Bradstreet and Kafka

Bradstreet: This was a hard poem for me to read so i googled it and read what others had to say about to fully understand the poem.
Bradstreet felt embarrassed because it got published without her consent before she could edit them. Bradstreet speaks of her poems as her children because for one she had many childred that she raised and she had many poems that she wrote. So maybe while writing her poems she felt she put a lot of thought and effort into these poems as she did with her children.

Kafka: I thought it was weird at first but after i read it over and figured out what was going on i thought it was a pretty good story.
The hunger artist was popular because it was a joke that happened to be in fashion. It soon became less interesting to the public because they grew tired of watching the hunger artist day and night and could not fully know whether he was really fasting the whole time. The watchers play the role of the public who would watch the hunger artist for entertainment; the impresario was his boss who would manage his appearences to the public when fasting; the overseer is a man who is helped out by the notice board. These roles helped make his job worth meaning, without them there isn't a hunger artist.

Andrew Carnegie The Gospel of Wealth

At first it was hard to read and I feel like I always say the readings are difficult to read maybe because i have a low comprehension but I do like to read, anyways it was kinda long and a little boring at parts. I felt like some parts just kept on going and never ended. So the question arises, “Does Carnegie’s argument apply today”? Carnegie argued that individual capitalists were duty bound to play a broader cultural and social role in which will help improve the world. Carnegie felt that wealth was brought by those ‘who have the ability and energy that produce it”. He also believed in the three modes in which wealth can be distributed after death; left to close relatives, public proposes or administered during their lives by its possessors. He also mentions that in other countries, such as Europe, that the property and a majority of the wealth are left to the first son to keep their title going for generations. But why should they leave their fortune to their children? Maybe because they are their close relatives and want to help support them. That doesn’t teach people to work hard to get what they want when they get handed a large amount of money. Take the Hilton family for example, Paris doesn’t have her own personal income. The money she gets is from what her family earned from the hotels. Everything is always given to her. She has no clue what its like to have a normal life in which she would have to work and earn the money she spends. This is a perfect example of what Andrew Carnegie is trying to explain the reasons why its not a good idea to just give everything to your children. They need to learn to work for what they want. Now its okay to leave some sum amount to your children to help support them but not to give them more then they need.

The Law of Life

I read this story by Jack London and it was very difficult to follow or know what was going on. There was a lot of words that I didn't know. As well as how the characters talked, confused me. But after I kinda understood what was going on I thought it was a pretty good story in the end. It was a reality check of what life has for you. Your going to be born, live your life and eventually your going to get old and die just as everyone will or have done.

Words to look up:

forlorn: desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.
palsied: paralyzed; unable to move or control certain muscles.
chiding: to express disapproval of; scold; reproach.
crooning: To hum or sing softly.
guttural: harsh; throaty

Shakespeare

January 14th, 2009

I read the poem When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes

What I got out of it was; this man is feeling down and he wants some of the talet these other men have but then he thinks about someone and his mood changes and he's happy again.

There were alot of words i didn't know and had to look up to even try to understand this poem. I have a really hard time trying to make sense of a poem especially Shakespeare.
I'm not going to put every word I had to look up but I'll put a few.

• Bootless-without result, gain, or advantage; unavailing; useless.
• Sullen-showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve.
• Haply-perhaps; by chance.
• Scorn-to reject, refuse, or ignore with contempt or disdain.

Alice Walker Everyday Use

January 12th, 2009

We were to read the Active Reading of Literature and Alice Walker's Everyday Use.
The Walker story really confused me a bit and I notice I had to keep going back and reading things over because i didn't understand.
Overall I thought it was a good story. It was short so I liked it even better.
It was about a mother who is hard-working and takes pride in the things she has, which are hand made. She has two daughters, one who went off to college and the other who stays at home with the mother. It was about how they felt about heritage and what it meant to each of them. For Dee ( the daughter who went to college) needed items that the family made to hang up or decorate her house. Where the mother is just living her life how she always had and using the items her family made as tools and not as art work.

Words to look up:
(none)

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

January 7th, 2009
(First day of Class)

Today we just went over the syllabus a little. Then we opened the book to Robert Frost and read his poem The Road Not Taken. I didn't have a book because i was on the waiting list, so I had to just listen and it was hard to understand. So When I got the book I re-read the poem to try and figure out what it ment. I always have a hard time to try and understand what some readings are trying to say. In class we went over it and tried to make more sense of it. That helped me understand what it was about, when i hear other peoples thoughts about what they got from it.

Words to look up:

1. had 'trodden' black.
trodded-that has been steped on

This poem is about choice and how everyone makes their own decisions everyday.