Ted.com Video

Oct 23-Rock

Grey, glistening in the warm sunshine the rock sits atop the dirt, the warmth bringing comfort to us as we climb the hill, going , going it never seems to end. The hill turns into a mountain, a mountain of great height, a challenge it is to summit this great beast, a terror to many we keep going, keep moving , never stopping the mountain ever growing to accommodate its newest visitors. Hours pass and yet the top is still so far away. Once a little hill from a distance this mountain now seems to be a huge towering creature, one that will never give in to the climbing of those who decide to challenge it. Every step bringing us closer to the top but our eyes perceive it as nothing, that we aren't moving, the mountain growing, we can't make progress, never will we reach the top. Our minds must be stronger, to say that we will make it, through the tough the tough will get going, keep moving and you will reach that goal, that goal that once seemed unattainable but now is just out of your reach, one more step and you will be there, that’s all it takes, one step and you will be there. Those who are weak will be unable to take that step but those who are strong in the mind will be able to finish their journey.

Oct 20 Journal

Fog, everywhere,

a soft white blanket

falling over all of creation,

not a stir from the loud and cheerful animals can be heard.

Thick air full with moisture

the clouds have descended

creating an eerie atmosphere this cool fall morning.

Soon the sun will come up

out will go the eerie sensation of an invisible road

the blanket will rise

again the earth will come alive

revealing the nature and miracles

how wonderful a place we live in

The world can go from dead

To bounding with life and

happiness in mere hours.

Good Earth Final Essay

Below is the link to my final essasy on the novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I tried include points about human nature, character and other points about the life that Wang Lung lived. Tell me what you think.

http://btenpas2.blogspot.com/

Lake

The lake, a glass mirror reflecting the images of above as though it were something of a dream, the water calm as a warm summer night, drifting along without a noise without thought the water goes, waiting for the rising sun to warm the depths of the deep pockets of water in the magnificent lake. The sun comes bringing light into this amazing place illuminating the great beauty that was covered by the blankets of darkness, and with the sun comes the life and soon the lake is teeming with life, life so abundant in these waters, and with the life comes a new sensation, a sensation of being a part of something that most don't get to experience as you are now part of the the north woods.

Writing Goals

- Use more vocabulary.
- Get to know and use more literary devices.
- Create and post more pieces.
-more complex sentence structure.
-Use support group more in the writing process.

Stream of Consciousness-Mountain

Towering above all creation it sits barren and dry at the bottom but yet life lives going this way and that among the patches of grass and forest. The farther up this creature you go the more lifeless it becomes. Soon to be only snow and ice inhabiting its cliffs, but yet it continues higher until it reaches a point. There is nothing, only complete serenity and swirling clouds the mountain has finished. It stands there above everything, with great authority for it is a great wonder to all that see it as to how it may have gotten so magnificent and in its glory the mountain will forever remain a great wonder of the world.

The Good Earth Write up

Wang Lung's uncle gives me a horrible impression of what he is like. He is portrayed as sneaky man who will do anything to collect a little bit of money here and there. He will even go as far as robbing to get his money. Also he is seen as a greedy, self-centered fool who gambles all his money away only to go to his prosperous nephew Wang Lung looking for a large sum of money as soon as he has lost everything to the gambling tables. As he arives he knows that he will have to get the money because of the values that the families share. This is quite an example of how Wang worked so hard while his uncle sat at the gambling tables and yet he must give what he has earned to his non-deserving uncle. Eventually though the good times pass and Wang along eith everyone else from his village are left in complete poverty as the rain ceases to exist and the sun is relentless upon the earth they rely on. This forces most of them to travel to the south. There they find people so rich that they act as though they are royalty. This proves to be quite an experience for Wang and his family as they discover that there is food and work for them there and they will survive. Though it is as hard of a life as life could possibly be they have eachother which will lead them through to the end when they mught once again go back to their fields and prosper once more.

Journal

Stream of Consciousness-River

The great blue expanse of water stretching for miles, it travels to its new home rushing with new life the river flows teeming with life,life that lives upon these waters swimming and crawling the the wondrouse crystal water the creatures go. Possibly to a new home or in search of food the great journey never ends. Some will survive these great journeys whiloe others won't, by the end they will all have experienced the great power of the river as they were swept upon it without any way out it flows to the destination always moving never stopping the river flows.

Ch. 1 of The Good Earth

The first chapter of this book really shows the way of life that Wang Lung lives and how its so much different from ours in many ways. They have different values, different ways of looking at life and also the religion that they practice. Women are treated much differently in this book than they would be today. If they aren't filthy rich they are shunned to being slaves and eventually given away to be wives to men that they have never even met before and to mostly be that mans slave. They also see that there lives are going to be led by fate and that nature controls everything. The quote that proves this is "Now it was as if Heaven had chosen this day to wish him well. Earth would bear fruit."(p. 2) This shows that they live of and with the land, that the earth will provide them with what they need and everything is of the Earth.

Another way of life in this book that isn't nearly the same as now is how much the people must respect there elders and how they must provide for them and follow their every order as Wang had to with his father. Everthing the father says goes without question. For the mode of this book there are lots of symbols in the first chapter that point to this book being comedy but i think that it's irony because of the things that happen that aren't normal at all like things that are normally happy times turn into dark sad ones such as when he got married. His wife had never even met him before and just did what he said without question and without expression. Just the same old straight sad face that she had always and and always will. Another thing that i noticed was that ever since he went into the house of Hwang he did everything gruffly. I think thats a symbol of how this marriage won't be a very happy one and things will be done because that's how it has been for years. In the end this book is very interesting on how it implements different aspects of life in a different time period and culture.

"Dreams" by Langston Hughes

A poem that i found by the poet that im researching (Langston Hughes) is called "Dreams"

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bired
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow

“A Jury of her Peers”

The short story "A Jury of her Peers" by Susan Glaspell is a very interseting piece of literature filled with many symbols and shows a direct portrayal of what life was like in the time period that the story takes place. The main point of the story is to show how something so cheerful and wonderful can turn to something so ugly and crazy when it is caged up with nowhere to go, no one to see, and nothing to do. When all those freedoms get taken away from you as they did from Minnie Foster people get very unhappy as those people need to get out of the mental and physical cage that they have been put in. The last straw in this story for Minnie Foster was when her canary was strangled to death. That canary was a symbol of her little bit of freedom that she had left and when that was gone with it went all hope, as well as her last glimmer of freedom in that cage of a home that she was living in. So with that she went and strangled the life out of that person who had strangled everything out of her. That person was her husband Mr. Wright. In the end this story shows how people need to be let out to have their own life, one not controlled by another person and not to be stuck in their house sitting in misery.