Journal entry# 13 Mark Twain

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 25, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

So we slid in there and got three candles, and Tom laid five cents on the table for pay…But Tom give him five cents to keep quiet.

Summary:

Tom gave five cents twice for the candles and the crying boy.

Response:

I think that Tom fully understands the power of money. He is supposed to be a robber in the story. However, after he got somebody’s candles, he put down five cents for paid. In his mind, he was not a normal thief who would steal somebody’s candle. Therefore, he was willing to pay some money. It was quite interesting.

Moreover, he knew well that the member in his gang also loved money as he did. So Tom would give the crying boy five cents to ask him to “shut up”. I think the reason why Tom is so eager to be a robber is mainly because he really knows that money really works in many aspects and he really wants to do something different. Right after I read the passage between Tom and the crying boy, I remember my teenage. My father and mother always pay me some money, like several dollars, to ask me to get an A in school. Like the crying boy, I always obeyed the one who gave me money. I would try my best to study at home. The several dollars could really motivate me to study. Therefore, I think that giving money to children really works.
However, this act should not be 100% okay in the actual world. Otherwise, we may be charged with corruption. We cannot always pay money to get what we want. We have to be aware in some cases. For example, we cannot pay the policeman and tell him not to give us tickets of speeding. We cannot pay our professors and ask him to give me an A. Otherwise, we will get into trouble.

Journal entry# 12 Mark Twain

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 25, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

And I about made up my mind to pray; and see if I couldn’t try to quit being the kind of a boy I was, and be better.

Summary:

Huck was struggling whether he should free Jim or not. At that moment, he decided to pray and ask for the answer.

Response:

After I read the first part of the story, I don’t think Huck really believed in religion and God. Instead, under Mark Twain’s description, he was very superstitious. He thought that killing a spider would bring him bad luck and tying his hair up with a thread can send witches away. However, when he encountered the problem that whether he should free Jim, he understood that his superstition could not help him. Therefore, he chose to pray to God for help. In his society, freeing a slave had no difference with stealing other’s property and the stealer would not be allowed to go to heaven. The only place for him after his death would be the hell. On one hand, he really wanted to free the slave. On the other hand, he really wanted to go to the heaven instead of the hell. At that point, he was helpless.

The funny part of the quote is that Huck wanted to “quit being the kind of a boy [he] was”. He understood that God didn’t like a robber or a naughty boy. Therefore, when he was praying, he even thought about to wash away his sin. Though the God didn’t do anything to send him the answer, he finally chose to tear up the letter which he wrote to Miss. Watson about the location of Jim. This part was so sweet. Huck was willing to go to hell after freeing Jim, his good friend. After reading this part, I wonder how many friends around us can do something like Huck.

Journal entry# 11 Mark Twain

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 25, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

“Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more… And she took snuff too; of course that was all right”.

Summary:

This quote is found in the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” of Mark Twain. It mentions that Huckleberry Finn asks the Widow Douglas for permission to smoke.

Response:

In this quote, I realize that the Widow Douglas is a very straight woman who holds authority in the family. She did not allow Huckleberry Finn to smoke because Tobacco “wasn’t clean” and smoking “was a mean practice”. When you first study the first part of the quote, you may think that this woman cares about Huckleberry Finn a lot. Yet, if you read the last part of the quote, the Window Douglas “took snuff too”. On one hand, she asked the boy not to smoke. On the other hand, she smoked actually. It was quite ridiculous. She didn’t act as a role model to the boy. From my point of view, this lady indirectly causes Huckleberry Finn to be so rebellious.

Moreover, I want to point out an interesting point. Mark Twain said that “that was all right” for the Widow to smoke. When I am reading this part, I don’t know if he really said it faithfully or ironically. I discussed this part with my friends. We all agree that on one hand, Mark Twain was afraid of the Widow Douglas and understood that smoking was bad. Therefore, he didn’t smoke in front of her. On the other hand, he though that the Widow Douglas was not fair. She said it was mean to smoke. So she shouldn’t smoke at all. Yet, since she held the power, she could do whatever she wanted to.

Journal entry# 10 Ambrose Bierce

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 17, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

Love ---A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions.

Summary:

This quote is found in the Devil’s Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce.

Response:

Bierce puts a lot of interesting explanations about the words in this dictionary. Among so many interesting words, I finally chose a very familiar word, “Love” and I really like this quote because it really explains the reality about love. He uses a very good metaphor to explain the nature of love. From my viewpoint, the author compares the “love” with “disease” which is a negative word. My interpretation is that the author views the love in a negative way such as couples may be suspicious of each others. However, in order to cure this kind of suspicions, one way is to get married in which couples give promise of commitment for each other (though this may not be true in the society nowadays). The other way to get rid of this kind of clueless suspicious or other kind of crazy acts when falling in love is to break up, in other words, staying alone.

In the second sentence, the author defines “love” as something that only happens within people who are civilized. In the old days, people seldom have the concept of “love”. People’s marriages are mostly appointed by their parents in which they have no way to choose their own spouses. Yet, as people get civilized, they need to have more rights and freedom. Therefore, the security to have a stable partner becomes lower. People will easily do a lot of crazy things for their boyfriends or girlfriends. No matter they are homosexual or heterosexual, they are all the same.

All in all, I think that Bierce really did a very good job to explain the “love” to his readers. “Love” really makes difference between today and the old days.

Journal entry# 9 Mark Twain

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 17, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

“If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it… there was no sense in what he said”.

Summary:

It is quoted in Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer”. It illustrates the idea that the things you like may not necessarily be the things others like. This quote actually wants to explain the harm of war.

Response:

The majority of the story is talking about citizens went to a church to bless the soldiers who have been called up for a victory in the war. These people were so happy with the war. They might think that the war could bring them victory and stability. Suddenly, one stranger appeared and gave a speech to the citizens. He told the citizens that everything has both sides. The rain you bless for your crops might hurt your neighbor’s crops. I think it is extremely true. People always focus on the positive side which they prefer to, but they usually overlook the negative side which may cause suffering and destruction from the war.
Indeed, there are a lot of things, like the war, which people only focus on one side. For example, most of the people may think that a prosperous economy, like the one we are having, must benefit people. However, do these people know that there are still a lot of people suffering from hunger today? Frankly, businessmen in the developed countries love to use labors in the non-developed or developing countries in their production lines. Moreover, these workers are usually suppressed with a very low salary which cannot improve their standard of living. Therefore, I really cannot see that most of us will care about the people in this poor area when we are having our high quality of lives.

The last part of the quote really shows the response of the people when they see or listen to the unfavorable side. The negative side is always ignored by the people. Luckily, in recent years, the cost of developing industry is already discovered. People start to realize the problem of global warming and try to solve it. Otherwise, the cost of developing country may be similar to the cost of the war which may cost a huge degree of suffering and destruction.

Journal entry# 8 Mark Twain

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 17, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

“It never make no difference to him--- he’d bet on anything--- the dangdest feeler”.

Summary:

This quote is found in “The Notorious Jumping frog of Calaveras Country”. It explains that Smiley loved to bet very much.

Response:

This quote simply tells me that this crazy guy loved to gamble a lot. He was so crazy actually. In the story, he could even bet on Parson Walker’s wife that she would feel sick again. I think that the author was quite smart in writing this story. Since he was writing about a man and a frog, he used a lot of words to explain how crazy he loved to bet. He could bet on cats, dogs, or chickens. If he simply told me that Smiley loved to bet a lot, I might have a milder feeling about his craziness. However, now I have a much clearer idea that he was extremely crazy about gambling. Moreover, I think that the author was so successful in making things humorous. I believe that most of the readers probably think that his writing is so humorous though he actually used a lot of simple words to describe a man with a frog. I think that this kind of writing can leave a deeper memory in the reader’s mind. Also, readers may tend to believe what they are told.

Lastly, this story makes me think about the society. Smiley thought that he was really able to win every time because of his luck and talent. Many people were the same. They did not want to believe that there was actually somebody better than they were. So, they kept challenging others before understanding their actual ability. Similar to Smiley, this kind of people might encounter failure one day. One last thing, after reading the book, I think we should not gamble since we don’t know when “the stranger” will appear in our lives and put bullets in our frog's stomach.

Journal entry# 7 Ambrose Bierce

Siu Faat Jimmy Wong
English 48b
January 17, 2008
Professor Lankford

Quote:

“Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge”.

Summary:

It is found in the end of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". The man was executed and his body was remained on the Owl Creek Bridge.

Response:

In the beginning of the story, I feel so sorry to Peyton Farquhar since he has to be hanged on the bridge. However, he escaped from the bridge and jumped into the river. I was so happy that he did not have to be killed. Moreover, I could also felt his courage and insistence to be alive until he could go back home. Before the last sentence appeared, I thought this story was very sweet and touching. Nevertheless, I thought I was fooled that the man was already killed and the story did not actually happen. He did not fall into the river and he did not save his life.
Frankly, I did not like the structure of the story since I did not like to be cheated to move my emotion by some fake words. After reading several times, I figured out that the author actually gave out some hints to the readers that the man was already killed. Throughout the paragraphs, Farquhar kept feeling painful on his neck. He even found that his neck was horribly swollen. However, readers including me still believed that the man was alright and alive. Though I did not like the structure of the story, I think it was quite successful. Under the author’s wonderful description and imagination, readers most probably came up with the image that the man was really swimming in the river and he was feeling so painful with his body.

Anyway, I do not know whether other readers like the structure of this story. One thing I am pretty sure is that they must feel very sorry about the man and feel sad to be fooled.