Week 9 Progress

I feel like my progress with this class is good, I believe that the grading is fair and that what I have done for the class has reflected with the grades so that's a plus. I really enjoy doing the analyses because I like taking parts of the stories or elements of it and taking a deeper look at its meaning and why the author decided to write it that way. Currently, I am not using the extra credit options but I feel like that's going to change next week. I feel like I want to take more time on the work and do it ahead of time because then I wont have to worry about finishing it or not.

Week 9 Project Planning: The Tales of the 4 Chinese Immigrants

Topic: Choose a reading. In your project, consider the following: What does this work reflect about its historical, social, political and/or economic context?

Historical writings have always fascinated me so I think this topic would be perfect to look at again. I've taken numerous history classes, I've taken a few economic classes and I also took political science, so I feel like looking into the reflection of those issues within historical writings would be neat. Throughout this topic, I hope to learn about the way that different contexts of the writings highlight the period of time that they were written.

I decided to use the story of the 4 anonymous Chinese immigrants because I feel like what each story had to tell has a perfect representation of the topic about America in the time that these immigrants started to come here. I can use each story to talk about a different aspect of history, and then like for the historical context, all of the stories could be utilized but the social, political and economical could have each one of the stories be used for that.

"He holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole. Loot at him: Soon he will be six feet underground." (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, Poem #3, 355).

Reading Notes W9: Fisher Part B

• It talks about her experiences when she was at the boarding school.
• "Perhaps loneliness made her own food bitter to her, because Mrs. Cheever was an obvious dyspeptic." (M.F.K. Fisher, "The First Oyster", 566).
• Dyspeptic=of or having indigestion or consequent irritability or depression.

Reading Notes W9: Hammett Part A

• When Cairo leaves Spade, Spade ends up having another drink and going to dinner at Herbert's Grill.
• Spade noticed a undersized youth following him to the dinner.
• Spade boards a trolley and the youth still follows
• Brigid meets Spade and then a sort of cat and mouse game is played between the two.
• "The eagerness with which Brigid O'Shaughnessy welcomed Spade suggested that she had been not entirely certain of his coming." (Dashiell Hammet, "The Maltese Falcon", 431).

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking Back, I think the reading and writing are actually working really well for me. My favorite reading so far has to be the "Californian" I really enjoyed the use of imagery to describe the Californian coast. My reading notes are actually helping a lot for the analyses each week. I think my biggest accomplishment for this class was being able to analyze readings a lot better. Looking Forward I feel like there isn't a whole lot that I need, I think what we are currently doing in the class is great enough.

Topic Brainstorm

Topic 4: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection.

I think this would be really interesting because I always love to see how different elements of a story connect and influence one another. In the past, I've had to read a lot of novels for different English classes and we would always look at this specific idea of how the relationship between different elements of the story. I hope to learn about how a specific setting or plot could really influence different characters in the way the develop.

Topic 1: Compare and contrast elements of two different texts.

This topic seems interesting because I think it would be a lot of fun to compare a couple texts' different plots. I think it would be neat to see their similarities and differences, and if they possibly line up or are completely different. In high school, I had AP English and we would do a lot of comparing and contrasting to a few different texts or excerpts. I really hope to learn how to distinguish the differences in a few different stories' plot without having to really dive deep into both of their plots, so I feel like this topic would really help with that.

Topic 3: Choose a reading. In your project, consider the following: What does this work reflect about its historical, social, political and/or economic context?

Historical writings have always fascinated me so I think this topic would be perfect to look at again. I've taken numerous history classes, I've taken a few economic classes and I also took political science, so I feel like looking into the reflection of those issues within historical writings would be neat. Throughout this topic, I hope to learn about the way that different contexts of the writings highlight the period of time that they were written.

Reading Notes W8: Jeffers Part B

• There are multiple different stories that all show different things of California.
• The first story is called "Continent's End" and it talks about California as almost the final beauty.
• "I gazing at the boundaries of granite and spray, the established sea-marks, felt behind me" (Robinson Jeffers, "Continent's End", 408).
• This shows how he felt about the beauty of the Californian coast. 

Week 8 Analysis: Literary Analysis of Anonymous Chinese Immigrants

The four poems of Chinese Immigrants was a very interesting read about four different outlooks on the American Dream. The literary device that I believe would fit best would have to be character. It's interesting to see how each character of the poems are completely different when it comes to their actual character as a person. Each person has a completely different outlook on their life in America and their personalities all differ based on the stuff that they are doing in the different poems. Now the theme is something that's to talk about. There are four poems with four different themes, the first one has a theme of realism, the second one has a theme of slight optimism, the third one has a pure pessimistic theme, and the last one has an incredibly optimistic theme. Let's talk about the first one, this poem had a very realistic theme in the fact that it seemed like he was appreciative of his situation but understood there was going to be some struggles. The second one had some slight optimism because it felt like she was excited to be doing some of the normal stuff that entails living in the U.S. The third story was complete pessimism, he stated "He holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole. Loot at him: Soon he will be six feet underground" (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, Poem #3, 355). This shows his outlook on life in America, the only thing I can guess is that he was working for terrible people and he hated his life. The last poem was incredibly happy, it talked about how great life was for them in the U.S. which goes to show that sometimes their previous life was way worse before they moved to America. These four stories are great examples of history because you could hear the different sides of life in California during the gold rush times. The quote I used earlier showed the negative side of living in America as an immigrant. You could tell that he probably worked manual labor doing stuff he hated and wished he was dead because of the treatment he could have gotten from people and he realized like some immigrants did as well that life in the U.S. was not as great as it seems. Overall, I feel like these four poems highlighted the different experiences immigrants had to go through.

Reading Notes W8: Anonymous Chinese Immigrants Part A

• These 4 poems are all very interesting.
• It seems that each one has a different outlook of living in the U.S.
• The 1st one seems more realistic about his situation.
• The 2nd one seems like they are optimistic but skeptical at the same time.
• The 3rd one is very morbid and has a poor outlook on his life.
• The last one has a very happy tone to it, like they love their life in the states.
• Its interesting because it goes to show how different experiences can affect each person differently.
• "He holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole. Loot at him: Soon he will be six feet underground." (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, Poem #3, 355).
• It crazy how this one has such a poor outlook on life, its almost like his dreams were crushed when discovering the harsh reality of being an immigrant in America during those times.

Project Revision 2

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Marcus Garvey). When you read a history book, you only get a general view of certain cultures. For example, when you read about the Native Americans, you only learn of the horrors that was brought upon them and the hardships they faced during colonization. However, when you read a treasure like “The Creation” you can understand their culture more than the standard history book. This story shows three major things for us, it shows that it is an artifact of history, it teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth, and it has a very different approach from a history book. The beauty of the story “The Creation” highlights the essence of Native American history.

            First of all, the story is 100%, without a doubt, an artifact of history and this is why. It was written by the Native Americans to explain how their deities created the world and all of its inhabitants. Many people have different beliefs on how the world was created, according to scientists, it was caused by some random force known as the Big Bang. According to Christians, the Earth and the universe was created by God and the Greeks believed that it was created by the titans. However, the Native Americans believe that a few deities known as Earthmaker, Coyote, and Meadowlarke were responsible for all of Earth’s creation. So, on a historical standpoint, it fits perfectly for how different religions and people believed the Earth was created. It’s very interesting read the mythology that the Native Americans believed. Mythology is something that has always fascinated me about history, to learn how different cultures perceived creation and how different religions differed on their creation beliefs. There is the one specific passage that really fascinates me about their beliefs, it states “He stretched it out to where the day breaks; he stretched it out to the south; he stretched it out to the place where the sun goes down; he stretched it out to the North Country; he stretched it out to the rim of the world; he stretched it out!” (Origins and the Way of the World, 25). This passage is incredible because it really explains how they believed that the Earth was created. For a little background, they believed that the world was just one giant ocean/lake and Earthmaker then wanted to create the land. The reason that this passage stands out a whole lot is because it shows how Earthmaker went about creating the land on the Earth. Its very interesting because they believed that the world always kind of existed, but the land was never there until Earthmaker decided to make it. So, this story is an artifact of history because it has to tie in with mythology and the history of the world, which is also part of the Native American history.

            The next thing is that this story teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth. This is very important, because without knowing their views we would all be incredibly ignorant in denying the fact that Native Americans had this kind of belief. Like it was previously stated, the Native American people believed that the Earth was created in that way. With knowing their beliefs, we can have a greater understanding of their culture and their history. The story states “And then, Earthmaker was standing there alone. Standing there, they say he went somewhere to the south. He went traveling along. Afterwards, going across the rim of the world to somewhere near where the sun floats away, he came elsewhere, into a different part of the country, traveling always from one place to another. And, when the had gone toward where the sun rises, he came to a place where he had once turned aside before, and he stopped and got things ready. Then, he made creatures, two by two" (Origins and the Way of the World, 28). This quote highlights the beliefs of the Native American people and how they believed the land and all creatures were created. With knowing how they perceived creation, we can really get an understanding of their culture and their beliefs as a people. Mythology is incredible in this way, you can really learn a lot about a culture on how they perceived creation.

            This story has a deeper look into the history of the Native Americans rather than a history book. A history book has a very generic overview of the culture of different ethnicities. The thing about a history book, is that they are very matter of fact. A history book is made to say teach people how the history went, not go in depth on their mythology. The purpose for the history book is to state important battles or how the colonists stole the land from the Native Americans, not to state their views on creation. Where the story differs is that it is a primary source of what the Native American people really believed, a history book is usually comprised of multiple sources, so it isn’t really known if they are entirely accurate to the religion that the Native Americans practiced. If a history book did decide to talk about the Native American beliefs on creation, they may not be as accurate as we would like. What is great about the story is that it is most likely a primary source for the information so we can really believe the story of the creation of Earth as told by the Native Americans.

Works Cited

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. The Literature of California. University of California Press,

 2000.

Project Revision 1

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Marcus Garvey). The beauty of the story “The Creation” highlights the essence of Native American history. When you read a history book, you only get a general view of certain cultures. For example, when you read about the Native Americans, you only learn of the horrors that was brought upon them and the hardships they faced during colonization. However, when you read a treasure like “The Creation” you can understand their culture more than the standard history book. This story shows three major things for us, it shows that it is an artifact of history, it teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth, and it has a very different approach from a history book.

            First of all, the story is 100%, without a doubt, an artifact of history and this is why. It was written by the Native Americans to explain how their deities created the world and all of its inhabitants. Many people have different beliefs on how the world was created, according to scientists, it was caused by some random force known as the Big Bang. According to Christians, the Earth and the universe was created by God and the Greeks believed that it was created by the titans. However, the Native Americans believe that a few deities known as Earthmaker, Coyote, and Meadowlarke were responsible for all of Earth’s creation. So, on a historical standpoint, it fits perfectly for how different religions and people believed the Earth was created. It’s very interesting read the mythology that the Native Americans believed. Mythology is something that has always fascinated me about history, to learn how different cultures perceived creation and how different religions differed on their creation beliefs. There is the one specific passage that really fascinates me about their beliefs, it states “He stretched it out to where the day breaks; he stretched it out to the south; he stretched it out to the place where the sun goes down; he stretched it out to the North Country; he stretched it out to the rim of the world; he stretched it out!” (Origins and the Way of the World, 25). This passage is incredible because it really explains how they believed that the Earth was created. For a little background, they believed that the world was just one giant ocean/lake and Earthmaker then wanted to create the land. The reason that this passage stands out a whole lot is because it shows how Earthmaker went about creating the land on the Earth. Its very interesting because they believed that the world always kind of existed, but the land was never there until Earthmaker decided to make it. So, this story is an artifact of history because it has to tie in with mythology and the history of the world, which is also part of the Native American history.

            The next thing is that this story teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth. This is very important, because without knowing their views we would all be incredibly ignorant in denying the fact that Native Americans had this kind of belief. Like it was previously stated, the Native American people believed that the Earth was created in that way. With knowing their beliefs, we can have a greater understanding of their culture and their history. The story states “And then, Earthmaker was standing there alone. Standing there, they say he went somewhere to the south. He went traveling along. Afterwards, going across the rim of the world to somewhere near where the sun floats away, he came elsewhere, into a different part of the country, traveling always from one place to another. And, when the had gone toward where the sun rises, he came to a place where he had once turned aside before, and he stopped and got things ready. Then, he made creatures, two by two" (Origins and the Way of the World, 28). This quote highlights the beliefs of the Native American people and how they believed the land and all creatures were created. With knowing how they perceived creation, we can really get an understanding of their culture and their beliefs as a people. Mythology is incredible in this way, you can really learn a lot about a culture on how they perceived creation.

            This story has a deeper look into the history of the Native Americans rather than a history book. A history book has a very generic overview of the culture of different ethnicities. The thing about a history book, is that they are very matter of fact. A history book is made to say teach people how the history went, not go in depth on their mythology. The purpose for the history book is to state important battles or how the colonists stole the land from the Native Americans, not to state their views on creation. Where the story differs is that it is a primary source of what the Native American people really believed, a history book is usually comprised of multiple sources, so it isn’t really known if they are entirely accurate to the religion that the Native Americans practiced. If a history book did decide to talk about the Native American beliefs on creation, they may not be as accurate as we would like. What is great about the story is that it is most likely a primary source for the information so we can really believe the story of the creation of Earth as told by the Native Americans.

Works Cited

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. The Literature of California. University of California Press,

 2000.

Week 7 Analysis: Close Reading of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz

For this week, I did a close reading of a excerpt from "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz".

"Suddenly there was a rending, tearing sound, and the earth split into another great crack just beneath the spot where the horse was standing." (Frank Baum, "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz", 350).

This short excerpt has a great historical context within it. You see, the original book was written in 1906 right after the great earthquake. What is very interesting about this is the fact that the author used a tragedy like one the of the worst earthquakes in California as a reference in his book. The story takes place in San Francisco right before the earthquake, then as she is riding a horse the earth then splits open. It also said how this was right after the quake, so it means that it could've been caused by an aftershock which made the Earth split open. The author was smart about incorporating the earthquake however, he was able to turn it into the part of the story where a young Dorothy sees the glass city. So, he was able to turn a horrific tragedy like the great earthquake into a positive because he used it as a gateway to a new world, just like he did with the Wizard of Oz and the tornado that takes her to the new world. He did a great job of using historical events to his advantage no matter how severe and horrific they could be.

Reading Notes W7: Baum Part B

• The setting of the story seems to be around San Francisco, while a little girls is waiting for the train.
• The little girl ends up being Dorothy just much younger.
• After some time they meet a boy and his horse and it turns out the horse can talk.
• The ground then splits open which is symbolism for the big earthquake from 1906.
• It's interesting to see the historical aspect that the author used to incorporate a disaster like that earthquake into his novel.
• "Suddenly there was a rending, tearing sound, and the earth split into another great crack just beneath the spot where the horse was standing." (Frank Baum, "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz", 350).

Reading Notes W7: Sui Sin Far Part A

• It talks about a Chinese family going through customs to be in America.
• It shows the struggles that these kind of families have to go through after seeking the hospitality of Americans.
• "For a moment Lae Choo gazed wonderingly from one face to the other; then, comprehension dawning upon her, with swift anger, pointing to the lawyer, she cried: 'You not one hundred man good; you just common white man.'"(327).
• It goes to show the ulterior motives that the white man had and the prejudices that he had to think he could take advantage of Lae Choo.

Week 6 Analysis: Literary analysis of Beyond the Breakers

"Beyond the Breakers" is yet another story about the beach and ocean that has a setting so great that it creates such vivid imagery. For some reason, stories such as this one that are about the beach and the ocean always captivates me and gives me a feeling of nostalgia. While reading this story, I imagined sitting on the beach in the warmth of the sunset and the feeling of sand between my toes while the sound and sight of the different sets of waves rolling in and breaking over the warm sand. After the wave breaks the water then rolls up the beach and barely touches my feet and the feeling of the immediate cold that is the great blue. Sterling writes "the singing waves of the sea, clean beyond all of clean, beautiful, swift, alive, undulant, apple-green" (George Sterling, "Beyond the Breakers", 308). This one simple quote shows so much, the imagery and meaning behind it is what drew me in. The theme of the story is also shown within the quote, and the that theme has to be purity. He stated that the ocean was "clean beyond all of clean" which means that there is nothing dirty about the ocean it almost purifies you in a way (308). The meaning of purification also makes me think of the Catholic religion where they would use water to purify you, also known as Holy Water. Then in Christianity and Catholicism together, you get baptized in a big pool of water and become born again. Water is something that has always been symbolized as pure and clean which means that the ocean could be considered the biggest and purist thing on Earth currently.

Reading Notes W6: Sterling Part B

• This story is another great about the ocean and beach.
• What I'm noticing about this story and a lot of the stories that are in the textbook is that a majority of them are about the ocean.
• Them being about the ocean is what really drags me in.
• "The singing waves of the sea, clean beyond all of clean, Beautiful, swift, alive, undulant, apple-green." (George Sterling, "Beyond the Breakers", 308).
• There is something about stories of the ocean that makes me feel nostalgic.
• The story shows the grace and might of the ocean that captivates most people.
• I really enjoyed the imagery of this story, it showed me images of sets of waves coming in and breaking on the sand and flowing upward towards the base of the feet.

Reading Notes W6: Markham Part A

• The story starts off with a excerpt from the Bible, it quoted genesis about the creation of man.
• The first story reminded me of someone who was a devout hard working man.
• "Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages in his face, and on his back the burden of the world." (Edwin Markham, "The Man with the Hoe", 294).
• The quote really shows how hard that man has been working all his life in the fields.
• The man almost has a bitter outlook on life as opposed to the man in the second story who has a more positive look on life.

Project 1

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Marcus Garvey). The beauty of the story “The Creation” highlights the essence of Native American history. When you read a history book, you only get a general view of certain cultures. For example, when you read about the Native Americans, you only learn of the horrors that was brought upon them and the hardships they faced during colonization. However, when you read a treasure like “The Creation” you can understand their culture more than the standard history book. This story shows three major things for us, it shows that it is an artifact of history, it teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth, and it has a very different approach from a history book.

            First of all, the story is 100%, without a doubt, an artifact of history and this is why. It was written by the Native Americans to explain how their deities created the world and all of its inhabitants. Many people have different beliefs on how the world was created, according to scientists, it was caused by some random force known as the Big Bang. According to Christians, the Earth and the universe was created by God and the Greeks believed that it was created by the titans. However, the Native Americans believe that a few deities known as Earthmaker, Coyote, and Meadowlarke were responsible for all of Earth’s creation. So, on a historical standpoint, it fits perfectly for how different religions and people believed the Earth was created. It’s very interesting read the mythology that the Native Americans believed. Mythology is something that has always fascinated me about history, to learn how different cultures perceived creation and how different religions differed on their creation beliefs. There is the one specific passage that really fascinates me about their beliefs, it states “He stretched it out to where the day breaks; he stretched it out to the south; he stretched it out to the place where the sun goes down; he stretched it out to the North Country; he stretched it out to the rim of the world; he stretched it out!” (Origins and the Way of the World, 25). This passage is incredible because it really explains how they believed that the Earth was created. For a little background, they believed that the world was just one giant ocean/lake and Earthmaker then wanted to create the land. The reason that this passage stands out a whole lot is because it shows how Earthmaker went about creating the land on the Earth. Its very interesting because they believed that the world always kind of existed, but the land was never there until Earthmaker decided to make it. So, this story is an artifact of history because it has to tie in with mythology and the history of the world, which is also part of the Native American history.

            The next thing is that this story teaches us the views that the Native Americans had for the creation of Earth. This is very important, because without knowing their views we would all be incredibly ignorant in denying the fact that Native Americans had this kind of belief. Like it was previously stated, the Native American people believed that the Earth was created in that way. With knowing their beliefs, we can have a greater understanding of their culture and their history. The story states “And then, Earthmaker was standing there alone. Standing there, they say he went somewhere to the south. He went traveling along. Afterwards, going across the rim of the world to somewhere near where the sun floats away, he came elsewhere, into a different part of the country, traveling always from one place to another. And, when the had gone toward where the sun rises, he came to a place where he had once turned aside before, and he stopped and got things ready. Then, he made creatures, two by two" (Origins and the Way of the World, 28). This quote highlights the beliefs of the Native American people and how they believed the land and all creatures were created. With knowing how they perceived creation, we can really get an understanding of their culture and their beliefs as a people. Mythology is incredible in this way, you can really learn a lot about a culture on how they perceived creation.

            This story has a deeper look into the history of the Native Americans rather than a history book. A history book has a very generic overview of the culture of different ethnicities. The thing about a history book, is that they are very matter of fact. A history book is made to say teach people how the history went, not go in depth on their mythology. The purpose for the history book is to state important battles or how the colonists stole the land from the Native Americans, not to state their views on creation. Where the story differs is that it is a primary source of what the Native American people really believed, a history book is usually comprised of multiple sources, so it isn’t really known if they are entirely accurate to the religion that the Native Americans practiced. If a history book did decide to talk about the Native American beliefs on creation, they may not be as accurate as we would like. What is great about the story is that it is most likely a primary source for the information so we can really believe the story of the creation of Earth as told by the Native Americans.

Works Cited

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. The Literature of California. University of California Press,

 2000.