"I had to laugh 'cos I couldn't cry no more." -- anonymous
Angela’s Ashes is a novel filled with sad events, yet the author’s style always adds a touch of humor. In the scene we read, the nurse from Kerry asks, “What is there to laugh about?” What is there to laugh about in this story? What role can humor play in a sad story? Look up the word “catharsis” and see if you can use it in your explanation.
- The definition of catharsis is "the process of releasing strong feelings, for example through plays or other artistic activities, as a way of providing relief from anger, suffering, etc.".
- In the short excerpt of Angela's Ashes in our Textbook, there is a scene where Frank and Patricia are talking. When they were talking, Sister Rita, a nun, came and disrupted their conversation, saying that they should be no talking between them. Patricia, after Sister Rita left, starts to imitate Sister Rita, which made Frank laugh out loud. Another sister from the country Kerry came over and scolded Frank for laughing so loud, and Patricia again imitated the sister from Kerry.
- Frank laughs in the story because of Patricia's weird accent, and he also understands that Patricia is trying to be sarcastic and make fun of the strict and formal sisters of the hospital. It's humorous because of the contrast between the sister's formal and serious voice of talking contrasted to Patricia's "heavy accent" voice.
- Humor can do several things in a story. It can lighten up the mood of a story, cheer people up both in and out of the story, and it can also be sarcastic and make fun of someone or something.
Have you or anyone you have known ever been very sick? Have you ever been hospitalized or visited anyone in the hospital? If so, try describing the experience. Use your five senses, as well as your emotional response to the experience. If you have never had any such experience, try to imagine what it is like and describe it. Try to create a mood using your own personal style.
- Yes, of course I have been sick before. Fortunately, I have never had to stay in the hospital for over a day, or half a day, if I remember correctly. Being sick is an experience that most people had had at least once in their entire lifetime (except for some extremely lucky people). I have also known someone who had been hospitalized, and had even visited him before. That person was my grandfather. He had to stay in the hospital for an operation for a tumor (again, if I remember correctly). This isn't his first time stay in the hospital for an operation. When I visited my grandfather, the surgery was already down, so I did not feel as nervous and tense as my parents felt because I knew that my grandfather is alright at that time. I did, however, worry about his body conditions, because his body has taken too many operations and is now quite weak. Overall, I was relieved and worried at the same time. The hospital smelled like the typical hospital smell, and it was not very pleasant. I hope that I don't have to go to the hospital again, because I don't want to see anyone sick again.
How can our perspective contribute to the meaning of an event? In what way does a writer’s relationship to the people, places, and events she describes influence her writing? How might a memoir differ from a biography or a historical account? Why do you think perspective has the effect it does?
- Perspective decides whether the an event is counted as "good" or counted as "bad". For example, when a there's a girl who's starting to get popular has gotten, there can be two perspectives on the event. The first perspective is that this girl might be really bitchy, so some people decided to "give her a lesson". The other perspective is that another girl who is popular is jealous of the other girl becoming popular, and also wants to "teach her a lesson". Another example relates to the South, after the Civil War in the United States. Blacks were often tortured and killed by organizations such as the KKK even though they are now stated as "free and equal" individuals by the US Constitution. The two perspectives are that the whites think that they're doing justice, and that the blacks think the whites are being unjust and discriminating against blacks.
- Perspective influences a writer's writing by giving said thing (people, places, and events) a positive or negative mood. A memoir is different from a biography or a historical account because a memoir is more emotional than both of them. Perspective is effective because it affects the ways a person thinks and also mood.
You arrive at school and find that there is a big mess in the sofa area. Someone has left garbage from take out food, some clothing, textbooks, half-empty cups, and various papers scattered all over the area. Right away emails start to fly around in the discussion of the mess. For this journal, create three short email messages that might be sent by different people at school to discuss the mess. You can choose any three people from school that you want: teacher, student, parent, staff, or administrator. Write the “email” in a style that reveals the personal qualities of the person sending it. Try to imitate their speech patterns, tone, and diction.
To all PAS student:
This is ridiculous! You guys are already middle and high school students! And it's almost the end of the school year! Yet you are still so irresponsible? What are you going to do in the future if you are so irresponsible? In the future, id you are this irresponsible, you will never be successful! There are other students out there, working way harder than you! Whoever made this mess, and you know who you are, you better come and clean this! I don't want to see this mess still here when I come to school tomorrow. Is it clear?
To _____:
Hey, have you got the email that ______ sent? I got it, and you know, she sounds so~ angry. Did you make the mess? I don't think so. You're too responsible and serious. I can almost certainly bet that you and ______ didn't make it. I didn't too, but I know some of the people. Most of them are juniors, but don't tell them that I said that. They might be upset. Anyways, about...
To all hardworking PAS students:
Good day! PAS is one of the best schools that I have ever been to. The students here are hardworking, smart, but also knows what's fun and how to play. The students here are the best and aim to become even better. However, before we are able to achieve that, we must learn to become responsible students. This is very important. I want all of the people who have created the mess in front of the office at the sofa area to go and clean the mess without people pushing them. There must be a leader amoung these students! If that mess is not cleaned up, then I will have to unfortunately give the whole high school division a detention. So please go and clean up!
Review the essay by Jhumpa Lahiri in your text (pp. 448-450), then answer the “Talk About” and “Write About” questions on p. 451. Use the “Academic Vocabulary” on p. 451 to analyze Lahiri’s style and how she develops her subject. What was a major component of Lahiri’s growing identity as an American? How were the experiences of Lahiri’s parents and other immigrants different from those of subsequent generations? In what ways is Lahiri’s experience equivalent to that of other children of immigrants? Is the use of figurative language an effective technique in this essay? Explain.
- Talk About Jhumpa Lahiri's style is brought through to us by different techniques such as diction, or the author's use or words. She develops her subject through her detailed and descriptive components that are subsequent to each other.
- Write About Growing up in American, Lahiri's identity was not only defined by American cultures and traditions, but also by her Bengal culture and traditions. Lahiri's parents and other immigrants differed from subsequent generations because they were not able to be influenced much by American culture, ideas, and ways of life. Lahiri is equivalent with other immigrant children because they all have two identities - their original identity and their new American identity. The use of figurative language is an effective technique in this essay. The reason is that the figurative language allows us to understand different things in a new and different perspective that we might have not thought about before.
- I believe that it is Lahiri's two different ideas that allows her to be able to understand many different things that normal people wouldn't be able to understand, and it is those that teaches her and guides her as she grows up. Having two identities may be tiring, but it is also a very good tool in order to help you experience different experience that gives you the ability to create even greater works.
Most of you have a combination of cultural backgrounds. For example, you are ethnically Chinese, but you live in Taiwan and you go to an American school. Some of you have lived in other countries. Each of these backgrounds has a n effect on you, and they synergy created by two or more culture creates yet an additional influence. Try to describe the different cultures which influence you, and how they influence you. Which of your backgrounds do you think has the most influence on you? If you were a writer, how do you think this might affect your style?
- The cultures that influence me includes my Taiwanese culture, the Buddhist culture, and the influence that came from New Zealand. Taiwanese culture influences me through our Chinese traditions. One example may be festivals such as Chinese New Year and Moon Festival. Buddhism has a smaller influence in my cultural background. The one that influences me the most is that sometimes we go and pay our respect to several important gods and Buddhas, and also our ancestors. New Zealand also influenced part of my cultural background. As a child, I went to kindergarten in New Zealand and start learning English. I also learned many western traditions there, and met quite a large diversity of people. This influenced by English career.
- I believe that the culture which influences me the most is my parent's (and my family's) culture. I have lived in Taiwan most of my life since I was born 15 years ago. Also, since my family is Taiwanese and have all these Taiwanese/Chinese traditions, I am influenced by them as well.
- The cultures that influence me may also influence my style of writing. For example, since Taiwanese/Chinese cultures are not as open as western society, my writing style may be a little tradition and not open. But my western part of culture may influence me so that I am able to write more openly. I believe that it really depends on the subject to decide whether my writing style is open or not.
When can taking risks help you do the right thing? What sacrifices do we make for the people we care about? Has anyone ever taken a risk or given up something to help you? Have you ever taken a risk to help someone else? Under what circumstances would you consider doing so? Under what circumstances would you not choose to do so?
- When you have the right and considerable amount of risk while you are doing something, then it helps you. Sometimes when you don't take risks, you will never be able to escape a certain routine or pattern of life. Therefore, it is sometimes better to take some risk. However, one should never take too much risk. Of course, it would be fine if you were to benefit, but if you don't, you will lose a lot of things from taking that risk.
- Everyone makes sacrifices for others. To show some simple examples, I may sacrifice some of my time in order to for my schedule to match with my friend's schedule, so we can go out. Something that's more significant and life-changing may be when I risk my job for someone else, or putting my job on the line for someone. As I mentioned, everyone has definitely made sacrifices, including me making sacrifices for others, and others making sacrifices for me. I would choose to make sacrifices when I believe that the percentage of me benefiting from my sacrifice is about 55 to 65 percent. When the risk is way too large, and when I believe that the possibility of me benefiting from the situation is low, I would not sacrifice.
Think of an experience you had with nature or something you observed in nature. Maybe you were camping, or hiking, or maybe just going for a walk. Did anything surprise you? What role does nature play in our lives? How can nature surprise us? Can you think of how a writer might approach the subject of nature, and how it might be approached stylistically? How could different styles depict nature differently?
- Well, I do not have any specific experience with nature. If we really need an example, then we can say that an experience is when I walked in the park. There was nothing really surprising, but I enjoyed the trees and the natural breeze, etc. I believe that the role of nature in our lives is to provide us a living habitat, and also resources, and nature sometimes even provide us certain forms of entertainment, such as golf, etc. Another important role is that nature teaches us the mechanisms of life. Nature can surprise us because of two things. First, it has the power to destroy almost anything. Second, nature can recover from disasters that are caused by human beings.
- When a writer approches the subject of nature, they can create style by using personification, metaphors, similies, and other figurative language. A writer can also create different moods by using different tones (for example, each season has a different mood). Different styles can be creates when depicting nature because there are different reasons for writing about nature, and also because of the different moods.
- I believe that humans should cherish nature because one day, we may really destroy nature so much that it cannot recover. And that would cause extinction of ourselves. So it is not such a wise idea to continue to neglect what we have now.
Look at the painting on p. 445 of your textbook and answer the questions 1-5 on p. 444 and 1-4 on p. 445 (some are duplicates -- you don't have to answer twice). In your own words describe the style the artist used in creating this picture.
- What is the painting about? Is there action, or is it a still scene? The painting is about a room. It is a still scene, showing furniture, which include a bed with a squared blue blanket, two tables, one big one small, two chairs, a transparent vase, two colorful plates, with a one under the vase, a cup with many patterns, and a very colorful design on the floor.
- Consider the manner in which the painting's subject is presented. Is the subject depicted in a realistic or non realistic way? The subject depicted in the painting is quite realistic (or at least, in my opinion).
- Identify the artist's technique. How does the artist use color, texture, and shapes to show the subject matter? The artist uses clear contrasting colors to show us a special feeling. The artist also uses a lot of colorful and decorative colors to describe an object. Shadows are also used to show a feeling of dark and light.
- What mood is create by the artist's use of light and shadow? The light and shadow effect somehow creates a warm, house-like feeling. It makes the picture look like it's showing one of those no-room apartments where everything can be seen if you stand in the center of the apartment.
- What adjectives would you choose to describe the style of this still-life painting? The adjectives that I would use to describe the style of this still-life painting would be "warm", "relaxing", and "plain/simple yet colorful".
- How is the painting different from other paintings of similar subjects? This painting is more of a "shadier" painting (as I would describe it). I would say that it's a room in the afternoon, illuminated by the afternoon sun that is just setting. I would think that other paintings would be livelier.
