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Cover Letter
Hello, everyone. Welcome to my blog! Let me introduce myself first. My Chinese name is Ge Xueyan and in this class I have an English name called “Selina”. I major in sociology and I like my major very much. In my spare time, I like to read novels. Because I think reading could enlarge my knowledge. As for novels, I could imagine whatever I like such as a well-known scientist or a big star. In addition to reading, I also like to play computer games. I think I’m a person who is kind to others and I like making friends with others. It will be my great honor if I can become your good friend.
To be honest, writing in English is a little difficult for me. First, sometimes I can not find out a good theme of an essay. As known to all, a theme is the soul of an essay and choosing a proper theme is the first step of writing. The theme is the core element of the essay and should be centralized by the whole content. But to me, it happens quite often that after having read a story I find nothing to say. I think over and over hoping to think up a proper theme. It is really terrible. Second, how to organizing the paragraphs properly is hard work for me. I do not know why, but I think maybe I lack of a kind of ability that called logical ability. Sometimes when I nearly have finished an essay I would find that the paragraphs are just arranged together casually and I have gone a long way far from the theme. At last, my lacking of vocabularies hinders me from writing a satisfying essay. Sometimes I can not find proper words to express a lot of my feelings. As a result of that, what I have written do not accord with my feelings.
At first, I was hesitant about whether to attend this class, for that I think it is difficult for me to get a high score. But at last I decided to join the class; because I understand that my purpose is learning, not getting a high score. I think my decision is right, for that in this class I begin to know what writing really is. Writing is not just getting hundreds of words together and putting them on a piece of paper. Writing is more than that. It is a way of expressing your feelings and comminuting with the others. The most important thing of writing is not the grammar or the spelling, but the theme and the consecution. Because you must know clearly what you really want to say before sharing your ideas with others.
Then I like to introduce my papers to you.
The first paper in my portfolio is my essay draft three. In This essay I analyze the story of “Dead Men’s Path” and represent my point of view on it. It's a story about a young headmaster who is not quite lucky and experiences some failure in his work. I'll focus on the subject of how to deal with conflict between different culture in my essay.
The second and the third papers are my essay draft two and one. The three essays make me think over and over. I have tried my best to write a good essay. From just a focal point at the beginning, I gradually develop a complete essay in the terms of organization, word using and paragraph coherence.
The fourth paper is my final timed-writing. Timed-writing is different from the essay because it has to be done in a limited time. I think which is most in the timed-writing is your ideas but not the other things. I have to think up a idea quickly and express it properly in 45 minutes, so maybe it is not very satisfying.
The sixth paper is my reading log. I choose the story of “The Grass-Eaters” because this story which is about a poor man and his wife impresses me most. I write down what I feel about this story in my reading log.
Thank you for reading my papers. Good luck to you!
Sincerely,
Selina
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Essay Draft Three
Selina Ge
May 22,2007
Draft Three Culture Should Not Be Invaded
From the context of the story, we know that the British gained control of Nigeria at the turn of the twentieth century. Viewing Igbo culture as inferior and barbaric, the British took it as their mission that to introduce the Western’s culture, including Christianity and modern education. All of these had weakened Nigeria’s tribal affiliations. The author of “Dead Men’s Path”, Chinua Achebe, was born in Nigeria in the year of 1930. At that time, the colonial people were clinging to the traditional beliefs, which had existed for thousands of years and were handed down by generations. But the ambitious British tried to replace them with their modern industrial culture, which made colonial people quite indignant, so they defended their culture with every effort. (52).
In the story of Dead Men’s Path, Michael Obi, a young and energetic man, symbolized the power of Christianity. He had had sound secondary school education which designated him a “pivotal teacher” in the official records and set him apart from the other headmasters in the mission field.(52) , so the Mission chose him to manage the school in order to let him introduce the Western education and culture. The Dead Men’s Path, which crossed the school compound, symbolized the traditional tribal belief. For the villagers, it was the path that connected life and death. Both of the new life’s birth and the olds’ leave needed to go through this path, so the Dead Men’s Path was the most important symbol and the core thing of their belief system. The conflict between Obi and the villagers about the dead men’s path actually was the conflict between two different kinds of cultural. The result that Obi failed implied that culture should not be invaded. It meant that every nation or region had its own culture system, which reflected their view of the world, including their beliefs about such things as love and death. Most of the culture systems had existed for a long time and the systems’ traditional practices were held by the local people. Nations should not try to impose their own culture on other nations’ people or replace another nation’s culture.
Obi was confident, radical and ambitious. He devoted all of his energy to the school because he thought the purpose of the school is “to eradicate just such beliefs as that.”(54), so he was “civilizing people”, or “saving people from darkness”.
These characteristics of Obi could be associated with that time’s British. It meant that the twentieth-century British was just full of ambition and looked for any opportunity to introduce its culture. The Mission said that they were weakening people in order to save them from darkness when the fact was that the Mission considered itself superior than any other belief and wanted to gain the control of culture all over the world. It wanted to replace all the other culture by every means, including violence. Culture should not be invaded, even in the name of civilization, as long as the culture’s introduction was against the local people’s will.
Culture should not be invaded because that It is considered natural that everyone has the right to choose their own belief. People want to be free in heart. If there is someone who wants to impose his belief on us, we will quarrel with him and insists on our practices. It is the same that when a nation wants to impose its culture system on another, it will have to face up to all kinds of fight from the citizens. There were a lot of such events in history. For example, in the 1940s, Japan held a aggressive war to China and took some provinces as its colonies. There Japan wanted to impose its culture on colonial people. The Japanese troops occupied local schools and forbad the colonial people to study their culture. The colonial people had to speak the language of Japanese and study Japan’s belief system and they would be killed if they refused to do this. But the colonial people were not threatened. They struggled against it with their bodies and blood to defend their culture. At last, they succeeded and Japan was expelled. The result also implied that anybody who want to impose certain kind of culture on others would fail at last.
Even the priest had made Obi aware of the importance of the path, he insisted on closing it. If at that time he was willing to respect the colonial traditional culture and reopen the path, maybe there would not be the violent event. But he was not. The villagers would not give up their struggles and they ruined the compound at last. Culture should not be invaded. Once a region’s culture was invaded, local people would defend it with all their strength and would not give in no matter how strong the opponent’s power was.
From the last paragraph of the story, we knew that the white Supervisor condemned the young headmaster. I think Obi’s failure implies that every kind of culture in the world should be respected. People are free to choose their beliefs.
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Essay Draft Two
Selina Ge May 22,2007 Draft Two Culture should not be invaded
At the turn of the twentieth century, the British gained control of Nigeria and took it as their mission that to introduce the Western’s culture, including Christianity and modern education. All of these had weakened Nigeria’s tribal affiliations. The author of “Dead Men’s Path”, Chinua Achebe, was born in Nigeria in the year of 1930. At that time, the traditional culture in that area had been deeply affected by the western culture. The colonial people were clinging to the traditional believes, which had existed for thousands of years and were handed down by generations. But the ambitious British tried to replace them with their modern industrial culture by unjust means, which made colonial people quite indignant, so they defended it with every effort.
In the story, Michael Obi, who was a young and energetic man and was sent by the Mission authorities, standed for the power of Christianity, and the Dead Men’s Path, which crossed the school compound, standed for the traditional tribal believes. The conflict between Obi and the villagers actually was the conflict between two different kinds of cultural. The result that Obi failed, in my opinion, implied that culture should not be invaded.
Obi was a man who had many wonderful ideas and had great enthusiasm to put them into practice. Maybe it implied that the twentieth-century British was just full of ambition. It looked for any opportunity to introduce its culture and Obi was one of the introducers. The Mission made him believe that the western culture was superior and what his work was important to lead the colonial people to the modern civil. Obi devoted all of his energy because he thought that he was “civilizing people”, or “saving people from darkness”:” The whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas. “(54).
In his mind, the villagers were ignorant and he was introducing the modern civil, so what he did was undoubtedly right even if it was against their will. It just like the Mission, who said that they were weakening people in order to save them from darkness. Obi was confident, radical and ambitious. When he discovered the Dead Men’s Path in the compound, he felt it unbelievable:” It amazes me…that you people allowed the villagers to make use of this footpath. It is simply incredible…That was some time ago. But it will not be used now. ” (53). These characteristics were associated with the twentieth century’s Christianity. At that time, the Mission considered itself superior than any other belief and was absorbed in spreading its tenet all over the world. It wanted to replace all the other culture by every means, including violence.
It was considered natural that everyone has the right to choose which kind of belief to cling to. People want to be free in heart. If there is someone who wants to impose his belief on us, we will quarrel with him and insisted on our practices. It is the same that when a nation wants to invade another’s culture, it will have to face up to all kinds of fight from the citizens. There were a lot of such events in history. For example, in the 1940s, Japan held a aggressive war to our country and took some provinces as its colonies. The colonial people were forbidden to study both of their language and a system of their beliefs. But they were not threatened. They struggled against it with their bodies and blood to defend their culture. At last, they succeeded and Japan was expelled.
In the story, when Obi wanted to close the path, the priest came to quarrel with him:” Three days later the village priest called on the headmaster…Look here, my son, this path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit it by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming in to be born…we follow the practices of our fathers. If you reopen the path we shall have nothing to quarrel about. What I always say is: let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.”(54). Even the priest had made Obi aware of the importance of the path, he insisted on closing it. If at that time he was willing to respect the colonial traditional culture and reopen the path, maybe there would not be violent event. But he was not. The villagers would not give up their struggle, so they ruined the compound at last: “The beautiful hedges were torn up not just near the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death and one of the school buildings pulled down.”
From the last paragraph of the story, we knew that the white Supervisor condemned the young headmaster. I think Obi’s failure implies that every kind of culture in the world should be respect. People are free to choose their beliefs.
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Essay Draft One
Selina Ge May 8,2007 Draft One The Character of Michael Obi
At the turn of the twentieth century, the British gained control of Nigeria and took it as their mission that to introduce the Western’s superior culture, including Christianity and modern education. All of these had weakened Nigeria’s tribal affiliations. The author of “Dead Men’s Path”, Chinua Achebe, was born in Nigeria in the year of 1930. At that time, the traditional culture in that area had been deeply affected by the western culture. Undoubtedly, introduce of the western culture and resistance of traditional tribal practices had brought about a lot of conflict. In the story, Michael Obi, who was a young and energetic man, standed for the power of Christianity, and the Dead Men’s Path, which crossed the school compound, standed for the traditional tribal beliefs. Obi, who was sent by the Mission authorities, was a introducer of the western culture. The conflict between Obi and the villagers actually was the conflict between two different kinds of cultural. The result that Obi failed, in my opinion, indicated that culture should not be invaded. Obi was a man who had many wonderful ideas and had great enthusiasm to put them into practice:” We shall make a good job of it, shan’t we? He asked his young wife when they first heard the joyful news of his promotion” (52). Maybe it implied that the twentieth-century British was just full of ambition and enthusiasm to extend its territory and spread Christianity. It looked for any opportunity to introduce its superior culture and Obi was one of the introducers chosen by the Mission. People like Obi had been devoting all of their energy to the “significant” career, which they called “civilizing people”. The hard work made them tied and looked older:” He was stoop-shouldered and looked frail… In his present posture, however, all his bodily strength seemed to have retired behind his deep-set eyes, giving them an extraordinary power of penetration. He was only twenty-six, but looked thirty or more.”(53) In their opinion, what they were doing was important to lead the colonial people to the way toward modern civil. But I think they were just loyal workers for the Mission. The school, which was in the charge of Obi, was a place that he laid his dream in. So he wanted to make it a wonderful place:” He had two aims. A high standard of teaching was insisted upon, and the school compound was to be turned into a place of beauty. Nancy’s dream-gardens came to life with the coming of the rains, and blossomed. Beautiful hibiscus and allamandahedges in brilliant red and yellow marked out the carefully tended school from the rank neighborhood bushes.”(53). His intension to make the school compound more beautiful than the places around implied that he held the belief that the modern western culture was superior to the traditional tribal cultural. Obi was confident, radical and ambitious, just as the twentieth century’s British. When he discovered the Dead Men’s Path in the compound, he felt it unbelievable:”It amazes me…that you people allowed the villagers to make use of this footpath. It is simply incredible…That was some time ago. But it will not be used now. ” (53). These characteristics were associated with the twentieth century’s Christianity. At that time, the Mission considered itself superior than any other belief and was absorbed in spreading its tenet all over the world. It was full of ambition and confidence. Obi devoted all of his energy because he held the belief that what he was doing was a significant career which was called “civilizing people”, or “saving people from darkness”:”The whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas. ” (54). Even the priest had told him about the importance of the path, he insisted on closing it. In his mind, the villagers were ignorant and he was the very man who brought the modern civil, so what he did was undoubtedly right even if it was against their will. It just like the Mission, who helped British to replace colonial culture with the western culture and said that they were weakening people in order to save them from darkness. From the last paragraph of the story, we knew that the villagers ruined the school compound and one building and the white Supervisor condemned the young headmaster. I think Obi’s failure implies that every kind of culture in the world should be respect. People are free to choose their beliefs. .
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Final Timed-writing
0534028 Selina Ge June 21, 2007 Timed-writing Three 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. The hawk and the eagle perch are two different kinds of animals and they have different places to rest. It is better that set them apart from each other to make them get along well. If you insist on finding one place and putting them together, there probably will be some kind of fight. It is impossible that all the people over the world have the same belief and difference exists all the time. Just as the animals, the best way to deal with people different from yourself is to keep away from them and not to disturb their life. By saying that, the priest means that for the young headmaster, the villagers are different people who hold on different beliefs. The belief which is symbolized by the dead men’s path has existed for thousands of years and has been passed by from generation to generation. No one had the right to say that what they believe in is just some kind of superstition and the dead men’s path should be closed. The dead men’s path neither has some bad influence on the school nor does harm to the young headmaster, so the young headmaster does not have the right to close the path just because that it is a sigh of a different belief system. From this saying, we can see that the priest is a lenient and wise person. He is old and has come across so many kinds of things in the life, so he understands more than both of the young headmaster and the villagers. He persuades the headmaster in peace ways of telling him the truth, not by quarreling with him. It reveals that he is wise and intellectual. He knows that if the headmaster insists on closing the path, the villagers will adopt some violent actions to oppose of that and the conflict will be enlarged. He hopes that the headmaster who is too young to know some truths in the world will accept his suggestions but he fails.
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Reading Log of "The Grass-Eaters"
What impresses me most in the story is the protagonist’s attitude to the life. No matter how much pain he has suffered, he always maintains a positive attitude, keeping his heart full of contentment, satisfaction and gratitude. In my opinion, this is the very thing that we lack most. In today's life, it seems that there are so many things worthy worrying about and we are complaining of this or that all the time, for example, the low wage, the rising prices of goods, the heavy traffic and so on.
Why it happened? The protagonist, who has no food to eat, no clothes to wear and no place to live, thinks that he lives a happy life, while most of us, who don not need to worry about such things, are complaining all the time. I think maybe we want to own more if we already have some, just as the saying goes, ”The more one has, the more one wants”. The problem is that we are not happy. We keep going ahead without stop but only to find that what we try our best to pursue has been lost at the beginning by ourselves. But it is too late, because at this time we would probably find that it is not very far from the end of our life.
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