In Class Writing - Nov 30, 2010

As I promised, I am posting on the blog the in class writing. A copy will be given to each student in class on Nov  30.   This post  is just  to help those students, who want to work ahead and be better prepared for the writing.

Since we discussed, at great length, the assignment, I will not post the instructions.

The writing to be analysed is the following one.

This is a very famous and probably best known Russian Fairy Tale.  It is both, ageless and timeless, and speaks to the hearts of mostly all who read it.   To understand it better, we might compare/contrast it to one of our fairy tales as  "The Three Bears"  or  "Little Red Riding Hood."  This Russian Fairy Tale has been written about, discussed and analyzed by some of the best known scholars in Academia. Now, it is our turn to anaylze it.  (Quoted exactly...  Punctuation in story by author and/or translator, observed.  Translated by George Kittrell)

Tale of the Military Secret, Boy Malchish Kibalchish and His Firm Word

by  Arkady Gaidar

Long, long ago, when the Big war had just ended and the Red Army was during out the White troops of the cursed buzhuins there lived a boy called Malchish Kibalchish.  He lived in a little house admidst thick orchards and raspberry bushes with his father and elder brother.  And he had no mother.  His father worked, mowing hay, and his brother worked, carting hay.

And Boy Malchish helped, first his father, and then his brother, and when he wasn't helping with the work he played with the other boys and got into mischief.  No bullets were whining, no shells were bursting, no need to fear the burzhuins -- It was a good life.

And then one day--it was coming evening--Boy Malchish Kibalchish went out onto the porch and it seemed to him he heard something booming a long way off, something roaring.  And he told his father, but his father had come home tired, and hardly listened.  "Oh, that's nothing," he said.  "It's just a thunder storm way off in the Black Mountains.  You go to bed new, and don't worry."

Boy Malchish went to bed but he couldn't sleep, no matter how he tried.  He kept listening.  And then suddenly he heard the sound of hoofs outside, and someone knocked at the window.  Boy Malchish looked out, and there was a man on horseback at the window.  The horse was coal black, and the man's sabre was shiny steel and is sheepskin hat was grey and the Star on it was red.

"Hey! Out, everybody, with your guns!"  the horseman shouted.  "The bloody Burzhuin has come down on us from across the Black Mountains.  We're fighting Him, and men on fast horses have galloped off to get help from the Red Army."  And the horseman with the Red Star rode away into the night.

The boy's father snatched his rifle from its nail on the wall, threw his bag over his shoulder and buckled his bandolier.  He said good-bye to his sons and went away to fight.

A day went by, and then another.  Boy Malchish Kibalchish went out onto the porch -- he could see nothing of the Red Army.
Boy Malchish climbed up on the roof, and sat there all day.  But there was nothing to be seen.

One night Boy Malchish heard hoofs again, and knocking at the window.  He looked out.  The same horseman was at the window, only his horse was thin and tired, and his sword was bent and his head was bandaged.  "Get up!" he shouted.  "We've got to have help!"

The elder brother got up and said to the boy: "Good-bye, Malchish -- you'll be alone now.  There's cabbage soup in the pot and bread on the table and water in the spring, and your head on your shoulders.  Live as best you can and don't wait for me."

A day went by, and then another, Boy Malchish was sitting on the roof by the chimney when he saw a horseman come galloping a long way off.

The horsman galloped up to Malchish and leaped from his horse.  Malchish brough him water to drink, and the horseman said:  "The Red Army is hurrying to help us, if we can just hold out till tomorrow night."

At night the man came again.  The same man, and not the same: he had no horse -- his horse was dead; and he had no sabre -- his sabre was broken; and he had no sheepskin hat -- his hat had blown off, and he himself staggered as he stood,  "Hey, get up everybody, and help us out!"

Boy Malchish Kibalchish looked down the street, and the street was empty -- everybody had gone away to fight, and no one was left.

An old grandad came out of a gate dragging a rifle.  He tried to lift the rifle but he was so old he couldn't lift it.  He tried to buckle on a sabre but he was so weak he couldn't buckle it.  And the grandad sat down on the ground, took his head in his hands and wept.

Then Boy Malchish went out into the street and shouted loud for everybody to hear.  "Hey, you boys, are we just to go on playing with wooden swords and skipping the rope? Or are we just going to sit around waiting for the burzhuins to come and take us away to their burzhuin country?"

When the other boys heard this they raised a great shout.  And some ran out the door and some jumped out the window and some climbed over the fence.  They all wanted to go and help in the fighting.

Only the boy called Sneaky wanted to go to the burzhuin country.  But he was cunning, this Sneaky, so he didn't say anything butt pulled up his breeches and ran off with the others, as though he wanted to help.

And the bouys fought all the dark night to the bright dawn.  Only Sneaky did not fight but walked about looking for some way to help the burzhuins.  And behind the hill he saw the boxes where the black bombs and the white shells and the yellow cartridges were hidden.

All this time the Head Burzhuin kept calling his burzhuins and asking them,  'Well, you burzhuins, have you won the victory, yet?"  "No", they would answer.  "We have beaten the fathers and we have beaten the brothers, but Malchish Kibalshish has come to help and we can't beat him for the life of us."

And the burzhuins sat wondering what they could do to defeat Malchish Kibalchish.

Suddenly the burzhuins saw Sneaky come crawling out of the bushes and making straight for them!  "Glad news!"  he shouted to them.  "I did it all myself -- I chopped wood and brought hay and set fire to all the boxes with the black bombs, the white shells and the yellow cartridges."

The burzhuins were very happy and hurried to write down Sneaky's name in their army, and they gave him a whole barrel of jam and a whole basket of cakes, and Sneaky sat cramming himself and gloated.

All of a sudden all of the lighted boxes blew up, and it was like a thousand peals of thunder at once and a thousand flashes of lightning from a single cloud.  "Treason!"  cried Boy Malchish Kibalchish.

Then out of the smoke and fire poured the burzhuin soldiers and they seized Malchish Kibalchish.  And they put Malchish in heavy chains and threw him into a stone tower.

The burzhuins again gathered together and began thinking what to do with their prisoner, Malchish Kibalchish.  And then the Head Burzhuin said:  "We will kill that Boy Malchish, but first we'll make him tell us their Military Secret."

The burzhuins came to the tower and began to torture Malchish Kibalchish, asking him:  "Where does the Red Army gets its strength?  How is it forty Tsars and forty Kings have fought against it, and all of them were beaten?  Has the Red Army a Military Secret?"

But Malchish Kibalchish only laughed them in the ace.  "The Red Army does have a Secret, a powerful Secret," he proudly declared, "and no matter when you attack, you will always be beaten.  And nothing more will I tell you burzhuins."

Then the Head Burzhuin said: "Put this proud Malchish Kibalchish to the most terrible torture there is in the world and make him tell us their Military Secret."

And again the burzhuins came to Boy Malchish.  And he stood pale but proud and he would not tell the burzhuins the Military Secret.  So firm was his word.

Then he sat down on the floor and put his ear to the cold stone and smiled in a way that filled the burzhuins with terror.  They knew Malchish heard their sure destruction coming through secret ways.

The burzhuins went back and told all this to their chief, the Head Burzhuin.  "What a strange country this is where even boys know the Military Secret and will die without telling it."  And he ordered proud Maalchish to be killed, and Malchish died a hero.

But at that moment guns thundered, and bursting shells fared up like lightning and Red Banners swept past like storm clouds.  It was the Red Army attacking.

And the defeated Head Burzhuin fled in fright, loudly cursing the country with its amazing people, with its Red Army that could not be beaten, with its undiscovered Military Secret.

Steamships sail past:  Hail Malchish!
Planes fly over:  Hail Malchish!
Engines thunder past:  Hail Malchish!
Pioneers march past:  Salute Malchish!

The End

Notes:  Photos of the burzhuins look distinctly American
            Photos of the Red Army look distinctly Communist
            REMEMBER --  This is a fairy tale,  a children's story.....

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Reminder and Best Wishes....

Students:   Make sure that you have responded to a total of four (4) posts.  I have added the fourth and final post early to help those students, who want to work ahead.   However, in doing that, I do not want to confuse anyone.  Hence, this reminder.  There are four posts, all of which need a separate response.

First Post:   Literature
Second Post:  Scientific Theory
Third Post:  Political
Fourth Post:  Grammar  (Biblical)

Hope you, each one, have a safe, very blessed, and happy Thanksgiving...

Blessings,
Dr. Girard

English Grammar and the Bible

In class last week, we discussed the tenses of verbs and how those tenses changed the meaning(s) of sentences. In the following sentences look at the highlighted verbs and answer the following questions about each highlighted verb.

a.  What is the verb form?
b.  What does that verb form mean?
c. Assuming verb forms effect meaning, what does the sentence mean BECAUSE of the highlighted verb(s)?

Each answer should have three parts.  Label each part (a, b, c).  Each part should have ONE short, CONCISE sentence each.  Do NOT answer the questions in the syllabus.

1.  If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God HAS RAISED Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

2.  If any person is in Christ, that person is a new creation; and old things are passed away; and all things ARE BECOME new.  11 Corinthians 5:17

3.  For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one; much more you who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness  SHALL REIGN  in life by one Christ Jesus.  Romans 5:17

4.  (God) Who  HAS DELIVERED  us from the power of darkness and  HAS TRANSLATED  us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Jesus).  Colossians 1:13

5.  In Whom (Christ) we HAVE REDEMPTION through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

6.  Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes, you  WERE HEALED.  1 Peter 2:24

7.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus  HAS MADE  me free from the law of sin and death.  Romans 8:2

8.  Resist the devil, and he WILL FLEE  from you.  James 4:7

9.  Even when we were dead in sins, God  HAS MADE  alive us together with Christ.  Ephesians 2:5

10.  But my God  SHALL SUPPLY  all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

By knowing and understanding verb forms; hopefully, you will have a better understanding of what the scriptures are saying.

Blessings,
Dr. Girard

Exploring the World of Arguments

From Access to Comprehensive Healthcare Must Be Basic Right for All U.S. Citizens  by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, I have quoted the following excerpts.

"To be a good and great nation - not just a strong - we must provide basic healthcare coverage to all Americans...
We need  a national healthcare program that will build upon our current Medicare program and incorporate some changes.

The program should be universal, covering not only the elderly but all U.S. citizens and residents.
The program should be comprehensive so that the people can get all of the care they need, no matter what their income...
The program should be federally administered to ensure equal protection for everyone.  It should be subsidized by health taxes and general revenues.
All Americans should enjoy the freedom to choose their health care providers...

With a universal and comprehensive program, national health care finally will become a basic right in the United States."

Now, on this particular blog, answer the questions in the syllabus.

Exploring the World of Arguments

Dr. David J. Hellfand, a Ph.D. scholar, who is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts - Columbia, is known as a Theoretical Physicist.  Dr. Hellfand has done extensive research in the field of Astro Physics.  Dr. Hellfand is a Laureate Scholar.   Dr. Hellfand is a secular scholar.

Dr. Hellfand has won the Presidential Teaching Award.  Dr. Hellfand is an Instructor on The Teaching Company and has completed a series of twenty seven lectures in which he describes a certain scientific theory.  This theory is only one tiny part of these lectures.

This certain theory theorizes that there is another world beyond what we can see.  In this little known world visible only in shadows  or vague dots with the most powerful telescopes, beings  travel faster than the speed of light, faster than 186,000 miles per second.  When a being travels faster than the speed of light the incident happens before the person is born.

The example used by Dr. Hellfand is this one.  A child throws a baseball and breaks a window.  This window shattered and broke before the child is born.  Another example by Dr. Hellfand is this one.  Twins were separated.  One stayed on earth.  The other one traveled faster than the speed of light into another galaxy.  When that one returned to earth, his twin had been dead 800 years.

According to Dr. Hellfand, earth is bound by; and hence, limited by time.  To travel at speeds faster than the speed of light one enters into a time where things have already happened years before the person is born.  Time as we know time, in that world, does not exist in that world, according to Dr. Hellfand.

Now, compare (means tell me the likenesses) and contrast  (differences in) this secular theory and your Bible.
One paragraph each.  Total paragraphs: 2.    5- 7 Sentences per paragraph.
 Again, for this blog only, do NOT answer the questions on the syllabus.

Arguing about Literature

You might believe that literature is meant only to be enjoyed, but in fact, it is argued about by teachers, students, their professors and professionals, of all sorts.  Generally when literature is discussed by these various professionals it describes, analyzes, interprets, judges and theorizes.

When readers describe the literature, it is summarized.  One might think that each person's summary is the same, but that is far from true.  A summary differs by interpretation, style and other stamps of personalization.  No two summarizes are ever the same because no two people ever see the same things in a piece of literature. 

Every summary leaves out a great deal, yet no true summary is false.  A summary makes an assertion and thus implicitly is an argument.  One must offer evidence to support one's views when summarizing.  It doesn't mean that the statements in a summary are proven, but it means that they are supported by evidence. 

In describing (summarizing) a poem, in addition to giving a brief statement of what happens in the poem, generally the meter and the pattern are mentioned.  (It is not necessary in this case to mention meter and pattern.)

The analysis of literature cannot be completely separated from the summary because when one summarizes one naturally analyzes what is read.  However, analysis draws attention to various parts of the writing., asking why?  what? and how are the actions related to one another?  (Can you now understand how summary is related to analysis?  In part, to summarize one must analyze.) (To analyze, you ask yourself why?, what? and how are the various parts related?)

Interpreting a piece of literature is telling what the piece means, asking oneself what does that mean?  Many times, probably most of the time, there are many meanings, some the author intended and some not intended by the writer, yet perceived by the reader.

Evaluations (judgments) are always based upon assumptions. The point is in evaluation of a piece of literature the reader must know why you value (evaluate) the material as you do.  It is not enough to say, "This is a good work."  You must say why.  You must tell the reader why you value (judge) the work as great, good, etc.   Example:  You might say, "Lincoln was a great president.  Andrew Jackson was a strong president, but he is never categorized by scholars as having been a great president."  Now, you must have supporting evidence to back your evaluation, your judgment.

Theorizing is answering, or attempting to answer, such questions about the work as  "What is truth, anyway?" Does this have a meaning in itself or is the meaning whatever we say it is?  Example:  A three legged stool never stands or does it?  Is the stool an accident by the craftsman? 

Now, with all that explanation, Please read the following poem and describe it (summarize), analyze (In this case, just answer the question, how are the the lines in the poem related to each other?),  interpret (what does it mean to you), judge (evaluate it good or bad and why), and theorize (Does this have meaning in itself or is the meaning of the poem whatever we say it is?)  (You will need 5 paragraphs of approximately 5 - 7 sentences each.  Punctuate correctly.  Watch the grammar!!)

In this blog only, do NOT  answer the three questions that were listed on the syllabus.  I have decided to cut those from this blog.  Just answer the 5 questions that are above..  ..

Mending Wall

by  Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen -ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and make repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding.
To please the yelping dogs.  The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made.
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side.  It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?  But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out.
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down."  I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself.  I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, Like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."