It’s about a young man named Gregor, who lived with his family, Dad, mom, and sister. He had no life besides working so he could pay his family’s debts. He doesn’t socialize and he doesn’t even have much time to spend with his own family. All his focus was oriented towards his job. Gregor’s behavior started changing and people started to notice it at work. And one day he wakes up and finds out that he has become an “it,” an insect, he couldn’t do anything. He’s boss and family were shocked when they find he’s metamorphosis. His boss despite Gregor’s hard work at the office didn’t help him now that he needed him the most. He started blaming himself for not being able to earn enough money to take care of them. The family becomes sad with his condition, they felt sorry for him at the beginning and took care of him as the mother felt it was her responsibility to do so. But at the end they couldn’t keep it up, they treated him bad and he couldn’t bear it anymore so he ends up dying. His death was a big relieve for them because they finds him an extra weight. They moved to a new town and started a new life without even thinking about him. I feel bad for Gregor, the way his life ended is sad. This makes me think that sometimes human beings can be so heartless and selfish. It makes me think that a person is only love and important to others when he or she is both financially and physically independent. The society we live in is constructed like this.

 Hanan Al-Shaykh, a Lebanese author from strict Shi’a family.

”The Woman’s Swimming Pool”

 This story is a mix of fiction and non-fiction. It’s about a girl from strict Muslim family living in a very conservative part of their country, Lebanon; whose dream is to go to the sea, “The Women’s Swimming Pool.” One day she gets her grandmother to take her into town to the sea; after hearing from her friend Samayya that there is a swimming pool for women. The city, Beirut, is very Western and the girl and her grandmother are very out of place in their traditional Islamic garb. In the end, the girl can’t get in the pool because the moment they arrived there, it was prayer time already and her grandmother was praying. That’s when she realized that this is a different world from the one she lives in. she realizes that she’s imprisoned by her traditional Islamic customs and that she has no other option, but follow it because of the love she share with her grandmother. I found the story kind of related to the author’s life experience. It’s very interesting because it points out the impacts of people’s culture, or traditions, and or religion have on their lives.

Mahmoud Darwish shared the struggle of his people with the world, writing: “Identity Card.” This poem was one of Darwish’s most famous poems. It symbolizes the cultural and political resistance to Israel’s forced dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of their homeland. His poem spoke to millions of Palestinians and Arabs around the world, resulting in him becoming the most well known and loved of Palestinian poets.

In “Identity Card” Darwish’s opening lines “Record! I am an Arab/ And my identity card is number fifty thousand” explains where he finds his identity, in the card with a number 50,000? Well millions of exiled people, who live in refugee camps and other areas, fit in this category.

In effect, identity is generally associated with place, with a state, which the Palestinians presently lack and for which negotiations continue with the objective of developing. The issue, of course, remains unresolved. And the continued violence (suicide bombers, assassinations, invasions, etc.) finds reflection in the poem’s conclusion, which is:

Therefore!

Put it on record at the top of page one:
I don’t hate people,
I trespass on no one’s property.
And yet, if I were to become hungry
I shall eat the flesh of my usurper.
Beware,

Beware,

Of my hunger
And of my anger!

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.

          “Bartleby the scrivener” be Herman Melvin was an amazing story. It all happened in a law firm constructed by a lawyer, the boss, Turkey the scrivener who works hard in the morning time, Nippers the young ambitious scrivener who had stomach trouble during the morning, but was more productive after lunch time, and the errand-boy whose nickname was Ginger Nut. The boss managed with them in a daily basis, but later need more help, he then hired Bartleby. At the beginning Bartleby was a very hard working person and productive so the boss became pleased with him over the other employees. But later on, Bartleby had a very strange attitude towards the boss. He refused to do even the routine tasks in the office, he to do the job assigned to him politely by saying “I prefer not to.” The boss was amazed by his reaction, but did not sanction him from work. The other employees were very upset about that attitude of Bartleby and began hating him because the boss still favors him over them after all this.

I think that Bartleby had some personal issues going on in his life and could not handle it in his own, which is why he was reacting like that at work. He did not want a social life, he refuses to eat, from here we can say that he did not feel good about himself; he was missing something in his life. He felt that he needed more freedom, but he chose a very wrong way of claiming it. He died in a very pitiful way, sad, depressed, and lonely in a dark life.

I can say that there is no Bartley in today’s society at the work places. Even we do not want do a job we are assigned to, we will end up doing it because we are lack of choice and power. If one resigns for a position, there will be tones of individuals available for that position. Be smart, be mature and be careful before you make any decision!!!

The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin

The story starts with in the dreamlike world where a magical and conscious stone, the one block left over by the goddess Nu-wa while repairing the damaged vault of the sky in the mythic past. Along came a monk and a Taoist priest who decided to make it human and let it live/experience the world. The stone was born human named Jiabaoyu because he was born with a jade in his mouth. He later falls in love with his cousin Lin Daiyu, the flower he watered with his magical sweet dew while serving in at the goddess’ court as a stone.

Later on Jiabaoyu’s family decided that he should marry his other cousin Xue Baochai, because she had a golden locket with an inscription that matches Boayu’s jade and couldn’t do anything about it because his family had spoken. Lin Daiyu ended her own life after hearing that should marry Xue Baochai not her. Jiabaoyu was unhappy, miserable and lonely because of the decision his family had made for him, it’s like they had changed his destiny to the road of misery. He renounced to everything and went to live alone as a monk.

The time this story was written the Chinese people has a very strong traditional background, it reflected on the social problems they had at that particular time. The writer because he was trying to point out that their society was corrupted, and the lack of freedom, not been able to express or live your true feelings. Was the author trying to convince his audiences not follow the values of traditions, culture, and or the corrupted society, but their own happiness? Did his story help others realize it that it was time for a better future, were they could make their own decisions? Can say that the Cao Xueqin was an enlightenment thinker?