The Long Walk Chapter 15

While traveling through Mongolia towards the Gobi Desert, the group of prisoners came across a small town where they saw a small home and a boy and father working at the home. There were also two women who paid them no mind when they came near. There was an animal called a bullock threshing, which Slavomir mentioned was a slow way of doing the job. After they tried to introduce themselves but were confronted with the language barrier again they went towards the bullock and started threshing to help the boy. They finished and with thoughts of re compensation they were happy until the man came with a barrel more of work to do. They did it and finished with the help of all the group. They then had a great dinner which the women made. Slave craved salt so he asked for some and was given some by one of the women, and as she took it out of some special hiding place from a covered bowl he realized that salt must be scarce and of high value to them. They went on ahead on their journey after staying the night with the Mongol family. They ended up bumping into other Mongol travelers who again did not understand them and vice versa. They offered the group tea and when they told them they were headed to Lahsa, they shot back the known response, a worried look, signals of how many many days it would take to get there and prayers to them.

The Long Walk Chapter 14

The eight prisoners went along their journey. As they got closer to the Mongolian Border they raided a potato farm and took potatoes with them. They crossed the border from Russia into Mongolia and Zaro had made a joke about it. Once they all had crossed they were all happy and joyfully prancing but soon remembered it wasn't safe around there being so close to the border. They traveled through some mountains where they endured a lightning storm. The mountains where rough for them although they found much food in the little rivers they crossed while going through the mountains. On an occasion where they spotted a large river where they decided to rest and bake the potatoes and eat there was the first of many Chinese men in strange boats that they were to see along the rivers in Mongolia. They also came across some Mongols who were traveling on foot and had camels and donkeys. One of the men from the traveling Mongols attempted to talk to the group but realized they could not understand him. Then Slave tried to talk to him in Russian, they called for the eldest man who knew a bit of Russian and they had a long conversation of about an hour about where they were going and how long it would take, "many turns of the sun" the man told them. He also questioned Kristina who was fully tanned and hair bleached by the sun with blue eyes. Upon departure the man offered Slav a smoke. Then he showed Slav a watch he was given some time ago from a refugee Russian as a trade for whatever the elderly man had given them. Slav had nothing to offer but the man was still giving and gave them all the newspaper and Tobacco to smoke later, they parted and Slave reserved the newspaper to read later. They read it while at a river bank and there wasn't much news about their countries that interested them. While at the river they helped a boater when he got stuck and when they did Slav and Anastazi felt something between their legs which was a fish which they caught and ate that night. They were no longer fearful of where they might be if the locals would report them to the Russians or if there would be Russian soldiers around to catch them.

Midterm

Midterm Essay:
The Ugly Truth about Beauty

The essay, “The Ugly Truth about Beauty” by Dave Barry is obviously an informal essay. Barry’s humor is catching and keeps readers interested while stating his claim, the idea of women’s perception on beauty. There are some points where he touches on a man’s perception only to bring it back to a woman’s so called thoughts. The issue of women, who Barry explains, to think of themselves as “Not good enough.” The main concept of the essay revolves around women and what they think of themselves. Women tend to revolve their lives around trying to look good or live up to whatever idea of looking good they may have. Barry humorously goes on to say that women have a complex psychologically due to the infamous Barbie. Women, although Barbie may not be the all time idol being compared to, do tend to compare themselves with other female figures that may seem to look gorgeous to them. What a lot of women don’t realize is that these so called beauty’s of the world are one way or another fake. Mainstream society has trained women to believe we should look like this causing the pressure to upkeep one’s appearance. This may not be something rewarding because usually whatever new makeup or haircut may be unnoticeable. Barry makes this a huge point, making sure to mention the multibillion dollar industry that is up kept by the faint idea that we may look like the so called Barbie or super model. Men hardly ever have the issue of having to go through the strain of so called trying to look good. This is mainly because men don’t care the way women do. Why is it that men are so careless of the way they look no matter how awful or great that may be? One of the reasons could be the way they are portrayed in an early stage of life. It could be the toys they play with. Barry mentions the toys his son plays with in contrast to the unrealistic Barbie. The toy is ugly yet has a great sense of confidence, something that may be carried on through life by the child. This leaves the question open to the idea of maybe fixing a women’s stereotypical appearance with replacing the current Barbie with a more common looking figure of a woman. The issue of a woman’s appearance is loaded because so many issue may underlie, but Barry definitely points out one of the most important view of society that affect almost everyone.
I agree with Barry in most aspects of his essay. I feel women do spend entirely too much judging themselves as well as other women. Insecurity may be a reason but this may be brought on at an early age. I grew up on Disney, the princess and the castle then the happy ending. As a child this was my perception of happiness. Then I grew up and reality kicked me in the face. This could be what happens to most females. Society as a whole is led like a flock of sheep by whatever billboard adds may be up on the freeway this month. It’s sad to see when young girls pack on make up in middle school because it’s what’s out there. There is always the idea of looking like something better, why can’t women just learn to be happy with what they have. The fact that someone else may look better at a party or at work is always lingering, causing women to seek whatever solution there may be to their so called problem through plastic surgery or expensive makeup. Men are at fault here too though. Barry lightly touched the fact that men want to see a woman in this perception society has for women. He rejects the idea of this being true, but people this is the truth. Men pay as much as women do to see the super model in the new movie, or to buy the expensive clothes and cologne to impress the desired female at work. Men too are starting to become more and more self damning as women are. These maybe because society has put out the image of the Brad Pitt look alike in every commercial nowadays. This causes some men to look at themselves twice, forgetting the almighty self confidence they may have had once. As a whole a woman or a man’s physical appearance may be so important because of the slight idea of what people may think or the image of perfection broadcasted everywhere. Women go through excruciating things in order to appear similar to that perfect image. We need to learn that every person, including that image, have faults that should be better seen as differences. We wouldn’t be such a beautiful species if we all looked like the ever so aimed at perfect image.

The Long Walk Chapter 13

The group and Kristina who is now part of the group continue their journey. They were hungry and spring had come. They came across a horse through some trees. Kolemenos and Slavomir went toward the horse with the axe ready to kill it in order to eat.Then suddenly the man or the owner of the horse came out. He reassured the group he was of no harm and even gave them food to eat. They wondered off and they took his gun just in case. It wasn't long before the group grew hungry again and they were looking for a meal. Outside a small town is where they decided to steal a pig. Kolemnos and Slav went into a barn at night to steal the pig. They were successful and the group of prisoners had a meal for the next day or two. They ate as much as they could and smoked the rest and saved it to eat it later on. When they got close to the Trans-Siberian railway they thought of the great risk of getting caught because of heavy patrol so they decided to go at night. They ran across as far as they could and kept going. They also bumped into some Mongols that questioned lightly where they were going. Since they're Russian was broken and Slav stayed quite for a moment they assumed and threw out there that the group was going to Lasa to pray. They all agreed and the Mongols questioned about Kristina. They said she had relatives over there so they said they're goodbyes and gave them all peanuts.

The Long Walk Chapter 12

The girl is introduced in this chapter. Kristina Polanski is her name and she is well liked by everyone except Mr. Smith who is a bit stand offish of her. The group gathers early one morning to talk about whether or not she is to stay with them or what she is to do. So the group is kind off tip toeing around the issue when Mr. Smith starts to question her. Kristina offers her story on how she got there. She was a pole and her parents ended up in Ukraine after the 're-organization' of the countries. Her parents owned an estate given to her father after his fight against the Bolsheviks for the Polish. She went to school and was an only child. In 1939 Russians started moving into the town and forming a mob against immigrants who lived there. One day that same mob came after the family, the parents told Kristina to go inside and when she heard nothing for hours she came out to find her parents killed. Kristina then ran away. After running away she was caught by the Red Army and taken to work by the Yenisi River as a kolhoz worker where she was overworked and taunted by the other women who worked there. There was also a foreman who was sexually harassing her. When he tried to rape her she ran to where the women and her lived and then she ran away. When the group of prisoners heard this, as well as Mr Smith they decided to have her join the group.