The Turn of the Screw

I had begun The Turn of the Screw, and so far I don't know what to expect from it. The story is a frame story that starts with some friends telling tales around a fire a Christmas Eve when a certain person, Douglas, mentions that he has an interesting tale from the written words of a friend of his. Unfortunately, he was not able to begin telling the story until the following day, which all the friends looked forward to with anticipation. Then begins the story inside the frame, the story of a woman who begins with finding a job as a caretaker and school teacher for two kids. So far, the young woman has met the little girl of the family. One thing that does cause concern in me, though, is that she and the servants of their house puts a lot of emphasis in their "innocence," which makes me question just how sweet, kind, and innocent the children are.

Artificial Flowers

C.P. Cavafy's poem Artificial Flowers steps aside from what many people would think about "natural beauty" and turns to man-made creations for sources of beauty. He says that real flowers will not please him and calls gardens containing such "trite and common," though many gardens are unique in their own way, containing their own assortment of featured plants. He is bored of nature's perishable beauty, but some people consider that impermanence of life as a part of beauty. He says his requested works are "neither fading nor decaying, forms unaging." Though artificial works aren't prone to change unless used or altered, the beauty of such work can be lost if the work is destroyed. He mentions his requested works come from a different kind of garden "where Forms and Styles and Knowledge dwell." If I had one guess as to where or what that garden is, I would guess it is or lies in the human mind, the house of creativity and knowledge for every person. Cavafy goes further to say that artificial works are "true Art's true gifts, more beautiful than nature, with perfect leaves and branches." Perfection is one thing that humans always strive for but can never truly obtain, and even if those works are flawless in one's eyes, there is at least one person who will see imperfection in the work in one way or another. "Their charm" he continues, "derives from wise and pure Good Taste; they didn't vilely sprout in mud or dirt." As I mentioned, perfection of art is different between individuals or groups of people, but another thing that makes nature greater for the people opposing artificiality is the satisfaction of growing the plant and keeping it alive. What's more, artificial plants never sprout or bloom like real plants; they are simply made to look like they are in a permanent state of blooming. Artificial plants also lack natural scents; Cavafy's solution: "we'll pour out perfume, burn myrrh before them." Perfume, just like plants, does not last forever, so he would have to waste quite a bit of perfume and myrrh to give his plants a scent, and even if they would have a scent, it might not match the plant. Cavafy's poem is one of controversy and irregularity in the way he defines his definition of beauty versus others' views of beauty, and I would rather prefer to only view artificial works instead of pretending they were the perfect natural thing on the planet.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

In the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Li Mu Bai and Jen's last fight against each other takes place in a forest of bamboo. In China, bamboo symbolizes righteousness, something that Jen, throughout the movie, could not learn until the end. Li Mu Bai, however, knew plenty more about righteousness than Jen through his experience and many battles. Something that especially signifies Li Mu Bai's dominance over Jen in terms of righteousness is the fact that, even with a pose that looked not as sturdy as it should have been, he was able to stand on the bamboo as if he wasn't being moved when Jen started shaking the bamboo stalk they were on. He remained on the tip of the bamboo with his same position, no matter how much Jen jostled it. As for Jen, her purpose for wanting the sword and running away, as well as how she mocked and insulted her enemies as she fought them, exemplify her lack of righteousness. She strove to learn how to be a warrior, but one important lesson she skipped in her lessons was the true meaning of the path of the warrior, the path of the righteous. Her lack of righteousness made her resolve weak and flimsy, making it easier for Li Mu Bai to knock her off the bamboo and claim his victory.

Rocky (not the boxer or the mascot)

Speaking of notable characters, I feel as though I must mention Rocky. Rocky is Tayo's cousin/brother, and possibly the only person in his family that makes Auntie have a small sense of pride in her family. Why is she the only one? Well, Tayo's mother gave birth to him with a white man, so he wasn't 100% Native American; Tayo's mother having a kid with a white man is something that is against Native American "rules", for lack of a better word, and she brought shame to the rest of the family; then we learn about Josiah and his little affair with Night Swan. So I can see why she has only Rocky to rely on for having someone good in the family, but I think there was an instance or two where she treats Tayo like dirt. That being said, it sort of serves her right when the only one in the family who returns from the war is Tayo, but that death also deals a great blow to Tayo. But I am digressing. Her reliance on Rocky is quite satiated during his high school years since he actually gets a football scholarship, but the story does not mention anything about his grades, so the cup is only half full for now. The reliance, however, also includes Rocky's actions, and at one point in the story, Auntie is disappointed in him when he is spending more times for dinner at his girlfriend's house. Don't get me wrong: I understand that since everyone else in the family has nothing positive to contribute to their name, Rocky is the only one that can give the family some good reputation; however, I feel as though Auntie has just abandoned all hope in the rest of the family like garbage and is focusing on making Rocky the perfect boy. If that doesn't scream "rude" to anyone else, then I do not know what does.

Night Swan

I am still reading Ceremony right now, but at the point I am at right now, I am just lost in the development of the timeline. But in my confusion, I was able to be introduced to a peculiar side character known only as Night Swan. She is a dancer that Josiah had met at a bar one time, and if I am not mistaken in the descriptions of Josiah, I think he is or was in love with her. It all started with a request for a cigarette, and escalated quickly to a private dance. The private dance was a flamenco inside a room at the bar, but it was unlike anything Josiah had seen before. It was as if he was mesmerized, focusing only on the dance as the music and her dancing sped up. He was like this the whole time that he stayed with Night Swan, except for the last minutes he was with her that day. For some reason, Josiah saw something in Night Swan that could force him away from all he knew and loved before, and he called her a witch and threatened to have everyone else run her out of town. Then, once again, the timeline confuses me as she was talking about love of dance and how she was accused of murdering a woman's husband. I am not sure if this all took place during the same day, but Night Swan is such a mysterious character that I lost track of keeping the timeline. She said that she was a grandmother and then she recalled the time she decided to settle down in the bar as a retirement home. She definitely is a strange character- strange enough for Old Grandma to have a few stories to tell about her apparently. I wonder how long she knew about Night Swan.

The Ten Rules of Being Human

The Ten Rules of Being Human are as true as they are good life lessons. #1, #6, and #7 can be categorized as physical truths because #1 looks at the body, #6 speaks about people’s preferences towards locations, and #7 explains the looks that we can have about other people. We keep our body until we die, no matter how much we like or hate it (#1); “here” and “there” don’t have much difference between them when we find ourselves wanting to be at another “there” when we are at a certain “here” (#6); when we love or hate people, those people become mirrors of the qualities we love or hate about ourselves (#7). #2, 3, 4, and 5 may be called the learning truths because of the lessons they portray. We are constantly learning lessons in life (#2); there are no mistakes in life, only the failed attempts that are part of the ultimate solution (#3); the lessons we learn come at us many times in various ways until we finally learn it and move on to the next lesson (#4); as long as you live, you constantly learn lessons (#5). #8, 9, and 10 can be called personal truths because they portray essential truths a person should know about himself/herself. Life is only what you see and make of it and what you do is up to you (#8); all the answers you will ever need come from you and your own experiences (#9); even if your soul may live, you will eventually forget all these rules when you die (#10). If I was asked if there was any rule I would remove from the list, I would not remove any but I would add a new rule, nonetheless. It was a great little quote in a swimming pool at East Stroudsburg College: “Pain is unavoidable, but suffering is optional.” Feeling small amounts of pain is completely unavoidable, but having to feel anything further is avoidable as long as you can make sense of what can potentially cause you pain to that extent. But sometimes, people don’t realize that and hurt themselves anyway, and that is just a natural part of being human.

Pros and Cons Part 1

So far in Ceremony, one specific detail about the story confuses me, and that is the breaks and transitions between the present and past in the story. For example, there are instances in which the present may show Tayo taking care of his animals or riding his mule, and then suddenly the story shifts to a past event for Tayo before, during, or even after the war. The events are mostly used correctly to illustrate a point about Tayo or someone/something else, but sometimes they appear in the story unexpectedly and without warning, and I require a minute or two to try and put the pieces of Tayo's chronological puzzle in the right places and place myself in the correct position in the puzzle. How should I be able to notice an important detail about Tayo in the past or present if I am constantly thrown between both of them?

One that I did notice and actually like, on the other hand, was the inclusion of old Native American rituals and ideas into the conversations about and modernized look of the the present-day world. This mainly comes into play when Tayo has trouble first getting over his sickness. Of course if he is sick, then someone should do something about it, but I find it odd that old Grandma (unknown if they are actually related so far) first suggests bringing an old medicine man. Maybe the point of it was to try and get him to remember his heritage or maybe his younger days and have that hopefully get him to feel better, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, the medicine man talks to Tayo about his experience in the war in addition to healing him, and then Tayo thinks about how the medicine man would react to the images of men killed with bullet wounds and mortars. Being a person who mainly believes in the old traditions, the medicine man would have only believed that the only ways a man could die was through old age, disease, or having an upfront confrontation in battle and losing. Tayo thinks that, if the medicine man was in his place on the front lines, he would see all those corpses and believe they were all killed by upfront confrontation. I find this to be an interesting way of looking at a modernized world, and I am pretty sure that I will see more of this as I progress through the story.