Blog #6 -- Compare and Contrast Essay

Blog #5 -- Pan's Labyrinth Chart

Blog #4 -- Open Question

Essay:

In A Tale for the time Being, Ruth Ozeki uses the concept of cruelty to grow her character (Nao) and allow her to relate to her suicidal dad and her kamikaze pilot great-uncle. The book uses introspection to heal what the cruelty caused.

Nao is a sixteen year-old teenager who moved to Japan from California. Because she was new and was not in shape, she was constantly bullied (hijime) by her classmates who would pole her with scissors, pinch her, and kick her on the ground. She became suicidal, much like her dad-- except she hid it. She did not tell anyone until she met her 104 year-old great-grandmother who was a nun in the mountains. The book was supposed to be about her accomplished grandmother until it morphed into the uniting of three stories all with the hijime in common.

Haruki #1 was a kamikaze pilot, He was bullied by his superiors because he was a literature enthusiast, not a suicidal fighter. By reading his letters, Nao finds a new appreciation for bravery. Her resentment and hatred to the classmates who bullied her died down and soon she became indifferent to their cruel comments. This currently experienced by her great-uncle made her control her emotions and ignore the tormenting.

But even with her experience in the mountains with Jijo and the new coping methods she got from Haruki 31, she was never able to understand or forgive her suicidal dad, Haruki #2. She thought of him as a cowardly pathetic man who forced her to move from her paradise. She was being cruel through judgement without realizing the cruel politics he faced. The military refused to use his kill-prevention weapons that would not kill innocent civilians. He was bullied out of his high-paying job in California ans was forced to move to Japan with no job and no money. From this experience, Nao realizes what it takes to be a good honest, and responsible person.

The cruelty in this book was the basis for the lessons Nao learns. As a suicidal teenager, she wrote in her diary with the sole intention of giving her grandmother the recognition she deserved. However, in this book she learns how to be brace, honorable, and ultimately, a good human being. She used the cruel experiences he family members have survived and applied it to her own life. Each generation gave her something new to learn: Jijo gave her the meditation and introspection needed to acknowledge the cruelty, Haruki #1 gave her the courage to keep her head high when confronted with cruelty, and Haruki #2 taught her how to stay a morally just human being even when faced by cruel people. Thus, cruelty, the basis of the book reveals Nao's growth to where she is no longer suicidal and uses the cruelty she faced to propel her into a better future.

Reflection:

Looking back at my essay, I would give myself a 3. My essay was definitely in the lower range of essays because the majority of it was plot summary. Rather than analyzing the cruelty and what it revealed about the perpetrator/victim, I talked about how the cruelty took place in the book. The only part of the essay that actually had a minimal amount of analysis was the conclusion paragraph but it was also very superficial.I think my essay could not be considered a 4 because there is not even an adequate amount of analysis. While writing the essay, I was a little wary about choosing the book I did because it is not a classic. Because of this, I felt like I had to give more background (which ended up becoming the entire essay). To improve, I would get more familiar with the classics that we have worked with over the years so that I can focus more on the analysis than worry about whether or not the reader will understand what I am talking about. I would also like to plan my essay a little better in the future so that I don't run into the same problem again.

Peer Edits:
http://jewettmorganapenglish2016.blogspot.com/
Hey Morgan!
Overall, I don't think your essay was too bad. I definitely relate with you on not being able to remember much about the literature that we have read in the past. I also had the same problem in spending too much time summarizing the plot for the reader. I think for your essay the specifics, as you mentioned, were a little iffy because you didn't have the author and a couple of the characters' names. But, I did find a couple points you made fairly interesting. I specifically found the way you tied cruelty to mistrust very interesting. I think that could have been a very complex and powerful point if you expanded and analyzed the idea a little bit more. I would give you a score within the 3 or 4 range because I think you definitely had some interesting ideas but the analysis was superficial. I am sure we will have a better grasp of the past literature as we start practicing a little more :) Good job!

Essay Revision:
Act I: Nao suffers hijime (bullying). ---Ordinary World
Act II: Ancestors enlighten Nao. ---Ordeal
Act III: Nao transcends bullying. ---Return with the Elixir

In A Tale for the time Being, Ruth Ozeki uses the concept of cruelty to discuss the meaning of life and death through the experiences of a 16 year-old, her dad, and her great uncle. By drawing parallels to various family members, Ozeki explores the timelessness of cruelty and the contemplation of life.

Nao is a sixteen year-old teenager who moved to Japan from California and was constantly bullied (hijime) by her classmates who would poke her with scissors, pinch her, and kick her on the ground. Much like her dad (Haruki #2), Nao became suicidal and was called to a different world by her great-grandmother-- a world in which she will learn how death can make life feel more real.

Haruki #1 was a kamikaze pilot who was bullied by his superiors because he did not want to be a suicidal fighter. By reading his letters, Nao learns about the noble suicide that is present in her culture. Suicide changes from a pathetic escape to an honorable task. By reading through the experiences of Haruki #1, Nao discovers the bravery that comes with introspection. Using this, Ozeki creates a complex thought in which suicide is cowardly because it is an escape from intolerable pain and cruelty but also requires a great amount of strength. The call to action to create this complexity is the cruelty that every character faces. The cruelty pushes each character to introspection and the immensely complex contemplation of the meaning of life.

While she was much more respectful of the cruelty her ancestors faced, Nao has difficulty accepting that her dad, someone so close to her, is not a pathetic loser who was laid off but rather faced his own cruelty. Haruki #2 was a noble man who lost his job because he did not want to design weapons that kill innocent people. His story brings a new meaning to the noble death within the Japanese culture. He decides to fight each urge to commit suicide for the sake of his daughter. By including this story, Ozeki creates a conflict between the bravery in dying a noble person and the bravery in fighting each day to stay a noble person.

 As a suicidal teenager, Nao wrote in her diary with the sole intention of giving her great-grandmother some recognition for her wisdom. However, she learns that in the Japanese culture, suicide can be noble but staying alive and making the difficult but correct choices is more brave. She used the cruel experiences her family members have survived and applied it to her own life. Each generation added a different level of complexity to her viewpoint on the reason for living. After experiencing her own cruelty, she is filled with anger and is depressed. She meets Jiko and learns about the importance of introspection and learns to take the cruelty and analyze what it means. She then learns about noble death from her great uncle who even when dying nobly still made the right but difficult decision. Lastly, she realizes the immense strength her dad has to brave everyday for a noble reason. Ultimately, the cruelty sparks a flame in Nao that allows her to transcend the bullying and teaches her to not feel life most when committing suicide but rather to embrace life by fighting for it everyday.

Reflection:
I think the archetypal hero's journey helped me look at my book a little deeper than I had before. When rewriting many parts of my essay I tried to focus it more on what was happening to Nao and her thought process rather than what was happening in the book itself. I still had some difficulty in formulating my thoughts properly and hitting the complexity properly. I also had so much that I wanted to say about the complexity but not all of it fit with the idea of cruelty. I think I need to practice using the 3*3 because that was a nice way to try to capture the complexity with simplicity. Overall, I think the Hero's journey did help because it gave me a new way to phrase and articulate what I am trying to say. In a way it is a little difficult because the book I chose did not fit perfectly with the Hero's journey which made it a little confusing at first. Looking back at my old essay to my newer essay, I think there was improvement in addressing the complexity but I need to figure out a way to articulate my thoughts better because there is more complexity than I was able to discuss in this essay.