The Crysanthemums Reflection

I have never really enjoyed reflecting or analyzing a piece of writing. Especially one that's main theme revolves around the limitations of a married woman in the mid 1900's. Maybe I enjoyed this short story because I have a secret feminine side, or maybe I liked it because the themes and motifs are easy enough to spot that someone as bad at analyzing literature, like myself, could find them. I guess we are about to find out.

When I start talking to friends and family about a particular subject that I'm interested in I get very excited and in to the story. I want to show everyone my passion for the subject and hopefully convince them to feel the same way or to look engaged. However, this rarely happens. I can often tell that I'm losing my audience 15 seconds into a conversation if they are not interested in the same subject. I become enraged and a little embarrased and can definitely understand why Elisa felt so betrayed towards the end of the story. Elisa loved gardening because it was her area of expertise. A man had come into her garden acting like he was interested in her crysanthemums for thirty minutes or so and Elisa had been able to show him what she was passionate about and he had not cared at all. When you couple these emotions with the gender limitations I had mentioned earlier, tears are sure to come.

Even though I am a boy I can definitely still relate to the emotions of Elisa in this story. I don't think I've ever met someone, girl or boy, who has been rejected when trying to show all of themselves or put everything out on the table, and not been upset about it. Even though Elisa is a middle aged woman, I think that this story can be interpreted as a "coming of age" story. It becomes very apparent at the end of narrative that Elisa realizes that she will probably live her same old unfulfilling life for the remainder of her years on this earth. Before, she atleast had hope that one day she could do great things and get out of this type of life that the Salina's Valley represents, but when she sees her seeds on the side of the road all hope escapes her.

First ESL Meeting

This past Thursday I was finally able to meet with Simon for the first time. We decided to meet at the bookstore becuase I thought that it would be a familiar spot for him where we could talk and relax. When Simon showed up it turned out that I would be meeting with two ESL students because he brought along another friend from the program. His name is Harry and conveniently enough they were both from small towns in China that I don't think I will ever be able to spell or pronounce. When I found out that they were from China I became excited because I have spent alot of time in China and Japan. I was actually born in Hong Kong and while I only lived there for the first two years of my life, I spent three full summers there when my dad was working overseas. Needless to say, I was pretty happy that we had something in common to talk about.

When we had finished talking about China, I was curious to know why they had chosen to come to TCU and why they liked the United States. It turned out that from a very young age their parents had wanted them to study in America and just by random luck they ended up in Fort Worth. When I asked them about American food they said that they ate it every once in a while but for the most part they ordered Chinese food and stuck close to their heritage. They said that there were alot of good Chinese restaraunts around, and that we will hopefully get to eat at one for one of our meetings.

When they had both finished their rant on how Chinese food was better than American food we began to talk about sports. The only sport they followed was basketball and they suprisingly knew alot about the American teams and players, and that American players would hopefully play in China if the NBA lockout continues. We also suggested that for one of our meetings we could meet in the Recreation Center and shoot hoops while we talked because they both loved to play basketball as well.

Overall, I was surprised how easy it was to talk to both of them. Although Simon's English was not as good as Harry's, they seemed to understand what I was saying and could speak enough to where I knew what they were talking about. To be honest, I expected their English to be a little better, but when I told them I had lived in China they expected that I atleast knew how to say "hello" in Mandarin which I can't do. Hopefully we will be able to meet this Thursday and every Thursday for the rest of the semester.

Time Magazine: December 23, 1957

                I chose to read another periodical from Time Magazine because I wanted to see how a specific magazine changed twenty years after the previous periodical I had read. To be honest, I was very surprised with how difficult the layout and context of both magazines were. Also, I chose a periodical published around the date of Christmas because I thought that if any magazine focused their advertisements and articles around a particular holiday it would be Christmas. However, there was very little mention of Christmas in both the ads and stories. Aside from the differences between the periodicals twenty years apart I did enjoy reading and getting more of a sense of what living in our country and world was like fifty years ago.

                Even though this issue of Time was published two days before Christmas, the actual holiday itself was not mentioned a lot. On the second page there is an ad for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in which they wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and speak briefly about their company. This is the kind of advertisement I would expect to see today on TV during the Christmas season. Throughout the entire month of December every ad has some Christmas element in it to attract consumers’ attention. However, in this issue there is only one advertisement that even mentions Christmas. I was very surprised that only one company chose to bring about the holiday season in their ad; a strategy used often in marketing nowadays.

                As for the articles I only found one with Christmas as a theme, but the article was not as happy and cheerful as one might think. This article was titled “White Christmas” and was published in “The Press” section of the magazine. This article told a story about how a group of white people from Little Rock, Arkansas organized the boycott of a local newspaper because the editors were publishing articles that were seen as “breaking down the segregation laws.” Towards the end of the article editor Harry Ashmore is quoted with saying, “The Gazette does not believe this revolution will succeed. But we do believe that the people of Arkansas should be aware that it is under way and should understand what its ultimate cost could be, not to this newspaper, but to all of us.” This is a very powerful quote that predicts how our country’s segregation laws would soon come to an end. I also find it very empowering that a small newspaper from Little Rock had the courage to publish these types of stories even when they knew their stories would not be received well.

                Even though most advertisements did not center on the holiday season they were somewhat different than what I had found a couple weeks ago in the 1936 edition of Time Magazine. In the earlier issue ads were simply a picture of the product a company was trying to sell with a small caption or slogan. Twenty years later I found that companies were beginning to use different strategies in order to make their products more appealing. For example, an ad for Haig and Haig scotch depicts a large masculine man picking up a crate of the scotch out of a small boat on a white sandy beach with the ocean and mountains in the background. The caption at the top of the picture states, “For men who can’t be Vague.” This ad reminds me of the Dos Equis and John Jameson TV advertisements where they both portray a masculine and adventurous man in order to attract other men to buy their product. I find it pretty amazing that companies were using the same type of ads fifty years ago that we still find pleasing today.

                Overall, this issue of Time portray a world that seemed very content and definitely on a rise due to the latest technology and inventions. I would definitely say that this edition depicted a happier and brighter world than the issue from 1936. I was surprised that Christmas and New Years were not talked about more which I guess became more of a popular theme in periodicals later on in our country’s history. It is also always very fun to read about products and technologies that seem so basic nowadays such as the spacesuit and shaving cream. By reading these two editions of an old magazine I have been able to see how the United States and the world changed throughout two very distinct decades.