After I read the book raisins in the sun, the author of raisins in the sun describes the great influence of apartheid on the black families living in Chicago at that time. In the book, racial discrimination is very serious, because there are great difficulties in people’s demand for happiness, which is related to the struggle for black identity in the social background at that time. Because no one wants to live in an old, crowded house and a low-quality life, every character wants a good life. They are trying to improve their apartheid and lifestyle. In the book, Walter is a selfish family member. He only cares about his interests. As a man, he doesn’t care about his mother’s money, only his dream, and doesn’t know it’s her money. Maybe welted wants to be rich. Welted’s sister dreams of becoming a smart doctor. She has different values from her family. In the face of her identity and status quo, she has made a lot of efforts, and also wants to change the status quo through her efforts. “Lena” is their mother. She is conservative. She hopes to buy her husband’s valuable insurance, buy a dream, house, and have her dream come true. But all of these are goals to improve their quality of life. The authors share their thoughts, conversations, and feelings that highlight small details and feelings that reflect the author’s attitude and how they want to express the author. His mother controls the family because she manages the family’s financial and social activities. These black family members are not interested in following the white culture, except that Beneatha wants to be a doctor and an outsider. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the dreams they want to achieve. What they want is to improve their living standard as much as possible. I feel that every part of the story conveys the same message, that is, they are yearning for a better life and striving for a better dream.

After I finished reading the novella “Benito Cerino”. The author Herman Melville (Herman Melville) described black slavery as a cruel and inhuman act. The author described a failed slave uprising on Saint Dominic. There are three main characters in this novel, they are the white captive Cereno, the white commander Delano and the black slave Gbagbo. The author focuses on the description of Gbagbo because he captured Cereno and launched an uprising, wanting to restore the personal freedom of all slaves. When Captain Delano visits, Gbagbo always stands by Cereno, reminding and threatening him to keep secrets. But in the end, Delano discovered the rebellion, and he and his men fought against slaves. At the end of the story, Babo was killed for breaking the law; Cereno died of insanity and torture. Both of them ended tragically. Through a comprehensive reading of the entire novella, it is not difficult to see that the author expressed slavery in a negative light. From the perspective of the complex relationship between these three characters, the author presents a description of the severe segregation between whites and blacks at that time and the social status of these two races at the time. The purpose of the black slave uprising was not only to resist but to prove that both whites and blacks should be indistinguishable from humans. They wanted to find a way to pursue their freedom. Personally, the true meaning of this story is that everyone should learn that there is zero-tolerance for racial discrimination. In the period of slavery described in the novel, the reason why Baba organized this uprising was simply that he wanted freedom. Because as a human, he can’t even control his life. As a slave, he can only be controlled by his master and treated as goods. Although he resisted, his resistance was ultimately futile. I can feel how much Babo desires to be free. White people think that black people should only serve them. I think this is due to the social background at that time, slaves have no rights and freedom at all. But we live in the same world. We now have equal rights for everyone to fight for our future and share the same opportunities to achieve our goals. Such freedom and equality are the most precious things that those people who lived in the period of slavery longed for but could not get. Now everyone should protect everyone from being treated equally, and we should resist racial discrimination and protect our freedom. I sympathize with the domestic slaves who were forced to leave them. They should live peacefully with their families and enjoy life, but racial discrimination and man-made destruction have ruined the good life they should have belonged to them. Therefore I think all lives are important, and we should resist all racial discrimination and unfair treatment.

When I first started writing, I found it to be particularly difficult because there are many aspects to be considered as a story narrator. Because my reading volume is not abundant, it is difficult to fabricate heroes, places, and stories out of my imagination. Because I feel that warm works come from life, it is difficult to fill work with a good plot at the same time based on imagination. I think the amount of reading and experience is very important, but with a lot of training, writing becomes relatively easy. The first article I tried was a short romance novel. It was about a couple going through a series of twists and turns, but the storyline in my writing was too plain, which was very different from the idea I had conceived. Because this sense of contradiction makes me feel that my storyline does not have too many ups and downs, I feel that there is no sense of substitution.

I agree with Culler’s view that narration is the true meaning of the story. I learned that the main purpose of these stories is to bring emotional resonance, knowledge, and imagination to all readers. I feel that the narration of any story can bring the reader into the world of the article. In the world described by the author, it has its mode of operation, which will give people a desire for cognition. I think literature comes from life. It makes people more socialized. Life in the article can make us feel more substituting, and it can reflect real life from them. I think a good article can not only create its unique article world but also resonate with real life.

        In chapter five, Jonathan Culler uses one word to refer to another to express the rhetorical devices of poetry. I think this chapter is interesting compared with other chapters. In my opinion, rhetoric as a language or literary technique is very attractive. For example, if we read an article, if the whole article is to narrate the facts and the process, we will only feel a lot of boring facts and data without emotion. The article needs to be decorated to make the readers interested, which can quickly attract the attention of the readers and have the motivation to read. In my personal opinion, I think some special rhetorical skills can make a thing more vivid, and it can break the limitations of the rigid description. Therefore, I think a successful article or poem can make people feel the flexibility of words. The author hopes to arouse the reader’s emotional resonance. In this chapter, the author puts forward the writing technique of metaphor, which is used by many poems to express a special signal of emotion or situation. I think this technique can be used more in writing, which will make our articles more hierarchical.

After I read this chapter, I think the author defined that language is used to express and impart meaning, and it is not pre-existing, even though language has existed for a long time. In fact, the meaning of language existence is given by human beings with various meanings, which makes the language have the necessary meaning. I think literature is not only about reading words, but also about what information and emotions the author want to convey to readers. Because just reading the text is rigid and without any emotion. In this chapter, as Culler mentions, that meaning should not be determined by words. As a conventional symbol, language has certain limitations on the author’s way of expression and the reader’s own understanding ability, so the thinking and imagination are limited by the rigidity of language. In my opinion, when reading literary works, the most important thing is how to analyze the author’s situation and views, because, without it, different meanings may be transmitted to readers and cause misunderstanding. For example, a good lecture in a university is more likely to elicit a positive reaction from the audience. However, it is normal to say that the audience may have different views on the same class because their understanding and opinions will be different. I think that just like commenting on a writer, readers have their own educational level, life experience, and values, which shape their unique personality, which makes a language have different meanings for them. For those of us who are a second language, reading some English books has different views because of the different educational concepts. Comparatively speaking, it is different from people who are English as a first language. Therefore, I think reading is like an unknown secret waiting to be explored and discovered. There will be resonance and opposition. We should not limit our thoughts and opinions so that whenever we read a book, we feel that the text is as fresh as ever. I think that’s the meaning of reading.

After I read Chapter II “ What is Literature and Does It Matter ?” by Jonathan Culler. In my opinion, I think literary texts seem to create an open mind for the reader. By definition, literary writers create art that uses language as the medium to express writers’ emotions and satisfy readers’ emotional needs. In other words, a literary work is not a simple thing, but an extremely complex combination interwoven with multiple meanings and relationships. Poems, essays, novels, and plays are common forms. As Culler claimed, ” the fictionality of literature separates language from other contexts in which it might be used and leaves the work’s relation to the world open to interpretation.” Therefore literature is not describing specific things or events, it leaves room for people to imagine, think deeply, and relate the content with their own understandings. In my opinion, the charm of literature lies in the individual expression of text structure, which can help readers to understand and adopt language media without practical purpose and virtuality. Readers can draw on and develop their own comprehension and summary, which I think will make one’s writing more colorful and interesting.

1. After I read chapter II  what is literature and does it matter? from Jonathan Culler. For me, I think the important thing is not to define the difference between literature and non-literature. I think they all work as language tools to record and express people’s thoughts so the most important aspect of this section was the  Culler mentions literature “ the function in special ways because of the special attention they receive.” Culler discusses what makes readers treat literature in a special site. I think non-literature texts are easier for readers to understand and read. Whether in school or in life we learn most about non-literature texts. Universities choose non-literature texts to explain philosophy, historicity, instrumentation, and commodity. I don’t think we must choose any particular learning style. What we need is how to master knowledge and understanding more easily. I think we need to analyze when we need to use literature and when we need to use non-literature. I think just like Culler mentioned literature makes people ponder and query about certain things so I think literature is much more compelling in particular speeches and citations. Thus we can deal with both literary and non-literary work to gain information.                   

2. The question that stays with me as I read this chapter was, “What kind of essential to define whether it is literary or non-literary?”