Blog Entry 1.3 Symbolism_Revised

Blog Entry 1.3 Poetry Symbolism_Revised

The poem that I picked is "Azaleas" which is one of the most popular poems in Korea, because of its subtle and lyrical wording. Kim So-wol is regarded as ‘Korea's first modern poet, the master of subtle and delicate verses’ (The Korea Times). Kim So-wol was born in Korea in 1902. He was so smart that he went to one of the best schools back then, but after his school days, adversity lied in store for him. As his grandfather wanted Kim So-wol to take over the family’s business, Kim So-wol started working for the company as a manager, but the business went down soon. Meanwhile, he published several collections of poems. In those days, however, poets did not earn good money although he was one of the talented poets. Kim So-wol tried several businesses afterwards, but everything did not worked out. He was not strong enough to tide over the difficult situation. After several failures, unfortunately, he committed suicide in 1934 when he was 32 years old.

For the poem, "Azaleas", there are many symbols such as the following; ‘weary of me,’ ‘azaleas,’ ‘scatter them on your way,’ ‘tread lightly, softly as you go’, and ‘though I die, I’ll not let one tear fall.’ In the first two stanzas, the narrator portrays a melancholic tone by saying ‘without a word… scatter them on your way.’ "Weary of me," in the first stanza, simply means that ‘you’ became dissatisfied with the narrator. It also suggests the narrator’s unpleasant state of mind, since the expression, ‘weary of me,’ is harsh to the ear. Mount Yak in Youngbyon, located in North Korea, was famous for its beautiful azaleas in the past. By using a specific place that can be considered to generate them indigenously, he creates a vivid mental picture for the reader.  "Azalea," the title of the poem, is a flower which has two different colors white or pink respectively. "Azalea" is also one of Korean’s favorite flowers so the flower represents the mind goodwill yet heartbroken. ‘Scatter them on your way’ shows the image of distributing flowers at irregular intervals. It may be considered to pray to God for one’s peace.

The last two stanzas tell that the narrator wants to forget about ‘you’ completely, saying that ‘though I die, I’ll not let one tear fall.’ Some people get upset and cannot control their anger or dissatisfaction when their relationship does not work out, but the narrator still seems love ‘you’ even though the ‘you’ he refers to in the poem leaves. We can find the narrator’s constant love in the line, ‘on the flowers placed before you.’ ‘Tread lightly, softly as you go,’ in the third stanza, may serve the same meaning as ‘scatter them on your way’ in the second stanza as well. Lastly, "though I die, I’ll not let one tear fall" gives the image of a resolute attitude for separation. It also indicates that the narrator does not want to let ‘you’ know the narrator’s deep sadness.

-Works Cited-

http://koreanpoetry.homestead.com/

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/01/137_17042.html

Azaleas

When you leave,

weary of me,

without a word I shall gently let you go.

From Mt. Yak

in Yongbyon

I shall gather armfuls of azaleas

and scatter them on your way.

Step by step

on the flowers placed before you

tread lightly, softly as you go.

When you leave

weary of me,

though I die, I'll not let one tear fall.

Blog Entry 2.1 Christina Rossetti and her colorful literature_Revised

Blog Entry 2.1 Christina Rossetti and her colorful literature. Revised

           Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5, 1830. Her father came to London after he was exiled from Italy and her mother was Italian British. Rossetti is considered one of the most important British female poets, since her poems were creative and popular. Her original and creative writing was inspired by her family background. When she was younger, many Italian politicians and writers came to her home to speak to her father, who was also a poet. Christina’s mother led her to live her life as a devoted Anglo-catholic. In addition, her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was also a remarkable painter and poet. She was engaged to a man, but the marriage was cancelled because the man converted to a Roman Catholocism. Afterwards, she decided to remain single all her life and lived with her mother. She helped her mother, taking care of the household, seeking solace in religion, and devoting herself to writing poems. “Goblin Market” was published in 1862 and her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, illustrated some pictures for the poem. English online explains "because goblins sound as if they belong in a fairy story, it is often put in collections for young children.” However, since the poem can be interpreted in several ways, it is also considered to be a poem for adults.

            The plot of “Goblin Market” describes the tale of two siblings, Laura and Lizzie. They hear goblins’ tempting them every day. Lizzie warns Laura not to listen to the goblins, but Laura ends up buying some fruit from the goblins with a lock of her golden hair and a tear. After eating the fruit, she becomes more ravenous for the fruits, but she notices that she cannot hear the goblin voices any longer. Due to her desire for the fruits, Laura becomes weakened. Her sister, Lizzie, goes to meet the goblins in order to buy some fruits for Laura with a silver penny. The goblins ask Lizzie to taste their fruit, but Lizzie turns the goblins down. So the goblins beat her up and force her to eat the fruit. Lizzie was able to escape from the goblins and comes back home getting her clothes wet with goblin fruit. Laura licks the juice off of Lizzie’s clothes, but that night Laura suffers from severe pain. Lizzie takes care of her sister, Laura, all night. Then, next Laura gets better in the end. In several years, they both become mothers and tell their children about the story.

            First of all, Rossetti used the assorted fruit to show how sweet and how irresistible the goblins’ fruit could be to humans (lines 5-14). The fruit can also be considered as “the pleasures of the world (English Online).” In terms of pleasure, the fruits suggest physical desire between the goblins and Laura. Laura gave her golden lock(line 126) of her and a tear(line 127), which portray an image of virginity to the goblins, who symbolize a male. There is a character, Jeanie(line 147), whose story serves as a subplot, and gives readers some idea of what will happen if Laura eats the goblins’ fruit. Lizzie might be a reflection of Rossetti, the poet. Rossetti sacrificed her life to take care of her mother and aunts throughout her life. According to the poem, “for the first time in her life /began to listen and look(line 327-328).” This shows that both Rossetti, who pursued a life of faith, and Lizzie tried to avoid anything evil, such as goblins or situations which compromised their values.

It is also important to look at the poem from a historical and commercial point of view. Goblins sell products and Laura pays for them. Lizzie uses money to buy the products. Enotes.com indicates that “such elements of the poem have been examined as statements about capitalism and the Victorian economy, as an exploration of the role of women within the economy and society, and, more specifically, as a discussion of the place of female literature within the economy.” The important role of women in the economy and society is the result of the Industrial Revolution, which was from the 18th to the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution allowed females to work in factories and have more chance to participate in society. Even if Rossetti barely had any social activities, she must have noticed that women’s status in society had been raised.  Lizzie may have served as an image of Christ “who sacrifices herself to save her sister (Enotes).”

            The poem can be considered to be just a fairly tale, that delivers a lesson which says that it is not a good idea to listen to strangers, and that  you are likely to fall into a trap. As mentioned above, however, “Goblin Market” suggests several values such as sisterly affection, capitalism, and religious background. Fraternal love or religious allegories can be found in many literary works, but it is interesting that this poem indicates this period of time in terms of business. Rossetti tried to live in peace, helping with the household and taking care of her mother, but since she lived in a transitional time, the era seemed to affect her literature. It is very interesting that a poem can be interpreted in several ways. Rossetti seemed to live a peaceful and quiet life, but her literature looks very colorful and interesting.

< Works cited >

http://www.englishonline.co.uk/freesite_tour/resource/literature/rossetti.html

http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/goblin-market-christina-georgina-rossetti

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/crossetti/rossettibio.html

Blog Entry 3.6 In-class essay - Revised

Blog Entry 3.5 In-Class Essay Revised

The Meaning of Monsters

Throughout many types of literature, we can see a number of supernatural creatures such as gods, giants, dragons, vampires, and witches. Authors create new figures throughout history. What are the new creatures’ rolls in literature? There are three possible reasons which are the following: interest, instincts, and manipulation.

First of all, supernatural creatures generate a reader's interest. As we see, those characters sometimes look different from humans and have special abilities which human beings do not have. Some of them can fly, emit fire or even change the weather. This is exactly the same thing going on in the novel, Coraline. Coraline’s other mother’s eyes are big black buttons. The other mother has supernatural abilities; she can change objects and create new circumstances. In addition, supernatural creatures sometimes act as antagonists, like Coraline’s other mother, which the hero or heroine have to overcome. It was not easy for Coraline to fight against the other mother since she has supernatural ability. The stronger the antagonists are, the more interesting the hero’s journey is, when he deals successfully with the opponent.

Secondly, creating new objects is one of human beings’ instincts. In other words, curiosity inspires human beings to create something new.  As a primitive invented a new hand axe which had not existed until he created it, an author creates new characters based on his instincts. When curiosity comes to a reader, he wants to read something new in order to satisfy his desire. As the author creates the new supernatural character who has peculiar button eyes, the other mother creates a new environment for Coraline to keep her in the other flat. When Coraline got out of the other flat, every journey seemed to finish as Coraline said that “I got you three back... I got Mum and Dad back. I shut the door. I locked it. What more was I meant to do?” (144) It was very interesting at the moment when Coraline and the three kids in the picnic found something strange going on around them. Another creature which was the right hand of the other mom showed up. The right hand is also a new supernatural object which cannot move by itself in our  reality. The author’s creativeness led the author to create new figures and it made the novel more interesting. A new creature which is created by a human being through his or her instincts captivates humans again.

Lastly, supernatural figures can manipulate people to become afraid of paranormal phenomenon. If people cannot resist those supernatural events by themselves, then it leads them to find a refuge in religion. When it comes to kids, the only thing that they can rely on is their parents. Most of the books for children should have some sort of educational objective. When kids explore a new place or bully their friends, they always get into trouble or pay the price. Coraline found her life at the new place boring, and she thought her parents did not care about her very much. It was the beginning of the journey. As we see, Coraline went through dangerous situations and managed to come back to her real life. The other father told Coraline that “Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you... You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand.” (118) However, Coraline strongly resisted her other father’s thought. It implies that children are supposed to follow their parents and come back home no matter what happens. Even though supernatural things seem to be interesting or exploring a game with friends sounds good, children are told that they should follow rules. Children are manipulated by some story books for educational reasons.

Final Essay

    Time flew and it came to the end of the semester again as usual. I remember the first day of this class. Professor introduced himself and class with full of life. ‘English through literature’ was the title of the course as far as I know, but it seemed that there would be something more in this class. The professor said that the theme of this class was ‘supernatural’ and each student would make their own blogs and we would communicate through the blogs. Yes, this class looked very different from the beginning and indeed it was. I learned informative contents from the class and from writing blog entries. Among those blog entries, ‘blog entry 3.2,’ Macbeth through a footage, was one of the most interesting works. In the about three minute footage, there were several interesting symbols, symbolic gestures, and archetypes. In order to find symbols and archetypes, I thought over and over and whenever I tried to put a certain meaning to a specific event, I was more able to appreciate the moment and the work. After the Macbeth class, both Coraline and the final project were so much fun.
    If I had to pick one interesting blog entry, I would choose Joseph’s blog entry 3.5, Coraline. I could get the picture of his childhood life. He said that he and Coraline had something in common which was warrior archetype. He compared his childhood with Coraline’s exploration. It seemed that he was a courageous kid like Coraline. Overall, his work was interesting.    

Blog Entry 4.4: Final Project

To view my final project please click here.

The Goonies

            Treasure islands, pirate ships, exciting adventures, or stories of hero or heroine always appeal to children. ‘The Goonies,’ a movie about hidden treasure and four children who are seeking the treasure, is still one of my favorite adventure movies since I watched it when I was younger. I recorded the movie on video tape and watched more than twenty times, but the movie never gets boring. ‘The Goonies’ was directed by Richard Donner and came out in 1985. Richard Donner also directed several superhero movies or supernatural films such as ‘the Omen,’ ‘Superman’ and ‘Lethal Weapon.’ It is interesting that Steven Spielberg wrote the story of ‘the Goonies,’ and the screenplay was written by Chris Columbus who also worked on ‘Gremlins,’ ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Harry Potter’ series. What else can you expect? It is no wonder that ‘the Goonies’ is such an exciting adventure family movie. This movie shows ‘the hero’s journey,’ ‘monomyth,’ very well and I am glad that I have a chance to interpret ‘the Goonies’ since this is one of my favorite movies.

            The setting of the movie is a quiet and small village by the sea in Oregon. It is the last week for Mikey and his elder brother, Brand, to live in the village. Their house is going to be demolished by developers who are planning to transform the neighborhood into a golf course. Mikey, the leader of the Goonies, and his playful friends, Mouth, Chunk, and Data, happen to find a 17^th century pirate treasure map of ‘One-Eyed’ Willie. The four children, Brand, Andy, and Stef set out to find the hidden treasure. Meanwhile, a crime family, the Fratellis, just escaped from jail and hide in an isolated restaurant in the same village. The entrance to a secret cavern, coincidently, is under the restaurant where the Fratellis just occupied. The Goonies managed to sneak into the cavern, but Chunk was captured by the Fratellis and let the crime family know the hidden treasure.

            As the Goonies seek for the hidden treasure, they go through several traps which were set by One-Eyed Willie. The Fratellis confine Chunk in a basement room and start chasing the Goonies through the hidden cavern. Chunk is placed in the room where the Fratellis placed their brother, Sloth, who has a deformed face because Momma Fratelli dropped him when he was younger. Chunk and Sloth become intimate soon since they have one thing in common, which is eating. The Goonies finally discover the One-Eyed Willi’s ship which is filled with treasure, but the Fratellis also find the Goonies and force them to put out all the treasure and leave the ship. The Fratellis are caught in a trap and triggers the collapse of the cavern. In the end, Chunk and Sloth save their friends and the Fratellis are arrested. Mikey and his family find jewelry in his marble bag and celebrate that they do not need to leave their place any more.

            It is very interesting to apply monomyth, the hero’s journey, to ‘The Goonies.’ It seemed, at first, awkward to associate this adventure movie with monomyth since I had not a chance to interpret a movie like this academically until now, but the more I tried to understand each stages of monomyth, the more I was able to appreciate the gist of monomyth. Moreover, even though there are a number of heroes throughout literature, the stories follow a certain pattern and the heroes have much in common. Joseph Campbell suggested the idea in his book, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces.’ Although all myth do not contain all 17 stages that Campbell described, ‘The Goonies’ carries most of the stages which are the following.

I cannot post my charts here somehow... 

Please click here to view my final project. 

Thank you ;)

             There are interesting symbols that we can find in this adventure movie, the Goonies. First of all, the number of the Goonies is four which I found meaningful. The four kids encouraged and helped each other so that they finally accomplished their common goal which was to find One-Eyed Willie’s treasure. In the past, alchemists believed that there were four building blocks, which were earth, air, fire, and water, that built up all matters in the world. The four elements “were arranged hierarchically, with varying elements given qualities that made them subordinant or dominant,” as the Goonies worked in coordination (Literary Terms and Definition).

The Goonies would not be able to get to the pirate ship unless there were four kids who played crucial roles individually. For example, Mikey was the one who found the secret map to the hidden treasure. He also was the only one who brought a pocketful of jewelry at the end of the movie. Thanks to Mouth’s Spanish skill, they were able to interpret the Spanish order on the map and could play the grotesque piano successfully in the cavern. Data’s various kinds of equipment helped the Goonies several times. The Fratellis might have harmed or even killed the Goonies unless Chunk became a friend with Sloth.

It is also interesting that the Fratellis is a trio of robbers. As we learned in class, the number of three can mean harmony or completion like the Trinity or a triangle so “the power of three is universal” (Dictionary of Symbolism). The power of number three, however, come into effect only if the three components are in order or balanced, for example, "beginning, middle, end; past, present, future; the three phases of the moon... the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost...father, mother, son” (Dictionary of Symbolism). The three villains seemed somewhat incomplete since they are composed of a mother and two sons. The composition might have been perfect if there was a father. From this point of view, it comes as no surprise that the four Goonies defeated the deficient three of robbers.

It is an important symbol that the Goonies arrived at a well in the middle of their journey. The Goonies thought the old coins around the well might be the treasure at first and they even asked the people around the well outside for help to get the Goonies out of the well. However, the Goonies figured out that the well where they were at the moment was the wishing well in their neighborhood so it was not their destination.  In literature, a well can stand for a “female womb, as they are passages into mother earth” (Dictionary of Symbolism). If the Goonies were rescued from the well before they finished their journey completely, it could be regarded as premature birth since the Goonies got out of the womb before they completed their journey which would be a pregnancy. As premature delivery usually causes an unhealthy baby, it would not result in any good result if the Goonies were rescued. In Campbell’s phrase, the wishing well can also act as a temptation that can inhibit the Goonies from finding the treasure. The Goonies might have ended up giving their dream up if they failed to find their way out of the well.

There were a pair of scales filled with jewelry in front of One-Eyed Willie at the pirate ship.  When the Goonies started picking up the treasures, and putting them into their pockets, Mikey, the hero, asked Data to leave the jewelry on the scales because Mikey believed One-Eyed Willie deserved his share. It turned out that the pair of scales was one of One-Eyed Willie’s booby traps, which became apparent when Momma Fratelli took the jewelry greedily from the scales. The tilting scales triggered a booby trap that caused the collapse of the secret cavern.  As a measuring apparatus, scales indicates “justice… [and] harmony” throughout literature (Dictionary of Symbolism).  The difference between the two leaders, Mikey and Momma Fratelli, is that Mikey showed respect for the captain of the ship. His altruism allowed him to set aside some portion for the crew on the ship even though they died long time ago, and the difference was distinguished by the pair of scales.

It was interesting that Momma Fratelli resembled the archtype of a witch that we learned about in Macbeth. The witches in Macbeth chanted an ominous charm at a blasted heath, where they would not bother normal people. Abandoned areas like the blasted heath would be good for witches to perform bad or creepy ritual. Like the witches that hung around the abandoned area in Macbeth, Momma Fratelli occupied an isolated restaurant in order to avoid people’s attention. Her personality was almost the same as a witch’s personality, which is grumpy, shady, or sometimes violent. She dropped Sloth twice when he was a baby, and this was the reason that Sloth had a deformed face. She raised Sloth without affection, and shut him in a filthy room in a basement. She even thrust a dagger in front of Mouth’s face and pretended to cut his tongue. Her bad temper and wicked character showed the exact archetype of a witch.

There was a character in the film, who portrayed the typical preppy jock. The character, Troy, was popular and had nice features, like most jocks. Troy’s father was going to purchase the Goonies’ houses and tear it down, in order to construct a golf course. Troy kept chasing after Andy, who was a pretty cheerleader and wound up following the Goonies into the cavern. Troy bullied Brand who kept failing his driver’s license test. When Troy gave Andy a ride, she caught him stealing a glance at her skirt. He also saw Brand riding a bicycle while he was driving. Troy did not miss the chance to provokingly tease Brand. Brand noticed right away that Troy was going to try to provoke him. Troy irritated Brand and even made Brand fall into the woods. Troy’s character seems irritating, but it played a role in Andy and Brand getting closer to each other, since they both did not like Troy.

Since this movie is about seeking pirate treasure, I would like to talk about the archetype of a pirate. In general, pirates are regarded to be tough, brutal, and nasty. They kill other pirates, or normal people without hesitation and plunder towns. In the movie, One-Eyed Willie was a wicked character, who killed all of his crew after he found a secret cavern, while an English fleet chased his pirate ship. He murdered his crew, so that they, and any other person, would not be able to find his treasure. He also set up some booby traps, to ensure his treasure’s safety. The last booby trap, which Momma Fratelli triggered, even caused the collapse of the cavern. In spite of his careful and wicked plans, he did not seem to be a villain. It was because Mikey, the hero of the movie, felt grateful towards One-Eyed Willie, because his treasure would be the salvation that would resolve the financial problem of his family.

Everyone dreams of setting out on a journey to find a secret treasure, but at some point people realize that something, like a hidden pirate ship, would not exist. The Goonies came out a long time ago, but whenever I recall the movie, I dream about exciting adventures or precious memories, with friends, when I was younger. This final project not only gave me a chance to look over what I have learned about symbols, archetypes, and monomyths, and also brought back a touch of nostalgia with some old friends. It was informative as well as interesting that most heroes or heroines follow a typical pattern, which includes departure, initiation, and return. As I mentioned above, the fact that a number of movies, for example, MATRIX, Back to the Future, Home Alone, and even animations, such as Lion King and Shrek, have something in common in terms of the framework changes the way that I watch movies to a more academic and analytic way.

Works Cited

Carr, Kent and Carr, Maria. “Numbers as Archetypes.” HOME PAGE OF KENT & MARIA            CARR, PH.D. 2003 Web. 05 Dec. 2010             <http://www.thearchetypalconnection.com/Numbers%20as%20Archetypes.htm>

Literary Vocabulary. Literary Terms and Definitions. 06 Dec. 2010

<http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_E.html>

Protas, Allison. Dictionary of Symbolism. 06. Dec. 2010

<http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/>

Blog Entry 4.3: Update

Click the picture to view bigger image. :-)

Blog Entry 4.2: Update

        It is very interesting to apply monomyth, the hero’s journey, to ‘The Goonies.’ It seemed, at first, awkward to associate the movie with monomyth since I had not a chance to interpret a movie like this until then, but the more I tried to understand each stages of monomyth, the more I was able to appreciate the gist of monomyth. Although all myth do not contain all 17 stages, ‘The Goonies’ carries most of the stages which are the following.

In progress...