Analysis Paper Final Draft

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Analysis Paper Draft2

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Analysis Paper Draft 1

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Analysis Paper Outline

Story: The Last Leaf

Topic: What is giving up?

Thesis: Because of the illness, Johnsy wants to give up her life. However, the old Behrman gives up his life to help Johnsy get the confidence of living and left a masterpiece in the world.

Example 1:
Sentence: "Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"
Analysis: Johnsy knows that there are lots of people have the same illness as her and finally die. She thinks that she may just like those people will pass away soon. So she gradually give up the belief of living.

Example 2:
Sentence: "The next day the doctor said to Sue:' She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now - that's all.'"
"Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today int the hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him the moring of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold."
Analysis: Mr. Behrman knows that the only thing can support Johnsy living is the leaves on the ivy vine, so he draw a leaf for her in a raining day. Finally he saves Johnsy's life, instead, he gives up his life.

Example 3:
Sentence: "Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."
Analysis: Though Mr. Behrman gives up him own life to save Johnsy, his last paint makes him become a real master.

Conclusion:
In our life, we will meet all kinds of chances and challenges. However, we cannot hold them all in hand. So it is important for us to know how and what to give up, so that, we can have a better future.

Response to the Elephant Vanishes

The Elephant Vanishes is a short story which is written by Haruki Murakami, who is a famous Japanese author in China. This short story talks a story about the disappearing of an old elephant in the town zoo. Also, the breeder who is responsible for the elephant also disappeared. All citizens in the town begin talking about this news and nobody knows how the elephant and its breeder disappeared. What is more, as the last witness, the narrator said that he saw the shape of the elephant became smaller. So his sister guesses that the elephant became smaller and through the fences and finally run away.

In the story, the author infers there is an iron chain on the elephant's feet for several time. I think that the iron chain may suggest some thing. In the story, we can see that with the iron chain on the feet, the range of activities of the old elephant is limited, and the breeder cannot get the key of the chain. There is no freedom for the elephant. In my opinion, I think that no matter human beings or animals, there are rights for them to get their own freedom. And the vanishes of the old elephant and its breeder are a kind of declaration to human that we want freedom, we want to be the person we want to be.

Response to I Bought A Little City

The article I Bought A Little is a short story which is written by Donald Barhelme. In this story, the narrator bought a little city in Texas, but everyone who already lives in th3 city does not need to move away. Also, he wants to change something of the little city,and become the "king" of the city. Because of that, he does everything he wants to do without asking permission of the origial citizens, for example the narrator shoots six thousand dogs in the city.
    I do not think it is a right way for the narrator to be as a dominator of the city. A good dominator should not just think about himself. He should consider more about how can he lead the citizens to live a better life.

Response to A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings is a story talks about a old man with enormous wings appears in the Pelayos' yard in an afternoon after a three-day heavy rain. At first, the Pelayos let the old man stay with chickens, and people who want to see the old man had to pay for it. What is more, these people even show their disrespect to the old man. During the cold winter, the old man gradually is forgotten by people and nearly died. However, when the spring coming, he becomes alive again and flies away.

After reading this story, I feel a little heavy in heart. At first, the appearing of the old man brings the couple a lot of money and help them have a better life. However, when people gradually lose their interests on the old man, the couple also lose a source for them earing money. This makes the couple feel unhappy to the old man and think that he is an obstruction of their life. Even at the end of the story, when the old angle flying away, the only feeling of Mrs. Pelayo is that they can finally be free.

The couple never try to know about the old man who may be an angle. Also, they never want to be thankful to the old man. I think it is common in today's society. People now are usually selfish. When someone, who have helped someone else for several times, is in poor, the people received the help will ignore the situation where their friends are in, just like the Pelayos. 

Response to the Middleman

The genre of the Middleman is short story, and in this story, there is a narrator whose name is Alfred Judah. Alfred is a middleman in America. Because of his occupation, he can meet a lot of people, for example, Maria, who has married before.

To be honest, it is difficult for me to understand the story when I first read it, especially when I saw the first sentence. It says that "There are only two seasons in this country, the dusty and the wet." After finishing reading this story, I think the reason why the author uses these words as the first sentence is that there are two extremes in the world. People in these two parts always have totally different life. I think that the author wants to through this story to let people know that there is no difference between everyone.

Response to the Lament

The Lament is a sad short story happened in 1880's Russia whih is written by Anton Chekhov. It talks about an old poor cabdriver, who had just lost his son and wife, wanted to find someone to confide his pain. However, he could find none people to listen to him in such a huge Petersburg, except his little horse. 

    The first two paragraph describes the environment and the image of the old cabdriver, Iona. It is in a cold night with thick snow around. I think these descriptions indicate the sad situation where Iona was in.

    In this short story, we know that in that night, there were several passengers taking Iona's carriage. And these passengers were all seems unfriendly to Iona, because every time when Iona wanted to tell them that his son had just passed away, these passengers just interruped this conversation and complained the slow speed. What Iona only could do was to let his little horse running faster and faster.  Thus, at the end of the short story, the author writes that "Iona's feelings are too much for him and he tells the little horse the whole story".

    To be honest, I think that it is difficult to tell some private things to a stranger. However, the cabdriver represents the people who are in the bottom of the society, and this kind of people are always be looked down upon. The author may wants to use the cabdriver, Iorn, to reflect the dark side of the Rusian society at that time.

Second Part of Project

1.      What one social issue do you want to correct/address?  (Economics, religion, class/race/gender inequity? Please see the prezi on Utopias for types)(Let’s choose a variety of issues so we don’t have 10 presentations about gender equity).-          How will this community correct these issues?-          What central value will your utopia have/promote?Marriage Freedom: legal constrain, discriminationWe will redefine marriage. And to promote this, the law of marriage is redefined. 
2.      What are the rules of this society? (at least 10)-          What is acceptable behavior?-          What is inacceptable? What are the punishments?-           1.       In the community, the marriage is not limited by gender.2.       The marriage can happen between two people, three people, or a group of people.3.       A person can marry him or herself.4.       A person can chose to marry an object or an animal. However, if a person marry an object or an animal, the object or animal do not need to have any responsibility for the marriage.5.       A person can have baby with any people in his or her marriage.6.       The technology of biology is very advanced, people of the same gender can have children. More than two people can have a child with the genes from all of them.7.       If you marry an animal, and you want a baby with it, you can choose whether you want a human baby or an animal baby.8.       If you marry yourself, you cannot clone yourself for reproduction. If you want a baby, you can go to sperm-and-seed bank.9.        If two or more people want to marry the same animal or object, they need to make a decision about who marry it, or they marry together.10.   You can choose to marry a part of something or someone.11.   If you want marry part of someone, for example, a person’s left arm, you have to have the owner’s permission. And that owner has to be single.12.   If a person or a group of people want to get a divorce, they have to all reach the agreement, or they have to go to the court to discuss and debate.13.   If a person or persons have baby, the person or group of people in marriage with him or them all have the responsibility as parents.14.   A person cannot marry twice in the same time.
3.      Governance-          Who is in charge? While it is possible to have one person in charge, this is not common in utopias. Usually the power is distributed as equally as possible. How is power distributed in your utopia?o   What are the difference branches of government? How do they work?The structure of government in this society is pretty much like the government of USA.
-          What is the hierarchy system?o   Who has the most power?The government’s name is Ait. The president and congress and judiciary are in charge.It is a democratic society. The president has the highest power, and he is elected by all the citizens. The law can be changed by the congress’s proposing and agree by judiciary. The judiciary can impeach the president if he or she disobey the law.There are two major parties in Ait, the Democratic Party and the Green Party. The former support the freedom of marriage, including human marring animals. And it put the core of the national development in tourism industry. The Green Party, which focus more on environmental protection, suggest that the marriage between human and animal should be forbidden so to avoid the deterioration of the ecological environment. They also believe this country should focus more on high technology industry, so they have invested on many research groups in the fields of sociology, biology and IT.
o   Is there anyone whose power is limited? Why would this be?The people who has venereal disease will have to be hold in hospitals before he is cured. So the people having disease has less power. But after he is cured, he will have all his power back.
-          What system is in place to enforce the rules?The system of law and CG, which is the law-enforcement authority, will make sure the law is reinforced.-           -          How does the culture deal with people who break the rules? (How are “punishments” carried out?)If a person break the rules, he will be put into special custody, but can still have work. The criminal of low degree crime will have a brace lace on him. It will monitoring him, and if he seems to break the law again, the brace lace will electric shock him to coma. The criminal of high degree crime will be hold in a special house with rubber walls.

4.      Social Structure-          How does this community sustain itself?o   Examples: Agriculture? Protein synthetically created in a high-tech laboratory?The basic industry in the country is tourism. The country’s agriculture is very advanced so it only requires a small amount of workforce. The food imports is also very popular in the country. The biggest business partner is the US and Canada.
-          What roles/jobs/positions exist for community members?o   What roles do not exist?There are various professions in the country. Namely, the professions you can find in the United States, you can find them here. However, it is notable that the the society does have the notion of “darling” instead of “husband” or”wife” because there may not be a clear role in marriage.
-          Economy: What is the currency of this community?o   Do they use money? Bartering system? Something else?Currency of the country is Canadian dollar, the economic system is part of the Canadian dollar system. The economic in the country is mainly market economics. The government has limited control on economics, but in the case of emergency, the government can declare to take over the economics by the permission of the court.
-          What special customs/ceremonies/forms of social bonding does this society have?

5.      Urban planning and design (visual aid)*-          What do living spaces look like? (And for what reason?)                The houses in the living spaces are all designed by the owners, with the help of building designers. Every house is unique, and the living spaces look active and innovative.o        What materials are used to make them?                                                The common building materials such as wood, cement, etc. If a citizen wants to use special materials, the material must pass the building material test(BMT) to make sure the owner’s safety.o        What features do living spaces have? What is the reason for this? How does it support the values of the community?▪         Example: Courtyards? Bell towers? Media rooms?                                                Active, free, relax, casual, innovative, various… As long as the building is safe to live in, the owner can build whatever he or she want in her place.                                                The society is full of freedom and the atmosphere is relaxing.                                                In such a active and free living spaces, people will not feel any restrain.o        How are the living spaces arranged relative to the larger community? What is the reason for this? How does it support the values of the community?▪         Open to the entire community?▪         Private/hidden from the community?                                                Open to the entire community, because the society is full of freedom and energy.                                                It needs the communication with the larger community.o        Who lives in these spaces?▪         Individuals?▪         Nuclear families?▪         Extended families?                                                There are individuals and many kinds of families.o        Do individuals own property? If so, are they all equally sized? Based upon merit? Etc.                                                Yes. They will get their deserved property according to how much they does for the society.-          Is there any space specially designed to accommodate specific events?                Every two years, there will be a grand ceremony  over the whole country, and many tourists will also come to join it. There is no space specially designed to accommodate it, because all around the country will be in the ceremony.-          How is this community designed to reinforce/maximize the values of the culture?                The culture is active, innovative and free. The community can keep the cultrue positive and active.Questions to consider:o         Is it a gated/walled community? Is it open to everyone?                                No. It is open to everyone.o        How is property divided?                                Everyone will have own property. And families can decide about their mutual property themselves.o        What building structures exist? What functions do these buildings serve? (Think about the values of the society. A church suggests the values of Christianity, a court house suggests values of a judicial system.)There are many kinds of different buildings made especially for wedding, which are designed for many kinds of weddings and attracting a lot of tourists.* For your presentation, provide a map and/or a diorama.Rush goes to great lengths to describe the city gate, the architecture, the street grid, the way people travel-          List one ingenious device of this community that maximizes life there.There are many kinds of different buildings made especially for wedding.Examples:o        a system of ziplines that allows everyone to get to and from work quicklyo        a clever way of storing and dispersing watero        provide an image if possible
6.      Introduce us to members of this community (visual aid)*A.     The ideal member-          What role do they perform in the community?They have their own professions. They are passionate about life and love. They have open mind towards marriage its diversity.
-          What was their life like before coming to this community?They can have fairly normal life in the other countries. They have their jobs. However, they may not be happy about their marriage, or they may have trouble finding their true love.
-          How has living in this community improved their life?They now have more choice for marriage. They can finally have a chance to marry the one they believe they loved, and have children with them.
B.     The unsuitable member-          What role do they perform in the community?They do not come and live in the country, or they already moved out of the country.
-          What was their life like before coming to this community?They really do not come to the country.
-          Why are they not as happy in this community as others?They may be people who support monogamy. They may find the society very confusing and messy. However, they can choose to move out of the country.
-          Daily itinerary (condense for presentation)o   How do people of this community spend their days?They work, and have fun.
-          Fashion: What specific clothing do people of this community wear?o   What kinds of materials do they use?Any kind of material is ok. They even can be naked.
o   How are these materials produced?Mostly by imports from the Asian countries.
o   What is the style of clothing, and how does it aid function?The climate in the country is generally cold. However, there is a short, warm and beautiful summer. So the clothing of people varies from different seasons.The fashion strongly shows the personality of individuals. The citizens are very willing to dress in their favorite kind of clothing. even, it is acceptable for women to wear men’s clothes.For your presentation, show us an image of this person. Or, better yet, have members of your group act/dress as these people.7.      What problems might this community encounter?-          Many utopias ultimately fail. Either its members become tired/annoyed with the rules and practices.-          Often, it is the unhappiness of a small group of individuals—not the entire society— that lead to the downfall.                                 i.              There are two parties in Ait, Green Party and Democratic Party. Green Party think that it is illegal for people to marry with an animal, because people do not know whether these animals are willing to marry with a person. So when Green Party is in power, laws about marriage came out by Democratic Party are always rejected.                               ii.              The second problem is about divorce. In Ait, a group of people can marry together, but they only have one marriage certificate in common, when they want to divorce, they have to do this together. If there are 3 people, A, B and C, marry together, one day, A wants to divorce with B, but C doesn’t want to divorce with A and B. So there are a lot of lawsuits every year. iii.              The third problem is about population. At first, there are not limitations on population. So family who like children or is wealth usually has more than 2 children. People in other countries can immigrate to Ait as long as they submit the applications. Because of the marriage freedom policy, there are about 500 thousands people apply for immigration. But the area of Ait is too small, that the population of the country is overload. Hence in recent years, the government are looking for ways to solve the immigration problems and birth control.

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Utopia Society - Ait

Group Member: Jin Qunwei, Pan Lijun, Xie Yutong, Huang Zeqian, Chen Piao

1. Marriage Freedom

   1)In the community, the marriage is not limited by gender.

   2)The marriage can happen between two people, three people, or a group of people.
   3)A person can marry him or herself.
   4)A person can chose to marry an object or an animal. However, if a person marry an object or an animal, the object or animal do not need to have any responsibility for the marriage.
   5)A person can have baby with any people in his or her marriage.
   6)The technology of biology is very advanced, people of the same gender can have children. More than two people can have a child with the genes from all of them. 
   7)If you marry an animal, and you want a baby with it, you can choose whether you want a human baby or an animal baby.
   8)If you marry yourself, you cannot clone yourself for reproduction. If you want a baby, you can go to sperm-and-seed bank.
   9)If two or more people want to marry the same animal or object, they need to make a decision about who marry it, or they marry together.
 10)You can choose to marry a part of something or someone.
 11)If you want marry part of someone, for example, a person’s left arm, you have to have the owner’s permission. And that owner has to be single.
 12)If a person or a group of people want to get a divorce, they have to all reach the agreement, or they have to go to the court to discuss and debate.
 13)If a person or persons have baby, the person or group of people in marriage with him or them all have the responsibility as parents.
 14)A person cannot marry twice in the same time.

2.1)The structure of government in this society is pretty much like the government of USA.

   2)The government’s name is Ait. The president and congress and judiciary are in charge.

   3)It is a democratic society. The president has the highest power, and he is elected by all the citizens. The law can be changed by the congress’s proposing and agree by judiciary. The judiciary can impeach the president if he or she disobey the law.

   4)The people who has venereal disease will have to be hold in hospitals before he is cured. So the people having disease has less power. But after he is cured, he will have all his power back.

   5)The system of law and CG, which is the law-enforcement authority, will make sure the law is reinforced.

3. If a person break the rules, he will be put into special custody, but can still have work. The criminal of low degree crime will have a brace lace on him. It will monitoring him, and if he seems to break the law again, the brace lace will electric shock him to coma. The criminal of high degree crime will be hold in a special house with rubber walls.

Response to Matng

Mating is a story talking about feminism, which happened in an experimental matriarchal village of South Africa. Also, this village is a utopian village. The system of this village surprised the narrator as well, because, in almost African country, the state of women are very low, and they have to follow what their husbands or father's words.

   The writer, Norman Rush is a male author. However, the narrator of the novel seems like a women. I think it is a great challenge for the author to write things in women way.

Response to the Last Part of the Handmaid's Tale

In the last part of the Handmaids' Tale, we can see that all of the stories are stored in several tapes and the names the characters are just code names. Also, in the Historical Notes, the professor Pieixoto introduces the reason that why the handmaids are always wearing the red cloth. The designer, Limpkin "seems to have  borrowed from the uniforms of German prisoners of war in Canadian camps of the Second World War era."
    At the end of the Section 15, Offred is found that she keep making appointments with the commander,and is helped by Nick, who maybe belongs to "May day". According to the historical part, we can see that Offred is out successfully.
    Also, in the last part of the book, Nick and Offred at last fall in love with each other, but they never point it out, because in Gilead, it is illegal. However, when Offred is in trouble, Nick still try his best to help her out, for they believe that Offred has already had his baby and he dear the relationship between Offred and him be exposed. Here, I think Nick is a kind of selfish person. Though, he considers Offred as well, I think the motivation of him to save Offred is that he want to save him kid, and do not want to lose his job. So, I think he is a selfish people.

Response to the Forth Part of the Handmaid's Tale

In the forth part of the book the Handmaid's Tale, a lot of unexpected plots appears. In the ceremony, Offred says that she thinks love is important in their day-to-day life. It is unbelievable for a woman to say a such word in that society, even Offred has communicated this topic with her commander. When the ceremony is over, Ofglen asks Offred whether she is making appointments with her commander. I am confused here. The appointments between Offred and her commander is a secret, but how can Ofglen say "We know you're seeing him alone."

    In the following chapters, the commander even takes Offred to a club, where they meet Moira. In the toilet of the club, Moira tells Offred how she came to the club, a lot of Quakers helped her to hid in their house. However, she was still caught when she nearly left the country successfully, and was took to the club where is called Jezebel's. 

    There is another unexpected plot. The wife of the commander should talk to Offred, and told her that she can be pregnant with Nick. This is also not allowed in that society. But a lot of wives of commanders choose this way to let the handmaids be pregnant. Though wives of commanders have a lot of rights to ask their handmaids do anything for them, I think it is not fair to push the handmaids to do everything, no matter it is good or bad, even, the wife of the commander uses the photo of Offred's daughter to threaten her. In the wife's mind, the handmaids are just a tool for her family to get a child, so they do not need any respect.

Response to the Handmaid's Tale (Part 3)

The third part of the Handmaid's Tale describes the process that Janine gives birth to the commander in detail. Also, in this part, Offred tells a lot of things between the commander and her and the happy life before her was caught. 

    It is unexpected that there are so many people there to help Janine give a birth to the baby. What surprises me a lot is that there are a lot of people singing and read poetry around the bed capacity. However, everything is also reasonable at that times. At that times, people desire to have a normal baby, for there are too many pollution causing the organs of babies being in the wrong positions. So that, everyone hopes that the new baby would be a normal and cute baby, and improve the birth rate.

    In the section nine, Offred mentions that the relationship between commander and her is changed. They begin making appointments secretly. The commander knows that it is not allowed to make appointments with a handmaid, but he continues to do so, and even asks Offred gives him a kiss when she leaving. In the before part, Offred mentions that the wife of commander always knitting in her room. Also, in their daily life, commander and his wife do not have a lot communications. This makes the commander feels lonely and pushes him to find a person who he can talk to and change his boring life. As a handmaid, Offred has to follow the commander and her wife's order, and she can speak a lot during the appointments, which makes her happy and not as depressive as before. Hence, even though they know making appointments with each other is illegal, they never stop.

Response to the Handmaid's Tale (Section 5-7)

In these 3 sections of the Handmaid's Tale, the author tells us the name of the main character. Her name is Offred. However, in the book, it says that "My name isn't Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden." I think that the reason why she cannot use her real name is that she is a handmaid, which is just a tool for the commander to have a child. Nobody will care the name of a tool. 

    What's more, I think that the author use "Offred" as "my" name on purpose. "Offred" also means "off red". As a handmaid, Offred is always asked to wear red things, which may represent the sex and giving birth. However, these handmaids want to get away with situation one day and begin their own life. In my opinion, the name "Offred" represents the hope of handmaids.

    In the section 5, Offred recalls the situation where she was caught. At that time, Offred and her daughter wanted to through a jungle. But her daughter was so young that she could not help crying, and this exposed the location of them, and the came apart. I think this violates the humanitarianism. How can they take apart a mother and her child in such a cruel way.
    In the gym, Offred meets her friend, Moria, but they cannot appear, because "friend were suspicious". One day, Moria wanted to get away with the situation. However, unfortunately she was found and tortured by the Angle. Handmaids also have the right to live by themselves, but not just be treated like something.

Literature Review on The Last Leaf

The Last Leaf is one of the most famous short stories in the world, which is written by O. Henry. It is published in O. Henry's collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories in 1907. 
    The story happens in Greenwich Village, New York, where living a lot of poor artists. Two young women, Johnsy and Sue, are part of them who sharing one apartment. One day, Johnsy comes down with pneumonia. Because she is so poor that Johnsy refuses to go to hospital. Johnsy gradually loses the willing of living and begins to count the number of leaves which falls down from a vine outside the window. She even tells her roommate that when the last leaf falls down, she will die. Sue is so sad that she visits their neighbor, Old Behrman, who always dreams to paint a masterpiece, and tells him the situation Johnsy is in, after that, Sue goes back to her home. However, in the following days, Sue and Johnsy finds that the last leaf is always on the vine. This makes Johnsy picks up her confidence, and begins following doctor's words. When Johnsy almost recovers, the doctor tells them that Old Behrman died because of pneumonia two days ago. Then, Sue and Johnsy realize the reason why the last leaf never falls down.
    Most of the stories written by O. Henry are based on his own experience or what happened to other people. One of the features of O. Henry's stories is that he always pays a lot of attentions on the description of the characters, and the ending of most of his stories are always unexpected. Just like the Last Leaf, a lot of words are used to describe how sick Johnsy is and how she counts the number of leaf. Also, most of readers may think that Johnsy is so poor that she will die after the last leaf falling down, however, the author lets her alive.
    The stories written by O. Henry always have something serious or ironical. So does the Last Leaf. In this story, Johnsy has great chance to alive, but she gives up and insists that her life just like the falling leaves, will finish soon. It is exactly Johnsy herself that pushes her to the death.
    However, this story still moves a lot of readers. Take Old Behrman as an example. He always dreams to finish a masterpiece to shock the world. So he particularly put a blank easel at the corner of his painting room. In order to help Johnsy find the belief of living, he picks up his brush again and painting in the heavy rain. Though Old Behrman loses his own life, he still lets Johnsy find hope. Old Behrman finally finishes his masterpiece.

Work Cited:
Chenggang Ren, Yumin Wang, "the Real Masterpiece - Appreciation on the Last Leaf" Journal of Shandong Normal University Foreign Language Institute, Vol.2(2001) pp. 51-53

KP Deep'ak, "Themes, Styles & Techniques of O.Henry" <http://literarism.blogspot.com/2011/02/themes-styles-techniques-of-ohenry.html>

Implications of Literature <https://safe.acsi.org/iweb/upload/TE.Henry-The%20Last%20Leaf.pdf>

Don Agold, "The Last Leaf by O. Henry" Short Story Review, Feb. 12, 2005 <http://shortstoryreview.blogspot.com/2005/02/last-leaf-by-o-henry.html>

Analysis paper: Element

Fiction: the Last Leaf
Element: Giving up

Response to the Handmaid's Tale

The fiction called the Handmaid's Tale is written by Margaret Atwood, who comes from Canada. According to the introduction of the author, we can see that she likes to write fictions which are historical, or science, or dystopian.

    The book is told in the first person, and this makes the story become more believable. In the first four sections, the author does not mention the name of "I". Also, the author does not tell us the exactly job "I" was doing.

    After reading the first chapter, I found that the main character is a woman and living in a gymnasium with other 5 women. In the gymnasium, they could not talk to each other and two Aunts always patrolled around their beds. In this chapter, the narrator also said that "we still had our bodies. That was our fantasy." At first, I was confused about this sentence. But after finishing the following chapters, I know that what these women should do is to make love with the commanders and leave children for them, and they are called handmaids.

    The section 2 describes the process that how the narrator went to shopping. In this section, the color - red, always shows up. The red shoes, red gloves, everything except the wings around her face is red. And Rita, who is a Martha, always looks down up on the narrator, because "it is the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for". According to this sentence, I think that the color, red, must stand for something. 

    Thinking about the functions of the handmaids, in my opinion, the red maybe represent giving birth, but I do not understand why the color must be red. I think red makes people happy and excited, but in this fiction, the author using red to represent handmaids is really an irony in some way.

    

Presentation

Annotated Bibliography

Title           Boy Marries Hill
Author        Lindsay Marianna Walker
Publisher    University of Southern Mississippi, 2007
Length        58 Pages

Visual Aids

https://drive.google.com/a/kean.edu/file/d/0ByZxteNQZ1BcRVdIaElYVHprdG8/view?usp=sharing

 Any Other Research Notes

Presentation Notes/Outline

About the Author

Brief Introduction

Interesting Part

Mysteries in the Play

References

Response to "Boy Marries Hill"

When I first saw the name of the play, I was confused. How can people marries hill！However, this problem also makes me want to learn more about this story.
    To be honest, after finishing reading, I just think that this just like a soap opera which is playing on TV every night. When Tapesh wants to break up with Darshini, Darshini tells him that she is pregnant and the baby is a boy. When Darshini asks Tapesh why he has to break up with her, Tapesh says that his mother wants him to go back India and marry hill and he has to follow his mother. 
    And all of these messages are from a goddess who just appeared in their dreams. After the coming of the pizza boy, Tapesh and Darshini make up their minds. Darshini tells her boyfriend that she is not pregnant and Tapesh says that he is falling in love with hill. Finally they break up.
    I can understand why Darshini lies to her boyfriend that she is pregnant,though it is not a good way to retain him, no matter how she loves Tapesh. However, this action is exactly the reason that causes their breaking. After the pizza boy coming and telling his experience, Tapesh is shaken and does not want to go back to Indian. But when Darshini says that she is not pregnant and does not love Tapesh any more after she knows the experience Tapesh suffered in his childhood. This also fits the selfish character of Darshini.  
    In my opinion, at the end of the play, Tapesh says that he falls in love the hill is an excuse for him to cover up his disappointment and sadness from what Darshini says to him.

Analysis Paper Step 1

The article I want to analyse is The Last Leaf which is written by the American writer O.Henry.

Response to the Bible, Book of Genesis

The Bible, as we all know , is one of the most popular and classical books in the world. Also,the Bible is worth reading for people all over the world, No matter you believe in Christianity or not. As a person who do not have any religious belief, I read the Bible as a literature.

    The first two chapters talks about the process that the LORD God created the world and earth. In the following chapters, it also tells the story about the man LORD God created and his wife on how they ate the fruit and were gotten out of the Eden. Also, it introduces the names of descendants of Adam and Eve. At last, it describes how Noah created the ark and escaped the waters of the flood with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.

   What interests me a lot is that in the Garden of Eden, the serpent always instigated Eve to eat the fruit that God did not want them to eat, and at last, Eve followed what the serpent said.

    In my opinion, the words the serpents said are exactly the lure we are facing every day. In our daily life, we always have to be pushed to make some decisions. At that that time, we just like Eve. Shall we insist ourselves? Or following others' words that seems to be more feasible. Especially when the people who giving you suggestions have more experience than you. Hence, when we meet this situation, we have to become more carefully to analyze and tell. But do not just act like Eve, having no idea in heart. 

    However, what confuses me here is that why the LORD God did not allow Eve and Adam to eat the fruit. According the God's words, the tree having the fruit represents the knowledge of good and evil, and after eating the fruit, people will know good and evil. Why the LORD God did not want people know these two things? And in the following sentences, after they eating the fruit, Eve and Adam had some emotions they did not have before, for example, shyness. But in my opinion, this is noting about good and evil. 

    Also, in part 3, the LORD God said that" the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and live forever". The understanding of mine here is that in the God's mind, only he can live forever and know the knowledge of good and evil.

Light in O'Brien's artical

The word "light" appears in O'Brien's frequently, especially in the part which describes the scene of Lemon's death.

    First "light" appears in the sentence "no sunlight at all". In my opinion, this sentence shows that the place they staying had no sunlight and this indicate the war to the author and his partners is black, and the fear of facing death every day. 

    Then, in the sentence "Up in the canopy there were tiny white blossoms, but no sunlight at all." the word "light" shows up again. This sentence main describe the environment where Lemon and Rat were playing. Also, this description indicates the depressive atmosphere and the coming death of Lemon.

    In the paragraph that describing the memory of the author, he pays attention to write the sunlight, because when Lemon died, the sunlight was on his face. In the author's description, Lemon's death does not bring him terror or something bad to him, but in a peace. Also, when facing death, Lemon did not think that is a terrible, but take him to a place where there is no war, but full of quiet and peace.

    In my mind, the word "light" to the author stands for hope as well. To soldiers, they have to face the terror day by day, and cannot be themselves at that period. When the author saw the sunlight shone on the face of Lemon, he found a kind of freedom and that did bring the author the hope to enjoy the peace and free life again.

Schedule of my analysis paper

STEP	COMPLETION DATE
1: Determine text	March 16
2: literary review	March 30
3: determine element	April 7
4: Meeting with Dr. Marquardt	April 10
5: determine sources	April 13
6: determine quotes from primary sources	April 14
7: determine quotes from secondary sources	April 15
8: Outline	April 22
9: Draft 1	May 3
10: Peer Review	May 5
11: Draft 2	May 19
12: Final Draft	June 5

Response to "How to tell a true war story"

In the long story, Tim O'Brien tells us something happened in Vietnam War among his friends in this war and himself. 

    The first sentence Tim written is "This is true". This shows us that what he had written down are all really happened during the Vietnam War. What is more, the stories Tim told us are mainly happened in Bob Kiley, who people called him rat, and Mitchell Sanders, who liked playing yo-yo. In my opinion, Bob is a frank man with heart to all his friends. After their friend, who is called Lemon, died in the war, he wrote a letter to Lemon's sister, and told her how great her brother were, though he did not get the reply from Lemon's sister and even called her dumb cooze.

    At the end of the story, Tim says that a true war story is never about war, because it’s always about love, memory and sorrow. I agree with this point. 

    About love. Every soldier fight for the war has their own family. When they are combating, the people who they missing most must be the person who them love or some people who love them. Also, just as what we can find in some movies, the two main characters full in love with each other during the war.

    About memory. In Chinese, we always said that "A friend in need is a friend indeed." The battlefield is a place where we can always find a true friendship. People in the war should always become united to face every difficulty. The memory of these experiences is very valuable for every one of those soldier, no matter the memory is happy or painful.

    About sorrow. To a war, there are only two situations for the results, win and lose. To a soldier, there are also only two situations for them, living and death. It is a great sorrow when soldiers see their best friends shot by gun or something else with their own eyes. Also, to the soldiers' family members, sorrow is that they cannot touch these soldiers any more.

    It is important for people to tell the true stories during the war and help people under stand the history in a correct way.

Response 1

The story of king Shahryar and his brother is the first part of The Arabian Nights. This story is the opening words of the book. In this story we know that the king of Sasan was a brute people. One day he found his wife sleep on his bed embracing with a cook, he killed her and met a Jinni who told Shahryar and his brother that they cannot rely on women and do not trust them. Hence, the king killed all his concubines and their mamelukes, and he continued for the space of three years, marrying a maiden every night and killing her the next morning. The elder daughter of the Chief Wazir, who knows a lot of stories, told his father that she can marry with the king to help his father. To be honest, this action is a little rash. However, this also shows that Scheherade is a wise and brave woman. In my opinion, the king of a country should be kind to all people there and help them live a happy life, but not a brute and fetishistic.

The tale of the bull and the ass is the story Scheherazade told her father to persuade him. The bull always worked tired at cleaving the earth day by day, and his complaint was heard by ass. The ass told the bull that he can pretend ill. The following day, the bull did what the ass told him and the owner let him relax in his house. But the ass was forced to take the place of the dull. At night, the ass told the bull that he could not do that again and the owner will killed him if he still ill. After telling this story, the Wazir was persuaded by his daughter. He finally agreed her 2 daughters’ suggestions and let them go to the palace.  From this part, I found that Scheherazade is not only brave, but also enough calm to analyze every possible problem she may meet. This is admirable.

In the conclusion part, Scheherazade had 3 children with the king and finally moved him because of her character. The king also fell in love with Scheherazade and got married with her at last. This is really a happy ending. This also shows that no matter how evil people are, they will finally moved by the beautiful and pure things.