This Blessed House

In the short story “This Blessed House” by Jhumpa Lahiri was a very interesting story to me. I was expecting the story to have a climax or to have some type of surprising ending. But to my surprise there wasn’t. It seemed to mainly show each character’s personalities and traits, which they had complete opposite personalities, (talk about opposites attract). The two characters, Sanjeev and Tanima (also known as twinkle) are a newlywed couple from India living in America. They are from a Hindu religious background. In their new house Twinkle stumbles upon various Christian relics that were left in the house by the previous owners. Sanjeev is very unhappy with the Christian relics being left up in their house by his wife and is trying to remind her that they are not Christian but in fact Hindu. It seems that the main root of the conflict is the clashing of their two very different personalities in an awkward situation that forces them together.  Which seems like a good thing to me because, they have only known each other for four months and have been finding it difficult to adjust to the married life.

I really seemed to like the story. I must say it was very disappointing to find out that this story that kept on building and building, didn’t build up to a climax or an exciting ending. It was a peaceful story unlike the previous story we read for class about the two couples that had very different points of views of what true love is. Even with their baggage and chaos. Also in this short story “this Blessed House,” because they were Hindu they didn’t seem to realize the sacredness of the Christian relics. So it made me think if the roles were to be  reversed, would I have been respectful of Hindu relics or would I have made fun of them or just threw them away or perhaps made them into just simple house decorations?

Reading for transformation

 Reading “Reading for transformation,” I enjoyed the section that talked about McAloon’s lectio divina. I like all 5 different points. I really feel like these will help me in my reading for this class this semester. Especially knowing myself not all literature interests me, so trying to engage myself more in the assigned reading by using these 5 points will definitely help me. The first point silencio, talks about being with silence to clear the mind. I find that useful in my own reading and even in my daily things I do in my day. I tend to get easily distracted by my own thoughts and tend to wander off in different directions. The second lectio, point informs us to read slowly and carefully. By doing this in my own reading for pleasure or in class will help me to understand what is even going on in the book I usually tend to read books or articles once and very quickly just to get through it and be done with it. I usually walk away from my reading having no idea what I just read, and to be frank not really caring either, especially I it doesn’t apply to me or my life.

At the beginning of this essay, I completely agreed and could relate to what McAloon was saying about how some authors tend to be such excellent writers that what they say, which can be very deep, goes right over your head. I thought, “either I’m not applying myself to the piece of literature or it’s just really too deep for me to grasp the true meaning. I learned that while reading you sometimes have to work. You cannot expect to read everything and feel that it’s all clear and you understand every word and phrase. That is not how it works. Analyzing and looking for clues within other words or phrases will bring the deep meaning that was unclear to life.

What we talk about when we talk about Love

“What we talk about when we talk about Love” by Richard Carver, was a very interesting story about love. I liked how they showed many different views on how people can express their love for one another whether everyone agreed with that being true love or not. They explained how Terrie saw that her ex-husband’s violent aggressive actions were out of an act of love; which was the only way he knew how to express his love for her, which was definitely her opinion, to say the least. Mel then begins to tell the story of the drunk teenage driver that hits a couple in their seventies and puts them in automatic critical conditions. As they are in recovery, the love that the husband has for his wife shows so much more in this serious situation. He becomes sad and depressed that he is unable to look over at his wife to see if she is okay in the hospital due to his and her body casts.

I believe everyone has different ways of expressing love and  in many different types of love like: sentimental love or impulse love. Love can be an act of generosity, or a simple word. I do not believe that an act of physical abuse or verbal abuse can be in any way love. Like in the bible it says, “Love is patient, love is kind, love doesn’t keep record of wrong doing…” We all need love no matter what way it is expressed. God is love and therefore we are all in need of his love. His love is never ending and is expressed in many ways as we all tend to show love. He has a platonic love for the earth that no one could ever come close to loving like him. The type of love we should try to attain for one another is a love a mother has for her child.

Ashley Coleman

In Reading the first section of “Introduction to Literature” it was very useful and informative to me.  I liked how it explains in depth different ways and approaches to reading, such as: Active reading and passive read. Active reading had two different stages to become engaged in your reading. The first being preliminary reading and the second Annotating the text. Annotating the text is very familiar to me and I really enjoy doing it. We annotated a lot in English composition II, and I grew very fond of it. I wasn’t very sure why we did annotate all the reading we did last semester but now reading this section on annotating, I completely understand why. I’m actually excited to be able to read the books and articles assigned for this semester and be able to annotate them. I believe that this will help me to become more connected and engaged in my active reading. I also like the approach that was given in this section, preliminary reading. This will help me to not literally judge a book by its cover and to take my previous knowledge and to give it a perspective to consider the story and not just to discard the book right away, which I have already did this semester to the text books assigned. The quote, “What you get out of what you read is determined by how you read, “  I believe that this quote is true. For example I grab a magazine and never give it the attention  that I should, meaning, I skim through it and never fully actively read it. Therefore, I only got the main topic of the breaking story, the gist of it. I did not receive extra details or get both sides of the story. I can definitely relate to this quote. As I read the Bible I’m looking for growth, answers, clarity etc. I journal while reading and highlight and bookmark, I annotate the bible so much and even annotate things more than once if I feel the need, and in return I’m receiving growth, answers, and clarity. If I were just to read a passage once and never come back to it I may not have gotten the clarity that I was looking for if I jus skimmed or read briefly. Taking time to read literature actively will in return be very beneficial to me in school, relationships, and with my daily Bible readings.  

Ashley Coleman

At a very young age most of us would dread having to take a bath and of course going to bed. But there was one thing I looked forward to was the extra quality time I got to spend with my mom. Little did I know bedtime stories were exposing me to Literature at such a young age. Bedtimes stories form the ones my mom would make up from the top of her head, bath time, getting to sing "Wheels on the bus" to the classic story books like "Peter Rabbit" or even Bible stories. I soon found myself reading stories on my own. Stories such as " The Hungry Caterpillar", or Books assigned in school like " The chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”

   Having recently read "When God Writes you love story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy was truly an amazing novel. Not only entertaining but was biblically based. As I read it I understood the kind of Love that God has for me and how he longs to be my romancer. I began to understand God's will and promises for my life are in act. Nothing will hinder His plans for my life. He shows His true grace for us when we come to Him in obedience, even when it comes to love. In my life the Bible is the most significant Literature. It’s what I start and end my days reading. It brings me peace and clarity about daily issues. I know the days I don't read, my days don't run as smooth. The Bible is my sword and I gain more knowledge from it about my life and the God I serve.
     Literature is about experience, reflection, creativeness, interpreting, and it comes in all forms. Literature is so important to have apart of our lives, it shapes us, helps us to trace cultures, history, and traditions. I even love poetic literature, I personally love to write it on my own leisure as a hobby and to relieve stress. Poetry for helps me to express and captivate feelings about things going on in my life or the mood I am in.
    Literature, like all things has deep meaning and shallow meaning. I would never say literature never matters, but I would say that it does matter when you are trying to find a deeper meaning unless you are reading for pleasure, enjoyment or even as a time filler. However, most of the time even for those same reasons, no matter what you read or write you are and will always get something out of Literature.