Faction: The Conversion of the Jews

 I could simply define myself as my parents' son; that means, I was like a robot without any personal feelings and opinions who just listened blindly to what my parents told me to do. I was thoughtless, and found my life meaningless. I had no idea what my parents meant to lead my own life until I entered Korean Minjok Leadership Academy where I began to take care of my own stuff.

 My school was boring. The only topics my friends and I talked about were computer games, academic scores, and dating girls. Now I see how dumb we all were, and how we did not care at all about our futures.

 My house was as boring as my school. As I was the only son and both of my parents had to work, all I had was a computer and homework to complete. Sometimes, only sometimes when I felt like it, I turned on the computer even before taking my homework out of my schoolbag. I just liked it that way.

 My online self was dominant over my real self. I was online much more frequently compared to offline; I talked with my friends more online, played more online, and even studied more online. The computer was a new world for me which provided me with an opportunity to become someone else who is far superior to me. A messenger program called 'Buddy Buddy' connected me with my friends, and a game called 'Maplestory' was a playground where I ran around.

 The virtual world was just too fascinating for a kid at such a young age. It was the only refuge I could visit after running away from this real world. I could stay away from the boring school, and get away from the boring house.

Reflection: CONVERSION OF THE JEWS

  This was the second short story of the Post War Period literature, a rather confusing and causing one to ponder about its plot. This 'Conversion of the Jews' is dealing with a sensitive issue of Christianity and Jew, and a seemingly ironic fact of how all the protagonists, who are all Jews, convert to Christianity. This story is an idealistic piece that falls perfectly under the category of the Post-war literature as it deals with the social, historical, and religious events following the Second World War(WW II). 

  Oscar Freedman is the main protagonist in 'Conversion of the Jews', and I would say that he appeared to be a more of an unsophisticated teenager without much logic in the very beginning of the story. The most unique characteristic of Ozzie(as called in the story) is his inquisitiveness of what is happening around him, and how he challenges the common beliefs held by the society. At first, Ozzie questions the existence of God and what he can actually do when Rabbi Binder tells him that God can do Anything, and that God can even make a child without a sexual intercourse. Because of his vehement thirst for truth, Ozzie gets involved in many troubles, including a major one when Binder accidentally hits him on the nose and causes him to nosebleed. 

  In this story, Ozzie gets to experience evolving spirituality. Unlike Ltzie who acts more like a thoughtless kid by focusing on the word "intercourse", Ozzie desires to know how he can believe what Binder tells him about God. He is devoted, although not exactly believing what Binder had taught him, to find out more. 

  This story also shows how Rabbi Binder, the other students, and Oscar's mother are all bigoted, and Ozzie is religiously dedicated. Spiritual dogma is discrete from religious devotion; Oscar believes in omnipotent God.

  

COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY

  I was forced to travel, and stay overseas for a prolonged period of time. Still, I believe that it was a great opportunity for me to learn about different cultures, and embrace people from all around the world.

  I cannot really associate myself with the community I live in, and decide my authentic identity. It requires one deep rumination, as a person cannot easily choose who he is, or who he wants to be. For me, it is true that I have not spent much time pondering about who I really am, but I could not get even the faintest idea.

  Until fifth grade, I had remained in Korea attending a local school with my local friends. My community was Korea itself, nothing more, nothing less; all the people I had met were native Koreans whom I shared common interests with. Until then, I had no idea of how I would go overseas and attend school with foreigners with totally different cultures.

  On the very first day of school in Hong Kong, an Indian kid accosted, and spoke in English, a language I only knew ostensibly by then. I sheepishly told him that I do not speak English(it wasn't even 'I can't'), and ran away. I was extremely fortunate to find another Korean in our class, and until I got used to the school system and the new language, I hung out with him. The Korean community there was quite diverse, so it was not really difficult for me to get used to the school. Even in Hong Kong, my identity remained as a Korean as I did not feel much need to interact with people of different nations. Still, this does not mean that I did not interact with them at all; I did try my best to mingle with as many cultures as possible, but I spent the most time with Koreans, whom I was able to share common beliefs with.

  In Singapore, the situation was both similar and different. I made Korean friends much easily than other friends just like how I did back in Hong Kong, but I also became much more easily acquainted with foreign friends such as those from the United States, Brazil, Canada, etc.

  My identity is sometimes defined according to the community, and sometimes with those I hang around with. In Hong Kong, my identity was affected more by my Korean friends. On the other hand, the school environment affected me more in Singapore, forcing me to mingle with not only Koreans but also with others.

THE LOTTERY

  The video was shocking as much as the ending of 'The Lottery'. Both the graphics and the plot of the video were quite disturbing, mainly because it related contemporary issues with the problem of perennial rituals. Although the process of committing murder described in the video was much more humane than that illustrated in the short story, people were no different; without any logical thinking, these people blindly followed what is commonly accepted.

  How can people believe blindly in what is not proved, and has the full potential to be debunked any time? The problem lies in the society. Whether an axiom is correct or incorrect, once everyone starts to accept it as the genuine truth, this belief becomes a incontrovertible fact. The 'lottery ritual' described in 'The Lottery' is an example of how a perhaps inane and unsophisticated belief by the ancestors has withstood the test of time until it became an axiom for the villagers of 'The Lottery'.

  Perhaps both the author Shirley Jackson and the director of that South Park video clip are trying to emphasize how our sense of conformity is flawed, and this can lead to dystopia. Why did the townspeople of 'The Lottery' carry out the ritual every year? Why did the United States people all wish Britney to die? The reason is that these people's thoughts were fixed at the wrong perspective, and they remained inexorable. Although rudimentally wrong, the belief shared by other people had to also be shared by me. This is why conformity is bloodcurdling, how logic which you believed to be true can be rejected any time.

COMMENTS 
Rhee Ji Yoon: You started your essay with the subject, "the video"! I totally agree that the video was shocking, but I think your introductory paragraph would have been much effective if you had included a brief explanation or description about the video. There's not enought time left. I like your essay. I always like your style of writing! Simple but clear! Bye!

Yun Jo: Certainly right! these days some issues are coming up so frequently, and I think we can criticize such trends with your essay. Nicely done.

Chonghyun Ahn: I agree that the ostracism was groundless in the story, but I'd like to see more substantiation of what is the groundless axiom of today, and the way to sort out the axioms into two groups.

Hyejoon Lee: I think overall it was a good analysis of the story. I also had similar ideas you had, like the justification and the "tradition" thingy.

Jane: I agree with the points of "wholeness" and "conforming" that you've mentioned. Most people are basically doing what they are doing solely because all others are doing so. It would have been better if you included the motivations that could have led to the feeling of conforming among people.

A WAY YOU'LL NEVER BE and BIG TWO HEARTED RIVER

 I have enjoyed Hemingway's writing since young. The first English book I encountered was Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea' in abridged version. When I came in touch with his actual book, I found his style of writing very appealing. For today's American Literature class, we had to read two short stories by Hemingway, 'A Way you'll Never Be' and 'Big Two Hearted River'. Those stories were very interesting indeed just like 'The Old Man and the Sea'.

 'A Way you'll Never Be' is about a protagonist called Nick Adams. He, recovering from a traumatic head wound, bicycles from Fornaci to Fossalta di Piave, the scene of his wounding. When he is naming every piece of military equipment and every personal effect scattered among the bodies in the battle scene, a lieutenant approaches and threatens Nick to keep his identification card. Then Nick demands to see Captain Paravicini.

 This story is about Nick trying to resolve his crisis of personal identity. He desperately searches for evident clues about his true identity, but he is only confronted with many obstacles.

 It is true that in today's society, we have trouble identifying ourselves. There are so many fake images that we have created in order to hide us from the others that we ourselves have hard time defining our real portrayals. To some people, we show our first image of being nice, warm, and caring. Towards the second group, we show them how cynical, cool, and indifferent we are.

 This may be the result of our society turning more and more violent. It is true that more violence can be seen in today's world compared to the old times.

 Why is this so? This is due to the world spinning faster and faster compared to before. People are so busy competing with one another that they do not have any time to care for others. Just like I have mentioned in my previous reflection of 'The Garden Lodge', this is the tragic side of modernism.

 We should spend more time thinking to ourselves what is causing us to hide our true selves from the outer world. We should learn how to trust others and love others.

COMMENTS


Jeong Yunjo: Hey. It's a nice review with many great opinions. Now, how about relating this story with its historical literary backgrounds? Like, try relating this story with modernism.

Hyunseok Lee: Fine and comfortable introduction, good analysis toward the protagonist. However, you can say more than that you had written in the last part of the essay. Come up with some symbols such as grasshoppers. Plus, it would be great if you introduce personal story related to the story.

THE GARDEN LODGE

 Cather's 'The Garden Lodge' is another short story that discusses modernism well in its plot. Modernist literature, according to Wikipedia, often forcefully opposes or gives an opinion of a social concept. In 'The Garden Lodge', although not very forceful, the theme of infidelity is introduced passively along with modern men's indifference.

 Caroline is married to Harold Noble; they had spent several years together, but Harold failed to realize that his wife is committing infidelity when he is not around. Last summer, tenor Raymond d'Esquerre visited the house and spent fond times with Caroline even though he knew that she is a married woman. The more shocking fact is that even after Harold found out the truth, he was not at all surprised and politely asked Caroline of her opinion regarding the issue of tearing the lodge down.

 Even though one of the greatest crimes in the world had been committed by his wife, Harold revealed not much interest. It was not that he was not affected at all; he was obviously annoyed at that time. But in overall, he managed to contain his anger too well compared to a typical husband who has a lascivious wife.

 The husband questioned neither his wife nor Raymond d'Esquerre how they could commit such an outrageous sin. He has just accepted the truth and tried to tear down the lodge. On one hand, I admire him for being so cynical. Indeed, he has to be extremely apathetic to control his anger after witnessing his wife's infidelity. However on the other hand, I see how people today are turning so indifferent even to their own family. Although he has shown little annoyance, it is clear that he does not care much.

 Modernism plays a big role here; Cather is trying to say that indifference is taking more and more part of human in today's world. How sad and scary is that? It means that we do not care much about our close friends, colleagues, and even family members. This can be clearly seen in 'The Garden Lodge', where the husband just accepts the truth. Although Harold knows that the garden lodge in his house represents a place of his husband and the tenor and tries to tear it down, that is not enough; he has to be more outrageous towards his wife.

 In today's society, we care less and less about other people. We are too busy looking after ourselves that we do not have any time for others. In a very near future, it might be true that we will only care about ourselves. This should be stopped, and more care should be expressed by all of us.

COMMENTS


Jeong Yunjo: Huh. I was surprised you looked at the story from a very different perspective from mine.

Hyejoon: I liked your analysis, but I think it would have been better if you spent more time and space on making your own interpretation on the analysis that you made instead of only writing about the facts!

Inhee: I liked how you specifically analyzed the story! But rather than stopping at mere analysis, why not go further? For instance, how does Harold's not being surprised about his wife's affair link to the postwar era? I also found it interesting how you focused on the man more than the woman. Surely, the story focuses a little more on Caroline. And I expect you to describe further on man's mind and what that could mean.

A DARK BROWN DOG

 'A Dark Brown Dog' by Stephen Crane is a story that describes the relationship between a boy and the dog, just like the title. In my opinion, we can define this story as literature that falls under the category of naturalism, because of how the boy's father treats his family and the dog. Although he is the bread-winner of the family, his savage-like behavior cannot be forgotten.

 The most fundamental storyline for 'A Dark Brown Dog' is about a boy who brings a dog to his house. The trouble starts when his family notices that they have a new family member; they laugh at it, make fun of it, and cause the boy to be extremely embarrassed. In the end, the father decides that the dog stays, because he though that would anger all the other family members. 

 This story can be related to naturalism, a literary movement that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality according to Wikipedia. Here, this common typical household is described as the main protagonists; there is an angry father who dislikes the world and an obedient son who is so naive to bring a lost dog home when his family is suffering from destitute. 

 What does the father's behavior also tell us? From this single action, we can deduce how the father does not care at all about how other people feel. Basically, the father here is just like any other typical husbands; they are unsatisfied with their lives, and tend to cause trouble with whatever they come in hand. In this story, the father is with his family, which causes him to turn violent towards them. To generalize this, we can say that people at this time were all having tough lives. Also, the father swung the dog many times just for pleasure and enjoyment. This also shows how cruel and savage-like he is towards his family members.

 Stephen Crane is a great naturalist; he had successfully depicted a daily life of a family in 'A Dark Brown Dog'. If I have a chance, I will read more of his stories so that I can have a better understanding of naturalism.

COMMENTS 

Ko Hae Uk: I think you had a clear understanding of the story. I also thought the father was very cruel and abusive of others. But you lack an opinion on the analysis. I totally agree that you had no time. Still, perhaps you could have written the gist of the essay in a thesis sentence.

Yoonju Chung: I agree that the father clearly showed how savage and cruel humans are. He swung the dog two or three times "hilariously" about his head and he held a carnival with cooking utensils, furniture, and "his wife". By using euphemism, this short story calmly portrayed a cruel nature of human beings and made me doubt "are we really civilized?" overall. I understand your point on linking naturalism with a character "the father" and it would be more great if you put some reflections or personal experiences in this essay!

Rhee Jiyoon: Hola! I always like your essays. They're neat, short, and well-organized. I learned from your essays that strength of a writing does not come from a dozen of similar examples and long, boring, tiring paragraphs, but from logic and clearness! However, when I read your first paragraph, I thought you'd elaborate your reflection focusing on one character, the "father", but when I read your 2nd and 3rd paragraph, I see no link with the introductory paragraph. Instead of explaining the general plot, try to focus more on the father. Well, I think this is only because you were running out of time.. So I'll look forward to your blog posting! HAHA!