Viewpont 3 - The connotations of Literature

Hi all,

It was only just nowthat I realised that the fact was universal - that when the correct words were used, length didn't matter, for the meaning was the most important. I think this is what our Chinese teacher is attempting to teach us, that when you have alread risen to the level of amazing words and phrases, the level of amazement can only rise further when you achieve the same effect with less words.

I think a really basic example would be the poem on paper planes that we did. I distinctly remembering telling Timothy Ling this as Zhu Cheng, him and I were briefly discussing: What was the paper planes symbolic of? Looking back, it's sort of obvious now that the main source of confusion was the "brutal road". It was never clear, and indeed i don't think no one had the explanation: What was the brutal road supposed to be sybolic of? Judging from how everyone said he died, I think that quite a number of us were thinking that he died in a car accident? I don't think this is wrong, cause even the answer sheet given to us didn't explain itself about this particular choice of word. It is possible now, that this referred to the cruel reality of life and of modern society. The "paper planes" being flown, if this interpretation were taken, would suddenly expand to mean many social vices, eg drugs.

In conclusion, I think when we write essays and the like, language and literature have the power to make us think far greater than what's stated in your text, so use them wisely. I like this quote: The written word triumphs over powerful physicals, but powerful physicals fail to make the written word fear.

Cheers,

Darrel