Ivette: The rocking-horse winner

It is really amazing to see the way the author mixes his own life with an irreal one. This is possible to observe in both stories.The most noticeable in the stories is the existence of a very complex issue for society which is the desire of money. In the first tale, the protagonist is a boy that suffers because of the conflicts that the wish of money brings to his family. That is why he hides his sad feelings by gambling for money.The second story is focused on the relationship between life and death. The relationship is mainly presented by the inhuman work world of the mine and the beautiful and vulnerable, natural world. For example, the important things that we can lose if the attention is payed to money instead of love relationships. Thinking on what is happening in our society, it is part of our common sense notice that money cannot buy happiness and it represents a harmful force as well as alcoholism. Nowadays is really common to observe children working in the streets or even worse begging for money. Is that what we want for our children? I am totally sure the answer is no. So, I think that our effort in schools can make the difference. If we contribute children to be comfortable at least when they are learning, things can improve. D.H Lawrence points out very contemporary issues. I really enjoyed reading both stories because of the many issues that they bring, and that make sense in our society.

I really believe Ivette was able to give the main idea of both short stories. Although it can be appreciated that she described more the rocking-horse winner over the second short story. I think this decision had to do with the interesting topic this story develops and how well it can be connected to our own reality.
I totally agree with the idea of happiness beyond econominal issues. However we need to consider that money rules our life. We need to be aware of the decisions we take in order to keep or gain more money. Nowadays most people are capable of almost anything to "rise in social/economical class". This is the moment when we as future teachers need to do something about it. As Ivette pointed out "we need to make an effort to do things differently". I beleive we need to start from giving a good example to our students and teach them values according to our beliefs and the society in which we live in.
Finally I would like to say that maybe this post could be improved by giving a more explicit relation between both stories because I think the author notoriously takes aspects of his society and values from his own experience, which he beleives are important to share with the readers.

"The Waste Land" by T.S Eliot

T.S Eliot was born as an American citizen however he decided to become a great British poet in those years. He experienced what a post war period was and the decline of human beings as a community.

“The Waste Land” is one of his well-known pieces of work in which consist in 5 different stories, being told by many different narrators. What I think the author tried to develop was the idea of many people being affected by the inclemency of war and how everybody felt: lack of hope and regrets of what had happened.

According to Wikipedia.com “The Waste Land” takes into consideration 5 traditional elements: earth, air, fire, water and aether. The first element, EARTH has a direct relationship with the burial and understanding the importance of land as the place where people exist. Then, AIR is represented by the many voices or narrators that this work has, implying that there is a developed intellectual mind behind the creation of this work. FIRE is represented by the passion the author put in this work, understanding that the only way of writing all those complex feelings is by feeling them yourself. WATER represented by the use of images of sea and a voyage. And finally, AETHER as the material that fills all the region of universe, this means that even though you talk about a waste land there must be something in that place besides nothingness.

2 short stories by D. H Lawrence

These are two everyday objects which can be found in any place or story. However, D. H Lawrence has the ability to transform them into the main objects of his stories which have a fundamental role of keeping strong feelings within them.

On one side, Chrysanthemum is a flower that may grow in many parts of the countryside. But, for Mrs. Bates they were the memory of a promise that never was completed, a process of suffering and the end of his husband’s life.

On the other side, Rocking-horse is a toy which usually is related to boys’ entertainment. But for Paul this was the beginning and the end of his life. He got so much immersed with it, that his life depended on it and what was the result? Death

Imagination and creativity are part of this author's work. He created new roles for those objects that are very well-known but he gave them a new set of actions which influence the past, present and even future of his characters. Being creative is part of writing, and having the ability to take your readers to new worlds and see whatever that the author sees, it's what makes you successful.
It has been awhile since I don't get engaged with a good short story, and this was the case. After discovering Dickens, I must say D.H Lawrence is an author that I will read and recommend to my friends, colleges and students.

"The Mark on the Wall" by Virginia Woolf

As we have seen in other works, Virginia Woolf is a woman who has the time and intellect to reflect about anything that crosses her mind. This time she refers to the mark on a wall she is looking at while reading.

She starts to describe every single detail which seems important to understand what is that mark and why it is there.

After some analysis, she tried to connect her train of thoughts with something related to this mark. It seems she never trust her sight because every time she looks at this mark, it changes.

What I believe she does is trying to see beyond her eyes. She sees with her eyes and with her mind at the same time. She connects every thought with her life, taking anything that surrounds her into part of her writing. This is one of the reasons why she prejudices what she sees based on her thoughts which stop her to see who makes the mark: a snail on the wall.

The best idea that I believe represents Virginia Woolf's works is the subjectivity in which the writer creates his/her work. Every single part of our life is worth it to be printed in a book and nobody has the power to say which experience is more important than another. Writing is an art, but we can all be artists.

"Oliver Twist" Charles Dickens

If you believe in fate, you shouldn't run. It will get you no matter what you do.
This is the reason why I picked this picture. I believe Dickens imagined Oliver after seeing so many children hoping for a better life without having the opportunity to do anything to change what they had.
In those times, children were considered and viewed as “small men”. Due to the fact that Modernity was changing what was known as “city”, children needed to be part of the society in all terms. You must find something to do and be useful or you would be one of those sitting outside the building and never stand again.
Young thieves were his friends, but he had the gift to see through people’s eyes. So, after everything he experienced during his time in London, at the end he was truthful and gentle with who took care of him.
Part of the movie seemed obvious. I was hoping to see some changes throughout the plot. However, and after expecting that he was discovered and saved, I was glad to see him as a young smart boy in the final scenes.
We do not deserve happiness; we have the right to experience it. Oliver Twist had a life that nobody wants for our kids; nevertheless he obtained what we all wish for: live a happy life and be loved.

"The signal man" Charles Dickens

Does a person who live isolated be remembered when he dies??

The signal man is one of those people who live by himself, doing his job. His responsibility was over the top; not only to give way to the trains, moreover to prevent accidents from happening. After the visit of this misterious person/ghost, the signalman clearly focusses his purpose of life to avoid certain situations that can cause harm to others; worrying about his job obsessively.

Do these ideas seem real??

Nowadays we are living in a world which promotes and permits individuality. We can communicate with each other but not by talking; a phone call, an email or a SMS. For instance, this person was living something we experience day after day: people doing their job, being more worried about the task than the people who they relate with.

The story is very descriptive and makes you think. However, I am not thinking in how Dickens portrait his reality into this story (neither Modernity). I am more interested in the way this story can be applied into situations we live everyday.

To improve our way of living, we need to start by caring about others. This caring must be based on respect but also truth. I am sure we can make a better world. The problem is: we have not created a "we", yet.

"Frankenstein" Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was not known as the owner of this master piece. The only aspect that did not allow her to say from the beginning that she created Frankenstein was that she was a woman.
She had a really difficult like and her family was very unusual. She was raised in an environment that allowed her to dream and create new characters and new ideas taken from what she could see and think.
I believe one of the main feelings that she developed in this novel is the relationship between love and family. Victor gave life to a creature that did not know anything about this world, and when he saw him for the first time, he rejected him. In these days this act is penalized by law; any parent who does this is rejected by the society and punish by the law. Nobody has the right to give life to a creature and then live it alone. So, this makes me wonder....was this usual in M. Shelley's time?? Was maternity seen in a different way in those times? were men involved in this process?
I started reading Frankenstein without knowledge about the novel. I've never watched a movie neither read a book. So, at the beginning was only a descriptive way of reading. However, after sharing experiences and ideas with my classmates I saw how much feelings arouse from me when thinking in this creature being born without a family and being raised by himself.
Maternity is something that must be taken seriously in order to have in the future better people to change this world.