Author: Fawaz

Chopin’s Masterpiece

Reading this novel helped achieve a new level of maturity in understanding and in playing the devil’s advocate. Prior to the reading experience, most of my attention was given to the plot of the book, and I paid less attention to the characters and even less on the effect each character has on one another. By reading the story of Edna, I learnt to be empathetic, and understand how actions lead to other actions, thus increasing my knowledge on the relationship between cause and effect. Chopin creates and establishes this new, profound ability in me by creating such a complex character. One that morally lies in the depths of grey, and forces me to pause and ponder over the ingenuity of Chopin when she (Edna) does something.

Edna is not a good person by my standards. I find that once she ‘awakens’, all her actions are self-centered and selfish. Par example, having multiple affairs in her husband’s absence. She takes into no consideration what Leonce might be feeling when she gets sexually intimate with both Robert and Alcee Arobin, and she justified it by stating she has no love for her husband. “What would he think? She did not mean her husband; she was thinking of Robert Lebrun. Her husband seemed like a person whom she had married without love as an excuse “(Pg91). “When he leaned forward and kissed her, she clasped his head, holding his lips to hers” (Pg 98). Furthermore, in the final scenes of the book, in Edna’s last moments, she begins to contemplate all the variables in her life. She thinks of Robert, her children, her husband too, and she realizes just how complicated life can be. Her only desire being Robert and the thought of being unable to have him creates despair, and so she seeks out a selfish solution,  self-inflicted death. Without much thought of the effect and burden that will be placed on the people she leaves, she lets go and allows herself to drown. Edna’s selfishness becomes her demise, once and for all.

However, her actions were justified and from her point of view, logical too. Humans cannot betray their natures. She was sent into a marriage with a nice husband,  cute kids, and living a very comfortable, easy life. However, the societal beliefs were formed on the opinion that those factors alone (nice husband and kids), would be very adequate for any woman, or should be. It was not taken into consideration that not all women would be like Mrs. Ratignolle, and would not derive happiness and satisfaction from only serving their family, and so was the case of Edna. There were no other acceptable lives for women, alongside the fact that divorce was also not an option. Edna was not like most women, and she did not accept a life she did not enjoy living, and so, she sought to change that. She is a strong character for having the courage to oppose robust societal expectations. Furthermore, she was unaware of the reality behind marriages. Her naiivite led her to believe that she knew what true love was, even though she was wrong. But after her awakening, she becomes aware of her situation, and changes it. Her appeasement towards her father led to her unhappiness, so it only makes sense that she tried to be happy and go with what she thinks would make her so.

The story of Edna is a tragedy, and one to be retold for generations far from now. When she became aware of her situation, she began to understand what she truly desired, and as the story unfolds, we discover her desire is Robert.

“There was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert; and she even realized that the day would come when he, too, and the thought of him would melt out of her existence, leaving her alone. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew how to elude them. She was not thinking of these things when she walked down to the beach” (Pg 136).

The realization of her desires brought forth the realities of a cruel world, one that does not always promise the fruition of a desire, no matter how deep it is. This spelt her demise, her recognition of her sole desire and her inability to obtain it. Knowing the events that led to the end of Edna, was her awakening a good thing?

PR to Pygmallion

The adaptation of the original story by Bernard Shaw was quite clever, as he was able to transform a romance story from early times, into a realistic drama that lacks romance but is still considered one by many people. The original story involves a sculptor, who sculpted his ideal woman, and the goddess Aphrodite granted his wish by bringing her to life, which led to  them they getting married with everyone happy. Shaw’s adaptation on the hand was very different, it had a childish and almost hateful relationship between the main male and female cast in the story. (Liza) “I won’t care for anybody that doesn’t care about me”, (Higgins)” Commercial principles, Eliza (reproducing her Covent Garden pronunciation with professional exactness) s’yollin voylets, isn’t it? “(Liza) “Don’t sneer at me. It’s mean to sneer at me”. (Higgins) “I have never sneered at anyone in my life.” (Pg, 68). Most of their interactions ends up with a fierce argument, over some silly dilemma, usually ones that can be solved easily too. Now, knowing that it was adapted from a romance, you would expect Liza and Higgins to make up somehow and end up falling for each other and then getting married. But that notion is destroyed, as the play ends with yet another argument between them, and Liza going against Higgins’ wishes and marrying the very man he despises, and thinks of as a wimp and an embarrassment, not worthy of the masterpiece he created.

However, you could argue that Higgins might have had some feelings but his nature got in the way and ruined things.  (Higgins) “About you, not about me. If you come back I shall treat you just as I have always treated you. I can’t change my nature, and I don’t intend to change my manners. My manners are exactly the same as Colonel Pickering’s”. (Pg, 66). (Higgins) “I can do without anybody. I have my own soul: my own spark of divine fire. But (with sudden humility) I shall miss you”. (Pg, 67). (Higgins) ” You might  even be what they call “attractive”. (Pg 56). It is evident that Higgins has some warm feelings towards her, but they are likely not romantic  due to the lack of evidence. Although, the peculiarity about Higgin’s character is that those feelings could be romantic but because of his nature, they are expressed in ways in which we (the audience) are unable to decipher.

Merchant of Venice: PR

The Merchant of Venice is a classic amongst famous plays written in past centuries, and it is one of Shakespeare’s finest works. The play takes place in a time of common prejudice in Europe, involving the maltreatment of Jews by Christians.  Judaism was regarded as a lowly religion and anyone who practiced it would be subjected to harsh treatment by Christians. Shakespeare adopts the realism of the current world and imbues it into his play, without making a side look better than the other (Christians or Jews). He stripped the characters of their societal stereotypes (e.g., Jews are bad), and reduced them to ordinary people under different circumstances, and his ability to do so created a worthy variety of characters for the world to be entertained by for centuries to come.  

A big figure in the play that stands out is Shylock, and he remains the best character in the play, not because I liked him the most but because of his realism. His actions and words were often interpreted by me as unjustified but as the plot progressed, I began to see and understand his side of things and understand how a big action can affect a character and the future actons taken by that character (the domino effect). His famous speech to the associates of Antonio sticks to me and I consider it the realest thing in this play. 

He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million,  

Laughed at my losses, mocked my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, 

And what is his reason, I am a Jew. 

Hath not a Jew hands. Hath not a Jew eyes, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? 

Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapon, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is.  

If you prick us, do we not bleed? 

If you tickle us, do we not laugh? 

If you poison us, do we not die?  

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? 

If we are like you in the rest, then we will resemble you in that. 

 If a Jew wrong a Christian what is his humility, revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example, why revenge. 

The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction. 

This remains the best dialogue from any character in the play. The utter honesty and rage from Shylock reveal to us the true state of mind Shylock is in. It expresses the humility dealt upon him by Christians and his heavy desire for revenge.  

 

PR On Merchant of Venice Video

I had previously read this play before, a few years ago, but I definitely enjoyed reading it the second time, alongside the video. This was mostly because I could understand the play and the interactions much better, and because we were given background information on the world the play took place in. My understanding of the type of English being spoken in the play is also much better.

Although the I understood and enjoyed reading the play, watching the video increased both enjoyment and level of understanding by ten-fold! The video portrayed the characters so well, adding several layers underneath the characters, resembling that of an onion. I didn’t expect much before I had watched the video but I was genuinely impressed with it, the production quality, the acting and especially the way it revved my emotions, and had them in shambles. For a solid half of a class, I distinctly remember being angry at the events that had taken place at the court scene. The injustice given to Shylock, a Jew who only wanted justice was somehow manipulated into the wrong for wanting payment, and then forced into a new religion. I hate how that event takes place and then the same people that ruined his life (Portia and Bassanio), act like nothing happened. They move on so quickly and act to nonchalant and regal and that annoyed me so much. Jessica was another case. She abandons her father, takes his money, and essentially is the catalyst to all the disaster that takes place at the end. I hated her character so much but the scene in which she shows some remorse somewhat redeems her in my eyes.

Apart from the extensive quote from Shylock that we have to memorize, this was easily on of my favorite topics in English this year.

Langston Hughes: PR

Langston Hughes remains a leading activist in the civil rights movement, from the early 1900s till this day. He fought against all forms of racism and discrimination, and his methods of doing so made him stand out so much, his literature. Hughes is famously known for all his written works in which he promotes equality, condemns racism and injustice, and celebrates African American culture.

Although his general written works are celebrated and are highly regarded, his poems stick out more. An example of a well acclaimed poem from Hughes is, As I Grew Older, one of his earlier poems, and was written between 1921 to 1930. A big inspiration of Hughes’s works was Walt Whitman, a human activist, journalist, and the “father of free verse”. Anyway, Whitman’s footprints could be seen all over this poem. An example of this was the poem being a free verse. The lines are unequal, there is no rhythm, and no beats can be made from the poem. Another example is the optimism Hughes shows when he speaks about how dire his situation is. He speaks about his dreams being blocked off by an insurmountable wall, “My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall!” (ll, 24-26), but he still urges himself forward against the overwhelming challenge.

There are obvious themes in this poem; racism and dreams. Racism is a major theme in this poem, as it is in Hughes’ other works. Several policies were set up against African Americans, making their lives much harder and as a result a “wall” was created. Dreams were also discussed. Dreams are born out of human desire to achieve something, but Hughes’ and other African American’s are being blocked. Hughes doesn’t specify but he makes it clear how much his dreams means to him, as he compares it to the brightness and power of the sun. “But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun, My dream” (ll, 3-6).

Hughes explains his and many other black Americans’ circumstance. They have dreams, big dreams, but they can’t achieve it because of who they are, because of their skin. No matter how hard he works or dreams, his dream just can’t seem to come to fruition, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

This poem truly embodies the essence of Hughes’ works (from the ones I’ve read), it discusses racism and discrimination, and the putting out of a fire (his dream), but he never leaves out the hope and optimism.

Common Mistakes Made Reading

Of all the readings I have been assigned in English class this year, this one is the most in-depth and eye-opening. Outsmart Your Brain by Daniel Willingham made me fully sit up right after reading the first chapter. Willingham places a trap in there, and I fully fall for it. In the midst of explaining his assertion he places a short text to explain and asks the readers to pay attention to it,  but the topic and final sentence  fully contradict each other. The trap was to prove to readers that you might understand what each sentence means but if you cannot connect between the lines, there is no understanding or learning. As I realized this, I suddenly became much more attentive to what I was reading, and I picked up some habits alongside. Here is what I have learnt from the text:

(1) The majority of students (myself included) do not always understand advanced texts because of the default reading style, understanding lines but not making the overall connection. When reading, this is a crucial step, especially in texts that aren’t straight-forward, otherwise the basis of understanding is lost and a false meager of comprehension is provided. (2) Reading and highlighting important pieces of information in new and sophisticated text is a waste of time. You can’t possibly know what is important and what isn’t when reading new text, there is no background knowledge on it, and you’re only highlighting information you think is important, which could be wrong. Instead employ this method, SQ3R (survey, questions, read, recite and revise). First you survey the text, read a few headings or a summary, and get an idea of what the text is on. Make questions about the text from the information you gathered from the survey. Read the text. Recite and ensure you understand and remember what you read, as well as make notes. Revise the notes you have down. (3) How to take notes. ” Do you think your notes are good enough that even if you set them aside for a few weeks, reading them will be enable you to recover all of your insights into the content?” If your answer is no, your notes are not sufficient and your note-taking skills need to be worked on. After reading a chapter, write some things about it down. In your words, explain what you understand and ensure you take as much time and caution as you did reading the text. (4) Schedule appropriate times for reading. You’re assigned some reading to do on a new topic in a class, and you want to do it after basketball practice, not a smart move. Setting times for reading is as important is the reading itself. In addition, only reading summaries or lesson aids over the actual passage is extremely inefficient. A summary cannot compare to the actual text, with its nuanced explanations and word usage.

As I Grew Older

Whitman’s footprints could be seen all over this poem, as he was a big inspiration to Hughes’ writing. An example of this was the poem being a free verse. The lines are unequal, there is  no rhythm, and no beats can be made from the poem. Another example is the optimism Hughes shows when he speaks about how dire his situation is. He speaks about his dreams being blocked off by an insurmountable wall, “My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall!”, but he still urges himself forward against the overwhelming challenge.

Hughes explains his and many other black Americans’ circumstance. They have dreams, big dreams, but they can’t achieve it because of who they are, because of their skin. No matter how hard he works or dreams, his dream just can’t seem to come to fruition, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

My Thoughts On ‘Candide’

The book had a new but rather depressing look on human life, breaking all stereotypes of a main characters overcoming all adversities. Readers tend to find the constant suffering of a main character unenjoyable and repetitive, but this book embraces this head-on, and never gives Candide nor the side characters any sense of peace throughout the duration of the book (excluding the ending).

I found the philosophies discussed even more interesting. ‘This world being the best of all possible worlds'(pg.,43). Those were the words fed to Candide by Pangloss, and it seemed to be a sugarcoating to avoid the inevitable sense of nihilism. But as we soon see, this belief begins to slowly crack and crumble, with each unnecessary adversary Candide is put through, he begins to lose faith and comes round to Martin’s ideology. Martin believes that God has abandoned this world and it is now overrun with evil and corruption. Now, the main difference between Pangloss and Martin’s philosophies is Martin’s direct experience comes into play and influences his ideology, while Pangloss, an optimist, bases his on what he wishes, what should be.

The ending sticks out a lot as well. It seems that even after Candide has gotten what he wishes for, he is still unhappy. It’s not as he imagined and his suffering continues.  Martin, Pangloss and Candide are unable to create a suitable answer and go visit an Imam in hopes of an answer. The imam tells them the answer is to keep busy and work. Work keeps the mind free of evil. It keeps the body fatigued and occupied, the mind is filled with ambition and kept running and active, and the soul is kept fired with lasting passion.

Reflection On ‘Let Evening Come’ Essay

My performance in the latest essay was very encouraging and a substantial improvement. In my previous works, I would make small but several silly mistakes such as spelling errors or organizational errors or even using unnecessary words in a sentence. I would also find myself writing a 200-word essay without answering the question, and rather waste all that space discussing irrelevant topics. But I improved on all those things, and hopefully will not make those mistakes again. 

Some further improvements that need to be made focus mainly on structural errors Putting in the correct symbols, and ensuring they are in the right place. Moreover, my word choice needs to be more precise and not just serve the purpose of sounding fancy. 

My Response To Antigone

I enjoyed reading this play, it was well written, suspenseful, and had a very good climax and ending. Although, I still prefer Oedipus : The King over this story, simply because the story was so bizarre and uncanny, and very unpredictable, unlike it’s predecessor (when I first read it) I could not guess the events that were going to take place at all. But I will say, this story seemed much more realistic and had a classic moral of the story (Don’t be full of yourself) which I appreciate. I liked the characters in this story much better too, they all varied heavily and had their own different  motivations and struggles.

The characters in the story were well bred and I found myself rooting for too many people. My favorite characters were Haemon and Creon. Haemon was introduced after the conflict had been introduced, he attempted to sway his father to not kill Antigone and Ismene. His reasons were logical and true, he claimed to not be in the favor of Antigone (his soon wife to be) but Creon didn’t believe him but I did. He completely fooled me, the way he presented his points were in an organized manner, he  listened to what his father had to say and then countered everything he said with ease , that impressed me. I love characters that are able to put up a fake front and beneath all that, have them working out a good plan. Although, I hated that he killed himself after Antigone died, it reminded me of the play Romeo and Juliet, I disliked Romeo and Haemon because I found it childish and annoyingly stubborn for them to do that. Anyway, the reason I liked Creon was because of his character development. He begins the story as probably the most hated character. Selfish, self-centered and obsessed with his power. He made decisions that he wanted to, ones that would not benefit the country but ones that would show the people he was powerful.

“Am I rule this land for others-or myself? (pg,97).

This was brought to our attention and to Creon’s but he denies it and claims that ruling is only for the king and not for the people. He decided he was going to rule with an iron fist and anyone who defies him will be punished, until the arrival of Tiresias.

“They know this too, learn this by heart! The chariot of the sun will not race through so many circuits more, before you have surrendered one born of your own loins, your own flesh and blood, a corpse for corpses given in return, since you have thrust to the world below a child sprung for the world above…” (pg,115).

Tiresias tells him what was going to happen because of his actions and what he has to do to avoid it. At first, he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to cooperate with his advice, fully embodying Oedipus in this scene. Perhaps he got reminded of Oedipus’s case with his own actions, but he changed after Tiresias spoke with him, and he tried to fix his mistakes. Sure it probably wasn’t because he regretted his actions but at the very least he still acted, he went against his own desires and headstrong will to attempt to fix things, and for that I grant him the title of “My favorite character”, in this play.

  

My Response to Oedipus the King

Before reading this book, I had previously read an adaptation of it, called “The Gods Are Not to Blame” by Ola Rotimi, and despite knowing the events that took place I still enjoyed reading the Greek version of the story. The main difference between the two books were names and cultural differences (example; names of gods, names of cutlery, geography). Although, I will say that the Greek version was more violent and brass, this of course includes the violent nature of the people in the story and the normality of bloodshed in their daily lives.

I liked all the characters and especially loved their dynamics. My favorite duo would be Oedipus and Jocasta because even though they’re in a romantic relationship, you still catch small whiffs of Jocasta’s motherly love seeping out onto Oedipus, which I feel adds to the irony of the story. “What, Oedipus? What haunts you so?” (pg, 202) Although this quote can be said to be mainly out of respect and her duty as a queen to her king, I interpreted it as both motherly and respectful. My favorite character is easily Tiresias for simple reasons, he solved the mystery in an instant (technically) and is the wisest character. We see that a few pages after Tiresias have been introduced, he tells Oedipus who the perpetrator is, and I feel that the fact that he prophesized exactly what was going to happen to Oedipus while reading him like a picture was most impressive.” You mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with- who are your parents…”(pg, 183)

I found the structure of the story/play interesting and enjoyable. The dialogue varied from short one to two sentence responses to over a page long rant. The imagery used were quite good too, much easier to understand compared to a traditional poem. “Soon, soon you’ll scream aloud- what haven won’t reverberate? What rock of Cithaeron won’t scream back in echo?” Lastly, the language that was used. The language used were modern and we still make use of most of these words till date. This was probably a big factor in the comprehension of the multiple use of imagery and the overall plot and dialogue. Although, the way some words were used were different from the way most people would expect them to be used in a sentence. ” I will never shrink from the anger in your eyes”(pg,185). In a modern way of restating that statement it would be, I would never retreat (or back down) from the anger in your eyes.