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

Jiwoo Han:

        Georg Bendemann, in “The Judgement”, decided to commit suicide at the end of the story. The story comes to a bad end, even terrible. Even though many things which are day-to-day concerns happened to him at the same time, his father conclusively made him to kill himself. Georg dealt with his engagement, his family’s business affairs, his old friend who lives in Russia, most importantly, and the relationship with his father. All of these are very stressful but, doable and surmountable. There are a bunch of people who live with those kind of problems in these modern days. On the sixth page, father said to Georg “I condemn you to death by drowning!” At that moment, Georg was not able to suppress his feelings that he had controlled barely. As a result, his father pushed him into a corner and his father is responsible for Georg’s decision at the end of the story.   

Susanna Domosi:

I can see why Jiwoo argues that Georg’s father is responsible for Georg’s death, but that being said, I think Georg is should take responsibility for taking his own life. I see Gerog as someone who cannot see his life how it truly is, and not being fully aware of what his reality is. To demonstrate Georg’s confusion, the author describes Georg’s  father and him have extremely different stories about the life of Georg’s friend living in Russia(that is if he even exists). The last line of the story is “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge.” I see two messages of significance behind this ending. One is that Georg wanted life to end, but that life goes on and one cannot contorl that. The other meaning I see behind this ending is that no one cared about Georg committing suicide. Georg kills himself and dies, no one cares and traffic simply continues as normal.  

Daphne Young:

I agree with Susanna’s interpretations of the quote. One message could mean that life goes on and one cannot have control over it and in Georg’s case, one can argue that it was his father who was responsible for his death. However I do not see the ending as realistic, in Georg’s point of view he had control of his life and life was going well. When Georg took over the business, business boomed- more employees needed to be hired and the business grew 5 times larger. Georg was also engaged to a girl from a well-to-do family. His life seemed to pick up as his father’s seemed to decay. How it is that, just because of something his father said, Georg would commit suicide? Georg was pushed to a corner and overthrown by his father, “the father just nodded towards Georg’s corner to affirm the truth of what he said.”

Who is responsible for Georg’s decision at the end of the story?

I feel that Georg’s dad is to blame for how the story ended. As the story progresses the reader is able to observe the true relationship between Georg and his father. At first it seems like they have a normal father and son relationship however we soon find out this is not the case. It seems like min the story what Georg’s father says George must listen to. At the beginning of the story Georg sounds like a man who is enjoying life since he is writing a letter to his friend and is getting married soon. The story as well as Georg’s life soon turns dark when the author describe the room that his father was in as dark. This represents the relationship that Georg and his father has. The father, throughout the story, continuously puts his son down by talking negatively about his friend, his fiance, and his life. The father claimed “I condemn you to death by drowning!” Soon after, Georg took his own life by jumping off a bridge. Georg’s dad is fully responsible for the suicide of his own son due to all of the negative comments he made towards Georg.

-Joseph Morreale

What is the significance of the very last line of the story: “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge”?

At the end of the story Kafka ends with , “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge”? which represents the saying “life goes on”. The traffic implies the cars keep going and with Kafa saying endless that means it just continues there’s no stop. Unsurprisingly this happens right after Georg jumps off the bridge but before he jumped, the piece says, “ … he spotted an autobus that would easily drown out his fall.” (pg. 7) He intentionally waited to kill himself so that when he did no one would notice, and after that more cars came on, inevitably  no one would hear the sound of his fall or about his death. Assuming that he knew the traffic was ahead he jumped at the moment so he could not be saved nor , giving himself a silent death.

-Bintou Samura

Many people see this ending as somehow unrealistic. Do you agree? Why or why not? How does it being realistic, not entirely realistic, or both contribute to your understanding of the ending?

In my opinion, the ending to “The Judgement” is both realistic and unrealistic. In one way it is realistic because of the family dynamic between Georg and his father. It seems that Georg is always in his father shadow and want to appease him. For example, as shown here “Maybe it was because, during the time in which his mother was still alive, his father had hindered Georg from developing his own activities by imposing his, the father’s, own opinions.” Thus in his adult life, Georg remains under his father, despite becoming engaged and making friends. He still lives with him and works in the business as well. It is understandable that there would be some tension between the two, especially after the death of the mother. Similar to what Joseph mentions in his post about Georg and his father relationship. So, the ending is realistic where the father seems fed up and Georg is trying to calm him down. However, what doesn’t seem realistic is Georg killing himself. When the father says to him “I condemn you to death by drowning!” and Georg “felt” himself chased out the room, it’s like the father put a spell on him.

-Keauna

Kafka definitely chose a tragic and unexpected ending the short story “The Judgment”. Georg Bendemann the protagonist of the story made a bold move when he decided to kill himself. There could be many reasons as to what drove him into take such a turn. I have come to the conclusion that Georg father was the person who drove him into committing suicide. There are many points throughout the story that shows that they didn’t have the greatest father and son relationship. On the third page it says, “Georg was surprised how dark his father’s room was, even on this sunny morning”. Usually when the sun is out it has been said that people are way happier, yet Georg and his father seem to still have a dark atmosphere. Georg speaks about his father as someone who knows more than him or someone who is just better than himself. The rude comments that were said towards Georg by his father could be the reason why he committed suicide. Especially when his father said “I condemn you to death by drowning!”

Many of you offered some good tips, for everyone to improve his or her performance, and you pointed to some viable areas to work on. Also, from your responses, I learned that I, too, can help with things I need to work on, so this was productive, I think, for all of us!

Helpful suggestions for you: Working out your blog assignments first on google docs (to organize your ideas); thinking of our analytical work in ways that can help you with your other courses (and later with your employment); use your group to actually exchange ideas and revise your own ideas; if you are having trouble with the texts (and especially if English is your second language) then try reading more slowly or even reading the more difficult parts twice; using college preparation as a way of working out how to balance your school work and your personal life; think of free-writing as a way to just get ideas on paper, this is an important part of any analytical process;

Things you can work on: speaking up in class (and one can “practice” a response in a blog, to help prepare you to respond in class) and trying to get yourself to speak up more will actually help to improve your confidence level when speaking in front of others. When you speak up, don’t worry about being “right” but about expressing what you truly feel. Take a chance with an original idea; working to understand the difference between summary and analysis; working on narrowing your focus in your larger writing assignments (this will allow a more in-depth analysis, and will, I think, also feel more rewarding to you as a writer and thinker); working to go more deeply into the text: working to ask yourself questions as you read, then making a note of those questions and bring them to class;

Things I need to work on: Helping everyone to understand that your group is your core group to work with each other and help each other; giving you more time for free-writing: perhaps writing, then reflecting, then a bit more writing? We can talk about this. Something I’d like to try with you is called a “silent dialogue.”

Songyun:

Writing is a process that takes lots of time, commitment, and understanding to really help us develop our ideas and put them on paper. Through our English Class I have learned about a lot of valuable topics which have helped increased my knowledge about world literature. I am a slow learner and English is not my first language, so sometimes I am not very active in the group discussion and class conversation, that is the one I need to improve, increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas. 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 really love reading literature works, like fiction and drama, but I need to understand more deeply the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environment from which they spring. Also I need to increase ability to write a critical essay employing a strong thesis statement. I really appreciate Rebecca and Michelle every week’s assignment reminding, and Rebecca always put her assignment first in our group on Google Docs.

Rebecca:

English has never been my favorite subject, to say the least. But this semester I found myself actually liking the work I’ve been doing. I find that my favorite part, and the part that I see the most improvement in personally, is the analytical skills. I read a piece with a different mindset, mentally breaking down every phrase and interpreting it. I’ve also realized I’ve gotten more comfortable free writing and sharing with the class. Another thing that I realized I have been improving on, due to the setup of both the in person and online classes, is responding to other’s work.  The way that our class discussions are set up both in person and online lend for me to have to respond to other’s work and comments, at first I found it more difficult, but I think that I have warmed up to it and become better at it. I want to improve on expanding on my arguments in essays, and making clear concise arguments.  

Michelle: 

Throughout this semester in English class I learned valuable skills that helped develop my writing skills. One of the most important is free writing. Free writing is when one is given a topic and is able to write whatever is on their mind with no restrictions or limits. This allows the writer to write down everything possible without giving them the second to forget it and allowing them to establish their thoughts. Another valuable skill is working with group members and being able to comment on their work. This benefits both of the writers because it allows one another to see mistakes we personally don’t see ourselves. It also allows us to view the story or topic from different perspectives other than ours which opens our “horizons”. One section I do need to improve on is summarization. When writing an essay, including information from the text is definitely important but sometimes I do get carried away and start summarizing.

I always enjoyed writing. With this Great Works class, I was able to not only practice on a skill I always enjoyed but also been introduced to many different concepts in literature? From Campbell’s heroes journey present in the Journey to the West to the classification of the types of heroes in Bartleby the Scrivener. Due to the writing intensity of this course, I found it detrimental to finally learn correct grammar and punctuation- all something I knew was a weakness but never worked on due to lack of incentive. I preferably enjoy presenting, though a bit nerve wrecking always to start I, find with the participation of the crowd and or confidence in the material I’m presenting I tend to warm up and feel at ease after a while.
-Jorge G.

This semester I’ve added on to my communicating skills, with my peers, such as working more group oriented. I’m used to working alone and depending on myself, but luckily I have great classmates that are easy to work with and fun. In our class we try to find the deeper meaning behind certain things and with so many different perspectives it really opens my eyes to things I normally wouldn’t have considered. I’m trying to grow more by taking a thought another step further like how we discuss things in class. My writing can always get better whether its free writing or on an assignment. Even though I’ve made some improvements, reading new literature and seeing the style that it’s written in, is always inspiring to read and find my own way to reiterate it. Overall, it’s been a great semester so far that I’d like to add on to.

-Onu Mezbah

At the beginning of the semester I felt lost in some of the lectures. It’s my second english literature class and the first in which I read texts of this type so naturally I struggled a little bit with some texts. The word usage is not the most common which made it tricky for me and the readings used to take me a long time because I had to translate some of the words to really understand the meaning. As the semester advanced and I got more readings under my belt I started to feel more and more comfortable, class lectures were super useful, hearing my classmates give their opinions and being able to see their analysis made me understand different perspectives which at the end I think gave me more tools for me to analyze the readings by myself. I still struggle with grammar and word usage, because this readings are very deep I sometimes try to use words I don’t usually do and use them in an incorrect way. I want to keep improving my writing skills, I want to learn how to be more concise, precise and much more clear.
Joaquin Azcue

One of the reasons I choose to take this class was is because I love to write, I believe my writing skills are average and I hope at the end of the semester they will improve and be better then average. Being analytical is very important in this class. I like analyzing the works we read because it allows us to discuss different meanings and views of a specific story, sentencing or wording. I participate in every class because I enjoy contributing to the discussion I’ve done okay on the quizzes, however I would like to start doing better. Time management is something I’ve always struggled with and still struggle with. This classes forces me to work on this because we have a specific deadline each week. To conclude by the end of this class I hope to have better writing skills and be able to manage my time efficiently.

Katarina Stojanovic
Throughout my academic career, most of my English courses have required me to read books no matter how long they were. But in fact I’ve never really finished these books. Reason being is because they were primarily too time consuming for me. I’ve always been able to avoid this and still be able to ace the class. But this course turned out to be different. From the start of the semester up until now I found myself finding the time and giving in the effort to not only read the texts, but read it until I received a grasp understanding. I think the major reason for this transition has to do with whether or not the the certain texts are appealing to me. And they indeed were. But aside from the improvements in my reading habits, I’ve come to realize my writing needs to be further developed as well. Specifically having a narrow focus on my essays. This is something I am currently working on in order to be constantly improving.

Farhan Zaman

Daphne Young:

I think my group has created a great system for group assignments, we do everything on Google Docs and whoever does their assignment last will submit everyone’s responses onto Blogs at Baruch. This method helps keep me on top of assignments since I know my group is depending on me to do it on time. One thing I need to work on is participation in class, other than being asked to share my thoughts during large discussions I have not raised my hand to participate. For written assignments, I think I am doing well with homework assignments however I did submit my first essay late. For the future I need to pace myself when writing my papers so I have enough time to get everything done.

Jiwoo Han:

            I completely agree with Daphne. Our group does not have a problem with online group assignment. We always did all the assignments on time so far. But, regarding my assignments, I certainly need to work on everything to improve my grade. For essay assignment, I just got my essay back in last class and I have to make every possible effort on the last essay to raise my grade. Also, what I have to do is participation in class. I have to take part in the discussion frequently. For free-writing and class exercises, these are a little tough for me to do. I think I need more time than other students when doing something in class. I think I need to go to Writing Center to get some help with this. Finally, I also need to work on the writing for the final exam. With the format we used for midterm exam, I think I can practice enough to raise my grade.

When I first placed English 2850 into my schedule, I wasn’t sure what to expect with regards to the strengths and weakness I would develop throughout the semester. Now, almost being at the halfway mark, I noticed that a strength I have is my ability to be able to analyze a piece of literature and be able to get a deeper meaning out of it. So far, I have done pretty well on the quizzes which has led me to believe my analysis has gotten better. As far as a weakness, I would like to improve my writing abilities to get it to the next level and get better grades on essays. Overall, I’ve had a productive English course so far.

• Jorge Moreno

In this class I have learned a lot about what I am strong at and what I need work in. This class has taught me how to analyze a piece of literature and come up with in depth understanding of what I read.  This also helped me realize that my written communication needs more work.  The use of more complex vocabulary as well as the transition within the essays.

• Preston Cheung

English has always been a fond interest of mine. So coming into this class I already had a mild understanding of my strengths, weaknesses and limitations in the area. I definitely feel like my stronger suits come from looking beyond face value of a text and understanding or at least trying to get a more insightful meaning. The assignments we do in class as well as online have really helped me hone and improve on having more abstract thoughts and getting creative with insight. However, I definitely do struggle with trying to put those ideas into a coherent format that doesn’t sound like mindless rambling. So hopefully I’ll be able to become more coherent and obtain better flow of words and putting pen to paper.

• Aly Yoon

During this class period I have developed more in group work, meaning participating and communicating with my peers via written communication and also in free writing. Though I need to work more on oral communication, participating in class, sharing my thoughts and also I continue to struggle with quizzes and essay writing.

-Bintou Samura

Bintou, I think to do better in class you should feel confident in the answers that you have and express them even if you are not sure if they are correct. If you do not say what you what and you end up being correct you will feel like you should have sad something and regret your decision. Be confident in your answers and express them without worrying about the consequences. For the quizzes, the questions are usually pretty fair as long as you read the whole assignment. Just make sure you continue reading carefully and i think you will improve your grade as the semester goes on.

– Joseph Morreale

So far this semester, I have participated more in group work. Writing weekly posts has allowed me to engage with my classmates about texts, unlike classes I have taken in the past. I have been doing well on the quizzes and the essay, and I hope to improve my writing skills further as the semester progresses. An area that needs improvement is oral communication, because I have not participated much in classes discussion this semester. In order to succeed this semester, I need to participate in classes discussions more frequently and continue to write well.

– Joseph Morreale

At this point in this semester, I believe my work is good in terms of the written portion. The written portion of the class such as;  the weekly posts, the essay, and the quizzes has not been a problem for me. It helped improve my critical thinking skills and broaden my vocabulary. However, like Bintou I do need to work on my oral work which is participating more in class discussions.

-Keauna