ENG4U
Thursday 18 April 2013
Reflection on sharing and responding to other's blogs
By looking at other people's views on the same topic as what I have also carefully considered, different perspective of understandings did inspire me a lot. As I am responding to them, many new thoughts and ideas are developed naturally. What's more, I also found that a lot of my classmates share the same passion for Literature as me. This blogger activity helped me to know better about my classmates.
Quick snapshots of novels I have been studying
Lord of the flies:
The hunters have masks. They
used the masks as a cover and excuse to indulge in their desires. It is an
extremely decisive factor that caused the breach of the civilization. In the
modern society, the same concept is or was used by some governments, such as
Hitler and Chinese communist party. They have heart-stirring slogans and
high-sounding contribution, but the fact that they could not destroy is always
foul. Thus, it can be seen that the greatest threaten to human is not the evil
that we are able to see or feel, but it is the evil under the mask of
hypocrisy. The greatest enemy that stands in your way of advancement is
yourself. The greatest enemy that stands in the way of advancement of culture
is the culture itself. The reason, which caused this, is the lack of the
acquaintanceship of the original evil that generally exists within people. This
is the enemy that we have to fight with until death.
Macbeth:
Blood is a major symbol in
Macbeth. Once Macbeth stabs his dagger into Duncan’s chest, the blood comes to
symbolize Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt that cannot be washed clean. Macbeth
cried after he murdered Duncan. Washing off the blood from their hands does not
change the fact that they killed their king. The blood permanently stains on
their hand and the guilt hunted them to death.
Light Bulb Moments
Literature:
The reader: The expression of love and guilt, and how strongly can emotion affect people.
Lord of the flies: Human nature is not perfectly good as Confucius said.
Physics Class:
I realized how small and tiny I am to the world. And the world has such complex but artful mechanism.
Calculus Class:
When I learned how the first principle of derivative works, I was so shocked by Newton's intelligence. It is completely derived based on the things I have already learned. I suddenly felt how profound math can be.
Studio Art:
I realized that the process of making art is also a performance. A painting can reflect an artist.
Economic Class:
The complexity of the society and economic system. It is like a huge web that is affected by these infinite strings that are attached to it.
My definition for education
Through learning, to be inspired and gradually form our own views of the world, our own values, so we can live our lives meaningfully.
Friday 12 April 2013
Poem
I am from
the toy cars lining up beside a small bed,
a Bookshelf so tall that I could never reach its third row,
and a south-facing window that gives me warm, golden sunshine.
I am from
the sunflower trying to grow out of my window,
and the apricot tree, whose long gone limbs I
remember as if they were my own.
I am from
the willows that never stop dancing,
the breeze that gently hugs everyone who walks by western lake,
and the delicate, slender hand that never let go of mine.
I am from
the lamp that is still on at 4 am,
the watery sunlight shining through
chink in the curtains,
and the long crow of rooster
splitting the gray morning sky.
I am from
the roar of the huge airplanes,
the steel wings that pierce through
the sun,
and the moist, worm Shanghai air, the
smell of home.
I am from
the a slide so long that never end,
a swing so old that it is swings and sings,
and a bicycle always silently lying in the back yard, with a
wheel that had twice the size of my head.
A letter to William Golding
Hello
Mr. Golding:
I am writing this letter to say goodbye, because the
novel “lord of the flies ” are being taken out of the curriculum. I came to
study in Canada for grade 11 and grade 12. “Lord of the flies” is the first
English novel I have read, and the first time I have studied a whole novel.
This book inspired me to think about human nature.
Ancient Chinese philosophers, like Confusions, adhere the idea that human is
inherently good, which is also the concept that I had been inculcated, but this
book overthrows my mind. You took an objective narrator’s perspective and
descripted a children’s world: Ralph’s braveness and rationality, Piggy’s
self-pride and self-abasement, Simon’s insight and probity, and jack’s
ambition. But all these are corroded by bestiality and savagery; the gradually
losing humanity of those pure little kids makes me scare. If I am also one of
them on the island, can I still keep calm, rational and adhere to what I have
believed? This exposure makes me question my perspective on human, including
myself.
Thales once said that know oneself is the hardest
thing in the world. Throughout the studies of Lord of the Flies, I think I had
known more about myself. I am sorry for those who might not have the chance to
experience the subtleness and the profoundness of this book anymore. The book
is going to be replaced, but the combat, which happened
on the island, between civilization and savagery, a performing of history, also
an alluding of future, will never end.
Farewell,
Mr. Golding. I will always have Lord of the Flies on my bookshelf.
Sincerely
Charles
Ye
Reflection on “Catcher in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum”
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dropped-from-US-school-curriculum.html
It says in the article that seventy percent of American literature classics are going to be replaced by “informational text” in US classrooms, in order to ready pupils for the workplace. I do not think this is applicable.
Throughout
the studies of literature, we have learned much more than a language. Reading a
good book is like talking to an erudite philosopher. The things that literature
implies will gradually pervade every aspect of our lives, and gradually change
our comprehension of the world, the society, and ourselves. We are taught how
to be a man. If “informational texts”
take place of literatures, if we only read in order to obtain information, the
school will just become an assembly line that produces workers. I think this
mechanized method of study violates the original principle of education---- how
to be a man.
In
China, the way of studying literature is different from North America. Different
kinds of Argumentative essays, informational text, poems, ancient Chinese
proses, short stories, and abridged novels make up a text book for our
literature classes. Memorizing poems and ancient proses is a major part of what
we studied, because the main purpose of all four years of high school in China
is to prepare for “Gaokao”, the test that get you into universities. We never
studied a whole novel, because we have to get through the long “test
curriculum” list. This is mechanized and meaningless. I think this is the
direction America is moving forward to.
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