Month: December 2018

New Year’s Sacrifice

 

The aspect that appeals to me the most is the human nature of kindness versus coldness. As the story progresses I found that the interactions that Hsiang Lin’s wife faced became colder and colder. Her husband had died and she found a home with the narrators uncle’s family. Through this she became happier. However tragedy hits her and her mother in law comes and forcibly takes her and sells her off to marriage. Her life during and after this series of events just continued to go downhill. Throughout this I found that the author really showed how human nature often is at times. People often judge someone based on what they hear rather than what they know. Hsiang Lin’s wife was the object of everyone’s attention when she had something to give or share, however when everyone had already heard her story, they were not interested. I found this to be very accurate of how people often are. We tend to get tired of things very easily and therefore lose sympathy or empathy for people. I think personally, this relates to the modern example of people asking for help on the subways. Originally I had felt sympathy for those who asked for help but after continuous exposure to these people, often times I would just put in my earphones and ignore them. In the case of Hsiang Lin’s wife, I feel like she was forced into isolation by everyone. Noone wanted to hear about her hardships. I also enjoyed how the author kind of touches upon customs and traditions to emphasize how people saw Hsiang Lin’s wife. In Chinese culture, new years is a very important and a time for us to honor ancestors, traditions through sacrifices and such. The fact that the author showed how the uncle and aunt did not want Hsiang Lin’s wife near or touching any of the ancestral items, shows how they saw her. They saw her as unholy and felt like she would sully the sacrifice. I felt like the author did an extremely good job of displaying the extent to how Hsiang Lin’s wife was seen. She had originally been in charge of all ancestral preparations and now she was left with nothing to do.  Overall, I thought that this story was very sad and I felt bad for the main character. She was hit with bad luck on bad luck and even after she passed, she was seen as a nuisance.

Frankenstein

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjJ2UvZjTew

 

‘But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to that irremediable ruin. There he lies, white and cold in death. You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the imagination of it was conceived and long for the moment when these hands will meet my eyes, when that imagination will haunt my thoughts no more.’

 

Frankenstein has always been known to me as a monster that was created by a mad scientist. I think that growing up, I was exposed to Frankenstein as being bad and scary. Frankenstein has always been known to me as a monster that was created by a mad scientist. Going into this great work by Mary Shelley I was kind of surprised by many things. I thought that the quote above is such a great depiction inside the head of the monster. This quote is found at the end of the story, after Dr. Frankenstein has died. The monster shows remorse and feels sorrow for the things he has done. He shows that he himself knows and sees how much of a monster he is. As he says “You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself.” I think this speaks a lot about how we view the monster. Personally, I felt throughout the story anger for the monster. I felt as though he had killed so many people and ruined so many lives. Rather than blaming Dr.Frankenstein for creating the monster in the first place. I think this quote really shows how the monster believes he is capable of being good, however everything around him as influenced him to become the monster he is. That he was set up for failure and no one hates him more than himself. The video I chose is a summary of Frankenstein. I chose this mainly because I felt that the story itself is extremely long and I would be lost throughout it. I believe that the summary video was very helpful. It allowed me to picture the story. Along with that I really enjoyed how the end left us wondering whether it was the monster or Dr.Frankenstein that was at fault. This is very similar to how the story ends as well. I was left with the idea that maybe the monster isn’t a monster after all. Reading Frankenstein really showed me a new side of the story and helped me understand more of the monster.

Oroonoko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Eid3m80D0

 

“Much more to this effect he spoke, with an air impatient enough to make me know he would not be long in bondage; and though he suffer’d only the name of a slave, and had nothing of the toil and labour of one, yet that was sufficient to render him uneasy; and he had been too long idle, who us’d to be always in action, and in arms. “

 

Oroonoko is about a man from royalty who is captured into slavery. Although from various parts of the story, you would not think that Oroonoko was in slavery. I thought that the quote, listed above, is a extremely good description of Oroonoko’s slavery. Although he may be one in name, the way he was treated and his actions as well, were not that of a slave. Compared to others, he would not be considered a slave, however Oroonoko still was one and this made him want to rebel. I think Oroonoko’s character is very hypocritical. He has no problem engaging in the selling and trading of slaves, until he himself becomes one. His life as a slave is not a big problem until it becomes one for him, when he thinks about his future with his children. The video I chose is a summary of Oroonoko. Throughout the video, the narrator does point out the key points that are apparent in the novel. I liked how the narrator gave a brief history of what was happening during the time and a little bit of the author’s background. I think knowing that also allowed me create a new point of view of the author’s words. Oroonoko is continuously described as beautiful and royal. Due to his beauty, despite being someone of color he is respected in a way for how beautiful he is. Even being described as having Roman features. Along with that, him and Imoinda (Clemene) are both extremely beautiful. Both of them are treated as royalty in slaves. The author even describes them as being treated differently and being looked up to by the other slaves because of their beauty. I don’t find myself feeling empathy for them. All in all, I don’t particularly like the plot of Oroonoko. I think it’s very hypocritical and I find myself not liking Oroonoko. I liked how the video provided a visual representation of the main characters, I felt myself being able to better imagine what Oroonoko would be like. Along with that, the video allowed to be isolate main points of the story and follow along better. Which inevitably led to my dislike of Oroonoko and feeling unhappy with the story as well as the ending.