The final report: You will never know whom you turn out to be

Before this book, I’ve already read the Chinese translated one when I was very young. The brave and unselfish dog deeply impressed me at that time. However, after this reading, I found out something more than that.

The domesticated dog Buck was supposed to spend his rest years in a comfortable room at ranch. He enjoyed his soft, sun-kissed kennel, spoiled by love from the family. Then suddenly, he is reduced to nothing. Trough that tough Canadian wilderness, he was beaten and kicked and forced to pull sleds for human, the one who is nothing like his nice owner, even the dogs looked so fierce, like someone born to be a killer. Life made a big joke to him.

This horrible experience, though, didn’t destroy him at all. He soon learned “the law of the club”, kill or be killed. It made him stronger, more aggressive, and he ultimately won a new kingdom.

I think this story would not be so famous if it ended there. After became the king, Buck met John, then he knew whom he was going to fight for. John’s representation shows that there still be something good and nature inside Buck, in human-dog relationship. It is a nice mixture of adventure, villainy and romance, and it’s the main reason I love this story.

The call of the wild is not only a story about dog. It is a celebration of wildness, a poem for human spirit. The life Buck went through is just like ours --- We will all undergo some really tough time, we fail over and over again, we feel frustrated, even hopeless, but we’ll never stop fighting. At first, it might be for our own survive, but then, it will be for love, for our family and friends. After all of this, the experience that provide us with great insight molds who we are right now, and it’s much better than we thought.

This story reminds me of the time when I was in high school. At that time, college entrance examination is like an impossible session for me. I had to fight with 900,000 students to get the permission for my ideal university. It was a real hard time. I slept only five or less hours every day, did nothing but studying. At first, I was overwhelmed by the heavy burden I put on my shoulder, but quickly, I got used to it, and kept on fighting till the end. I made it. You will never know how excited, how bittersweet I felt at that moment. That year I went though, the support from my family and my friends became the eternal memory that I valued most.

When Buck stayed in his sweet home, he would never know he was a king, a wild one that better suits his true destiny as a wild animal. When I entranced my high school, I didn’t think of any possibility to be in such a great university. But we made it, eventually.

After this quarter, I have to head back to my school. I know it will be a hard a year for me because I’m trying to apply to a graduated school in America. However, this book gives me more courage to face it, to fight against it. As I said in the beginning, you will never know whom you turn out to be.

PS:

It turned out that they do have the movie, but it was made in 1978, super old, and the story is a little lack of respect to London's work. I was let down! LOL

Romeo and Juliet

Speak of Shakespeare,on one will forget his classic tragedy,Romeo and Juliet. Although I heard it since I was a child, I didn't get a chance to read the book carefully till recent days. The book I had isn't a hard level one, but I was still deeply touched by those simple but fresh words.
Romeo and Juliet told about two young lovers,Romeo and Juliet, who are unfortunately from two feuding families, fought for their love but failed to death ultimately. The two families reconciled after their death, but Romeo and Juliet's happiness would never come back.
As the saying goes, tragedy is to destroy the beautiful things in front of you. Romeo and Juliet shows exactly how it feels like. Young boy and girl, in their most romantic age, fall in love with each other.They are so pretty and attractive, even among lots of people, just like the shining stars. It is no doubt that they are the sweetest couple. However, their families are like a sword , suddenly cut down every happy imagination,amazing ending, everything. They tried to escape, but destiny also plagued them, and led to their death.
After finishing the book, I feel so lucky that I'm in such a peaceful world. I can find my true love freely without any other interruption. But for them, feuding from birth sentenced their love to death. I was moved by how deeply they loved each other, and how hard they fought for their happiness. It was a pure love between young couples, the love we all dream of in our whole life.At the same time, I also felt the power of destiny. They ware about to get what they want with that perfect "death faking" method, but ended in tragedy because the message was failed to delivered. What if the messenger succeed to tell Romeo the truth? To say the most, what if their families were not feuding coincidentally？ What if young Romeo still chasing the girl he loved at first and didn't join that party? We know the answer for sure，then the story would not as sadly beautiful as it is now.

makeup for The Great Gatsby

If you ask what is the most popular movie right now, many people would choose the great Gatsby. It is also the reason why I read it at first, and I will never regret this choice. It became my favorite movie now.
The story starts with mystery, ends in tragedy. Gatsby is a rich guy, his mystery is just like his money, nobody knows the truth behind rumour. No one knows who he is, where he comes from. But everyone has been to his house, the fabulous castle, where holds parties every week. People from everywhere, every position hang on together, with the endless wines, foods and happiness, everything is too good to be true. But on one has ever seen Gatsby, the owner, except our writer. 
It turned out that Gatsby was born in a very poor family, and grew up in hanger. He earned his money by selling wines secretly. The only reason why he held those parties was because he wanted to see the girl he loved. They were in love for five years but lost contact after he joined the army. The girl married a rich guy and never looked back. Gatsby tried everything, anything that can get her back. However, the girl let him down at the very last moment. In the end, Gatsby was killed because he was the escape goat in a traffic accident for that girl.
When I read this novel, I thought it is a normal love story. But after I watched the movie, I found out it is much more complicated than I expect. Five days after I watch the movie till now, some of questions still confused me. Why Gatsby trying to hide his back? Why is the girl didn't choose to run away with him? Why the writer consider Gatsby the great guy? I try to guess many times, but none satisfied me.
This movie makes me think more about the realistic human being. Tom's mistress, the woman who cheated on her husband, loved him so much, she died for for him, while it was her husband who revenged the criminal and died with her. Tom didn't admit he knew her even after she died. Daisy, the girl caught the two guys heart, broke Gatsby's heart again and again. Gatsby was killed for her while she live happily with Tom. She didn't even show up at his funeral. Gatsby held the great parties for everyone, they are all so proud to know him, but no one was in his funeral. Gatsby was all alone after he died, except Nick felt sad for him, even though they've only hang out several times. The movie showed me the dark side of humanity, showed me how week people are and how selfish they can be. But after all of that, they still have the bright side, the side that support Gatsby to go through the tough time, the side that is kept in Nick's heart.
I love the movie the Great Gatsby, their words are so beautiful, I was touched immediately at the very beginning. In the meanwhile, I'm also frustrated that I can't express my feelings in English exactly. However, I will buy this book some day later, and read it carefully, looking for the answers. My story with Gatsby hasn't end yet.

A tale of two cities

I love A Tale of Two Cities since I was very young. I love it the very moment I saw it, when I read the beginning of the first chapter, and after long time, those words still give me a chill.

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom,
It was the age of foolishness,
It was the epoch of belief,
It was the epoch of incredulity,
It was the season of light,
It was the season of darkness,
It was the spring of hope,
It was the winter of despair.

The story starts before ant during the French Revolution, when people of France was extremely frustrated  with the king and all noblemen. People were living in hell for long, and a war would be triggered ant any moment. Does love still exist in this situation? Dickens told us it does. The love between Lucie and Charles proved everything.
It was not a new story about two young people fell in love within their family's enmity since Romeo and Juliet, but Dickens made it different. It not only expresses how beautiful love is, but also how powerful it is. No wonder what happens, love is still there, it makes old Manette hide the horrible time that Charles' family led to, it let Steney gave up his life for others happiness, it breaks the boundary between common people and noblemen, it pushes the poor to fight for their own right. That's probably is the reason why human being overcame so many disasters and never been defeated, Love makes us who we are.
Every time when I see how people fight for their happiness, I'm deeply touched. It shows me that never give up in whatever situation, everything is gonna be ok eventually, because love always leads us to the right way.

the phantom of opera

The phantom of opera is my favorite opera since I was really young. Coming to America, watching it in the Broadway is kinda like a dream for me. So when I saw this book, I picked it up immediately, and watched the movie after reading it.
It's a pity that the book is an elementary level book, most of the details are skipped. But even so,  those up and down plots still gave me a chill.
The phantom of Opera talks about a mystery man and his unusual life. The man has a incredibly ugly face, and because of this face, he had been ridiculed since he was really young. After he punched those who laugh at him, he hided himself in a mask, and stayed in the opera for the rest of his life. The face made him a phantom. But things changed when he fell in love with a girl. He was too afraid of the girl seeing his face, so he talked to her in a secret way, taught her singing, made her a real star in that opera. However, the girl didn't understand his love, she loved another boy and that hurt him deeply. He tried to kill that boy, but the girl's good overbalanced the evil, he gave up and let her go. He didn't get the girl's love eventually.
I hate to say the world is unfair, but it truly is. I always think, if the phantom isn't that ugly, what will his life gonna be? He might will live a normal life, and meet the one, living with her happily in the rest of his life. The face destroyed his childhood, warped his character, and made him who he was. However, he won't be such a genius if so. The most important thing is, he can still feel love and didn't let his anger beat him. He choice to give back the girl's love.
If say the book is Ok, then the movie is really amazing.All songs are so classic and fabulous that I was immediately attracted when they started. Besides, I understood the story much better after watching it.
I love the phaeton of opera for real, I will definitely watch it in the Broadway after this fall quarter.


PS: Dear instructor, I saw your reply for the last blog, but I tried many ways and still don't know how to reply it, Maybe we can figure it out tomorrow, hehe~

short reading notes for A Time To Kill

Last week I read the book A Time To Kill, and I was so into it because of the intricate and fascinating plot.  A ten-year old black girl was viciously raped by two white men.  Carl Lee, the girl’s father, killed them then.  It was when racial discrimination was really serious, Carl’s behavior enraged the white residents, and faced condemn to death.  However, Jake, a white lawyer, took this case and tried everything to prove his innocent.  He went through so many difficult time and finally rescued Carl.

Ten years old must be the most naive age, but for Tonya, the criminals destroyed everything.  However, just because they are white and she is black, they didn’t get any punishment.  It was a sad and cruel story, but what impressed me the most is the love and courage they have.

I admire the father’s love to his daughter and the courage to face death.  He knew he had to kill them for his daughter at any price, he knew it would be electronic chair, but he still did it without any hesitation.

I admire the lawyer’s love to black and the courage to overcome all the difficulties.  It was when the criminal’s brother seek revenge against Carl, when he was almost died after the 3K set fire to his house, Jake took the case, and proved to everyone that all human are equal.

Maybe in modern city, killing people and pay for blood is a basic law, but when law and morality conflicts, which will be your choice?  In A Time To Kill, I saw how important morality is for human beings.  It is the rainbow after rain, the air to breath.