Sunday, May 27, 2012

Mimi's World Literature Multi-Genre Final Project

To Be Continued
Chih-Yu (Mimi) Chen
World Literature F
Mr. Ted Persinger
27 May 2012


Table of contents
Preface ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
A Whole New Idea ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
Siddhartha Solved Okonkwo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
The Disappearing Duke -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
Turning Points in Life ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Fear ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
To My Dearest Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15
Everything Together ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
Works Cited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17



Preface
      After reading many famous English literatures this year, I found out these literary works are somehow related to each other. Even though the contents of the stories are very different, but I could still see some similar ideas presented. In this project, I have chosen four books to synthesize including, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. These four books all share ideas in common.

Everything in the anchor paper “A Whole New Idea” are all facts from the book, proofs may be found in the stories. After the anchor paper, comes the six entries. These six entries are made in order to let the readers understand the connections between the four books. The six entries are written in six kinds of genres: “Siddhartha Solved Okonkwo” (emails), “The Disappearing Duke” (newspaper), “Fear” (poem), “Turning Points in Life” (journal), “To My Dearest Aunt Em and Uncle Henry” (postcard), and “Everything Together” (artistic rendering). 

“Siddhartha Solved Okonkwo” is about Okonkwo’s emails to Siddhartha asking for help. This is closely connected to the story because we could see that Okonkwo has a characteristic of resisting for a change, but Siddhartha is very smart and speaks in a way that shows that he is enlightened. In reality, Okonkwo and Siddhartha have not emailed each other; they are put together to let the readers see how different kinds of people solve problem. “The Disappearing Duke” is about Prospero’s news on a newspaper. It talks about how Prospero disappeared in one night and did not go to make a speech to the citizens the next morning. The poem “Fear” is about Okonkwo’s three fears in his three different stages of life. This poem is related to the fact in the book Things Fall Apart. “Turning Points in Life” is the journal of Siddhartha written throughout his journey to find enlightenment. This could be connected to “Siddhartha Solved Okonkwo” because this tells us how Siddhartha managed to become a person that knows everything, a person that reached enlightenment.  “To My Dearest Aunt Em and Uncle Henry” is a postcard Dorothy wrote to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on her way back home to Kansas. The words on the postcard show that Dorothy is very brave and has a lot of confidence. This could be connected to the facts in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz because the reason to why Dorothy successfully went home is because Dorothy has these characteristics. Last but not least, “Everything Together” is an artistic rendering that puts all four books into a picture.

Readers may wonder why the project is named “To Be Continued”. The reason to it is because I think that there is no ending to everything. The end could be considered as a new start for something else. Let us take this project as an example, finish reading Siddhartha does not mean that it is the end, we could use the story of Siddhartha and synthesize it with other stories and make them into something new. This project serves to synthesize four books together and making it into a new whole. Next time when there is a story that says “The End”, please change it to “To Be Continued” because it “could be continued” in many other ways.




Anchor Paper (A Whole New Idea)
Mimi Chen
Mr. Ted
World Literature F
22 May 2012
A Whole New Idea
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe are four notable stories that have been passed down for countless generations. These four stories have very different contents, but they all show similar things characters in stories face in their lifetime. The main purpose of this essay is to synthesize or to combine the different elements from each story to form a new whole. Siddhartha is about a man named Siddhartha finding his way through enlightenment by experiencing the best and the worst in life. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is about Dorothy’s journey to find her way back home in Kansas. Things Fall Apart is about Okonkwo’s inflexibility to change in life that leads him to failure. The Tempest is about Prospero taking revenge on his brother by using magic to create a big storm that sinks the boat. This started because he had been betrayed by his brother and was being banished to a small island. Prospero wanted everyone on the ship to learn not to betray others. This synthesis essay will synthesize how these three famous stories relate to each other. The characters in Siddhartha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, and Things Fall Apart face harsh journey with many challenges in their life, learn from trial and error, and meet helpful people.
A characters with a life with full of challenges and harsh journey makes a story fun and interesting to read. Characters in Siddhartha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, and Things Fall Apart face harsh journey with many challenges in their life. In Siddhartha, the main character, Siddhartha, went through a harsh journey to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha is a Brahmin in the beginning of his life. However, he feels unsatisfied after ten or more years. He thinks that he should go out by himself and experience the world to gain more knowledge. Thus, he joins the Samanas and become an ascetic. With the Samanas, he learns how to fast, meditate, and suffer (Hesse 47). Later, he crosses the river and learns how to love a woman, Kamala. In the village where Kamala lives, Siddhartha becomes the richest person in the village. He starts to get lost in life (124). However, after many years, he decides to go back to where the river lies. There, he meets a ferryman called Vesuda. He finally reaches enlightenment close to where the river lies. These transitions from good to bad to medium in Siddhartha’s lifetime lead him to his enlightenment. This proves to us that Siddhartha really does have a harsh and long journey with challenges in his lifetime. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s long and harsh journey is finding her bay back home to Kansas. Dorothy’s journey is separated into two parts: the first part is the journey to find Oz and kill the Wicked Witch of the West; and the second part is the journey to find Glinda, the Witch of the South (Baum 42). In the first journey, when she finally found Oz in the Emerald City, she is assigned to kill the Wicked Witch of the West by Oz (45). This is a very hard task since the Wicked Witch has a lot of power. She later overcomes the hardness and pours water on the Wicked Witch so the witch melts. In the second part of the trip, the journey to find Glinda, Dorothy and company meet horrible large trees that block them from going forward, come to a place with bogs and marshes, face a big and old forest with spider-like monsters, and come upon a steep and rocky hill (132). In the Tempest, Prospero is the character that experiences a harsh and long journey in his life (Polio). In the beginning of the story, Prospero was the Duke of Milan; however, because he was too into his study, his brother, Antonio, stole his position. Later, Prospero and his daughter was put on a little boat and were supposed to starve to death. Luckily, with the help of Gonzalo, he survived and reached an island with no one on it (Shakespeare 849-55). Prospero experienced betrayal and revenge in his life. At the end, Prospero finally finished his revenge, restored his position as the Duke of Milan, and went back to Milan peacefully (928). In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s life is very harsh and dramatic. Okonkwo once was the richest man in the village because of his fear of being lazy like his father (Achebe 14). However, his life totally changes after he accidently killed a boy during the old man’s funeral. Therefore, he has been sent away to his mother’s side for seven years (136). When he goes back after seven years, everything changes to Christian, but he still believed in the traditional religion (145). Therefore, this leads to his death later in the story. Challenges are what people will face in their life, but different people will encounter unique and different challenges.
People could improve by experiences; people could also improve by trial and error. Characters in Siddhartha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, and Things Fall Apart learn from their experiences through trial and error. From the paragraph above, we know that Siddhartha is first a Brahmin; he later joins the Samanas to become ascetics; then, he becomes rich and enjoys the best of life; and lastly, he goes to the river, symbolizing The Middle Path (Hesse 56). Siddhartha experiences both the best and the worst in his lifetime; these experiences help him to find the Middle Path and reach enlightenment (McLennan). Siddhartha gets closer and closer to enlightenment through trial and error. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy experiences many setbacks in finding her way back home to Kansas. These experiences help her understand that helping others will lead her to gain the help from the others. She also learns that confidence, bravery, and willpower will help her fight through challenges and lead her to success. In The Tempest, Prospero learns from his experience that even the one closest to him, Antonio, his brother, could have betrayed him. Later, from all the series of events happening, Prospero learns to forgive. Another character in The Tempest, Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, also learns that the world is definitely bigger than what she thinks after meeting Ferdinand and company. She even describes what she learns as “a whole new world” at the end of the story (Navarro). In Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, learns that everything will change as time passes by, the one who does not accept the change will die. In the story, Okonkwo is the one that is resistant to change. When the white men come to their village and spread Christianity, everyone converts to Christianity. However, Okonkwo and some others do not convert, so they are later killed by the white men because of this. People can learn from experiences as well as trial and error, and we can see it from all four stories.
In life, we may gain help from people and so we must return the help to others. All four stories include at least one person that helps the main character a lot. In Siddhartha, helpful people include the Samanas, Govinda, Buddha, Kamala, his son, and most importantly, Vesuda. The Samanas, Govinda, Buddha, Kamala, and his son are all people who helped Siddhartha to be one step closer to enlightenment. The ferryman, Vesuda, helped Siddhartha the most because he taught Siddhartha how to feel the river (Hesse 167). This later became the main key to reach enlightenment. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy met a lot of helpful people who help her find her way back home. These people include the Witch of the North, Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, the Winged Monkeys, and Glinda.  The Witch of the North is the one who tells her to follow the yellow brick road to find Oz in order to find the way back home. Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow help Dorothy by accompanying her and protect her throughout the journey. The Winged Monkeys help her to cross the steep and rocky hill so that Dorothy and company can reach the country of Quadlings to find Glinda. And lastly, Glinda is the one who tells Dorothy about the magic of her shoes, which finally gets her back to Kansas. Dorothy would not have gotten home without the help of these people.  The one very important helper in The Tempest is Ariel (Johnston). Ariel helps Prospero throughout the story. For example, Ariel helps Prospero to make everyone asleep and safe while Prospero is creating storm on the Alonso’s ship. Ariel makes everyone thinks that Ferdinand is dead from the storm and makes Alonso to be regretful about it. This is a great help to Prospero because he wants Alonso and company to go on to that island thinking that Ferdinand is dead. Another example that shows us that Ariel is a great helper is when Ariel pretends to be a harpy (or a monster with women head and wings) and spoke to the crew. Ariel reminds Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio about their sins. Ariel told them that they were brought to the island because of their sins. This helps Prospero with his plan because he wants everyone to feel sorry for what they did in the past ("Literature and Arts" ). In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s mother side is very helpful to him. When Okonkwo accidently kills a boy in an old man’s funeral, he is forced to move out of the village (Achebe 112). However, Okonkwo’s mother side offers him a great help and let him live in their place for seven years (136). From these examples above, we can see that helpful people is really important in the story in order to let the characters in the story proceed what they want to do.
The four classical stories Siddhartha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, and Things Fall Apart, are written by different authors in different styles and have very different contents. However, even with those huge differences, there are still many similarities that we could synthesize from them. All four stories talked about how people face harsh journey with many challenges in their life, learn from trial and error, and meet helpful people. These similarities in stories also reflect to people in the real life. Even though everyone is different, we will all face these important and harsh events in our life. Therefore, we will need to find ways to solve it and fix it to live a better life. We can see from this synthesis essay that no matter where and when the story was written, people and writers concern about how harsh life is, how trial and error are important, how helpful people occur to help each other in life. 





Emails (Siddhartha Solved Okonkwo)
From: Okonkwo 
Sent: Monday, June 22, 1593 2:25 PM
To: siddhartha4478@yahoo.com
Subject: 
Please Help Me!

Dear Siddhartha,

First of all, I should introduce myself to you. My name is Okonkwo and I live in the Lower Nigerian villages called Mbanta and Iguedo. I have heard that you have reached enlightenment these days so I assume that you would know everything and would help me with anything I requested.

Now, I am in a real danger of being killed by those white men that came to my village. I will now tell you what happened in my village.

Let me start the story from when I was young. I was considered to be the most successful individual in my village because I had many land, wives, and children at young age, and was going to be the richest man in my village if there were no accidents. However, accidents and unfortunates happened to come to me when I was successful. One day, in a funeral of Ogbuefi Ezeudu (an elder in my village), my gun accidently fired! Then, I saw a kid falling down. I didn’t do it on purpose! It wasn’t my fault that the kid died! However, no luck, I was forced to go out of my village for seven long years. I was lucky that my mother’s side accepted me.

These seven long years are really harsh for me. These years are the turning points of my village and of my life. My village and I were experiencing downfall. The downfall happened because of those white men that came to influence the villagers. I really don’t like them and the way they are converting people to Christian. I think this will cause the traditions in my village to be destroyed. I, myself will surely not convert into Christian no matter what happened. I will protect the traditions that had been passed down for hundreds, or even thousands of generations.

So, Siddhartha, please help me and give me some advice for what to do! I am in a real emergency!

Sincerely,
Okonkwo


From: Siddhartha 
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 1593 1:33 PM
To: okonowo1098@hotmail.com
Subject: RE:
Please Help Me!

Dear Okonkwo,

After reading your email, I think I know where your problems are. But, before telling you that, I would like to ask you some more additional questions in order to know more about you and the problem you are facing:

1.     What did the white men do to your villagers?
2.     Why did your villagers decide to convert to Christian and you do not?
3.     How do the white men treat you and your villagers?
4.     Besides saving your traditions, what are some additional reasons that make you don’t want to join your villagers?
5.     Have you ever think of the consequences that you will face when you oppose them?
6.     Have you tried to persuade your villagers?

Please answer these questions as soon as possible, so I can think of some ways to help you solve these problems.

Love,
Siddhartha


From: Okonkwo 
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 1593 4:57 PM
To: siddhartha4478@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: 
Please Help Me!

Dear Siddhartha,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1.     The white men didn’t do anything bad to my villagers, yet. But, I predict that this is not the true side of them. When they first come to my village, they started to build hospitals, schools, and churches. They also started to help my villagers to repair their broken roofs. These actions gained people’s heart and so they started to convert to Christian. In my opinion, they are just acting to be good guys and trick people to believe them. Their goal is to gain the land that me and my villagers possess.
2.     My villagers decided to convert to Christian because they are being tricked and fooled by those white men. I think me and some other elders are the only ones that are smart enough to know that they are fooling people in order to gain their territory.
3.     As answered in question 1, the white men treated my village in a very good way. They built houses, churches, schools, and hospitals in our territory so that people could go there and be influenced by them.
4.     There are no other reasons that make me don’t want to join the villagers. My only goal is to save the traditions in my village, or else the hard work that our ancestors have done are wasted.
5.     Yes, I know the consequence that I will face, which is death. I know this, but I am not afraid of this.
6.     Yes, I have tried to convince my villagers but they are poisoned too deeply by those white men. I can’t even convince my own son from following them.

Please! Siddhartha! Please be quick and please help me. I think those white men are going to execute me and others that oppose them in just a few days.

Sincerely,
Okonkwo


From: Siddhartha 
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 1593 7:13 AM
To: okonowo1098@hotmail.com
Subject: RE:
Please Help Me!

Sigh~ Okonkwo,

I am sorry to say that I couldn’t help you any more.
This is life, life is like a river; it flows by quickly.  The river represents unity and the eternity of all things in the universe. Therefore, let your body flow like a river. Without reaching enlightenment and nirvana like me, you cannot escape the circle of life. Accept the truth, Okonkwo, you still have another life to live. Just wait for your next life has come and make a change. It is now impossible to change whatever you and your village is facing right now.

I have looked through the future and see that you will die in the next few days. As I look further in time, I found out that you will make a difference in your next life. Thank you for letting me know that these things are happening to the world.  However, I believe changing is a really important part in everything; without changing, the world would never improve; without changing, I would never reach enlightenment. Just accept the truth and move on to another level!

Best regards,
Siddhartha



From: Okonkwo 
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 1593 8:25 PM
To: siddhartha4478@yahoo.com
Subject: RE:
Please Help Me!

Thank you Siddhartha, now I understand that no matter what I did, it couldn’t be helped. I will die and go back to the mother earth. I will wait till my next life has come. At that time, I will become a brand new person to the world. I promise that I will become a great man like you in my next life. I really want to escape the circle of life.

Now, I am prepared to die.

Love,
Okonkwo



Newspaper (The Disappearing Duke)





Journals (Turning Points in Life)

June 3, 630 B.C.
Sunny
               
Today is a sunny day but my heart is cloudy. It is my first day writing journals. I started this journal because I decided to go on a journey. This journal will mark turning points in my life. For more than fifteen years, my father and all the elders have been teaching me. I really liked them; however, I think they have already taught me everything they knew. Now, I feel very unsatisfied. I really want to know more knowledge! I think I could go out and explore the world by myself and learn from my own experiences. I do not want to leave my beloved father and mother, but I still need to because I know that it is the only way for me to know more. This is why my heart is cloudy.

                Yesterday, I’ve talked to my father about this; he got very angry. He told me that he would kill me if I ever talk about that to him again. The reason is that I am a Brahmin and he believed that a Brahmin could not do such things commoners do. I decided not to follow his instructions. I found my friend, Govinda, to go on a journey with me. We decided to leave home today evening. When my father came into my room and saw me packing up, his attitude changed. He told me that after thinking about this for a night, he believe that letting me going out is the only choice since my will is really strong. We said goodbye to each other and I promised that I will teach him everything I learned from the journey.


August 21, 625 B.C.
Sunny

                This is my second journal entry. Today, I decided to write this because I feel that it is another turning point in my life. Let me start from the day I left my home. After Govinda and I left home, we immediately saw the Samanas coming towards us. That moment, I felt I was the luckiest man in the whole universe. Govinda and I asked to join the Samanas and they accepted us! We then become ascetics. We learned how to fast, meditate, and suffer. I later realized that this could not get me anywhere nor could it let me reach enlightenment. This is because, of all the elders that practice ascetics, none of them had reached enlightenment. Therefore, I concluded that I would not gain enlightenment only through fast, meditate, and suffer. Govinda and I then left the Samanas and continued our way.

                After leaving the Samanas, we were lucky again. We met Buddha the Illustrious One, also known as Gotama. We met him at a cave with thousands of other followers of Buddha. Everyone was so excited to see Gotama’s appearance. Let me describe how Gotama looks. He, to me, looks just like any other man in the world. However, the only difference is his knowledge glowing on his body. I can see the gold glow throughout his body, even through his fingertip. He teaches his followers, including Govinda and I, about the Eight Fold Path, the Four Noble Truth, and other Buddhist teachings. However, after listening to his teachings, I went to find him individually and express my feeling about his teachings to him. He agreed what I said but he warned me to be careful with my cleverness. I decided to leave Buddha, but Govinda decided to stay. Therefore, I left them and continue my journey alone.


November 12, 593 B.C.
Rainy

This is my third journal entry; I wonder when my last entry will come. I often ask myself, will I ever reach enlightenment? This question is still a mystery until today. I could not be sure of the answer to that. Thirty-two years! Thirty-two years had passed since the last journal. I wonder have I been wasting my time through these years. I will now recall what I did in the past thirty-two years.

After I left Buddha, I came to a river and a ferryman sent me across the river. When I crossed the river, I came to a village. I met the most beautiful girl in that city, called Kamala. She is now my wife. She is the one that taught me how to love. Then, after getting married, Kamala told me to learn to become a merchant. After years of learning with the most successful merchant, Kamaswami, in the village, I mastered the skills and became both a successful merchant and a successful gambler myself. With all the knowledge of wealth and all the knowledge of love, I experienced the best of life. However, after many years of good life and many years of playing, I finally remembered my destination --- enlightenment. I couldn’t believe that I have forgotten about this. Therefore, I decided to leave the village and leave all my wealth and love in that village.


April 1, 590 B.C.
Cloudy

Three years after departing my Kamala, I’ve found this river, the river that I came across when I was young. I slept on that river and felt someone calling my name softly. I opened my eyes and found out that it is my dearest friend Govinda! Govinda told me that he really liked being a Buddhist and passing down Buddha’s teachings. After talking for half hours, Govinda said that he had to go. We kissed goodbye and hope that we’ll meet each other again later in life. Later, I walked and walked and found a river. I then looked into the river and found myself saying the word Om. I had forgotten this word since I become the most successful man in the village.

When I was looking into the river, I saw the ferryman that brought me across thirty years ago. He introduced himself and told me that his name is Vasudeva. I told him that wanted to reach enlightenment. Vasudeva told me that the only way to reach enlightenment is to gain inner peace.  He also told me that I could do this by studying the river, because he had done the same thing before. From that day onwards, I spent most of my time sitting beside the river to meditate. Am I one step closer to enlightenment than before?


December 12, 589 B.C.
Sunny

                After two years of studying the river, I finally feel that everything I did before is worth it. I am proud to announce that I finally reached enlightenment. As I was meditating beside the river for two years, I learned that the water of the river flows into the ocean and is returned by rain. This made me understand that all forms of life are interconnected in a cycle without a beginning or end, and that birth and death are nothing but about time. From these, I now that life and death, joy and sorrow, good and evil are all parts of the whole that is needed to understand the meaning of life. This tells me that everything I did when I was young is not wasted. I’ve experienced life and death with the ascetics; experienced joy and sorrow in that village where I became the richest man; and experienced good and evil on the two sides of the river.

                The river is the middle path; it connects the good and the bad together. One must experience the best part of life and the worst part of life in order to gain Nirvana like me. This would be the end for my journal. One last word I wanted to say is “Father! I have successfully reached enlightenment and I thank you for giving me chance to go on this journey, I am now satisfied! I love you!”



Sonnet (Fear)
Lazy father with many debts he hates
Thus becoming a man who fears weakness
Earned land, house, children, and three pretty mates
Killed Ikemefuna without goodness
Expelled from Umuofia, Mbanta he goes
For seven long years everything had changed
Fear of losing trad’tions from long ago
Waiting for the day of return with rage
Goes back to Umuofia with hopeless feel
Hospitals, churches, schools the white men built
Fear of losing the old village he kneel
With one bullet and one yell his blood spilt
Three fears filled Okonkwo’s tragical life
Creating all these superfluous strife



Postcard (To My Dearest Aunt Em and Uncle Henry)



Artistic Rendering (Everything Together)
This artistic rendering is a combination of four stories including Siddhartha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, and Things Fall Apart



Works Cited
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. McGraw-Hill College, 2000. Print.
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Penguin Classics, 2007. Print.
Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. Toronto: Bantam, 1971. Print.
Johnston, Ian. "Lecture on The Tempest." Lecture on The Tempest. Web. 1 May 2012.
"Literature and Arts." Hers Output. Web. 1 May 2012.
McLennan, Dean Scotty. "Was Hesse's Siddhartha Capable Of Love?" 11 July 2004. Web. 1 May 2012.
Navarro, Rosa. "The Tempest: The Dream as the Reality." The Tempest: The Dream as the Reality. 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 1 May 2012.
Polio, Norine. "The Chronicles of the New World, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and E.S.O.L Instruction." The Chronicles of the New World, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and E.S.O.L Instruction. Web. 1 May 2012.
Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." World Literature. Austin, [Texas]: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1998. 845-928. Print.