Essays of American Literature

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Introduction

By phamho. Saturday, 5. May 2007, 17:55:18

intro

I would like to use this blog in order to make friends and share experience of learning/teaching English to everyone. In addition, I'd also like to bring here some of my good movies and favorite songs, especially some karaoke in English for those who need to improve their pronunciation through English songs. Besides, in terms of studies, I post some outstanding essays from my students for those who are interested in American literature or writing. Finally, I share some good lessons in life that I feel worthy as well. You can search more of my websites & forum, or others of my movies as following:

1. Practice of pronunciation
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5. Comedy
6. American Literature
7. Lessons in life
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2 Comments

How to write good paragraphs

By phamho. Sunday, 27. May 2007, 10:31:55

paragraphs

Learning to write good paragraphs requires students to master four following steps. The first step is that the students should learn how to write a topic sentence. In a paragraph, the topic sentence often comes at the first sentence. It states the main ideas of the paragraph. The topic sentence consists of a topic and controlling ideas. Next, students should learn how to write supportive sentences. These sentences come from the controlling ideas of the topic sentence. Students should give examples, statistics, facts, or quotations to explain or to modify the topic sentence. After that, they learn how to make their paragraphs united and coherent. In this step, keep in mind that all the ideas in the paragraph just support one main idea, the topic of the paragraph. In addition, the students should use some transitional signals to construct their writings smoothly. Finally, they should learn how to write a concluding sentence which often comes last in the paragraph. They can summarize all what they have discussed in the paragraph or restate the topic sentence in different ways. In short, when students follow these steps, they can produce good academic paragraphs.

2 Comments

How to write a good essay

By phamho. Sunday, 27. May 2007, 10:18:31

essays

Learning how to write a good essay is very important for students. The reason to write an essay, not a paragraph, is that the topic is too complex to be discussed in only one paragraph. A form of an essay is similar to that of a paragraph, but every part of it is longer (Hogue & Oshima, 2006). Therefore, students should learn how to write the introductory paragraph, the body of the essay, and the concluding paragraph.

literature, The Happy Prince, Oscar Wilde

THE ACTIONS OF THE HAPPY PRINCE

By phamho. Sunday, 27. May 2007, 10:08:00

(Composed by Dang Xuan Thai Ngan DH02G-AV28)

“The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale Oscar Wilde wrote for his two sons but its educational and humane value go far beyond the fairy world of children. The story develops children's compassion and sympathy for the poor and makes adults look back on their attitude toward the unfortunate people around them. All the good actions of the Happy Prince are so worthy and touching that he deserves our respect and admiration.

Why did the narrator want to see her mother in the doorway?

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 07:25:41

(written by Le Thi Nguyet Thu - DH02G-AV28)
‘Having Mom, my life is full of happiness. Having Mom, my life is warmer'. This is a song of a child talking about her mother. Feel like, Mother is the most meaningful part in the child's life. Yes, it is true. But does anyone of us really know the true meaning of having a Mother once she is still beside us? Still we can see what a child feel like when losing her Mom in Grace Paley's ‘Mother'.

The mother would talk to her husband

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 07:18:12

(written by Vu Yen - DH02G-AV28)
Grace Paley was born Grace Goodside in Bronx, New York in 1922. She is remembered as a member of The Peace Mission, a political activist, and especially a competent writer. As a political activist in The U.S, Grace Paley participated in the War Resister League and strongly opposed the American involvement in Vietnam War. Usually employing first person narrator, Grace Paley has created a great number of Works that are about the family aspects. Moreover, her parents, Russian_Jewish immigrants, who have a great influence on Grace Paley, inspire her to write many great stories about parents and children. One of them is “The Mother” in which a mother gently urges her husband that he should spend more time taking care of his children.

Mother - Grace Paley, 1922

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 07:12:34

(written by Tran Thi Kim Chau - DH02G-AV28)
“Mother” is a short but profound story. It is told from the flashbacks of a daughter. Of several details, the image which the mother stands in various doorways is the remarkable one. At the end of a story, there is a sentence “I wish I could see her in the doorway of the living room.” As a reader, I understand that the narrator utter these words from the bottom of her heart. It is likely to me that there is a mixture of feelings expressed in this saying: nostalgia and regret. It is these feelings that led to this wish.

5 Comments

LONG TO SEE MY MOTHER IN THE DOORWAY - Grace Paley

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 07:09:23

(written by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
The whole story “Mother” was full of flashbacks. It was filled with memories and wishes of a child who lost his/her mother. The mother had died; but the child still saw her or hoped to see her at the front door, at the doorway of the child's room, at the door of the kitchen, and in leather chairs. The child seemed to be obsessed by the images of the mother; and he/she was burned by a passionate longing too see her/his dead mother.

literature, I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King

“THE DREAM I LIKE MOST IN THE SPEECH “I HAVE A DREAM”

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:14:40

(Composed by Dang Xuan Thai Ngan DH02G-AV28)
Throughout the history, people have struggled for freedom, equality and civil rights not only by violent fighting but also by non – violent movements. Among those who are in favor of non – violent resistance to racism and segregation. Martin Luther King emerges as a significant figure – a political activist, a spokesman, a civil rights movement leader and the soul of the African American community. The speech “I Have a Dream” makes him live forever not only because of its powerful, eloquent and rhetorical expression but also because of his extreme devotion and great desire to struggle for the blacks' rights.

Martin Luther King, literature, I Have a Dream

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:12:41

(Composed by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
Vietnam is a developing country which has gain a lot of development in recent time. We are trying to become an industrialized country and the government have planed and conducted many strategies to make the dream come true. There are political strategies, economical strategies, educational strategies, military strategies, and so fourth. To develop the country, we often think of how to build a strong economy, to reach an effective education, and to have a stable political system. All of these are necessary but insufficient; there are also humans and human rights which decide the development and prosperity of the country.

2 Comments

“Joy that kills” in “The Story of An Hour”

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:08:27

literature, The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin

(Composed by Vu Yen - DH02G-AV28)
Kate Chopin most definitely was a famous writer and a poet. She lived her life in the way she wanted to and wrote what she felt and wanted to say. Most of her works are about sex, love, and marriage, and some of them were rejected by many publisher at the early of twentieth century. One of her most famous and well-liked masterpieces was the short story “The Story of an Hour”. This story shows the sympathy of the author to a woman's grieves in her marriage.

The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin, literature

The reason of her death “of joy that kills”

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:06:01

(Composed by Tran Thi Kim Chau - DH02G-AV28)
The story of an hour happened within one hour in which the reappearance of Mr. Mallard had led the story to a sudden end- the death of Mrs. Mallard. The reason of her death “of joy that kills” has arisen many thoughts. In my opinion, the term “of joy that kills” can be understood in two different ways as follow.

Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour, literature

“Free! Body and soul free!” (The Story of an hour)

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:03:24

(Composed by Dang Xuan Thai Ngan DH02G-AV28)
The short story “The Story of an Hour” is as short as the shortness of an hour, within an hour, anything can happen. It is an hour for Mrs. Mallard to feel the things she never felt before, to fancy a free life ahead, to get in touch with the world outside, and then, she dies within that hour because hopes and dreams are suddenly taken away at the end by the sight of her husband coming back.

Kate Chopin, literature, The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin (1851 – 1904)

By phamho. Friday, 25. May 2007, 05:00:20

(Composed by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
Feeling free is a wonderful sense. Sometimes we feel free after an examination, feel free to leave our house and live independently, or feel free after we repay a debt. However, it sounds odd and shocking that a woman releases a feeling of freedom owing to her husband's death. Why did Mrs. Mallard utter “Free! Body and soul free!” when knowing that Mr. Mallard leaved her forever? Is it an acceptable reaction? Whether does that utterance have any further significance?