Wednesday, December 10, 2008

What is the What: Short Essay

Consider the following excerpt from What is the What (p. 141-2): "It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me."


Discuss the context and significance of this quote. What is Valentino really saying here? How might this quote operate as a metaphor for a broader, greater idea? Is this Eggers' intention?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the novel What is the What the author, Dave Eggers, says through Valentino “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me (141-2).” He’s using this as a metaphor to show that he doesn’t tell his story to anyone. He tells himself and pretends to tell other people.
Throughout the novel Valentino is telling his story to people. People like TV Boy and Julian. These people aren’t real they are in his head. He makes people up to tell because he doesn’t think that real people could handle it. Also because he may not feel comfortable with telling real people. This is why he says “You have no ears for someone like me (141).” He’s saying you can’t handle it and also that no ones hearing what he’s saying because he is not telling anyone.

Joe Alberico

Anonymous said...

Seamus Slattery
Short Essay

In the novel “What is the What” by David Eggers the main character Valentino is tied to a chair after being robber and thinks to himself this quote, “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No on is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” This quote is not only a response to his then-current situation but also as a reaction to his life’s troubles and the situation of his people as well.

The situation of his people in Sudan and the seemingly unresponsive United States leads him to feel alienated and abandoned by everyone. The line “No one has ears for someone like me” completely illustrates this idea that he has been abandoned like everyone else from Sudan. He and a few other lost boys from Sudan were brought to the U.S. to supposedly thrive and obtain a college education. In reality they were just dumped in this country, left to fend for themselves having only a very few other Sudanese men for company. This is particularly troubling to men like Valentino because the Sudanese are a close-knit group of people that interact and need social interaction with others, which they do not get in a paranoid country such as this one. These men also only have a few opportunities to succeed with many circumstances such as the fact that they are not familiar with this country and our ways whatsoever. This is demonstrated when he gets his house raided and robbed by two other African-Americans.

This quote demonstrates a cry for help by a man set against the odds and constantly being put down in different ways by life. This is just an example of the hurt he feels and his feeling of nobody listening or caring for him and people like him.

Anonymous said...

In the novel, What is the What, written by Dave Eggers he states, “It is criminal that all of this has happen, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” He describes this occurring situation in a more meaningful and significant way than just what is written. This quote is metaphor because; nobody cares to assist another being in need of help if it’s not in fact helping them.
Valentino felt that no one in the world cared to listen to him and listen to what he had to say. When he was struggling in his apartment, kicking vigorously, obviously someone heard from below. One did not care about anything unless it was their problem. It is very similar to knowing about Sudan and what was happening there and not doing anything about it. Millions of people were getting killed and America just put it aside as if it was nothing important. Although, if this situation happened in America, everyone would be worried about what was going to happen next and what precautions were going to be taken. Valentino had a story. Valentino tried to express his story to fellow Americans, but nobody cared to listen to what he had to say. If one had taken the time to recognize another being’s situation rather than just helping their own, Valentino would have felt he was somebody.
One could be of more help if they were considerate of others. This metaphor from What is the What, goes a long way in Valentino’s life and the Sudanese families.

Bri Cunningham

Anonymous said...

Ashlee Perrotta
December 11, 2008
English, E
25 minute response


In the novel, What is the What, written by Dave Eggars, Valentino states, “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother from above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me,” (Eggars 141-2). This quote signifies his frustrations towards the dramatic events which happened throughout his life.

He has traveled by foot for years. He has witnessed many murders, rapes, and deaths, and he has always been looked up to. This quote is a metaphor for a broader idea. This idea is focused upon Valentino’s life. He is frustrated because he is tied up and no one can hear him. He is crying out for help in other ways too, more important reasons and no one even cares to listen. Valentino is a strong, brave man. He has been through a lot in his lifetime and has seen things that would make anyone cringe. He is always frustrated because every single cry for help is shot down. He is misunderstood. Valentino walked across his country in search of safety, and freedom. When he arrived to the United States, he did not know how different everything would be. People were very rude and treated him with disrespect. Valentino’s frustrations towards no one being able to hear him, has a larger, broader meaning. He is aggravated and fed up with being brushed off and having people not hear him. This quote signifies a greater meaning than what is generally stated.

Valentino’s struggles and frustrations are brought up because people are acting neglectful and ignorant towards him. His calm and collect attitude is not normal justifying the fact that he has been through hell and back. The meaning behind his frustrations is not just toward what he is experiencing in that moment alone, but with the bigger picture. His life and his struggles have more of significance within this quote that are brought to the naked eye.

Anonymous said...

Jessica Schneider
December 11, 2008
English Class E
25 minute open response

“What is the what,” is a fictionalized autobiography of the life of Valentino Achak Deng, by Dave Eggers. Valentino describes the frustrations he feels about the way he is and has been treated: “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” This quote describes more than Valentino’s frustrations of being robbed, which has a metaphorical meaning behind it. An example of the deeper meaning behind Valentino being robbed is that no one can hear him tell his story, while also no one can hear him when screaming for help.
Valentino is very frustrated by the fact that no one can hear him kicking and screaming for help while being robbed, this goes hand in hand with the fact that no one also hears him tell his story. At this point he feels almost forgotten, no one is helping nor caring, and he carries his stories around like a weight everyday which he feels no one cares to hear. No one wants to hear bad news, they avoid it, and so Valentino tells his stories of all the bad that has ever happened to him in his head without giving people the chance to hear them.
In the quote (p. 141-142) it describes in a deeper meaning that he is not only frustrated about being robbed, but that no one has ears for him. Everything that we hear or see needs to be looked deeper into and put into your own perspective.

Anonymous said...

In the novel What is the What the author, Dave Eggers, says through Valentino “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me (141-2).” He’s using this as a metaphor to show that he doesn’t tell his story to anyone. He tells himself and pretends to tell other people.
Throughout the novel Valentino is telling his story to people. People like TV Boy and Julian. These people aren’t real they are in his head. He makes people up to tell because he doesn’t think that real people could handle it. Also because he may not feel comfortable with telling real people. This is why he says “You have no ears for someone like me (141).” He’s saying you can’t handle it and also that no ones hearing what he’s saying because he is not telling anyone.
In the novel What is the What the author, Dave Eggers, says through Valentino “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me (141-2).” Valentino is saying that he tells only himself his story. This connects to the world by the U.S. doesn’t really want to hear this story but they act like they care. They don’t do anything to help what’s happening in Sudan.

Joe Alberico

Anonymous said...

Judy Phuong
December 11, 2008
English IV E
Open Response Essay

In What is the What by Dave Eggers by, Valentino says “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” Valentino is in a state of shock after the robbers have left his home and he is “crying” for help, yet no one is going to listen to him.

Valentino is saying that he is expressing his frustration after what happened and is “screaming” for help. If only the people that are around him could know what he is going through but yet they are not going to care. You don’t know what a person is going through and how they feel until you are in their shoes.

The gruesome things that Valentino had encountered no one would be able to understand how painful it was for him. Valentino and two of his companions were fleeing from Ethiopia. His two companions were shot and Valentino was almost killed. They were being chased by hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers shooting at them, the River Gilo full of their blood. In Valentino’s life he has been stuck in many different ways but never with the barrel of a gun. He has had the fortune of having seen more suffering than he has suffered himself, but nevertheless, he has been starved, he has been beaten with sticks, with rods, with brooms and stones and spears. He has ridden five miles on a truck bed loaded with corpses. Valentino has seen a friend die next to him in an overturned truck.

Valentino has gone through many struggles throughout his life from Sudan to America. He is a strong man to be able to go through all the horrific things that he has done through and yet able to live a somewhat normal life in America. In America, many of us may take many things for granted but Valentino perceives everyday as a gift from God. You don’t know what a person is going through until you are in their shoes.

Anonymous said...

David Egger’s What is The What concerns the life of Valentino Achak Deng. “It is criminal that all of this has happened. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” The situation faced by Valentino and his words are metaphorical in terms of a greater meaning.
Valentino has experienced the events too grim for most to imagine. Most of the world ignores the violence in eastern Africa and many do not care. Valentino mentions how people do not listen to him. No one can feel the pain that he has felt throughout his lifetime. His flailing and struggling is symbolic of his morose past. He often tells his stories to himself as if another person is the intended audience. He feels that if people knew what he has been through then people would not add to his suffering. When he is being robbed he “tells” Tonya and Powder about his life experience. After he wakes up he finds himself tied up under the supervision of a young boy (TV Boy). He explains the anguish he underwent in Africa. Although he processes the story he does not come out to literally tell the boy. Although he explains much of his journey from Sudan to Ethiopia, no one can hear him. If he is in a store and someone cuts in front of him he simply revisits his suffering. In a larger picture it represents the lack of participation by the United States to intervene with the violence in Sudan.
Valentino’s words are a metaphor of the situation in Sudan. He exclaims his points constantly but the world still remains closed to them. He might be trapped physically but he is imprisoned emotionally for life. This really symbolizes a larger picture, one of chaos in the world

Anonymous said...

In the Story “What is the What” by Dave Eggers, Valentino Achack Deng is struggling to fit into his new life in America. The following quote spoken by Valentino is good evidence of this. "It is criminal that all of this has happened has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me."
It is indeed criminal that Valentino is still treated so poorly. While bound in his apartment lying on his floor, chair still attached Achack begins to feel nobody has the time to hear his story. People treat him with much disrespect and they would surely regard him differently they knew his past. There are many examples of this throughout the story as Valentino asks within his head why? After all he has gone through does he still suffer?
One good example would be the robbery that got him in his current bound state, upon opening his door politely to allow someone to use his phone; Achak finds himself in a very bad position. He finds this person is not the person they made themselves out to be, this lady known as Tonya with her accomplice Powder would soon clear his apartment and leave him bloodstained and tied tightly to a chair. -Nick J

Anonymous said...

As Valentino said in Dave Eggers novel, What is the What, “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kicked and kicked again, flailing my body like a fish aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of a man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” This particular quote has significant in this book in more ways than one. This expresses his emotions about the current situations he is in as well as a metaphor to his life.
The last line of the quote is Valentino saying how nobody can hear him. At the time he has been robbed and is tied up on the floor of his apartment. He needs help, and no matter how much noise and ruckus he makes people don’t hear him, or more likely hear him but don’t respond to him. That is a common reaction in the United States; we look out for ourselves and find it awkward or almost embarrassing to offer aid to a person in need. To Valentino, he is starting to realize that this is the reality in America.
Metaphorically, the specific line in the quote that reads “You have no ears for someone like me” has a distinct connection to Valentino’s life. Going back to what happened to him in his homeland of Sudan, massive murder and abuse was ignored by many parts of the world. The people of southern Sudan suffered greatly in the 1980’s and most people don’t have any idea this is going on. Even when he comes to America, people are very rude and selfish compared to his village in Sudan. No body knows his story and maybe if they did he would be treated in a kinder manner. This is a lesson for everyone, to not judge someone before you get a chance to know them.
Dave Eggers’ story about a man named Valetino in the book, What is the What, is a true reflection of a person’s life who was from southern Sudan. Egger uses quotes to evaluate situations in the story, and to set metaphors for the entire story line. Eggers intention is to have one quote be able to explain and express different things in the novel. All of the quotes and metaphors have connections to the book and to our lives as readers. We have to have the ears to hear what Dave Eggers is trying to reach out and tell us.



Michelle Kilburn

Anonymous said...

"It is criminal that all of this has happened has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me."-Dave Eggers What Is the What. This can be said about how the world has treated the genocide occurring in Sudan. While it goes on we don’t listen to the facts about what is really happening.
Eggers said that no one is listening to what is really going on there in Sudan. Not just in Sudan however, that entire part of the world. It even seems to him that it is being allowed to continue. Eggers’ trying to get people to hear what has happened there and that we can stop and prevent it.
The U.N. response to the genocide in Sudan has been slow. It took years for the U.N. to get aid out there. Once aid finally reached there it was enough to keep them alive. Despite the aid they still had to struggle to stay alive and still had no home.
When it was first brought up that genocide was occurring in Sudan the U.N. didn’t really believe it. It wasn’t until evidence came to light on what was really happening that action started to take place. Much like Valentino when he was trying to get help at the hospital, it took awhile to get anything done to help relieve what was happening.
Eggers way of using events in What is the What to also show how the situation was treated and still is being treated was profound. Valentino is a perfect representation of Sudan and when he laid on the floor trying to get help is just a perfect mirror of how Sudan seemed to the world. He needed help but no one was listening. Using literature, he was able to get his message that the world seemed to turn a blink eye toward Sudan.

Anonymous said...

Valentino was robbed, beaten, and left tied up in his own apartment “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” A quote from Dave Egger’s novel, What is the What. This novel portrays the life of Valentino, one of the lost boys from Sudan. This quote is a metaphor of Valentino’s struggles.

No one listens for Valentino, not his Christian neighbors or anyone else, as he puts it; they “have no ears for someone like me.” He is Sudan, and the people around his apartment are the U.S., and they don’t pay attention to Sudan. Valentino, like Sudan, has trouble being heard, and telling what’s happening. He has trouble because he is being suppressed by phone chord and tape; Sudan is being suppressed by the Arabs.

This quote depicts more than just his struggle to bring attention to him in his apartment, it is a metaphor for Sudan’s struggles, and the message of the whole book. Looking further into this quote, we can realize the struggles the Sudanese people are going through.

-A. Rockwell

Anonymous said...

In the novel “What is the What” by Dave Eggers is an autobiography on the life of Valentino Achak Deng a Sudanese Lost Boy. During the novel Valentino tells a story of how he got robbed in his Detroit apartment. When Valentino is robber he is tied up and beaten. Then the robbers just took what they wanted and left. Valentino says “It is criminal that all of this has happened has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear, me Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” After he says this you as the reader stop and try to figure out what Valentino really means when he says that. What Valentino is really trying to say is why do all these bad and horrible events keep happening to me.
Valentino has been through a lot and he tells you through out the novel how he walked to Ethiopia and how all his friends and people died during the walk just trying to find a better life. How he is separated from his family and doesn’t even know where they are and how their doing; if their still alive or not. The robbery that happened to Valentino releases all of his frustrations of no one being able to hear him in not only when he was being robbed but throughout his life as well. He doesn’t understand why people aren’t listening to what he has to say and why they won’t help him out when he needs it. He isn’t only complaining about that no one can hear what he is trying to say personally but he is also speaking for his country and the problems that he has going over there. He also shows us that if no one can hear him being robbed in our own country then how are we going to here his whole country getting taken over across the world.
In the quote “It is criminal that all of this has happened has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear, me Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” Valentino is wants to know why no one can hear him, and his country.

-Nick S.

Anonymous said...

Katie Kolodziejczyk
December 11, 2008
Block E, English


The novel What is The What by Dave Eggers concerns a Sudanese man who walks across his country through a time of war in hopes of making his dream become a reality. Feeling guilt and shame in leaving his family and land back in Sudan makes another see from his perspective. Upon getting robbed in America, Valentino says: “You have no ears for someone like me”. This quote may be seen as a metaphor for a broader greater idea.
Hard times, struggle, bravery and determination lead the boys through obstacles but in the end faced a bright light and new beginnings. Valentino found it difficult for strangers who treated him with disrespect and neglect to hear what he had gone through from losing his family to his journey into a whole different country. Replaying in his head time after time, his feelings became frustrated because no one would listen and also felt no one could relate besides his other brothers so it would have been pointless. Having no one to confide in really, Valentino keeps to himself.
One will feel enlightened by this novel What is The What. Seeing that Valentino says: “You have no ears for someone like me” states that he also he also feels neglected by the American people as well as strangers because no one seems to care about what is going on with Sudan while being aware of the genocide and the deaths of millions of people. These “people” are Valentino’s people, his home land and where his ancestors live. Everyday he has to live with the fact that his family is back in Sudan living with genocide, rapes, weapons and unsafe streets where innocent children play. He hopes that one day people of all countries will help out the Sudanese and make the genocide disappear.

Anonymous said...

In the novel What is the What by Dave Eggers a quote with significant meaning is “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me." In this quote Eggers is expressing the difficulty that Valentino faces when try to get people to understand the difficulties he’s faced through out his life. Examples of when others can not understand are, having to suffer through genocide, fleeing from your home and the way in which he gets robbed.
When Valentino was just a young boy he witnessed tragic events of genocide. His home was attacked and many of the members of his village including his family and friends where murdered. On account of the attack the surviving boys had to flee the homes and lose everything that they had. They walked in large groups and always stuck together, going through many difficulties such as extreme hunger, deadly illnesses, attacks, and having difficulties getting along with those from other villages. Not long after arriving in America Valentino opens the door to a woman asking to use the phone, being naive he lets her in. This woman turns out to be one of two robbers; the other enters in behind her. During the process of the robbery Valentino is called some discriminating things such as “Africa”, and is also hit and kicked repetitively.
In conclusion Eggers novel What is the What shows the difficulties that Valentino has in explaining the tragic events that have occurred to him throughout his life. Examples of when others can not understand are, having to suffer through genocide, fleeing from your home and the way in which he gets robbed

Sean Holland

Anonymous said...

Darren Doucette
December 11, 2008
English, E
25 minute response

Dave Eggers, the author of “What is the what,” has taken the story of Valentino Achak Deng and turned it into fiction. Valentino feels his thoughts have been ignored through his stories and the robbery: “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother just above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me.” The passage reveals more than Valentino’s frustrations about no one helping him; it reveals the fact that no one can hear his stories, in a metaphorical way. The fact that no one can hear Valentino relates to the fact that the US doesn’t hear Sudan, which is an example of the frustrations.

Valentino is not only frustrated with the fact that he is not getting help but that his people back in Sudan are also not getting help. Through the quote Valentino expresses how he wants to be heard, but he would also like for his fellow Sudanese people to be heard. While Valentino is tied up, he is releasing his frustrations on being tied up, but really there is a bigger meaning to it. Because Valentino had seen so much in his lifetime, he figures that he deserves gratitude and should no be treated with such disrespect. He is angry and frustrated because his every cry for help is ignored.

Valentino’s struggles signify his frustration. Because he is tied up, he is frustrated and also because he is never heard with his cries for help. He has seen some of the most tragic events ever and those tragedies will be with him forever.

Anonymous said...

At the end of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” the reader arrives at an extreme emotion that the whole story is planned to express. Like he does in all of his writings, Poe planned “The Black Cat” to deliver this emotion to the reader. Through the use of insanity, innocence and evil, Poe expressed this emotion strongly. At the end of the story, the reader arrives at a very disturbed and sympathetic emotion.
Through the use of insanity, innocence and evil, Edgar Allen Poe causes the reader to feel disturbed and sympathetic. The redundant lines that the narrator says and actions he takes that reveal insanity lead the reader to feel disturbed. Some examples of these are when he hangs the cat for loving him, speaks of his emotions, and murders his wife with an axe for trying to stop him from killing the second cat. The readers also feel sympathetic for the cat because it is so innocent. The cat’s benevolent demeanor makes the readers feel bad for it when the narrator tortures and murders it. This also helps lead the readers to feel disturbed. In addition, the creepy, evil ideas that the narrator speaks of lead the readers to feel very disturbed.
The combination of all of these effects leads the readers to feel an extremely disturbed emotion in the end.

Anonymous said...

Eric Brown Says
Valentino's cry out

In the novel, What is the What, written by Dave Eggars, Valentino states a very important quote. This quote signifies his frustrations towards the dramatic events which happened throughout his life. Valentino says, “It is criminal that all of this has happened, has been allowed to happen. In a furious burst I kick and kick again, flailing my body like a fish run aground. Hear me, Christian neighbors! Hear your brother from above! Nothing again. No one is listening. No one is waiting to hear the kicking of the man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me,” (Eggars 141-2). This quote is very significant because of his emotions come out. Valentino is a very laid back man that if something happen it happens and it was meant to happen and there’s nothing you can do about it.

This quote is a metaphor for a broader idea that focuses upon Valentino’s life. He is frustrated because he is tied up and no one can hear him. He is crying out for help in other ways too, more important reasons and no one even cares to listen. A man’s words are who he is; Valentino rarely injects anger because that is not who he is. But hearing this show’s a whole new man. He has reached his peak and doesn’t care about anyone else thinks of him because they did not care about him either. He has traveled by foot for years which he has witnessed many murders, rapes, deaths, and he has always been looked up to. This quote is a metaphor for a broader idea which is focused upon Valentino’s life. Valentino is a strong, brave man who has been through a lot in his lifetime and has seen things that would make anyone curl up. He is always frustrated because every single cry for help is shot down and seems like no one will hear or help with as long as he lives. When he arrived to the United States, he did not know how different everything would be. People were very rude and treated him with disrespect. He is aggravated and fed up with being brushed off and having people not hear him. This quote has a greater meaning behind its great walls that is just about to burst with whatever you get out of it.


He is saying that it is so wrong that this whole event is happening. Also it is wrong that it’s their own people are doing it to each other. But he realizes it’s not jus his people but when he gets to the U.S. it is them to. He is so mad he is turning into a mental flipping out. He tells all of his people that they need to listen to a real voice that needs help and not just another ignorant person. Valentino’s frustrations are brought up because people are acting neglectful and ignorant towards him. Because he is so calm and collected his attitude is not normal to everyone and himself. So it doesn’t seem that he has been through hell and much more. The meaning behind his frustrations is not just toward what he is experiencing in that moment alone, but with the bigger picture. His life and his struggles have more of significance within this quote that is brought to the naked eye. What ever way we want to develop of these words we can benefit ourselves or we can do what the people do to him when he cries out and just think its everyday saying.