Cover Letter:My Tour in Academic Writing
Writing is a very useful and effective tool to express one’s view and communicate with others. So I think it is important for me to learn it well and that’s the main reason that I chose to take Academic Writing Class.
Although it is called a ‘class’, I would rather regard it as a tour in academic writing field. I feel really interesting during my traveling. Every time before we set out, we would have a ten minutes’ free writing. It is like a warm-up. Whatever we write, the only goal is to let us change into a writing state so that we could have better effect in the following ‘tour’. It also shows us one of the spirits of writing, as our teacher, Professor Ron Corio, said: ‘Just keep writing’. As before, I would always think a lot and could hardly put my pen on the paper. So it led to a bad cycle that the less I wrote, the poorer my writing skills became, and then I wrote even less. While after this class, I will never fear to write although my writing skill is still poor.
After the free writing, Ron would lead us to a real writing travel. He would firstly review the former class and have an evaluation on it, and then he would give us new things. In the first five classes, we went through almost every corner of the world. We went to Louisiana to listen ‘The Story of an Hour’; we saw the necklace, which destroy a vane woman’s life in Paris; we witnessed the Americanization of an old man in New York; we tasted the tough life of the poor in Calcutta. Different tour give me different feeling and I gained a lot. I was attracted not only by the interesting story but also the fantastic sentenced the writers gave out. They taught me how to let a story vivid and how to give characters spirit. It really gave me great help on telling stories.
As our main target is to improve academic writing skills, we have learned a lot about how to write an essay in the following classes. From plot summary to thesis statement, from finding evidence to writing drafts, we experienced the long term of writing an essay. Through this process, we have also had several peers reviewing which give me chance to exchange my ideas with my classmates and read their essays so that I can learn a lot from the others. Also Ron taught me many skills and gave me many advices on my writing. My progress could be obviously seen in my three drafts. In the first draft, I have only build up my main idea and the evidence was hardly illustrated. In the second draft, I wrote more in my own words but I thought it was still not enough. After the last class’s discussion with my peers and receiving the instructions from the book, I began my draft three. This time, I knew more about how to use the evidence in the passage richly. So I could express what I want to tell.
To tell the truth, my weakness is the limitation of vocabulary, which can be easily seen in my sentences, and the lack of ability of expressing my viewpoint. Even though my ideas are profundity, the readers who have read my essay may not find out. Through this class, such ability has improved but it still needs to be enhanced. While in the other hand, I think the structure of my essay is clear and logical. I thought a lot about the structure before I set out to write. So what I need to do in the following time is to keep my logic and develop my expression.
At last, I would like to show my deep thanks to Ron and all my classmates, who helped me a lot in my ‘tour’ of academic writing. Thank you!
Draft Three:Optimistic or Numb?
In Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India with a population of over nine million, the social environment is totally terrible and full of violence. Life of the poor is tough and incredible for us who lived in modern cities. They had no enough food to satisfy their starvation, no place to have a comfortable sleep, no enough clothes to wear and tear. Dangers were always around and people would so be easily killed without rhyme or reason.
Ajit Babu, the main character of the story “The Grass-Eaters”, which is written by Krishnan Varma, was an epitome of those poor who sat down under the hard life and hold little hope on social reformation. People like him showed how misery they were and how disordered the society was at that time. The black humor in the story gave me a more profound impression on their numb to the surroundings. Although some of the readers may be moved by his optimism, I would rather be pity and sad for them as victims of the society. They used their optimistic-looking thought to comfort themselves and be forced to give up some human nature for adapting the environment.
At the beginning of the story Babu mentioned his first ‘home’: “A footpath of Chittaranjan Avenue” which “was so crowded with residents, refugees like us and locals, that if you got up at night to relieve yourself you could not be sure of finding your place again.”(56) Although it was brief, I could deeply feel that he lived even worse than a beggar through the last sentence. Meanwhile the disorder of the society was exhibited thoroughly. We can imagine a muddy footpath with tent and blanket beside, many poor guys wearing dirty clothes sitting or lying on the ground. Whoever passed by, there would be a hostile expression in their eyes.
Then things improved a little: they moved into an abandoned-looking freight wagon at the railway terminus—“a place with door which could be opened and shut. They did nothing but open and shut them for a full hour.” Just some doors brought them so much pleasure only because they meant “all the privacy a man and wife could want--no fear of waking up with a complete stranger in your arms.” He also felt that it was heaven and regarded himself as God. (57) When I reached this sentence, thoughts came to me that what could make one felt he or she is God. It must be the things that he had never pursued or he had never imagined that he would have. But how could it be an abandoned-looking freight? In fact it is the privacy brought by the freight that they were amazed of. Privacy, as to us, means a property of our own. While as to them, it means a heaven-sent gift.
To let their baby born in an appropriate place, they kept on moving, so “a cement concrete pipe” became their new home. We can see in the passage that “…Unbelievably, it was not occupied and, with no prompting from me, she crept into it. That was how we came to live in a pipe.”(57-58) We could see in the story that his wife was harder to be satisfied than Babu. But just a cement concrete pipe made her feel comfortable. So we could see even such little improvement would satisfied those poor. While behind her satisfaction, we can see a lot of torment that they had experienced before.
At last, they had their real meaning house, a roof. As Babu described: “The roof is flat, not gabled, and it is made of cement concrete, not corrugated iron sheets. The rent is far less than that of other tenants below us-Bijoy Babu, Akhanda Vhatterjee and Sagar Sen. We have far more light and ventilation than they. We don't get nibbled by rats and mice and rodents as often as they do. And our son, Prodeep, has far more room to play than the children below.”(58) Although he said “It is not as bad as it sounds.” I would like to say it is not good. His pleasure came completely from comparing with many other poor who led an even worse life. The so-called “optimistic” was only used to make themselves feel better, but it was useless in improve their life.
All those above showed that hard experiences made them put up with any unconceivable environment. We could say there was optimism in Babu’s behavior and thought. But the sentences below were certainly used to show his numbness.
Firstly, “We had just arrived in Calcutta from East Bengal where Hindus and Muslims were killing one another.”(56) His tone seemed so nature as if murder meant nothing special to him. Actually, I think, he had been used to it and life was not so valuable as we normal human think it is. It was also showed in this sentence: “Our fourth child. One died of diphtheria back home (no longer our home) in Dacca; two, from fatigue, on our long trek on foot to Calcutta.”(57) The former child died and new one was born. It formed as a circle in his eyes. Although he should not be blamed in those accidents, he seemed unbelievably hardhearted.
Another evidence is that: “We live very quietly, content to look at the passing scene: a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin.”(59) How can he be content to look at such passing scene? If I were he, I would certainly be mad. Living in such a disordered environment, it was true that he could do nothing to change the actuality. But when this kind of event happened, being content instead of keeping away really showed they only cared about their own life and paid no attention to the others around. Thus, the self-concern and numbness was obvious.
After thinking for a long time, I finally reach the conclusion that those poor like Babu were shaped by the society. Their commiseration, passion, lofty aspiration and a lot of human nature were cruelly divested by the environment. Their tears were dried up. Their edges were abraded. Their normal senses were disappeared. It was all imputed to the devil society. So did the author thought, I think. It was the true reason that he wrote down such story. He wanted to tell the reader how a trouble times destroyed a generation.
Draft Two:Optimistic or Numb?
In Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India with a population of over nine million, the social environment is totally terrible and full of violence. Life of the poor is tough and incredible for us who lived in modern cities. They had no enough food to satisfy their starvation, no place to have a comfortable sleep, no enough clothes to wear and tear. Dangers were always around and people would so be easily killed without rhyme or reason.
Ajit Babu, the main character of the story “The Grass-Eaters”, which is written by Krishnan Varma, was an epitome of those poor who sat down under the hard life and hold little hope on social reformation. People like him showed how misery they were and how disordered the society was at that time. The black humor in the story gave me a more profound impression on their numb to the surroundings. Although some of the readers may be moved by his optimism, I would rather be pity and sad for them as victims of the society. They used their optimistic-looking thought to comfort themselves and be forced to give up some human nature for adapting the environment.
At the beginning of the story Babu mentioned his first ‘home’: “A footpath of Chittaranjan Avenue” which “was so crowded with residents, refugees like us and locals, that if you got up at night to relieve yourself you could not be sure of finding your place again.”(12-16) Although it was brief, I could deeply feel that he lived even worse than a beggar through the last sentence. Meanwhile the disorder of the society was exhibited thoroughly.
Then things improved a little: they moved into an abandoned-looking freight wagon at the railway terminus--a place with door which could be opened and shut. They did nothing but open and shut them for a full hour. Just some doors brought them so much pleasure only because they meant “all the privacy a man and wife could want--no fear of waking up with a complete stranger in your arms.” He also felt that “it was heaven. I felt I was God.”(23-28) When I reached this sentence, thoughts came to me that what could make one felt he/she is God. It must be the things that he had never pursued or he had never imagined that he would have. But how could it be an abandoned-looking freight? In fact it is the privacy brought by the freight that they were amazed of.
To let their baby born in a appropriate place, they kept on moving, so “a cement concrete pipe” became their new home. We can see in the passage that “…Unbelievably, it was not occupied and, with no prompting from me, she crept into it. That was how we came to live in a pipe.”(66-70) We could see in the story that his wife was harder to be satisfied than Babu. But just a cement concrete pipe made her feel comfortable. So we could see even such little improvement would satisfied those poor.
At last, they had their real meaning house, a roof. As Babu described: “The roof is flat, not gabled, and it is made of cement concrete, not corrugated iron sheets. The rent is far less than that of other tenants below us-Bijoy Babu, Akhanda Vhatterjee and Sagar Sen. We have far more light and ventilation than they. We don't get nibbled by rats and mice and rodents as often as they do. And our son, Prodeep, has far more room to play than the children below.”(78-84) Although he said “It is not as bad as it sounds.” I would like to say it is not good.
All those above showed that hard experiences made them put up with any unconceivable environment. We could say there was optimism in Babu’s behavior and thought. But the sentences below were certainly used to show his numbness:
Firstly, “We had just arrived in Calcutta from East Bengal where Hindus and Muslims were killing one another.”(13) His tone seemed so nature as if murder meant nothing special to him. Actually, I think, he had been used to it and life was not so valuable as we normal human think it is. It was also showed in this sentence: “Our fourth child. One died of diphtheria back home (no longer our home) in Dacca; two, from fatigue, on our long trek on foot to Calcutta.”(49) The former child died and new one was born. It formed as a circle in his eyes. Although he should not be blamed in those accidents, he seemed unbelievably hardhearted.
Another evidence is that: “So, on the whole, our life together has been very eventful. The events, of course, were not always pleasant. But, does it matter? We have survived them. And now, we have no fears or anxieties. We have a home made of coal tar drums. We eat two square meals of grass every day. We don't need to wear clothes. We have a son to do our funeral rites when we die. We live very quietly, content to look at the passing scene: a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin.”(115-121) How can he be content to look at such passing scene? If I were he, I would certainly be mad.
After thinking for a long time, I finally reach the conclusion that those poor like Babu were shaped by the society. Their commiseration, passion, aggressive and a lot of human nature were cruelly bereaved by the environment. Their tears were dried up. Their edges were abraded. Their normal senses were disappeared. It was all imputed to the devil society. So did the author thought, I think. It was the true reason that he wrote down such story. He wanted to tell the reader how a trouble times destroyed a generation.
Draft One:Optimistic or Numb?
In Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India with a population of over nine million, the social environment is totally terrible and full of violence. Life of the poor is tough and incredible for us who lived in modern cities. They had no enough food to satisfy their starvation, no place to have a comfort sleep, no enough clothes to wear and tear. Dangers were always around and people would so be easily killed without rhyme or reason.
Ajit Babu, the main character of the story “The Grass-Eaters”, which is written by Krishnan Varma, was an epitome of those poor who sat down under the hard life and hold little hope on social reformation. People like him showed how misery they were and how disordered the society was at that time. The black humor in the story gave me a more profound impression on their numb to the surroundings. Although some of the readers may be moved by his optimism, I would rather be pity and sad for them as victims of the society. They used their optimistic-looking thought to comfort themselves and be forced to give up some human nature for adapting the environment.
At the beginning of the story Babu mentioned his first ‘home’: “The first was a footpath of Chittaranjan Avenue. … The footpath was so crowded with residents, refugees like us and locals, that if you got up at night to relieve yourself you could not be sure of finding your place again.”(12-16) Although it was brief, I could deeply feel that he lived even worse than a beggar.
Then things improved a little: “Later in the day Swapna and I moved into an abandoned- looking freight wagon at the railway terminus. A whole wagon to ourselves--a place with doors which could be opened and shut--we did nothing but open and shut them for a full hour--all the privacy a man and wife could want--no fear of waking up with a complete stranger in your arms...it was heaven. I felt I was God.”(23-28) When I reached this sentence, thoughts came to me that what could make one felt he/she is God. It must be the things that he had never pursued or he had never imagined that he would have. But how could it be an abandoned-looking freight?
To let their baby born in a appropriate place, they kept on moving, so it occurred that: “On the way, near the Sealdah railway station, we came upon a cement concrete pipe left over from long-ago repairs to underground mains. Unbelievably, it was not occupied and, with no prompting from me, she crept into it. That was how we came to live in a pipe.”(66-70) We could see in the story that his wife was harder to be satisfied than Babu. But just a cement concrete pipe made her feel comfortable.
At last, they had their real meaning house: “We have lived on that roof ever since. It is not as bad as it sounds. The roof is flat, not gabled, and it is made of cement concrete, not corrugated iron sheets. The rent is far less than that of other tenants below us-Bijoy Babu, Akhanda Vhatterjee and Sagar Sen. We have far more light and ventilation than they. We don't get nibbled by rats and mice and rodents as often as they do. And our son, Prodeep, has far more room to play than the children below.”(78-84) This time they seemed to get the greatest progress in accommodation. But Babu did not appear that happy as before. Was it because that he was accustomed to those improvements? Was it because that he pay more attention on other things and did not care for this any more? I think it was the society and the tough life made him numb and senseless.
All those above showed that hard experiences made them put up with any unconceivable environment. We could say there was optimism in Babu’s behavior and thought. But the sentences below were certainly used to show his numbness:
Firstly, “We had just arrived in Calcutta from East Bengal where Hindus and Muslims were killing one another.”(13) His tone seemed so nature as if murder meant nothing special to him. Actually, I think, he had been used to it and life was not so valuable as we normal human think it is. It was also showed in this sentence: “Our fourth child. One died of diphtheria back home (no longer our home) in Dacca; two, from fatigue, on our long trek on foot to Calcutta.”(49) The former child died and new one was born. It formed as a circle in his eyes. Although he should not be blamed in those accidents, he seemed unbelievably indurate.
Another evidence is that: “So, on the whole, our life together has been very eventful. The events, of course, were not always pleasant. But, does it matter? We have survived them. And now, we have no fears or anxieties. We have a home made of coal tar drums. We eat two square meals of grass every day. We don't need to wear clothes. We have a son to do our funeral rites when we die. We live very quietly, content to look at the passing scene: a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin.”(115-121) How can he be content to look at such passing scene? If I were he, I would certainly be mad.
After thinking for a long time, I finally reach the conclusion that those poor like Babu were shaped by the society. Their commiseration, passion, aggressive and many human nature were cruelly bereaved by the environment. Their tears were dried up. Their edges were abraded. Their normal senses were disappeared. It was all imputed to the devil society. So did the author thought, I think. It was the true reason that he wrote down such story. He wanted to tell the reader how a trouble times destroyed a generation.
Timed-Writing Three
Directions: If you were to create a filmed advertisement (a “trailer"
for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, which scene would you select? Why? Discuss ways in which you might film the scene.
If I was to create a filmed advertisement for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, I would select several tracks and combined them as my advertisement.
Firstly, I would give a view of the pipe from a far distance. The pipe lies on an open field. Around it dust is flying and a pile of dirt with flies around is in the nearside. Then the camera goes near and goes into the pipe, in which it shows the environment Ajit Babu lived. In it I will give a poor but tidy scene, some clothes hang on the top of the pipe, some carpet extended on the floor as their bed, and a candleholder with a candle on it. This scene will appear with gentle music. I choose this scene because I want to begin my advertisement with a tender atmosphere. Also the pipe is their last ‘home’ outside the resident area. It can show how tough their life was.
Secondly, I would give a group of scenes which could show the disordered of the society. One is in a market, Hindus and Muslims kills one another. Another is near a firing tram, a lot of guys loot nearby shops, break street lamps and set off crackers. The last is that Babu is running with fear because that a bag of bones is following him and shouted loudly. The surroundings must be on a footpath with many refugees sleeping beside. A couple of tents will be built along the footpath. After several seconds, the women’s husband, a hill of a man, whirling a tree over his head appears. Then give a close-up on Babu’s face. These scenes will go on with rapid rhythm and they will switch from one to another quickly. I choose these scenes because I want to tell the viewer they lived in a very dangerous area and they could easily be devitalized.
Thirdly, the scene switches to a grass land. Babu and his wife, Swapna, wearing dirty clothes, are walking on it with baskets in their hands. They sometimes see at each other, sometimes look up to the blue sky and then stoop down and pull grasses out, clean out the dirt on the grasses and put them into the basket. The camera goes around the grass land and finally faces opposite Mr. Babu. Then the camera goes forward him and stops at the top half of his face, especially his two numb eyes. At last the title “The Grass-Eaters” came in with a rough font. The background at that time is the basket with grasses in it. I choose this scene to emphasize their hard life and induct the title. And I think as long as the actor is good, this kind of numb gaze will have a shock in the viewers’ mind.
Reading Log:My view of Americanization
As the title of this article is ‘The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen’, I think about the word ‘Americanization’ from beginning to end. What's the meaning of ‘Americanization’? How will it influence Shadrach Cohen?
After reading the first two pages, I thought Shadrach would become a modern old man in the end of the story. He would speak English, have his long beard cut and give up the pray after meals. However, the author gainsays my viewpoint in the passage. It really came to me that I had thought too simple. At that time, I learned from the book that the so-called Americanization is his being broader-minded and flexible in his tenets.
But this is not ending. I begin to have another audacious imagine. What is the author, as an American, want to tell us in this passage? I guess he wants to tell us another recondite idea by the crash change of Shadrach. I had ignored it for a long time that the biggest change is his attitude towards his sons. Before the transformation, we could see that he responded almost cheerfully to all their requests for money. While after that, he began to teach them that life is earnest. Also before his change, his sons only regarded their father as an adamancy and fusty geezer. While after that, they show great respect to him. These kinds of characters, such as letting children be independent and building great image in children's mind, I think, are what the Americans cry up and be proud of. Maybe this is the true meaning of Americanization.