For the first of this semester’s three reading response assignments, please select one of the works we have read together thus far and compose a 300-500 word (1-2 page) response to the following simple prompt?
Do you consider this text to be a “Great Work”?
Use this question as your jumping-off point, but feel free to follow your own thought process where it leads. Your task here is not to assess the text from a literary historical perspective, but rather to offer your own informal, subjective reaction to your own reading experience. Some questions you might want to consider are: To what extent does the text offer something of value to you? Can you connect it to your own lived experience or to other texts (books, film, television) you know? What was your immediate response to the text when you first read it?
Your response should be posted to the course blog as an independent post, not as a comment attached to this post. To receive credit for this assignment, you must post your response by midnight on Sunday, March 1st.
“Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” by Feng Menglong, is one of the texts I’ve found very interesting in our readings. This text is about a young man Jia Li from a rich family, who falls in love with a prostitute named Du Tenth but ended up losing her due to his indecisive and naive nature. I found this text very unique as it is nothing like the love stories I’ve read before. Most love stories have a happy ending, but this one had a very tragic ending.
In this play, contrary to the attributes that men are generally expected to be possess like assertiveness, strength, and a sense of responsibility, Li was the total opposite, and this really drew my attention to the play. Jia Li’s father was a rich and strict man, and I believe these factors contributed to his irresponsibility with money, and his naiveness as he had everything served to him on a platter of gold. Du Tenth on the other hand, was also nothing like a prostitute was. She was nice, understanding and selfless, and I felt like this twist Feng used was her way of getting us engrossed in the play. Apart from that, I also felt that Feng was trying to break the stereotypes placed on men that all men are strong and assertive through Li, and prostitute that they don’t have emotions, through Du tenth.
One thing I really loved about this play, was the deep lesson behind it, which was to accept people for what they show you they are, and not try to paint them into what you want them to be. My reason for saying this is because Jia Li proved to Du Tenth various times that he was not responsible, but she was blind to it all because she was “in love” with him, and this later cost her life, and in today’s world we still hear stories like this happen. I have heard a lot of stories of women who stayed with men during their low times, but they still ended up betraying them. Although this behavior is not just subject to only men, but one can say that the percentage of men behaving in such manner is high compared to that of women. Another thing I absolutely loved, was the genuine friendship Du Tenth and her friends had. They were there for her when she needed them, and I could relate to that, because I have genuine friends who have been there for me in good and bad times, so their friendship was something that really spoke to me. I found this play very unpredictable from the beginning to the very end, and there are various lessons to learn from it, and because of this, I strongly am of the opinion that this piece is a great work.
Do you consider this text to be a “Great Work”?
“Bewitched,” by Ueda Akinari, respectfully may have been the most appealing and interesting text which had stood out to me. What had drawn my interest the most was the suspense and thrill throughout the story. We analyzed the supernatural in class and how this may classify as something out of the ordinary. Definitely while reading the text you read and analyze situations which may be eye popping and situations which don’t happen on an everyday occurrence. A popular scene which stood out was the lightning scene. As Toyo-o at his own will is brought back to the once flourishing house which once was initially. Toyo-o is trying to prove his case that he hasn’t stole the items and at this point is suspicious of the female himself for getting him into all this trouble. As they come across Manago she disappears as the lightning flashes. This is when I realized that she was not an ordinary female and this text wasn’t an ordinary one either. Not only was this text an exciting supernatural thriller which I felt had me interested amongst all the readings we read, but also stood out among the great works. I feel this text was a great work because of the message presented across. The message or bigger picture to say may make a text a great work. A great work I feel is a text where u can learn or take something from it as it may present a powerful message. There may be millions of texts but which ones are actually saying something. If you’re able to not only read and enjoy a text, but take something from it and incorporate it into your daily lives which actually matter and are significant. What I personally took from this text is everything is not what is seems. I feel Toyo-o just fell in love with lust and had completely been deceived. The girl who he had been instantly in love with the whole time had turned out to be the devil. You can’t just judge a book by his cover. As tempting as a beautiful woman may be there is definitely more to that. Toyo-o has taught me to not trust so easily. Trust is not something to be taken lightly. He trusted the female and she got him thrown into jail. The bigger mistake he had was putting his trust into her twice. What this text taught me was just not to be fooled so easily as a few texts we have dealt with involve main characters who seem to be in the story of a lesson. All these texts may have a lesson to go behind them at that is why they are considered to be great works.
When I think about what makes a work of literature great I think about what I am gaining from reading it. I think about what it is that the writer wants to teach the readers. I believe the story “Bewitched” by Ueda Akinari is a great work of literature because it is a text that I enjoyed reading and could actually connect to. The story is about a young man who is the black sheep of his family. His dream is to live in Kyoto, which he considers to be the most beautiful place, although he has never seen this place before. He wants to live there instead of following his family business with his father and brother. His family thinks of him as immature, irresponsible, gullible, and untrustworthy. He meets this beautiful girl which he believes to be from Kyoto. He imagines Kyoto, his dream place to live, to be a place where there are beautiful girls and a place where he would be able to learn and get educated. He feels as though he is trapped with his family and is unhappy. When he meets Manago, he becomes deceived by her because he gets blinded by her beauty. His inability to control his desire for her is what caused him his misfortune. His personality of being immature and gullible is what allowed him to be the perfect target for Manago. This text can be related to the Bengali culture as well. Bengali men are supposed to be “manly” and make sure that the women listen to them. If the women get things they want without the man’s approval, society would think the man is weak. For example, my cousin recently got married in Bangladesh. When he came back to live in America, he had to leave her in Bangladesh. Instead of living with his parents, she ended up going back to live with her parents. Everyone in the village in Bangladesh thought of him as weak because he did not tell her that she could not live at her parent’s home. They thought he was afraid of losing her as his wife if he had told her anything. The lesson of the story “Bewitched” is that beauty is not everything and if beauty blinds you, you will not notice the true intentions of a person.
The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, I would regard as a Great Work. A great work is reading that is versatile and relatable to the general public. The Confessions are intriguing in the sense that it is an autobiography and written in a way that at first glance, that is was a story. Yet after a couple sentences I realized that it was an autobiography and became more intriguing paragraph after paragraph. In the beginning of the excerpt , Rousseau explains his upbringing and reading how tragic and lonely it was, yet I was surprised due to the way he wrote about his feelings while in the situation. For an example , how his father deserted him and how his older brother left home on his own when he was a child and he was sent to live with his relatives. Rousseau goes on to explain that he was neither angry at his father or his brother for leaving him , because he enjoyed living with his relatives. Yet he makes his childhood sound so idyllic yet everyone at one point or another left him on his own. Through Rousseau explaining the ups and downs of his upbringing such as having a close bond with his cousin , to lying about the ribbon in Comtesse de Vercellis home, he has imperfections like every other person, But I believe Rousseau was optimistic and forward thinking for his time and how describes his life. When he wrote his book and it was publish it was banned all together due to the material being inappropriate for the time that he displayed it , but without it we would not understand Rousseau’s view of his own life and how autobiographies don’t have to always be uplifting or triumphant it can just be an imagination and fabricated into the story you want to be told about your life.
When you think of something being identified as “Great Works”, you think about a piece of literature being valid from the time it was discovered until present day. There must be a message some sort of meaning or a purpose behind it that makes it important towards society. In this course, we have read and looked back to a couple of pieces of literature and the one that has stood out to me is Tartuffe by Molière. This is a piece that is laid out as a play but has also has poetry involved.
Tartuffe, is a poetry that involves drama within a family due to a man who came in and tried to regulate the rules and lifestyle the family follows. Tartuffe is portrayed through Oregon, the king’s eyes as a religious and committed guy who yet is humble and appreciative of what he has. However, once Tartuffe is brought into the home by Oregon, the family starts to disagree with the behaviors they have been observing and they try to make Oregon see that Tartuffe is just a fraud and he is not what he seems to be.
I believe that this can be identified as a piece of “Great Works”, because this is portraying a religious life whom someone is trying to make it seem they live. Religion is a root of many beliefs that for years’ people have instilled in their everyday lives. I believe this reading can be considered through the “Great works” because it involves religions and also phoniness done behind it. People tend to fake being someone they are not for their own interest. Such as the case with Tartuffe, whom went from living a poor life to living a lavish life where he was able to do anything he wished with no consequences because he was the holy guy. People who follow a religion and interact with people who are more in depth believers have the disadvantage of being genuine and actually falling into a scenario like this. This is what makes others oppose to religion because if they know about frauds and what they do sometimes that pushes them back from the belief for the fact being that how are they guaranteed that everything this person does or says is accurate towards the belief. People start to disagree but those whom question it may just follow along with it. The people who fake it do it for the benefit of others having kind gestures with them and also gain most respect from the community. This is an advantage for themselves because anything that they will do or say won’t be questioned and just done or agree with.
This was a great read because people can learn from it and it can take them back to the years where people who were religious would fall into these kinds of scenarios, where people took religion as an advantage to get what they’ve been wanting or looking for. This could have been something that perhaps until present day people do, since religion is a big part to majority of the humans here, people who do these kinds of acts see it in a way to manipulate people.
Words are the most powerful force available to humans. Words have the power to create and encourage, as well as oppress and destroy. An author shapes his or her work in order to persuade, inform, entertain, explain, or describe a thought. When an author is able to generate an idea that touches upon all of these characteristics, he or she has designed a great work of literature. Exceptional authors undertake unexplainable questions of creation and transcend their beliefs into literature. This talent allows intellects of the past to remain active in modern discussion, and remind the individuals to present the power of knowledge. A great author of profound literature has the ability to form new understandings of the likeness we share as a part of being human. These publications influence an individual’s understanding of themselves along with his or her community.
Du Tenth sinks the Jewel Box in Anger is a coming of age story written by Feng Menglong. The origin of this story stems from a Chinese tale passed down generations through oral communication. Although a well educated individual in the written Chinese language, Feng Menglong writes this story in the vernacular style in order to preserve the oral style of the story. Also, his choice of writing style has the ability to spread his thoughts among a larger audience and allows for a less complicated translation. His sole purpose, for the audience, to comprehend and to relate to his message. Feng Menglong uses common words to warn the world, which remains relevant in modern day. The story follows the protagonist, Li Jia, an indecisive boy, who is unable to make decisions for himself. He engages in an intimate relationship with Du Tenth, a woman seeking freedom from a sinful past. A simple story revolving around the actions of these two lovers results in Du Tenth’s demise and the sinking of her accumulated wealth. Menglong uses language that could be interpreted figuratively and literally as a tool of educating while simultaneously entertaining. This is a quality found in special works of literature.