Folklore

Ashoke is an Indian name meaning "classic," "youthful," "wholesome," and "strong". Ashoke exudes these characteristics at the time he comes to the United States. He is determined and willing to face the challenges ahead. He is "classic" because he is still strong in keeping Bengali traditions even though he has lived in America for many years. Ashima is an Indian name meaning "limitless and boundless". This is also a demonstration of the American dream the Bengali family held for a long time. However, in reality Ashima had a hard time adapting to the American way. She did not have a job in America for a long time. In chapter 7, she got her first job as a librarian: "It is Ashima's first job in America, the first since before she was married" (162). Nikhil means wholesome and entire in Sanskrit. His name clearly represents Gogol's strife to find his identity as he is American and Bengali at the same time.

I do not know the complete ancestry of my family. The furthest I can trace back to is the generation of my grandparents. My father's parents were born in Henan, a province in the northern part of China. They moved to Beijing in the 1970s. My parents were both born and raised in Beijing. So was I. I am the first person in my ancestry to study abroad in the United States. In these four years of living in the United States, I have become westernized in many ways. I rarely ate fried chicken and burger before I moved to the United States, but now they have become a part of my regular diet. I started watching American football often, a sport that I used to know little about when I was in China. I also listened to American songs and watched American TV shows much more frequently. Our family now also began to celebrate western holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last Thanksgiving, my parents and I actually spent the Thanksgiving day in Tennessee, and we ate Turkey. On the other ha

I believe that some stereotypes on gender in the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" do shape society's attitude towards women. For example, Sleeping Beauty in the story is described as a female who has been coddled since she is born. Her royal family provides her with all the jewels and fancy clothes and tries to protect her from all undesirable things. Sleeping Beauty also lives in a grandiose palace but rarely goes out the door and experiences the outside world. These descriptions are parallel to the stereotypes of the contemporary society on young women. The patriarchal society believed that women are unable to handle problems by themselves and need to be sheltered from unpleasant things, and the best way to do it is to stay at home. Moreover, in the fist version of Sleeping beauty, the queen envies the king's love towards Talia and seeks to retaliate by killing Talia, making a meal with the flesh of Talia's sons, and letting the king eat it. This also reflects the

If I were to be one of the character in any folktales, I would choose to be the tortoise in "The Tortoise and The Hare". In the story, the tortoise had a race with the rabbit. The rabbit ran much faster than the tortoise, leading by a great margin. The rabbit stopped and took a nap at halfway because the tortoise was far behind and he thought that the tortoise is never going to catch him. However, the tortoise never lose faith in himself and never stop moving forward, and eventually he caught the rabbit and won the race. I wanted to be the tortoise because he never give up even when he has little chance of success. Perseverance was one of the most fundamental character a person needs to possess in order to succeed in the future, and I wanted to be as persistent in everything I do in life as the tortoise in the folktale.

      The folksong I picked is "Sounds of Silence", released in 1964, by Simon and Garfunkel. The song has a long-lasting influence and was acknowledged in 2012 by the national recording registry for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically important". The song focuses on the life of "I" in his hometown and the peaceful engagement with "people" around him. In the fourth stanza, the songwriter uses eye dialect to imitate a conversation between folks. The lyrics itself have a lot of repetitions, a typical characteristic of folksongs, as every stanza ends with "sound of silence.

Journal 7: "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it"--George Orwell If two countries are fighting a war, they are not going to stop easily. Because once the war begins, their relationship is only going to deteriorate. Consequently, it is often hard to negotiate an Armistice or peace treaty. Therefore, losing the war is probably the most effective way to end it since only in this way one side will prevail. Otherwise, the war will never end unless both countries simultaneously decide to ceasefire, which is extremely unlikely given the hostility that often comes with a war.