress on the table for the man to read. This is the first act of expulsion where Florens was being questioned on who she was by people she didn’t know. “She is owned by me and can be knowne by a burne mark in the palm of her left hand”. (Morrison 132) In the end, she was sent away without the hope of finding the love of a parent. It became clear to readers that her mother gave her up so Florens can survive and try to live a better life than she was. Her mother gave her away to help Florens survive from rape, and abuse by a harshful slave owner D’Ortega. By her mother showing mercy to trader Jacob Varrik. “…to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.” (Morrison p. 196) The ending sentences of the novel in which show the ownership of people by other people. Lauren never knew why her mother abandoned her, but readers knew why. These acts of survival and expulsion played a major role throughout the story reflecting on the 2008 housing crisis and the world we live in today, in the sense that people make life altering decisions to protect themselves or their families due to the acts of other humans who have a higher gentry. 

The Big Short, a novel by Micheal Lewis, is a story about the 2008 financial crisis. It focuses on the people who were ignored when telling higher ups that there will be a crash of subprime mortgages after people were betting against them. The novel sums up that while the rich are becoming richer by taking advantage of people and their assets, they make drastic amounts of profits and the working class and lower are losing everything they have owned. The 2008 housing crisis caused insufferable amounts of damage to many people. Losing their houses, their money, mental health increased, and their relationships with their families. People had survived off nothing. An act of survival and expulsion is when Micheal Lewis portrayed that peoples homes were being repossessed due to the insufficient payments they weren’t making on their loans. “Mobile home buyers were defaulting on their loans, their homes were being repossessed, and the people who lent them money were receiving fractions of the original loans.” (Lewis 14) People were moving in with their families after being expelled from their house, and people were being forced to survive with their families with no way of making an income to support them. Due to the crisis, unemployment increased, people were losing their jobs. Also, debt increased, causing more people to have to pay higher mortgages, taxes, and even bills. The struggles of the families in 2008 to today still, losing their goals of being financially stable, and the loss of being able to have ownership and good credit.

The novel King Lear by William Shakesphere is a novel about how a King Lear divides his empire of power and wealth to his three daughters who are forced to declare the love they have for him. In the end, King Lear ends up being betrayed by everyone but one daughter who could not give a reason as to why she loved him other than by a bond. It also ended tragically in which Cordelia dies and then King Lear follows due to his immense amount of grief and the pain he has caused by his actions. This novel portrays concepts of survival and expulsion because King Lear divided his empire up by his daughters based on how much they love him. This is an act of expulsion because he gradually expels his daughter Cordelia and disowns her. Leaving Cordelia with nothing and to survive on her own. “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me.” (Shakespeare Act 1; Scene 1) These are actions of expulsion because King Lear is removing Cordelia from her inheritance in the kingdom. An act of survival is within King Lear himself, after the death of Cordelia and all his wrong doing, he is trying to survive within himself and the person he became. He is within a battle of himself, and eventually succumbs to his death. “It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that I have ever felt.” (Shakespeare Act 5; Scene 3) These acts of expulsion and survival portray the tragedies of the novel King Lear which can correspond to the 2008 crisis and the world today. The act of losing loved ones due to greed and power. These relate to the crisis and today because most people are in search of power, money, even if it comes at the cost of taking advantage of other people.

By the end of the semester, all these books portrayed ideologies of expulsion and survival through many different obstacles which connect to apophenia. The sense that all these novels can be seen to have a pattern even though they don’t relate to any of each other. In this case, the pattern we see is that throughout history novels like these express the tragedies, hope of people and human encounter, first with King Lear, the expulsion and tragedy of Cordelia and King Lear. Second, The Big Short, in the sense that the government and banks failed the hard working American people by the crisis taking away their assets, homes and families. Third, A Mercy, slavery and the harsh brutalities that women and children suffered throughout the 17th century and finally, Parable of Sower, in which society was completely wiped out and people were forced to survive and protect themselves from scavengers and fires. 

In the end, the biggest take away that can be seen from these authors, is the concept of apophenia; history is repeating itself just in different patterns. With the knowledge and obstacles that each novel holds, in the end they all find a way to connect with history and the issues we face today all around the world. For example, war, politicians, corruption, and the seeking of finding hope throughout obstacles that people are facing today. For me, it’s simple. Apophenia is a word that has countless amounts of interpretations. In my life today, books like these taught me that apophenia isn’t as uncommon as everyone thinks it is. How will this help me move forward? Was a question my professor asked me. The answer is, I think with the knowledge I obtained from this class I will look at the world in a different way.  Meaning, when I face my next obstacles, next discussions, next milestones in my life I will look back and find where it was in my history that led me to this exact moment in time. Looking for the pattern as to why I decided to come to school here, why I decided to show a random act of kindness, and why I want to become the person that my role models are. Furthermore, even though my hardships and obstacles can not compare with the obstacles faced throughout these novels, I know in the end of each tragedy and each hopeful finale you can take it how you perceive. Something to find hope in, or something to find a tragedy and learn from it; like history.      

Abbigail Woodworth, Joseph Latella, Ava Patelli, Caleb Martin, Aboudramane Doumbouya

A Mercy is a story focusing on the harsh realities of enslaved women throughout the 17th century. In particular, the story is about a young girl named Florens who was abandoned by her mother and traded as a slave to Trader Jacob Vaark. She looks for the love of a mother consistently throughout the story because of the feeling of isolation and expulsion that she encountered throughout her story. She tries to find that love through other people along the way. The story is an example of how throughout the 17th century mothers and children of color underwent obstacles along their journeys of being enslaved. Furthermore, A Mercy shows us that society creates and sustains conditions that expel people from their homes and families. This common theme of expulsion can be defined as forcing someone to leave a place.

The first act of expulsion takes place towards the beginning of the story and is the start of Floren’s story. When Floren’s mother sends her away with Jacob Varrik, a trader who took Florens because her mother had begged him to do so. Floren’s mother gave her away to protect her from the brutal reality of enslavement, especially under a man like D’ortega. Florens couldn’t understand this perspective of her mother at the time as her younger brother got to stay with her mom, this failure was not her fault. It’s because of the absence of education, interpretation, stability, and maturity that she was not able to put the pieces together to create that picture. This also shows that societal structures can force displacement between families due to poverty, enslavement, and patriarchy. Although this was the first act of expulsion, it was too complex to understand without the rest of the journey she went throughout the book. By the end of the book, we realized that her mother was the first originating act of expulsion and the reasoning she gave up became clear. ”One chance, I thought. There is no protection but there is a difference. You stood there in those shoes and the tall man laughed and said he would take me to close the debt. I knew Senhor would not allow it. I said you. Take you, my daughter. Because I saw the tall man see you as a human child, not pieces of eight. I knelt before him. Hoping for a miracle. He said yes.”(Morrison p. 195) Floren’s mother noticed that Florens caught the eye of Senhor and wanted to save her from the brutality of being a slave under D’ortega. Floren’s mother knows what it comes with and she doesn’t want her daughter to go through what she went through so she sends her with Jacob. Readers came to understand the reasoning as to why her mother sent her away and it was to protect her from being raped and abused by D’Ortega. We come to understand that in the end, Florens’ mother did love her; she just wanted Florens to have a better outcome than she did. Giving her away was the best solution to keep Florens safe even though she lost her daughter. A Mercy.

The second act of expulsion that Florens overcame was her encounter with Daughter Jane and the Widow. Florens distracts the town from Daughter Jane and once again a child gets to stay with their mom and Florens must go. Florens in the end, ends up distracting Jane and the widows’ community from the rumor that Jane was a witch. Rebbeka sent Jane a letter stating Florens was owned by her. At the end of the chapter, Jane thanks Florens for her help and kisses her on the forehead. Florens is confused as to why she did this. She did not understand the feeling of belonging. “I say thank you and lift her hand to kiss it. She says no, I thank you. They look at you and forget about me. She kisses my forehead then watches as I step down…” (Morrison p. 135) Florens has never felt a sense of belonging and doesn’t know how to act when someone shows gratitude towards her. Florens has been treated as property her whole life and couldn’t comprehend the act of kindness. Due to the absence of family and friends, she constantly felt neglected. This is an act of expulsion because, at the end of the chapter, she was sent on her way again. 

The third and final act of expulsion was at the end of the book when Florens started to create a pattern in her head of the reasoning as to why she kept being expelled in certain situations. This pattern was revealed when the blacksmith kicked out Florens for hurting Malaik, she falsely believed every time she was expelled from a relationship or land was because of unfair abandonment, and not protection or love. This was the most detrimental act of expulsion because Florens was in love with the blacksmith but he chose the child over her. Feeling the emotions of betrayal and abandonment she realized during every encounter, that she was expelled and in most cases, it was a parental figure protecting a child. “When they saw her stomping down the road two days after the smithy had visited Mistress’ sickbed and gone, they were slow to recognize her as a living person.” (pg. 79), Her humanity and will to live were taken from her after she argued with the blacksmith. A man she adored so much and felt so safe with pushed her away without second guessing leaving her to question everything she’s experienced.  

As discussed before Florens is expelled multiple times and these expulsions follow the same pattern. This pattern is when Florens is the one to leave, a smaller child gets to remain with a parental figure. During these expulsions the pattern, although not explicitly commented on by Florens, is clear to a reader that this pattern is something Florens subconsciously connects. The patterns within this book can be compared to the patterns of the housing crisis. We can compare Florens to the homeowner during the housing crisis. During this time the homeowners were consistently set up with poorly maintained and written mortgages. With loans like the NINA loan (no assets, no income), these loans were given to set up homeowners to fail as they did not have to prove that they would or could pay their loan back. The result of these poorly written mortgages was that many homeowners had to move out and foreclose on their homes. These foreclosures happened in the masses leaving many expelled from their own homes.

 It is interesting to note that within the first chapter, there is a consistent pattern of subtle foreshadowing as to the cause of Floren’s first expulsion. With Floren’s unknown cause of her original expulsion, it seems like her expulsion came out of nowhere and is the reason for her poor feelings towards her mother for sending her away. But Florens had no idea what troubles and experiences she would’ve endured had she stayed. Like at the beginning of the housing crisis and the constant trade of CDO’s most homeowners and borrowers had no idea what they were in for, almost no one could’ve seen the outcome of this crisis. Like the subtle foreshadowing that was missed by Florens, the subtle foreshadowing at the beginning of this crisis was also missed by homeowners, financial institutions, and almost everyone involved. Florens was unable to comprehend her struggles due to a corrupt and broken system of slavery, much like the complicated CDOs that many bankers did not understand, let alone the people who signed onto these complex fraudulent mortgages. In millions of cases, the 2008 housing crisis cost people their livelihood, homes (expulsion), and their life savings. Florens also experienced expulsion which she did not understand. The expulsion in both these cases was a lack of regulation, ethical decisions, and fueled by greed and hatred. 

A Mercy by Toni Morrison was published in 2008, it leaves the reader wondering if perhaps Morrison wanted to draw attention to the pattern that this society creates and sustains conditions that expel people from their homes and families. Although, you can not closely compare the housing crisis to the brutality of slavery within America in the late 1600s. It is clear that society still remains prejudiced towards certain groups of people. People took advantage of people of color during slavery in the 17th century, during the 2008 crisis people from low-income households were taken advantage of because they were given loans that they couldn’t pay back. After centuries have passed, you can conclude people will take advantage of their power, corrupt systems, and social standing to achieve wealth and power even at the cost of dividing families and expelling them from society.  Perhaps Morrison was playing on the idea of history repeating itself in different forms of systematic corruption.