Response to "Dearth" (analysis of symbols)

Dirt appears many times in this story, so I this it is an important symbol. Here are several moments including "dirt".

1.      “…jabbing the dirt with a spade as she bordered the house with nasturtium seeds.”

This is the first time “dirt” appears in the story. At the very beginning, the woman only throws away the seven potatoes, and they come back. But this time, those potatoes even survive the oven and the tires and the road, and come back. The woman is quite angry and tries to ignore them. Jabbing the dirt is what the woman do the rest of the day.

2.      “…pushing every speck of dirt out the door until the floor rang smooth.”

The woman has already tried many ways to get rid of these potatoes. She has some beer and comes back home, slicing all seven potatoes and throws them away. She eats the left piece of potato, and pushing dirt out the door the rest of evening. This moment is a little bit similar to the first moment. It seems that the woman has a morbid fear of getting dirty.

3.      “…and the taste in her mouth felt like the kind of stale dirt that has lost its ability to grow anything.”

After seeing her neighbor with suitor and many flowers, the woman shivers. The woman feels so hungry that she decides to eat the potato. The potato is larger than an average one, and it has an abstract shape. She hates potatoes, and the taste is like stale dirt. But she still struggles to eat.

4.      “…she pushed them out the front door to the side of the house where there was a strip of dirt that the neighbor could not see.”

“He looked up at her with wondering eyes and she filled the hole with dirt over him.”

“…as she shoved more dirt over his grayish body.”

When her neighbor asks for borrowing the woman’s bathroom, she refuses because four potatoes are hidden there. After that, the woman yells to potatoes to get away. Then she pushes them out to a strip of dirt where she will bury them soon. The following two moments happen when the woman is burying four potatoes. She shoves dirt over potatoes, and fills the hole with dirt.

5.      “…she went outside to the strip of dirt.”

Life without potatoes is lonely. The woman does everything alone again. But now, she begins to miss the days with potatoes. The next morning, she checks the strip of dirt where potatoes are buried. There is no movement, and she sets a rock at each site.

6.      “He sat right when the shovel touched his arm and dirt fell from his face and legs.”

“The layers of dirt became them.”

The woman meets her neighbor and says there is no broken bathroom; in addition, she has four potato children. Then, she digs up four potatoes. When she shoves, she touches dirt. When the potatoes are dug out, dirt become them.

Response to The Forest

The Forest is a short story written by Andrea Barrett. It depicts an unusual encounter between a famous scientist Krzysztof Wojciechowicz and a young girl called Bianca who drops out graduate school. They meet in Constance’s institute where scientists get together and both feel awkward to join that circle. Later they talk about their past life, go to the park that Bianca discovered, then Krzysztof gets hurt. In the end, they have different choices, one is “back”, the other is “away”. This story always makes me think about a question: where does life lead us to?

       Through reading, main characters’ images are vivid not only appearance. Krzysztof, an old scientist, seems not very good at dealing with people. He is nostalgic, misses the old times, the forest in Poland, his mother, the bison. Bianca, a typist in the institute, doesn’t like scientists here. She had a desire to flee just like running in her own park. And the scientists, smart, quiet arrogant, are eager for fame. Andrea offers these information by several ways. Direct description is clear, for example, to describe Bianca, “round-cheeked”, “blond hair frizzing in all directions”, “pale hair flying in all directions”, etc. Also, conversation is a good way to reveal one’s characteristics. For instance, when Arnold talks with Bianca, he just pretends to be polite, which depicts a condescend scientist. In addition, through conversation, we can gather information about characters’ life experiences such as conversations between Krzysztof and Bianca.

       The title is The Forest, so what is the forest? In the story, Krzysztof mentions a forest in Poland while Bianca has that park. The forest is not a real forest; it is what everyone pursues in life. Krzysztof wants “back” and Bianca wants “away”, but they are still finding. They remind me of a word: loneliness. When these two persons meet, they should have some stories because they both want to jump out of most people’s idealized life. Actually, Krzysztof loves Bianca though he is too old, but Bianca doesn’t, not even regards him as an actual man. They have different directions, only have one point of intersection. The spark is instant, but the loneliness is forever. Maybe you can’t get to your own forest, also no one can enter it.

Response to “Designing Gamification in the Right Way”

This is a research paper about designing gamification in the right way. Most people are not familiar with gamification, but the author discusses this topic clearly. He did a good job both in structure and content.

Above all, the paper has a logical structure. First of all, it introduces the research problem briefly. Then, it states the problem following five subheadings step by step. Finally, the paper ends with a short conclusion. The paper shows a research process: coming up with a problem first, then analyzing and solving it.

       The content is concise and the author avoids using subjective words. As long as there is a statement, there are examples or references to support it. For instance, when the author refers to the user type, he cites Bartle’s player types and Marczewski’s gamification user types. In contrast to Neuhaus’s article we read last time, their types of references are different. Neuhaus analyzes a sitcom, so most of her examples come from that sitcom directly. However, to research on gamification, the author is likely to search for a great quantity of written contents. Also, for Neuhaus, she talks about The Simpsons subjectively because the topic can be interpreted freely. But for Bohyun Kim, his topic is designing gamification in the right way, unlike interpreting literature, his paper needs to be more scientific. Therefore, his arguments are supposed to be based on experiments or theories.

       After reading Kim’s paper, I not only learn gamification but also how to write a research paper. If we choose different topic, the way of doing research and writing is different.

Response to “Marge Simpson, Blue Haired Housewife: Defining Domesticity on The Simpsons”

   The article is about an influential sitcom called The Simpsons in America. In this paper, Jessamyn argues to what extent does The Simpsons critique the idealized nuclear family and reaffirm its importance of contemporary society.

    There are some key terms in this article. Firstly, “idealized nuclear family” appears frequently, which is a family consists of parents and children, placid and well-ordered. Secondly, it mentions “family values” a lot, whose core values relate to love, loyalty and affection that help to build a solid nuclear family. Thirdly, “idealized housewife” is a term that is discussed. In traditional view, an “idealized housewife” is supposed to be domestic, beautiful, obedient, and maternal.

       To develop the argument, Jessamyn focuses on two big elements of this sitcom: satire and sentiment. Obviously, satire is a feature of this sitcom. At first, the author states that The Simpsons satirizes the idealized family sitcoms of the past. For example, in an idealized family, harmony is necessary and father is excellent. In contrast, the Simpson family is bickering and Homer as a father is really a buffoon. Of course, The Simpsons also satirizes many other aspects of American society. However, despite satire, it is actually a sitcom to affirm family values regularly. For example, episodes always have happy endings such as Marge embraces Homer because she is touched by his shame.

       The combination of satire and sentiment in The Simpsons is well reflected on an important character Marge. To some extent, Marge is an exemplary housewife who can handle all the housework excellently, just like an “idealized housewife”. But here are some things viewers never ignore: Marge’s blue hair and gravelly voice. Marge’s hair is super high, and it never changes or changes easily as long as the plot needs. Her voice is not maternal like an “idealized housewife”. These all emphasize Marge doesn’t exist in real life though she is ideal to some degree. However, the sentiment part is also obvious. Marge as a housewife sometimes feels upset to do domestic work all the time. She tries to relax or gets rid of the domestic role but always fails. For example, Marge tries to be a police officer, open a pretzel business, etc. However, she never finds a solution to truly relieve her sadness as a housewife. Marge’s frustrations with homemaking or marriage are always resolved by unconditional love for her family though she is still sad regularly. This is the sentiment part to reaffirm “family values”. From Marge, we can see a big problem of women’s roles in society. Should women always be the domestic role or they can have other choices? As the author says, “The Simpsons ultimately does not satirize the role of homemaker as much as it reifies it”, and “the writers and creators of The Simpsons, like many of us, have trouble even imagining a home without a female homemaker”. 

Response to The Simpsons “She used to be my girl”

Summary: The story happened in Springfield in 2004. Lots of journalists came to Springfield to report Mayor Quimby’s sex scandal, but they were placated by a puppy. However, Chloe Talbot, who was a famous and responsible reporter, continued to ask Quimby tough questions. Marge Simpson was surprised to see her high school friend Chloe on TV, so she invited Chloe for dinner. Marge envied Chloe but her daughter Lisa really admired her. In Marge’s memory, both she and Chloe had chances to become journalists while Marge chose to stay in Springfield with her sweetheart. Chloe invited Lisa to the UN women’s conference, which excited Lisa. Lisa sneaked out of home and hid in Chloe’s car to attend the conference without Marge’s permission. On the way to the conference, Chloe was told to report the active volcano in Springfield. When Chloe arrive there, the volcano was erupting. Chloe finished the report with Lisa’s help, but they were trapped. At that time, Marge rescued Lisa bravely while Chloe was saved by her high school boyfriend Barney. Finally, Marge imagined what if she became a reporter, she screamed.

Symbols:

1. The pill wrapped with cheese: The pill represents truly important matters while cheese represents something not important but attractive. People are likely to be distracted by attractive things but ignore what they should have focused on.

2. Media circus: It means a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered. Circus is for entertainment, so calling media circus is sarcasm.

3. The magazine Men’s Fatness: The magazine telling people how to be fat is ridiculous. It criticizes media spread wrong ideas.

4. Court-ordered ankle bracelet: It suggests the powerful control citizens. When citizens meet the powerful, they often have no choice.

5. The UN women’s conference: It represents feminism. It is a conference to inspire and empower women.

Interpretation:

The topics of this episode are criticizing journalism and discussing women’s roles in society. Firstly, it criticizes that journalists forget their duty is to report what should be known to the public. As a group of influential people, some of them spread bored or bad ideas, which may cause bad effects in society. Secondly, Marge and Chloe represent two kinds of women: one is working woman, the other is housewife. Both of them play successful roles in society. Therefore, it is improper to say women should stay at home or work but they have freedom to choose their life.