Reading Journal (Paragraph): Araby

First Draft (499 words):

From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple formation novel about a boy who realizes harsh reality and loses his innocence. After all, when the nameless narrator goes through his journey to Araby, he learns that his precious “sixpence” is too little to buy anything, and confronts a flirting woman who breaks his fantasy about love. Readers, at first gaze, observe this novel is a Bildungsroman. However, on the other hand, Joyce's "Araby" is not just another common Bildungsroman because it closely describes its setting, contemporary Ireland, in detail. James Joyce is an Irish writer, and in his days, Ireland was largely acknowledged as a subservient nation to Britain, ignorant and vulgar. Joyce believed that Catholic Church was one factor that stopped Ireland's emancipation and development by denouncing rebellions and excommunicating those who rebelled. Because of the Church, Joyce claimed, Ireland reached a state of cultural paralysis in which people fail to move forward and stuck in place. In other words, even when the Church lost its original purpose of faith and politically deteriorated, Irish, who already had been paralyzed by the Church, stopped to rebel and kept meaningless faith. This reality is portrayed in "Araby" here and there; the former tenant of narrator's house, "a priest", who had been “very charitable" and academically erudite as "a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp" indicates, is dead. This shows that the original intention of the church - benevolent and academically influential - is gone now. Still, Irish meaninglessly believe in the Church, just as the aunt hopes that Araby is not some “Freemason affairs” and old Mrs. Mercer collects stamps for “some pious purpose”. Even the narrator likens Mangan's sister to a religious concept ("chalice") whose name "sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers". Joyce criticizes such tendency of unconditional religious belief by describing the reality is not holy, sacred, nor noble at all - "dusk fell" down the "blind" street "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women", the uncle is drunk and "had forgotten" about his niece's romantic plan, and train to Araby is "deserted". At the last part of the story, the narrator "allow[s] the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in [his] pocket", which was precious money to buy present for his lover, and this act shows that the narrator admits the breakdown of his romantic, idealistic, even holy love. All these gloomy descriptions and dark conclusion Joyce employed, which do not fit to the image of sacred, honorable, noble religion at all but rather contradict it, are in accordance with contemporary Ireland, where Catholicism was ubiquitous but meaningless. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is not a mere Bildungsroman, but a more deepened story that effectively uses details to reflect Ireland. In this sense, Joyce is a great writer who does not only catch an individual's epiphany but also understand the world he lives in and reflect it in his story.

Comments:

Those who commented on my first draft liked how I “put in the background of Joyce’s time and tried to link that” with the whole plot. (Nuri) However, they pointed out that this was “too long” and that I should shorten “my introduction and conclusion because they are a bit too repetitive in their ideas” (Jane) and “the historical summary” because “most people who read anything about Joyce won’t need the historical stuff” (Mr. Garrioch). Also, some pointed out that I was being too “radical” (Flora) with my claims, so that I should use a bit more careful words. Accepting those comments, I tried to 1) clean up my introduction, 2) summarize the historical context in one sentence, and 3) use careful diction such as “seem” or “somewhat”. 

Some students gave me additional details to add on my essay (“Another aspect … related to religion in “Araby” is when the boy depicts the girl as a “white” figure … [with] a halo” (Nuri)), and I tried to add these in second draft, but the paragraph got too long again. Maybe I’ll write a longer essay about “Araby” so that I can explain further about history of Ireland and add more details that substantiate my thesis. (:

Second Draft (413 words):

From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple coming-of-age story about a boy who realizes harsh reality and loses his innocence. After all, when the nameless narrator arrives at Araby and encounters a young female clerk flirting with two men, he is disenchanted with his idealistic view on love. However, on the other hand, Joyce's "Araby" is not just another common Bildungsroman because it closely depicts contemporary Ireland, its setting, in detail. Joyce believed that the Catholic Church disturbed Ireland’s cultural development and emancipation from England by denouncing rebellions, and asserted that continued suppression paralyzed Irish to keep meaningless faith even after the Church lost its original purpose of faith and exercised political leverage. The troubled civil and religious history of Ireland is portrayed in "Araby" here and there. The former tenant of the narrator's house, "a priest", was "very charitable" and academically erudite as "a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp" indicate. But the priest is dead. This shows that the original intention of the church - benevolent and academically influential - is gradually fading. Still, many Irish, and especially those on North Richmond Street, seem to believe meaninglessly in the Church. The aunt hopes that Araby is not some “Freemason affair” and old Mrs. Mercer collects stamps for “some pious purpose”. Even the narrator likens Mangan's sister to a religious concept ("chalice") whose name "sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers." Joyce criticizes unconditional religious belief by illustrating that reality is not always holy, sacred, or noble - "dusk fell" down the "blind" street "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women", the uncle is drunk and "had forgotten" about his niece's romantic plan, and train to Araby is "deserted". At the last part of the story, the narrator allows his precious two pennies that he planned to use to buy a present for his lover to "fall against the sixpence in [his] pocket"; this act shows that the narrator admits the breakdown of his romantic, idealistic, even holy love. Through all these gloomy descriptions that Joyce employed, we can see how contemporary religious Ireland is criticized for its delusions. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is not a mere Bildungsroman, but a profound story that reflects Joyce’s somewhat negative perspective toward contemporary Ireland. In this sense, Joyce is a great writer who does not only catch an individual's epiphany, but also understands the world he lives in.

Reading Journal: The Lady with the Dog

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 12v1

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

February 26 2013

Reading Journal: The Lady with the Dog
- “Love” and “Need” -

We sometimes have a problem distinguishing one emotion from another. We confuse love and admiration. Sometimes we do not clearly distinguish love and friendship. In some cases, we are not sure about the difference between love and hatred. In The Lady with the Dog, Chekhov suggests another pair of confusing emotions – “love” and “need”.

The Lady with the Dog, basically, is a story about one couple who just can’t stop committing adultery, despite of social blame and humiliation that would follow if divulged. In this sense, it reminds of Romeo and Juliet, the most famous love story of a couple who submits to all kinds of danger just for love. But any reader who reads The Lady with the Dog would hardly agree that this story is synonymous with Romeo and Juliet. Why?

The answer is simple: Romeo and Juliet “loved” each other, while Dmitri and Anna “needed” each other. 

Let’s go over Dmitri first. Chekhov introduces Dmitri’s wife as a “tall, erect woman … staid and dignified, and, as she said of herself, intellectual”. She “read a great deal, used phonetic spelling, called her husband, not Dmitri, but Dimitri”. Dmitri, married to such a sophisticated, noble, and learned woman, “was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home”. This description indicates that Dmitri is, consciously or unconsciously, feeling inferior to his wife. Dmitri’s inferiority to his wife is again indicated in the later part of the story, when his wife "twitched her black eyebrows, and said: "The part of a lady-killer does not suit you at all, Dimitri."” Dmitri has been cheating on his wife for years, and he believes that he is one of the “attractive and elusive” guys who “allured women and disposed them in his favour”; yet his wife’s remark shows her disregard for something her husband is proud of, thereby inferior-izing Dmitri.

Nobody wants to acknowledge his/her inferiority. Humiliated, indignant, one wants another chance to be superior instead. This is what Dmitri seeks for in his relationship with Anna. When he first meets Anna, he is attracted to her “diffidence, the angularity”, her “first time … alone in surroundings”. Dmitri knows that Anna is an inexperienced, weak, “pathetic” fellow who he can easily be superior to.

And this is why he meets Anna – he needs Anna to confirm the fact that he himself is a valuable, superior, powerful person. If Dmitri truly loved Anna, as Mr. Garrioch argued, “he would walk away from her, reflect on the affair as a cherished memory, and go home to his family and provide them with the love of a true father and husband”. But he does not leave her alone, and return to his wife, because he needs Anna, an inferior being, not his wife, a superior.

The reason Dmitri returns to Anna clearly reinforces his motive. Although he sometimes remembered Anna and missed her, he lived quite few years in Moscow without contacting her. Then, one day, he was insulted by his officer’s “degrading and unclean … savage manners”. He “did not sleep all night, and was filled with indignation”. He realizes that without Anna, he is again the inferior – not only in family but also in his work now. This is why Dmitri decides to take a journey to Petersburg; he needs Anna more than he did in usual because he was severely insulted.

All these evidences clearly indicate the emotion that Dmitri possesses toward Anna – not “love”, but “need”. Then, how about Anna? Does she love Dmitri, or need Dmitri? Although described far more vaguely than Dmitri’s case, I believe that Anna’s emotion is also closer to need rather than love – need to run away from her dissatisfied life.

Chekhov illustrates Anna’s husband as “a good, honest man”, but Anna does not love him and defames him as a “flunkey”. When asked reason why she married her husband, then, she answers “I have been tormented by curiosity; I wanted something better. ‘There must be a different sort of life,’ I said to myself. I wanted to live! To live, to live!” This answer implies that Anna married in hope that marriage would bring her a new, exciting life. But her expectation was not accomplished; actually, her life became even duller. Her second life is “grey”, just like the “stretched long grey fence adorned with nails” across her house which drove her to “run away”.

This may be a good reason why Anna stays near Dmitri. Anna is a delicate, emotional young lady, and her sensitivity would have noticed that Dmitri is not truly in loved with her at least once. In fact, her continuous inquiry about “the same questions” that “he did not respect her sufficiently” implies that she does suspect of Dmitri’s sincerity. But despite these suspicions she has on Dmitri, and anxiety and fear she always feels of her adultery being divulged, Anna does not leave Dmitri because she “needs” him so badly as a source of pleasure that deviates from her ordinary mundane life.

It is the end of the story that “love” and “need” is distinguished. Dmitri, as always, was not paying attention to Anna, crying in guilt: “Let her have her cry out. I’ll sit down and wait,” thought Dmitri. Then he looked inside the mirror, and noticed that “his hair was already beginning to turn grey”. He suddenly seemed “so much older, so much plainer during the last few years”, and as he stared Anna, who had been with him for years, “still so warm and lovely”, he confessed that “he had fallen properly, really in love – for the first time in his life.” Grey hair is a clear indication of Dmitri’s inferiority to young Anna. This is the moment that Dmitri realizes that he, who actually is older (inferior) than Anna, was using Anna to fulfill his need for superiority. He feels gratitude to Anna, who has loved him for years despite his selfishness.

This realization is reflected in their following conversation about “how to avoid the necessity for secrecy, for deception” and “how could they be free from this intolerable bondage”. Dmitri (and perhaps Anna, too) has been satisfied with temporary meetings up until now, because these were enough for him to satisfy his need of superiority. But now, he hopes to be with Anna all the time, publicly, because he loves her and love cannot be satisfied with few times of surreptitious trysts.

Personally, I’m not yet certain about whether the emotion of “love” is stronger than that of “need”. But as a teenage romanticist, I hope that “love” is an I-will-always-be-next-to-you emotion, while “need” is an I-am-satisfied-with-few-purposed-meeting. I hope love to be stronger than need, so that Dmitri and Anna, despite of “a long, long road before them” with the “most complicated and difficult part … just beginning”, would finally find their way into love.

Reading Journal: The Student

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / 12v1

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

February 13 2013

Reading Journal: The Student

- Universal Truth Of Empathy -

“I know this is so childish and immature, but I can’t stop envying my roommate. She looks so superior to me; she is pretty, she studies real hard, she knows so much about music…”

“Need to work harder. Stop sleeping until 11 a.m. Stop going to Sosa. And just stop doing computer!!!”

From my old diaries, I frequently find out the stories that reveal my failures and weaknesses. Thinking back, I realize why I used to keep those stories secretly in my diary and avoid telling even to my closest people; I was afraid that they would laugh at my dilemma. I was anxious that they might scorn my troubles, saying that it is not a worry-worthy problem, and not empathize with me.

Anton Chekhov
Author of The Student

People sometimes need someone who would understand and empathize with their concerns. Anton Chekhov points out such universal necessity of empathy in his short story The Student. Ivan Velikopolsky, a student of the clerical academy, stops by the garden of two widows on his way to home. He starts to narrate what happened to St. Peter at the night of the Last Supper to Vasilisa and Lukerya. As the student tells the story – St. Peter denying Jesus three times – Vasilisa “suddenly gave a gulp, big tears flowed freely down her cheeks”, and Lukerya’s face “became stained and heavy like that of someone enduring intense pain”. Returning from the garden to his house, Ivan realizes that the Vasilisa’s tears and Lukerya’s anger is not originated from his eloquent rhetoric but from their secret empathy with St. Peter’s betrayal.

Chekhov is renowned as one of the greatest realism writers; Maksim Gorky even claimed that Chekhov “[is] killing realism” by writing so realistic pieces that no one would be able to write an ever more accurate representation of reality. The Student is not an exception from Chekhov’s lists of realistic writings. Common characteristics of realism in literature, such as chronological plot development, third person narrative, or common imagery, are employed in The Student. Chekhov, however, uses two more special attributes to emphasize this work’s realism by underlining that empathy is a universal theme.

The first attribute is Chekhov’s comparison of widows and Peter. Vasilisa and Lukerya are widows, poor (that they need to "[wash] a caldron and spoons" by themselves), and not pretty (Vasilisa is “tall, fat old woman” and Lukerya is “a little pock-marked woman with a stupid-looking face”). On the other hand, Peter is a Saint remembered and praised throughout history. At first gaze, this comparison – insignificant, impoverished widows understanding admired holy man – looks quite unrealistic. However, considering that one characteristic of realism is to convey universal truth, it may be explained that Chekhov intentionally uses this seemingly unreal comparison to emphasize that empathy is “universal”. Empathy occurs regardless of status, wealth, or other secular factors; the poor, vulgar women can indeed understand and empathize to the serene, respectable saint. In short, an apparently unnatural setting contributes in presenting the reality that empathy is achievable anywhere, anytime.

The second emphasis on university of empathy is revealed from Chekhov’s set-up of Ivan. Some people express their skepticism that the story is not realistic because Ivan’s emotional change is too dramatic. At the start of the story, Ivan feels “desolation”, “darkness”, and “oppression”. However, as he realizes that all people share some kind of experiences and thus empathize with each other, just as if one end of a chain quivers when the other side is touched, he feels “joy suddenly stirred in his soul” that he even "stopped for a minute to take breath". On the surface, such drastic emotional change seems unrealistic, especially because Ivan’s joy is from recognition of a "chain … that when he touch[es] one end the other quiver[es]", which seems very abstract and not directly related to him. However, this doubt is easily refutable when it is realized that to Ivan, the enlightenment is actually quite personal. Chekhov indicates that Ivan’s family background is not that rich; his father lies on the stove "coughing", his mother sits "barefoot" on the floor in the entry, and Ivan is "terribly hungry". Considering Ivan’s status as a student, he must have contemplated about serious issues, such as the omnipresent existence of "poverty and hunger, ... ignorance, misery”. But he would not be able to share his thoughts with his families who are suffering to prepare a day’s meal. Ivan, himself, lacks someone who can understand him. In this perspective, it is easily understandable why Ivan presents such extreme joy when he realizes that all people are related to each other somehow – in other words, that there must be someone who can empathize to him. To Ivan, universal empathy is not a far-distanced, abstract theory, but a hopeful promise that guarantees the existence of soul mate.

My Emotional FB Status :P 

Whenever I put somewhat emotional status on Facebook that reveals a bit of my personal story, I pretend not to pay attention but I must admit that I am satisfied when people click “Like”. “Like” in Facebook is a signal that there are some people who can understand my status, because they have somehow similar experience. Although it is sometimes hard to admit that one needs and secretly wants someone who “Like” my status – in fear that someone might scorn one’s worry and regard it trivial – we must admit that empathy is a universal theme that any man needs, as Chekhov tells in The Student.

Take Home Assignment: Criminal DNA Database

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / b4

Mr. Garrioch

English Composition

November 29 2012

Make a rational argument for a position you do not support personally. For clarity, please state your true opinion first and then argue the opposite position. Consider an issue that has affected you personally.

TRUE OPINION: A criminal DNA database should not be produced.

     Retaining the DNA of unconvicted suspects to create a criminal DNA database is controversial because there is high possibility that an individual’s private information may be abused. Also, a DNA database degrades an individual by allowing the government to view every citizen as a potential criminal.

     However, there is no doubt that a database greatly reduces the risk of wrongful conviction and the time of tracking down the suspects. Although some people argue that DNA testing does not guarantee 100% accuracy and thus should not be used as the basis of convictions, it is much more reliable than the conventional investigation method. For example, compared to conventional fingerprints investigation, in which fingerprints are easily smeared or contaminated, DNA testing is applicable even with very small amounts of genetic data, notwithstanding contamination from oil, water, or acid. Therefore, producing a criminal DNA database contributes to a more precise and convenient investigation.  (998 characters) 

University of Chicago Essay: Silence - Not Always the Best Speech

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / b4

Mr. Garrioch

English Composition

November 29 2012

Silence – Not Always the Best Speech

[University of Chicago Prompt] Essay Option #3. Susan Sontag, AB'51, wrote that "[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech." Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend.

Two hours left, yet I still heard from no one. Among twenty people I contacted, thirteen said "Sorry, I have another schedule," and seven did not even respond. "New Message Arrived" – I opened my phone in slight expectation. It was, however, a message from the club teacher urging me to give the names of two participants right away. I threw away my phone in anger, and let out a loud wail.

MUNESCO, which stands for Minjok UNESCO, is a volunteer organization in KMLA that I had been the Chief for the last six months. One special characteristic of MUNESCO is that it is one of numerous affiliated clubs under the Korean National Federation of UNESCO; that is, there are similar clubs in other high schools all over the nation. Usually, each club acts independently, but occasionally there are camps that assemble all clubs to share their achievements. I was looking for two members who could join a three-day camp which would be held during the summer vacation. However, among twenty members – twelve juniors and eight freshmen – no one volunteered. No one.

Eventually, I couldn’t find two participants until the last moment, and had to contact the club teacher and National Federation that MUNESCO would not be able to join the camp. After being severely reprimanded, I started to question myself; why everyone was so passive to participate in club activities? Maybe my leadership had been wrong, I thought. Looking back the past half year, I realized that it was not the first time that MUNESCO members did not show their best devotion; they did not appear in group meeting, kept making excuses for not attending camps, and often ignored my contacts. My solution to this problem was “the speech of silence”, not direct confrontation and scolding. I expected that my silence would speak out everything – how I was doing all the jobs, including the members’ work; how burdened I was; how desperately I was waiting for the members’ apologies and voluntary participation; and so on.

But the solution did not work at all. All the members were already too busy with their assignments, quizzes, and other club activities. They were not attentive enough to be concerned over someone trying to convey message via silence. At the end of the first semester, I was utterly exhausted that I couldn’t continue working alone in silence. Still, I was too afraid to break the silence, which would create public discord. I eventually renounced the Chief position; I entrusted another member – the one who showed the most enthusiasm among reluctant members – with full power.

The new Chief’s policy was, definitely, not silence; she was not afraid to speak out loudly of her dissatisfaction about the members’ passiveness, even if it led to discord and conflict. Whenever she felt that members were not doing their best, she posted a status in reproach and anger on Facebook. Ashamed to be “publicized” for their lack of devotion, members started to participate. They came to almost every meeting, tried to join the campaigns except for the inevitable cases, and paid attention to the outspoken Chief.

(This is not real; I just made it up, but something similar like this was updated on the New Chief's FB wall few times.)

Silence, definitely, works far better than grandiloquent speech in some cases. As Leonardo da Vinci pointed out, “[n]othing strengthens authority so much as silence.” But sometimes, like my experience with MUNESCO, silence does not act as an effective form of speech; the listeners are too busy or inattentive to search for the message the silent speaker is trying to convey. Evidently, silence is not the best approach a leader can always employ. 

                                                                                                                                                                                   

To be honest, I did not want to upload this essay on my blog. This essay is about one of the most embarrassing experiences in my life; thinking back, I feel stupid about me for shrinking and hesitating to speak out, in an idle fear that members would resist to my reproach. But I actually learned an important thing -- that "silence is not the best approach a leader can always employ", as I stated in this essay's conclusion -- so... it's not that bad to undergo a frustration in return for some lesson, I guess? J

[Ben X Full Review] Yet No REAL Solution

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / b4

Mr. Garrioch

English Composition

November 22 2012

Yet No REAL Solution

I can categorize my worries in three sections: weight gain, academics, and human relationship. If a Genie shows up and says “Choose only one trouble you want me to solve,” then I would choose the last worry – human relationship – without any hesitation. I stop eating and exercise more when I gain weight; I stop watching cartoons and study harder when I get B from English Compositions; but I don't know what to do when I ruin my relationship.

There is one friend that I once was super close, but not now. From the moment that we started to feel this strange turbulence between us, we couldn't face each other with ease. Once I noticed one of her drawbacks, I started to find out more and more, which made me feel guilty whenever I tried to sew up our broken relationship. Then I felt fury to her for making me feel blameful; then I again felt guilty for enraging at her, who definitely did not intend to anger me. This cycle just went on and on, and I’m sure it was same for her. I finally realized that restoring relationship is one of the hardest conundrums in our life.

And this was what happened to me – conflict with "one" friend – but what if the conflict is with "many" friends? This is what Amanda Todd, a fifteen-years-old girl who left her last words on YouTube and committed suicide, experienced. Her YouTube suicide note, "My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm", talks about how she became an outcast and how she could not break away from bullying. Just because of one little mistake she had made when she was in 7th grade, Amanda was continually tortured online (for example, being revealed a photo of her bosom on Facebook) and offline ("threw me to the ground and punched several times ... kids filmed it," states Amanda). Amanda entitled the bullying "My Never Ending Story": yes it was, broken relationship just kept on breaking deeper and deeper.

A lot of people ponder over this problem, trying to suggest solutions to free from the endless cycle of bullying. Ben X, a Belgium film released in 2007, is a fruit of the director Nic Balthazar's deliberation. Unlike "common" solutions most counselors think of – asking for parents’ active help, for example – Balthazar raises a creative solution: "online game". Ben, the protagonist of the movie, suffers from Asperger's syndrome which accompanies autism, keen response to the slightest stimulus, etc. Ben's classmates feel interest in bullying someone different from them; they make Ben stand on the table and take off his pants, film this mean prank and post it online. Balthazar presents a new character, Scarlite, an imaginary girlfriend from Archlord as a cure for Ben’s ostracization; she stops Ben from committing suicide and thinks of ingenious revenge to Ben’s classmates.

When I accessed to Ben X Facebook page, some viewers left posts about how excellent resolution this movie has. However, I could not agree to those posts; to be honest, I thought the resolution is creative, but nothing more. Suggesting online game – itself or whatever originated from it – as a solution to bullying problem is, in my opinion, dangerous and incomplete.

Consider case 1; if the online game itself is a solution to Ben’s problem – that is, if Scarlite did not show up – it is highly possible that Ben would have stirred up bloody affairs. And the movie does admit this presumption; until the middle of the movie, before Ben met Scarlite in his real life, Ben often imagined himself in computer graphics in the armour of the warrior whenever his classmates bullied him. He imagined purchasing weapons at the item store and fighting the bullies back. And Ben once really attempted to fight in real life with a sharp piece of sculpture. But online and real world was different; Ben was easily oppressed by his bullies and was harassed even more severely. Then Ben tried to commit suicide by crashing into the train, in hope to escape from current “game” he is playing. In short, online game itself could not be a desirable solution for Ben – it could lead him exert violence upon his opponents, as he does online, or kill himself, in delusory belief that his life is just another set of game.

Case 2: Scarlite, Ben’s imaginary supporter originated from the online game world, is what Balthazar actually believes to be a desirable solution. Scarlite helps Ben act a fake suicide, thereby make his bullies feel guilty over his death. And this was indeed a creative solution; the viewers extolled the twist, that set something else than bloody affairs as an ending. Yes, the creativity is accepted – but the solution does not work. When the film of Ben’s fake suicide is played in the auditorium, what the bullies feel is not remorse, but actually a greater rage toward Ben for publicizing their cruel act. This is obvious when the camera zooms up the classmates’ facial expression in the funeral – they do not show a drop of tear. When the funeral ends, the camera pictures Ben happy in the farm, alone, but not Ben happy in the class, together. That is, even with Balthazar’s creative solution, the classmates did not regret their past acts or/and accept Ben as one of them; what this solution achieved was merely removing the violence and harassment from Ben and his classmates’ broken relationship. The fact that Ben is an outcast still does not change.

Viewers of Ben X, including most of my classmates, said that they enjoyed this special and unconventional movie. Indeed, Nic Balthazar’s suggestion of Archlord as a solution to the bullying issue was original and novel. Such proposition of new idea, definitely, is praiseworthy; nevertheless, it is sorry that this ends only as a creative “attempt” that does not resolve the real problem. Overall, Ben X was an interesting, exotic movie, but its incompleteness disappointed me again for finding no real solution over broken human relationship. 

10 Flash Fictions

1.      Phone alarm rang. I looked down my phone. Sighing, I turned off the alarm. I thought I already erased everything. But I didn't. I leaned over the wall, and clapped slowly. Happy Birthday to you.

2.       Living in a dorm school is: You put a full bottle of coke in the fridge, and next morning you're drinking a cup of water.

3.       "You collared the cole to buy a pen?" The father angered at the boy. "I can bring you numbers of pen from my office!"

4.       "Teachers must allow students autonomy" I commented at KMLA Forum, ignoring Facebook message from Judicial Branch to join Student Jury.

5.       "Hey, I was just going to study!" exclaimed my roommate who had been Facebooking all day, as the dorm blacked out.

6.       [11:59:59PM] "The Concert Ticket Sale begins within a second!" 

          [12:00:00AM] "This computer is out of battery. The system is forced to perform terminations."

7.       “You are allowed to buy translated copies," said my professor, and I stared down at my book -- Shakespeare in the original.

8.       [Sent Message] It's been more than a month... How are you these days? 

          [Received Message] This number is not registered.

9.       Have a nice… days.

10.    Window opened. A slight breeze. The door locked inside-out.

Comments

   Hemingway's famous flash fiction makes me feel most of my examples are wrong : ( Hemingway seems to make the readers imagine all the events that may have happened -- baby's death, mother's sorrow, etc. Some of my examples -- 1, 8, 9, 10, and maybe 2 -- do seem to act like Hemingway's, but others seem to be more like "irony" than flash fictions. Hmm....?

   Please leave comments about this question! And if you see any ambiguous flash fictions that you can't predict what was my intention, feel free to ask : ) Thanks!