CREATIVE WRITING

LETTER FROM BERTHA ON FEBRUARY 26TH, 1986

(Inspired by Heinrich Boell's short story, "Like a Bad Dream")
by Petra Heidl

It has been exactly 30 years now and the weather is also cold but not windy, still and peaceful. I remember the day as if it were yesterday… the feelings….the fear….the recognition….the realization. How small-minded I was, we all were, back then, in 1956. It was a day in winter, how it was almost every day in that month in winter: freezing cold, grey, with a sharp wind coming directly from every direction and creeping perfectly through every single layer of your clothes. But I didn´t think about the weather; I just thought about this contract, this ominous overwhelmingly important contract. When I remember back to that day, chills creep along my back.

I thought about how Thomas would react. Like my father predicted? That he would be ok, learn the rules and accept them? Later that night, when we came back from the Zumpens; I let him by himself – thinking this had to be that way. My parents both told me to leave him alone to think it all over, and I never questioned it.

Maybe I should have doubted their advice? Like Thomas doubted the business at first? What would have happened if I had gone to him and talked to him like a partner, a friend? If I had supported him that night when he was trapped in his thoughts surrounding his business, would our marriage and partnership have been more successful? I guess so! After this experience with the Zumpens and also me he turned slowly in a direction I would have never thought of. Yes, I was cold and calculating, but just in a reasonable way – nobody had really gotten hurt! And I meant it for his own good. I would have never harmed him, if only I had… As a business person you should not get too greedy, never! This will definitely be your end then. Well, it was Thomas´ end in some way and also the end of our marriage.

After a few years in a good working partnership he changed more and more. He started to drink and a he always had “business” appointments in the evenings; I knew what kind of “business” it was. Women, women who were so different from me, women you can find in the yellow press, each month with another man in their arms… I knew that this was our end but what should I have done? My parents died in an accident in Spain and I had no siblings. I was afraid of what could happen to me without Thomas.

Why had he never asked for a divorce, you may ask? Well, I think in a way he felt thankful, because he knew I was the one he owed his career to and was responsible for all the money he could earn through me and my family. My parents said that marriage is always a compromise and that it should never end in divorce. In that time it was not very respectable to get divorced, at least for the wife. And I didn´t want to give up my lifestyle at all. So I let him continue with his womanizing.

I would assume I had paid my guilt, it had been my penalty for not being him the wife I should have been that special fateful night. How sad…! You can never turn back the clock, never; one should always think of it and never forget!

After Thomas got ill two years ago with liver cancer I was able to pay him back my guilt and could be the partner I could have never been for him back in our early marriage. I stood with him all the time to his end three months ago. I sold everything then and because we never had children (what I really missed) I donated most of it to a charity foundation for orphans.

I feel ok now, not happy but I will begin a new life now and help young women who want to start their own business. I support them making business plans and organizing their financial affairs. But I will not show them the business practices I learned and we used back in our time. I had to write this for me, just for me, because I actually have nobody in my family left who cares for me. But I feel better now, writing all my experiences and thoughts, like I did in my diary many years before. So I just decided to write a diary again about my new life because a new era begins with lots of opportunities and changes in my life. I feel great now after writing, full of enthusiasm. I had to make peace with me and my past at this time.

I will move to Berlin and am going to buy a very nice 2-room apartment just for me. I am looking forward to it and hoping my new job will give me fullest satisfaction. And I will keep in mind that silence is an argument which is almost never to disprove. (Quotation of Heinrich Böll)

The Last Hero (inspired by the short story "A Handful of Dates," by Tayeb Salih)
by Ivete dos Santos

“Then, without knowing why, I put my finger into my throat and spewed up the dates I’d eaten.” This whole story comes to me as if I were seeing a movie. I can remember details from that time. However, it has remained in my subconscious up to now. Why does it come to me just at this moment? Here is my grandfather, and I have to say something about him. Everyone expects it from me. I was his favorite grandson, although ever since that episode I have seen him in a different way: he was no more my hero, my idol, my safe port. I have lost my innocence and I could never believe in a hero anymore. He had been the last one for me. Definitely, it was the saddest time and a milestone in my life. I learned at a very young age what it means to be an adult: a synonymous with hypocrisy. I was interrupted from my thoughts by the Sheikh, “Son, I know it is a very difficult moment for you, but we are waiting for your speech.” Like an innocent child discovered in a bad behavior, I felt my face blushed.

Standing up in front of his coffin , looking towards those people, I felt I was an adult myself and I could not escape from human nature. Therefore, after deep breathing, I said these words:
“I owe what I am as a person to this man! He taught me the real meaning of respect, justice, love and mercy. Had I lived my childhood far from him, I would not have learned these lessons so quickly at such a young age. He built his life according to his beliefs and he followed them coherently. He was responsible for my desire to study abroad. He was very proud of me, because it had been his will when he was a teenager, but at that time, he had no money for that. He worked hard to reach his goals and we can say he was a winner. I am sure he was a successful man, for his dreams came true. I pray for Allah to help him rest in peace!”

After the funeral, I was looking forward to leaving this land, but I had to wait until after the period of mourning. “The mosque, the river and the fields – these were the landmarks in our life”. Watching these fields now, I knew they had lost their magic, their power over me. I could not avoid the nostalgia, for I had been so happy here. How I miss those innocent times! While I was thinking about that , a man who seemed familiar to me approached and told me that someone was waiting for me in my grandfather’s library. On our way to the library, I asked him who he was, and I was shocked to hear he was one of Masood’s grandsons, who was the manager of my grandfather’s farm now.

Having no time to learn the details, because we had already arrived in the library, where some of my relatives and a lawyer were waiting for me, I asked to myself what had happened that brought this man to work in my grandfather’s farm… “ it is time to read the will!” announced the lawyer. For me, his beloved grandson, he left the remaining third part of Masood’s land, which my grandfather had bought only a month before Masood’s death. Not only did he take the heart of the palm, but he took the heart of poor Masood as well!

Even though I thought I had spewed up all the dates I’d eaten, now I feel that one still remains bitterly, hurting my throat, producing a poisoning taste, and unless I get it out, it will kill me. Then, calling the attorney and Masood’s grandson in a private conversation, I gave back his grandfather’s heart or, at least, the third part of it .Immediately, feeling like a bird that just get its freedom, I began to recite the Chapter of the Merciful, involved by the same happiness that I used to feel before becoming conscious of the reality of my last hero!


In The Market
By Yumi Lee

I don’t know how old I was. My guess is that I was about three. Even though I cannot remember exactly with whom I went there, I know what happened at that time. One fine day, my dad had to go to Seoul on official business; so, I went there with him without mom. At that time Seoul was where my grandparents lived. Even though I was a child, I loved hanging out the same as now. To my surprise, I began to toddle since eight months. It seemed I was a gifted child. Anyway we went by air quickly.

The day after we arrived at their home, dad went to work. As he couldn't take me to work with him, he left me in my grandparents’ care. I really didn't recall the feeling just then. The ones left, who were me and my grandparents, had nothing to do at home. My grandfather and I were ready for hanging out. He was proud of me as his first grandchild. He wanted to show me his purpose, which was the day’s work, which was to show me to a relative, in brief, my father's paternal aunt.

It was a lovely day. The sun shone brightly. It was good to play away our time. I thought that the weather made me feel a breath of spring. He had decided to stop in a market on the way before we went to the relative’s home. Then on our way, we dropped by Yeongdeong-po traditional market to buy something for a present. I thought he grasped my hand hard. While he came and went to fruit stores and a grocery shop, I took a stroll from place to place of my own accord. I felt as if I were on another planet. After a few hours had passed, he realized that I was missing. Therefore, he looked all over the market for me. Finally he found me after hours of absence.

Trying to trace back in memory, at the moment I didn't care a bit. I just walked on to look around the market. I had never even thought that I was missing just then. Moreover I was too young to feel what fear is. In the market, there are many people and variety of things which are magnetic. Actually this kind of place held me spell-bound that I had never felt before and did appeal to me. While he was tracking down me, I was just a little way from him. He felt very embarrassed for a little while, but the finish was good. Although I hadn't said anything to him, I should have been very sorry. Since that time, he didn't go out with me. I think he was afraid that something might happen unexpectedly. I am truly thankful about how my grandfather took care of me. I heard it in detail later from my dad. According to his saying, he didn’t know until he came home from work. My mom was the same.

In comparison with the grandfather of the protagonist in “A Handful of Dates” by Tayeb Salih, first of all, my experience is much warmer than his. My grandfather has a clean bright personality. Secondly, he didn't make me feel that I had been betrayed by him. I believe that he led an honest life even if he failed in his undertaking. Whenever I think about that event, I remember his beloved image. I indeed miss him.




Sick Life
By Andrea Rangel

First Sergeant Riley was from Aracataca, a little town full of plantain trees. His parents had always worked hard to give him more opportunities in life. They knew life is hard for those that are not wealthy enough to pay for it but that knowledge can lead anybody to success. His parents wanted him to go to college just as his sister had. However, his only dream was to live in a more peaceful country. He had seen the example of his uncle John being a general in the Colombian army. He joined the army to fight for his country.

He was always dedicated, determined, and passionate. He was the best soldier the army had had in a long time. After five years he was named First Sergeant. His only goals were to help people around him, get a safer country, and get a better life for everybody around him. His troop was showing very impressive results; for example, they had cleared one of the most dangerous zones in the country (Magdalena) in just two months. As he had successfully accomplished his mission the government sent him to the most dangerous zone (Los Llanos) with his troop, where he was expected to eradicate a group called the M-17 in a month.

They had located the zones where the M-17 were training and they had sent a troop with 15 experienced soldiers with Corporal Barnes as the leader to fight them. Two weeks passed and he hadn’t received news from the troop. One afternoon he was analyzing the locations when the soldiers started screaming in the yard- he is dead! He went out to see what was going on and to his surprise one of the soldiers from the first troop had just arrived with a letter in his hand.

First Sergeant Riley,
We tried to fight them but they were too many. We have never seen an army as sadistic as this one. They had tortured most of my men before killing them. Please do not send any more soldiers to fight them. They are around 300 crazy men. If you are to eradicate them you will need more than 20 soldiers to do it. Go back to the capital before they get to you or another of us. We discovered they have a plan to bombard our battalion and kill all of the soldiers there. Please tell my wife that I love her and that the only purpose of me doing this was to get more opportunities for our family.
Corporal Barnes.



After seeing the note and the dead body First Sergeant Riley tried to call the capital to ask for more soldiers to come to reinforce them. However, he couldn’t communicate. He decided to send everybody back home. The same day that Corporal Barnes had brought the letter they left the battalion. Everybody was happy to finally be able to see their families. Nevertheless, First sergeant Riley was worried about the fate of the 14 soldiers. He went to the capital instead of his home and he went to talk to the general. He told him the story and how they had to leave before somebody got killed. By the end of the day the only thing he had heard was, “You are a deserter and you have made your troop be one too.”

He was sent back to El Batallon Patria, which is the most important one in Colombia, where he was sent to jail for a year. He had to take care of the kitchen, couldn’t have any visitors, had to clean the bathrooms, wasn’t able to exercise, had to work in the plantations for more than seven hours a day, wasn’t able to go out, and couldn’t talk to his family. The only thing he regretted was not to have died in the war.

Andrea at the IMG College Commitment Ceremony: Congratulations on Signing with UNC Greensboro!

IN MY OPINION: RESPONDING TO NON-FICTION

Rich Dad Poor Dad : Is the Author's Premise True and Worthy?
by Andrea Rangel

Does school really prepare children for the real world? (1). Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, is a complete description about how the rich get richer and the poor remain the same or worse. Through the book he is able to show the reader the best pieces of advice that his two dads could give him and those even that economically speaking are excellent, precious, and vital laws for life. It is an excellent guide for those who are struggling with any kind of problem if you know how to interpret it.

During his life Robert’s dad was a well-educated person. He went to school, got great grades, went to college, got a safe job, and worked for the government for a long time. He had lived “the dream” during his life. He had everything he wanted or at least what he thought he wanted. His father was not wealthy but he was not poor at all. They were middle class and his dad had a good position in the government. When Robert was little he went to a school where the majority of the student population was rich. However, he found one truly best friend who was in his same socio-economic class. As the story advances he tells how his best friend’s father became his “rich dad.” Also, how he struggled at the beginning to find out which was the best choice for his life. He mentioned that having the two points of view from his fathers gave him a better conception of the world and business.

I will briefly describe his two dads’ opinions. Kiyosaki’s real dad was a great student, who had gotten scholarships in some of the best universities in the country. He wasn’t interested in money. Kiyosaki’s dad was a person with other types of priorities in life. As he said “I chose to be a schoolteacher. Schoolteachers really don’t think about being rich” (16). Poor dad was more worried about family and reaching happiness with everyday living choices rather than with money. He believed in the power of self-knowledge and hard work. On the other hand, his rich dad didn’t finish eighth grade. However his goals were only about money. Money represented power. He was against traditional schools. He said, “if you want to learn to work for money, then stay in school. That is a great place to learn to do that.”

Kiyosaki mentions: "who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past" (1). This is probably the most valuable lesson someone can ever learn. Everyday we care about our future. We live a life that is like a race against time to get our “goals.” Or we remember the past and complain about our actions. But it is hard to find a person who pays attention to the present and his or her actions. I am facing it today. It is hard for me to avoid thinking of college –where am I going to go? What if I do not get into Georgetown? But the reality is that I will not be able to change my future if I do not care about my present. A few weeks ago I was playing in a tournament I could have won but I did not. It was only because of my lack of understanding of what I can control and what I cannot. If I had played on Sunday thinking about my score rather than winning the tournament, I could have shot even but I was thinking about how it would feel if I won my first big tournament –huge mistake. Kiyosaki is right; we need to worry about the present because it is the only thing that we really have. The only way that worrying about another time in life is good for us is when we are figuring out our mistakes to understand our failures and set up our goals, because in order to reach our goals we need to know what our failures are and the way to fulfill them.

Another lesson that his rich dad teaches is that we need to find the difference between assets and liabilities. An asset is something that puts money in your pocket and a liability is something that takes it away from you. This lesson personally touched my heart and mind. Not only economically speaking but mentally talking about sports and time. My biggest investment is my time. Time is my “money.” I figured out that my biggest investment needs to become an asset and stop being a liability. My time should give me more knowledge rather than filling my brain with empty air. I have set up many goals for my life. The closest one is going to college to play golf and learn about economics. If I want to reach my goal, I know I have to pay attention to what I do everyday. I need to practice harder, slower, and deeper. I need to be focused on the moment, not on the result, because the result depends on the moment. To be honest, I know that I need to pay attention to every moment as long as I can.

Robert’s rich dad spoke about what we learn in school. During our era schools are creating a workers’ mentality, where the highest goal you would ever get is to be a manager in a company, but you would reach it only after years and decades of hard work. I totally agree with him when he says, “whenever the teacher said, if you don’t get good grades, you won’t do well in the real world,” Mike and I just raised our eyebrows. When we were told to follow set procedures and not deviate from the rules, we could see how schooling process actually discouraged creativity. We started to understand why rich dad told us that schools were designed to produce good employees instead of employers.” Schools have to change the way they are teaching. They are not teaching to make children better for society but to remain the same. As the world has developed, schools should have developed too.

In fact, as the book advanced I was remembering a short essay that I wrote while I was in eighth grade. I was an excellent student; in fact, the best of my class. The teachers loved me and I loved to learn so I always studied hard. However I knew school was just a way to learn a little bit about general culture. I knew that it was not going to make me more intelligent or richer. School is designed to create responsible people but not smart people. Its purpose is only to generate good citizens not excellent ones. I wrote about it in eight grade. My mom was worried about me because I had gotten to a point where I just wanted to go to a college and validate courses to finish high school earlier and go to university because I was sure school was not going to help me reach my goals. Everybody was surprised that the best girl in the school was the one that did not want to study anymore. I could not got out of school that year but I worked hard to get promoted before everybody else and I got an early promotion during my senior year. The point is school does not teach people how to be smarter, it does not promote imagination, creativity, or intelligence. Schools are places where people definitely go to learn about what really smart people had figured out centuries before. Schools do not promote creativity. I have always said that people during the Renaissance found out so many things and discovered so many laws because they were creative. They were wondering why and how things happened. Nowadays, we only care about what things happen. Furthermore, we are like machines that are trying to save information in the brain.

It is necessary to mention that the differences I could find between rich and poor dad is a lack of creativity and a constant fear. Kiyosaki mentioned: “my soon to be rich dad would explain that by automatically saying the words ‘I cant afford it” your brains stops working. By asking the question “how can I afford it” your brain is put to work” (12). Rich dad was definitely creative. He wanted Robert and Mike to develop a sense of possibilities and creativity so they could figure out ways to solve problems rather than to make them bigger. As he said, “If you find you have dug yourself into a hole… stop digging.” Poor dad was simply afraid of not being able to sustain his family so he followed the normal pattern of life. He was a really hard worker and he was a good father but he had to fight a lot for what he wanted. After re-reading the book I think that the only problem that we face or at least that I face is to be afraid of doing things because I am afraid of losing. I agree with a lot of rich dad’s quotations but I seriously do not believe life is all about money. I spoke with my dad after I finished reading the book the first time –I love my dad. He said to me I need to know there are things much more important than money. Family, for instance, is his biggest reward at the end of the day. He said not even his farm, bank account, golf swing, or beach house was as fulfilling as his family. In fact, I hate that rich dad and Kiyosaki are only speaking about money. They let the family in a side. Their world is like an equation to get richer. In the contrary, poor dad was poor economically speaking but richer than any other personally speaking. His family was his greatest reward.

Finally, I have to recognize many things. I started reading the book as a challenge that my dad proposed to me because he wanted me to learn a little bit about money because I spend a lot –I am a compulsive shopping girl. I did learn about money, investments, and how hard money can make people’s life. However, the greatest lesson I could have learnt is “the briar patch is our fear and our greed. Going into our fear and confronting our greed, our weakness, our neediness is the way out. And the way out is through the mind, by choosing our thoughts” (52). Our mind is our best partner. We need to find out ways to improve it. Time is our biggest investment and we need to learn how to make it improve our thoughts. I am reading a new book, The Talent Code, which is about how to improve skills by having deep practice times. Rich Dad Poor Dad is an excellent guide for people to develop a creative mentality.

THE LITERATURE OF WAR: COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

A Shout for the Truth
An In-Class Essay
by Ivete dos Santos

“The first casualty when war comes is truth.” Every country has its anthem that claims its citizens to be brave, patriotic, and, if it is necessary, willing to die for their countries. War is showed as an essential thing to maintain peace, integrity and dignity of a country and its people. Then, everyone has to sacrifice himself for the sake of his motherland. Is it true? Is there only genuine, noble purpose in making war? In “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen, and in “Village,” by Estela Portillo Trambley, the picture from war shows to the readers that this belief is a fake, an illusion, and what really can be seen is the big lie that is behind the powerful and eloquent words. Just meaningless words.

In “Dulce,” the speaker depicts a crude reality in World War I, when young men died as “heroes,” according to what those responsible for that war wanted to show to the nations. However, behind this “truth,” what happened , in fact, on the front was juveniles having a terrible and inhumane death. “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin, … the blood/Come gargling from the froth – corrupted lungs” (197). This poem is written in first person and shows exactly what was happening with those “innocent tongues” (197) and the speaker would like to call the people outside to heed and face the reality:“If you could hear, at every jolt, … my friend, you would not tell with such high zest…” (197).

On the other hand, in “Village,” the setting is in the Vietnam War, and the narrator, who is not the protagonist, shows, at the beginning, an anguished “hero” that, not by chance, is called Rico, which means rich. Rico, who “had been transformed into a soldier, but who knew he was no soldier” (177), day by day, discovered that the “truth” about enemies sometimes is merely to justify an action that had no glory, no honor “something beyond the logic of war and enemy…” (177).

Rico knew that in that village there were no enemies, but typical civilians like his village: “people all the same everywhere” (178). “The village of Mai Cao was no different than Valverde, the barrio where he had grown up” (177). How could those people be dangerous? Elders, women, children? However, the “superiors,” who are responsible for the war usually make the soldiers believe that those innocent people are enemies, using ,as a practice, the method of brainwashing “not really peoples’ homes , but ‘hootches,’ …makeshift enemy.” (177). Nonetheless, Rico had knowledge and feelings: “He knew this not only with the mind but with the heart” (178). Therefore, because of that, Rico could act according to his beliefs and, although he had become a traitor, he knew he was completely free, despite the physical prison he had to leave: “I’m free inside…Free…” (182).

Different setting, different time, different protagonist. Nevertheless, the same lie hides the truth. Both stories bring to the reader a shout for the truth. In conclusion, even though most people are against war, it is made for a few powerful people who keep distance from the front. War continues to kill, to cause damage and eternal hurt in thousands of hearts. Then, unfortunately, the old lie “Dulce et decorum est” still lives!

MAY 5, 2011

OUR CLASS: WEEK OF MAY 2, 2011

Yumi, Olga, Christine, Petra, Ivete and Andrea

INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS

On "A Trifle from Real Life"
by Olga Golysheva

We often think about our feelings. They can change our life, view on the world and many other important things. People can love, be happy and smile but also they can have negative feelings such as lying, anger and hate. Especially, our children can see the negative side and they are very sensitive. In the first years of life children don’t know about the negative side of feelings, but unfortunately, when they get older they start to learn it. As I think, it is very important for humanity to see how it changes little world inside a child, because this experience builds his adult world. Anton Chekhov wrote a great story entitled “A Trifle from Real Life” which is a good example of how a child opens a new side of the negative world.

The whole story is very short and shows to the reader only a few hours of one family life, in which we can see how the world changed for a little boy called Aliosha. Aliosha is only 9 years old and lives with his mother Olga. Olga divorced from her husband, who is Aliosha’s father, and she has a lover, Belayeff. On one day, Olga wasn’t at home when Belayeff came to visit her. Aliosha met Belayeff and decided to talk to him as a child and opened to Belayeff his biggest secret. Belayeff promised to Aliosha to keep his secret, but he didn’t. The culmination of the story is when Aliosha saw how the adult very easy has broken his promise. This situation shows us that adults often don’t pay attention to what they said or promised. It is different from children who believe that a promise is one of the most important parts of adult behavior. Chekhov describes Aliosha’s feeling very clearly and simply. Also, the author points out that “it was the first time in Aliosha’s life that he had come roughly face to face with deceit” (p.57).

On the other hand, Chekhov describes the adult world. He showed what Belayeff thinks and what his reaction is toward hearing the truth. It very interesting that Belayeff cares only about himself and doesn’t see people around him. During the conversation between Aliosha and Belayeff, Belayeff walked nervously around the room and thought about his reputation in the society, the most important thing in his life. Belayeff didn’t see Olga crying in front of him and he didn’t care that small Aliosha cried and asked him about his promise: “You gave me your word of honor!” Belayeff responds: “Leave me alone! This is more important than words of honor. This hypocrisy, these lies intolerable!”(p.57). Belayeff is a typical selfish person, who left his feelings such as love, care about people. The same picture we can see about Olga. When she came to the room she started to think about herself and why Pelagia lied to her. This is a good illustration that adults don’t see children with their problems and feelings, but also, they cannot see and hear even each other.

In this sad, realistic and at the same time beautiful novel, the author shows us the truth of our life. I’m impressed such a spectacular way as illustration that the little and naive Aliosha’s world was broken by this first deceit in his life. However, it is connected to his adult world in the future, which we can see in his mother Olga and Belayeff, because children are learning from adults. Chekhov opens a different view on how people get such feelings as lying and selfishness. Unfortunately, it was true in the author’s time and it still is until nowadays. This is a great novella that can teach us about such important things in our life.

Work Cited
Chekhov, Anton. “A Trifle from Real Life.” Russia 1888. Rpt. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. 53-57.

"The Necklace": An Irony of Life
By Christianne Baerlein dos Santos Lima

The short story "The Necklace" was written in 1884 by a famous and talented writer named Guy de Maupassant, who was born into a family in Normandy, France in 1850. He studied with the famous writer Gustave Flaubert, while he was working in several ministries in Paris. Because of his unique style, he was considered one of the best writers in the 19th century. He also wrote essays, plays, poetry, and novels. His work has influenced many writers around the world, among them Anton Chekhov and Kate Chopin (46).

"The Necklace" is a short story about a woman who was a victim of herself at first, but who after hard years, understood some values in herself and also in her life. The story is set in Paris in a time when there were very distinct social classes primarily determined by one's birth. After the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), France became a Republic, but class distinctions remained an integral part of French society (46).

"The Necklace" tells of Mathilde Loisel, who by an error of destiny, or not, was born poor and winds up with a clerk for a husband. "She was one of those pretty and charming girls," who had "no expectations, no means of being known" and no dowry to wed some "rich and distinguished man"(46). She "suffered ceaselessly" because she was born in a family of clerks and married "a little clerk at the ministry of Public Instruction"(46). No woman of her rank would ever been conscious of or tortured by this poverty or even her husband. But she, she always dreamed of being rich, well dressed with jewels, living in a beautiful palace, loving nothing but that. Is this an irony or an error of destiny?

One evening her husband took something special for her: an invitation for a ball at the palace of the Ministry. Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she was really upset. She had no dress, no jewelry, nothing to put on her back, so she wondered and began to cry! In addition, he was in despair seeing Mathilde so upset, crying. After that, he decided to give her the money that he had laid aside, demonstrating his love, affection, and respect for her. But more than a new dress, she wanted a jewel, a beautiful jewel, no flowers, no fresh flowers as had suggested her husband, trying to convince her how stylish it could be.

"No, there is nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich" -She was definitely not convinced. (48) At this moment her husband has remember her friend, Mme Forrestier, who was her former schoolmate at the convent, a very rich woman! Therefore, she did. She went to her friend seeking a glamorous, beautiful, and very superb jewel. After seeing many jewels, she discovered, in a black satin box, what she was looking for! The superb and wonderful diamond necklace!! "Her heart began to beat with an inmoderate desire," and she "remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself dressed in it." (49) Mme Loisel was so surprised; her friend had lent her that piece. She delighted and "sprang upon the neck of her friend, kissed her passionately, then fled with her treasure." (49) At the ball, she danced so passionately forgetting all, feeling the happiness of "complete victory," beautiful in her glory! (49) But the drama arrives at home!

She notices, she realizes that she had lost the necklace, the superb diamond necklace. She could not believe...her husband could not believe either! "They looked, thunderstruck, at one another." (50) After failing to find it, they decided that their only recourse was to replace the necklace. Going from jeweler to jeweler, they searched for a facsimile. Finally, they found, one as much similar that cost 36,000 Francs! To raise the money, Loisel uses all of his savings and borrows the rest, writing promissory notes and signing his name on numerous documents. He compromised all the rest of his life, risked his signature without even knowing if he could meet it. But they bought the necklace as a replacement!

Mathilde took it in a case to Mme Forrestier, who did not even open it to check its contents! Thereafter, the Loisels work hard to save and pay all their debts. Mathilde also "knew now the horrible existence of the needy... She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares" of this kind of life! (51) Her husband worked the whole day and night and this life lasted for ten long and miserable years! Mathilde Loisel learns this lesson the hard way. I think she understood how to evaluate themselves and others based on who they are intrinsically, that is on their character and moral fiber, not on what they possess or where they stand in society.

Indeed, she learns that honesty, humility, and hard work are what shape character, not clothes, or jewels that a person wears or the high station into which he or she is born. We notice this when Guy de Maupassant describes Mme Loisel meeting her friend, Mme Forrestier on a Sunday, on the Champs Elysees, and she decided to tell her everything. What could be the harm? After all, she has paid for the necklace, working honestly, through humble labor to fulfill her obligation. Also looking older than her age, but with a "smile and joy which was proud and naive at once" (52). That makes us think about her pride alongside her friend, about how honorable she became. In addition, at the end of the story, the writer leaves us a surprise - when Mme Forrestier, strongly moved, took her two hands. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most 500 Francs!" (52) It is dramatic! It is hard to imagine how Mathilde could have received this news. It was more than I expected in a short story, Guy de Maupassant uses irony to produce a surprise ending and leaves us the decision whether Mathilde is a victim of bad luck or fate, or of her own warped perception of the world as a place where success and recognition result from wealth and status.

De Maupassant attempts to teach his readers several different moral lessons. He shows us that Mathilde learns to operate within the restraints of poverty and not once does she complain. Maupassant asserts that the people who survive the misfortunes of life are somehow stronger and therefore actually benefit from their adversities. One lesson for Mathilde to learn is that vanity is worthless and people should be proud of who they are. Mathilde also needs to learn to be happy with what she has; the irony is that she lost what she has because she was not content with it.

Work Cited
Maupassant, Guy de. “The Necklace.” France 1884. Rpt. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. 46-52.

Mathilde Loisel: Hero or Victim?
The Story of “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
By Petra Heidl

At first it had surprised me that the story “The Necklace” was written by a man. To look deeper into the thoughts of women I would not actually expect of a man in those days. Well, the author, Guy de Maupassant, didn´t go deep into the thoughts of women psychologically but more in the thoughts of the nature of women on the surface. By the meaning of the surface it is the pride of beauty to be wedded by a rich and distinguished man, then envied by other women and finally being someone honored just by “achieving” something like self-esteem and inner values not by “being” someone which is identified by the social status.

It is a story about several topics like poverty, jealously, ambition, responsibility, loyalty, conscientiousness and irony. Guy de Montpassant pointed the attention to the experience of a couple who lives a simple life in kind of just middle-class poverty and then their experience after receiving an invitation to a ball in high-class richness. At first he describes her unhappiness at the beginning of the story: “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries” (46). In this very beginning of the story she was already portrayed as a selfish, unsatisfied and mostly materialistic-minded woman.

While men are mostly honored by what they have done or achieved by work, women are mostly honored for their beauty, fineness, softness and self-sacrifice. Mme Loisel thought about herself having been born into the wrong class. I would go further and might say that in her deepest inner body she thinks that she is more worthy than she actually was. Mme. Loisel was a dreamer. As anybody knows it was not possible for a woman of her class to choose either a husband or anything else. The marriage with the clerk was not the worst choice; at least she has a Breton peasant, but she was not really honored to have one. It seems that this circumstance is not so important, but it really is. Later in the story, when she recognize that she could not afford any peasant anymore, she learned to honor, what to have and not what not to have.

The couple, coming from the lower class to one of the highest at the ball, fell suddenly into an even more lower class than before! Whereas Mme. Loisel is described as more trivial, her husband is in particular mentioned as a man loving his wife, showing respect and consideration, praising her for her qualities as a wife. In the scene where they are eating the dinner you can feel his pride in himself to be married to her. He declared with an enchanted air: “Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I don´t know anything better than that.” There is a tone of deep devotion in the story, knowing that he could not give her all that she wants to have.

Mr. Loisel seems to me that he wants to give her the feeling of being good, good enough and not to be poor and useless. Maybe they ate the pot-au-feu every third day, but he still likes it and acts as if it is the best dish in the world for him and that she did this for him. She is someone special for him; this was absolutely shown by Guy de Maupassant in the scene where he promised her the money for the dress (48).

He had planned it for himself to buy a gun for a little shooting the summer with several friends, which she did not know at all, and I would infer, most of the men living in that decade would have rather used it for themselves though. And sleeping while he waited for her at the ball, while she had a good time and danced, was also an act of deep respect and love. The author points out the husband´s feelings for her quite finely and sensitively with just a few sentences. Also her friend Mrs. Forestier is mentioned as a kind and helpful person. Without thinking of herself she lends her jewelry without even asking anything of Mme.Loisel. They weren´t in contact so often because Mme.Loisel felt ashamed of herself next to Mme.Forestier’s wealth.

But Mme.Loisel didn´t recognize that she had a great treasure already: a loving husband, a normal life standard, enough to eat, her health and a helpful friend. Then the story turns from a “dream-based” one into a “reality-based” one. The disaster happens: By losing the necklace of her friend, she went through a lot of real-life situations she had not experienced before. She has to take responsibility now. For her dreams? For the necklace? I will go further and say that she is compared to the necklace, she is like the necklace.

For the ball she gets dressed like the rich women and hides her “real” self behind a facade. From the outside she appears wealthy and cannot be distinguished from the others. The necklace is the same. It looks precious from the outside, but it is not as valuable as it seems to be. Mme. Loisel is not true this evening in her existence like the necklace. She is fake like the wonderful shining necklace, which shines the beauty to the outside. But while the fake necklace is a real illusion, Mme. Loisel shines brightened from the inside. It is her attitude, her charisma, which actually captivated the rich people, all the people. A fake necklace brings out the real Mme. Loisel. There is a saying: Clothes make people. On contrary I would say: inner beauty does not need expensive clothing.

When she loses the jewelry she learns all of a sudden that she has another side, a side of heroism; swallowing all the dreams, she recognizes the truth. Therefore, she has to pay for the debts. She has to pay also for her loving husband who took such a heavy burden onto his shoulders and for her friend, who trusted her so much to lend her jewelry. (Of course we know now, why she didn´t take it seriously). She learned to work hard, but she also learned self-esteem, being proud of what she achieved and not what she “had.”

That the jewels were paste was at first a tragedy. They were as fake as her dreams and herself. Then the tragedy helps her to find out what really counts in life and between relationships. To be honest and humble could make you proud from the inside and in fact makes her proud and also satisfied, which she never was before.

The message behind the story for me is that there exist false values and real values. False values are if you judge people based on what they possess or where they stand in society. Mme. Loisel learned this lesson the hard way. Real values are honesty, humility and also hard work which will shape one´s character, not the clothes or jewels of a person or the class into which one is born.

The moral reminds me also of another story and a statement which was written there. This statement is one of the most wonderful clarifications of the cooperation of human beings. The book is well-known . The title is The Little Prince and there it is said: “Don´t see only with your eyes but also with your heart. The essentials are invisible.” You have a connection to someone if you have faith in him or her, if you have experiences with the person. This inner connection makes a person special to you and you can see with your heart. One of the quotations of the author, Guy de Maupassant, is: It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living. The story “The Necklace” shows exact a story with this quotation as a theme.

In comparison with the story of “The Necklace” we could say that in her desperation and sad feelings Mme. Loisel just looked on the surface of people. She couldn´t even think of anything else: she sees just clothes, jewels, high standing. But these marks cannot tell you the inner attitude of someone, if he or she is honest, helpful and lovely. And they cannot make you happy. In the end, she learns this truth.

Guy de Maupassant tales in general were very objective and highly controlled in style. He writes simple episodes from everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. He wants his readers to think and understand the deeper, not obvious meaning of facts or reality to analyze the people choices but also their experiences.

Work Cited
Maupassant, Guy de. “The Necklace.” France 1884. Rpt. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. 46-52.

MEET YUMI

My Decision to Change Schools
Yumi Lee
(photo: left, Sunbok Oh with Yumi, right)

Are you a university student? I am. Sometimes do you want to change the school to another school? I did. My campus life was pretty fun and exciting. But I had an idea that I wanted to go to a certain university I had really hoped to attend. Then I decided to quit school in order to transfer.

When I took an exam for entrance, I received much lower scores than are required. As I wanted to take the exam again, I had to go to another school. That’s why I went to my first school, that is Gyeong-sang National University in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. I really wanted to go to Korea Aerospace University, which is located in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do.

I prepared for about one year. After that, I applied. I took an interview and written test at the university. In two weeks, the results were announced! I was very nervous and worried. But I didn’t have to be as I passed it. I was very happy and satisfied with my success.

After that I went to the new university. The new one is more famous in my field than the previous one; thus, I will be able to get a job from a larger range of choices, which will be one of the most important things after I graduate.

I will never regret the choice to change universities as long as I live. If I had a chance similar to the one in the past, I would do the same thing. Now I enjoy my new campus life. I hope I keep doing my best in everything.

SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS: MORE CREATIVE WRITING

Another Perspective of Luisa Valenzuela's "The Verb to Kill" (1975)
By Alexandra Saldarriaga

Who is he?

The killer? Is he the killer or the killed?

He has been living on that part of the beach since he was a child. He is now 47 years old. That brilliant morning he went out to look for pebbles as he used to do every day. But he was surprised because those girls that he has been seeing this summer almost every day were looking at him in a strange way, mainly the bigger one. She has the strangest look that he has ever seen in a child, so that he felt a current in his body like when you feel a premonition of some bad thing that could hapen. But then he thought, "Oh no, they are just kidding girls."

That day was the first day for them having a rifle. They told their mother they were going to hunt rabbits. Their mother was happy because probably she was going to have rabbit to eat in a stew that night. Anyway the hermit felt that it was a different morning, because the girls were walking on the beach too early. He didn't even realize that she, the bigger one, had something hidden in her hand just behind her body, and suddenly when the “hermit” tried to ask them something, as if they needed some help today, the girl who had the rifle hidden took it out and shot him in a crazy way. But he is an athletic man so he was able to jump and just his leg got injured, so the girls ran away frightened when they saw that he was alive, and they had not killed him.

In a minute many people around came and also a newspaper reporter , so you can imagine the story that the girls' mother began to tell, crying….


A Newspaper Reporter's Perspective
Inspired by Luisa Valenzuela's "The Verb to Kill" (1975)
by Andrea Rangel

April 28th 1975
ARE WE SAFE?

As a result of the latest crime committed, astonishment is the most popular feeling in Argentina. A 35-year-old man was found almost dead after somebody tried to kill him. The police said that the man is a hippie from Canada who had never gotten into any problem before. The man said he was taking care of his garden when he felt something in his arm and then he woke up in the hospital. “I cannot imagine who could possibly be able to shoot somebody; I am lucky,” said the man later in the hospital. People from all over the area were interrogated - even children. The most incredible story has happened in our country.

April 29th 1975
FRUSTRATED CRIME ON THE BEACH MIGHT BE WORSE THAN WHAT WE THOUGHT

A 12-year-old little girl was asked to draw a picture of what she thought about the man. She drew nothing but a black and red ball. When the policeman asked her about it she only said, “He has been killed.” Later, her sister a 10-year-old little girl was asked to draw a picture of him too. She drew a “man” but with big teeth, an angry face, and a rifle. Their parents were interrogated too. The policeman was extremely concerned about the idea that the little girls had about the man. He started questioning about their daily life, the habits of the girls, school, even free time. The answers were pretty normal until the mother mentioned that a week ago the girls were at the beach digging for clams, when they found a seagull that became dinner, and the girls asked for the rifle to hunt rabbits. The father opened his eyes as if something had come to his mind. The policeman asked him about the location of the rifle. The father had no answer for it. “I’m sorry, Sir, I have no idea; I have not seen it since last week,” replied the father. The police had found a rifle near the crime scene; it was an old one - one of those old hunting rifles. The policeman asked the father if he could describe it. After all, it was the same rifle.

April 30th 1975
WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH OUR CHILDREN?

The girls were interrogated once again. The only thing they said was, “He has been killed.” The policeman asked who? And the girls said the weird man that speaks with plants and is always walking on the beach to see who he can do… The policeman argued nobody has been killed. The younger sister replied, “He has been killed, I shot him.” The court is deliberating about the case; however, how would a farm father ever think about his children killing somebody with his hunting rifle? Now he will probably have to go to jail for a lack of responsibility.

From The Father's Perspective
Inspired by Luisa Valenzuela's "The Verb to Kill" (1975)
by Olga Golysheva

News has come. I woke up and smelled that a new breakfast was ready. Like every morning my wife came to the bedroom and said horrible news. The news that a hermit man who lived on the beach was killed. He was shot. No witnesses.

It's a scary time in our country, I thought. Immediately after this news I asked my wife, "Where are my girls?" Ohh… My two lovely daughters, my two beautiful little princesses. I realized that every day I worry more and more about them. And… OOO my God if something would happen with them? If someone who killed that man could shoot my daughters? Definitely, I would find and kill him. It's a strange time that I have to think about such disgusting things.

My wife said that the girls were in school. “Dear,” I asked her, “Where were the girls yesterday?” She said that they were on the beach like every day and were fishing.

"You have to look after them! It is too dangerous now to let them go there!” Yes, of course, how could I be so irresponsible?! “Look” I said my wife “I just realized that something could happen with our girls on the beach!” My wife looked at me and just cried.

Well, women always can only cry and do nothing really but my daughter they are so different. My princesses are so good and smart. Even God keeps them. He keeps them when I’m not near! Now I can see that! Yesterday the girls asked me for a gun for hunting and if something would happen with them they could protect themselves. “Thank you God that you help me and my family!” Today! Yes today! I must take my girls with me and teach them to shoot. To shoot as well as I can. It's a crazy time and I have to protect them especially when GOD gave me a sign.


The Legacy Of Those Lopes: A Son's Perspective in Repsonse to Guimaraes Rosa's "Those Lopes" (1967)
By Ivete dos Santos

Three boys. Three timid, fearful and unloved boys. This is my memory of my childhood. Although, financially, we always lived in good shape, I have few reasons to miss those days. I am the oldest child of a powerful man who did not get married with my mother, whose name is Flausina, even though she would like to have been called Mary Miss. She was the prettiest and one of the poorest women in her region , which captured the attention of those Lopes - brothers and cousins; my father, at first, and after his unexpected early death, the others . Nonetheless, this is their story that, perhaps, I will tell you about later. Now, let me continue with the story of my own destiny.

In those days, I was always sick, or, at least, I always felt like I had some illness, for I wanted my mother to notice me. However, it never worked, because she was very busy with “those Lopes” as she used to say. Oh, those Lopes, how I dreamed to be one of them, just to have my mother’s love. My mother… how beautiful and fragile she was! My youngest brother did not agree with me. He insisted on saying that my mother had never liked us and she only had time and love for her Lopes. He became very stubborn and belligerent. The second one pretended to be a happy boy, but I knew it was only a façade. In fact, I used to see him crying when he thought he was alone. Definitely, three timid, fearful and unloved boys. Different behavior and appearance but the same solitude and darkness for those three boys.

How different might our life have been without those Lopes in my mother’s life! Had she had time for her children, all of us would have been happy and confident people. But they were there, always, between us. I have to confess to you one thing that had come to my mind, although I knew it was an unforgivable sin: sometimes, I desired that those Lopes would disappear from the earth, just to have my mother take care of her unloved children. I think that I am a very bad person, like my mother used to say about those Lopes: “a bad breed, who make for bad peace.” Actually, now, I am very sure that it was me… believe me… I am the one responsible for those Lopes’ deaths! The more I think, the more I am convinced that I am guilty. What could be the explanation for all those deaths, even though my mother had put all her attention, love, and care on them! That is the reason she sent us far away from her. She was afraid if we stayed close to her, something bad could happen with us too! Poor woman! And I am the person that has to be punished! I killed those Lopes with my thoughts! I am a killer!

This is the whole truth! I can’t carry this cruel reality anymore! Therefore, priest, give me my punishment, after this terrible confession. I disgraced my whole family. I don’t know what to do! I would like to have my mother’s love! I would like to tell her that, at least, she has one genuine and real love!

How Can I Trust in Women? Xia's Perspective, Inspired by Xi Xi's "A Woman Like Me"
by Yumi Lee

I have known a woman who is a mortician. Although she had that job, her face was pretty natural. It was nothing short of a miracle. I thought if I were a cosmetician, I would do make-up well. At that time, I really didn't know who she was except her name and appearance.

Nevertheless, it was likely that I would fall in love with her. I was curious to know who she is. I didn't have to spend much time on it. Anyway, as the first step, I asked her to let me in her workplace. She seemed that she thought about the request considerately. Finally, she said yes.
One day I was scheduled to go to her workplace. Before we went there, we met at a coffee shop. She was seated at the shadowy corner not suitably. I brought a bunch of flowers. I handed over the bouquet to her with eternal summer like my name. I indeed wanted to do so because I loved her. But once I gave it, she blushed up to the roots of her hair. At the moment, I thought she flushed with shame. Who knows why she acted so. The truth was revealed later. We had a chat for a while. After that we began to move on.

felt she was so nervous but that she also enjoyed that situation. When she acted like that, I was jumpy, too. My nerves were on edge. By the time I reached her workplace, I was shocked at the horrible scene. How disgusting it was. It was a terrible sight that I had never seen. There were skeletal bones and dimmed space. In a nutshell, there was in a mess with frightful things which made me startled. Since I saw the chamber of horrors, I fell out of love with her. I never thought she would do that and had that profession. I shudder at the very thought of it.

Since then I cannot fall in love with any woman who has a job as a cosmetician. I lack courage about loving. What should I do?

Bertha's Diary: Inspired by Heinrich Boell's "Like a Bad Dream" by Petra Heidl

February 25th, 1956
Finally, the Zumpens agreed to accept our invitation. How lucky I am now! Of course they had to; my father offered Mr. Zumpen some very attractive deals in the past, so he couldn’t refuse it. And now the ball is rolling and hopefully Thomas is doing the right thing and recognizes how the deals are working these days. Times are difficult, for sure, but everybody has to get the best profit out of it. After so many years of suffering, everybody wants to have more and enough money and satisfying conditions of life. Even the baker Kamps has gotten involved in a deal with the miller Degen to get his corn for the best price. We all know that the daughter of the miller Degen, Uta, got married to the son of our thoughtful agriculture minister who had and surely still has heavy influence on the quote of corn in the first years after the war ended. Degen is quite smart for a miller. But we all have our crosses to bear and get the best out of it.However, after we all suffered in the war, everybody now wants to change poor life circumstances into the wealthy ones that the Americans showed us.

Sometimes I think of the Nun Isolde, who taught me the value of the belief in God. There is no doubt in the belief in God, but we all don’t have to forget the times right now! We suffered so much…. We have the right now to live, to enjoy….

Now is the time to start a new and better life, and if the times have forced us to be smarter than others, why shouldn’t we do that? What is the matter with giving some money away, which we couldn’t have gotten anyway? It doesn’t hurt anybody and everybody is lucky and satisfied. That is how the machinery works. Not even respectable but not really dishonest, just a little playing around. When you look closer in history, honesty was never the major purpose of leading people. World War II was not honest at all, not every single century was honest, not even the leaders of the ancient world like pharaohs, not the kings and emperors, no president and no other people who are situated higher in the society. Isn’t it an unwritten rule that one has to help one’s destiny on the run? Why should we suffer, just because we want to be respected and be honorable? I cannot buy myself things for that. Therefore we want to be successful in developing our business and we want to get in the upper class, of course.

Thomas, my honorable husband, also wants to be established there in high society, I know and knew that and I can feel it right now. First when we met I felt that he really is a lovely man. He seems to be like a sheep; he trusted everybody and could never imagine a hidden purpose behind several happenings or behind the surface of people. On the other hand he likes money and the possibility to get higher in the society, certainly without being corrupt but based on the regular rules businesses should follow.

Nevertheless this will keep him from overdoing it in the future; he will have always qualms. This is very important not to risk the attention of the revenue authorities. Otherwise they will observe us and also the business of father. This must not happen at all.
His family is already so proud of him getting settled in such a great business these days, he will not want to disappoint his parents. He is such an honorable person. That is why father thought he would be the best husband and also business partner. We are going to teach him and he will learn our way to do it and sooner or later he will accept this way as the only reasonable one. And was it not always very profitable using smart marriages politically so that the powerful ones could get more power in such a way? It is slightly different with my marriage but also father says he is smart enough to recognize the rules and also to estimate the skills of his wife. Me!

February, 26th, 1956
10.30 a.m.
Today is the test, and I really hope he will pass it! It is time now, he is ready to learn. I have to get some cognac, I hope I will not forget it, I still have a lot of things to do today!
And it was good to talk this morning again to Mom to get some more advice for his clothes and the dinner. She is a big pillar for me. I am so thankful she gave me the chance to visit the housekeeping school. Oh, I also have to get the recipe for the chicken for dinner…..

11.00 p.m.
It is over! And he did great, so great that I cannot believe it! He learned so fast and I think he had liked his very new “ME” I would guess! Of course I did my job also very cleverly. I still have to smile when I think of Mr. Zumpen’s face recognizing that I had raised the price even ten more pfennigs! This is very funny! But – Thomas had found his way (what he thinks HIS way is…) and that was so satisfying and I felt relieved. I thought of staying with him downstairs, that maybe it is better to talk with him, but he needs to figure out for himself the understanding of business nowadays.

He must have the feeling of being strong and confident concerning his business, he needs the time to find himself in “his” role that he will play in the upcoming years together with me and my family. My role was, is and will be the one of the – invisible supporting- housewife, in to which I will merge.

MEET ALEXANDRA

A SUPER TALENTED COLOMBIAN!
By Andrea Rangel

Alexandra is a great woman from Medellin, Colombia. For her, the best parts of the city are the weather, the food, and the people. She is a mother; she has one seven-year-old son. She is also a pediatric dentist. Se works part-time in the CES University and part-time in her private office. She came to the USA to visit her sister, improve her English, learn more vocabulary, improve her pronunciation, and give her son the chance to begin speaking English and to play soccer at IMG Academies.

She has a very busy daily schedule; however, she has done sculptures in bronze and has a catalog of them. She has played golf and used to play basketball as a child. She has enjoyed her time in the USA and we are really happy to have her in our class!

SHORT STORY SEMINARS: WEEK OF APRIL 4, 2011

Definitely the highlight of the semester was the student-designed and led short story seminar project, with both the peer reading read around sessions -- “We should do this more often!” exclaimed Andrea during our first read around --- and the in-class midterm essay comparing two works of literature on war running tied at a close second.

Svetlana kicked off the second week of seminars for us after a two-week hiatus for spring break. Before the break, Svetlana presented a gorgeous PowerPoint that she created for us about the life and times of the great Russian short story writer Anton Chekhov. The Russians definitely elevated the short story to a high art form, and Chekhov in many ways represents this form at its peak. With voracious appetites we read the short story “The Bet” (intriguingly first published under the title “Fairy Tale” in 1889), about a lawyer who enters into a bet with a banker to endure 15 years of solitary imprisonment to prove his point that a life in prison is a more humane fate than the death penalty. Svetlana used her well-prepared questions and commentary to guide our discussion, as we probed philosophical topics prompted by the reading. Ivete summed up the message of the story as the other side of the old adage “ignorance is bliss”: knowledge is pain. We enjoyed reading Svetlana’s selection from Joseph Brodsky’s Nobel lecture about books and reading, and we discussed its application to the short story at hand. We concluded that Chekhov, true to his pseudonym “the man without a spleen,” emphasizes the ephemeral nature of worldly pursuits and shows both his faith in human nature through the lawyer’s final choice and also his playfully ironic sense of humor through the banker’s final move at the end of the tale.

On Tuesday, Andrea began her seminar with a dynamic and informative PowerPoint that she designed about the history of her diverse nation of Colombia, providing us with a context in which to interpret her short story selection, “One of These Days” (1962), by her fellow Aracatacan, the world-renowned Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Andrea’s questions about the literature were straightforward, as apparently is the narrative, leading us to easily find the key concepts and deeply analyze the complex nature of human beings, the horror of political corruption, the cruelty of war, the complicated motives underlying actions, and, as one participant noted, the concept of “the banality of evil” that the tone of the reading seems to evoke. This story of “a dentist without a degree” making choices about life and death as he goes about his mundane morning routine reveals much about the resilience of human beings under extreme pressure. Olga, standing out in our discussions as an eternal optimist, pointed out her analysis of the dentist as a symbol of the potential power of the common people who rise up to achieve a voice and a say one day. We enjoyed very much this ironic tale and its major significance and implications, both social and political.

On Wednesday, Ivete shared with us the intriguing short story, “Those Lopes” (1967), beginning her seminar discussion with a biography of the Brazilian author of the tale, Guimaraes Rosa. Ivete’s questions and selected quotations were well-designed to encourage participants in the analysis of this rich first-person narrative, the narrator-protagonist of which, Flausina, emerging as not only unreliable but even intentionally deceptive. Petra pointed out that she viewed the narrator as “robust,” a fitting adjective to describe a woman who tries to paint herself as a weak and helpless victim as she ironically describes how she systematically murdered a number of “Lopes” men. Andrea pointed out that from early on in the narrative, all the narrator-protagonist seems to care about is money. Having anticipated this point, Ivete directed the discussion towards her question which asks participants to make a comparison of Flausina and Mme. Loisel, the protagonist of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace.” Finally, pointing out the etymology of the name “Lopes,” which derives from the Latin lupus (wolf), Ivete led us into a brilliant comparison of this short story with the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” In this analysis, Flausina becomes the wolf that had initially intended to devour her, and Flausina, the biggest wolf of them all in the end, eats the wolves themselves. This Brazilian short story is irony at its finest, although the tale itself is quite dark and hard to swallow.

On Thursday, Olga shared with us a biography of the Russian writer A. I. Kuprin and his darkly humorous and ironic short story “Mechanical Justice” (1907). This story evokes many themes, including an emergent technology, the absurdity of the human condition, crime and punishment, the oftentimes unjust enforcement of justice, and, in the context of post-1905 Revolutionary Russia and pre-1917 Bolshevik Russia, a political critique and warning that, as Olga explained, “What you do to the people will come back to you.” In this context Olga led us to analyze the symbolism in the story, with the audience representing the elite ruling class, and the prophetic symbolism of the whole story, that the masses of poor people would one day rise to achieve true social justice. The story ends on a sardonically happy note, with the inventor of the now obliterated machine having learned his lesson fully.

On Friday, the final day of our seminars, Petra shared with us a comprehensive biography of the German writer and social activist Heinrich Boell, and led a discussion of the short story, “Like a Bad Dream” (1956). Petra explained that the title in German actually translates in English as “Like a Cheap Novel,” which added to our understanding of the story. Petra’s questions guided us towards a deep analysis of the relationship between the two main characters, the sophisticated Bertha and her naïve husband, who remains nameless throughout the narrative and who relates the story to us as the first-person narrator. We also discussed the significance of religion and religious artifacts in the story. We analyzed the story as an expression of the “Zeitgeist,” the spirit of the times of post-WWII Germany, and the genre of “Trummerliteratur” or “rubble literature,” which emerged during this time of the rebuilding of Germany from the ashes. We discussed the topic of corrupt business practices and the concept of “the end justifies the means.” We engaged in a debate over the possible future of the narrator and his marriage. Ivete suspects that the narrator continued along the business path he had begun, while Olga is fairly confident that he, having realized he had “betrayed his soul,” would reject this path and change careers. Of course this would inevitably lead to the demise of his relationship with Bertha, which some participants did not consider to be a likely choice.

SHORT STORY SEMINARS: WEEK OF MARCH 14, 2011

Niklas Kroeger kicked off our Short Story Seminars with his selection, "Die drei dunklen Koenige" (1946) by Wolfgang Borchert, a story whose title translated into English as "The Three Dark Kings" became a topic of much class debate. Christine remarked that this was "one of the saddest stories" she had read in a long time. We learned about post-WWII Germany and the genre of "rubble" literature which emerged from the wreckage, discussing the child in the story as a symbol of the new life emerging from the sad darkness of the war. We learned about Borchert's horrific experiences during the war and his tragic death at the age of 26, recognizing how his experiences informed his writing. Niklas's questions were thought-provoking, leading us to analyze the rich symbolism in the story and even to compare and contrast the message of the story with that of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." Also, having already studied literature about war in class ("War" by Luigi Pirandello, a short story set at the time of WWI; the poem"Dulce et Decorum Est," written during WWI by Wilfred Owen, a British soldier who died in combat; and "Village," a short story by Estela Portillo Trambley, set in the Vietnam War), we were able to empathize with the characters and voice our interpretations of the story with conviction. Thank you, Niklas, for sharing this poignant piece with us.

The next day, Christianne Lima conducted a dynamic seminar on "The Hen" (1964), by the brilliant and mysterious Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, another story whose title's translation into English was suspect and thus a topic of discussion. Chris shared with us many details from her wealth of knowledge of the author's fascinating life. She designed our discussion questions with insight and led our discussion gracefully, calling on participants to share their interpretations of this allegorical tale in which the hen can be viewed as a symbol of women and the plight of the hen as a mirror of the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. Chris asked us to compare Sherwood Anderson's "The Egg" with Lispector's "The Hen," which led us to some interesting conclusions about the difference in the symbolism in the two tales. Thank you, Chris, for creating such a lively atmosphere for the free exchange of ideas in your seminar.

A Special Recipe

Cheese Bread
(a very special Brazilian recipe from Chris' Mamma)

1 cup Polvilho (tapioca)
1 cup mashed potato
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 cup cheese (half white cheese, half Parmesan)

Mix all together. Make small balls. Bake in the oven. Enjoy while still warm!

Meet New Classmates

Niklas Kroeger by Olga Golysheva I had a chance to interview one of my classmates whose name is Niklas Kroeger. Also, he is the only man in our group. Niklas is a very nice and interesting person, so I would like to share this interview with my classmates. Niklas is 21 years old. He was born in a German city and lived there for 20 years. At 20 years of age he moved to Munich to study. Niklas decided to be a lawyer and he is doing a law course in one of the oldest universities (LMU) of Germany. When I asked him, “Why did you come to Florida to University of Miami?” he answered, “I have been to Florida before for a few times to improve my English and I have met friends here. I have good memories about this place and decided to come again. I like my new class. Everybody is nice and I’m glad to be here.” Niklas told me some interesting things about himself. As a real German he loves German beer and thinks that it’s the best beer in whole world. Also, he recommended the best bar in Munich (Thanks Niklas, I hope we will come). In our conversation he also pointed out that he likes sports like fighting (kind of Sambo). It was funny when I asked him about his favourite food. He said that he likes seafood, but from this time which he spent in Florida, it is cheeseballs that Christianne cooked. I wish to Niklas all the best and hope we will see each other in Munich.))))Russian Traveler by Niklas Kroeger

I have spent three weeks at IMG but I met a bunch of very interesting and nice people, which is why I would like to introduce you to one of them. Olga Golysheva is a 24-year-old girl who came from Krasnoyarsk, Russia to Florida on July 2010. She didn’t come just because of playing tennis in the sunshine state every day. No. She is here to support her 15- year-old brother Dimitry who is going to be a famous tennis professional. Olga has traveled a lot so she is familiar with America, Russia and Europe. She has a special connection to Japan because she studied to become an English-Japanese interpreter. She isn’t sure what’s going to happen in the future. Olga would like to do arts. But first she has another challange to face. Her boyfriend bought her a little French bulldog. The puppy is 3 months old and has a lot of things to learn. But that’s not a problem for Olga. Good luck!!!

Svetlana By Christianne Lima Svetlana Valerfevna Fomina (Khomutova) is from Moscow, Russia. She received her degree in history, is married and has three children. The eldest boy is studying in New York, the middle girl plays tennis and the youngest girl loves to dance. Svetlana has a great sensibility and loves classical literature. She always gets at the heart of the message in our reading and writing class. Traveling around is another passion since she was a child with an Alpinist father and the whole family around the Caucasian landscapes. Now Svetlana is enjoying the nice weather of Florida and having this great opportunity, with her family, to live and learn more from a new culture and this new experience.

Christianne By Sveltlana Fomina Christianne Baerlein dos Santos Lima is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Christianne loves Rio and can tell a lot of uncommon things about her city. This is a beautiful place where you can have the possibility of combining your work, your common life and your rest. Christianne likes to spend her free time on the beach; she likes the lagoon and forest. Chrristianne likes to meet her friends. She loves music and literature. She likes to read both classic and modern literature. One of her favorite writers is Clarice Lispector – a famous writer and a woman with a very interesting fate. Christianne knows a lot about contemporary literature from Brazil. Christianne considers reading literature as the way of perceiving, of gaining knowledge of ourselves and our life.