English Society
Writer of the Month Mark Twain BIOGRAPHY
Mark Twain was an American writer born in Florida, Missouri in 1835 who lived to the age of 74. As a young man, he sampled several different professions before he chose to embark on a career in writing. Some of the jobs he worked at the starting from the age of 11 included being an apprentice printer and working as a typesetter. After he began writing, he contributed humorous and satirical articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. In later years, he became a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before joining the silver-mining industry. However, it did not work out for him as a miner, so he left this career and worked at a Virginia City newspaper as a reporter, which was a significant turning point in his life. While working as a reporter, he wrote a humorous story called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which received national acclaim. Through the irony and humour he displayed in his writing, many people took a great interest in his works. Twain also managed to extend his body of work to a wider audience by marrying a woman from a wealthy but liberal family, where he gained access to presidents, artists, industrialists, and even European royalty. This made his career more successful and he even gained help when he faced financial troubles. In his later life, he was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age, and became known as "the father of American literature." FAMOUS WORKS
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The most well-known and celebrated novels written by Mark Twain are “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and its sequel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The latter is considered as a great American Novel. In the books, Twain used Tom Sawyer to represent himself as a child. The setting of the novel was inspired by the port town of Hannibal near the Mississippi River where Twain and his family lived during his youth. Twain was also one of the first authors to deal with the issue of slavery in his novels in a sympathetic manner. “ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is wild and thrilling, it is all about the adventurous lives of a mischievous town boy named Tom, his homeless friend Huck and the dazzling girl, Becky, with whom Tom falls in love. They experience the panic of witnessing a murder, the thrill of becoming pirates, the homesick feelings that come with living on a deserted island, the justice in arresting the murderer and the unexpected joy of finding treasure. The character of Tom Sawyer is very complex --- he is brave and witty; raises many interesting questions and is very eager to try out new things. At the same time, he is a wild child with unlimited imagination who creatively solves problems. The degree to which Tom Sawyer mirrors his creator is a matter of speculation, however, the fact that the novel has remained a much-loved classic is indisputable. MARK TWAIN IS ONLY HIS PEN NAME Mark Twain is merely a pen name. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was his real name. But how and where did he get his pseudonym? Clemens had aspired to be a steamboat pilot from a really young age and he thought of it as an ideal job. "Mark Twain" was what the leadsman on a riverboat called the water when it was two fathoms (12 feet) deep --- this depth was considered safe for most boats of the era to travel through the water. “Mark Twain” was thus a very significant professional term used in piloting steamboats. Being an admirer of pilots, Clemens kept this phrase in mind as it helped him to recall many happy memories on the river. It also served as a reminder of the carefree and wild teenage years when he was deeply devoted to his dreams without having to face reality. Since this term was so significant to him, Clemens made this his pen name in 1863 after he wrote a parody based on an old steamboat pilot who he knew. Clemens’ decision to take on the name of “Mark Twain” came after the pilot had reflected to him that he felt offended by the piece. It was through this pen name that Clemens gained the freedom to express his thoughts openly without offending the subjects he was writing about. The general impression that people have of Mark Twain is of a playful, sarcastic and humorous man. However, this was only a façade to hide his dark side, which was known to be serious and harsh, a side of him he was not willing to show his readers.
Reference: http://www.biography.com/people/mark-twain-9512564
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Quote Sharing
4F Faith Yeung
““A Ap peerrssoon nw wh hoo w woon n’’tt rreea ad dh ha ass n noo a ad dv va an ntta aggee oov veerr oon nee w wh hoo cca an n’’tt rreea ad d”” M Ma arrk kT Tw wa aiin n
In an era where people look without seeing and read without comprehending, the beauty of literature and the English Language in books often lay forgotten. In the old days, when books were still the main source of knowledge and information, people tend to slowly savour a book’s content and appreciate literature. Thus, the discrepancy between the literate and the illiterate emerges. Nowadays, people are simply unwilling to spend their time on reading books because reading books, in contrast to browsing on the internet, cannot seem to be able to provide them with the instant pleasure that they crave. In reality, it is not a matter of “time” but a matter of “choice”. Moral values and wisdom used to be a privilege reserved for the literate, who are exposed to books and literature. If a person chooses not to read and enhance their intellect, they will be no different from illiterate people who learn earnestly from their surroundings and life experiences. This idea originates from Mark Twain – whose works are mostly based on the adventures of the illiterate and deprived in the society. As fortunate students living in the twenty-first century, we have the ability to read and understand books and literature. Besides, we are actually bombarded with countless opportunities to come in contact with literature. For example, in the library, bookstores, maybe even the book shelf at home which you did not bother to even throw it a glance. At the end of the day, the choice is yours: to read, or not to read?
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Poetry Appreciation
Ryan Tang (Alumnus)
Once Upon A Time Once upon a time, son, they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes: but now they only laugh with their teeth, while their ice-block-cold eyes search behind my shadow.
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I used to laugh and smile once upon a time when I was like you. Gabriel Okara
‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’: they say, and when I come again and feel at home, once, twice, there will be no thricefor then I find doors shut on me. So I have learned many things, son. I have learned to wear many faces like dresses – homeface, officeface, streetface, hostface,
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shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs! So show me, son, 40 how to laugh; show me how
There was a time indeed they used to shake hands with their hearts: but that’s gone, son. Now they shake hands without hearts while their left hands search my empty pockets.
But believe me, son. I want to be what I used to be when I was like you. I want to unlearn all these muting things. Most of all, I want to relearn how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
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cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait smile. And I have learned too 25 to laugh with only my teeth and shake hands without my heart. I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’, when I mean ‘Good-riddance’: to say ‘Glad to meet you’, 30 without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been nice talking to you’, after being bored.
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Poetry Appreciation
Ryan Tang (Alumnus)
As we grow up and step into society, virtually all of us start to lose the innocence and naiveté of childhood that characterize children and toddlers. The genuine, unguarded laughter of young babies, the playfulness of children and even the ambitions and idealism of teenagers are all subsumed by the need to conform and adapt to the requirements of modern society and Gabriel Okara vividly describes this sad yet inevitable transformation in the poem “Once Upon a Time”. By making use of the words of the speaker as he reflects upon the hypocrisy and emptiness that characterise many of our social interactions and his earnest desire to return to his innocent childhood, the reader is able to see how the speaker despises this sort of attitude and his regret at having been constrained by society for many years. In the poem, Okara has made use of imagery to distinguish between the past and present and thus show a contrast between the innocence of youth and cynicism of society through repeated use of the motifs of laughter and shaking hands. In stanza one, the speaker describes how people used to laugh with their ears and eyes, thus suggesting warmth and sincerity and contrasts this with how they now laugh with teeth and “search behind my shadow” with “ice-block-cold eyes”. The imagery of laughing with teeth is on a literal level quite straightforward as someone who shows their teeth while laughing is most likely laughing heartily and cheerily, yet the very image of teeth creates a cold, forbidding and indeed hostile atmosphere as they are commonly associated with violent actions like biting while their very appearance is cold and hard. Meanwhile, the image of “ice-block-cold eyes” not only strikes a sharp contrast with the warm, friendly eyes described above but also furthers the impression of harshness, coldness and hostility, while the phrase “search behind my shadow” strongly suggests that they are trying to take advantage of the speaker. By looking through him as it were, they are trying to steal his thoughts and penetrate his deepest secrets. The materialistic level of this, is of course, the literal act of stealing from somebody and this is precisely what is implied in lines 10-12, where they use the pretext of shaking hands to search his pockets. This image hints at the duplicity and hypocrisy of modern life as the action of shaking hands is one that conveys trust and partnership, yet they attempt to commit theft under this veil of friendship. At the same time, the phrase “empty pockets” on a literal level suggests been laid bare by these people and modern society. It is worth noting that this whole scene of stealing from the speaker has, on a symbolic level, the meaning of him being continuously trodden upon and thus the emptiness of his pockets hints at how he has already been fully exploited emotionally by these thieves. In the next stanza, this message is further developed upon as the speaker takes the meaningless platitudes of these people literally only to find himself being shunned and ignored by them. This image conveys, quite obviously, the naiveté and innocence of the speaker and contrasts this with hypocrisy and coldness of society as illustrated by the abrupt phrase “there will be no thrice” and the image of “doors shut on me”, both of which send a message of abruptness and hostility. Thus far, in the first three stanzas we have seen how Okara uses imagery to show the contrast between the warmth of childhood acquaintances and the coldness of present ones in the fourth and fifth stanzas though, we also see the contrast between the past speaker as already described above in all his naiveté and the “new” speaker, one who has adapted to this lifestyle and adopted the hypocritical ways of life. In lines 20-21, the poet has used the
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simile of wearing “faces like dresses”. This immediately points out how facial expressions and greetings are ultimately accessories that can be faked and need to be changed as befit the situation. This is further strengthened in lines 23-24, where the speaker compares these similes to a “fixed portrait smile”. Thus, the artificiality and emptiness of these similes are highlighted and revealed to be nothing more than poses for portraits which mean that they are in reality utterly meaningless. In lines 26-27, the speaker further reveals how he has learned to “laugh only with my teeth” and “shake hands without my heart”. This reference to stanzas 1 and 2 is ironical in the sense that it shows the extent to which he has changed; he has now adopted the ways of those by whom he had previously been taken advantage of by. In this stanza, the speaker also reveals the hypocrisy behind our common greeting phrases and shows how they often conceal feelings that are opposite to the expressed one, thus further showing the reader how he has learned all the realities of modern life. Ultimately though, the speaker yearns for the lost innocence of his youth and expresses this sentiment in the last two stanzas. He has realised how he has become an artificial and hypocritical person and dislikes himself. In the phrase “like a snake’s bare fangs”, the poet uses another vivid simile that creates a disturbing, almost Gothic image of a snake-like laughter. This phrase is also paradoxical in the sense that laughter ought to be warm and inviting, yet here it is cold and hostile. This, this phrase shows how the speaker has been transformed since the beginning of the poem as his laughter is now as artificial as those he described in stanza 1. Throughout the poem, the speaker expresses his desire to return to the past through phrases like “I want to be what I used to be”. He believes that the lifestyle he had adopted out of necessity is wrong and constraining as can be shown in the phrases like “muting things” or “conforming smites” as they rob him of his humanity and feelings. These feelings are further strengthened by his use of structure as he repeats phrases like “show me” in the last stanza. This allows the reader to see his earnest desire to relearn all the things he had forgotten. The very last line of the poem “when I was like you” is addressed to his son and shows how he wants his childhood back. At the same time, it also brings back the title of the poem, “Once Upon a Time”. This title is deeply meaningful as it not only reflects on childhood but also expresses a sense of nostalgia in the sense of evoking the past and missing its bygone days. The circular structure which is thus created by its repetition in the first and last lines thus symbolizes the speaker’s journey as he moves from naiveté to cynicism and back again and captures how his life progresses. Another feeling expressed by the poet is one of bitterness towards modern life and the hypocrisy of society. Apart from his use of cold, disturbing imagery explained above, the speaker’s tone is actually quite sarcastic and bitter. In line 9, he has already used a sentence fragment to show us how the good old days have passed. While on one level this expresses regret and nostalgia, on a deeper level we can see that it shows his disappointment and sense of frustration at events. In stanzas 4 and 5, he repeats the phrase “I have learned…” four times, twice in each stanza, yet he has actually learnt social skills he wishes to unlearn in stanza 6. His listing of different faces and his use of the simile of a fixed smile ultimately hints at bitterness and even sarcasm as he points out the skills he had learned in a brutally honest fashion, thus showing his anger. Ultimately, this poem uses the experiences and words of the speaker to express his loss of innocence and his bitterness at this process. Okara skillfully makes use of imagery to show the contrast between childhood and adult life and the past and present speaker and presents an evocative tale of two different lifestyles and the eternal regret of a man forced to cynically give up his innocence as he grows.
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Short Story In the Wink of an Eye By Mark J. Howard Chapter 2
Hans was dead. She found his body crushed beneath a capacitor bank, his lifeless eyes staring up at the blackened ceiling and a look of complete serenity on his face. A few drops of blood flecked his wiry, brown beard and, if it wasn’t for this one detail, Hans could easily be simply daydreaming again. Palmer tried to close his eyes, but it didn’t work like it did in the movies and she couldn’t get them to close properly. Seeing his dead eyes wide open had been bad enough, but seeing them now hooded was somehow far worse. She reached into the pocket of her tattered lab coat and retrieved the cloth she used for wiping the whiteboard in the briefing room and, with trembling fingers, placed it gently over Hans’ face.
“I’m sorry about this, Hans, I surely am. Still, looks like you got the better deal, nice and quick. In a couple of hours I’ll pretty much be turning into soup. Where the hell did we go wrong, partner?”
The klaxon ceased its howling and the sudden silence was shocking. “Beck! Hans!” a voice cried urgently over the intercom, “Are you okay?” Palmer waved towards where she presumed the monitoring suite was. “Can you hear me?”
“Beck! Oh, thank Christ. Are you okay? How’s Hans?” The intercom had been damaged in the explosion so that it sounded shrill and alien, shot through with static and feedback, but there was no mistaking Eileen’s voice. Hearing it filled the professor with an unexpected surge of peace and she allowed herself a brief smile and sigh of relief before composing herself to pass on the tragic news.
“Hans is dead,” said Palmer.
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“Oh no, oh God. Please tell me you’re all right, Beck?”
Palmer paused, trying to steady herself. She didn’t want her voice to waver. “Eileen, I’m dead too.”
“What do you mean? That’s ridiculous!” Eileen’s voice crackled and hissed, filled with fear and confusion. “People are on their way, we’ll get you out of there.”
Palmer felt her way through the wreckage towards the monitoring suite and, after a moment, she began to make out a dim emergency light shining through the armoured viewports.
“Eileen, the core’s shattered. You can’t come in here without flooding the whole bunker with interparticles.”
“No,” Eileen shouted, “you can’t know that. You can’t see the core properly in all that smoke, maybe it’s just the coolant cradle that’s damaged.”
Broken glass crunched under Palmer's boots as she felt her way closer to the viewports. She began to make out figures moving around in the monitoring suite, moving frantically. The explosion had caused feedback throughout the system and virtually everything was down. There were fires burning in the monitoring suite and those few who weren’t panicking were fighting the flames. Palmer reached out and steadied herself against the armoured wall and was surprised to find her hands wet with blood. The wound in her shoulder was bleeding freely and whatever was embedded in there was starting to feel hot. She shuddered.
“I think there’s a piece of the core in my shoulder.” The professor moved to each viewport in turn until, suddenly, she happened upon the one Eileen was sitting behind. The sight of Eileen’s pretty face, albeit smeared with soot and sporting a rapidly developing black eye, brought a smile to Palmer’s face. “Hey you,” she said.
“H... hey,” Eileen’s voice crackled. Reference:http://youwriteon.com/books/samplechapters.aspx?bookguid=decd1e6c-cbc2-4044-b5b9-209e9f07ab72
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What Book Are You Reading?
Recently, Dr. Chan has been reading…
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood By the River Piedra I sat down and wept – Paulo Coelho Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse
Dr. Chan’s all-time favourites include….
Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Wintering – Kate Moses The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje One Hundred Years of Solitute – Gabriel Garcia Marquez Atonement – Ian McEwan The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood The Hours – Michael Cunningham Girl with a pearl earring – Tracy Chevalier
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Games Corner
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Monthly Phrases
Allegory Definition: An allegory is a symbolic device where the meaning of a greater, often abstract, concept is conveyed with the aid of a more corporeal literal or physical object or idea being used as an example. Usually a rhetorical device, an allegory suggests a meaning via metaphoric examples. Example:
Faith is like a stony uphill climb: a single stumble might send you sprawling but belief and steadfastness will see you to the very top.
Allusion Definition: An allusion is a figure of speech whereby the author refers to a subject matter such as a place, event, or literary work by way of a passing reference. It is up to the reader to make a connection to the subject being mentioned. Example:
It’s no wonder everyone refers to Mary as another Mother Teresa in the making; she loves to help and care for people everywhere- from the streets to her own friends.
In the example the author uses the mention of Mother Teresa to indicate the sort of qualities that Mary has.
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Students’ Work Descriptive Writing – 2C Michelle Chan A disquieting rumour was going around. It was rumoured that the long-abandoned house behind the cemetery was a haunted house.
One day, I, with indomitable will and determination, went to explore the haunted house alone.
In the wee hours that day, I walked past the cemetery and took my first glimpse of the house. Dark. Bleak. Intimidating. I shivered. Cold air enveloped my entire body. Vines formed a twisted maze upon the side of the house, reaching their tentacles towards the roof. Cobwebs covered the corners of the door. ‘It’s now or never,’ I thought. Hesitantly, I pushed the door open.
The door begrudgingly creaked open. A musty, dank odour crept into my nose. The house was deadly silent. I drifted into one of the threateningly massive rooms. Everything inside was dilapidated: battered doors, ramshackle tables, dusty books. I took a deep breath; my heart was pounding fast with fear. Apprehensively, I trembled, my whole body was shaking, sweat was creeping up on my forehead. I then edged slowly towards the fragile and grimy windows. Moonlight penetrated through the windows, serene yet ghoulish.
I made my way back into the corridor and walked up the rickety stairs. Halfway up, I heard a horrifying scream. I froze, and, as I stood there, caught an eerie scent lingering in the air. Suddenly, a shadow flickered at the corner of my vision.
I gasped; my knees were like jelly, my breath came in panting, and without any backward glances, I scurried. I kept on running and running; my side hurt, but I still did not stop. Suddenly. I tripped over and fell, my head hit on the floor heavily.
Whimpering in pain, I screamed desperately for help. No one came; I was alone, trapped in a haunted house. Soon my voice became fainter and fainter, my eyes started to blur and my consciousness was slipping away. Minutes later, I finally gave in, and let the darkness consume me.
It was a day I would rather forget.
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