From the first day of school, Language Arts seemed like the hardest class. It is the only class that required summer assignment that kept me literate during summer; I usually neither read nor write in summer. Soon, as the time flows, my L.A. class of 2013 started to learn about Joseph Campbell's Hero's Adventure. I started to realize that this class is different from any of my former L.A. classes and that this is going to be very challenging. The real thing started from Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. As well as learning satires, I also began to write formal essays, using and analyzing quotes from the text and relating it to the real life. Then, starts the never-lasting creepiness of Sir William Golding. Golding's Lord of the Flies was the longest and most time spent piece of the semester. I wrote lots of both formal and informal essays, journals, and reflections.
This L.A. class was very challenging. Even with the fact that L.A. isn't my strongest subject, I'm barely maintaining a good grade. The amounts of essays I had to write and the quality of essays it had to be really drove me crazy, sometimes. However, as much as it was challenging, I believe I had a dramatic improvement in my skills of writing. Moreover, I learned that literature is more than just a fable or a story but also contains deeper meaning into it. This class really helped me for college preparation.
Lord of the Flies, from the beginning, was a book of my taste. The novel was plotted in an island, main characters are young boys, and they were representetives of human being. However, as I read, I began to realize that the strory was more deep than I ever imagined. On the last chapters of the novel, the island becomes a chaotic place; Jack steals the specs from Piggy and Piggy gets murdered by Roger. Ralph, who escapes, soon faces the hunting of Jack and Roger. Unlike the previous chapters, Roger became significant to the boys; the twins quote, "You don't know Roger. He's a terror" (Golding 195). With the fact that Roger killed Piggy, it proves that Roger may have equivalent or higher degree of evilness than Jack. When Ralph is running from Jack, "They had smoked him out and set the island on fire" (Golding 202). Ironically, Ralph gets rescued by a naval officer who visited the island because he saw the smoke. Ralph quotes "And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy" (Golding 208). Ralph and other boys on the island lost their innocence and darkness too well to go back to childhood. I thought it was funny how Ralph called Piggy as a friend because even to the moment of Piggy being killed, Ralph didn't listen to Piggy.
In the chapters 3, 4, and 5, Simon becomes more significant. At the previous chapters, he was described as African descent boy who was part of Jack Merridew’s choir. “The boys round Simon giggled, and he stood up, laughing a little. Now that the pallor of his faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse” (Golding 22). In chapter 3, Simon shows his hard working by building the shelters. Ralph quotes, “They’re hopeless. The older ones aren't much better. D’ you see? All day I've been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 49). Also, Simon resembles the good aspects of religions. He is hard-working and kind. “..., Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back to the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 55). From the quote, Simon proves his selflessness. Also descriptions such as “He came at last to place where more sunshine fell. Since they had not so far to go for light the creepers had woven a great mat that hung at the side of an open space in the jungle” (Golding 55), gives an image of religious prayers. Also phrases such as “candle-like buds” and “mats” are used throughout the chapter.
Due to my friend Ellie's enthusiastic invitation, I started Frisbee this year. This is my official first team sport so I experienced various things from joining the team. First I learned running isn't too bad. I used to hate running; I hate it more than reading the pages of AP World History text book. But since the sport requires two laps before the practice, I had to run no matter what. That made me think of 'why am I doing thing that I hate the most?' However, after the lap, the practice is so fun that I forget about running the laps everyday. Playing sports with friends is really fun. It's unfortunate that I couldn't experience that from last years tennis team. By then, I just moved so I didn't know anyone, in contrast, this year, I had lots of friends that I met from choir last year, so I was more relaxed. Moreover, by joining a school team sport, I felt more committed to the school. I felt like I was representing the school in a way. If one goes to school and does not participate in any school or extra curriculum activity, one will just consider school as a place they learn academics only.
A fat boy called Piggy in the novel, Lord of the flies, is an interesting character. He is described by quote, “He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat” (Golding 1), which suggests that Piggy has not very attractive appearance. Although, Ralph, who thinks he is superior than Piggy, thinks he’s better, Piggy is more logical than Ralph in many ways. When Ralph forced Piggy to run Piggy answers, “My auntie told me not to run,” he explained, “on account of my asthma” (Golding 7), which logically proves his statement that he should not run. From the quote, we can also find out that Piggy is dependent or faith in his auntie or an adult supervisor a lot. Throughout the chapter, Piggy mentions his auntie continuously. Also when Ralph brags about his father, who is a commander in the Navy, Piggy answers “My dad’s dead,” he said quickly, “and my mum-” (Golding 12). Also he quotes, “I used to live with my auntie. She kept a candy store. I used to get ever so many candies. As many as I liked” (Golding 12), which states that Piggy used to live with his aunt but not currently. Moreover, Piggy’s shape might have been a result of obsessive consumption of candies. Piggy is also a very intelligent character; when Ralph and Piggy finds the conch, Piggy immediately finds a way to gather up the scattered children: to blow the conch. However, even with his intelligence, Piggy is treated badly within the group. He is called nicknames from even the youngest, tiniest, and the most wick boys. Unlike the boys, Piggy has experienced loss of family members and is able to see the world in a critical way. While other boys don't accept the fact that they’re thrown in an island by themselves and think it’s a playful journey, Piggy quickly figures out that this is a reality. However, still as a young boy, Piggy didn't think about how the boys will react. Although it’s a fact, the boys refuses to hear the truth from Piggy and wants to hear sugar-coated-imaginations from Ralph.
Satire has been used throughout the world to change the ill of the society. Satire is a use of irony and sarcasm to attack and criticize the target and it's ultimate goal is to change the society. Jonathan Swifts's A Modest Proposal is a from of formal satire that is in first person and uses irony and sarcasm to target Britain abusing the Irish. The proposal appealed to the British people and resulted in the independence of Ireland. However, although the A Modest Proposal was successful and effective, satire in general is not effective enough to change the society.
In the A Modest Proposal, Swift attracts the readers eyes and alarms their minds by using offensive languages such as ", that a healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled" (Swift 3), and "A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends" (Swift 3). Satires can attract readers in a short period of time however, the reader will focus too much on the disturbing languages or images the satire present that they will lose the deeper real point being made. The clip The HumanCentipad is a perfect example pointing out the ineffectiveness of satires. In the film, people who sign on a cell phone contract without even reading them are satirized but what draws the attention is the horrible and almost unrealistic way of making the HumanCentipad.
Satire is often described an onion with many layers covering it because of its layered information. Depending on the readers academic levels, they will each get different understandings of the satire. Throughout the history the society is made up few numbers of elites and big numbers of general people, often uneducated or educated in a small amount. For satirists to change the society, not only they have to convinced the elite groups, they must get public support from general population who often times don't get the satire. ", although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it" (Swift 9). Educated readers who understand the sarcasm would easily find out that Swift is proposing that the Britain is eager to bring all Irish goods not leaving anything behind. However, uneducated general people may believe that Swift is actually referring to the Britain trying to literally eat up the Irish babies. One may argue that the elite groups are the leading groups of the society so if satirists convince the elite group the society may change. However, Swift's A Modest Proposal was only in effect due to the general people pressuring the Parliament. Moreover, it's likely that the elite group, educated, already know the issue and humans are stubborn so once they made a mind, it's hard to turn the decision.
Sometimes, satirist can target multiple targets. Often times the targets are hard to distinguish such as the example of Finger Pointing Blame Game. In the clip, the satirist satirizes both Republicans and Democrats who points their fingers at each other. Both parties believe the satirist is in their sides. The quote for a democrat man, "Stop that finger pointing" (Daily Show), explains how he thinks the satirist is in his side. Depending on the viewers background, they possibly can get the wrong target due to the ambiguity of satires. In the quote "Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, their sows when they are ready to farrow; not offer to beat of kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage" (Swift 7), is targeting both the Irish men and the Britain which led Irish to poverty thus creates violence between husbands and wives.
Satire, is surely a great academic genre that is effective in ways. However, as the essay suggests, to change the society, rather than using a satire, proposing a straightforward thoughts is more useful because satire is often ambiguous and can be misleading.
In LA class last week, our class presented the satirical videos each student picked. Out of the 16 videos presented, there is a videos that really appealed to me.
The video, John Oliver and Gun Control, was brilliantly satirizing Americans who oppose gun control without certain reason. John Oliver interviews an American anti-gun control supporting Virginian Philip Van Cleave and a government official from Australia and contrast their opinions. When Oliver asks Cleave if background checks for gun control is logical to him, Cleave answers no and suggests that the first amendment doesn't require background checks. This is a use of verbal irony since the first amendment is very different from the second amendment so they cannot be compared with each other. Also, when Oliver asks about one hour waiting period to get a gun Cleave also answers no saying he don't see any reasons. This shows how stubborn people can be and not change their minds.Moreover, Cleave claims gun control does not work so Oliver examples Australia's gun control after the mass shooting. However, Cleave insists Australia is another world and is not the United States but in reality, Australia, not only exists in the same planet as America, obviously there economy and culture is not so different from us. Oliver, then, interviews Australia's formal prime minister, John Howard. Howard says that after the gun control, the mass shooting stopped and never happened until today. When Oliver says this to Cleave, Cleaves says "mass shooting is rare anyhow" and yes, mass shooting is less than car accidents except while car accidents result in killing comparably small number of people, mass shooting can kill hundreds and thousands of people. Also although mass shooting is rare compare to other death causes, it still is visible in number. Howard claims there were thirty mass shootings in Australia only before the gun control. When Cleave hears this, he compares guns to drugs and basically end up saying like "there is no point of having laws unless we can complexly get rid of all the drugs." After that, with his logic confused, Cleave claims since there are more gun in USA, there will be more people killed, which is actually opposing his claim.
This video by using verbal irony and Homeric satire, perfectly satirizes people who doesn't have clear reason of opposing gun controls and still opposes it.
1. "He best remembered for his 1728 book Gulliver's Travels."
Citation: "Jonathan Swift Biography." Web log post. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. 2. "Moreover, Swift was a sickly child. It was later discovered that he suffered from Meniere's Disease, a condition of the inner ear that leaves the afflicted nauseous and hard of hearing."
Citation: "Jonathan Swift Biography." Web log post. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
3. "...; at fourteen he entered pensioner at Trinity College, Dublin, where he seems to have neglected his opportunities." Citation: Jokinen, Anniina, comp. "The Life of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)." Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th ed. Vol. 26th. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed., Vol. XXVI. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 225-7., 16 Oct. 2006. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. 4. In England, in 1689, he became secretary to Sir William Temple, a diplomat and man of letters, at Moor Park in Surrey. Citation: "Jonathan Swift: A Brief Biography"The Dancing Girl" by John Barlas." Web log post.Jonathan Swift: A Brief Biography"The Dancing Girl" by John Barlas. Victorian Web, July 2000. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. 5. "..., is said to have remarked "Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet." Citation: Citation: "Jonathan Swift: A Brief Biography"The Dancing Girl" by John Barlas." Web log post.Jonathan Swift: A Brief Biography"The Dancing Girl" by John Barlas. Victorian Web, July 2000. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. Quote from Swift "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own" (Swift). Citation: "Jonathan Swift." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2013. 7 October 2013. Quote about Swift:
In the video, It's Your Fault, the female actresses in the video insists that women are the leading cause of rape. They say scientific studies show that women who wear skirts are leading cause of rape but the clothes that were shown are not only skirts or shorts but also includes traditional Indian clothes and even a space suit which sarcastically points out the fact that the cloth women wear isn't the real cause of rape. This is an example of Horatian satire, which in a playful and joyful tone directs wit, exaggeration, and humor.
Also in scene 1:00, the woman explains that even the men are the ones who rape females, since females give birth to the males it's all their fault, which the deeper meaning hidden under the verbal irony means that the men are raping females who do a great sacrifice by giving birth to them and the future generation.
Moreover, in scene 1:13, the actress quotes, "Indian culture provides a several progressive methods to counter rape." She mocks the real society where women cannot stop the rape by calling out word by actually stopping the rape by calling out "Paya Walla" literally rape cancel in English. She quotes "it works all the time" bur in reality it doesn't
Furthermore, in the scene 1:35, the actresses claims that women who work late are also the leading cause of rape and quotes, "women, why work at all?" The reality behind it is that in average Indian family, men either don't work or don't earn enough to afford the family. It's mocking the Indian culture blaming the women who had been raped while just trying to support her family. It's another example of a Horatian satire since it's in a playful tone.
In scene 2:38, the woman says, "if you're tired of being humiliated by rape, you can always go to the cops and be humiliated by them instead." It blames the police officials in India who doesn't help the victims of rape but rather humiliate them even more. The cope in scene 2:41, the cop asks the victim if she was with boys. Obviously, if she was rape by a man or men, she was with one more boys. The cop asks unnecessary and apparent question to accuse the woman instead of helping him. The actress says, "It's my fault", and "Thank you officer", which in real world never happens.
The video overall is a satirical video that blames and mocks the Indian society that instead of punishing the criminals, assaults the victims of rape. It uses satirical techniques such as horatian satire and verbal irony.
For the hero cycle project in Language Arts, Daisy, Allison, Natalie, Daria, and I selected Pocahontas as our hero. First, since some of us haven't watched the movie, we all watched the movie, Pocahontas 1, during the weekend. After we all watched the movie, we distributed the steps to each person. Some people got three steps and some got two. We mostly wrote the paragraphs ourselves, but since we made a Google document and shared it, we were able to read everyone else's writing and comment on it. For some pictures, we had hard time finding it but we helped each other and did a decent job. After completing the writing, we worked on the poster. We originally planned to use feathers and leaves brought by Allison but due to the amount we need, we made the leaves by hand. There's actually three kinds of different leaves that was designed by Natalie, Alison, and me.
After finishing the poster, our group presented the poster. Everyone did great on analyzing and speaking with confidence. We all went through the writings we did; the parts we read each was the on the steps we wrote about. Other groups, such as the group that presented Scooby Doo,Hercules, and Mulan did a great job. They did great because they presented with confidence and made lots of eye contact, and also did an amazing job on decorating the posters. The group with Back to the Future as their movie was recognizable on their understanding of the movie and analyzing it. The rest of the groups, who presented 42, Nemo, and Brave, did extraordinary job on decorating the posters.
the first photo is the poster our group made. The colors represent the nature and the colored leaves decorated the poster due to its significance in the movie.
the second photo is the movie cover of Pocahontas.
This weekend, I’m going to volunteer in a Reading Buddy program in the Louisville public library. I volunteer in the library every Sundays for about two hours every week. The reading buddy for the first session is Prim. She is in first grade and she’s a bright girl. She likes Dr. Seuss series and other books too. She can read very challenging books that has half page full of 12 font words. I don’t think I was able to read such long books in first grade. All the books she picks are quite challenging and above her grade level. Sometimes she even teaches me how to pronounce some words like “disguise” which I always pronounce as dis-guise when it’s suppose to sound like dis’gaiz. (There are words I just cannot pronounce like “wood.” My middle school friends worked so hard for me to fix saying “woud” instead of “wʊdn.”) Since in the reading buddy program, the volunteers give the kids stickers which if the kids gather five of them, we give prizes, Prim is eager to collect those five stickers. Last week, she got a prize! Hurray!
I’m with a boy called Milan for the second session. He is in kindergarten and he’s not as bright as Prim but he is adorable. He can read words like “I”, “He, She”, and “The.” So usually I read most of the sentences but let him to read the words he now. He isn't as eager as Prim for getting the prizes or reading but I believe he’s just shy a little bit. In the last session, which was almost three weeks ago, we did a activity, a bingo game where you have to ask other kids questions that’s in the boxes, with other reading buddies too. First Milan was shy to ask anyone but later he was very enthusiastic and got along with everyone just fine.
Both Prim and Milan are wonderful kids. Assuming English is their second language, which I found it out in the form they filled out, they are both doing amazingly great! Hope to see Milan and Prim this Sunday too!
“...Napoleon was a leader. but he wasn't a hero in the sense that what he accomplished was grand for humanity’s sake. It was for France, the glory of France” (Moyers 127).
“Then he is a French hero, is he not? ...Is hero of a given state or people what we need today, when the whole planet should be our field of concern?” (Campbell 127).
When Moyers claims Napoleon a leader but not a hero, Campbell responds with a brilliant answer: “then he is a French hero, is he not?” (Campbell 127). Moreover he throws a curious question, “do heroes have to concern for the whole planet?” (Campbell 127). Heroes of stories appear as the savior of the perspective the story was written. For instance, Odysseus of the Odyssey was drawn as a war hero of Ithaca but he may be an enemy from the eyes of Troy. Campbell also quotes, “Whether you call someone a hero or a monster is all relative to where the focus of your consciousness may be” (Campbell 127). Even in history, some leaders were heroes of some perspective. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi , followed by numbers of Germans, proved his leadership and worshiped as a hero of new rising Germany. Although the concept of Hitler being a hero is non-sense and not acceptable today, Hitler still is a hero of remaining Nazi descendants.
The word “hero” means a lot to me. When I was about seven or eight, the only hero I could think of was spider man since he was the only superhero I’d ever seen. My brother and I were obsessed with spider man. We loved the way he shoots his spider web and how he changes from a Peter Parker to a world saving hero spider man. As I age, I began to realize that there’s no one in the world who can save the entire human race. Even Barack Obama couldn't help all the Americans. Gandhi, the spiritual leader of India, still influences numbers of people but it can’t help all the men in the world. My definition of “hero” now has changed from 7 year old. Although heroes cannot change or influence the entire human race, if they influenced you, so they are heroes.
Obama is a hero, Gandhi is a hero, and Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero to me because they influenced me through their speeches, words, and wisdom. However, over this three well known heroes, there is my seventh grade science teacher, Mrs. Jamison. Unlike Obama, Gandhi, or King, she is not very influential to the world. However, she is a wonderful teacher who I respect and learned from. For me hero doesn't have to save the entire planet; if a person is influencing me in a positive way, they are my hero.
My favorite novel is Ender's Game by Olson Scott Card. Ender's Game is a sci-fi novel that pictures children growing up to be soldiers to defend the enemy, the "Buggers."
"The power to cause pain is the only power that matters. The power to kill and destroy. Because if you can't kill. Then you are always subject to those who can. And nothing and no one will ever save you" (Card ).
The quote ,spoken by Ender, is my favorite quote among the great quotes in Ender's Game. At the beginning of the novel, Ender is a kind-hearted six-year-old boy who cannot harm anyone at all. However, at the last chapters of the novel, Ender realizes that he has to be strong and says the quote. The process of sweet but weak Ender turning to the savior of the human race can seem non realistic because of his young age; Ender is only nine at the end of the novel. However, the best part of the novel is the author describing the growth of Ender so thoroughly with quotes, actions, and conversations that readers understand and feel the same emotions of Ender. This is my favorite novel not just because it is my favorite genre, but the emotions of the protagonist is well portrayed.
And Ender's Game, the movie, is going to be released in late 2013! Although it is a movie not yet released, I have no doubt in that it will be my favorite. Since I extremely loved the original novel, I would like to see it in visuals with real people acting. Also the actor who plays Ender, Asa Butterfield is an actor I like. I've seen him in the movie Hugo and I really liked his acting.
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My best experience of my life is just being lazy doing nothing like in the song "Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars. When I am free of homework or chores, I usually lay down in my bed and listen to radio and do nothing. Some might say I am wasting my precious time, but for me it's the best thing you can do in your life. Everyone, including me, is living too busy following their routine and they forget how important doing nothing is!
