The Dubliners

At first glance, James Joyce’s “Eveline” might appear as a short story about a sad character failing to escape from Dublin to Buenos Aires. Therefore, her mood was filled with unhappiness. After all, when Eveline Hill “gripped with both hands at the iron railing” to refuse the drawing hands of Frank, we might think that the unwilling behavior of Eveline hints the readers that she fears changes in her life. However, on the other hand, this worry which is associated with the concept of “paralysis” in the Joyce’s theme results not only from her unwillingness to radically change her ways of life but also from a dissolved life, including her love. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that “Eveline” is a symbol of the weak nature in the Joyce’s theme. In this sense, Eveline Hill is a protagonist without emotions with “no sign of love or farewell or recognition” for Frank with a dissipated epiphany lying in the core of the 5 page short story.

At first glance, James Joyce’s “Araby” might appear as a short story about a failure in a little boy’s first love. Therefore, he cried out and even became frustrated. After all, when an unnamed little boy arrived in the “Araby” bazaar late; it results that he became despaired because of the failure of buying a gift for his lover; we might presume that the unwilling result of the unnamed protagonist hints at the readers that his first love remains in a miserable failure. However, on the other hand, this result which looks only like the dismal failure results not only from his first love, but also from his view of the entire world. In this sense, un named boy is a protagonist with the failure in his life.

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The Student-Anton Chekhov

The power of religion

131011

Juice Koo

             After reading “The Student”, written by Anton Chekhov, the short novelist and doctor in Russia, I felt that the religion impacts the roles of humans. As I can easily notice from this short story, the author mainly wanted to deliver the importance of religion. In the short story, one student met two women. He introduced a story from the bible and the one of the women cried because she was impressed by the content of the bible. The story is small and simple, but the clear theme comes to the readers: The power of religion.

            

             Before I move on to the reasons about why religion is powerful in this theme, I want to write about the situation of Russia. At that time, the Russia was one of the most poor countries in the world. Most Russians were serfs(like slaves or tenants)of wealthy landowners. Moreover, communism was spread among Russia. Therefore, Russia was in economic crisis. Therefore, the last Russian Czars were not very smart, such as Czar Nicholas II. These two reasons caused Economic Depression. As a result, the Economy was destroyed, but taxation was increased. So many people lived in a hard life.

            

            Now I want to move on to the reasons for the theme. As the subtle story of the bible was about the betrayal of Jesus, Vasalisa, one old woman at the campfire, cried. I do not know the exact reason why she cried, but I can assume that the story was a main reason.

           Also in the story, I can easily recognize that the bible was really a common book. The student was just walking and then met two women. If the book was rare, he would not relate it. By this situation, I can notice that the Russians used relision for the sake of making people feel comfort. This is the main reason why religion has power. The Russian government could not make people feel comfort, however, the bible did it.  Therefore, the author wanted to announce the power of religion.

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Minjok & 21 century

Common conception of Minjok 

 The concept of Minjok exists in this world by many different and unique meanings. Korea also has this concept of Minjok, however people justifies it differently. Some might justify Minjok as someone who is in same unified community or someone who is living in same country. In the dictionary, Minjok is expressed as living together in a certain area for many years on the basis of commonality of language and culture, historically formed social groups. However, Minjok cannot be simply described as a social group. Social group is something that seeks mutual profit which is different from what Minjok is. For example in a movie, when we see our Minjok getting hit by someone, and being suffered, we seem to become angrier than other people. Also, we seem to focus more on the movie when the main character is our Minjok. Thus, is Minjok simply a social group? I disagree with this and that how I would justify Korean Minjok would be based on resistance awareness which firstly focuses on a thought of unified nation and has outstanding unity as homogenous nation.

Dangun Minjok

 There are two strong historical arguments on the origin of nationalism. There are two big opposition points on how most of the Koreans think the word nationalism firstly existed since Dangun and how it started since Japanese colonization. I will be firstly talking about the argument about how Dangun is the origin of nationalism. Most of the people think that the origin of nationalism came since Dangun. A fighter of independence and a socialistic historian Shin Chae Ho wrote a book called "New reading of History", which contains a summary from the period of Dangun to disruption of Balhae. This book also argues that the Dangun is the origin of nationalism. There are two other areas to focus in this book as well. Since long time ago, even though 한민족(Han Minjok) fought for extending territories as enemies, when there were attacks from foreign powers, they came back as one united nation. This resulted Koreans to bravely stand up for their identity also followed by creation of resistance awareness. Therefore, even with Japanese colonization, people never gave up to resist. However on the other hand, there are people apposing to argue that nationalism was created since Japanese colonization. They argue that oppositions just want to simply believe that nationalism was created since Dangun however in reality, it was created from Japanese colonization. From the research Korean Ethnic Nationalism by B.R Myers, Japan forced the nation to use Japanese and its cultural name. However as this forceful policy failed, Japan used something called "blood line share" to increase pride in Koreans and unify them as one nation. This was a trick by Japanese for Koreans to be influenced to Japanese culture. However the research by B.R Myers is realistically false. From Korean history, when Japan first started cultural ruling, they said Korea is the best to make pro-Japaense groups in Korea which made internal conflicts in order for Japan to take over Korea. However, this failed as well which led to disruption of the nation. As people suffered from disruption policies, they unified 3.1 movement. 

Japanese colonization

3.1 movement

 Many people say that after this, many of independent movements and provisional government were created with creation of concept of Minjok in Manchuria as well. During Japanese colonization, what Japan put up to destroy Korea was “Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” and “Pan-Asiatic identity”. These truths incapacitated two arguments in agreeing with the invasion by Shin Chae Ho and Lee Kwang Soo. Lee Kwang Soo was a fighter of independence and liberalism who was actively involved in the movements of independence. The biggest movement he did was being involved in the farmer(Dong Hak) movement. This was the very first movement which army rose in the cause of justice. The focusing point here is that this was the first movement resisting against the foreign power and Lee Kwang Soo claimed that national conscious was created. However, Shin Chae Ho disagreed with the national conscious that based the idea that Japan and Korea are one from Dangun. In my own opinion, I agree with Lee Kwang Soo’s argument. In reality, since Dangun, most of Hanbando was divided and still is till today. Therefore, the argument that national conscious was created during Dangun is a denial of Japanese colonization that it never happened. Thus, this historical truth argues that Korean Minjok is resentful and people integrate easily.

             A book called "The paradox of Korean Globalization" by a graduate of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy Shin Gi Wook states that there is a contradiction in Korean society. The contradiction appears in the two opposite meanings of nationalism and globalization. Korea is what so-called "a nation of digital guinea pigs" because of its well developed technology. With these technologies it made it possible to communicate with different countries and creation of globalized companies like Samsung and LG. Also, many people are now studying overseas and studies like TOEIC AND TOEFL are considered important. This is the reason why Korea is a globalized country.

Globalization

 On the other hand, ethnocentrial nationalism exists in competitions like World Cup and Olympic as we use "taehan min guk" ("republic or Korea" or "The great Han people's state") or "Uri nun hana"("we are one"). We also learn Korean history as sharing the blood line in common ancestors in classes in Korea. With this, we are one nation, in other word one Minjok in our minds. Even though the characteristic that unification is strong for a better communication between countries, the book by Shin Gi Wook states that Korea's ethnic identity is too strong that world's current trend of globalization is one of the ways for nationalism. In other word, globalization is being used to create stronger nationalism. For example, after the Korean war, with the help from America, Korea quickly recovered. Also, after seizing power of Jung He Park during 1960s, even though democracy could not develop much, the military seized in power which improved economy and many of the businesses were created in Seoul. As the government and businesses united, technology was developed in Seoul along with other cities. This resulted Seoul's industry to be centralized and businesses went overseas. However with restrictions from the government, foreign businesses could not enter Seoul which showed Korean nationalism. Thus, there was a decrease in foreigners in Seoul. However, after the Olympics in 1988, foreigners came to Seoul without the purpose of occupation and the foreign businesses were created for the first time. In 1993, the president Young Sam Kim who was elected democratically led globalization for the first time which allowed to accept American businesses and for Seoul to be developed as a city. However, after the IMF crisis in 1997, as unemployment rate increased and the country was in crisis, IMF suggested for Korea to open as a complete free market. Korea agreed to do so and it actively processed globalization. To pay off the debt from IMF and to recover from the crisis, citizens got together to do fundraise and save the country's budget as much as possible. From this it is also evident that the Korean nation acted for the profit of the community before individuals. It was impossible to find this movement from any of other countries in the world. As globalization is still continuing, there are some elder people who believe in Confucianism and American objects are only popular to younger generations. However, these differences were recovered by the unity of the nation and elders are now familiar with developed items as well.

Nationalism

 As it is being globalized, there is a bit of a flow in nationalism in the West. In olden times in the West, the King had absolute power. However, the Rousseau in Romantic period claimed the thought and the theory of social contract. It claimed that these two are what Humans enjoy inevitably like the life, freedom and wealth which cannot be transferred. This is what made it doubt the kingdom and led to civil revolution. After this, Napoleon combined independent countries under France Empire. The West’s nationalism appeared when Napoleon was thrown out. Countries realized the need of independency and went back to normal. So they had conference in Bin, which is called  Congress of wien. Western countries developed more with keeping independency and interchanging between countries. How the country based its own country to spread foreign objects made 21^st century Korea to have this type of characteristic of Minjok.

Bin conference

21 century Minjok

             The concept of Minjok continuously changed since the past to now. It is evident that how people take the meaning of Minjok are all different. How Minjok was interpreted till now was community’s conscious of sense of kinship and fellowship, and 21^st centralized meaning of Minjok is out of the restriction of the nation and will find sense of kinship and fellowship. As mentioned previously, there is a contradiction in nationalism based on globalization and historical truth. As its accommodating nationalism became like the process of globalization from little bit of foreign power, the concept of Minjok in the 21^st century seem to change from simple concept of Korean Minjok to globalized Minjok.


<Bibliography>

http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?cid=200000000&docId=1106576&mobile&categoryId=200000235

http://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/projects/Evds723/seoul.pdf
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization.html
http://struggle.ws/talks/korea.html

Shin Ki Wook, “Paradox of Korean globalization”

Shin Chae Ho, "New reading of History"

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The 21st century has begun. What changes do youthink this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.

           Since I was ten years old, I have been thinking about the twenty-first century. The twenty-first century is the most technologically advanced century that humans have ever experienced. People can use various equipment to do many projects involving both small housework and big country work. By being able to finish such works earlier, both people and the country get a lot of advantages, especially about communicating. People nowadays spend their times communicating with people all over the world. Countries also get advantage of trading or moving to other countries. So the world is getting closer in the twenty-first century because of two main reasons: the SNS and transportation.

           To begin with, people use SNS, the abbreviation of Social Network Service, to deliver anything they want. For instance, there was one accident called the Jasmine Revolution. In Tunisia there were three main problems. One was its despotic government and decomposition, other was the economic hardness and the other was its low employment rate. The main problem they faced was the first one. People in Tunisia tried hard to rebuild their spoiled government. Even though they tried to do a revolution, the government used force to block people from standing up against it. Facebook, one of the most popular SNS, was able to help Tunisia. One citizen took pictures and movies of the government's immoral behaviors and uploaded it on Facebook. Then, the resource spread online and many people over the world witnessed how the people of Tunisia lived strenuously. Furthermore, America broadcasted about Tunisia and through the attention the citizens in Tunisia obtained power. The government soon apologized and this is one of the ways the SNS brought change to the 21st century.

           Also, people can move to other countries more easily and trade with one another more easily. By this, people can save time. As the transportation is upgraded, people can move to other countries using less time than before. Nowadays, the society is called “19 hours country.” It means we can go to everywhere in less than 19 hours. Moreover, the advantage is not only for people but also for the country. Countries can trade products and goods to each country. The shorter the transaction of goods, the price becomes more affordable for the consumers. So countries can get more advantages. In the research of Global Trading Organization, it said the total money of trading cost has been decreased. Also, the usage of fuel has decreased too, so it is like killing two birds with one stone.

           In conclusion, this new century will bring the world closer. Because of enhanced technology, both SNS and transportation are further developed. They are the main reasons why the world is getting closer. They can occur globalization and this can ultimately unify the world. This is my opinion of the main changing of the twenty-first century. I hope the countries grow closer to one another so we can continually communicate and share even more.

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Nacirema - My first thoughts and changing of my thoughts

Nacirema or America?

          In our last Thursdays’ English class, we read a short essay about Nacirema. The title of this essay is “Body Ritual Among” written by Horace Miner in 1956. When I first started to read the essay, I was really surprised at Nacirema. I thought that Nacirema is an ancient tribe living brutally. It is because the author applied ceremonies and rituals which are includes ancient tribes so he criticized Nacirema people's behavior especially, the Nacirema culture.

The author criticized Nacirema people's behavior, especially the Nacirema culture in his essay because he applied ceremonies and rituals which belong to ancient tribes.

For instance, there is an expression, "extremes to which human behavior can go." In other words, this sentence means human behavior is going to limit. It applies the article will criticize human behavior in Nacirem. Also, this article satirizes three important things which related to people's life. One is shrine, another is latipso and the other is holy-mouth-men.

Shrine means bathroom which is one of the important places of human. I use it too and the author criticizes this stuff because people in Nacirema distinguish their property by how much bathrooms are in their houses. After I read about shrine, there were some stories about latipso. I read about latipso, I did not understand anything because there were no results when I read about latipso. So, I passed that, however, I was sure about that latipso was one of the important things in human life since the most things criticized in this essay were about the essential things for human. I could infer that the ‘Holy-mouth-men’ means dentists.. There is a sentence, "The Nacirema has an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they would believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them." This can be evidence that the Holy-mouth-men are the people who care Nacirema people's teeth, so I could infer them as dentists. Even though Nacirema people were afraid of their teeth, teeth have been one of the important parts of human.

All students include myself did not know about the exact meaning of Nacirema and other strange words. Then, teacher Menard said "Nacimer is the backward of American in its spelling." After I heard Menard's answer, most of my questions were solved. This essay absolutely satirizes American, however this was written in 1956. The year of 1956 was about 50 years ago. I can reflect two explanations. One is about that period, when the people in America lived as the essay expresses. They used market economy system, and they thought the property was really important. Also there are many cultures that the essay satirizes about and all of the cultures have been the main idea which author wanted to criticize. The other explanation is that the author predicts the future. The society will be more complex, so there may be various controversial cultures, so he wanted to explain that.

The phrase, " Thinking conversely" is really right. I could not guess that Nacirema was the back words of American. Many successful people such as Bill Gates or Steve jobs said "Think creatively and conversely!" May be Horace Miner thought the same as them. By thinking conversely, he could criticize the current American or the future American creatively. I decided to live like them. If I want to live conversely, I should think one thing in various ways, and this essay has a good motive that made me decide to live with diverse and creative thinking.

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Graduate

 The day before yesterday, the seniors took pictures of their graduating ceremony around my school. They wore special Korean traditional clothes, and they looked awesome. Living in KMLA is really hard, but they endured two years of hard period. After seeing them, I thought various things and promised myself.

 Most seniors said "I want to go back to first grade, I am regretting not studying at first and second grader." In contrast few the others said "I am really happy to graduate soon, I am proud of myself!" Two sentences are said by same grader, however their mind are different. Some of them are regretting but the others are not.

 I as a high school student want to become not to regret when I graduate school. Not to regret my school life, I should do everything hard. For example when I have a test or homework, I need to do all of my homework as possible as I can do. If I want to graduate satisfied, I should enhance my ability about not only studying but also relationships and substantial subjects. KMLA is little society that only five hundreds people are living now. I always meet same people everyday, so people can comprehend who I am. To live fun and happy, all students should be friendly.

 Also, I thought about my future. Many seniors said "Two years past really quickly." Same time has been passing now, but feeling time is different from people. Some thinks time pasts fast on the other hand others think that time pasts slowly. Not to suffer hard period of KMLA, I should be efficient so that I can manage my time efficiently. If I keep my self studying time, my overall GPA can be improved.

 Soon, I will graduate my high school. Since today I feel I need to live like KMLAian. To become KMLAian, I must keep my promises. Beginning may be hard, but I will try as possible as I can. It can make me not regret in the future and live efficient life.

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Poetry - After test

After test

juice

The day after the test
I felt like in heaven
Unfortunately that moment was gone

English grade made me down
Economy grade made me down
Korean grade made me down
Physics grade made me down

Less than a half subjects made me gloomy
My mental was destroyed
How many subjects will make me depressed?
I thought and thought again

Remained subjects are really afraid
Another worry is this situation will be continued
So I should study more harder

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