1.In The Story of The Stone, what are the Baoyu’s enlightenments and how the context shows it?
2. Bartleby only said ” I prefer not to”, why he always said it and is really means “I prefer not to ? How to relate our lives?
Author Archives: Yuyin Liu
” We Hold These Truths to Be Self-evident.”
There are five articles that relative to declaration. These declarations proof that people realize their enlightenments. They see what to want to change and what kind of life they want. We are reading these articles because it links to enlightenment. Declaration articles show what make people realize they problem, how they are not bear their lives, and what they want to change. Because of the different culture, the language of these articles are hard to understand. However, I can understand the main points that author what to express. The similar of these five articles are they all link to liberty man right, and woman right.
I am going to analyze one sentence in Declaration of Sentiments,” We hold these truths b to be self-evident.” WE is plural pronoun and nominative plural of I. WE means you and me. In this article, WE means women. HOLD, “to have or keep in the hand”. What we can hold in our hand? We hold our property and rights. THESE is plural of this, It includes some, not just one. THESE uses as subject, like people, things, ideas, events, time. TRUTHS is the truth, “conformity with fact or reality, and a verified of proposition and principle”. In this article, What the woman truths are? TRUTHS are natural resource of woman, like getting equal rights with men. That is what woman can own and control. SEFL-EVIDENT, is “evident without proof or argument”. Is woman right self-evident? God gives man rights, also woman can own her rights. People are equal.
“Candide, or Optimism”
“while Candide, the baron, Pangloss, Martin, and Cacambo were telling one another their stories, while they were disputing over the contingent or non-contingent events of this universe, while they were arguing over effects and cause, over moral evil, over the consolations available to one in Turkish galley.” This exposes that they faced cruel realistic world after they left the castle. Candide was whip many times, and was forced to left Cunegonde, but he always had someone to help him to spend his worse time. Pangloss was Master, but he was hanged and burned. Fortunately, he saved by surgeon, then become a slave. The baron was being a wealth people, but he was force to work in galley after he swim with a Christian to be found naked with a young Moslem. Sum up, they were almost face death, but they learned how to survive in the different environments. There is a sentence, ” God closes the door, but he still leave the window for you.”
The characters realized the basic truth in life after they met the old good man. When they asked the old good man who had been strangled. The good man told them that he had never care and ignored it. He just did not listen to the news from others and satisfied with sending the fruits of his garden to be sold there. At the end, Pangloss said that “when man was put into the garden of Eden, he was put there ut operaretur eum, so that he should work it, this proves that man was not born to take his ease.” This told us that they need to satisfied our current circumstance and don’t be lazy. It would have easy life.
The Rights of Women
Women fought for their rights since the Enlightenment. Mary Wollstonecraft is one of advocators who vindicate of rights of women. Women needed education to change their lives and to prove their abilities in the society, but they had less opportunities to attend school to get great degrees. Society set women’s role, I think the role for women at that time is like slaves. Wollstonecraft also attacked men’s maturity and understanding. She thought women might have more knowledge than men. People ‘s viewpoints were influence by manner.
On my opinion, it was hard time for advocating rights of woman, but if advocators were not advocate it, we would not having women’s rights. Wollstonecraft enlighten me that we should have courage to fight for what we want. “You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”