Week 14 Project Action Plan: Du Tenth Deserves Some Respect

I've decided to use the following project prompt to write my project:
 From a piece of fiction (short story, section of novel, or a play) choose a female character on whom to focus, and create a project that discusses some of the following questions: 

• What is the author’s attitude towards her? (how can you tell?)
• What is your attitude towards her? 
• How do (at least 2) other characters view her? 
• How does she view herself? 

I'll be writing about Du Tenth from "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger." I think I'll address the question "how do other characters view her" and mention the ways that several characters view her and how their views change, if at all, throughout the story. I'll also be sure to share my attitude towards her in my project. I believe Du Tenth is genuinely a good person even if her profession causes people to doubt how sincere of a person she is. She's misunderstood and was betrayed by Jia Li in the story because he let every doubt possible overwhelm his mind instead of trusting her. Dialogue as a literary device will be a major contribution to my project since it will demonstrate how various characters think of Du Tenth. Point of view will also help because the story is told from Jia Li's point of view as opposed to Du Tenth's. If a reader doubts the integrity of their relationship, it's because of how the story is told from his point of view instead of hers. He talks to a lot of other characters who all warn him about her reputation and who she is and we get to see how he processes all of this information to reach his conclusions. We also get more background knowledge about Jia Li which explains why he's worried about being with her and his fears of his father's disapproval. If the story was told from Du Tenth's point of view, there would be zero doubts whatsoever as to how faithful she is to Jia Li. But I'm not going to mention or elaborate on what-if's for this project. I took very useful reading notes for this story which will help jog my memory and remind me of several moments in the story that would be great to mention in this project.

• Du Tenth lost her virginity when she was 13. She was 19 at the present time. (500)
• Tenth's madam viewed her relationship with Li as her being monopolized. Other heirs and lords couldn't have her now. Li was running out of money by spending so much on Du Tenth. His father found out that he was "passing time whoring in the pleasure district" and called him back home. (501)
• The more financial hardship Du Tenth saw Li in, the warmer she grew toward him (501).
• The madam is furious that Li has no more money to spend. Du Tenth mentioned how much he's spent but it didn't manner how much he had spent since he can't spend anymore. She called Du Tenth a slut and said she's been having to pay for the "upkeep of this bum of yours." The madam told Du Tenth to have him buy her out so she can be replaced with a new girl. The madam says Li has 3 days to get 300 in cash or the deals off. Du Tenth got the madam to agree on 10 days instead of 3. Du Tenth has doubts of the madam sticking to her word, but the madam says she's too old to be telling lies. (502)
• Liu put together 150 taels within two days and gave it to Li, not for Li's sake, but because he was moved by the sincere feeling of Du Tenth (505)
• Du Tenth asked about their settlement plans. Li said they can't go to his father since he'll be outraged that Li married a prostitute. (507)
• Sun Fu planted seeds of doubt in Li, saying that Du Tenth might be using Li just to meet up with another lover. Li was at a loss for words and asked what advice Sun Fu would give. (511)
• Sun Fu proposed that he would give Li 1000 taels if he were to "act decisively when opportunity presents itself." (512)
• Li was terrified of his father and told Sun Fu he needed to talk with Du Tenth. "I cannot in justice cut her off all at once" (513)
• Du Tenth told Li she didn't intend for their oath to be broken. She said there's no less than ten thousand taels in the box. She intended for Li to be able to use it all to return to his parents without shame. (515)
• She couldn't believe that he lost faith in her off of some groundless claims and betrayed her heart. (516)
• She wanted everyone to witness that she didn't betray him; he betrayed her (516).

These specific notes will allow me to go back and collect quotes, with context as needed, and address the questions relating to this prompt. My working thesis is: "Du Tenth is a mistreated prostitute who has done nothing that would reasonably suggest that she wouldn't remain faithful throughout her marriage."

Feng Menglong. "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger." The Norton Anthology World Literature,

edited by Martin Puchner, third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 497-517.

Week 9 Project Action Plan: What to do and how to do it?

I've decided to use the following prompt for my project: "compare and contrast elements of two different texts. For example, explore the similarities and differences between two characters in the texts, or examine how one theme is handled in similar and dissimilar ways in two different texts." I'll be analyzing Poem 1129 by Emily Dickinson and "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" by John Keats and comparing how the two poems approach the theme of death. I'll share my thoughts on how I interpreted various lines from both poems and how they reveal their respective poet's views about death. I believe that John Keats fears death because of how it's an indefinite deadline to accomplish life goals. Emily Dickinson on the other hand doesn't fear death and instead points out the ways other people cope with or deny the idea of death.

My work-in-progress thesis statement is: When analyzing the theme of death present in the poems written by John Keats and Emily Dickinson, we can see that John Keats feared death whereas Emily Dickinson simply viewed death as an inevitable part of human life.

Notes:

• Consonance in the first line of Poem 1129. "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--" (489). This line introduces Dickinson's belief that the subject of death must be approached delicately because of how easily it can terrify people. It also touches on how the truth about death is told in different ways that hide the true nature of death.
• "Too bright for our infirm delight" is about how death is too powerful a subject and human content is easily disrupted (489)
• "The Truth's superb surprise" addresses how reality is going to hit people in the face at one point or another whether they like it or not (489)
• The second stanza of the poem expands on the ideas introduced in the first stanza. I'll also be analyzing the lines more thoroughly for the proving my point in the project.
• When speaking about Keats, I will be analyzing each line thoroughly as well, but I will list here in my notes the main subject matter that will be brought up
• Keats fears death
• He worries that he'll die before he can write down every meaningful thought he's wanted to share with his readers
• He has many things he wants to accomplish in life and fears he'll die before he has the time.
• He wonders about his love life and if he will be satisfied with how much of it he can experience before he dies.
• He realizes that his desires in the world are nothing in the grand scheme of things given how large the world is.

Here are my sources I will be using:

Dickinson, Emily. "1129." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 489

Keats, John. "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 407

Week 4 Project Planning: The Ending of Tartuffe

The prompt I intend to respond to for this project is: What does the work reveal about the cultural behavior contemporary to it?

Deus Ex Machina is the main literary device I will be using to address this prompt. Because of this, I will also be addressing the play's plot and dialogue. From one of my sources I received further confirmation of what my former drama teacher at LMC, Professor Jack Nicolaus, had told me about the ending of Tartuffe: "Molière had to remain in the good graces of the king if he wanted to stage the play in public," "What better way to do so than to make the king a hero?" More specifically as I have learned, "The audience for which Molière wrote Tartuffe was a worldly sector of the social elite in Paris in the latter third of the Seventeenth Century. Indeed, its original audience was the royal court at Louis XIV's great palace Versailles." Molière had written this play with an ending that would satisfy King Louis XIV because that would be the only way this play would be allowed to debut and have a chance at becoming a success. I'll be exploring the overall plot of "Tartuffe" in order to show that the ending to the play was nothing more than fan service to please King Louis XIV since the plot didn't allow for any other ending since the characters had been written into a corner as reflected by the panic in the dialogue they exchange. Tartuffe had all the evidence he needed to have Orgon placed in prison and he had the deed to his house. There was absolutely nothing the characters in the story could have realistically done to fix the situation other than pray for a miracle, which was lazily provided by The Exempt arriving to inform everyone that The King might as well be omnipotent with how conveniently aware of everything he is despite not being involved in all of the events prior to the deus ex machina and how kind and down to Earth he is to save everyone from their dilemma. In my project, I will point out multiple directions the play could have taken to avoid this ending, and why this ending was the only ending that could have worked given how the plot unfolded.

Molière. "Tartuffe." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 144-197.