Author: Calvin

Final Reflection

Calvin

From the beginning of this semester to the present, I found my experience in literature expanded from the text I would have otherwise not read in my free time – which I felt made the quality of my works more descriptive and broad in the understanding conveyed. While I did enjoy the stories, I found myself amazed by some of the feelings I experienced while reading and how I may apply that to my own writing – my pacing and trains of thought seemed to scatter compared to stories that hid messages underneath surface. The structure of the works in the semester will provide me with a guideline in how to convey my message in different manners appropriately in different structures – such as poetry or story telling.

One particular work this semester that I believe I performed well on is the continuation of the short story about Armand. The short story by Chopin dealt with the appalling topic of racism, still prevalent in today’s culture, and I realized how the perspective of a group may be defined by a person outside the group – as a person of color myself even while belonging outside the demographic similar to Chopin. The assignment, calling for the continuation of Chopin’s story, seemed more interesting to me personally as I frequently read stories – even though they are more on the fantastical category – allowing me to display descriptive words of my choice and to take the story in whatever direction I desired. While the work may not be the best, I believe that I achieved what I could and more compared to the some other assignments where my interest were elsewhere – such as the poetry assignment as I did not connect as greatly to.

Throughout the semester, I found myself lacking in the proper time management skills to properly complete my work and in the concepts covered by the modules. The challenge with time management stemmed from the distractions I faced and allowed to hinder me while also procrastinating work from other classes – the collective pile causing a great amount of stress and panic. While I was doing the work, however, I found myself becoming sadden or depressed from the reality encapsulated in the works over the semester – one such example being Ichiyo’s story, “The Thirteenth Night”. The topics introduced in “The Thirteenth Night” were a reality for the author and, the story itself, was evident of what was a part of her life through her writing which greatly disheartened me in the moments as I read it. Sometimes the feelings or themes of a work made it hard to properly grasp the answer to be conveyed from my own genuine understanding.

The semester, as a whole, was full of different genres of works and assignments that expanded my horizons as a reader and writer. Looking back throughout the semester, I found myself learning from the many literary theories covered and the wide variety of stories included in the modules. While I cannot say I fully understood and conveyed the understanding of the topics correctly, I believe that the experience I gained throughout this semester will carry forward with me in further lessons and be used when I need to look back on subjects related in the future.

Marriage Proposals

Calvin

While Chekov is a playwright – in and of itself – the very act of a proposal is to perform a play of sorts, making “The Proposal” very much like a play of a play. Within the story of “The Proposal”, the superficial courting of two neighbors occurs with formality and a lack of mutual love – not unlike some of the marriages of today.

Caroline Kitchener expresses in an article the lack of need of “overemphasized” procedures that goes into marriage proposals which engender the principle of “symbolic gendering” – which calls for the traditional actions of gender in the lack of in present societies. This symbolic gender can be found in every action that one assumes “that is what a women/man ought to do”, as presented in even Chekov’s drama when Lomov ask for Chubukov’s consent to propose to Natalya – the asking of consent from the other party’s parents being a procedural act of symbolic gendering. Lomov’s traditional actions is alike to the present day act of “prom-posals”, both endearing the roles of female and male in a otherwise equal relationship.

I believe “The Proposal” is far-sighted in the matters of symbolic gendering in Chekov’s time and far into the future as the concepts within present in the current day. While the roles of men and women were very different in the past, the similarities between Lomov and Natalya – through their speech and actions – are so alike to the progressed modern day equality that they reinforce the absurdities of gender roles and the necessary critique of symbolic acts of gender.

Student Opinion Questions, New York Times

Calvin

For my article, I chose “How Many Close Friends Do You Need?” by Shannon Doyne which broaches the topic of interpersonal relationships. The article focuses on the effects of friends and the consequences of the lack there of, while the results vary for each individual there is a consistent trend of the need a social interactions as the question ask “how many” rather than “is there a need”. Loneliness , as said in the article, is a dangerous feeling begging the need to figure out the required amount of friends and the quality of the relationship between individuals.

Personally, I believe myself to be an introvert without a great need for many friends. While I do know and interact with a wide range of individuals, I judge my distance to be farther betwixt rather than closer to most of said individuals. I distinguish a “close friendship” through the frequency of interactions and the recognition between the parties – probably having around a handful of close friends myself. Over the course of the pandemic, there was a loss of interaction and people I could see causing my introvert personality to really shine. Having to deal with COVID, most of the interactions I partake in currently is through social medias and the few classes I have – these superficial friendships are, similar to the concept of individuals, ranging across a wide spectrum depending on the parties.

While I am satisfied with my circle of friends, the need for support or comfort is indicative of a person’s wellbeing and personality. Though the pandemic has changed life greatly, I would not reject the advances of others’ friendships.

The Horror of Frankenstein

Calvin

I chose this particular short story as I was absorbed into some gothic literature when I was in high school. I recall the topic of Frankenstein’s story from those past days, resulting in me choosing Frankenstein. Gothic literature puts a dark and graphical lens over common things to reveal a greater image or concept. In particular before this read, I recall Frankenstein being a morbidly misunderstood character who alike to anyone desired relations.

I do not agree with Phil Wang concerning that an interest in horror is abjectly a sign of privilege as a perception of one genre should be multi-faceted. While one enjoys a horror film, they may become scared but the source of the fear is a subject of debate – such as what if the monster is not the source of the fear, rather the results from the experiences it faces to succumb to what it may become is fearful. I believe horror is an enjoyable subject as there are topics explored beyond the regular scope of experience that will elucidate the viewer to a new side of themselves they did not know about. A group of kids telling ghost stories may realize a fear of death rather than the paranormal, as they picture the lost of their love ones. Discovery of the self is pleasurable by the surprise of the identify they find leading me to believe Phil Wang’s ideas of horror to be misconstrued about the people with a certain amount of privilege in their life.

Chopin

Calvin

I believe that writing about racism is more about writing about the issues. Race is a multi-faceted concept encapsulating culture, history and more to a person which is something that cannot be empathized without their own experience. A white women in the 1890’s, while being able to understand prejudice and oppressions, would not be able to understand how it feels to be an African-American women in the 1890’s; their stories may contain similar chapters but speak wholly different volumes of words.

Armand

Calvin

‘Armand stood appalled at the letter – daring to neither to believe his eyes or the ink upon the paper. Silence seemed to crackle louder than the bonfire in Armand’s mind lasting what seemed to be an eternity. Breaking the the period of silence, was the ashes of Desiree’s affection in the form of letters drifting up and across his sight – the endearment exchanged during their espousal which he tore apart. “What have I done,” would be the one of the questions ringing relentingly in Armand’s mind, “May I have a chance to fix this regret?” Desperate to not lose hope, he lunged past the tall licks of flames to grasp at the remnants of the still burning letters – searing the skin on his hands black and blistering. Moments later, while the pain of his hands seemed nonexistent next to the pain in his heart, he left the L’Abri in desperate hopes to see Desiree and remedy their situation in anyway possible.

Arriving at the plantation of the Valmonde, the sight of an untidy and frantic Armand left Madam Valmont curious of his visit as he asked, “Where is Desiree? I must apology for my irreparable mistakes!” Later to his shock, and more importantly Madam Desiree’s, the absence of the mother and her child may only leave the worst to be assumed for the heartbroken mother – leaving the smoldering sparks of his hope to fall identical to the ashes of the letters. Staring at his darken and blistering hands, he may only ask himself in self-loathing, “What have I done? What has become of me?”

My understanding of the story would leave me to believe that Armand would quickly rethink his assumptions and try to remedy the problems, but little did he know the impact of his previous choice would have on Desiree. Desiree, I believe, in her sorrows did not know how to continued her life falling from love in the eyes of Armand leading her to detest and destroy what caused the ruin of the relationship – being herself and their child. The walk away from the L’Abri could only be the departure of the lives of Armand’s misunderstood wife and child.

Feminism in Ichiyo

Calvin

I believe that Oseki in “The Thirteenth Night” represent the standing of females as a whole in that period. Ichiyo was born in the Meiji restoration period where there was a large growth in the economy and industry, tasking the women of the era to labor as factory workers or prostitutes – Ichiyo, in particular, was born near the pleasure district with a first-hand perspective. The role of the growth of the industry gave way to the need of new laborers for the new processes requiring women to be dedicated to new jobs deemed necessary at the time. A thought that remains consistent with Ichiyo’s writing and the role of women in that time period is that they were submissive and docile, evident from Oseki’s actions in the story. Ichiyo herself, while born to a member of the government, had to provide for her family when her father passed experiencing firsthand the difficulties for women in her time. Her stories, while not encapsulating her full journey, was a milestone in written perspective for women and the future they had past being treated as submissive and docile women, as there was no difference in the poetry or stories they could share.

Marxism in the Thirteenth Night

Calvin

While Isamu and Roku are vastly different in terms of status, Isamu being affluent while Roku is deprived, neither were able to achieve a successful relationship. Isamu, having money and status, was able to attain anything and act anyway he seemingly desired from his courting of Oseki to his blatant mistreatment of her – Oseki’s own father believing that she would not find a greater happiness than when she is with Isamu; Roku, without great wealth or status, was unable to keep his wife even when his behavior was similar to Isamu. The difference of results through similar actions from different social standings is a clear point of contention in Marxist theory as Roku may never attain the same happiness as Isamu purely from their places in society.

From Oseki’s encounter with Roku, I believe she had second thoughts on how she could have lived differently to have been happy. The meeting sparked the thought of what if she did not listen to her parents ramblings of marry Isamu and instead steadfastly pursued the homely life she envisioned with Roku in her earlier years, but even Roku was not able to picture a future where Oseki would have been happier with him as one was the, “great Harada Isamu” while the other was just the lowly rickshaw driver.

Government

Calvin

Commonly seen between “The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire” and “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, by Sherman Alexie, is the allusion to a tyrannical government. Evident throughout both stories is the subtle dismissal of the needs of the Indian people, in “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, Victor was not able to acquire the funds to travel to make arrangements for his late father as Tribal Council was having, “difficult time financially”(99) while Thomas Builds-the-Fire was deemed, “‘Dangerous'”, for being blatantly truthful(139). The lack of basic funds for necessities was deemed unimportant while Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s trial became somewhat of a formality before his sentencing, Thomas’ fault being his interaction with Esther who was being mistreated by her husband, the tribal chairman, who practiced a form of self-hate by calling Esther a “savage in polyester pants”(140). During the trial, there was clear lack of professionalism apparent through the bias from his history by judge who also had ample funds for a replacement gavel.

Activism Through Writing

Calvin

I believe writing to be an ever-present form of empowerment and discovery of the self – activism being closely related regarding the change. Activism involves forming and maintaining practiced ideologies, whereas I believe that – to achieve a semblance of an ideal ideology – is easily reached through a practice of writing and reading. This messages has stuck with me when I happened across an image of a letter sent by Kurt Vonnegut, a writer, giving advice on the value of writing. His advice was clear in that practicing of the art of writing goes hand-in-hand with the growth of the soul when done with pure intent. The concept of “soul” may be abstract, but I find the evident growth to be imperative to the liberation needed for activism of BIPOC.