Voices of the Inseparable
Introductory Questions
Love and Friendship
Introductory Questions
- Does literature bring us together, or is reading a fundamentally solo act?
- Literature is used most often to express one’s emotions and experiences to a wider audience or public. Several literary and poetic devices are utilized in the process with purpose in order to apply emphasis on certain emotions.
- Consider different types of literature: does enjoying poetry separate a person from broader culture, or does reading popular novels connect us? Are there forms of literature that can travel between high and low culture?
- The beauty of literature is that it is entirely subjective, and it’s values are complete different depending on who sees it. But to enjoy listening and exploring what other people felt from reading the same piece is crucial to open our minds to new perspectives.
- Many of this year’s selection were written by authors who “belong” to two cultures. How do these selections, and perhaps literature in general, bridge (or reinforce) separations between people?
- The world is full of people, and each person originates from different cultures. Through selecting authors who “belong” to two cultures, the people that used to be seperate in terms of culture are now intertwined through literature are now ‘inseparable’.
- To what extent is a writer entangled in his or her culture, and can he or she get outside of it? Can any works of literature truly be considered universal?
- Anyone would have grown up in some form of culture or another. The geographical are the author grew up and spent their childhood in would represent their culture. One is able to explore and experience other culture by travelling to other places they’ve never been to, or by making connections with other people originating from different cultures. Although works of literature could be translated into different languages, it is most likely that some allusions and concepts could not be understood by some people if they have no prior knowledge on the place of origin of the piece of literature.
- Why do so many people turn to poetry to express the pain and pleasure of love? Is there a reason poetry is particularly associated with intimate feelings?
- Unlike sentences and paragraphs, poems are almost completely free in terms of the options to place the words. This freedom in options allow people to articulate their emotions in the most powerful way possible, even complicated emotions which are often difficult to understand, such as pain, pleasure and love.
- How does literature help us remember the past (or speak to the future)? Can we trust fictional accounts of the past, or are written accounts inevitably biased?
- One of the most promising traits of man, is how they are able to come up with language in order to pass down knowledge and experiences to the future generations. Without it, it was impossible for humans to build such a complicated society which we have today. When writing these accounts, there is most often a perspective of some sort. And when a piece of literature is written from a certain perspective, some bias in one way or another is inevitable. This is not a matter of trust, it is a question of if we, as readers are able to acknowledge the bias and take in the pieces of information we need.
- What causes a work of literature to last? How does the presence of a literary canon—that is, a body of work agreed to be “important”—connect us to the past?
- Pieces of literature by writers of the past allow the readers of today to have an experience as if he/she was living in that era, through the use of imagery other literary devices. We can see what the people of the past have seen, and feel what the people of the past have felt. Literature is history of the human society, and of all the events that occurred up till now.
- Does the “Western canon” still serve a purpose in our contemporary, entangled word? Did it ever?
- The Western canon is the body of books, music, and art that scholars generally accept as the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. Whether western canon still serves a purpose in our world today is a very difficult questions, as the answers varies widely depending on perspective. But to have standard item to compare quality of pieces of literary to is an interesting thought.
Love and Friendship
- I Gave Myself to Him | Emily Dickinson
- “I Gave Myself to Him” by Emily Dickinson was written in 1896 in the U.S. This is a love poem, with the overall context of the poem suggesting strong emotions of love and dedication. But in the process, she uses financial terms such as “pay”, “contract”, and “purchaser”, which is very uncommon in poems about love and gives this piece a cynical tone. Due to historical background, the relationships between the lovers will only end in “debt”, ending with no gain but is still very “sweet”. The relationship between this poem and the theme is fairly clear, in the poem’s theme that they cannot separate because their love is too strong, even when their relationship would only cause negative financial impacts to one another's life.
- [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] | e.e. Cummings
- “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by e.e. Cummings is a love poem written in 1952. The poem opens with the speaker declaring, "i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)." He goes on to stress the sense of unity he (we're just assuming it's a he) feels with the one he loves. Everything he does and feels is connected to her (again, just our gender assumption here). His fate and his world is her alone. The meaning of nature is also shared with the speaker's love. Finally, the "tree of life" or the "secret nobody knows" has its roots in the wonder of love and its limitless possibilities (Shmoop).
- Supple Cord | Naomi Shihab Nye
- Supple Cord by Naomi Shihab Nye is poem written in 2005. The cord represents the strong bond and connection the two siblings, and the fact that the brother “dropped” “his end of the cord” implies that there was an event which caused them to be separated physically. But even when they are separate, their bond and unity would never be broken.
- What My Grandmother Meant to Say Was | Aja Monet
- What My Grandmother Meant to Say Was is a poem by Aja Monet, a Cuban-Jamaican poet and Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist. At first, there is anaphora starting most sentences with “I fell in love with”. Then the following sentences begin with “I hate”. This contrast between love and hate is an allegory to the fact that people with color, especially women which are constantly oppressed by society are people too and deserve to be dealt with like a person. In this case, the ‘separation’ is the one between the oppressed and the rest of the society. No matter how differently the colored are treated, they are still inseparable parts of society and always will be.
- A Dog Has Died | Pablo Neruda
- “A Dog Has Died” by Pablo Neruda is a textbook example of an elegy. The speaker is mourning the death of his dog, after he buried it in the garden, where he had spent a lot of valuable, sweet memories with the dog. The theme of this poem is the very cliche one, in which even when they are separated in reality, they cannot be separated in the sense that the dog now ‘lives in the memories’.
- Look Up | Gary Turk
- Look up by Gary Turk is not only a poem, it was also made into a movie. It is calling out to the modern society and future generations, to stop being distracted by their phones and laptops and actually begin to communicate with people, the real way. This is done by first posing a message, then adding an anecdote which never actually happened, and emphasise on the message by telling the reader/watcher that all of those amazing experiences would never happen if they’re looking down on their phones. The connection to the theme is interesting in the sense that nowadays, no one can be truly separate because of this digital technology. So the voices of the inseparable are the reader’s voices, not the writer, disappointed in themselves.
- Kinship | Margarita Engle
- Kinship by Margarita Engle is a poem about how people tell stories about their past and the differences which arise depending on if they have escaped or immigrated from their home country written. The father, in which his ancestors have fled from conflict in Ukraine, “tells stories that are brief and vague”. On the other hand, the mother, “tells her flowery tales of Cuba”. How this poem relates to the theme, is that people cannot separate themselves from their own ancestors history, and must accept who they are. Regardless of if they had to run away from their homes, the fact that the place is their home wouldn’t change. (?)
- Wild Geese | Mary Oliver
- Wild Geese by Mary Oliver is a poem written in 2004 that tells the reader how to live a good life. In the first sentences of the poem, Oliver tells the reader what they should not be doing—trying to be morally good or repenting one’s sins through punishment and penance. In nature, time marches on, waiting for no one. So the author expresses this through various visual imagery of nature, and the motif of the geese which flies back to their home after winter has finally ended. They, too, have endured. The last line wraps the poem up very nicely, explaining to the reader that all is as it should be. There is order to the world, and the human experience, while seemingly lonely and torturous at times, is just as it should be. The theme is that bad times of solitude and despair will eventually go away, and one will be able to return to their home; just like the wild geese which return to their homes after the winter has ended. One is inseparable from their homes, as no matter where they go, ‘home’ will never be lost.
- Valentine | Carol Ann Duffy
- Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy written in 1993 expresses love and affection in the form of a conceit whereby the symbol of love being offered by the speaker is an unconventional onion. The multilayered complexity of the onion represents a real relationship and is used as an extended metaphor throughout. The strangeness of this unusual gift, which can make a lover cry, highlights the negative as well as the positive effects of a deep and loving relationship. The forceful presentation of this gift, and the final word choice, also suggests this is a relationship which is cruel, domineering and menacing. Duffy ends on a warning note that love can be lethal and so life-threatening, forcing the reader to confront the notion that a real love based on honesty and truthfulness can be painful and destructive as well as fulfilling and enriching. The relationship between the theme and this poem, is that true love in its simplest form allows two people to be bonded strongly and truthfully, making them inseparable.
- To Have Without Holding | Marge Piercy
- The poem "To Have without Holding," by Marge Piercy, is about the speaker trying to reconcile the conflict between her preconceived notion of a personal relationship with present reality. Her partner, whom she must feel worth the pain and effort, apparently has a more liberal and open approach, which causes her to feel insecure. The poem expresses, using metaphor, simile, and symbolism, the speaker's discomfort at a point in time in this emotionally unbalanced relationship. She defines, explains, and personalizes her place in the relationship from a unique and unsettling perspective, while providing a reminder that preconceived notions must eventually be evaluated against one's growing library of empirical evidence obtained, often painfully, via real life experience (123HelpMe). The theme of this poem, is that “Love is true only with the presence of insecurity and lack of balance, which creates trust and honesty between one another, thus allowing for inseparable love to form”. (?)
- Elegy for a Mother, Still Living | Elana Bell
- Elegy for a Mother, Still Living by Elana Bell is a poem about the author growing up with a mother which has devoted everything to her child, thus losing her own in a figurative manner. Most of the poem lines up visual imagery of a sweet, loving mother caring for her child. But the last few sentences, “Her fingers have stiffened. In her eyes, the eyes of an animal in pain. I hold the memory of my mother against the woman she is”, are rather dark. The author describes the mother as “an animal in pain”. This pain would be coming from the uncertainties and worries the mother has of her child’s future, and the fear of losing her daughter. From another perspective, this pain could be interpreted as to be coming from the unimaginable amount of love she has for her child, which allows her to dedicate everything for it. It is of an undeniable fact that no matter what difficulties may approach this family, their bond is inseparable.
- Head, Heart | Lydia Davis
- In this poem by Lydia Davis, the author personifies a mind and heart to allow them to converse with one another. Heart is very emotional, and mind’s job is to calm heart down by telling it reality. Head’s words, “You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. But even the earth will go, someday” imply that there is an end to everything, even the good times with all the people you love. “But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of heart. Heart is so new to this. I want them back, says heart.” Is an allegory to describe how no matter how many times one tells itself that ‘such is life’, strong emotions of sorrow and solitude cannot be contained. This poem could relate to the theme in 2 ways; how the heart and head are ‘inseparable’, and how even if your loved ones pass away, the emotional bonds allow for them to live forever in your heart.
- Mending Wall | Robert Frost
- “Every year, two neighbors meet to repair the stone wall that divides their property. The narrator is skeptical of this tradition, unable to understand the need for a wall when there is no livestock to be contained on the property, only apples and pine trees. He does not believe that a wall should exist simply for the sake of existing. Moreover, he cannot help but notice that the natural world seems to dislike the wall as much as he does: mysterious gaps appear, boulders fall for no reason. The neighbor, on the other hand, asserts that the wall is crucial to maintaining their relationship, asserting, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Over the course of the mending, the narrator attempts to convince his neighbor otherwise and accuses him of being old-fashioned for maintaining the tradition so strictly. No matter what the narrator says, though, the neighbor stands his ground, repeating only: “Good fences make good neighbors.”(GradeSaver) How this connects to the theme is fairly far-fetched, but it could be that no matter how skeptical we become of traditions and even if nature itself seems to disagree with traditional actions, people cannot be separated from one’s culture.
- No Man is an Island | John Donne
- The theme of this poem, is that all people are of equal importance, and that we are all united as one body called society. Each person (the reader) is described as a clod (pile of dirt), which together, creates an island. In the poem, the author writes “Any man’s death diminishes me”, because even if the person who had passed away is someone you’ve never knew, they are part of you in a way, as we are all connected as one body.
- The Map of the World Confused with Its Territory | Susan Stewart
- The theme of this poem, is that although the world is separated by borders and rivers written on a map, we are all connected together with nature. (?)
- Maps | Yesenia Montilla
- “New York poet Yesenia Montilla’s poem Maps touches beautifully on how borders can be sites of actual violence in people’s lives. Though some of us may have the luxury of seeing contentions over borders as an ideological battleground, many people across the world have their lives impacted daily by arbitrary lines drawn across territories. This poem specifically sheds light on a friend of Yesenia’s, whose family was torn apart by border and immigration control.”(1215 today) In this poem, the writer deplores the concept of maps, through emphasizing the fact that the borders which separates us are merely a “delusion of safety”, and borders are only “black spaces” on a “useless prison” we call, a map. Readers can infer the strong sense of revolt against borders, as well as the strong unity she feels with her family, which is now physically separate but connected at the same time.
- Yertle the Turtle | Dr Seuss
- Yertle the turtle by Dr. Seuss is a poem about a turtle king, which decides to stack up countless turtles under him so that he can make his throne larger and taller. But Mack, a commoner turtle which held the stack, was groaning in pain and begging for mercy. Mack burps, shaking the entire tower, throwing Yertle the turtle into the deep dark mud. In the end, all the turtles in the stack are free, just like how any animal should be. As like many other Dr. Seuss poems, there is rhyme involved in pairs to give this poem an upbeat rhythm. How this connects to the theme, is that all animals, regardless of social status, needs their rights and liberty. One’s freedom is unalienable, and if these are separated, you too, will fall.
- From | Fatimah Asghar & Eve L. Ewing
- Slightly confusing but there are multiple interpretations to this poem/image. Firstly, notice how the languages are varied, from English to Hindi and Punjabi. Those countries are at the center of either a migrant crisis, civil war or accepting refugees. In it, Fatimah Ashgar and Eve L. Ewing provide the most common questions asked to the people who suffer as a result of these events, each in different languages. On the far right is what they say and on the opposite side is what they actually mean. As for the message of the poem, this is anyone’s guess.
- For Want of a Nail | Proverb
- “A cautionary tale that warns us of the importance of details, For Want of a Nail has appeared in a number of forms since at least as early as 1640, when Outlandish Proverbs was published by George Herbert, an Anglican priest” - Treasury Islands. The relationship between this proverb and theme, may be the inalienable importance of details and precaution, as it can cause the butterfly effect, "small causes can have larger effects".
- Remember | Joy Harjo
- This poem by Joy Harjo directly speaks to the reader, simply remember. Remember who you are, and that all is you, and you are all. You are connected with the world, and the world connects with you. Remember, you are not alone. I’d say the connection to the theme is straightforward, that this poem illustrates how all people, all plants, all animals, all life is inseparable.
- The Answer | Robinson Jeffers
- This poem by Robinson Jeffers is quite an interesting one. The answer, which the question is not stated, is “Not to be deluded by dreams.” This poems calls upon the reader to face reality; how universal justice or happiness will not be fulfilled, how ugly people truly are with their evil sleeping inside. The connection to the theme in this poem is rather unique, stating that the relationship between the crude reality and you, are inseparable.
- Encounter | Czeslaw Milos
- It’s an interesting poem (?)
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles | Sally Wen Mao
- This poem by Sally Wen Mao explores the theme in a way like never before. The poem follows ‘you’, as you ride in loneliness across places and time. It ends with depressing lines, “The sun doesn’t need more heat, so why should you? The trees don’t need to be close, so why should you?” In this poem, the reader is inseparable from the solitude and loneliness which comes from the reality that you are only one person, and always will be.
- Abiku | Wole Soyinka
- Firstly, an Abiku is a term used by the Yorubas (an ethnic group from southwestern and north-central Nigeria and Benin). It refers to the spirits of children who die before reaching puberty (12 years of age). It is believed that the Abiku will return to the same mother multiple times to be reborn, indifferent to the plight of the mother and her grief at the death of a child. In the poem, Wole Soyinka writes as if though it is the Abiku speaking, mocking his/her parents for their fruitless efforts in trying to get the spirit to stay and not be reborn. Within a larger picture, this poem expresses the pointlessness of life and that man is a vain person. The use of “bangles” and “charmed circles” are a reference to the methods employed by the Yoruba once a child (and the Abiku) is reborn to get the spirit to stay.
- “Dark House”, from In Memorium | Tennyson
- A recurring poet from the WSC resources, Alfred Tennyson speaks here of a deserted house. The house once belonged to his friend, where they would spend time together. This is evident from the use of the lines “doors where my heart was used to beat” and “So quickly, waiting for a hand”. In the second stanza, he admits that he cannot sleep, so in the early hours of the morning he creeps around the house. Most unfortunate then, that he knows he is creeping around a house with no occupants, for his friend is long gone.
- Sleeping With Ghosts | Stephen Dunn
- Again relating back to the theme of dark matters, Sleeping with Ghosts describes a concept where ghosts are constantly present with you when lying on your bed. They are quiet and peaceful ghosts, who let you be alone and whisper in your ear assurance that you will see the sun the next day. Towards the end, it suggests that you too, will soon join their ranks and that they have foreseen this moment.
- Try to Praise the Mutilated World | Adam Zagajewski
- In this poem, Adam Zagajewski urges the reader to see the joy within a mutilated world. He takes inspiration from his childhood seeing the postwar destruction in Poland. He urges those to see the beauty in reality or tragedy.
- Ghosts | Kiki Petrosino
- Kiki Petrosino talks about the world of ghosts here and the types that she sees. Her work was actually inspired by a previous poet named Anne Sexton (1928-1974), a female American poet who was very well known for her personal and confessional verse.
- What the Living Do | Marie Howe
- I have limited expertise in analyzing the messages of poems, but I can put forth a guess as to the meaning of this one. I believe that Marie Howe writes a poem about lovers who were separated thanks to the death of one. The other goes around their daily lives and says what the living does, almost as if they’re trying to communicate with the deceased lover.
- self-portrait in case of disappearance | Safia Elhillo
- This is rather an interesting and short poem, as it leaves little as to what the actual message is. Simply put, Safia Elhillo puts her lingering fears into words. From mass extinctions that have no impact in bettering the world, to kidnapped daughters and fathers in distraught.
- This Hour and What is Dead | Li-Young Lee
- In this poem, Li-Young Lee takes a rather dark view of the heavens above and the living. The poem discusses the contrast between what is going on in the realm of the dead versus the realm of the living. The first comparison is between a restless brother, while the next is about a sewing father. The final one takes a different tone, a rather harsh one against God and The Lord, with the final plea that they be left alone.
- Inventory | Richard Hoffman
- In this poem, Richard Hoffman is able to convey the true weight of dealing with sorrow much the way an accountant deals with their earnings. It is rather sad how he reflects upon how much he has given to sorrow, which in the end amounts to little. He recounts how one winter there were "two loves [he] could not welcome" and how he might have been a different man had he chosen another path.
- Film | Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa) Link to movie (close pop up ads)
- Kimi no na wa is an anime about a young teenage boy and girl which goes through peculiar experiences. First we have a city boy (Taki) from Tokyo and a country girl (Mitsuha) from a village called Itomori. Mitsuha wishes she could live in the city. Taki and Mitsuha started to switch minds and was in one another’s bodies. Mitsuha, as a country girl and ‘Miko’ of a shrine, she always dreamed of living in the modernized city away from the religious traditions which she lives with everyday. “In Shinto, a miko (巫女) is a shrine (jinja) maiden or a supplementary priestess. Miko were once likely seen as a shaman but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily shrine life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance.”(Wikipedia) It is an internal conflict between wanting to uphold tradition by being a miko and living at the shrine and pleasing family yet at the same time wanting to be your own person. Dreams are often our conscious thoughts personified, in this instance, the switching of bodies let her have the means to experience the life she wish she had. This is where dreams and wishes and the supernatural blends together.
- The village where Mitsuha lives is called Itomori, it is inspired by a real location called Aogashima which is a volcanic island. In the scene where the grandma is making the threads with the girls, she speaks of 100 years of history is etched into our braided cords. This sets the scene for tradition and how much this family values that tradition. They are tied to the town's history. This is where we see the backdrop for the story to unfold, the shrine they live at is called the Miyamizu shrine which is also inspired by a real life shrine called Hida Sannogu Hie Shrine located in Gifu. As Mitsuha and her sister were born as a Miko, they must not abandon the family tradition. But from another perspective, it can be interpreted that it was because she was in such close relationship to the Kami (Shinto God-like-thing) that kami decided to grant her wish, when she screamed at herself that she wanted to be “a handsome boy living in tokyo”
- In the movie, a comet splits in two and lands on the Itomori village, destroying it whole. Shinkai's works often uses the motif living under the same sky, stars and planetary alignment which sets the tone for fated love-which its course never did run smooth. A comet comes from space which is time it self, when you look at the stars above, you are literally looking back in time. When the comet falls to earth, it travels through time giving the audience a beautiful display of radiance before burning out into oblivion. The comet symbolizes chaos, panic and disorder, much like the landscape of love; especially finding true love. As a whole, the comet would symbolize togetherness, before it splits into fragments.
- Now please recall the scene when Taki goes to the underworld and drinks the sake which was made through a ritual performed by Mitsuha. He falls backwards and there is a prehistoric drawing of a comet on the wall. This isn't the first time that a comet has hit and is almost a foreshadowing of the events which will take place. The comet actually struck the town and the switching bodies take place 3 years prior so here we are introduced with a ghost story. (Must see movie) This is where things get a little muddled because instead of sticking with one theme, the writer is doing too much with Shinto and Science.
- “In ordinary time travel shows, we are presented with the Grandfather Paradox. However, this movie uses the multi-world interpretation which is a hypothesis made by a quantum physicist Hugh Everett. It posits that we live in a multiverse where timelines are constantly branching off and creating separate worlds and each experienced by a different version of you. The example below shows Schrodinger's cat and it can exist in dual states: being alive and dead obviously isn't possible but it is if you believe in the multiverse.This connects perfectly to the Shinto backdrop which believes that the spirit world co-resides with the living. The soul can travel between both worlds freely. You could be dead but still walk among living by crossing the threshold that is between yomi and the land of the living. When they meet at the top of the mountain at the end, it is twilight, that is the time when the boundaries between dead and alive and blurred and it is when spirits can cross over. ”(Amino)
- To sum the whole Mitsuha mess, Mitsuha is a spirit, which came back after death in order to meet her destined true love. In Shinto, it is believed that those trained to have strong enough spiritual connection and strength (Mitsuha) has the ability to send off his or her own separated soul to a distant location or a different time period. This is where the story gets very convoluted and opens some plot holes. But this is anime, not everything has to make 100% sense. To make things even better, Mitsuha’s grandmother has also been a Miko during her young years, and “Although now [she’s] … forgotten about whose life [she]... was dreaming about[,] … [she] remember[s] seeing strange dreams when [she]... was a young girl.” “The time travel is more like different worlds converging. Scientifically explained as Everett's multiverse, religiously explained through Shinto.”(Amino)
- Musubi (directly translated: connection) is mentioned by the grandma. “Tying thread is Musubi, connecting people is Musubi, the flow of time is Musubi, the threads are the god's art and represent the flow of time itself. Musubi is the spirit of birth and becoming. It is the whole process of creation through which each person is born, grows, and transforms.” When the grandma speaks of the history of their village being in the threads, it speaks of the connection between people across time. It is at this place that Mitsuha is told she has to leave half of her behind when she drank the sake as part of the ritual. Taki drank the same sake later on, which allowed him to experience all of Mitsuha’s memories. There is an expression in Japanese called “the red string of fate”, which means that people are already connected with a red string to their destined partner. Taki has a red bracelet which was given to him by Mitsuha (need to watch movie), which he “wear[s] it... as a lucky charm”. The red strings of the bracelets symbolize the connection of the two souls and their destined love. In the scenes it says “the cords represent the flow of time itself, the threads twist, tangle, unravel and connect again, that is time.”
- “Another thing to note is the symbolism of meeting on the train and then in the end when they are both on the train and it keeps passing by. The train station is another reference to time, it combines a dream world with reality, as it describes a journey (both literal and symbolic) that brings about transformation for the characters and the viewers as well. Taking the train from the city to find Mitsuha and her taking the train to find him. Essentially a journey to meeting your destiny which is beyond your control, much like the train is controlled by a train conductor.”(Animo)
- To finally summarize things up, the writer cross over the boundaries between the Japanese Shinto religion and quantum physics in order to illustrate that predetermined fate and destiny will prevail, no matter what external factors try to get in the way. (Relates to WSC theme) Talking a little about the title, there is a term in Japanese called Kotodama, which means that there are spiritual powers to words and names. To remember these names is key in this movie, as well as in many others such as Spirited Away.
- Film | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
- A much older film than Your Name, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was released on 2004. It tells the fictional story of Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski, who meet on a train ride and instantly develop feelings for each other. It is then revealed that these two were former lovers who decided to have all memories of their relationship erased by Lacuna Inc. The majority of the film takes place in Joel’s mind while he’s undergoing the memory erasing process, starting from the disintegration of their relationship to the first time they met. At the end of the movie, they both decide to start a new relationship, knowing full well the whole process could repeat itself.
- Drama | Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2; Act 3, Scene 5
- Both of these scenes are conflicting. In the first, we have the famous soliloquy by Juliet, heard by Romeo without her knowing. In it she declares her love for him but despair that their two families will never approve of such a relationship. Romeo then reveals himself and the two agree to secretly marry despite their families. The second of these scenes is more tragic, the families have discovered the marriage arrangements and Romeo is sentenced to death. After he departs, Juliet’s mother and father each give their own piece of bad news. Juliet’s mother falsely mistakes her tears for another boy and reveals her plan to poison Romeo. Her father announces her arranged marriage, much to her anger. Both scenes end with Romeo and Juliet (Romeo in Act 2, Juliet in Act 5) visiting Friar Laurence alone for advice.
- The Egg | Andy Weir
- Quite an interesting story indeed. In this longer work, Andy Weir puts the concept that Earth is an incubation egg for a godlike being in our minds. The narrator is god and majority of the poem focuses on a conversation with their child, who as it turns out, is every living being on Earth that has ever existed. In the end, god tells him that in order for his son to be born as a god, he must experience every human life there ever was. In this way, Earth is an egg from which he will be born.
- Reunion | John Cheever
- An interesting story whose message is a bit hard to decipher. In it, a boy visits his father in New York for an hour and a half. In that time, they visit 4 restaurants, each proving unsatisfactory for the father. Nothing is gained from the visit, not even a newspaper for the boy to read on the train.
- The Rules of the Game | Amy Tan
- A very interesting piece indeed. Through the eyes of the narrator Waverly Jong, a game of chess is used to convey the message of “invisible strengths” that is the ability to control life the way you want it to (namely, human will).
- Marriage Is a Private Affair | Chinua Achebe
- This story is about a young man, Nnaemeka which revolted against his father, to marry a woman he truly loves. The family is Christian, and the mother of the woman Nnaemaka wants to marry (Nene), is a teacher. Nnaemeka’s family’s religious beliefs state that women aren’t meant to be teaching. The father’s shock is so strong that he stopped talking to him and refused to meet the wife Nnaemaka chose to marry. Some around him even said that he might be ill. This is a reply of a letter he sent to his father: “It amazes me that you could be so unfeeling as to send me your wedding picture. I would have sent it back. But on further thought I decided just to cut off your wife and send it back to you because I have nothing to do with her. How I wish that I had nothing to do with you either.” Little did he know, the newlyweds were known as the happiest couple in the area. Later, the father recieved a letter from Nnaemaka and Nene that they now have 2 young boys who want to meet their grandfather. Nnaemaka’s father is once again shook by internal conflicts between his feeling that wants to meet his grandchildren, and the feeling that he doesn’t want to accept Nnaemaka’s wife. This short story reflects this theme very well, as it is about two people that truly love each other and want to stay together, no matter what obstacles attempt to separate them.
- Simple Recipes | Madeleine Thien
- This short story is about the change in the value of tradition, illustrated through the interactions between family members during supper. The protagonist, a young girl’s parents are from Malaysia. But they immigrated to Canada and so the girl and her brother have been raised in western culture. The father’s quiet, gentle way of treating the process of rice sifting and draining is contrasted with the daughter, who “went through the motions, splashing the water around”. The father wants to pass on his own rituals and traditions but they do not come across as well as he would have wished as his daughter, although trying, is unable to treat the rice with the same gentleness and serenity. The father-daughter relationship is characterised by a willingness to adapt to the Asian traditions and a forgiveness of possible failure. For example, the daughter tries to perform the ritual of rice making to the best of her abilities, but fails, as the rice becomes “a mushy gruel”. This relationship is then contrasted with the father-son relationship, which is characterised by defiance of any such traditions and aggression from both parties. Even as simple a question as “Why do we have to eat fish?” holds more than a first glance would suggest. In its context, the question can easily be interpreted as suggesting “Why do we have to hold onto our old Asian traditions and identity?”. “We”, here represents the (second-generation) Asian immigrants and is contrasted with “them”, the Canadians. The “fish” then represents the traditions that come with an Asian identity. His father still tries to convince him by using one of the phrases he has learned from the Canadian cooking show he likes so much: “Take a wok on the wild side”. By doing so, he places himself in a position of accepting the new culture in order to constitute a connection with his son. His attempt fails, however, when the son, although he refused at first, tries the fish and spits it out again, and the whole situation ends in (physical) conflict. The father beats the son with a bamboo stick. People are bound to their traditions and culture since birth. But its extent are entirely dependent on how they are educated and raised, as well as the environment they grew up in.
- The Perfect Match | Ken Liu
- This is a fictional piece about the world, several years later where voice activated AI has developed to a point where it feels as if there is a personal assistant always living in your ‘earpiece’ (something similar to apple Airpods but it is always listening and talking to you, giving you information, coupons, etc.). The main character is Sai, an adult male that lives an average life. He has Tilly, his personal assistant (kinda like Siri) that supports him in every way, using the vast amounts of data it collected about him. Tilly collects everything: “his tastes, likes and dislikes, secret desires, announced intentions, history of searches, purchases, articles and books read, pages browsed.” One day, Sai went on a date arranged by Tilly. Tilly found this woman by using all of its data about his ‘type’, and finding the ‘perfect match’ for Sai. The date went amazingly smooth. This concept is similar to the one that is in Koi to Uso, an anime about a society where marriage is decided by a supercomputer which calculates compatibility and finds the perfect woman. Back to the story, during the date, Sai recalled what Jenny said to him earlier: ““Tilly doesn’t just tell you what you want,” Jenny shouted. “She tells you what to think. Do you even know what you really want any more?”” And shuts off Tilly in the middle of the date, because “Although everything had gone exceedingly well, if he was being completely honest with himself, it wasn’t quite as exciting and lovely as he had expected. Everything was indeed going smoothly, but maybe just a tad too smoothly. It was as if they already knew everything there was to know about each other. There were no surprises, no thrill of finding the truly new.” Then he asked his date, Ellen to shut off her Tilly. But not convinced and somewhat disguised, Ellen attempted to leave for the night, using an excuse provided by Tilly. The rest of the date went horribly. Another major character in this story is Jenny: Sai’s neighbor which is trying to start a revolution against the company that manages Tilly: Centillion. She talks about how Centillion controls all information given to us, how it is paid by major companies to guide its users to these companies and their products, how it creates another version of the user in its bottomless database of information about the user, knowing the psychological status of the user more than the user themselves, how it is telling the user what to think. “I have a coupon”, is what Tilly saids the most, as she recommends a place to Sai. Convinced that Centillion is actually a bad company (it kinda is), he works with Jenny to plant a virus into the Tilly’s system which slowly ‘kills’ Tilly. But the plan fails, beacause Centillion was tracking the two; using highly advanced sensing technology to attain the information about the plan to kill Tilly. They were always being watched, “it could still make use of its accelerometer. It detected and recorded the vibrations from your typing. There’s a very distinctive way we strike the keys on a keyboard, and it’s possible to reconstruct what someone was typing based on the vibration patterns alone.” “We parked a traffic observation vehicle a block away and trained a little laser on Jenny’s window. It was enough to record your conversations through the vibrations in the glass.” Creepy indeed. This is almost to the level of stalking, or even absolute information control by the government, like in China. The ending of the story, is that after they had been caught by Centillion’s ‘agents’, they are forced to start working for them, because they were able to find imperfections in Tilly, which would help in the process of making it even better. Giving up, Sai goes to bed. “The camera whirred, followed Sai to bed, and shut off. But a red light continued to blink, slowly, in the darkness.” This last sentence stamps the theme of how inseparable we have become with technology. Nowadays, we are always connected with the rest of the world through our smartphones and the internet. We seem to love the feeling of having a handy-dandy assistant with us 24/7, and have become so attached to our devices. These devices, are now capable of controlling us, when it was originally supposed to be the opposite.
- Unwind (excerpt) | Neal Shusterman
- This fictional piece is set in a future world where those between the ages of 13 and 18 can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to survive until they turn 18. The excerpt begins with a scene where the main character, Connor, is sitting with his girlfriend, Ariana on the freeway overpass. “This place where they hide from the world is one of those dangerous places that make adults shake their heads, grateful that their own kids aren't stupid enough to hang out on the ledge of a freeway overpass. For Connor it's not about stupidity, or even rebellion — it's about feeling life. Sitting on this ledge, hidden behind an exit sign is where he feels most comfortable. Sure, one false step and he's roadkill. Yet for Connor, life on the edge is home.” Connor is getting unwind. His parents signed him off, and he learnt this fact by a simple accident. This accident has caused him to be extremely depressed and furious. Still, understanding that complaining and breaking stuff wouldn’t solve the problem, he is lost. That is when Ariana proposes the idea of running away. Although she was the one who brought it up, she backs out last second when Connor comes to pick her up. (It was the agreement that Ariana would come with him) Shocked by his unexpected rejection, he is now chased by the police because he ran away from home and his parents are probably searching for him. Luckily, he wiggles into a trucker’s truck while the man has left the car. His luck didn’t seem to last long. The trucker comes back, and catches Connor red-handed. Luckily (once again), he was a nice guy which offered him a ride away from where he was at the moment. But the next morning, he wakes up to a policeman: a Juvey-cop (that’s what they call them) and the trucker, Josias Aldridge, handcuffed. He was tracked because he forgot to turn his phone off. In a quick decision, he dashes out of the truck and runs along the highway. The police shoots tranquilizer darts at him. In the process, he creates a lot of commotion on the streets and “Connor climbs over the center divider, and finds himself in the path of a Cadillac that's not stopping for anything. The car swerves to avoid him, and by sheer luck Connor's momentum takes him just a few inches out of the Caddy's path.” The excerpt ends with Connor forcefully reaching into the car’s window and opening the door. What a cliffhanger.
- There are a few ways this story relates to the theme. First, is how people are inseparable from their instinct to value their own safety over everything else. This causes Ariana to back out from the plan, but has also allowed Connor to keep running away without giving up. The other is how people have become so dependent on their electronic devices. Connor’s phone was the main cause of his failure escape outside of the country.
- The Kite Runner (excerpts) | Khaled Hosseini
- Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee hat will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption. All the interesting parts doesn’t appear in the excerpts, but more of background information about the characters. “It was there, in that little shack, that Hassan was born in the winter of 1964, just one year after my mother died giving birth to me.” Hassan and I are brothers, I am older by an year. Hassan has never seen his mom, I don’t remember. It is later revealed that a soldier raped their mother, but they refuse to accept the fact and interpret it as a lie or mistake. “The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi'a.” Hassan and Ali are Hazaras, and they are called “mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys. I had heard some of the kids in the neighborhood yell those names to Hassan.” I believe the thematic connection in this passage lies in the concept of how people are inseparable from their culture, granted to them since birth. The choice of whether you like it or not completely depends on how the people around you react to it.
- Children of the Earth and Sky (chapter 1) | Guy Gavriel Kay
- The link above connects to an e-book site. Description is as follows: “The bestselling author of The Fionavar Tapestry weaves a world inspired by the conflicts and dramas of Renaissance Europe. Against this tumultuous backdrop the lives of men and women unfold on the borderlands—where empires and faiths collide. From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request—and possibly to do more—and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman posing as a doctor’s wife but sent by Seressa as a spy. The trading ship that carries them is commanded by the accomplished younger son of a merchant family, ambivalent about the life he’s been born to live. And farther east a boy trains to become a soldier in the elite infantry of the khalif—to win glory in the war everyone knows is coming. As these lives entwine, their fates—and those of many others—will hang in the balance when the khalif sends out his massive army to take the great fortress that is the gateway to the western world….”
- Poets and novelists often include a short quotation at the beginning of their work. These epigraphs—“writing above”—both set up the work’s thematic interests and also position the writer in a centuries-old conversation with other writers: an entangling of words and minds. Discuss with your team: Are epigraphs common in the writings of your culture? Which writers use epigraphs in this year’s selected works, and why?
- Epigraphs aren’t very common in the writings of the modern culture, you’re more likely to find them inscribed on buildings or other physical sites than books. Not many works here use epigraphs too (either that or I’m too lazy to look at every single one of them again). The main reason why you would use an epigraph is to set up or foreshadow the theme of the book, so that the reader knows what they’re about to read.
- As we know from Google Translate, turning one language’s words into another is not always straightforward. Translators must consider not only the literal meaning of a word but also its implications; they have to have a deep familiarity with the cliches, idioms, and values of both cultures. With your team, consider the challenges and opportunities of translation. Does it matter who the translator is? How much freedom should a translator feel in adapting works to a new culture?
- It does matter who the translator is. Because they must not only have an encyclopedic knowledge of the language and deeper meaning, but also the culture they are about to transform it into. If a translator were to decode some sensitive text that might upset that culture, then there is a lot of negativity that can damage your reputation. The freedom given should be strict, directly translating the text and only omitting words or phrases that the reading culture might find offensive.
- Consider Dungeons and Dragons as an example of "entangled" storytelling - in which narrator and characters interact. Discuss with your team: is such interactive storytelling a form of literature, and is it growing more common in our Internet-enabled world? You may wish to consider other examples of collaborative, role-playing games.
- Interactive storytelling is a form of literature indeed, since it seeks to deliver a message through verbal form, albeit with a few more orcs and mythical beasts sprinkled in. It certainly is growing more common in our entangled world, with websites and other platforms allowing us to engage in interactive storytelling with people from all over the world.
- Speaking of entangled storytelling: although fanfic may dates all the back to the Bible, it is particularly associated with Internet communities. With your team, explore the relationship between fandoms and their source materials. How do readers help create imaginary worlds? In what way are the roles of reader, author, and character entangled? And is Hamilton the ultimate fanfic?
- Readers help to create imaginary worlds by taking what they’ve already been given, be it by an author or a director and adding in their own elements or touches. Eventually once the topic has become mainstream, writers of fanfictions take liberties with their references and inspiration and begin creating their own universes. Hamilton on the other hand, is a more debatable topic (possible WSC debate motion? I think so!). While it’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda argues that her liberties with the historical facts and geographical timeline were justified, play critics and historians argue that the play has taken it a step too far.