Summary and Reaction to "Anger" from TED-TALK

     The audio is talking about a strong feeling called anger. It talks about what anger really is and how we lose our temper. Anger is a negative emotion that triggered by people who treats us badly or unfairly. There are many things that make us lose control. A significant finding is that “Modern life is making us angrier.” Also, researchers in U.K. proposed a point that “People today are angrier than ever.” Modern life is fast and haste, and thus it causes us feel nervous and stressed. Lots of time, we try to slow down steps to relax ourselves, but then we get frustrated trying to do that. In fact, the frustration comes from our wants to do too much in a limited time. Another statement to support the finding is also discussed in the audio. “In Western World, all the expectation has been raised.” That is, we expect things to be perfect. It’s not a bad thing to have high expectation on achievements, but it is bad to expect everything goes with our will. For instance, we get mad when wireless connection doesn’t work well. What’s more, most people get mad when train is late. In BBC survey, they found that being kept on hold by a called center is the most likely thing to annoy people. We want things without waiting, which is the key to igniting anger. Sometimes we just get angry with all the people. We just think that everyone is annoyed even though they don’t do anything wrong. Haste life gives us an idea that we don’t want to wait and that we don’t have time waiting. However, getting anger is not definitely a bad thing. Human develop a feeling of anger as a basic survival skill. The emotion of anger helps us to do things. That is to say, proper anger may do us good. As a result, anger management is a critical therapy to modern people. It helps us control anger. Next time when we feel mad, just take a deep breath and calm down.

     Anger is the enemy that lives in our brain. It makes us unhappy and it always ruins the day. Sometimes we just get mad for unknown reason. We just think that nothing pleases us. Lots of time we feel like rubber bins losing flexibility. We feel tired of doing everything and we want to do nothing. Modern people are prone to be strained by the fast speed of life. We are too busy to slow down ourselves, and thus we lost time relaxing our minds. Tiredness often leads to bad emotion. We may try hard to relax ourselves, but then we may feel depressed because of the limit of time. We have high expectation on our leisure time, but the result is often far away from our imagines. It is usual that we always jump into an unhappy period even when nothing terrible happens. I agree with the idea that anger is from our stress toward the fast step of modern life. For instance, I always get mad and feel down when exams are on the corner. People are getting bust and lonely nowadays. Anger or negative thought is our resistance against the stress. Just like the speaker said, it is important to implement anger management because a breath may be able to help us calm down and thus take a better action. Most stress comes from our worry about having no time to have things done. Stress is actually the factor that cause anger most of the time. Thus, I think time management is indispensable, too. In addition, anger not only comes from stress but also comes from high expectation. It says in the audio that we are having higher expectation on everything. We get angry once the thing doesn’t go as our expectations. For example, I always feel annoyed when train doesn’t arrive on time. I want the thing without waiting. Anger is probably one of the most terrible emotions for me. I hate the feeling of anger because it always hinders me to complete things well and effectively. Thus, I am more than willing to avoid getting angry as much as I can. 

Summary and Reaction to"Mania for learning English" from Ted-Talk

      The audio is basically talking about the mania for learning English. It says that there are two billions of people learning English because English is the opportunity for better job and decenter life. From that Chinese student start learning English in the 3^rd grade by law, we can see the indication that the intensity to learn English is nearly imaginable. To English native speakers, it is wild that students in China study for 12 hours a day for 3 years to prepare for a critical exam which includes 25 percent of grade on English. Besides, the only exam will literally determine their future. All these policies seem to be proofs of the mania for learning English.

There are many kinds of manias in the world, such as sport mania and religious mania. Mania may be good, alarming, or fatal; yet the speaker says that the mania for learning English is nothing about good or bad. It is just a necessity which will improve our future. Just like math is the language of science or music is the language of emotions, English is the language of problem-solving. Learning English have become a trend in the world not because the United States is pushing it, but because the world is pulling it. Since people from all over the world are getting to know English, English is becoming the world’s second language. However, the speaker didn’t deny the importance of native language. He says that native language is life, and English is the tool to unveil the global conversation and profession for world citizens. Backing to the point, English is a turning point for human beings to solve the common problems in common language. It represents a hope for the better future.

As far as I am concerned, learning English well is really a big thing. I have learnt English since I was a little child. Nevertheless, I didn’t deeply realized how important this language is until the first time I went traveling abroad. To my surprise, I could communicate with others in English even in a non-English country. I was able to ask things in English no matter in Japan, Thailand, or Europe. My traveling experience makes me notice the wonder of language. Common language can bring people of different backgrounds closer and together. It helps human culture and technology a lot in the way it translating meaning from one language to another. Having a common language is an elemental thing in human world, because we need a tool to communicate. I like the sentence that “Native language is life, but with English we can become part of a wider conversation.” Some people may think we learn English because of the power of the United States, but I like the emphasis that English language is becoming common due to its usual function. To me, the ability of knowing English is important and indispensable, for this language is used to define a word or a label in other languages. For example, few people know Latin, but lots people know English; thus, those few people translate Latin into English, and then those who know English translate English to other language. The process helps human beings preserve history and further share history; it also helps us discuss measures to improve global life and further invent and share usual technology.

It may be sensible to figure out why should the world has the second language, but it may be skeptical that why is the language English? I guess the reason lies in the accessibility and feasibility of the language. English may be much easier than any other languages for most of us to learn, and it does exist everywhere in our daily life. 

Summary and Reaction to "Unexpected Gift" from TED-TALK

     The audio is basically talking about the blessing of an unexpected gift. A gift which is not quite pretty came to the speaker around five months ago, which turned her life in the way she hadn’t expected. The gift is worthy of $55,000, but Amazon doesn’t carry it; Apple logo is not on it; and waiting list doesn’t have it. It is a brain cancer, which is the experience that the speaker wouldn’t change. It is an unexpected gift that made her redefined the meaning and the value of life. She said, “Imagine, if you will a gift.” The gift can be pictured in our mind. It doesn’t need to be big; yet it will do lots incredible things for us. It will bring all of our family together, making us feel loved, appreciated, and all the great feelings that we haven’t felt before. The speaker looks upon her disease as a gift because she calibrated what’s the most important thing in her life during that tough period. The gift brought new understanding, trust, and energy to her body. Also, she met new people and had healthier life style. People may think it is pathetic to suffer from a cancer; nevertheless, it gave the speaker more time thinking about her life and having much time doing absolutely nothing but enjoying leisure time. It let human heart challenged, inspired, motivated, and humbled. It is not just a cancer but a gift that endowed the speaker with peace, happiness, health, and surrendered self. By sharing her experience, the speaker tried to tell us that sometime when we encounter something that is unexpected, unwanted, or uncertain, just consider it is just maybe a gift. A gift doesn’t need to be expensive or fancy, but it should be valuable and meaningful. Value is not equal to the price of the thing but to the influence it has on human beings. Thus, the gift may disguise in an ugly appearance but still be precious. Don’t feel terrible as we meet something that seems not so good, because it may be a blessing that strengthen the quality of life.

     I like the idea that encountering something unexpected isn’t a bad thing. People like to plan things, but sometimes life starts messing up as we keep planning on it. Sometimes just go as our will, and then we’ll find the place that is belonged to us. We all like to lead a comfortable and regular life, and we are used to it. Therefore we refuse to the change in life. We try hard to protect us from the irregular, while the unexpected, the unwanted, or the uncertain is inevitable in human lives. God created us, he wants us to learn things that we are lack of. A life without difficulty is not qualified to be called life. Difficulties, suffering, or unlucky things are actually lessons that lord provided for us to take. Gifts are not always good-looking. It is sometimes put under the tough. Only those who can conquer the dark can get the blessing. After going through many difficulties and frustration in life, I realized that life is not a fairy tale but a roller coaster along with thrilling. It is not always happy or fantastic, but it is always amazing. We can be amazed by its wonder and tenacity once we surpass our own vulnerability and fear. Do not ever surrender to our own weakness in front of life’s danger and instability. The danger and the instability are not always bad things. They may be the precious gifts in our life, for everything comes to our lives must have its meaning.

Summary and Reaction to "Praise" from TED-TALK

The speaker firstly pointed out that “the importance of praise” is the topic of the speech. She told her audiences that she got interested in it few years ago when she wanted to praise someone but ended up feeling shy and embarrassed to do so. Then she said that she noticed how essential it is to praise someone by referencing her working experience in a rehab center. Witnessing an old man who is addicted to drugs dying without having told his son that he is proud of him stimulated her to make this point. The old man told everyone else how proud he is of his son; yet he didn't know that his son needed to hear it because he never asked.

The speech was basically saying, “Why don't we ask for the things we want?” It implicates that we should be honest about the praise we want to hear. It is fine to ask for returning gratitude from someone even when we are supposed to the things. For example, husbands are able to ask their wives say something like “thank you for staying home to play with kids.” In fact, it’s good to tell people “Would you praise me this way?” The speaker used the word “Praise” a lot to indicate the necessity of showing one’s gratitude to have someone in their life. In addition, she mentioned "truing your wheels." She said she took her old bike into a shop to get it fixed up to look brand new, which means starting new or fresh in life. Starting a new chapter means becoming a new person in some aspects. Another point was that she said ask questions. You might not be asked questions about how you feel, or maybe this other person in your life don’t ask himself or herself either. Then she said "help the people around you." She talked briefly about world peace, different cultures, and languages. She said "the way to start world peace is to start it at home." Asking and then helping surrounding people when they are in need is a way to improve world peace. Going back to the point, if you never ask the question, you will probably never know the answer.

It’s an inspiring speech to remind us the indispensability of compliment. We are prone to hide our feelings most of the time. Or, we are always too shy to ask others for words that would make us feel good. Nevertheless, praising someone or to be praised is a wonderful thing that will make our life happier and prettier. After listening to the audio, all I did was track memory to the past and introspect the embarrassing and complaining moments in my life. I used to feel weird when telling people how good they are but then got silent smiles; I used to complain people who are not generous to give their compliment. It does nice to hear or to say compliment, while we tend to be too shy to receive or to express it. Thanks to the speech, I will put the importance of praise in mind. I will be brave to say it out and to ask for it, starting a fresh chapter in my life. In a nutshell, I will fulfill points that the speaker proposed- go asking people around me and be honest about the praise that I need to hear. I guess world peace will start to be improved by doing so and by bravely asking questions as well as taking action to help people who are in need.          

Memory

     When it comes to talking about memory, we can’t help but associate it with couple aspects. What is the biological side of memory? How does it affect our learning ability and how are past memories retrieved? There are a bunch of researches studying about “memory’’, a function on which we heavily relies to live. Without memory, we will live aimlessly and insignificantly. Memory is basic equipment for human beings to lead regular life. We survive daily lives by following schedules memorized in our brains. What’s more, we depend on procedural memory to operate physical skills such as cooking and driving, without any conscious effort to recall how to do it.     
     As everyone knows, some people are excellent in academic field, while some are not. There are differences between genius, ordinary people, and fool, resulting from the capacity of working memory. The working memory capacity is one of the elements which composed of IQ. It has a positive relationship with reading comprehension.     

     Based on document, it is said that emotion has a lot to do with affecting memory and thinking.“Subjects exhibited mood-state-dependent memory in recall of word lists, personal experiences recorded in a daily diary, and childhood experiences.” (Bower, 1981, pg129) Those experiences are affectively congruent with the mood which we are in when we recall. “Emotion powerfully influenced such cognitive processes as free associations, imaginative fantasies, social perceptions, and snap judgments about others' personalities.” For example, we tend to recall the shortback of a person when we are mad at him/her, while we always think of the advantage of him/her when we are happy. The reason why emotion has a lot to do with memory lies in its ability to influence our option of scenes when we recall something. A group of students were asked to stay in a lab to have a test about affection of emotion toward memory. Some of them were designated to watch a sad moviw while others were designated to watch a comedy. The goal of the experiment is to see how sadness and happinese effect a person on choosing what to remember in mind. Subjects who read statements such as"Things have been going badly for me lately" and "I'm feeling very lonely, isolated, and depressed." left the lab with a image that they were feeling this way. On the contrary, those who heard laugh in the comedy walked out the lab with rememberence that they were happy. In conclusion, we pick up certain scenes from past events as so-called memory in accordance with current emotion.          

     Besides emotion, age is another factor to affect memory. The difference is, emotion effects mainly on retrospective memory while age effects more on prospective memory. As humankinds get older, age-related memory impairments get greater, which prevents us from remembering to do something we already planned.(Smith, G., Del Sala, S., Logie, R. H., & Maylor, E. A. , 2000, pg871)       

     From some research papers, I learned that memory is an inborn ability which can be strengthened or be weekened by some postnatal factors. Memory gives us an ability to survive in daily lives, while it also misleads us to recall past events wrongly. Knowing the biological side and some hypotheses about memory, I will further find ways to improve it.

     

The start of the forth month in my freshmen year

     This semester seems really fleeting to me. After going through great pressure of studying for getting good grades in high school, I told myself that I must need to have fun in college. It’s not wrong with having fun or going to parties; however, it’s not right when having fun without taking on my responsibility. All I desired is a fantasy college life with craziness. I hung out with new friends after school all the time even until midnight every day. I left studying aside and just prepared maybe one hour before all my quizzes. Studying in Hsinchu and being away from my parents made me excited.  I feel free and independent as a college student. For this reason, all I wanted and all I did were only having fun. I used to go to parties or stay in couple friends’ house each single night until I received the assessment data. After seeing "flunk" grade on one of my classes, I suddenly realized that I should start to study much more harder than before. I realized that we come to college not just for fun but also for a better understanding of certain knowledge.  

     Feeling guilty and not knowing how to do, I had conversations with several friends and cried to them. It was the first time in my life to receive a “F.” Studying had been everything for me, but somehow it meant nothing after I entered college. The failure reminded me that it is time to move on! I went back home and read syllabus of all my classes, highlighting the importance and trying to figure out rules. Then, I wrote down studying plan for classes which are tough to me. I promise to myself that I will work step by step form now on, keeping in mind that attending college is not for killing time but for learning something! 

What if you had only one year to live?

    “What if you had only one year to live?” What a depressing thought! I was asked this question on my general class this week. The question may sound kind of ridiculous; however, it is actually inspiring that it stimulates us to redefine what important things in our life are. Let’s just say, solely for argument’s sake, you were told that your days were numbered and you only had a year left. What would you do? Who would you spend time with? What would you change? How would you live your last year? These questions are in fact hard to answer.

     
     Some people say that it may be much easier to answer if we change “one year” to “one day,” for “one year” is neither short nor long. Most of my interviewers hesitated for a while before they started to answer the question, but I still got some critical conclusions from their responses. Things which they want to do in a year are not quite the same, but there are some common motivations. Firstly, people tend to think of what they have been putting off. For instance, conversations needed to have, adventures wanted to take, or places desired to visit. Secondly, they want to know how others score the way and the attitude they lived. They want to know if they are courageous or inspiring to others. They want to know what will be their legacy. Last but not least, everyone wondered what difference they want to make with their life over the next year. It is not only what we want that matters; it is the result and the influence.  

     
     For a both inspiring and moving example, consider Randy Pausch, the Professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2007. His “last lecture” video is a great example of how he answered all of these questions before he died. He interviewed others and got new ideas from them; he led each day positively with love and hope. I believe that if we could keep living 12 months like this, we’ll not only have a life full of inspiration, but a life that inspires countless others along the way. Briefly to say, life’s too short, so why not lead every day to our perfect as the last day.

Stay In Love

     This week has been exhausted. I feel like taking two steps but taking two back. No matter how hard I tried, things always go back. I got lots to do, but I didn't do anything well. Homework, job, and dancing club, I still couldn't find a way to balance them. I have told myself to go to bed by 12 am everyday, but my dream hasn't come true. There are just endless things left to do.  I know it's my problem that I can not have a good time management, but I feel bad every time when I stay up catching planned schedule.

     I am not feeling well now because I am so tired and sleepy.  This journal may be the first time I fulfill this homework so freely. I bet there must be lots of grammar errors or wrong spelling. Yet, sometimes it  is good not to strive for the perfectness. I love writing English freely without caring about the grammar. English is my favorite language because it is a kind of language that people can catch the rough meaning of a paragraph even the writer don't use exactly right grammar.

    It feels cold even inside the house, and I feel tried after practicing dancing for our incoming on-stage performance. However, I can not go to bed because I still got a lot of work to do. I think pressure is the thing that tortures me the most. I care about my dancing performance, my grade, and my job. It is the cares that have stressed me. However, I am determined that I will not give up what I own no matter how hard it seems to be.

   I'll stay in love, keeping pursuing for the improvement of what I have made effort for.

A deeper look at Isabel Allende's “The Judge's Wife”

    “The Judge’s Wife” is talking about a man who born with deformed organism is doomed to die of a woman. Thus, his mom gave him a lofty name, Nicolas Vidal, trying to prevent him from the tragedy. Nicolas Vidal grows up in an environment lack of love; for he knows that he may put himself in the danger once he falls in love with a woman. The prophecy makes him a cold-blooded man. He is the most notorious guy in the town, and no one dares to against him except for Judge Hidalgo. Judge Hidalgo is the antagonist in the story. He has great passion for justice so he works hard on capturing Nicolas Vidal. He once set a delicate trap to grab Nicolas Vidal, but the result is further beyond his expectation. He puts Nicolas’s mom in the cage and gives her only a little bit of water, assuming that Nicolas would come to save her. However, Nicolas Vidal never shows up. Instead, Casilda stands out to save the woman’s life. Casilda is the judge’s wife with most feminine characteristics. She is powerless, weak, and dependent. To readers’ amazement is, she has no fear in the face of Nicolas Vidal. Resulted from the sudden death of her husband, she has no choice but to put herself in the fight in order to protect her children. The climate and the breakthrough in this story is that this feminine character is the one whom the most courageous protagonist surrenders to. Casilda uses her sexual power to melt Nicolas Vidal’s iron-like heart. Though she forgets her aim to win time for her children in the process of the unexpected intimacy, Nicolas Vidal doesn’t escape from his fate. Casilda begs him to flee when she hears the voice of soldiers in the distance, but he chooses to embrace her until the last moment and fulfills the prophecy.

     The theme of this story is that fate is inconvertible no matter how deliberately human beings try to escape from it. The result which we don’t want it to happen may be able to be suppressed by human factors temperately, but the destiny is after all unchangeable. Besides Allende’s life philosophy, stereotype implicated under her hands is another worthy aspect to explore. Stereotype can be found in Nicolas Vidal’s appearance and the correspondent prophecy; the judge’s tidy dress and his austere trait; the acceptance and the rejection by society; and Casilda’s feminine characteristics. It is reasonable to infer that these stereotypes are related to the place where Allende grew up and the value of the society in 1950s.

“Casilda was passive, demure, timid woman who had been married to an austere old man in front of whom she had never even dared appear naked (Kennedy, Gioia 289).” Words like “passive,” “demure,” and “timid” are used to describe this feminine tale, a character whose characteristics are usually associated with women in 1950s Latin America. We learned from Western History that sexual inequality was deeply rooted in 1950s Latin America, so it is not hard to think why Allende created such character. Allende make Casilda a typical woman whose traits are more acceptable to the society then by using words like “wondered eyes (Kennedy, Gioia 283),” and “insubstantial (Kennedy, Gioia 284),” accentuating her strongly feminine image. A weak woman like Casilda casts fear aside in the plight due to the nature of a mother. Nonetheless, as a female, she is too powerless to fight with Nicolas Vidal, so she has no choice but to use her body as weapon. Taking advantage of sexual power to captivate a man is a common strategy when people think of woman, and it matches to the stereotype toward 1950s women in Latin America.

The characteristics of Casilda shows the stereotype towards women in Allende’s era; on the other side, the appearance of Nicolas Vidal and the correspondent prophecy of his destiny shows the stereotype towards people who are rejected by the society. Nicolas Vidal was born in a windowless room. He is the son of a whore and an unknown father. “The world has no place for him, and his mother knows it (Kennedy, Gioia 283).” In this sentence, the stereotype that those who come from unsound family are less acceptable by the society is proved via the voice of Nicolas Vidal’s mom. He has four nipples, which leads to a prophecy that he will lose his head over a woman. The prophecy in the end turns to be true, which supports the fetishistic belief rumored in Latin America. From here, we see that the era and the surround environment do have influence on the writing of the author. Superstition is the common stereotype when people think of Latin America. According to history textbook, their ancient kingdom was taken over by Spanish because they believed in the mythology. Allende took on Latin American culture in her description of the prophecy. She also gave readers a clue to discover what kind of person is more apt to have the prophecy come true and is inclined to be rejected by the society. She used negative words like “doleful (Kennedy, Gioia 283),” “fearsome (Kennedy, Gioia 283),” and “hardened heart (Kennedy, Gioia 284)” to describe this protagonist. These negative words also implicate the tough life of this tale. “His face was scarred from knife fights before he reached his teens, so it came as no surprise to decent folk that he ended up a bandit (Kennedy, Gioia 285).” The use of “no surprise” strongly indicates how deeply stereotype was rooted in that society. The sentence can be explained that Nicolas Vidal’s look is supposed to be a bandit and be rejected by the public because of his look.

Allende bestowed strong image on both protagonist and antagonist. The antagonist is called Judge Hidalgo. She created a strong image for this tale while applying common stereotype toward judges on him. Hidalgo is Casilda’s husband. He has great passion for justice. Words like “severity (Kennedy, Gioia 284),” and “stubbornness (Kennedy, Gioia 284)” were used to depict him. Those are common adjectives when people think of judges. It is not hard to guess from those words that the judge is a guy who doesn’t know how to please women. Thus, these words give the following development a full explanation about why Casilda finds herself gratitude towards Nicolas Vidal after she gave him the complete self. “He dressed formally in black; his boots always shone with beeswax (Kennedy, Gioia 284).” Black gives people a feeling of harshness and “dressed formally” indicates the judge’s profession. Besides, “shinning boots with beeswax” is the common impression which those professions give to people. Judge Hidalgo is righteous, but he is too prim.

Stereotype and superstition are two features of “The Judge’s Wife.” By analyzing Allende’s characters, readers are able to get acquainted with Latin American culture in 1950s. No matter stereotypes toward women, rejected people, or professions, Allende used accurate words to make vivid descriptions. Her depiction of characters is one of the most distinguishing features of the story.

Another plausible part is the structure of this short story. Allende made a great arrangement in the limit space. She used elements like stereotype, superstition, and also romantic plot to connect the whole page. She firstly pointed out the weakness of Casilda, but she finally let this powerless woman end the life of the scariest guy. The most touched part is that Nicolas Vidal chooses to fulfill the prophecy in the face of love. A concept that Allende used romantic relationship as the bridge to establish equality between men and women was pointed out in Thompson’s paper. “‘The Judge’s Wife’ and ‘Revenge’ represent Allende’s strategy of feminist resistance against patriarchal domination within romantic relationships (1).” “Revenge” is another work also written by Allende and is always compared to “The Judge’s Wife.” Both stories stand for the sexual equality within romantic relationship. “Patriarchal domination” is contrast to feminine weakness, but “feminist resistance” does conquer the inequality existed in stereotype “within romantic relationship.” The use of words such as “patriarchal domination” and “feminist resistance” further confirmed the stereotype bond in “The Judge’s Wife,” but these two words also play significant role in making a balance within romantic relationship.                                                 

     The story is short, but the structure is compact. “Nicolas Vidal always knew he would lose his head over a woman (Kennedy, Gioia 283).” Allende in the beginning points out the background of the story, giving readers a clue to the development. This sentence in effect challenges the patriarchal society in postcolonial Latin America. “In using narrative strategies to undermine and disempower patriarchal domination, Allende’s writing builds upon a tradition of literary inheritance from writers like Rosario Castellanos (Thompson 1). Thompson used the word “disempower” to tell readers that Allende’s writing of “The Judge’s Wife” is avant-garde, and he gave her a compliment when he said that Allende’s writing style can be tracked back to Rosario Castellanos, a Mexican female writer who is one of the most essential literary voice in the last century.

     Allende made Casilda a traditional woman who matches to all stereotype towards women in the patriarchal world. In the short pages, she briefly described how Casilda succumbs to her husband and has no jobs but to take care of her three children. Most of Casilda’s images are indicated in the story via the voice of Nicolas Vidal. His negative tone in talking about Casilda is the most satirized contrast in the story because he ends up being crazy for the “lifeless ghost (Kennedy, Gioia 284)” whom he hasn’t paid heed to. “Casilda is seemed to him almost ugly (Kennedy, Gioia 284).” Nevertheless, “Nicholas Vidal chose to fold her in a last embrace, thus fulfilling the prophecy that had sealed his fate from the start (Kennedy, Gioia 283).” It says that though women are tender and powerless, they have capacity to resist men. This concept was unacceptable in 1950s Latin America, so Thomas praised her strategy on undermining patriarchal domination. Allende indicates that sex equality does exist in the world called love, and stereotype is nothing in front of it. “Allende’s narrative strategies contextualize this ‘love’ to counteract the prevailing myth by complicating established binaries such as active/passive, masculine/feminine and dominator/dominated (Thompson 1).” There are plenty of conflictions set in the story. For example, Nicolas Vidal’s original negative impression of Casilda and his final affection towards her; Casilda’s weakness in front of her husband and her courage in the plight; Casilda’s timid property and her fire-like passion in the process of making love with Nicholas Vidal; and so on. These conflictions are keys to the climate in the story, carrying Allende’s desire of sexual equality.

     In “The Judge’s Wife,” Allende took on the stereotype prevailing in 1950s Latin America. Though all her tales’ properties match to the common stereotype, she set lots of confliction to implicate that nothing is absolute. In addition, the ending that the mighty Nicolas Vidal’s head was lost over an emasculated woman is controversial in the dominant patriarchal world. She used narrative strategy to disempower the dominant in a limited space with proper language and sound structure, which is the value of this work. 

Study Skills Inventory with written reaction/plan

     I took a study inventory this week , and the inventory shows that I am lack of studying skills. I think the reason is resulted from my reluctance to study.  I can’t be focus enough on things I should do. Instead, I looked up my textbook, sitting in front of my desk; always think of something else other than studying. My studying skill is inefficient and deficient.

     The inventory result tells me that I should look upon the seriousness of studying inefficiently. Because of the inefficiency, I always stay up late or turn in homework late. It’s not only hurt my grades but also my health. I wrote plans done but found it unhelpful. I couldn’t even follow what I wrote down, always living behind plans. I really want to improve my reading skill and focus level, so that I can spend less time but do more things. First, I wrote down a motto in front of my desk so that I can constantly remind myself to be ambitious. Second, know the rule and find a way. I read syllabus again and tried to figure out what kind of teaching style my professor use.   Also, I learned how to take notes. I will keep taking notes because I believe that it enhance our familiarity with materials which we were learning for. Last but not least, I will learn the skill of highlighting, which will save time for me next time when I read the textbook. 

Reaction to “Expatriate Lifestyle as Tourist Destination: The Sun Also Rises and Experimental Travelogues of the Twenties”

The reading is a research paper evaluating the language and the value of Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.”

     The style of the reading is more in a profession manner than usual essays, which makes the paper trustworthy. However, it’s in effect hard to be read if readers haven’t read the book before. The writer used specific words like “gentle tourist” to explain or to indicate the image of Paris written under Hemingway’s hands. To be brief, this reading is a guide to Hemingway’s Paris, leading us to the world of Paris seen by Hemingway. It also evaluates how Hemingway taken on the scene with the use of fictional language.       

     From the reading, we know that “The Sun also Rises” can be considered as part of the tradition of travelogues. It’s not a novel but more like a travelogue describing the culture, life-style, and geography of Paris. Through this reading which leads us to the further understanding of the travelogue or be used as a quick overview of this book, readers are able to absorb the most appealing and important information of the book’s material. Pointing out the most valuable aspects in the book is the goal of a research paper.

     The success of a research paper is relied on its capacity to cover the best value of the work or object it explore. I haven’t read “The Sun also Rises,” but I got to have a look at its content in this reading. Another function of a research paper is to define the value or the success for the object it talks about. For instance, the paper says that Hemingway describes the fictional movement in this work as experiential travelogue.

    I started imagine the view of twenty-century Paris while I read the paper. I was attracted to its elegance and beauty among descriptions. It is interested that Paris was ever created by its American inhabitants and the part was then became one of the most popular places there. It’s amazing that language has the function of converting the scene we haven’t glanced to a vivid image.  

    Though usual people don’t usually think of travelogues at the moment when talking about literature, I look upon travelogues as one of the most difficult aspect of literature to be written well. The reason I think it is hard to write a travelogue is because of its unemotional trait. To write a novel, a write can create any kinds of roles by using a variety of adjunctions and get ideas from his or her life experience. Nonetheless, to make scenes appealing to be read and to endow the environment a vivid image is harder than have a character being attractive. Thus, the reading opened my eye to a wider world of literature. From the reading, I got more familiar not only with the content of “The Sun also Rises,” but also with the structure and tone of a research paper.

Compare and contrast of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “A clean, Well-Lighted Place”

     In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Hemingway’s “A clean, Well-Lighted Place,” we are given a chance to see the life of wealth, but lonely old-men. Both short stories take advantage of old men as the material to develop its plots.

     In Poe’s short story, we see how a mental-deteriorated man murder the old man whom he loved; in Hemingway’s short story, we see how people at different age react to the old and to their loneliness. No matter using old man as a victim to depict a distorted heart or setting old man as a discussed topic to disclose the problem of the old in the society, both authors depicted the characters through the eye of other tales.

    Though using the same material to develop stories, there is still a big difference between the two works. The most difference is, “The Tell-Tale” is composed in the way of monologue, while “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” is composed with multiple dialogues.

   “Dialogue generally distinguishes itself as pure, unfiltered, and straight from the source without a narrator to manipulate it (The Geometry of dialogue).” That is, dialogue plays a vital to form a story. Hemingway used dialogues between the young and the old waiters to explore and to concern the life of the old. The old waiter realizes the feeling of the old man, so he is patient to wait for him until three o’clock in the morning. Nonetheless, the young waiter thinks the old man as a stray. He wants the old man to leave the café as soon as possible because he has a wife waiting for him in the bed. He can’t realize why a rich man leads life in this way. What’s worse, he doesn’t want to know more about it. The old waiter is unwilling to to go home because he wants to provide other lonely old men a light and warm place. For him, it’s better to service people other than sleeping alone, but for the young waiter, nothing is warmer than being with people whom he loved. Hemingway concerned the old on the corner of the society through the voice of the old waiter. In the same time, he satirized those who treat the minority with indifference via the voice of the young waiter. He didn’t depict much in the plot, but he makes the theme of the story visible in dialogues. “To linger too long in the choppiness of dialogue disrupts the smoothly connected paragraph of the narrative (The Geometry of Dialogue).” I think it’s the reason why Hemingway makes the story a dense vignette. The proper use of dialogue not only attracts readers to follow the author’s thoughts, but also disclose the theme of the work in a proper way.

On the other hand, Poe didn’t use any dialogues in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” He used words to make depiction, to provide the details, and to study paranoia. For not confusing audience, he provided as many details as he could in the story. His languages lead us to the mental world of a paranoia victim. “In dialogues, characters are avoiding (and revealing through avoidance their true feelings) their true feelings (The Geometry of Dialogue).” If a novel is aim to describe certain traits or mental condition of a certain character, it’s better to have it taken on with descriptions instead of too many conversations, for the excessive dialogues will lead to misdirection.

 To heighten readers’ association with the murder’s image, Poe specified the objects which stand for the murder’s emotion: the old man’s blue-evil eye, the heartbeat, and his own claim to sanity. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is filled with economic style and pointed language, which contributes to the reliable explication of paranoia.

For most readers, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is harder than “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” to be read and be understood because of the lack of dialogue. In addition, Poe used more words to cultivate the atmosphere of the story and to talk about a tougher topic. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is about a man who suffers from paranoia; thus he killed the old man resulted from his incapability to bear his blue-evil eye. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” even rationalizes his behavior by viewing his unusual sensitivity as excuse of his sanity. He doesn’t consider it as a symptom of madness. The most mocked part is that he killed the old man even though he loves him, which is another central contradiction to the story. Here Poe indicated a psychological mystery that people sometimes hurt those whom they love or is essential to them in their lives. The contradiction between the narrator’s love and resentfulness toward the old man makes a climax in the story. He separates the old man’s eyes from him because he wants to split his hatred toward the evil-like eyes and his love toward the old man. Thus, he murders the one whom he loved with love. To him, the death of the old man gives his love a space to breath. His desire to eliminate the man’s eyes provides him an impulse to his murder, but he himself does not look upon the result as the ending of the old man’s life. Not until the appearance of police officers does the narrator face his mistakes. The beating of his own heart is like the beating of the old man’s heart, hurting and torturing his mind.   

Both stories are thought-provoking, although they were taken on in such different way. I wallowed in Hemingway’s“A clean, Well-Lighted Place” because of his proper use of dialogue. The function of dialogue is to attract readers and to simplify a complex content. On the other side, it took me a while to understand the outline of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Without the attraction of the dialogue, readers must be more patient to figure out the why and how of the story.    

Home

It has been an exhausted week that I got so many things to do.
It seems like there's infinite things left with limited time.

However, I still went home this week. I always love going home.
Not until I started living alone did I realized how much was I protected and loved by my parents.
"We always don't know how much were we cherished until the real loneliness came."
The university  is so big, filled with many people. Yet sometimes we feel relatively lonely as we
stand in the crowd.

Stressed and busy, I got on YouTube and tried to find a song to comfort the weak mind.
I found a song that is extremely good-listening. I felt a string of warmth as I listened to it.
The song is called "home" expressed by Dierks Bentley. The melody is touching, and its lyric is inspiring!

"From the mountains high to the wave-crashed coast
 There's a way to find better days I know
  It's been a long hard ride, got a ways to go
  But this is still the place, that we all call home"

It says that no matter what day it is or where we are, there's always a place that we all call home.

Life is a roller coaster along with thrilling. Sometimes it is inevitably tough, but there's always a place  that we are able to consider it a harbor. 

For me, home is the best place to be. It is not constrained in the definition of family, but is looked upon as the place where we feel belonged to be. It supports our affection and helps us go through the ups and the downs. It gives us courage as we face our own vulnerability in front of the invisibility and danger of life.

  

Reaction to “A&P” and “Fire and Ice”

I think the story A&P by John Updike is a story talking about conflict, a conflict between the new thoughts and the conservative thoughts. The three girls in nothing but bathing suits stand for the new thoughts in current society while the manager stands for the conservative thoughts from the old society. Teenagers born in the new era are more open in some aspects, dressing, sex, or relationship. However, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who still honor the traditional conservation. It seems like Updike was satirizing the old thoughts in this story. He made the manager a stubborn man who doesn’t appreciate the new standard of beauty. The manager insulted the three girls and embarrassed them, which is not respectful for individual difference. Sammy, a worker in the store, is a guy who has his own ideas. However, he doesn’t have ability to take on the result after he conveyed what he thought. He stands out for the girls, but he in the end lost his job. I look upon A&P as an irony story because I saw the unfair in the plot. The three girls don’t need to be responsible for their indecent dress or their impolite words. They can still go home and eat their expensive snacks because they were born in richer families. In contrast, Sammy did a good thing but lost his job and got nothing. He felt helpless and lost after he did what he thought was right because his power is too small to convert the reality. I think it is a story satirizing those who don’t accept the new thoughts and those who are afraid of changing.          

A poem I chose to read is “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. It says that the world would end in either ice or fire, from one’s desire. I think the ice and that fire is the hate and the love. We are alive because of the love, but we are also died of the hate. The thing we hate can be the destruction, so it is not about for destruction of ice of fire but is about for destruction of what we don’t like. I thought the poem is about science at the first time I read it. Nonetheless, I found that it is meaningful in the word fire and ice. Fire and ice are contrast. Some people like fire, so fire makes them alive; some people like ice, so ice stands for their life. It’s not about what cause us to be alive or what makes us to be dies. It’s more like we are alive due to the love and died because of the hate. There are no standards between ice and fire. It’s relative.   

Reaction to the reading of Shakespeare and his play-Othello

    Shakespeare is a well-known playwright. He made his plays vivid to his audience through the use of language. He is successful at writing plays not only because of his talent at the control of language but also because he is also an actor, too. He knows how to write a play to let actors take on it well, which is one of the keys to his success.

     Shakespeare is a great playwright leaving us lots classics such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and so on. Most of his plays are composed of the style of Middle-age in London. Knight, war, competence of position, and tragic love story are often seen in his plays.

     Othello is one of his well-known plays talking about a spoiled heart of a man and how the fate destroys a deep love. What makes audience most impressive may be the use of Desdemona’s handkerchief, which stands for the tragedy. The handkerchief is a symbolic of Othello’s love, but it is also a symbolic of Iago’s conspiracy. The use of Desdemona’s handkerchief is critical and successful because it leads to the mournful tragedy.

     The scene starts in Venice when Roderigo paid Iago to help him pursuit Desdemona. Roderigo is a rich gentleman who has crush on Desdemona. However, he found that Desdemona married Othello not too long ago. As Disappointed as he was, he still wants her. In Act I, Iago confesses to Roderigo that he doesn’t like Othello because Othello had the lieutenant place which he desires of occupied by a young soilder- Cassio. To get the position he wants, Iago told Roderigo that he will help him to get Desdemona.

Iago is a guy who takes advantage of everyone in the play for his own benefit. He pretended to be an honest man, but is in effect unscrupulous to get status and ruling power.

     To separate Desdemona and Othello, Iago takes Roderigo to Desdemona’s father. They told Brabanzio that his daughter was stolen by black Othello. As Desdemona’s father Brabanzio becomes so mad and swears to find his daughter and Othello. He found them when Othello has a meeting with Duke and senates. Brabanzio blamed on Othello for deceiving and abusing his daughter in front of everyone. Othello keeps calm in the present of all the negative words. He claims that he won Desdemona’s heart because of his valiant adventures in wars and travels. Desdemona then appeared and proclaimed for her husband that she went away with him with her true heart. She said that she was not compelled by witchcraft. The duke and senates are sympathetic to Othello and tried to lessen the anxious atmosphere. Brabanzio in the end accepts the truth that his daughter has married and left him. Desdemona then asks if she could go to Cyprus with her husband.

     In Cyprus, Roderigo tells Iago that he is able to tell the true love between Desdemona and the Moor from her eyes. However, Iago tells him not to give up. He says that Desdemona will seek other sexual satisfaction when she’s tired of Othello, but he also warned Roderigo that Cassio may be the one. Iado’s words trigger Roderigo’s hath toward Cassio. Roderigo’s hath has been increased at the first sight when he sees Desdemona and Cassio stand together.      

To get rid of Cassio, Iago plants doubts about Desdemona in Othello’s mind. Othello at first trust his wife, but the more indications Iado made to him, the more angers gained in his mind. Out of jealousy, Othello removed Cassio’s place. Poor Cassio doesn’t know the real reason why was he fired, and listens to the suggestion of Iago. Iago tells him that Desdemona is the one who has the capacity to get his position back in his present. Wanting his position back, Cassio asks for discourse with Desdemona alone. Desdemona is a kind and beautiful perfection whose mind is filled with sympathy. She promised Cassio that she will try her best to let Othello forgive him. However, it is her suit on behalf of Cassio which leads Othello to a greater rage. Hypocrite Iago then persuades Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are involved in an affair. Othello was mad, but he still trusts his wife. Nonetheless, Iago implicates how Cassio assumes him Desdemona and then kissed him hard, laying his legs over his thigh. The description does arouse Othello’s great anger. At that moment, Desdemona comes to invite her husband eat dinner together, but finds that he is not well. She wipes his sweat by the handkerchief which the he have to her as the first gift, but angry Othello pushed her hands away. They leave for dinner together without the dropped handkerchief. Emilia picks up the handkerchief for her lover’s fantasy. She doesn’t know how Iago will deal with it; she just wants to please him. Iago is elastic when he gets the thing. He puts it in Cassio’s chamber and then tells Othello that he once seen Cassio use the handkerchief to wipe his beard, which is the evidence the Moor asks for. Othello goes to see his wife and asks her about the handkerchief. Desdemona replies to him that it is not with her. Feared of Othello’s anger, Desdemona tries to shift their topic. She pledges Othello to return Cassio’s place, which drives Othello to a worse mood.

Meanwhile, Cassio finds the handkerchief in his chamber and gives it to Bianca because he doesn’t know why the thing appears in his place. Bianca is a prostitute who loves Cassio. She makes a copy of that handkerchief for him. At that time, Othello is consumed by jealousy and rage. What’s worse, Desdemona comes up to him with Lodovica and he gives Othello a letter from Venice calling him back. In addition, Lodovica states Cassio as Othellos’s replacement. The Moor is so mad at what happened in the recent. That night, he accuses Desdemona of being a whore.

Iago persuades Roderigo to kill Cassio so that Othello and Desdemona can stay. He tells Roderigo that everything is in their plan as long as he kills Cassio. Cassio is thus wound by Roderigo, but Roderigo is died of his attack. The cry from hurt Cassio makes Othello think he’s died. He goes to he and his wife’s chamber, smothering her no matter how she asserts her loyalty and innocence. Emilia finds her mistress died and asks the Moor for reason. Painful Othello tells her the entire how and why. Suddenly, Emilia realizes Iago’s ambition and conspiracy. She confesses to Othello that it was her who stole the handkerchief and gave it to Iago, claiming Desdemona’s innocence. Othello can’t stop weeping. He attempts to kill Iago but is disarmed because of him. Iago kills his own wife-Emilia and flees, but is caught by Lodovico and Montano. Othello makes a speech about all his feats and then commits suicide using his sword. The play ends with Lodovico’s speech. He gives Othello’s property to Graziano and let Iago go.

      I couldn’t stop feeling the disgust of Iogo when I read this play, especially when most of tales are died except for him. What a tragedy! True love turns out to be destroyed, and innocent tales are dies. Othello successfully arouse pity and fear in its viewers just like another play which I watched before. The tragic play which I have watched is called “Death of a Salesman” by an American playwright- Arthur Miller. The difference is that it is talking about the relationship between the salesman and his child. I saw how the salesman regrets for his affair and feels guilt until he died. It is a great tragedy which I have watched. From plays, I learned about life.

Reaction to Love

     I have heard so many love stories from my friends recently. Some are happy endings, but some are not.  One of those stories make me realize something. The story is that one of my girl dropped from Yale University and then came back to Taiwan for her boyfriend. She would be a junior this year; yet, she chose to gave up the honor she had and restart her new college life in Taiwan. She thought that princess will then lead a wonderful with his prince, but things don't go as her will. They broke up in the third month after she came back. She is now feeling painful and regrettable. She thought that she messed up her life not only in relationship but also her future. When all of her friends are junior, she needs to start from Freshman. What's worse, she couldn't really get adjust to new environment in Taiwan. I feel so sorry to hear that, and I was motivated. 
     I think it is important that all lovers should know one thing that "Never live for anyone else." It's your life; it's your decision. Only you can make your own life. We can be whomever we want to be with hope, effort , and love. We don't even need to think about giving up something that is important to us for someone because someday when we go back to introspect all these stupid things, we'll just feel blind and terrible about ourselves. Look at the future but not the past; cherish all great opportunities but not stick to temporary relationship. Life is easy if we are strong enough to be the one who are we supposed to be.
    Life goes wrong as we start planning. No one is supposed to wait for someone. Sometimes just go as our will, and then we'll find the place where we should be.

Life

    

 "I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
      I like to work, read, learn, and understand the life."

     It's a quote exerted from a poem proposed in "Backpack Literature." I think the quote is quite think-provoking. It's the living philosophy we'd better have -- Working hard and also Enjoying life hard!! That is, We should be responsible for every aspects that are able to make life fuller and better. 

     Time management is a big thing for all college students. I thought a good student should study all the time but then I found that I  was wrong. Not until I got very sick did I realize one thing that "health is the most important thing in life." We deserve better because we are infinite. The "better" doesn't mean how top our achievements are, but mean how better we feel about our life. It's possible that we can make success and also lead a better life, because we are infinite. I thought that I need to sacrifice fun activities for fulfilling my dream, so I chose to study and work all the time instead of enjoying life. I thought I was right, but now I know that I'm wrong. Nothing is more important than health, and health comes from the better life. What are we pursuing for? We are pursuing a higher achievement. However, why do we pursue it? That is because we want to lead a better life. Then, why do we wait for the future? We need to cherish the present! What we need is to treat ourselves better and enjoy the life more.

     I used to envy those who are good at both studying and playing, but now I know that I can also be that kind of person. Once the value is right, we can be whomever we want to be!

The first entry

     It is always hard to start doing a new assignments, but I am glad that I'm on my way to my first entry.
To me, it sounds like a fun work because I love to have a place to post and to record my college life. I don't
really know how to fulfill the blog entry requirements, but I guess I may can achieve the goal of writing journals as long as I  think of here as my own Facebook, posting whatever I think is meaningful to tell others. I feel excited about doing this extra assignment because I personally don't like to post many things on Facebook. There are too many people reading new feeds on Facebook everyday at any moment, which makes personal life public. I think the reason for posting emotions, opinions, or life experiences on Facebook is to share our own understanding toward life with those whom we love or those who love us, but it seems turning out to be a gossip society that people get news of others from here. Teenagers compete for the amount of "like" and see who's the most popular one. Thus, more and more students just most something fabulous to win the "like." Lots of us don't post meaningful things anymore, because we care about hoe others look at us. I notice a phenomenon that most college students just post where they go and how happy or perfect their life are, but not posting their "real feeling."  It's impossible that everyone lives without pain, but most people just show the best part of lives and don't share how we really feel about the occasional lonely or blue emotions. By reading the post of one's Facebook, we may only see the most surface part of he/she. As a result, I think it is necessary for me to have a more private blog so that I can write more about the real life and the real me. What's more, I retrospect what I did and why I feel in a certain way more as I type all these words. Wish that I could fulfill the requirement of keeping blog entry twice a week for at least ten weeks, if so, I bet that I am gonna improve my writing a lot!