great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Now go and live in a place,     pg 591

Brandon, Alyshia, Jonathan

Being scorned from love can bring about a pain like no other.  Ghalib’s pain is expressed in his poem Now go and live in a place, where he more or less excommunicates love. Also based on the tone of the poem, this line projects a sense of anger and resentment. This can also be perceived by how someone may read aloud this poem. The speaker is speaking to another individual and orders that person to be on their own. From the poem line, you get a feeling that the person on the other end is not welcome in their home no longer. A house is something that is structured and provokes a feeling of togetherness, with respect to a family for instance. From this line, you can tell that a structure is broken, as well as a bond between two people. This is a contrast to both family and togetherness. The speaker also demands that the other person build something without a “gate” or a “wall.” A gate or a wall provides protection, and in this sense, the person speaking wishes that the other become hurt, exposing a weakness. In addition to being left hurt in some way, he wishes isolation upon the individual with the words, “with no neighbour to keep you company.” Analysis of this line, clearly projects anger and resentment.

Alyshia, Brandon & Jonathan

Poem:  To Tell the Truth

1. Dancing
2. Twinkle
3. Two blue eyes
4. Soulful songs materialise
5. But
6. Never really quite enough

Given the word “dancing,” in the second line of the poem, it is associated with a celebratory form of expression accompanied with a feeling of happiness. In the aforementioned line, it tells of a new season coming about and what it brings with it.The author quickly turns to the nighttime conditions of the season by associating it with the moon and how the stars “twinkle.” It is the word “twinkle” that gives the reader a sense that something is shining, or sparkling. It is then in the next line of the poem that the reader most likely eludes to something that has a human feature to it with the words, “two blue eyes.” When two people usually meet for the first time, the thing they notice about the one another are their eyes; therefore, there could be a sense of admiration toward the being with the blue eyes. This is then confirmed with the words “soulful song materialize.” It is here you get a feeling that when the two beings see each other, one of them feels so much happiness that only soulful music can describe it. Then there is the word “But,” which abruptly interrupts the speaker’s stream of consciousness. This use of the word “but” here is purposely used to portray change. As readers, we understand this change with the final words, “Never really quite enough.” This is in reference to whatever the speaker has to offer, which is not good enough for the person who he or she desires.

The thing the initially comes to mind when reading this poem is Springtime. The joy and the beauty of it. In digging deeper, I mostly get the sense of being in a dream.  You can imagine being surrounded by dancing flowers and under the twinkling stars. Then being in a trance like state from gazing upon those human like blue eyes.  Even the soulful music in the background all adds to enhance this moment. But then something snaps you back to reality when you realize it was all just a figment of your imagination.  As satisfying as the dream is, at the end of the day, you’ll never have enough of it because sooner or later you have to wake up.

The poem’s interpretation still holds true today, it will apply to individuals regardless of social status or country of origin. People enjoy being in dreams that takes them to beautiful places; it would be like enhancing one’s life for short period of time. I wish dreams would last longer. The chosen words resonate with most people and with the idea of being in a positive trance, for instance dancing is one of the ways in which people from different cultures express positive feelings. Twinkle is typically something that people would relate with the universe and goals, today that shining typically is known as “the spark of light at the end of the tunnel”. The denotative description of the blue eyes holds true today since eye contact is typically the first way we communicate with others, animals & humans use eye contact to establish dominance. Today music can be as addictive as a drug, only that it doesn’t hurt us it just makes us imagine great things. But is a word that most people today use daily. Today’s society feels like its never quite enough, for instance someone making $100,000 might feel like he or she is not making quite enough, millionaires around the world today usually seek bigger and better things therefore it would never be enough.

FIRST THESIS: In society money helps individuals to sustain themselves, it’s also the tool which indirectly gives power and status among other things. The issue with it is that it often compromises our morals and values, this can inevitably get in the way of relationships which will eventually hurt the feelings of individuals. In Feng Menglong’s narrative, “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” there is clearly more emphasis on money than love from Li Jia and this leads to Du Tenth’s heart ending up broken.

SECOND THESIS; People’s opinion on our decisions may not matter much to a person, this is not the case when it comes from close family member. For instance a father’s opinion can shape the life of a son,  In Feng Menglong’s narrative, “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” Li Jia is scared of his father’s opinion on his feelings towards Du Tenth(a prostitute), there is an emphasis on Li Jia honoring his father but this honor clashes with his feelings towards Du Tenth. Unfortunately situations like this one must be brave and select the right path, this varies from individual to individual.

Hedda Gabler is an amazing play, I really enjoyed reading it. For me, the character that stood out the most in this play was Hedda Tesman; she seemed to be very manipulative yet intelligent woman. Hedda had power over her significant other George, but this also extended to her ex Lövborg she used the love from her lovers in order to manipulate them and eventually get what she wanted. For instance she tells her ex Lövborg “I wonder if there really was. For me it was like we were two good comrades, two really good, faithful friends. (Smiling.) I remember you were particularly frank and open.” This quote illustrates the manipulation used by Hedda, when we says “I wonder if there really was” basically she’s telling Lövborg that while they were together there wasn’t any love or feelings from her part, this is something that no one would like to hear and especially when there’s true feelings involve. Her version of love would be more like wealth by association. The other part when she says “I remember you were particularly frank and open” at this point Hedda process to make fun of Lövborg for innocently opening up to her, he confessed her things that no one ever knew. She manipulated him or one might call it seduced him into getting him to open up to her, this situation would love most people in a weak spot since now all the cards are faced up, but interestingly enough she didn’t opened up to him while they were together which adds to the fact that she was a highly manipulative woman.

There were commonalities as well as differences in between Du Tenth and the narrator of Life of a Sensuous Woman. The obvious thing they both had in common was that they were both prostitutes but other than that, one must understand the time period in which both characters lived, there was certain conditioning and rules for them to follow. The idea of love is very abstract and both Du Tenth and the narrator from life of a Sensuous Woman interpret it differently. For instance one thing I noticed about the narrator in Saikaku’s was that she was more concern with lust than with love and as we discussed in class the narrator is open about her standards. She said “If you look closely at the world, you’ll see that a man who’s born sexually weak is a very sad thing for a woman.”(599). The narrator seems to be more focused towards lust and short term reward than love. Du Tenth appeared to have feelings of love towards the young master, after Du Tenth agree to help the master with taels she demonstrated that we wanted to see him again “But there are only four days left before our time is up. Be sure not to be late.” This showed that we cared about a future. Another example is when Yuchun said “this is a truly a woman with sincere intentions. She has real feelings, she should not be let down.” Yuchun told this to the young master and there is a reason for it, means were very hard to come by in those times and for a prostitute to take role and lead her way into love demonstrated courage and responsibility.