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Title of the Novel: The Grapes of Wrath

Number of pages read: The whole book (536 pages)

Question 2: Select 1-2 passages/quotes from the text that hold meaning for you. Explain why you chose the specific passages/quotes, including any significance to the plot, themes, or messages of the book.

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck. The historical background of this novel set during the Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath has a main character but it focuses more on his whole family, Joads. The main character,Tom, is poor and he was sent into a prison for homicide and he just get paroled in the first chapter of the book. The reason why I find this book interesting is because firstly I can feel the warm and comfortable love between Tom’s family members and secondly the book shows the hopelessness and desperateness of each characters has to suffer and struggle in order to survive.

When Tom first got paroled and went back to his hometown, he saw his whole neighborhood deserted, including his own house. He went to visit his uncle’s house to check to see if his family was there; there Tom met his parents for the first time after he got in jail and his parents were so happy to see him: “‘Thank God’ she said. ‘Oh, thank God!’ … Her small hand felt his arm, and then her fingers went up to his cheek as a blind man’s fingers might. And her joy was nearly like sorrow” (John 86). This quote shows how much Tom’s mom waited him and worried about him. Tom killed a man and he had to run away as far as he could from cops and also his family. Tom’s mom never wanted his family to be separated but she had no choice, she did what is good for his son: “I wanta touch ya again. I wanta remember, even if it’s only my fingers that remember. You got to go away, Tom” (John 483). Even though Tom’s mom loves Tom so much and knows that she might be unable to meet him again, she makes a decision to let her son be safe first by sacrificing herself.

The Grapes of Wrath also shows the horror and desperateness which made me feel very sorry for them. Joads left their hometown and left for California where they thought it was a place fruits were hanging down from trees and could eat them as much as they wanted. But after a long devastating trip to California and finally reached there, Joads realizes hat California was even worse than their country: “And the dispossessed, the migrants, flowed into California, two hundred and fifty thousand, and three hundred thousand. Behind them new tractors were going on the land and the tenants were being forced off. And new waves were on the way, new waves of the dispossessed and the homeless, hardened, intent and dangerous” (John 275). There are tons of people moving to California for survival, and this shows how desperate it would have been for all of them to have no choice but to leave their own country and search for food, water, and jobs: “When there was work for a man, ten men fought for it- fought with a low wage. If that fella’ll work for thirty cents, I’ll work for twenty-five. If he’ll take twenty-five, I’ll do it for twenty. No, me, I’m hungry. I’ll work for fifteen. I’ll work for food. The kids. You ought to see them… Me. I’ll work for a little piece of meat” (John 333). Because there are so many people fighting for jobs to feed his/her family, wage is going down and it drops so low that workers can’t even save any money but only has to work for food. The wages go down but the prices stayed up so if a person does not work for a piece of meat, his whole family would all suffer from hunger and starve to death.

This book displays the devastating time of The Great Depression and gives readers an opportunity to at least get a slight idea of how abject it was during that period. For me, I had an opportunity to reflect upon myself and realize how lucky and privileged I am to be able to eat whatever I want to eat everyday and to be with family.

Recitativo is an Italian name of Recitative which is a term used in operas and orchestras. This term refers to a type of a voice which follows the rhythms and allows to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. People first started to use recitativo skill during the 17th century and it became the dominant element in opera. In terms of music, recitative basically refers to a narrative song that describes some action, thought, of emotion by telling a story quickly, as if it were being spoken. There are two different kinds of recitative. One of them is called secco, dry style, and the other one is the accompanied style. Some of the famous examples of using recitative technique are Don Giovanni, Act 1. “Ah! del padre in periglio” by Mozart, and Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf, BWV 140, “Er kommt, er kommt” by Bach.

there are lots of possibilities of how GMO food can badly impact on human lives, there are lots of more advantages of using GMOs. The major advantages includes pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutrition, and pharmaceuticals. The word population has increased and is going to increase rapidly in next 50 years and it is our job to ensure an adequate food supply to challenge this booming population. Lots of farmers use may tons of chemical pesticides annually to prevent crop from insect pests and we, as in consumers, do not want to eat ‘pesticide-food’. It could cause health hazards, poisoning water supply and cause harm to the environment. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, B.t. can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of crop market. Crop plants that are genetically-engineered to  herbicides are very powerful to herbicide and could also prevent environmental damage. Crops, plants, fruits could also be resistant to diseases like viruses, fungi and bacteria,  to cold that can destroy sensitive seedlings, and to drought. Unexpected drought could impact on crop production, but once crops and plants are genetically engineered to withstand long periods of drought, it will help farmers to grow crops in inhospitable places. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain addition vitamins and minerals, it could also prevent malnutrition which is a serious problem today. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created “golden” rice, containing high content of vitamin A. But because many countries in Europe, “golden” rice may not come to market. Last advantage of GMO would be pharmaceuticals. If researchers and scientists could together come up with edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes, these vaccines sill be much easier to ship, store and send it to many third world countries.

In my opinion, because GM foods have more advantages than disadvantages, they should come to market and provide people nutritionally-enhanced rice, anti-disease and herbicide crops and fruits. People are afraid that GM food might cause a new allergen, like tomatoes with peanut genes, but if the company puts a tag or do whatever to let people know that it is a genetically-modified food, then people with any kinds of allergies do not have to buy it.  Also, just because GM food is not proven to be 100% safe does not mean that they are harmful. They could be harmful but I think if scientists invent a new way of testing toxicity for food, GM food might even change the whole agricultural patterns around the world!

What is GMO? GMO refers to crop plants created for humans or animals consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. Scientists modify these plants in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. Genetic engineering can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with accuracy. An example of successful genetic engineering is the use of B.t. genes in corns and other crops. B.t. or Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium that are harmful to insect lavae. But when B.t. crystal protein genes transfer into corn, it enables the crops to produce its own pesticides against insects. There are people who consider GMO as not-healthy- food because they are made artificially. The first reason GMOs could be risky is because GMOs are new and it is impossible to know all the future effects it could have on human health. The new genes that are put in food could be resistant to certain antibiotics, which could also cause new allergens. Let’s take peanuts as an example. If a gene from peanuts was taken and put in a tomato, people who are allergic to peanuts could be allergic to that tomato. The second reason why GMOs are unproven to be 100% safe is because scientists can’t actually prove whether genetically modified foods are perfectly safe because normal toxicology tests do not work for food. The third problem facing with GMO food is that it could lead to many environmental problems, especially pollination of plants. If genetically modified plants non-genetically modified plants this could spread them in to the wild, and this would cause lots of problems; plants that are made resistant to chemical herbicides could pollinate with weeds, this would be disastrous because we would then have to develop stronger sprays to encounter that.

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I agree with Daryl Siberman that our emotions and musics are related and connected together. I sometimes could feel the joy and happiness if the music is usually very light and ‘colorful’. But other times I could feel desperate and miserable if the music is deep and sad. How wonderful something that we make up can make us feel in a certain way! Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a perfect example. As it is written in the title, Four Seasons include four different seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winer, three movements each. I can already see the overall music of each season just from its name. As I think of winter, the first images that flit my minds are ice, snow, frost, glacial, stiff, etc. Plus, Vivaldi wrote “Our teeth chattering in the extreme cold” and I could ‘picture’ how the piece would sound like. Music also also effectively used in movies and televisions. Especially in horror movies, scary and bloodcurdling sound effects can make us more terrified.

Images and stories make us more connected to the music and play musically. As it is written in the article, creating a story that accompanies a piece allows you a deeper connection to the music. I always felt weird with some musicians who frowns their face and move their bodies vigorously when they are playing. This might be because they made up their story of a piece and feel more joined and connected with the music. I can tell I don’t make a story that goes with the music, because I am not expressive, exaggerating dynamics, shaping phrases or emphasizing bowing articulations when I play my violin. I think it would be easier for me to do vibrato and exaggerated dynamics if I did and I have to start doing some research on my music first and make up my own story.

Take a little time to look at a piece of music you’re working on.

I chose Poor Wayfaring Stranger.

As you look through the music, think about how the music makes you feel—happy, sad, angry?

I only have my own part and not sure of the whole music, but as I recall the time we all played in class, I think the music was pretty sad and gloomy.

Now make up a story involving a character or a scene that reminds you of what’s happening in the music.

The character is lonely and feel miserable towards the world. He decides to go meet his parents who is in heaven and glad to get to stay with God forever.

Don’t forget to consider the form of the music and the spacing of the musical phrases when writing your story.

Write the story down in your music (along the side or over/under the staff

Play your piece, keeping the story in mind.

Listen as you unlock the musicality within

“The Wayfaring Stranger” or “I Am A Wayfaring Stranger” is a famous folk song about a meditative soul on the journey through a person’s life. A folk music is a traditional song, which could also be considered oral histories. Folk music has been the music of the working class, and is something that everyone could understand.

Similar to many other folk songs, “The Wayfaring Stranger is a traditional folk song but no one knows about the exact origin; some proposed that it is an Appalachian folk, Old Irish, and Catskills folk. One theory about “The Wayfaring Stranger” states that it was originated from the African Americans and that they deliberately concealed their song’s origin.

This song is about a man’s temporal life through his journey to a better place. ‘Poor Wayfaring Stranger’ genre could be gospel, sacred or inspirational. This song is has been recorded many times and it also has beautiful lyrics.

The lyrics are beautiful, but it is also very sad and depressing to me. It seems like the character in the lyrics is really lonely. He is trying to reach something, but I don’t know what that is; it could be his parents, home town or may be God.

Lyrics

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger

trav’ling through this world of woe.

there’s no sickness, toil nor danger

In that bright world to which I go.

I’m going there to meet my father

I’m going there no more to roam;

I am just going over Jordan

I am just going over home.

I know dark clouds will gather o’er me

I know my pathway’s rough and steep;

But golden fields lie out before me

Where weary eyes no more shall weep.

I’m going there to see my mother

She said she’d meet me when I come

I am just going over Jordan

I am just going over home.

I’ll soon be free from every trial

This form will rest beneath the sod

I’ll drop the cross of self denial,

And enter in my home with God.

I’m going there to see my Saviour

Who shed for me His precious blood

I am just going over Jordan

I am just going over home.

I want to wear a crown of glory

When I get home to that bright land

I want to shout Salvation’s story

In concert with that bloodwashed band.

I’m going there to meet my Saviour

To sing His praises forevermore

I am just going over Jordan

I am just going over home

I think the quote ‘Adapt of Die’ refers to how fast and much an animal can adapt to an environment, including humans. Take a cheetah as an example. Main predators like lions, tigers and hyenas feed on cheetah and how fast cheetah can run determines their destiny. Fast cheetah can escape from their predators but other cheetahs has to be more careful than others. What about tigers? Take two tigers fighting over one cheetah. Strong cheetah can take over the cheetah and the other cheetah has to either find another prey or starve to death. Humans are no exception. H1N1 is pandemic these days and if a person has a poor immune system, there are more possibilities to get one compared to people who eat healthy and are strong. Genetics can also determines ‘Adapt or Die’. If a person is born weak and that she/he can’t exercise, they could get diseases more easily. Animals could be born disabled and they are easy to be eaten by another animal or starve to death if they don’t find enough food to survive.

January 9th 2010

Dear Diary,

It is saturday today. WooHea and I slept until ten in the morning because we stayed up really late, watching a movie. It was called “The Avatar”. Our community have no such thing as movies. At first I thought it was a real story and later WooHea told me that the people in the movie are called actors and that they are acting and pretending so that we think what is happening in the movie is real. It’s like Elsewhere to WooHea. Actors did not seem like acting to me; they seemed so real and perhaps the avatars,too. They looked a little weird to me at first and then later they seemed quite ‘human’.

The most amazing part was the part where the main character, not the real real body but his avatar, starts to learn all the new things, especially flying. He was pretty smart. He learnt how to communicate with other avatars in avatar language, fight with other dangerous animals, and also fly. I liked it very much when he was afraid of flying and then later become so good at it. I liked the way they fly so freely in the air without telling the dragon(I am not sure what to call it. But seemed like a dragon to me) where to go. Their minds are connected and they could read each other’s mind! Or at least the dragon could read his owner’s mind.

The main character, Avatar,  started to fell in love with another avatar who taught him all the stuff and protected him from being killed from other dangerous creatures living in the forest. Him falling in love with avatar means he did not think her as ‘aliens’ anymore. He was actually confusing whether he actually belonged to humans or avatars. He was not like some other human who wants to plunder avatars’ land. And because of humans’ selfishness, they attacked avatars. The main character then decided that he was no longer a human but to an avatar and he helped and fought on avatars’ side. Humans thought he betrayed them and no longer wanted him to be with avatars and disconnected a connection which connects  he soul of the human to an avatar’s body. Some other people think that it was wrong to attack avatar and escaped with the main character. Thank God there are people who spotted their mistakes! War happened and at the end avatars won with the help from the main character. Finally. the main character became an real avatar by transferring his soul his avatar body. He was no longer a human!

It was a first movie that I watched and was a great fun. I started to think whether there could be other Elsewhere other than this place.

December 23rd 2009

Dear Diary

It was a very exciting day. I went out with my friend, WooHea, whom I met when I first came to this place. This place is purely amazing. WooHea showed me around all sorts of places I had never seen or even imagined in my life before. It was so much different; people in this place have things like markets where everyone goes and does shopping. WooHea also has lots of books in her own room. She told me that I could pick up any book and read it. How wonderful.

The most fantastic thing that I saw today among all these things in this place is the Christmas present that WooHea got from her friend. I don’t know its name because I never saw a thing like this in my own community before. WooHea told me that it is a seashell. WooHea was really surprised when she first got it, but I didn’t understand. It looked weird to me; it’s skin or shell, whatever they call, is hard like rotten bread, bumpy like a road that needs to be resurfaced, colored with brown and white plus a little bit of black, and the size of it is even bigger than my fist.  It had patterns that got much broader or bigger as it grew and had like a huge hall which looked much like my own ear. I heard some weird sound from it. If you touch it with both of your hands, it’s not smooth at all.

If this thing was in my community, no one would have ever touched it and children wouldn’t use it as their ‘stuffed animals’ that they sleep with it at night. The Committee of Elders could also have banished this thing from our community because people can feel the pain in their palm if they pressed it hard with their hands by accident. What a creature!  It doesn’t look pretty, either. I thought all the things here are all colorful just like the memory of a rainbow that I received from the Giver. It only contained three colors and the most boring colors to me, ‘black, brown, and white. I expected more red, yellow and green. Even though this ‘thing’ wasn’t that intriguing to me, it was hard to believe that it came from nature. If this was artificial and people still made it this way it would really be an ‘exotic’ thing, but because it turns out to be a natural thing that we can never change, I understand.

January 1st 2010

Dear Diary,

Today is the first day of 2010. This is particularly interesting because I haven’t been counting my age and the date since the ceremony of 12. I guess ages are really important to people in  Elsewhere because as I could see from WooHea’s family, WooHea and her sister were all happy to be a year older and her parents, especially her mother was grunting that she was a year older, which means she is going get more wrinkles on her face. I guess WooHea’s mom doesn’t want to look older.

All of us, WooHea’s family and I, woke up really early this morning to welcome the first day of 2010: We said hello to the sun and started to clean up the house. WooHea told me that her family always does the cleaning on the first day of the year to just feel fresh so they can make a new start. WooHea’s dad was in charge of cleaning the windows since he is the tallest in the family, her mom was in charge of cleaning the floors plus some furniture and WooHea and her sister were in charge of cleaning up their own rooms. I helped WooHea to throw away some rubbish. It took us for more than three hours. After the house cleaning, WooHea’s mom cooked us lots of delicious dishes and we also shared pizza that WooHea’s sister order from Papa Jones for lunch. Since we used all our energy cleaning the house, today’s lunch was really fantastic. We finished all our food. After lunch, we all sat around the table to set plans for the rest of the day. The first thing we decided to do was to call grandparents in Korea. WooHea’s family was supposed to go to their grandparents and meet all their relatives if they were living in Korea, but since they are not, they had to at least call them and wish them a merry new year. Her grandparents picked up the phone and they, were really happy to hear their granddaughters’ voice more than their own children. Haha. WooHea promised to meet them during the New Year break.

After the phone call, WooHea suggested to watch movies. Her dad did not seem very receptive to this plan but there was no choice since he did not want to make his daughters unhappy on the first day of the year. So they watched a movie. It was a Korean horror movie called, ‘Cello’. They have watched it before but every time they watch it, WooHea covers her eyes and her parents are not scared of it at all. It was already half past three and they all went to do their own stuff as usual. WooHea and her sister went to play cards together and her parents were talking to each other in the living room. WooHea’s family really seemed to enjoy today. I heard laughter from both WooHea and her parents.

I suddenly thought that if our community also kept track of the dates, we could also have passed such a wonderful day on the first day of every year. If I had a chance to go back to my own community again, I would probably suggest celebrating the New Year, too. This would get all the family members together, spend a nice family day just like today in WooHea’s house!