As you may know, I have begun reading The Sayings of Confucius. Yesterday I posted a short summary of what I read, some key points, and what the authors key point was. Today I will review what I read, including today's assigned portion, give examples of other points the author was making, discuss if and what elements the author used concerning the literary elements, and my own thoughts on the book.
The selection I have been reading has been very mambo-jumbo.It appears to have no real order to it and the individual quotes that you read don't seem to make any sense. As I continued reading the selection, it appeared that they were a collection of thoughts, quotes, impressions, and sayings that were not organized at all. For example, though certain quotes were grouped together under Roman Numerals,they seemed to have been chosen randomly, having no organization whatsoever. As the book did not have any process, the best thing I can do for an overview is tell you all the information I just went over as well as say that it is very laborious and almost impossible to understand at all. It's hard to know what point the author was trying to say.
In this book, the authors points seem vague, if not non-existent. There are disembodied phrases over and over that need a great amount of thought process to be able to distinguish the meaning. I suppose his 'point' was that pondering will bring answers that you would not usually get. I believe, additionally, that he wanted others to know the great teachings of the great meditators and prophets.
The theme of the work that I have selected is that of a high moral standard. The author, it seems, is agreed with the standard, and teaches just as the others do. To make this clearer I will say that there are not characters so much as authors of the same mind combining their work under one name.The finishing product seems to have become a kind of 'gospel' for the Confucians. There is not so much of a 'statement' as there is a seemingly mutual agreement. This makes the work seem totally and utterly un-decernable(?). Hence, my attitude towards it is that of a lost reader, not able to understand practically at all. In this instance, I would say that it would only be readable and enjoyable if you were disposed to spend hours contemplating the work. Thus, my attitude is that of a reader who would not be interested in this type of study. As for the conflict, the only one I have seen so far would be that of the great philosophers quoted in the book disagreeing with each other. The characters, were all great philosophers who believed in living your life the best he could be. They feared the effect of not doing what they believed. They conduct themselves as gentlemen who only speak of what they had strong beliefs about. Because of this, I feel like they are to be respected, even if you don't believe in what they believe in. Symbolism has been used, at a certain extent, with gentlemen, love, and ladies. The setting seems to be a conversation on the street of in a private place. It is hard to tell as the author does not give a setting. My conclusion would be that the setting is in a great many places, and the author recorded the words and placed them in a single book. The style of the text is an arrangement of quotes or conversations that are placed in numerical order. The tone seems to be that of a religious tone in respects that it is taking a moral and methodical approach to the words. There are some similes and metaphors in the selection, but not many.
My own thought on this book are mixed. I believe that this book is a great work to meditate on, but it would not be the right material to use for my Literary Exp;orations class. The book I need is a book that has all the Literary Elements in it and that I will be able to understand and not such a methodical base to it. I could not understand what it was saying, and I couldn't piece it together.I believe that to do well on this course, I will need to begin another book and use it. This book is not suited for my needs.
After reading a part of this book, I have come to the conclusion that I need to redirect and do this course with another book. I can't see what the author is trying to tell me, and his points seem vague. Though it is a book., it does not have everything it needs to have to meet with the criteria of the course. All in all, this book is not suited for my needs.
Good first draft. I will review with specific comments when it's final. Some general guidelines for this (or any) written assignment:
ReplyDelete1) Print it and read it word-for-word and letter-for-letter. Imagine (I know this will be hard) that some hypercritical parental unit will be reading it, anxious to take away privileges for typos and grammatical errors.
2) Read it out loud. The brain just does not seem capable of noticing its own mistakes visually. Hearing yourself speak your writing can make a mistake more obvious.
3) For major assignments, read it backwards. Same concept as No. 2, and especially helpful for catching errors like misspelling and improper spacing. This assignment is not really on that level of importance, but let's pretend it is for practice.
Also, before you move on from Confucius, let's do two more things:
First, report on one discrete story, saying, or dialog and whether or how it applies to modern life.
Second, read this article on Confucius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius. Don't write anything about it, but discuss with me what you learned from the article and from The Sayings of Confucius at breakfast or dinner Saturday.
Sounds good. I'll get started as soon as I can
ReplyDeleteI have completed the first part of the guidelines.
ReplyDelete