Final Reading Post

Out of all the stories and poems we have read throughout the semester, my favorite has to be the ones by William Carlos Williams. His poems were short, simple, and to the point. Unlike other authors, he demonstrates that anyone can become a poet. Just think of a few words, make a paragraph (the words don't have to rhyme), make sure it speaks its point, and Voliá! You have yourself a short poem. The one poem called "This is just to say", really has to be the one poem to spark my intrest. It's not only a reminder that special things can be taken away from us, no matter how long we have planned to use it. Some people think a simple "IOU" will solve the problem and all is forgiven. In the long run, it cause some tension and trust issues depending on how important the item was. The literature we have read throughout the semester has given me a few new insights about our world in the past and today. These literature readings show that history is steadily repeating itself, and although it is a new era, some of the readings main points like racism, feminism, slavery, etc. still prevalent in the world.

Reading Response # 10

This week’s readings, one of the stories read was called “Winter Dreams” by F.Scott Fitzgerald. This is one of my favorite stories because of its time period and the moral it portrays to the readers. This time period was considered the “Roaring Twenties” where the American Dream was something everyone wanted, but only few could attain. This story was also the beginning ideas for Fitzgerald’s best selling novel “The Great Gatsby”. The story begins with a caddy boy for golf named Dexter Green. He lives a middle-class life among the rich and wealthy (talk about your dream job...at least the pay is good). At some point, he meets the love of his life, (here comes the conflict...) Judy Jones. Due to his case of the love bug, he decides to quit his job, make his own money, and try to live the life that his crush would find alluring, because that’s what you do when you're in love, risk everything you have to get nothing in the end. After he makes his life change, he comes to find out that Judy never loved him, she only loved him for his money….obviously. Afterwards, Dexter finds another girl that's worth his time (her name is Irene by the way). She may not have been as pretty as Judy, but she had a heart of gold, and her family was one that you couldn’t replace. So happily ever after, right?.....Nope, guess who makes her second debut on Dexter? That’s right!! Judy Jones!! She goes on a sad, sob story about how much she misses him, and wanting him back. She even drops the “M” word on him (that’s right, Marry). And before you know it, they’re back at it snogging and confessing their for one another. I began to lose hope for this guy (actually, I already did...), but luckily, this embarrassment of a relationship only last for about a month before he moves to New York to join the Army. Seven years later, he hears about his old lover Judy, is now Mrs. Judy Simms. But the best part is, he is a heavy alcoholic who cheats on her constantly. And her good looks she used to have, nope, that disappeared along with her dignity. Now that is what I would call a happy ending, but Fitzgerald reminds everyone that when looking for a partner for life, "Beauty is only skin deep”.

Reading Response #8

This week readings consisted of three short poems written by one of my favorite authors Robert Frost. The poems were “The Road Not Taken”,”Fire and Ice”,and ”Nothing Gold Can Stay”.The first poem “The Road Not Taken” can be misleading when read for the first time. It talks about the narrator coming across a fork in the road. He has a choice between these two pathways that both have the same forlorn scenery. He decides to take one path, and convinces himself that he will take the other pathway later. However, he knows he will not be able to take the other path in the future, and in doing so, he will claim that he has taken the less-traveled road. To me, the moral of this poem is that we don’t know about the paths we take daily in our life. They remain an unknown mystery to us, and more and likely, other people have taken the same path we have taken in order to be successful today. People will claim that they have taken a hard, “less-traveled” road in order to get the riches they have now, but no one can agree or disagree if they have no idea how their life has been. The next poem, “Fire and Ice” talks about how some people believe the world will end with fire, and some believe it will end with ice. Frost believes it doesn’t matter how the world will end, what matters is that it will have the same effect as with any force of nature: it ends with destruction. I believe what Frost is trying to explain in this poem that in a way, two wrongs will not make anything right. For example, if two of your friends have done something wrong, and they both argue that they are not in the wrong; however, you know that both of them did something stupid, it won’t make a difference to take one of their sides. You know they are both equally wrong, and if the argument continues, it will just lead into the destruction of a good friendship. The last poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is basically mentioning that all good and beautiful things do not last long in the world. We must accept the beauty of things while they last, because there will come a time where something beautiful will have to wither away, or disappear. At that moment, it will either be replaced with something even better, or it will never be seen with our own eyes again. I recommend reading Robert Frost poems to not only get insights of the world around us, but to also learn modern lessons from the world and nature surrounding us.  

Reading Response #7

For this post, I am relating this poster I made on photoshop to Emily Dickinson's poem "I'm Nobody, Who are you?" Her poem mentions that we can be our own worst critics, and think that we will never stand out to anyone. In reality, there are people who are just like us, and we should stand out for our own individualism. The pro of making a poster is that you can be artistic and creative as you want; but the con is that you have to make sure that what you make conveys the correct message. However, I would still make a poster for my project.

Daily Readings #6

This post is about Thoreau's life in the woods, and explains the need of going back to simplicity. Each photo represents today's era. If we just get away from technology and stop worrying about what people think, everyone can enjoy a life of freedom with being one with nature.

Daily Reading #4

This week, we read about the story of Rip Van Winkle written by Washington Irving. To summarize the plot, Rip is considered a carefree, lazy man who wants everything done his way. The people and children of his hometown love him dearly (but the same can't be said about his wife). Both are complete opposite, one is focused on getting work done and achieved, while the other is too busy being a couch potato. To me, this sounds like relationships of the present era we live in today. Either one person is doing all the work and the other is wasting air, or the person is a single parent. Rip then meets a traveler in the mountains, and they have a good conversation so far. The traveler then offers him a drink, Rip falls asleep; and twenty years later, he is miraculously in the future with his own kids and a dead wife. I personally would love to have that drink so I could avoid life problems. At this point of the story, this is a reminder that time doesn't wait on anyone, and changes will keep occurring that people must adapt to. And while others are susceptible to change, Rip however, kept his same, carefree attitude throughout the whole story. He comes across new surroundings in his village that has him believing that he might be a crazy, eccentric man. His daughter comes to the rescue to explain what happened to him in the past, and allows him to live with her and her husband. While staying with his daughter, he finds out that he was missing, and that the Revolutionary War has passed (along with his wife). Rip only shows his happiness of his born freedom that he can embrace (especially the fact that his nagging wife is now dead). Considering when this fiction story was written, this also shows the switch between the Realistic Era and the Romantic Era. Most short stories or essays written during the Realistic Era were honest analogies of what was happening in America then; whereas the Romantic Era, allows authors to become creative and imaginative with stories. It was a way to step away from the real world, and to break the rules for a little while. I personally liked the Realistic Era literature because of the seriousness displayed in each essay or story, and it is relatable to life. Although Rip Van Winkle was a pretty good story, the fact that he drunk some alcohol and then woke up in the future, makes me wish there were drinks that could actually do that (and also makes me wish I was 21).

Reading Response #3

We’ve had a variety of reading selections in our class to discuss about so far during the semester. Many were quite interesting, but some were the definition of boredom. However, the bio to Benjamin Franklin and “The Way to Wealth” truly peaked my interest. In his bio, Franklin is described as a boy who had a knowledge with money, and was an ambitious soul. In the beginning, his father made him attend the Boston Grammar School to prepare him for ministry. In the end, he had to work with his father as a tallow chandler and soap boiler. Not satisfied with his work, he compromised with to apprentice his brother as a printer at the age of twelve. Since then, Franklin has worked on his own and traveling the world writing his own books from the “Pennsylvania Gazette” to the famous “Poor Richards Almanac”. In grade school, most children have known Benjamin Franklin as the one who discovered electricity, and also one to sign the Declaration of Independence. Although, he has done these great accomplishments, he had invented the stove, founded a library, established a fire company, subscribed to an academy (University of Pennsylvania), and worked as a secretary of the American Philosophical Society. If I or anyone else would have known more about Franklin as a child, everyone would be interested in learning his life stories; as well as other historical figures. His essay “The Way to Wealth” was written for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his popular writing “Poor Richards Almanac” (also known as Father Abraham’s Speech). The essay is considered a road-map of the do’s and don’ts to becoming wealthy. From small reminders like, “we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct” to life-long mantras as “Get what ye can, and what you get hold; ‘Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold”, anyone can find one of Poor Richard’s maxims interesting. To me, this essay reminds me of a tiny Bible about life lesson’s everyone should live by. All the maxims are metaphors of lessons and experiences that Franklin has acknowledged throughout his life. I believe that he wasn’t only giving sound advice on how to gain wealth; but also showing families how to remain focused with their family connection, and how not to become corrupted with wealth. To this day, my family holds true to these metaphors that were derived from this essay. I would honestly love to read more about Benjamin Franklin, and his other writings that were published by him.