The Quill & Page

  Nature Explored in Native American Literature  This week's literature works all share a common theme of nature.  Yellow Woman  by Leslie Silko,   The Night Chant  from Navajo Ceremony, and  The Conquest of Mexico  are all works that highlight the deep spiritual connection Native American's have with nature.   Yellow Woman By Leslie Silko depicts the story of a woman who is kidnapped by a man named Silva. The woman is taken deep into the mountains to his home, but the deeper the woman goes into the mountains, she begins to believe that Silva is a mountain spirit and has become the "yellow woman."  The yellow woman is a legend of how women are taken away by the mountain spirit and go to live with him for a time. Then, after some time, the women reappear in their hometowns, and everyone accepts that she was taken by the mountain spirit.   The relationship between the Yellow Woman and silva is deep, as she believes she loves him. When he leaves her for the day, she stru

Theme Explored in Contemporary Eastern Literature: Moving Away from Tradition  Through literature works like  Diary of a Madman , Sealed Off , and Man of La Mancha , we notice a marked unifying theme in the literature, which depicts a frustration with old customs and a new school of thought moving away from traditional ways of thinking and social customs.  The  Diary of a Madman is a short story in which the narrator journals how his entire community is secretly practicing cannibalism. The narrator believes this because there is literature and traditions that support cannibalism. When he asks his brother and doctor about it, his suspicions are confirmed as they defend the practice. In the end, the narrator states that it's too late for him, but maybe the children can be saved from succumbing to the ancient practice and tradition of cannibalism.  Sealed Off is a short love story of two strangers who meet on a tram when the city is on lockdown due to an air raid. Lu Zongzhen and Wu C

   Love Explored in Eastern Literature     This week's reading Included literature works by   Du Fu ,  Classic of Poetry , and  The Story of Yingying . To give context and cultural context to the readings, students also read about  Confucian Philosophy and a scholarly journal explaining the concept of "Wen." Moreover, the unifying theme in all the literature explored this week was love.      In  The Story of Yingying,  we are engulfed in a passionate romance between Zhang and Miss Cui; it is love at first sight. Zhang is so smitten by Miss Cui that he forsakes all traditional customs of courting through a matchmaker; instead, he sends her passionate poetry, which she at first rejects but later accepts.    In the  Classic of Poetry,  we read a series of poems that share desire, passion, and romance. In  Zhongzi, Please , in a poem included in the Classics, a young woman expresses her desire for a man while telling him to respect boundaries not forsake bu

               Theme: Helplessness and Choice               According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of helplessness is: Lacking protection or support, marked with the inability to act or react. In this week's readings, a common theme stood out: the characters faced situations they felt they had no control over; they were helpless to the conditions they faced.     Anna Akhmatova's Requiem is a sequence of poems that depict the hopelessness that war and a totalitarian regime bring.       In Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, the theme of helplessness is depicted through the main character's depression due to finding his life meaningless and unsatisfying.       The Guest  by Albert Camus places the main characters, a prisoner and a schoolteacher turned guard, in a helpless situation. The schoolteacher does not wish to guard the prisoner and much less does not want to be in the uncomfortable position of turning him over to authorities the next