Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Power of One: Chapter 23-24

1. Chapter 23 pgs. 461-492
2. In this chapter Peekay was accepting the fact that he needed to do things for himself instead of having others give it to him. Morrie and Peekay discuss their plans of going to college, how they are going to deal with the money, and what they would do so that they can go to Oxford together. Peekay got his first rejection letter from the Rhodes Scholarship Committee, and after that he was hesitant and unsure if he would get into Oxford. He was not sure what to do so he decided to visit Doc in the cave and see if he could give him any signs. The sign Peekay got was a black mamba that represented a creature that is not aggressive but will do anything to defend itself and its young; it will take revenge when it wants to protect a loved one. Peekay then decides to take a year off from school and become a grizzly man in Northern Rhodesia. He believes that it will help him determine what he really wants to do, and becoming a grizzly man will help him shape up to become the welterweight champion of the world. 
3.  a. Peekay
b. “It was as though there were a voice inside me explaining me to myself: I had become an expert at camouflage. My precocity allowed me, chameleonlike, to be to each what they required me to be. To Doc, a companion, to Mrs. Boxall an enchantment, to the people, a champion, to Captain Smit a fulfillment, to Miss Bornstein, a bright lint in a dull warp, to Morrie a foil, to Singe ‘n’ Burn a product, and to my peers and idealized schoolboy, a winner and a great guy.”
c. Peekay is:
-Loving
-Intelligent
-Courageous 
-Dedicated
-Talented
-Strong
-Respectful
d. Peekay is the main character in the story. His whole life has been a complicated journey of ups and downs, twists and turns. More bad things had happened compared to the good things, and Peekay learned how to deal with each and every one of his problems throughout the story. He has overcome some of the hardest obstacles such as his year at boarding school with the Judge and the deaths of those important to him. The people in Peekay’s life have helped him to become a respectable and intelligent man, and they changed his life drastically. He constantly struggled with the idea of the “power of one” and whether or not it was better to camouflage or be yourself. He learned to be a powerful individual and affected many of the lives around him.
4. “It was time to slough the mottled and cunningly contrived outer skin and emerge as myself, to face the risk of exposure, to regain the power of one. I had reached the point where to find myself was essential.” Throughout the novel, Peekay gained many mentors who he had learned a lot from. They were his friends who gave him knowledge to become successful. By this time, wanted to be on his own and did not want everything handed to him. This stood out to me because it shows how Peekay was taking initiative to be himself and no longer wanted others to influence him in such drastic ways. In this bildungsroman, Peekay goes through many stages of his life and soon learns to be a man. 

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