Free Writing

//everything I write//

** After field trip **

To parents

Christmas is coming. Did you finish preparation for the Christmas? Here, I can feel that festival is around due to many ornaments in cafeteria and elevators. Christmas carol is ringing as the bell for wakening students. Seniors�� examination ends on Christmas Eve, and many events follow. There will be the dance party and many graduated seniors�� coming from outside. I am looking forward to all of these things. However, I also miss the Christmas tree at home. It��s first time to spend my Christmas time living apart from home. It��s first time to spend Christmas time living apart from you.

Author. Conspiracy theory. 15 Jan. 2001. Wikimedia Foundation. 6 Jun. 2004

** Ethic Group Presentation **

Korean Palace Food

My group �赵��, ������, �����, and me will start the presentation. We were interested in food culture in Korea and narrow down the point to the food in palace. Hence the topic of my group is '��������'. So we will introduce you the sorts of food, how to make and display it, and the comparison between Eastern food and Western. Then, first of all, I will focus especially on which specific kind of food the royalty had eaten.

Do you know how they got raw material to make food for kings and queens? Since they were the noblest people, all the principal products were taken in the palace from every corner of the country, individually. We called such material food as '����' in Korean. It is prepared for all royalty members like the king, queen, crown prince, princess, and even to former king and queen. The catalog of the goods was decided certainly by the king ���� and ����. There are two different kinds of ����. One is �輱 and the other one is õ��. �輱 is the catalog for monthly offered products. They were transported every first day in the month. From this list, we can presume the specific principal products(Ư�깰) from each city and also how they measured food at that time. Most of them were raw material like meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables, but, there was also some already cooked food such as ���� or ���.
On the other hand, õ�� is an offering of the seasonal goods. From this we can know which products we can harvest in which season.

Now, you can guess how the quality of the palace food was high, based on the valuable principal products. The table for the kings is called �����, so maybe many students here will think ���� is all the food for kings, but that is not true. ���� is the word only for the rice.
There are three types of ����: �����, �ϼ���, and �������. ����� is a typical rice and ������� is ����� which you already know. But �ϼ��� is peculiar. It is not a rice made of red beans but the rice using water from boiled red-beans. There are also many other kinds of staple food, for example, �����, ��, ����, and ���� other than the rice.
In the palace, they make ����� by putting together already cooked meat and vegetable with a little fish or fried on. However, they did not use ������ for kings because it is too hot. Usually, ����� was eaten on the last day of the year while ���� was for the first day of the year. It means they eat all the food from last year and begin a new year happily.
Second, they made �� for the breakfast while typical people eat it when they are sick so cannot digest well. �� in palace consists of ����, Ÿ����, ��������, ��ȭ���� and so on which are ordinarily made of grains. Sometimes they used beef and ���� but not vegetables or fish.
They made ���� when there were a lot of visitors because it is easy to make. You see, you can make noodles in advance and when visitors come, just put soup and make the table. Buckwheat were preferly used rather than wheat in the palace. There are �屹, ��ĩ��, �������, ��ż���, �¸�, ����, ���̸�. ���� was also made of buckwheat, not of wheat, and there are �屹����, ��ġ����, ���Ƹ���, ��ġ���� and so on.

With the staple food, there are also soup, pot stews, and side dishes. Number one, the soup. Usually ���� was made using cows' �����Ӹ�, ����, �����, ������, for example, ������(������), ����, ��������, ������, ����, �ΰ���. There are other kinds of �� also, as you see here. ������; ����, ����ⱹ, �̿���, ����, ������, �����, �ʱ���, û����, �Ͼ���, ȣ�ڲ���, ������, ���屹; ��������, and �ñ�; ������, ���̳ñ�, �̿��ñ�.
For a pot stew, they used either ������ or salt and ������ for seasoning, yet infact, ������ is less preferred as in �����. And they used �κ�, ȣ��, ��, ���� to make it more appetizing. The pot stew required a cooking in a double boiler which means cooks did not boil it directly. There are �԰���, ���̰���, �����, ���̵�����ġ, ���κ���ġ, ��ȣ��������ġ, ��������ġ, ����ġ and ������ġ.
���� is delicious combination of meat and vegetable with an appropriate seasoning. It is impromptu cook, if not it is called ���� when it is cooked in advance. There are ���̸�, ��������, �κ�����.
They made �� by boiling either with the water or with the steam. With the water, �谥��, �貿��, ����, �������� were put on weak fire for a considerably long time Then the meat became soft. With the steam, however, mostly vegetables, fish, shrimp, and shellfish were used. There are ������, �η���, ������, ������, ������, �׼���, ����, ���߲�����, �켳��, ������, ������, ���ߴ���.
Vegetable was almost same with what common people ate at that time. And there are ����, called ������ in the palace, made of meat, fish, shellfish, and vegetable especially, ����, �ξ�, and �κ�. This was made somewhat spicy and sweat, differed from other food that always tried to be flat. The longer the ���� has to be stored, the more spicy the seasoning was done. There are ����������, ����������, and ��ȶ���, For the grilled food, there are several kinds; white-flesh fish; such as �ξ�, �뱸 and marine products as ��, ����, ����, and also used Dz����, ��ȣ��, ���� and so on. The way of cooking is same with common people's.
Using almost all possible food, they made ����. ���� can be divided by the seasoning; salt, �����, and ������. �豸��, ��������, ��������, �Ұ��� are typical food. There are ��������, �ʺ�ƴ�, ������, �߻���, ��ġ����, ���ձ���, and ��������.
There are also ȸ, ��, ����, ��, and ��. They are also similar with common people did. Therefore I will skip the details about them.

Now I expect you to get image of what kinds of food were eaten in the palace. Yet, to talk about the food, I cannot exclude holidays or festive days, cause we eat special food on those days. So did loyalties.
There is so-called ���� which is the food which they ate on the festive days once a month. With �ý� which is the seasonal food, we call them ������, which worth study further for tradition of food in Korea.
And there are four big festivals in the palace. ���� ź��, ����(����), ����(��������), ����. Common people also celebrated ������, �ܿ�, and �߼�, for the beginning of the new season, but, royalty just changed their clothes for coming seasons and did not consider them as important.

At last, I want to make sure several things now. One, there are both similarity and difference between royalty's food and plebeians' in the point of how to make it or when to eat it, and so on and so forth. During the presentation, I especially pointed out the difference between them and wished you to catch. Two, because there are a lot of food, it is hard to say one characteristic for all ��������. Still, its tendency to be flat is overall peculiarity of ��������. In other words, it avoids spicy and hot seasoning all the ways. Three, Well, in fact, this is also true for other kinds of food as well. But, still, they chose appropriate for season or happening at that time. Four, �������� consisted of highly chosen first-class food. All of them was from commoners who could not eat such a great food even once during their whole lifetime.
Thus, from the most valuable food throughout the country, the table for the family in the palace was the best of all. All should be perfect and number 1 from A to Z. It has both positive and negative effects. Because they had to make the table the best, the skill for making food could develop more and more. [You can see from the picture how the food is delicate and would be delicious also.] And the cook in the palace was so formal that information about �������� was well preserved.
On the other side, the more and more valuable and expensive the food became, the worse and worse the lives of typical people became, because they had to dedicate principal products as a tax. So the table in palace was from all the effort and sometimes suffering from the low class or middle class people. It is one way of exploitation by high class.
Now, there is no more king, queen or palace. No more high-class people and exploitation. Then, there only remains the advantage of �������� in a present society. Therefore, we should maintain and expand such merits to make this treasure more precious to later generation.
This is all about my presentation and next, ������ will tell you more about ��������.
Thank you.

** Book Report **

The Old Man and The Sea

by. Ernest Hemingway

I wrote the one-paragraph response after reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I uploaded every writing including the first and second draft to see how I edit for development, later.

< First Draft >
The main character, the old man, is weak and old. Yet, he tries his best to catch fish but the result is just nothing. If the consequence is not corresponding to one��s anticipation or effort, one is easily frustrated and gives up everything he has done so far. I also experience difficulty for many times whenever the grades in the school are not fine although those grades are very trivial in my life. I have often thought of giving up or changing my plan for the future easily. The old man, however, continues to go to see and seek for fish, his job, which shows his strong will. Even though the situation is desperately hopeless, the present society needs people like the old man rather than myself. If everyone is capricious, who will take charge of hard work requiring long time and endurance? Therefore, readers may realize the potential strength in the weak old man against the relentless sea who does not give any fish to him: like strong firm man against the present society.

< Second Draft >
The main character, the old man, is weak and old. He tried his best to catch fish, but the result was just nothing. If the consequence does not correspond to one��s expectation or effort, one will be easily frustrated and will give up everything he has done so far. Even I, myself, have also frustrated for many times whenever I could not get the expected grades in school, which are very trivial in my life. Also, I have often thought of giving up or changing my future plan easily. The old man, however, continued his job seeking for fish, which showed his strong will. The old man, who can take charge of a long-term hard work requiring much endurance, would be more suitable for this current society rather than me. Therefore, I realized the potential strength inside the weak old man against the relentless sea, which does not give any fish to him, through the description of his appearance, which was full of old traces: deep wrinkles in the back of his neck, the brown blotches, and deep-creased scars.

< Final Draft >
The main character, the old man, is weak and old. He tried his best to catch fish, but the result was just nothing. If the consequence does not correspond to one��s expectation or effort, one will be easily frustrated and will give up everything he has done so far. Even I have also frustrated for many times whenever I could not get the expected grades in school, which are very trivial in my life. I have often thought of giving up or changing my future plan easily as well. The old man, however, continued his job seeking for fish, which showed his strong will. We can find the evidences through the appearance described, which was full of old traces-deep wrinkles in the back of his neck, the brown blotches, and deep-creased scars. I realized the potential strength inside the weak old man against the relentless sea, which does not give any fish to him. The old man, who can take charge of a long-term hard work requiring much endurance, is whom I should follow to live a more active life.

The Story of An Hour

by. Kate Chopin

I changed the subject for the second draft, because the title does not seem to be appropriate for the response. < First Draft >
What is the background for the title: ��The Story of an Hour��? From the title, at first, readers may anticipate the story would be something related to the time, an hour. Yet, this novel is not about an hour but about a woman who died because of a shock from enormous joy of freedom, despite the death of her husband. This shows how women felt toward their oppressed lives because in those days women were regarded as possessions of husbands. Therefore, the title does not seem to be selected well for this novel, as I see it. Instead, authors could have chosen more impressive title which can imply the theme in the story, for example, ��Free, free, free.�� Kate Chopin, however, had lived during the period when the right of women was not cared enough. Her major work, The Awakening, was also considered so shocking that she could not maintain her frank expression through her novels, especially the title which leads the first characteristic of the whole work. If she have lived later when women are freer, hence, she might choose another title for this work.

< Second Draft >
Every society looks for equality. In the past, slaveries were under the nobility; women were under men. There had been many vertical relationships among people in the world. In the present, however, most people think that everyone is equal, and that there should be no discrimination. To change such senses, many people put a great effort to inform the failure of vertical relationships.
Kate Chopin, the author of the story of an hour, is considered one of them, for she wanted women to be equally treated with men. In those days, however, there were few women who felt the necessary for changing the society to be freer. Kate Chopin had been raised by a widow, her mother; and she herself had to live as a widow also. That was what enables her to see how much their husbands oppressed women, since she had freedom to live for herself with an absence of her husband. Other women could not catch such unfairness which they were accustomed too much from the very beginning by their fathers, and later by their husbands.
Mrs. Mallard, the main character of this novel, also realized how she had been oppressed and how great it would be in the future where no restriction would exist at all. Thinking such future during just an hour, Mrs. Mallard felt enormous happiness and joy, which eventually lead her even to the death. Through Mrs. Mallard, Kate Chopin could show how much women want their freedom as equal as men.

< Final Draft >
There had been many vertical relationships through history: white had made black slaves; and, the rich had exploited the poor. However, every society has looked for equality through combats like Civil War or French Revolution. I regard this story, ��The Story of an Hour��, as one of them to eliminate the discrimination between man and woman. Kate Chopin, the author of ��The Story of an Hour��, tried to inform the failure of vertical relationship through this story.
Kate Chopin had been raised by mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She had married Oscar Chopin, but her husband had died when she was only about 30 years old, so that she became a widow after her mother. That is her background she could be awakened earlier than other women, who were considered to be just the property of their husbands at that time. Typical women lost criticism about the unfairness which they were accustomed too much from the very beginning by their fathers, and later by their husbands. Yet, Kate Chopin could catch the failure more precisely, without any oppression neither from her father nor from her husband.
Mrs. Mallard, the main character of this novel, also realized how she had been suppressed and how great it would be in the future without any restriction. Even though it was just an hour, upcoming freedom had Mrs. Mallard feel enormous happiness and joy, which eventually lead her even to the death. Using such an extreme ending, Kate Chopin could show more impressively how much women want their freedom as equally as men.

Animal Farm
by. George Orwell

The title, Animal Farm, of the book written by George Orwell, is one that makes the book seem friendly and perhaps even light-hearted. It may remind readers of a beautiful countryside landscape, peaceful and full of many kinds of pretty animals. However, while the story is technically about an animal farm, the complex contents of the book may make the title seem misleading.

In this story, the animals can think, talk, and even organize a rebellion. They expatriate their landlord, Jones, and run the farm by themselves. The book could be sufficient simply as a tale about a group of animals on a farm. However, there is a far deeper layer to this book which exposes the dark reality of human nature since this book is the satire of the communist Soviet Union at that time. Orwell, who was a socialist, accurately criticized the danger of communism when a few people get power and use it for their own gain. Hence, some characters in the book stand for specific people of the Soviet Union. It is amazing how George Orwell is able to express so precisely his views on Communism through the animals because the story is exactly the same as the real life.

Napoleon, who represents Stalin, is characterized by greed and tyranny. From the very beginning of Animal Farm, he exhibits cruelty and selfishness. For example, he reserves all the apples and milk only for pigs, raises dogs secretly to enforce his authority, and even changes the commandments whenever he wants to break them so his actions are not illegal. However, he changes them so slightly that no animal can exactly remember that the commandments were changed at all. As he extorts more and more from other animals, the lives of the lower animals become more and more miserable. He is the main culprit among all the animals for destroying everyone's hope for the perfect Utopia.

Snowball is the opponent of Napoleon. While the two of them were always disagreeing about everything, one thing they both wanted was to take advantage of the lower animals. However, he was defeated by Napoleon due to Napoleon's cruel and enormous dogs. Although Napoleon says Snowball destroyed the windmill, this could be false. Napoleon could be wrongly accusing Snowball to make him seem like an enemy to the other animals.

Boxer, a prime example of the lower and less intelligent animals, always works extremely hard. However, he is too stupid to realize that Napoleon and the pigs are using him. Rather, he thinks Napoleon is always right, all the time. What makes the reader feel frustrated is that Boxer tries to solve all the problems created by the pigs by working harder and harder. However, Napoleon and the pigs sell him off to buy liquor when Boxer becomes old and useless. Moreover, the other animals do not realize what is happening and think that Boxer is going to the hospital for medical treatment.

However, what George Orwell pointed out in this story is not only the problem with communism, but also with capitalism. In capitalism as well as communism, there are many people like Napoleon, Snowball, or Squealer. For example, many people fight to gain power, rulers deceive lower people, and wealth is concentrated in minority. Therefore, I do not think capitalism or socialism is absolutely right and communism is perfectly wrong. Rather, as I see it, it is important and necessary to mix the advantages of them properly and wisely to overcome many problems in present society.

Cry, the Beloved Country

by. Alan Paton

All people are same despite skin color as well as age or sex distinction. However, there has been racial prejudice that the whites are better than colored races, since imperialism as I look at it. The world powers wanted the place where can provide abundant resources and markets due to rapid industrialization after the Industrial Revolution. Thus, they invaded numerous African and Asian countries and succeed in accumulating their wealth. In contrast, people in colonies had to be exploited and poor. The difference between the two races were getting bigger and enough for the whites to think they are more superior from the very beginning. Therefore, it became easy to discriminate colored races and infringe upon their human rights.

Against this circumstance in Africa, cry, the beloved country told about Absalmon's downfall, an African boy from countryside. Due to the over-planting and over-grazing, the beautiful farmland turned to be barren and hostile. The children, then, couldn't work in the farm anymore. With the news about the mine, youngers are gathered in the big city, like Johannesburg, for a job and payment. However, there are too many people, and the mine was primarily owned by the whites. As a result, the payment was miserable and labour was severe. After all, they found no way but crime to make a living in the city. Meanwhile, more and more people still flock to cities with visionary hope for better lives, and then more criminals. This vicious cycle spiraled downward and drove Absalmon to death at last. His story could represent lots of other people as well, who lived at that time so bitterly, probably even far worse than Absalmon.

The story is unfold through Kumalo's search for his son. While following after Absalmon's traces, harsh African lives in the big cities are disclosed frankly. It gives the most unbearable rage that the blacks can't ride a city bus. That's a complete publication that the whites and the blacks are certainly different. There are also much more other things that hinder the blacks to feel only a few satisfaction who compose almost all of the whols entire nation though.

At the last part, Absalmon realizes and reflects his fault. Thus, he is reconciled with his father, Kumalo. At that time, there is no cruelty or viciousness in him. It seems that he deviates owing to lack of wisdom and appropriate teachers or environment which can lead him to the upright way. It leads him to makes readers feel sympathetic with him. Therefore, there was earnest hope that Absalmon could get mercy and began his new life well during the reading. However, he was finally hanged, giving depressed mood. As preferring happy-ending, this plot makes feel sad and perhaps shed tears. However, it informs harsh racial discrimination effectively through showing that he was unable to get mercy by any possibility whether or not his fault was by intention.

At the same time, cry, the beloved country not only shows brutal real facts but also presents the solutions through Jarvis. Jarvis is a father of Arthur, who was killed by Absalmon. Moreover, Jarvis and Kumalo lives in the same village. However, they work together to develope their village and villagers. Using Jarvis' private property, villagers cooperate to make a dam and improve agricultural skill, followed by more fertile land and more harvest. The story is finished before results by their all endeavor. Yet, they can get strong hope for the better. Because they can see fruitful land and abundant lifestyle of the whites, and now the whites help them. The successful results do not become a reality even in actual condition yet. Still, cooperation of between the whites and the blacks can be the most proper way for people to pursuit, proposed by author, Alan Paton.

Through lamentable story, cry, the beloved country give not only deep impression but also important realization. Thus, it could be the worldwide best seller. Korea, my country, also has been a colony by Japan, during imperialism. So far, there are lots of remaining harmful vestiges of Japanese imperialism. However, through distorting textbooks, and improper remarks by high-ranking officials, Japanese says the Japanese annexation of Korea is reasonable and lawful. Therefore, I strongly wish the worldwide literature which can inform these real facts about Korea precisely, like the masterpiece, cry, the beloved country.

The Lord of the Flies

by. William Golding

In the first pages, this novel seemed to have been similar to 'Deux ans de Vacances(15�ҳ�ǥ����)' in beginning part: the boys, accident, and uninhabited island. However, the more I read, the more difference I can catch between the two novels. In 'Deux ans de Vacances', castaways organize themselves and live together properly. Through their life style on island, they show deep impression, the importance of cooperation, and interesting or amusement by a variety of adventures and lots of danger. On the other hand, 'the lord of the flies' is clearly far from this amusing literature, but makes readers have sincere self-reflection about the original nature of human beings.

Children in the book lived in ordered society in suitable manner before. However, without rules and regulations, they get to fall in chaos naturally. Not all, but most of them become seriously savage like the down men. Their savagery hit the climax by killing Piggy, one of children. Considering this murder and many other kinds of cruel behavior, there is the ethical view that human nature is evil in the background of the story. Therefore, Willian Golding may thought that human nature is wicked. For example, christianity, asserting original sin and human's evil nature, is one of important material with Simon, convincing author's view toward human nature firmly.

There are many other symbolical expression except christianity. 'Conch shell' gives right to announce in meeting. Therefore, it stands for order and rational democratic system. However, it becomes weaker and weaker as Jack and hunters ignore rules, and their savagery break the shell at last. Furthermore, 'the signal fire' is a unique hope for their rescue on island. However, like the conch shell, it is often out, since children don't care and fulfill their duty.

Ironically, they can go back to home by fire, not by a plan but by incendiarism for killing Ralph. Arson is also a brutal behavior by Jack and hunters, but it functions as a thoroughfare to the civilized world after all. What did the author want to tell readers through this scene? Even in the real world, evil instinct in human can turn to development which no one expected before. Therefore, William Golding probably desired to inform that the ability is exceedingly important to find the way to use human's wicked nature properly for the better. For instance, market economy in capitalistic countries is based on egoistic mind, but very efficient and useful. Thus, instead of denying or criticizing evil nature, we should make use of it and control suitably, which is much more sound way to live.

Many characters are as interesting as symbolic expression to think about. Ralph and Jack are both leaders, but their dispositions are completely opposite. Ralph helps youngers and tries to make advance, but Jack always takes preference of satisfying his instinctive desire and using youngers for it. In realities are there also two bisected ruling classes: Ralph & Jack. Moreover, it seems that there are more leaders like Jack than those like Ralph. Furthermore, common people including me can be compared to youngers who are led away by the instant atmosphere or eloquent speech. Hence, youngers' living in story gives depressed and uneasy feeling to readers who are mostly common people. Thus, it is required to grasp situation precisely and enhance judgement.

William Golding informed from human nature to several points in the real world by telling children's change to savagery during drifting on island. He was superior to choose subject matters, such as the ethical view about human's evil nature or leadership, and characters expressing many types of real people. It was remarkably enjoyable to search the hidden meaning of what appear in the story. Finally, many thanks go to the author because he brings some beneficial questions for me which is worth thinking in school days.

The Awakening

by. Kate Chopin

The question ��'who I am' has been an extremely difficult problem not only to youth but also to everyone. Every human being is distressed to think about it at least once in life. The answer for this question can be the perfect and desirably active reason to live one's life with great joy, hence, many people try to find it but few of them succeed. As an adolescent girl, I also joined this question but led to be in confusion and agony because it is too abstract for my age to catch up. As a result, I could not find the distinct answer yet.

However, if I cannot find the answer even after growing up, it will really depress me. As I look at it, most women in those days in the book including Edna usually fell in this kind of depressing situation due to their social status and prejudice. The main character of this book, Edna, seems to want her own character and enjoy her own life as pure 'Edna', neither as a mother of her children nor as a wife of her husband. Her surroundings, on the other hand, barely afford what her wants. At that time, women were popularly treated as submissive existence to men because men usually worked outside and domestic works were totally given to women. It was certainly hard for women to do well both at work and at home. Therefore, they began to concentrate their all mind to home, and loose their own colors as an individual and one member of a society. This makes Edna feel disillusioned, and even want to deviate from her position of a mother and a wife.

Therefore, she starts her work as a artist, lives apart from her family, and even falls in love with the another man, Robert. The plot, especially the last part, can shock greatly enough to provoke criticism among many readers because the author, Kate Chopin, wrote this conception without any blame to Edna. Through this attitude, however, Kate Chopin informed the 'awakening' of women much more effectively. She criticized the environment around Edna, which was true in the past, and stimulated women not to give up their own lives due to gender as women.

At the end, Edna suicide herself after a long anguish and mental conflict. The biggest reason is her children. Because Edna always takes care of her life, her sons are unconcerned. The biggest reason for readers is also the children who can't agree with Edna. She is surely under an obligation to look after her children since she is their mother wether she likes it or not. She definitely knows it, however at the same time she can hardly give up her own life represented as love with Robert. While I read this book, I extremely wondered how Edna and Kate Chopin would select between the two. Because both are not simple for her to give up, it is too difficult to guess which she would choose. After all, the last choice is the death, just getting away from her all life. This ending that none of them are chosen shows Kate Chopin did not or could not find the best solution for this quandary.

The equality of the sexes has been required for last few years, maybe after this book was published, and society has exceedingly changed. Therefore, if The Awakening were written in these days, I expect the end would be somewhat different. Because the right of women is rising more and more, many women enjoy their lives as well as men. Furthermore, the work at home is divided almost equally to husband and wife and many married couple work outside both. Kate Chopin displayed the strong hope for such desirable social structure through her work, The Awakening, Edna and many other women, powerful femininity as characters.

The Sun Also Rises

by. Ernest Hemingway

The title of this book, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, gave me a good impression because of its hopeful meaning. It reminds me of a childhood memory of a festival in elementary school. All the students were divided into two teams and competed in a match, but my team lost. Because I was so young, I felt really depressed like my other classmates. Then, my homeroom teacher cheered us up by continually saying "The sun will also rise, tomorrow." That was the maxim of the day (our class learned one maxim a day from the teacher's book) and we felt better while we went home. It was always a happy and comforting memory for me to be reminded of. Therefore, initially, I had a pretty cheerful and optimistic attitude towards this book.

However, the background and plot of this story is quite opposite of what I had imagined. The story was based on the situations that many people faced after World War I. The characters who appear in the book seem to have lost their energy to pursue happiness and their desire to reach their goals. For example, because of the war, Jacob becomes infertile and Michael becomes bankrupt. Moreover, the mental stress they experience is evident when almost all the characters seem to be living just to kill the time. These examples show readers how devastating the war was to people's physical and mental well-beings.

Then Hemingway introduces Romero, a somewhat different character from the others. He seems to be the only one that enjoys and feels satisfied with his life. Hence, he makes a unique impression upon the readers. If the book were painted as a picture, it would seem that Romero would be the sole person painted colorfully against a background of dreary black and white. Even though his youth could be the reason why he was not negatively influenced by the war, he is an extremely desirable model since he shows powerful volition and positiveness about his job, surroundings, and life. Hemingway seemed to expose the hope for a better future through Romero, who shows abundant vitality, as well as the dark reality of the postwar days through characters such as Jacob and Brett. Therefore, the theme of this book is not only the ravaging effects of war but also the shed of hope that nevertheless seems to remain.

The Sun Also Rises is one of countless books whose purpose is to describe the pain and suffering war causes. These works seem to warn readers of the damage caused by war and plead with readers to make efforts to promote peace. It is dismal enough to think about the innocent people who died during the war and the loss their families felt. Furthermore, The Sun Also Rises lets readers know that those who die are not the only victims of war. The living sometimes seem to suffer more than the dead, because they have to deal with the consequences of the war. Thus, everyone, living or dead, is a victim of war. All people will agree that war is not the preferable way to solve this world's problems.

Almost eighty years after the book was written, the relevance of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises is evident. There are lots of possibilities for the outbreak of war, for example, between Iraq and America, and also between North Korea and South Korea, where I live. The thought of war becomes more frightening after reading The Sun Also Rises; even if I had lived through the war, I could imagine myself weary like Jacob, Brett, Cohn, or Michael, defeated by the effects of the war. Through his remarkable ability to portray the stark reality of post-World War I, Hemingway has written a warning to future generations to consider the irreversible effects of war.

The Catcher in the Rye

by. Jerome David Salinger

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield tells of his tumultuous teenage years with honesty and without any pretenses. The style of writing by Salinger to present Holden's story is unique as there are few works of literature that can claim to employ a similar style.

The style used by Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye allows the reader to relate to Holden much more intimately than protagonists of other novels because Holden seems to be speaking directly to the reader. For example, the novel begins with the following sentence: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born..." Furthermore, Holden's talk is not concentrated on solely one subject, but he talks about several things all at once, constantly switching from subject to subject. This characteristic makes Holden's speech more natural and creates an atmosphere that seems like the reader is listening to an old friend talking about his life at school and home. He is able to talk about both the good and bad aspects of his life without using exaggerations or understatements. Therefore, Holden's frankness and unpretentious dialogue makes his narrative realistic and allows readers to sympathize with him. Through this intimate unfolding of his story, he is really comfortable but very dry and cynical at the same time. Holden's attitude towards his surrounding world is very pessimistic, and he does not seem to care much about it at all. One main reason for his pessimism is the dishonesty and two-faced actions of the people around him. He sees acquaintances, friends, and even his parents act one way in a certain situation and act completely differently in another. As he becomes more and more fed up with the world, he becomes apathetic and fails to make any efforts to improve his grades or his behavior at school. Instead of countering his disillusionment with reflection and determination, he becomes victim to it and is consequently expelled from several high schools.

It is easy for the reader to sympathize with Holden, perhaps even to feel that Holden is an innocent victim of an unjust world. At the same time, however, the reader may feel that he or she cannot support Holden entirely because it seems like he is defeated by the world without any effort to overcome his problems. The issue that arises then is a question of instability. The reader perhaps has trouble trying to decide whether it is Holden who is unstable, or the world around him that is unstable. Therefore, an important theme in The Catcher in the Rye is this conflict between the individual and the modern society around him. Individuals and society mutually affect each other, and often the results of this relationship are undesirable. It is hard to decide which of the two is the source of the problem, whether individuals deteriorate the quality of society, or if society's collective woes negatively influence the innocent individual. It is not unlike the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Yet it seems that the answer is not simple, but that both society and the individual are responsible. Thus, Holden's difficulty in adjusting to his life seems to be brought on by the world around him and also by himself.

As I read the book, I wondered why J.D. Salinger chose a boy to be his main character. The reason why I wondered this is because adults have much more responsibility and stress than children. However, I realized that the adolescent Holden's ability to see the flaws of the real world and adult life is more effective than an adult telling of his own distraught life. Also, the difficulties of being a teenager and growing up are a major theme in the book that Salinger explores. While Holden is insightful and perceptive, he is at the same time immature and lacks a sense of responsibility. This combination makes Holden's character interesting and perhaps also frustrating for the reader.

In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger is able to expose many issues in society through the simple yet ingenious form of one boy's narrative. Consequently, the story of Holden has received world-wide fame and Salinger has made his mark as an extraordinary writer of our time.

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