Paper I wrote for my Methods of Literary Analysis class. Literature like cartoons, TV shows, music, etc. can be analyzed through cultural studies. Culture is defined as a particular society's beliefs, habits, values, etc. that distinguishes them from one group of people to another. This study includes any cultural phenomena such as body piercing and tattooing (Lynn, 145). While there is no set way to write a cultural studies paper, the main idea is to show that the "products of a culture are shaped by underlying assumptions and values; and a variety of strategies from psychoanalysis to feminist criticism" can be used to explain this criticism (Lynn, 158). Thus, cultural studies has "brought attention to neglected and suppressed writers, providing a richer understanding of the cultural contributions of minorities, the excluded and oppressed" (Lynn, 146). The culture of the homeless is something to take note of in Ray Bradbury's "The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge". In this story, a middle class couple was constantly in contact with the homeless. The first homeless man lied to get money and even took advantage of the character's "kindness" by repeatedly asking for more and more money. The story begins with the main character calling himself a fool because he believed a man asking for money for train fare, food, to bring his wife, and to stay at a hotel, all in the name of getting a job (Bradbury, 59). It all turned out to be a lie as the man saw the same guy outside his hotel window in Dublin. His wife confirmed that the same man asked her for money for train fare to Galway, but unlike her husband, she didn't give any. In the end, the little homeless man managed to get five pounds and ran off! In addition to lying, some homeless people tell stories to gain sympathy and put pressure on people, which in turn will get them some sort of donation. While on his way to show his wife the beggar on the bridge, his wife showed him how to overlook the beggars without feeling pressured to give money. But a woman with a bundled baby also managed to get some money from the same man. Not totally convinced if the baby was real or a prop, he calls himself a coward for giving in yet again (62). Another woman came up to the couple and even though the man didn't mention that he thought it was the same woman who just stashed the baby somewhere and put on a green instead of gray shawl, she came minutes later asking for money, claiming her sister had cancer. Split between the decision to give some money or overpaying, the woman got into his pocket and ran off with his money (Bradbury, 63-64). The actions of the woman shows that some homeless people stalk others for money and even steal if they are desperate. Reaching the beggar on O'Connell bridge with no hat, the man and his wife found him playing the concertina and he soon began to sing. To their surprise, he sang really well like "he could be on the stage…. too good to be standing here" (Bradbury, 67). Some homeless people find ways to make money by providing services, in this case music. While the man usually gave money to other beggars, for some reason when his wife opened her purse to give money, he took her elbow and led her down the bridge. Coming back a few days later to see the singing beggar and give him a cap, the man found an old man and woman instead. They too were playing music, or at least attempted to, "cranking a great piano box which racheted and coughed like a coffee grinder eating glass and stone, giving forth no melody but a grand and melancholy sort of iron indigestion" (Bradbury, 69). While the old couple didn’t say anything, there pale face and red eyes seemed to be begging for money from anyone who would listen to their "music". Unfortunately, the beggar on the bridge would sing for people but didn’t get any money, especially from the man and his wife. Tired of living his life this way, the beggar "ended" his misery by jumping over into the River Liffey (Bradbury, 71). While this may seem extreme, some homeless people feel they have no choice and rather than live at the mercy of others, hoping to get some sort of donation, they too may end their life in a similar way. After finding out from the manager, the man felt bad that he never gave him even a penny. It seems that people thought the beggar was "overdoing" it, using his bare head to trick people into feeling sorry for him. In other words, sometimes it is hard to tell the honest, legitimate needy from the cons, the ones who have been homeless for a long time vs. the new homeless. At the end of the story, the man went outside in the snowy night coatless, in his shirtsleeves. To make himself feel better, he gave the cap he had bought for his "capless singing friend" to the first man who came by, soon giving away all the money in his pocket too. He looked up at the high hotel windows, just like the beggars did in the beginning, thinking to himself "What's it like up there? Are fires lit? Is it warm as breath? Are they happy? Do they even know I'm here?" (Bradbury, 73). The man puts himself in the situation of the homeless, finally understanding what it feels like to be out in the cold, wondering if people notice them or even care. Bradbury's "The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge" give readers a glimpse of the life of the homeless, where lying, telling stories, stalking, stealing, entertaining the public, and even ending their life, may be the norm. Works CitedBradbury, Ray. "The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge." Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. 59-73. Print. Lynn, Steven. "Connecting the Text: Varieties of Historical Criticism." Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. 6th ed. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 139+. Print.
Have you ever wanted to keep track of all the books you’ve read or want to read? Goodreads.com is the place for you! I’ve been loving this site since a friend told me about it back in 2011. You can keep track of as many books you’ve read from as far back or as current as you want. Users can also add books to their to-read list and update what they are currently-reading. In addition, you can rate, review, and recommend books as well as receive recommendations depending on the type of books you read and your shelves. You can enter giveaways or host your own, share you writing, take quizzes, challenge yourself to read a number of books in a year, make friends, and a lot more! If you are a bookworm, give goodreads.com a try ;) If you do, check me out @ http://www.goodreads.com/sabrinafatima (I would love a site like goodreads for movies!)
Paper I wrote for my Methods of Literary Analysis class. Reader Response criticism is exactly as it sounds. Each individual reader has their own interpretation of a text and therefore, when it comes time to write or discuss, each response will be different from others. The reader's thoughts in this specific criticism is especially important. Since everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and analysis, no one can be wrong in their opinions. A text can influence readers by appealing to ethos, or how we perceive the person speaking; logos, readers using logic; or pathos, our emotions (Lynn, 70). A reader response paper can be done in two ways, either subjectively or receptively. Readers can connect with a text on a personal level and even use "I" or write in general terms i.e. try to think how other readers will respond. Whichever of the two approaches is used, readers need to read actively, making notes and asking questions; "focus on details and ask how your response would change if the details were changed; and finally, decide on your purpose: a subjective or receptive response" (Lynn, 99). Reader response criticism is very flexible and provides writers with a lot of freedom.Ray Bradbury's story "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone" begins with rumors of Dudley Stone's "death" 20 years ago. Arguments of whether the famous writer is alive or not leads Mr. Douglass to travel 300 miles to ask Stone why he hasn't written a book in 25 years. Surprised to find him alive, Stone invites Douglass inside his home and they soon begin to talk about the "murder" of Stone. The story didn't interest me until this point where Stone tells Douglass about almost being murdered by his "friend" John Oatis Kendall. Both were writers, but as it turned out, Stone was better and famous unlike Kendall. Kendallcan only be described as a jealous individual. This part in the story reminded me of a real-life incident I heard where someone actually ended up killing their "friend" right before graduation out of jealousy! Shouldn't real friends want the best for each other? Instead, Kendallthought the only way to become famous and be put in the headlines is to "be known for a lifetime and beyond as the man who killed Dudley Stone! (Bradbury, 656). Given a moment before being shot at, Stone made a deal with Kendall. Stone promised to never write again in return for Kendallto spare his life, which explained his absence from his writing career for 25 years! Stone even put fire to one of his books he was working on just to prove he was serious to Kendallwhile giving him the other copy of his book for Kendallto do whatever he wants with it. Not only did Stone get a chance to live longer, he justified it to himself by thinking that others will be happy with him, including his friend Kendall and his wife Lena(Bradbury, 658). At the end, Stone got to live, while Kendallbelieved that Stone would not write anymore. Like a true friend, Stone did keep his promise. A passage that struck me as interesting and realistic was when Stone explained to Douglass that by having his life spared, Kendallhad actually broadened Stone's horizons. "I [Stone] was grateful. Do you really understand that word? Grateful he had let me live when he had it in his hand to annihilate me forever" (Bradbury, 659). Stone continues on to say that before this encounter with Kendall, he had just been writing about living, but now he himself wanted to live and do things instead of just writing about them. It wasn’t until his near death experience, that Stone realized there is more to life than just his (writing) career. Stone learned to live more than before. He ran for the board of education, mayor, sheriff, etc. and won; climbed hills and painted pictures, traveled around the world three times, had a son, and finally got a telescope (Bradbury, 659). Stone apparently didn't regret his decision to stop writing in return for living life as much as possible. I found this story true to life, especially for people today who are so busy accumulating wealth, status, fame, power, etc. yet fail to enjoy the simple things in life and being grateful for what they have. I have realized that people, including myself, don't truly value something until we lose it, or in the case of Stone, come close to losing it. I had seen a video called "Life is Like a Cup of Coffee" which is about a group of alumni, highly established in their careers, visiting an old professor. They started to complain about stress in life and work until their professor offered coffee to the group. He came back with a pot of coffee and different cups. Everyone picked their cups and the professor commented that all the nice looking and expensive cups were taken, leaving the plain, cheap cups behind. While it is normal for everyone to want the best for themselves, we compare what we have to others. This, he said, is the source of all their problems. "Life is the coffee; the jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cups, we fail to enjoy the coffee. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything. So live simply…" (Life). Stone's realization to live life fully and be grateful reminded me of this story were we should all learn to not focus so much on "the cups" but on "the coffee". Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone." Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. 651-61. Print.Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee. YouTube. Spiritual-Short-Stories.com, 6 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. PLC46EAACE90513B89&index=48&feature=plpp_video>.Lynn, Steven. "Creating the Text: Reader-Response Criticism." Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. 6th ed. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 70+. Print.
Before I forget some ideas I just came up with, I thought I would share what I am thinking about posting for the next couple of weeks/months. I try to post every Sunday on this blog and for my previous posts, I alternated between my past writings that I wanted to share (poems, articles, memoirs, etc.) and writing terms from a creative writing book I have. Since I finished the writing terms, I started with journal posts which I want to continue. But since I haven't written anything "fun/interesting" recently, I am thinking to post essays and such from my English classes that I think are worth sharing. If you have read my "About Me and My World" then you know I am an English major at uni. So, I thought this would be a good way to share some of my work for uni. with others here on my blog. What type of Eng. uni. work can you expect in the upcoming weeks? Some essays on Ray Bradbury's short stories (don't judge just yet), a project on one of my favorite Disney movie, and anything I may do in future English classes. I will still try to do some of my own longer writings, like articles and poems, and will post those whenever I finish each one. I just put up my last "quote" post (directly below, My Fav. Tumblr Quote Graphics), and I am thinking about posting random (current) journal entries. This will range from my upcoming Winter Break to-do list, New Years Resolution, I Am Thankful for... (Islam, being a Muslim, my body, my mom, etc.) and many more. One of my New Years Resolution is to journal everyday (check back for that post :)) so starting January, I will try to make my Sunday blog posts be the same as my Sunday journal writing (to make things easier to keep track of) In my intro. about me and my world, I did mention some things to look for in the future on my blog like book reviews and memoirs with pictures. I still plan to eventually do those as well, but they may be surprise posts scattered throughout other posts. Enough said. I think this is a good idea of what is in store for my blog. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do and will visit my blog again ;)
