Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Modern Fairytale

A) Cinderella

  1. Cinderella's mother was dead and her father married a widow with two dayghters. Het stepmother did not like her and only left the bad things for her.
  2. Cinderella was not allowed to rest and worked all day. A ball was to be held and Cinderella was not allowed to go.
  3. A fairy turned her ragged dress into a beautiful one and sent her to the ball in a couch with seven white horses. She then had a wonderful time at the ball.
  4. Cinderella married the prince and lived happily ever after.

Hari and Lila's Story

  1. Their mother was sick and their father was a drunkard. They had to take care of themselves and life was hard.
  2. Hari could not find a job and they could hardly carry on in life.
  3. When Hari went to Bombay, he found a job and learnt watch-mending skills from Mr Panwallah.
  4. Hari earned enough money and has made plans for the future including mending watches to earn money. Their mother was also recovered as the Mr De Silva sent her to the hospital to seek proper medication.

B) When Hari was in Bombay, he did not receive help of magical nature. It was partly due to Jagu's help by giving him a job in his shop and Mr Panwallah's help by teaching him watch-mending skills. It was also partly due to Hari's ability to adapt to a new environment and work hard.

C) I agree that The Village by the Sea is an adventure story to a large extent. An adventure story is a story based on the adventure pattern which is a person goes on an adventure to accomplish a mission. Then he faces problems. However, he recieves help from other people and manages to overcome the obstacles. Finally, he accomplishes the mission and returns victorious. In The Village by the Sea, Hari goes to Bombay to find a job. He had difficulties adapting. Jagu and Mr Panwallah helps him to overcome the problems. Hari managed to earn some money and had learnt watch-mending skills.

D) In The Village by the Sea, Hari and Lila are the protagonists. Lila was cool-headed as she was not angry or upset when Hari left. She only felt confused. She was able to prioritize well and had a positive mindset. She felt that life must go on and did not kept on worrying for Hari. Hari was hardworking for Hari. Hari was hardworking and worked hard in Bombay. He was also courageous enough to go to Bombay alone to find work. He was also responsible to take care of the family.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Amish Lifestlye Reflection

The Amish people separated from the society because they are very devout in their faith and they have been using horse-drawn power to carry out daily routines such as using bullock carts as a mode of transportation. Rejecting labour-saving technologies that might make one less dependent on community is because of their anti-individualist orientation. They do not permit electricity or telephones in their homes. By restricting access to television, radio, and telephones, the Amish are better able to keep the modern world from intruding into their home life. They value splicity and self denial over comfort, convenience and leisure. The Amish have long preferred farming as a way of life instead of doing things which include technology as in their perspective, they think that families can be best maintained in a rural environment and families are very important to them.
Although families are very important and family harmony is always maintained, disobedience of children is never allowed. Dissatisfaction can be verbally expessed but profanities are prohibited one can expect swift punishment. For Amish chiildren, they can only graduate from formal education after eighth grade but they have to learn how to do adult tasks after that.
The Amish believe that classroom learning is insufficient, hence the boys learn farming and go to the field and barn with their father and the girls learn homemaking skills, working inside the house, alongside their mother. To the Amish, farming is not really a job or a career, but part of their life which can help in nurutring families in values such as hardwork, frugality, responsibility, simplicity and family cooperation. Horses play an important role in farming as they plow, cultivate and harvest crops.
The Amish do not really do anything for recreation as they appreciate and would prefer simplivity. All they do for recreation is barn-raising and quilt-making and other things that we would feel boring and tiring. They enjot the simplicity of these activities where they learn the importance of teamwork, for example, building a barn. In general, they enjoy doing activities that allow them to work with one another apart from making a quilt.
In my opinion, there are some advantages of leading an Amish lifestlye. Firstly, Amish people can lead a peaceful and undisturbed lifestlye and do not really have much stress, unlike in the modern society where it is very hectic and busy. In the modern society, we do not even have time to connect with our relatives and friends and to bond with them, unlike the Amish who spend of their time socializing with anyone. Also, by leading an Amish lifestyle, we can, in a way, save the Earth, as by using electricity and modern machinery, it will emit carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which are very harmful to the Earth. Moreover, we will not have any distractions in our life if we cannot play compter games. In this way, we will be able to focus on our education.
However, there are definitely disadvantages of it. One disadvantage is that for most of us, we are usually very active and may not be able to tolerate the extreme tranquilness and stillness in the area. There are also not many sports we can do over there. Furthermore, we cannot have a share of the modern technology out there and we will definitely be tempted by the use of it. we will also not know about any discoveries made or anything, we will only know what is happening in the area we are living in.
Hence, in my point of view, I will choose not to lead an Amish lifestyle.