Reading Notes Week 14 Part A&B

Reading Notes 

Week 14

 Part A&B

• James Baldwin was an African American novelist that lead the rest with his prose stylists during the twentieth century. His most famous work included poetry laced with "the classics of English literature and the tones of biblical prophecy, combine personal reflection with a wider view of social justice"(pg.735). 
• As a youth Baldwins stepfather was a preacher and he was very involved in the church at a young age and was some way shunned because of his later involvement in secular literature. Although he did stay in close relationship with several churches over time and even preached when he was still a young man. 
• Also don't let me forget he was one of the icons of the civil rights movement. 
• In 1943 he was expected to go take care of his mother and siblings when he received the news of his fathers death but instead he moved to Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan to work as a writer and met other older writers and here in the place he "became aware of his homosexuality"(pg.735). 
• Leopold Sedar Senghor a poet who was also the founder of the movement Negritude and the first ever president of independent Senegal. His main subject was the personal and social conflicts between Europe and Africa. 
• A part of the poem "Black Women" is you could feel the pain in the words of the poem and the repeating of" naked black women" was used to further the point of the disrespect shown to black women and how they were subjected to that image only being naked. "Moaning under the hands of the conqueror, Your deep contralto voice is the spiritual song of the Beloved, Naked woman, dark woman"(pg. 680-681). 
• Very moving line because it showed how the black woman was the strongest through this whole poem because of the trails told. Also the disgust of the imagery of someone who conquered you and your people and they take advantage of you because they see you as "a black woman and beautiful" 

Reading Notes Part A&B Week 13

Reading Notes 

Part A&B

Week 13

• Modern poetry era was one where modern poets believed that all poetry was good poetry and the embrace of your feelings for the overflow of power. Although modernist weren't too solid with that mindset instead they swayed more towards the facts things more clearly answered. Modern Poetry introduction gives the feeling of when poetry began to be more free and writers wrote true feelings in word form and even though there were those who didn't believe or agree the movement of this type of literature grew. 
• William Butler Yeats is know for his outstanding imagery and for me as a reader this is always great to know about writers because I love imagery and seeing the picture the author is trying to paint. Yeats went through a lot of personal problems since he was in Europe around the chaos of World War One and to cope with of the pain he created a "private mythology". 
• Thomas Stearns Elliot or aka T.S. Elliot was a factor in the impact on modern poetry in the world. And was know mostly for his memorable poems linked with "spiritual and intellectual conflict" and Elliot also was in Europe during the First World War and this inspired his poetry as well as Yeats. 
• Anna Akhmatova is one of the greatest Russian poets in the twentieth century and her poems were personal and told in a poetic voice to enhance the voice of a "lover, mother, and wife". 
• One thing I can say about all of the authors poetry is that it had emence imagery to give feeling to the poem and to help readers understand their grief in this moment in time of war. 
• My favorite section of text from one of the authors has to be from Anna Akhmatova  when she says "For someone a fresh breeze blows, For someone the sunset luxuriates. We wouldn't know, we are those who everywhere, Hear only the rasp of the hateful key, And soldiers tread."
• It is profound how Anna compares the settings of people around the world and how there are people living good right now while she was in a place of hate and the only sound was of soldiers boots gives superfluous imagery to me as a reader. 

Reading Notes Week 12 Part B

Reading Notes 

Week 12 

Part B

• James Joyce helped shape modern literature by conducting experiments with the narrative form to begin a new literature movement that in the end would become popular during the twentieth century. 
• Joyce with the help from Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf the group helped followers of literature to understand the mind. 
•  Joyce came from a big family of about ten children and another three who died as infants but he was the eldest surviving child. 
• A theme I see with a lot of these english literature writers who helped changed history they come from wealthy family 's most of the time when the introduction tells the back story of the writers life. Basically like education is the same now too then because more money better schools and better opportunities. 
• The text says for Joyce to support that large family " His father held a well paid and and undemanding post in the civil service and the family was comfortable until 1891" His father end up losing his job in 1891 and he refused to get another job and decided to live off a small pension. 
• Going from well paid to no work Joyce's family began to drop down the economic ladder and his dad which became what he described as " a praiser of his past, a drunk, tax gatherer, and a bankrupt"pg. 174 
• From this description I can tell that Joyce wasn't happy even at his young age of his dad just giving up on living well-paid to live where you barley have anything. Also what could have sparked this frustration is since his father lost his job at the age of nine Joyce was taken out of his well known Catholic prep school because they could not afford his tuition anymore. 
• Joyce proving that he was meant to be chosen to be read in this history book today, let two years past and Joyce was admitted into another rigorous well know Belvedere College in Dublin on a scholarship furthering that education.
• I appreciate Joyce's life story and his never give attitude where he is presented with a problem but instead chooses to run right around the challenges with a fight about himself.  
• Also his story "The Dead" has an interesting concept saying being a "dream of a better life against a dismal improvised background and since it was fiction but had so much realism incorporated this became a new wave. 

Reading Notes Week 12 Part A

Reading Notes 

Week 12 

Part A 

• In the introduction to Modernity and Modernism the beginning of the text explains how in the start of the twentieth century the world became more connect in ways of technology. Inventions like the automobile and plane allowed people to travel covering much land in record speed with all of the new advancements. The revenue from all of these new creations and the world becoming smarter health care became better and a random fact that was interesting was infant mortality went down and the population began to increase. 
• The world population was able to triple in the era going from under two billion to around 6 billion people. The improvement in human life was apparent from the transformation in technology that allowed us as humans to adapt even further to our environment. 
• Although the advancements also occurred when it cam to the military and new weapons that were effective and destructive once in action. 
• Even though our world was improved with size the twentieth century was one of the most bloodstained in our history as humans with as many as 200 million people died. "died in wars, revolutions, genocides, and famines. 
• I appreciate hoe on pg. 6 and pg. 7 they give readers a map of the world at 1913 with the old labels to help us further understand the climate at this particular time. I can see that the names are different for countries like "Dominion of Canada" and Russian Empire"or "French West Africa".
• This map is helping me understand that the world was power hungry in these days and it was all about who had the biggest arms and ruled over the most people with their "power". Everyone had their own "empires" they ruled over. 
• Then the text begins to tell the story if Virginia Woolf and how she was one of the great modern novelist and she was a known feminist who used her essay's to explain women in their  society and gender differences. And also the "predicament of the women writer" 

Reading Notes Week 11 Part B

Reading Notes 

Part B

Week 11

• Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a man who wrote in an era that writing was becoming a secondary rate of occupation and used theater to mark his territory in literature. 
•  Ibsen in the nineteenth century used the new technology theater into a further spectacle by investing money into improvements like special effects and the latest stars to impress audiences all over.
• Ibsen's writings portrayed real life issues and painted a picture for the audience which shocked them to noticing the genius of his theater show. Also he captivated audiences by the perfectly draw characters and well rounded dramatic scenes to keep the people coming back. 
• Ibsen was well know for the revival off theater and made a good case for the "originator of modern drama" 
• Ibsen at a young age of twenty years old changed the way theater was approached rather than complicated plots and action filled Ibsen went a different direction with his first two pieces "Brand" and "Peer Gynt". He wrote both of these for dramatic poetry and was not made to be read as a theater play. 
• Ibsen introduced theater to realism and this was such a big deal because this had been done on the level of writing a novel involving realism but no one yet used realism in theater until Ibsen decided to exposes audiences on how to understand emotion and moral truth. 
• Interestingly enough Ibsen's work the text is focusing on is the theater play of "Hedda Gabler" and how the story is of a daughter of a general marries a man named Tesman. Although the couple of Hedda and Tesman as a read as soon as I begin to read I notice that things are uneven in the relationship. 
• Tesman has a positive outlook on life and is ready to being his life with his new trophy wife not really knowing that she was basically mean and only truly married to Tesman for odd reasons. She would leave him but is trapped by marriage. She is unhappy because she is used to upper middle class and Tesman was from the lower bottom class and can not please Hedda finically. 

Reading Notes Week 11 Part A

Reading Notes 

Week 11

Part A

• In the introduction to writer Leo Tolstoy the text uses many adjectives to describe him like a womanizer and aristocrat which means he was a gentle person to the highest rank and had his way with women. 
• Also he was a vegetarian which made me think even being born in 1828 and passing away in 1910 it is surprising people born in that time period had the idea of no indulging in meat.
• It was very ironic that he was famous for his knowledge on the topic of marriage but struggled in his own marriage. 
• Leo was known for his reflection on how to live the best way on this world and how you should handle the temptations of guilt, pleasure, war, money, and sex. 
• He wrote once "Blame me and not the  path I tread" making me think intensely on the lessons given in the bible of how God can judged us as humans but he choses not to blame the past things you have done to stumble in your walk of life. 
• With the examples of great novels like "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" Leo was able to convey to readers many stories of humanistic pursuits , military fights, and love and marriage. 
• The story that the text focuses on is "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" which is a story of an ordinary middle class man who recently finds out that he will die soon. And this direction the story is going in is automatically interesting because Leo I know was born in a time where they wrote a lot of stories of self reflection and this is exactly what  the character in the story struggles with after finding out this disturbing fact. 
• It is interesting when the story begins on page 740 the author jumps straight into the story although I feel it would have been even more helpful to give background on who Ivan is and how did he die. 
• Reading this text leaves me with questions but I can say this is a very detailed story so in continuing to read you understand further where the author is going. 

Reading Notes Week 10 Part B

Reading Notes 

Week 10

Part B 

• Higuchi Ichiyo was the first major Japanese woman writer in six centuries. This was such an interesting revelation because she wasn't like most writers that I've read were she was born into money. 
• This was so important because I know right now in todays society without money it is hard to obtain knowledge when your funds aren't as significant as a person who is born into money. But Ichiyo was recognized for her work as a writer and she had to climb from the bottom to obtain this status of first Japanese woman writer. 
• Nothing came easy to Ichiyo and to others she emerged out of the nowhere but she fought through poverty and was barely educated. In her time she was born Japanese women weren't even expected to be educated at all.
• Her stories consisted of real life situations that shot her straight to the top of what her peers considered to be one of the greatest writers. She wrote stories about orphans that were left on the street, mistreated sex workers , and just urban working class life styles. 
• Her skill brought forth all the praise and acclaim she could have hoped for which was cut short when she suddenly died in her prime age of twenty four. Making her rain over the literature would last only a short four years. 
• Reading her works introduction the story of "Separate Ways" interested me from the quick summary I was given because it was drama filled and left me as a reader wanting to know more. 
• In reading we see the two main characters being the highlight of the story. Where a women was left with a life changing decision to either stay in the poverty or be subjected to a life of sexual dependence which would lead to luxury. The other character a street urchin is this women friend who lends support without judging or telling her exactly what she should do. 
• This story is one of the better ones in my opinion because it is in clear english and it makes it even better to read.

Reading Notes Week 10 part A

Reading Notes

Week10

Part A

• As the world made advancements in transportations made communicating from anywhere easy and impacted the literature in a huge way. 
• With more transportation made it easy for writers to get inspiration from all over the world and allowed them to spread their message further. 
• Also it helped writers spread their new discoveries in writing in general. 
• Realism was on of the most influential movements in the nineteenth century which began in Britain and France and didn't immediately cause impact in European influences. 
• An interesting fact was on pg. 626 where they show a realistic masterpiece named "The Stonebreakers" in 1848 and it was destroyed in the Allied bombing in World War 2. 
• This was so interesting because this shows men hard at work which is a realistic everyday site that was depicted in the painted but since it was destroyed it only exist in reproductions and photos. No more originals all because of the war another realistic aspect of life in the time of the war. 
• Realistic writers introduced new techniques to the literary world that drastically changed history of theater in the late nineteenth century. Realistic writers wrote novels and short stories with realistic drama. 
• The novel was new for literature and opened up flexibility for writers to explore different styles of writing. 
• In the introduction of Fyodor Dostoyevsky where they talk about his background it was interesting in how he was fascinated by thought of why do humans have the basic desire of subduing those weaker than oneself.
• Interesting enough his father was a drunk after the death of his mother that spiraled his behavior. He described his father becoming violent and beating his servants and even talking to his dead wife. 
• I also think it was interesting that before he wrote his novel "Poor Folk" that he actually became poor by blowing all of his money then actually writing the novel and not basing it on opinion or others experiences. 

Week 9 Reading Notes Part B

Reading Notes 

Part B

Week 9

• Ghalib was the most famous routinely quoted poet of both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And most people who were fans knew poems by heart. The style of writing Ghalib practiced was one of making his words become an image for his readers. 
• While reading the poems flowed so well they made me feel Ghalib was ahead of his time because I understand his focus of the poem and actually get lesson from reading. 
• This type of writing on pg. 594 "Ghalib, it's no use forcing your way with love: that doesn't catch when lit and doesn't die when doused" Ghalib leaves readers with images running through the brain of a boy trying to catch his love which is the flame. Well at least thats what I am getting from the poem. 
• Also while reading I catch the theme in the poems of the author Ghalib talking in third person and although that is a new way of poetry I have never witnessed. In a way it made me feel like he was having a conversation with me. 
• "Tonight somewhere, you're sleeping by the side of another lover, a stranger: otherwise, what reason would you have for visiting my dreams and smiling your half smile". Reading this part of the text made the poem feel more like a conversation or a text message exchange this day in age. 
• The short couple of poems in the beginning of the reading also caught my attention on page 591 and it goes a little on to pg. 592. "Now go Live in that place" was an interesting one because it was such a harsh punishment given to whoever in the poem. One part says " and if you die, no one to mourn you there". 
• Such a harsh punishment but given in such detail with only six lines of poetry which is beautiful I wish my communication skills were that good to where I explain something like hate into six lines of poetry just as Ghalid on pg. 591 did. 

Week 9 Reading Notes: Part A

Reading Notes

Week 9

Part A

• pg.537-541 is information about Vietnam,India, China and enjoy the addition of the map on pg. 540. The map gives me a picture of the settings and how at the time these empires were so close to each other. Allowing them to not see eye to eye causing tension to run high between the two. 
• On pg. 541 it shows a French Colonial family posing next to a machine gun. The picture even had the kids in the picture making me understand how at the time war was normal to the citizens, that huge guns were backgrounds for a picture. 
• Also on the same page it explains how Vietnam was ruled by China for over a thousand years and it took until the tenth century were in a famous Battle of the Bach Dang River ending the golden years of Chinese rule. 
• Explains how Indians in the 19th century "passed from one vast imperial power to another". 
• In China they proved to me strong and independent and Europeans wanted most of the products they manufactured especially the beauty care but their money flooded China's system I believe and caused China to isolate themselves. This ended in the 19th century though. 
• "The Tale of Kieu" is the master of Vietnamese literature and many people that are Vietnamese can recite the full 3,000 lined piece of poetry. 
• People even used this text to define their future and how they continue life. 
• A story of a young women forced into prostitution and slavery but has to come to the stand for her nation that is being attacked by foreign enemies and tyrants flooded the land to control the people. 
• The story is also a love story that has many themes and is just a great piece of Vietnamese literature.  
• Nguyen Du's "The Tale of Kieu" is considered the best of Vietnamese literature. 

Reading Notes Week 8 Part B

Reading Notes 

Week 8

Part B

• Walt Whitman left an astonishing legacy by bringing free verse poetry to modern practice. He saw poets as leaders and fighters. Whitman strayed away from poetry ordinary rhyme and meter approach. His poems also included a heavy sense of prized free and sexual pleasures. 
• With this bubbling new era of poetry an era that was laced with poets who before Whitman would have no place in poetry those who were defiant, energetic, and willing to experiment. 
• Born on Long Island and moved to Brooklyn as child Whitman dropped out of school at the tender age of 11 to work random odd jobs. As he became older he worked jobs as a school teacher, builder, bookstore owner, journalist, and poet. 
• Whitman personally loved the South but imposed its slavery and petitioned against it and looked up to public figures at the time like Abraham Lincoln. 
• In 1865 he met Peter Doyle who eventually became his lover and he moved to Camden, New Jersey were he resided at for the rest of his life. 
• He worked on poet at a young age and wrote a bunch of good and bad poems and eventually came up with a collection that was titled "Leaves of Grass" which he had to revise man of times probably till his death just because how bad the critiques attacked his art but in future time he would be appreciated call Whitman ahead of his time.
• I like how Whitman structured his poems they are spaced perfectly and are long stanzas like a story. But it is truly hard to follow the meaning of his poems or should I say understanding the meanings of the poems. Starting with the titles being the subject of the poem in the beginning and as you go on reading in my experience the subject of the poem got farther away from how it was started. 
• pg. 465 this poem has to be the easiest to follow and is like a song in a musical which in the beginning introduction said Whitman enjoyed theater. says it on pg. 447 at the mid top of the left side of the page. 
• And on pg.  399 is a start of a poem that is quiet familiar to me I don't know from where but I felt like I have read it before 

Reading Notes Week 8 Part A

Reading Notes 

Week 8

Part A

• Frederick Douglass was the most important African American public figure during the nineteenth century. Even though Douglass was born into slavery and was subjected to manually labor instead of being on school. Douglass's perseverance allowed him to teach himself to read and use that to shortly become a powerful anti slavery speaker and writer. 
•  Full name Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Talbot County in Maryland sometime in 1818. He barely knew his mom and his dad was most likely his slave master. At the age of six he had lived with his grandmother but soon went to live in his owners house. Douglass's owner at the time was one of the most wealthiest men in Maryland. 
• In this period of time Douglass recounts countless routine heartless consequences for the plantain slaves. For the better his life turned in 1826 Douglass was sent to live with a relative of his owner in Baltimore. There Hugh Auld's wife began to teach Douglass how to read and when Auld discovers his wife is teaching the slave boy how to read he becomes enraged with anger yelling that literacy would make Douglass unmanageable, not content, and would make him never be able to be a slave. 
• This knowledge changed Douglass's life find out that the key to freedom was through reading and obtaining knowledge he saw his clear pathway to being a free man. 
• Later he was send back tot he plantation where he got in to a long physical altercation with his master and freed himself by force. Although not lawfully free Douglass went back to live in Baltimore where he began to learn and work sending his wages back to his master. 
• In 1838 Douglass managed to escape and at first in his book he didn't list the strategy he used to escape slavery for good. Although after many years past he reveled that he dressed as a sailor and a free black slave gave Douglass his free papers to make it to New York where he married the women he previously met in Baltimore. He worked odd jobs and changed his name while helping the abolitionist movement.  
• Soon Douglass would begin to read an abolitionist newspaper and by chance met the editor who offered him a job and this became the start of greatness for Fredrick Douglass. 

Reading Notes Week 7 Part B

Reading Notes 

Week 7

Part B 

• In London 1840 two women were denied the right to speak at a World Anti Slavery Convention, outraged by the bigotry eight years later in Seneca Falls New York,  Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton held a Women's Right Convention with over 300 delegates at attendance. 
• They came togethers  to discuss their need  for a right to vote and more equal rights for women.
• The plea for women's rights made the press and many religious leaders feel shocked and against the terror women voting would bring. 
• The fight for women's right to vote would take another seventy years to be a reality in the US
• pg. 51 "the law, in all cases, going upon the false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands". 
• Women were being to start a new conversation using their knowledge to learn the laws and challenge the inequality's that were clearly against women having any say in anything. 
• The law basically made men all powerful in the eyes of society 
• "He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education-all colleges being closed to against her". pg. 51 
• On pg. 52 "He  has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself".
• "we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges, which belong to them as citizens of those United States". 
• Herman Melville wrote the most famous book "Moby Dick" but his "Bartleby" included a character to remember Bartleby who raises multiple philosophical questions 
• Walt Whitman and Herman Melville were both nineteenth century Goliath in literature also both born in New York in the year 1819.
• Both democrats and opposing slavery
• "Or even the narrator concludes, Bartleby can-not be interpreted at all: he is an unknowable cipher, one of the enigmas of a plural and puzzling "humanity". 
• A complex character who is also hard to forget after reading this story of rebellion that takes place in a dark office on Wall Street. 

Reading Notes Week 7 Part A

Reading Notes 

Week 7

3/6/18

• After Toussaint's exile the an ruthless second in command obtained charge in the raging revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines successfully defeated the French in 1803.
• After his victory he claimed a new nation and named it Haiti.
•  Dessalines crowned himself emperor and then in 1804 wrote "Liberty or Death" or the "proclamation"
• Dessalines was a former slave who was given no schooling but didn't let that fact prevent his document he created that had been laced with both cleverness and intelligence
• pg. 36 "the ancient tree of slavery and prejudices, "
• Compared the slave trade to "cannibalistic consumption of fellow human beings" 
• His proclamation made it to about 50 different US newspapers 
• In 1806 Dessalines was assassinated and left a complex legacy behind (described well on pg.36 as well in a bout a sentence)
• "Yes we have rendered to these true cannibals war for war, crime for crime, outrage for outrage; Yes I have saved my country, I have avenged America.
• Dessalines was passionate and very blunt in speech but also looked at issues through a stern but wise view point. A humanistic view point. 
• Olaudah Equine was the first freed slave to write an autobiography and was pleased to have it challenge the views of pro-slave writers at that time who believed that Africans were not human beings.
• His writing was profound, Olaudah was barred from education but still wrote his own autobiography that showed "extraordinary intellectual powers" and this was bad business for the debate on slaves not being people. Because how can an African who is not a human being writing so intelligently. 
• His book had about 39 editions before 1857 and was translated into German and Dutch And Russia. 
• Not only was the topic of slavery making his book so popular but the places he traveled were exotic and he went all over the world. Which was intriguing to read and gained Olaudah white audiences who were fascinated by his travel and intelligence. pg. 73

Reading Notes week 6 Part B: The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the citizen

Reading Notes 

Part B 

2/28/18

week 6

• Only July 14, 1789, leaders of the French Revolution came together to make a declaration of right and on August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizens flooded the streets of France. 
• Similar to the name of our Declaration of Independence, France's rights is in many ways  different. Even though the man to write our declaration helped France with there drafting process. 
• Some of the Declarations that stood at to me was 7 when it says, "but every citizen summoned or seized in virtue of a law ought to render instant obedience; he makes himself guilty by resistance". on pg. 22 
• I believe it is saying that if they call you to court over breaking the law and you ignore the call you will be assumed guilty by not showing up. That is different from our law 
• Also with declaration 9 it says " Every man is presumed innocent until he has been pronounced guilty" 
• This is really different from our law of being innocent until proven guilty but in France it's not the same 
• The people who control the laws or the judges have more power over if a person is guilty or not 
• Olympe De Gouges or other wise known as Marie Gouges was on of the most radical women rights voice you would hear in 1748- 1793
• pg. 23 " She was advance highly progressive ideas, including the abolition of slavery and the rights of orphans and unwed mothers".
• "if women can be executed then surely they should be permitted to make public speeches". In this time women couldn't even speak in public and Gouges was determine to spark a change with her radically although in todays age rational ideas. 
• Sadly Olympe de Gouges was guillotine during the Reign Of Terror because she used "inflammatory words" and she died a "public enemy"
• 
  

Reading Notes Week 6: An Age of Revolutions inEurope and the Americas Part A

Reading Notes 

Week 6

Part A 

An age of revelations in Europe and America 

• People born on 1765 and who were able to live a pretty long life would be a witness to two powerful revolutions 
• The revolutions sparked a change in society where everyone had to learn a new vocabulary and add more political vocabulary to their daily lives and job they were soon to join.
• This time sparked an industrial revolution on pg. 4 "The first of the two great upheavals was the industrial revolution, which began in England and radiated outward, as other nations copied English innovations. 
• A piece of the text that stood out to me personally was on both pg. 4 and pg.5 " The great spur for this new global economy was cotton. Grown and harvested by slaves in the colonies". 
• This slave picked cotton was used to make cloth and in this time period these farmers turned "entrepreneurs" because they profited off of slave labor. But the one in charge profits. 
• I appreciate the picture given on pg. 5 of the homeless people in late 19th-century and how they had a different name as squalor. 
• Some workers even starved in the economy poor growth. 
• On pg. 8 and 9 it gives a clear illustration of the Slave Trade across maps and countries from 1560-1850
• This map shows the estimated number of slaves being transported from each of the countries at the time and this is a great addition for a learner such as me being more visual actually having something to look at. 
• Napoleon ruled by dictatorship and reinstated slavery in France and had other laws that made him a small but fierce leader.

Declaration Of Independence

• Written by Thomas Jefferson The Declaration was a replica of principals by the Enlightenment philosophers believed in. 
• In congress on July 4th 1776 the Declaration of Independence was a unanimous declaration by the thirteen states of America. 
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Reading Notes W5: Part B Cao Xueqin ,

Reading Notes 

Week 5

Part B 

• Can created one of the most best and worst of traditional China into one story. "The Story of Stone" 
• Powerful story and began to move people's hearts and minds. Through a story that took a deep dive into sex, lust, and differences between both sex. 
• Can was raised by a Han Chinese family which ruled the ethic group numbers in China. And his family helped in a prominent and lucrative jobs working as Imperial  Textile Commission 
• With the fame of the Cao family there are not many details on the life of Cao Xueqin but it is know that his family's mansions and property's were swiped by a new emperor over optical reasons. 
• From 1740 to 1750 Cao was working on "The Story of Stone" living in the suburbs of Beijing where he was forced to move after losing everything. Also he was living just above the means of survival selling painting to make ends meet while working on his story. on pg.518
• It was claimed that Cao story was of real life so since there was even less information on his life the story he wrote gave clear inside, especially of what happened to his family's wealth.
• It is tradition for Chinese novels to be very long. And since Cao's followed that tradition made it hard to summarize or even pull out the important parts. 
• On pg. 519 it points out a similarities of the settings in the story and to where Cao lived in real life
• On pg. 521 it gives good insight on to the themes the story uses to become great and allows readers to stay intrigued. 
• It is very interesting that the story had a genealogy to give information further into the beginnings of the characters and makes it even feel more of a true story with the added genealogy. 
• At the bottom go pg. 527 it says "The accumulation of good and bad deeds that determines a soul's future lives". showing the relationship between Buddhism and the way the characters lived in the story. 
• Beautiful poems on pg. 617 and through out the reading 

Reading Notes W4: Early Modern Chinese Vernacular Literature, Part B

Reading Notes 

Week 4 

Part B 

• pg. 415 explains how this section of the book on the Chinese Vernacular Literature would not be included in conversation with these other writing in the early twentieth-century. This is because writings like poems, prose, and tales were consider more important but now these pieces are works of art.
• This literature felt with themes such as sex, violence, corruption, social satire, and slapstick humor. This type of literature was set apart at the time from the rest because it was a time of intellectual literature. But this writing used the living vernacular of everyday speech. 
• In China this literature caught fire throughout all classes and since it was even more relatable it became very profitable as well. 
• Vernacular literature took the place of classical writings and became triumph over time by flooding the public with plays, verse romances, and prose fiction. 
• The beginnings of this writing began during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) on pg. 416
• Only during the Ming Dynasty was China introduced to the genre of drama and was not like the Greeks who had a classical tradition of drama. 
• Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) was one of the more famous drama play writers with his play Peony Pavilion that dived into the more romantic side. 
• The  Romance of Three Kingdoms was the struggle of three kingdoms that was one of the most famous romances thats was able to survive. And on pg. 417 it shows a picture. 
• on pg. 424 is the beginning of the story of The Journey to the West and it begins with a large amount of descriptive writing that gives you a sense of the setting. Also the imagery it gives when explaining how the money was born is amazing. 
• The monkey who was born from the egg was born being able to walk, climb, and with all his limbs. He made friends with other animals like the tiger, lizard, wold, and many more animals. 
• On pg. 425 also had stanzas of what looked like poems in between the story which is unique and the structure shows the openers in structure of writing. 

Reading Notes W4: Voltaire, Part A

Reading Notes 

Week4

Voltaire 

• pg. 352 On the first page of this reading it dives right into the life Francois-Marie Arouet better know as Voltaire and just how much of a pioneer he was for rebellious literature. He wrote whatever he wanted no matter the amount of trouble he could get into and then did whatever it took to get his message read by the public 
• Voltaire would direct his written to exercise his freedom of speech before it was even a given right. He would do things like mock corrupt priest and self indulged kings. Basically calling out those in power not and fearing the repercussions. 
• His use of imagery to make his words turn into pictures in the minds of his readers helped him be thrusted into the spotlight. 
• Also being thrown into jail didn't even stop his grind to express his freedom of speech and he would use messenger to get his work out. 
• Voltaire lived to the old age of 83. Even though he lived in a time where his type of writing could have gotten him killed by people in higher power he managed to lived pass regular age limits. 
• Voltaire was a trouble child and he continued this into his adult hood getting into trouble with authorities. 
• Born in Pairs on 1694 to a middle class family. He was sent to a boarding school at the young age of 10 where he grew a love for literature even though his father wanted him to pursue law. But he began to write plays and poetry. 
• Voltaire at a young age made a bunch of powerful friends but his constant use of sarcasm also earned him his share of enemies. 
• Voltaire was sent to jail for the first time after attacking the head of state and was sentence for almost up to a year. He wrote his first play Oedipus which was very successful and earned him a good amount of wealth and began to establish a literature reputation. 
• Voltaire went into to exile in England after a confrontation with a noble man where he met fellow writers Johnathan With and Alexander Pope. He enjoyed England for its freedom of censorship and no punishment for writers. 
• After spending time in England  Voltaire strengthened his urge to oppose authority 

Reading Notes W3: The Song of Ch'Un-Hyang , Part B

Reading Notes 

Week#3 

• pg. 74- This particular song of Ch'Un-Hyang is the most famous traditional work of Korea. A narrative that is widely performed, and an interesting story of romantic love, heroism, and fidelity. 
• pg.74- This song traced it's roots to shaman songs, folktales, and folksongs. P'ansori drama is the main component of the performances and they are so similar to Ancient Greek epic poetry in performing styles. 
• "P'ansori has always been a communal act." To Korea this performance was part of their culture so they faithfully had performances and didn't change the setting like more Western influenced places. 
• pg. 75The song of Ch'Un-Hyang came from the eighteen century. And the first know piece of long poetry in Chinese style dates back to 1754. 
• This type of story has also been told in many genres not only used with the p'ansori.
• I can relate to the part of the performance where their was dialogue and then the actor just bust out into song. On pg. 80 this happens it isn't my favorite part but if the song is really good I enjoy it. 
• On pg. 84-85 this type of writing style is unique how the author structured it beautifully. It was like a group of poverty monologues put into two pages as the character pour his heart out in this part of the performance. 
• Also on pg. 87-88 the text gives another long section for the character Ch'Un-Hyang and her metaphors and imagery in his poems are something I take note of and aspire to be like.