Author Archives: TIANHUI LEI
Posts: 15 (archived below)
Comments: 15
Assignment 8
The passage I have chosen to do my analysis on is chapter 7, specifically the part where Fredrick Douglas is talking about the time he read “ The Columbian Orator”. This passage stood out to me the most because it was the first time I felt genuine anger from him. Up until this chapter, he has spoken about his life very nonchalantly. When he talks about the passing of his mother he said it as almost with no emotions and that it felt just like any other stranger passing to him. But in this passage, something switches, his words no longer are passive. He is writing with passion, the hatred for his life circumstances. The way he speaks of white men by calling them wicked and mean like he hasn’t before shocked me. “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead;” says Fredrick Douglas, this is also a strong imagery for me too. He has opened up a Pandora’s box of his own, he taught himself how to read and write and it is bringing him pain. He describes how the book opened his eyes on what slavery really was tormented him. He even wishes that he was still as ignorant as his fellow slaves because now he can see the bigger picture whereas before he was just blindly following his master’s orders. But at the same time as it is demoralizing, it also fueled a fire in him.He realizes that there are other parts of the world where there are people under similar circumstances as he is and because they were literate, it made them free. It made him more curious and wanting to learn more about “abolition” and how that can be achieved. The book also gave him the courage and confidence to set his plans to escape in motion.
Assignment #6 Part 2
I have chosen the second “The Chimney Sweepers” and its illustration counterpart as my focal point. The poem sets a sad and ominous mood for the readers. Blake tells us that even though the little boy is dancing and singing, if we were to look a little deeper we can see the “misery” that they are going through. The illustration compliments it well, we see how pitch black the kid is from cleaning chimneys but it also the opposite of white. The black color of the kid in the illustration represents impurity and the loss of innocence through working in the adult world. This is a stark contrast to the white snow that is falling, this can mean that however perfect it may seem on the outside, its just a facade.
Assignment #6
The poem I have chosen is the first “The Chimney Sweeper”. It stood out to me the most because out of all the poem, the imagery really stuck with me. It was both depressive yet reassuring. It is definitely sad because the situations these little kids have to go through, cleaning chimneys, sleeping with ashes and worst of all being naked. The way Blake described the kids really sends chills down my spine. However at the same time, because of the dream that Tom had, it lightens up the mood and portrays hope. I liked the way Blake uses an angel who resembles purity and everything good to come and rescues these kids from the entrapment they have been born into. That is why my favorite stanza has to be the last one, where Tom wakes up but instead of crying due to his unfortunate circumstances, he wakes up being “happy and warm”. Although I do not necessarily see the deeper meaning or if this poem was a metaphor for something, I do believe that Blake did a great job bringing out the emotion out of the reader.
Assignment #4
An Essay on Man is one of the most interesting texts I have ever read. One of the ideas that really stuck with me is the idea that everything in nature is codependent. That we are all on a single hypothetical chain and if one part of the chain fails, all the other parts of the chain also fails. We can definitely see this concept being explained by Pope from line 243 to line 246. This concept of codependency between different lives in one ecosystem has been proven over the course of time, if a species goes extinct it creates this butterfly effect where we see whoever is right above that species on the food chain will start to decline in the overall population and then it keeps going up the chain. One thing I did not really understand is how someone like Pope who is a devoted man of faith can suddenly shift towards science and reasoning although not all the way. I am aware that in the enlightenment age the trend was to question blind religious faith. However I also imagine at that time period, there was really no need for science when faith really answers most of your unanswerable questions. I would like to find out what exactly is the catalyst for someone to perhaps start to question what they have believed in their entire life until then. Class was certainly productive, I was certain that I was the only one who might have struggled with the text but it appears that most of my classmates also seemed to have struggled. I do believe that the class kind of ended too abruptly, I wish everyone had more time to discuss what they have found interesting. I certainly see where Pope is coming from, he is coming from being a serious devoted man of faith to accepting reason and science. However, I do think that science should be placed on a higher pedestal. It may not make sense to call this so-called planet Earth a random probability to some people, I do believe that we are somewhat an anomaly. I personally believe that everything can and will be explained by science and we do not necessarily need a higher being for an explanation. The most impactful line to me is definitely the last line, “Whatever is, is right”. This is where I certainly agree with Pope, although not for the same reason. Pope thinks that everything is perfectly the way God intended it to be but I think that everything is perfect because everything was random enough to evolve into a world like this.
Introductions
Hello, My name is Tianhui Lei but you’re welcome to call me Ken. This is my first semester back in school after a year and a half hiatus. I was once a physics major at City College Of New York but Calculus 2 was too much for me to handle. One thing you should know about me is that I am a huge coffee nerd. I worked as a barista for a long time and no, not at Starbucks. Although I don’t have anything against Starbucks, I do think that coffee should be looked at deeper, past Starbucks. During my times at home because of Covid 19, I have found a new appreciation for reading and one of the better books that I read was Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. The book has taught me not to overlook the finer details of life but to actually celebrate it. One of the passages in the book talks about how the minute detail of taste can lead to a disastrous habit of smoking. Gladwell shows that the number of teens who experiment with nicotine at a young age does not accurately correlate to the number of people who grow up to become heavy smokers. He says that most teens will try to experiment with nicotine at a young age but it is how different bodies process nicotine that actually determines whether people will continue to develop a smoking habit. I found this very interesting and provides insight on how to combat teen smoking. As someone who has a ton of friends who smoke frequently, it helps me to understand that it is not just as simple as just banning it or raising the price but actually treat nicotine as what it is, a poison. I want to encourage people who smoke frequently to go to rehab and support them with love and kindness rather than judgment and hate.
