Women - My IOP

1.Write a brief descriptive paragraph that summarizes your IOP. Be sure to include the topic, your thesis, and the hook and any visual aids you used.

Women’s role in society is something that shouldn’t be taken advantage of anymore. Women are now lawyers, doctors, teachers, fashion designers, etc. and without them in society, life wouldn’t run so easily. For that reason, I choose to discuss how J.M. Coetzee portrays women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which they are not supposed to be any longer. In the beginning of my presentation, I started with my hook, a monologue for Lucy, which I wrote, trying to depict and explain how she might have felt after the rape. Since Lucy is one of the main female characters in the novel who is symbolized as a country woman who can be taken advantage of, showing the monologue was a perfect hook. Then, I started with my PowerPoint presentation. There, I discussed the four female figures in Disgrace: Lucy, Melanie, Bev, and Soraya. I explained the character and physical traits of each and how they are used as a symbol of sexuality. I clarified how since Soraya is a woman in the city, is how more of a nerve to stand up for herself and stop her weekly meeting with David. There was Melanie the youthful student, who revives David. Then I discuss Lucy, as a country woman, who men think they can easily take advantage of since they don’t have an important role in hard labor farming, leading to her rape. Bev Shaw’s role was then explained as the one who made David aware that he was a 52-year-old man. Finally I analyzed the significance of two quotes that J.M. Coetzee says in the novel.
I was trying to explain to the students how J.M. Coetzee degrades women in his novel Women have a very important role in society other than satisfying men in bed!

2. In a well-developed paragraph reflect upon the lessons you learned as a result of the IOP process. This process includes the preparation of your presentation, its delivery, and the subsequent reflection you engaged in following the presentation itself.
Through my IOP presentation, I learnt many things. Firstly, procrastination never leads to any good. Secondly, be calm before an important presentation. And third, sleep in necessary before such a presentation.
All through the summer, I kept delaying working on my IOP! I would have rather just sit on my lazy armchair doing nothing, than working on anything for school. At the end of the day, it all came back at me! When we returned to school, the students and I were all compounded with a plethora of work, including the IOP. I started working on it; I had all the quotes I needed to support my argument, a captivating hook, and a progressing PowerPoint presentation. The Saturday before my actual presentation, I found out that Nour was doing the SAME exact topic! I decided to work on a completely different issue, so that the audience would have to hear the same issue twice. So I settled on discussing how J.M Coetzee portrays the women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which is a topic that I take very personally. I had to search for a lot of evidence from the text, come up with a whole new hook, and make a presentation in less than 48 hours. I worked a lot!!!! I stayed up all Sunday night and Monday morning working on my IOP, not getting any rest. I practiced and rehearsed all night. Then Monday morning was the official IOP. There was a technical problem with my PowerPoint presentation, which lead me to be VERY anxious and nervous. When I started with my presentation, I was very hesitant and worried, even though I had practiced it many times before. When I finished with the presentation, I was relieved! It was obvious that I hadn’t gotten any sleep after the presentation. I couldn’t concentrate in class and I was awfully dizzy!
Overall, I am satisfied with my IOP. Surly, I know I could have done a much better job, but for the time being, it was that bad. While watching the movie, I noticed that that “umm”ed quite a few times in the beginning, but then I was able to continue without much difficulty, explaining my point of view exactly the way I wanted to.

My Opinion to Oracle Night

What is your reaction to the novel as a whole? If you liked it, what did you enjoy most about it? If you didn't, what about the story did you find lacking?

Upon finishing Oracle Night, I was left in awe, possessing some feelings of astonishment concerning the ending of the novel. The novel is very captivating and interesting. The fact that Paul Auster was able to juggle two different plots is extremely talented. Somehow the novel’s ending wasn’t satisfying enough, yet somehow it is exactly the perfect ending for the novel. Surly it did rap-up all the single story lines in the novel, but it was missing the certain “flavor” which had been available all through the rest of the story.
Auster’s way of not dividing his novel into chapters is noteworthy, especially when understanding one of the main themes, time, and how time is linear, as though everything continues to continue. Even though the plot is over duration of a couple of days, the author allows everything to flow easily, depicting the flow of time. There are many references to time and the explicit difference between the past and future mainly when Sidney was considering writing the screenplay. “…As soon as one person began to travel in time, time as we knew it would be destroyed…”
From its multi-layered gripping plots to the occasional foot notes in which the Sidney describes the background, there are many special and unique features about Oracle Night.

What do you think about The Rock of Tanios so far? Is there anything that you especially like or dislike about the plot, setting, or characters?

"In my native village, the rocks have name." The first sentence of the novel is captivating enough to initiate the reading of the novel. So far, I sincerely think that the novel is great! Many aspects in the novel allow me to believe so…
Firstly, the fact that the book is settled around a village in Lebanon is an advantage to it. Due to its setting, all the reference and traditions are familiar to me. On page 48, it is mentioned that all the village women had 'their hands deep in the cinnamon and caraway … preparing the meghli in honor of the newborn son.' This custom is well-known in Lebanon, let alone all other Middle Eastern countries. As a result, it is easy to make the cultural connection between my everyday life and that spoken of in the novel.
The characters are very interesting. The author makes them seem to be three dimensional. We, as readers, are able to visualize how they might look and understand their personality with their flaws. It is evident how feudalism affects the lives of the people there and how each person has their "position" in society.
Personally, I got carried away with the novel. I was extremely anxious to find of whom in truth the father of Tanios was. Even though it isn't clearly stated in the novel whether it is Gerious or the Sheikh, there are many reasons to justify why it is most probably the Sheikh. Page 34 says, 'She [Lamia] smiled. And so he shared with her all the September fruits.' Even though it is not evident, it is most likely to be a reference to sexual intercourse, especially because the timing was perfect. Gerious was away on a task the Sheikh had sent him on, they were alone in the castle, and soon after we find out that Lamia is pregnant. So, it is just a matter of filling in the blanks.
The Rock of Tanios is truly a page turner. In some ways it reminded me when reading Midaq Alley. They both explain the sociology of human nature, even though in different time periods. The novel has a lot of hidden meaning. To a certain extent it explains the history of Lebanon, the role of religion and feudalism on the people, and the culture of Lebanon at the time. It is all a matter of reading between the lines.

My thoughts to Lord Byron and his poetry...

The mock epic poem Don Juan is considered by many scholars to be Lord Byron's greatest work. What are your thoughts as to the literary worth of the first two cantos that we have read? Are they good poetry?
Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan is certainly unique. One of the many appealing qualities to it is the fact that Lord Byron uses a lot of parallelism between his life and that of Don Juan in the poem. Had it wasn't assigned to me from before to read the biography of Lord Byron, I wouldn't have recognized the parallelism. These similarities between the two personalities include the various amounts of sexual intercourses and death of their father at such a young age.
Lord Byron uses a lot of allusions, both historical and religious. In the cantos, historical references include mentioning Nelson, "Britannia's god of war", "Banquo's monarchs", and "great Caesar...Titus the master, Anthony tha slave,...". All these figures have some sort of historical importance either as a warrior or leader, which gives the poem more flavor with the description used. Numerous references to Eve in both the cantos are used such as, "Don Jose, like a lineal son of Eve"(Canto the First-Stanza 18) and "As when she rose upon us like an Eve"(Canto the Second-Stanza 213). It can be deduced that with all the references to Eve, Lord Byron is ridiculing the idea of religion and Genesis. With these descriptions, it is more vivid for the reader to visualize the poem and gives it more atmosphere.
It is very important to note that Don Juan is a mock poem. Lord Byron uses a lot of sarcastic language mocking many issues. One of the most mocked ideas is that of love. In Canto the Second, Stanza 205, it says, "Oh, Love! Thou art the very god of evil, /For after all, we cannot call thee devil." This part is self-explanatory describing the hypocrisy of "love". Certain examples show how Lord Byron is trying to also critisize society, but they are not as evident as in the rest of the cantos.
In comparison to Child Harold, I like Don Juan more. I feel as though Lord Byron depicts himself more in Don Juan than in Child Harold. Don Juan is original and that is probably all I can say. It tells a story of the main character, Don Juan, in the form of a poem, which isn't easy or used commonly.

Untitled

Sitting here,
On the balcony,
Of my beautiful house in the mountains,
I look out and see life passing by
I see cars driving on the roads,
Each with a different speed and color
I see kids playing basket ball
With their round, half blown orange ball
I see people entering shops
Then others leaving with bags in their hands
I see a mom, a dad, two daughters, and two sons
Riding on bikes, giggling along the way
And I see my whole family
Surrounding me,
Supporting me,
Allowing life to pass gracefully
For me to grow and experience.

My reaction to Disgrace...

Upon finishing Disgrace, I was left in awe, possessing some feelings of disappointment concerning the ending of the novel. Throughout Disgrace, I was given the impression that David was changing. Even though he refused to seek counseling, I thought that by being on the farm with Lucy, in a completely different environment and society, would ultimately be counseling enough. Halfway though his stay with Lucy, I was given assurance that David had surly changed. He seems more of a concerned and assiduous father, devoted to the well being of Lucy. All this is reassuring yet, as the novel progresses, this change in David diminishes and he resumes to his meaningless one-night stands with young women and his bachelor-like lifestyle.
By giving up the dog, David signals his refusal to act sentimental and compassionate. It is as though he was giving up on everything in his life…Giving up on Lucy's pursuit to happiness and tranquility, and giving up on his old life. Putting down Disgrace was tough as it greatly emphasizes man's incapacity and unwillingness to better oneself.
Disgrace, to a certain extent, does have many hidden meanings to it with a lot of allusions and motifs. It conveys the aspect of 'white-guilt' that had impacted the white people at the time of the apartheids, especially through the submissive personality of Lucy. It explains how men deal differently with 'middle-age crisis', shown through David's excessive sexual desires. It also contrasts between the urban life and the rural life, which is interesting. And finally it mentions animals and metaphorically contrasts them to humans.
Does it deserve the international acclaim it had received? I have mixed opinions towards that. The allusions made to Byron, Madame Bovary, and Wordsworth gives the novel a different approach to those of other novels. Moreover, the usage of Latin and Italian phrases conveys the multicultural personality any person would probably have in South Africa at that time.
The title certainly suits the novel perfectly. I would recommend a person to read, but not as a must. I wouldn't be like, "Oh my God, Disgrace is the best book I've ever read!" It is a pleasing novel. One must be able to understand the excessive amount of allusions to achieve an adequate understanding of the novel…

Is Shakespeare really overrated?

William Shakespeare is by one of the most eminent writers in the history of English. As have mentioned over and over again in our English class, no matter what one must be able to appreciate his pieces. Some of the most Famous include Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Sonnet 18, with “Shall I compare you to a summers night”.
For those of whom do not know William Shakespeare's background, it is quite important to find out before reading his pieces. Knowing his character and his bisexuality, it helps in understanding him. This is very specific to his 154 sonnets. It is known that sonnets 1-127 are addressed to a young man and sonnets 127-152 are concerned with a dark lady. Then understanding his language is the next leap. Shakespeare tends to use a lot of figurative language and puns to explain his way of thinking more vividly and give his audience a message. Moreover he speaks in early modern English, which has a tendency of being confusing. Also, the way in which the reader interprets Shakespeare's works is significant. If the reader is one who is inexperienced with poetry or is unable to comprehend the language usage, one would not understand Shakespeare's real message. Furthermore, if one reads his work in a terse manner that also leads to a misunderstanding of his works.
For example in Sonnet 1, the word "bud" appears. This word can be interpreted either as the bud of a flower, about to grow, or more vulgarly, as a penis. Yet could this be considered overrated? If one is to naïve to understand the original pun or doesn't know that Shakespeare was a bisexual, one would simply interpret the poem as though Shakespeare was glorifying the beauty of nature. On the other hand, if one is skilled in understanding Shakespeare's 'hidden' meanings; they would directly recognize that he intended the word 'bud' more offensively.
Do I think William Shakespeare is overrated? No, I don't think so. In literature, every person has the right to express oneself they way they want to. If Shakespeare wanted to express his sexual intuitions through his works of literature, then he had the right. He tends to describe issues very vulgarly, that is for sure, but he is not overrated. His works should surly be appreciated for the content of which they speak of…He certainly has achieved a lot of popularity in the world of literature, let alone any other discipline.

The Seasons of Friendship

As spring flowers bloom and birds lively sing
I realize that I can truly value this
With your fun conversations and easy going
You bring upon me a state of bliss

As the year passes and summer shines through
Our relationship grows and escalates
The clouds remain out of sight in a color of blue
And, in the sun, we are enjoyed by our mates

When autumn comes and the sky turns gray
Your acquaintances will exceed so much more
Leading, for us, to a lot of delay
Which I tend to ignore, but then abhor

Winter is here, and a friend I wait for
The one, whom I will always adore

How do you feel about sonnets as a poetic form? Do you like their structure or do you find them too limiting? Use one of the sonnets we have discussed

Sonnets are fourteen-lined lyric poems, traditionally written in iambic pentameter, with a specific standardized structure. It is made up of three quatrains and a couplet, and the ninth line is usually the turning point, specifically known as Volta. It follows the rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g to make the poem easier to read. Being made up of fourteen lines, the poet is unable to describe their point of view every easy, being limited to the size of a typical sonnet. Yet this might be helpful to the reader, making their imagination broader, to believe and perceive whatever they want to from the poem.
In class we have discussed, basically, Shakespeare's sonnets. He talked about Sonnet #1, 2, 8, 29, and 30. Sonnets 1 to 126 are concerned with a young man, Sonnet 127-152 are addressed to a dark lady, and 153-154 are like free adaptations of classical Greek poetry. Shakespeare didn't want his sonnets to be published, yet they were against his will. Most of the sonnets written by the poet have double-meaning analogies and references, which makes any reader confused in what is happening. Yet it is important to understand William Shakespeare first. No wonder so many people have attempted in analyzing this type of writing skills…

What do you think about JM Coetzee's writing style. What about his style is unique? Does that affect the reading of the novel?

The reading of this novel, Disgrace, is very captivating and appealing. When reading it, we can notice that there are many elements distinguishing the writing style of J. M. Coetzee to any other writer. To start with, the reading of Disgrace is simple and easy. The vocabulary usage isn't difficult and the plot strand isn't complicated nor intertwined. Therefore, when reading it, it is more entrancing and easy-flowed than other novels. Living in South Africa, it is multicultural country with a variety of influenced ethnicities affecting the people there. This is shown in the writing style of J. M. Coetzee when he mentions expressions in Latin, French, Spanish, etc. Disgrace, is a novel in third person point of view. Normally with such novels, the narrator would be omniscient; yet it is not like this in the novel. Here, the narrator basically knows what is going on in the mind of David Lurie only. He, the narrator, doesn't perceive what any of the characters, like Soraya and Melanie, think. All these elements help in the analysis of the novel.