Wk. 10: Pachinko Lessons

  After finishing Pachinko I think one of the main reasons that Min Jin Lee wrote this novel was both to expose people do Korean history and culture that is often misrepresented or underrepresented in western societies.

 One of the most important lessons that I think Lee is trying to portray is just the importance of family within these Asian cultures of Korean and Japanese. Family is incredibly important throughout the novel, but, as the novel progresses it seems that this same family is slowly becoming more and more distant. In the beginning of the novel, Sunja and her parents are working together in one household where they become close and really feel the important of family, but, as the novel continues, the newer generations seem to be drifting apart more and living more individualistic lives. Which is a more western idea and shows just how the world is getting much more global with the dominance of the western cultures and societies influencing other cultures.

    Another important aspect of the novel is just the slow integration towards more western thoughts and ideas throughout the novel. Towards the beginning of the novel, Hoonie and Sunja both live under the idea that a matchmaker, for the most part, is the one who makes decisions on who should marry who. While later on in the novel, they take on the much more western idea of dating and finding people that they would enjoy being with/fallen in love with rather than having some third party make the decision. Which shows just how increasingly the west is influencing other cultures, whether that be for the negative or worse, might yet to be seen. Despite, what appears to be some westernization though, there are still Japanese out there that view Koreans in a negative light. And, much like we talked about in class, Koreans lives seem to be like playing Pachinko; The game might seem random and give it's players some hope for winning big, but reality is that the game is rigged and no matter how hard they try to move up, they always seem to be pushed down in one way or another.

Wk. 10 Literatures of the World

   Overall, I personally really enjoyed this course because we got to explore different parts of the world and different stories from perspectives that I have not learned that much about. Even though we didn't go through a big portion of different literatures of the world, I appreciated that we go a close and specific look at different areas from different time periods. In previous classes, I always got a general overview that was often too dry and never gave me enough information for me to actually put it into good context. 

    In the beginning, one of the most unexpected things about this course was just getting to look at literature books I actually got to enjoy. I went into the class thinking that the majority of the texts we would be reading would be from a dominant western perspective from Victorian England or something along these lines. I wasn't expecting to read about all these different cultures that I have never experienced or heard from. To me, this was a good and very enlightening surprise.

    One thing that changed me was just, similar as I have said, just getting to learn about nonwestern cultures that aren't really dominant. I was also surprised how centered the course was on our own learning. We got to do research excursions based on what we wanted to explore further from the different texts that overall gave us a better understanding of these texts. I also appreciated how creative we could get by using different platforms for our research/other projects.

Wk.9: "Women's lot to suffer"

    For this prompt I chose to write about the constant saying said about women in Pachinko. Throughout the entire novel the saying of, "It is a women's lot is to suffer" was mentioned multiple times by different female characters such as Yangjin, Sunja, and even the Japanese women in Yangjin's favorite tv show. 

"Sunja had heard this sentiment from other women, that they must suffer--- suffer as a girl, suffer as a wife, suffer as a mother--- die suffering. ... She had suffered to create a better life for Noa, and yet it was not enough. Should she have taught her son to suffer the humiliation that she'd drunk like water? In the end, he had refused to suffer the conditions of his birth. Did mothers fail by not telling their sons that suffering would come?" (pg. 414)

The entire novel, is filled with women who suffered, in one way or another. Yangjin suffered her entire life as she took care of the boarding house without her husband, spent time alone when Sunja left, and even to the very end she died painfully from stomach cancer. Yumi suffered from the beginning with parents who didn't care for her, she worked hard, and eventually died after getting hit by a taxi. Sunja is continuing to suffer throughout her life. Hana suffered after her parent's divorced and she was forced to find work and only depend on herself to the point where it seems like she was mentally unwell. These are just some examples of the different women suffering throughout the entire novel. And from the repeated sentiment, it seems like the women have just accepted suffering as part of their own lives that won't go away. I wonder if part of the reason that Lee decided to continue this sentiment throughout the novel was because of the times gender roles. Women were subordinate to the men during this time and culture and often had to listen to their husbands. Often, the women don't really get to choose what they want or do what they want, especially those women in the lower classes. All in all, I am still trying to fully decipher what Lee is trying to reveal through this thought. 

Wk 9: Akiko and Noa

     In the passage about Noa commenting on his revelation on how Akiko saw him, Lee showcases how Japanese saw Koreans on another level. Especially before and during the second world war. Most Japanese outright would show their disgust for Koreans or, at least, showcase their superiority to Koreans. As time progressed though, some of the superiority became a little more discrete, just as in Akiko's case. Akiko's parents, outright did not think to highly of Koreans, but Akiko, perhaps not consciously, had a more discrete way of seeing Koreans. A big part of Akiko's personality was always to try and go against what she was told or taught. Such as in college, she would propose different viewpoints that would contradict or just present another viewpoint that is not as mainstream. In this quote though, Noa realizes that part of the reason that Akiko is even going out with him is because Japanese women being with Koreans wasn't a popular idea and Akiko tried to stray from those ideas. Akiko wasn't doing it because she thought that everyone was equal or that no one ethnicity was better than another, but because she saw her relationship with No almost like--- as some would say in western cultures--- dating a "bad boy." She wasn't really doing it because she liked Noa for his personality and who he was as a person, but because he was Korean.

    I would say that Akiko and Noa are different in relations with Sunja and Hansu because Sunja was unaware of Hansu's actual intentions with her and his other life, while Akiko knew Noa and be with Akiko for who she was not because she was Japanese. Noa wasn't taking advantage of Akiko like Hansu was to Sunja. 

    I would say that some emotions about colonialism that are being telegraphed in this passage was the fact that, the Japanese still thought of themselves as being superior and better than those they colonialized: the Koreans. In addition, it was looked at negatively, especially by the Japanese, when a Korean and Japanese had a romantic relationship.

Wk.8: Gender Roles

  As a whole, I think that there are a lot of instances where gender plays a big role in how some of the characters see each other as well as how they are treated and expected to act. It seems, from this reading this novel so far, that in the Korean and probably even, for the most part, the Japanese cultures, women are seen as lower than men and thus should always follow what the men in their lives tell them to do.

    For instance, there is a scene in chapter 2 book 2 on page 158, where Sunja has to particularly beg Yoseb for permission to get a job. With Isak in jail, the family would need more money to support itself, but because of traditional gender roles, it was often seen as improper, shameful, and degrading for a woman to do this. But, it seems that, often times, the women in the novel are forced to work outside of traditional domestic roles in order to just be able to sustain their family and keep them from dying. Time and time again it seems that the novel is trying to tell us that, not only was it incredibly hard for a family to just earn enough money to survive, but those women who have gotten ahead and financially provided for their family were the ones who, more or less, survived. 

    Although, I am not entirely sure at this moment what exactly Lee is trying to tell her audience as she creates female characters that work and get jobs outside their home. In part I think these portrayals are supposed to showcase just a forced progression that often mimics that of western societies where the women, at least during this time, could work outside the homes without nearly as much criticism. But, besides this small piece, I am not quite sure the overall point of it at this moment. 

Wk. 8: Seolleongtang

    The quote that I chose was in regards to shine bones being used by Koreans to make soup:

  "[Kyunghee] 'May I please have shinbones and a bit of meat? I'm making soup... Seolleongtang'... [shopkeeper] 'And how do you make this soup?'... [Kyunghee] 'First you wash the bones very carefully in cold water. Then you boil the bones and throw the first batch of water out because it will have all the blood and dirt that you do not want in your broth. Then you boil it again with clean, cold water, then simmer it for a long, long time until broth is white like tofu, then you add daikon, chopped scallions, and salt. It's delicious and very good for your health." (Lee 125-126) 

    Since there was hardly enough money for the Korean to buy meat, they often cooked Seolleongtang in order to provide a healthy meal that doesn't cost as much. The Japanese, on the other hand, find this sort of soup gross. In part, this soup just adds to the Japanese's idea of Koreans being lower than themselves and disgusting. Although I am not sure why making soup out of bones is considered unappealing to the Japanese and wonder if it might just be another small excuse they have created to dislike Koreans.    

    In terms of what message I think Lee might be portraying on this interaction is to one, give the readers who do not know what Seolleongtang is a clearer mental picture of it, as well as, showcase that the Seolleongtang isn't something disgusting that the Japanese make it out to be. But, a proper meal. The Koreans aren't just lowly animals that eat bones, but the way in which Kyunghee describes the process of boiling the soup and taking out the dirty water showcases a sense of civility that the Japanese perhaps refuse to see because they keep trying to think of ways in which they are better than the Koreans.

    What I do wonder though is how long this sort of soup was around/when was it invented? Had it always been a traditional meal or did they start eating it when things started to go south for Korea and Koreans? 

Wk.7: Pachinko Compared to There There and Home Fire

    Min Jin Lee's writing style and structure, in many ways, is similar yet unique to other texts we have read in this class. In comparison to books we read last quarter, There There by Tommy Orange and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, Pachinko, takes a similar writing style. In all three of these books, the readers are presented with multiple character perspectives that each add something different to the plot or meaning of the story. For instance, in Home Fire, each character's perspective adds a different way of looking at things and thus adding nuance to the story and causing the reader to realize just how attached they were to each character and their viewpoints. Before we read Parvaiz's perspective, we all had this mental image of Parvaiz being seen as a terrorist who betrayed his family, but then we learn his own perspective and have sympathy for him. While in There There, it has a similar effect going on, but the focus is much more on just how complicated everyone's own lives are and showcases just how different they each are, but, in the end, they all intersect in the same place; the Powwow. Everyone was living their own lives, dealing with their own problems, until each of their decisions leads them to their own ending at the Powwow. In contrast to both of these stories, Pachinko's multiple perspectives are constantly showing us a bigger more nuanced picture that give the sense that it is one story with the perspectives complimenting each other and giving the reader a deeper understanding. In addition, the different perspectives don't have as formal of a break between one character's thoughts to another's, in comparison to the other two books. This provides the reader with the feeling that this is one story being told through different people rather than differing perspectives/people intersecting in each other's lives.

    I personally, so far, appreciate the differing perspectives because it provides me with answers to questions much faster than the other two books, where I would have had to wait, or not be given an answer at all. Both of these types of structures adds different meaning to the stories and the impact they have on readers.

Wk.7: Hansu and Isak

    If I am being completely honest, Hansu seems to be very manipulative from the start. When he is first introduced the first thing he thinks about when he sees Sunja is how it would feel like touching her, and then he goes on to try and form some sort of connection with her, despite Sunja obviously ignoring him. Later, we don't get to read much about what his actual intentions with Sunja are as he begins to talk to her and ask her a bunch of random and insightful questions. His behavior almost makes it seem as if his only interest is being friends with Sunja since he insists that she call him Oppa, which means brother. Even after he has sex with her for the first time he tells her that her "Oppa" is there for her. In addition, he doesn't seem to treat Sunja as an equal lover, since he is constantly calling her "girl" and talking down to her. He only used Sunja to get what he wanted, while knowing the consequences that would have for her. Hansu seems like a creepy character to me, and I wonder what his role will be in the future now that Sunja and Isak are married.

    Isak, on the other hand, is portrayed in a much more innocent and young manner in comparison to Hansu. In addition, Isak is much more religious than Hansu, since he is a protestant pastor who went to seminary school; his name even derives from christian religion. Unlike, Hansu, Isak is much more frail looking and sickly, yet he seems to have much more respect for Sunja. He asks Sunja and her mother for permission to marry Sunja in order to provide her with the best possible life for someone he doesn't really know. Unlike Hansu, Isak is giving up possible future wife prospects in order to help Sunja, while Hansu only offered her a life of a mistress. It is even mentioned that Isak treats and touches Sunja much more gently than Hansu ever did. At the moment, Isak seems like a nice character who genuinely cares for people with a good temperament. 

Wk. 6: Equiano Chapter 12

    After reading chapter twelve of Equiano's narrative, I found it very interesting how Equiano chose to wrap up the narrative in a semi quick manner considering he spent so long writing in length about the rest of his life. Especially, when he started mentioning and adding letters from his white friends urging a bishop to be appointed a missionary. Throughout the memoir, Equiano has always been showcasing his ups and downs with his christian faith. I believe that, at least part of the reason that he included the letters and mentions of his faith is because, in many respects part of the reasons for colonizing different parts of the world was to introduce different peoples to the Christianity and because Christianity is a big marker that many Europeans relate to. In relating to his audience more, they are much more willing to sympathize with his cause, abolition. 

    In addition, like in many parts of the narrative, Equiano mentions and questions the hypocrisy of the Europeans who call themselves Christians. Christians are supposed to be loving of all peoples and treat people with respect, yet many of the ones that Equiano comes across are the opposite of this. In bringing up this hypocrisy Equiano sort of puts the audience in a position to prove themselves. It makes them think that in order to be a good christian they have to at least consider abolition otherwise they aren't living up to the faith that they impose on others.

Wk. 6 Equiano Team project

    Starting off, the Equiano team project was incredibly insightful and interesting to discuss in class on Thursday. Something that I found to be particularly interesting about their project was the Benin Culture and how it was related to Equiano. Before the group presented on Thursday, I had never heard about the Benin culture. I would say that I agree with the small class discussion we had about what constitutes an advanced civilization. In many aspects, the qualifications for an advanced society are entirely dependent on an individual culture. Specifically for our western culture, we often associate advanced technology with a culturally advanced civilization. With regards to the Benin Empire, they may not have had the technological advancement as European civilizations, but they do seem to have been artistically advanced. They had various different mediums and techniques that they used to display their art that I find to be quite fascinating. Such as the elephant tusks with figurative carvings.

      This project helped me realize a little more of the cultural context from which Equiano came from because, despite not having the technological advancements such as the huge mast ships Equiano was put on when he left Africa, his culture did have it's own arguably unique characteristics that could describe it as being advanced. In Equiano's narrative he said in the beginning that he was surprised that an "advanced" civilization such as the English's didn't wash their hands more often or before eating. The English may have thought as their own culture being advanced but, in the beginning, Equiano saw them as barbarians for not washing their hands and for the way in which they treated their slaves. 

Wk. 5 Archives and Special Collections Visit 2

    I found our second trip to Archives and Special Collections to be incredibly interesting. Now that I have some sense of the history of written works, I was able to understand a little bit more of just how varying the different types of written and pressed works were. 

    Some things that I have learned this time around was that Gutenberg didn't actually invent a metal press but instead he was the one to actually perfect it. It makes sense now why the Chinese never really perfected the metal press since they had so many different unique characters that it just didn't make sense or was plausible for them to create a metal press for mass production. There would have been too many characters to add and overall it would have been to much of a hassle to do. 

    I found it interesting that once books and such started to become mass produced and literacy increased, the wealthy wanted to stand out. Having books wasn't as much as a luxury as it had been since more people were able to afford books. So, to distinguish themselves, wealthy people decided to add intricate and beautiful images into the pages of their books/texts. The presses themselves even had different variations of the same letters in order for the things printed from a metal text to have the effect of being a handwritten manuscript.

    One major way in which the history of print intersects with literary history is just the fact that once the Gutenberg printing press was perfected, books and other literary works were able to be massed produced to a much wider audience. In addition, print texts became much more dependent on the historical periods and context of the world, much like literary history because of it ease and adaptability. In other words, because getting a piece of writing could be massed produced, writers could get their works out into the world and actually have a much wider affect. Such as Equiano's memoir's purpose based on abolition movements of the time he could get his work to a wider audience and thus gain more support. 

Wk 5: Final Project Update

    Hey, everyone! So far the start to my final project started a little slow. I was in the Grenville group so for the first few weeks I took priority in doing research for our group research excursion. Now, that we have already presented though, I am slowly starting to pick back up on my research. 

    For the final project I decided to stick with option number two and research the Zamorano Printing Press. As I am getting into the research, I have had a difficult time actually finding information about the press. I have yet to found the right key words to use since most of my results are offering my articles written by someone named Zamorano instead of about the actual press itself. Even when I am searching on the internet through google, I am not getting much results. Most of the results so far are about the Zamorano 80, which, as little that I know about them, are a group of people that are almost like an exclusive book club. But, they don't seem to really be related to the Zamorano press as far as I can tell. 

    In my search I have found an article discussing the early history of journalism in California, which has proven to be the best and most informative article so far, a vague website on the Zamorano press, and a long Youtube video about the press. The article has some very good specific information I know I will be able to use, and I have yet to look at the Youtube video, but it seems to be very promising so far. 

    Since I am having trouble with the research I decided to make an appointment with Kelci next week, which I am sure will prove fruitful in my search for sources.

Wk 4: Transculturation

  Before Thursday's lecture, I never heard of the term transculturation before. From what I understand, transculturation is essentially when marginalized groups learn or take something from a dominant group's own culture/way of life and either use it for another purpose or modify it for their own purposes. For example, the christian religion was taught to the African American slaves, and then the slaves then modified it a little in order for them to directly relate to it and look to it for hope about their situation. Black churches and theology were created where they focused on more on justice and God brining his people to the promised land. 

    Personally, I find it to be an interesting term and idea because I would agree with the lecture that the word transculturation gives more power and agency over the members of marginalized groups. Dominant groups are always portrayed as having a considerately large amount of power of marginalized ones and often force their ways upon them. But transculturation is less about a forced changed but more of one that a group adopted and put their own little twist to it giving them power over it.

    An example could be Día De Los Muertos. When the Spaniards colonized the area that is now Mexico, they brought their christian faith and celebrations with them. In the end of October and Beginning of November there is All Souls Day and All Saints Day which are Christian celebrations of the dead and saints. The natives in Mexico took that concept and made it their own with the celebration of Día De Los Muertos where the dead and specifically ancestors are celebrated. There are even specific customs and traditions that go along with it like making an ofrenda. 

Wk 4: My Experience with Equiano's Narrative so far

  Going into Equiano's narrative, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from both the content nor the way in which it was written. After reading the firs few chapters though, I think I am beginning to get used to the flow of the text. Much like we discussed in class, I found the transitions between events and ideas to be a little jarring. Sometimes they just happened way to quickly where Equiano was one place and then within a matter of a few sentences he is in a completely different place. I believe that these transitions also led to me getting a little lost in sections of the chapters, especially when Equiano started mentioning the names of places and people. There just seemed to be too many to keep track of. 

    In terms of actually reading the narrative, I would say that I am reading the chapters a little slowly to make sure that I am actually comprehending what is going on and keeping track of the different places that he goes.

    Thinking back to my prior knowledge on slavery as a whole, I only ever really learned about slavery in the Americas and how badly they were treated here. I don't think I was ever taught about slavery in other nations or areas. I think I always assumed that slavery was going on in other places, but never really thought too much about it or the difference in how they were treated in comparison to in the Americas. Though now that I have read a little more about the different treatments Equiano received as a slave, I found the varying degrees in which he was treated to be quite different. I was expecting to see him treated more like when he was on the slave ship to the Americas than the almost equal status he had while a slave in Africa. 

Wk 3: Aboriginal Camps and the Legacy of Settler Colonialism

    After watching part B microlecture on The Secret River by Kate Grenville, I learned about the aboriginal camps held in Australia. Before this lecture, I had some previous knowledge on residential boarding school and knew to some degree the atrocities that went on there but I never really thought about Australia doing a similar thing. In camps such as Moore River, aboriginal children, were sent to to learn ways in which to assimilate into western society. There, much like in residential boarding schools in the U.S., the children were often treated poorly. Many children died from diseases and infections that were could have been treatable for those times. In other words, if there was more care and well being present for the children, many death could have been avoided. 

    I didn't actually know that there are Native Americans who actually had positive or some good experiences in their boarding schools. I always thought of it as this horrible place where they were forced to forget their culture and their language in order to assimilate into western society, so it came as a small shock that there were some who didn't have such a hard time and found lifelong friends.

    I still wonder though what exactly happened to the children who went to the aboriginal camps. Did they go straight to the home they grew up in or where they sent somewhere else? And, would they only let you leave the camps if they thought you conformed to western ideology or at a certain age?

Wk 3: Character Analysis on Dick Thornhill

     Taking a closer look at Dick Thornhill, William Thornhill's son, I find Dick not only getting more and more independent as he grows older but more sympathetic towards the aboriginals as well. In earlier chapters Dick was presented as being a little weak and not as manly, but, as the story unfolds, he is changing and getting stronger both physically and through his will. If, out of everyone in the Thornhill family, I would say that Dick is the most sympathetic to the aboriginals of the bunch. He is often found hanging out and learning from the aboriginal group that lived on the Thornhill property. This sympathy towards the aboriginal allows the readers to get a much closer look at the day to day lives of some aboriginal people. For instance, in a certain section of the book, Dick and William learn how the aboriginal people make fires and try to do that themselves. It also provides the perspective of someone who within the Thornhill family  who is sympathetic, and just by him doing that, William Thornhill has to rethink his own position with the aboriginals. Dick's relationship with the aboriginals brings to light some of the practices and ways of the aboriginals to William, the narrator, to both give the reader a closer look to a less than biased way of looking at them, and force William to confront his own prejudice of them. When there was a gathering of aboriginal people going into the Thornhill property and singing at night everyone was frightened and the convict laborers as well as Willie wanted Thornhill to go out there and shoot first, as questions later. Dick was the only one who stood up for the aboriginals, in a way, by agreeing with William's reassurance that they were just gathering not going to kill them. Dick's presence is someone much closer to him than Blackwood who is able to teach and have him realize that the aboriginals aren't just thieving savages that the majority of people believe.

WK 2: Settler Colonialism in "The Secret River"

 After taking time to review the two different microlectures on settler colonialism, I have a much clearer idea of how settler colonialism appears in The Secret River by Kate Grenville. The settler colonialism in The Secret River isn't clearly apparent until parts two and three of the story. The only time that settler colonialism does appear in part one is all the different mentions of brazilin wood and other imports from colonial territories. As I have learned in the microlectures, settler colonialism is essentially a branch of colonialism in which the foreign settlers never actually leave the territories they have taken over/settled on. Some such places are in the Americas where settlers there formed the United States and took over the majority of Native American land (There There) and in Australia (The Secret River). 

    In parts two and three William Thornhill and his family are brought to New South Wales, which is a settlement in the land that is now known as Australia. The benefit of hindsight is that we now know that this settlement, along with others on the continent would be brought together to create the country of Australia due to settler colonialism.

    Something that both There There and The Secret River have in common when it comes to settler colonialism is that both settlers are/were slowly displacing the aboriginals and Native Americans from their lands. In There There, most of the displacing happens before the story is set, but even within the story some of the characters are affected by the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 where many Native Americans where forced to move to urban cities as a form of forced assimilation. Similarly, the aboriginals in The Secret River are being pushed off their land by settlers who go out and claim whatever land they want as long as they have some sort of placeholder marking that a particular piece of land is taken. These settlers don't put much thought into the notion that technically the land belongs to those who were there first, the aboriginals. 

Sal and Will's Relationship

   I would say that when it comes to the progression of Will and Sal's relationship between Part One and Parts two and three, they seemed to have progressed backwards in a sense. In part one Will mentions that he would tell Sal everything and that there were no secrets between the two. They seemed to know each other incredibly well. Even when Will resorted to thieving after Mr. and Mrs. Middleton died, Sal sort of already knew what Will was doing and never asked to confirm that belief in so that she will be able to truthfully claim ignorance. When they are in New South Wales though, Sal and Will begin to keep secrets from each other, or, at least, lose part of their ability to be able to read each other. Will even mentions at one point that he had not realized Sal's deep desire to return to London right away and when they were setting up their new home on the plot of land Sal never spoke to him about just how lonely she was. Sal was always playing the part of trying to be strong for Will. Will only realized how much she craved for connection with other people when they started to have their neighbors over.

    When it comes to who I most sympathize with I would say I most sympathize with Sal. Sal is trying to be strong for her husband when he is pursuing something that he wants (the plot of land) even though it is pretty much the opposite of what she wants. I would also sympathize with Sal because she has already lost so much: her parents, her childhood home, her position in London (however small it may be), and even the one place she considered her world-London. She was thrust away from everything and everyone she knew to stick with her husband and is  trying to make the most out of what she is given in New South Wales. Although, she is so lost in what she once had that she seems to glance over what they have made for themselves in Australia. She doesn't realize, as Will mentally points out, that they will never make anything of themselves or rise higher if they go back to London; they will always be looked down upon, but in Australia there is a much faster way of moving up the social ladder.

English 11H Final Projects Visitations!

    The first final project that I looked at was Eloise's with the title, Non-White Female Heroines In Literature Throughout Time and Space. First off, I was really intrigued by Eloise's topic and was fascinated to learn more about what she had discovered. When it comes to structure and formatting I liked how Eloise gives a general overview of the characters she had chosen and then described how they are seen as female heroines. Moving on to the content portion of her neatline exhibit I learned that Celie in The Color Purple by Alice Walker, transformed from being a character that was abused often by those around her into a character who learned to stand up for herself. I especially appreciated how in depth Eloise went into showing Celie's transformation by pointing out the differences in her writing style from Southern Black Vernacular to a much more articulate and descriptive writing style.

    The second project that I looked at was Catalina's with the topic, The Defiant Heroine in Literature Throughout Time and Space. Something that I liked about Catalina's project was how she integrated societal norms of the time into her portrayal of Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet, as a heroine who went out of conventional norms to create her own destiny. She wanted to be with Romeo and created a plan where the execution did not go as she planned when Romeo killed himself, but she still was in control of her own destiny when she decided to kill herself. Overall I liked Catalina's four different heroine's that she chose for her neatline project and the way in which she executed it all.

    The third final project that I looked at was Paulos' and he did his neatline on the topic of Love Tragedies in Literature. I found it really interesting how the story of Pyramus and Thisbe is very similar to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In both instances the families were feuding and Pyramus, much like Romeo, assumes the worst of their beloved being dead and kill themselves which in turn cause their beloved to kill themselves also. I wonder if Shakespeare read the story of "Pyramus and Thisbe" and reimagined it into Romeo and Juliet. I also liked the third primary text that Paulos chose "Tristan and Isolde." I this one seems to be a bit more original in the story line then the previous texts, but much like the previous texts, the story ends in tragedy and death for the lovers. Something that I particularly liked about the structure Paulos chose was having a separate waypoint to showcase information that is more general facts about the texts and then has a separate one with an overview of the story with an explanation.

    The fourth project that I looked at was Griffin's who chose the topic of Intergenerational Trauma in Literature Throughout Time and Space. As far as structure goes, I really liked how Griffin had multiple different ways to distinguish between the different waypoints as well as his decision to color code them. It made it much easier to navigate understand the texts. After reading Griffin's section of Wuthering Heights I learned that the mistreatment that Heathcliff received was then turned to generational trauma when Heathcliff started treating Hareton, his wife, and his son terribly. I also found it interesting how Griffin connects the generational trauma not just to the mistreatment that he received in his former years but perhaps also due to the generational trauma of the slaves who came before him with him being a of mixed race. 

Overall, I liked and learned from all of the different neatline projects that my classmates did.

Hardships in 18th-century London

 Prompt: Part One of The Secret River really immerses you as a reader in late 18-century London among the working poor by telling you the story of Will Thornhill's early life. What did you learn that was either new for you or that led you to think in different ways about this historical period and its people? Point to specific passages and pages and words in your response.