Language Use

Have you ever, like, watched a 70’s or 80’s film, and see like random words like phony (overbearing and deceitful person) or boogie (to dance) and you go like, oh wow these words are like so old! And sometimes you try to search those words up in like a dictionary, but like you can never find it? Well, yeah. Those words are slangs that use to be popular during the 70’s and 80’s but have obviously faded out. However, not all slangs from the 70s or 80s fade out. Today, we still use words from the 70’s, like chill (to relax), and from the 80’s, for example a wannabe (someone who tries to act like someone else). New words are also continuously being added to our everyday speech (or type). Words like LOL and BRB have become very popular for people who chat online, partly because it saves time. Some of the words we use now may fade out in the future, but some of them might stay. Words are constantly changing as society changed. This is the reason why dictionaries are being updated. Sometimes, slangs are being used so much that they get added into dictionaries as actual words. 

Independent Reading Project Reflection

I’ll admit it. I procrastinated. It was probably because I really didn’t like my book that much. But that could be just another excuse. However, I can’t say that I’ve learned nothing from the experience. I saw the world through a person that is very different from me. I cannot imagine myself thinking or doing the things that Holden does, and I often find myself annoyed at his attitude towards the world. One thing I really wonder about this book is why it is classified as a classic. I do not mean to criticize it in any way, but it just very far from my expectation of what a classic American Literature would be. When I asked this to a friend, she said it was probably because it was “the first book of its kind”. This might also be the reason why it was banned for so long. There are so many swear words and the author is very straightforward with things like sex. The tone and voice of the book was very realistic and unique. Overall,  I would say that I did put effort in my project, but I could have done better by doing a more detailed poster/patient card. 

Archetypes

Archetypes (n.) – the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based

We live in a world full of archetypes. From the Disney princess series or Superman than young boys and girls love to watch, to the most recent movie, Beastly, archetypes prevail. Seeing the “same” characters or plots again and again sound like a bore, so why does movie goers and book readers never seem to get tired when they spot the villain and hero, or when they go watch a typical love story where “the boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy looses girl and boy wins girl back”? This is probably because these archetypes are deeply rooted in our thinking. People like to classify things. We learn by doing so. So when we see the familiar brave prince and damsel in distress, things just click into place and we smile knowingly at what is to come. A famous analytical physiologist, Carl Jung, puts this into his theory. He proposes that people’s minds consist of the ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is universal and inherited. He continues by stating that the collective unconscious is composed of archetypes. We think by dividing people in the world to the shadow, the anima, the animus and the self. This explains people’s tendency to sort things.

Contemporary

The American history is divided into time periods, each with a defining way of thinking and expression. Major events in history are usually the causes of such shift in people’s thoughts. When the colonists first settled in the new world, their Protestant religion had a strong impact on the literature of the time. This time period was later called the Rationalism, where people believed that everything could be explained by the intension of God. Literature and artwork of the time put a strong emphasis on religion. After the American Revolution, people in the United States wanted to create voice of their own. People looked up to idealized Romantic heroes that were bigger than life. The Americans yearned to achieve the American Dream of freedom and prosperity. However, the Civil War, brought Americans back to reality. During the Realist movement, people stopped dreaming of the ideal and looked at the present. The subjects of this time period focused on real-life people, like the John Smith and worked in a factory and living in poor conditions. Then came the First World War. The shock of casualties and secret conspiracies between countries was reflected on the art movement of the time. Modernism sought to look at things in many different points of view. Finally, there was World War II, which brought the same intensity of disturbance on the world and caused people to re-think everything they had believed in. The contemporary, or post-modern, movement threw away all traditions and questioned what people use to believe in. There was a drastic change in expression that caused some to question whether contemporary art is a real form of art.  

Reflect on Your Project

I think each person in my group had a pretty fair share of the work. We did not have much time to get together, but I still think the poster worked out pretty well. Each of us did two posters: one on the connection with the group and the other one about the book itself. Christine did the connection with other literature. I thought her poster was really detailed. She made connections to several books she have read and wrote a thorough description on each of them. Daniel’s poster was more towards the artistic side. His poster was on the connection to the self and he drew two people that seemed to be in pain. I thought he did a great job as well. My poster was on the connection to the world. I wrote about how the women in The Handmaids Tale are in a similar situation as those in Muslim countries.

I do not think we really had a leader in our group. It was just three people that cooperated quite well. We discussed the format and paper color in class and then did most of the other work at home. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job. 

A Horror Story?

In the beginning, “A Rose for Emily” looked nothing like a horror story, but by the end of the story, you will feel a sense of uneasiness. You would also realize the little hints that the author drops in the story build up to an appalling end. Its not the usual type of horror story (the type in which you are constantly expecting a ghost to jump out). The setting is pretty normal. However, the ending is indeed horrific. The components of a good horror story would be the hints and suspense and the dreadful ending. I think Faulkner really did a great job in dong that in “A Rose for Emily”. The hints he gives are all really subtle. When reading the story, I had an uneasy feeling, but never really give my thoughts to it. It was only until the very end that I understood that he was dropping hints all along. It took me a while after I read the story to actually comprehend the ending. I had to fish some of the missing pieces of the puzzle back and put them together. “A Rose for Emily” might be the best horror story I’ve ever read. It’s not extremely scary, but the ending certainly creeped me out. Miss Emily’s action showed that she is more than eccentric. She probably turned crazy after her father died. 

Homer's End

Yes, the ending of “A Rose for Emily” was pretty surprising and a little disturbing, especially the part about the strand of gray hair. However, I thought the ending was really well written. It is like the last piece of evidence that pieced a mystery together. My take on the ending was that Miss Emily Grierson had killed Homer Baron on the night he went back to her house. He probably didn’t even plan on marrying her (he said himself that was wasn’t the “marrying type”), but only came back to say good-bye and spend one last night with her. However, Miss Emily could not bear to loose him, because of reputation and love, so she had planned to kill him, so he would stay with her forever, even if he was dead. So Miss Emily had prepared the room like a newly wed’s so she could spend one last night with him. She somehow got him to drink the poison and lay on the bed with her. She might have put the poison in some sort of drink and offered him he drink before they laid down. I think the most disturbing part might be the stand of gray hair. When Homer Baron was still alive, Miss Grierson’s hair is still black, but the strand of hair on the pillow was iron-grey. It hinted that Miss Grierson would still go back and lay in that bed with the dead Homer Baron.