Orwell’s “1984” --Prose Analysis 1 of 2

Independent Reading #2

Orwell’s “1984” --Prose Analysis 1 of 2

“Winston did not get up for a few minutes more. The room was darkening. He turned over toward the light and lay gazing into the glass paperweight. The inexhaustibly interesting thing was not the fragment of coral but the interior of the class itself. There was such a depth of it, and yet it was almost as transparent as air. It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete. He had the feeling that he could get inside it, and that in fact he was inside it, along with the mahogany bed and the gateleg table and the clock and the steel engraving and the paperweight itself. The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.” Pg. 122

This is a perfect example of an extended metaphor. Basically, the crystal is his life that he erected with Julia; the life that ironically will ineluctably lead to his doom. The room that he rented from the old man who sold the paperweight to him symbolized his “paradise.” He actually described it as his paradise. Ironically, his paradise, again would lead to his death. Ironic because paradise, by definition is, heaven and in his situation, it is not possible for him to have paradise. Even if he does find perfect happiness, I know he still worries.

The extended metaphor is stated in the text provided above, “The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.”

The paperweight, which he holds near and dear to his heart because it is a piece of history that managed to remain unchanged, remained the truth of the past. The paperweight has represented the past and the room he was in at the moment also came from the past. He was laying on a bed that belonged to the past. He ate food that was only made in the past. The coral, the center of the crystal was the life that Julia and Winston created against the rules of the Party. Frozen in eternity, the coral is kept safe from change. Winston terribly wishes that his “love” with Julia can remain as eternal as the coral within the unchanging crystal paperweight.

Winston also uses this metaphor throughout the work, and establishes it into a more complex extended metaphor.

Orwell’s “1984” --Response 2 of 4

Independent Reading #2

Orwell’s “1984” --Response 2 of 4

Pgs.70-129

Again, this section was a fabulous read. I literally ate this part in one sitting; that’s just how awesome it is. There are several parts in this section that have literally caught me off guard and have amazed me thus far. Some of these parts include Julia confessing her love for Winston, them condemning their lives when Winston allows himself to be slowly drawn towards the adventure, and Winston accepting Julia’s advances leaving him doomed.

The story is complex in a way because of Julia and Winston’s lovemaking. It’s ironic because Julia is just a means for Winston, even if Winston does not recognize it yet. The irony stems from Winston’s need to live and his involvement in life occurring exactly at the moment when his time is short because of the very nature of the act itself. Winston’s dual mind characterized him throughout the second part. He knew that what he and Julia are doing is wrong, but she has given him hope. Winston has learned to hope but he has learned to hope at the very moment when he has placed himself in a hopeless situation. This is where we need to realize that Julia is just the means, as I mentioned earlier.

Something else I realized is that even if Julia and Winston share the same dislike towards the Party and Big Brother, they have nothing else in common. Julia doesn’t care for anything that doesn’t touch her life; she deems it unimportant, even if Winston believes that it is important. Julia just wants to be able to live how she wants to but she believes that there is no way to change what’s happened to their world, even if Winston believes otherwise. During this part of the story, there are a lot of realizations that occur and I can’t help but think, “Why is he with this girl?” The only reason must be because he was initially attracted to her, like other males. She was full of youth and she was against the Party’s ways.

I.R.#2-The Woman Warrior: Prose Analysis #1 of 2

A passage from pg.35; Lines 3-20


          My mother caught the blood and wiped the cuts with a cold towel soaked in wine. It hurt terribly- the cuts sharp; the air burning; the alcohol cold, then hot- pain so various. I gripped my knees. I released them. Neither tension nor relaxation helped. I wanted to cry. If not for the fifteen years of training, I would have writhed on the floor; I would have had to be held down. The list of grievances went on and on. If an enemy should flay me, the light would shine through my skin like lace.
          At the end of the last word, I fell forward. Together my parents sang what they had written, then let me rest. My mother fanned my back. "We'll have you with us until your back heals," she said.
          When I could sit up again, my mother brought two mirrors, and I saw my back covered entirely with words in red and black files, like an army, like my army. My parents nursed me just as if I had fallen in battle after many victories. Soon I was strong again. 


Analysis:


          The tone and diction in this section of text really depicts the scene. This descriptive writing, in combination with words of action really grips a reader in feeling what's going on. This is one type of aspect in books that readers like to engage in, and I enjoy this about the book because it makes the moments exciting, urging the readers to cover more ground in the text.
        
          The overall syntax is also put together very well. The flow of what goes on in this segment is one that can be read well, and also completes the idea of what's happening and what the characters are feeling or experiencing. As the elements of tone, diction, and syntax come together, the text provides a deep meaning or time in the story. This is another advantage to the reader because a text, as so, enhances the experience of imagining the story's scenes.
        
          What goes on in this scene very much symbolizes the nature of Chinese tradition. In many Asian countries, sacrifice and honor is a high portion of value. It is what sets society for the most part. For a parent to even carve on their child's back is really something that portrays strong moral values. This act is a good example of the expectations that the narrator is being held to.

I.R.#2-The Woman Warrior:Reader Response #2 of 4

          I'm finally getting to realize what's going on here. It's not just a story that Maxine Kingston is making up for the sake of telling stories, but stories that are involved within her own family and traditional, old China.
      
           Continuing from my previous response from the 1st section of my book to this second one, I see that the stories spoken transition from Kingston's family; her aunt, to the warrior Fa Mu Lan. Then it goes into more talk amongst Kingston and her mother. As I read, I felt as if Kingston, and probably many other Chinese girls in expectational families feel a certain pressure to keep the Chinese tradition and values alive; especially because shame on the family can happen as easily as attracting someone with sexuality and committing the act. I do agree with the expectations, for one. I also like how Kingston goes into these modes of Chinese fantasies- the example: she dreams and places herself in the position of Fa Mu Lan. As the girl narrating the story, Kingston feels the importance to keep shame away from her family and to stray away from the path that her aunt took.
        
          I came across the lines in the story that spoke if it being better to raise geese than girls. I believe this is because Chinese men could become warriors. There was nothing much that a girl could do but house work, farming, or producing children. And I thought, if I were in this position, at least a girl in old China, I would be... quite ashamed to even step foot out of my home if that's what my elders or authority thought of my person. However, in unlike fashion, Kingston moved along telling stories with pride. I was greatly astonished when Kingston was fantasizing of her life as a warrior. When she told her parents, they had both taken her to a place in the house that was secluded. Her mother had her remove her shirt, and her father looked away. Knowing that she was going to war, they carved the names of revenge on her back! I questioned, "How could they do such a thing to their daughter?!" but I figured it's China, and that is some kind of sacrifice or duty of honor. I saw, that as a warrior, the girl felt honor, whereas being a daughter brought into a Chinese family was somewhat a disappointment. I didn't like this.

          I could say that throughout this second section of the book (from my division), I was very appreciative of all the pictures that flooded my mind. I like how the author, Kingston, used lots of descriptive words that painted the scenes as I read. It was very nice. Every time I pick up the book and begin reading again it's like a whole new experience.

IR#2- Orwell’s “1984”-Response 1 of 4

Orwell’s “1984”-Response 1 of 4

Independent Reading #2

Reader’s Response #1

I had an amazing time reading the first section of my book. Orwell is a genius! His scope of comprehension, especially at that time, is amazing! For someone to be able to know so much and to think in depth, like he does, is just ridiculously cool. He is someone I would most likely enjoy meeting (I think). There are several statements in this book that is just total genius that I must quote them:

“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” (Pg. 64)

My response to this quote would be one of horrification. Think about the power that “Big Brother” and “The Party” must wield to be able to make something as preposterous and hideous as this to occur. I was always that you can’t change history, but you have the power to control your present and therefore, alter the future. But this, this is just ludicrous! Everything recorded “historically” is altered and re-altered and the piece that was altered was destroyed. Doesn’t that just defeat the purpose of “history.” We were meant to learn from our mistakes through history because that is our nature. How will these people ever learn if all they do is change the past to fit their needs in the present and to secure their future? No human being has the right to alter and change what has already happened. If “the lie became the truth,” I wouldn’t know how to live with myself. Granted, it would be harder to remember what was right and what was wrong because the past is erased and changed to something different so then I would have no stable hold to cling to.

If the lie became the truth and the truth became the lie, the world will be chaotic. No one has the right to turn the world upside down. The funny thing about altering the past is that when you do that, you end up not having a legitimate past to rely on so all you’re living for is the present and I guess that’s what Big Brother wants to achieve to secure his future.

“He seemed to be breaking up before one’s eyes, like a mountain crumbling.”

Winston is describing how Rutherford looked like when he saw him a couple years back at this café. What caught my attention was his simile. I could understand if he compared Rutherford’s crumbling to some other insignificant object like a rock, or a building, but the mountain? Now why would Orwell make Winston compare Rutherford to a crumbling mountain? This is because Rutherford was considered a very strong, unyielding, immobile, and stubborn person. He was a source of undiscovered hope for this people and he too crumpled under the tyranny of Big Brother. He crumbled like a mountain. For a mountain to crumble and fall apart, it takes much effort, determination, erosion and persistence. It’s obvious that even hope can cease to exist in extreme cases; especially when the people who need the hope don’t recognize their need for change- their need for hope.

“The heresy of heresies was common sense.”

Because thoughtcrime was inadmissible, a lot of thoughts have been prohibited to the public. To think that even your thoughts were not your own, is a scary thing to behold to someone like me, who relishes imagination and logic. If even common sense (something my parents try to teach me) is not allowed, then what other thoughts can I own?

“If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself was controllable, what then?”

Exactly Winston! What then? Oh, what shall we do?

Then, whoever is the controller of that mind, controls how the controlled person perceives the past and the external world. Meaning, if the controller controlled all the minds of the people under his influence, then he controls the past and the external world (for those set of people). Power is scary.

What I thought to be quite interesting was how Huxley’s Brave New World is the total opposite of Orwell’s 1984. While Huxley’s setting in the book is clean, antiseptic and perfectly ordered, Orwell’s setting in his book is dingy, unclean to the point of disease infestation, sickly, dire and other unimaginable horror; even if there is some sense of control. A perfect-scary clean, brainwashed world vs. a chaotic-perfect-scary, dirty controlled hell. Science fiction- you’ve got to love it.

I.R.#2-The Woman Warrior:Reader Response #1

          Through Maxine Hong Kingston's diction in her book The Woman Warrior, we are told tales of which have been story-told for generations of old China and up until today with this novel. The subtitle reads, "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts." From there, I knew this would be a rather interesting delight, and after reading the first two sections-No Name Woman and White Tigers- I figured the term "ghosts" would symbolize Chinese ancestors.
      
          From page one, the art filled my mind. (That of the Asia really appeals to me as artwork.) The story told of the sister in a Chinese family who had sexual relations with an unknown man. This is a mother telling this to her own daughter. This sister was her husband's sister. Shame was set upon the family after the sister had become pregnant and their family home had been raided. Expecting the birth of the child, she had awaited far from home, bearing the pain and telling of the view in heaven, and many other scenes that shifted in and out of her mind. The time drew nearer and nearer and she suddenly moves into the pigsty where the baby is born. The mother decides to drown themselves-mother and child- in the family well because of the shame. The daughter was told not to speak of this aunt of hers. The "no name" woman. My reaction to this? Wow! Cultural expectations differ all around the world, and for this particular woman to be put to shame, driving her to commit this act, is a thought that gives me goosebumps. It's terrifying. The happening is terror in itself. With the story beginning this way, I became very very interested, desiring to read more and learn more. And then, I thought. If such shame is placed upon an individual for doing this, then where does the honor derive. This is, in fact, titled The Woman "Warrior," what tale will enter my mind after this.
      
           There it was-White Tigers. It tells a tale of the daughter, carried into the clouds following a bird. It was beautiful, and very much dream like. She was climbing a mountain, hands torn up, feet torn up from the everlasting climb. She is greeted by an old man and an old woman with many offerings to her. After a day and night's stay, she is given the choice, to go home to her family, or to stay there and train to become a warrior! At last! A warrior! The old man and old woman were spiritual battle trainers, or as we know, monks. I was then reminded of the mentioned Fa Mu Lan (my reference to the Disney movie) and to another Disney move, Wendy Wu. They were both warriors of Chinese descent awaiting battle. I recognized the strength beheld in a woman. How much honor placed in them; especially in being a Chinese warrior. The daughter chose to train and I felt, in myself, a sense of pride and empowerment. Girls can do anything and girls have their own strength. Reading on about the girl's life with the monks was appealed to me as something very dignified and honorable indeed. I'm very curious to join the storyteller and her characters on this foreign journey. My reading continues from here.

I.R.#2-The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

          This book here, being read by me-Alana Chargualaf-is definitely one that shocked me! I knew I would be reading about old Chinese ways;particularly, upon a female. However, I had finally spotted the cover and it reveals, "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts." Ghosts?! Really. I never thought another day would come again. The first time I read about ghosts in an Asian story was a long time ago as a young girl, and the title was, "The Ghost Fox." The book is still packed up somewhere in my house. The first thing I noticed was that The Woman Warrior is much more sophisticated and at my level. Just reading the first line, I became intrigued. I am looking forward to furthering my read. From this book , I expect to gain wisdom on old Chinese culture and tradition, as well as a different perspective on womanhood. My new goal is to study the womanhood and femininity of the diverse women around the world in accordance with their cultures. Good luck to the rest of my fellow classmates on their second Independent Reading assignments! 

Brave New World Book Review

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." This beautiful quote is from the famous genius, Albert Einstein. It’s important to understand the significance of imagination because Brave New World is when you take imagination for granted and the world is solely based upon knowledge, nothing more.

Haven’t you ever pictured that one perfect world where life was so trouble-free and all the difficulties in life would vanish as easy as turning that light switch right there next to you, on and off. Beautiful and tranquil yet technological and scientific equal easiness; these describe the only world one would want to live in right—wrong. Brave New World has the power to greatly influence your thoughts of a look into the future where we thought everything would be awesome with flying cars and magically-appearing meals; however, if we had the technology to create these nearly impossible ideas, then scientific development would have reached a new high of complete domination where science became a part of all we know. The scariest part is the truth: We ARE on the path of Aldous Huxley’s astounding vision of ‘’an all-too-possible future’’.

Hatcheries and conditioning centers, powerful soma drugs, Malthusian belts, feelies, hypnoaedia, a strict caste system, and the extinction of individuality are examples of the factors Huxley’s New World revolves around that somehow keep social stability and peace, but at the cost of life’s truest pleasures like art and literature. As Oscar Wilde once said "Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals." That says it all for the World State is a brainwashed society keeping its citizens under complete control mentally, which has the power to frighten a reader by giving a clear visual of how the world would become were a person to control the world entirely.

Aldous Huxley’s masterpiece is a work of excellent entertainment while warning his readers if not everyone that our ways now will eventually become like the citizens of his fictional world. Quoting Buddha, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world," clarifies that who we are is what our world will become. Through the obvious changes in attitude and beliefs of this current society, it shouldn’t be a surprise as to how our world will be at least twenty years from now. Just think a little.

There’s a reason why a façade is placed on a book and Brave New World does not mean a world of bravery I once thought it was, but maybe just the opposite. Now I want someone to tell me not to judge a book by its cover. That’s the first inference a reader usually makes because of the cover. Because of that we can have an idea of where we’re going or sometimes, where we’re not going. This new world is nowhere near bravery; it takes real courage to face every obstacle in life. Tears and smiles give us reason to appreciate our world. Then again, it may take real daring guts, a new kind of bravery, to exterminate our society to make a perfect one, utopian or dystopian.

Wuthering Heights - Prose Analysis #2

" ' Don't you think Hindley would be proud of his son, if he could see him? almost as proud as I am of mine. But there's this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver. Mine has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit of making it go as far as such poor stuff can go. His has firstrate qualities, and they are lost: rendered worse than any but I are aware of. And the best of it is, Hareton is damnable fond of me! You'll find I've outmatched Hindley there. If the dead villain could rise up from his grave to abuse me for his offspring's wrongs, I should have the fun of seeing the said offspring fight him back again, indignant that he should dare to rail at the one friend he has in the world! '
Heathcliff chuckled a fiendish laugh at the idea."

* note: "... see him? almost ..." is directly quoted; text included no capitalization :)

-Analysis-

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things without using the words "like" or "as."
(as I'm sure we all know)
An example, or rather two examples, of metaphor are used by the author in this passage. The first is referring to Hindley's son: "one is gold put to the use of paving-stones." This means that even though Hindley's son, Hareton, is naturally a son with "firstrate" qualities, these qualities are rendered useless by his status, which is controlled by Heathcliff. The second comparison is referring to Heathcliff's son, Linton: "and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver." This means that Linton has no natural qualities and talents, but he can be put to use, resulting in said quality having a decent outcome. These metaphors are very cleverly used to emphasize Heathcliff's success in following through with his vengeance on Hindley Earnshaw. For example, Heathcliff states,
"Mine has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit of making go as far as such poor stuff can go. His had firstrate qualities, and they are lost: rendered worse than unavailing." Excellent comparison isn't it?
Overall, I'm very fond of this passage and I'm very impressed with the subjects Emily Bronte related in her choice of stylistic prose techniques.

A Review on The Awakening by Kate Chopin

         The Awakening by Kate Chopin is, truly, a beautiful work. It captures the essence in reviving the hearts and souls of women, young or old. In a sense, the lines in Chopin's timeless treasury have a way of securing female insecurity and confusion of one's self. With this, we can all connect as women of the world. Within The Awakening, we encounter the trials of love, desire, society, family, and, majorly, the miracle of discovery in a woman's life! Dominantly, us women first consider what the world expects of us, not what we want, and overlook how important it is to look deep within ourselves and question the life we really have going on. The Awakening gives us a chance to break away from the stresses and chaos of everyday life, and release ourselves into a life of relating from one woman to the other. We also see the true nature of a woman, and the power that she has-that we all have individually as a female. The author envelopes her readers in the grace of feminist reasoning and understanding. Going through the book, we come through a rebirth of sense, purpose, and overall perspective on the persona(s) we portray given the various aspects in our life. What, then, will we discover this time around?

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