Home

One thing about this last reading in Power which stuck me was Omishto's feeling of homeliness when she goes to "The Place of the Old Law." On page 154 she describes home as a place where, "the old people live among tradition and memory," and talks of how the people behave the way the creator has told them to behave. Previously, she talked about how afraid she was to go there and once she looks around at her surroundings, her feelings change. "You can see this goodness of life on their peaceful faces, on their skin, even though not far from here are the old, rusted cars. Seeing this, I feel as if I am home here" (154). It is incredible that she can have such an intense change of heart just by being there. I think Omistho's feelings of displacement have finally subsided, and that she feels as if she knows where she belongs now. She knows that the old traditional ways of the Taiga people are the ways she wants to follow. She even claims that Ama does not look at home there. She feels a closeness with this place that even Ama doesn't feel.

Connections

When we were discussing the quote, "I'm my sister's project. She's always trying to fix me up, but I don't want to look pretty" (7), and how Omishto does not want to be someone who is considered pretty and how the idea of her becoming even more of an object to look at than she already is by her stepfather, I couldn't help but think of the song "Popular" in the play Wicked. I didn't make this connection because of her great discomfort around her stepfather, but rather that she is solely considered a "project." The song even begins with Galinda saying, "Elphie, now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project!"
Another reason I thought of this song, were the connections between what we were saying in class about how being "pretty" gives you a sense of power, and how Galinda talks about being popular in the song. Galinda believes that by giving Elphaba a new make-over, making her pretty, she will become popular, and have some sense of power. In the song, Galinda claims, "It's all about popular. It's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed, so it's very shrewd to be, very very popular like ME!" In the book, Power, Omistho's sister does the same thing and tries to make Omishto as pretty as she is.

Struggles

While reading Power I could not help but see connections between Omishto in this book and Lucy. Both Omishto and Lucy have troubled relationships with their families, and I think they feel out of place and are struggling between two identities.
As we discussed in class, Lucy has a very strained relationship with her mother and her father. In Power, Omishto also speaks of the relationships she has with her family. One passage which gives insight into each member is, "I'm my sister's project. She's always trying to fix me up, but I don't want to look pretty in the house with my mother and stepfather looking at me, his eyes always looking too much in places they don't belong, and my mom jealous like she is being replaced by me and it's all my fault, my design" (7). Clearly her sister and her have different ideas on how they want to appear to others, and Omishto is disturbed by the way her stepfather looks at her. She also believes her mother is a jealous person. She mentions later how her mother is also jealous of her "Aunt" Ama.
Lucy and Omishto both deal with struggle as well. Lucy deals with the struggle of past and present, and Omishto struggles with two different ways of life: tradition or westernized living. Omistho's mother is very much westernized, and her "Aunt" Ama is very traditional although she does not keep the ways completely. Omishto struggles to find which she identifies with more and seems to be in between, just as Lucy struggles by living in a mix of past and present.

Does anyone else notice any other conflicts. Do you think that Omishto deals with her own feelings of displacement? On pages 6 & 7 she discusses continents and the tree from Spain planted there and later how she is her own continent. Do these and the fact that this tree is unrooted in the storm signify these feelings?