Welcome to my writing portfolio! I have posted here five pieces of my writing, three drafts of my essay, a reading log on Maupassant’s short story The Necklace and the final-timed writing. The work, though not perfect, still shows my gains and improvements in the advanced English writing course.

I love English writing. But before taking this class, I have been mostly exposed to creative English writing. I felt that though I could use this language to write, I did not know how to structure and how to organize my writing. I sensed a lack of knowledge in this area. When Rachel told me that this course might offer me the chance to learn formal writing, I decided to enroll.

I think that this writing course has a lot to offer. The first new term that Ron, our teacher, has introduced to me is free writing. I used to have this idea that one can only write down the things that he or she has carefully planned out in mind. But after doing free writing, I see that my old way will prevent me from keeping down all my interesting ideas. My first piece of free writing is very awkward. It is exactly like what I have done in high school English exams, three paragraphs containing some trite reasons. But towards the end of the semester, my writing became smooth and contained all sorts of ideas that randomly hit me. Free writing has made writing more fun. How to write a thesis is another important gain of this class. When Ron first talked about this term, I was at a loss as I could not find a Chinese counterpart for it. I even related it to the theme of a passage. But now, seeing all my three essay drafts finished, I have a strong sense of accomplishment. In addition, the forms and rules in writing that Ron has always emphasized are meaningful. I am embarrassed to admit that I did not regard it of crucial importance to learn how to write the date or how to cite the source. After having done the essay drafts, I realize these small factors will make my writing formal and will benefit me in my future studies and work.

Now I want to talk about these five pieces of writing. My essay draft one took me the longest time. I can still recall how hard it is for me to decide on a thesis and to support it. I finally choose to talk about my understanding of Shadrach Cohen’s unique way of Americanization and divide my essay into three major parts: the Americanization of Shadrach’s sons, the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen and how their different ways of getting Americanized help solve the family conflicts. In essay draft two, I mainly stuffed the supporting details into the relative paragraphs and added my analysis. Essay draft three is mostly about proof reading, paraphrasing the quotes and getting the form right. I post the reading log on The Necklace since I am most familiar with Maupassant’s writing. I feel I not only see the superficial things, but see the intention of the writer.

I hope that you will have fun reading my writings.

Sincerely,

June 25, 2007

Trial Draft Three

Different ways of Americanization

The beginning of 20^th Century witnessed a huge flow of immigration into the American society. Those immigrants might hold religious believes and viewpoints different from those in the American society. But in order to adjust to the new environment, they each developed their own way of getting Americanized.

The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen is composed by Bruno Lessing in such a time period. The story takes place in a newly-immigrated Jewish family. Shadrach Cohen arrives in New York five years later than his two sons. When the family first reunites, they experience quite a lot of conflicts. While Shadrach chooses to stay loyal to his religious belief, his two sons decide to behave in the American way and totally neglect their father’s instruction for them. The family relation crisis is eventually solved by the “Americanization” of Shadrach Cohen.

Though many people argue that Shadrach Cohen’s success in regaining his family’s respect results from his maintaining his own Jewish culture, I believe it is actually the Americanization that helps solve all the family problems. Shadrach understands Americanization differently from his sons and he gets Americanized differently.

The beginning of 20^th Century witnessed a huge flow of immigration into the American society. Those immigrants might hold religious believes and viewpoints different from those in the American society. But in order to adjust to the new environment, they each developed their own way of getting Americanized.

The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen was composed by Bruno Lessing in such a time period. The story took place in a newly-immigrated Jewish family. Shadrach Cohen arrived in New York five years later than his two sons. When the family first reunited, they experienced quite a lot of conflicts. While Shadrach chose to stay loyal to his religious belief, his two sons decided to behave in the American way and totally neglected their father’s instruction for them. The family relation crisis was eventually solved by the “Americanization” of Shadrach Cohen.

Though many people argue that Shadrach Cohen’s success in regaining his family’s respect results from his maintaining his own Jewish culture, I believe it is actually the Americanization that helped solve all the family problems. Shadrach understood Americanization differently from his sons and he got Americanized differently.

When Shadrach first got down the ship, he was met by “two dapper looking young men, each of whom wore a flaring necktie with a diamond in it”.(Page 46 Line10-11) The strange dressing signaled to us that a difference had happened to the two young men. They were not what they used to be in Russia; otherwise Shadrach would have recognized them immediately. In addition, seeing their father’s old fashioned dressing, Abel and Gottlieb “looked at each other in dismay.” (Page 46 Line14) Apparently, Shadrach was not the only one who was surprised in an unpleasant way that day. The newly-immigrated look of him did not impress his two sons. They did not regard it American enough.

Another detail that may reveal a lot to us about the value of Gottlieb and Abel is in the dialogue between the father and the sons. “Come, father,” they said. “Let us go to a barber, who will trim your beard and make you more like an American.” (Page 46 Line21-22) The conversation showed that to Gottlieb and Abel, to dress like the American was a crucial step to be accepted by the society. In another word, they valued the superficial things as Americanization.

In the following time, the conflicts went on. Abel and Gottlieb wanted their father to get rid of the old Jewish religious practice as they had done. “We-er-have grown out of-er-done away with-er-sort of fallen into the habit, don’t you know, of leaving out the prayer at meals. It’s not quite American!” (Page 47 Line4-6) And Gottlieb even feared that his father’s old Jewish ways would scare away his American fiancée. They thought behaving like the Americans would help conceive their inner difference and immigration background.

 Now let’s see the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen. Shadrach declared the beginning of his Americanization after his major conflict with Gottlieb. “Marta,” he said, “to-morrow we become Americanized, you and I.” (Page 48 Line24) Yet after that, Shadrach did not change his dressing as his two children. When Miriam came to visit his father-in-law, she looked in surprise at the venerable figure that stood before her, “a picture of a patriarch from the Pentateuch, with a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos.” (Page 51 Line2-6) From this passage, we can see that Shadrach maintained his Russian Jewish dressing. Then, after all, what is different about this old man?

 Instead of showing no interest towards the shop Abel and Gottlieb opened, Shadrach took the business back into his own hands after he decided to get Americanized. He fired the impolite clerk in the shop and made Abel and Gottlieb work longer hours. He worked earnestly and used his money-making spirit to make insightful decisions for the shop. He led the shop towards the kind of prosperity beyond his two sons’ imagination. Shadrach’s Americanization embraced the idea of American dream. When he first came, he was a tolerant father who agreed to his sons’ endless demand for money and showed little interest to the family business. Yet after living in the United States, he became active in career again and worked hard to earn a living. He was the one who understood the core of the American value, which is to live independently and earnestly. He got Americanized through getting a successful business. He won the acceptance of the American society through showing his business ability and wit. Contrary to his sons, Shadrach valued the American spirit instead of the superficial dressing.

 Up till now, there is one question left in my thesis; that is how does the difference in the father’s and sons’ understanding help resolve all the conflicts?

The answer can be found in the last few paragraphs of the story. “As his sons began to perceive that all these business men whom, in former days, they had looked upon with feelings akin to reverence, seemed to show to their father an amount of deference and respect which they had never evinced towards the sons, their admiration for their father increased.” (Page 50 Line18-21) Abel and Gottlieb spent five years trying to be respected members of the society. When they saw that all their efforts were not as half effective as their father’s Americanization, the prejudice and conflicts within the household were naturally solved. Had Shadrach only insisted on preserving the old way, he would not have regained his sons’ respect. Had Shadrach not got the deference from the society, his sons would not see the flaw in their understanding of Americanization. Both the two generations wanted a successful life in the new environment. Though at first they adopted different means, they still shared the same goal. Shadrach led his sons to see the shallowness of their minds and thus regained respect. This is why I said in Shadrach’s case, Americanization play a more important role than maintaining old practice. It is clinging to the old, but embracing the new that paid off.

 Throughout the story, we may vividly see the struggling and conflicts going on in this newly-immigrated household. Through the gradual changes in Abel and Gottlieb’s attitudes towards their father, we explore the true meaningful way of Americanization. We are reminded that superficial things might disguise one’s difference, yet respect can only be gained through wit and spirit. In today’s society, the population of immigration is still very large. The experience of Shadrach Cohen and his family members is a good inspiration for us.

May9th,2007

Title 

The beginning of 20^th Century witnessed a huge flow of immigration into the American society. Those immigrants might hold religious believes and viewpoints totally different from those in the American society. But in order to adjust to the new environment, they each developed their own way of getting Americanized.

The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen was composed by Bruno Lessing in such a time period. The story took place in a newly-immigrated Jewish family. Shadrach Cohen arrived in New York five years later than his two sons. When the family first lived together, they experienced quite a lot of conflicts. The family relation crisis was eventually solved by the “Americanization” of Shadrach Cohen.

Though many people argue that Shadrach Cohen’s success in regaining his family’s respect results from his maintaining his own Jewish culture, I believe it is actually the Americanization that helped solve all the family problems. Shadrach understood Americanization differently from his sons and he got Americanized differently.

When Shadrach first got down the ship, he was met by “two dapper looking young men, each of whom wore a flaring necktie with a diamond in it”.(Page 46 Line10-11) Seeing their father’s old fashioned dressing, Abel and Gottlieb “looked at each other in dismay.” (Page 46 Line14) Apparently, the newly-immigrated look of Shadrach did not impress his two sons. They did not regard it American enough.

Another detail that may reveal a lot to us about the value of Gottlieb and Abel is in the dialogue between the father and the sons. “Come, father,” they said. “Let us go to a barber, who will trim your beard and make you more like an American.” (Page 46 Line21-22) Those two young men thought dressing like an American was what Americanization meant.

In the following time, the conflicts went on. Abel and Gottlieb wanted their father to get rid of the old Jewish religious practice as they had done. “We-er-have grown out of-er-done away with-er-sort of fallen into the habit, don’t you know, of leaving out the prayer at meals. It’s not quite American!” (Page 47 Line4-6) And Gottlieb even feared that his father’s old Jewish ways would scare away his American fiancée.

Directions: If you were to create a filmed advertisement (a “trailer&rdquo for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, which scene would you select? Why? Discuss ways in which you might film the scene.

The story of The Grass Eaters is originally told by Krishnan Varma in a sarcastic and humorous way. When I read it, I found the positive attitudes of Ajit Babu inspiring and meaningful. If I were to direct a trailer for a film based on this piece of writing, I would surely want to convey the optimism and describe the extreme life the protagonist has been leading to the potential audience. Thus, I would use the scene where Ajit lived in pipe along with his wife. I feel that this scene can best serve my purpose. There is black humor in the scene. Common people might find the living condition horrible to bear, but contrary to most people’s thought, Ajit was actually leading a contented life in it. I believe audience would find the unexpectedness in the protagonist’s attitude interesting and at the same time, would be curious to find out what life in a pipe would be like.

The first possible way for me to make the trailer will be to shoot the scene from the side so that we might see the setting and happenings in the pipe. There might be some dim light. The camera would then gradually lead us to see the simple and shabby furniture condensed together in such limited space. The kitchen area is simply an old kettle and a pan. Right next to them are Ajit and his wife sleeping. They are wearing contended smile on the faces and murmuring “Such a cozy little place” in their dreams. At the same time, a huge blow of wind come in; Ajit move a bit and get hit by the box in which his wife and him keep all their shabby clothes. Ajit will not be irritated by the little accident. Instead, he says sorry to the box and looks at it in a loving way. Through this trailer, Ajit shows his optimism toward the hardship of life and audience might feel like to know more about the unusual protagonist and his unusual life.

The second possible way I have thought of is to shoot the surrounding of the house. When Ajit says good night to his wife, their pipe is in the suburbs of a certain town. They have an old couple living in a townhouse as their neighbor, yet when they wake up next morning, they are trapped in a big forest. It seems a dangerous place, but Ajit still regards it as a lucky free trip. There might be wild animals in the vast wilderness, but Ajit, having experienced all sorts of bad happenings, can no longer be scared. He has nothing to lose, so he chooses to remain positive. People might be amused by the black humor at first, but at the same time, they would ask themselves what kind of people would take the extreme instability and danger in life in such a light way. I believe this trailer might also boost people’s interest in finding out more about the story of the Grass-Eaters.

This is not the first time for me to read The Necklace by Mapaussant, yet I still can not help but wonder how skillfully the author adopted a tone of sarcasm and vividly he described the characters in the story.

I enjoy reading the first several passages. They gave me a clear idea of what type of person Mme. Loisel was. She was constantly engaged in her imagination of a fancy life style and was never contented with what she already had. She had a husband who loved her and cared for her happiness and she did not have trouble make her ends meet, but all she had felt was that she deserved better. A big contrast can be seen in the different attitudes M. Loisel and Mme. Loisel held towards their soup. While M. Loisel regarded the soup as the best thing to have, Mme. Loisel regretted that she could never afford the dainty dinners as the rich did.

The middle part of the story, which focused on the ball the Loisel family attended, revealed us of the shallowness of Mme. Loisel. She regarded the envy from other women as her source of contentment and she hated to be seen in plain clothing after the dances had ended.

The last part of the story is most sarcastic. The Loisels spent ten years compensating for the loss of the necklace. Mme Loisel had to give up the comfortable life she used to have yet she was still thinking of the glamorous night as a very happy time of her life and did not learn that all her suffering was caused by her greed. I can hardly imagine the shock and regret Mme Loisel would feel after knowing the truth behind the borrowed necklace, but that surely would make her reflect upon the priorities in her life.

Reading Mapaussant's novel gives me a sense of how superficial The French society was back at the 19th century. It exposed to me the foolishness in our character and warned me against a shallow life.