My topic proposal

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1. What is the guiding question for your analysis of the text? In other words, what about this text confuses you? What do you want to learn more about?        

Two things confused me. First is, why did the people of Gilead follow this strange system? Another question is, how can people live with in a strange world? I think that this is not human life the “Handmaid’s” world is like a cult.

2. What topic do you plan to research that will help you answer your guiding question? 

I will research “methods of totalitarian thought control” about WW II with Japanese people and compare it with “Handmaid’s” world for the first question, and I will research different cults for the second question.

3.        Why did you choose this topic? How will it help you better understand Atwood?

First, I chose this topic “Methods of totalitarian thought control” because I think I will be able to understand Gilead’s situation and people’s feelings better. I chose this topic “Cults” because by researching about other cults and comparing with them “Handmaid’s”, I can understand this strange world better.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

About Margaret Atwood    http://www.margaretatwood.ca/  

Mid-Session Check

       I took ENG 061, ENG 100, and ENG 101 before this class. I understood that it was getting harder with every step to the next.

       Writing an essay is still my biggest challenge for me in this class, maybe it’s not only for this class. Writing blogs was a big challenge for me in the beginning but I’m doing fine with that now and I think that this is my biggest success in the class.

       Reading is another big challenge for me because I’m not a reading person, even if it’s in Japanese. So when it’s an English book, it’s much harder. I wish I could choose books to read in class. I know that it is impossible but maybe I can pick from 5-6 selections of books.

       I think I’m still learning about literary analysis, I know it’s easy to literary summarize but it’s hard to analyze, because I really have to understand about the story and ability of analyzing. Definitely, it’s different from critical, or summarize essay.

       My goals with this class is to be honest, and to pass this class. Of course I want to improve my reading and my understanding about books. Also I want to write better essays. I will try my best with the rest of this class.                                      

Mid-Session Check

I took ENG 061, ENG 100, and ENG 101 before this class. I understood that it was getting harder with every step to the next.

Writing an essay is still my biggest challenge for me in this class, maybe it’s not only for this class. Writing blogs was a big challenge for me in the beginning but I’m doing fine with that now and I think that this is my biggest success in the class.

Reading is another big challenge for me because I’m not a reading person, even if it’s in Japanese. So when it’s an English book, it’s much harder. I wish I could choose books to read in class. I know that it is impossible but maybe I can pick from 5-6 selections of books.

I think I’m still learning about literary analysis, I know it’s easy to literary summarize but it’s hard to analyze, because I really have to understand about the story and ability of analyzing. Definitely, it’s different from critical, or summarize essay.

My goals with this class is to be honest, and to pass this class. Of course I want to improve my reading and my understanding about books. Also I want to write better essays. I will try my best with the rest of this class.                                      

THE SAND STORM

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After I read “THE SAND STORM”, I thought that it was an interesting story.  The story was about the war and he described the cruelty of war.  I liked the fact that Huze wrote this story as a monologue, I was easy to distinguish each character and it was easy to understand each one’s feeling.  Also, his writing about each character’s action and speech made me imagine the scene.  When I was reading this story, I didn’t get bored because each character’s story and feelings were shown from a different angle.

       One scene especially impressed me, which was Doc Matthews’s story.  When the Marines massacred one man’s family, and said to a man “I’m so sorry.”  The man told him that it wasn’t his fault.  Even that man didn’t get mad.  I couldn’t imagine how he could say that to man who killed his family, his generosity impressed me.

       This story was interesting to read, but I know this is a story about the war, it was very cruel and sad to read.  But it was not only a cruel and sad story but also a touching story.

       For instance one Marine, his name was SGT Casavecchia.  He had a nice and warm experience with Iraq civilians.  I can’t imagine the hard time they had and always there were dead people.  But I believe that Marine had a warm and happy moment, too.

     The only one thing I really didn’t like about this story was the slang and bad language.

Overall, It was very an interesting story and I experienced some anger.  However, I was impressed and felt sad as I read through this story.  I thought that if I have chance to watch this play “THE SAND STORM”, I really want to see it.  I think it would be interesting.     

     

About Sean Huze　　http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1011341/ 

The Things They Carried

 

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When I saw the book cover, I knew the story was talking about the war. I expected the story was serious and depressing. After I read the first episode "The Things They Carried", I realized that my guess was wrong.
Jimmy was talking about what every body carried. he said they all carried different things, when they went on the mission. It was interesting how these things expressed people's character. Jimmy carried Martha's photographs and her letter. I can feel how much he loves her but same times he is impatient with his situation. Martha was far away and he can't do anything with her. That's why he said "I loved her but I hated her."
It was interesting to read that there were two stories. one described a mission that was serious and heavy. It talked about all kinds of weapons which is I really couldn't understand. Also how heavy they were to carry. the other one described how much Jimmy loved Martha and cared about the girl. But I thought his love was twisted in his mind. This mixture of the war & love story was interesting.
When Ted Lavender died, he should have been sad and grieved but because there was Martha in his mind, he didn't. I think his mind was still in New Jersey and it wasn't there. That's why he couldn't accept the reality.
By the end of this episode, he changed. he tried to forget his girl, Martha and accept reality and concentrate with what he is doing and what he should do.
I think that he described not only what they're carrying as in material, he was also trying to describe what they were carrying as in different kinds of feelings, such as love, nostalgia, sadness, happiness, and longing.
It was interesting to read this story. it was more than I expected.

Here is about Tim O'Brien  http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-obrien-tim.asp        

Responding to a poem - Blog Post

　　　 The first one I chose "compendium of lost objects". by Nicole Cooley. There are three reasons I chose this poem (1) She uses many nouns as lost objects. Like, "Not the butterfly wing, the semiprecious stones, the shade of mirror" (Line 1-2), (2) She uses some colors in the poem. "or the pink- shuttered house on the streetcar line where you were married" (Line 9-10). (3) She uses simple words and simple sentences. I know that simple doesn't always easy to understand, but it was easy to read and easy to form an image in my brain with colors.

Also, i thought this was an interesting poem because of how she expresses herself despite the sad content. I just can't wait to analyze this poem.

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http://www.forpoetry.com/Archive/nicole_cooley.htm

  

The second one is "Song of Napalm for my wife" by Bruce Weigl. I chose this poem because I really didn't like it, because it's a long poem. I thought this one going to be a good challenge for me. After I read this poem, it's long but looks like short story more than a poem. Another reason  I chose this poem was because he wrote this poem for his wife. I wondered, why this poem started with a scene of a storm. in the middle of this poem, I thought this poem was a love letter for his wife. But if I'm right, i found out that his wife died and he wrote this poem because he missed her. Also he wrote about the war. I really couldn't understand this poem, so it going to be a difficult

one. Overall, I thought, this poem was sad, but same times it's beautiful and deep.

 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/bruce-weigl   

After I read Sam Hamill's essay

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       After I read his essay, to be honest I really didn't like the topic. I know, it is reality and we have to know and we have to accept. But one thing, I did like reading about other people's experiences. So I enjoyed reading his essay and at the same time it made me think about so many problems we have in our world

       He said that "The battered child will grow into the child batterer" (Sam Hamill, "The necessity to speak"). I agree with him and most people repeat from generation to generation. But I don't think that all people become child batterers. Some people who battered a child realize that battering is not a good thing to do to other people. This is a famous story : When Hitler was little, he was a batterer child, too. He become a atrocious human being.

       He said, "The man who slips off his belt to spank his naughty child is about to commit felony assault" (Sam Hamil). I think, something is wrong with people these days. We need to perceive to know differences between abuse and nurturing. We can't spank our children? Even they do something really bad? I think, if adults overprotect children, they will not respect people(adults or teachers), they think they can do anything they want even it's wrong.

       We need to speak up, but it is not easy to do for some people. So, I think that it's wonderful thing that he is helping people to express their feeling with writing. Sometimes, when children have problem in their house, they can't speak up but they're trying to express their feeling with picture.

       I never experienced either abuse or domestic violence. So, i can't understand 100%, how they feel exactly but I can imagine that it must be a horrible thing. I hope we can teach our children about reality and violence. I hope someday, we can live in a world without violence. 

Here is more information about Sam Hamill   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sam-hamill