In America

In the film, “In America” it is about an Irish family that moves to America and all the obstacles they experience. In this film there are two young girls who are getting to know the ways of America along with their family. In their past they have had to deal with death and being poor, which is universal. The movie also had things that related to the Irish culture and how they didn’t know what trick-o-treating was. It showed that there are things that are universal, which would be death and not having enough money. It also showed things such as not understanding the seasons and how much it was going to affect them. This also showed their belief in spirits and how a certain spirit gave one of the girl’s three wishes.

When watching this movie I realized I enjoyed watching this as a foreign film. It made me understand how much a family can struggle while moving into America. I liked the aspect of showing a different culture and the ways they handled spiritual things. There were parts when the younger girl could wish for something, but she had to be careful with her wishes and make sure they wouldn’t affect her family. Along with this they met a man named Mateo, who was very spiritual and connected with the family. I found it interesting to learn about each different person and how they were affected.

The things I found confusing about this film was their accents, sometimes it was hard for me to follow what they were talking about. I would get confused by listening to the film rather than focusing on what was happening. They would also do things different things such as make their own clothing or act differently in public. There was a part where they made their own costumes and everyone in the school made fun of them. This made the two girls feel unaccepted, which was something that they only showed once in the film. This confused me because I felt like it should have showed how they girls would learn to adapt to America. I enjoyed this as a foreign film and found it enjoyable. I think that it really shows how different cultures can be, but how many emotions are universal .

Earthquake and Emotions

                When looking up world news in Japan, I came across an article about an earthquake. It showed that in Japan there was a large earthquake that hit and injured twenty two people. The article talks about how it was a 6.3 quake. When reading this article I thought about the book we are reading in world literature. It is called, “The Waiting Years” written by Fumiko Enchi. In this book it discusses emotions and how in Japan people have different emotions, however emotions are universal. In the book the characters express their emotions differently. The wife is going out to look for a “maid” for her husband, someone who he would enjoy to look at and be with. This shows that the wife has to be strong willed. Along with this the there are concubines in this book. It shows an emotion for us while reading it and learning about new culture. This effects different cultures when reading the book, some will have a stronger emotional connection, while others might feel sad for these wives.  

                The main thing I picked out while reading this book was emotion and how emotion is universal, yet each culture has its own type. When the main character talks about concubines and looking for maids for her husband she keeps her emotion inside. In different countries threw out the world it would be bad to show that type of emotion. I think that Fumiko Enchi wants people to understand the culture difference along with the emotional difference. When I found the article about the earthquake in Japan I thought about how Japan is affected by it, but so are the other countries. When a disaster hits some where everyone is willing to help out. This shows that the emotion of a disaster will be universal allowing everyone to help out. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/japan-earthquake-2013-several-injured_n_3074014.html 

Pests

                March 20^th 2013, there was a power cut in Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant. When reading this article it discussed how the cause of this was a six inch rat, which was found dead by the switchboard. This caused the power to be out in the plant for three days. I related this article to a poem by Seamus Heaney, called “The Early Purges.” This poem starts out with talking about kittens drowning and how it was needed because they were “pests.” As the poem continues it talks about rat traps and shooting crows. In the end the poem ends with, “But on well-run farms pests have to be kept down.”

                When reading about the article about the rat that caused problems for the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, it related to this poem because of the pests. In the beginning of the poem the boy was scared by seeing Dan drown the kittens. Just like in the article, they were scared at first because they didn’t realize why the power had gone out. Towards the middle of the poem the boy starts to understand why this is happening. He shows this by saying, “I just shrug, ‘Bloody pups’. It makes sense”. The article then talks about how they were without power but finally regained it back within two days. This shows that they regained their power just as the boy finally understood the need to trap or kill certain animals. Then at the end the boy realizes that living on a farm, certain animals are pests and that in order to run a good farm pests need to be kept down. In the article it shows that pests need to be kept down because they can cause many problems like cutting off power.

Rat Article
The Early Purges

Everything in Life

Everything

Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded,

black death’s wing’s overhead.

Everything’s eaten by hunger, unsated,

so why does a light shine ahead?

By day, a mysterious wood, near the town,

breathes out cherry, a cherry perfume.

By night, on July’s sky, deep, and transparent,

new constellations are thrown.

And something miraculous will come

close to the darkness and ruin,

something no-one, no-one, has known,

though we’ve longed for it since we were children.

Anna Akhmatova

 http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/everything/

                When reading Anna Akhmatova I was very interested in her poetry because it was about her life and the struggles she was going through. This poem, “Everything” I found interesting because it describes her feelings in only a few stanzas. In the first stanza it talks about how everything is betrayed and traded. It then mentions why does the light shine ahead? When reading this I found that she is discussing how everyone and everything is being betrayed and everything bad is going on right now, so why continue to keep going each day. When reading this poem the tone is very deep and sad. I feel like Akamatova wanted to explain to her readers that she didn’t want to live after what she has been feeling and living with. She mentions, “black deaths wing overhead” I took this as her not knowing if she wants to live if this is what her life is going to be like.

                As she continues on with the poem she starts thinking about her town and how day by day it might start to become better. She explains this by talking about the mysterious wood and cherry perfume. I think that she wants to realize the reasons why she wants to live and what she is living for. She then goes on to discuss the new constellations. I think that this allowed her to find something new each night and realize that something new can come out of living her life.

                When I get to the last stanza of the poem she talks about how something miraculous will come, something that could be like the constellations. I think she is starting to realize that she lived her life and something good will come out of it if she lives it to the fullest. She ends her poem with saying, “though we’ve longed for it since children”. I think she makes her point here with the poem saying that everyone has lived this hard life since children so if they just deal with everything, something will change. I found that when reading this poem I found it being about herself and her struggles with everything she has to go through. I think she also wants  to hope for the best and believe that with waiting and pain and suffering that everything will change just like they had been all waiting their whole life. 

The Guillotine

“Tale of Two Cities”, this is a book most people know by the famous author, Charles Dickens. While reading this book I did some close reading and tried to discover what Dickens was telling his audience while reading the book. I decided to take a part of the book that talks about the guillotine. This is how most people were killed during the French Revolution. In this book Dickens explains how he feels about the Guillotine.

                “It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked though the little window and sneezed into the sack. It superseded the Cross. Models worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.

                It sheared off heads so many, that it, and the ground it most polluted, were a rotten red. It was taken to pieces, like a toy-puzzle for a young Devil, and was put together again when the occasion wanted it. It hushed the eloquent, struck down the powerful, abolished the beautiful and good.  Twenty-two friends of high public mark, twenty-one living and one dead, it had lopped the heads off, in one morning, in as many minutes. The name of the strong man of Old Scripture had descended to the chief functionary who worked it; but, so armed, he was stronger than his namesake, and blinder, and tore away the gates of God’s own Temple every day.” (Dickens)

This part of the book I did a close read on. I found that Dickens talks about the guillotine in a sarcastic matter. In the first paragraph he mentions how it is the best cure for headache, which shows that he is almost making fun how much they used the guillotine during the French Revolution.  He describes it by turning hair grey, meaning making a person older, in other words death.  He talks about the complexion it makes to one person, which also describes leading to one’s death.

 When getting into the next paragraph he talks about how he feels about the guillotine. He explains that it is like a toy for the Devil, which shows how people come and gather to watch people die. This is like a toy because so many people come to watch one another die and cheer them on instead of looking at the reality of what is happening. As the paragraph continues it shows how Dickens didn’t like the idea of the guillotine. In this case dickens uses irony to show how he is feeling towards the guillotine and how he didn’t agree.

The Known and Unknown

Knowing

Without taking a step outdoors

You know the whole world;

Without taking a peep out the window

You know the colour of the sky.

The more you experience,

The less you know.

The sage wanders without knowing,

Sees without looking,

Accomplishes without acting.

http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html

Lao Tze is a poet we have been learning about in world literature. When looking though the Tao Te Ching I used a peom called, “Knowing”.  When learning about Taoism I know that it will relate to balance, and flow. When trying to make these connections in the poem I found balance in certain parts of the poem. The main connection I found with balance were knowing and without knowing. In the poem above it talks about one knowing the world and knowing the color of the sky. From there it then proceeds to talk about the unknowing. With these two words I can see how there is balance within this poem. In the Tao Te Ching he uses balance in different ways this might be though a cycle, such as; day and night or life and death.

                The more I read into this poem the more I started to understand where the balance fit in. I looked at the first stanza, which discussed the knowing. This shows the knowing, which is something like the sky.  It then goes into the second stanza which discusses the unknown. When seeing these two stanzas put together it made me understand that there is more to experience in life than just knowing. It shows that life will balance out and flow together as you grow wiser. The poem shows strong relation on life and how it should be looked upon though Taoism.

Why I am Blogging about World Literature

Books, books and more books…this is how I felt when I kept receiving books for my world literature class. Reading is something that I was never overly involved in, unless it dealt with dog training or dogs. With age I have become more accepting of books that didn’t involve dogs; they actually had to deal with my classes and things I could relate too.  I grew up in the little town of Pulaski, Wisconsin which for some reason still managed to have a huge high school for such a small town. This only meant that in order to be with your friends and see people you had to drive about a half hour to see them.

 Since we lived in a small town my family loved to travel. We have traveled all around the United States and we make sure we have a family trip at least once a year. As I started traveling I have always been inspired by my family to do what I want in life. My uncle, who moved to California and became a police officer, is now a famous television writer. My mom, who lives in Green Bay, became a teacher. While my aunt opened her own old time photo shop down in Missouri also followed her dreams. This leads me to where I am today, Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, dual majoring in Special Education and Elementary Education. In this blog you will be able to follow some of my own travels through school, starting with my world literature class.