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

Rebecca:

Over the course of this semester, I have learned, and gained a lot from this class. I have worked on my writing skills, oral presentation skills, and on teamwork and deadlines. Going about this semester differently, I would have ran through the presentation with the Professor before presenting, so we could have known what she was expecting specifically. I really like the way the class gives feedback to our classmates, because it’s helped be more open to others and open to other’s opinions. I think that I improved the most on my analytical skills, and specifically in comparing two works, or a work to a myth/allegory. I still find it difficult to sit through and read long, and sometimes quite boring, works. I also need to work on working ahead of deadlines.

Michelle:

Throughout this semester I’ve grown as a English student. One of the major things I’ve improved on is submitting my work on time and doing better on the quizzes. I also increasingly participated in class whenever questions were asked as well as commented on presentations. One thing I wish I could’ve done differently was submitted the paper I didn’t submit and done better on the midterm. I completely flunked that which I did study for but apparently not enough. Whenever we did free writes in class, it would expand my mind to write freely which was one of my favorite things. I could improve on writing essays more, I still struggle with writing thesis statements on essays because I feel as if they’re not specific enough.

Songun:
Through our English class i have learned about a lot of valuable topics which have helped increased my knowledge about world literature. Sometimes i am not very active in the class discussion, that is the one i need to continue improve and increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas. Speaking up in class and trying to get yourself to speak up more will actually help to improve confidence level when speaking in front of others. The writing process of paragraph form of four steps helped to organize my ideas so i was able to write in a more clearly and effective manner. I also studied working to understand the difference between summary and analysis, working on narrowing focus on larger writing assignments. Thankthis semester, thank you class.

Rebecca

“ My sleep was heavy and unsatisfying. In my dream, I had already felt the same vague melancholy, the weight on my diaphragm, the sadness that won’t stop oppressing my imagination. Although I was sleeping in Aura’s room, I was sleeping all alone, from from the body I believe I’ve possessed.

When I woke up, I looked for another presence in the room, and realize it’s not Aura who disturbs me, but trahter the double presence of something that was engendering during the night. I put my hands on my forehead, trying to calm my disordered senses: that dull melancholy is hinting to me in a low voice, the voice of memory and premonition, that I’m seeking my other half that the sterile conception last night engendered my own double.

And I stop thinking, because there are things even stronger than the imagination: the habits that force me to get up…”

I thought that this passage would be a good passage to try in first person. In the second person, it felt almost as if I was being hypnotized. It’s creepy and not only is trance like, but almost seems as if you are in a trance. “Your sleep is heavy and unsatisfying” is a command, trying to tell you that you are experiencing something you physically are not.

.

Songyun:

“ He sleeps was heavy and unsatisfying. In his dream, he had already felt the same vague melancholy, the weight on his diaphragm, the sadness that won’t stop oppressing his imagination. Although he was sleeping in Aura’s room, he was sleeping all alone, from from the body he believe he has possessed.

When he woke up, he looked for another presence in the room, and realize it’s not Aura who disturbs him, but trahter the double presence of something that was engendering during the night. He puts his hands on his forehead, trying to calm his disordered senses: that dull melancholy is hinting to him in a low voice, the voice of memory and premonition, that he is seeking his other half that the sterile conception last night engendered his own double.

And he stops thinking, because there are things even stronger than the imagination: the habits that force him to get up…”

Between first person, second person and third person. We can see when you first start reading the novel the second person narration sounds like someone is giving you instructions. The second person experiences as you actually feel its happening to you. And also helps us understand the development of main characters. But the third person does not bring the reader to a present state of mystery, but the second person taking the reader on a journey through Felipes stream of consciousness.

Michelle:

I thought that how my groupmates translated this passage was very interesting. I am most comfortable reading it in third person, because that is what we usually read books in, but the first person sounds like a person saying a narrative. I think it was a good passage for Rebecca to choose because there is a major difference between the three versions. The one in the book sounds like someone is telling you to do something, the first person sounds like someone saying their own creepy experience, and you are more distanced from it, and the third person makes you even more distanced and much less creepy.

“Although I was sleeping in Aura’s room, I was sleeping all alone, from from the body I believe I’ve possessed.” I thought that this sentence was strongest in first person. It becomes an emotional one, instead of an analytical one, when it’s in first person.

Rebecca:

A similar theme runs through Endgame and Mallarme’s poem. This is the theme of hopelessness. Clov and Hamm go through each and every day of their lives achieving basically nothing. There is a certain sense of unfulfilled potential, of an existence with no purpose. The same theme runs throughout Mallarme’s poem. “By the transparent glacier of flights never flown?” Flights never flown indicates the possibility to take off, to fly high, but they were never flown, indicated, the chance to find purpose and fulfill potential was not taken.  Another theme that runs through both pieces is the idea of being pained and troubled because of the circumstance that you are placed in. “Inflicted on the bird by the space it denies.” This swan had certain agonies because of the place that he was in, and because of his refusal to take flight. Clov is in a similar position, being certainly pained for staying where he is, and not taking flight.

Songyun:

I agree with Rebecca said, the poem and Endgame displayed quite a similar feelings of hopelessness. Compare the Endgame and the Chestnut Tree, you can feel about emptiness and loneliness. The constant tension in Endgame is whether Clov will leave Hamm or not. Hamm continually tells Clov to leave him alone but pulls him back before an exit is possible. Their empty lives are filled only with unyielding pain, and none of life’s typical consolations help them. But Hamm and Clov’s unwillingness to face this pain alone somehow makes the pain greater. The Chestnut Tree is trying to find the meaning of human existence. And often question what existing meant, but realized there is no reason for existence.

Michelle:

The short film “Breathe” and the short story “Endgame” both have a similar themes in a strange way. Their two connecting themes can be viewed as isolation. In the one minute video I was creeped out by the weird breathing which, in my opinion, can be viewed as the character being anxious due to their isolation. There was (what I would like to describe as) garbage all piled on top of each other in one dark, creepy room and each piece in there were somehow connected and intertwined to each other. In Endgame, Clov and Ham are the only two left and they’re located in an empty room with only two trash cans. They both go at it with each other with smart comments and at some point get tired of each other but don’t want to leave their sides. As the room is dark and dull, it gives the reader a sense of isolation (and anxiety). Both are located in one dark, dull room isolated from the outside.

1. The five stages of grief are a framework for how people deal with loss. Although mainly associated with death, there are other types of loss as well. How does Gregor Samsa’s family display the five stages of grief after ‘losing’ him?
2. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners in the cave somehow fail to see the outside truth, perhaps because they are in denial. How does  the narrator from Life of the Sensuous Woman display this?

Kaspar and Metamorphosis

Rebecca:

I view Kaspar as the exact inverse of The Metamorphosis. Gregor transforms from being a talking, walking, working human being that supports his family into a motionless, helpless being. Kaspar, on the other hand, transforms from being a motionless, helpless being to a talking, walking, working human that can find a job. The similarity between the two is that both are working in a routine, rote, way, simply because of what is expected of them by the people around them. But both are, at the same time, completely self centered, and needing constant attention from others. “Just as it doesn’t occur to me that there can be anyone else outside me.” (Kaspar) Both Kaspar and Gregor are self consumed and craving and depending on attention from others.

Michelle:

The short stories The Metamorphosis and Kaspar both have their similarities. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, wakes up as an insect, a cockroach. The odd thing about what Gregor did as soon as he found out he transformed an insect rather than a human being is that he went back to sleep to forget about what happened. Kaspar is locked away in a cellar but the similarity this short story has to The Metamorphosis is that Kaspar does not question nor worry about why he is in a cellar as well as why a man in all black keeps coming to visit him. Gregor and Kaspar remain calm in both their situations. As Gregor goes from a insect that couldn’t do much with his new body, he starts adapting to it by climbing the walls and and the ceiling. Kaspar goes from someone who just lays down, sleeps, and eats in his cellar to someone to slowly learns how to talk and walk. Both, Gregor and Kaspar adapt to their situations slowly but surely. Another small similarity in the short stories is that both characters find pieces of bread and milk in their rooms at some point.

Songyun:

The Metamorphosis and Kaspar have different endings. If we can accept Gregor’s passing as a natural culmination of life, without passing moralistic judgement, the ending is quite happy. Gregor’s family is happy, but they also mourn has passing. They feel relieved and the future seems bright to them, The parents notice that their daughter has grown up and decide that it is time to find her a husband. At the end of the trip, she is the first to stand up and stretch. Still the fact that they forsook their family member always remains upsetting. The family described “sitting back, comfortable in their seats, they discussed the prospects of their future.” In Kaspar,  the man on the floor misses his father, it seems as though he is unable to walk, but he actually learns how to walk once the man in black comes back and teaches him. He simply does not want to walk or learn. The man in black seems to give Kaspar a sense of purpose. In the end, he is left standing in place as if he is lost or does not know what to do with himself.

Rebecca:

Bartleby: The Satanic Hero

A Satanic hero is someone who sees the truth, where most cannot, and responds, but in a socially inappropriate way. What exactly Bartleby is protesting is unclear, but it is clear that he is protesting something. I believe that he is protesting the monotonic lifestyle they, and maybe the entire society, are living. Another aspect of this is that the entire society is in essence doing the same job as he is, making copies. People imitate others, trends, actions, and words. Bartleby is protesting the meaningless life that he and the rest of the society are living by “preferring not to,” and doing nothing at all. He doesn’t respond in the proper way, by voicing his protest and making a change. But he also doesn’t go about his life as usual, not responding to the situation. He does in fact, respond to the situation in a socially inappropriate way. He fails to use the appropriate words to explain what he is doing and why, and he remains in places he shouldn’t. “‘I prefer not to,’ he replied in a flute like tone. It seems to me that while I had been addressing him, he carefully revolved every statement that I made; fully comprehended the meaning….. but , at the same time, some paramount consideration prevailed with him to reply as he did.” (303) Bartleby completely understood, and had a response that was not socially appropriate. Bartleby is a prime example of a satanic hero, realizing a truth the rest of society couldn’t or didn’t, yet responding in a socially inappropriate way.

Songyun: The anti-hero

              An antihero, is a protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, or morality. An anti-hero sees the truth, when most cannot, he or she does not act. He is typically in conflict with a world he cannot control or whose values he rejects. Bartleby, is an anti-hero in the 19th century middle-class tragedies focusing on social problems and issues. Bartleby, does not possess any heroic qualities, nor does have tragic flaw. He has no idealism, courage like the traditional hero. His very first appearance “A motionless young man one morning stood upon my office threshold, the door being open, for it was summer. I can see that figure now pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby.” Here we can see he is not a tragic hero in the traditional sense. He is a tragic hero in the sense that he is a victim, almost innocent, of the social system he had to live in.

Michelle: The Traditional Hero

A traditional hero is one that abides by the law and follows the rules. The traditional hero sees the truth when others can’t and acts on it. Although my group members have different views where Rebecca explains he is a satanic hero and Songyun believes he is a anti-hero, I disagree and argue that Bartleby (the Scrivener) is a traditional hero. As a working man on Wall Street, he is expected to do the work that is asked of him by his manager or higher level bosses. Although Bartleby did not necessarily take action, he did take action though. Instead of complying with the routine idea of “he’s my boss or my superior so I must comply with what he asks of me”, he does the complete opposite. By doing so, he stands out to the Lawyer where he says, “I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener, the strangest I ever saw, or heard of.” When the lawyer asks him to examine a small document that he needs but responds with “I would prefer not to.” Instead of the Lawyer asking him again (since he is at a higher position than him) he does not do so since he’s in shock and asks Nippers to do it instead. This demonstrates that Bartleby is not your typical narrator, but a ‘traditional hero’ but going against social norms.

Rebecca:

Tenderloin: What’s in a name?

In Downtown San Francisco there is a Red Light District called the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin got it’s name from a similar neighborhood that existed in New York called the Tenderloin. There are different opinions on how that neighborhood got it’s name. There is one opinion that says it’s because this neighborhood is the “soft underbelly” of the city, filled with corruption. Another opinion says that there was an officer named Alexander S. Williams who said that working in any other neighborhood, he could only afford to eat chuck steak, but working in this neighborhood, because of all the bribes he got, he could afford to eat Tenderloin. Another opinion is that the officers who worked in that neighborhood could afford to eat tenderloin because they made extra for working in a violent neighborhood. In March 2011, the Vice President of PETA sent a letter to the Mayor of San Francisco asking to rename this neighborhood to a name that represents something other than the flesh of an abused animal. The mayor, Mayor Lee, responded “I think most people are wanting to change not so much the name. They actually want to change lives,” indicating there are more important issues in this neighborhood to deal with.  

Songyun:

History about Tenderloin in San Francisco

Like Rebecca said so , there are many different theories about where the Tenderloin got its name. But the most important is “most people actually want to change their lives more than the names.”The Tenderloin was a fairly residential neighborhood with the wood buildings and homes. It was only after the city’s infamous 1906 earthquake that the area started attracting single workers who could live in newly built Single Room Occupancy Hotels. With the new accommodations came bathhouses, more restaurants and the beginnings of women’s liberation, sparked by young females who were living by themselves for the first time. By the time the Roaring ‘20s rolled around, the area was notorious for its nightlife-gambling, speakeasies, restaurants, theaters and all manner of after-dark vices. And in the Vietnam War ‘70s, the Tenderloin became a refuge for immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The area’s low cost housing made it affordable for refugees, and today you can still find much of the best Southeast Asian food in here. It seems like the Tenderloin is an important part of San Francisco’s story.

Michelle:

Crime in San Francisco’s Red Light District

The Tenderloin is a red light district located in downtown San Francisco, California. According to Rebecca, one opinion as to why the downtown neighborhood was named ‘Tenderloin’ was because it is the “soft underbelly” of San Francisco where high corruption occurs. It is known as a high-crime neighborhood where most crimes, such as robbery and aggravated assault, occur on the streets. During the1960’s and 1970’s, the red light district is said be the origin of the Filipino gang Bahala Na Gang, also known as the BNG. The BNG were brought high crime to the neighborhood due to their drug distribution, murders, and extortion. The drug dealing and usage currently goes on in the neighborhood and has been increasing since 2007. With police stations around, drugs such crack, heroin, PCP, and even bath salts can be found even through the same drug dealer. Along with drug crimes, property crimes are also common.

Michelle:

“I was very young when I learned about love. I was still a flower in bud, you could say. And after that I had so many experiences that the pure water of my mind turned completely the color of sensuous love, like the water in the Uji River….. I just followed my desires wherever they went- and I ruined myself.” The sensuous woman of the story, by Saikaku, explains that she learned “how to love” at a very young age.

In the tale of the “Mistress of a Domain Lord”, the daimyo Lord was spending the year in Edo near the castle of the shogun. Throughout that same year, his wife died leaving the Lord worried about the continuous rule of his clan over the domain. With this, the old retainer went on a search to look for the most beautiful woman for the Lord to bear a baby boy for him. Out of all the women in Kyoto and Edo, the ‘sensuous woman’ was the chosen one. Through her relationship with the Lord, she became an official domain mistress explaining her lavish living with him saying “Everything was so luxurious, well, in the day I couldn’t believe my eyes….” Although she was enjoying her time as an official domain mistress, her relationship with the Lord soon came to an end. “I’ve always been an only lucky woman, but with the Lord I was fortunate. He was tender to me and we enjoyed our lovemaking but things didn’t work out…. The Lord kept losing weight and finally he became so weak and haggard he was just awful to look at.” Within the tale, the sensuous was blamed for why the Lord became physically weak wearing titling her as the woman who liked fancy sex. In this relationship, the sensuous was more ‘sexually empowered’ compared to the daimyo Lord led to his ‘sickness’.

Rebecca:

As Michelle mentioned, the narrator had been previously used to short relationships with men in which she was more in control. However, in “A Monk’s wife in a Worldly Temple” as the head priest’s secret wife, she became less in control and even more objectified. She was hidden underground, alone all day, every day. As would be expected, this caused her to become depressed. “I began to lose interest in living.” However, strangely enough, she begins to love the priest and her lifestyle. “Later I got used to the situation, and I even came to enjoy it.” This is the narrator behaving in manners that show she had Stockholm Syndrome, a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. Hostages like the narrator develop feelings for the captors possibly as a coping mechanism, but not always. Later on, the narrator ends up making her big escape, which is impressive as this is not usually the next action when someone suffers from this. It is often hard to get out of the situation, but the narrator had a lot of courage and determination, and a stark wake up call.

As I learned about the Heroic Journey model, each part made sense to me- in the context of all stories, and specifically in the context of Journey to the West as well. The one step that I struggled to understand, was the last one. “The Abyss”- where the heroic character faces his darkest fear as the last step of the journey. After some deliberation, I decided that this does, in fact apply to Monkey. What is Monkey’s biggest fear? Most would agree that Monkey’s biggest fear is mortality, which is why he strives for centuries to find immortality. “Is there no way by which, instead of being born again on earth, I might live forever among the people of the sky?” At the end of his very long journey, Monkey is told that every hardship and bump along the way was really put there for his good, and that someone else is running the show. I think accepting this truth was Monkey facing his greatest fear. “‘..It acted under orders from Buddha himself.’ ‘You mean to tell me,’ said Monkey, ‘that it was Buddha who told this creature to turn into an evil spirit and seize the Emperor’s throne? In that case all the troubles I meet with while escorting Tripitaka are very likely ordered by His Holiness. A nice thought!’” Monkey finds it difficult to accept this fact, but in the end manages to, and faces his fear of mortality- “the state or condition of being subject to death, mortal character, nature, or existence.”

One theme of Tao- Ten is innocence. The poem discusses questions aimed at people who have knowledge, or people who have power, but yet choose to remain innocent. ‘Can you be without stain’ (Line 6) Without stain means without blemish, without sin, remaining innocent. “Can you be as a newborn babe?” (Line 4) Is there anything more innocent than a newborn baby? A baby that has existed his mother’s womb is as innocent as can be, without having any opportunity to be anything but. I think that in the latter part of the poem is referring to a fake innocence. For so long, women were supposed to have given off an impression of innocence, of ignorance, of being on the sidelines. And as much as they have been “Understanding and being open to all things,”(Line 11) they stand by and “do nothing?” (Line 12) Therefore, I think that this poem is asking of it’s readers, can you be innocent, and if not, can you display a image of innocence nonetheless?