A Summer's Reading - Reflection

Reflection – p.49

1. Did you enjoy reading the story? Why or why not? 
I enjoyed reading the story "A Summer's Reading" because I liked the way George's life and  George's personality are described in it. George has a certain goal but he doesn't have the mental and environmental tools to reach it.  Therefore, it is interesting to go through George's learning process, which begins with the lie he told Mr. Cattanzara. 

2. How did learning about the skills of Explaining Cause and Effect and Uncovering Motives influence your understanding of the story? Give examples. 
Learning about the skill of Explaining Cause and Effect helped me understand George's cause by lying to Mr. Cattanzara. He wanted Mr. Cattanzara to respect him and when Mr. Cattanzara asked him about what he is doing these days, he panicked and lied to him. 
The skill of Uncovering Motives helped me guess what could be Mr. Cattanzara's motives for trying to make George understand the importance of education as a key to succeed in life. 
His motive might be that he cares about George and wants him to succeed in his life.

3. How might awareness to characterization add to your enjoyment of future stories?
Awareness to characterization may add to my enjoyment of future stories because I'll know how the author builds characters in the story. First of all, he describes the character's appearance and then goes on to describing the personality and the characteristics. In future stories I will read, I will know to pay attention to every single detail about a character and then I'll know how to understand the character better. 

A Summer's Reading - Post Reading

Post Reading - p. 49

I chose task number 2: Write a letter from George to Mr. Cattanzara ten years after the   story ends.

 November 1st, 1930                                                                       

Dear Mr. Cattanzara,

I haven't seen you in the past five years but I wanted you to know how grateful I am. I am proud to say that my lying to you was the best thing that ever happened to me, since I wouldn't have the guts to get up and start living my life, as I always wanted, if it weren't for your support and belief in me. Now I know that what I needed to do was to leave my laziness behind and start reading in order to pick up my education.

In the first year I had to constantly remind myself why I was doing it and I had your support and Sophie's that kept me going. I would never forget how excited I was when I finished reading my first book, "The Magic of Oz". I ran straight to your apartment and we talked about it during the whole night. That's when I first felt like I could do this. And I will owe you for that for the rest of my life.

Another day that I would never forget is the day I left the neighborhood for my new job as a factory worker. This wasn't the best job ever, but it was more than I had ever had in my life. I lived with four roommates in a little apartment in the middle of New York City. Even though it was hard, it was a lifetime experience. From that point, I continued to work until a better offer came along, and after it a better offer. 

Now, I am happy to say that I have achieved my goal. I'm living with my wife, Christina
 (if you want to know how we met, it is a story for a different time…), at a cottage in the middle of New York City. We are expecting a boy that will keep us busy for a while. I work as a lawyer's assistant and hope to become a lawyer myself in a couple of years. But right now, I cannot be happier. The only thing that is missing in my life is you and Sophie, and I would like us to be in touch and visit each other.

Please tell me how you're doing in your next letter and send my love to Sophie and to your family as well. 

Love, 

George Stoyonovich (or Georgie for you…)

Very good letter.

(94)

Daphna

A Summer's Reading - Bridging Text and Context - FIXED

Bridging Text and Context - P. 49 

The information given in addition to the story helped me understand it better by notifying me about the author of the story. It says that Bernard Malamud used to write about how ordinary people, often immigrants, tried to fulfill the American middle class dream in their poor life circumstances. Moreover, almost all of his characters were isolated and had to face their problems by themselves with almost no moral support from their environment.  

The story "A Summer's Reading" is one of the author's collections of short stories, which include characters who search for hope in their miserable lives. In our story, nineteen-year-old George Stoyonvich is a son of an immigrant family, who lives in New York in the twenties, during the heavy depression in the United States. George dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and has a hard time getting a job due to the depression and his lack of education. He dreams of having a permanent job, living in a nice house, having a loving wife and family and be respected by others. However, George knows that he will never achieve his goals unless he picks up his education, but tends to find excuses for not doing so.
 

All of a sudden, George meets Mr. Cattanzara, "the change maker" whom he respects and appreciates. George, who wanted to win Mr. Cattanzara's respect as well, lies to him by telling him that he plans on reading a hundred books during the summer. This lie grows along the story and leads George to feel ashamed about himself more than ever, but not enough to make him change his situation. We can learn that George is one of Malamud's typical characters. He has a hard time facing his problems by himself in order to achieve his goals in life. George knows that proper education is the most important thing that can help him move forward in his life, although he doesn't have the motivation to pick up his education.

In conclusion, George had to overcome some major obstacles in his life, like his environment, his lack of moral support and his personality in order to start acting to pick up his education and, eventually, achieve his goals. We can learn that getting a good education is necessary if you want to succeed in your life, especially if you are an immigrant, who wants to live the American dream which you left your country for - like lots of Malamud's characters, including George.  

This is better, although it is still too long.  However, well done.

(92)

Daphna

"Mr. Know All"

Reflection 
1. Did you enjoy reading this story? Why or why not? 
I enjoyed reading the story "Mr. Know All" because I think its massage, that prejudging people might lead you to wrong conclusions, is still true nowadays. In my point of view, there are a lot of people who miss judge other people according to their origin, their appearance or their name. This kind of action is wrong and might even hurt people's feelings. So, I think everyone should read this story and understand its massage.

2. What did you find surprising, moving, upsetting or amusing about it? 
I found the ending of the story amusing because the narrator, which was considered as a conservative and not open minded person, had decided not to entirely dislike Mr. Kelada.    This was a surprising change in the narrator's opinion, that seems quite set on hating Mr. Kelada. Therefore, I found the end of the story amusing considering the lesson the narrator has learned.

3. How did learning about the thinking skills of Explaining Patterns and Uncovering Motives influence your understanding of the story? Give examples.
Learning about the thinking skill of Explaining Patterns helped me understand the story "Mr. Know All" better, because it is a useful skill for understanding people's behavior in literature, as well as in real life. In the story, the character of Max Kelada is described as a  dogmatic person who thinks he knows everything and always right. In addition, Mr. Kelada is suppoused to be too much friendly and familiar, knows every single person on board in three days and involved in every event that occurs on the ship.  Therefore, the skill of Explainig Patterns helped me understand that Mr. Kelada is probably a kind of person which is important to him to be loved and suroundded by friends, maybe due to his origin.  

"Mr. Know All" (checked in my folder)

Post Reading 
P. 25
3) Suggest a different ending to the story. # My additions in bold. # 
"That's a pretty chain of Mrs. Ramsay's, isn't it?" said Mr. Ramsay.
"I noticed it at once," answered Mr. Kelada. "Gee, I said to myself, those are pearls all right."
"I didn't buy it myself, of course. I'd be interested to know how much you think it cost."
    "Oh, in the trade somewhere round fifteen thousand dollars. But if it was bought on Fifth Avenue I shouldn't be surprised to hear that anything up to thirty thounsand was paid for it."
    Ramsay smiled grimly.
"You'll be surprised to hear that Mrs. Ramsay bought that string at a department store the day we left New York, for eighteen dollars."
    Mr. Kelada flushed.
"Rot. It's only real, but it's as fine a string fot its size as I've ever seen."
  "Will you bet on it? I'll bet you a hundred dollars it's imitation."|
"Done."
"Oh, Elmer, you can't bet on a certainty," said Mrs. Ramsay. She had a little smile on her lips and her tone was gently deprecating.
"Can't I? If I get a chane of easy money like that I should be all sorts of fool not to take it."
  "But how can it be proved?" she continued. "It's only my word against Mr. Kelada's."
  "Let me look at the chain, and if it's imitation I'll tell you quickly enough. I can afford to lose a hundred dollars," said Mr. Kelada.
"Take it off, dear. Let the gentleman look at it as much as he wants."
Mrs. Ramsay hesitated a moment. She put her hands to the clasp. "I can't undo it," she said. "Mr. Kelada will just have to take my word for it."
  I had a sudden suspicion that something unfortunate was about to occur, but I could think of nothing to say.
   Ramsay jumped up.
"I'll undo it."
 He handed the chain to Mr. Kelada. The Levantine took a magnifying glass from his pocket and closely examined it. A smile of triumph spread over his smooth and swarthy face. He handed back the chain. He was about to speak. Suddenly he caught sight of Mrs. Ramsay's face. It was so white that she looked as though she were about to faint. She was staring at him with wide and terrified eyes. They held a desperate appeal ` it was so clear that I wondered why her husband did not see it.
  Mr. Kelada stopped with his mouth open. He flushed deeply. You could almost see the effort he was making over himself.

"I was mistaken," He said. He was about to continue when Mrs. Ramsay suddenly interuppted. "No, you weren't mistaken, Mr. Kelada. You were right. My chain is real." . All of a sudden, a silence fell on our table, spreading towards all the tables in the dining room.
"What do you mean? it's impossible!," said Mr. Ramsay with horror in his voice. "We couldn't afford such a thing!" .
All the attention in the room was to our table now. People started calculating how such a thing might happen, considering the Ramsays' financial state. Mr. Kelada and I were the only ones who guessed the right answer. We looked at each other, unwilling to believe what just happend. When I looked at Mr. Kelada, I realized what he was about to do. He knew Mrs. Ramsay's secret just as much as I did, and was in a position that his word might reveal her secret to all the people in the room, including her husband. But he chose to take responsbility and risk being the ship's joke for the rest of the journey. I guess he is more of an Englishman than I gave him credit for...
 When the realization has finally stricked the room, Mrs. Ramsay began speaking. "I'm so sorry, Elmer. You were gone for so long... and it just happened. I have no excuses and I am willing to pay for what I did. Please forgive me." Her eyes were so genuine you knew she was telling the truth. All eyes were now on Mr. Ramsay, searching for his reaction. His face was pink. Something between pale white to furious red. It wasn't hard to guess that the whole scenario was compeletly emmbaressing to him, considering that you don't find out that your lovely wife was cheating on you on a daily basis. Especially not in presence of a crouded dining room full of people whom you supposed to face in each day on this ship. Mr. Ramsay's only words were: "I want us to divorce.". Then, he got up and left the room, his face now red than ever, leaving a wrecking wife behind.

Mr. Kelada and I echanged looks again. Both of us were uncapeable of saying anything, espeacilly not to Mrs. Ramsay. After evreyone else on the dininig room left, the three of us were the only ones there. Niether of us had something to say, so we just sat there, waiting for the workers to shoo us out when dinner is over. When they did, Mr. Kelada and I began slowly getting up, unwilling to leave broken Mrs. Ramsay all by her self but having no choice. When we tended to go, Mrs. Ramsay stopped Mr. Kelada. "Thank you." she said only with her lips.
"I'm sorry it turned out that way, really", said Mr. Kelada. I could hear the regret in his voice though I didn't understand it.
"Me too," I added. "I wish you and your husband all the best."
She nodded sadly towards us as we made our way out of the empty dining room.

"Turns out you were right." I said to Mr. Kelada with a sad smile on my lips. I can see he is surprised because this is the first time I actually spoken to him voluntarily since we've met on board. But he only nods and says quietly: "Yes, but I rather be wrong on that one". 

"Mr. Know - All"

In the story "Mr. Know - All" ,which was written by Somerset Maugham , there are two main and opposite characters: the narrator and Mr. Kelada . Both of them are in the same situation: isolated from the world on board of an ocean liner, that travels from San Francisco to Japan . Both of them don't know anyone on the ship and are forced to be with the same people every moment of the day for two weeks. The interaction between the two characters starts at the beginning of the story, when the narrator, whom the story is written in his perspective only, has been told the name of his roommate - Mr. Kelada . The moment the narrator hears him name, he automatically decides to dislike him, before even meeting him.

The narrator describes Mr. Kelada as a short and sturdy build man, with clean -shaven dark skin, a fleshy hooked nose and very large and liquid eyes. Also, the narrator mentions that Mr. Kelada's hair is sleek and curly, and his gestures are exuberant. Although Mr. Kelada proves he is English by showing the narrator his passport, the narrator thinks he is so much different from an English gentleman. He decides that according to his view of an English man, who has light hair, skin and eyes, polite and talks different than Mr. Kelada and speaks in a formal way with strangers, Mr. Kelada isn't considered as one. 

Unlike the specific description of Mr. Kelada, the writer doesn't describe the narrator. His name and appereance are not revealed in the story, so we can only learn about him from his thoughts and reactions to Mr. Kelada. The narrator is probably a typical British man of the period - after The First World War. He probably has a British name, blond hair, blue eyes and light skin. He is certain to be a racist, snobbish, conservative and with a big amount of respect to the social ethics . The narrator keeps repeating that he doesn't like Mr. Kelada, so we can learn that he already has a strong opinion on Mr. Kelada's look and personality.

In conclusion, the narrator is considered as a genuine British man who gets along only with British men of his kind. Therefore, he doesn't treat Mr. Kelada fairly and doesn't give him a chance to make an impression on him before he decides what kind of person he is. In my opinion,  Mr. Kelada and the narrator are opposites, and this is the reason the narrator judges Mr. Kelada before knowing him, or according to his looks and his origin.

A bit too long but very good work. Well done!
(95)
Daphna

"Count That Day Lost"

Post Reading

October 1st, 2011

Dear diary,
Today was a great day. Our class went on a charity trip to Jerusalem, in which we helped to deliver packages full of goods to families in need. It was so satisfying to watch the poor children open the package and smile at the sight of candies and sweets their parents can't afford buying them. On my way home, I saw an injured puppy and brought it home. I begged my parents to keep it and eventually they agreed, and I called him Fluffy. Then, I called my friend Ronnie to ask her to come and help me set Fluffy a place to sleep in my room. As she picked up the phone and said hello, she started crying. When I asked her what happened, she said that our Math teacher called and said she had failed the test again, and if she didn't improve her grades she didn't graduate like everyone else in our class. I cheered her up and told her that I helped her pass the final exam and offered her to come and help me with Fluffy. She agreed and we had a lot of fun with Fluffy, and afterwards we went to eat vanilla ice cream in the mall.So, I had a pretty nice day today, but now I'm very tired and I'm going to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day, too.Good night,

Jennifer

October 2nd, 2011

Dear diary,
I feel awful! This day wasn't good at all!
First, I fought with my best friend Ronnie today. She tried to help me with my English homework after school, and instead of thanking her for her effort, I was pissed off and nasty and she was insulted and left crying. I feel really bad I hurt her, she doesn't deserve such a behavior. Like that wasn't enough, I fought with my mother too. She just asked me to clean my room and I started screaming at her with no reason. She got mad and grounded me for the rest of the week! Now I can't go to Mike's big party as I planned. As I walked to my room and slammed the door shut, there was a phone call from Mike, asking if I will come to his party as his date. I wanted so badly to say yes because I waited a long time for him to ask me that, but then I remembered that I was grounded!
So, diary, you can now see how bad my day was. I wanted to make Ronnie, my mother and Mike happy but instead I made everyone sad. I'm going to sleep now, wishing  tomorrow  will be kinder...

Jennifer

 

Very good work.

(96)

Daphna