TPCASST POETRY ANALYSIS: WOMAN WORK BY MAYA ANGELOU

Title: The title of the poem is actually very self-explanatory! The poem is about all the responsibilities of a woman, no matter what the nationality and what era she belonged to.

Paraphrase: The first stanza of the poem, the author basically lists all the chores that a woman has to complete everyday. In the later stanzas, the author focuses more on the natural beauty of the world and a woman relying on the nature to make her feel beautiful and calm.

Connotation: Some of the author's diction that stood out to me was her use of 'sun,' 'rain,' 'wind,' 'stars,' 'moon,' etc. All these have a certain connotation to it: power, destruction, royalty, beauty, etc. I like how the author uses the beauty and innocence of nature to resemble the beauty and innocence of women.

Attitude: Through the shift of tone of the author from straightforward in the first stanza to more soothing and hopeful in the next couple stanzas proves how the author wasn't focusing on highlighting the monotonous life of a woman (although it certainly seems so in the first stanza). In fact, the author, according to me, was proving how it depends on one;s perspective to find the optimism in one's own life. Instead of complaining about how many responsibilities a typical woman has, she asks nature to make her feel free ("Let me float across the sky"), calm ("And cool my brow again"), loved and appreciated ("cold icy kisses and/Let me rest tonight"), and accepted ("You're all that I can call my own"). The author was attempting to influence the readers by sharing how a woman only seeks basic needs and abstract "materials" in return of all her hard work but is unable to get it from her loved ones and so satisfies herself by gaining it from nature.

Shift: There is one shift in the poem and I addressed it more in depth in the attitude section but briefly, it is right after the first stanza - when the author shifts from listing a woman's duties to her expectations in return.

Title revisited: The only thing that stood out to me about the title after the analysis was how the title was talking not only about the physical work that a woman does but also the "work" that she performs to gain the emotions and abstract things that she rightfully deserves.

Theme: I think the theme of the poem, for me - personally, was to reward yourself for your own work, regardless of whether others addresses or acknowledges it or not.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS: A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS BY KHALED HOSSEINI

1) Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to elements of plot that you've learned in the past courses. Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose.
a) Introduction/Exposition: The novel begins with the introduction of one of the protagonist, Mariam. The author then gives the background of Mariam and her mother and how Mariam was an illegitimate child of Jalil.  
b) Rising Action: Begins when Mariam was married off to Rasheed, 30 years elder to her. Mariam was unable to conceive seven times and so Rasheed became abusive.
c) Conflict: Women discrimination and abuse by men.
d) Climax: When Rasheed gets killed by Mariam.
e) Falling Action: After Rasheed is killed, Laila and Mariam both bury him and then think how they can escape. Mariam sarifices herself and asks Laila to escape.
f) Resolution: Mariam is executed by the Taliban and Laila leavs to live in Pakistan. At the end of the book, Laila realizes the sacrifices of her parents and Mariam and decides to go back to Kabul.

2) Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
The theme that's been highlighted in the entire novel is women discriination. Since the beginning of the book, women were shown to be degraded by men. Jalil degraded Mariam's mother and blamed the cause of birth of Mariam to be her fault. Mariam was married off by her own father to a man 30 years elder to her. When Mariam was unable to conceive, Rasheed had beaten her, blaming her for it. Towards the end, Mariam was killed even though it was self-defense when she killed Rasheed.

3) Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The author's tone was serious yet hopeful. Whenever a hardship was shown towards the women, his diction and sentence structure along with the dialogue between the characters created a sense o hope or the audience - hope that it, somehow, will get better or the women in the book. But the women who tried to stand up against the discrimination ended up hurt, either emotionally, physically, or both.

4) Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers.
1) Foreshadowing: "Mariam smelled him before she saw him. Cigarette smoke and thick, sweet cologne, not faint like Jalil's." (Pg: 47)
2) Allusion: The Title: received from a line from a poem written by a Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi.
3) Imagery: "With one finger, she had poked the taut, shiny skin just below his left knee. Her finger had found little hard lumps there, and Tariq had told her they were spurs of bone that sometimes grew after an amputation." (Pg: 118)
4) Irony: "'Lovely guns!' he yelled. 'Fabulous jeeps! Fabulous army! Too bad you're losing to a bunch of peasants firing slingshots.'" (Pg: 131)
5) Flashback: "Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami." (Pg: 1)
6) Onomatopoeia: "There was a click at the other end, and Mariam thought he had hung up." (Pg: 276)
7) Metaphor: "'To Jalil and his wives, I was a pokeroot. A mugwort. You too and you weren't even born yet.... A weed, something you rip out and toss aside.'" (Pg: 8)
8) Simile: "His harsh, raspy voice reminded Mariam of the sound of dry autumn leaves crushed underfoot." (Pg: 48)
9) Characterization: "She limped and huffed her way across the clearing and made a great show of rubbing hip and lowering herself, with a pained sigh, onto the chair that Nana pulled up for her." (Pg: 15)
10) Point of View: "Mariam backed away. She was hyperventilating. Her ears buzzed, her pulse fluttered, her eyes darted from one face to another." (Pg: 61)

CHARACTERIZATION:

1) Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end?
"Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami." (Pg: 1) - Direct Characterization
"The women in his part of Kabul were a different breed from the women in the poorer neighborhoods - like the one where she and Rasheed lived, where so many of the women covered fully. These women were - what was the word Rasheed had used? - "modern"." (Pg: 67) - Direct Characterization.

"The trip was Babi's idea. Though he could hardly afford it on his salary, he'd hired a driver for the day. He wouldn't disclose anything to Laila about their destination except to say that, with it, he was contributing to her education." (Pg: 131) - Indirect Characterization
"'I want to marry you, Laila.' For the first time since they were on the floor, she raised her eyes to meet his. She searched his face. There was no playfulness this time. His look was one o conviction, of guileless yet ironclad earnestness." (Pg: 165) - Indirect Characterization.

Hosseini uses more Indirect Charcterization than Direct Characterization because he wanted to leave the choice to the readers to decide the characters' personality. He seems unbiased when he does this because the sole responsibility of deciding the characters' intentions rely on the readers, not on him.

2) Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author's syntax or diction don't necessarily change while focusing on one character but it still has a different tone when he focuses on Mariam compared to when he focuses on Laila because his point of view is third person limited.

3) Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist(s) is dynamic and round because both Laila and Mariam evolve as characters from naive and innocent young girls to mature, understanding, bold, and independent women. Even though Mariam ended up dying, her legacy lived with Laila continuously evolving to be a better person.

4) After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
After finishing the book, I came away feeling as if I met a person because Mariam and Laila both were typical women found in a culture similar to that of in India. With girls having the impression of being inferior to boys, the development to become an independent woman without any fear and being strong is difficult and praiseworthy.

TOBERMORY EXPLAINED

As I began to read the story, I had the urge to research the author and his biography and what could have motivated him to write the way he does. I also wanted to clarify if he had a  specific style or theme he focused on. While on his wiki page, I found a link to Tobermory and I read the summary of the ahead of time. Even though the summary did not offer me the in depth analysis that I needed, it did "foreshadow" the next step in the story. Based on reading it and looking at Saki's tone whole characterizing Mr. Appin. The fact that Mr. Appin's first name was Cornelius is also important: it is known that Cornelius, as a name, describes "a man full of good works and alms-deeds."
I thought the author's tone towards Mr. Appin was that of a ridicule; he seemed almost to be mocking Appin to such an extent that it could've been taken as an insult. I also thought that based on how Appin believed himself to be so intelligent and curious that the situation was similar to "curiosity killed the cat." The quote at the very end of the story might also be viewed the same way. If modifications, development, and opportunity are not given a chance to be achieved, then the path to acquire them would "die" like Mr. Appin did. So, since he tried to introduce change and was not as successful, he got what he deserved.

MASTERPIECE PROGRESSION AND PASSION

As Jisu, on her blog, and I might've mentioned, we are taking the help and mentorship of Laura and Pete to construct a song and present it in front of the class(es) in such a way that we evoke different emotions.

Currently, we are still awaiting Laura's reply on what time and schedule would work for them to do a Skype with us.

My passion to do this comes from the desire to somehow unite everybody in a manner that will bring satisfaction and happiness. I would like to, somehow, attach a string by heart that will stay connected and keep affecting their own lives and the lives of people around them!

"BRAVE NEW WORLD" ESSAY

            Order and control are two powerful concepts of life and the literary work “Brave New World,” when an individual’s freedom to live, feel, and be curious is stolen away by a powerful authority. Huxley introduced multiple characters in the book that depict different personalities in the real world and by doing so portrayed a fictional plot with glimpses of reality visible to create awareness on behaviors that might result in a “Brave New World” of the society. One of Huxley’s characters, Bernard, defines a true human because he has weaknesses and imperfections, both physically and emotionally, which are the basis of humanity. So, with the stateworld having order and control over the mentality and physicality of Bernard and all the other characters, they are unable to evolve as a human being and as an individual.

            To create an effective mood to the book to convey his theme with great effect on the audience, Huxley uses literary techniques such as characterization [to develop or anti-develop his characters], figurative language [to create a more realistic setting and world], irony [to have a strong effect of difference between characters and setting or characters and plot], and juxtaposition [to depict dissimilarities among multiple characters]. Bernard’s curiosity and dislike towards the authoritarian system of the stateworld made him a character who’s inwardly questioning the concept and function of the “Brave New World” while outwardly conforming to the “suggestions” by his peers and bosses, pushing the questioning deeper into his mind and into the corner of his heart by taking soma, a drug that basically makes one unaware of the reality surrounding them and makes them unreasonably happy.

            Huxley created Bernard to be an extremely bold and strong but simultaneously a weak and afraid individual. Bernard, in himself, is a juxtaposing character – able to speak his mind but unable to take an action based upon it. It is an irony that such an important character in the story is observed to be inactive. Even though Bernard was characterized in a way that he’d rather take soma in a pressurizing situation than face it like John, a foil to Bernard, who at least had the courage to kill himself to prove his disappoint, Bernard is the perfect character for Huxley to use as an epitome of human nature. Through Bernard's fear and uncertainty about himself and the significance of his reaction against the authoritarian stateworld, Huxley highlighted the key characteristic of human nature: imperfection, leading to growth. With the gradual gain of self-confidence, growth is inevitable for an individual and humans as a species - a path towards perfection, which is almost impossible to achieve. With describing the stateworld and the manufacturing of "life" in it, the competitive attitude expected out of the inhabitants of the factory described how humans are expected to fight for their "resources" and attain perfection.

            Bernard represents a normal human being: too afraid to react too spontaneously based on instincts but curious enough to ask the "prohibited" questions. The outcome is an individual who is physically and externally conforming and adapting to the environment and people around him but emotionally and internally questioning not only his existence in the world he's living but also the existence of the world around him and its system. Huxley, through his literary techniques wrapped around Bernard and his plot and setting, exposed the public to an extremely important question and theme: How can growth and perfections be achieved, by overcoming weaknesses and imperfections, if the society is controlling the individual and preventing him from asking the essential questions necessary to achieve satisfaction and aim for perfection? In situation similar to this, the society will become a "Brave New World" and the inhabitants, Bernard: a functional heart but dysfunctional brain. 

SEEKING MENTOR

• Based on the article, I learned that a Mentor not only has to be someone you're comfortable around but also someone who is willing and able to speak their mind clearly - whether it being a criticism or a "pat on the back."
• Some questions one can ask to begin their search for a mentor can be as simple as, are they from the same field as of me, or as complicated as, will they provide me with as many resources, experience, and insight to achieve the same kind of success that they were able to.
• Also, one should make sure that the Mentor is educated and knowledgeable enough to seek and provide solutions to questions and problems that a Mentee has.

BRAVE NEW WORLD: TEST QUESTIONS

Some questions that we discussed as a class and some questions I have for the test are:

• What ignited the character change and/or personality shift in Bernard?
• What is the equivalent of soma in the modern/current world; or is there an equivalent?
• What do you think is the connotative meaning that Huxley was aiming towards when he called John a "savage" more than his actual name?
• Why do you think Huxley named the society and the societal culture and value "Brave New World"?
• Overall, describe the relationship between the theme and the tone of the book.