#8-2. Faction: Motivated from "The Conversion of the Jews" -- No Impact Man Project

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

September 26 2012

Faction (Motivated from The Conversion of the Jews): No Impact Man Project

No Impact Man Project (n.) a project devised and performed by Colin Beavan and his family; living a life that influences the environment as least as possible

"You know that you're a real freak to put this plan into practice, right?" Nicolle asked. "No Impact Man Project? Are you sure this is a feasible plan?"

"Relax, Nicolle, take it easy. Just a half century ago people lived well without using all those transportations and electronic goods. There's no reason that we cannot do this," I said.

"Why do you care about the Earth for anyway?"

"Well, you know what I would say. Earth is constantly being contaminated by us; even at this very moment, our air-conditioner, on-television, and leftovers of fast food we just finished off few minutes ago contributed in Earth's decay. I'm suggesting helping the Earth a little bit by restraining ourselves a little bit," I concluded, reading my wife's countenance to see if she was angry with her irksome husband. And yes, she was; Nicolle turned her back on me and gazed into the television, which her favorite TV show was playing on.

"Okay, understandable. But why do WE need to do this? There are so many people who are enjoying their life without paying slight attention to the Earth. I'm definite that our acts would result in nothing but a very, very minuscule delay on the Earth's collapse. ... You know what I mean? I don't see a clear outcome that will justify all the inconveniences we would be demanded to suffer for next twelve months," Nicolle finally said. Her shoulders were trembling.

I suddenly felt sorry for her; yes, she was right. No matter how arduously my family performs the project, millions of people would continue to waste, consume, dump, etc. The Earth would keep on decaying despite our project, and the outcome of this project must be tremendously small compared to all the efforts we are going to devote.

Still I wanted to challenge; I wanted to see if it was possible for us to live without televisions, newspapers, fast food, air conditioner or electric heater, etc. I wanted to see if I could live with influencing the environment as least as possible. And... this is my secret hope that I didn't tell to my wife, because I was sure that Nicolle would gaze me as if I am the greatest nut in this world, but I sincerely hoped to achieve victory in No Impact Man Project, thereby instigate people around me to follow me and do the project themselves. Maybe then, the outcome would be larger, and it may contribute … “significantly” in delaying the Earth's decay. MAYBE. But holding expectation and hope is not something bad, right?

Isabella was crying. I looked at the watch; it was definitely not a meal time, so she must be calling me to change her diaper. I groaned -- this was, actually, the moment that I did not want to confront. I made few contracts with Nicolle to make her participate in this project, and Nicolle negotiated by letting me do some bothersome and irritating tasks. Changing Isabella's diaper was one of them.

I looked environmental-friendly diaper that I decided to use instead of disposable one, in hope that my discomfort would help the Earth. Reading the instructions carefully, I folded the new diaper and attached it with a pin between my daughter's legs -- which was the most thrilling and frightening moment that made my hands shake frantically.

Actually, changing my daughter's diaper was not the only ordeal I faced during practicing No Impact Man Project. The project demanded me eat only local food, made of agricultural products within 500 miles, and this meant that Nicolle could not drink coffee anymore. She was literally mad at me, and after appeasing her for more than an hour, I promised her to grow peppermint and make her mint tea every day. That was a labor.

Nicolle and I were both suffering from the steaming hot of NYC, August. We opened the window, fan ourselves frantically, nibbled chunks of ice, but never turned on air conditioner. Nicolle was missing her Chelsea Lately, and I missed electric light bulb that enabled me to work even after the Sun sets. We were exhausted after climbing stairs to the fourteenth floor, and we thought that we were going behind time, since we could not read newspapers and catch the top issue for that day.

#8-1. Reflective Essay: The Conversion of the Jews

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

September 22 2012 

Reflective Essay: The Conversion of the Jews

Parents, when their child reaches the age of four or five, suffer from those entire "Why?" questions the child asks. "Why?" questions are tolerant for a young child, but unacceptable when a questioner is old enough. Oscar Freedman, a thirteen-years-old protagonist of The Conversion of the Jews (Philip Roth, 1959), is considered as an irritable boy who keeps asking trifling questions about God – for example, "... why couldn't He let a woman have a baby without having intercourse?" or "How Rabbi Binder (his teacher) could call the Jews "The Chosen People" if the Declaration of Independence claimed all men to be created equal?", etc. People who Oscar expects to give him answers to the questions – Rabbi, his mother, and other adults – all consider his questions as profane and nit-picking; so instead of giving answers, they "hit Ozzie (Oscar) across the face" or "flicked out at Ozzie's cheek".

Oscar is, however, not asking these questions to resist to the religious doctrines or screw over the adults. Actually, he respects "his mother lit the candles" – rituals on the Sabbath – by "pressing the phone to his breast" and making no sound. The sole intention of Oscar asking questions is pure curiosity. However, people disregards his curiosity, just as a firefighter asks the Rabbi "What, is the kid nuts or something?". People do not understand why Oscar cannot "accept" religious precepts. Instead of embracing of social consensus recklessly, Oscar tries to understand things logically. Maybe this is why his surname is "Freedman" – a "freed man", not fettered by conformity to his community.

Reading The Conversion of the Jews, I reminded of someone who resembled Oscar Freedman a lot. Colin Beavan, the author of No Impact Man (2010), is a New Yorker who, over a year, lived in NYC, affecting the environment as least as possible. From the very basic step – stop using disposable diapers or tissue – Beavan practiced inconvenient, sophisticated acts, such as giving up reading newspaper (a thick collection of dead trees), staying away from fast food and eating only local food, not using transportations, elevators, and even electricity, etc. When Beaven first started to carry on this plan, which he entitled "No Impact Man Project", his co-workers, friends, family, virtually everybody, dissuaded him, arguing that his acts would not stop the Earth from being contaminated. The community's belief, in short, was to relish all the conveniences modern society provides; there was no reason for Colin Beavan to "question" about the harmful effects people are giving to the Earth. To NYC residents, Beavan was an Oscar Freedman boy who nit-picked about their uses of modern technology and did not conform to the general belief of staying inattentive to the Earth.

Beavan’s "No Impact Man Project", conclusively, was not a meaningless struggle; his book called forth majority's attention, he was introduced as a noticeable environmentalist by New York Times, and a lot of impressed readers make attempts to practice the project, at least partially.

As a person who has conformed to the community and enjoyed environmental-harming technologies without any guilt for seventeen years, I highly value struggles of Oscar Freedman and Colin Beavan. I did hear that excessive use of air conditioner results in global warming; still I did not stop myself from setting the temperature 19℃. I did hear that dozens of trees were being logged to produce white, fresh papers; still I did not stop myself from dumping one-sided paper without second use. It was too irritating and bothering to question the impacts of my acts; the easiest way to live was to passively accept the general paradigm and follow what others do. What Oscar and Beavan tell me right now, however, is that such an irksome questioning can bring out positive outcomes to society; Oscar offered his community opportunity to reconsider about its indiscreet religious fervor, and Beavan helped his community to recognize the decay of the Earth due to the community’s thoughtless consumption of conveniences. Healthy skepticism of questioning a majority opinion is what I and my community need right now – not rash recalcitrance but mere curiosity, which would help the community to find out its fault and resolve, thereby improve.