Fred's Writing Portfolio

Thank you for taking time to read my portfolio. I have selected five pieces of my works which I did during this class.
The first one is the reading log of “The Grass Eaters”. The second is my final time-writing. The third is my trial draft, then draft two and finally draft three. Through this course, I leant how to analyze a story and write an interpretative essay. At the beginning, I had totally no idea about how to read a story. I only found out the words that I did not know in the dictionary, then moved on to another story. After I attended this course, however, I discovered the pleasure of reading and finding out the words you do not know is only the first step. A lot of details and implicit meanings suddenly appear before my eyes and these works represent different periods of this exciting experience.
    It is difficult to get started. I had never tried academic writing before. But Mr. Corio has always been helpful, giving me guidance and encouragement all the time. My writing skills improve as well as my reading skills due to his helpfulness. The biggest problem for my writing is that I always write an extended summary instead of giving evidence to support my thesis statement. In my draft two, Mr Corio pointed out this and told me my essay “will be better” if I changed this. This warm encouragement helped me get through this and gave me the courage to do it all over again.
    The first paper deals with “The Grass Eaters”. It is my first time to do a reading log so this one has many problems. I chose this one because my essay is talking about the same story and this reading log reflects my first response to this story. Obviously you can predict what my draft one and draft two will be like. This is more like a summary than a response. There is little about what I think and what message I want to convey.
    The second is my final time-writing which discusses the priest in “The Dead Men’s Path”. I talked about the meaning of his words and his character. I did not read this story much before so maybe there were some misinterpretation. It seems to me that his words have strong power to persuade people if they can understand its meaning.
    The third one is my trial draft. Frankly speaking, it is an incomplete one. I did some free-writing so it showed my flow of thought. When I looked back, I realized that I made the fundamental error of writing an extended summary. I paid price for this mistake in the following weeks.
    The fourth one is my draft two. Because I just did some revision on the trial draft, with little surprise, this was a terrible one. However, I did not lose heart. At least, I made a strong thesis statement, and what I needed was to find out evidence to support my ideas. I also turned to the textbook and carefully studied how to write an interpretative and persuasive essay. Finally I made up my mind to do it all over again.
    The fifth is my draft three. I am quite satisfied with this piece of work because I have done my best. I listed three reasons to support my thesis statement: instead of being optimistic, they had sunk to the depth of despair. I also gave a lot of evidence and details to support my statement and having been edited carefully, this essay has little grammatical and spelling errors.
    I hope you enjoyed reading my portfolio. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Fred

    In “The Grass Eaters”, Krishnan Varma tells us the life of an Indian couple, who move from place and place and can not even find a suitable shelter. Though their life is miserable, they seem to be satisfied with the situation. At first, I was deeply impressed by the couple, especially Ajit Babu’s optimism. However, when I had a second thought, I realized that instead of being optimistic, they had sunk to the depth of despair.
    The life of Indian people at that time was not an easy one. The poorest people had no possession, and most of them lived like refugees. Because of poverty and conflicts between different religions, the society was in complete anarchy. Most of them always had danger of being killed by others. Under such circumstances, people were easily frustrated by the reality and then lost the hope for life.
    Although the title is “The Grass Eaters”, most of the time Babu was talking about their experience of finding shelters. So this has great value in explaining their behaviors and thoughts. “How can you live in a pipe?” is the reaction of Misrilal, an Indian ordinary people. This detail reveals to us that their decision to live in a pipe was not acceptable by other Hindus. This can also be proved by the fact that it was “unbelievably” being occupied, so it is obvious that even the poorest people were not willing to live in a pipe. But “with no prompting”, his wife crept into it. This detail has a major significance because it shows how desperate they were. Normal Indian people, including those the poorest, would not choose a pipe as their home, but Babu and his wife did. For them, traditions and conventions had become less important. If they were confident that they could find a better shelter, they would not live there, which even the poorest were doing. But they had lost hope and any stationary place was all right for them.     
    Why did they move into the pipe in such a hurry? Ajit Babu was presented in the story as a man with a calm manner. But when he heard the news of his wife’s pregnancy, he was highly delighted and even kissed her, which was rare in Indian culture. This is an interesting detail because it shows another side of Babu. He guessed the baby would be a boy. “I felt no doubt about it”. Why did he want a boy so eagerly? Was this the man that had always had little desire in life? His eagerness was not out of love but for other reasons. They were expecting a boy because they hoped that there would be “someone to look after us in our old age, to do our funeral rites when we died.” Only a boy was capable of these. Subconsciously, love was in the second place compared with the reality. They wanted a boy just because a boy had greater value than a girl for them! This reveals their uncertainty about future and also his selfishness. He did not care about whether he had the ability to raise this boy up. All their three children had died in an early age. He thought more about his old age and his funeral rites. His behavior was completely irresponsible, which showed his selfishness and coldness. From this, we were reassured that Babu was not the person he appeared to  be.
    They finally begun to eat grass, which was weird and crazy. It is common knowledge that human beings are not able to get energy from fiber sugar. This important detail confirms us that they were desperately for food and had gone out of their mind. Grass provided them only with a spiritual comfort, a feeling of not being hungry. It had no connection with optimism. It is not necessary for a truly optimistic person to deceive the stomach to be happy. But Babu was different from this. He needed grass to tell himself that his situation was not so bad. People in despair often are under some illusions. Babu was clearly doing the same crazy thing as these unfortunate people. Compared with them, their son finally left them to Naxalite underground. He was apparently pursuing a different life. This also showed that the couple lacked the courage to change their life.
    Babu finally acknowledged that their life “together has been very eventful” and “not always pleasant”. It is true that they had survived and had no fears and anxieties. But were they leading an optimistic life? They were contented because compared with other people around them, they were enjoying a better life. Through out the story, Babu was always comforting himself and his wife, telling themselves that life had offered the best things. However, they can not be regarded as optimists. They had lost their dignity to live in a pipe, which means that they were more frustrated and hopeless than other poor people. The connection between Babu and his child was not love. They only wanted a boy because a boy was more useful for them. They needed eating grass to cheat themselves, for it gave them the feeling of eating food. On the whole, they had obviously lost hope for life and pretending to be satisfied made no difference about this fact.
    They conceded defeat in the end, which meant that they had stopped struggle and lived peacefully. They could not help but sink to the depth of despair. They had nothing to pursue because they thought that it was impossible for them to get anything more. This is a much more tragic situation than just being poor. The poor can change their destiny by striving. But when a person feels that his life can not be changed, his life is over. The couples were in this despairing state in the end, quietly waiting for death. Although the narrator described all these things in a humorous tone, but what we see is a scene full of despair, which reflects the miserable and despairing life of the poorest people in India.

    In The Grass Eaters, Krishnan Varma tells us about the life of an Indian couple, who moves from place and place and can not even find a suitable shelter. Though their life is miserable, they seem to be satisfied with the situation.
    At first, I was deeply impressed by the couple, especially the hero’s optimism. However, when I had a second thought, I realized that instead of being optimistic, they had sunk to the depth of despair.
    They have no choice for their home. They lead a typical life as refugees, being unable even to find a shelter. A wagon can make the narrator feels like god and unwilling to leave. In the search of a new home for the baby-to-be-born, they take both railway station platform and water tank as possible home. Finally they choose a pipe and without reluctance, his wife crept into it. Though it seems strange and not proper, they have no better solutions.
    The misery and misfortune that this family experienced is unimaginable and the husband in this story is so powerless faced with fate. Ajit Babu, who should have been the supplier and protector, failed to give his family a safe and stable environment. He had three children, but no one survives. One died of diphtheria and fatigue killed the other two. As parent, maybe it’s the cruelest thing for them in life. At that moment, Babu possibly would hate himself and wish himself die to save his child. But it is impossible and the only thing they can do is to watch the baby leave this world and pray she would go to heaven.
     Food is a luxury for them. If they could get food, they would not have become grass eaters in the end. The breadwinner has not been able to bring bread home since the price of rice soared. So they begin to eat grass. The couples are contented with this food because it is easy to get. Although they have already had a stationary home, their diet is still designed according to the refugees’ standard and even worse, because they are not refugees and UN or international community will not give them humanitarian aid. Ironically, human beings are not designed by the Creator to eat grass. Grass provides them more as a spiritual comfort, a feeling of not hungry, but they finally will also have unsteady feet as their grass-eating neighbors. Future more, the grass is not pleasant to chew for it contains a kind of acid, but what can they do? They just have no enough money to buy food and other necessities such as clothes.
    In the end, Babu admits that life together has been very eventful. However he adds that the events were not always pleasant. I agree with him. Their experiences can evoke the cruelest people’s sympathy. However, he is delighted about the fact that they have survived. Outside their little shelter, the narrator says, is a passing scene of killings. At least, the couples have two meals a day and no fear of being slaughtered when they are in sleep.
    They finally conceded defeat. It is the reality and they can’t make a difference. No one would be happy to live in a pipe, lose children and eat grass. They come to acknowledge that all these sufferings is their fate, which they deserve now. They can not help but sink to despair. This explains why they are so abnormally optimistic, because viewing things in a positive way can relieve their pains to some extent.

    In The Grass Eaters, Krishnan Varma tells us about the life of an Indian couple, who moves from place and place and can not even find a suitable shelter. Though their life is miserable, they seem to be satisfied with the situation.
    At first, I was deeply impressed by the couple, especially the hero’s optimism. However, when I had a second thought, I realized that instead of being optimistic, they had sank to the depth of despair.
    Ajit Babu, who should have been a supplier and protector, failed to give his family a safe and stable environment. He had four children, but only one survives. When they had a baby born and then, watch him or her dying without nothing to do, I do not know how they can bear this. Maybe it’s the cruelest thing in life. At that moment, Babu possibly would hate himself because he was not able to take the responsibility as a father and a husband.
    Life is not easy indeed. The breadwinner has not been able to bring bread home since the price of rice soared. So they begin to eat grass. Ironically, human beings are not designed by the Creator to eat grass. They finally will also have unsteady feet as their grass-eating neighbors.
    Their son has left them. This young man, who seems to be different with his parents, is in the Naxalite underground. Though they didn’t mention this much, but this is a very important detail, because this Naxalite movement was an effort of Indian people to change social structure. It tells us that their son, Prodeep, begins to struggle for his rights and freedom, while their parents are still living in delusion.
    In the end, Babu admits that life together has been very eventful. However he adds that the events were not always pleasant. He is delighted about the fact that they have survived. But has he thought of changing this situation using his wisdom and power? Has he thought which causes all these misfortunes? They will still be optimistic only when they have lost all hopes about life and future, when they feel they can do nothing and reduce themselves to despair.

0518118

Fred

21 June 2007

Time-writing 3

Directions:

       In Dead Men’s Path the priest says “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.” Discuss what you think he means and what this saying reveals about him.

      When the headmaster ignores the villagers’ opposition, the priest of the village does not lose his temper. He calmly tries to persuade him to change his mind. Hawk and eagle are the same kind of bird, which is eager to fight, but they can live together as long as they do not interfere with each other. The situation is similar here. Local people want to preserve their tradition and keep their way of life. If the headmaster could understand their choice, there would be no conflicts at all. As we all know, hawk and eagle stand for right wings. Obi’s behavior is very aggressive, but he should know that the local people are not easy to give in. They will fight for their rights and belief when necessary. The relationship between Obi and the villagers is similar with the relationship between hawk and eagle. This saying indicates the villagers may use violent means, which shows the tension between them.   

       This saying also reveals some characters of the priest. He is the head of the local people, and because of his honored position, he does not usually express his anger. He will make his opinion known by very soft words. This saying is not direct but has many meanings. In his eyes, he does not need to reprimand the headmaster. But he underestimates the headmaster. Obi is not local people and the priest is only the spiritual leader of the villagers. Obi does not have to take his words seriously and he actually does so. Because he does not truly understand what the priest means and carries on with his action, the villagers finally decide to give him a lesson.

       Misunderstanding is too common among people. In my personal opinion, the priest did the right thing, though the outcome was not so pleasant. In fact, what the villagers want is only to keep their culture. Obi has no authority to deprive this right. The priest conveys the message that freedom is not free and they will fight as eagle when necessary. This shows his leadership and his confidence to deal with conflicts with others.

I have to admit that the author has a very good sense of humor. Though life is not easy, he still enjoys it. He had no shelter, no clothes, and he was even unable to get enough food. However, in his eyes, this kind of life was not so bad. Because compared with people around them, they were much more fortunate. It seemed that he was incredibly optimistic. However, I have been questioning his optimism since I read it for the first time.

Babu claimed that his family members had been grass-eaters since the price of rice started soaring. Looking at the title, I thought it was a story about herbivores. But I was wrong. Babu and his wife were eating this. It is common knowledge is that humans are unable to digest plant fibers. That is to say, people can not keep healthy by just eating grass. I guess there are two explanations for their choice of food. One is the theory of evolution. They had developed a new digestive system which could get sugar out of plant fibers. This is obviously non-sense. So I prefer the other one. The author wanted to give us an image as miserable as he could. Only the refugees who are nearly starved to death will eat grass and leaves of trees. Many Indian people at that time were doing this and there were no helping hands. This is a pretty grim picture. Human beings are reduced to eating grass, which is not fit for mankind. Although Babu’s attitude towards life may inspire us, the picture the author shows to the readers is very gloomy.