JE66 Better Things?

            The quotation “men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things” can be considered a criticism for the modern period. People now often do things for self-motivation, but often for selfish reasons. Now we study hard because we want to go to a good college and get a good job and earn a lot of money in the future. It is not a bad thing. However, majority’s motivation is for his or her own future, but not for the future of the society. Before the Modern Period, the romantics do things based on intuition instead of thinking about possible consequences. Many of the romantics tried to be heroes to make the society better. However, during the Modern period, and nowadays, people mostly do things for their own benefits. In the modern age, it seems like people are doing better jobs because of the advance in technology the growth of population around the world, but the idea of heroism and justice might start to fade away because people started to care how to take care of their own future and how to compete in the society. Although modern age is essential to well-developed modern societies, meanwhile some valuable ideas may be forgotten. 

JE65 You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

            Women’s right had been abused and happened in different periods and places in history. In the 1890s in America, women were trying to gain power and rights. But due to the lack of education and narrow-minds, women were not able to live the lives they wanted to and had to live under parent’s expectations. In the modern society, women have the same education just as men do. When they graduate from schools, they are able to find their own jobs in the society. Now, many women earn more than men do. For example, the CEO of HTC is a Taiwanese woman. Also, many famous magazine editors are women. Women in modern societies have equal opportunities as men do, and sometimes even more favored in some particular occupations. However, in Chinese society, some people still had the old-fashioned idea and believed that women should stay home and take care of children. In a more extreme way, some even prefer boys than girls because they believe men have more potential to succeed in the society. And in other less developed countries, women’s rights are not equal as men’s rights. Having equal rights is an important issue throughout history and is what we are still trying to reach today. 

JE64 A Reprieve

            When I feel bored and tired of my life, I actually do the same thing as what Ms. Sommer did. I like to spend time either alone or with friends in the big city and try to buy some stuff that would make me happy. I especially like to go to places with more expensive stuffs and makes me feel exciting and optimistic about my future (when I become a billionaire!). Perhaps, I would go to a movie too. However, at this point of life, there was no time for “being bored” because there are always endless works to do. But after a big part of progress is done, I would go shopping to reward myself. It feels great to have something after working hard. And this feeling would further make me want to work harder.

            In my fantasy world, I watch movies and TV shows to escape from reality. Usually, people in movies and TV shows live exciting lives. Sometimes I just imagine being like them when I got tired of my life. Recently, I have been watching a show called “Revenge”. The show is about a girl getting revenge in the rich neighborhood. Although the idea may sound vicious, it was somewhat exciting for me to be in the story. 

JE63 On Impulse

            Not long ago, I wanted to spend all my money to buy stuffs I want. I often have an impulse when I see something nice and I would want to get it no matter what. The feeling of owning something just makes me feel like I’m rich. Having something cool just make me different from others. When I see them hanging in the store or lying there nicely, I would just think that it belongs to me. And I will get my wallet out, pull out my money and pay. Sometimes people think paying is losing something. However, I think of it as the opposite. I feel like paying something is to own something. However, it is not necessarily true. At some points in life I became a shopaholic and I would feel horrible for not having new things in life. Having something new, to me, is adding happiness in life. Recently, I have come to control this impulse and not to spend so much money. I realized saving should be the priority to owning something. Without saving, I would be broken in the future. Therefore, I want to start practice the habit of saving and not to waste money on redundant things. 

JE62 Romantics vs Realists

            During the Romantic period, writers usually wrote about stories happened in the nature. They valued intuition over logic. They believed that each person could find the Divine Soul in nature. They reject civilization and encourage people to stay true to themselves. In the Realistic period, however, the situation is totally the opposite. Writers began to realize the cruel world and valued logic and civilization. In the story, “A Mystery of Heroism”, the main character actually trusted his intuition and risked his life to get the water. As expected to get the cheer and praise from others, he spilled the water as the “heroism” was ruined. I think the writer was trying to attack the Romantic writers that their ideas would fail and being realistic is a more practical attitude of life. In the novel, “The Red Badge of Courage”, Henry Fleming believed in his intuition at first, when he signed up for the battle. However, he totally regretted afterwards and stopped trusting his instincts. He started to value himself and thought about his why his actions were taken place. Eventually, he was converted from being a Romantics to a Realist. We could tell by his growth throughout the novel and how he learned his lessons from his battle and his logic. 

JE61 Mystery of Heroism

            In Stephen Crane’s story, “A Mystery of Heroism”, Fred Collins was mocked for not daring to get the water. Eventually he did but spilled it all out. I think the mystery lies in the water that the he carried. The “heroism” in this story is something that the man wanted to pursue, or happened to be pursued. When he finally gets it, people welcomed him with cheer. However, lastly, a careless mistake made him lose all the heroism as when the water was spilled out. The definition of what makes a hero is an action that brings positive effects among people. It can relate a little to the motivations of people who preform heroic acts. But people who tried to do it do not always become heroes or heroines. In the story, the motivations of Fred Collins to risk for the water was simply because he wanted to prove himself that he was not a coward and wanted the cheer from people. I do not think he was clear about his motivations because it was just a simple, naïve action that he suddenly wanted to do. He did not specifically process it through his mind and abruptly decided that he was going to get the water with the risk of being killed.

            The most heroic action I have done so far was probably to beg the teacher to delay the test. My motivation was to save myself though, not to save everyone in the class. However, people still cheered for me because I convinced the teacher and saved them. 

JE60 Think About...

•    How and when did American writers and poets respond to the Civil War?

-       The American writers believed that the war was going t last for a while, definitely more than just few months. They also knew that the war was going to happen sooner or later if slavery was not abolished. Civil War finally led the society to disillusionment, the feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as they believed to be.

-       Emerson maintained his conviction that the war must be pursued. He had the patriotic fervor.

•    What are the basic characteristics of realism?

-       Rejection of the idealized, larger-than-life hero of Romantic literature

-       Detailed depiction of ordinary characters and realistic events

-       Emphasis on characters from cities and lower classes

-       Avoidance of the exotic, sensational, and overly dramatic

-       Use of everyday speech patterns to reveal class distinctions

-       Focus on the ethical struggles and social issues or real-life situation

       

•    What did the naturalist writers believe?

-       Attempt to analyze human behavior objectively, as a scientist would

-       Belief that human behavior is determined by heredity and environment

-       Sense that human beings cannot control their own destinies

-       Sense of life as a losing battle against an unchaining universe

Naturalism is also called the “Smiling Realism”