Author: Mia Hendrickson

When I was looking at this class during registration, I didn’t pay too much attention to the course description. I had just seen it was a 4 credit course that was at a decent time and looked like an easy way to break up my core classes, as just doing math all day can be quite exhausting and I’ve always loved to read. However, upon entering this class in August, I realized just how much of an oversight it was not to look at the course description. It started slowly, just simple things I should’ve looked closer to, or brought up sooner, things I never thought cut as deep as they did stung anew the further we got in the course. I’ve seen homelessness and the insanity it drags behind it firsthand, it has always been something I was intimately aware of throughout my life. We had moved around a lot when I was a kid, never staying in one place long enough to really call it a home, for a myriad of different reasons. From just not liking the heat in Vegas, to losing our house in Hurricane Sandy, I’ve witnessed expulsion on many levels. Homelessness was always a threat that hung over my head, whether it was the chance of being evicted or desperately trying to show I was worthy of the space I took up. What really set the awareness for me was this class. When we started The Tragedy of King Lear, I didn’t focus too much on it, I found the language difficult, and I’ve never been fond of plays. However, when we watched the rain scene in class, I saw the story in a whole new light. Being witness to close family members having those exact breakdowns, I had a different insight into the scene, and it made me connect with the story from a different perspective. 

A Mercy was different, however, as I’ve always loved analyzing literature, and non-linear stories and unreliable narrators are some of my favorite things to pick apart. Symbolism is by far my favorite thing to look for when reading a story, and A Mercy was packed full of it. While there were definitely times when I didn’t focus enough on the subtext or didn’t finish the reading by classtime, I still had a strong understanding of the story, and its explanation of expulsion through people really resonated with me. Florens’ connection to her mother, and later the Blacksmith meant a lot to me, especially after learning how the entire book was Florens carving her story into the walls. We all are desperate to leave a mark, to have someone hear our story, and to see that exposed in such a way was incredible. When thinking about the arc of the story in modern times, I completely agree that this story can be taken as an interpretation of the housing crisis. People so often get boiled down to an I.D. number, or just a face in the crowd, and experiencing loss like Florens and the homeowners during their respective times gives people an intrinsic need to be seen. Without something to call your own, and everybody looking at you cross, people devolve, trying to burn themselves into the minds of passersby. In the Old Man and the Storm video, we watched how he was so desperate to keep something to himself, and all the paperwork and false promises made by the government pushed him further and further to panic. That was the house he built with his own hands, he carved those details into the wood, that was his mark on the world, and to see it fall so short of what it once had been created such a divide between the family. The Parable of the Sower was truly the nail in the coffin for me. The Parable of the Sower being so closely tied to our current reality, while sickening, was an interesting parallel. Especially with the Parable of the Sower’s connection to The Big Short, and learning how the event unfolded in its entirety.  

Lauren fought to have her voice heard, even knowing how she’d be looked at once sharing, and still, no one could look past their comfort or fear to believe her anxieties. Her story does a beautiful job of showing just how easy it is to lose everything when you’re not paying attention. The world was already in shambles, people desperate for money, burning on the streets of abandoned cities and the fire department charging a fee to put out the fires. This dystopian aspect of the essay is what truly parallels the agony behind the 2008 Housing Crisis, as Lauren’s life is not too far from what those people were forced to experience. One of the ideas emphasized in Parable of the Sower is learning from what’s happened before you, as well as taking what you’ve learned to adapt to the change in your environment. We see this quite often in Lauren’s travels, from her warning signs of the community’s demise following similar signs from the falls of larger cities, to her spreading her beliefs of Earthseed to get people to be more cautionary and less reliant upon blind faith or trust in the present. The recurring theme of “God is change.” not only references how change is an uncontrollable force but also how consistency is, in itself, inconsistent. You have no control over what happens, but you can accept and learn from it, something that ultimately led to her community’s failings, as well as our own shortcomings in the housing crisis. People are reluctant to accept what’s being shown in front of them, especially when it puts them in a position of power. However, on a larger scale, we see an emphasis on resilience through Lauren and her group throughout the novel which teaches more about perseverance rather than recompense. Octavia Butler’s story directly parallels the Parbale of the Sower story from the Bible, in which Jesus tells the people how different fallen seeds have grown. “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.  But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13 4:9, NKJV). This parable, a story meant to tell a moral or spiritual lesson, serves to show how important the planting of seeds is. You can spread your wealth of knowledge as far as the Earth allows, however, poorly placed seeds with shrivel the moment they spring. Seeds received by the wayside are seeds planted and grown, however not understood, leaving them easily torn away, similar to the people who worked on Wall Street not understanding the policies they set out, but enforcing them anyway. Seeds received in the “stony places” are information readily, and enthusiastically received, however poorly rooted and gain no depth so they only survive for a short period, similar to Lauren’s neighborhood. Seeds received within the thorns is information received, however, misled by the riches of the world surrounding them, like Lauren’s father understanding the signs himself but allowing himself to be caught up in the delusion of stability, or the people relying on government aid during the Housing Crisis holding faith that the everchanging and tumultuous process would be a saving grace. Finally, seeds received in rich soil in information readily received and understood. It has taken root and bore fruit a hundredfold of its original promise, paralleling Lauren’s character. She saw the signs of failure, and internalized them, not allowing the seeds to be uprooted by the comfort of her town or the loss of everything she cared for. She moved forward and held steadfast in her beliefs which ultimately led to a stronger and more secure community.

Viewing this class with the experience of someone with close ties to homelessness and expulsion, while sometimes making me feel a little too close to the material, it also gave the material a different air than what it could’ve been for someone without that context. It gave me a different kind of dedication to the course. There were things my classmates couldn’t read into the same way I could, or smaller details that were more easily overlooked had you not existed in that scene. Lear’s breakdown in the rain can at first seem dramatic or crazed, however comparing it to real-life scenarios, it’s completely justified. His crazed ramblings and turbulent emotions are something we see every day amongst the homeless population and often pity the same way the jester and guard hesitated around Lear. Florens’ complete dependence on the Blacksmith and her explosive reaction to seeing him “choose” a child over her is something everyone has experienced; whether it be witnessing someone dig their nails into something in desperate attempts to cling on, or lashing out at the nearest person after losing something we’ve depended on. The way no one in Lauren’s community listened to her fears about the end of the neighborhood until it was too late, or how devastatingly apparent the Housing crisis was and yet no one stopped to check themselves in The Big Short is something absolutely everyone has been affected by. One person not being able to convince the masses of an apparent disaster, and those in power knowing every step of the way the damage their footsteps pave into the earth is a widespread disease. Once one person doesn’t wear a mask,  it is simply a matter of time before we all fall ill. 

By: Cassidy Hand, Ericeliz Carrillo, John McKiernan, Kyle Footer, and Mia Hendrickson

During the story of A Mercy, it is emphasized that Florens is a keen observer. Florens has the disadvantage of not being able to read or interpret things that she notices during her life. Florens experiences being expelled from places and people that feel at home due to certain forces. In reading A Mercy, it is important to keep in mind, and understand, the specific course concepts that lead to Florens being expelled from the things she calls home. The course concepts are expulsion, pressure, apophenia, and origin. According to Oxford languages, expulsion is defined as “the action of depriving someone of membership in an organization.” The next course concept, pressure, is defined by Oxford languages as, “continuous physical force exerted on or against an objective by something in contact with it.” Pressure is also explained by Merriam- Webster as, “the burden of physical or mental distress.” Merriam- Webster defines apophenia as the “tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.” Finally, Oxford languages define origins as “the point or place where something begins, arises, or is derived.” Knowing all of these course concepts will build a deeper interpretation throughout the story of why Florens gets expelled multiple times during A Mercy before it is declared at the end of the story. 

At the very end of the book, Florens’ mother takes over the narration and shares her reasoning for expelling Floren’s. We go through the book knowing only what Florens feels, which is abandoned and unwanted. These fearful emotions shape the person that Florens becomes and especially the way she navigates future relationships, seeking approval and affection. Merriam Webster defines expulsion as the act of forcing someone out from a place or membership in an organization. Pressure, defined as the burden of physical or mental distress,  is a variable in decision making that led Florens’ mother to expelling her daughter. Unfortunately, this revelation is not one Florens ever gets to hear but it changes the situation in the reader’s mind from a sudden expulsion to a selfless decision made under extreme pressure. Florens’ mother believed that Jacob was a better human being than their current Portuguese ‘master’ D’Ortega so she hoped that Florens would grow up happier and with a better quality of life with him, and not as a breeding cow. As she recounts her own journey, Florens’ mother says, “One chance, I thought. There is no protection but there is difference… 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. It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human” (Morrison, p. 175). In Florens’ mind, she remembers her mother holding her baby brother while sending her away, interpreting it as a sign that she was less loved and valued than he was. However, this recollection shows that Florens’ mother was under enormous pressure to make the best possible decision for her children. She had the strength to make a difficult choice—sacrificing her own potential safety and sending Florens away, knowing it would be permanent and she might never see her daughter again—while staying behind to protect her even younger, more vulnerable infant. She truly loved her daughter and her brief narration closes on how much she loves her daughter and hopes that she can understand the pressure of being given “dominion” over another. 

From the very beginning of the book, we’re told the importance of the letter is what truly drives Florens forward. It’s her only protection on this journey, and, even before the contents of the letter are unveiled, we know that without it, she is truly lost. Immediately, upon entering the Widow’s house, Florens feels disconnected and unnerved, despite the otherwise normal hospitality the Widow and her daughter are showing. She repeatedly describes her mannerisms and environment as akin to that of animals, “Water rises to a boil in the kettle hanging in the fireplace. I turn and see its steam forming shapes as it curls against the stone. One shape looks like the head of a dog.” (p. 130). Florens sees shapes in the Presbyterian’s house of what she believes is a dog. This reinforces her belief that the Presbyterians don’t want her there and think Florens to be less than a dog. This was also shown in the reading when she was eating from a bowl “like a dog” and was “lapping” from the river, which could be a word purposely used to describe an animal-like behavior. 

The dehumanization of Florens is further elaborated on through the subplot of Florens finding shelter in the Widow’s house on her way to find the blacksmith. Locals inspect Florens to determine if she is a runaway slave or a minion. When she defends herself, she says, “I think they have shock that I can talk. Let me show you my letter I say quieter. It proves I am nobody’s minion but my Mistress” (pg. 111). Although it is true that Florens is not a minion of some evil supernatural force, she is by no means free. Her freedom is bound to Rebekka’s letter, and once the letter is taken, Florens is, in effect, an exiled runaway slave. It is interesting that Morrison uses the word “minion,” which has the connotation of someone who is possessed by an evil force. In this sense, Florens is a minion—or, in a literal sense, a possession—of Jacob and, by extension, Rebekka. At first, Jacob is presented as an upstanding person. However, as he is exposed to wealth, his morals are degraded—punctuated by his acceptance of Florens as a slave, regardless of his initial hesitation.

It should be noted that Florens’s mother gave her up not because Jacob was objectively moral, he was simply the lesser evil. Therefore, Florens is not a minion of an evil entity, she is a minion of an evil man. However, paradoxically, belonging to no one is worse than belonging to someone evil.

Morrison conveys this fact through Sorrow, saying, “three unmastered women and an infant out here, alone, belonging to no one, became wild game for anyone” (58). Morrison repeatedly elaborates on this paradox. The legitimacy of the Widow’s property is artificially questioned because she no longer has a husband. Additionally, Florens is no longer protected by her enslaver without her letter. Today, the concept of freedom is understood as being someone who does not belong to anyone. However, during the time period of this novel, the extent to which someone was considered free was determined by their ability to own or enslave others. So, even in the event of Rebekka’s passing, leaving Florens technically liberated and without a master, she is not truly free. Therefore, in the context of this book, to be expelled is arguably worse than being enslaved. We see a similar theme at the end of the chapter, when Daughter Jane has helped Florens flee, “They look at you and forget about me.” (p. 135). Having something “stranger” or more terrifyingly different than Daughter Jane forces the eyes of the townspeople off of her and onto Florens, who has now been stripped of her letter and reminded once again how she will always be chosen last. The protection of a seemingly random young child goes against her innocence, and she becomes the target regardless. In this case, Florens is seen as worse than a possible demon. With each expulsion, she is placed lower and lower until she believes she’s nothing at all without the Blacksmith. 

Florens is proven throughout the book to be observant, but while she does observe the look in the Blacksmiths eyes when he sees her, she is not able to understand the extent of his affection towards her or the care he has for the little boy Mailaik who he watches over. When given the opportunity and trust to take care of Mailaik, Florens is unable to responsibly take care of the child, hurting him in the process both physically and emotionally. Even after the Blacksmith comes back to the house and sees the boy hurt she can’t understand her wrongdoing saying, “You see the boy down and believe bad about me without question. You are correct but why no question of it? I am the first to get the knocking away.” (p. 165) This goes back to Florens observing situations, but not reading and understanding situations. She does not understand that the task she was assigned, babysitting Mailaik, was an important job trusted to her by the Blacksmith and is blinded by the love she believes is shared between the two of them. 

Florens again observes a situation and only sees a child being chosen over her again which has happened twice before, “The first time it is me peering around my mothers dress hoping for her hand that is only for her little boy. The second time it is a pointing screaming little girl hiding behind her mother and clinging to her skirts. Both times are full of danger and I am expel.” (p.160) The first child was her little brother, the second was Daughter Jane, and the third was Mailaik. In these three such cases a child has been present during the time of her expulsion, but she lacks the context of the situations and blames it on what she sees, the children.

In her brother’s case this is especially shown. Florens blames her brother for taking her mothers love and her mother for choosing her brother when in reality her mother was sending her away to protect her from D’Ortega as she blossomed into womanhood. Her mother was sexually assaulted during her time on the plantation and as Florens grew into a woman her mother noticed that the men there noticed too saying, “they see and I see them see.” (p. 190) This led to the decision to send Florens away, not her brother, and led to a life of unwarranted hatred towards her mother because Florens could not read the situation and stakes at hand. 

Having Florens’ entire person tied to a singular aspect of herself (the letter, her race, status as a woman, love for the blacksmith) she’s put at an incredible disadvantage in society, and completely set apart from everybody else. Tying this to the housing crisis, where everyone was tied to a single number on a document or an address, we see how people getting boiled down to one aspect kills their individuality and sense of self, they get lost in the sea of people and are essentially worth nothing. Florens is observant, and creates links between everything she sees, whether they are related or not, and she was still forced lower and lower until she was lost completely. With all the preparations and precautions Florens had taken, all the warnings she received, nothing could prevent what had happened, similar to the Housing Crisis, no one could truly stop it from happening and causing so much damage in the process. Even people who knew how to read and were highly educated struggled with the amount of documentation and the language within during the housing crisis, leading to misinterpretations, loopholes, and plain bad faith used against homeowners. Many people did everything within their power to understand what was happening to them, and to prevent themselves from falling through the cracks, but these banking industries didn’t just create cracks and loopholes to fuel themselves, they built canyons and tripwires, deliberately forcing innocent people into untenable positions. Society places a high value upon a home, believing that a person without one, or with a poor one, is barely a person at all. We see through Florens that constant expulsion drives people to horrific lengths, when all of these people found themselves suddenly “worthless” or struggling to maintain any form of shelter, they grew desperate, feeding into the chaos. 

By: John McKiernan, Cassidy Hand, Ericeliz Carrillo, Kyle Footer, Rylie Capezzuto, and Mia Hendrickson

The images from “Human Landscapes in SW Florida” intersect with multiple course concepts that illuminate what we read in The Big Short. These concepts include liquidity, foreclosure, moral hazard, bad faith, toxicity, and expulsion. To grasp the significance of these concepts, it is crucial to understand their definitions, as many words can have various meanings. Liquidity can be assumed to be liquid, which is true in some cases, in other cases Investopedia explains how liquidity is, “the efficiency or ease with which an asset or security can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price.” Next, as we have talked about in class foreclosure is the action when property is taken away if someone fails to pay their mortgage, Investopedia explains it as, “Foreclosure is the legal process by which a lender attempts to recover the amount owed on a defaulted loan by taking ownership of the mortgaged property and selling it.” Investopedia also describes moral hazard as, “the risk that a party has not entered into a contract in good faith or has provided misleading information about its assets, liabilities, or credit capacity.” People might understand bad faith as the intent of having an understanding that is not true. Investopedia states that bad faith is, “this can include misrepresentation of contract terms by using confusing language and unfixed rates and terms. This is purposefully done to avoid fulfilling the understood obligation.” Next is toxicity and many people understand that as something toxic or poisonous. Lastly is expulsion, oxford languages explain expulsion as the action of depriving someone of membership in an organization. Together tying the pictures from “Human Landscapes in SW Florida” and these six course concepts help us build a deeper understanding of what we read in The Big Short. 

Throughout the book, Lewis repeatedly refers to the system of subprime loans as a tower, where “the top floors got their money back first and so got the highest ratings from Moody’s and S&P and the lowest interest rate.” However, “the low floors got their money back last, suffered the first losses, and got the lowest ratings from Moody’s and S&P” (Lewis, 26). In a literal sense, this relates to the concept of liquidity, something that often has a financial connotation. Furthermore, Lewis uses water to demonstrate the destruction of the subprime loan system and the subsequent economic crisis, with the lower levels of the tower—those with subprime loans—being the first to experience the flood. Although those responsible for the housing crisis claim ignorance over their actions, not all finance personnel were fooled, as pointed out by Lewis, who invokes the skepticism of Mike Burry, saying “As the value of the insurance contract changed—say, as floodwaters approached but before they actually destroyed the building—he wanted Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to post collateral, to reflect the increase in value of what he owned” (Lewis, 49). Nevertheless, “In 2005, over $1 trillion of bonds like Toxie were created. It was an ocean of money flowing into the housing market, contributing to the crowds of people showing up at open houses—and to home prices that kept rising” (“Human Landscapes in SW Florida”). In this sense, the floodwaters persisted.

The aftereffect of the housing crisis is shown in “Human landscapes in SW Florida.” In these pictures, vast areas planned for development are left desolate and abandoned, a legacy of the housing crisis. The fact that the pictures were taken in Florida is significant because “First, the underlying loans were heavily concentrated in what Wall Street people were now calling the sand states: California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. House prices in the sand states had risen fastest during the boom and so would likely crash fastest in a bust” (Lewis, 184). Interestingly, while talking with Joel Greenblatt, Burry noted that “It became clear to me that they still didn’t understand the [credit default swap] positions” (Lewis, 191). This is significant because, unlike subprime loans and credit default swaps which were indecipherable, the Florida landscapes were optically pleasing with a clear structure and plan (often relying on basic grid structures). Although the reliance on subprime loans and credit swaps made the finance industry incredibly rich, it created immense poverty for the masses.

Acts of bad faith in the financial industry, according to Investopedia, can include using convoluted language and shady non-disclosure of policy provisions and exclusions. Insurance companies often prey on a client’s naivete and excitement in the process of purchasing their ultimate American home, achieving for themselves a steady salary while the homes sold were balanced on fragile ownership and immense risk. In Chapter 6 of The Big Short, while the reader follows Charlie Ledley, it says, “There was a thrilling disconnect between the pain you experienced and the damage you caused” (p. 145). Many of the characters indicated they understood the basic fact that something cannot come from nothing. They overlooked the collateral damage of their actions because they had so much personal profit. Moral hazard is a conscious and purposeful effort to lower one’s guard against risk because they know they will be covered if it in fact went all wrong. In The Big Short, Lewis uses the term moral hazard to describe these routine practices: “The subprime lending industry was fragmented. Because the lenders sold many–though not all–of the loans they made to other investors, in the form of mortgage bonds, the industry was also fraught with moral hazard” (p. 9). Again and again, the financial industry engages in moral hazard because they take huge risks and incur consequences they will ultimately be protected from. The same cannot be said for those who were not insured against all consequences and now face the loss of property, home, and financial security. The crash in the housing market was the result of many selfish decisions made by the various unregulated components and members of the Wall Street finance industry. Looking at Florida from above shows the gravity of what was lost due to these unregulated dealings. Countless dollars had been funneled into building homes that would never be accessible for the majority of Americans, some developments never completed and some just standing bare while an estimated 57,751 Floridians experienced homelessness in 2010. 

During the housing crisis, many people’s homes would have been considered “toxic assets,” which are “investments that are difficult or impossible to sell at any price because the demand for them has collapsed” according to Investopedia. Because the housing market completely collapsed and so many Americans were in debt due to adjustable loan rates, they were forced to sell their homes back to the bank, expelling them in the process. This was because of a lack of understanding and an excess of fraudulence and corruption within Wall Street. A radio show from NPR documented their experience with the housing market, buying a house in 2005, in Florida they nicknamed “Toxie” because it was a toxic asset. This was not always the case though because “back in 2005, when Toxie was created, the housing market was booming, and mortgage bonds made it easier for people to buy houses.”(https://www.npr.org) 

Though there was a risk across every state in the entire country, states considered “sand states” such as Florida were among the most affected because the “house prices in the sand states had risen fastest during the boom and so would likely crash fastest in a bust.” (Lewis p. 97) After this flood of money going into the market, a housing bubble unlike anything the United States had ever seen was created. Only when the bubble popped did “toxie” become a toxic asset, unable to sell on any market. As was the case for millions across the country, expelling them from their homes. Expelling is the act of “forcing someone to leave a place”(merriam-webster) which was evidently seen in the empty developments of houses or foreclosed homes in “Human Landscapes in SW Florida” and the article stating that “many homes there are empty and have been for years.” The toxicity from an asset goes hand in hand with the eventual expulsion of the homeowner.

Michael Lewis serves to show all the hidden intricacies of the 2008 housing crisis throughout The Big Short, directly representing the government’s neglect and abuse of the homeowners of this time. Tied with the toxie developments built in southwest Florida, we’re able to build a stronger understanding of the people’s struggle caused by their bad faith and misrepresentation throughout the early 2000s. Hundreds of thousands of people were tricked into buying toxic loans that ultimately led them to foreclosure and without any home at all. As banking industries like Moody and S&P became more and more focused on their own profit, the homeowners got washed out and forced lower and lower until they had nothing at all, as the banks specifically targeted them to take the hits first and whatever was left of the profits last. The housing industry specifically targeted the naivete of their clientele in order to enforce worse and worse policies that they themselves barely understood. This power struggle caused such a catastrophic loss that many of these victims still struggle with housing to this day, almost two decades later. Taking a look at the concepts of both the toxie developments and the Big Short endeavor to expose, we’re forced to see how the lack of regulations does nothing but favor the same industries that have only used homeowners in the past. One of the main focus points in The Big Short was how the crash was something everyone could have seen coming, had they only been paying attention. Understanding what led to the crash, and how those same practices are still in use today, and the lack of substantial change puts everyone at risk today. Furthermore, understanding the moral hazard we put ourselves in when working with these industries, as well as the bad faith they are known for allows us to move forward with a sense of security that these circumstances have otherwise taken from us.