PERSONAL RESPONSE: THE CHRYSANTHEMUM AND THE GARDEN PARTY

I have read two short stories which are “The Chrysanthemum” written by John Steinbeck and “The Garden Party” written by Katherine Mansfield. I have made up my mind to choose the story “The Chrysanthemum” because I think this story is more interesting compared to the story “The Garden Party”. It is interesting in all aspects such as themes, character and the plot. Furthermore, this story is more challenging because of the words used and the underlying meaning of each sentence.

            There are a few characters in this story. One of the characters is Elisa Allen. Elisa Allen is the wife of Henry Allen. I chose Elisa because she is an interesting, intelligent and passionate woman. She is a hardworking woman. The line “…it was a hard-swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows, and a clean mud-mat on the front steps…” (Steinbeck, J.,1978, p.877) shows that Elisa always cleans and tidies their house neatly. However, Elisa also has a negative characteristic which is uncontrollable sex desire towards the Tinker. It can be proven in the line “…her breast swelled passionately…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.880) and “…kneeling there, her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.880). All this actions are causes by her cold sex relationship with Henry. The evidence is there is no line that shows Elisa has a child in the text although she is an attractive woman.

            The next character is Henry. I like this character because he has everything that a woman wants in a husband. He provides for her, treats her with respect and even takes her out every now and then. The line “…what’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I don’t think you will like it, but I’ll take you if you really want to go…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.882) shows that he respects Elisa and even asks Elisa whether she wants to go or not even though he can make the decision by itself. However, Henry is unimaginative. He praises Elisa “…I mean you look different, strong and happy…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.882) and “…you look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.882). Henry should not praise a woman with a sentence like that. That causes Elisa lost her rigidity. The line “…for a second she lost her rigidity…” and “…Henry ! Don’t talk like that. You Didn’t know what you said…” indicates that Elisa does not like to be praise like that.

            The main theme of this story is the inequality of gender. Elisa is an interesting, intelligent and passionate woman but all these qualities go to waste. Having a professional career is not an option for her because of woman in this society is always expected to stay at home, takes care of the family and household. Although Henry is less intelligent than Elisa, but he is the one who runs the ranch, supports himself and Elisa, and makes business deals. All Elisa does is maintaining the garden and watching Henry’s work from far. This can be shown in the line “…Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.877). In addition, all Elisa’s good quality such as her talent in business is not appreciated just because she is a woman. The evidence is in the line “…you’ve got a gift with things. I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big…”(Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.878). However, when Elisa said “…maybe I could do it, too. I’ve a gift with things, all right. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planter’s hands that knew how to do it…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.878), Henry replied “…well, it sure works with flowers…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.878). That shows Henry does not appreciated the talent that Elisa has.

The setting that has been discussed in this story is the Salinas Valley, California which is the location of where Henry and Elisa lived. The second setting is Elisa’s house. This is where Elisa did her gardening and watched her husband, Henry, talking to two men and making the business deals. The last setting is the road toward Salinas. This is the place where Elisa saw the discarded chrysanthemum shoots that the tinker has thrown away.

One of the issues that can be seen in this story is the importance of sexual fulfillment. In this story, Elisa is trying to seduce the Tinker because her desire in sex is uncontrollable. This can be shown in the line “…her breast swelled passionately…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.880). The pursuit of sexual fulfillment can cause people to act unreasonable way. For example, she does those seducing action and that can be shown in the line “…kneeling there, her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.880). In addition, Elisa speaks to the Tinker with nearly pornographic language. It can be proved in the conversation between Elisa and the Tinker “…every pointed star gets driven into your body…” (Steinbeck, J., 1978, p.880). Furthermore, it is a husband’s responsible to fulfill his wife’s sexual needs and vice versa. Sexual fulfillment is one of the key of successful and happy marriage.

As a conclusion, honesty, faithfulness and sexual fulfillments are very important in a marriage. Those are the keys to achieve a happy marriage. A woman should only love and reserved herself for her husband, not for other man. On the other hand, male and female should be given an equal right. A husband and wife should appreciate each other. All this will ensure the happiness of a marriage. Elisa could have a happy marriage life.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS: BALLAD OF BIRMINGHHAM AND AFRICA

I have read and analyze two poems which are “Ballad of Birmingham” written by Dudley Randall and “Africa” written by Maya Angelou. I have made up my mind to choose the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” and “Africa” because I think these poems is more interesting compared to the other poems. It is interesting in all aspects such as themes, tones, setting, and the language used. Furthermore, these poems are challenging because of the words used and the underlying meaning of each sentence.

                In “Ballad of Birmingham,” Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march the streets of Birmingham with the other children and a mother who are trying to protect her child. The setting of place this poem are the church in Alabama and the house which the conversation between the mother and the child occurred. In addition, this poem uses the dialogue between a mother and a child to illustrate the message of the poem. Throughout the poem, the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. On the other hand, the mother is very eager prevent the child from going because it is dangerous. The themes of this poem is racism and mother love. The racism happened between African-American in Alabama, which the church is bomb by the American. The repetition of line “…No baby, no, you may not go…” and “…for I fear those guns will fire…” shows the feeling of a mother who refused to let her child go march the streets of Birmingham because she knows that it is very dangerous.

There are different tones that can be seen in this poem. Firstly, there is a tone of innocence in the first stanza. The young child tries to act nice and innocent to her mother so that her mother might let her go to the march. That can be seen in line “…Mother dear, may I go downtown…”. Secondly, there is the tone of concern for her child's safety. Her mother tells her that there are dogs, clubs and hoses in the line “…No baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs are fierce and wild…” . These things were used on protesters and marchers to control the crowds when they grew too large and cannot be controlled. Next, there is the tone of joy in the fifth stanza and in the first half of the sixth stanza. The line “…the mother smiled to know that her child was in the sacred place…” shows that she is joyful that her daughter is going to church instead of going to the march. But, in the seventh stanza that tone of joy immediately turns to grief and loneliness when she heard the explosion. The line “…her eyes grew wet and wild..” shows the mother’s sadness of losing her child.

            On the other hand, the persona of “Africa” is the author Maya Angelou. She expresses that Africa is strong black women. She does this when she writes “…mountains her breast two Niles her tears Thus she has lain Black through the years”.  In addition, Maya Angelou describes "Africa" being destroyed by Europeans who took the children of Africa into slavery. It can be seen in line “…took her young daughters…’. The setting is in Africa as the title of the poem itself is Africa. The theme is almost the same as the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” which is racism. Black people are always being discriminate by the white people. This poem is also portrays the situation of war. The poet uses woman to personified Africa. For example, a woman “…deserts her hair…” and “…mountains her breasts…”. Personification and rhythm enhance the tone of this poem.

The tone of the poem is different from “Ballad of Birmingham” as “Ballad of Birmingham has different kind of tone which are innocent, concern, joyful and loneliness while “Africa” has changing tone which from pleasant to unpleasant to contemplative. The first stanza start with pleasant tone which the poet describes the Africa as a woman such as in the line “…golden her feet, mountains her breast, two Niles her tears…”. Later, it changed to unpleasant tone in second stanza which the poet writes about the woman is suffered. The line “…bled her with guns…” shows that the woman is suffering. Lastly, in the third stanza, the tone changed to contemplative the woman is rising and remember all her misery and history.

            One of the issues that can be seen in the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” is discrimination of black people.  This can be seen when the poet is trying to conveys his message in the line “…and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands and white shoes on her feet…”. Other than that, it can be shows in the line “…for when she heard the explosion her eyes grew wet and wild…”. In that line, we know that the church which is the sacred place is being bomb by the American white people.  Same as the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, one of the issues highlighted in the poem “Africa” is racism. The racism happens between white people and black people. That can be seen in the line “… over the white seas, rime white and cold…”. That symbolizes white people. Racism can cause destruction to the surrounding and the people around. The people all around the world should not discriminate people based on the skin colour, religion and country. All people are same, the creature that is create by the Almighty God.

            There are many literary devices that have been used by Dudley Randall in the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”. One of the literary devices used is alliteration. We can see the use of alliteration in several lines such as “…for I fear those guns will fire…” and “…her eyes grew wet and wild…”. Other than that, the poet use repetition in his poem. For example, “…no, baby, no, you may not go…”, “…and bathed rose petal sweet, and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, and white shoes on her feet…” and “…but that smile was the last smile…”. Furthermore, the poet also use assonance in line “…and bathed rose petal sweet, and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, and white shoes on her feet…” and consonance in line “…and clubs and hoses, guns and jails…”. The next is irony in line “…the mother smiled to know that her child was in the sacred place…”. Last but not least is apostrophe. That can be shown in line “…O, here’s the shoe my baby wore…”.

            In the poem “Africa”, Maya Angelou use repetition in line “…over the white seas rime white and cold…”, “…remember her pain, remember the losses, remember her riches…” and “…thus she had lain…”. Other than that, she use alliteration in line “…sugarcane sweet…”, “…sold her strong sons…” and “…remember her losses…”. Next, we can see hyperbole in line “…two Niles her tears...”. In addition, the poet uses symbolism in her poem. The woman in this poem symbolizes Africa.

            In a nutshell, the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” and “Africa” has their own specialties and message. Those two poems discuss about the racism that happen in our world. All people in the world are the same. We should not discriminate other people based on their skin colour, religious and countries. We are all creatures that are create by the Almighty god.

BEAUTY OR HEALTHY ?

            Beauty is essential to a woman. Who does not want to look beautiful? Nowadays, even man also likes to be pretty. Those men are called metrosexual. They are not gay, but they like to look pretty and smart. Now, women and men are equal. Beauty comes along with healthy. We must be healthy in order to look beauty.

First and foremost, we must know our own skin type. There are five types of skin which are normal, oily, dry, combination and sensitive skin. Each types of skin have its own features that make it easy to recognize. The first type of skin is normal skin. This skin type is rarely suffers from acne and blemishes. People with normal skin do not have to deal with pimples because of they have pores that are normal in size. Pores that are normal in size rarely trap oil and dirt inside them. The second skin type is oily skin. This type of skin always deals with chronic blemishes. In order to keep oily skin healthy, frequent cleaning is very important. The third type of skin is combination skin. This type of skin is oily in certain places and dry in other places. The solution for this skin type is to treat each type as needed. Lastly is sensitive skin. People with this skin type always cause them problem to use any products. They should always look for hypoallergenic products. We can plan our daily skin routine correctly after identifying our own skin type.

Plastic surgery is increasingly popular nowadays as the new generation of people loves to upgrade their looks or appearance. The reasons why they want to perform plastic surgery is they feel that a good-looking face will make it easier for them to find a job or husband. However, beauty comes along with pain and danger. The increasing popularity of plastic surgery has resulted in increased of unregistered and unsafe practitioners. Furthermore, a person may being risk stuck with the face that they do not like after enduring so much pain and paying a lot of money for the surgery.

Another way to look beautiful is Botox injection. It contained a purified form of the toxin that causes botulism which is a deadly type of food poisoning. Botox was finally approved for cosmetic purposes in April 2002 but has been approved to treat medical conditions for years. The effects of Botox only last for four to six months. However, there are some bad side effects of Botox such as temporary nausea or headaches and moderate drooping of one or both eyelids, lasting about two weeks. On the other hand, Botox have some good effects too. For example, after the Botox procedure, frequent migraines get better.

Other than paying attention on how to get a beautiful skin, we must know how to prevent skin cancer. There are four ways to prevent skin cancer. The first way is by protective clothing. Protective clothing and wearing long sleeved shirts and pants help prevent excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The second way is avoidance of tanning booth. Tanning booths can lead to extra exposure of UVB and UVA, which might further lead to the development of skin cancer. Avoidance of the sun at its most intense period during the day is also important. The best time for outdoor activities is during the early morning or late in the afternoon.

 Last but not least, we must follow a healthy diet and constant with our daily skin regime. It is crucial to be constant with your skincare regime. Other than normal cleansing and toning, adding an antioxidant cream during the day and an eye cream for both day and night will helps a person to get a healthy skin. Always apply a fine broad spectrum sunscreen every day no matter what your age to keep a healthy skin. In order to help skin looks its best, we must follow a diet based on fruits, nuts, vegetables, fish, and poultry.

People nowadays always try to make their skin looks good but they ignore the health of their skin. A campaign should be organized to give people knowledge about the importance of skin health. Remember, beauty comes along with health! Let’s start to protect our skin!

references: 

Skin Type-What’s Your Skin Type? Retrieved October 3, 2011, from Beauty.com. http://www.beautyfitnessonline.com

Weston, V. (1994). Illustrated Encyclopedia : The Human Body. China, Time Life Asia.

Chad, R. W. (2003). Reader's Digest : Medical Breakthrough. London: The Reader's Digest Association Limited

Yap, P. (2011). Snip and Tuck. Malaysia: The Sun Daily.

Soliano, D. (2011). Does Your Skin Mirror Your True Age? Women's Weekly , 88.