Final Class Reflection

Osiel Rodriguez

Professor Wexler

English 495ESM

May 12, 2013

Final Class Reflection

            The blog that we had to maintain for the class during the semester was really interesting because it taught me how to make a blog and maintain it. Although I did not successfully maintain the blog, as I should have, it helped me think critically outside the classroom, for the weekly reflections that I did complete. Also the films and documentaries that we saw in class also helped me that almost everything now is about making money and charging for services and products that have been free before. For example, the McDonald’s that I work at, we don’t have an extra fee if a customer asks for extra condiments while we do charge extra for ingredients they want to have in their burger, the extra charge depends on what ingredient that want to add. However the McDonald’s on Northoff and Reseda charges an extra fee for any extra condiments that you want plus there is also an extra fee, depending on what else you add to your meal, for extra ingredients. This can also be seen in free to play games where you don’t have to pay any money to own the game, but there are micro charges for the “good” items and perks. Another thing that we did that stuck with me and will help me for my teaching career is when incorporated technology in the classroom and presented it to the whole class. It taught me various things: the first being how to come up with a rubric that incorporated both a creative writing rubric as well as the technology that we presented to the whole class, it also reminded me of the techniques that I learned in my Theater class to get the students attention to continue with the lesson plan and that although you have a lesson plan for that day make sure that you always have a backup plan just in case.

How a Bicycle Equals Power: An Analysis of Beijing Bicycle (Final Draft)

Rodriguez Osiel

Professor Wexler

English 495ESM

05/07/2014     

How a Bicycle Equals Power: An Analysis of Beijing Bicycle

Most people see a bicycle as a commodity that can be used for leisure and fun. However, in the film Beijing Bicycle it is seen as a symbol of class statues and higher social standing, for Jian and as a tool that allows Guei to complete the very first job he has acquired. The bicycle in the film can be seen as a replacement for money because having the bicycle equals having power.

Money equals power and power equals influence is something that we all have heard before, but what we have not heard is that this ideology can be placed on other commodities and objects all around us. According to Randy Martin, “financialization of daily life did not banish labor, but elaborated it in the domestic sphere.” Although the quote is talking about the work force it also talking about how every aspect of daily life become something that could be talked about in numbers; it can still be applied to the film because the bike becomes something of a currency that is needed to live the life both protagonists want. For example, in the film around the thirty-two to thirty-four minute mark we see that Jian is using the bike to impress the girl that he likes while earlier in the film we see Guei using the bike to complete his job in order to earn the bike itself. Although the bike remains the same, the connotation or better the value of the bike changes depending on who currently owns the bike. If it is in Guei’s hands then it is a tool that he uses to complete his job, as well as a symbol that marks him as a citizen of Beijing and that gives him a sense of belonging. However when the bike is in Jian’s hands it is a class symbol that raises his social status, because of how “nice” and expensive looking the bike is, he uses it to improve the way the girl he likes looks upon him and it also gives him a sense of belonging not to Beijing, but to the group of friends he hangs out with.

The carrier business that Guei works out of is also an extension of the power the bike has because that’s where he originally got the bike and the bike does not become his until he completes a certain amount of deliveries. Around the thirteen to sixteen minute mark we see a struggle of power over the bike because Guei argues that according to his accounts on his notebook he has completely paid for the bike, but the secretary of the carrier business says he has not and has to delivery for one more day in order for the bike to be his. Both of the scenes can be seen as a power struggle between a big corporation and a small business in the sense that the big corporation is trying to absorb the small business into its assets the small business is resisting. According to Cultural Space and Urban Space: The New World, “”Fight against inflation is a cover to bash workers and create an industrial reserve army so that capitalists could have easy profits.” The secretary telling Guei that the bike is not yet his because he still owes them one more day of delivering packages is a form of fighting against inflation because the bike has become inflated even though according to Guei’s accounting he already owns the bike. Another example of this, is earlier in the film when Guei goes to deliver the package to Mr. Zhang and he is forced to take a shower when he doesn’t want to and later he is forced again to pay for the shower that he was forced to take. This is an example of how almost everything is getting a price tag on it when it should be free.

The view that Guei and his relative have towards rich people is that even though the have money and power they are not truly ever happy. At the six to eight minute mark Guei and his relative watch as a young woman comes into view wearing many different types of clothes and never smiling. The relative ends by saying that city folk have lots of money, but are never really happy. However later in the film we find out that she is just a maid that strives to become like her boss and wear a variety of different clothes and own a huge house and this is her way of fulfilling her fantasy. This is a clear example of the ideology that every person no matter their background can rise up to be become a successful business men/women and live the life of the rich, however what they don’t tell people is that only a select and very few actually do become rich and successful to the point of not having to work anymore because of the wealth they have accumulated. According to, Fredrick Jameson, “‘utopian’ has come to be a code on the left for socialism or communism; while on he right it has become synonymous with ‘totalitarianism’ or, in effect, with Stalinism.” The quote above shows how one thing can be viewed as a multitude of things and how the different interpretations can be worlds apart.

            In conclusion, the power that the bike has in the film is finally resolved when the one of the ones finally keeps the bike and the other doesn’t. This illustrates the power struggle that happens between the working class and the rich.

Work Cited

“Cultural Space and Urban Space”. Moddle.csun.edu. 10 May 2014. Web

Jameson, Fredrik. “The Politics of Utopia”. Moddle.csun.edu. 11 May 2014. Web

Martin, Randy. “Where Did The Future Go?”. Moodle.csun.edu. 09 May 2014. Web

How a Bicycle Equals Power: An Analysis of Beijing Bicycle (Rough Draft)

Rodriguez Osiel

Professor Wexler

English 495ESM

05/07/2014     

How a Bicycle Equals Power: An Analysis of Beijing Bicycle

            Most people see a bicycle as a commodity that can be used for leisure and fun. However, in the film Beijing Bicycle it is seen as a symbol of class statues and higher social standing, for Jian and as a tool that allows Guei to complete the very first job he has acquired. The bicycle in the film can be seen as a replacement for money because having the bicycle equals having power.

             Money equals power and power equals influence is something that we all have heard before, but what we have not heard is that this ideology can be placed on other commodities and objects all around us. According to 

Two Original Poems: "Welcome to Flunderland" and "Strangeness"

"Welcome To FlunderLand"

Welcome! Welcome, To FlunderLand!

Would you like a tour? Would you like a tour?

You would! Good!

Please follow me

We’re about to start.

A seat for you with your name in black.

On your right! On your right!

You’ll see the dangerous Butter Tree.

Its butter is priceless. Its butter good.

But try to steal it will cut you in two.

So Careful, Careful don’t go near.

On your left! On your left!

Are the fearful Trimplets.

They’re furry and brown and have tiny eyes

Unless they’re flashed unless they’re photographed.

They’ll turn into monsters six feet tall

And devour you whole.

Careful, Careful please don’t take pics.

Look up! Look Up!

You’ll see a Kitnip eating a sour puss,

Drinking it with a cup of tea.

Careful, Careful don’t lean out,

Or it’ll serve you with a slice of butter.

Look down! Look down!

And you’ll see a rare creature.

A whining whale dining on wine

While its baby bops and drops.

Careful, Careful don’t reach down to far

Or you’ll get invited to a tea party and never come back.

Goodbye! Goodbye!

Hope you enjoyed our tour.

We do apologize to those who died

But our only rebuttal

Is that you ignored our cautions

So Goodbye!

"Strangeness"

Who is this person, sitting near me?

He’s wearing a parka made of hemp!

He’s wearing his hair in very tight braids!

HE’S WEARING A DRESS!

A DRESS!

Such strangeness! Such strangeness I find here.

In the land of the Chaotic. In the land of the Free.

Nothing exists in my land that is this strange.

How can it be? How can it exist?

Such strangeness! Such strangeness I find here.

Yet, this strangeness appeals me.

The Meaning Behind Nonsense Words: An Explication of The "Jabberwocky" (Final Version)

In Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” nonsense words are used to create meaning through the placement and the words that are near them. Although the “Jabberwocky” is a nonsense poem there are more regular words nonsense words. Words such as gyre, gimble, mimsy, Bandersnatch and galumphing are few of the words that make up the poem and help to describe a character’s behavior, the condition of objects and to bring to life to fantastical creatures. Carroll’s choice of using nonsense words to describe the atmosphere, tone and state of being of character and places in the “Jabberwocky” illustrate how the English Language allows for words that did not previously exist to be born and to create meaning out of the context that they are born out of.

             Within the seven stanzas of the “Jabberwocky” there are nonsense words that are built into the lines that create tension through the connotation that we apply to each of the nonsense words based on our prior experience and through our sub-conscience knowledge of American English grammar. According to D Bruce Lockerbie connotation is defined as, “the figurative sense, the suggested application of a word”: However he also describes connotation as assuming “the experience of the reader, either his actual or his imaginative experience” to inform the reader of the definition of a word (691). If both definitions are applied to the nonsense words of the “Jabberwocky” we can surmise that nonsense words are not in reality nonsense, but actual words that hold meaning behind them. For example, the following lines contain three nonsense words that to the average reader might not make sense, “Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!/ He chortled in his joy” (23-34). “Frabjous”, “Callooh”, and “Callay” are a word that at first appear to be nonsense, however because of the context they are in and the connotation that they have it gives them meaning. Callooh and Callay are words that have a celebratory connotation because of their placement in the line. They also have the same property that of the words/expression Hooray and hip hip hoora because they have the same nature and the same property as them. Thus the reader can make the assumption that the word Callooh and Callay have the same meaning as Hooray and Hip Hip Hoora.  Furthermore the second line, which states the father chortled in joy, cements our assumption, as the definition of chortled is to chuckle gleefully. The word, “”frabjous”, has a part of its word that sounds like joyous, making it sound to the reader’s ear as joyful and happy. Also a reader’s previous experience will tell the readers how to read the nonsense words.

            The opening and closing stanza are the same and they serve the function of bringing the poem full circle as well as giving a new connotation to the same stanza. According to James Rother constructing nonsense words “is [a] almost always a solemn business, maintaining the strictest of controls over both its inference and its effect” (187). Thus the opening lines, “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:” and “All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe” can serve as the opening and closing because it meaning can change based on how the plot has ended (1-4). The first two lines tell the reader what time of day it is because the way the lines are structured. By looking at the word “‘twas” the reader can see that the word brillig is a state of being, in this case it indicates a time of day. The path taken to figure out the meaning behind Brillig can also be applied to outgrabe, wabe gyre and gimble. Where the words gyre and gimble are describing a state of being to the word wabe, which is the object, the state of being is being applied to. Line four of the poem, “And the mome raths outgrabe”, make the opening stanza a lot more interesting because according to dictionary.com mome is defined as a fool: blockhead: rath as growing, blooming, or ripening early in the year or season (dictionary.com). Because of these definitions the reader can assume that the poem takes place during the spring when the pollen count is high. However when the poem ends with the same stanza the son has already killed the Jabberwocky and the stanza now describes the state of being of the place. It is interesting to note that even after the jabberwocky has been killed the atmosphere remains the same as if nothing had changed.

            The rhyme scheme is something else that contributes to the poem as it starts out in a “a b a b” rhyme it is broken by the time the reader reaches the fifth stanza because that brake in the rhyme scheme follows the chaotic atmosphere that is describes the fifth and sixth stanza. The word choice of the first three stanzas creates an ominous feeling to the poem as the speaker warns his or her son “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/ The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” (5-6). The words jaw, bite, claw catch have a harsh sound to it and create a tension and uneasiness when its being read. The combination of these words plus the word beware also set up the plot of the story, but the tension that is created is not much and it is not so blunt. However in the fourth stanza the tone of the poem changes into a more dark tone. The shift of tone is reflected again the word choice of the poem: “with eyes of flame”, “Came whiffling”, and “and burbled as it came” (2-3). . The images that the word choice creates a sense of fear and danger that in turn creates tension and makes the story more interesting to the reader. In both stanza, however there is still a rhyme scheme that can be seen as soon as the son starts to battle the Jobberwock the rhyme scheme is broken and is not restored until the final stanza. The ending of each of the lines in the fifth and sixth stanza are, “through/ snicker-snack!/ head/ back/ Jabberwock/ boy/ Callay!/ joy” (17-24). None of these words rhyme because the break of the rhyme scheme in this section of the poem follows the action that is being described in the both stanzas. By doing this it feels more chaotic and is more in line with the movements of a fight.

Nonsense poems have words that at first may not appear to have meaning, but if they are analyzed and closely read you can find that those nonsense words have meaning and because of the meaning they contain different interpretations can arise from a single nonsense word.

Work Cited

Dictionary.com. “Mome”. Dictionary.com. Web. 03 February 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Rathe”. Dictionary.com. Web. 04 February 2014.

Lockerbie, D Bruce. Poetry: “Denotation and Connotation”. Jstor. The English Journal

Vol. 53, No. 9 Dec. 1964. P691. Web. 05 February 4, 2014.

Rother, James. “Modernism and the Nonsense Style”. Jstor. Contemporary Literature,

Vol. 15, No.2 (Spring 1974). Print 06 February 2014

A Quick Look At Intertextuality In The Media

Intertextuality is when a text uses (an) idea(s)/concept(s) established by another text and redevelops it for its own purpose, but still keeps those ideas, concepts, images, forms, and structure at the base of its content. In other words the original text and new text are conversation with each other. The conversation that takes place between the texts is usually the text making comments/analyzing the original's text concepts and ideas. Intertextuality can also be allied the media and to other art forms. The most common form of Intertextuality in the media is when a book is adapted into a film or tv show. When a book is adapted into a film or tv show the basic plot, concepts, and ideas are kept while the format and structure may not. One example of this is The Hunger Game Series, where the books are in first person and gets to inside Katness' mind and see the internal struggles she has with her feelings for Peeta. While in the film the first person is dropped in favor of a third person narrative even though the film follows Katniss' experience. Even though it follows Katniss' experience , the internal dialogue/internal struggles gets cut down to how well the actress can portray those feelings. Some argue that the actress that plays Katniss does a good job and some argue that she doesn't. Intertextuality can be applied to varies art forms, of literature, of media and even to theory.

-Osiel Rodriguez  

An Explication of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" [Rough Draft]

In Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” the poet uses nonsense words to create meaning through the context of the poem and through the words that are near the nonsense words. Such words as gyre, gimble, mimsy, Bandersnatch and galumphing are few of the words that Carroll uses to describe character’s behavior, the condition of objects and to give name to the fantastical creatures he creates. Carroll’s choice of creating nonsense words to fill a meaning he wanted to illustrate because of the lack of words that fit his needs shows that the English language is very flexible as well as new forms and new styles of poetry are formed each day.

            Seven stanzas make up the structure of the “Jabberwocky”: each of the stanzas builds up the tension through the use of the nonsense words and the connotation/feelings that they bring up on the reader. According to Dr. Bruce Lockerbie, “Connotation assumes the experience of the reader, either his actual or his imaginative experience” and he also gives a standard dictionary definition, “Connotation: the figurative sense, the suggested application of a word” (691).  Both of the definitions provided by Lockerbie help explain how Carroll creates tension using nonsense words. For example, the lines, “Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!/ He chortled in his joy” (ll 23-34). The words “frabjous”, “Callooh”, and “Callay” are nonsense words that are not normally found in the English dictionary, however we can assume by the connotation that they are a way of expressing joy and cheer. Furthermore the second line, which states the father chortled in joy, cements our assumption, as the definition of chortled is to chuckle gleefully. Another piece of evidence that cements the idea that these words are a way of expressing joy is because the word, “”frabjous”, has a part of its word that sounds like joyous. A reader’s previous experience will tell him or her that frabjous, Callooh and Callay are of celebratory nature.

            The opening and closing stanza are the same and they serve the function of bringing the poem full circle as well as giving a new connotation to the same stanza. The first stanza opens up with, “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:” and it is followed by “All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe” (1-4). The first two lines tell the reader what time of day it s because of the use of the word ‘Twas brillig” as well as the conditions of the day through the words slithy, outgrabe and wabe. The definition of brillig can be found by looking at the “‘twas” which is used to describe a state of being, e.g. “Twas the night before Christmas”. In the example the state of being that is described is that of the night. We then can conclude that brillig is a state of being. This reasoning can be applied as well to the words outgrabe, wabe gyre and gimble. Where the words gyre and gimble are describing a state of being. Line four of the poem, “And the mome raths outgrabe”, make the opening stanza a lot more interesting because according to dictionary.com mome is defined as a fool; blockhead and rath as growing, blooming, or ripening early in the year or season (dictionary.com). Because of these definitions the reader can assume that the poem takes place during the spring when the pollen count is high. However when the poem ends with the same stanza the son has already killed the Jabberwocky and the stanza now describes the state of being of the place. It is interesting to note that even after the jabberwocky has been killed the atmosphere remains the same as if nothing had changed.

            The rhyme scheme is something else that contributes to the poem as it starts out in a “a b a b” rhyme it is broken by the time the reader reaches the fifth stanza because that brake in the rhyme scheme follows the chaotic atmosphere that is describes the fifth and sixth stanza. The word choice of the first three stanzas creates an ominous feeling to the poem as the speaker warns his or her son “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/ The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” (5-6). The words jaw, bite, claw catch have a harsh sound to it and create a tension and uneasiness when its being read. The combination of these words plus the word beware also set up the plot of the story, but the tension that is created is not much and it is not so blunt. However in the fourth stanza the tone of the poem changes into a more dark tone. The shift of tone is reflected again the word choice of the poem: “with eyes of flame”, “Came whiffling”, and “and burbled as it came” (2-3). . The images that the word choice creates a sense of fear and danger that in turn creates tension and makes the story more interesting to the reader. In both stanza, however there is still a rhyme scheme that can be seen as soon as the son starts to battle the Jobberwock the rhyme scheme is broken and is not restored until the final stanza. The ending of each of the lines in the fifth and sixth stanza are, “through/ snicker-snack!/ head/ back/ Jabberwock/ boy/ Callay!/ joy” (17-24). None of these words rhyme because the break of the rhyme scheme in this section of the poem follows the action that is being described in the both stanzas. By doing this it feels more chaotic and is more in line with the movements of a fight.

Nonsense poems have words that at first may not appear to have meaning, but if they are analyzed and closely read you can find that those nonsense words have meaning and because of the meaning they contain different interpretations can arise from a single nonsense word.

Work Cited

Lockerbie, D Bruce. Poetry: “Denotation and Connotation”. Jstor. The English Journal

Vol. 53, Vol. 9 Dec. 1964. P691. Web. 05 February 4, 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Mome”. Dictionary.com. Web. 03 February 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Rathe”. Dictionary.com. Web. 04 February 2014.