JE77 Pressure form Parents

            The conflict existed between Emily and her father is that her father was trying to decide everything for Emily. When Emily met a guy she thought is good enough, her father disapproved the marriage. Their relationship ended up badly and further caused Emily to be mentally sick because of loneliness. In some ways my relationship with my parents is similar to Emily’s relationship with her father. My dad does not really pressure me. However, my mom’s expectation on me pressures me sometimes. Even though she always says “it’s okay just try your best!” But in reality she still hopes me do achieve as much as possible.  Basically my parents let me decide my future. Of course they give me suggestions, but they do not really interfere with my choices. This is something I like about my life. I know there are lots of parents in Taiwan who forces children to become doctors or lawyers while their children are not really interested in the subjects. I think that’s the worst thing you can do to you children and to the society because jobs like that actually requires passion. Without passion, it is hard to do good jobs on these occupations. My uncle wishes my cousin to become a doctor. Although he claimed he wants to become one too, but I suspect he’s not a hundred percent into it. 

JE76 White Lies

            The white lies that Colonel Sartoris and Judge Steven made to Emily was to allow her to have some privileges because they know that she lost her father and was unmarried. They probably feel sympathetic for her so they tried not to pick on her too much. I think it is okay to make white lies when it comes to social matters. However, overly making white lies would probably become fawning or spoiling. I would say if you try to spare some strangers or acquaintances, then it is all right to make white lies. For example, if they asked how does their new t-shirt look, you can just reply, “it’s pretty nice!” However, when you make white lies, you would not want to say something exactly opposite of what you are thinking. If the t-shirt is extremely inappropriate and ugly, you might want to give him or her suggestions and some decent comments. Or else the person might be embarrassing for a long time and no one was telling him or her because everyone decides to make white lies. In Emily’s case, I think it’s not the white lies that made her become like that. I guess there were some problems beyond that distorted her. 

JE75 Shadow of the Past

            Emily was born into a high social class family. Her father was really protective and did not allow Emily to get married with her love before his tragic death. She refused to accept her father’s death and could not move on. The townspeople were gossiping how Emily got old and still had not found her love. Back then, everyone was expected to get married before 30. Especially living in a small town, Emily was pressured to get married as soon as possible. Later, she met Barron, a white Yankee, who later rejected her too. Her shadow of being restricted to fall in love and the death of her father had led her to the motivation of murdering Barron. She felt both love and hate toward Barron at the same time. On one hand, she wanted to stay with Barron; on the other hand, she wanted him to die because he rejected her. At last, she ended up sleeping with the dead skeleton. Her hair has grown gray probably because of depression and anxiety.

            In Taiwanese society today, people tend to get married around 30, after finishing graduate school or found a stable job. Still, everyone expects people to get married, especially guys. Men in Chinese society play a role of continuing family heritages thus are given more pressure to organize a family. I think this is unfair because everyone has a choice of their lives and future. 

JE74 Poetry’s Social Function

            I think what T.S. Eliot meant is we should all be able to develop our own styles. Some people do not like poetry, but they can definitely find something else that interest them, or they can simply transform the styles of traditional poetry. It is important to the society as a whole because people can interpret a poem differently. T. S. Eliot believed that it is important to exert some effort on literary skills. Furthermore, it is important to have our own styles and thinking or else we would probably be assimilated by the larger group. I definitely agree with his assertion: “I think it is important that every people should have its own poetry, not simply for those who enjoy poetry . . . but because it actually makes a difference to the society as a whole, and that means to people who do not enjoy poetry… Unless people go on producing great authors, and especially great poets, their language will deteriorate, their culture will deteriorate and perhaps become absorbed in a stronger one.” An obvious evidence of deterioration is the pop culture. Technically, song lyric is a kind of poem too. However, many of the song lyrics today are worthless of being read. Many of them have no meaning and have bad effect on people. I think many songs back in the 90s at least express deeper meaning. Now, songs encourage people to just celebrate life and have fun. I think this is what T.S. Eliot meant by deterioration. 

JE73 No Ideas But In Things

I think there should not be any limitations on the subject matter of poetry. Writing should be about expressing whatever you think or see. Many authors are trying to express deep ideas through their writings. Throughout different periods, people express different ideas that reflected the society. However, sometimes it would be even better to just describe things around us and leave the readers to interpret the meaning of the context. I think great writers do not just give readers ideas, but to inspire them in an indirect way, such as describing a clear and sharp image.

            Poems today write about everything they see, think, or imagine. Every little detail in life can inspire us to write a great poem. It does not have to contain a profound idea. I think sometimes poems should be about celebrating life, or expressing feelings, instead of teaching people a lesson. We write because we feel like it. If we consider song lyrics as poems, song lyrics are not all about love anymore. Sometimes it can be a silly expression of a mood, a happy or sad moment in life, or about finding the right path in life. The limitations that was set long time ago no longer exist in our modern life. 

JE72 War and Economics

Some similarities happened in the first decade of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century is that we both suffered from economic depression. During the first decade of the twentieth century was when World War I happened. Taxpayers had to pay more in support of military actions. Finally, it led to a serious economic depression all around the world. Now, even though we do not have a major war going on, we still suffered from economic breakdown, especially in Europe right now. Greece, Spain, and some countries are seriously in debt and are at the verge of a breakdown. I think the differences is that now people tend to be more peaceful and are not trying to conquer other courtiers as much as it was in the twentieth century. If any country would start a war, basically the UN would try to stop it. However, a century ago, when technology was not that advanced, people from other places probably took a while to realize there was a war going on. During the last decade, many things happened. Many countries were being urbanized and new technologies have brought many great changes. However, since 2008, the global economic started to go downward and many countries were significantly affected.