Weblog 8

How does Jhumpa Lahiri use the minor action and subtle details to express the unmet needs of the characters?

Jhumpa Lahiri uses little bits of the story to express the unmet needs of the characters a lot in her story, Interpreter of Maladies. One of the many examples is how Tina is treated and how Tina treats her doll. Tina, a girl who constantly seeks her mother’s approval, is constantly met with disappointment. Her mother, Mrs. Das, does not treat Tina like a daughter, instead, according to hints given by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mrs. Das treats her daughter as if she is a nuisance thus neglects her. An example is shown on page 62, “…pulled out a bottle of nail polish, which she proceeded to stroke… ‘Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me alone,’ Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning her body slightly.” This neglectful attitude impacts Tina heavily. It leads to Tina, treating her doll the way she feels like how she is being treated by her mother. This need of love from her mother is unmet, thus the minor action of treating the doll poorly occurs. Another example of a minor action or detail that display unmet needs of characters is when Mr. and Mrs. Das have the minor fights during the tour. An example of one of these fights is when the two bicker about the car, which had no air conditioning. Mrs. Das complained to her husband about how the car is hot because it lacked air conditioning, yet Mr. Das said it wasn’t that bad, while he himself put his own window down. This shows Mr. Das’s hypocrisy and his neglectful attitude towards his wife, which may express his unmet need of having a caring wife. On Mrs. Das’s side, the quarrels between her and her husband express her need for a proper caring husband, which she also wants to care about. It represents the failed marriage, which was premature, considering they ‘were in high school when he proposed.’ (Lahiri, 75) This desire of a good or better spouse may have lead to her leading Mr. Kapasi on. In many occasions, she gave hints, which showed that she was interested in Mr. Kapasi. Some examples would be the use of the word ‘romantic’ on page 64, the sharing of food such as gum on page 64. This may have been an effect of Mrs. Das’s unmet needs of a happy relationship.

Weblog 7

Why are writers driven to write, according to Tobias Wolff? Also, what does Wolff say should be our motivation in reading short stories?

On page seven, Tobias Wolff says, “Writers can never be sure, in the act of writing, if anyone will pay that price for the company of their words. We proceed on faith but in doubt, dreaming uncertainly of readers who will justify this lonely work by passion equal to our own.” This says that when writers write, they do not know if anybody will be isolated to read their (the writers’) words. It then says that they, the writers, continue to write in doubt, only hoping readers will admire the writing as much as the writers themselves. This is an explanation for the motivation for writers to write, so that they can receive the satisfaction of satisfying the readers. Also, writers write because they want to share certain experiences they encountered in their life, hoping to find a commonality between the readers and themselves.
This search for a sense of commonality between the writer and the reader thus leads to our motivation in reading short stories. On page 8, Wolff says, “… so convincing in their portrayal that the reader had to acknowledge kinship. That sense of kinship is what makes stories important to us.” Here, Tobias Wolff states that the sense of kinship or commonality makes us read more, because we care about it and we know what the writer is feeling. He also says, “ Those are the stories that endure in our memories…” By this, Wolff meant that the sense of kinship causes readers to remember the stories because the both writer and reader share something. In addition to this, Wolff goes on and says, “But when we read we are alert and undefended, and liable to be struck hard.” This sentence states that when reading, we, the readers, are able to be struck hard and be excited, which motivates us to read.

Weblog 6

Describe a time you had divided interests. How did one interest win out over the other(s)? What factors came into play?
There were many where I had divided interests. For instance, I had to choose between sports, computers, and community service. I was really devoted to playing soccer and baseball, yet I loved to play around with computer software and hardware. I also loved helping the poor in my community. So I signed up for all three, computer science, sports, and community service. Yet I could only pick one, which was a real dilemma for me. In the end, I chose sports because of a few important reasons. At first, I eliminated computer science because I thought it wasn’t as important as sports and community service. Both sports and community had benefits, yet I chose sports for reasons, which seem selfish. Although community service had good benefits, such as helping the community and helping my self esteem. It got into my head that health and extra curricular activities for college were even more important. I believe that I thought the well-being of myself was the reason why I ruled out all the other factors for the other activities.

Also, how does the author foreshadow that the protagonist will be unsuccessful at wooing Sheila Mant?
Wetherell shows many indications that the protagonist will not be successful in wooing Sheila Mant. One primary indication is that she constantly does not seem to care much about the protagonist. When he is with her, she simply ignores him or answers his questions without much passion. For instance, when the protagonist would swim to and from the Vermont shore, Sheila Mant did not seem to care about his efforts. Also, Wetherall shows the difference in interest between the protagonist and Sheila Mant. An example would be when they were on the protagonist’s canoe to the fair, Sheila Mant would be talking about topics that the protagonist did not know about or seemed to care about. Sheila Mant called fishing, the protagonist’s favorite hobby, dumb. This difference in interest was a clear indication that the two did not match or cooperate; despite how much the protagonist admired Sheila Mant.

In Rosenthal's piece, No News From Auschwitz, what section of the newspaper does his piece belong and why?

The sections of a newspaper are, Front Page, News Article, Feature Article, Editorials, Letter to the Editor, International News, Advertisements, Business, and Entertainment or Lifestyle. Each is unique in its own way. The Front Page consists of the most important story of the day and captures the most attention. The News Article section is made up of articles that contain a report on an event that took place, they are supposed to be objective. Feature Articles report about an issue, person, or an event with a lot of details and more depth. Feature articles are also usually informative. The Editorial section of a newspaper is an article, which is written by the editor(s) with a subjective view of the matter. The Letter to the Editor section is made up of letters, which also have subjective stances. These letters are usually sent to a newspaper company to respond to an article. They usually have strong opinions on certain issues. International News contains news about other countries, which may have impacted the world in a certain way. It could be about wars, politics, disasters, etc. The Advertisement section of a newspaper is made up of advertisements, which are trying to sell certain things such as products or ideas. The Business section of a newspaper contains news about commercial activities, news about new inventions or innovations, and stock reports. Finally, the Entertainment or Lifestyle has news about popular people or people who make a difference to communities, health, beauty, religion, music, movies, etc.
I believe Rosenthal’s piece could belong in many sections of a newspaper such as the News Article section but shouldn’t because although it is about an event that took place, it took place quite a long time ago and his piece is not entirely objective. Also, it could fit in the Editorial section because it is somewhat subjective, but I believe the piece fits best in the Feature Article section because it is very descriptive and deep. It is also informative and “It does contain some elements of the short story and is written with a lead to get the reader's attention and then uses conversational tone to present the reader with information to evoke an emotional response.”


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_feature_article

Wordle

Describe the tone differences between Hair and Theme for English B and how it contributes to the differing overall stance of each author in light of white status measured above black status

Although Hair and Theme for English B both revolve on the issue of racism, their attitudes towards it are extremely different. In Hair, Malcolm X shows an angry and violent tone towards the matter. Although in the beginning of his memoir, he seemed excited and anxious to go through the change to have a white person’s hair, looking back on it, he was ashamed and irate towards white superiority. A primary reason for his aggressive attitude would be how many black people have admitted to the fact that white people are superior. He came to this realization by looking back on his painful experience to make his hair look pretty by white standards. While in Theme for English B, Langston Hughes has a passive, playful, and non-aggressive tone. With this tone, Langston Hughes shows that his stance towards white status superiority is rather peaceful. Though he wants equality just like Malcolm X, he prefers the two races to accept differences and not be racist. Although he continues to state the huge differences between himself and his white professor, which he is supposedly writing to, he also shows what he likes to prove that he isn’t any different than any other person despite the color of his skin. Instead of having an attitude of rebellion like Malcolm X, Langston Hughes wants blacks and whites to reconcile with each other. Hughes concluded with another symbol of how blacks and whites are equal. He concludes with how that they are all American, which is supposed to be the emblem of unity between blacks and whites.

In Hair by Malcolm X and Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, what similar topics are they grappling with and how do they treat them differently?

 In Hair by Malcolm X and Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, their primary similar topic is based around racism and equality between white and blacks. In Hair, Malcolm X appears to have a more aggressive and hostile attitude towards racism. This was probably because during the memoir, he went through pain to transform his hair similar to a white person. Thus, Malcolm X appears to be very ashamed and regretful towards his actions of self-degradation. Also, he concludes with a hint of disgust towards how many blacks have acknowledged white people’s superiority over black people. While in Theme for English B, on the other hand, Langston Hughes seems to have a much more passive and un-hostile attitude. Though, he keeps contradicting himself throughout the whole poem. For instance, he would compare himself with his professor and say he’s younger while his professor is older and he is black while his professor is white, making him (professor) have more freedom. Langston then describes the similarities between himself and his professor by telling the readers what he likes and saying “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.” This shows that he wants whites to accept white by saying how despite the color of the skin, they are all humans. Also, he says, “That’s American” which was another proof of how he was trying to find a sense of commonality between his white professor and himself. Also, another reason why Langston is much more passive is because unlike Langston, he did not go through pain to look more like a white person, he wants white people to accept the differences between the two races and be friendly.