Thursday, April 22, 2010

What is Art?

 Art is the product of human invention. Art can be a painting, a piece of music, a poem, architecture, anything created by imagination. It was created since the beginning of humandkind. Through art people not only express their feelings, emotions, and experiences, but also they can transmit and make feel to others what they are feeling.

Does this current government in the U.S. uphold full individual rights?

 In my opinion the government of the U.S tries to uphold the” individual rights” of people most of the time if we compare it with Socialism, Communism and other extreme governments. Nevertheless, the right of end your life if you decide it without hurting no one and the payment of a portion of your salary to government are evident facts that the “individual rights” in the U.S doesn’t completely uphold. On the contrary, in countries like Cuba or Venezuela the “individual rights” of people are very far of being respected. I was born in Cuba, and I knew my individual rights when I arrived to United States five years ago. It is really sad how a government can destroy the rights and illusions of a whole country.

“Where the Heart Is”

The movie “Where the Heart Is” tells the story of a seventeen years old pregnant girl who is abandoned by her boyfriend in a Wal-Mart store. She also was abandoned by her mother when she was a child. Novalee has no place to live and she moves to Wal-Mart when the store closes. As a result, she gives birth to her baby into the store. She and her baby are rescued by Forney, a good boy that she meets in the Library. She also meets good friends like Sister, Moses, and Lexie. They help to Novalee when she needs it most. Novalee and her daughter Americus move into Sister’s house, but a few years later a tornado destroys the trailer of Sister and kills her. Novalee is the beneficiary of Sister and she receives money that she uses to build a house for herself and Americus. She also helps Lexie and her kids when two of them were raped. Novalee takes them to live with her and her daughter. She falls in love with Forney; nevertheless, she thinks that she isn’t enough good women for him. Forney goes to finish the University, and Novalee became photographer. At the end of the movie Novalee and Forney  married in a Wal-Mart.

What is Acculturation?

 Acculturation is to take traditions or culture from a place and adapting to your culture. One of the examples is the Santeria. The Santeria is also called Afro- Cuban religion. It is a mix of African religion known as Yoruba and Cuban religion. The Santeria is the belief in many gods. For instance, Oggun Gerrero, Elegua, and Chango help to their devotees to be strong, to protect roads, and to have self control. The belief in Santeria has taken such magnitude that a huge percentage of people around the world are practicing the religion. Another example of acculturation is the reggaeton. It is a mix of Jamaican reggae and Latin music. The Reggaeton was originating in Panama. Some countries like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuban have integrating the reggaeton genre to their culture. It is expanding to United States and other countries.

Opinion about The Revenge in "Hamlet"

I think that Shakespeare overall message about revenge is very clear. He is not in favor of revenge. Proof of that is “Hamlet” in which everyone who wants revenge died. In my opinion, is very easy to say “I do not like revenge” when maybe you do not experiment a situation in which you want revenge for something. Nevertheless revenge is not the best solution to problems. Revenge is a harmful and destructive feeling. I am the kind of person who thinks that life always takes cares of charging the bad actions that we do to others. People just have to wait.

Importance and Role of Theater in Society

Through history of Humankind Theater has been an important role in society. Since the Greece time until nowadays, theater has been used to entertain, to give message, and to express people feelings and emotions. Theater has been one of the principal art expressions. Nowadays theater is using also for charities. It is very important because through theater people can dramatize how they live, how they are, and, traditions. It is a healthy way to entertain,  to learn from others, and to have a good time.

“Homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton

The poem of “Homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton is a very good poem, and it has a strong tone and message.The tone in “Homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton is confident and secure with who she is. She does not need to look like a model to feel beautiful. She is happy with her body shape, and it is the important. I think it is an important and useful poem for women. Nowadays we are living in a society where to keep a good body shape people goes to extremes consequences. I think she feels confident and beautiful.

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is an interesting poem. In this poem “We Real Cool”, the author Brooks gives us the reader a strong message about the life style of teenagers. He illustrates adolescents with serious behavior problems. They think that all of these criminal activities are cool; nevertheless, all of these activities almost always ending on fatal consequences such as imprisonment and death. I think is really important that people specially parents supervise the behavior and activities of their children and teenagers. I think is our responsibility to help them to avoid these activities.We also as society must watch them very closely because they are just children.

" My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun"by William Shakespeare

" My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun" by William Shakespeare si an interesting and complicated sonnet.  In this sonnet " My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun", William Shakespeare is insulting. He wants to show that a person in real life is better and more beautiful than the metaphorical person that many writes creates in literature and poetry. He also wants to show reality in his poetry. He loves her just like she is. In his second sonnet, William Shakespeare expresses that love is constant and he is not in favor with the changing love. He also thinks that people cannot change the way their love. In addition, he thinks that to love someone people do not need to marry. People should not see marriage as a mark.In my opinion, marriage is something to enjoy, and the couple invoved should be mutually agreed. 

" A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty

" A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty is an interesting story. In the story of “A Worth Path” , Mrs. Phoenix represents dedication in the whole story. One of the examples is the difficult journey that she had to travel for the health of her grandson. Through the story Phoenix has to deal with many obstacles in the road, animals, and the hunter with a gun. Another difficult thing that she has to deal is her old age. Finally, Phoenix represents the humble and poor part of that society. How black people lived and suffer. At the end of the story she got the medication for her grandchild.

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

In the story of “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children” his author wants to separates what seems real from what seems fantastic. For example, Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells the story of a dead man(he is the real part). On the other hand, he tells that the man is the largest man that he has even seen.The size of the dead man is unreal.The author also explains how women fascinated by his huge size decided to make him clothes for he could continue through his dead with dignity. The symbolized the dead man in the beauty of life. In my opinion a dead person cannot represent a beauty of life.

" The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

In the story of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson the author presented us how sometimes traditions and beliefs can be harmful to people.Furthermore, those harmful traditions and beliefs are seen as good things to people who practice those traditions. The story of " The Lottery" is not what this game is normally. It the way that they have to pick and sacrifice a person in this village. In this case was Tessie, who was sacrificed in front of everyone in the village. In my opinion, everyone has to be proud of his/her traditions and cultures. Those differenciate us from other countries, and make us feel proud of what we are. Nevertheless we must make sure that those beliefs and traditions are for the well of humandkind, not the contrary. Also some people believe in things that are unfair, and they end up injuring others or themselves. We must be careful of what we belive.

"Cathedral" by Carver

The story of "Cathedral" by Carver is a very interesting story. This tells the story of three people: Bud, Robert, and Bud's wife.In the story, Robert is a blind man, and he is friend of Bud's wife. At the beginning of the story, Bud does not like Robert; he just sees him as a blind person. Nevertheless at the end Bud recognized that may be Robert cannot see, but he is a very beautiful person, and has good feelings. In my opinion, the character of Bud was who change his mind in the story. He recongnized that he has living an empty life, and Robert being a blind man can enjoying the beautiful things that life brings us more than him

"Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

"Story of an Hour" is a very interesting story. This is full of irony. Irony is when things in life do not go as we want. Sometimes people want something, but they received something different from what they expected. Life is ful of irony, and most of the timepeope have to deal with unexpected results. In this story irony is present when at the end Mrs Mallard does not died of joy; she died od sadness because her husbandtook away her freedom when he was alive. On the other hand, her husband was just trying to protect her because of her heart disease. It is very ironic how people think that they are doing something good, and others think that it is not true. At the end of the story both died, and her husband remained as the villian of the story.

"Invisible Cities"

The story of "Invisible Cities" is a good and complicated story. These cities are different of the cities in the real life because these are the result of a man imagination. In these stories, the author tries to compare these cities with the cities nowadays. The author also tries to make a connection between people,roads, and the cities. In the story, the author shows how humans develop the cities in where they are living depending in the situation that they are living. He tries to capture this point in the story. In addition, the message of the author is to show readers that sometimes things are different from how we seems.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

What is Literature?

Everyone has he/she own definition of Literature. For me, Literature is anything that contains words. It has many functions in people's life. Literature is common used to express feelings, to inform people about important facts, stories, and everything that the author wants to express. Trought time humans have used literature to let other generations know about their ife and feelings. It is a source of knowledge, entertaining, and inspiration of person no matter gender, color of skin, or country. Literature is universal. Everybody can appreciate a good novel, a piece of music, or a biography even if we do not like to read. In addition, literature can helps us to get knowledge about history and everything in life.