The Little Seamstress isn't so little anymore

3) There are many ironies present in the story. Choose one major irony and explain how/why the irony shapes the meaning of the story.



Luo is bitter and depressed that he must be "banished to the mountain" to be reeducated. He understands the wrong of trying to bend people to fit certain ideas or values, mainly because people are deciding for him how to think and act against his will. However, Luo is blind to the fact that he is trying to do some reeducating of his own. Luo sets out to "transform" the Little Seamstress into a "more refined, more cultured" young woman. His plan backfires. By reading her Balzac and other forbidden books, Luo, unknowingly until the end, plants a desire in the Little Seamstress to leave her little country side. He is left in the countryside while the Little Seamstress, who isn't so little anymore, sets off for the city. She has developed into this woman with a mind of her own. The irony is that if only Luo had not read her those books, the couple probably would have lived happily ever after. If only he had not changed her there would have been a different ending in which he would be happy. But by changing her he drives her away.

Throughout this book, the young girl becomes exposed to all the different worlds inside the powerful stories. These ideas and stories lead to a need for her own story and so she sets out to claim one. The innocent, ignorant, dutiful, uneducated, country girl develops into a independent woman looking for something more from the world. The books show her how much possibility is in the world.

Luo tries to "endow the lovely little seamstress with culture" and he succeeds. The books set her free into the world, to think and act for herself. Luo accomplishes exactly what he meant to but in addition he looses his precious cargo along the way.

Othello Test-Tragic vision

The characters are affected by Othello's actions because they are too trusting of their hero and of the world. Their downfall is not because of Othello's actions but rather because of their own trusting and loving nature. Cassio, Desdemona, and Othello himself are true and noble which is used against them by Iago. Ironically, their goodness and trust lead to the spiral of their own destruction.

Poor Cassio succumbs, like a "fool", to peer pressure. Iago urges Cassio to drink and Cassio listens to this advice most unwisely. His trusting nature of others blinds him to the real truth of what Iago is doing.

The problems began when Othello believed Iago's story instead of listening to the truth inside himself. Othello could not open his eyes to the real truth of Desdemona's loyalty because he put too much trust in someone completely fake. Othello's fears take hold of him and he lets loose on Desdemona. Desdemona's character trusts Othello so much that she doesn't see how unfair he's treating her. At the end of the play, her last words to Emilia were "I myself" was the killer. This demonstrates the blind love she feels for Othello.

The real evil of this tragedy was the overly angel-like qualities of the victims. The innocence and ignorance of the victims makes this play a tragedy.

Evil

I believe environment has a lot to do with who we are. Genes and whatever else we're born with have a smaller part. Your actions now depend on your past and how you were/are treated by the world. If someone is abused as a child, they're more likely to abuse their children than someone who had a non-abusive childhood. What the world throws at people is what people will throw at the world even if that retaliation is years later. That's not always the case but it is most of the time. I don't think anyone is evil just to be evil. People normally have a good reason to do so. But it's like a chain reaction and the evil gets passed on and passed on whether it's a person's kids or friends or anybody they come in contact with.
I think karma plays a part too. We're paying for stuff that didn't happen in this life. But for the most part i believe how we behave is due to our youngest years. We are taught things about how the world is and it sticks with us. You can't teach a old dog new tricks. If the information we process in our heads as a child is misguided but we believe it, it becomes extremely hard to see the truth as we grow older. For example, if someone is told they are stupid over and over again as a little kid, they will believe it because they don't know better. That's why it takes so many therapy sessions to re-learn and re-shape what goes on in our heads.

Whats love got to do with it

What makes love so complex?

We are complex, love is simple. People's brians get in the way. Love is about what goes on in your heart ( i know that sounds really corney) and not what goes on in your head. There's so much crap floating around in our heads that the way we connect to ourselves and know what we're really feeling gets buried. An apple, for example has one layer and then more layers and then more layers and then you get to the core. You have to eat all that stuff to see what the core looks like. This is impossible for us, except for the Dali Lama, because the way our lives are run is crazy and demanding and stressfull and busy. We're constantly worrying about the little things and don't have time to explore the big issues. That's why there are so many divorces- too many people are getting married before they know who they are let alone what they're looking for in a partner. So love gets complicated because we make it that way. Plus there are different kinds of love: family love, love love, friend love so that just makes love even more ambiguous.

With knowledge comes suffering

I miss my childhood but I'm also longing for freedom. That's a paradox right there. Growing up has different kinds of suffering. The people i've known my entire life are changing or maybe i'm changing. I don't feel like i've changed at all but of course when i look back at my 2 year old self i realize that's a whole different person. You have to let go of things as you get older whether you want to or not. Like people. Your family gets old and dies or you go away to collage and leave all your friends. Or you say goodbye to your childhood familiarities, like sleeping, due to the fact that there's no time in highschool and collage. I've learned procrastinating is bad. I've learned not sleeping is actually painful. I've learned stress makes your head pound. I've learned so many lessons that i forget some of them and then i have to learn them all over again. I think being a teenager is so difficult because we don't know what to do with our lives or which direction to take them in that we end up going backwards. But that's part of growing up- we live and learn and mess up and have our own experiences. All that prepares us for the real world.

All in the family

My grandmother used to be a big part of our day to day life. I didn't even realize at the time how much she contributed to our family. About 5 years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and moved closer to live near us in assisted living. On Sundays it became a ritual for me and my mom to drive over to Clairmont Oaks, say hello to her many elderly friends, and take her back to our house to have a big dinner. My mom would cook dinner while my grandmother played the piano. I would sit on the couch and do the homework I always left for Sundays. Except of course when my grandmother insisted on giving me a lesson which i consented to grudgingly. When i messed up on a note she would 'hit me' on the head and reprimand me with a shrill voice. I don't think she was serious. My grandmother was always making us laugh, she was hilarious. After dinner we sat in the living room near the fireplace and listened to her play more on the piano. Sometimes she would make my mom play which was painful since my mom knows one song that she can't play very well. Then we would all get in the car and drive back to Clairmont Oaks. Actually i hardly ever took these trips because i was trying to cram in some last minute homework.
A year ago my grandmother fell and had to go the hospital. She was in there for a couple months then moved upstairs to hospice. My aunt came over from England and my grandmother got to die with her two children by her side. Those Sunday night dinners are what i miss the most because they were so familiar.

After it's all said and done

All the time now I keep wondering whether each little thing i do is in my control. It's driving me crazy because i keep going back to the same fate/freewill question or i think of even more questions. ITS HORRIBLE AND TAKING OVER MY LIFE. The worst part is i believe more in fate than freewill. Fate controls us so everything i do was determined a million billion years ago. That's not a comforting thought and i feel like a puppet. An image of human veins always pops into my head, running in all directions, some parallel, some touching. They represent the unbreakable strings of the puppet, or in other words, fate with it's iron grip on everything.

I guess my interpretation of fate is different from other peoples.
In Oedipus his fate was to kill his father and marry his mother. The main argument for fate in this story is whatever he decides to do he's screwed. Any path he takes will lead to that fate. So the freewill in the story is that he can decide the road (metaphorically) he takes but his fate of those 2 things (killing daddy, sleeping with mommy) will remain the same. But what if all of it, his entire life, every little thing he did, was fated to happen? His father was fated to hear the prophecy which would lead him to cast his son away to die in the mountains or wherever. Oedipus was fated to hear the prophecy causing him to leave his home in fear of what it told him. Instead of just 'sleeping with his mother and killing his father,' his entire life was planned out before he was even born. So the 'story' can never change.
I understand that there were gods in that story which isn't exactly realistic. And that the gods planned his fate instead of just fate.

My interpretation of fate doesn't have gods in it. For now it's pretty scientific---based on genes and environment. I was fated to want to change my fate (since i want control back even though i never had it). But no matter what i do fate is always a step ahead of me, or many steps, and me thinking too hard about this was fated to happen. The things that happen to me cause me to react. Fate knows my reactions since it knew the base of me (before i was born). By knowing the base of me (spirit) it knows everything about me since it can determine how i will react and grow in this world. So I'm envisioning some arrows in my head now, pointing from the pre-baby-spirit-thing's mind/emotions/reactions to the baby's mind/emotions/reactions to all the other changes. And of course there are layers to all that. And by the time i die all the arrows will probably show a circle.

I don't know that made any sense. The last part was confusing to me. Thanks to you ms. williams my brain will explode soon.

FATE OR FREEWILL?

Well.. before this week I would have said freewill but it's a tough question now. I guess i would have to say fate. The more I think about it the more I realize how little control we have over our lives. We think we have control because it's our own decisions we're making but the decisions we make are determined by the environment in which we were raised. Or by our genetics. So each of our lives were planned out a long long time ago according to those two factors. The people we meet and the events that happen throughout our lives do not change fate because all of those were marked by fate as well. It gets complicated to understand because everything/everyone gets tied together by interactions but fate has a strong hold on us all, it knows our reactions therefore it knows our entire lives.
I wanted to say freewill. Fate seems like we're all in chains but at the same time it's kinda like someone's looking out for us which is both reassuring and annoying. Like an overprotective parent. I understand that fate isn't like a God; It can't feel or think for itself. It's some kind of mysterious energy that doesn't have feeling or consideration for anything it causes.

Live or Die in LA

I'd choose 1. I've decided that money or being famous aren't going to make me happy. I think the 'middle way' is the best way to go because you're suppose to live for yourself not other people. What does choice 2 give you besides fame and a big ego? You might feel accomplishment but you can feel so much accomplishment in a normal life. Maybe more. What's so important about people remembering you? I mean you're dead so you wont be able to see all that. Having accomplished a normal life makes you just as much a "hero" as doing something wildly incredible. So why chose the shorter life? Plus you get a chance to love more, laugh more, understand more and so many other things. True you also get the bad things like when people you love die or having to work and pay for things but all of those make you stronger. Something inside you grows and you're able to move on with life. That's the difference between 1 and 2. Choice 2 doesn't give you a chance to live (figuratively and literally). And that's what I'd miss the most.

Remember when...

When i was little i was obsessed with Raffie (i hope that's how you spell it) songs. I loved baby baluga and watermelon. Most of his songs were so upbeat and always made me feel happy. They were easy to sing along to and they would always get stuck in my head, forcing me to think about them all day. I would play them at night before i fell asleep in addition to every second of the day. Once i got to see him perform live! It was an amazing experience i still remember to this day. Some of us got to go on the stage with him and participate in the songs. We were jumping around, bellowing the lyrics and having the time of our lives. He seemed like a kid himself.
One of the reasons i enjoyed listening to Raffie was because of his friendly voice. He had warmth and inclusion in his voice that kids trusted. He was one of my friends even though i hadn't really met the guy.

The western world

This philospophy seems to speak in riddles. There seems to be many layers that you can't just read, you also have to use your brain. The western mentality expains exactly where they are coming from. It has more bulk to it. This other philosphy is very metaphoric and expects the reader to connect the pieces. It also seems to leave the reader asking more questions while not fully explaining the main question.
Siddhartha is trying to explain to Govinda what he has interpreted from the world or the river which are the same thing. His main point is that everything is connected as one. He says what you see and hear is decieving, that you never know how far along someone is. He continues to go deeper saying that everything is matched with it's opposite. Everything is one and the other. What looks like an imperfect world actually imbodies perfection.

Icons

Ok im going with the cross

The conundrum of high school

High school is a never ending race that continues on for miles. Not only do you have to learn in the prison for 7 hours everyday but you have to go home and do an average of 4 hours homework each night. This collides with simple everyday luxeries like eating, sleeping, and breathing. I won't even mention relaxing. Just when you lose hope and turn your back on the maelstrom it ends abruptly. You sigh with relief after finding out everything is ok because you didn't fail the oppressive class that sucked out all your innocence.
School is suppose to help build your character and fill your head with knowledge. Unfortunatley many people are unable to deal with the vigorous scedual which leds to stress which leads to self-worthlessness which leads to giving up. All that could be character-building or it could lead to a career of working at McDonalds. After i realized we were not going to be getting any breaks in high school, which took awhile, I knew i could never slack off if i wanted to get into collage. At least that's what everyone told me. And it worked- i was scared i would end up on the streets eating out of trashcans. But could i have learned this an easier way? Without so much stress over such little things?
High school helps us in many ways but it also can destroy people. There's pressure from all sides. Parents, friends, peers, teachers all expect you to be a certain way when you're barely just finding out who you are. There's not much room for experimenting, instead you're on the go every second.
I measure out my life with the times i get to just breathe. The times when i'm most myself not worrying about every unimportant thing.

Icons

Religion pervades our lives immensely. Even people without one are normally affected somewhat if not greatly by others. The Bible, Christ, and the cross are big icon examples that go under religion. These are a big part of many people's lives although not always interpreted the same way. The statue of Buddha is another religious icon which mostly represents peace and oneness etc.. and of course means different things to different people. The Jewish star, menorah and many other symbols, objects, or writings stand for something much bigger which have been a focus of people's lives.

Quotes

"'The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.'
His voice dropped to a whisper. 'Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, 'Love is the only rational act.'" -Morrie Schwartz Tuesdays with Morrie

"Facing your fears opens you up to all kinds of possibilities." -Chrisy Hauptman

"When you are not thinking that you have another moment, then naturally you can accept things as they are, you can see things as they are. You will have perfect wisdom at that time."
-Shunryu Suzuki

I chose the first quote because I've always tried to figure out why we're all here. Not scientifically but do we have a purpose? Or are we just here? Are we suppose to learn something before we die? Maybe we've had past lives and each life has shaped us in some way and next time our souls will be slightly different. And then my brain starts to hurt from thinking these things and so i stop.
I've kayaked big whitewater which is a huge rush and can be extremely scary for me. I keep doing this because it's amazing what you're left with after you've conquered something. I feel like there are so many possibilities and it just opens my mind. And that's the second quote.
Meditation, i thought, was something for oldish, very spiritual people. Then i tried it and found it helped me. I expected it to be boring just sitting there but I've realized how many thoughts we all have every minute. Siting there seemed to help me get them in order-what was important. And it's less stressful not thinking so many thoughts. So the 3rd quote expresses that.