Reflections on The Scarlet Ibis

This story revolves around a young boy called Doddle, born with a very low life expectancy and slow in thinking and his brother, who is an athletic type and a person who is very determined once he has made up his mind.The story was set with humor, feelings,a wide range of vocabulary and a fresh plot. The famous quote,"Pride is wonderful and terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines,life and death." originates from this story.The story first begins with the narrator depicting a scene in the clove of seasons between Summer and Autumn where he starts with a flashback. He then relates about how his brother,originally named William Armstrong,is slow in thinking ,reacting and coordinating his body.Thus,he learned how to crawl only at the age of 3 and it was then was he renamed Doodle for he crawled backwards,just like a doodlebug.The narrator is bent on having Doodle learn how to walk as he felt embarrassed that a 5-year-old cannot walk,therefore he brings him to Old Woman's Swamp every day to teach him how to walk.The narrator would spend afternoons putting Doodle on his feet and watching him fall,.Feeling that Doodle would be his responsibility and pride, he did not give up no matter how discouraged he was.His efforts paid off when his brother finally managed to walk.After having taught somebody with bad coordination how to walk, he thought nothing could stop him from teaching Doodle more,his pride and complacency welling up. He taught him for many days but to no avail.On a fateful day, Doodle saw the scarlet ibis in the backyard, blown away from its habitat by the storm and apparently perishing and he buries the scarlet ibis.Right after that, the narrator and Doodle head off for their training.However, Doodle seemed to have given up and the narrator took notice.Livid and with his pride broken,he ran away, leaving his brother behind.When he went back to check on him, Doodle had passed away.The significant milestones in this story are when Doodle learns how to walk,the death of the scarlet ibis and lastly the death of Doodle.Firstly,when Doodle learned how to walk,Brother was already thinking that he could do anything,therefore his pride swelled.Secondly,the death of the scarlet ibis foreshadows the end as the scarlet ibis was similar to Doodle in many aspects.Both of them were not able to adapt to an environment clearly unsuitable for them.Both of them were separated from the others and died in the end. Both of them could not survive without the presence of their fellows.Thirdly, Doodle is pushed beyond his limits to learn what Brother wants him to but failed.Enraged by his failure,Brother leaves Doodle in Horsehead Landing and Doodle perishes.Doodle's death also served as a wake-up call to Brother for him not to let pride result in another calamity.I feel that that Doodle died a wrongful death,even though he was meant to die in the beggining.He persevered to the very end,no matter what difficulties he faced,he would always face them with determination.Brother himself has also regretted having indirectly caused Doodle to die,admitting his past mistakes and expressing his remorse.If you would like to read more of the scarlet ibis,you can search the internet for the abriged and original versions.

1 more test to go!

I screwed up for my maths test and got 26/40! It's all because of my carelessness. However, i got an A1 for chinese ^^. I also realised i obtained 7.5/10 for my japanese test. I hope i can improve on my maths the next time which is at week 7. Better study hard!

Discussion questions

5. Should science be used artificially to improve someone's intelligence or external appearance?
My answer is no.Firstly, by doing this, it is against the law of nature.Plastic surgery and the enhancement of intellect should only be used when necessary.For example, Charlie Gordon in Flower for Algernon was mentally challenged, just like many other mentally challenged patients nowadays.Charlie had a choice to become smart and he did because he thought Smart=Many friends but in the end, the experiment still ended in a failure.However,if a person with an IQ of 120 wanted to triple his intelligence,this is just purely out of greed.Similarly, a person's features cannot be changed anyhow.Another example is from a book I have read.It was about a criminal who went for plastic surgery every time after he committed a crime(personal surgeon of course).This act is completely dishonest.Thus, i would like to say that science should not be used to artificially improve somebody's intelligence or external appearance.

Little Ironies: The Taximan's Story

1. The irony is the taxi driver's wrong perception that all schooling girls who are adolescents are up to no good when they say they want to stay back for CCAs, remedials etc.
2.The themes are the behaviour and acts of teenagers nowadays and the amount of control parents and teachers have over their students/children.
3. The story is quite realistic as it briefly describes how some school girls are acting after school but a few other parts are a little exaggerated.
4.The taximan has my sympathy because he toils long and hard just to make enough money to support his family of 8 children and his wife. At the same time, he has to save up money for the youngest daughter to go to University.
5. I agree with his lamenting as I would be clearly devastated if I found out that my youngest daughter, who is the only one going to university, would turn out to be a good-for-nothing. The taximan has saved up for her education and yet she behaves in such a manner, not at all thinking about her father's feelings.
6. I feel sympathy for the mother of Lay Choo, the youngest daughter, as she has to raise 8 children all by herself whe nher husband is outside working.

CNY Preparations

The few weeks before Chinese New Year is always a busy time for me. I would have to help in the cleaning and the chores as my parents are always busy. The decorations put up by me(aided by my father of course) are as shown in the pictures shown here.

I have put in great effort to touch up my house like this. Also, I would always have to polish an enormous number of antiques and display items to please my dad. I had to go to sleep with the smell of the polish all over my hands. I would also need to help my father prepare food items and the drinks for the guests.
The Chinese believe that on Chinese New Year Eve, the children should stay up late to 寿睡
On the first day of CNY, there were 40+ people at my house at 4 p.m. I had to entertain all of them until 3 a.m. On the second day, I had to wake up at 8 a.m to help my father prepare the "raw fish salad"(known as 鱼生 in chinese)! After that, we set off for various relative's houses to visit them. I also had the chance to "lo hei"( the meaning of this cantonese word is to mix the "raw fish salad" to bring good luck. ) After all the fun and festivities on Wednesday, I had to finish 6 days worth of homework in a day! I was so relieved when I finished the last piece of my homework and immediately hit the hay.