#10-2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Empathy is the main theme of the novel and is the crux on which Dick's metaphysical reflection on the meaning of life hangs. Each character in the novel must deal with what it means to be empathetic and whether that allows someone to be valued as a living thing. Rick hates his electric sheep precisely because he believes it cannot feel any love for him, even though he cares for it. This feeling allows Rick to perform his work as a bounty hunter because he believes that androids, like his sheep, are incapable of true human emotion and therefore not worthy of life in a society in which life is the highest ideal. Rick notes early on that herbivores or omnivores are the only creatures with the empathetic impulse and that empathy is what allows humanity to survive.

Yet, Rick soon learns that androids may be capable of empathy and humans may be able to be devoid of empathy; this in turn causes a extreme shift in Rick's understanding of himself. Suddenly, Rick finds that the lines between what one can call living or what one can call not-living are blurred. Androids find their empathetic abilities with each other just as humans find the ability to be empathetic in a collective group. Humans, also, are capable of a loss of empathy. This is demonstrated through the character of Phil Resch who, Rick finds, enjoys killing simply for killing's sake.

Maybe famous more for its movie title, "Blade Runner", "Do Androids Dream of Electric Ship?" is one of the most well-known works of Philip K. Dickson. The novel takes place in the bleak landscape of San Francisco in 2021, severely damaged by a radioactive dust. Most of the Earth's residents relocate to a new colony on Mars. The dust killed many forms of living creatures, and thus life had become extremely important and valuable.

There are two kinds of life in the world of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Ship?". One is the "real" life of real humans and animals, and the other is the "fake" life of androids. Rick Deckard, the protagonist of the novel, is a bounty hunter of the San Francisco police department who "retire" androids who have escaped to earth from Mars. To distinguish the two types of life, Deckard uses a test called the Voigt-Kampff Test which assesses for empathy by asking a serious of questions that are supposed to illicit emphathetic responses. Only humans can pass this test, the developer claimed.

Throughout the story, Rick finds out that androids may be capable of empathy and humans may be devoid of empathy. Phil Resch, for example, is a "human ... who enjoys killing just for the sake of killing". Pris, Roy and Irmgaard are the representative androids who feel emotions toward each other, emphathizing their own fear of being hunted by bounty hunters, their wish to escape from their discriminatory life on Mars, etc.

Therefore, Rick finds out that the lines between the "real" life and the "fake" life are blurred. His enlightenment is represented via his treatment of toad -- when he finds out that the toad he discovered is an android, he does not disappoint, but instead, feel with his true sense of empathy that he could maybe love the toad just as if it were real.

In today's world, where computers, artificial intelligence, and robots start to take more important stance, the question of whether the "fake", human-made, artificial creatures can feel emotion continues arising. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is one of the most prominent science-fictions that answers to this question; for sure, androids can also feel empathy, and humans can sometimes lack empathy -- the distinguishment between androids and humans just get harder and harder.

#9-2. The Lottery

To almost the end of the story, the writer does not mention about the real truth about 'the lottery'. The townspeople seem to be longing for the event, enjoying it, with such a certainty that even young children possesses. At the climax, the readers are shocked to learn that the purpose of the lottery was for choosing a person to kill, and then they can truly understand some mysterious details appeared previously -- why Mrs. Hutchinson seemed so frightened when she was selected, and why the nearby towns abandoned the lottery tradition one by one.

This story shows the power of tradition. According to the old man Warner, the lottery has been held for at least seventy-seven times. Now this tradition is regarded as such a crucial part of the townspeople's  lives that they believe abolition of the lottery would lead to "living in caves, work any more, live hat way for a while". It is unquestionable that the lottery is a barbaric, gruesome practice that cannot be held among normal people; still, this nonsense is happening in this town. What is more surprising, the villagers don't really know much about the lottery's origin, nevertheless keep performing because they've always held it. Such practice of lottery, without no reasonable reason or even the root, emphasizes that tradition has power to make the most irrational event happen.

To suggest the possible origins of the lottery tradition, first guess is unity, and the second is wish for good luck. Because tradition is what almost every members of a society keeps, it is an effective means to bring together the entire community. For example, hajj, the Islamic tradition of traveling to Mecca, allows the Muslims to unite during the pilgrimage. In "The Lottery", the tradition allows "the people of the village ... gather in the square", the children "talking among themselves", the men "speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes", the women "greeting one another and exchanging bits of gossip". Although the tradition itself is cruel and meaningless, the process of the lottery allows the townspeople gather, communicate, and share a sense of unity.

Another possible reason of the lottery's origin is praying for happy occasions  Thanksgiving, for example, is a traditional holiday which gratitude for a good harvest. In The Lottery, Old Man Warner claimed, "Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns." This reference shows that the townspeople perceive the lottery to accompany a heavy harvest. Considering that the story takes place in a small ("only about three hundred people"), suburban town, where farming accounts for major tasks, the lottery promising a successful agricultural life would be heavily counted and rarely doubted -- which means it would continue on, without any significant change.

Shirley Jackson, in her short novel "The Lottery", demonstrated the power of tradition via illustrating the townspeople's participation in a gruesome ritual. The story emphasizes the potency of tradition by suggesting no clear reason or origin. However, Jackson leaves slight hints about the possible sources of how tradition started -- unity, and praying. The tradition itself seems so horrible and irrational, still the procedures of performing that tradition serve the function of unity and pray. This is why the villagers first started the lottery, and maybe, why they are still preserving this tradition.

#12-2. Fish Cheeks

Fish Cheeks, a reflective essay written by Amy Tan, is one of the top-notch examples of 

well-written reflections. Even with its short length – only 500 words – it conveys a lot of contents, including Tan’s emotions (when she felt ashamed in front of the boy she was crushed on), a life lesson that Tan’s mother wanted to give Tan (“You must be proud you are different”), etc.
There are several factors that make this essay so attractive: first, vivid descriptions; second, honest tone; third, irony of the last sentence.

First, Amy Tan vividly describes the Christmas food, the people’s actions, and words, even though this event happened when she was only 14 and more than 10 years have passed. It is evident that Tan would not be remembering all the details of her 14th Christmas; nevertheless, she described things vividly – “The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food”, for example. This makes the reader forget that this event happened a very long time ago, thus focus into the story much more.

Secondly, Tan’s tone throughout the essay attracts the readers. Tan is being very honest about her emotions to the readers. From the very first paragraph, she confessed that she was crushed on a boy – which is, definitely, a “secret” for a fourteen-years-old girl. Also, throughout the essay, she speaks honestly about the embarrassment she had experienced ("Dinner threw me deeper into despair," or "I wanted to disappear," for example). This honesty about her personal feelings bestows such an intimacy to the readers that they feel close to Tan – as if they are teenage friends of Tan, sympathizing to her embarrassment in front of her crush – therefore focus much on her story.

Third, the irony of the last sentence is what makes this essay different from ordinary diaries of teenage girls. The irony is that her mother "had chosen all [Tan's] favorite foods", but Tan did not enjoy it because she was ashamed of her culture different from the American's. This sentence shows that Tan's embarrassment of her own culture had been serious – so that she refuses even her favorite menus – and at the same time infers that the mother indistinctly predicted Tan would be shamed, and thus tried to reduce her humiliation by providing Tan's best menus. Therefore, this sentence underlines the mother's love which tried to protect her daughter from indiscreet embarrassment of being "different", deeply moving the readers.

Via Tan's effective use of vivid descriptions, honest tones, and ironical last sentence, Fish Cheeks makes its readers to focus and to be moved. Hope I can be a writer like her, whose works capture the readers' mind and convey message emphatically. :D

#11-2. Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story

"Hey, I got accepted in the band club!"
"Umm... I did quite well in this test."
"Have you never heard of 'Daft Punk'? They play really good electronic musics."

It was my first semester in KMLA. I was suffering from the sense of inferiority, among numbers of friends who seemed much smarter than me. My roommate was one of them; whenever she said something, I gazed at her in jealousy and envy. She was a member of a popular school club, she was often considered as one of the most good-looking girls in our wave, she did well in her classes, she knew lot more about music than I did. Every single act of her made me feel nervous; the feeling, soon, started to be expressed at my attitude toward her. Whenever she talked about her band club -- when is her debut stage, what music she is going to play, who praises her that her guitar play improved a lot -- I pretended I was busy, and didn't have time to talk with her. When she was chatting with boys, I disturbed her on purpose.

Looking back, I was just so childish and immature. But what that experience taught me is that balance is a crucial factor in human relationship. If one person is too superior, the other feels restless -- "Is this the right place for me?" "What is so superior of her?" "Why am I thinking these things? -- she's my nice friend!" all those complicated, mingled thoughts. This, exactly, is what is happening between Ron and Sarah, in "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story".

Ron and Sarah are very different; Ron is "effortlessly attractive, a genetic wonder, tall, slender, symmetrical, and clean". Sarah, in contrast, has "ugly face, like a wart hog's, thick, rapid voice, dumpy, off-center wreck of a body", and there are "a few women who were more unattractive than Sarah". Ron is a young, somehow-rich lawyer divorced with a beautiful fashion designer wife, whereas Sarah is a Rumford Press worker, recently divorced with "husband who was a bastard and stupid". There is nothing in common between these two characters except they both experienced unsuccessful relationships. Yet, amazingly, these two becomes lover.

Their relationship, however, is unstable from the start. When Ron invites her to his house, and asks her to sleep with him, Sarah hesitates and answers, "I don't know ... You and me... we're real different. ... I gotta go. I gotta leave now." Ron also "won't go out in public" with Sarah, in embarrassment to admit that such a good-looking-man is going out with an unattractive woman. At the end of their relationship, Ron cruelly abandons their relationship, cursing "Go on and leave, you ugly bitch".

To anyone, it is clear that Ron's stance in their relationship was superior, while Sarah's was inferior. Throughout their relationship, however, it is mostly Sarah who approached to Ron first. It was her, for example, who starts the relation by sitting next to Ron at the bar and initiates a conversation. Though Ron is interested in knowing someone different from him, and responds to Sarah's approach, he rarely acts first; it is, again, Sarah who starts their second conversation, who quibbles over their relationship (inquiring Ron about not going out with her in public, for example), etc. During such of her active approach, Sarah must have felt anxious about Ron's passive response -- she must have suffered from numerous questions, such as "Why isn't he showing stronger response?" "Do I love him more than he loves me?" "Am I not his lover -- just someone who follows and irritates him?". All these questions drives Sarah to be impatient, nervous to Ron, which creates more and more conflicts so that it ends their relationship at last.


"The Most Beautiful Woman in Town" also deals with similar topic; Cass, the most beuatiful woman in town, goes out with the narrator, one of the ugliest men. Although this story ends with Cass's death -- another "end" of relationship -- it is evident that the relation between Cass and the narrator is more stable than that of Ron and Sarah. To suggest a possible cause, Cass, the superior, is the one who approaches first to the narrator, the inferior. Compared to Ron and Sarah's relation, which the inferior approaches the superior first and therefore felt all more inferiority that she alone is expressing too much attention to the superior, Cass the superior allows the narrator opportunity to see that the superior also has weak points and needs to lean over the inferior.


"Balance", without doubt, is an important factor in human relationship. Once one starts to feel inferior to the other, the questions arise endlessly so that one cannot stare the other without envy or nervousness any more. This is what happens in "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story". To minimize the effect of unbalance, it is important for the superior to show that he/she also has inferior points that needs to be comforted by other -- as Cass did in "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town".

#8-2. Faction: Motivated from "The Conversion of the Jews" -- No Impact Man Project

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

September 26 2012

Faction (Motivated from The Conversion of the Jews): No Impact Man Project

No Impact Man Project (n.) a project devised and performed by Colin Beavan and his family; living a life that influences the environment as least as possible

"You know that you're a real freak to put this plan into practice, right?" Nicolle asked. "No Impact Man Project? Are you sure this is a feasible plan?"

"Relax, Nicolle, take it easy. Just a half century ago people lived well without using all those transportations and electronic goods. There's no reason that we cannot do this," I said.

"Why do you care about the Earth for anyway?"

"Well, you know what I would say. Earth is constantly being contaminated by us; even at this very moment, our air-conditioner, on-television, and leftovers of fast food we just finished off few minutes ago contributed in Earth's decay. I'm suggesting helping the Earth a little bit by restraining ourselves a little bit," I concluded, reading my wife's countenance to see if she was angry with her irksome husband. And yes, she was; Nicolle turned her back on me and gazed into the television, which her favorite TV show was playing on.

"Okay, understandable. But why do WE need to do this? There are so many people who are enjoying their life without paying slight attention to the Earth. I'm definite that our acts would result in nothing but a very, very minuscule delay on the Earth's collapse. ... You know what I mean? I don't see a clear outcome that will justify all the inconveniences we would be demanded to suffer for next twelve months," Nicolle finally said. Her shoulders were trembling.

I suddenly felt sorry for her; yes, she was right. No matter how arduously my family performs the project, millions of people would continue to waste, consume, dump, etc. The Earth would keep on decaying despite our project, and the outcome of this project must be tremendously small compared to all the efforts we are going to devote.

Still I wanted to challenge; I wanted to see if it was possible for us to live without televisions, newspapers, fast food, air conditioner or electric heater, etc. I wanted to see if I could live with influencing the environment as least as possible. And... this is my secret hope that I didn't tell to my wife, because I was sure that Nicolle would gaze me as if I am the greatest nut in this world, but I sincerely hoped to achieve victory in No Impact Man Project, thereby instigate people around me to follow me and do the project themselves. Maybe then, the outcome would be larger, and it may contribute … “significantly” in delaying the Earth's decay. MAYBE. But holding expectation and hope is not something bad, right?

Isabella was crying. I looked at the watch; it was definitely not a meal time, so she must be calling me to change her diaper. I groaned -- this was, actually, the moment that I did not want to confront. I made few contracts with Nicolle to make her participate in this project, and Nicolle negotiated by letting me do some bothersome and irritating tasks. Changing Isabella's diaper was one of them.

I looked environmental-friendly diaper that I decided to use instead of disposable one, in hope that my discomfort would help the Earth. Reading the instructions carefully, I folded the new diaper and attached it with a pin between my daughter's legs -- which was the most thrilling and frightening moment that made my hands shake frantically.

Actually, changing my daughter's diaper was not the only ordeal I faced during practicing No Impact Man Project. The project demanded me eat only local food, made of agricultural products within 500 miles, and this meant that Nicolle could not drink coffee anymore. She was literally mad at me, and after appeasing her for more than an hour, I promised her to grow peppermint and make her mint tea every day. That was a labor.

Nicolle and I were both suffering from the steaming hot of NYC, August. We opened the window, fan ourselves frantically, nibbled chunks of ice, but never turned on air conditioner. Nicolle was missing her Chelsea Lately, and I missed electric light bulb that enabled me to work even after the Sun sets. We were exhausted after climbing stairs to the fourteenth floor, and we thought that we were going behind time, since we could not read newspapers and catch the top issue for that day.

#7-2. Reflective Essay: Big Two-Hearted River

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

June 3 2012

Reflective Essay: Big Two-Hearted River

          AP European History is one of the most demanding subjects among all APs. I heard a lot of complaint and plea from my roommate who took the test last May. One of the major discontents she told me was that World War I and II took so many part of whole history. Despite the short period – a little more than three decades – World War occupied more than one fifth of total contents. As this short anecdote implies, the importance that World War holds in the history is considerable. It is not surprising, thus, to find numbers of literature works discussing what happened in the War, how the War influenced the age, etc. Big Two-Hearted River (Ernest Hemingway, 1925) is one of those works, talking about soldiers’ healing process without direct mention about the War.

          Regardless of below-the-surface-mention about the War, it is obvious that the protagonist, Nick, is suffering from post-traumatic disorder after participating in the War. This is revealed from mainly three “lacking” elements in this short story; dialogue, social aspects, and emotive description.

          First, lack of dialogue. Throughout the story, dialogue appears only three times – even they are very short (“Go on Hopper.” “Jesus Christ.”) The reason Nick is so unforthcoming is to forget about the War. Once he starts to talk, and a single word pops out that triggers small memory from the War, all the dreadful experiences would crawl out from the suppressed memories and torture him again. This is why Nick stays away from conversation; to prevent any situation that might lead him to recall about the War.

          Second, lack of social aspects. What “social aspects” refers to is Nick’s family, friends, school life, or any other social relationships. Nick is completely alone, from the start to the end of the story; it is evident that Nick is unrelated to the society. When confronting the parent, who feels curious about things that happened to their son in the War; when confronting the school, where most of the friends that he has studied together only few years ago are dead from the War, Nick is obliged to recollect dreadful War memories. This definitely is the least thing he wants to do, which explains why he does not hang out or even mention about his social life.

          Finally, lack of emotive description. Hemingway’s writing style in this story is very descriptive, but not “emotively” descriptive, rather “objectively”. That is, most of the depictions deals with Nick’s actions, not emotions. To illustrate, Hemingway wrote “Nick’s hands were shaky”, not “Nick was strained”. Hemingway intentionally excluded Nick’s mode throughout the novel, to express the insensibility that the War participants experienced. During the War, emotions are unnecessary. In All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929), another masterpiece discussing devastating episodes during the War, Paul the narrator commits that “[Soldiers] have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for [soldiers].” To Paul and all the other soldiers, mourning over comrade’s death is just a dangerous act that enhances the risk of being shot to the gun. Considering that Nick has just returned from such emotion-less War, Hemingway’s “objectively descriptive” sentence style makes sense.

          What Nick does to tear off trace of the War is to walk into the nature. The story’s title, Two Big-Hearted River, is the place that helps Nick “cure” himself and “overcome” the swamp of the War by confronting two kinds of heart – Heart of the Past and the Future.

          Heart of the Past signifies the fixation of the River. After returning from the War, Nick feels everything has changed; parents unable to sympathize and share his pain from the War, classroom vacant here-and-there. But the River does not change; it stays in the place where it has been, as clear as ever. The River makes Nick able to connect himself before the War and after the War – it assures Nick that youthfulness and pureness he possessed before the War may be still remaining inside him, and might bloom again. That is, the River’s Heart of the Past gives him hope that he will be cured, and freed from scars of the War someday.

          Heart of the Future refers to the ceaseless flowing characteristic of the River. On its way to Nick’s town, the River might have suffered numerous crises; cataract, rapids, etc. Still the River’s future is to keep flowing with past wounds, not to stop. Looking the River that shares the same pain with him, Nick is comforted, and is motivated to keep living even with unforgettable scars, just as the River does.

          Hemingway wrote that “Nick did not want to go down the stream any further [that day]”, where “fishing was a tragic adventure”. This shows that Nick is not completely cured; he is not yet ready to face the challenge, the danger that he has so frequently confronted during the War. Still he says that “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”, indicating that he will keep on curing himself in the nature, consoled by the River.

          Paul, in All Quiet in the Western Front, said that “we [the soldiers] were eighteen and had begun to love the life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces”. The War made Nick also to shoot the years he had lived. But the River helped Nick to arrange the pieces back, connect this re-attached past to his present, thereby be courageous about continuing life. It seems indisputable that one day, Nick would be able to discharge from the hospital of Nature. 

Writer's Comments

           Reading pieces about World War, I feel grateful to God that I wasn't born in that age. The shock that I felt after reading All Quiet on the Western Front for the first time -- it was just so destructive and, thus, tragic. (Impressive Quotations that I picked and posted on my another blog: HERE)That was, maybe, the reason that I read Big Two-Hearted River while continuously murmuring "Thank heavens." I felt relished as reading the nature curing Nick. Maybe this was the same way that people in Hemingway's age felt, maybe this is why this piece grabbed so many people's attention in that age.

           Right now I'm starting Hemingway's another work about World War; A Farewell to Arms. Ever since hearing the summary of this story when I was thirteen or something -- this book has always been on my wish-to-read list. Hope A Farewell to Arms also brings me great inspirations, just as Big Two-Hearted River did :) 

#6-2. Reflective Essay: The Garden Lodge

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

June 6 2012

Reflective Essay: The Garden Lodge

As the World War I came to the end, and the survived soldiers returned to their homeland, they were no more naïve, youthful lads. “Youth…? That is long ago. We are old folks.” In All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929), Paul, the narrator, compares men of forty to twenty; the older men were “linked up with their previous life … wives, children, occupations … background which is so strong that the War cannot obliterate”, whereas younger men have only “parents, and some, perhaps a girl, some enthusiasm, a few hobbies, and school. Beyond this … life did not extend.”

Men of forty, before the War, were already holders of some responsibility. They were responsible for supporting their family, or responsible for the job they chose to work on. If they abandoned their responsibility, there was no one who could substitute vacant place; therefore, men of forty had a firm place that they can, and must, return even after the War.

The situation was, however, very different for men of twenty. They were not in charge of anything yet; their parents were not that old to be supported by them, their girlfriends were not their wives that they should provide for, their hobbies were not field they had studied and worked devotedly for years. Lack of responsibility promised no firm place to return for young soldiers, which is why the soldiers “lost” all the responsibility-less, uncertain life they had before the War. The experience of loss made them to be afraid of another loss. They, thus, started to avoid challenging tasks in their future life that promise higher possibility of loss. However, by doing so, they were already losing chances to challenge, chances to live more fully – they were losing better future. Paul says that “nothing remains” for men of twenty – both past and future – which was why this generation was entitled the “Lost Generation”.

The term Lost Generation, however, is not only applicable on the soldiers. The tendency of losing past and future also appeared in other stratum; in The Garden Lodge (Willa Cather, 1905), Caroline Noble, the protagonist of the story, is a representative example.

Young Caroline wished to be a pianist, just as her father. However, as her father was crippled with debts and her brother committed suicide, she gave up that dream and stayed away from the piano – the loss of “past”. Instead, she married to an older man from Wall Street, who promises confident “money, position, energy, vigor of the robust person” to her. Depending on her husband, she does not need to worry about uncertain future. Her dependence, however, results in lack of her free will; that is, Caroline will not challenge herself. Her life will be safer but much duller – she will lose “future”.

What is different between soldiers and Caroline is that the former is “involuntary” Lost Generation, whereas the latter is “voluntary” one. The soldiers were “forced” by the War to hit pause to their life with parents, girls, and school, thus the direct and unique cause of their loss was the War, irrelevant to their will. However, for Caroline, she had opportunity not to lose. She once met this man, Raymond d’Esquerre, a tenor singer who rekindles her passion to music during his stay in the garden lodge. After Raymond left, her husband asks Caroline if she would agree to tear down the garden lodge and build a new summer house instead. He gave Caroline opportunity to disagree and continue on her reawakened interest to music. It was Caroline, however, who deserted that chance by answering that she agrees the lodge should go – she “voluntarily” lets her past and future run away, choosing irresponsible but safe life instead.

Despite the War did not influence Caroline directly to be the Lost Generation, it definitely worked below-the-surface. Before the War, it was the Renaissance paradigm that ruled the world; from the Renaissance, “humans” (not God) were the focus of concentration, and it was believed that humans could be anything they want. The occurrence of World War, however, blew out the pre-existing paradigm. As the War drove humans to fight and kill each other, without even knowing the reason, humans started to depute the previous argument that humans are born to achieve divine purpose of living. They no more respected themselves as godlike creatures; they realized the “limit” of human. Such paradigm contributed in Caroline’s voluntary decision to be Lost Generation, by inculcating lack of confidence that her ability to deal with challenges (for example, restarting to play the piano) is not enough.

Among numbers of literatures that deal the topic of the World War, The Garden Lodge is worthy of notice in sense that it points out indirect effect of the War (voluntary Lost Generation). It is quite tragic that the tendency of Lost Generation clouded the whole society, not only the soldiers but also others such as Caroline.

Losing the past and the future may help the Lost Generation to live a safe life, just as Caroline did under her husband’s protection, but it may block the chance to achieve something. It is true that the Renaissance paradigm is quite exaggerated – humans definitely cannot attain everything they wish – still, some are achievable. This is why I wish the Lost Generation – at least “voluntary” ones that chose to be lost, and still have a chance to cancel the voluntary choice they made – to stand against their loss and makes attempt to find back their volition to challenge. 

Writer's Comments

I am quite sorry about this piece.  I have "ideas" in my mind, but I think I did not express it via this writing very well... :( Still,  it was a great pleasure writing this piece (interesting concept, "voluntary" Lost Generation, isn't it?). Hope readers understand what I tried to say in this essay... :) 

#5-2. Reflective Essay: A Dark Brown Dog

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

April 29 2012

Reflective Essay: A Dark Brown Dog

Ernest Hemingway once said, "All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was." Books reflect the reality – what “they had really happened” – and make that reality even “truer”, by including the author’s lens of how he/she views the world. When critics divide literature genre, thus, the criterion of classification is what happened when the literature work was written, and what paradigm the writers—in other words, intellectuals—possessed toward these contemporary events.

Naturalism is not an exception. It is a literary movement emerged and flourished from 1880s to 1940s. Two main historical events of this era—Industrial Revolution and the onset of World War—greatly contributed in forming people’s viewpoint of how they face the world. Industrial Revolution let people think that nature can, and should be, manipulated by mankind. As time passed by, however, naturalists started to express questionnaires about this belief; they argued that the nature was not “subordinate”, but “indifferent” to human. Jack London elaborated this claim in his short story, To Build a Fire, by using the dog as the symbol of nature. When the man died, frozen in the snow, the dog just left him to find another firebuilder, showing that the dog never possessed submissiveness, or affection, or any kind of emotion to the human – that is, the dog was indifferent.

The outbreak of World War, on the other hand, suggested the cruelty and inhumanness that human nature essentially possesses. Beforehand, humans proud themselves as “social animals”, believing they care about each other and act benevolently. During the war, however, they had no breadth of mind to be altruistic; their priority became survival of individual, even if that demands selfish acts harming friends. This is well described in Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. The soldiers do not feel any guilt in stealing fine boots from a friend at his last gasp. They justify themselves by saying that “all sense of other considerations”, such as morality or respect to passing friend, are “artificial”; the only thing important for them is not abstract ideology, but facts that “good boots are scarce”.

These two ideas – nature’s indifference and human cruelty – are reflected in most of the naturalistic pieces, including A Dark Brown Dog (Stephen Crane). Crane discusses the second topic much more directly and predominantly. It is easily inferable that the family in the story are impoverished; the family’s residence (they live in “dark tenement”), and the father’s drinking habit (child “dived under the table, where experiences had taught him was a rather safe place” as he saw “the father … drunk”), proves their poverty. This low social/economic status is very important; if, for instance, they are from wealthy, noble family, they would be much more “civilized” and “socialized”. Such exposure to society makes them to suppress their desire to act cruelly and selfishly, and to get along with others in much more ordered and amiable attitude. Impoverished people, however, forms fewer connections with neighbors and thus needs less effort to restrain their violent nature. Hence, their brutes are expressed more often, just like the family’s frequent use of violence upon the dog in the story. The climax part, where the father “knocked the dog down with a heavy coffee pot”, “kicked out with a ponderous foot” and “flung [the dog] … through the window”, clearly shows the naturalists’ claim – specifically, that men will tend to show off their brute instincts, if given opportunity such as poverty allows them to be free from society’s restrictions.  

The first theme, nature’s indifference, is much more implicitly discussed in the story. Rather than explicitly explaining that the animal—symbol of nature—is unconcerned about the man character, as Jack London did, Crane is interpreting the nature’s indifference that nature treats human just the same as animals, insects, etc. Humans usually tend to differentiate themselves from animals that they can control their emotions, while animals cannot; thus, animals are often described to be much more brute and savage than humans. However, as argued beforehand, Crane believed that when given proper situation, humans can be just as feral and ferocious – by regarding humans in the same light as animals, Crane’s work is classified as piece of naturalism.

*** Writer’s Comments ***

Reading A Dark Brown Dog and thinking why it is classified as naturalism work, I could easily find one major characteristics of naturalism – human’s dark nature. However, I had problem searching for evidences to the claim that nature is indifferent to humans. The solution I presented at last – that nature treats humans no more special than animals – is quite weak. This made me think that this piece is maybe realist work about violence. Still critics’ words that realism mainly deals with middle-class, whereas naturalism deals with low class, made me hesitate to classify as realism.

Jiyoon Rhee, in her comment, advised me that “(literary genre) was coined by future generation, not the writers back then. Therefore, the term only explains a general and common theme of the era, and each story does not have to fit in perfectly to the term.” (Original Comment is HERE)I agree with her statement, but I’m still curious – so is A Dark Brown Dog a naturalism work that just doesn’t perfectly fit to that category, or is there any part that could be an evidence of naturalism that I just passed by? Hmm… something to think about. 

#4-2. Reflective Essay: To Build a Fire

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

April 4 2012

Reflective Essay: To Build a Fire

Reading To Build a Fire (Jack London, 1902), the first thought that came to my mind was that this story got some sharing points with the core of existentialism. Existentialism is a paradigm originated and flourished during the early 20^th century, along with the World War I (1914-1918) and II (1941-1945). Two times of Great War resulted in taking away hundred thousand innocent lives who devoted their life for the nation. As looking back these individuals’ deaths, people stopped to follow the belief of Renaissance and Romanticism that humans have the ability to become anything they want. Instead, they started to look after the new fact that individuals, who previously seemed to have limitless potential, could confront their death within one second of being shot. This abrupt and ungrounded death made people believe that their life is futile and meaningless.

Consider Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka, 1916), for example; Gregor, the protagonist, devoted his whole life as a salesperson which tasks he did not enjoy at all, for the sake of his family. He, however, turned into a big bug one day, and thus could not earn money any more. The family, who had been staying at home, relying on Gregor’s wage, started to work; and ironically, it is proved that the family’s financial conditions get better than before. The family, satisfied at their new life, paid no attention to Gregor and let him die forlornly in a corner of his room. Unless how hard Gregor worked and sacrificed his life, his acts had been meaningless. Even when he believed that he was doing something great and noble, by supporting his family, it is known, at the last, that all of his “greatness” was good-for-nothing.

The protagonist of To Build a Fire is similar to Gregor in this aspect. He proud himself, and believed some kind of “greatness”—ability to travel the cold alone—was inherited in him. This was why he “grew very calm”, even after his first fire blotted out; he believed that he could save himself, in confidence of his own ability. But at the last, all of his efforts to survive from the cold and succeed in reaching the camp were appeared to be futile. It is directly mentioned from the story: “His idea … was that he had been making a fool of himself running around like a chicken with its head cut off … Well, he was bound to freeze anyway …” Such determined conclusion – that his death is inevitable, despite of how he proud his ability or how hard he tried – tells that all of his efforts were meaningless, which is quite similar to the core belief of existentialism.  

It is bitter that existentialism and this story regard one person’s life and efforts for survival as exercise in futility. I believe that there is, still, a way to prevent from being vain; once subjects of existentialism, including protagonist of To Build a Fire, admit their fault, they can escape from futile last. For example, people who participated in World War, toward its end, realized that their fighting had been thoughtless and wasteful. Regretting violence and hostility they had been holding toward each other, they finished the war and established UN, the global organization, to prevent the outbreak of World War III. If Gregor of Metamorphosis figured out his fault before his metamorphosis – that he had been excessively benevolent to his family – he may demand his family to work, instead of letting them rely totally on him. Then his family might experience the hardship of work, thereby learn what a huge sacrifice Gregor had been making. This realization, of course, would make them never abandon Gregor easily even when he turned into a grotesque bug. In the same way, if the man of To Build a Fire was less arrogant, then he would have listened to the advice of old-timer on Sulphur Creek that he must accompany a trail-mate, who could have built the fire and save the man’s life. It’s sorry how one’s flaw could be “fatal” enough to turn that person’s whole efforts in vain, if not realized in beforehand. 

#2-2. Reflective Essay: Poe's Short Stories

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

March 21 2012

Reflective Essay: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe is a renowned American author in the Gothic tradition. Gothic literature refers to one literary genre, first proposed by Horace Walpole in his novel The Castle of Otranto (1764), and is unique with its mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere, overwrought emotions such as terror, insanity or agitation, and use of dark, gloomy-imaged words.

Critics often say Poe adapted such style in his writing, based upon his unfortunate path of life. Poe was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, 1809, but his father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died a year later from tuberculosis. It was John Allan, a successful merchant, who gave Poe the name Edgar “Allan” Poe and raised him. He, however, never adopted Poe officially, and disciplined him strictly and aggressively. Grown up in forceful environment, Poe always lacked parental love. He married twice, as if he wished to supplement the insufficient affection upon him, but as his second wife died on 1847, he became increasingly unstable. He spent a lot of time drinking and behaving erratically. Within two years, he demised, which death cause is in mystery, but is assumed to be delirium tremens and/or heart disease caused by his alcoholism.

Considering that writings often reflect the writer’s own experiences, it is not a surprise that Poe’s stories are mostly dark, mysterious, and eerie. Two short stories, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, are not exceptions; reading those stories, I found few elements that are inferable to be drawn from Poe’s personal experiences.

In the stories, narrators are being obsessive over trivial issues. In The Cask of Amontillado, for example, the narrator buries Fortunado, his friend, because Fortunado “ventured upon insult” once. There is no specific mention how Fortunado insulted him, which makes readers be suspicious whether that offend was severe enough to justify the revengeful act of burying Fortunado alive. These “obsession” toward trifling details made me guess that Poe himself might experienced revengeful thoughts upon not-that-special, insignificant events. For example, it is known that Poe was disciplined under strict, violent foster father; usually, these parents scold their children for even the slightest mistake. Among various reprimand Poe received in his childhood, one of them—even though it is just another petty issue, not largely differentiable from other similar rebukes—might irritate him especially, thereby leading him to vow a great revenge to John Allan someday. Such of Poe’s real life experiences is precisely reflected via Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado.

Narrators’ obsession to trivial things does not only contribute in leading them to commit crimes, but also, to feel sense of guilty or confess easily. This is well described in The Tell-Tale Heart. The narrator thought that he feels no guilt at all; when the policemen knocked on his door, he “smiled” with “a light heart”, and “answered cheerily” to their questions. However, as he kept talking, he started to think that he hears something – “A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND – MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON”. This sound was an auditory hallucination created by the narrator himself – the sound itself did not exist, and was meaningless. The narrator, however, was obsessed with triviality, and put too much meaning on the sound that it is “the beating of [the old man’s] hideous heart”. His delusion of grandeur made him believe that the sound was increasing, and at last, unable to bear the loudening beat, he confessed his murder. The concept of hallucination and delusion of grandeur appear frequently when one is addicted in alcohol, and it is a well-known fact that Poe was a serious alcoholic. It is inferable that Poe might use his drunken experiences when writing his novel, so to emphasize abnormal psychological symptoms of the narrators.

Reading the two stories, I found that Poe’s real life is reflected in his writing thoroughly. Not only the general view that the overall plot of crime-related story or mood created by spooky dungeon remind readers of Poe’s miserable life, but also the use of specific details are noticeable. The narrators’ features – being obsessive over trivial things, both before and after committing a crime – seem to be borrowed from Poe’s direct experiences, regarding harshly-reared childhood or alcoholism. It was an interesting experience to me, to read literature works, while connecting the details with the writer’s own life. 

#1-2. Reflective Essay: The Ambitious Guest

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 11b3

Mr. Richard Menard

American Literature

March 6 2012

Reflective Essay: The Ambitious Guest

Frederick Douglass, a former slave and later an eminent leader of the abolitionist movement, wrote in his autobiography about the hardship he underwent when learning how to read. The more he learned, the more he read, and the more he suffered – because the reading “opened [his] eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out”. Books taught him that whites have no rational reason to enslave blacks, but did not suggest solutions to reform the unfair slavery system. Douglass yearned for past years when his illiteracy blinded his eyes so that he could not perceive the “horrible pit” he was inside.

This narration popped to my mind as the class mentioned the term “bliss of ignorance” while discussing The Ambitious Guest (Nathaniel Hawthorn). In this short novel, there lives a family in the “bleakest spot of all New England”, where mountains “towered above their heads so steep that the stones would often rumble down its sides and startle them at midnight”. The place is desolated; the family knows nothing of life in city, where rapid and extensive urbanization was taking place in those days. Instead of dreaming about glory, power, and wealth, the family lived in solitude, surrounded by magnificent nature.

One September night, a young traveler knocks the door of family’s cottage to ask for one night room and board. He, relaxed by warm and affectionate welcome of the family, starts talking about his “high and abstracted ambition”. The lad firmly believes that a great glory is waiting for him on his path of destiny, and refuses to live an unnamed, trivial life. Listening to his words, the family slowly starts to consent to him; the father states that “there is something natural in what the young man says”, that is, he is in favor of fervor ambition the lad holds. They then dream about things that they presently do not possess in their simple life. The father imagines that his life might be very different in city—maybe as a fair lawyer—from now. Succeeding her father, the daughter thinks about intense love and romantic adventures, which could never happen in the present monotonous and desolate life.

Once the family is inspired by the ambitious guest, and immersed by their own ambitious dreams, they do not notice the approaching catastrophe of the slide beforehand. In total confusion, the family and the guest evacuate to the refuge where they thought to be safe, but their judgment was wrong – they all crush to death in the shelter, while the house remained all right. What Hawthorn tries to say via such tragic ending is simple; that ambition is an evil, wicked emotion, and that dreaming about unattainable goal will eventually lead to destruction. Hawthorn indicates that if the family disregarded the lad’s ambition, saying that they satisfy with their ignorant life in this barren land, they would have been aware of the slide much quicker and predicts that the house is safer place than the refuge. As the Dark Romantics argue – that the truth of the world, once revealed, is dark, corrupted, and wicked – Hawthorn claims that it is better for humans not to be aware of ambition and larger world. He believes in the bliss of ignorance.

So, is ignorance really bliss?

Frederick Douglass once believed that his literacy was a curse that lead him agonize over insoluble problem of slavery. And later, he became the living symbol of an independent black American citizen, with his pungent anti-slavery writings and numbers of honor bestowed. Ignorance was definitely bliss in his early ages, but not in his whole life. If Douglass stayed illiterate during his whole life, he would have never realized that slavery is unreasonable, unfair system, thus never decided to devote his whole life as an abolitionist. His access to reading made him suffer at first, by showing Douglass a seemingly-insurmountable barrier. But by learning the existence of this barrier, Douglass could at least try to climb it, thereby contributing one step to the Emancipation Proclamation.

This is same for the family in The Ambitious Guest. Their exposure to the guest’s ambition, and desire for far-off dream, may seem futile and meaningless at first; it might make the family not concentrate on the present, thus bring them devastating end as the novel’s ending. Nevertheless, present is not everything; people need to dream grand future, so that they can endeavor to reach that goal and achieve improvement. If I were Hawthorn, I would bet on bliss of painful yet awakening enlightenment, not on bliss of ignorance – maybe my ending will not be traceless annihilation of the family, but them desperately trying to survive from the slide, to achieve their dreams of being a lawyer or falling in ardent love someday.