Ruth and Pilate contrast, yet their plight is shared.

“She arrived with suitcases, a green sack, a full-grown daughter, and a granddaughter, and found her brother truculent, inhospitable, embarrassed and unforgiving. Pilate would have moved on immediately except for her brother's wife, who was dying of lovelessness then, and seemed to be dying of it now as she sat at the table across from her sister-in-law listening to her life story...” (Morrison 151).

In the above passage, Ruth suffers from a withdrawal of being loved because the only one who loved her, the doctor, no longer loves her (as he is now dead). This lovelessness, in contrast to her previous state of being loved, makes her like a drug addict. Becoming selfish from this lovelessness, Ruth clings to all she really has, which is Milkman. Her love for Milkman sustains her, yet she becomes dependent on Milkman as she draws her power from him.

Ruth grew up in a rather affluent lifestyle, where she was bred to clung to wealth and turn her nose up at those with less fortunes. This type of superiority complex make her fear being poor. Her addict-like affinity for wealth overpowers any hate or disdain for Macon Jr., allowing her to cling to her man’s wealth. Ruth draws her power from both Milkman and Macon Jr., making her dependant on all the men in her life.

Pilate is different. Her plight draws more from (ironically) her own headstrongness and care for others. Like Hilary Clinton, her actions are for the betterment of those less fortunate than her, contrasting Ruth’s semi-elitist point of view. Unfortunately, Pilate’s attributes, the men and some women in the town and her life often view her as an evil bitch. This irony of her Independence, care, and headstrongness hurts Pilate as it isolates her from everyone else.

(Morrison’s possible fondness of Pilate’s strength makes me wonder why Morrison endorsed Obama instead of Clinton when Clinton obviously represents the same attributes as Pilate, and Obama has a similar elitist-complex like Ruth).

Iago's Poison

"Iago, as Harold Goddard finely remarked, is always at war; he is a moral pyromaniac setting fire to all of reality.......In Iago, what was the religion of war, when he worshiped Othello as its god, has now become the game of war, to be played everywhere except upon the battlefield."
--Harold Bloom

To respond to this passage, one should mostly focus on the shift from a religion to a game. How would you prove that this insightful comment is true? Of course, in order to prove this idea is true, do not fail to incorporate the excellent idea of "a moral pyromaniac" in this shift.

A moral pyromaniac obviously sets fire to all morals and values. Iago exemplifies the role of a moral pyromaniac perfectly in Othello. At the beginning of the play, Iago stood in awe of Othello's mettle in battle (and his prowess in wooing Desi). However, Iago grows jealous of the black ram tupping the white ewe and of Cassio's promotion.

Iago studied and partook in the art of war for years and became a mastermind in the art of war. His incredible intellect for war poisoned his brain just like Kurz in Apocalypse Now and Joll in Waiting for the Barbarians. All of these characters were well-learned in war and battle tactics. However, the practice of such learned methods were transformed into a twisted, demented resemblance of what they once were. Iago's use of torture was a more intellectual form than that of Kurz or Joll, yet all of them produced the same destructive result.

As Iago's mind became more and more unhinged, his knowledge of war simmered in a saucepan, the spices of jealousy and cunning sprinkled into the pan, cooking into a bowl of sick amusement in others' miseries. Iago once clear mind, knowledgeable of war reversed his mind into a toxic substance of a mind. His new mind loses all sense of right and wrong, all morals, all
values. Iago sets fire to his friendships in order to exact his revenge on a much less offensive offenses – if the black ram tupping the white ewe and Cassio's promotion are even considered as offenses.

Iago finds his loss of morality as amusing and creates entertainment for himself at the cost of others' misfortune. Iago straight up burned some folks (metaphorically) for fun.

(Om-pah-pah Om-pah-pah) that's how it goes

Those twenty-four hours were so mind-boggling. When I pulled that second silver hershey kiss out of that "Bag o fate" I was surprised and upset - but in a boisterous kind of way until the realization hit me. And it hit me hard. After that I tried to think of sooooo many different scenarios and asked myself sooooo many questions....Should I pay attention or should i just sit back and take the zero without any effort? should I even come to class? what if I tried to bribe her into at least letting me take the test - even for half credit?

I kept going back and forth between all of these and more so I sat back and relaxed for thirty seconds then came back and tried to write down some notes virgorously so just maybe i could someone gain extra points on anything at all. When I wasn't doing that, I calculated what grades i could get and still pass with that zero looming over my head.

Fate and free will seemed to play such a huge role in Oedipus Rex to me. I went to a scholarship information session and guess what they had....silver hershey kisses. Thanks fate, way to shove it in my face....

or was it my own choice? was it my own free will to sit down and pick those hersheys out of the bag? Could I have prevented this or was I doomed for this to happen at birth? Please. Eventually you have to realize that's how it goes. Sometimes good sometimes bad. I still believe in free will as before but now I'm less adament about that position, and I must say that those hours between picking that second hershey kiss and being told that test wouldnt count as a zero were one of the most stressful, regretful , frantic, back-and-forth times in my life not knowing if i could escape or if i were doomed......just imagine poor Oedipus.

"It's important in life to always keep learning. Be a sponge for information, ask questions about different topics and of people. Find out more about history or global warming or prison systems or your neighbors whose families come from Greece or Poland or Africa. You never know when that little extra you learned will in some way be valuable to you. When an opportunity to make a larger contribution in life presents itself - and it will, if you recognize it - you'll be better prepared. Everything in life is not calculated. It's the extra things we do to expand our base of knowledge and increase the number of people we know, that eventually result in improvements."

- Senator Paul Simon from Illinois, Fifty-two Simple Ways to Make a Difference.

"And I kept right on looking and looking until
I'd looked 'round the world and right back to this hill!
And I saw on this hill since my eyesight's so keen,
The two biggest fools that have ever been seen!
And the fools that I saw were none other than you,
Who seem to have nothing else better to do
Than sit here and argue who's better than who!"

- The worm, "The Big Brag" by Dr. Suess