Friday, February 29, 2008
Blogging Journal for "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse"
Please put your Blogging Journal reponse here as a comment to this post. I provide a copy of the story in Word format for your use during our study. "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse." I've provided a sample response, using quotations. Follow my model in your answers this time to practice this important skill.
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17 comments:
1. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
William Saroyan’s “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” confirms my personal beliefs. The narrator, Aram, claims that “Every family has a crazy streak in it somewhere.” I agree. If by crazy he means wild and passionate and eccentric, my family confirms it. Although some family are as conservative as they come, I also have one who believes in astral travelling (out of body experiences). Personally, I love the eccentric members more; my uncle, who spent the first 25 years of retirement skiing alpine powder snow, only giving it up in his 92 year, is truly a character. Aram also says that a man may only be a biological father to a son and not a “father of his spirit.” Having two children is ample proof of that. My children are both different from my wife and me, having a spirit uniquely their own. Saroyan gives us much to ponder about life in his deceptively simple story, “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse.” —164 words
1. Tell about how you feel toward this writing or its author and why.
This is no doubt a brilliant writing. The narrator, Aram, uses a comical tone telling us a funny story. He clearly expresses his opinion about his cousin's so-called "eccentric" behavior, by telling that "Mourad enjoyed being alive", beyond that" more than anybody else who has ever fallen into the world by mistake." Although he tases his cousin, but actually wee can still fell how he appreciate his cousin, how he dreams to be the same. We could feel he feeling" one the one hand delighted me and on the other hand frightened me." This writing may involve some argument about moral conception. Actually, the narrator himself has shown us his own answer through his uncle Khosrove's mouth:" It is no harm; pay no attention to it."
The author uses many parallel and complicated construction sentences to emphasize his ideas, this reminds me who also use English as the second language to write, how to cover the limitation on the vocabulary.
One thing I do not understand is why he points summer in his title which is not mentioned much in his writing.
Aileen,
You have not answered a blogging journal question here; there is no question to "analyse character."
Also, please keep answers close to our limits: 150 words or so. Your answer is 335 words long!
Please delete and redo.
Topic4
The story `` The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse `` reminds me of my neighbour’s son. The narrator claims that`` it seemed to me stealing a horse for a ride was not the same thing as stealing something else.`` When my brother was a kid, my father bought a cool toy car for him. My neighbour’s son liked it very much and came to my house play it every day. However, one day, my brother couldn’t find it , and the boy did not come either. Then, I was sure that the boy had stolen it, so I went to asked him, but he said no. After one week, one day, I looked out of the window and saw the boy quietly put the car in my yard and ran away. I came out and caught him. I asked him why did he do that. He cried and said,`` I am not really want to steal it, I will return it back when I don’t want to play it.` `I recall the boy when I read this sentence.
167words
Topic 7
The effectiveness in the story was when the you read about the boys and the horse. The experiance they had with the horse and the morals the boys had about the right and wrong thing to do. The attitudes of the boys switched as if they stepped into one another's shoes. One boy believed not to steal and showed concern while the other boy did not seem to mind that it was not his horse to take. Towards the end,the boy that showed genuine concern,wanted to keep the horse and the boy that did not have a care,decided to return the horse the next day. The motto quoted by the uncle gave another focus in the story. Even though the uncle didn't have anything to do with the story directly, he gave a reason to read. You wanted to know the story behind the quote "It is no harm. Pay no attention to it."
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
Sharing a beautiful white horse with my best friend in the summer.
Why Mourad want to share the horse with young Aram? He can enjoy by himself and nobody will know even Aram. In the story, I can see that Mourad had been riding the horse for a few days and had found a place to hide the horse and the food to feed the horse.
I like the writer said “Mourad enjoyed being alive more than anybody else who had ever fallen into the world by mistake.” which means life without a best friend to share will be lonely and boring. We enjoy life. We can not talk with animal (the horse) but Mourad can share the experience and wonderful moments with Aram. It’s an irony to people do not have a dream but to work, work and work everyday.
I am envying that Aram have a good cousin like Mourad. He knows what Aram’s dream of a white horse to ride. In my imagination, Mourad is not a crazy boy but lonely and smart, brave and gentle boy. He is going to return the horse if Aram did not come out of the window to share the beautiful horse in the summer. 192 words
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
Sharing a beautiful white horse with my best friend in the summer. 2nd draft
Why Mourad want to share the horse with young Aram? He can enjoy by himself and nobody will know he got a horse even Aram. In the story, I can see that Mourad had been riding the horse for a few days and had found a place to hide the horse and the food to feed the horse. He can return the horse the day he woke up Aram and he won’t catch red hand by the owner.
I like the writer said “Mourad enjoyed being alive more than anybody else who had ever fallen into the world by mistake.” which means life without a best friend to share will be lonely and boring. We enjoy life. We can not talk with animal (the horse) but Mourad can share the experience and wonderful moments with Aram. It’s an irony to people do not have a dream but to work, work and work everyday.
I am envying that Aram have a good cousin like Mourad. He knows what Aram’s dream of a white horse to ride. In my imagination, Mourad is not a crazy boy but lonely and smart, brave and gentle boy. He is going to return the horse if Aram did not come out of the window to share the beautiful horse because it is known “No member in the Garoghlanian family could be a thief.”. I am eager to ride on my motor bike after this cold winter with too many snows and rains. I hope someone will wake me up every morning and ride down the vineyard with beautiful scenery along the country road. We will share some beers and chips and music. 301 words
Topic 1
The story “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” is about a horse-stealing. Instead of bad or sad, it is full of brightness and joy. Two guys were fulfilling their dreams by riding a beautiful white horse on the grass at the dawn of the summer early morning. It was such an exciting, lovely, and wonderful feeling, although the horse was stolen from a farmer. It seemed hard to blame the stealer and the accomplice .The former descended the natural streak from his crazy relative whose motto was “It’s no harm. Pay no attention to it.”; the latter was a nine-year-old boy. Both of them had been longing for a horse-riding. They were doing something which was no harm, and according to their thoughts, this kind of steal wasn’t a steal unless they sold the horse. Also, from certain aspect, Mourad is honest. When Aram asked him,”How long ago did you begin riding every morning?”, “Not until this morning.” he said. “Are you telling the truth?” “Of course not,” Mourad was telling the truth, wasn’t he? Finally, when Mourad returned the horse, he not only had a good relationship with the horse, but also made the horse tenderer, stronger. He did steal the horse. But remember: pride is the first, honest is the second, right and wrong is the third, for them.
I learned from reading is the reputation is the most important factor for a family, which takes a long time to obtain a high-quality reputation. The narrator Aram tells us the Garoghlanians are famous for their honesty. Although Mourad has stolen the horse, he knows himself that he must return the horse to its owner. That is why he says “Are you inviting a member of the Garoghlanian family to steal? The Horse must go back to its true owner.” When one day morning the farmer John Byro meets the boys on the road, he recognizes his horse, but he doesn’t claim it immediately in stead to say “the horse is the twin of my horse”. He knows the fame of the boys’ family and believes his horse will come back soon. If the family has no this kind of reputation, John Byro won’t act like that. (147 words)
Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” confronts my personal beliefs. I believe that honesty is the best way to solve difficult problems in our lives. Even though the Garoghlanian boy, Mourad stole a white horse from a farmer who lived in the country far from his home because he wanted to ride a horse. Mourad was proud of his behavior instead of feeling guilty and ashamed. The truth was that the boy’s family couldn’t afford to pay for a horse. If he wanted to learn how to ride a horse, he should have found a better way, not stealing. If the boy asked the owner that he would care for the horse for being allowed to ride the horse, the owner might have said yes because the farmer was very kind and said, “The horse is stronger than ever. I thank God.” at the end of the story when Mourad returned his horse. I trust in the power of honesty. (161 words)
Topic 6 Write about an idea expressed in the writing (or in class) which you either agree or disagree with.
“It is no harm; pay no attention to it.” is the motto that keeps repeated in the story “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse”. A part of me agrees with this motto, for it is a generous idea, if I am the one the harm has done to me, I wish I could say this and do as what I say. It takes courage to say this, and takes much more effort to do so, since forgiving is not an easy thing. But in the other hand, a part of me disagrees with this motto. I can’t accept someone who has done something wrong then uses this motto to pave his way out.
It sounds like he is making himself a lame excuse and accusing the one if the one doesn’t show his mercy. This motto is very controversial.
by Josephine
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
Sharing best moment with friend . 3nd draft
I like the writer said “Mourad enjoyed being alive more than anybody else who had ever fallen into the world by mistake.” which means life without a best friend to share will be lonely and boring. We enjoy life. Mourad can share the experience and wonderful moments with Aram. It’s an irony to people do not have a dream but to work, work and work everyday. I am envying that Aram have a good cousin like Mourad. He knows what Aram’s dream of a white horse to ride. In my imagination, Mourad is lonely but smart, brave and gentle boy. He is going to return the horse if Aram did not come out of the window. I am eager to ride on my motor bike after this cold winter with too many snows and rains. I hope someone will wake me up every morning and ride down the vineyard with beautiful scenery along the country road. We will share some beers and chips and music. 164 words
Topic 1 : Tell about how you feel toward this writing or its author and why
I was so surprised that was a big different about the standard of the honest between the Garoghlanian family and mine. The story, The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse, had reminded me how famous of the honesty for the Garoghlanian family was. In the same time, I felt their behavior and thinking could not match their honesty in the same story. For example, the narrator, Aram, said, “ it seemed to me stealing a horse …… , such as money.” I felt the narrator used a different way to explain “ stealing “. I question narrator’s moral here. I do not agree with the narrator’s explanation about the “ stealing “. In my opinion, that is illegal behavior to take something without a allowing from the owner even though a small thing. Sometimes there is no real right or wrong to treat a thing because the principles of right and wrong are based on your need, experiences, and the background of growing. The other hand, something we have to be ruled by law to avoid the corruption public morals like we have freedom, but we still have some limitation to avoid to invade other people’s rights or privacy.
Topic 4
The main character of the story “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” reminds me of Kong Yiji, a character in Lu Xun’s works of fiction written in 1919.
Mourad was considered the natural descendant of crazy streak in his family tribe with good reputation for honesty. He was so crazy about horses that he stole a horse to ride. He thought it wasn’t stealing if he didn’t keep the horse more than half year and returned it to the farmer.
Kong Yiji was a poor man who had some education but never passed the official examinations, and not knowing any way to make a living. He was crazy about books, and was discovered stealing books. He protested, “Taking books –for a scholar – can’t be counted as stealing.”
On the other hand, Mourad’s story was different with Kong Yiji’s. Mourad wasn’t been punished after his stealing discovered by the farmer. He was a comedic character in the story. Kong Yiji was trussed up and beaten by the owner of the books after his stealing discovered. He continued to be beaten to death. He was a tragic character.
I’m glad to introduce the story “Kong yiji” to you.
http://users.marshall.edu/~kenley/hst378/kong_yiji.htm
Topic 7 Write about the most effective things you notice in the writing.
The story of “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” describes a lively and adventurous boy Mourad with his own special way with animals. Mourad saying “Horse understands me.” illustrates that Mourad spends much time on observing and researching the horse, and elaborately cares the horse. Mourad naming the white horse as “My Heart” indicates he really loves the horse from his bosom. Mourad “trying to repair the hurt the wing of a young robin” shows he has great goodness and sympathy to the small animals. Mourad’s things make me recall my childhood. I was brought up in a pretty remote village of china, where there was no any toy. However, there were some animals such as cats, dogs, chickens and ducks accompanied me. In spring, I often fed a group of ducklings with earthworms. I enjoyed the duckling’s quack and touching their yellow and soft furry feather. Each time, when mom killed any duck which I raised, I cried and refused to eat meat. Therefore, if somebody stays with animals for some time, he/she will build a particular sensation on them.
2.Write about any difficulty of frustration you felt whil reading.
While reading the story "The Summer of the Beautiful Horse", I was extremely frustrated and to get angry because in my view, the writer just focused on enjoying of two children with the stolen horse. However, I was uncomfortable that the horse owner who named John Byro, and Assyrian, had been having a terrible time because of the lost horse. The horse was a John Byro's transportation. When he got Aram's house, and he wanted to talk about his suffering "I walked ten miles to get here." "My left leg pains me." And he complained and wanted to get comfort and to get a solving way. However, Aram's uncle named Khosrove cried to John Byro "It is no harm; pay no attention to it." His saying was awkward and made him more depressed and disappointed. Absolutely that summer was the worst time to the horse's owner till the beautiful white horse was returned. (163 words)
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