(written by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
“In a word Rip ready to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his arm in order, he found it impossible.” Rip van Winkle possessed a very odd characteristic that coincides the message of a Vietnamese saying “Viec nha thi nhat , viec chu bac thi sieng”. In fact, he could go everywhere to help anybody in need. He used to sit long day fishing or went through woods and swamps shooting. He was willing to give a hand to village women or little children. The only one thing that Rip never wanted to do was the family duty, his own business, or “all kinds of profitable labor!” This ridiculous feature of Rip Van Winkle urges me to find out the causes of this men's action.
First of all, Rip Van Winkle himself “declared it was no use to work on his farm” as an excuse for his abandonment of the farm. Rip said that “it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; every thing about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him.” For that reason, he did not need to go to the farm because even with his effort, this “worst conditioned farm in the neighborhood” still could not produce anything except for “a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes.” The cow, the fences, the weeds, and even the rain-the nature were against his farming and pushed him into idleness. More
American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. Irving has been called the father of the American short story. He is best known for 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' More
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William Faulkner (1897 - 1962)
The man himself never stood taller than five feet, six inches tall, but in the realm of American literature, William Faulkner is a giant. More than simply a renowned Mississippi writer, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist and short story writer is acclaimed throughout the world as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers, Next
(written by Dang Xuan Thai Ngan DH02G-AV28) “A Rose for Emily” is Faulkner's white rose to Emily, his way of expressing condolences to Emily's death. He sympathizes with her loneliness and her imagination about her status. People in the town respect her but they are one of the main reasons that make her have too good opinion of herself. They do not dare to force her to pay taxes, they do not dare to question her when she buys poison, they are more embarrassed of making remarks about the smell and do not dare to find out the truth about this terrible smell. I have the feeling that they consider her as “holy” idol. ... More
The victory of the American Civil War ends glory days of the South. Many southern people refused to accept the changed situation and had kept cherishing their precious memories. They showed a strong attachment to old values and traditions of the faded past. Miss Emily, who is the main character in the story “A Rose for Emily”, is typical of those Southerners. Throughout the story, the word “rose” rarely appears, but trying to interpret it helps readers have a deep understanding about the story.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Ernest Hemmingway born in Oak Park, Illinois, started his career as a writer in a newspaper office in Kansas City at the age of seventeen. After the United States entered the First World War, he joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army. Serving at the front, he was wounded, was decorated by the Italian Government, and spent considerable time in hospitals. After his return to the United States, More
Discuss the lost of the major from World War I
(written by Tran Thi Kim Chau - DH02G-AV28)
"In another Country” took place as a sad story which is permeated by loss, failure, and ruin. Many of the characters grappled with a loss of function, a loss of purpose, and a loss of faith. Among them, the Italian major was the one who suffers the most from the war. His loss is greater than anyone else: a loss of function, a loss of purpose, and a loss of faith.
The first thing to be mentioned is the major's loss of function. He received treatment for a shriveled hand from a doctor. Although the doctor kept encouraging his patient, his prognosis is dubious. From this point, readers can understand that the possibility for recovery is very low. The loss of function of his hand is likely pervasive. More painfully, before the war, the major was once a renowned fencer. Yet then, he felt nothing but angry and bitter. If we know that one of the most important things in playing football is the ability of running and the two hands play a crucial role in keeping balance when running, we can understand how hurt the major is with his shriveled hand. Profoundly judging, this loss of function can be considered as a physical loss. More
2. Long Ho Mon
7. Vi Tieu Bao
8. Vo Anh Cuoc
10. Fungfu Master
O. Henry was a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry's stories.
William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born in Greenboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. More
Do you think Soapy is a simple man ?
(Composed by Vu Yen - DH02G-AV28)
William Sydney Porter, known as O. Henry, is a famous American writer in the late of the nineteenth century. He has a number of jobs including bank clerk, reporter, and columnist. Most of his writings are short stories that are popular around the world. In 1897, Porter was convicted of embezzling money at the First National Bank in Austine. While in prison, Porter started to write short stories to earn money to support for his daughter. Later on these volumes of his short stories gained him the reputation among the readers and eventually succeeded. One of his most famous stories is “The Cop and The Anthem” in which the main character, Soapy, appears to be a complex person both in behavior and his emotional feeling.
In “The Cop and The Anthem”, a wanderer Soapy, tries to commit a crime to be imprisoned where he will have food and settlement for the forth-coming winter. Therefore, He eats the expensive dishes in a luxurious restaurant and announces his insolvency, then breaks the glass of the window, flirts a beautiful woman, and even savagely robs an umbrella of a stranger. His tragedy is that while attempting to be arrested, Soapy is not arrested by the police. After his “awakening”, immediately Soapy is arrested three months for such an “in the middle of no where” reason. More
Movies for Practice of English
5. Firefly
6. The Rose
American poet, critic, short story writer, and author of such macabre works as “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1840);
I looked upon the scene before me - upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak walls - upon the vacant eye-like windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium - the bitter lapse into everyday life - the hideous dropping off of the veil. More
Do you think that the reason to kill the old man
of the murderer is reasonable?
(written by Le Thi Nguyet Thu - DH02G-AV28)
In our whole lives, we always try to find ourselves a reason for doing something whether it is right or wrong. Some reasons are acceptable, some are not. However, to criticize a reason, we have to base on many aspects. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a famous story of Edgar Allan Poe, the murderer gave us a reason for killing the old man. It is because of the eye. In my opinion, it is unreasonable in three aspects.
The first aspect is the relationship between the two characters. Through the first person narrator, Edgar Allan Poe built up a man with a mental disease. The narrator told us about an old man with whom the relationship was unclear. “I love the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult.” The story was opened up with a bright picture of the two men. They might be strangers, or family members. But whoever they were, the old man was still a good man and the murderer had no reason to kill or even hate him. There is a rule that you must not do anything wrong to a person if he does nothing to harm you. Moreover the victim was an old man. From my point of view, old men seem to be so weak, harmless and respectable. They are like living books for me to learn, to respect and to take care of. More
1. A Silly Girl
3. Khung Long
6. Only you
8. Dinosaur
Kate Chopin: (1851 – 1904)
The Woman ahead of time
"There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water."
---Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin was born Katherine O'Flaherty on February 8, 1850 of an Irish and French descent in St. Louis, Missouri. Kate was blessed by having many female mentors throughout her childhood; More
Mrs. Mallard's reaction toward the saying “Free! Body and soul free!”
(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
The detail I am interested in the most is the reaction of Mrs. Mallard toward the saying “Free! Body and soul free!” It is not easy to understand her reaction. I think that reaction is the result of her inside conflict in which she hesitates about how to determine her own feelings: She doesn't know how to react, she should feel sorry about the death news, but she feels happy about freedom.
In the 19th century, this reaction was unacceptable in society, however, through the modern readers' eyes, her reaction is the explosion of true feeling which was repressed for a long time. In that century, a wife had to be subservient to her husband and her life was confined to the house. She was not free to do as she wanted. A traditional role like that makes Mrs. Mallard consider her marriage as a burden and she feels free when she gets to know about her husband's death. More
Martin Luther King , Jr. , (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968)
Martin Luther King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. More
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(Composed by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
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"Winner of the 1993 Rea Award for the Short Story"
Grace Paley was born Grace Goodside in the Bronx, New York, in 1922. Her parents, Russian-Jewish immigrants, had an important influence on her life as a writer and political activist.
She entered Hunter College in New York City when she was only 15 and later attended New York University, but not stay for a degree. "I really went to school on poetry," she says. "I learned whatever I know about writing and craft from writing poems." In the early 1940's, she studied with W.H. Auden at the New School for Social Research in New York.
Why does the narrator wish to see her mother standing in the doorway of the living room?
(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.
The first reason of her wish is that she misses her mother. She misses her so much with all what she used to do when she was alive. All the memories seem to revive within her mind. We all know that family sentiment is very scared, especially sentiment between mother and daughter. Therefore, even years after her death, whenever she misses her mother, everything seems like just happen yesterday. She expected to see her mother's beloved silhouette in the doorway to yell at her when she comes home late, to scold at her when she left her lunch unfinished, or to urge her to sleep just “for God's sakes”. In other words, the daughter needs to be cared. She wants to enjoy the feeling of being looked after as a child. This is what she could no longer have since her mother passed. Additionally, the fact that the narrator wants to see her mother standing in the doorway of the living room tells readers her nostalgia has reached the highest level. The living room is the last place concerning the image of the mother, so I think that she wants to see her mother for the last time, the only time is also enough for her to feel a sense of comfort. Moreover, this place is where her parents are often together in musical melody. She wishes to see her mother and her father side by side again to feel that her family is a complete one. Obviously, this is the wish of any child. More
Oscar Wilde's rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition came during the height of the Victorian Era that swept through London in the late 19th century. At a time when all citizens of Britain were finally able to embrace literature the wealthy and educated could only once afford, Wilde wrote many short stories, plays and poems that continue to inspire millions around the world.
By the time William Wilde, Oscar's father, was 28, he had graduated as a doctor, completed a voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe, North Africa and the Middle East, studied at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, More
(Composed by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
Everyone always try to have as much happiness as possible. However, “what is happiness?” is a big question for many people. Some want to get a lot of happiness even though they could not define the real happiness in their life. Some live and then find that what they define happiness is not right. Everyone called the Prince the Happy Prince because he knew only happiness, no sorrow at all; and he himself said “Happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness.” So, was pleasure he had lived in happiness?
When the Happy Prince was alive, he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. He played in the garden in the daytime and danced in the Great Hall in the evening. Everything was so beautiful and so easy to him. It was pleasure, for sure. When we get tired of busy life, we are exhausted by hard work, and everyday we face life's ups and downs, all of us hope for an easy life – a life with pleasure. People in his city were the same. They looked up the Happy Prince with an admire and a longing for his fully happy life. But his saying “Happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness,” doesn't sound like an affirmative. On the contrary, I feel the Prince or Oscar Wild said that “If we accept pleasure is happiness, maybe I was happy. I used to think that, but actually, it's not.” And “so I lived, and so I died.” He lived a life filled with pleasure so that at last he died. Pleasure could not bring happiness. Pleasure could not bring a meaningful life. Pleasure could not stop the death. What people admired and craved for, what people assumed happiness was not so at all. So, where is happiness? More