In “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf’s main point is that every woman needs a room of her own. Women never get to enjoy what men are able to enjoy without question. A room of her own provides a woman the space and time to engage in an uninterrupted writing because during Wolf’s time there was inequality between men and women. Men’s talent was considered higher than women’s. Wolf predict that unless these inequalities were resolved, women will never be considered as an asset to their society and their literary achievements will never be recognized.
Monthly Archives: April 2013
We Need a Room of Our Own
In “A Room of One’s Own”, the author Virginia Woolf proves women do not enjoy the equal right as men, for example, she creates Judith Shakespare, who can be imagined as Shakespare’s twin sister. However, her talent is not considered as worthy as William Shakespeare, even both of them are talented. The author also lists a lots of books in which the male authors holds the idea that women is not as talented as men. She also states the importance of money for women. In terms of the above ideas, I can agree with the author more since her idea is still useful for today’s female.
It always happens to me that I spend the whole day doing this and that without rest. When I have time to make a conclusion for today’s life, I find that I spent little time or almost no time on myself except study. If I am a housewife without education and work, there would be no room of my own. The importance of money for me in my life is a way that I can use the money that I earned to change into my own time. When I have to time and energy to cook, money can provide the time for me to rest. Although money cannot do everything for me, it still helps me a lot. We enjoy the relatively equal right as men today, but we have to overcome more pressures and difficulties than men. We can achieve the same academic success as men, but we still have to give birth to sons and daughters. It is the responsibility which men cannot do for us today.
“Diary of a Madman”
The novel “Diary of a Madman” was written by Lu Xun, which he delivered his feelings about the Feudalism in ancient China. The words of a madman may not necessarily be false. The man wrote in his diary, “If they’re capable of eating me, then they’re capable of eating you too! Even within their own group, they think nothing of devouring each other.”(Lu Xun, p.251) He reflects that the ancient society was complicated. People are greedy and insidious. They do not know how to stand together to face problems but plot against each other. “Change from the bottom of your hearts!” This sentence is repeated twice. As a reader, we can see the protagonist’s hunger for change and his hatred on corruption. He knew that the only way to save human beings was to change themselves. However, he was labeled as a Madman. Who is going to listen and believe a word of a Madman? It’s useless!
The novel mentioned EAT PEOPLE again and again. PEOPLE symbolizes human nature. EAT can be interpret as destroy. Therefore, the real meaning that the author wants to deliver was the destruction of human nature that cause by the depraved society. At the end of the novel, the author concluded with “Save the children…” The ellipsis at the end of the sentence emphasizes the protagonist’s helpless voice. He believed that the children should be lighthearted. Unfortunately, they joined those who “eat people,” and they gradually become marble-hearted. The children should be the future of the country, but their simplicity was “killed” by the society.
Through the novel, we have seen the miserable of the Old China. In that society, people were living under complete darkness, which was totally lacked of justice. Compared to the lives today, how lucky we are, living with each other who DO NOT EAT PEOPLE…. appreciate what are we having now….
Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman”
When I read Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman”, I feel that the protagonist suffers mental illness like paranoia. He always thinks that his brother and all other villagers are planning to eat him even though children and Zhao family’s dog. This sounds ridiculous and irrational. The diary also doesn’t write down the date. It seems like some parts happen in a same day, but some parts include many days. These are consistent with what Lu Xun writes in the preface that this diary is from a man with a dread disease and he changes no word.
In Part One, there is a sentence, “But I’ve still got to be very careful.” I feel that the society is very danger, so the protagonist needs to “be very careful”. Protagonist is very sensitive because he can realize that villagers plan to eat him based on their actions and eyes. He discovers that old texts also talk about cannibalism. Villagers are very apathetic because they don’t stop although they know they are wrong. They let the bad things happen and don’t give a help. At the end, Lu Xun is yelling “Save the children.” This bad culture and apathetic behaviors cannot pass to younger generations. Lu Xun wants people to realize that the bad side of traditional culture and take a change.
My favors part of this Diary is, “There were no dates in this history, but scrawled this way and that across every page were the words BENEVOLENCE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, and MORALITY. Since I couldn’t get to sleep anyway, I read that history very carefully for most of the night, and finally I began to make out what was written between the lines; the whole volume was filled with a single phrase: EAT PEOPLE!”(Lu Xun 246) These two sentences said that traditional culture teaches people virtue like “benevolence”, “righteousness”, and “morality”, but the aim is to cover the brutal truth of “eat people”. People are influenced and assimilated imperceptibly, so people become apathetic.
The black widow.
The reading that I’m going to speak about is the tattooer; this short reading was filled with passion, well, one can say that there isn’t passion but I feel that there was. Some of this passion was seen in Seikichi’s insatiable desire to be put in situations where he can delve into his sadistic interest, more importantly his passion was seen in the art work that he did on his clients.
Seikichi enjoyed the work in the line of tattooing for a specific reason, this reason is because he had the opportunity to watch others shrivel in pain; Seikichi was passionate about this part of his work, so passionate, there was a scene he was seen putting more pressure or shading in the tattoo just to make sure he evoked the emotion out of his clients that got his clock ticking. LOL, I did find this creepy but he is waking up every morning and doing what he loves to do; he is a true Sadistic bastard.
The passion that was immense was exemplified in his art work, I understand because I have a tattoo my self and before I got that tattoo I made sure that it was a piece of work that meant something to me; I made sure that it invigorated my soul and once I had something on my heart that did that I went to get my skin worked on./// The reason why I’m focusing on this aspect is because in the last scene he tells the girl that he has put his soul into her and that made me re read and gain understanding. I believe what he meant was this tattoo is something I’ve been thinking about and it truly means something to me, more importantly; he makes a statement about the tattoo (which is a black widow) “that now all men will be her victim.” this is important. In the times that Seikichi was around there was nothing new about geishas, however, it is said that they hold disease etc.and the black widow was known to kill or cause harm to its victim after mating, basically that means that the geisha or whore can do the same thing to her mate through venereal disease. So, besides the symbolism in the tattoo regarding the womens employment, there is also a metaphor to Seikichi’s statement, he said that he poured out his soul. His soul is tainted due to the lifestyle he lived. He lived in the middle of the city where the rich spent money, seeked geishas and enjoyed themselves, this lifestyle was said to leave to moral corruption, could Seikichi’s soul be corrupted due to his surrounding? Furthermore, he practices harming those who he gets in contact with for his own benefit, the same way a black widow would do its mate. There is a parallel between all 3 and that parallel can be seen as sadism.
-Fabian Varcianna
Emily Dickinson “303”
I have read this poem over and over and found such a strong meaning and feeling in it every time. A lot of Emily Dickinson’s poem are in only so many words but say so much.
In the first line, Dickinson states that “The soul selects her own society”. To me this can mean so many things. From this I can interpret that Emily is stating that one can create their own world in so many ways. For example, there are people in our world who are as if they dont even live in this world but in a made up world of their own. Which to me is what she means by the following line when she states “then- shuts the door, to her divine majority”. I feel as though these few lines alone are very strong and meaningful.
At often times, people in general may feel trapped. However, we can choose too shut our doors and become inactive. Is that what we really want to do though? To live in our own worlds. I wonder what it would be like if everyone did that.
Emily Dickinson “712”
When I read this poem, it makes me feel a cold. Blue and grey is the basic color of the poem since the poem is about Emily Dickinson’s understanding of death and his life. The first line of the poem: “Because I could not stop for Death”. It seems that Dickinson considers death is a very common and regular issue for him. She is not afraid of it. Emily Dickinson describes that she has to give up many things in her life for His Civility. It makes her not so happy about it because she has to give up her labor and leisure. She also talks about the life and time, such as school life, that everyone is passing from. It helps me to remember my school life when I was a child. “Or rather-He passed Us –“Dickinson is not moving and standing there. She is just looking at the changeable world.
In the later lines she talks about death again. “A Swelling of the Ground” I think she refers to a grave. However, Dickinson did not consider death is the end of the life. “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity.” Just like Emily Dickinson’s spiritual life, her poems are immortal. It seems like that Dickinson transcends her life and death.
“From Song of Myself”
When I read the poem “From Song of myself,” I thought it was interesting. Actually, the author caught the readers’ attention in the beginning of the poem. For example, the author wrote “And what I assume you shall assume,” the author tried to make the readers could find some connections between him and the readers. It was a special beginning for the readers because it would make the readers want to read more. According to the author said that “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” I felt like the author tried to express that people are equal. We lived in the same world, so people have the same rights. In other words, I thought the author advocated a democracy society; but it could only exist in his idealistic world.
Furthermore, I thought the author was a person who had a social responsibility because he thought everything happened he had responsibility. For one thing, he wrote that “Whoever degrades another degrades me, And whatever is done themselves from their jambs!” As we can see that the author put himself with everyone together, it could prove he was a “universe son” that he mentioned before. As for me, I like the way the author wrote. Unlike other authors, Walt Whitman not just expressed his own thoughts; he also tried to think himself as a reader. He tried to stand on readers’ side, he always make some connections with readers. In last part of his poem, he wrote that “Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.” Although the author used these simple words, he made the readers get more involved in his poem.
an honest man?
“I Am an Honest Man” becomes very popular when it is set to the tune of Guantanamera. Whole poetry expresses strong emotions to readers. From this poem, I see how the author shows he is an honest man and how he expresses his feeling to us. How to be an honest man? “And before I die wish. To fling my verses form my soul” exactly show the way. The author wants to use verses to express true feelings and shows to all readers. In fact, to be a honest man is difficult because there are so many things in the life affect you and disrupt you, such as family, money, situations and others.
The most difficult things are to be honest to ourselves, because we can lie to everyone, but we cannot lie to ourselves. The author through verse expresses his feeling. Sometimes, you will afraid of something that you cannot show the truth to everyone. For example “I saw my soul, twice. When the poor old man died. When she said good-bye to me” From these three lines, I feels that the author thought this situations to show his honesty. In that kind of situation, people will afraid to say it, but the author shows that he saw his soul, so he does not want to lie to himself. Author shows it to all readers and wants to express his feelings about it with everyone.
For me, it is also difficult to become an honest person because of so many reasons. Sometimes, I will make mistakes, such as break up grass. I am afraid that my parents will feel angry and criticized at me, so I will hide the truth. I admire author that he can express his feeling through poems and share it to everyone. To be honest to yourself is the most important things.
Guantanamera
Before even beginning to read the poem, my attention was already captured. The subtitle (Guantanamera) alone instantly took me down memory lane. I grew up listening to various renditions of a classic hit titled “Guantanamera” by famous musicians such as Celia Cruz, Jose Feliciano, and Tito Puentes. Without a doubt, curiosity at this point was sky-rocketing because I wanted to know if there was a connection between this poem and the song, so I felt the need to do some quick research. I found that the song is based on this poem. Undoubtably, just as any one else would do, I instantly went on YouTube to listen to the song while reading the poem in its original form (Spanish).
The official lyrics of the song are based on the first poem of Versos Sencillos – “Simple Verses” – written by Cuban poet José Martí. The four verses of the song were adapted from four stanzas of “Versos Sencillos”, each from a different poem.
The first 4 lines of this poem are included in the song and I’ve listed 2 links of different renditions below.
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I am an honest man
From where the palm grows
And before I die I wish
To fling my verses from my soul