January MOR--Wuthering Heights

(Chapter 1-8)

New year with new partner--Julia. Thanks for reading this book with me.

Although I planned to read Jane Eyre for January at first, after knowing that Wuthering Heights is a book about cruel love and the darkness of humanity, I switched to reading this fantastic book.

Wuthering Heights has a very traditional Victorian setting, with noble characters' names like Catherine Earnshaw and a small mansion as the place where the story happens. It is a story about the violent love between three people: Catherine Earnshaw, a beautiful but ruly upper class girl; Edgar Linton, a soft-hearted, young gentleman; and Heathcliff, a passionate yet resentful gipsy servant man who has loved Catherine since childhood. Although these three characters form the plot, the story is told by a bystander called Mr. Lockwood, a tenant of Heathcliff twenty years after the love story begins. Mr. Lockwood witnesses the cruelty and rudeness of the old Heathcliff when visiting him in the house of Wuthering Heights, in the beginning of the story. Lockwood also sees a ghostlike mid-age lady named Cathy in the dungeon of the house. Both him and I are so attracted by the weirdness of the haunted house and the unfriendly people, and thus Lockwood turns to Catherine Earnshaw's nanny and Heathcliff's servant Mrs. Dean for more details of what has happened in the past. Then Lockwood is told by the nanny that Heathcliff is a gipsy child adopted by Catherine's father more than thirty years ago, and that Heathcliff is bullied by Catherine's brother Hindley Earnshaw and other upper-class people like Edgar Linton and the servant Joseph. In the last chapter I read (Chapter 8) it was told that the ruly mistress Catherine has ambiguous relationships with both Heathcliff and Edgar, and that the mistress and Heathcliff's friendship keeps worsening as time passes since Heathcliff is growing more repulsive and repulsive against everyone in the world and turning into the thirty-years later anti-social Heathcliff.

Most of the story plot in Wuthering Heights are flashback, but it does not bother my interest in the characters' relationship. I find particularly stuck in the character Heathcliff, because of his twisted personality. He bullies Hindley Earnshaw when the old Master Earnshaw is still alive, and after the master passes away Heathcliff is revenged even more fiercely and severely by the grown-up Hindley, which drives him into a resentful and wicked man, as Mrs. Dean quotes in Chapter 7, that young Heathcliff says, "I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back... I hope he will not die before I do." Despite the fact that I usually pity the villain, I think the seed of Heathcliff's twistedness is planted in his heart since he was borne and that he deserves his punishment by Hindley Earnshaw. However I wonder if I am the only one who thinks like this, and therefore, I want to ask, do you think Heathcliff is borne wicked and deserves to be punished, or do you think he is just spoiled by the old Master Earnshaw and that Heathcliff was borne innocent?

November MOR--Medea

(Line 1-445)

I knew I was going to read Medea when I first heard of the plot: extreme love turned into extreme hatred. This is just my type of story. And thank Jordan for reading with me again.

First an introduction of the first episode, this play starts with a nurse's monologue. She is the nanny of the protagonist, Medea, a refugee woman in Corinth from Colchis. Medea had a husband and two children, but her husband Jason then abandoned them and remarried into the royal family of Corinth. The wife was driven crazy because of this, and her nanny prays for Medea in the monologue. Medea cannot control herself and even shows intentions to harm her children. She blames her family tragedy on the burden society places on women, and she seeks to take revenge on Jason and the entire royal family of Corinth. This angers the king of Corinth, Creon (another Creon), and he demands the exile of Medea. Medea acts pitiful and begs the king to let her stay in Corinth for another day, but later she tells the chorus that she plans to kill them all that night.

Medea gathers all the elements that I love to read: love to hatred, dark side of humanity, poisoning, gender equality, etc. Among all these elements my favorite is the dark side of humanity. Medea the protagonist once loved her husband so much, that she even betrayed her own family and killed people for him, but all she got at last was nothing but abandonment. This basis totally provides for Medea's painful change and her determination to take revenge. If I were Medea I would definitely revenge on Jason too. However I agree that poisoning not only Jason but also his bride and the king sounds not that correct. Therefore I want to ask you Jordan, do you think Medea's revenge on the entire royal family is righteous? What about if she is only going to kill Jason? Do you think this revenge is more morally acceptable and correct?

Reflection on Antigone on Trial

This is a really great experience. Although it was not a good ending for Creon (he lost his civil rights), still I think he would be glad, because so many people stood by his side (13 out of 30 people).

Generally I am satisfied with my performance in the trial. I defended myself really well during the cross-examination part while demonstrating Creon's controlling and strong character. And in the closing statement I also spoke very confidently without being very commanding. One of the audience told me after the trial that he thought my closing statement would have won me this trial, and my portrayal of Creon was better than the one last year (I am actually very proud of that^^.) 

In real life I have always been trying to take care of people's feelings. And I think giving the closing statement really gives me the chance to master it. I spent an hour inserting rhetorics and appeals to pathos when I wrote my script, and I think they did function well when I spoke and my efforts were paid. I have learnt how to convince and impress others in a natural and appropriate way, and this is definitely the most valuable part of the trial to me.

However I believe that there is still room for improvement for me. I was too nervous when I first spoke, during my responses to the prosecution's questions, and that made me stutter and prevented eye-contact with Patsy. I must work harder to master English. I must speak more and listen more in class.

But after all I really love this experience and I hope that we can have a trial for another story in the future. I just can't wait to justify another antagonist!

Second Antigone Quote and Follow-Up Question

"Come, my last hour and fairest, my only happiness ... come soon. Let me not see another day. Away ... Away ..." (161)
This quote is definitely my favorite quote, since it is the darkest one I can find in the entire play. But beside its darkness, I think this quote does mean something about life. When Creon says it after he has fallen into complete hopelessness, he understands that all happiness are gone, and only death can give him comfort. The last hour of his life would be his happiest hour. I think what Creon says is true to everyone.
Life is just about suffering. We can never have real happiness on this planet. We may not fall because of hubris, but we all just fall immediately after we were borne. We must leave someone we love in our life, we cannot get rid of hatred, we cannot achieve everything we want, and we cannot forgo things that we once had casually without pain. Everything causes bitterness and we just cannot get rid of it. Only death can end all pain. This is the truth about life.
My question is, do you agree with what I said, do you agree that only death can bring real and ultimate happiness to humans?

Antigone Quote and Follow-Up Question (-143)

"But he that, too rashly daring, walks in sin in solitary pride to his life's end."
The chorus in Antigone often talks about the meaning of life and comments on human's behaviors. Among those comments from the beginning of the play to Haemon's entrance, my favorite one is the one about how tragic flaw, or hubris, leads to the fall of the great human race, in p.136. The quote is, "But he that, too rashly daring, walks in sin in solitary pride to his life's end."
Greek tragedy is usually about how a great, noble person, falls from high position because of a tragic flaw. This quote brings out the exact core value of Greek tragedy, because the quote tells how great humans are, but because of some flaws, like rash, or hubris, they fall and lose their precious life. This idea can also reflect Antigone's deeds onto the audience's life. Antigone is a good and kind person, but her pride, her stubbornness and knowledge makes her unable to calculate and defy Creon's order. This puts her in danger at the end of this scene, where she is imprisoned and is going to be killed by Creon.
So, after reading this, do you think hubris, would be the reason Antigone fall and die? Or do you think she will survive?

October MOR--1984

Maybe I should be glad that US and Hong Kong are in the same nation in 1984.

(This entry is about book one of 1984.)

Thanks for reading this book with me, Jordan!

I first heard about this book when I was in 8th grade in Hong Kong, and I knew that someday I would have the chance of reading it, and finally it is the time. 

I feel like 1984 is basically a book about the hopelessness of the people under a solid dictating communist regime. Everyone has got used to the injustice, except for the protagonist Winston Smith, one of the few people who are still conscious and are secretly waiting for a better tomorrow. Despite his hope, sometimes Winston also gets lost. In most of the time in Book One, he does not even know why he is still pursuing for freedom when basically the world is deplorable. To show this internal conflict within Winston, Orwell (the author of 1984) asks the audience a lot of questions, through the character himself. For example, Orwell writes, "For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable--what then?" (Chapter 7, Book One). Orwell means to show Winston's pain and the ironic environment of his world to us by asking these rhetorical questions. We all know that two and two make four, and we don't doubt that. But in the world of 1984, it is twisted to a point that absolutes are no longer absolute and justice is no longer reliable. I think this is just horrible and I really pity Winston after reading through these questions. Therefore I think Orwell does a great job in creating the hopeless atmosphere of 1984 and in the meantime arising reader's sympathy.

So Jordan I actually do have some more analysis about Book One because I think it is just fascinating, but I really don't want to make this entry too long so you don't have to respond too much^^, so I will talk about those later. However I do have a question for you: if you lived in Oceania in 1984, would you rather die because you have no freedom? or would you organize rebellions? Or would you just passively wait for others to rebel?

My Personality Test Results

Hi! I got the result of "ENTJ" in Briggs-Myers Personalty Test just now! According to the percentage description, ENTJ is Extravert(16%) iNtuitive(12%) Thinking(1%) Judging(31%). I think the reasons for me to get this result is because I am quite moderate, thus I don't get high percentages in any aspects.
This type is called the Commander in the 16personalities.com, who "embodies charisma and confidence".

I am glad to be called a commander because I have high aspirations, that I wish to make the world better. This does encourage me to work hard so as to reach my goals. Besides, my favorite American ever in history, Franklin Roosevelt, was also categorized into the group of commanders!