Hi students! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. A reminder -- for Wed's class, please write a page or so on the last paragraph of "The Accident" and what it lends to the story.
Make sure you read "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat." Be prepared to discuss the themes of the stories and how they relate to enslavement -- jot down notes after you read about what you think is going on in the stories -- metaphors, symbols, etc. We will have a visitor in class on Wed., so we want to be our smiley, lively selves!!
If you have a chance and are feeling ambitious, blog some of your thoughts about "Hills" and/or "Black Man and White Woman ..." I will read your thoughts in class on Wed.
See you in Monday's lecture.
RD
I believe The final paragraph in the “The Accident” has significant meaning to the entire short story. The overall impression I got of the story was that no one could come to accept the situation was an accident. I believe this is justified within the first two sentences of the final paragraph.
ReplyDelete“Here I am, discussion philosophy, but life is not philosophy, although, philosophy derives from one’s knowledge of life.”
The definition of philosophy is as follows- the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience.
The person speaking in the story is almost mocking himself for being philosophical. This is because no matter what happens life is life. If something serious happens, like the accident, It cannot be changed. So why waste your time thinking of ways it could have been prevented?
Hills like white elephants and Black man white woman in a dark green rowboat both had very similar themes. In both stories, there are references to things being “just how they used to be”, or “just how they were.” In relation to the theme of enslavement, I believe people are too busy dwelling or thinking about past actions. What is done is done, and all you can look forward to is the future.
- Matt Bronson
I believe that the last paragraph of "The Accident," sums up the entire short story. It explains the writer's reasoning for the story and helps us to find the deeper meaning of it. In the story people just think of the accident as a statistic and a piece of the past. Although you can not change your past there still a problem in the fact that it becomes a statistic. When a person passes it isn't something that can just be jotted down and forgotten about. It is something to be mourned and the life of the individual should be celabrated.
ReplyDeleteThe author somewhat makes a joke of being being philisophical. He first says how he is being philisophical and then stating how life isn't philisophical. It almost creates a type of irony in how us as humans find life as philisophical but it may be more simple then that. Maybe you are born, you live, then you die or maybe there is more to it. It is up to the individual to find the deeper meaning.
"Hills like with Elephants," and "Black Man white woman in a Dark Green Coat," both had very similar themes. They both had to do with happiness in a way whether it was not caring about being happy of wanting to be happy. After reading through the stories a second time, Matt Bronson and myself had a theory that the story was mainly about the woman in the story discussing having an abortion. this should make for some very interesting arguments in class. Im PUMPED!!!!
Cudge
In the last paragraph of this short story Gao Xingjian brings the reader back to earth. He explains in his conclusion that he was not trying to preach, "Life is philosophy," as well as not trying to make the reader have a different view on something they already had a solid understanding of. He states that it was just an accident that occurred, with the unfortunate events that followed.
ReplyDeleteI can see where if he had left the last few statements out of the story, it could have left the reader in a little of a distressed state. He needed to explain how he was not trying to address his audience as a teacher trying to portray a hidden reason or explanation, but as a writer telling a story and distinguishing between the many reactions people can render come a certain situation.
-Kassi Brady