In this blog I will be talking about the story Ernest Hemingway wrote called Hills like White Elephants. This story takes place in the 1920’s in Spain. There is a couple in a train station waiting for a train. They order alcohol and sit down and talk to each other. Their conversation seems somewhat distant from one another. They start talking about an operation the man wants the women to do. The train they are waiting for would be taking them to this operation. The women seems opposed to this decision. From the context clue in the story you figure out that the couple is talking about an abortion. At the end of the story it seems like the female has made up her mind on what she wants to do. The link to the story - https://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/calabj/298/Hillslikeelephants.pdf
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In this blog post I will be talking about “What You Don’t Know” by Lulu Wang. Her story is about her grandmother who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer but everyone in the family except for her knows. The whole family decided that they wouldn't tell the grandmother that she was sick. They thought by telling her she would get so upset that it would speed up her death. Everyone in the family but the writer thought it was the right thing to do. A link to the reading - https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/585/transcript
I did not agree with the families decision to keep the grandmother's illness from her. From my standpoint, if I had a terminal illness I would want to know because then I could try to do everything I ever wanted to and I could get all my ducks in a row. I also would want to have my proper goodbyes to my loved ones. I think that the family was keeping something that most people would want to know. I know that in the long run her grandmother did not die in the three months that was predicted but, that is valuable information that you shouldn't keep from someone. How could you decide what is best for somebody else? Especially with information about their own death/life. I have never made up a lie as big as the family in the story did but I have told many white lies to people in my life to either make them feel better or to lessen the blow of something that could hurt their feelings. I think something super important should be told. I would never lie about something that big or that would have such a big impact on someone's life. The only time I have told a lie that has made an impact on me is when I was little and would lie about very obvious things that weren’t true and I would get in trouble from my parents. I never learned my lesson even though every time I lied I got in trouble. Today I rarely lie and if I do it is only small little white lies.
In this blog post I will be writing about “My Name Is Margaret” by Maya Angelou. This story has to do with Margaret and her boss Mrs. Cullinan. Mrs. Cullinan was an ugly, fat, white women who was racist and mean to her servant Margaret. She would constantly try to change her name to Mary. Margaret hated this and ended up breaking Mrs. Cullinan’s most prized possessions as a way to oppose her authority. A link to the reading - https://davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com/My+Name+is+Margaret
I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and green cups. I think Mrs. Cullinan deserved to have her favorite dishes broken because she was rude to Margaret and was trying to change her identity without Margaret's consent. Cullinan constantly was putting Margaret down and disrespecting her to the point where Margaret couldn’t take it anymore .Margaret had the right to disobey Mrs. Cullinan by smashing her dishes because it finally got her to call Margaret by her real name. Anytime that I disobey an Authority figure it is usually when what they tell me to do something that I find is unnecessary or not in my values. Most of the time I follow what the Authorities tell me to do because I believe it is easier to follow their commands instead of going against what they say. I know that other people would tell you to fight what you believe is right, I also agree with that, it’s just that I have a hard time standing up for myself in everyday situations where no one is purposely trying to put me down . If someone was actually trying to get me to just follow their rules I would go along with them because I don’t know how to stand up for myself. On the other hand if someone else was being oppressed, I could easily stand up for them and fight, I have an easier time helping others than I do with helping myself.
The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova): ● "When I'm really working I don't like to go out or have anybody to dinner, because then I lose the hour. If I don't have the hour, and start the next day with just some bad pages and nowhere to go, I'm in low spirits" -Joan Didion ● "A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper." -E.B. White ● "The desk in the room, near the bed, with a good light, midnight till dawn, a drink when you get tired, preferably at home, but if you have no home, make a home out of your hotel room or motel room or pad: peace." - Jack Kerouac Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott): ● "Often when you sit down to write, what you have in mind is an autobiographical novel about your childhood, or a play about the immigrant experience, or a history of--oh, say--say women. But this is like trying to scale a glacier." -Anne Lamott ● "E.L. Doctorow once said that 'writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing." -Anne Lamott, E.L. Doctorow ● "Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it." -Anne Lamott Zen in the Art of Writing (Ray Bradbury): ● "The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought." -Ray Bradbury ● "How do you commence to start to begin an almost new king of writing, to terrify and scare? You stumble into it, mostly. You don't know what you're doing, and suddenly, it's done." -Ray Bradbury ● "I was beginning to see a pattern in the list, in these words that I had simply flung forth on paper, trusting my subconscious to give bread, as it were, to the birds." - Ray Bradbury Quotes 1. "Writing isn't an easy process, so do not pretend like it is." 2. "Whatever I'm writing is never completely finished, just more polished that before." 3. "My writing takes me a lot time to complete and a lot of focus and criticism." I co-authored this post with: Connor McAveney, Vincent Beggarly, and Adam Eddahir
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AuthorGabriella D'Ambrosio. Blog posts on English Composition topics Archives
December 2017
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