Balzac...

3) There are many ironies present in the story. Choose one major irony and explain how/why the irony shapes the meaning of the story.

Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress illustrates the journey of two city slickers adapting to the secluded environment of Phoenix Mountain. Luo and the narrator, are apart of the "Cultural Revolution", in which Chairman Mao dictates the people of China. He enforces ludicrous laws and it just so happens Luo and the narrator were in violation of them. In the deepest of ironies, Luo and the narrator are sent to the rural hillside to be re-educated, yet they end up re-educating the locals. Using love and revenge as motives, they infiltrate the foreign environment with their beliefs.

The alarm clock with the phoenix had a profound affect on the village, especially the village headman. The new method of telling time captivated the headman from the start. "The village headman would pace to and fro, smoking his bamboo pipe... all the while keeping a watchful eye on the clock. At nine o'clock sharp he would give a long piercing whistle to summon the villagers to work in the fields." Lackadaisical attitude and the need for rebellion necessitates Luo and the narrator setting the clocks backward. "The sheer audacity of our trick did a lot to temper our resentment against the former opium growers who, now that they had been converted into "poor peasants" by the Communist regime, were in charge of our re-education." Bitter about being cut off from society, the two friends seek revenge in the only way they know how. They take it out on the locals.

Other objects of their culturalization are storytelling and the Little Seamstress. Luo's and the narrator's love for both compel them to do all sorts of insane things. They go against all guidelines of friendship and steal the forbidden books from Four-Eyes. The guileful deed is complimented with a disturbing remark. "We were so elated!" Luo is probably most happy because he is the one that gets the pleasure of relaying Balzac's stories to the Little Seamstress, and he gets her pleasure. His friend was not to be outdone, though. "The deal we had made was that I would give him our copy of Ursule Mirouet, but upon reflection I decided to extend his reward to include the book I treasure most of all--Jean Christophe..." The narrator is giving away his most prized possession, in hopes of gaining her love. Caught up in the race for love, they fail to read between the lines. "She said she learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price."

It is most unfortunate that these informal heroes lost the girl and their books, but at least they educated someone. Even if it was only one.

test

Shakespeare's tragic vision in Othello is one that people can relate to today. People are out to fulfill their lives how they want them to be lived. There is no line to draw when it comes to human desire. Desires are the focus and motivation of everyone's mindset. Othello is no different. Othello's emotional discharge of desire brings about Iago's, Emilia's, Roderigo's, and Desdemona's premature fate.

Othello's most pertinent influence is on Iago. Although Iago is the puppet master, his hatred and jealousy for Othello fuel his ingenious plan. Iago's whole-hearted devotion to his plan quickly spreads the fatal elements of love, hate, and revenge. Roderigo and Cassio were victims of the plan. "I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,/ And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,/ Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,/ Every way makes my gain." Love and money got involved, and like any good tragedy one person drew the short straw and another pulled the shorter straw. Iago's selfish love for Emilia is the reason for their deaths. Desdemona's love for Othello was quite the opposite. Desdemona was not only willing to die for her man, but she did so with out any regrets. "A guiltless death I die." Desdemona was the only one who truly loved Othello, making the play all that much more of a romantic tragedy and an appropriate ending.

the evil conundrum

What is evil?
rapists
murderers
arsonists
pedofiles
terrorists
politicians

One's level of evil is determined by what one was taught. As children we mimic the actions of others. To a certain degree we take these actions with us for the rest of our lives. People are born neutral, so although a murderer might not have grown up around other murderers, there is some violence or disturbance in his past causing him to kill. Evil is contagious. The cycle can often be repeated, so if you have not already figured it out, stay away from rapists, murderers, arsonists, pedofiles, terrorists, and politicians.

My evilness:


How evil are you?

love

what makes love so complex?

"i don't know. i have never loved"....... this is what i could say. but everyone has loved. the thing that makes love so complicated is there are different degrees and types of it. We love cars, nature, our brothers, waking up in our own bed, waking up in someone else's, singing, playing, shoes, waterskiing, being lazy, sneakiing out, and roller coasters. When you put it all into perspective, the thing that frightens people most is that they can become so attached to something. i am willing to bet that 99% of suicides can be blamed on love or lack there of. we need to have something to love and we need to be loved in order to live. Love is not only an asset, but also a weakness. by nature, humans enjoy being the best, the top dog, and love is the only thing that stands in our way.

selfish and irresponsible devil children

The biggest challenge for teenagers is learning how to be unselfish. We are all caught up in our own schedules. We zone out when our parents tell us to run the smallest errand for them. The sad part of this is we remember when it is too late. Our parents are already disappointed (or worse don't care). We as teenagers may hear our parents yelling at us because:

• we forgot to mail some really important package that had to be across the country today
• we have fallen asleep in the shower (yes, blame me for GA's drought)
• we left the milk out all night long
• we didn't put the clothes in the dryer
• we forgot to call our grandparents back
• we didn't do the dishes
• we have missed too many days of school already
• we haven't given much thought to college or our future in general

but we never really listen to them. After our memory has failed us or or selective hearing has succeeded, we franticly search for an excuse that will satisfy the fire breathing dragon. Ocassionally we pull some weak excuse out our ass, but it never hits. The only excuse that will justify our behavior, our parents won't accept. We are teenagers and we are selfish by nature.

retirement is bliss

My immediate family is small, just me and my mom. Pretty boring.

My mom's parents are some of the most interesting people in my family. My grandma moved from New Jersey to Florida about 5 years ago. She moved into a gated community and has been enjoying retirement. She is not, however, like her old lady neighbors who she plays dominos with. My grandma's free spirit and sailor's mouth often surprise people. She is in her late 50's early 60's (no one really knows because she won't tell us). She still enjoys being active, riding her bike daily, down the road 1/2 mile to the beach. Recently though, she has taken to complaining that it's too hot in Florida. She has mentioned wanting to move back north. My grandma does whatever she wants, but at the same time manages her money well. She owns rental property in New Jersey. I suppose this is how she can afford to spoil her grandchildren. I remember the days when i was spoiled by her. I got to go to Toys R' Us and pick out whatever I wanted. Then i got older and less cute and the cash flow started decreasing. My two toddler cousins better live it up now because pretty soon they will be in the same boat.

My grandpa like my grandma owns rental property in New Jersey. He lives in Randolph, NJ with his wife. He is a semi-retired man at the age of 61. He still does handy work around his house. Whatever you do do not get roped in to helping him out. He is the Most Stubborn Man Alive. It is his way or the highway. You have no opinion when you are working with him. You just shut up and do what he tells you. He is proud of his work ethic and his old fashioned mentality(he made me drink straight vinegar as a cure for my sore throat).

I respect both of my grandparents' lifestyles, but when I retire I would much rather live the relaxed life that my grandma has.

what you know

I know/understand...Oedipus and Harold Crick were noble in accepting their fate.

I doubt... there is a real answer to fate or free will. It is all about human perception. Believing in free will is your fate, and believing in fate is your free will.

I wonder... what the ratio of purples to silvers was in the bag of fate. I know Ms. Williams believes we want to know because we are curious, but what if it is our fate to know?

Free Willy

I believe that your free will determines your fate. Everyday we make choices. Sometimes we think of the consequences and other times we feel spontaneous. We often think of decisions as deciding whether to do our homework or not; however, a decison can be as simple as: I am going to scratch my leg. Our lives are filled with little decisions that shape our future. And in our future lies more decisions. Destiny is unclear; within the blink of an eye our future can be changed. Your future could be changing as you read this:

• You could eat a slice of Mellow Mushroom pizza and choke on all that cheese. With no one around to save you because you are skipping cross country practice, you will die.
• You could decide that you need to use the restroom, your toilet could back up and you could be knee deep in something you don't want to be knee deep in.
• You could just remember you left your english homework in your car. Your mom calls and tells you to water the flowers. You go out into the garage and realize you have parked on the hose. You turn the car on and back up a foot. Your key gets stuck in the ignition and you cannot turn the car off. Your ghetto car won't let you unlock the doors until the car is off. The garage door is closed and fumes begin to engulf you. You fight to turn the key, but the oxygen has run out.

All of these situations could very well happen to you. People claim to know what choices they would make when presented with a problem, but without experiencing it, how would you really know? Would you really wait for the cops to show up? Would you actually risk your life for your friend?

die

This an obvious choice. The world seems to be more and more focused on the party lifestyle, and I must say I have nothing against this. I am all about living it up and doing what I want to do, when I want to do it. If this gets me famous that is a huge plus. Yeah it is the stereotypical choice, but we all die in the end anyway.

"chicka chicka yeahhh...what's up gangstas"

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was the most memorable book of my childhood. It taught me my abc's. I don't remember much except letters climbing up a tree and a whole lot of bright colors. It was my favorite because it was the only book that I paid attention to for more than 5 seconds. The video is longer and more annoying than the book was.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtvtYjLbnDk

Siddhartha

Siddhartha's take on life is that of a free man. He fully appreciates the cycle that encompasses him. There is no right or wrong, there is just neutral. Everyone is neutral. You see, I find it difficult to explain much else about this way of life because I have been greatly influenced by the western mentality.

Us westerners, are nearly incapable of accepting eastern philosophy because all our lives we have been taught that time is of utmost importance. Age is not just a number. Westerners are caught up on the idea with age comes wisdom. We learn from our mistakes and progress from there. From a western perspective, the eastern idea of life appears to be communist. For us it's almost as if we are stomping and spitting upon the idea of respecting your elders. An infant shall be born equal to his grandfather. What a crock! Most Americans have too much pride to truly comprehend and respect other cultures.

The High School Experience

I measure out my life with periods of success and failure. My failures I don't care to ever relive, my successes I welcome with open arms, and the in between is where high school lies.
School is said to be pertinent to your success in life. Many people directly correlate the words school and education and this is completely accurate. When you show up for class teachers have this whole lesson plan set up for that day, whether you be learned bout grammar, or learn to say me gusta ir a la escuela , or sometimes you even get to be taught about sex, our favorite subject! All of this information may be of some value to you, but it's not like we are wild animals incapable of teaching ourselves. No. No, even animals can teach themselves how to thrive.

Most people are just caught up on the idea of institutional education. We sit in a classroom all day and learn about the outside world. We are punished when we bring personal items such as i-pods, cellphones, cards, gum, short-skirts, and cleavage to class. All of these are very popular in the REAL world, and some can even be useful. R-rated movie do exist. Drugs are everywhere around us. Ignoring them does not help us to become better educated. Nonetheless, we are taught that they are not appropriate for school, the very thing that is trying to prep us for the real world.

So why not skip school and head out into the real world? It's because we are all scared. we are scared this will not do us any good in the long run. Or perhaps we "know" this won't do us any good. It's all a matter of what you have been taught. And we sit in the classroom every day and take notes. And when we are writing or just playing around we brush our knees up against the several pieces of gum stuck to the underside of the desk. We sit there contemplating. The quiet rebellion is fun, but it hasn't gotten us anywhere. A more drastic measure needs to be taken. I think I should go pursue my own dreams, do the things I want to do, when I want to do them. But that is where the idea dies. You realize you want to be with your friends or your boyfriend/girlfriend. And so for some their school-free education began when they turned 16, for others it will be summer of 2009, and for the "lucky" ones, theirs won't end until after college. Whether we like it or not school defines us all, for now anyway.

Coke

The most popular soft drink by far has captivated its fans worldwide. The eye-catching slogans and sweet, refreshing taste have made Coca-Cola the top dog of soda. Coca-cola has found its home amongst 200 countries. It is everywhere. You see Coke when you go to the movies, you see it driving down the highway on billboards, you see it grocery stores, in McDonalds', at backyard barbeques, in gas stations, at baseball games, at amusement parks, etc. It might even be in your refrigerator right now.



Although the Coke slogan has altered slightly since its beginning, there is no forgetting that basic red and white design. It is the most recognized advertisement in history.



The key factor in a successful beverage is always its taste. You can have the best marketing in the world, but if the product tastes like crap, it is not going to sell. Coke has stayed with the same recipe for decades and it has not dissapointed yet.

FINANCE

Early in the mornin', risin' to the street, Light me up that cigarette and I strap shoes on my feet. Got to find a reason, reason things went wrong. Got to find the reason why my money's all gone.

Life is (too short) so love the one you got cause you might get run over or you might get shot. Never start no static I just get it off my chest. Never had to battle with no bulletproof vest. Take a small example, take a tip from me.. take all of your money and give it up to charity.

What I Got

Sublime

We've all seen the man at the liquor store begging for your change

The hair on his face is dirty, dreadlocked and full of mange

He asks a man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes

"Get a job, you ****ing slob" is all he replies

God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes

'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues.

What It's Like

Everlast

I chose these two quotes because, although I am a person that enjoys money, I believe stinginess is a sin. Life is too short to save cash. 90% of the time a person does not need all the green they have, and can afford to help others out. Karma will take its course, and in due time you will be rewarded.