In the novel, Don Benito Cereno, I believe that Herman Melville perhaps does not show slavery as either a positive or a negative thing, but rather shows the reality of enslavement. On the one hand, the novel shows all the mistreatment that slaves received. But on the other hand, it shows how many of them reacted to so much cruelty towards them. In other words, Melville is telling us that slaves were not always submissive people who, although unintentionally, always obeyed their masters, they also had the courage to face their masters and fight for what they wanted, to return to Africa. I do not justify the behavior of the slaves when they seized the ship and basically governed Don Benito, but I think that was their way of reacting to get what they wanted, to be taken back to Africa. At the end of the story, I sympathize with the two groups of people, the slaves, and the Spaniards, because I think that none of them should have died or suffered so much. Although it is important to bear in mind that at that time the idea of ​​the superiority was a very strong taboo, at the end of the day, what should matter is that we are all human, and we all share a common home which is the world. For me, that means that no matter how different our cultures are, we all deserve the right to live and be anywhere in the world without being discriminated against.

One of my favorite novels so far is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I wrote on different perspectives about this novel. Writing and discussing different plots and events about this novel was difficult for me. However, it was very interesting at the same time because there were always clear connections between the events, even though the plots were very different. Based on the way I interpreted this novel; I could say that the narrative of this novel sets up two main points. The first important point discussed in the story is related to the challenges of an Indian couple, especially for the woman, faced when moving up to the United States from India. Its plot introduces Ashima as a traditional Bengali woman that while trying to adapt to her new lifestyle kept behaving the same way she had done in India. Throughout the novel, the narrator discussed the plot by presenting different scenarios where the readers can identify the difficulty, pain, and tears Ashima went through, and how she kept herself as a traditional Indian woman in a place so different from the one she was born and lived for many years. The second and very important point of this novel discussed the suffering of this Indian couple’s son. Its plot introduces Gogol as a depressive character who has not known how to handle two such different cultures. The Indian culture inherited from his parents and the American culture from the place he was born. In the same way, as in the first plot, the narrator discussed this plot by presenting this depressed boy, Gogol, in different situations where he is more related to the American culture,  how is trying to avoid everything about the Indian culture, and also how he got involved in the same culture he is trying to avoid.

There are two points that I find most interesting in chapter six about the narrative. The first one is the presentation and the second one is the focalization. In these subjects, culler discussed some questions that help us to have a better understanding of the narrative in general. Some of these questions are, who speaks, who speaks to whom, who speaks what language, who sees, etc. I think it is very important to have in mind those questions and learn how to identify them because that will help us not only when we are reading a story but when we are about to write a story too.

One of the techniques that culler has described in chapter 5 about rhetoric that I find most interesting is the metaphor. As culler discussed, “A metaphor treats something as something else.” Trough metaphors, we have the opportunity to describe something by comparing it with “similar things” and make the text more intriguing and more interesting. Sometimes, it can be hard to understand a metaphor, but that is also one of the things that make us be a critical thinker and exercise our brains. Another thing I also like is that metaphor is related to the language and imagination as culler says. That is to say, the metaphor is also based on the understanding and learning of something. I see metaphor I both poems, “The sea is history” and “Diving into the wreck.” Derek Walcott used metaphor multiple times in his poem, The Sea is History. For instance, “The sea is history.” He is making a comparison. History means past, and in this context, the sea contains the tribal memory and other things he is talking about in the previous line. As the sea contains these things that are part of history, the sea itself become history. Adrienne Rich also used metaphor when she said, “The words are purposes.” “The words are maps,” meaning that words are no just “letters.” Words are everywhere, and behind them, there are meanings and objectives to meet.

One idea that strikes me as interesting about language and meaning is the idea of the language and though. As it is mentioned in chapter four, “the language we speak determines what we can think.” I agree with these phrases. First of all, there are many languages over the world, and every language has its structures, rules, vocabularies, etc. thus making us think differently. I think the structures and rules are key to determine the meaning of a text. Culler gives us an example when he says, “Speakers of English have ‘pets’ – a category to which nothing in French corresponds, though the French possess inordinate numbers of dogs and cats.” This is just one of the many examples we can have. For instance, if two people who speak different languages observe the same event, they may interpret it in different ways because of the differences in each language. I think that is very interesting for many reasons. It can make us aware of the diversity around us, but most importantly, I think it can help us to understand why others think differently from us and why we think the way we do. It is to say, why do we give things the meaning we do?

As we already know, Culler had defined literature from several angles. From these angles, my favorite and the one I find more interesting and useful is the fiction angle. When reading this section of the chapter, I reminded a phrase I have heard a long time ago. “BE LIKE AN OPEN ENDING AS FICTION LITERATURE CAN BE.”  As Culler says, “The context of fiction, though, explicitly leaves open the question of what the fiction is really about” (32). An “open ending, an open question.” It means that as readers or viewers we have the choice to decide what is the context of fiction literature about, through our interpretation. What I like the most about literature as fiction is that it works differently for everybody. Explaining it better, we can read the same fiction story, novel, or watch a fiction movie, and it can impact us in a very different way, depending on different factors. For instance, we can interpreter something based on how we are feeling, and it doesn’t mean we are wrong, we just have a different interpretation or a different way to see it. The open ending also means that there is not a specific final, thus, giving us the choice to create our final.

1-I think the most important aspect of chapter 2, What is literature, and does it matter? by Jonathan Culler is that he points out that literature has not a single meaning or that there is not a specific answer to define it. Culler mentions that it comes in all shapes and sizes. It means that we can find literature in any kind of book and writings. After that, we can say that literature varies depends upon many factors. Throughout the chapter, we can find some examples where Culler emphasizes, what I think are two of the main factors to pay attention to when asking what is literature. These main factors are how people treat a text and the context of it. On page 23 of this chapter, the author gives us a really good point to ponder about the main question. He stays that, “Rather than ask ‘what is literature, we need to ask ‘what makes us treat something as literature. He challenges us with this question. However, he gives us part of the answer when he says, “Most of the time what leads readers treat something as literature is that they find it in a context that identifies it as literature: in a book of poems or a section of a magazine, library, or bookstore” (28). Culler also mentions that it matter where you come across a text. I think Culler is telling us that the context is a fundamental part to decide what is literature and what is not. I think it is important to think about definitions of literature because once we know how to identify literature, we also know how to recognize non-literature works. However, I think the most important thing is the knowledge we can gain from both. It depends more on the context, but from both, we can find valuable information that can help us a lot depending on what we want or what we need to explore.

2-One question that stayed in my mind as reading this chapter was if most of the time what leads readers to treat something as literature is that they find it in a context that identifies it as literature” (28).  what would be other things that make people treat a text as literature?