Thứ Ba, 18 tháng 9, 2012

Entry 1_ Trịnh Thị Mai


Entry 1_ Trinh Thi Mai
Item 1: Poem

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”
by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
v Rhetorical devices:
+ Metaphor: “day”(life), good night-dying of the light-close of day(death)
+ exaggeration:        “they grieved it on its way”
+ Personification: frail deeds might have danced in a green bay( frail deeds are given to ability to dance )
+ Simile: “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors” (The eyes are blazing like meteors lighting the sky)
+ Repetition:Do not go gentle into that good night “(4 times), “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (4 times)
v  Message: the author rouses his father who doesn’t give up easily, fight the oncoming of
the death and continue being a fierce man as before.

Item 2: story
"The Story of An Hour"
Kate Chopin (1894)
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.

There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.

She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.

She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under hte breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.

There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!

"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."

"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.

Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. 
+ Rhetorical devices:

+symbolism : open window( represents the only way through which Mallard could communicate with the outside world),  the blue sky and the spring ( hope), the cloud( freedom), tree and rain( life).

+ Irony :she finds the relief in Mallard's death but becomes heart-broken in the end, as
a result of the fact that he's alive
+ metaphor - like the goddess of Victory- descending the stairs (she subjugates society;
society decreases in her independent life)
-Message : the author appreciate the role of women in the marriage.


Item 3:  Cartoon



v  Rhetorical devices:
Metaphor: dinosaurs- fossil fuels (CO2)
v  Message: fossil fuels will be run out of because they are unrenewable and limited energy and overexploitation. The environment is polluted by CO2. Therefore, it’s vital to find alternative energies as the wind, the sun,

Thứ Hai, 17 tháng 9, 2012

Entry 1 _ Trịnh Thị Trang

Item 1:  Short story
The Ugly Tree

Long, long ago, in a dense forest there were thousands of tall and beautiful trees. They were happy, but proud of themselves. Among them there also an ugly tree whose branches were badly twisted. Its roots had uneven curves. All the trees made fun of that ugly tree.

“How are you, hunchback?” the other trees always shouted and their laughter made the ugly tree feel sad. But, he never raised a voice against them. The ugly tree thought, “I wish I were as beautiful as the other trees. Why did God do this to me? Neither can I provide shade to the travelers not can the birds make their nests on me. Nobody needs me.”

One day, a woodcutter came to the forest. He took a look at the trees and said, “These trees are lovely. I must cut them.” As soon as he picked up his axe the trees became frightened.

‘Chop, Chop, Chop’ went the woodcutter’s axe and one by one the trees started to fall. “None of us is going to be spared,” screamed one of the beautiful trees. Soon that tree too was brought to ground by the woodcutter’s axe.

By now, the woodcutter had come near to the ugly tree. He had just raised his axe when suddenly he noticed how crooked the ugly tree was. “Hmm! This crooked tree seems to be useless for me. I cannot make long straight logs of this ugly tree,” he thought. And he moved towards another beautiful tree. The ugly tree heaved a huge sigh of relief. He realized that by making him ugly, God had actually given him a boon.

From that day the ugly tree never complained. He was happy with his crooked branches. He never forgot how he was spared from the woodcutter’s axe, only because he was crooked and ugly.

-     Rhetorical devices: metaphor (the ugly tree = the ugliness; the beautiful tree = the beauty)
-     Message:  The ugliness can be a boon which is helpful and brings good luck in some situation; and the beauty sometimes brings bad luck.


Item 2: Poem
Truth

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But words can also hurt me.

Stones and sticks break only skin,

While words are ghosts that haunt me.


Slant and curved the word-swords fall

To pierce and stick inside me.

Bats and bricks may ache through bones,

But words can mortify me.


Pain from words has left its scar

On mind and heart that's tender.

Cuts and bruises now have healed;

It's words that I remember.

(By Barrie Wade)
-     Rhetorical devices:
+) parallelism: structure:
Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But words can also hurt me.

Stones and sticks break only skin,

While words are ghosts that haunt me”…
+) repetition:  “but words can…”, sticks and stones, stones and sticks…
+) overstatement: “words can hurt me”, “words are ghosts that haunt me”, “words can mortify me” …
+) simile: words-swords,...
-    Message: words can hurt people in many ways and never be healed like physical injuries.

Item 3: A cartoon:

                                 -     Rhetorical devices:
+) irony
+) overstatement
- Message: the price of gold is so high and there is now no way lowering it.

Entry 1 _ Nguyễn Quỳnh Trang


Item 1 _ Short story

We never told him he couldn't do it

My son Joey was born with club feet. The doctors assured us that with treatment he would be able to walk normally - but would never run very well. The first three years of his life were spent in surgery, casts and braces. By the time he was eight, you wouldn't know he had a problem when you saw him walk.

The children in our neighborhood ran around as most children do during play, and Joey would jump right in and run and play, too. We never told him that he probably wouldn't be able to run as well as the other children. So he didn't know.

In seventh grade he decided to go out for the cross-country team. Every day he trained with the team. He worked harder and ran more than any of the others - perhaps he sensed that the abilities that seemed to come naturally to so many others did not come naturally to him. Although the entire team runs, only the top seven runners have the potential to score points for the school. We didn't tell him he probably would never make the team, so he didn't know.

He continued to run four to five miles a day, every day - even the day he had a 103-degree fever. I was worried, so I went to look for him after school. I found him running all alone. I asked him how he felt. "Okay," he said. He had two more miles to go. The sweat ran down his face and his eyes were glassy from his fever. Yet he looked straight ahead and kept running. We never told him he couldn't run four miles with a 103-degree fever. So he didn't know.

Two weeks later, the names of the team runners were called. Joey was number six on the list. Joey had made the team. He was in seventh grade - the other six team members were all eighth-graders. We never told him he shouldn't expect to make the team. We never told him he couldn't do it. We never told him he couldn't do it... so he didn't know. He just did it.

Rhetorical devices:
- Climax: unable to run=>want to make the team=>run miles a day with high fever=>make the team
- Metaphor: the boy with his unhealthy feet: humans being with their own weakness.
- Repetition: we never told him he couldn’t do it
Message: ignore the weakness of yourself and let the time prove how great you could be through your effort.


Item 2 _ Poem

A Minor Bird
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day.
Have clapped my hands at him from the door

When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong

In wanting to silence any song.
Rhetorical devices:
-       Metaphor: a minor bird: loving people around
                 Sing a song: complain about things
-       Rhyme: away-day, door-more, me-key, wrong-song
Message: ignore the weakness of yourself and let the time prove how great you could be through your effort.

Item 3 _ Cartoon




Rhetorical devices:
-       Over statement: the rich man has such a big stomach which can cover the poor child
-       Irony: the rich man uses binoculars to search the poor while he is right under his stomach.
Message:  the rich eats too much that their big stomach prevents them from seeing other poor people underneath => huge gap between the rich and the poor.



Source:

Entry1_Nguyễn Thị Kim Ưng


Entry1_ Capturing the message
Item1: Poem

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. 

Rhetorical devices:

·        Rhyme: got- gold; welling- swelling; bitter- twisted…
·        Repetition: I rise…, you may….
·        Parallelism: the dream and the hope
·        Rhetorical question: - Does my sassiness upset you?
                                            - Why are you beset with gloom?
                                            - At the meeting of my thighs?
Message:
Each of us should be optimistic and self-confident in our real life and enjoy ourselves what we have.
Item2: A Short story
Honesty is the Best Policy.
A milkman became very wealthy through dishonest means. He had to cross a river daily to reach the city where his customers lived. He mixed the water of the river generously with the milk that he sold for a good profit. One day he went around collecting the dues in order to celebrate the wedding of his son. With the large amount thus collected he purchased plenty of rich clothes and glittering gold ornaments. But while crossing the river the boat capsized and all his costly purchases were swallowed by the river. The milk vendor was speechless with grief. At that time he heard a voice that came from the river, “Do not weep. What you have lost is only the illicit gains you earned through cheating your customers.
Rhetorical devices
:
·        Climax: crossed a river daily->mixed the water of the river with the milk->went around collecting the dues-> all milkman’s costly purchases were swallowed by the river.
·        Irony
Message:
Honest dealings are always supreme. Money earned by wrong methods will never remain forever.

Item3: Cartoon




Rhetorical devices:
·        Irony: The whale caused the environmental polution, while two peope are trying to save it.
·        Overstatement
·        Metaphor: the giant whale- pollutants
Message:
These environmentalists look to be in real danger, caused by the whale they are trying to save.

Source: