Create Memories

Friends that were enemies yesterday

CHANGE

Metafiction

Dear Mom,

First of all, happy birthday! I'm sorry I wasn't able to celebrate in a fancy restaurant. And thank you so much for sending me to such a wonderful place; my experiences in the Philippines were the greatest things that happened to me.

At first when I opened the white wooden door into a hot, steamy, small, but cozy little room, the room was like a hotel; all the furniture was in a right angled order, and nothing was extraordinary about it. The room was utterly clean, without single dust on the floor, and the bed sheets and towels were neatly folded. Apparently in the Philippines, every household owns several housemaids because of the low personnel expenditure.

"Are you saying that I don't have to do my bed or organize my own desk here? Yay! This is amazing!" I cried out loud in joy after listening to my Ajjuma's (the owner of the house I lived in) explanation.

"Sure. In fact, you'll be in trouble if you ever do these tasks yourself. I have to train my maids since some of them are new here."

Except for the fact that it was extremely hot (the temperature reached over 40 degrees Celsius), the place was a paradise for me. There wasn't anyone to scold me or order me to do this or that. Back at home, I had World War Three with you every day, remember? You always tried to find any flaws that I might have made, 24 hours a day. I was delighted to have gotten out of all that.

One day during the six months of my homestay in the Philippines, I caught a really bad cold, as you already know; I couldn't move at all; my body temperature went up to 40 degrees Celsius, but I was still freezing. I skipped school and stayed in my bed all day. At 1 in the afternoon, my roommate came back from school and turned on the air conditioner. I understood her at first, because she was sweating all over, but after a while, I felt even more terrible with extra coughs.

"Hey Sora, could you turn off the air conditioner? I'm freezing here. Please?" I asked just to be polite since I was quite sure that she would gladly turn it off. It was more than obvious that I caught a bad cold and I needed the air conditioner to be turned off, so her answer was totally unexpected.

"You never consider others, do you? You are so selfish, did you know that? I know that you caught a cold, but I live in this room too, and can't you see I'm sweating like crazy? You should really start to learn to consider others too, you know."

I was infuriated with her, but I had no energy to fight, so I just stayed still and fell asleep. Apparently, my cold got worse.

A few days later, I got better. However, this time it was Sora who caught the cold; she must have gotten infected from me. She lay down all day long. Her coughs went on and I felt the strong need to turn off the air conditioner, but I remembered what she had done to me.

Only God knows why Ajjuma had to come into the room at that moment.

"My God, MinSun! Can't you see that Sora caught a terrible cold? And the cold was from you, remember? Now turn off the air conditioner immediately!"

I knew that it was bad, but I didn't want to do it. I knew it was childish, but I felt that it was unfair. I was 13 years old, at the peak of my puberty, so I was rebellious more than ever; I shouted back at her face as loud as I could. She got so mad that she went downstairs and called you. You and Ajjuma talked for quite some time. I tried to eavesdrop your talk from upstairs, but unfortunately, I couldn't catch a thing.

"MinSun, come down and get your mom's call!" shouted Ajjuma.

"Oh, shit," I uttered to myself, assuming that you would shout at me again. "This is my worst day ever."

With an extremely angered face, Ajjuma handed the phone over to me. I took it. I scowled at her for a moment, looked away, and listened to what the telephone had to say. I kept some distance between the phone and my ear since I expected shouting, when I heard a small crying voice from it. I couldn't believe my ear so I pushed the phone against my ear instantly.

"I know. I know you didn't do it on purpose. I know my own daughter, and she couldn't have done it on evil purpose."

"You do?"

"Of course, I know you have a reason to have done that. But MinSun, sometimes, you have to give in to these situations. You're in a foreign country, and in a house that is not your own. You don't have to explain to me what had happened, nor to Ajjuma. She wouldn't try to understand you. I'm on your side, so just go tell Ajjuma that you're sorry and turn off the air conditioner. That's how you can live your life much easier."

You were crying, so was I. It was the first time that I've heard you cry. It was the first time I realized that you were always on my side. My eyes were full of tears, but I didn't want to cry in front of Ajjuma. I put down the phone and ran upstairs into my bathroom. It felt as if someone was poking and opening up my wounded heart. It hurt, so much. I cried until I felt dehydrated, and opened the bathroom door into my room. Sora was sleeping in her bed, buried in multiple sheets. I quietly turned off the air conditioner, pulled out a piece of paper, and began to write this letter for you.

Love, MinSun

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She looked up from the letter, to me. She didn't shout or anything, but I could tell from her eyes that she was quite surprised to see me sitting right beside her while she was reading my letter. She smiled at me, but she didn't say anything. I wished she would break the silence, but she just smiled at me, which started to make me a little uncomfortable. So I spoke out first.

"If you think of me as a daughter who is always rebellious to your thoughts, I am not anymore. After all the years I've been with you, I finally can see the true purpose of all your nagging and scolding. I simply thought you hated me when you scolded me instead of my sister when we had a fight, and I really thought you hated me. In fact, until this moment, I've considered my family useless by the time I grow up and actually get to live on my own. I remember that night when I came home late.

What had really happened that night was I had watched a movie with my friend after lying to you that I would stay and study. It was late, but I didn't answer your calls on purpose because I didn't want to get caught for watching movies and lying to you. You were so worried about me, so you called everyone, including my best friend who was watching the movie with me, the academy that I was supposed to be in, and the police. When the police called me, it was then when I knew I was in big trouble and blamed you for calling the police and making everything so big a deal. I couldn't understand why you would call the police just because I didn't receive my calls for a couple of hours. When I arrived home, you had tears in your red eyes and I remember you saying something about the importance of family and how I should keep in contact especially at night in this dangerous world. I laughed at you inside.

But now, I know. I finally understand what you've been trying to say. It's my first time that I realize that my family is the only one that is going to stand on my side whatever happens to me."

Body Language

Body English. Write a “conversation” in which no words are said.  This exercise is meant to challenge you to work with gesture, body language (or, as a baseball announcer I heard once misspeak it, body English), all the things we convey to each other without words.  We often learn more about characters in stories from the things characters do with their hands than from what they say.  It might be best to have some stranger observe this conversation, rather than showing us the thoughts of one of the people involved in the conversation, because the temptation to tell us what the conversation is about is so great from inside the conversation.  “I was doing the opposite of Freud,” Desmond Morris says, of his famous book The Naked Ape that first studied the ways humans speak with their bodies.  “He listened to people and didn’t watch; I watched people and didn’t listen.”  Because of Morris, according to Cassandra Jardine, “when politicians scratch their noses they are now assumed to be lying—and the sight of the Queen [Elizabeth] crossing her legs at the ankles is known to be a signal that her status is too high for her to need to show sexual interest by crossing them further up.”  Autistic children cannot understand human conversation even when they understand individual words because they cannot read facial expressions, which is clear evidence of how important other forms of language are.  600 words.

The clock pointed exactly eleven o'clock when her mom decided she should exercise outside. Her mom had been making her jump ropes as a doctor told her this would help her grow taller. Nuri was lying flat on her bed as if her stomach was glued to the bed sheets. She was deeply immersed in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," but her mother never accepted any excuse. Perhaps she felt the strong responsibility to help her grow taller since Nuri was the smallest in her class. 
Her mom stared at her disapprovingly out of the corner of her eyes, leaning on the door.
But Nuri did not budge an inch from her position, still holding her Harry Potter book. In fact, she suddenly started to flip through the pages even faster when her mom entered the room to pull her out of the bed. Nuri's eyes were now strictly fixed on the black letters on the white papers in her book. Nuri's mom knew how to handle her better than anyone else; she was standing still on the threshold, staring at Nuri and not moving at all. 
Nuri sighed, her eyes looking down at the floor and closed her book with a loud noise. She put on her coat halfheartedly and walked across the living room hallway, thumping her feet as hard as she could. Grabbing her jump rope, Nuri pushed the door and pressed the elevator button to go down. The automatic lighting turned off itself and there came a complete darkness. In the dark, Nuri's eyes were wavering, and so did her hands toward the light bulb. The light turned on again. Dark again. Now Nuri jumped with her hands high up toward the light. The elevator reached 5th floor, and the door opened. She walked in, pressing the ground floor automatically with her elbow, and looked into the mirror. Her face was the only part she could see. She stepped up onto a green box at the edge. Now her shoulders were shown in the mirror.
When the elevator reached the ground floor, the door opened and Nuri came out of the elevator. The freezing wind pierced through her thick parka, and Nuri stopped in front of the door that divided the warmer part of the apartment, and outside, the colder part. Her neck and chin were already buried deep in her coat, and her hands in both her coat pockets, with her jump rope carried under her arm. She gazed outside through the glass door with gloomy eyes. Her eyes panned around the parking lot in front of the apartment, and suddenly, her eyes were fixed on a white Avante, because the car had its yellow lights turned on inside. Under the yellow lights, a young woman was sitting next to the driver's seat.

Nuri's eyes suddenly got bigger, and she carefully opened the glass door when icy cold wind invaded her; she shut her eyes tight. She stepped outside with her eyes still fixed on the young woman. The woman was sitting straight, staring at a tree right in front of the car. Her eyes weren't moving at all, nor was any part of her body. Shivering, Nuri slowly walked toward the car tiptoeing on frozen snow. Then, the woman suddenly turned her head where Nuri was walking. Screaming like a dying little pig, Nuri slipped on icy ground, but quickly got up and ran into the apartment. She pressed the elevator button to go up. She fumbled around the neck area and sighed. For the second time, Nuri walked toward the car, and for the second time, the woman turned to face Nuri. Startled at her movement, Nuri picked up her muffler. Right then, the woman tapped on the driver's seat next to her, looking into Nuri's shaking eyes. Nuri's heart began to beat faster, but her hand reached out and opened the car door. Moving as if she were hypnotized by something, Nuri kept staring at her own feet, occasionally peeking at the woman. Nuri suddenly stopped glancing and watched the woman intently. In the woman's eyes, Nuri saw her own face magnified by the woman's tears. 

All of a sudden, Nuri held the woman's hand, which was two times bigger than hers, and Nuri looked deeply into the woman's eyes. Both of them stared at each other holding hands for several minutes. Then, Nuri grasped her hands with greater strength and smiled. 

The next day, Nuri hears a story; the explanation of the woman sitting there.

Obama's victory

Election Results Prezi on Prezi

TED; Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are

I'm posting this TED video to relate to my assignment; fiction-body language

Isn't life

"Isn't life," she stammered, "isn't life-"

But what life was she couldn't explain. No matter. He quite understood.

"Isn't it, darling?" said Laurie.

From "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield

Fiction-Assignment

Body English. Write a “conversation” in which no words are said.  This exercise is meant to challenge you to work with gesture, body language (or, as a baseball announcer I heard once misspeak it, body English), all the things we convey to each other without words.  We often learn more about characters in stories from the things characters do with their hands than from what they say.  It might be best to have some stranger observe this conversation, rather than showing us the thoughts of one of the people involved in the conversation, because the temptation to tell us what the conversation is about is so great from inside the conversation.  “I was doing the opposite of Freud,” Desmond Morris says, of his famous book The Naked Ape that first studied the ways humans speak with their bodies.  “He listened to people and didn’t watch; I watched people and didn’t listen.”  Because of Morris, according to Cassandra Jardine, “when politicians scratch their noses they are now assumed to be lying—and the sight of the Queen [Elizabeth] crossing her legs at the ankles is known to be a signal that her status is too high for her to need to show sexual interest by crossing them further up.”  Autistic children cannot understand human conversation even when they understand individual words because they cannot read facial expressions, which is clear evidence of how important other forms of language are.  600 words.

I'm totally in the same place with this prompt that body language is sometimes even more important than actual words when communicating, especially with emotions. 
I'm planning to write a story based on my experience when I was 9 years old. I have an experience of witnessing a ghost inside a car around 11 in front of my apartment. It was so shocking that I still remember exactly how I felt then. 
I'm going to change the point of view from me to "a girl." In that way, I could be able to illustrate my emotion through gestures.

Relating to the author, Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Throughout three chapters, we can easily find the common characteristics of Oscar Wilde and the main characters in Dorian Gray. While some experts claim that we should analyze literature within itself, not relating it to the life of the author, it is necessary to think of the relationship between the author and his works.

The very first thing that struck me was the issue of homosexuality. Both the demeanors and words of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry and Basil are not the expression of mere "liking," but more of romantic feelings toward each other. When Lord Henry asks how often does he see Dorian, Basil answers, “Every day. I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him everyday. He is absolutely necessary to me.” Dorian, on the other hand, is totally charmed by Lord Henry, who is a magical speaker burping out witty saying every time he opens his mouth. Dorian is so in love with him that he asks Henry to “promise to talk to me all the time.” Other than these, there are numerous quotes in the book that indicate the cheesy, romantic sentiment. Furthermore, the love between men and women are almost ignored, especially by Lord Henry. He defines marriage as to be short-lived and temporary, and asserts that women are a decorative sex. This imparted comparison between homosexual and heterosexual love emphasizes the homosexual romance among three guys. Lastly, Sibyl Vane, the actress of Shakespeare plays, is portrayed as a foolish young woman who is enthralled by "Prince Charming" whom she doesn't even know the name of. She instantly falls in love with Dorian, and in later chapters, forsakes her whole career just for him. How foolish is that? This stupidity of Sibyl Vane also indicates the triviality of love between different sexes.

Homosexuality, the prevailing thought of this book, was one of the characteristics of Oscar Wilde; he was a gay. During his time, the Victorian Era, it was difficult to express this feature of himself because of the zeitgeist of the time. In my opinion, instead, he expressed this feeling in his literature.

Other common factors are instilled in Lord Henry's personality and his views on certain subjects; Oscar Wilde and Lord Henry are awfully similar to each other. First one is hedonism, the appreciation of pleasure more than anything else. Lord Henry actually insists that one’s life should be spent appreciating beauty and seeking out pleasure rather than searching for ways to alleviate pain and tragedy. Oscar was also a believer of hedonism as well. Second common factor is the idea that art and life are not only closely related to each other, but also interchangeable. Thus, Lord Henry claims that vice and virtue are only the subsidiaries of aestheticism; they are merely the tools to create beauty. Oscar talked about this a lot in his preface of this book; he is into aestheticism. Moreover, Lord Henry loves social comedy and satire, so did Oscar. 

Motivation Speech

Mr. Tweedie's English Composition Class

Would you take a look at this miniature eagle? Do any of you girls know how the eagles learn to fly so high and for such a long time?

When the baby eagles grow into a certain age, the mother pushes her own babies down the steep cliff, when she has not even taught her children how to fly. The baby eagles, having no choice but to desperately try to fly, try all kinds of methods within a couple of minutes while falling down. Those give up during the process die. Those try until they succeed, live. Of the eagles that try frantically until they reach the very ground, there is not a single eagle that dies.

YOU are my baby eagles, and I really want you to keep that in mind. You have been practicing for 6 months! That certainly is a lot of time, and you did not waste any of it. Nonetheless, you were practicing with real passion, and I watched you girls with actual admiration. During the ten years of my career of giving children ballet lessons, you were the youngest, and the most talented kids I have ever encountered, and I mean it. I know that if you keep going with this amount of passion and this amount of practice time, you WILL be the best ballet dancers, even entering the "The Bolshoi Ballet" at some point. Believe me, I can see it in you, and I can FEEL it in you!

I know I've been excessively harsh on you girls, and never complimented throughout the whole 6 months, but you should really know that I acted in such a way because I wanted you to exert your capacity to the fullest. Now, you girls are ready to go out there and demonstrate what you have!

I know you have been peeking out and freaking out of the size of the audience just a few moments ago, and I know you're all very nervous inside. You were making mistakes on the routine not because you weren't good enough, but because your mind isn't set up for performance yet. Actually, I also had the exact same experience when I was your age. I got to perform in a much bigger stage than this place, and my show was more of a formal audition than an informal talent show like what you're going through right now. So, you can imagine how nervous I was. Besides, I wasn't performing as a group; I was all by myself, since it was a solo performance that I did. Watching some of the previous participants leaving with luggage along with tears, I was already shaking with fear even before going on the stage. Finally, it was my turn to perform in front of the frowning judges, but I was too afraid to go up there, and unfortunately, I gave up. I have regretted that, like, for the rest of my life, until today.

Now I do NOT want you talented girls to regret your sweating blood for precious six months, especially if you don't want to spoil your peers' hard work. As I have been trying to tell you, you guys are extremely talented, worked so hard for this day, and even your parents are coming to watch! Aren't you guys excited to show your parents what you've got? Now, people will probably come to this performance, thinking "Well, how good can little girls dance? They're just cute, small girls who happen to have little talent shows, for the amusement of their parents." Girls, this would be a great chance to demonstrate how good and professional you can be even though you're little girls. I know you can nail this, and so do you.

A girl changed my life.

I'm now sitting on a bench at the Yuldong Park. The breeze, it is gently sweeping my face and my hair while I'm writing this on my lap. I gotta tell you, the world is happy all over today, with children laughing and running around, joyous couples strolling through the beautiful flower paths, and blissful families having a nice little picnic here and there. Oh, it's time to go to my music class! I love my music class so much that I'm willing to take the class even when I'm dying. 

I used to attend Iowa State University until just yesterday, although I'm 31 by the end of this month. I know it is ridiculous, but my brother made me attend this school, trying to convince me that I've got some kind of disease, which I don't remember the name of, schizcco something. As usual, I walked into the school gate into up the stairs into my Basic Psychology classroom, with my eyes meeting the floor, afraid to meet someone else's eyes. Walking into the classroom, I cautiously looked around the room and noticed a shocking thing; I was amazed by the presence of a new member sitting in the front row, on the very right corner. 

She looked… absolutely AMAZING. She was a typical beautiful blonde, not like my horrible reddish hair, she had such beautiful blue eyes, skin as white as a snowflake, not like my burning cheek, and had stunning body, not like my short, stumpy body. I really wanted to talk to her, but I just didn't have enough guts to do it. She must have noticed that I was always on my own, because during the five minutes of break, she walked up to me and asked if I could lend her notes of the previous lectures. Of course, I didn't have any notes to lend, since I never take notes. Maybe that's why I get F every semester. 

Anyway, one thing led to another, and I found myself eating lunch with her, the experience that was half pleasing and half strange for me. To tell the truth, I've never eaten with a stranger before, or even talked to one. At first, when she asked me to eat with her, I was really worried that it might turn into an utterly awkward lunch. 

Well, my worries turned out to be completely useless, because she was not only beautiful, but also so funny. I was laughing every second we were together, and when she was around, I could forget all the things and not notice the time anymore. She, like me, didn't have cell phone. She said it deterred her from her studies, but I think she doesn't need one since she can get along quite well with others, even without cell phones. In this and every other way, she was a perfect match for me, so we became best friends on the very first day we met, which was just yesterday. It seems like I've known her for years now. 

After lunch, when we went outside, rain was pouring all over as if it were trying to sweep out everything that exists on the Earth. We stared at each other in awe, not knowing what to do. I quickly suggested if she wanted to stay at my house for some time before the rain stops, since my house was really close to that place. Without a word, she ran ahead of me through the rain, and I quickly caught up with her.

It felt so cozy and warm being with her, having a hot cocoa with five marshmallows in each of our cocoa. Like when we had lunch, she was making me laugh again for the whole time, and I was laughing my head off, seriously. Her jokes made my stomach muscles ache. The time, again, flied so fast that it was now time for dinner. I knew exactly when we should eat dinner, because my stomach always rumbles at the exact 7 o'clock.

The ordered pizza arrived, and while she was paying for it at the door, I washed my hands in the bathroom. As usual, I was unconsciously, but passionately, singing the "Take a bow" of Rihanna. I finished the whole song in the bathroom and came out to eat pizzas, but was startled my Sarah standing right in front of the bathroom door. I stared at her in amazement, and she said she had something to talk to me about. I had no idea what she was going to say, so I went over to the sofa with half anxious and half anticipated minds. She seemed so serious when she finally opened her mouth, and that was the first time she was talking to me without making me laugh.

"Clara, I gotta tell you this, and you SHOULD listen to what I'm saying very carefully, all right? Umm… All right, here goes. Clara, You. Are. An amazing singer. You really are. I just heard you sing just one song inside that bathroom, but I can totally tell that you are. I know you've been hiding your own identity probably because you are an extreme introvert or because your brother prevented you from exposing yourself. If you hadn't been hiding yourself so much, you would have already been a well-known singer by now. I think you should try now. It's not too late, Clara"

"Wha,, what, what? I am?"

I couldn't even say the correct words because of the shock I got from her.

"Try what?"

"Try on the auditions of entertainment companies and become a singer! You love singing, right? Just by the voice of yours inside that bathroom, I could just feel your passion."

"Yeah, sure I DO love singing, but I'm not even trained or learned a thing about music, Sarah. It's impossible. It's too late now. I'm 32 soon."

"No, I'm telling you. Remember when I told you that you should always choose to do what you love the most? This is it! You are to enter a field that you're actually passionate about! This is really rare, even for normal people, because it's SO difficult to find a field that matches what you're passionate about, and what you're actually good at. You just did! Well, you were born to be, I'm just the one who found that for you right now, but… The point is, you should at least try performing in front of others, the strangers."

I was completely enthralled by the idea, but I was kind of uncertain of performing in front of others, because I've never done it. I always had to hide from other; I had to sing while taking showers, while no one was at home, or while I was alone in the street at 5 in the morning. I was too afraid. I've never even TALKED to another person before. I told Sarah the truth, but she was too clever to get out of it. She came up with another brilliant idea.

"Hey, why don't you try uploading your own video on Youtube? I know that's how Justin Bieber was casted by Island Def Jam, the entertainment companies that produced many famous figures such as Usher or Mariah Carey. You definitely have the talent, so you SHOULD try this, otherwise I know that you'll regret it for the rest of your life, Clara."

THAT's how
a girl changed my life.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Reading Journal up to chapter 2

Theme: Character Analysis

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" begins with Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward arguing about a charming guy, "Dorian Gray," while Basil, the painter, enjoys the view of his own painting. In chapter 1, the author quite explicitly describes both the characters while giving the reader an anticipation of Dorian Gray. According to the first chapter, Basil Hallward is an inflexible, serious artist and rather dull moralist, the primary characteristics that can be shown when Basil says, "Oh, I can't explain. When I like people immensely I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us…" Basil here is so enthralled by Dorian Gray, whom he chose as a model for his painting, that Dorian is often described by Basil as "an inspiration for his art," or "the reason he continues to paint."

On the other hand, Lord Henry is a fantastic talker who possesses such a great humor in his words. He is a bright, open-minded genius, charming others using his witty sayings. His theories are often very radical, and they are to shock the conventional ideas. Thus, Basil frowns on Henry's words now and then, trying to contradict his ideas, but fails to do so. Especially when the subject of Dorian Gray came up, Basil almost beseeches Henry not to influence Dorian at all when he fails to persuade Henry not to meet Dorian. Again, Basil's love towards Dorian is shown here, and as he begs more and more while complimenting him, Henry desires more and more to actually meet this Dorian guy.

In chapter 2, Henry finally meets Dorian Gray, and despite Basil's request, Henry charms Dorian at first sight, eventually influencing him to great extent. Here, Dorian is described as an ideal, who is perfect in all sense and a prime model of a human being. Especially in terms of outer appearance, Dorian is a perfection. However, the acute questions and comments from Lord Henry reveal the real, inner qualities of Dorian Gray as the story goes on. In this chapter, Henry starts to impart his unusual theories into Dorian's brain as a process before revelation, telling him that "you have the most marvelous youth, and youth is the one thing worth having." Basically, youth is an ephemeral phase, but quite wonderful, so Dorian has to enjoy and get out as much joy as possible when he can. This idea greatly confuses Dorian, who develops his own notion, thinking that it is unfortunate of him to stay very short time in his youth, and at the same time admires the painting that Basil drew of him.

Frankenstein Chapter 4 Analysis

In the beginning of chapter 4, Victor finally watches his result of toils in amazement and horror. Here, Victor describes the shape, the color, and the movement of the monster in details, as if drawing a picture of it, like this: I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a comvulsive motion agitated its limbs.

Watching the monster move in disgust, Victor feels two very opposite emotions at the same time. He certainly compares the monster to so many things, but the most representative ones are given in the phrases “Beautiful” and “Wretch.” In a way, he is quite proud of his own accomplishment, which is shown in his description: “His limbs were is proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.” However, in the other way, he is horrified and feels utter repugnance and panic with this “demoniacal corpse.” His horrified feelings are also shown in the climate of that day. “It was a dreary night of November” when he first saw his monster moving, and when he ran out of his apartment, he was “… wetted by the rain, which poured from a black and comfortless sky.” The ironic emotions of Frankenstein are contrary to how God felt when he created first human being; Adam. When God made Adam, instead of feeling aversion, he felt “good.”

            As scared as he was, he was wandering around in streets, not knowing what to do, or where to go. He also has nightmares, becoming increasing vulnerable and weak. His sentiment then is expressed in a passage from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner here. The “one” in the passage, like Victor, feels fear, nevertheless full of curiosity. Speaking of fear and curiosity, he may also be compared to Adam, since Adam also feels scared of the warning but wants to taste the apple, probably from the curiosity.

Even after meeting Henry, his best friend, the fear continues to linger in his mind. It is true that he “… was unable to remain for a single instant in the same place; he jumped over the chairs, clapped his hands, and laughed aloud,” “… and his loud, unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and astonished him. However, as he is seeing hallucinatios; “I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously, and fell down in a fit,” his laughters are not merely happy laughs, but they may be the dramatic expression of complex and extreme inner fears. Also, Henry nurses Victor for being sick, but this is not just physical illenss, but the mental one due to his fright of the monster.

Step 4: THW return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin

THW 

return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin

            During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, imperialism spreaded all over the world, when more powerful countries took over weaker countries, where they exploited natural resources, humans themselves, food, labor, and even cultural artifacts. The number of total stolen treasures from weaker countries is unreasonably huge, and the victims, now aware of the significance of the artifcacts, are claiming to restore them as soon as possible. However, the previous imperialistic countries are asserting their rights to have the treasures since they got them using their own power, which is, according to them, just and fair. Also, since the previous imperialistic countries are far more developed countries compared to those that aren’t, they are still retaining the relics in their hands. These, should be returned to their original places for the following reasons.

Tourism is one of the most important industries today, bringing huge income to areas with relics. This is because most people, especially scholars, think that the cultural, historical artifacts are worth observing and examining directly, and that they could better understand history through the research. Due to this desire towards relics, the related industries, such as hotel, guidance, and entertainment industries develop together, ultimately bringing progress into the city or the state. Today, as the world is becoming more and more globalized, more people around the world are willing to travel far away to appreciate the relics. For these reasons, the proprietorship of cultural artifacts greatly alters the economic income of countries that own the artifacts. The ownership, for sure, should be of the country from which the artifacts belong to. Otherwise, the original country is being deprived of its economic opportunity to build a successful tourist trade. 

Jikji is one the most valued artifacts in Korea that has been taken by French by force. “Jikji” is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose title can be translated "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings". Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world's oldest extant movable metal print book, and UNESCO confirmed Jikji as the world's oldest metalloid type and included it in the Memory of the World Programme. (Jikji) It is now possessed by the National Library of France, and although Korean scholars are trying their best to restore Jikji, France is stubborn in its view, not returning it ever since they stole it. The NationalLibrary of France is earning tons of money from the Jikji, and probably tons more from the different industries related to it. Meanwhile, Koreans are trying their best to take back what is theirs. Just because imperialistic countries were strong enough to steal treasures out of weaker countries by force, it doesn’t mean that they deserve to have them permanently.

Most of the cultural artifacts that are “misplaced” are taken by imperialistic countries using force. Whether it was acquired through winning a war, or through hoarding it secretly by using spies or illegal traders, this is called “stealing,” as long as it wasn’t agreed upon by both countries. This is an “international crime,” which is why this case should go through trials for fair judgement, let the artifacts return to their original place, and let the criminal country be punished severely. As a part of this idea, UNESCO regulations also drafted “Convention on the Means ofProhibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownershipof Cultural Property 1970.” Importantly, the convention also requires states parties to seize illegally traded cultural goods and return them to their countries of origin. To date, 88 countries have ratified the treaty, but of the major art market nations – those that have prominent museums or large private collections – only France and the United States have joined. (Odor) Since this is obviously a crime, the UN should not make this as a recommendation, but make it as a punishment of a serious international crime.

It is true that the level of technology or the expertise on the historical evidences is much higher in the pre-imperialist countries, such as France, Britain and the United States. Thus, interpreting or deciphering the artifacts is much easier, academically deeper and accurate in these countries. These relics are not preserved for mere displays or for museums that want to earn some money out of them. Instead, they are preserved so that we can investigate and dig up the historical significance out of them, and use them to build up history. Thus, scholar will access much better to the treasures. This is the main reason for some people why these legacies are better off when they are in imperialist countries where they are now. One example that benefited from this was Rosetta stone, which changed the interpretation of whole bunch of history considerably. However, deciphering Rosetta stone could have been done by local historians, if only the stone was left in its own country. Furthermore, although it is true that the developed countries like Britain and France have the superior technology, it has been proven that the technological development is not always proportional to the ability of conservation of the artifacts. For example, the Elgin marbles havebecome ‘irreparable’ during their stay in Britain. The culture minister, Elisavet Papazoe, said, “The damage wrought by the museum's botched attempt to clean the 2,500-year-old treasure earlier this century had been much worse than originally thought.” (Smith)

She also said,

The findings of a Greek group of conservationists, who recently inspected the marbles, demonstrated that the very morphology of the sculptures had suffered as a result of the misguided efforts to make them whiter than white. This was the first time the marbles have ever been examined by experts outside the British Museum and unfortunately the findings have confirmed the fears that they were damaged irreparably. In some cases, excessive rubbing and polishing had not only destroyed the sculptures' historic surfaces, but deformed them to a shocking degree. (Smith)

Here, the fact that the British experts hadn’t been able to identify what was wrong before what Greeks have found out, whether it was intentional or an accident, clearly proves us that higher technology doesn’t necessarily mean better preservation. Mrs. Papazoe also admitted that “The debate around the marbles is full of myths which have been exposed with this new evidence.” She also said, “For the first time we have a scientific reality, beyond archive material, which we cannot ignore.” (Smith)

To sum up, it is only fair if the “misplaces” artifacts should be returned to their original spots, because the countries deserve the economic benefit coming out of them, the imperialstic countries literally “stole” the artifacts, and the level of technology is not always proportional to the level of conservation. It is understandable that many countries do not want to return the treasures back, for they are definitely bringing in so many dollars and they provide great historical references to many scholars, but it is right to return them as soon as they can.

Works Cited

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak , “THIS HOUSE WOULD RETURN CULTURAL PROPERTY RESIDING IN MUSEUMS TO ITS PLACE OF ORIGIN”, international debate education association, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/culture/aboriginal-culture/house-would-return-cultural-property-residing-museums-

General Conference of the United Nations Educational, “Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970”, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 14 November 1970, http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13039&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Jessica Odor, “The Return of Cultural Artifacts to Countries of Origin”, http://www.uni.edu/ihsmun/archive/sc2005/Artifacts.htm (no website name)

Helena Smith, “British damage to Elgin marbles ‘irreparable’”, the guardian, Friday 12 November 1999, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/nov/12/helenasmith

“Jikji”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikji

Frankenstein

< Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus >

Since I first grabbed this book in my hand, I’ve been excited to find out how the main character “creates a life.” Also, I was fascinated by the subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus.” It turns out that the main character is called Victor Prometheus, who was born into a family in Switzerland. All the family stories aside, Victor introduces himself to a life-long friend Henry Clerval, who turns out to be extremely helpful when Frankenstein gets into a very poor state after his experiment.

Before Frankenstein’s first attempt to create a living organism, he shows a great interest in alchemy and studies all the works of well known alchemists, and studies chemistry, especially alchemy like a mad person. This is kind of a foreshadowing, which probably laid the foundation for him to make a “brand-new monster.” In his school Ingolstadt, he meets his mentor, Waldman, a professor who was the only one to truly appreciate Victor’s passionate interest in alchemy. Waldman showed his works and devices he had, and even encouraged Victor to study “every branch of natural philosophy.” Personally, I blame Waldman for all the tragedies in the latter part of this book. If he hadn’t talked to Victor about how valuable his knowledge is, or encouraged Frankenstein to study more in the field, he might not have even tried taking this risk.

Here, as the subtitle indicates, Victor could be compared to Prometheus, who had an obsession for more knowledge about the world of Gods and Goddesses, and about the secrets they had. This guy Victor also has an infinite thirst to know more about life and death and eagerly tries to conquer the world of life and death. Studying night and day on this subject for a long time, he finally gains the confidence for controlling the “life.” Again, like Prometheus, this confidence gave rise to a terrible result, the creation of a troublesome monster. Prometheus also had the confidence that he would be able to save and enlighten the human beings, which led to his own tragedy.

The actual central outline of the story starts when Frankenstein devotes every bit of himself to creating a “new life” in his laboratory. He shuts off his contact from the outside world, even from his own family, throws himself to this scientific experiment, and combines the body parts collected from the morgues and cemeteries. At first, I loved the way he was engrossed in this project, so concentrated and focused as he was. If we observe how all the famous scientists throughout the history were able to create innovative inventions or develop revolutionary ideas, it seemed as if Victor was creating a life that could really be a living creature.

Here, Victor can not only be compared to Prometheus, but he can also be likened to God, who is thought to have made humans. This metaphor can be made because Victor, just like what God did, abandons his new creature without taking any responsibility for what he had done. Both Frankenstein and God try to stop the catastrophic consequences their offsprings had made, but they already had become unstoppable. 

Step 3: THW return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin

Argument 1

Cultural artifacts can better serve their values when they are placed in its original environment.

The treasures should be exhibited where they belong. Otherwise, they are merely disconnected pieces that don't serve their purpose anymore. 

Ex) Carved door

Argument 2

The imperialistic countries literally “stole” the cultural artifacts from the weaker nations, acquiring them illegally. This is a “CRIME.” The Court of International Justice strictly punishes people or nations who have committed crime, both domestic and international affairs, don’t it? Same thing!

Rudenstine, David, 'Did Elgin cheat at marbles?' Nation, Vol. 270, Issue 21, 25 May 2000.

Odor, ‘The Return of Cultural Artefacts to Countries of Origin’. 

UNESCO regulations 

UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects

Argument 3 (Counter-argument)

Original argument (one of the Points-Against)

The level of technology or the expertise on the historical evidences is much higher in the pre-imperialist countries, such as France, Britain and the United States. Thus, interpreting or deciphering the artifacts is much easier and academically deeper and accurate in these countries. These relics are not preserved for mere displays or for museums that want to earn some money out of them. Instead, they are preserved so that we can investigate and dig up the historical significant out of them, and use them to build up history. Therefore, these legacies are better off when they are in imperialist countries where they are now, since the scholars can access better to the relics. One example that benefited from this was Rosetta stone, which changed the interpretation of whole bunch of history considerably.

Counter-argument

Yes, sure. The developed countries like Britain and France have the superior technology.

The problem is, the technological development is not always proportional to the ability of conservation of the artifacts. For example, the Elgin marbles have become ‘irreparable’ during their stay in Britain. (British damage to Elgin marbles 'irreparable'.)