“In this contemporary adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie,middle-aged single mother Farideh (Fatemeh Motamed-Aria) works in a food processing plant and moonlights as a telemarketer. Her shy daughter Yalda is of a marriageable age but her the brace on her leg complicate the possibility of meeting eligible young men. Farideh enrolls her daughter in various improvement courses, but Yalda’s intense timidity and physical impediments keep her from attending classes. Her brother Ehsan finds himself stifled at his job in a local warehouse, and spends his free time writing poetry, reading film magazines, and going to the movies. He mostly dreams of becoming an established writer and leaving his family obligations behind. But Ehsan’s colleague proves to be of great interest to Yalda and her mother as an eligible bachelor, and Farideh suggests her son invite him for dinner. Fatemeh Motamed-Aria won the Best Actress Prize at the 2011 World Film Festival in Montreal.”—New York Times
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
what I learned this semester
I learned many things in the English 1B class.I learned to read every thing critically.It is the most
important effect of this class.I also learned a lot of vocabulary.Each time that I wanted to write,
I had look many words up in my dictionary.another thing that I learned in this class is that how to
write an essay and how I can write a quote. I learned that as long as I introduce the quote and
explain why it matters, I can write quotes, but without introducing and analyzing quotes should
not be written.And the last and most important thing that I learned in this class is that when you, as a writer, get a feel about writing ,it comes out , perfectly naturally, and you don't think you should write, but think you need to write. As Mac says"Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it (In Dubious Battle,148)".Writing ,as an art, without feeling is not writing, it is just doing homework.
important effect of this class.I also learned a lot of vocabulary.Each time that I wanted to write,
I had look many words up in my dictionary.another thing that I learned in this class is that how to
write an essay and how I can write a quote. I learned that as long as I introduce the quote and
explain why it matters, I can write quotes, but without introducing and analyzing quotes should
not be written.And the last and most important thing that I learned in this class is that when you, as a writer, get a feel about writing ,it comes out , perfectly naturally, and you don't think you should write, but think you need to write. As Mac says"Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it (In Dubious Battle,148)".Writing ,as an art, without feeling is not writing, it is just doing homework.
Peer review
Pear review
Afer reviewing my paper by my peer, I found that my paragraphs were too long , and I understood that I can change each of those long paragraph to some seperate paragraphs with different topic sentence.
Afer reviewing my paper by my peer, I found that my paragraphs were too long , and I understood that I can change each of those long paragraph to some seperate paragraphs with different topic sentence.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Creation Of A Perfect Character in In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck
Zohreh Shojaee
Stacey Knapp
Eng 1B
Dec 12, 2011
Creation of a Perfect Character In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck
Sun light (White light) is a compound of all the rainbow colors and when the prism separates all of its colors we see many different colors, which are totally different from the white light. They have different wavelengths and different effects. ‘In Dubious Battle’ by John Steinbeck, is a wonderful epic novel. This novel is about a small strike in an orchard valley. Before writing this novel, Steinbeck had worked as a reporter, he spent a long time traveling to some area in Central California where agricultural industry had the best number of employment for workers. Steinbeck claimed that ‘In Dubious Battle’ was more than a reporting some events in the process of a strike, but he had wanted to underpin a philosophical work. His greatest master-piece in this novel is his “exploration of human behavior” (An Introduction to Marxist Criticism), which has crystallized in Jim Nolan .The main characters in the novel are Mac, Doc Burton and Jim, who are fighting for the same goal, and their hearts beat for the same people. They all are seeking a permanent peace for human and fighting for a constructive change in the whole world. All three of them believe in a man as a part of nature and the fact that how powerful a man in the group is. But, they express themselves in the different ways. Steinbeck has created three characters with three different prevailed dimensions. Mac has practical dimension; Doc Burton has the theorist dimension; and Jim has a sensitive dimension with his great potential to have all dimensions equally. He believes that human behavior needs to have all of these three dimensions. So during the novel we see how these three characters were affected by each other to create a perfect character as one powerful human. To build such a perfect character to represent the human being, Steinbeck needs to choose one of these three men to accommodate all of these qualities. His choice is Jim Nolan. Steinbeck’s novel shows that as much as the unification of these three characters creates a much powerful character than the individual, the men do in a collective.
Mac has all three qualities; however, above all he is a practical man. He has a dream for which he is fighting. He is fighting for equality and happiness in a peaceful place, which is the essential desire of human nature. Mac believes in man as a part of a nature and the enormous power in men as a group. “It is a big animal. It’s different from the men in it. And it’s stronger than all the men put together. It doesn’t want the same things men want- it’s like Doc said- and we don’t know what it’ll do” (Steinbeck, 323). He gradually observes what Doc Burton says about the cells in the body and agrees with him. “The animal don’t want the barricade. I don’t know what it wants. Trouble is, guys that study people always think it’s men, and it isn’t men. It’s a different kind of animal. It’s as different from men as dogs are” (323). He doesn’t know why men in the group are totally different from men as individual. He has done plenty of group works practically. But Doc Burton knows theoretically, but has not seen it practically, and now he wants to see. Mac has provided a chance for Doc Burton to see what he wants to see. This is the process of the unification of Doc and Mac as practical and theoretical dimension.
Despite his cold and rough appearance, Mac's heart is full of love; love of the people whom he is fighting for. In many cultures, young boys’ crying is disapproved by their parents. They are told that crying indicates weakness and has been allocated for women and not for men. Mac doesn’t divulge his feeling to the people and why he is fighting for them. “Everybody hates us; our own side and the enemy. And if we won Jim, if we put it over, our side would kill us. I wonder why we do it” (161). He has been hiding his feeling so that he even has forgotten why he is fighting. As Lisa says to Jim, “you helped me with my baby”. “Mac helped you more than I did,” Jim replied. “Yes, but he don’t look at me-nice”(344). Mac thinks that he should be absolutely practical without showing sentimental feelings, the same that that little boy doesn’t want to cry. But we see that somewhere in the novel he can’t hide his sensitive feeling as Mac said to Doc, “I’m not an actor at all. Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it” (148). He even, when slung the dead body of Jim over his shoulder, didn’t want to use his dead body; it is just a feeling, a deep feeling. “Mac marched through them as though he did not see them “Mac shivered. He moved his jaws to speak, and seemed to break the frozen jaws loose. His voice was high and monotonous. “This guy didn’t want nothing for himself” (349). This sentence is the most sensitive sentence that he can use when he is mourning. He is full of feeling and emotion; he has the love of humanity in his heart. His dream is to establish a communist society that nobody is better than the other, and nobody can exploit humanity. But he doesn’t know how to explain it in a correct way. Or maybe he doesn’t even aware of having this much of love in his heart, or maybe he ashamed to divulge that he has some spiritual point in his mind. However, somewhere we see that Mac is talking about what Doc Burton has said, he says “well Jim, it’s a bunch of bunk; but here’s something that isn’t bunk. You win a strike two ways, because the men put up a steady fight, and because public sentiment comes over to your side” (154). “Those cops out in the road are special deputies, just working stiffs with a star and a gun and a two-week’ job. I thought I’d try and sound’ em out; try and find out how they feel about the strike. I guess how they feel is how the bosses told But I might get a line on ‘em, anyway” (154).
Doctor Burton also has all three qualities however; above all he is a theorist man. He has the same goal that Mac has. He wants to travel through a way which there is no oppression. He also has the love of humanity in his heart. He believes in man as a part of a nature, and wants to go in a way that all men are becoming a collective as a one. “Group-men are always getting some kind of infection. This seems to be bad one. I want to see, Mac. I want to watch these group-men, for they seem to me to be a new individual, not at all like single men. A man in a group isn’t himself at all; he’s a cell in an organization that isn’t like him any more than the cells in your body are like you. I want to watch the group, and see what it’s like. People have said ‘mobs are crazy; you can’t tell what they’ll do.’ Why don’t people look at mobs not as men, but as mobs? A mob nearly always seems to act reasonably, for a mob”(151). Doc believes that the reason that the other side of strike kills the people is that “the other side is made of men, men like you, man hates himself” (151).
Doc Burton has a broader perspective of the world. He believes that life is always moving without any pause. As he says “you say I don’t believe in the cause. That’s like not believing in the moon. There‘ve been commune before, and there will be again. But you people have an idea that if you can establish the thing, the job’ll be done. Nothing stops, Mac. If you were able to put an idea into effect tomorrow, it would start changing right away. Establish a commune, and the same gradual flux will continue” (149). While Mac thinks that when they establish a communist society, they have done their jobs and it would be the end of the way.
Doc Burton wants to see everything exactly as they are, not to judge. “Listen to me, Mac. My senses aren’t above reproach, but they’re all I have. I want to see the whole picture-as nearly as I can. I don’t want to put on blinders of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and limit my vision. If I used the term ’good’ on a thing I’d lose my license to inspect it, because there might be bad in it. Don’t you see? I want to be able to look at the whole thing.”(149). While Mac sees the world through a lens, a lens which has limited his vision to see the whole picture, a lens which labels everything as a ‘good or ‘bad’ things.
Jim is a character who has an enormous ability to understand other’s feeling and problems. He “is affected by group behavior and group or societal norms” (An Introduction to Marxist Criticism). He has a wonderful outlook on life. Jim just looks closely at all the process of the strike and all characters without any intolerance. That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac has found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talent that can" see the whole picture"(French, xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, but Mac asks him just to watch everything closely.
Like Mac and Doc, Jim believes in the big different between men as individual and the men in group. Jim always talks to Lisa, as if he talks to readers. He looks at Lisa as the symbol of the people who has been victims by the system. "Everything's crumbling down and washing away. But this is just a little bit of the whole thing. This isn't anything, Lisa. I'm telling it to myself, but I understand it better with you listening."(318). In a conversation between Jim and Lisa: “I heard guys say the cops’ll throw bombs, an’kill us all,” she said lightly. Jim was puzzled. “It doesn’t seem to scare you much.” “No. I ain’t never been ascared o’things like that.” (344). He is inspired by the insane character of Lisa ,who does not scare of anything. Jim can see what Doc Burton tried to see (the whole picture) and has the ability to throw away what makes Mac to make mistakes. At the end of the strike, when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, he says "I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. That might stir'em up" (347). He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired’em up in his own way. He did his job great. He created the best end for this battle. “Sometimes sacrifice of the individual to some larger good is necessary”(xxvi).
“A secret of Steinbeck’s technique in his greatest work is his ability to avoid telling readers what they should feel and to make them participate in discovering the characters’ feelings by collaborating with the author in creating them. He sought-as he often argued-to promote understanding through his work, not to provide sentimental self gratification.”(xxv)
Steinbeck’s dream to create a character that is combined of all three dimensions came true. So I discovered that creating a personality such Jim, who represents human behavior, is possible. Maybe it needs a hard work, but it is possible. I can imagine if each of us ask ourselves who we are, what our part in this world is, and what our role is in the world, then we can change our world as a safe place where all the people can be happy and live as a one.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
Works cited
Knapp, Stacey. "An Introduction to Marxist Criticism." instructorknapp.blogspot.com. 25 09 2010. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://instructorknapp.blogspot.com/2010/09/introduction-to-marxist-criticism.html>.
Steinbeck, john. in dubious battle. Print.
French, Warren. introduction in dubious battle. Print.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Once upon a time a man who had no job migrated to a city in order to find a job. when he entered the city gate, suddenly a bunch of wild dogs attacked him. He decided to take a rock to throw the dogs, but it was too cold and all the rocks were frozen on the ground. He cried" what kind of city is this that they have tied all the rocks to the ground , and loosed all the dogs?"What a difficult job is fighting when all equipment is in the hand of enemy.They have money, guns, scabs vigilantes and...,.which make them powerful to fight against worker,while the workers have nothing ,which motivate them to fight against oppression.In dubious battle, the story happened in a small part of California named Torgas valley, a county which is in the hand of a few men..It occured at the late of the great Depression in 1930.At that time there were no large industries that support those huge workers to get jobs.So many of them had to imigrate to the agricultural areas such as Torgas valley to find a job to survive. Therfore with this huge number of applicants for work, the farms owners had an unlimited power to cut the wages as much as they wanted.They were sure that workers would get all the work done without any complaining.Despite owners assurance , a big strike started when an old apple-picker falls out of a unsafe ladder during his work. The strikers settled on the land of Anderson,Al's father. Anderson is a representative of a group of people who have a small thing and the least faciliteis to live, but they think they have everythings. His only fear is to lose his property."I am sorry for Anderson, but what the hell. If i can give up my whole life, he ought to be able to give a barn."(337) During this strike we witness that the enemy tries to defeat the strikers with different kind of tricks.First they try to prevent them to get food, then they hired vigilante to suppress the strikers, And after that they resort to fire the places by their own people, and kill them in order to provoke them to do something wrong ,thoughtless and illegal, so they could put an end on the Strike forever.
Jim's characterization
How does Jim's characterization progress to a point where he is similar to the grower?
How does Jim's characterization progress to a point where he is similar to the grower?
Jim just watches the process of the strike without any intolerance.That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac have found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talen that can" see the whole picture"(xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, frequency, but Mac asks him just to watch. After watching and perceiving , and after having many argument with Mac(with , Doc Burton, London(who is the symbol of all workers) and all many workers in the strike, he turns to a kind of perfection of Mac, Burton, London and many other people whose hearts are beating for the humans. Jim says"Everything's crumbling down and washing away.But this is just a little bit of the whole thing.This isn't anything,Lisa.I'm telling it to myself,but i understand it better with you listening." at the end of the strike when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, He says"I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. that might stir'em up." He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired'em up in the best ever way that he could.,much better than any speech..He did his job great.He created the best end for this battle.
“Sometimes sacrifice of the individual to some larger good is necessary”(xxvi).
Jim just watches the process of the strike without any intolerance.That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac have found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talen that can" see the whole picture"(xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, frequency, but Mac asks him just to watch. After watching and perceiving , and after having many argument with Mac(with , Doc Burton, London(who is the symbol of all workers) and all many workers in the strike, he turns to a kind of perfection of Mac, Burton, London and many other people whose hearts are beating for the humans. Jim says"Everything's crumbling down and washing away.But this is just a little bit of the whole thing.This isn't anything,Lisa.I'm telling it to myself,but i understand it better with you listening." at the end of the strike when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, He says"I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. that might stir'em up." He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired'em up in the best ever way that he could.,much better than any speech..He did his job great.He created the best end for this battle.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
In Dubius Battle
In Dubious Battle
All the time that I was reading the novel In Dubious Battle I was thinking what would happen if all those workers had been reached that level of consciousness which Mac and Jim had reached. They had no fear to fight against everybody who wanted to exploit them.Mac and Jim didn't feel being separate from other workers, or better to say the whole human being.They had found the truth that all of the people are one nature.Their heart were as big as a sea.They didn't want any profit unless all the people could have it.They couldn't be happy unless all the people were happy.They even fight for those who hate them because they were red."Everybody hates us;our own side and the enemy.And if we won,Jim, if we put it over, our own side would kill us.I wonder why we do it."(161). Now I think if every body could reach that consciousness to know what is happening all around, and if everybody knows that he works and gets just a few percents of his real wages, and the rest of it goes to the pocket of those minor people who exploit him. Then someone like Mac doesn't have to fight for others, and he would fight beside Mac for all one nature(humanities). In that case all the people do the thing that should do, and Mac does not have to decide what the other should do.If it happened, Mac and Jim wouldn't have to take all the blame, or better to say there would be no mistake to need to take the blame. All we did would be generated from our nature, no matter we would win or loose. The thing that mattered was that we should fight with those unusual men who try to obstruct our way to live in the way that we deserve.If it happened, that all of us had consciousness a barn (the place that workers had settled in it), wouldn't be" burned down by our own kind of men"(292)What would happen if each of us asked ourselves "who we are, what is our part in this world and what is our role to make the world as the same that all humanities be happy and live as a one?"
In this novel Mac and Jim did more than their role in this world.In the end of the strike we see that "God Mac, you ought to of seen them. It was like all of them disappeared, and it was just one big-animal,going down the road.Just all one animal." (322)Then they go and knock that barricade, because " the animal don't want barricade." (323).Becoming like animal means to come back to our nature, that there is no fear of what would happen in the future if we knock the barricade which has obstructed our way.And the more valuable issue in this strike was that they wanted to decide by themselves if they fight or run away.They want to vote.In next movement this big animal Who wants to decide by himself would become bigger and bigger.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
All the time that I was reading the novel In Dubious Battle I was thinking what would happen if all those workers had been reached that level of consciousness which Mac and Jim had reached. They had no fear to fight against everybody who wanted to exploit them.Mac and Jim didn't feel being separate from other workers, or better to say the whole human being.They had found the truth that all of the people are one nature.Their heart were as big as a sea.They didn't want any profit unless all the people could have it.They couldn't be happy unless all the people were happy.They even fight for those who hate them because they were red."Everybody hates us;our own side and the enemy.And if we won,Jim, if we put it over, our own side would kill us.I wonder why we do it."(161). Now I think if every body could reach that consciousness to know what is happening all around, and if everybody knows that he works and gets just a few percents of his real wages, and the rest of it goes to the pocket of those minor people who exploit him. Then someone like Mac doesn't have to fight for others, and he would fight beside Mac for all one nature(humanities). In that case all the people do the thing that should do, and Mac does not have to decide what the other should do.If it happened, Mac and Jim wouldn't have to take all the blame, or better to say there would be no mistake to need to take the blame. All we did would be generated from our nature, no matter we would win or loose. The thing that mattered was that we should fight with those unusual men who try to obstruct our way to live in the way that we deserve.If it happened, that all of us had consciousness a barn (the place that workers had settled in it), wouldn't be" burned down by our own kind of men"(292)What would happen if each of us asked ourselves "who we are, what is our part in this world and what is our role to make the world as the same that all humanities be happy and live as a one?"
In this novel Mac and Jim did more than their role in this world.In the end of the strike we see that "God Mac, you ought to of seen them. It was like all of them disappeared, and it was just one big-animal,going down the road.Just all one animal." (322)Then they go and knock that barricade, because " the animal don't want barricade." (323).Becoming like animal means to come back to our nature, that there is no fear of what would happen in the future if we knock the barricade which has obstructed our way.And the more valuable issue in this strike was that they wanted to decide by themselves if they fight or run away.They want to vote.In next movement this big animal Who wants to decide by himself would become bigger and bigger.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
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