Dave Eggers introduces a gigantic squid who wants more than anything to have a good education and to follow the American dream. At a first glance, the author is narrating a humorous fiction story. Taking it further and deeper away, what he really does -is using a fiction story as his weapon to speak out to the world.
He becomes the voice among the voiceless people,who always point out the several problems and big dilemmas of society, but do not have the will to fix the broken parts.Through his leading fictional character, the author touches the heart of reality.
Gretchen, is the symbolic figure of a child who needs support by his parents, acceptance by his enviroment and wants to follow his dreams. Living at a time were the American ideals consider being the ultimate and greatest achievement that man could have -she seeks her piece of the american pie.
She wants to go to university, to be a great accountant, to join a large corporation, to wear the fancy and classy suit and to hung out in well-know bars and restaurants. Althought, she is very good with numbers, confident and competent, she is facing dissappointment and rejection from her surroundings.
It will always be the "Us versus them", the insignificant other. Gretchen is fully aware, that species of her kind can not have the same opportunities as humans- but yet, that does not stop her of dreaming the impossible.
The writer, from the begging until the end of the letter argues the fictional reality of the world we live in. Turning back the clock, we come across to all the struggles of people who fought for their rights- their different skin color, race, gender and religion beliefs.
Utopia does not exist.The key for a better world is respect and accept "the other". If we were all the same and had the same ideologies, cultural and religion beliefs- then life would have no greater meaning, since we would not have any sign of progress.
Gretchen is searching for her oasis- what humans search for? We struggle and fight, some more and some less,to reach our goals and dreams. We all want a piece of that happiness, regardless of what that is, for each and everyone of us. Our biggest fear is failure. But, what we all really desire, is to belong in a world that accepts " us and the different other". We can not be the same, we must not wish to be the same. We must maintain our own identity and culture and accept the " interesting other", which nevertheless redefines our own unique identity.
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Melina, your essay has a very good structure and you use very nice words. I like some phrases that you used such as ‘’ taking it further and deeper away’’, ‘’at a first glance’’. It is clear that from this essay you want to mention that the writer wanted to show us that we must avoid discriminate the people and that we all have the same opportunities. Furthermore, my favorite phrase is that ‘’ the key for a better world is respect and accept the other’’, this is true because by accepting the other as it is even if he is colored, Chinese, white or even a squid our world would be absolutely better.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it would be very interesting if you had mention the fact that discrimination it’s unnecessary meaning that we all deserve the same things. You can achieve this by mentioning opinions and essays that other people said or wrote about having the same opportunities. For example I know that monk Gavrilia said in her book the monk of lover that we are all the same. Also mother Teresa is a specific figure of mentioning in many of her speeches that we must not be interested in someone’s appearance but to look inside. I hope Melina I have given you a hand for your revising essay.
Melina, firstly the way you have started your essay explaining to us what the author wanted to say and what kind of essay he wrote was very smart to start. You had a motion in your writing as you continue talking about the author and then you have talk about the plot and what the squid was in the story. The vocabulary that you have used was easy to understand and at the same time analytical for us. I like your phrase “the author touches the heart of reality” because by this you are saying that this story wasn’t just about fiction but was realistic too. In my opinion in your essay you shouldn’t split up all the paragraphs especially the three small ones when you were talking only for the squid. You didn’t have any orthographical mistakes and this means that you had looked for it and check it twice. I think in your last paragraph the question “what human search for?” should be in front of “Gretchen is searching for the oasis”. All in all, I liked your conclusion very much that you gave a message to the reader, and helping him/her understand the point of your essay in a deeply way. However it was a very correct essay.
ReplyDeleteMelina, the way that you start you essay it's very interesting and clear enough so the reader to understand your thesis. You clearly pointed out the "interesting other" and that means that you realy know how people critize "the other". The theme of "the other" it's very difficult but I know that you can expand on that very well.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't have any orthographical mistakes. In your revising response I will be please if you write in more details about "the other". I will help you by telling you, search for the Barack O'bama speech and you will find many important sources.
Well done.
Melina, I like the way you begin your essay, you explain in very good way what this story is about. I like especially this phrase that you use in the beginning of your essay: “He becomes the voice among the voiceless people, who always point out the several problems and big dilemmas of society, but do not have the will to fix the broken parts. Through his leading fictional character, the author touches the heart of reality.” Your structure is very good and tour explaining very well each of your paragraphs. Also you give all the details needed about the story. I like the part when you speak about the insignificant other and “the other”, it is very interesting. Your vocabulary was very good and you’re spelling also. Well done
ReplyDeleteDear all,thank you for your good comments. I promise to keep all the things you have suggested in mind,when I write my revise essay.Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteMelina, at first, I would like to say that your essay is very well formed and as Alexandra mentioned above, some phrases you used are very nice such as "at a first glance" or "taking it further and deeper away". Also I'm very interested to learn more about "the other" which you mentioned in your essay. Indeed, our society many times does not accept people that are different, either in culture or nationality. This is wrong though because all of us must be equal and have the same opportunities.Moreover, you explained everything clearly and you wrote many interesting points. My favourite sentence from your essay is "We must maintain our own identity and culture and accept the " interesting other", which nevertheless redefines our own unique identity".
ReplyDeleteMelina I found your essay very interesting and I really liked it. First of all besides the fact that you have structured your essay very nice and in a cohesive way, besides the fact you have used some very nice phrases and words such as “the voice among the voiceless people”, “oasis” and so on, the thing that I really liked about your essay is that you have put emotions in your essay, you have personalized it, I was actually able to hear or imagine the tone of your voice saying the things you wrote. Secondly I liked the fact that you have also mentioned that people in previous years gave a fight for their rights as you said “turning back the clock, we come across to all the struggles of people who fought for their rights, their different skin color , race, gender and religion beliefs”. I believe this was a good alarm message for those who do not appreciate of the world we live today were things are easiest than the situations back then. The only thing that I would suggested you as far as your essay is concerned is that you might want to think about specify that in your conclusion at the first sentence “Gretchen is looking for her oasis- what humans search for?”Gretchen at the particular sentence is presented as a squid and not as a human as it was presented in the whole essay, because it might easily be considered as the answer of your question and in this case the question should have been before the phrase. All in all Melina you did it great with your essay.
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