1st September 2009, Tuesday
The topic that I do for position paper is a play entitled “Thirty Days in September” by Mahesh Dattani. The reason I choose this play is I am interested and is easy for me to come up with my position that is Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse brought harm to her life. This play is prominent about sexual abuse issue that has been occurred from one generation to the next that is the sexual abuse from Shanta, the mother to Mala, her own daughter by Vinay Bhaiya, Shanta’s eldest brother and Mala’s uncle. The same man had continuously sexual abusing his own sister and his niece. It is very terrible.
My position is focused on Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse issue, the reason of her silence and the harm that entails from this silence. The main ideas to support my position are Shanta’s pride made her silence, Shanta’a silence made her failure as a wife and marriage and Shanta’s silence is an open door to Vinay Bhaiya, her eldest brother to gain more threat to her life.
Initially, my main ideas were not written in such a way but only focused on the outcome of Shanta’s silence such as bad mother and daughter relationship, failure and a wife and marriage and Vinay Bhaiya continuously dominating Shanta’s life. I was focusing on the outcome of Shanta’s silence but did not think about the other side that is the reason of Shanta’s silence. After Miss Dzeelfa’s comments on my position paper presentation, I did some edition and wrote about the reason of Shanta’s silence is due to pride, failure as a wife and marriage and due to her brother’s threat.
In my opinion, position paper is not an easy assignment because the position has to be refutable or arguable. I am not good to state an argumentative topic. Therefore, I am not really satisfied about my position paper. Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse issue is obviously bad for herself and to her daughter. If to think of the refutable points, it can be her silence can maintain her pride and earn respect from her daughter, continue to enjoy her brother’s secure of providence and the paying for her apartment. These are the refutable points that I thought about if it is based on my position of Shanta’s silence about her sexual abuse issue brought harm to her life.
In the position paper class, I learned that the position that we made has to be arguable. Therefore, the position is not necessarily in line with the common thinking. For example, someone can come out with a position such as abortion is good for women to maintain their pride in the society even though the common thinking disagrees with this position. However, this is one way to throw out a refutable topic. I hope I can improve on my position writing and come out with a stronger refutable statement.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Letters and Diaries
13th August 2009, Thursday
Between letters and diaries, I prefer to read diaries because diaries are personal and it reflects about a person’s thought about himself or herself where as letters are communicative and is addressing to a recipient based on a particular purpose. I like to read on other’s thoughts and views on themselves or issues they encounter because it can be applicable to me as well. I am a person who writes diaries. I write diary to express my thoughts and feelings of different issues on different days whether it is intrapersonal or interpersonal. It is a record that I would like to keep tract so that I can see the progress of the issue, to learn from it or to capture it as a very memorable event that I had encountered.
Even though “The Andy Warhol Diaries” that we learned in class seemed interesting, I am not drawn to it because I am not interested in diaries that talk about famous actors and actresses and the critiques about them. Instead, I am interested in Kafka’s diaries. I am curious to know why a person is miserable in his life and the struggles they are going through. From Kafka’s diary, I learned that education is a threat for certain people. Kafka kept on complaining about education has made him to be a miserable person and had spoiled him. I feel that it is really terrible and sad after reading his diary because I thought education is very important.
However, from Kafka’s diary, I learned to be more alert in teaching my future students. I will use different approaches to teach different people and be aware of their feedback in the learning process so that education will not be a threat to my students.
Between letters and diaries, I prefer to read diaries because diaries are personal and it reflects about a person’s thought about himself or herself where as letters are communicative and is addressing to a recipient based on a particular purpose. I like to read on other’s thoughts and views on themselves or issues they encounter because it can be applicable to me as well. I am a person who writes diaries. I write diary to express my thoughts and feelings of different issues on different days whether it is intrapersonal or interpersonal. It is a record that I would like to keep tract so that I can see the progress of the issue, to learn from it or to capture it as a very memorable event that I had encountered.
Even though “The Andy Warhol Diaries” that we learned in class seemed interesting, I am not drawn to it because I am not interested in diaries that talk about famous actors and actresses and the critiques about them. Instead, I am interested in Kafka’s diaries. I am curious to know why a person is miserable in his life and the struggles they are going through. From Kafka’s diary, I learned that education is a threat for certain people. Kafka kept on complaining about education has made him to be a miserable person and had spoiled him. I feel that it is really terrible and sad after reading his diary because I thought education is very important.
However, from Kafka’s diary, I learned to be more alert in teaching my future students. I will use different approaches to teach different people and be aware of their feedback in the learning process so that education will not be a threat to my students.
Autobiographies
11th August 2009, Tuesday
Autobiographies are one of the literature works that I like besides reading novels. Autobiographies are the story of a person’s life written by that person where as biographies are the story of a person’s life written by someone else. In class, I learned that “auto” which is the prefix for biography means “I”. In my opinion, autobiography will be more authentic compared to biography and is very valuable because it is first hand written by the particular person. As for biography, it may not be as reliable as autobiography because it is a writer’s narration of a person. It can be bias or not so well expressed.
In class, we learned about part of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography during apartheid regulations entitled “
After reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, I am inspired by his courage and determination to pursue on in hardships. Nelson Mandela’s autobiography enables me to visualize the events of Apartheid regulations and how hard he has to suffer. Besides that, makes me reflect on a moral value that is learning to understand about the difficulties faced by others. They have been ill treated by others whether is in physically or mentally but still standing strong to face the hardships. I will ask myself, “What are the hardships I am facing today? Assignments and the bad habit of last minute. Can this be compared to Nelson Mandela? He is worse that you.” So, if compare my problems to his, my problem is nothing.
Nelson Rolihlahla MANDELA
Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.
Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains
(Taken from: http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela.html)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Marginalised literature (2)
6th August 2009, Thursday
Today is another class of marginalized literature. We learned about ethnic minority people such as the Native Americans and the African Americans. I learned a word “indigenous” which is a better word for “aborigine”. In class, we are being introduced to marginalized literary works which are the indigenous people in America such as “The Noble Red Man” by Mark Twain and “Iroquois: The Girl Who Was Not Satisfied With Simple Things”. These literary works are richly describing about the culture, setting, attire and words used by the indigenous people in America. For example, “the eye of the night” refers to the moon, “the whisper of the Great Spirit” refers to wind and their attire “wampum”.
Besides that, we learned about a famous African American poet, James Mercer Langston Hughes. Both his parents were mixed-race and he was of African American, European American and Native American descent. He is known as the Black Literary Renaissance and the New Negro Movement. In class, we read some of his famous literary works such as “Theme for English B”, “Dinner Guest: Me”, “Harlem” and “Cross”.
Langston Hughes is one African American writer whom I admire because he is proud of his own race, Africans even though African’s are not respected by the white people society. In “Dinner Guest: Me”, he wrote “I’m so ashamed of being white”. He has his dignity of being black and is very satisfied. He said, “I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn’t understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much.” From here, I learned good value from Langston Hughes that is being proud of your own race even though other people may not like your race.
Besides that, we learned about a famous African American poet, James Mercer Langston Hughes. Both his parents were mixed-race and he was of African American, European American and Native American descent. He is known as the Black Literary Renaissance and the New Negro Movement. In class, we read some of his famous literary works such as “Theme for English B”, “Dinner Guest: Me”, “Harlem” and “Cross”.
Langston Hughes is one African American writer whom I admire because he is proud of his own race, Africans even though African’s are not respected by the white people society. In “Dinner Guest: Me”, he wrote “I’m so ashamed of being white”. He has his dignity of being black and is very satisfied. He said, “I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn’t understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much.” From here, I learned good value from Langston Hughes that is being proud of your own race even though other people may not like your race.
Marginalized literature (1)
21st July 2009, Tuesday
Marginalized literature is literature which related to a group of people that is in a margin, not experiencing much freedom as other literatures or welcome by everybody. Marginalized literature basically is about people expressing their opinions, thoughts, voices so that the society can understand their thoughts and feelings of being in the marginalized group. Literature which relates to feminist writings and writings that belong to ethnic minority groups are some examples of marginalized literature.
In class, we learned “For My Husband” and “The Rose” by Erica Jong, and “Becoming a Woman” and “Offering” by Hilary Tham. These are poems and are considered marginalized because they are female writers where their works are also about feminism. “For My Husband” is about a wife writing her feelings and thoughts of love to her husband. As for “Becoming a Woman”, it is a process of a woman growing up and how she has to manage her monthly period. There are issues which are related to women. “Offerings” is about heartbreak due to rejection and “The Rose” is about skepticism about love. These two poems are related to relationship and how the women view relationship in a way that may be heartbreaking or lack of trust in a love relationship.
In class, we learned “For My Husband” and “The Rose” by Erica Jong, and “Becoming a Woman” and “Offering” by Hilary Tham. These are poems and are considered marginalized because they are female writers where their works are also about feminism. “For My Husband” is about a wife writing her feelings and thoughts of love to her husband. As for “Becoming a Woman”, it is a process of a woman growing up and how she has to manage her monthly period. There are issues which are related to women. “Offerings” is about heartbreak due to rejection and “The Rose” is about skepticism about love. These two poems are related to relationship and how the women view relationship in a way that may be heartbreaking or lack of trust in a love relationship.
The Zoo Story by Edward Albee
21st July 2009, Tuesday
Today is another lesson about writing thesis statement. We read a story about “The Zoo Story” by Edward Albee. This is a play of a dialogue between Peter and Jerry where Jerry is the initiator of the conversation who managed to dominate Peter’s bench. I took about an hour to finish reading the play because it is very long. However, I enjoyed reading the play.
From the play, I view Jerry’s character is very irritating, disturbing and disgusting because he disturbs Peter who is sitting on a bench peacefully reading his book. He keeps on throwing weird and irritating questions such as asking Peter where he lives, his family members and the zoo which caused Peter to be confused and annoyed. Even though from another point of view, some may think that Jerry is very wise because he managed to dominate Peter’s bench and die on it that is his ultimate goal. Meanwhile, in my point of view, I feel sympathy for Peter because he was kind to entertain Jerry’s conversation but in the end, Jerry succeeded to use Peter as a stepping stone to achieve his dreams to die on the bench.
Therefore, the thesis statement for this play is Jerry’s death signifies the birth of his pride and dignity. The three supporting details for this thesis statement will be Jerry stumbles back on the bench that Peter had vacated. Another supporting detail is Jerry is dying, but now his expression seems to change. His features relax, and while his voice varies, sometimes wrenched with pain, for the most part he seems removed from his dying. He smiles. The last supporting detail is Peter lost his bench but Jerry defended his honor.
From the play, I view Jerry’s character is very irritating, disturbing and disgusting because he disturbs Peter who is sitting on a bench peacefully reading his book. He keeps on throwing weird and irritating questions such as asking Peter where he lives, his family members and the zoo which caused Peter to be confused and annoyed. Even though from another point of view, some may think that Jerry is very wise because he managed to dominate Peter’s bench and die on it that is his ultimate goal. Meanwhile, in my point of view, I feel sympathy for Peter because he was kind to entertain Jerry’s conversation but in the end, Jerry succeeded to use Peter as a stepping stone to achieve his dreams to die on the bench.
Therefore, the thesis statement for this play is Jerry’s death signifies the birth of his pride and dignity. The three supporting details for this thesis statement will be Jerry stumbles back on the bench that Peter had vacated. Another supporting detail is Jerry is dying, but now his expression seems to change. His features relax, and while his voice varies, sometimes wrenched with pain, for the most part he seems removed from his dying. He smiles. The last supporting detail is Peter lost his bench but Jerry defended his honor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)