A journey igen.

Hej - jeg kan åbentbart ikke finde ud af at vedhæfte, så her er den i kopieret udgave. Der er fodnoter til hver tekst, der redegør for forfatterens navn, det er bare ikke kommet med.

Changing lanes in the journey of life?
Life has great potential, and everyone has a chance to do their utmost in succeeding emotionally, however, if you miss your chance and are left with unfulfilled goals, it becomes very hard to change. Is it possible to change your situation to the better, or is it even advisable? The consequences may be grave, but choosing to remain static may prove even worse.
Life is a mystery. Something as extraordinary as a human being with unique characteristics and a bottomless personality seems to emerge from nothing, to stay in the world for a while, and then to finally disappear back into nothingness. Some explain this by religion; others forge their own meanings in life. For another group of people, however, grasping and understanding the sense of it all proves more difficult, and depression is frequent.
This is evident in the short story “A Journey” where we are introduced to Mary, a woman entangled with misfortune. Mary used to live a happy and somewhat careless life with her husband, Seamus, but in the time of narration, he has fallen ill after numerous strokes, and the result is that he is unable to move around, which appears to darken his mood. The story circulates around Mary driving her and Seamus’ son, David, home from hospital, where he has been treated for depression for seven months. Mary tries optimistically to engage in conversation, and to reach out to her son by smoking a cigarette with him although the smoke disgusts her, but her attempts seem almost futile. To optimistically keep a straight face is vital in dealing with people who are depressed, but often, the result is that frustration and negativity is subdued, and this puts the caring individual in danger of becoming depressed herself. The story offers no clear indication of Mary being depressed, but in the last paragraph, when Seamus wants to hear about the trip to the hospital, she hesitates, and furthermore, instead of directly addressing and caring for her sick husband, she observes him through a mirror while having one of her frequent daydreams, where she imagines how she will one day have to collect her selfishness in order to do something. The question of what she intends to do so badly for herself, is not hard. She needs to leave her family to safe herself, but the grave effect it will have on her loved ones, is evident, and it will without doubt be hard for her as well. In the poem, “Lucinda Matlock” , a female narrator describes a long life and marriage, not that different from Mary and Seamus’. She lived her life joyfully although bad things did happen. She and her husband lost eight out of twelve children, but this was not uncommon a century ago, and life went on without a lot of obstacles. She describes how she spent her time, happily doing various activities, but she mentions no more of the husband, indicating that he took no part in the things that made her life joyful. In the end of the poem, she argues that sorrow, anger and discontent are merely the products of too high expectations in life, and she advises the young people to “degenerate” so they can settle on something that will not prove too strong for them. This idea of lowering your expectations to something less than ideal is quite tragic. In “The Story of a Marriage” the same thing is put forth yet again, but this time as a belief that love is merely an interpretation of a foreign language we hardly understand. It is sad that life can drive people into such extremities where truth matters more than interpretation; what really triggers our emotions is the way we experience the world, and not necessarily the way it really is. In “The Story of a Marriage” our desires and ideals crave something more than what the world truly offers. The same theme is to be found in “Lucinda Matlock” where the narrator advices people to lower their expectations in life, and this all adds up with Mary’s life in “A Journey”. Mary too has lived a hard life striving for emotional fulfillment, but the difference is that Mary actually thinks of taking charge of her own situation, and thereby changing her situation to the better. She has not given up, not yet, so she might still be able to meet her desires. The decision is not easy when the choice is between taking care of the ones you love, and caring taking care of yourself, but how can you fulfill the desires of others, if we cannot meet our own?
Flashbacks
Most fictional literature is written as a situation where the reader is addressed as if he or she is already familiar with the characters and previous events. This makes a story easier to digest, as well as it saves space for what the author finds truly relevant to convey. We do need hints; however, in order to reach sufficient comprehension, and these hints and small bits of information can be communicated through flashbacks. In “A Journey”, flashbacks are used to show the reader what the main character, Mary’s life was like in the past, as well as describing Mary as a person. As the story sets off “in medias res” we are introduced to Mary’s son, David, as a child when asking his mother about death. Why is this scene relevant to the reader? First of all, it describes the time before David became depressed; indicating that Mary’s life has not always been filled with negativity, but more importantly, it paints us a picture of Mary’s personality. David was unlikely to be depressed as a four year old, but Mary cannot help thinking of the possibility – he is after all asking about death, and with much sincerity, and in this manner, we are able to deduct something about Mary that she probably wouldn’t say directly. In other words, flashbacks can provide the reader with the information needed in understanding and deciphering the story for himself, as well as it is a stylistic tool that can create more layers in a text.

thomas_dc

Er du overhovedet klar over hvad det er du beder andre mennesker om at gøre gratis ???

Jeg tror det hedder reach out for her son by smoking, og så skal der bindestreg i four-year-old. Ellers er det vist fejlfrit, og dit sprog er temmelig avanceret såå.. you get a 12

2# Jep, det er jeg udemærket klar over. Jeg beder om en kommentar til min eksamensopgave. Jeg synes desuden selv at det er interresant at se andres opgaver og vurdere min egen tolkning deraf. Derved kan det være en hjælp for andre, lige så meget som det er en hjælp for mig. Ydermere synes jeg selv jeg beder pænt.

Men jo, det ville da være en fed gestus hvis jeg havde betalt andre mennesker for at læse min opgave, men jeg er bange for at SU'en ikke rækker.

3# tak for 12'eren :) Men jeg er nu mere nervøs for indholdet end for sproget. Det var ikke just et nemt eksamenssæt. En lang, svær hovednovelle og nogle meget korte supplerende tekster med meget lidt kød på.

- Thomas

thomas_dc

dette websted er til korte spørgsmål, ikke til at få hele, lange  opgaver  gennemgået  !!

P.S.

Hvad med at tage et kursus i at stave dansk ??

#5

Jo da! Det kunne da være hyggeligt at tage sådan et kursus! Bare dig og mig.

Vi har jo alle brug for lidt kærlighed, for ikke at sige dansk kunstskaber, og hvis jeg kan give dig det ene, kan du måske give mig det andet!

Kærlige hilsner,

Thomas

#5

Pas på med at være så hurtigt ude efter andre.

På dansk indleder man sætninger med et stort begyndelsesbogstav. Man laver ikke mellemrum før tegnsætning, men derimod efter. Almindeligvis bruger man heller ikke dobbeltmellemrum midt i sætninger. Derudover er det heller ikke korrekt at anvende det, jeg kalder for dobbelttegnsætning.

#6

Jeg elsker dine kommentarer.