Cover Letter
Portfolio Committee
Mathematics Department
Fudan University
Mex Zhou 0518047
Dear Portfolio Reader:
To write in English is always Chinese student’s weakness and I’m not exceptional. After having studied English for over ten years, I found it dismay that it was still hard for me to write in a native way. For this, I prepared to improve my writing ability when I entered the Fudan University and, the advanced English writing course taught by Mr Corio was one of the process I adopted to achieve it.
Before the writing course, I had less experience of a long essay. The largest number of the words I had written in one passage before this course was only about 500. That was only half of this class’s requirment. It makes me feel challenged. As presented at this portfolio, the numbers of the words included in the three drafts increases one by one. Another challenge I faced while working my portfolio is vocabulary. Perhaps it is the common problem for all the foreign learners. Although we may have recited lots of words while working for TOFEL or GRE, only a little words will occur to us when it comes to writing. I tried to show the readers the awareness of these challenges and my improvement.
The Draft One is a simple one. Although it has formed a stronge thesis statements and covered most of the details needed, the structure is far from satisfaction. At the beginning of the essay, it declared the thesis of the essay that “Black humour was deliberately chosen to reflect the fact that no matter how hard the heroes might fight, even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them.” However, I failed to prove it with enough evidences, just making a brief analysis of the first, the middle and the last paragraph. All the essay only consists of about 700 words, which may be unable to support the idea. Besides, some words are not chosen carefully and grammatic error could be found somewhere.
We had a class discussion then. I exchanged my Draft One with my two partners and thanksfully, they offered me a few suggestion quite useful. Some more significant details were added to my essay which makes it seems more abundant. I have also modified the order of the paragraphs to enhance the logic. In this way, the essay becomes an acceptable one as I think. One will get my ideas clearly through his reading, and he will find enough subordinaions to prove my thesis. I still had trouble in some choices of the words. I supposed there are some improper expression in my essay I don’t know. I decided to check it out with my partners once more.
There are no big change at the Draft Three. I managed to replace a few words with more suitable ones. For example, to discuss about the rich family in a vivid way, I quote the phrase of “a spherical boy, an “ovoid” father and a cuboid mother,” and comment their life as abundant and easy. Besides, I revise some expressions and reorganize the sentences in several paragraphs to smooth it. I believe the readers will be clearly showed what I am going to talk about in my essay. The length of about 1000 words is enough to support my essay strongly and convey my thesis to the readers completely.
What’s more, my portfolio also include a reading log and final Timed-writing. Those are both part of this course’s content. As I had read four famous novels, I made sense of some writing styles. Of course, it is not enough and I plan to read more in the future. Timed-writing is another work necessary. Since it was finished during 30 minutes in class, some mistakes cannot be avoided. I added it on the portfolio as well.
Efforts were made during my study at Mr Corio’s advanced writing class. I have learned to write an essay much longer than before and get used to express my idea in a quite formal way. Besides, the reading work of some interesting well-known stories gives me a general view of the foreign masterpieces. Now I am quite confident to organize my writing and the portfolio as well. All these things are meaningful and helpful to me, while I still need to keep on my practising and reading process, which will enable me to write naturally in English at last. The learning of a language has no end, especially when it concerns to the writing. I am looking forward to exchanging our ideas with the readers here and to enhancing our writing ability altogether.
Sincerely
Mathematics Department
Fudan University
Mex Zhou 0518047
Dear Portfolio Reader:
To write in English is always Chinese student’s weakness and I’m not exceptional. After having studied English for over ten years, I found it dismay that it was still hard for me to write in a native way. For this, I prepared to improve my writing ability when I entered the Fudan University and, the advanced English writing course taught by Mr Corio was one of the process I adopted to achieve it.
Before the writing course, I had less experience of a long essay. The largest number of the words I had written in one passage before this course was only about 500. That was only half of this class’s requirment. It makes me feel challenged. As presented at this portfolio, the numbers of the words included in the three drafts increases one by one. Another challenge I faced while working my portfolio is vocabulary. Perhaps it is the common problem for all the foreign learners. Although we may have recited lots of words while working for TOFEL or GRE, only a little words will occur to us when it comes to writing. I tried to show the readers the awareness of these challenges and my improvement.
The Draft One is a simple one. Although it has formed a stronge thesis statements and covered most of the details needed, the structure is far from satisfaction. At the beginning of the essay, it declared the thesis of the essay that “Black humour was deliberately chosen to reflect the fact that no matter how hard the heroes might fight, even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them.” However, I failed to prove it with enough evidences, just making a brief analysis of the first, the middle and the last paragraph. All the essay only consists of about 700 words, which may be unable to support the idea. Besides, some words are not chosen carefully and grammatic error could be found somewhere.
We had a class discussion then. I exchanged my Draft One with my two partners and thanksfully, they offered me a few suggestion quite useful. Some more significant details were added to my essay which makes it seems more abundant. I have also modified the order of the paragraphs to enhance the logic. In this way, the essay becomes an acceptable one as I think. One will get my ideas clearly through his reading, and he will find enough subordinaions to prove my thesis. I still had trouble in some choices of the words. I supposed there are some improper expression in my essay I don’t know. I decided to check it out with my partners once more.
There are no big change at the Draft Three. I managed to replace a few words with more suitable ones. For example, to discuss about the rich family in a vivid way, I quote the phrase of “a spherical boy, an “ovoid” father and a cuboid mother,” and comment their life as abundant and easy. Besides, I revise some expressions and reorganize the sentences in several paragraphs to smooth it. I believe the readers will be clearly showed what I am going to talk about in my essay. The length of about 1000 words is enough to support my essay strongly and convey my thesis to the readers completely.
What’s more, my portfolio also include a reading log and final Timed-writing. Those are both part of this course’s content. As I had read four famous novels, I made sense of some writing styles. Of course, it is not enough and I plan to read more in the future. Timed-writing is another work necessary. Since it was finished during 30 minutes in class, some mistakes cannot be avoided. I added it on the portfolio as well.
Efforts were made during my study at Mr Corio’s advanced writing class. I have learned to write an essay much longer than before and get used to express my idea in a quite formal way. Besides, the reading work of some interesting well-known stories gives me a general view of the foreign masterpieces. Now I am quite confident to organize my writing and the portfolio as well. All these things are meaningful and helpful to me, while I still need to keep on my practising and reading process, which will enable me to write naturally in English at last. The learning of a language has no end, especially when it concerns to the writing. I am looking forward to exchanging our ideas with the readers here and to enhancing our writing ability altogether.
Sincerely
Essay Draft Three
Mex Zhou
June 5, 2007
Draft Three
Why do Krishnan Varma use black humour?
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who lived in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The author, Krishnan Varma depicted this unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much sadder. Black humour was deliberately chosen by the author to demonstrate the optimism of the couple, while even if keeping optimistic after so many pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. The black humour created a sharp contradiction between Ajit Babu’s psycological condition and his physical situation, which arises a stronge sense of despair and irony.
The author did not start the story by Ajit Babu’s miserable life. Instead, some background information goes first. It begins with a conversation between Ajit Babu and a fat boy he was tutoring. Among the process of their conversation, an interesting detail could be noticed. The writer portrays the boy’s family members as a “spherical” boy, an “ovoid” father and a “cuboid” mother, with three different words of the same meaning. It seems funny to introduce people like that. While behind the author’s humour, readers could infer from these three prople’s outlook that their lives were easy. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from Ajit Babu’s, thus they were amazed at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. Taking into consideration that the fat family were living in the same land as Ajit Babu did, they had totally no sense of their fellow’s living condition before they met Ajit Babu. At the opening of the story, the writer set an interesting conversation to inform the background of the story. One had already been indicated by those huomours words that the society was quite unbalanced and the couple’s life might be so hard among that time.
After that, the author started to tell Ajit Babu’s miserable stories in details. Amusing description would be found when dealing with Ajit babu’s living condition. According to the passage, Ajit Babu uses some exaggerating words to express his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
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.(Page.57)
Funny as it was, to live in an abandoned wagon would make a man feel like God. No one might be able to accept such a poor room as a heaven for a young couple. However, Ajit Babu likes it. He is crazy about it. His statements confirm that the living situation at that time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door which could be open and shut will make him thank God. Although many exciting words were used to depict Ajit Babu and his wife’s rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers about the poor life that this couple had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking a fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his host family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it with great satisfaction and he explained there were more light and ventilation, freedom from rats and mice and rodents, and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no rational reader can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
The author did not stop to use his ironic tone at the second last paragraph, which seems to be the most direct time he reveals the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce British imperialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism, and set off crackers.”(Page. 59) No belief and no control exists. People there lost all their judgement about what is acceptable and what not. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a utopian dream in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. That is what the author hope to indicate from his black humour. Some readers might disagree with it as they noticed Ajit Babu’s words, at the last of the story, that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it expresses the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
June 5, 2007
Draft Three
Why do Krishnan Varma use black humour?
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who lived in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The author, Krishnan Varma depicted this unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much sadder. Black humour was deliberately chosen by the author to demonstrate the optimism of the couple, while even if keeping optimistic after so many pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. The black humour created a sharp contradiction between Ajit Babu’s psycological condition and his physical situation, which arises a stronge sense of despair and irony.
The author did not start the story by Ajit Babu’s miserable life. Instead, some background information goes first. It begins with a conversation between Ajit Babu and a fat boy he was tutoring. Among the process of their conversation, an interesting detail could be noticed. The writer portrays the boy’s family members as a “spherical” boy, an “ovoid” father and a “cuboid” mother, with three different words of the same meaning. It seems funny to introduce people like that. While behind the author’s humour, readers could infer from these three prople’s outlook that their lives were easy. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from Ajit Babu’s, thus they were amazed at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. Taking into consideration that the fat family were living in the same land as Ajit Babu did, they had totally no sense of their fellow’s living condition before they met Ajit Babu. At the opening of the story, the writer set an interesting conversation to inform the background of the story. One had already been indicated by those huomours words that the society was quite unbalanced and the couple’s life might be so hard among that time.
After that, the author started to tell Ajit Babu’s miserable stories in details. Amusing description would be found when dealing with Ajit babu’s living condition. According to the passage, Ajit Babu uses some exaggerating words to express his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
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.(Page.57)
Funny as it was, to live in an abandoned wagon would make a man feel like God. No one might be able to accept such a poor room as a heaven for a young couple. However, Ajit Babu likes it. He is crazy about it. His statements confirm that the living situation at that time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door which could be open and shut will make him thank God. Although many exciting words were used to depict Ajit Babu and his wife’s rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers about the poor life that this couple had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking a fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his host family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it with great satisfaction and he explained there were more light and ventilation, freedom from rats and mice and rodents, and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no rational reader can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
The author did not stop to use his ironic tone at the second last paragraph, which seems to be the most direct time he reveals the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce British imperialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism, and set off crackers.”(Page. 59) No belief and no control exists. People there lost all their judgement about what is acceptable and what not. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a utopian dream in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. That is what the author hope to indicate from his black humour. Some readers might disagree with it as they noticed Ajit Babu’s words, at the last of the story, that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it expresses the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
Essay Draft Two
Mex Zhou
May, 22
Draft Two
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who livd in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The author, Krishnan Varma depicted this unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much more sad. Black humour was deliberately chosen by the author to reflect the optimism of the couple, while even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. The black humour created a sharp contradiction between Ajit Babu’s phycological condition and his physical situation, which arises a stronge sense of despair and irony.
The author did not start the story by Ajit Babu’s miserable life. Instead, some background information goes first. It begins with a conversation between Ajit Babu and a fat boy he was tutor to. Among the process of their conversation, an interesting detail could be noticed. The writer portray the boy’s family members with three different words but for one meaning, as a “spherical” boy, an “ovoid” father and a “cuboid” mother. It seems funny to introduce prople like that. While behind the author’s humour, readers could be inferred by these three prople’s outlook that they should belong to the up-class of that time. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from Ajit Babu do, thus they were amazing at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. Take into consideration that the fat family were living in the same land as Ajit Babu did, but they had totally no sense of their fellow’s living condition before they met Ajit Babu. At the opening of the story, the writer set an interesting conversation to inform the background of the story. One had already been indicated from those huomours words that the society was quite inbalanced and the couple’s life might be so hard among that time.
After that, the author started to tell Ajit Babu’s miserable stories in details. Amusing description would be found when dealing with Ajit babu’s living condition. According to the passage, Ajit Babu use some exaggerating words to express his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
A whole wagon to ourselves—a place with doors wich 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.
Funny as it was, to live in an abondoned wagon would make a man feel like God. No one might be able to accept such a poor room as a heaven for a young couple. However, Ajit Babu liked it. He was crazy about it. His statements confirm that the living situation at that time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door could be open and shut will make him imagine of God. Although many exciting words were used to depict Ajit Babu and his wife’s rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers about the poor life this couple had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfaied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking a fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his tutourial family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it as great satisfation and he explained there were more light and ventilation, free from rats and mice and rodents,and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no one with rational judgement can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
A even much ironic tone could be found at the second last paragraph. It is also the most direct time the author reveal the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce Btitish impertialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism,and set off crackers.” No belief and no control could be found in that place. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a kind of nonsense in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. That is what the author hope to indicate from his black humour. Some readers might disagree with it as they noticed, at the last of the story, Ajit Babu said that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it express the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
May, 22
Draft Two
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who livd in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The author, Krishnan Varma depicted this unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much more sad. Black humour was deliberately chosen by the author to reflect the optimism of the couple, while even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. The black humour created a sharp contradiction between Ajit Babu’s phycological condition and his physical situation, which arises a stronge sense of despair and irony.
The author did not start the story by Ajit Babu’s miserable life. Instead, some background information goes first. It begins with a conversation between Ajit Babu and a fat boy he was tutor to. Among the process of their conversation, an interesting detail could be noticed. The writer portray the boy’s family members with three different words but for one meaning, as a “spherical” boy, an “ovoid” father and a “cuboid” mother. It seems funny to introduce prople like that. While behind the author’s humour, readers could be inferred by these three prople’s outlook that they should belong to the up-class of that time. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from Ajit Babu do, thus they were amazing at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. Take into consideration that the fat family were living in the same land as Ajit Babu did, but they had totally no sense of their fellow’s living condition before they met Ajit Babu. At the opening of the story, the writer set an interesting conversation to inform the background of the story. One had already been indicated from those huomours words that the society was quite inbalanced and the couple’s life might be so hard among that time.
After that, the author started to tell Ajit Babu’s miserable stories in details. Amusing description would be found when dealing with Ajit babu’s living condition. According to the passage, Ajit Babu use some exaggerating words to express his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
A whole wagon to ourselves—a place with doors wich 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.
Funny as it was, to live in an abondoned wagon would make a man feel like God. No one might be able to accept such a poor room as a heaven for a young couple. However, Ajit Babu liked it. He was crazy about it. His statements confirm that the living situation at that time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door could be open and shut will make him imagine of God. Although many exciting words were used to depict Ajit Babu and his wife’s rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers about the poor life this couple had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfaied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking a fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his tutourial family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it as great satisfation and he explained there were more light and ventilation, free from rats and mice and rodents,and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no one with rational judgement can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
A even much ironic tone could be found at the second last paragraph. It is also the most direct time the author reveal the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce Btitish impertialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism,and set off crackers.” No belief and no control could be found in that place. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a kind of nonsense in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. That is what the author hope to indicate from his black humour. Some readers might disagree with it as they noticed, at the last of the story, Ajit Babu said that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it express the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
Essay Draft One
Why did Varma use black humor to describe Ajit Babu's life?
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who livd in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The writer, Krishnan Varma managed to depict the unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much sad. Black humour was deliberately chosen to reflect the fact that no matter how hard the heroes might fight, even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. It is totally no use to struggle with the power of a single person (or a couple) in such surroundings because it is the misery and despair of that world.
The story begins with an interesting conversation between Ajit Babu and a “spherical” boy he was tutor to. It can be noticed that the writer portray the boy’s family members with three different words but in one meaning. They are a “spherical” boy, his “ovoid” father and “cuboid” mother. Judgding from their shape, these three people obviously belong to the up-class of that time. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from the hero do, thus they were amazing at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. At the opening of the story, the writer set a sharp contradiction between the hero and his pupil’s family which indicating the unfairness of the society.
After then, the hero starts to tell his stories in his own tone. Readers will feel it really humourous when he turn to this story at the first time. Ajit Babu use some exaggerating words to describe his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
A whole wagon to ourselves—a place with doors wich 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.
This statements confirm that the hero’s situation at thar time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door could be open and shut will make him imagine of God. Although Ajit Babu and his wife were in such a rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers that what a poor life those people had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfaied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his tutourial family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it as great satisfation and he explained there were more light and ventilation, free from rats and mice and rodents,and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no one with rational judgement can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
A even much ironic tone could be found at the second last paragraph. It is also the most direct time the author reveal the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce Btitish impertialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism,and set off crackers.” No belief and no control could be found in that place. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a kind of nonsense in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. Some readers might hold some other view as they noticed that Ajit Babu said that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence at the last of the story. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it express the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
The story “The Grass-Eaters” describes to the readers a story of a young couple, Ajit Babu and his wife, who livd in Calcutta and led a miserable life with incredible optimism. The writer, Krishnan Varma managed to depict the unhappy story in a humourous way which simply makes the novel sounds much sad. Black humour was deliberately chosen to reflect the fact that no matter how hard the heroes might fight, even if keeping optimistic after so much pains, they could never get rid of that horrible life around them. It is totally no use to struggle with the power of a single person (or a couple) in such surroundings because it is the misery and despair of that world.
The story begins with an interesting conversation between Ajit Babu and a “spherical” boy he was tutor to. It can be noticed that the writer portray the boy’s family members with three different words but in one meaning. They are a “spherical” boy, his “ovoid” father and “cuboid” mother. Judgding from their shape, these three people obviously belong to the up-class of that time. They were enjoying an abundant life quite different from the hero do, thus they were amazing at the Ajit Babu’s acommondation in a pipe. At the opening of the story, the writer set a sharp contradiction between the hero and his pupil’s family which indicating the unfairness of the society.
After then, the hero starts to tell his stories in his own tone. Readers will feel it really humourous when he turn to this story at the first time. Ajit Babu use some exaggerating words to describe his feeling when they had got an abandoned-looking freight wagon to live in:
A whole wagon to ourselves—a place with doors wich 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.
This statements confirm that the hero’s situation at thar time was so bad that even a mere private place with a door could be open and shut will make him imagine of God. Although Ajit Babu and his wife were in such a rapture of owning a “house”, some deep sadness were conveyed to the readers that what a poor life those people had.
It is not the end. The hero kept telling the reader his amusing experience with various humourous ways. He was satisfaied with his wife’s being pregnant during their journey in spite of lacking fixing house. He felt content to find a pipe as home and without any hesitation they crept into it. At last, with the help of his tutourial family, he obtained a house roof to settle down. Ajit Babu took it as great satisfation and he explained there were more light and ventilation, free from rats and mice and rodents,and what’s more, far less rent than other tenants paid. One might be able to regard it as acceptable that Ajit Babu should be happy with his new house. However, no one with rational judgement can take such a “house” as granted. Ajit Babu’s happiness, or the writer’s humourous tone in the same way, make the story much more miserable.
A even much ironic tone could be found at the second last paragraph. It is also the most direct time the author reveal the reality of that society. Ajit Babu depict the readers a chaotic atmosphere where people “hold a protest meeting, denounce Btitish impertialism, American neo-colonialism, the central government, capitalism and socialism,and set off crackers.” No belief and no control could be found in that place. Whatever the hero’s optimism might be, it seems like a kind of nonsense in Calcutta.
The world was so bad. Ajit Babu and his wife could never possess a peaceful life in Calcutta as they wish. Some readers might hold some other view as they noticed that Ajit Babu said that he felt eventful and no fear or anxieties and content with the presence at the last of the story. But it is just the opposite. What makes he felt content is such a miserable scene of “a tram burning, a man stabbing another man, a woman dropping her baby in a garbage bin”. The ending of the story appears to be the biggest irony of the hero’s optimism and it express the author’s intention most strongly that it is the misery of the society and any single person’s optimism could only be a form of despair.
Final Timed-writing
0518047
Mex Zhou
June 21, 2007
Timed-Writing 3
Direction: From The Necklace, what might have been the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life if she had not lost the necklace? Is her life better or worse now?
As we all knew from Mauppsant’s famous masterpiece, The Necklace, that young and pretty woman, Mme. Loisel happened to lose a valuable necklace during a ball one night, which takes her the next ten years to suffer for. Questions are always raised that what might have been the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life if it didn’t happen, or whether she will live better or worse now?
Concerning to her youth and beauty, and her outstanding performance during that night, I believe her life’s quality would be much higher and more abundant during these ten years. However, her life now might be worse, or at least not better than what her life is in the story.
First of all, her exciting life during this decade could be foreseen. It is a fact that Mme. Loisel enjoyed high compliment during that amazing night. All the VIP’s noticed her, asked to dance with her, and expressed their eagerness to know her. Thus, we could imaging if she hadn’t lost her necklace, she would be invited to this kind of balls after then. And to those powerful people’s pleasure, she might be offered some precious opportunity to step into the up-class, which is really her favorite from her childhood. Even if she could stay the allure not to abandon her family to devote herself into another guy, as a woman of vanity might always chosen, she would be absolutely in happiness to take part in all kinds of activities.
Rapture as it would be to her life, I don’t think she would lead a better life “now”. To that I mean, after her precious experience of that decade, she might come to an end no better than now. No need to suppose, if she couldn’t resist the temptation of leaving her family for a new life, she might be deserted after her youth as what she did to her husband. Those guys who hook up beautiful young ladies at the balls are not men of reliability. And we all know Mme. Loisel is a pride woman, it will be a miserable end for her if she had lost everything, including her family and her youth and her status at last. So it will be much worse than her normal but not rich life with a stable family now.
On the other situation, if Mme. Loisel chose to live with her husband and enjoy her life at those places with famous guys, she will find her attraction to the men decreases as years goes by. Odd is people’s mind. Everyone knows a life without too much compliment and appreciation is just OK, when compared with a life with heavy burden of the lost of a necklace. However, to Mme. Loisel, she might feel it unacceptable that she couldn’t enjoy those attention any longer. It is a heavy attack to that woman of vanity, which will lead great unhappiness to her and her family as well. Thus, quarrels and disharmony would be bring to her family. And we can imagine, if she do not make up her mind to change her attitude, her life wouldn’t be any better than she had in the story. Just because she owned nothing after that 10 years and she become a normal woman of middle age, which is definitely unacceptable to Mme. Loisel.
All in all, good quality as it might be to her during that 10 years, Mme. Loisel will not lead a better life at life than what happened in the story.
Mex Zhou
June 21, 2007
Timed-Writing 3
Direction: From The Necklace, what might have been the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life if she had not lost the necklace? Is her life better or worse now?
As we all knew from Mauppsant’s famous masterpiece, The Necklace, that young and pretty woman, Mme. Loisel happened to lose a valuable necklace during a ball one night, which takes her the next ten years to suffer for. Questions are always raised that what might have been the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life if it didn’t happen, or whether she will live better or worse now?
Concerning to her youth and beauty, and her outstanding performance during that night, I believe her life’s quality would be much higher and more abundant during these ten years. However, her life now might be worse, or at least not better than what her life is in the story.
First of all, her exciting life during this decade could be foreseen. It is a fact that Mme. Loisel enjoyed high compliment during that amazing night. All the VIP’s noticed her, asked to dance with her, and expressed their eagerness to know her. Thus, we could imaging if she hadn’t lost her necklace, she would be invited to this kind of balls after then. And to those powerful people’s pleasure, she might be offered some precious opportunity to step into the up-class, which is really her favorite from her childhood. Even if she could stay the allure not to abandon her family to devote herself into another guy, as a woman of vanity might always chosen, she would be absolutely in happiness to take part in all kinds of activities.
Rapture as it would be to her life, I don’t think she would lead a better life “now”. To that I mean, after her precious experience of that decade, she might come to an end no better than now. No need to suppose, if she couldn’t resist the temptation of leaving her family for a new life, she might be deserted after her youth as what she did to her husband. Those guys who hook up beautiful young ladies at the balls are not men of reliability. And we all know Mme. Loisel is a pride woman, it will be a miserable end for her if she had lost everything, including her family and her youth and her status at last. So it will be much worse than her normal but not rich life with a stable family now.
On the other situation, if Mme. Loisel chose to live with her husband and enjoy her life at those places with famous guys, she will find her attraction to the men decreases as years goes by. Odd is people’s mind. Everyone knows a life without too much compliment and appreciation is just OK, when compared with a life with heavy burden of the lost of a necklace. However, to Mme. Loisel, she might feel it unacceptable that she couldn’t enjoy those attention any longer. It is a heavy attack to that woman of vanity, which will lead great unhappiness to her and her family as well. Thus, quarrels and disharmony would be bring to her family. And we can imagine, if she do not make up her mind to change her attitude, her life wouldn’t be any better than she had in the story. Just because she owned nothing after that 10 years and she become a normal woman of middle age, which is definitely unacceptable to Mme. Loisel.
All in all, good quality as it might be to her during that 10 years, Mme. Loisel will not lead a better life at life than what happened in the story.
Reading log
Many times might we have read this story, it still makes a deep impression on us every another time we turn to it. Each line and each word is so well organized that I even find it unfair to focus on one detail when ingore another. In this way, I hope to say something about the general idea of this masterpiece."Redemption" , as I have listed it as the topic , might be the main point of "The Necklace". The heroine used to be a lady of vanity, during the year from being a girl to her early year's of being wife. "She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that;she felt made for that." However, a fantastic ball draw her to the misery in which, she suffered a lot with her husband. Although at the end of story we all know it is not necessary for her to endure this, however, nothing can be changed with the decades lost.Someone may hold the view that her vanity made her be punished in such a severely way. While I'd be much willing to say that she saved her soul from the decade she endure. From the Bible it is said people is born evil and live to save themselves. And such thoughts have become most popular idea of many famous noval, for example that "The scatterred Letter". "The Necklace" is also one of them. I have no intention to agree or critic the Christian but i do agree that we should make our efforts to compensate for something we did. We should face the life even it seems so hard sometimes. To fight instead of to run. In this way, the heroing is great, I should say, cause she finished her self-redemption and becomes a fair guy.