Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

I was interested in the writer Aphra Behn reflects the view of pro-monarchy and a woman’s role in society throughout the 18th century. For example, Imoinda become one of the King wives even though she is reluctant. (1:21-1:50) As a woman living in the 21st century, it is difficult for me to understand Why marry a person you don’t like?

“The king, enraged at this delay, hastily demanded the name of the bold man that had married a woman of her degree without his consent. Imoinda, seeing his eyes fierce, and his hands tremble, whether with a age or anger, I know not, but she fancied the last, almost repented she had said so much, for now she feared the storm would fall on the prince; she therefore said a thousand things to appease the raging of his flame, and to prepare him to hear who it was with calmness; but before she spoke, he imagined who she meant, but would not seem to do so, but commanded her to lay aside her mantle and suffer herself to receive his caresses; or, by his gods, he swore, that happy man whom she was going to name should die, though it were even Oroonoko himself. ‘Therefore,’ said he, ‘deny this marriage, and swear thyself a maid.’ ‘That,’ replied Imoinda, ‘by all our powers I do, for I am not yet known to my husband.’ ‘Tis enough,’ said the king, ’tis enough to satisfy both my conscience, and my heart.’ And rising from his seat, he went and led her into the bath, it being in vain for her to resist.”

From the book, it is even more obvious that the level consciousness is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The upper layer imposes absolute domination on the lower layer, and women’s status is lower than that of men. It is precisely because there was inequality at that time, there is now equality. In fact, It’s not really all person are equal until today. Racial discrimination events often occur in certain places, and there is even a growing trend. The status of women in some parts of the world is still very low.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Human beings are very curious about this world, and humans benefit from continued discovery and exploration of the mysteries of the world. As mentioned in the novel：

 “The world was to [him] a secret which [he] desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to [him], are among the earliest sensations [he] can remember . . . It was the secrets of heaven and earth that [he] desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied [him], still [his] inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.”

（Chapter 2, pg. 22）

This is human instinct because we are born to think. However, people develop science must be based on two important points: objectivity and bound by human reason. Leaving these two points, the development of science will lead to the proliferation of scientism and bring unpredictable consequences. Frankenstein in the novel is obsessed with the pursuit of scientific knowledge, revealing the mystery of exploring nature, and driven by strong curiosity, but he lacks rational thinking about the consequences of his actions. With a moment of fanaticism, he made a man who made him regret. The story of Franklin reminds me of what Stephe Hawking once said, “The development of full artificial intelligence, could spell the end of the human race. In theory, computers can emulate human intelligence — and exceed it”. From the cloning of a few years ago to the current artificial intelligence, although there have been reminders that the fate of human demise may be caused by oneself, humans have never stopped because of this.

 

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

This is a very sad and ironic story, but the video shows a very comical appearance. Take it seriously, What do you think when you become Gregor one day?Or when your family members become Gregor, what is your attitude?I think it is normal that Gregor family’s first reaction was to be afraid, but what is not normal is that when the family is getting poorer, Gregor is gradually being regarded as a “monster”, and they are very happy when Gregor died in the ending. This is a part of the video that is not shown,and it is the saddest part of what I feel. 

Then all three left the apartment together, something they had not done for months now, and took the electric tram into the open air outside the city. The car in which they were sitting by themselves was totally engulfed by the warm sun. They talked to each other, leaning back comfortably in their seats, about future prospects, and they discovered that on closer observation these were not at all bad, for all three had employment, about which they had not really questioned each other at all, which was extremely favorable and with especially promising prospects. The greatest improvement in their situation at this moment, of course, had to come from a change of dwelling. Now they wanted to rent an apartment smaller and cheaper but better situated and generally more practical than the present one, which Gregor had found. While they amused themselves in this way, it struck Mr. and Mrs. Samsa almost at the same moment how their daughter, who was getting more animated all the time, had blossomed recently, in spite of all the troubles which had made her cheeks pale, into a beautiful and voluptuous young woman. Growing more silent and almost unconsciously understanding each other in their glances, they thought that the time was now at hand to seek out a good honest man for her. And it was something of a confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions when at the end of their journey the daughter first lifted herself up and stretched her young body.

Gregor’s family feels a great sense of relief after his dead, and they plan to have a trip and find a husband for Grete. We feel incredible but this situation often happens in real life. For example, a couple breaks up because the one has no money. Brotherhood kills each other because of their legacy. The aged become homeless people because of nobody are willing to take care of them. This is a money-oriented society. Regardless of family and friendship, money is really a test. Reality reveals the ugliness of human nature and does not change with the social form. As Marx described in the Communist Manifesto, “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.”

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av7061749?from=search&seid=11892711217945544100 

I read this book when I was a high school student. Now I reread this book again and I have different perceptions. I read the original Chinese one and I didn’t read the English translation, but I want to talk about the title of this book in different versions. The title is called “ New Year’s Sacrifice” in English translation, I guess because the woman Hsiang Lin’s Wife died in the Chinese new year and the translator may think she is a sacrifice and her dead is the result of feudal society’s ideological constraints on people. In the original Chinese version, the title is called “blessing” (literal translation). I prefer this title because two reasons, one is I guess the author thinks her death is a good thing, is a relief from bondage, so he bless her, and other one I think the author has the irony meaning,  because Chinese people greet one another with blessing when they meet during the Chinese New Year, but people never blessed her, they always laugh at her by using cold violence or language violence. For example, in the video people don’t want Hsiang Lin’s wife touch the sacrificial utensils because they think she is unlucky. （81:00－84:00）

When the time came for the ancestral sacrifice at the winter equinox, she worked harder than ever, and seeing my aunt take out the sacrificial utensils and with Ah Niu carry the table into the middle of the hall, she went confidently to fetch the winecups and chopsticks.

“Put those down, Hsiang Lin’s Wife!” my aunt called out hastily.

She withdrew her hand as if scorched, her face turned ashen-grey, and instead of fetching the candlesticks she just stood there dazed. Only when my uncle came to burn incense and told her to go, did she walk away. This time the change in her was very great, for the next day not only were her eyes sunken, but even her spirit seemed broken. Moreover she became very timid, not only afraid of the dark and shadows, but also of the sight of anyone. Even her own master or mistress made her look as frightened as a little mouse that has come out of its hole in the daytime. For the rest, she would sit stupidly, like a wooden statue. In less than half a year her hair began to turn grey, and her memory became much worse, reaching a point when she was constantly forgetting to go and prepare the rice.

“What has come over Hsiang Lin’s Wife? It would really have been better not to have kept her that time.” My aunt would sometimes speak like this in front of her, as if to warn her.

However, she remained this way, so that it was impossible to see any hope of her improving. They finally decided to get rid of her and tell her to go back to Old Mrs. Wei.

Many years ago, when I read this book, I think it is the traditional Chinese feudal cultural thought that led to Hsiang Lin’s Wife’s death. Hsiang Lin’s Wife’s husband and son are dead, so people think she is ominous and unlucky. Therefore, the employer is not willing to hire her. She may have starved to death because she has no income. Now I read this book, I think it is language violence that led to her death. No one sympathizes with her experience. They isolate and bullying her in words and even behavior. Her spirit has been hit and devastated. Hsiang Lin’s Wife’s experience is the same as the school bullying or cyberbullying that some people now encounter.

bartleby the scrivener by herman melville

This is a film of Bartleby’s trailer. It has no dialogue,and the background music is very prominent is that the sound of typing on the keyboard. The word “I would prefer not” appears on the wall in the video(0:25), which is the most frequently spoken words of the protagonist of this story. 

“Will you tell me, Bartleby, where you were born?”

“I would prefer not to.”

“Will you tell me any thing about yourself?”

“I would prefer not to.”

Although it is a very simple sentence, it takes a lot of courage to say such a sentence. In fact, when I finished reading this book for the first time, I think Bartleby is a quirky and unique man and some of his refusals are very unreasonable. Of course, I admire his courage to refuse. Back to the in real life, I think each of us may be a Bartleby. Human beings are forced to learn rules“obey“ from birth. When we are children, we obeyed our parents at home. When we are teenager, we obeyed our teachers at school. When we are adults, we obey the boss in the workplace. Our family, our school, our society has taught us this rule. So can we say No?Can we just not follow this rule？Of course you can say no, but any rejection is a price. Mommy said that you can’t eat too much candy, you like candy, so you refuse to listen to Mommy’s words, secretly eat a lot, and finally you have a decayed tooth. The teacher says that homework accounts for 20% of the total grade. You don’t like homework, so you refuse to do your homework, and finally your grade is from A to B. You don’t like your job because the boss didn’t raise your salary, then you resigned, and finally you found that your salary was the highest in the industry. My example is not to prove that we have to obey the rules but we have to think about what the consequences are when we choose to refuse. Just as Bartleby choose to refuse and then he died. I suddenly remembered someone told me“If you don’t like one thing, you change it. If you can’t change, you have to accept it.”

 

“Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow’d wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

(Stanza 52)

I was interested in the stanza 52 of “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, and I found a video from YouTube that can help me understand the meaning of this poem better. In the video, the man asks some questions like“how do you end a project?If you are whitman, how do you end the Song of Myself?” Then, he explains how Whitman end the project, what does Whitman think of the end of his life. Honestly, I never thought about these questions in my life. If you ask me what I think about the end of life, I have no idea. However, Whitman gave me some ideas. Whitman says that life is continuation, there are no ending, even if the body has disappeared, it is converted into grass and grows on the ground. As he said,“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love”, grass is a symbol of eternal life. Whitman not only identifies himself to grass but also identifies himself as other natural objects, like “I depart as air” and “I effuse my flesh in eddies”，Air is something you can’t see but that exists all the time. Eddy is a circular movement, always spinning and never stop. Therefore, Whitman used these natural objects to tell his readers what it means to be alive. Life is continuation, Life never stops, it just changes another way to live. Although Whitman died a hundred years ago, we are still reading his poems today. As he said“Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.“ Whitman disappeared physically, but his spirit has always been here.

Don Quixote by miguel de cervantes

People may like Don Quixote because he insists on his beliefs and pursues freedom, and people may dislike him because he is addicted to fantasy and is out of reality. Don Quixote reminds me of a popular phrase on Chinese social media in previous years, “Dream is necessary, just in case it was realized.” said by a Chinese host. Let’s not think about whether the dream can be realized or not. The premise that dreams can be realized or not is that you have a dream. I feel that no matter what your dreams are, it is better to have dreams than to have no dream, and those people who have dreams live happily. I found this when I saw Don Quixote invite his neighbor Sancho Panza to become his squire, and Sancho agreed to the offer in the video.(7:50—11:26) 

Meanwhile Don Quixote worked upon a farm labourer, a neighbour of his, an honest man (if indeed that title can be given to him who is poor), but with very little wit in his pate. In a word, he so talked him over, and with such persuasions and promises, that the poor clown made up his mind to sally forth with him and serve him as esquire. Don Quixote, among other things, told him he ought to be ready to go with him gladly, because any moment an adventure might occur that might win an island in the twinkling of an eye and leave him governor of it. On these and the like promises Sancho Panza (for so the labourer was called) left wife and children, and engaged himself as esquire to his neighbour.

(Part I  Chapter VII)

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have smiles on their faces when they are discussing their adventures. They are very excited because they are discussing what they like. The same reason, Why do many modern people live unhappy? Because they are doing what they don’t like to do. They go to college just for the diploma. They go to work on time just for the money. Many people have no dream and no meaning to live. This is why I said that there are dreams better than no dreams. 

King Lear by William Shakespeare

This video is about the film of King Lear(2008), and it appealed to me because it  intercepted some of the classic fragments of this story even if only one minute. For example, King Lear talked with three daughters, King Lear was angry because of the actions of his eldest daughter, and later King Lear was completely insane, and so on. So the audience can understand that this is a tragic and tortuous story, and also it may arouse more people to watch this movie or to read the book through this video.

There is a scene impressed me in which King Lear looks at his daughter, his eyes are full of kindness, and his daughter’s eyes are tears (0:44-0:52), and it related to the book which is Lear partially recognizes Cordelia(act 4 scene7).

CORDELIA

Sir, do you know me?

LEAR

You are a spirit, I know. Where did you die?

CORDELIA

(aside to DOCTOR) Still, still far wide!

DOCTOR

He’s scarce awake. Let him alone awhile.

LEAR

Where have I been? Where am I? Fair daylight?

I am mightily abused. I should ev’n die with pity

To see another thus. I know not what to say.

I will not swear these are my hands. Let’s see.

I feel this pinprick. Would I were assured of my condition

CORDELIA

(kneels)

O, look upon me, sir,

And hold your hands in benediction o’er me.

No, sir, you must not kneel.

LEAR

Pray, do not mock me.

I am a very foolish fond old man,

Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less.

And to deal plainly

I fear I am not in my perfect mind.

Methinks I should know you, and know this man.Yet I am doubtful, for I am mainly ignorant. What place this is, and all the skill I have

Remembers not these garments. Nor I know not

Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me,

For as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

CORDELIA

And so I am, I am.

LEAR

Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray, weep not.

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.

I know you do not love me, for your sisters

Have, as I do remember, done me wrong.

You have some cause; they have not.

CORDELIA

No cause, no cause.

(ACT 4 Scene 7)

Many famous actors have played King Lear, but it is generally believed that only an old actor can truly reflect this role. In this film, Ian McKellen is the actor of King Lear, I think he played very well. This scene reminded me of my grandma. She is a very kind and childlike old man. I don’t know whether Western culture is like this, but in Chinese culture, we are more family-oriented, so the elderly want their children and grandchildren to live with them. People may think that King Lear’s tragedy was caused by he made a wrong decision as King Lear said himself ”I am a very foolish fond old man.“ But I think he is just like my grandmother, just an old man who wants his children and grandchildren to live with him, and this intention is not stupid or wrong.