Reading Log for the month of January

Third Entry:                                                                                                            January 1, 2014

The Old Man

and

The Sea

by

Ernest Hemingway

Part1:                                                                                                                                               

Reflect:    The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is not only short at first glance but simple at first read. It tells of an old man, Santiago, who goes out to sea one day on his own, hooks a great, big swordfish, defeats it and brings it home. However, what makes this story much more compelling and complicated is its use of symbols. Since the novel has a full array of symbols, this reaction will focus on one that human beings, in general, have in their lives and take for granted most of the time, never knowing its true worth only until it is not beside them. 

Connect:  When i was in high school, I used not to wait too long because for me it is just but wasting my time in short i was an impatient person. But there was an instance that shifted me into being patient. And it makes me realized that patient is a virtue. Patient is a grace. Like Santiago he waited so long in order to catch a great big swordfish and it happened because of his being patient.

  

Question: I wonder what the reason of Santiago was in staying long days in the shore. I found it hard for him in staying long days in the shore without catching fish or having an empty skiff. But in the latter part i understand why Santiago did that. And is so, because he believes that a man is not made for defeat and he has that patient which is really powerful. 

Prediction: I think that when the old man wakes up, his dream of lion playing on the beaches of America will be come true. And i also predict that Mandolin his young apprentice will be the next Santiago. I hope so.

Part2:                                                                                                                                                

 “A man is not made for defeat.”

Santiago has nothing but a broken-down shed and a rickety skiff with a sail that is “patched with flour sacks” and looks “like the flag of permanent defeat.” The skin of his gaunt body illustrates his hardships and is marked with deeply-set wrinkles, scars, and blotches from the punishing sun. And because of his terrible misfortune, he is a pariah in his small fishing village.

But while nearly “everything about Santiago is old,” his eyes remain “the same color as the sea and are cheerful and undefeated.” Instead of throwing in the towel after 84 days of terrible luck, he sails farther out into the Gulf than he has gone before.

A man continues to do whatever he must do to the best of his ability, no matter what tribulations befall him. While challenges and setbacks can strip a man of all outward signs of success, still his spirit can remain undefeated. For it can will a man to never give up and to keep on trying.

Reading Log for the month of December

Second Entry:                                                                                                                                      December 29, 2013

The Adventure of Tom Sawyer

by

Mark Twain

Part 1:                                                                                                                                            

Reflect:

                   The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a story about the imaginative and mischievous twelve-year-old boy named Thomas Sawyer who lives with his Aunt Polly, his half-brother, Sid, also known as Sidney, and cousin Mary, in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer is one of my favorite books. To most of the young boys, including me, leaving home and take adventures with friends is a fantastic thing. Reading the story of Tom Sawyer is like fulfilling my dream. However, a child is a child. Tom and Huckleberry still have to go back to their home, and they realize it, in spite of the fact that they have more adventures more. And Tom is no doubt a clever boy. What he impresses me the most is when he pretends painting the wall is a funny thing and makes other children give him gifts in order to give a try to paint the wall. I think it is a symbol. Mark Twin wants to tell people that children are creative and they sometimes figure out effective ideas that adults do not. The final climax to me is when Tome and Becky sucked in the cave, facing the bad guy Injun Joe. It is like a hero and a princes fighting against the evil thing. And it is a happy ending, which fits to my flavor. I strongly recommend The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, for those children who seek adventure through literature.

Connect: 

                    When I was a kid, I was as mischievous as what Tom was. I will paint my aunt’s walls with some colorful crayons or paints, destroying their garden, picking the flowers from its base. Way back then, I think of it as a fun way to enjoy my life. That is why most of my aunt hated me. But now that I am matured enough (I hope so) to think that, it was not good to do that such thing, because they effortly build their gardens and painted their walls. Maybe what I am before and what I am now are totally different, maybe that’s the effects of being matured. It is good to be child once, and we should not forget that when we are matured already.

Predict:

                      I think that Tom will be mature and be responsible in the future of the story.

Question:

            Why shouldn't Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn deal with their own band of undead along the Mississippi River?


Part 2:                                                                                                                                            

December 29, 2013

Mark Twain

Author

Sir:

My name is Ryan Mark L. Catanio; I am an AB English student of Mindanao State University, General Santos City, Philippines

I have read many funny stories but this novel entitled The Adventure of tom Sawyer is a special one yet. It inspires that impulsion to not stop reading until the very end. I am wowed after getting through less than a quarter of the chapters. It greatly impressed me with the funny little jokes and actions that occur. These two boys Tom and Huck Finn are so inglorious, they make me want to laugh out loud in the middle of prayer. They do things that strange to my eyes if I had the chance to observe them in my normal life.

The book is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read.

                   

God bless and more power to you.

Sincerely yours.

Ryan Mark L. Catanio