Today students received a package of poems on "war." The assignment was to read three poems and respond to one in three paragraphs using one citation per paragraph: 1 free paraphrase; 1 shorter citation; 1 block quote or long citation (4+ lines).
If you have any questions look at Writing about Literature (chapter 2) and Hacker.
Post the reflection here. Do not forget the works cited section.
Homework
Keep reading. The reading assignment is posted below. We meet in A-232 on Thursday. Bring in some questions for Ma and Aunt Paula. We wrill write a dialogue between the two sisters and Uncle Bob.
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Dung Le
Professor Wanda
English 1B
September 12, 2012
Give Back Peace (Free write)
In the poem “Give Back Peace,” the beginning four sentences Sankichi Toge talks about the loss of love ones due to the war. She expresses that war spares no ones, from adults to elders and even the young boys and girls (1-4).
Lives are not the only thing lost in war, but also the humanity within people. You’ll lose people closest to you and thus losing yourself along with it,
Give me back myself, give me back men,
linked to me. (5-6)
Sankichi Toge believes that men are violent creatures and as long as we behave the way we do, we’ll need everlasting peace to survive,
As long as men live as men,
Give back peace,
Peace that never crumbles. (7-9)
Works Cited
Toge, Sankichi. “Give Back Peace.” War Poems. Japan, 1917-1953. 8. Print.
Jelisa Larkin
Professor Sabir
English1B
September 12th, 2012
"Give Back Peace" by Sankichi Toge speaks about the meaning of peace. He feels that peace is something that should never be broken. It is the foundation of everyone coming together and not fighting and hurting one another. It stands strong and without that the world has no stability (6-8).
"Give back peace, peace that never crumbles (7-8)." Sankichi Toge wants life back to how it was before the atomic bomb was dropped. This bomb killed over 140,000 people & because of that everything was lost, everything "crumbled."
Sankichi Toge speaks about the lives lost during this horrible time in history. He states;
Give back father, Give back mother
Give back grandpa, Give back grandma
Give back boys, Give back girls
Give back myself, Give back men
linked to me (Toge, 1-5).
The atomic bomb took many lives. Young & old this horrific event spared no life. Sankichi Toge lost people he loved and known & with that he ended up losing himself.
Works Cited:
Www.poetrypotion.com
Sareth Chhoth
Professor Sabir
English 1B
11 September 2012
War Poem Response
The war poem that I chose and respond to is called The End and the Beginning by Wislawa Szmborska. Szmborska was a Polish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. While I was reading the poem, I could image what was going on. Szmborska said, “after every war someone has to clean up” (7). After reading that text, I pictures in my mind people cleaning up after the destruction of war. That image reminded me of documents or movies that I saw of war and people cleaning up rubble or corpses that were scattered.
I enjoy readings that can create images while you read. In the poem Szmborska describes the destruction of war and said,
“Someone must drag in a girder to prop up a wall. Someone must glaze a window, rehang a door. Photogenic it’s not, and takes years. All the cameras have left for another war. Again we’ll need bridges and new railway stations” (7).
After every war, there is always mayhem and civilians have to start over. They have to rebuild everything that was destroyed.
As I read the poem, I read a stanza that Szmborska provided, “Those who knew what was going on here must give way to those know little. And less than little. And finally as little as nothing” (8). To me, that stanza meant that people who knew the horrors of war should hide it from the kids who do not know. I think it is meant to protect the innocent children who do not know of what the horrors of war can bring.
Szmborska, Wislawa “The End and the Beginning.” War Poems. 7
Robin DeLaney
Professor Savor
English 1B
September 12, 2012
Reflection on- Speaking: The Hero
In the poem "Speaking: The Hero" by Felix Pollak, the author exposes the opposition of the war hero's image internally in contrast to their image in society. The image that is displayed for a war hero within our society is often described as courageous, gallant and lion hearted. The soldier's story in this poem delves within the soldiers psyche and exposes their vulnerability and their petrified disposition at the idea of death. "They said I set an example, I tried to run," is an example of the contrasting difference.
The author seamlessly walks the reader through the conflicting emotions of the soldier from the opening sequence stating:
I did not want to go. They inducted me. I did not
Want to die. They called me yellow. I tried to run.
Away. They courtmartialed me. I did not shoot.
They said I had no guts.
This sequence references the draft and the taboo stigma tied to soldiers who refuse draft as unpatriotic because they are afraid of death. In reality, who would not be afraid of death, especially if what you are dying for is something that you don't believe in?
"I wanted to live. They called me a coward. I died a coward. They called me a hero." It would be especially unpatriotic to compare the way society views our fallen soldiers as hero's, yet the same people in society look down on radical muslims who share the same patriotism in their beliefs. The poem is based on the conflicting emotions that I'm sure many soldiers feel in the heat of battle. I think it's courageous for Felix Pollak to expose the truth, in my opinion, the truth is courageous, much more so than a false image created by some in order to make sense out of senseless death.
Matt Dillon-Guerrero
9 September 2012
English 1B
Wanda Sabir
Response to Thomas Paine’s 1776:
“These are the times that try man’s souls,” is one of the major quotes that I recall from the Revolutionary War era. This was a book that was published on the twenty-third of December in 1776. This quote is an excerpt from his book titled “The Crisis.” I have always thought that this quote is one of better quotes of this era, because what this means is that the only way a person will ever truly appreciate what he has accomplished is to be exposed to tremendous pressure.
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph.” What this means is that when we are pushed to such an extreme and yet we still come out on top, that is when we truly appreciate what we have accomplished (Thomas Paine, 1776).
In Thomas Paine’s book 1776, he mentions that tyranny like hell is not easily conquered. This is similar as to how a diamond is formed. A diamond is created in areas of high pressure and high temperatures. A diamond is viewed as very precious, similar to how one might appreciate an accomplishment that was reached through a long and treacherous journey. In terms of when this was written, especially given what this was in reference to. It is absolutely appreciated especially given the fact that it came at a tremendous cost.
Anna H.Y. Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
13 September 2012
Character Profile on Aunt Paula
As children, we grow accustomed to listening stories about great heroes or heroines who show tremendous amount of courage in fighting against villains. Then as we experience life, and meet people who hurt are hurtful, and we characterize them as the “villains” in our own stories—it is easier to categorize people as “bad” or “good.” The author of Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok, however, shows us through the character of Aunt Paula that each person is complex. Though she fails in many was to show sympathy and love for her younger sister and Kimberly, the reader cannot simply label her as “evil” because the author reveals the hardships Aunt Paula face earlier on in her life as the story progresses that softens the reader’s view of her.
From the beginning of the story, Aunt Paula fulfills her obligation as a family member. When Ma and Kimberly arrive in New York, they instantly face extreme hardships. Aunt Paula seems to be doing nothing to remedy their situation; however, as neglectful as she acts towards Ma and Kimberly, their family bond with Aunt Paula is an essential factor in their survival—at least initially. They could not come to the States if it were not for Aunt Paula; and from her perspective, she has done nothing but “gone to great lengths” to “take care” of her younger sister and her daughter (13). Nonetheless, this does not make the reader feel better about Aunt Paula’s character—her lack of love for Ma and Kim—until Ma explains to Kim about Aunt Paula’s past that sheds some understanding as to her underlying emotions:
When we were teenagers alone in Hong King, Aunt Paula took care of everything. She was smart and resourceful. She trained as a gold-beater so I could finish high school. I was supposed to be the on to marry an American Chinese, since I wasn’t good at much except for music, and some people thought I was pretty. But then I started giving music lessons and your pa gave me a job at the school (88-89).
Although Ma does not directly tell Kim, the reader can easily read the through the lines that Aunt Paula’s feelings must have been disregarded in the family. Not only that, she, herself, must have had to disregard her emotions. Anger, resentment and bitterness could not be dealt with on the surface because Aunt Paula was the elder daughter of the family, the bread-winner, and the sole provider. She must have felt unworthy, lonely and hurt. In spite of it all, Aunt Paula manages to be a dutiful member of the family.
The author, Kwok, demonstrates through Aunt Paula’s character that even people who seem cold-hearted and even abusive are never one-dimensional. Each person is complex and complicated. Even “bad” people have stories and feelings of their own. At the end of day, however, I believe that a person is not what happened to him or her; a person is who he or she chooses to be.
Rosetta Egan
Professor Sabir
English 1B
11 September 2012
War is Ruin
Humans have been battling with each other since the dawn of man. Violence is a part of nearly everyone’s daily life no matter where you live. If you do not experience bloodshed in your neighborhood then you can see it on the internet or television or read about it in the newspaper every day of the year. We cannot escape the dirty devastation of war and: “After every war / someone has to clean up” (1-2).
Everything we have is ruined by wars from our cities to our lives:
Someone has to push the rubble
To the sides of the road,
So the corpse-laden wagons can pass.
. . . Again we’ll need bridges
And new railway stations. (5-7, 21-22)
We can replace our cities and someone will profit from the damage of war. The lives we lose are gone forever and the survivors are left to do the work of trying to heal themselves.
It seems as though we get bored with peace as Szmborska says we look for other wars to photograph (19-20). Or maybe we just forget what the last war was like. We never learn lessons from our wars because after the destruction of a war it is not long before we are at war again. If there are any people who remember the horrors of war, they are ignored (26,30).
Szmborska, Wislawa. “The End and the Beginning.” http://poetsagainstthewar.org/
Caitlin Rockwell
Professor Sabir
English 1B
War Poem Speaking: The Hero
In the poem “Speaking: The Hero” Felix Pollak compares two different feelings of how he expresses what is happening to him and what other people did to him. The author uses comparison to show how he was treated during the war. Pollak’s view is real and shows how he felt, how people were betraying him, he did not want to serve and was forced to.
The main quote in this poem is the ending two lines
“I died a coward.
They called me a hero”
I think this expresses how he was really feeling. He did not want to serve, he did not want to fight, and he did not want to die. He is calling himself a coward because he wanted to live he did not want to die he does not feel as though he is a hero because he didn’t really fight. The author writes this poem as if very down on himself and I feel as though he wished he could have lived instead of serving. “They” called him a hero is the people that made him serve in the first place “they” said he gave his life to fight but he did not want to, he had struggled to keep his life and in the end he thinks of himself as a coward.
Anna H.Y. Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
11 September 2012
Reflection on “The End and the Beginning”
No land has been free of war. It is an inevitable part of human life because evil exists. Wislawa Szmborska’s poem, “The End and the Beginning,” describes dire outcomes of a war—its effects on individuals and society—and reminds the reader to remember why war is an unavoidable feature of human life.
After a war ends, rebuilding a life takes great work. But as soon as things stabilize, those who were not directly involved with the war forget about what happened (25 – 31). This attitude defeats the efforts that went into recovering the aftermath of the war because if people choose to forget why they fought in the first place then same conflicts that triggered the war could arise again. Therefore, according to Szmborska, we “must give way to/ those who know little” (38 – 39). Although we must work hard to move forward from the catastrophic event, that doesn’t mean that we must forget about it.
The last stanza of the poem brings the awareness to the reader’s mind that freedom comes at the cost of human life:
In the grass which has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out,
blade of grass in his mouth,
gazing at the clouds.
Grass symbolizes peace, and it also lets the reader know that a long period of time has elapsed since the war ended. Nevertheless, underneath the grass, there still lie people whose bloods were shed during the war
Anna H.Y. Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
12 September 2012
Work Cited
Szymborska, Wislawa. "The End and the Beginning."
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