Log 3 ,Gina

 

The Giver creates a world that is ideal at first glance, but cruel and boring in reality.

The community is determined by the committee, and has the position of a lofty memory inheritor, which retains all human historical memories and emotions, and only the memory inheritor alone bears all the memories. If necessary when the committee makes decisions, The opinion of the inheritor of memory will be consulted.

To based on the setting of the inheritor of memory, it is assumed that when the committee was established, it should not only want to keep the world peaceful and unpleasant, but also fear that people will not know how to deal with unknown things after they have no memory of the past. Set the role of memory inheritor and let one person bear all the memories.

Although the position of memory inheritor is really a magical position, how to preserve and inherit memory is like magic, but perhaps this skill is the same as the ability that people do not feel, and it is regarded as the result of future technology.

Regarding the setting of assimilation communities, people follow their lessons and what to do for a few years have been set up in advance. People must avoid discussing "differences", and there is no "right to choose", and the "feeling ability" of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy. Be deprived of.

Although such a world excludes all the factors that may cause human suffering, it also makes human beings become leaders. It is very boring to think about it. What is the meaning of living? It’s also very cruel. Of course, no one wants painful experience, but sometimes happiness and sadness are two sides. Because there is love, you will feel pain when you lose it. There is no feeling of love or pain, and you even choose to like or dislike. There is no right to, it is really a cruel world in the name of ideals.

It reveals the cruel truth of the ideal world, and makes people think about the importance of differences, the right to choose, and the ability to feel.

We may all think that we are not perfect, but we have the ability to feel joy, anger, sorrow and joy. Whether it is a good or a bad experience, it is the nutrient that promotes our growth.

How Humanity Ruined the Perfect Economic System

 Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton

  In the past two weeks, I have been able to dig deeper into the theories of Marx’s theories. For example, I know why it failed – for the most obvious reason: Marx overlooked humanity. Humans are greedy, selfish, aggressive and competitive. While Marx’s economic system is a dream of utopia, it is yet only a dream.

 

  As I was reading, I thought to myself: why human beings cannot refrain oneself into their greedy desires and try to make this utopia society come true? After all, resisting this small temptation might benefit human society as a whole in the long term since in Marx’s vision, society would be in peace, free of war and corruption, discrimination and inequality. Any rational person would agree that Marx’s theories regarding the economic system is the most ideal situation that the human society can develop into. Then why do so many people oppose of this system?

 

  In the perspective of the working class, it is difficult to put full trust into the ruling class that they will act accordingly to how they should when applying this economic system. I have heard many stories from people around me which they complain that their manager or company do not give them a fair amount of wage regarding their work. In order for Marxism to work, people need to have full trust in each other, but trust is hard to build and easy to break. In modern day society, trust between the ruling class and the working class are significantly lacking and people might fail to act according to Marx’s theories leading to a failure in achieving a utopian society.

 

  In the perspective of the ruling class, Marxism definitely harms their privileges. Under the current economic system of capitalism, the ruling class can gain more and even enjoy more rights than those of the working class. Their future generations may enjoy these privileges as well. There is no direct reason to why they would act according to Marxism and live their lives as equals to the working class. If I was a member of the ruling class, I would like to keep my privileges and fortune for myself and my loved ones instead of making sacrifices for the majority of the society in which I have no blood relation or emotional linkage to. It just doesn’t seem beneficial to me in any way.

 

  Then I ask myself, why do people support Marxism if it really is as not-beneficial as I find it. Till this day, there are still many people who support it and some countries who still see Marxism as an ultimate goal. How did that happen? Or is it just a lie to make those who are underprivileged feel better?

 

  According to my memory, China praises Marxism and adapts an economic system that is a mix of Marxism and modern Capitalism. Originally, it was pure Marxism but corruption reeked the governmental offices and people were not satisfied with how things went. Later on, the government allowed private ownership in order to compete with other large and strong countries like the United States and Britain. I see this as a failure of trying to apply Marxism to an entire country. But I like to think that if education was properly conducted among all people while corruption didn’t exist, it might’ve worked out. From what my grandparents mentioned to me, during the old times, China faced serious corruption and the people faced starvation. My grandmother’s youngest brother starved to death when he was still a child. It breaks my heart to know that. If Marxism was implemented as how it should’ve been, they might not have needed to face poverty and he might have survived and succeeded in life as a person today.

 

  In the end, humanism caused all of this but humanism can fix this. The more I know about Marxism, the more I hope it could’ve been perfectly implemented. Though I don’t think it would happen in my time, I hope it’d happen in the future where everyone is united and determined to be better and create a better environment to live in.

 

  Do I support Marxism now? Not really. I still think it’s too childish and more of a daydream than an economic system. But do I wish for this daydream to come true? Maybe, when the right time comes and we can prevent Marxism from failing again like how it did in the 20^th century China.

Log 3

Hello everyone, this is a reflection on chapters 4-6 of pride and prejudice and I will state important points of each chapter. So, in the following story, Jane expressed to Elizabeth that how much she admired Mr. Bingley and how much she was flattered by Bingley asking her to dance a second time. For Jane, she was not surprised at all. She is quite confident in her sister. In their conversations, I see that Jane is five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. Also, Elizabeth said that Jane is "Never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in her eyes, and never speak ill of a human being in her life." which makes her seem angelic but also naive. When I was reading, I was thinking about whether we should be like her? "blind to the follies and nonsense of others, and always take the good of everybody's character and make it still better and say nothing of the bad." That is a question for me to ponder.

 

Bingley and Darcy's friendship is explained as a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character. Bingley has an easy manner and Darcy has a more stringent personality. Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offense. After the ball, Bingley was delighted with the locals (especially Jane) but Darcy considered them plain and uninteresting.

 

Everyone agrees that Bingley likes Jane. Then the conversation quickly shifts to Darcy. Apparently, he offended everyone who tried to speak with him. Charlotte (Elizabeth's intimate friend) consoles Elizabeth about Darcy's insult and wishes he would have agreed to a dance, but she adds that Darcy's pride may be forgiven because of his high standing and fortune. Elizabeth responds that she could forgive his pride if he hadn't insulted her own. What Charlotte suggests also makes me ponder again, which is "Pride isn't always bad. Indeed, pride can help protect a family's reputation, or can provide the motivation to help people" She is right, in my opinion, Pride has pros and cons. It can prevent you from being underestimated, but it may also make you an enemy.

 

Jane could not like Bingley's sister because although they are kind to Jane, she thinks it is all because of the influence of their brother's admiration. She also saw superciliousness in their treatment of everyone. She thinks that they are well-educated but conceited. During the conversation of Elizebeth and Charlotte, what Charlotte said is worth thinking " We can all begin freely_ a slight preference is natural enough, but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement." In chapter six, we finally see the progress of Darcy and Elizebeth's relationship. As he spends more time with Elizebeth, Darcy begins to notice Elizebeth's beauty and verve. He even wanted to invite her to dance at a party, Sir William Lucas also tries to set up Darcy and Elizabeth to dance, unfortunately, she refuses.

Before I end my vlog I would like to share one idiom that I learned from this chapter Keep your breath to cool your porridge" which means focus on yourself and your life, rather than other people's lives and issues.

 

This is all about the story I read. The most helpful thing for me to read this novel is to learn more vocabulary. I feel like I can only get a surface message because of my shortness of comprehension, So if you feel that you don't get anything deeper from my description, please excuse me. Thank you.

The old man and the sea

"I tried to portray a real old man, a real kid, a real sea, a real fish and a lot of real sharks," Hemingway said. However, if I can write realistic enough, they can represent many other things. The story tells me a lot of things other than that. The most important thing is to learn from that perseverance. Everyone is their own brave, never expect any help and comfort from others, only with their own perseverance to challenge their goals, that goal will be closer and closer to their own. In fact, when you work hard and try to do one thing, the result is not so important anymore, because from the process you can enjoy a lot of different things. At the end of the day, the old man caught the fish, but at the end he came ashore with only one bone left. Can you say he didn't get anything because he didn't get a good result? In fact, he gets much more than you see. In this journey, he has gained not only that fish, he has gained a strong heart and the spirit of never give up. He is not afraid of the others’ eye, nor is he afraid of ridicule of public, he chooses to do what he wants to do and insist on what he wants to do. No one will not encounter setbacks in his own life, the most difficult is how to stand up in frustration and start again, and still maintain the original share of the original heart. After reading this book, I actually got a lot of inspiration, he let me know that not only having good results are successful, the process is the point to determine how much they can get in this journey of life. If the old man had succeeded in the beginning, the book would not have been so interesting. It is because he succeeds in his efforts and fearlessness that his success seems to be so meaningful. Old man and sea, one is huge one is small, when a small thing triumphed over this huge, such a victory would become more meaningful and wonderful. Everyone backs down in difficulties, and as long as you can hold on, that ultimate success is yours. There are many different crises in seemingly calm days. Sometimes in life, when you try your best to do something, it doesn't have to be good. Even if you've done your best, even if it is unfair, not everything will follow your own ideal blueprint because there's so much helplessness in life. We must have a belief in ourselves, never be defeated by difficulties, and insist on what we really think is right. Sometimes others may not understand you, but as long as you think it is right, then go ahead without hesitation! The vast and boundless sea is like a long journey of life, sometimes something would accidentally happen in your life. We are always fighting monsters in the deep sea and try win the fight for ourselves. Life is an endless pursuit, it is very long and difficult, but as long as we learn to enjoy it, we can like the elderly, overcome himself to get only his own treasure.

 

Lord of the flies

        Finishing the first chapter, more and more characters are being revealed. The author brought out some characters with stronger personalities, in the assembly which Ralph gathered them by blowing the creamed pink colored conch.A choir appeared wearing cloak, the leader Jack seems to be an arrogant and overbearing person that he wouldn’t let the choir to seat down or even take off the cloaks under the burning sun. The kids started to voting for the chief of all of them, and Jack step out to be the leader without any doubts, since he was the leader of the choir. However, the kids finally chose Ralph to be the leader for being the one that blew the conch and gathered everyone together. Unexpectedly, Ralph handled the situation very well, he brought Jack, Simon, the kid that passed out once in the heat, with him to go on a mountain to find out whether this is an island or not. During the climbing, a piglet were stuck in creepers, screaming and throwing itself at the Islamic trace with all the madness and terror. The boys were trying to hunt it. Jack took out his blade, and raised his bony arm in the air. However, he paused at the moment he was going to stab it, and the piglet escaped from the creepers and ran away. The boys realized the enormity of a downward stroke, they were terrified. When they finally got on the mountain, they found out it was really an island, that has no smoke, no village, no people living on it. I think that was the very first time for them encountering the reality of surviving on the island. 

There were one sense that I found interesting, is when Jack called the fat boy “Fatty”, Ralph correct him with “Piggy”, and the kids were laughing to Piggy. Later on, when Piggy asked why did Ralph tell others about his nickname and laugh about it, Ralph told him that Piggy is better than Fatty, and apologized for making him felt bad. Also, when the kids found out that they might be no one coming to rescue them, they started to panic, but again, Ralph used a strong and passionate voice to encourage the assembly to try to live by the resources they had found on the island, and  meanwhile have fun. From the conversation I feel like Ralph is one person who can be a great leader that knows how to raise or ease peoples emotions. I myself think it is very difficult to be a leader of a group, even though I’m not a quiet or shy person, being a leader still makes me feel stressful and pressured. I'm the kind of person who can be the noisiest person in the group but sometimes in different groups I can be very shy and wouldn't have the courage to speak up, it usually depends on whether the surrounding people are close to me. Because of the personality, I was often be assigned to be the group leader, but don't know how to speak out. The main reason may be the lack of confidence I have makes me don't know how to lead a team. Therefore, reading about a 12-year-old boy being able to manage a group so well, even when they were in such a dangerous and unsure situation, really makes me admires him. I have been imagining if I was one of the kids on the island, then how would I reacted to the condition and reality. I might be the one crying for wanting to go home, and couldn’t stand taking the bath in the river, or hunting meals by ourselves, sounds dirty and exhausted to survive in such place. It is still hard for me to picture a bunch of kids that were under 12 to live on the island by themselves, really looking forward to se how they get through such a hardship. I’m guessing that some of the kids may be dead in the story, I should be prepared for the fact of their death.

So far the book seems to becoming easier than before, because of the repetition of the words that I don’t know, and the deeper understand of the whole plot. The story is becoming more interesting and exciting at the same time, more and more different people have talked and interacted with one another, the personalities were characterized even much clearer from the multiple conversations. I'm looking forward for the plot to continue rising in the following story, and the changes between the relationships, or maybe some detail stories from some main characters backgrounds.

The most distinctive and courageous woman to be a doctor

 

Elizabeth Blackwell (February 3, 1821 – May 31, 1910)

     In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor in history, achieved her medical degree in the United States. She had been through so many insurmountable obstacles on her path to obtain the recognition in school. Although she overcame them and her efforts paid off eventually, the hardships to practically work as a physician in society overwhelmed her more than the ones did in medical school.

     At first, she wanted to rent a doctor’s suite to open an office, making professional visits to patients. However, there’s no one admitting a woman physician. All she could receive is always the same point, she is a woman and women could not be physicians. No matter what she said, she never got a different response. This plot reminds me of the problems of graduate employment and the difficulties of women’s status in workforce nowadays. As a college student, who’s going to have a job in the society within years, I can particularly understand how despaired and helpless she was to confront such a difficulty. Even if I am majoring in Applied Foreign Language, which is studied by mostly females, when it comes to workplace, the lack of gender equality is still a controversial issue that gets me feeling worried. If I were Elizabeth, who was discouraged and frustrated when just entering the workforce, I could probably be overwhelmed by the tremendous stress and becoming more than ever anxious. However, Elizabeth was never ordinary as she not only overcame it again but also set up her own lectures, entitled The Laws of Life with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls, inclusively for ladies, which was the first step for her ambition to build a school to train nurses.

     “What’s the use of half-measures? When a thing has to be done, it has to be done!” The words are said by Elizabeth Blackwell. She said it with much anger and determination when her sister showed a frightened look for her idea of setting up a school for nurses and a woman’s hospital.

     Here I want to take up the statement above made by Elizabeth. The meaning of it is quite similar to my own values. Like Elizabeth does, I hate half-measures. In my perspective, they are all pointless and unhelpful. Some people may possess the idea that there is still some value of half-measures such as the experience acquired through the process. Nevertheless, couldn’t the work which is completely done bring people more useful experience? Apart from that, Elizabeth’s words also remind me of one of my mother’s idea of raising kids. Once she said that she doesn’t want me to have good grades; instead, she wants me to absorb and comprehend the knowledge I have learned. There’s a same connotation of Elizabeth’s statement and my mother’s words. That is the responsibility of doing anything. Once we start getting the ball rolling, we should and we have the duty to have things done no matter how good or bad the consequence is. In other words, the last thing we should do is giving up.

     At last, I still want to point out Elizabeth’s courage again. When she had no patients to treat owing to her different gender, instead of seeking help from others or giving up, she stepped out of her office, finding people in need of medical assistance in ghettos on her own. This independent woman and her action indeed touched my heart. Moreover, what she did shows that her ambition is no longer merely opening her school and hospital, or fighting for women’s rights of medical education. Her will and her aspiration have a strong bond with the welfare of the whole society, which could never be found if she was not Elizabeth Blackwell. As a result, this distinctiveness enabled her to have a life that had never been lived by others before. Even though she could only live against every species of social opposition at that time, the influence she brought to the society is more immense than anyone could expect.

Pain demands to be felt.

 

Augustus stepped toward him and looked down. “Feel better?” he asked. “No,” Isaac mumbled, his chest heaving. “That’s the thing about the pain,” Augustus said, and then glanced back at me. “It demands to be felt.”

Let’s talk about pain. How do you usually deal with it?

Pain could be of many forms. 

For patients with cancer, they go through physical pain that is beyond description and inevitable every day. Some people, like those people in the Support Group, face their pain positively and receive the treatments periodically with doctors’ instructions. However, pain can also be hard to aware of by people, or even neglected, which is the worst thing that could ever happen, reminding me of a drama I recently watched called Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. There was an elder who refused to receive treatment from the dentist because she didn't want the dental implementation fee to be a burden to her son, even though she could hardly chew and her son is rich as an accountant. The dentist, whose mom is dead early owing to the neglect of her pain, told the elder, “It is parents’ responsibility to take care of themselves. You have to face the pain and resolve it as long as you can. Do not think that your pain can be troublesome to children. You’ll make children guilty if they are not able to give you the best medical support.” People tend to pretend that they are fine instead of confessing their discomfort because they deny facing their weakness and helplessness. Nevertheless, facing your weakness is an obligation. It does not necessarily mean you are worthless if you got a disease. Like what Hazel’s father told her, “You’re not a grenade. You are amazing. The joy you bring us is so much greater than the sadness we feel about your illness.” To summarize, when it comes to the unfamiliar physical pain, face it bravely, fight with it, and feel nothing terrible about it, for yourself and for people who care about you.

         As for emotional pain, it is even more complicated. In the story, Isaac, who was a mutual friend of Hazel and Augustus from the Support Group, was dumped by his girlfriend because she could not accept the fact that Isaac is about to become blind. Hence, Isaac started blaming himself with tears keep coming out of his eyes, and then he started kicking, throwing, and breaking anything in his sight. Yet, these actions did not relieve his pain, as Augustus indicated. Reflecting on ourselves, we must have some moments that we suffer from emotional pain, but we don't feel like trying to stop the wound from bleeding. Rather, we seek other distractions or ways to vent our feelings, which is like simply put a band-aid on a deep wound. The problem is that underneath the band-aid, the wound is still there. That’s what pain is like. You attempt every method to escape from the truth, but there is no denying that the wound still hurts. Maybe there is no specific way to help soothe the suffering because "pain demands to be felt." 

DILEMMA- The Difficulties of Making Decisions for Our Lives

 

Hi guys~ It's the one and only Felix again.

    I have to confess one thing, I didn't really read through many chapters this time, but the reason behind it is that the chapters I've covered focus right on the inside voice of Connell, he conveyed his worries about the relationship with Marianne and also college applications. The chapters are very interesting and relatable, so I really want to have an in-depth reflection on these paragraphs. (it sounds like an excuse though) He had two choices, one is, to stay at his comfort zone and didn't need to worry about his social life and the drastic changes of his life, but on the other hand, he will lose Marianne eventually, because Marianne will move to another town and the chances they can get closer will be gone, and this is the last thing Connell would like to let it happen. But if he chose to major in English, he'll have to go to the same university as Marianne, but it means he will lose everything but Marianne. 

    He chose to conceal their relationship at school because he didn't want to put Marianne under the spotlight, but most importantly, he didn't want to lose friends and his social status. If their relationship got exposed, he'll become the boy that have sex with weirdos. He didn't want to break the balance between his socialize personality and his romance for Marianne, but college forced him to make decisions. He then fell into a dilemma which he wasn't able to find a way out. This setback had disturbed him for a long time and every time he wants to come up with a solution, it'll push him toward a deeper loop of self conflicts. Until one time, he invited Marianne to his house to "have fun", they had an in-depth conversation after about their upcoming college life, he finally made his decision. He didn't really tell Marianne about his worries but after he saw the reaction of her when he spoke about his thoughts of college application, he eventually found out that he cared more about Marianne than all the challenges he was going to face, his current determination is to not let Marianne down, and his biggest fear is the potential of him losing his love. 

    His dilemma got me thinking about the moment when I got the chance of auditioning for a big entertainment company in Korea. When I received the email from the company, I was thrilled and extremely excited. But after a short while, I fell into a dilemma just like Connell, it was always a dream for me to become a singer, but I'll have to sacrifice everything I have right now, boyfriends, school, and even my family. Also, the uncertainty of being successful in the entertainment industry pulled me back. This is when my anxiety hits me so hard, I can't imagine the life without my boyfriend, it sounds very childish for a 20-year-old college student to say such thing, but our bond is very strong to a point that I have already dragged him into my future blueprint of life, and becoming a trainee means I have to "ditch" him and it's just not in my plan, also, I'll have to quit school to focus on becoming a singer, but if I didn't survive from the monthly evaluation for trainees, I'll have to go home, if so, how am I supposed to continue my previous plan. I convey my thoughts to my boyfriend and he said to me, why are you being so worried even though you haven't even try it? So I finally went to the audition, as soon as I finished, the company told me to sign the contrast with them to make sure how things are set, I told them that I need to think more about it. They gave me three days to reconsider and I need to contact them three days later whether what my decision is. 

    I went home and my boyfriend was waiting for me to tell him about the result, just as I imagine, he told me to go try it, but his face told the different. I asked him once again what should I do, he became silence, and he looked straight into my eyes and asked me, what's really in my mind. That is the moment I decide to turn down the opportunity of accomplishing my dream. I wasn't brave enough to give up everything I have currently just to chase a dream that maybe won't come true. I'm happy to stay in the current situation where my surroundings are full of energy and happiness. I then came to realize that I put my boyfriend as my priority in front of anything else, it can sometimes be toxic, but in my opinion, this is my respect to his ideas and thoughts. But I have to tell myself all the time that I'm living my life, if we got into the similar situation like this time, and he told me to do the things that isn't my intentions or I don't want to, I'll have to come up with a solution that can balance my actions and his expectations.

    After I read through more chapters, I can realize why some people call this novel as their life story, the plot itself is very relatable and fun to read, every chapter has some little things you can reflect it to yourself and can some how help you to solve your difficulties in any ways. Another thing I want to point out is that the author is very good at portraying the scene, she can describe the scene in details and it really helps me immerse into the story, as I'm reading the content, it just feels like the movie is playing in my mind so I can really reflect my life onto the plot. 

    The time flies very fast in this novel, the chapters can be stories that happened months or years later, which I'm guessing the next chapter will mainly focus on their college life. I want to see how the two character deal with the drastic changes in their lives and the challenges they are going to face, I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship will go and their reaction of it. Also, this novel had been adapted into series which you can watch it online, if you want to know more about the story, and can't wait to see it since I'm uploading my log once two weeks, you can search it up online and watch the series. I bet it's amazing, but a quick disclaimer, the plot in the series maybe a little different from the novel, so if you watched the series, we can discuss the plot in the comment section below, I'll be very happy if you do so. <3

    See u in the next log, love u guys~

Freedom is being disliked by other people

    Finishing the following chapters 2 and 3 of the book ”The courage to be disliked”, I have something to share with you. Connected to the first part, the content is also between the dialogue of the youth and the philosopher, the youth still can not accept the concept of what the philosopher said about trauma and teleology theory. Thus, the youth came to meet the philosopher again to argue for his stand of point.

    In the beginning of their communication, the youth refute the teleology which is the study of purpose by asking what is the purpose of not liking ourselves, and he thinks there are no strong points about himself. Knowing the youth’s question, the philosopher said that not liking himself is a virtue to the youth, and he sees no strong point is the way to achieve the goal of not liking himself. The thought beneath it is that people tend to escape the truth that the disadvantage of you or the thing you don’t like of yourself is created by you because these are beneficial to you, and thus creating an image that if I did not have these weaknesses, I could achieve the things I wanted. Keep going on, the philosopher introduced the concept of “encouragement” in Adlerian psychology, which is focused on how to accept “yourself now”, and pointed out the youth’s fear of being refused by people and further got into the idea that all problems are interpersonal problems. In order to describe this idea more clearly, the philosopher mentioned another two nouns “inferiority” and “inferiority complex”, which have different meanings but are usually misapplied by people. Feeling of inferiority is a term that has to do with one’s value judgement of oneself, and the reason for it is that humans have the instinct to pursue superiority, and the inferiority complex is that people use the feeling of inferiority as a kind of excuse. Based on the Adlerian psychology, the inferiority is all out of subjective explanation not a comparison with others, and elicit the life is not a competition. Besides, Adlerian psychology denies the need to seek recognition from others, and the interpersonal relationship can be simple by separation of tasks and discarding others tasks.

    Overwhelmed with all the new viewpoints of Adlerian psychology, I did every effort to comprehend and accept these ideas which totally turned my thoughts, but I still found it difficult to do in some parts . First of all, the teleology theory can tell we sometime fall into a situation that we create a excuse to achieve the purpose to dislike ourselves, but we could do nothing to deal with it even we understand the reason. I believe it is not easy to transform the thinking of oneself in these few words, and as what was mentioned in this book, you are the only one who can change yourself. For those who are not willing to take action to make changes, or in other word, not having the courage, all of these are out of fantasy. Additionally, I understand that writing the log, how I feel about this book, is the most convincing provement that I do not have the encouragement to step forward, but no change in the feelings that I hate myself. Secondly, I have the question of how we balance fulfilling life tasks well between keeping our world simple by discarding others tasks. What’s more, I found it difficult to practice because we can not ask others to do so as we finally achieve how to discard others tasks, but our life tasks are connected to others. It comes to me as a classical example in modern society, emotional blackmail. Finally, the reel freedom is an attitude to push yourself from below and freedom is being disliked by other people is much easier for me to accept but I think it takes time not only to practice having the courage to enjoy the freedom. It is really hard and tough, sometimes it reveals all the recognition in your mind but you do admit that is right.

Reflection on 13 Reasons Why (p.54-173)

 

From these chapters, I want to share some points that are worthy sharing to you.

“But it’s more than just a scratch. It’s a punch in the stomach and a slap in the face. It’s a knife in my back because you would rather believe some made-up rumor than what you know knew to be true.”

I personally thought it was a successful description that used imaginable action and feeling to describe the abstract hurt. The author used scratch, punch, slap and knife to describe different degree of harm to make readers be able to imagine them in their mind. If the author just wrote “it makes me so painful that you…,” the effects must be smaller and readers would feel hard to relate themselves with how hurt it was to be misunderstood intentionally by those who actually knew the truth.

On the other chapter, the author used “driving along a bumpy road and losing control of the steering wheel, tossing you off the road” to describe the moment that Hannah realized what the world really was. She lost control of everything in her life and no one understood her; not to mention, stood by her side and supported her. Following with “Yet no matter how tightly you grip the wheel, no matter how hard you try to drive straight, something keeps jerking you to the side.” This visualized how disappointed and helpless Hannah was. Though how hard you tried, the reality just kicked you and your effort away easily. I thought it was another great description to express feeling.

 

Besides, there was a specific chapter that I could feel and relate to most. On cassette 2: side B, Hannah revealed that one of her classmates, Tyler Down, stared through her bedroom window at night when she was alone and expected to see some secrets of her. And Hannah didn’t have any idea that she was watched by someone. Tyler must have prepared to do that, so he chose the day that Hannah’s parents weren’t at home. But what was he thinking to be a peeping Tom. When reading to this, I stayed and lived alone in my rented apartment at almost mid-night. With a window upper behind my head, the feeling of being scared suddenly swallowed me down. I couldn’t imagine if this happened on me, what could I do? Should I call someone for help? Should I pretend nothing happen and call the police in the bathroom? Or should I let he/she who stared me knew I noticed that and warned them? I had no idea.

 

There was another paragraph that inspired me since I would like to be a teacher in the future. One of Hannah’s teacher, Mr. Bradley, created an activity to let students concern about each other while other teachers cared about students’ grades more than their mental condition and their relationships. This activity encouraged them to write notes to others in order to show your concern which may be too embarrassed to tell face in face. In my opinion, it was an interesting and helpful activity for students to learn to keep their eyes on people and things around them. It reminded me an activity, “little angel” that I had attended in the elementary school. In the activity, there were two characters, little angel and master. Little angel should unconsciously take care of the master, and master needed to guess who his/her little angel was. Each participant would be the little angel and the master at the same time but to different person. Both these two activities, encouraging students to be concerned about others, were good for kids mental growth which I thought was even more important than the numbers on the paper. If one day, I become a teacher, I will conduct this kind activities on my students to make them learn from each other!

Log 3

 

Log 3

Greeting all the way from Taoyuan. Hello joyful people! it's Quinn again. Log 3 will be also about my reflection after reading the book Thirteen Reasons Why. And this time, I will be focusing more on the plot in the book (as you wish) and what I feel about it.

In case you didn't catch up last time, I'd like to do a short recap for you referring to the plot.

This book is about a girl, Hannah Backer, committing suicide and left a box of tapes telling the miserable reasons behind her death. And since Hannah died, Clay Jenson, the second main character is now listening to the tapes that Hannah left for them, or should I say: people who paid tribute to her death. The last log, log 2, was mainly talking about the backgrounds and the Netflix series comparison. I rarely mentioned the plots. So here it is!

Starting with the first person Hannah mentioned in the first tape, Justin. He was Hannah's first crush when she moved into a new school. But a rumor ruined her days in that school ever since. Justin made up a extremely "sexual" story about he and Hannah in a park, which was totally the opposite. It was just some ordinary kisses and loves. However, people buy things that interest them. People then view Hannah with a different look. Eventually, the truth under the rumors was buried along with Hannah's love for Justin. Eventually, it's becoming a reason why she kill herself.

The first reason is just "okay" for me. Nothing too much and nothing too special. It's about how influential can rumors be to teenagers. A girl wouldn't die for it, you might think. However, it does make Hannah to put this story into one of the thirteen tapes, didn't she? Then it comes to me that: How do people feel facing a rumor about themselves actually? Furious? Stressful? or just ignore it? Sometimes, ugly rumors do hurt people. However, that's under the condition of everybody are buying it. That's something I got from it. If a rumor got no believer, it has zero effect. But it is just so much easier to say than actually do it. Or there wouldn't be so many rumors flying around all the time.

The next story is also about a boy, Alex. She really didn't mention much about their relationship. Anyways, Alex made a list of girls who are hot and who are not. And expectedly, she was on the hot list categorized as the Best Ass In Freshmen. Thanks to the list, she started experiencing sexual harassment  from boys. People looked at her with uncomfortable whisperings. There was even an incident that a boy grab her ass kiddingly. And that was all coming from the list. Hannah think that Alex is supposed to take the responsibility of all the things happened to her. Because it gave them an excuse to do so.

Judging and tagging, it's just so teenagers' things. People must feel disappointed and upset when they're tagged or criticized negatively. When other people start to act considering these tags, that make you, as a flexible person stereotypical. It will get hard for you to get rid of the name given by other who don't necessarily know you for who you really are. The feeling of trapped inside the name surely hit Hannah hard. And things like this happen in all ages. Judging is surely harmless until you make a use of it unfairly. Here is the question for today: Have you ever judge people unfairly without really knowing them? Then how do you feel when you find out who that person really is?

Everything has two sides - Outside & Inside

 

(Imagine a world that is safe and peaceful. No murders, no crimes, and even no hatred! Would you like to live here forever?)

 

Hello, everyone. This is Judy's reflection on the novel "Pet."

Welcome to a “seemingly” unblemished society!

Ever since the protagonist Jam can remember, she has been taught “there are no monsters in the world anymore” by all the adults surrounding her. With the flying of time, there is something wrong in this society. One day, she accidentally scratches her finger and drops of her blood just drip on the painting that her mother has been drawing. In an instant her expression has turned out to be open-mouthed and stunned. She couldn’t believe what the no-eyed creature in front of her is and couldn’t figure out how everything works out. She has been wide-eyed in amazement for a few seconds. At that time, that creature says that “I am here to hunt a monster in your friend’s house.” Certainly, everything is too inconceivable for her to say anything even if she has a lot of doubts in her mind.

People in Lucille, the city in this story, generally recognize that monsters don’t exist at all. But actually, what is a monster? What does a monster look like? Is Jam’s friend sound now? What can she do if her friend is in peril? These questions occur to Jam one after another. She can’t help questioning what she had been taught about monsters before. Of course, as a reader, I am also curious about those things. Exactly as I guess, lies are full of her growing surroundings. Everyone lies to her, and her parents are no exception. Without a doubt, I would like to criticize how parents can do such things. Parents always play a considerable role in educating and being a role model for children. In addition, shaping the personalities and values of kids is one of the responsibilities for adults as well. However, in actual fact, all the adults in Lucille want nothing but protection for children. They not only establish a “perfect” and “safe” society but also prevent their children from knowing something appalling, hoping their children’s lives are as smooth as possible. From my own perspective, they are definitely so-called “helicopter parents.” Those teenagers always live in an overprotective society.

Nonetheless, even though Jam finds that her parents deceive her, she still has a clear head to know what matter prioritizes currently. She directly asks her mother without hesitation that she doesn’t want to take a risk of her best friend, Redemption’s life. Thus, all she can do is to believe that scary creature’s words and follow its instructions. But at the same time, how her parents are willing to put their daughter’s life at risk. They strongly disagree with her daughter’s decision. Hence, I ask myself when I face the dilemma of parents’ opposition and friend’s life, what actions would I take if I were Jam? I suppose that I will make the same decision as Jam because friendship can’t be overemphasized for me. No friendship, no life. Even if my parents desperately stop me from risking myself, I will still follow my heart due to the value of my own friendship. I will instantly help what I can help and do what I can do with all my might. Just as what Jam has mentioned to her best friend, “we are each other’s harvest, we are each other’s business, and we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” I really appreciate Jam’s viewpoints and disposition. In my opinion, she always has faith in what she thinks it’s right. Also, she is mature enough to know what life’s and friendship’s meanings are.

When it comes to the actual monsters, there is a turning point in the story. Monster is not a creature which looks frightening. Monster doesn’t have a massive body either. Monster is just the seamy side of humanity, including rapacity, selfishness, abuse to satisfy their own sordid desires. In the story, the real monster is Redemption’s uncle, not that no-eyed creature, Pet. Redemption’s little brother, Moss, has been abused by his uncle for a while. He doesn’t have the courage to leak any information to anyone because no one will believe his words. People in Lucille have been taught “there are no monsters,” so everyone will instead consider that he is out of his mind. Thus, thanks to Jam, Pet, and Redemption, Moss can have the possibility to escape from the psychopath. Pet indeed helps them a lot when finding the truth. It also gives “the real monster” a piece of its mind. With regard to this epilogue, it occurred to me that when I reflect on modern society, monsters exactly mirror our modern society. Pieces of news frequently expose crimes nowadays. Those law-breakers can all be depicted as “monsters.” After all, what they have done is not different from monsters.

Hence, after finishing reading this novel, I ask myself if a world looks perfect and safe on the outside such as Lucille in this story or a utopia, do I want to live there? My answer is “no” because there are a few reasons as follows. First of all, it is hard to keep secrets all the time. I have to keep track of them and make sure that they don’t jump out of my mouth. But why do I need to lead such an exhausting life? Secondly, always being kept in the dark is not pleasurable at all. The feeling of being betrayed and distrust upsets everyone. No matter how worse the situation is, I should have the right to know. Concealment can’t be acceptable all the time. Last, no murders, no crimes, and even no hatred on the onside don’t mean there is no corruption of humanity inside. I can’t only concentrate on the surface.

Log 3

 Hi, this is Xenia. 

I found that I rarely mentioned the "content" of this novel in log 2, which caused many people to still not know what it was talking about. So, let me briefly talk to you about the plot of the first chapter.

In the beginning, there was a murder in a family. The author described the killer named "Jack" in detail, including his appearance, his actions, and even his opinions. Every member of the family was killed by "Man Jack", and the author always mentions him as "Man Jack" instead of "Jack", which makes me a little curious, except for the protagonist boy. The boy slipped out of the crib and crawled out of the window, but fortunately escaped from the massacre. The place where he finally arrived was a hazy and gloomy cemetery. Although Jack chased to the cemetery with extraordinary instinct, with the help of the ghost, the boy was safe again. The two big ghosts Owens there decided to take on the responsibility of taking care of the baby boy, especially under the entrustment of the baby boy's mother who had been killed by Jack. Then there was a forum of about three hundred ghosts in the cemetery, discussing whether to raise children, with the exception of the cemetery.

Interestingly, every ghost in the cemetery is equal. Everyone can say aloud that their opinions are respected, and they can vote because they are all dead, which makes them equal. This is a bit different from the world we live in. In our world, not everyone is equal and respectful when conveying ideas because of their different identities and positions. As for voting, not everyone has the right to vote in national elections; in addition, some countries even prohibit women from voting. However, ghosts can do these things without any restrictions, which is a bit ironic compared to our world.

When Mrs. Owens insisted on raising children, even though one person is a "person", one person is a "ghost". What's more, when the couple was alive, neither of them had children, nor did they know how to raise them. Knowing that there may be many difficulties, they still have to take responsibility. This plot reminds me of childhood memories. Since my parents divorced, I lived with my mother when I was in kindergarten. We quarreled almost every day, or we were scolded every day. The connection between us is so close that it seems impossible to strike a balance between us, and I am always under her pressure because I am afraid of doing something wrong and then being scolded again and again. After a few years, we stopped living together. She told me, "This is also my first motherhood. I'm still young, and no one tells me what to do or how to do it." This conversation is still in my mind now. Here, I believe I will not forget it in my lifetime, but I may not tell her. It is always difficult for me to love and maintain a relationship with others, and conveying feelings is no exception. If I reveal the "real me" like me and my mother, I am afraid that other people may stay away from me. She didn't actually leave me, but had her own life; however, I always feel that there is an invisible wall between us, even if we communicate with each other through social apps. This plot reminds me of memory, because the couple in the story has no experience in raising children, and no one will tell them what to do. But I think they will do a good job because I have read the introduction of the whole story, even if it is a bit cheated? I am still curious about what happened when the boy was growing up. I will keep reading and find out more interesting or touching parts to share with you. :)

Changes when stepping in another stage

A dog’s purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

    Previously on the former chapters of this book, Toby was euthanized due to being unadoptable.     

    After taking a long nap, Toby waked up, opened his eyes, and found that he was brought to not only a new period but also a new space. Everything around him was both strange and familiar with him. Familiar was that he still had siblings and Mother keeping company with him. Familiar was that there was still someone taking care of them. Familiar was that he was still a helpless and weak puppy. But his siblings and Mother were not the same dog at all. But the guy who took care of them was not as tender as Senora (the owner of the Yard) did. But Toby, himself, didn’t have the same appearance anymore.

    Being in a new environment, Toby always made comparison between past and present, trying to find the shadow of past. It makes me ponder that why people always feel like finding the shadow of past? I think it can be related to my own experience when entering in senior high school. Being in a new school, I missed my old friends in junior high school. So, I tried to find whether there were anything in common with my old friends, aiming to have a sense of belonging or something. By doing so, my new classmates would as if become my old friends that I was familiar with. In my opinion, the reason why people want to find the shadow of the past is because of loneliness and insecurity. They still look back to the past, missing people or things in days of old.

    Luckily, Toby was rescued by Ethan’s mother when he was dying in a car from heat exhaust-station. Being picked up and carried into a house, Toby had never imagined such a thing to be possible. What’s more, Toby got a new name which is Bailey. Then, Bailey began his second life with Ethan. Being with Ethan from the second they woke up until the moment they went to sleep, Bailey found what is so-called love this time. He realized that the love between Senora and Ethan were quite different. Senora’s love was general to every dog in the pack; however, Ethan’s love was full of sincerity that they were the center of each other’s worlds.

    Not only did Bailey find his new life of purpose, to accompany Ethan, but also he learn many things that he didn’t know before, and thus he started to enjoy himself. In my point of view, not looking back to the past is an important thing. According to the book, I observe some points that may be helpful to get rid of the past. First, find a new purpose when stepping to another stage in life. By doing so, it’s beneficial to have you pay more attention to the present instead of the past. Next, learn something new to enrich your daily life. Enrichment of yourself will be able to get a sense of achievement, which can make you consider that your life in this moment is much more wonderful than in the past. Last but not least, have someone keep company with you. Just like Ethan and Bailey in the book, they are the center of each other’s worlds, fulfilling each other’s mental needs.

    In conclusion, we should not spend in stagnation day by day. Instead, keep moving ahead and enjoy every moment is the most important thing I learnt from Bailey’s life in the story.

The call of the wild by Jack London: Fight against all the hardships

 

     Hi, it’s James, glad to share my thoughts again. In this reading log I’m going to share a new book I read in this 2-week, called ‘the call of the wild’.

     The call of the wild, describing a dog named Buck, whose adventure was full of many difficulties. The author of this novel isn’t merely telling what difficulties Buck confronted with and how he conquered them but also writing about humanity, relationships with his master, and the surviving rule of the world. Buck was illustrated in a human-like way, expressing his real thoughts in many affectionate words. Similarly, we, as human beings, were always on a life journey, which never be easy and stable, consistent of ups and downs. Reading it, I felt some strong, the same feelings toward Buck’s encounters; without further ado, let’s go through this thought-provoking story.

     In the beginning of the story, Buck had the first separate with his original master for being sold by dog-seller, leaving the environment he was familiar with and also away from the civilization. It was hard for Buck to adapt the whole new environment; after being shipped from village, Buck was no longer accessible to the civilization but destined to be sled dog in the snowfield. Faced with such a demanding environment, Buck was destroyed and injured all over his body, both physically and mentally, he left nothing completely. What’s more pathetic, these were what Buck’s following life be liked, his life was always moving his home, separating with his friends who just met shortly before; as a result, Buck became the strongest dog than anybody after standing again and again from those misfortune.

     Sometimes, we were all hurt by the reality, in new environment, I always have to find the most efficient and effective method to adapt it. How ruthless the society is that it deprived many people’s ideality and hope, as the saying goes “Survival of the Fittest”, I wasn’t truly aware until I gradually grew up, seeing and hearing more.  The part-time job working in 7-11 a few years ago, it’s the first time I understood how difficult it was after staying away from comfort zone; many annoying things that I didn’t do before, a strict store manager as well as all the wheeling and dealing between colleagues. I learned a lot from there; like Buck’s first time knowing what club and the fang taught him, I also understand how could I make myself fit them and get out of their quarrels unscathed, it’s not painful but a very necessary experience I must learn.

     In addition, after Buck get used to his new job, new identity, the call of the wild was really coming to him, which was the true pursuit in somewhere deep in his heart. In a specific plot, He looked his master called Thornton, loyally and affectionately, then in the night he turned to look another side which was a forest (the nature), now it was the time for him to choose whether accompany Thornton or go to the wild. When I was a kid, I always dreamed about the freedom which is no longer under control of my family; however, recently I was usually thinking my family and my dream life, the tug of war between them, as what Buck encountered, so I was felt immersed when seeing the plot, I know how difficult this question to me and Buck.

     In the last Wednesday on my way home, I was in the bus and very exhausted, thinking what I strive for, it came to my mind that it’s for my personal expectation, and to lead a better life. Arriving home, I go upstairs and my mom asked me whether having classes tomorrow and when, I noticed that her care to me from her words; then I went eating the meal cooked by my grandpa, the same question occurred to me again yet this time I realized that actually it’s not for my personal expectation, not just for leading better life or something like that. Take Buck an instance, he wasn’t only following wolves but also hunting some meals for his master, Thornton, as for me, I study for myself but on the purpose of making them proud of me, for having an adequate time to accompany them, it’s the initial and genuine motivation, although the wild seemed to be Buck’s true belongingness, I firmly believed it must be a place with Thornton. These feelings are far from those personal expectations, the carve for success, those indeed supported us to keep going but behind them must be other reasons, for me, it’s the impregnable relationship with family.

     Overall, this is a worthy reading novel and can provoke readers’ feelings to its plots, it’s not a normal book writing about dog story. You need to taste it patiently and sincerely; I believe you will understand the meanings behind among them. This novel also adapted to movie, which called the same as the novel “The call of the wild (極地守護犬)”, I also watch it after finishing the novel, the movie adaption put more emphasis on Buck’s and Thornton, and have very vivid description on Buck, despite the fact there are not too many scenes about how Buck changed from those hardships, it still the good adaption to his original. Hoped that you all can read this novel, watch this movie, and can acquire something from them. 

After being hurt, we grow.

 

Hello! This is Maxine AGAIN!

    As a coming-of-age novel, it contains more issues and meanings behind every chapter when I continue to read the contents. In the beginning, the main character, Esperanza, echoes others' perspectives without thinking deeply. However, after reading the remained stories, I find that she starts to disagree with others’ concepts and form her self-identity through back-and-forth viewpoint transformations. That is also the reason for me to keep reading and introspecting myself.

    Among the pages I read this time, the author devotes space to the description of Sally’s story since she is the pivotal point that alters Esperanza’s life and mental status.

   So, who is she? Sally, whom boys find desirable, is the shining star walking on the carpet that everyone will unconsciously glance over her. She looks flawless and dazzling but untouchable. Rumor has it that she is promiscuous that loves to drive men crazy and take pleasure in sexuality. However, Esperanza doesn’t care and tries to make friends with her. Once, Sally is sexually harassed by a group of boys, so Esperanza throws sticks to save her from the danger. Sadly, she receives waves of laughter and looks of contempt in return. The critical moment that she feels disappointed in Sally is the time that she is touched by an old man, but Sally leaves her alone in such a painful circumstance. Actually, we can see Sally is an unreliable friend who always chooses boys’ attention. But just as the author says, it is a way for her to use boys and men as an escape route from her abusive father. It is her approach to free herself, however, her choice indeed damages their friendship and Esperanza’s life.

    In fact, I can understand the fear and anxiety that Esperanza feels when being uncomfortably touched. While I was taking a bus a few years ago, I encountered a similar event that happened to the character. Since that day was a holiday, the bus was crowded with lots of people that everyone stood close to each other. Suddenly, I felt something hard kept touching me. Before long, I freaked out since my pants got wet and realized that it was his penis. I quickly changed my position and stood at a place that could see his face. He was a short man with strange outs and messy hygiene. At that moment, I was at the edge of bursting out crying. It was not only because I felt disgusted with his deed but more about why I dared not say it out loud. It turned out to be my nightmare and trauma that I didn’t want to mention during that period.

    I notice that the composer uses diverse writing skills to describe the diary-property story. For example, she likes to use metaphors and personifications to depict the figures or conditions more authentically, such as “The moon is a sphinx winking.” and “The dog leaps and somersaults like an apostrophe and comma.” Also, she loves to give funny examples to illustrate the character. For instance, she uses “a wide boat” to describe “an obese mother,” which enables me to pop out an image in my brain. I truly acquire lots of writing techniques to improve my ability about how to animate the characters from the paper and make my story look more interesting.

    When reading this book, I change a lot of my mindset and put myself in the shoes of Esperanza. I feel vivid as if I were the character facing different situations and coming up with relative solutions. The House on Mango Street is close to not only our daily life but also growing stages. For me, this novel is a mirror that I can examine my mental as well as physical statuses and recall something the same happened in my teenage. At the end of the story and me finishing the story, it seems that both Esperanza and I turn out to be maturer and more responsible for our own lives.

The most precious piece in the world

 

            Hi, I am Serena. Welcome to my last reflection on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Finally, the five lucky kids entered the most famous and popular chocolate factory to be given a tour by Mr. Wonka himself.

Unfortunately, the thing was not going well in the tour. The first one was a greedy glutton boy Augustus felled himself into a garbage tunnel where delivers all of the rubbish in the factory because he tried to gobbled up the chocolate river. The second one was the spoiled Veruca was threw into the burner since she rode roughshod over Mr. Wonka’s warning. The third one is Violet, her whole body was all in the color of purple because she ate a chewing gun which was still under development. The fourth one was Mike who was squeezed into a truly small kid whose height was less than an inch. Lastly, Charlie was the only one who didn’t be punished but received the heirship of the chocolate factory.

In my opinion, Mike’s situation relates a lot to today’s social state called the internet addiction. Mike was addicted to the internet, his whole life was spent on blood-and-guts video games, his thoughts was filled with violence. Additionally, too much addiction to the internet, it will have a negative effect on the users who receive extensive information easily, gradually, they lose independent thinking, imagination, and brain petrification. Even though the internet is convenient, it still has several adverse effects on people’s mindset.

Originally, Charlie supposed to sell the golden ticket to support his family which was in need of money, in this case, I can see he loved his family and he was dutiful for them. In the story, he was naive and kind. I think kindness is the most valuable part in human, it will help you when you need the most. However, though most people see Charlie’s good side, there’s another thing which I doubt about is “Does Charlie deserves the heirship? Since the money contributed him to get the golden ticket was theft hat Charlie stole on the road.” Or can I say Charlie is not a naive kid, he just like the other four kids have a seamy side, and all of the kids in the book is not naive. It makes me wonder whether the naive people still exist in neither the book nor the world.

In the last part of the story, Mr. Wonka, Charlie, and Charlie’s grandpa are in a rocket lift which shooting speed is as fast as the rocket, they peered down at four kids in front of the chocolate factory gate, they all changed distinctly in the appearance, the fat boy became as thin as a straw after torturing in the garbage tunnel, and the squeezed boy turned out like a wire which is long and thin. Mr. Wonka said “ they all come out in a wash. ” He gave a lesson to these spoiled kids, he punished them mercilessly in different way, moreover, I think it also warned these parents should not spoil kids, it will end up hurting the children. In the story, it gives me a clear message is that the most valuable thing in the world is to keep a kind and naive heart permanently. Don’t despise it. Don’t lose it. It will be the precious piece you have ever had.