Great Works of Literature II

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was an emotional, depressing, and moving piece. From the pages that were assigned, I felt beyond sympathy for slaves. I was humbled by the description of the treatment of the slaves, especially the separation of mother and child. “I never saw my mother, to know her as much, more than four or five times in my life” (page 923).  Most of us are fortunate enough to have a mother in our life and sometimes, I know I do, wish they weren’t in our life. I believe we take for granted what we do have, even something as small as freedom.

What really caught my attention, was that the slaves discriminated amongst themselves. “When Colonel Lloyd’s slaves met the slaves of Jacob Jepson, they seldom parted without a quarrel about their masters” (page 931). Even in the situation that the slaves are in, they still find a way to discriminate against each other, according to their masters. This usually happens in society now, instead of people of the same race bonding together, there’s usually discrimination in the race itself. Like in my family, they are Dominican and light skinned, but in their own family they have dark skinned members. They still always argue because of their differences, whether it be color of skin, where they live, or how they act, they still discriminate against each other, instead of coming together and being a family. Now-a-days people have gotten too spoiled, and they act too comfortable. This narrative helps humble people back down to appreciate what they do have in life, and that no matter how big our problems may be, there’s still positive things to live for. If we think on the hardships of Frederick Douglass, we can be thankful for what we have. There’s been recent suicides due to invasion of privacy and hate acts, but if Frederick Douglass could live his life through, so can all of us. LOVE IS LOUDER THAN DISCRIMINATION!

Hey Guys,

So I thought it would be interesting to hear what the poems sound like. Personally I find it easier to understand poems after hearing it read out loud a few times. So heres what I found so far…

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbqv9a_john-keats-on-first-looking-into-ch_creation

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions is an autobiography, meaning it is the story of his life, written by himself. Rousseau begins in a way that seems self-centered and conceited to some. He writes things like, “I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence.” But it’s only human nature to be a bit self -centered. I think it would be a bigger problem if someone’s life was centered on someone else.  In some cases it’s illegal for you to be concerned solely on someone else. One example is stalking. Rousseau goes on to speak about some of the most embarrassing moments in his life.  He admits to an experience where he was beaten by his nanny, and enjoying it. He wanted to be beaten again. He basically told the world about his taboo sexual desires. And later told us about his silly belief that he was saved because he hit a tree with a rock, even though he chose the biggest tree and it wasn’t likely at all that he would miss. But the most interesting thing about Rousseau is not what he said, but that he said it. From what I’ve seen, people tend to tell you what they want you to know and hide the embarrassing details of their life until they’re on their death bed, or they take their secrets to the grave. So I believe that he’s either hiding the deeper darker secrets, or he isn’t being completely honest. In fact, the pre-text says “ …despite its claim of absolute truthfulness, sometimes appears more concerned to create a self –justifying story than to confine itself strictly to actuality.”   (I’m gonna write in capital letters so that people will actually read this now)

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT PEOPLE ARE BIAS. I KNOW THAT I COULDN’T WRITE A TRULY HONEST CONFESSION WITH THE MOST EMBARASSING DETAILS OF MY LIFE, WITH SELF REFLECTIONS FOR THE WORLD TO READ AND JUDGE ME. MY QUESTION TO THE CLASS IS, DO YOU THINK IT’S POSSIBLE TO WRITE A HONEST CONFESSION LIKE THIS? AND IF SO, COULD YOU DO IT? (and for extra credit, I think we should each write a confession…. I’ll go first… Ok I can’t do it… I’ll go second… to last…. Which is probably first anyway lol)

So you’ve seen a picture I’ve found on google of Cunegonde, and I know some people wanted to see the Old Lady and how ugly she was.

Well, i found this in a new york times article, this was a musical/opera done of Candide, and this was Judith Blazer playing the Old Lady.

In my opinion, this is a great representation of the Old Lady because she looks creepy and mysterious in some way, which is what I got from the text of Candide.

After reading Wordsworth two poems, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and “The World Is Too Much with Us,” I realized that he likes using nature in his writing. In both poems, I believe nature is his central theme. However, for me “Line Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” was a lot more difficult to understand but both were pretty difficult.

In “The World is Too Much With Us” he wrote about how humans don’t appreciate what nature has to offer and it reminded me of Pope’s piece. Pope also believed that humans fault was that they were vain in many ways and that they didn’t appreciate what was right in front of them. Also, they wanted more than they needed. I believe that these two pieces have a connection. Both go on about how everything that we need is right here, yet we just look by it and don’t understand the concept of nature and the world.

Wordsworth wrote, “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers…” Humans are too much into themselves and all they want is to feel the pleasure of feeling wanted or wanting others to like them. I feel that Wordsworth has a point in this. When did we ever just sit and look at the world around us and just take everything in. I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever done that. He feels as though living in another time, things would’ve been different. I kind of agree with this because maybe back then when people didn’t have as many things to do they appreciated the world more. However, I also think that humans have always had a selfish side only thinking of themselves. So, maybe humans never really did understand the power of nature and never will.

Before i start my blog about William Wordsworth’s poems, I have to admit I’m not one who understands poems too well.

Now that I got that out of the way, after reading Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey I picked up a sense of appreciation and admiration the poet has for nature. Wordsworth reminisces on childhood memories of nature. The way he describes the sceneries of nature and the effect they have on him allows me to see the importance of  the communication between human and nature. I was going to quote certain parts of the poem but I realized that there is not one short part I can quote. From stanza 130 to 155, when he writes of his connection of his past to his present about nature, it made me remember my own experience with nature. New York City, even Brooklyn is a lot different from my native country of Myanmar. It’s a coincidence because “5 years” ago I visited Myanmar and went on a road trip with my family to the mountainous regions. Reading this poem made me remember the beauty and tranquility of nature. And although that trip was in the past, living in such a industrious place like NYC now, I’m very appreciative of that time I had with nature. Everyday I’m surrounded by the modernization and the advancement of technology in city life that remembering the sight of green pastures and star filled night skies, the smell of fresh air, and the sound of waterfalls brings me back some lost sanity. I admit, at the time when I was experiencing nature, I didn’t take it in but after leaving it and coming back to reality, I actually see the importance of nature to human beings. Like Wordsworth mentioned in his poem, “Thy memory be as a dwelling place For all sweet sounds and harmonies.”

Aside from making a personal connection to the poem, it reminded me of a reading from my previous English course I took in the spring. I don’t remember the exact title but it was about Frederick Law Olmsted’s creation of Central Park. I’m relating the poem to the reading because I feel they both emphasize the importance of nature. Wordsworth sees the experience of nature in his childhood as a gift for his present life of towns and cities. Olmsted brings nature to the city so that nature doesn’t have to be just a memory. Central Park is a piece of wilderness brought to the center of a bustling city so that people can get in touch with nature without having to travel out of NYC.

I’m pretty sure all of us have had a vivid memory of nature, so feel free to share your experience =D

Rousseau’s “Confessions” is an avant-garde approach to writing an autobiography. His opening line in which he promises to ‘tell the truth and nothing but the truth’ is almost as avant-garde. His confessions which we have read are not as important as is the way and medium in which he writes them. His confessions, most notably the one on his troubles in writing (pg,671), are like a battlescene. The paragraph talks about how his writing doesn’t come easily and how he thinks he’s not even a good writer; the irony of which lies in the fact that the entire paragraph was written in clear vivid, English. Rousseau has an air of naiveness in him, especially in his younger years when he was less educated, are somewhat like the naivety of Candide. Both were sort of alienated from the world, Candide in his lack of knowledge, and Rousseau’s problem of his relation to society [He peed in his neighbors cooking pot. thats classic. honey…my food tastes like pee]. “Confessions” shows the narcissistic side of the romantic period of his time, Romanticism. His desire to be beaten by his nanny is a perverse, his relationship with an older women [Mademoiselle de Vulson] to whom he claims experienced the “first fruits of his youthful love”. The dangers of this were an immersion into caring only about yourself which led to an alienation from reality and others. Rousseau’s “Confessions” isn’t so much an avant-garde approach to an autobiography as it is a gateway into his mind.

I was having trouble visualizing Cunegonde when she was ugly. When I found this picture of Cunegonde, I found it intriguing. I definitely didn’t expect Cunegonde to be visualized this ugly. Anyone agree? Disagree?

When I read this story the first thing that came to my mind is the famous quote of “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Toyo-o thought he had met the girl of his dreams when “in stepped a beautiful woman less than twenty years of age. Her features, the way she wore her hair, her colorful robe, the perfume she exuded-all this, Toyo-o noted, made her bewitchingly voluptuous” (pg. 633). Based on her looks he thought she was the girl for him but little did he know that she was out to trick him and get him to love her for someone she wasn’t. To me this was just another typical story in which someone falls for another person just because of his or her looks and not because of who the person is.

If Toyo-o was more careful and he didn’t let his instincts take over, than he might have seen that she was evil and was only out to hurt him, not love him. What Toyo-o should have realized was that everything seemed too good to be true, and it had been. A woman who he had met the previous day was already professing her love for him. Is it possible to know if you love someone after such a short first acquaintance? Many people don’t believe so but Toyo-o could have been thinking desperately and that could be a reason for his decision.

When I read this story it reminded me in a way of Monkey’s character from the first story we read. Monkey’s case is the same as Toyo-o’s however the only difference is that Monkey did not trust people when he should have. Monkey was given help along the way from the Bodhisattva and thought they were evil from the way they looked even though they were sent as an aid. Toyo-o and Monkey both judged the people they met by the way that they looked and because of that they got themselves into more trouble than they already had.

The first thing that came to my mind after finishing this piece was how can so many things happen to so many people all at the same time? The misery that each character went through was quite astonishing. Each of the characters went through many different situations which should have broken their spirits but didn’t because they each had sufficent reason to live. The protagonist Candide shocked me in many ways, going from an innocent boy, to a murderer, to being tortured several times, and then finally fining his own peace. This piece reminded me of a mixture of Robin Hood Men in Tights and the Three Musketeers.  For example, after Candide and Cacambo leave El Dorado with all their riches they give money to people that are in dire need of it and paid off ransoms.  I was reminded of the Three Musketeers when Candide fought and murdered the Jew, the Grand Inquisitor, and almost killed the brother of Cunegonde.  He would fight these men for who he thought was the love of his life.  One thing that I didn’t like at all was in chapter 29 when Candide finally sees Cunegonde after going through so many things he simply doesn’t want her anymore just because she is the gorgeous woman he had known her to be from before.  Although I was glad to see that in the conclusion when Candide met the Turk and Candide’s thoughts on life changed once again. The Turk told Candide that “work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty” (580) and when he was told this Candide and all his friends lived a much happier life realizing that “we must cultivate our garden” (580).  So far this has been one of my favorite stories that we have read even though we haven’t read that many. What I was able to take from this piece was that that money cannot buy happiness, beauty doesn’t last forever, and it’s the simple things in life that make people happy.