Yvain

Within the story of Yvain by Chretien de Troyes, our class was asked to analyze the difficulty of being a knight.  I personally believe that the difficulty of being a knight within the era the story of Yvain takes place in is almost the same as being considered “normal” within today’s society.  By contrasting the two societies, they both have numerous rules to be and/or act a certain way, no matter what era is taking place.

For example, in Yvain, knights have to uphold the characteristics of being noble, loyal, brave, and strong.  They are willing to lie down their lives if they need to; they’re noble in the sense that they fall in love with the women of that time period and nothing else matter to them.  On the other hand, within today’s society, in order for one to be considered “normal”, they must uphold a certain amount of characteristics depending on that person’s setting.

I believe that it would have been extremely difficult to be a knight because there was so much pressure forced upon them to, in a sense, be perfect.  If they were not willing to risk their life for their kingdom or true love, they were looked down upon and not withholding the expectations of being a true knight.

Honeymoon Flight

Within the semester of our class, we undertook the most dreadful topic within all of world literature, poetry.  We were assigned to take a quiz about the sound patterns within the poetry of Seamus Heaney; we needed to define the words ‘alliteration’, ‘assonance’, and ‘consonance’.  Alliteration can be defined as the repetition of some sounds at the beginning of a word; Assonance can be defined as the repetition of vowel sounds, while consonance can be defined as the repetition of the same consonant.

For the second half of our quiz, we were given a poem to examine and analyze.  “Honeymoon Flight” by Seamus Heaney consists of multiple uses of alliteration, assonance, and consonance.  However, along with determining the three sound patterns, we also were encouraged to interoperate our personal understanding of the poem within our explanation.  The poem goes as follows:

            Below, the patchwork earth, dark hems of hedge,

The long grey tapes of road that bind and loose

Villages and fields in casual marriage:

We bank above the small lough and farmhouse

 

And the sure green world goes topsy-turvy

As we climb out of our familiar landscape.

The engine noises change. You look at me.

The coastline slips away beneath the wing-tip.

 

And launched right off the earth by force of fire

We hang, miraculous, above the water,

Dependent on the invisible air

To keep us airborne and to bring us further.

 

Ahead of us the sky’s a geyser now.

A calm voice talks of cloud yet we feel lost.

Air-pockets jolt our fears and down we go.

Travellers, at this point, can only trust.

 

            The two examples that I think help Heaney communicate his ideas are, “and the sure green world goes topsy-turvy” and “and launched right off the earth by force of fire”.  I think these examples help readers understand the poem because of their alliterations and consonance that are portrayed.  As a reader, these two lines specifically communicate to me that the poem is taking place on an airplane and that it is about to take flight. 

The Tempest

Throughout the course of this semester, our class took a few quizzes on the readings assigned.  One particular quiz suggested that we analyze the representation of cultural exchange and conflict within the novel The Tempest.  We had to choose examples throughout the play’s narrative to best explain our thoughts; my choice of an example was the relationship between Caliban and Prospero.

            In Act 1, Scene 2 when Caliban is introduced, the hatred is clearly present between Prospero and Caliban.  For example, when Prospero calls for Caliban to come out of his cave, she uses a very interesting choice of words.  She says, “tho poisonous slave, got by the devil himself upon thy wicked dam, come forth!”  However, it almost seems like it is a love/hate relationship in Caliban’s point of view.  At one point, Caliban seemed to have thought there was some affection in his relationship with Prospero.  Nonetheless, after Caliban tried to rape Prospero’s daughter Miranda, Prospero hated Caliban even more. 

The conflict between the two of them is portrayed strongly based off of hatred and dislike throughout the text.  Caliban is treated more as a slave by Prospero than as an equal.  I believe that the relationship between Caliban and Prospero can easily relate to a lot of relationships today.  I know for a fact it can relate to my life in some aspects; it reminds me of my parents.  They have the type of love/hate relationship where no one really understands it.  That is what I kind of got out of Prospero and Caliban’s relationship; no one truly understands it, but it is what it is.

Love is a Prison

Currently, we are reading and discussing the story of Yvain, a tale about a 12^th century courtly romance.  As a class, we discussed that back in the 12^th century, and this story in particular, include the knights and the ladies.  We concluded that the knights within this story, especially the main character Yvain, are adventurous, they test themselves, and have many battles to prove their worth.  The ladies on the other hand were seen more of an object; they were ‘pretty’ and ladylike. 

            As a class, we also discussed how love is just like a prison; once you’re captured you cannot escape.  I truly believe this due to personal experiences.  Within the story of Yvain, the main character finds himself stuck after falling in love with a woman whose husband was murdered by Yvain himself.  He simply cannon bring himself to leave here because he thinks she’s the most incredible thing in the world.

            While discussing this topic in class, I was really into my feelings about it more than I would have liked to have been.  Our discussion in class really got me thinking that the statement really does hold truth, that love is like a prison.  No matter how many times you try to escape it, no matter how many times you think you’re ready to let go, it keeps pulling you back; it traps and encloses you with everything you have to offer.

Tao Te Ching

During a portion of our class period, we discussed immensely about the principles of Taoism.  We discovered that Taoism consists of philosophical, ethical, and religious aspects from the Chinese origin.  Also, the word ‘tao’ means “the way” or “the path” and Taoists try not to push their will or ideas on others.  Within our World Literature class, we learned these principles through the Tao Te Ching, a collection of poems written about the principles of Taoism.

One of the poems we had to read in depth about was titled “Quiet”.  We were graded based upon our knowledge of the Taoism principles.  The poem goes like this:

Great perfection seems incomplete,

But does not decay;

Great abundance seems empty,

But does not fail.

 

Great truth seems contradictory;

Great cleverness seems stupid;

Great eloquence seems awkward.

 

As spring overcomes the cold,

And autumn overcomes the heat,

So calm and quiet overcome the world.

 

After comprehending this passage of the Tao Te Ching, I realized that there are many aspects of the Taoism principles present within the text.  For example, the last three lines of the poem refer to more of a natural state of being in which Taoists believe in following a natural path throughout life.  Also, the comparison between the cold and the heat are examples of Taoists believing in everything having an opposite such as the yin and the yang; they coexist in harmony with one another.

"Catgut"

The short story Catgut by Anna Gavalda was a very interesting read for me for multiple reasons.  When I first started reading this, I was amazed to see that the main character was a veterinarian.  My personal ambition is to become a veterinarian one day, so this text really caught my attention.  While reading, I really enjoyed the author’s style of writing and the way she expressed the characters emotions throughout the story; they are confusing at points, but yet sarcastic in her own way. 

            To sum up the short story of Catgut, the main character, a female veterinarian, Dr. Lejaret, describes in gruesome terms the story about her rape and how she retaliated against the men who severely hurt her. Prior to Dr. Lejaret’s assault, she was called to the Billebaudes farm to address some issues that the owners apparently were having with their livestock.  However, the farmer and a few of his buddies had other plans.

In my personal opinion, the way she handled herself after she was assaulted is truly amazing; I would have done the same if I were in her position.  With the author’s sense of writing style, her detailed description about how Dr. Lejaret performed unplanned, but necessary surgery is quite interesting.  “The alcohol had rendered them harmless, but I still administered each of them a dose of Ketamine.  I didn’t want them moving around. I took my time.  I put on some sterile gloves and cleaned them well with Betadine.  Then, I stretched out the skin of the scrotum.  With my surgical blade, I made a tiny incision.  I took out the testicles. I cut. I ligatured the epididymis and the vessel with catgut number 3.5. I put all that back into the scrotum and made a suture.  It was very clean work.”

After reading and comprehending this story, I realized it was very unexpecting and different.  I wonder why the author wrote such a gruesome story; a very strange one if that.  I ponder if possibly this could have happened to her personally or if she knows someone who was attacked similarly relating to the story.

  

Introductory Blog

I’m a country girl, born and raised; I enjoy the outdoors more than anything. I love playing volleyball and watching football. I was born Megan Rose Mendolla on January 27, 1994 to my amazing parents Tino and Joyce Mendolla.  I have a younger, really annoying brother, Matt, who is a junior in high school.  As much as he irritates me, he’s all I have, so I guess I have to love him. My heritage consists of Mexican, Native American, and Polish blood lines. I love my family and very few close friends to death; I would do anything for them.  I don’t trust easily anymore; I learned my lesson the hard way and I really can only depend on myself. I’m usually very outgoing and very down to earth; I’m very laid back with a lot of situations in my life.  I do, however, have a wild side.  I have 5 tattoos and 10 piercings total; I’m considered the “rebel child” in my family and my parents hate it. I’m a very caring person, too caring at times.

I am currently attending Silver Lake College; majoring in biology, minoring in chemistry.  I want to become a veterinarian because I love animals like crazy.  I am currently in the process of finishing the second semester of my sophomore year at SLC; I have four classes this semester consisting of 16 credits.  My classes include, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Organic Chemistry, Plant Biology, and World Literature. 

My World Literature professor is having us conduct this blog entry as we speak.  My expectations for this particular class consist of quite a few categories. I expect that there will be a lot of reading to attend to; our class syllabus already confirmed that expectation.  I also believe that we will be focusing on different cultures throughout the world and within the texts we read.  I am also assuming that we are going to be expected by our professor to write decent blog entries and enjoy the readings within the class; most importantly learn from them.

On the other hand, my personal goals for this World Literature class would be to keep up with the readings as much as possible.  Also, to try and get this whole blogging thing down; I’m a first time blogger, so bear with me.  I would also like to try and understand poetry a little bit better than what I do.  Poetry has always been a struggle for me, which I have a feeling I’m not the only one, but it would be nice to accomplish understanding it better.  Lastly, I would also personally like to become a better reader.