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!

“Identity Card” is a poem about Palestinians’ feeling and restriction on expulsion. Darwish repeats “put it on record” and “angry” every stanza. This shows Darwishs’ feeling against foreign occupation. “Record” means “write down”. Darwish wanted Palestinians to write this history event down and remember that they have been excluded. People feel angry when their property and rights were taken away. Palestinians had lived in that land from generation to generation. They took many efforts on their land, so some Palestinians would not want to give up their land.

This poem relates to Mahmoud Darwish’s experience. In the Arab- Israeli war of 1948, Israeli government occupied Birweh, so Palestinians were forced to move and leave their hometown. This recalls me about the American history that U.S. government forced the Native Americans to move to reservations. Many sad stories happened when Native Americans were forced to move. People who experienced exile need to give up some of the property like land they have before and move to another place. This was a hard time for Palestinians because their lives were destroyed, and they needed to start their new lives in a new place.

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.

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….

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.

          “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!!!