Living Attitude In Literature and Real Society

If someone did not have power in the society, it would be really hard for that person to make a living. In the short story “In Camera” by Nawal El Saadawi, Saadawi used very detailed descriptions and created many images throughout the story. I feel this is a very interesting story, because it keeps my attention on reading further and further to get what is actually happening in the story. After I read the whole story, I finally get that the main character, Leila Al-Fargani, got raped and were suffering from the pain afterward.

Leila Al-Fargani had a very strong living attitude even though she suffered in an injustice world. She were taught that she as a woman did not have power to get a better living, but she used her speech and cursed at whoever was rude to her.  She was even so brave to tell that “God is stupid,” while God was in the highest rank during that time.  I feel the story can tell people who also feel that the world is injustice to continue living, because we have our family to look after us.  Like Leila Al-Fargani had suffered and lived in jail, but she still always think of her family members and wonder how they are doing. She did not have the thought of killing herself, which I think is a positive living attitude to learn from.

When I read on the part which the lawyer was doing his job and helping Leila Al-Fargani to plead and also said “God is stupid,” and faced accusation from the judge. That makes me feel the author was living in a society which had a lot of injustice things going on around her, and many problems were caused from political power. However, I still do not get how the whole story relates to “camera” which is the title of story.

After reading “The Barking” by Ingeborg Bachmann, I feel kind of sad for the old woman, Frau Jordan, who had an undutiful son and did not have close family members to live with her at such old age.  I think the living attitude old Frau Jordan held was very common to elders in the society today, because the elders in my family also sometimes act like old Frau Jordan.  They always would think what benefit their children instead of thinking what are actually good for themselves. Sometimes, they hide their sickness and act like everything is fine.

I understand they do not want to give more burdens to their children, but I do not think it is a right way to release burden from their children, especially health problems.  If an elder was sick without notifying his/her children and suddenly died one day, the children might just cannot accept the fact so suddenly and become stress more than ever. Also, it is children’s duty to take care their parents when their parents get old.Also, old Frau Jordan depends on her only son so she did not want to give additional stress to him. She thought it is better not to bother her son and better not to tell him anything, which led to misunderstanding between her and her son.

I think the title “Barking” is very meaningful. First, it shows one theme in the short story which is lack of communication. Few years before old Frau Jordan died; she lived in a house surrounded by dogs’ barking instead of the laughter of her family which shows her loneliness.  It is like the communication that she heard the most was the barking from dogs. Also, when Bachmann described the barking story from “great, wild, triumphant howling to a whimpering” at near the end of the story, I feel there is a foreshadowing of the health of old Frau Jordan. Like the barking, old Frau Jordan was becoming weaker and weaker and near death.

Some people would have wonderful family, but some people might not be as lucky as others. In the short novel “Love In A Fallen City” by Zhang Ailing, Liusu lived with people that she did not like. Her family member believed she brought bad luck to them. Therefore, she chose to move out the house and traveled from Shang Hai to Hong Kong.  I feel Liusu is living in a poor environment because she has to hear people talk behind her, in front of her, and insult her every day in the house.  However, I think her living attitude is still positive, because she made the right decision which is to move out. It can be thought of escaping, but I feel if she talked to her family straightly, it would only increase the hatefulness between them except if she became rich one day.  Most people believe escaping is not the right way to solve problems, however, in my opinion, knowing how to escaping is very important. If a person does not know how to escape and push herself/himself too much, it might cause mental problems.

This clip shows parts of the movie version of “Love In A Fallen City,” which I think it may refresh the memory of whoever have read this story. Enjoy!
Before I read “Love In A Fallen City,” I have watched the movie of this story. The difference I get from the movie and the book is that I get more about how the characters’ feeling through the book.  

“The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright is a very interesting reading, because it is written with slangs. It just reminds me of my first time reading stories with slangs. I remember at that time, I tried to look for word meanings in dictionary, because I thought the words were written in old English. Another reason I like this reading because most parts are in conversation.

I feel “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” suggests the living attitude of a teenager who is in the status of adolescent rebellion. Teenagers who under this status would want to try many new things and go against parents’ will.  Dave wanted to have a gun, and he requested his mother for money to buy the gun. After a moment of begging, Dave’s mother accepted to buy the gun, but said the gun was for his father. However, Dave did not do what he promised. Instead, he tried to fire the gun and mistakenly killed a mule named Jenny.

Human’s characteristics have both pleasing part and unpleasing part. That affects human attitude toward living. Pleasing parts would make people happy and sometimes worth for others to learn from. However, the unpleasing parts would make people tired of their living.

In “Walking around” by Pablo Neruda, I feel the poet was not satisfied some characteristics of human during that time, and he did not want to continue living under this kind of condition.  He wanted changes. I feel during that time, people cared more about their appearance more than any other things, and Neruda did not like that.  For example, Neruda wrote in his poem, “I am tired of being a man” as well as “I am tired of my feet and my nails and my hair and my shadow.” Here, he mentioned things that he tired of are all things related to appearance. Therefore, I think in the period the author was living in, people in the society would make up and not showing their true faces.

For this video that our professor show us on Thursday, I feel the video is very interesting.  It also supports what I feel toward the poem. There is moment that a lady surrounded by flowers and made poses for camera shot. Also, after the man became like a monster and walk on the street, no one want to be closed with him.  That tells me that appearance would affect people on their choice of who to be around with.  However, I still did not get why the camera took shot on the cells for several times. There must be some meaning when things repeat again and again.

I feel love always existed between human being. No matter it’s between friendship, family, or couples. If the degree of love decreased, people would feel sad and the living attitude might change as well. Negatively, some people might not think deeply about how they should face and choose to suicide. When I saw this kind of suicide on the newspaper, I often thought they just did not get people to ease their anxiety.  I often believe most of suicides are temporarily wrong decisions people made on their mind, but that affects them and their people around permanently.  Positively, some people might plan to restart and forget about the past.

In “Tonight I Can Write” by Pablo Neruda, the poet lost his love and chose the positive way.  He planned to restart his live after that night he wrote the poem. However, he is still not certain about it.  On Thursday, our professor showed us a clip of someone reading the poem.

   The video-camera always took shot on the swings.  I feel that is like representing the mood of the poet. His mood “swings” like he had to forget about her, but he still loved her; they no longer can be together, but he seemed could not forget about her.