Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an Americna poet and an important writer of th Harlem Renaissance, which took place during the 1920s and 1930s. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of grat artistic creativity among black people. Langston Hughes was the first poet to use the rhythms of black music. And he helped bring Jazz and the sound of black speech into poetry. He even wrote the poems in clubs while he is listening the blue and jazz. “The Weary Blues” is a poem that Hughes successfully combines the black music and speech inside. In “The Weary Blues”, we can feel the sense of freedom, like we are listening the jazz now. “I got the Weary Blues/And I can’t be satisfied”, these like a singer singing a song. When we read “And far into the night he crooned that tune/The stars went out and so did the moon”, we feel that the song is finished, the music is stopped.
Langston Hughes is also very proud that he is a black and proud of their culture. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers/I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young/I build my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep/I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it”, he is so proud to describe the African history. I think that the rivers represent the African culture and history; and they created many excellent African civilizations in the world. In “Theme for English B”, he express his feeling that as a colored man in his college, he admire to be equal with the other white. He does not believe there are any different between he and his white instructor. He is very proud to say “Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white—yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me—although you’re older—and white—and somewhat more free.” Even though Hughes has to admit that white men have more free than black, but black still is beautiful.

Internal and External Problems in Things Fall Apart

I think that the internal problem is that even though Okonkwo lost everything in Umuofia and had to start his new life in his motherland, he still wanted to be a manly man and tried to control everything using his heavy hand. The external problem is white men came into the village, built church and gradually spread their influence. Okonkwo was a man who did not want the white men to change their traditional life. Both of the internal and external problem enhanced Okonkwo more believed that they should against the white men by force.
Okonkwo longed to have a different life with his father who was poor, lazy, and coward, and did not have any titles. Okonkwo worked very hard since he was very young. He got his brave fame throughout the nine villages and got his titles. Okonkwo’s life had been ruled by a great passion-to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life spring (131). This was his admire and he did everything for achieving this goal. For this reason, he did not want to express his motion, because it felt like a woman. He killed his adopted son, Ikemefuna, because he did not want other people think that he was coward and weak, even though he really loved Ikemefuna, was called father by him, and treated him as his son. However, fate made a joke with him: he killed a clansman at a funeral because his gun exploded that was a crime against the earth goddess, so Okonkwo had to leave his clan and could not return until seven years later. He lost everything at this time and took his family to go to his mother’s homeland, Mbanta. In there, Okonkwo had to begin his new life, he still worked hard but he lost his passion. If he just felt uneasy after he killed Ikemefuna, he now felts very despair. He believed that his personal god was not made for great things. After his mother’s brother, Uchendu, talked to him, Okonkwo rebuilt his confidence and became to play a part in the affairs of his motherland.
At this time, white men came to Mbanta. The missionaries came to the village and built church. They wanted to convert the native people to Christian. After Okonkwo knew that his son, Nwoye, became to a congregation of the missionary, he felt very angry. He lost his control and almost killed Nwoye. Nwoye finally left his family and never returned. Okonkwo hate the white men and wanted to chase them out of the land by force. However, other people disagreed with Okonkwo, they did not want to intensify the conflict with the white men. This made Okonkwo feel unsatisfied. He thought these people liked women. He would like to be a man and resolved this conflict using his power of man.

Things fall part

Things fall apart is a novel about African life and write in English. Chinua Achebe depicts the life of Okonkwo who is a hero and wrestling champion in Umuofia. Okonkwo is respected because his good fame. However, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had (16). In Umuofia, people always evaluate a person’s wealth and status according to the number of titles, yams, wives and children. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, did not have any titles and only have one wife. Unoka is a failure, because his wife and children had barely enough to eat (5). He was lazy too, so he did not have any yam. People thought that Unoka was the weakest man in umuofia. Okonkwo does not like his father and wants to have a different life. He is very strong and serious. He began to support his parents and sisters when he was young. He works very hard and gradually possesses his yams, and married three wives. He wants to be a real man so he never exposed his motion except angry, even though to his children. He believes that the only thing worth demonstrating was strength (28). He roles his family using heavy hand. He wants all his families respect and obey him.
However, he commits a big evil in the week of peace. He beats his third wife because she forgets to cook the afternoon meal. Okonkwo actually worships god like other people, but he believes himself more than god or goddess. His father always tried his best to worship god and goddess for harvest and happiness, but he still very poor. When Unoka asked help to priestess, the priestess told him that his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm (17). And Okonkwo first borrow yam from his rich neighbor, he experienced the worst weather. He did not get any help from the god or goddess; he changed his life and struggled with his fate by himself. In his mind, strength is more important than god. That is the reason Okonkwo commits the evil when people try to keep peace for praying their harvest. He respects the goddess but he more believes his heavy hand and his strength.

Xi

Dairy of A Madman

Lu Xun writes “Dairy of A Madman” in 1918. At that time, Chinese were struggling with the old social system and tried to build a new one. China just destroyed the feudal system in 1911 and everything was in transition. Some Chinese still wanted to keep and protect the old culture and life style, while some people were committing to create a new social and culture pattern. There are a lot of conflicts at that time. “Dairy of A Madman” is published in this social background.
Lu Xun is a very famous author who is good at using symbolism and irony. In this story, the madman struggle with his family and other people. He thinks that all of them are cannibal and they want to eat him. He thinks his brother is a cannibal too, because his brother taught him some stories about “exchange son to eat”, devoured the villain’s flesh, Yi Ya steamed his son for king to eat, and a filial son should cook a piece his flesh for a sick parent. In fact, all of these stories are from ancient Chinese literatures that belong to old ethics. I think Lu Xun uses these stories and through the madman to suspect and criticize the feudal system and the old feudal morality. Lu Xun criticize that the old feudal ethics is cannibal, they can eat people.
In ancient Chinese custom, people usually think the oldest brother likes a father. In this story, the madman’s brother looks like his father, he began to manage the household very early, teach the madman, and can even control his fate. The brother looks like the father in the traditional feudal society, he is powerful. He is a symbol of the old style as well as a symbol of the four thousand years of culture. The author says “with the weight of four thousand years of cannibalism bearing down upon me, even if once I was innocent how can I now face real humans ?(31)” Even though the madman thinks he is innocent, but his is still a brother of a cannibal (25). In fact, all Chinese people came from the feudal system, educated in this system at that era. Today, Lu Xun is appealing that people should break the old system, but how can he really separate from the old culture? I think this is the reason that the madman just struggle with the cannibal people in his house. He is locked by his brother in a study every day. He cannot really divide himself with his family.
At the end of this story, Lu Xun writes: Are there children who have not yet eaten human flesh? Save the children……(31). For the author, children are China’s hope who can be educated in a new system, can separate from the old culture, and can build a new society and new country in the future.

Xi Li

A Doll House

Henrik Ibsen is one of the greatest playwrights in the 19th century. A Doll House is one of his major works and is published in 1879. At that time, women do not have rights equal with men, even in their marriage. In this play, Nora is a perfect housewife: she is very beautiful and lovely; she is a mother of three children and loves her husband very much. Her husband, Helmer, works in a bank as manager. He pays the bills for their family.
In Helmer’s view, his wife is a squirrel, a bird, and she has to depend on him. However, in their family, Nora saved Helmer’s life by herself. She borrowed money from Krogstad for saving Helmer’s life, and pay the debts by herself. She worked secretly at home very long time everyday to earn money. She thinks that she works like being a man. In fact, Nora is a very smart and brave woman. When Krogstad threatens her, she is not coward. She insists that she has tried her best to help him and won’t be threatened. Nora also believes that the relationship of she and her husband is equal in their family. She loves her husband and believes that her husband loves her with same. The fact destroys her dream. When Helmer knows what Nora did for him, he does not appreciate her instead to blame her. He claims that Nora is a liar, a criminal. No religion, no morals, no sense of duty (105). He does not give Nora any chance to explain, he just worries about his future, thinks that his world collapsed because his wife. After he reads the second letter from Krogstad, he feels that he is safe now. And then he tells his wife that he forgives her and let her lean on him. And he will guide her and teach her. In his opinion, Nora is his possession, his doll.
Nora is content with her life before this Christmas. However, she now understands her husband is only a stranger for her. They did not understand each other. She wants to get his husband’s respect, but she now knows that she is only his doll. She wants the right that a woman can protect her dying father from anxiety and care; a wife can do something to save her husband’s life (67). Nora also understands whether her father or husband have never cared about her taste, her opinion. They just tell her what they want and what they think. Yet, they both claim that they love her. The ways they love her like love a doll. Nora is not a doll. She has her own ideas, so she could borrow money by herself; she could pay the debt by herself. She is proud of herself. When she decide leave her husband, their children and house, she does not accept her husband’s any help. She is free now and independent. Also Nora always talk about Miracle, I think her miracle is a symbol of women have equal right with men as well as a symbol of freedom.
The irony is Helmer asserts that debts will make people lose freedom. He always thinks that his wife is her possession. However, his life comes from his wife’s debts. He thinks that he supports his family, but his wife has paid the debt by herself for eight years.

Xi Li

Crime and Punishment

In the first part of Crime and Punishment, the author wrote the crime. Then the story transforms to the part of punishment that is a kind of confession. Raskolnikov lives in fear and ambivalence. In the Charpter V of the Part III, Raskolnidov sees Porfiry Petrovich. Porfiry thinks that Raskolnidov may be the murderer. He talks about Raskolnidov’s article and tries to find some clues. According to Raskolnidov’s answer, he divides people to two categories, ordinary and extraordinary. In his opinion, ordinary people are lower, and have to obey the law. Yet, the extraordinary people are higher class and wise. These extraordinary people are lawmaker, they change the society and their own destiny, even sometimes they have right to sacrifice other people’s lives for their goals. Raskolnikov wants to be an extraordinary person. In fact, he cannot figure out his identity and always introduces himself as a former student. He is poor and does not work. He thinks that his job is thinking. He believes that he is different from other people. He struggles with his destiny and wants to change it. However, he is guilty after he murdered the two women. So he tells Porfiry that “any man who has one must suffer if he is conscious of error. That is his punishment—in addition to hard labor.” For him, the real punishment is not come from law but his conscious. “Suffering and pain are always obligatory on those of wide intellect and profound feeling.” He felt the pain now. His spirit is punishing himself. He tries to cover the fact that he murdered the women to everyone but his consciences forced him admit he is being punished.

Xi Li

Lines

Lines was written by William Wordsworth in July, 1798. At that time, William revisited the Tintern Abbey with his sister. He had visited there five years ago. Even though “Five years have past; five summers, with the length of five long winters!”(109), Tintern Abbey was still there and kept the peaceful like five years ago. Maybe everything was different from five years ago, but the peaceful place always stayed in author’s mind and comforted him when he lived in the crowded town and city.
In this poetry, nature is not only nature; it represents sense that the author was pursuing pure spirit. He managed to maintain his peaceful spirit in the bustle of city. The peaceful nature always appeared in his world and comforted him. “In darkness and amid the many shapes of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir unprofitable, and the fever of the world, have hung upon the beatings of my hear-how oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer thro’ the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee!”(110)
In this poetry, the nature was William’s friend and teacher. He gave the nature with human being’s life. The nature had his own voice and thought. “In nature and the language of the sense, The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul of all my moral being.”(112) And this friend always supported and accompanied William, lead him from joy to joy (112). However, nature was much better than any friend, because nature never did betray.

Xi Li

Billy Budd and the Ancient Mariner

Billy Budd and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are two stories that both took place on sea. The two authors, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Herman Melville, were from different time and background. However, both Billy Budd and The Ancient Mariner connected with some “superpower”. Both Billy Budd and the albatross were innocent in the story, but Billy Budd was finally killed by the Captain Vere (or the law?); the bird was killed by the marine. However, Billy Budd more focuses on how power could change a person’s fate. Billy Budd did not understand why he was accused for what he did not do. But compared with the false true, his words were so weak. He was very helpless and killed Claggart. Even though Vere knew that Billy Budd was innocent, but nobody could save him. This story took place in eighteenth century and it had been based on a real event. On the contrary, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner looks like a fairy tale. I think this is the biggest difference between Billy Budd and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Young Goodman Brown

The name “Goodman” means a person whose nature is good and virtuous. In fact, the author just uses this name as a form of irony. Goodman likes taking part in the meeting at the beginning of the story, even though his beautiful wife asks him to stay with her at that night. Goodman knows the meeting will be had for evil. He is curious of it and wants to try it. This is caused by his nature of mankind. As a matter of the fact, he always hesitates when he is on his way. Sometimes he thinks about his wife and hopes to follow her to heaven in the future. But an evil cannot go to heaven. So he struggles with his bad nature. Sometimes he believes he will be the first one in his family who takes part in the evil meeting. He is guilty for his father and grandfather. These are caused by his sensibility. The story talks about Goodman’s sensibility struggle with his nature.
Not only does Goodman struggle with his nature, but also his wife, Faith. Her name “Faith”, means loyalty and believer in Gods. Of course, a person who believes in God should go to heaven and not to the underworld where is for evil. But she appears in the meeting too. Likewise, she has already struggled with her nature. She prays Goodman to stay with her at that night. She wants to resist her nature. She wants to be loyal to her beliefs. Without doubt, she fails. Her nature wins the struggle.
Both of the couples lose when their sensibilities struggle with their nature, so in this story, the nature of mankind, evil, accompanies people anytime, everywhere. It is almost irresistible.

-Xi Li