Cultural conflict and Exchange

Recently I read the book The Tempest by William Shakespeare. The cultural exchange within the play The Tempest, is represented fairly obviously. There are a lot of rather intense moments in the book. To begin, Prospero makes a storm to wreck the pirate's ship that was out in the sea. This showed that he had lots of "magical" power. He had two slaves Caliban, and Arial, who obeyed to his every command. When she was looking for Caliban, he was hiding. It seemed as though he would try to avoid her because he let that the island that were on was his. That his family had owned it before Prospero did. They argued. It still isn't clear to me what Caliban was. He was used as a slave though. Arial also had a conflict with his "master." He claimed that Prospero wasn't being fair and that he owed him. Arial was the "spirit" that would create what seemed to be natal disaster or happenings. Basically whatever Prospero wanted. Arial created the tempest that separated all the pirates from their ship. A little later in the book Caliban was found by two idiot drunken pirates. After some friendlyish conversation they plotted to kill Prospero so that they could have the island to themselves.  Prospero eventually found out and seemed so upset that he didn't even punish Caliban. The pirates that found Caliban had made him their slave as well. it seems that ownership meant power. In the end of the book Caliban and Arial were set free. Throughout the entire book there was an assertive dominance that was used. Ownership meant power and everyone seemed to be power hungry. Overall, between the pirates, Caliban, Arial, and Prospero, there was constant tension between who owned what and who really had the power.

Sound Patterns in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney

Throughout this last part of the semester I have been learning about sound patters in poetry. We have studied alliteration, assonance, and consonance. Consonance is when the consonant sound are the same anywhere in the words. Assonance is when the vowels rhyme, and alliteration is when the two or more consonants are together and sound the same. The poem I analyzed is a poem by Seamus Heaney. The poem is called "Honeymoon Fight."

Below, the patchwork earth, dark hems of hedge,
the long grey tapes of road that bind and loose
villages and fields in casual marriage:
we bank above the small lough and farmhouse

And the sure green world goes topsy-turvy
As we climb out of our familiar landscape.
The engine noises change. You look at me.
The coastline slips away beneath the wing-tip.

And launched right off the earth by force of fire
We hand, miraculous, above the water,
Dependent on the invisible air
To keep us airborne and to bring us further.

Ahead of us the sky's a geyser now.
A calm voice talks of cloud yet we feel lost.
Air-pockets jolt our fears and down we go.
Travellers, at this point, can only trust.

At the very bottom of the poem I analyzed the sound patterns. To be more specific, it is the very last sentence. "Travelers, at this point, can only trust." This is a good example of alliteration. Both words have the same consonant sounds. "TR" AS a traveler on a plane, you can only trust.  This helps the poem flow,and gives it a nice sweet point to end on.
The other spot that I did some analyzation was the first sentence on the last paragraph. "Ahead of us the sky's a geyser." This is an example of assonance. Assonances really helps the poem flow easier. Geysers go up, and so does the sky, it is really a picture perfect sentence too.
This poem is loaded with assonance, alliteration, and consonance sound patters. They are in every single paragraph...can you find them?

July's People

July's people was definitely a good candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature because the style of writing that Nadine Gordimer used was very unique. There were many parts n the book where I read something that I was almost in a sense  uncomfortable with. For example, there were a few portions of the book where someone was nude. In the past books that I have read this wasn't a topic. However, this topic seemed to reoccur many time. I think that Gordimer put it in the book because it could have something to do with their culture. Their own rules and norms. I found it odd, and so have thousands of other people in the world because it isn't part of OUR norms. The other part that was very well done was the end of the book. It just seemed to end, like a t.v. commercial that was cut short. No one knows what  to think. what happened while they chased the helicopter away? I think that this is the main reason that this book won the Nobel Prize. There is no end to the book. Everyone can create their own ending, which can be both very satisfactory, and also unsatisfactory. It was a cliff hanger that no one saw coming. When I noticed that the end of the book was nearing, I also note that the story didn't seem to be wrapping up. This goes back to the construction of the book. Nadine Gordimer did a great job portraying the society they lived in. It kept my attention better because they were talking about things that I am not used to hearing about. As I stated earlier about the naked parts. The other thing that I found rather interesting was the this was about their revolution. How they viewed it, wether it was good to be for it, and run with it, or not. I don't think about this stuff. I also don't think many other people do either. I could only try to relate it to America's Revolution How it was and wasn't similar, (for people emotions that is.) Overall, this book contained many characteristics that gave it a good reason the win the Nobel Prize.

Tao De Ching personal example

To reduce someone's influence, first expand it;

To reduce someone's force, first increase it;

To overthrow someone, first exalt them;

To take from someone, first give to them.

This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong:

Fish should not leave their depths,

And swords should not leave their scabbards.

We learned about the Tao De Ching today. I quickly learned what the Ying Yang symbol is and what it means. That too has more meaning than I thought it would. Tao De Ching has both sides of anything and everything. For example, Good and Bad. I also learned that the ying yang symbolizes for both. The white could be good, and the black would be bad. If you have ever noticed there are two small dots on the symbol. A white dot on the black side and a black dot on the white side. That shows that there is good in bad, and bad in good. Most if not all of the Tao De Ching poems are based on this. 

To overthrow someone, first exalt them. So basically one must first learn someone before they can take charge. That is important, keep your enemies closer than your friends right? To take from someone, first give to them. This is a classic example of the symbol. There is opposites in everything. This entire poem is filled with them. 

“To reduce someone’s force, first increase it.” One must not simply take something from someone. They must first learn, give, become familiar with what they will be doing.

The poem takes a sharp turn by saying that “Fish should not leave their depths.” Saying that people shouldn’t leave who they are, or where they are because that is the way. That is possibly how it is supposed to be. “Swords should not leaver their scabbards.” This is saying basically the same thing.

That is just some of the things that can be analyzed from this poem. I bet there is even more that I don’t see. How exciting!

Tao De Ching Class example

The motion of the Way is to return;

The use of the Way is to accept;

All things come from the Way,

And the Way comes from nothing.

The Tao De Ching is actually very interesting to me. I have learned a lot about the culture, per say, in class.  I find it fun to deep read the poems. When I first read this poem I thought.. “really, this is lame, and it doesn’t make any sense.” When we analyzed the text in class I had a completely different view on it. To start with this one, I had to recall, or think of what the “way” is. I still don’t think I completely know what it is, however, it could be how something just is. How how something is supposed to be.

“The motion of the Way is to return.” When you go on a vacation, you leave. What always happens though? You come back. You return. This is showing that there are both opposites in one happening. That is because that is the way. “the use of the Way is to accept.” A person must first accept the Way to use it. They must learn how the way works. For example, you cant just jump in a pool and start swimming. You must first learn. Thats the way it works. 

“All things come from the way.” This one was hard for me to analyze. After a bit of thinking I thought of it as everything comes from something. It has to right? That lead me to the next line of course being “and the Way comes from nothing.” To be honest I have no idea what that means. Possibly the was just is. It is always there, and always will be. 

We went over this blog in my class, and this is just my thoughts on it.

Icuras Girl

I started the book Icuras Girl a few days ago. I am a little unsure about the book. It is a quick read, but the book picked up fast. It was hard at first to get the gist of what was going on. However after a while (when I really learned the characters) the book got a ton better. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jess got her new friend Tilly Tilly so fast. What a name, Tilly Tilly. The entire part of the book when they first met was great. You could really tell that they made a connection because of how they talked with each other. Constantly making things equal. There is definitely something weird about Tilly Tilly though. I did over hear from someone that she is a ghost, so that makes a lot more sense. 

Jess really is distant from her family it seems. It could just be that she is unsure about the trip. I get the feeling that Jess doesn’t like change. She needs to be comfortable with where she is, and who she is by.

So far I really like the book. The author does a great job portraying her characters. She also does a wonderful job of describing the situations in the book. Especially when Tilly Tilly and Jess first met. I could not only picture what the setting looked like, but I felt like I could feel how Jess was feeling. Overall this book is worth continuing. 

What I want to get from the class.

        Some of my expectations for the class are to learn a little bit about the difference between American Literature and other countries literature. I have grown up barely reading  books, partly because I strongly dislike reading, but I don't think I have ever ventured to reading literature from other countries. I am also looking to learn a lot about shakespeare. I have done things with shakespeare in classes before but I always zoned out and didn’t pay attention. It would be cool to actually listen and learn something about him for once.

To be honest I am quite nervous for this class. I haven’t read a book cover to cover in over 5 years. However, for this class I have set a goal to read every one of the books cover to cover because I am sick of not being able to participate in class discussions about the books. I plan on reading everything on time so I don’t fall behind because it would be a lot harder to catch up.Another one of my goals is to write every paper on time. Once again if I fell behind this would be extremely hard to catch up.
       On a brighter note I am very excited to learn about the worlds books. It will be really interesting to read a different kind of book. By different, I mean different cultures. I have only ever read american books about our heritage. Icuras Girl was a great read. It was very refreshing to read something that caught my attention that greatly. Another thing I am excited about is the grade I got on my quiz! I have found my deep reading skills to be very good. That is pretty exciting because I don't have the greatest past from reading. It really makes me feel a lot more confident in my reading skills! I look forward to analyzing text more throughout this course..you might want to remember this blog because I will never say that again!