The Calming River

The rush of the water
Goes on and on and on
Never ending
The water hits the rocks
A calm soothing noise to the ear
A sense of purity
Crystal clear water
Giving rememberance of a new life
It shows how gentle the earth really is
Water has glimpses of sparkle
Here and there
Fog from the forest so moist
Rises through the dew-filled air
How can nature be so beautiful?
How can nature be so refreshing?
One deep breath
Taken to a place unimaginable
Once you get there
You don't want to leave

The Good Earth

The novel, The Good Earth, is taken place in the early 20th century. Wang Lung, a farmer, had a very hard life compared to the lives that we live today. Now, in the 21st century, we take short cuts and use our modern technology rather than doing hard labor. The way Wang lives is just the opposite. They didn't have the ability to use powered machinery to do there work for them. Everything was done with bare hands. Wang may have been poor, but he had enough money to survive and be happy. The way the women were treated in the Chinese culture, though, was horrible and appalling campared to the men. We have so many rights of freedom being women now adays in the United States, but back in the 20th century of the Chinese culter, women were treated like slaves. The only way for women to have loyalty and respect was to be wealthy. Most were not of this high ranking. O-lan was not treated by the old mistress the way she should be treated. It was like O-lan had no meaning to the world. Marraige did not mean much because you did not know the person. O-lan was just given to Wang as if he bought her. No woman deserves a life like the one that O-lan has to go through.
Nature seemed to be a big part of Wang's life. " Now it was as if Heaven had chosen this day to wish him well. Earth would bear fruit." (page 2) Rain is what Wang had been praying to come so that his crops could finally grow. It was going to come and Wang could feel it. Nature is what has been guiding Wang this whole time. It is what is keeping him happy. Nature can throw you curveballs sometimes and later in the novel, situations are going to happen where Wang is going to have to rely on fait to get him through it.
Symbolism was all over the place as I read the first chapter of The Good Earth. It went from spring and kitchen, to rain and wind. It is too early in the book to know exactly what the mode of this novel is going to end up being. From what has been said so far I get the feeling that this is going to be a tragedy. It starts off with Wangs life being full of hardships. His father giving him no freedom or guidelines in life. He was, in a way, a slave to his father. He did anything for him when he needed it. When his father told him to make him food, he did. He had no company other than his grouchy father who was always sick. Maybe the reason he needed a wife was for the company and pleasure of having someone in his life. This is just the same as A Jury to Her Peers. Minnie just wanted freedom and company. She was tired of being trapped in a life with big boundaries holding her from the outside world. This is exactly how Wang is feeling.

Beach

I fiddle my toes in the comforting sand and dream about nothing....nothing at all. The calm feeling of nothing....just listening, not thinking. I set my head back and shut my eyes. Now I am not worried of my surroundings. I can just dream of nothing. The water comes crashing along the shoreline, but I don't notice. All I hear is the still nothingness in the air. As the clouds pass the shadows give me a cold chill, but as the clouds move on and the sun appears again, I get a warm feeling that goes up and down my spine. I open my eyes once again and look at my surroundings. The wind creates a hush sound against the branches as the trees begin to sway. As I sit in the warm mushy sand i think about all that is good. All that is nothing.

A Jury of her Peers

"It looked very lonesome this cold March morning. It had always been a lonesome-looking place. It was down in -a hollow, and the poplar trees around it were lonesome-looking trees." In the short story, A Jury of her Peers, Minnie Foster was a lonesome lady living in a house of mistreatment until, that is, her husband suddenly died. Minnie Foster owned a canary. This canary was all that she had to represent her freedom. When she discovered that her bird was strangled to death by her husband, she found that her freedom had been gone. Her husband, Mr. Wright, took that only freedom that she had away from her. The only thing Minnie could think of doing was getting back at Mr. Wright. Minnie wanted him to struggle and suffer just like she did without her bird, and she wanted him to die the same way her bird did. She knew that a gun would be to fast and he would be gone in an instant, so she decided to make it slow and painful by strangling him like her bird.
After the physical murder,the Peters family and the Hale family came to investigate. Throughout the course of the story the women,Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, seemed to be treated unfairly. The men did not respect them and let them help in the investigation. Maybe they believed that the women were on Mrs. Wright's side. The women decided to work separately from the men in finding out what really happened to Mr. Wright. The clues the ladies found were good, though not on purpose. When the men asked Mrs. Wright questions about Mr. Wright's death she didn't seem to interested and caring. That showed me that it was Mrs. Wright who killed her husband. It was as though she killed him because it was like she had been trapped in this cage full of mistreatment and neglection for all these years just like her bird. All Mrs. Wright wanted was comfort and freedom and getting rid of her husband was her way of getting it.