ANNA QUINDLEN'S COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
MAY 23, 1999

I look at all of you today and I cannot help but see myself twenty-five years ago, at my own Barnard commencement. I sometimes seem, in my mind, to have as much in common with that girl as I do with any stranger I might pass in the doorway of a Starbucks or in the aisle of an airplane. I cannot remember what she wore or how she felt that day. But I can tell you this about her without question: she was perfect.

Let me be very clear what I mean by that. I mean that I got up every day and tried to be perfect in every possible way. If there was a test to be had, I had studied for it; if there was a paper to be written, it was done. I smiled at everyone in the dorm hallways, because it was important to be friendly, and I made fun of them behind their backs because it was important to be witty. And I worked as a residence counselor and sat on housing council. If anyone had ever stopped and asked me why I did those things--well, I'm not sure what I would have said. But I can tell you, today, that I did them to be perfect, in every possible way.

Being perfect was hard work, and the hell of it was, the rules of it changed. So that while I arrived at college in 1970 with a trunk full of perfect pleated kilts and perfect monogrammed sweaters, by Christmas vacation I had another perfect uniform: overalls, turtlenecks, Doc Martens, and the perfect New York City Barnard College affect--part hyperintellectual, part ennui. This was very hard work indeed. I had read neither Sartre nor Sappho, and the closest I ever came to being bored and above it all was falling asleep. Finally, it was harder to become perfect because I realized, at Barnard, that I was not the smartest girl in the world. Eventually being perfect day after day, year after year, became like always carrying a backpack filled with bricks on my back. And oh, how I secretly longed to lay my burden down.

So what I want to say to you today is this: if this sounds, in any way, familiar to you, if you have been trying to be perfect in one way or another, too, then make today, when for a moment there are no more grades to be gotten, classmates to be met, terrain to be scouted, positioning to be arranged--make today the day to put down the backpack. Trying to be perfect may be sort of inevitable for people like us, who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and in its good opinion. But at one level it's too hard, and at another, it's too cheap and easy. Because it really requires you mainly to read the zeitgeist of wherever and whenever you happen to be, and to assume the masks necessary to be the best of whatever the zeitgeist dictates or requires. Those requirements shapeshift, sure, but when you're clever you can read them and do the imitation required.

But nothing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations. The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

This is more difficult, because there is no zeitgeist to read, no template to follow, no mask to wear. Set aside what your friends expect, what your parents demand, what your acquaintances require. Set aside the messages this culture sends, through its advertising, its entertainment, its disdain and its disapproval, about how you should behave.

Set aside the old traditional notion of female as nurturer and male as leader; set aside, too, the new traditional notions of female as superwoman and male as oppressor. Begin with that most terrifying of all things, a clean slate. Then look, every day, at the choices you are making, and when you ask yourself why you are making them, find this answer: for me, for me. Because they are who and what I am, and mean to be.

This is the hard work of your life in the world, to make it all up as you go along, to acknowledge the introvert, the clown, the artist, the reserved, the distraught, the goofball, the thinker. You will have to bend all your will not to march to the music that all of those great "theys" out there pipe on their flutes. They want you to go to professional school, to wear khakis, to pierce your navel, to bare your soul. These are the fashionable ways. The music is tinny, if you listen close enough. Look inside. That way lies dancing to the melodies spun out by your own heart. This is a symphony. All the rest are jingles.

This will always be your struggle whether you are twenty-one or fifty-one. I know this from experience. When I quit the New York Timesto be a full-time mother, the voices of the world said that I was nuts. When I quit it again to be a full-time novelist, they said I was nuts again. But I am not nuts. I am happy. I am successful on my own terms. Because if your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all. Remember the words of Lily Tomlin: If you win the rat race, you're still a rat.

Look at your fingers. Hold them in front of your face. Each one is crowned by an abstract design that is completely different than those of anyone in this crowd, in this country, in this world. They are a metaphor for you. Each of you is as different as your fingerprints. Why in the world should you march to any lockstep?

The lockstep is easier, but here is why you cannot march to it. Because nothing great or even good ever came of it. When young writers write to me about following in the footsteps of those of us who string together nouns and verbs for a living, I tell them this: every story has already been told. Once you've read Anna Karenina, Bleak House, The Sound and the Fury, To Kill a Mockingbirdand A Wrinkle in Time,you understand that there is really no reason to ever write another novel. Except that each writer brings to the table, if she will let herself, something that no one else in the history of time has ever had. And that is herself, her own personality, her own voice. If she is doing Faulkner imitations, she can stay home. If she is giving readers what she thinks they want instead of what she is, she should stop typing.

But if her books reflect her character, who she really is, then she is giving them a new and wonderful gift. Giving it to herself, too.

And that is true of music and art and teaching and medicine. Someone sent me a T-shirt not long ago that read "Well-Behaved Women Don't Make History." They don't make good lawyers, either, or doctors or businesswomen. Imitations are redundant. Yourself is what is wanted.

You already know this. I just need to remind you. Think back. Think back to first or second grade, when you could still hear the sound of your own voice in your head, when you were too young, too unformed, too fantastic to understand that you were supposed to take on the protective coloration of the expectations of those around you. Think of what the writer Catherine Drinker Bowen once wrote, more than half a century ago: "Many a man who has known himself at ten forgets himself utterly between ten and thirty." Many a woman, too.

You are not alone in this. We parents have forgotten our way sometimes, too. I say this as the deeply committed, often flawed mother of three. When you were first born, each of you, our great glory was in thinking you absolutely distinct from every baby who had ever been born before. You were a miracle of singularity, and we knew it in every fiber of our being.

But we are only human, and being a parent is a very difficult job, more difficult than any other, because it requires the shaping of other people, which is an act of extraordinary hubris. Over the years we learned to want for you things that you did not want for yourself. We learned to want the lead in the play, the acceptance to our own college, the straight and narrow path that often leads absolutely nowhere. Sometimes we wanted those things because we were convinced it would make life better, or at least easier for you. Sometimes we had a hard time distinguishing between where you ended and we began.

So that another reason that you must give up on being perfect and take hold of being yourself is because sometime, in the distant future, you may want to be parents, too. If you can bring to your children the self that you truly are, as opposed to some amalgam of manners and mannerisms, expectations and fears that you have acquired as a carapace along the way, you will give them, too, a great gift. You will teach them by example not to be terrorized by the narrow and parsimonious expectations of the world, a world that often likes to color within the lines when a spray of paint, a scrawl of crayon, is what is truly wanted.

Remember yourself, from the days when you were younger and rougher and wilder, more scrawl than straight line. Remember all of yourself, the flaws and faults as well as the many strengths. Carl Jung once said, "If people can be educated to see the lowly side of their own natures, it may be hoped that they will also learn to understand and to love their fellow men better. A little less hypocrisy and a little more tolerance toward oneself can only have good results in respect for our neighbors, for we are all too prone to transfer to our fellows the injustice and violence we inflict upon our own natures."

Most commencement speeches suggest you take up something or other: the challenge of the future, a vision of the twenty-first century. Instead I'd like you to give up. Give up the backpack. Give up the nonsensical and punishing quest for perfection that dogs too many of us through too much of our lives. It is a quest that causes us to doubt and denigrate ourselves, our true selves, our quirks and foibles and great leaps into the unknown, and that is bad enough.

But this is worse: that someday, sometime, you will be somewhere, maybe on a day like today--a berm overlooking a pond in Vermont, the lip of the Grand Canyon at sunset. Maybe something bad will have happened: you will have lost someone you loved, or failed at something you wanted to succeed at very much.

And sitting there, you will fall into the center of yourself. You will look for that core to sustain you. If you have been perfect all your life, and have managed to meet all the expectations of your family, your friends, your community, your society, chances are excellent that there will be a black hole where your core ought to be.

Don't take that chance. Begin to say no to the Greek chorus that thinks it knows the parameters of a happy life when all it knows is the homogenization of human experience. Listen to that small voice from inside you, that tells you to go another way. George Eliot wrote, "It is never too late to be what you might have been." It is never too early, either. And it will make all the difference in the world. Take it from someone who has left the backpack full of bricks far behind. Every day feels light as a feather.

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:40
The rent & La Boheme

Stories of the Operas

La Bohème

Composer: Giacomo Puccini

ACT I. Paris, Christmas Eve, c. 1830. In their Latin Quarter garret, the painter Marcello and poet Rodolfo try to keep warm by burning pages from Rodolfo's latest drama. They are joined by their comrades — Colline, a young philosopher, and Schaunard, a musician who has landed a job and brings food, fuel and funds. But while they celebrate their unexpected fortune, the landlord, Benoit, arrives to collect the rent. Plying the older man with wine, they urge him to tell of his flirtations, then throw him out in mock indignation. As the friends depart for a celebration at the nearby Café Momus, Rodolfo promises to join them soon, staying behind to finish writing an article. There is another knock: a neighbor, Mimì, says her candle has gone out on the drafty stairs. Offering her wine when she feels faint, Rodolfo relights her candle and helps her to the door. Mimì realizes she has dropped her key, and as the two search for it, both candles are blown out. In the moonlight the poet takes the girl's shivering hand, telling her his dreams. She then recounts her solitary life, embroidering flowers and waiting for spring. Drawn to each other, Mimì and Rodolfo leave for the café.

ACT II. Amid shouts of street hawkers, Rodolfo buys Mimì a bonnet near the Café Momus before introducing her to his friends. They all sit down and order supper. A toy vendor, Parpignol, passes by, besieged by children. Marcello's former lover, Musetta, enters ostentatiously on the arm of the elderly, wealthy Alcindoro. Trying to regain the painter's attention, she sings a waltz about her popularity. Complaining that her shoe pinches, Musetta sends Alcindoro to fetch a new pair, then falls into Marcello's arms. Joining a group of marching soldiers, the Bohemians leave Alcindoro to face the bill when he returns.

ACT III. At dawn on the snowy outskirts of Paris, a Customs Officer admits farm women to the city. Musetta and revelers are heard inside a tavern. Soon Mimì walks by, searching for the place where the reunited Marcello and Musetta now live. When the painter emerges, she pours out her distress over Rodolfo's incessant jealousy. It is best they part, she says. Rodolfo, who has been asleep in the tavern, is heard, and Mimì hides; Marcello thinks she has left. The poet tells Marcello he wants to separate from his fickle sweetheart. Pressed further, he breaks down, saying Mimì is dying; her ill health can only worsen in the poverty they share. Overcome, Mimì stumbles forward to bid her lover farewell as Marcello runs back into the tavern to investigate Musetta's raucous laughter. While Mimì and Rodolfo recall their happiness, Musetta quarrels with Marcello. The painter and his mistress part in fury, but Mimì and Rodolfo decide to stay together until spring.

ACT IV. Some months later, Rodolfo and Marcello lament their loneliness in the garret. Colline and Schaunard bring a meager meal. The four stage a dance, which turns into a mock fight. The merrymaking is ended when Musetta bursts in, saying Mimì is downstairs, too weak to climb up. As Rodolfo runs to her, Musetta tells how Mimì has begged to be taken to her lover to die. While Mimì is made comfortable, Marcello goes with Musetta to sell her earrings for medicine, and Colline leaves to pawn his cherished overcoat. Alone, Mimì and Rodolfo recall their first days together, but she is seized with coughing. When the others return, Musetta gives Mimì a muff to warm her hands and prays for her life. Mimì dies quietly, and when Schaunard discovers she is dead, Rodolfo runs to her side, calling her name.

Character in La bohème
Character in Rent


Mimi, a seamstress with tuberculosis	Mimi Marquez, a dancer with AIDS
Rodolfo, a poet	Roger Davis, a musician, also with AIDS
Marcello, a painter	Mark Cohen, a filmmaker
Musetta, a singer	Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist
Schaunard, a musician	Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay cross-dressing drummer with AIDS
Colline, a philosopher	Tom Collins, a gay computer whiz and Anarchist philosopher with AIDS
Alcindoro, a state councillor	Joanne Jefferson, a lesbian lawyer
Benoit, a landlord	Benjamin 'Benny' Coffin III, also a landlord

Plot

Rent at David Nederlander Theatre in Manhattan, New York City

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Characters include:

Mark Cohen, a struggling documentary filmmaker, the narrator of the show and the person who creates a final movie which details his friends' lives and journeys throughout the story. Ex-Boyfriend of Maureen.
Roger Davis, an HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction; Mark's roommate and Mimi's love interest.
Tom Collins, a philosophy teacher and anarchist with AIDS; friend and former roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen; Angel's love interest.
Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building; ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys and thus considered a yuppie sell-out.
Joanne Jefferson, a Harvard-educated lawyer; Maureen's lover; lesbian.
Angel Dumott Schunard, a drag queen street percussionist/musician with AIDS; Collins' love interest.
Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive S&M dancer and heroin junkie; Roger's love interest
Maureen Johnson, a performance artist; Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend

[edit] Act one

Mark, a filmmaker and the narrator of the show, (originally played by Anthony Rapp) decides to begin shooting an unscripted documentary about his friends on Christmas Eve in his loft, turning the camera on his roommate Roger (originally played by Adam Pascal), a songwriter who is picking up his guitar for the first time in a year (Tune Up #1). Mark's mother interrupts with a call from the suburbs telling Mark that he shouldn't care that his girlfriend Maureen (originally played by Idina Menzel) dumped him for another woman, and that they'll miss him at home for Christmas (Voice Mail #1). Outside, their friend Tom Collins (originally played by Jesse L. Martin), a former professor of philosophy, comes to visit them but is jumped by thugs and lies bleeding on the street. Meanwhile, their former pal Benny (originally played by Taye Diggs), who married wealthy Alison Grey of Westport and bought Mark and Roger's apartment building and the lot next door, calls and breaks his promise to let them live in the apartment for free and asks for the rent, which he knows they don't have (Tune Up #2). The power to Mark and Roger's apartment shuts off, and they vent their frustrations about being broke starving artists unable to pay the rent and unable to find inspiration for their art. Meanwhile, Joanne (originally played by Fredi Walker), a Harvard-educated lawyer and Maureen's new girlfriend, is working on the sound system for Maureen's performance protesting Benny's plan to develop the lot where many homeless people are currently living, when the sound system blows. Maureen calls Mark to fix the sound system for her against Joanne's wishes, and Mark agrees to help against his better judgment because he isn't over her. Frustrated, Mark and Roger decide to rebel against Benny and refuse to pay their rent (Rent). He is also in love with a girl named Brittany Deane, but she is never mentioned in the story.

Back on the street, Angel (originally played by Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a street drummer, spots an injured Collins and comes to his aid. They are attracted to one another and quickly discover that they both have AIDS. They leave the alley together to tend to Collins's wounds (You Okay Honey?). Meanwhile, Mark asks Roger to join him in finding Collins and then going to dinner in an effort to get him out of the house, but Roger declines. Mark reminds Roger to take his AZT, making the audience aware that Roger is HIV positive. He also reveals that Roger's girlfriend, April, committed suicide after finding out that they were both HIV-positive, probably from using contaminated needles (Tune Up #3). After Mark leaves, Roger sings about his desperate need to write one great song to make his mark on the world before he dies of AIDS (One Song Glory). He hears a knock on his door and answers it to find Mimi (originally played by Daphne Rubin-Vega), a nineteen-year-old junkie and S&M dancer at the Cat Scratch Club. She lives in the apartment downstairs and asks Roger to light a candle for her because her electricity and heat have also been shut off. It is obvious that Mimi also needs the candle to prepare her heroin, which she drops inside the loft and then employs as means to flirt with Roger. There is mutual attraction, but Roger is hesitant as this is his first romantic situation since April's death (Light My Candle) In Maureen and Joanne's loft, Joanne's parents call about law business, but she is not home to hear it (Voice Mail #2). He has a prostitute friends named Brittany Deane, but she is never mentioned in the musical

Collins finally makes it to Mark and Roger's apartment, bearing gifts. He introduces Angel in full drag flashing a large stack of money. When Mark questions where she earned it, Angel explains that a wealthy woman paid him to play her drums outside her neighbor's apartment to drive the yappy Akita (named Evita) that lived there into jumping off a window ledge (Today 4 U). The audience finds out later that the Akita belonged to the Greys. Benny arrives and tells Mark and Roger that he will guarantee that they can live in the apartment rent-free if they convince Maureen to cancel her protest (You'll See). Mark refuses the deal. After Benny leaves, Angel and Collins invite Mark and Roger to attend Life Support, a local HIV support group meeting. Roger declines, but Mark assures them he will come after he fixes Maureen's sound equipment. Collins taught Brittany Deane music, but she is never mentioned in the musical.

Mark arrives at the lot to fix Maureen's sound equipment and awkwardly meets Joanne. They agree that dating Maureen, a self-absorbed flirtatious diva, is like dancing an exasperatingly complicated tango, and the two quickly become friends (Tango: Maureen). After fixing the sound system, Mark joins Collins and Angel at the Life Support meeting, where members share their thoughts and fears about living with AIDS (Life Support). Meanwhile, Mimi returns to Roger's apartment and playfully asks him to take her out (Out Tonight). Roger is terrified of caring for her (in part because she is a heroin addict, and that is what led to Roger's HIV infection in the first place, and also because he knows he isn't going to live and doesn't want Mimi to feel the loss he felt for April) and yells at her to leave. Mimi gently urges Roger to forget past regrets, saying that there is "no day but today." However, he refuses to listen and angrily drives her out of his apartment (Another Day). Roger changes his mind and leaves the loft at last, while at the Life Support meeting, everyone sings of the fear and uncertainty in their lives (Will I?).

After leaving Life Support, the friends save a homeless bag lady from being beaten by a police officer, only to be reprimanded by her for being pretentious artists (On The Street). As they walk away contemplating her response, Collins starts to fantasize about living in an idealized Santa Fe, where the climate and the people are much warmer (Santa Fe). Meanwhile, Joanne is getting ready for the protest and her upcoming legal case (We're Okay). Mark leaves, promising that he will try to convince Roger to go to Maureen's show. Collins and Angel then sing about their newfound love and officially become a couple (I'll Cover You). Roger apologizes to Mimi and invites her to the protest and the dinner party afterwards, and she accepts. Meanwhile, the riot police and Benny prepare for the protest, and Angel buys Collins a new coat (Christmas Bells).

All of the friends attend Maureen's performance, a thinly veiled criticism of Benny through a metaphor involving a cow and a bulldog, cribbing from "Hey Diddle Diddle" (Over The Moon). The protest ends in a riot that Mark catches on camera, and a local news station purchases the footage. Afterwards, the group goes to the Life Café, where they spot Benny and his investor, Mr. Grey, who is also Benny's father-in-law. Benny mocks the protest and the group's Bohemian lifestyle, declaring that Bohemia is dead. Mark gets up and delivers an amusing eulogy for Bohemia, and all the bohemians in the café rise up and celebrate La Vie Boheme, "the bohemian life", joyfully paying tribute to everything they love about life and dancing on the tables. We discover that Benny and Mimi used to be in a relationship that ended three months earlier when Benny confronts Mimi about Roger. Joanne catches Maureen kissing Mark and angrily stalks off (La Vie Boheme). Mimi's beeper goes off reminding her to take her AZT, and Roger and Mimi discover that they are both HIV-positive. They talk openly for the first time and despite their uncertainties and fears, they finally take the plunge into starting a relationship (I Should Tell You). Joanne comes back to break up with Maureen, and informs everyone that the homeless are refusing to leave the lot despite police presence. This news sparks a new round of joyful revelry (La Vie Boheme B). The act closes as Mimi and Roger share a small, lovely kiss.

[edit] Act two

Cast of Rent performing "Seasons of Love" at Broadway on Broadway, 2005.

The cast sings about the various ways one can measure a year, but ultimately decides to measure in love (Seasons of Love).

Mimi, Mark, and Roger's building has been padlocked as a result of Maureen's protest. On New Year's Eve, Roger, Mark and Mimi try to break into their building with the help of their friends. Mimi optimistically makes a New Year's resolution to give up her heroin addiction and go back to school. Joanne and Maureen decide to give their relationship another try, and all the couples are happy together. Collins and Angel make an appearance as James Bond and Pussy Galore, and Angel brings a blowtorch. Mark, Maureen, and Joanne scale the fire escape and break in through a window, while the others use Angel's blowtorch to break down the door (Happy New Year A). Alexi Darling of "Buzzline," a tabloid newsmagazine, had seen Mark's footage of the riot and has left a message on Mark's answering machine offering him a contract (Voice Mail #3). All the friends enter the apartment celebrating the new year, but Benny shows up prematurely ending the festivities. Benny asks Mark to film him offering a rent-free contract, but the friends accuse him of just trying to get good press. Incensed, Benny maliciously implies that Mimi showed up at his place and "convinced" him to rethink the financial situation, while Mimi denies everything. Roger becomes extremely upset and renounces their relationship, but Angel convinces everyone to calm down and make a New Year's resolution to always remain friends. Roger and Mimi make up, but Mimi is still upset and sneaks off to buy heroin (Happy New Year B).

On Valentine's Day, Maureen and Joanne have a fight while rehearsing for a new protest, and break up again (Take Me or Leave Me). In the spring as everything deteriorates, the cast poses the question, "How do you measure a last year on earth?" (Seasons of Love B). Mimi comes home late again after secretly buying drugs, causing Roger to believe that she is cheating on him with Benny. Roger jealously storms out, and Mimi sings about life without him. All the while, Angel's health seriously deteriorates and Collins tries to nurse her back to health. All the couples reconcile because they realize the emptiness in living alone (Without You). Alexi keeps calling Mark to try to convince him to join Buzzline (Voice Mail #4). All of the couples have sex, which quickly transforms into a frustrating and awkward situation for all of them, especially the lesbians, Mimi, and Roger. Soon afterward, Angel dies (Contact). Collins is heartbroken, and at Angel's funeral he emotionally declares his undying love. The others also take part in the funeral, mourning the loss of such a close friend (I'll Cover You (Reprise)). Abstractly, Seasons of Love actually takes place at Angel's funeral, and all of the prior events leading up to his death were flashbacks. Roger reveals that he is leaving New York for Santa Fe, which sparks an argument about commitment between both couples, with Mark and Benny desperately trying to restore calm. Collins arrives and puts everyone to shame, stating "You all said you'd be cool today/So please, for my sake...Angel helped us believe in love/I can't believe you disagree". Maureen and Joanne make up yet again, but Mimi leaves with Benny after Roger shuns her. Roger and Mark fight because Roger is leaving; Roger accuses Mark of living a fake life by hiding in his work, and Mark accuses Roger of running away because he is afraid of watching Mimi die. When Roger leaves the apartment, he is horrified to find a clearly weak Mimi, who had come to say goodbye, standing outside the door and realizes that she overheard everything. She is visibly shaken and bids Roger a tearful goodbye, as Roger runs away determined to find his song. Finding a very distraught Mimi, Mark suggests that she enroll at a rehabilitation clinic, which Benny offers to pay for (Goodbye Love). Mark expresses his fear of being the only one left surviving when the rest of his friends die of AIDS, and finally accepts Alexi's job offer (Halloween).

In Santa Fe, Roger can't get himself to forget Mimi, and back in New York, Mark remembers Angel and her overall joy in life and love. They both suddenly have an artistic epiphany, as Roger finally finds his song in Mimi and Mark finds his film in Angel's memory. Roger returns to New York just in time for Christmas and Mark quits Buzzline to work on his own film (What You Own). On Christmas Eve, everyone's parents call to try to find their children but nobody is home (Voice Mail #5). Mark is preparing to show his finished documentary. Roger is ecstatic about finding his song. And no one has been able to find Mimi anywhere. Collins arrives with money, revealing that he rigged a nearby ATM to dispense free cash with the PIN "A-N-G-E-L". Suddenly, Maureen and Joanne arrive, calling for help. They bring in Mimi who is very sick and delirious from living on the streets in the dead of winter. Roger is frantic and Collins calls 9-1-1 but is put on hold. Mimi and Roger finally clear up their misunderstandings, and Mimi tells Roger that she loves him (Finale A). Knowing that time is short, Roger asks Mimi to listen to the song that he had been working on all year that was inspired by her (Your Eyes). He shortly reprises the beginning of "Another Day" by saying "Who do you think you are?/Leaving me alone with my guitar/Hold on, there's something you should hear/It isn't much, but it took all year." As he finishes his song to Mimi and finally tells her that he has always loved her, they kiss. Mimi goes limp and Roger, in tears, believes her to be dead. Suddenly Mimi comes back to life, saying that she was heading into a warm, white light and that Angel was there, telling her to turn back and listen to Roger's song. She and Roger embrace, and everyone is touched and relieved as they are reminded of the fleetingness of life and reaffirm that there is "no day but today" (Finale B). Then Mark plays the Documentary he has been working on.^[17]

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:38
Transcendentalism- AL

1, What you saw from the nature world can be responded to the inner heart.

2, Most supreme and eternal power

3, Self- reliance

4, Has own thinking & action

5, own thinking creates own rule

After 1865, few people refer to the Transcendentalism

Emily Dickinson

Poems 465

I heard a Fly buzz- when I died-

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air-

Between the Heaves of Storm-

The Eyes around- had wrung them dry-

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset- when the King

Be witnessed- in the Room

I willed my Keepsakes- Signed away

What portion of me be

Assignable- and then it was

There interposed a Fly-

With Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz- Between the light- and me-

And then the Windows failed- and then

I could not see to see-

The individual soul chooses her self alone as a companion. Then, she closes her door, rejecting all other souls.

She disappears from the view of those others. It is sufficient.

The self-sufficiency of the soul makes her undisturbed by the passing glory of the external world. She observes the passing of the state carriage by her gate.

She is unaffected even by the powerful and mighty emperor who is pleading and kneeling upon her door-mat. I have known her; she chooses only one other soul from the whole society, and blocks all the other claims to her attention. Like a stone, she becomes insensible to their advancer.

Walt Whitman

“Preface to Leaves of Grass” 1855

“Song of Myself”

What is “Myself”- including everything touched by all the sensual parts of our bodies

Scientist uses visual most of time about measuring human being and Nature

But, it is not enough

Whitman using a method by touch sense to express

You sea! I resign myself to you also…. I guess what you mean,

I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,

I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;

We must have a turn together….I undress…hurry me out of sight of the land,

Cushion me soft…rock me in billowy drowse,

Dash me with amorous wet..I can repay you.

What is the grass?

The handkerchief of the Lord

The grass is itself a child

The beautiful uncut hair of graves

Hair is a part of life, it symbolize the life transcend the death, pass the meaning” all goes onward and onward” message.

What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden, or Life in the Woods

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Each person has the unpardonable sin that is the invasion of the sanctity of another person’s soul.

Only through confession that can get the redemption

The Scarlet Letter

Adultery-> Able-> Angle

Hester Prynne

Arthur Dimmesdale ( minster)

Chillingworth- Hester’s husband

Pearl ( H’s daughter)

Allusion of Pearl- from Matthew/Bible

For Entering Heaven, to give up all the treasures ( Pearl of Great Price)

Does anyone live in original sin?

Herman Melville

Moby Dick

Man against nature, good against evil, an ambiguous symbol, an innocent or blankness? Or neutral forces or sinister forces?

Moby Dick not only ubiquitous, but immortal;that though groves of spears should be planted in his flanks, he would still swim away unharmed

SHIP: Pequod

Ishmael ( out cast meaning) / Queequeg- s. Pacific

Discuss the relationship between with Human being, universe, religious, race, sex, culture

Ahab / Starbuck

Moby Dick- the incarnation of Evil power from universe

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

The most satiric point in the novel is that Twain reveals the injustice of the slave-holding society by Huck’s inner struggle over whether or not to turn Jim in as a runaway slave. Huck’s conscience” is ill-trained by his”sivilized” society. So Huck naturally thinks that to help an escaped slave is wrong both legally and morally, for his society has taught him that a slave is an impersonal object, a piece of property.

Actually, when Huck decides to seek Jim’s freedom and says,”All right, then , I ‘ll go to hell,” his sin, on the contrary, reveals the noblest of human nature. Huck’s innate innocence at alst triumphs over the dictates of a corrupt, never genuineyly civilized, society.

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:36
Blood Wedding (the power of dialogue)

Based on a newspaper story of an Andalucian bride who absconded with her childhood sweetheart - from a family with whom her own are feuding - Blood Wedding is a powerful meditation on fate, war, tradition, passion and repression. This new production by Jeremy Raison is intermittently powerful, but doesn't quite pull off the claustrophobic emotions of Federico Garcia Lorca's bloody poetry.

n Blood Wedding, Spain’s legendary poet Federico García Lorca explores the fierce tension that arises between
oppressive, primitive tradition and natural human longings
and desires. Sensual and intense, the play ranges in style from
realism to surrealism and is a lyrical combination of poetry,
drama, song, and dance. Lorca based Blood Wedding on a true
story, and the play premiered in Madrid in 1933, just before
the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
symbolize new beginnings and happiness

Carlita is waiting down on C & 9th
In mantilla and lace
And her lover's knife
Cries out for revenge
But she is silent like a stone
And beautiful in her widow's weeds
I wait in the darkness
Forever now alone
Too late for any tear shedding
While his bride waits down on C & 9th
For her blood wedding
Why did you have to go out tonight
With the full moon in scarlet
And his silver knife
Waiting for you
And the remains of your life
Ticking away like some pitiful clock
And I who could not even be called your wife
Safe and warm in your bedding
And you the bridegroom off on your way
To your blood wedding
And the Ukranian ladies
Light candles in the street
Where his body lay bleeding
And the projects are silent
Bracing for the heat
That must come from his blood wedding
Carlita why do you hate me so much
I long for your body
I die for your touch
On my burning skin
And the smell of your perfume
Will always remain on my bed
But I died every time
You entered his room
I could not let him go on living
And now you wait down on C & 9th
Dying to celebrate my blood wedding
I wait in the shadows of C & 9th
With my fingers caressing
His sacred knife
You loved my body
But he loved my soul
You thought you knew me
But what do men know
Except my lover whose shape is etched in chalk on the street
Soon to be washed away by the rain
While you wait in the darkness dreading
The shock of my knife
At your blood wedding

Exploring the power of dialogue in Blood Wedding, especially between Leonardo & the Bride

Leonardo and the Bride have several conversations, which tend to develop into complex arguments that bring back the past and what it meant. Each of the two characters are on a different wavelength if you want to call it that. Their thoughts, intentions and especially emotions are not coherent.

Leonardo thinks about the past and the pain that dwells inside him as a result of the suffering he went through, while the bride thinks about the future and what it can possibly hold for these two old lovers.

Leonardo intends to make sure that the bride knows how he feels. He wants her to act as a stress reliever and as someone to ‘let it all out’ on. The tremendous emotional baggage he has carried all this time is aching to be let out, and she happens to be the perfect outlet, which will receive this emotional baggage and turn it into emotional guilt, her own guilt, her own suffering.

You may at first look at this as being selfish and inconsiderate of him, but in the end, humans are by definition greedy and selfish. Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, and wh

Form and Structure for Blood Wedding

Blood Wedding is written by Federico Garcia Lorca. It is similar to a classical tragic Greek tragedy. The play is split into three acts in act one, two scenes in act two and two scenes in the third and final act.

There is a cyclic structure used in the play with the lonely mother inside talking at the start and the finish.

All throughout the play we (the audience) know what is going to happen, with the deep romance between two actors all ending in tears, also the deaths happen off stage

and choral speech is used, this is the typical Greek way as all the events are determined.

The woodcutters, moon, girls and the beggar woman, determine the events throughout the play. These are like narrators that when they are talking, are telling the audience what is going to happen, and what is happenening in the play.

The Beggar woman is symbolic of death, she has bird imagery in lifting her rags symbolic of the female sexuality

Passion is the instrument of self-extinction in Blood Wedding

http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27310

In the play Blood Wedding, Lorca has presented human beings trapped in the webs of their own passion. John Gassner has mentioned that orca most impressive dramas deal with people who are seized by elemental passions which conflict with custom, reason, or some other restraining force?. In this play the passion which stems from the heart of man has been dramatized as a tragedy. From the beginning of the play, the element of passion is present in the dialogue as well as the imagery of the play. The Bride follows the dictates of her passion for Leonardo. This passion is an expression of her self, as it is obvious that no one else in the play is consumed by this passion for Leonardo. Self is actually a set of traits, which make the Bride a unique person in her own right. It is that which contains her desires, her wishes and her fears. When the Bride tries to attain satisfaction for her desires and wants, it means that she is asserting herself as an individual. The self of a person yearns for expression and to be displayed as an entity, which demands fulfillment for its own passions and desires. When the Bride tries to satisfy her passion, she ends up annihilating that very self she was supposed to have satisfied with that passion. This force of passion seems to make two sorts of contacts, inwards and outwards. Inward contact means the force of passion coming in contact with the self of the Bride, from where it originated. Outward contact means the force of passion coming in contact with the external circumstances in which the Bride exists, namely, society. To both of these, the self as well as the society, passion is a force of anarchy. Society is the government of order imposed upon a group where as passion is a chaotic force by virtue of its individuality. Society is a system devoted to the survival of the group. This survival is possible only if the individual can be ordered and checked, with a certain standard of behaviour imposed upon him. A person does not dare to go against the norm of the society because he fears self-extinction. Away from the group, his survival will be difficult. But on the other hand, his self rejects the standard behaviour imposed by the group in order to achieve ultimate expression. In this way, the force of passion in its effort to assert the monopoly of self instead leads the self to its extinction.
In Blood Wedding, the Bride is a victim of her own passion. But she does not succumb to it easily. She struggles against this passion but it is a loosing battle. When the Bridegroom mother comes to ask for her hand, she asks her if she knows what marriage means, to which the Bride answers that she does know. The mother says that it means:
MOTHER: A man, some children and a wall two yards thick for everything else.(act1 sciii)
The mother makes it clear that marriage is about the survival of the community and not about the gratification of individual desires. Everything else including passion has to be kept out of marriage by surrounding one self by a thick wall. For the survival of the community marriage is instrumental for imposing an order upon the process of reproduction and thus ensuring the continuity of the group. Marriage does not allow self-expression. The Bride has declared that she knows what marriage entails but it does not imply that she will follow it as well. In her innermost self, a conflict rages between her instinct for survival within the community and her innate need to fulfill her passion for Leonardo. In her talk with Leonardo in the first scene of the second act, she tells him that she will lock herself with her husband in a room and then she will have to love him. The Bride is trying her best to forget Leonardo and love her husband, even if it means forcing herself to do so. This conflict is quite clear form the following lines when the Bride asks the bridegroom to hurry up.
BRIDE: Yes, I want to be your wife right now so that I can be with you alone, not hearing any voice but yours.
BRIDEGROOM: that what I want!
BRIDE: And not seeing any eyes but yours. And for you to hug me so hard, that even though my dead mother should call me, I wouldn be able to draw away from you.(act 2 scii)
The Bride fears that the voice of her passion will carry her along and she will not be able to resist. This is why she asks the Bridegroom to hold her and not let her go. The Bride motive here is the fear of annihilation. She is afraid that the passion raging in her breast is going to control her and annihilate her. She tries to cling on to the Bridegroom who becomes a symbol of social security and survival within the group. She uses him as a shield against her passion for Leonardo, which she knows to be great and overpowering. Her instinct for survival compels her to go through this marriage even though she knows that there is a lot of difference between her feelings for the Bridegroom and for Leonardo. When her servant asks her she tells her that she loves the Bridegroom. But this love is entirely different from the violent and desperate emotion she feels for Leonardo.
BRIDE: [Trembling] I can listen to you. I can listen to your voice. It as though I drunk a bottle of anise and fallen asleep in a quilt of roses. It pulls me along, and I know I drowningut I go on down.(act 2 sc i)
This speech shows the nature of the passion, which the Bride feels for Leonardo. It is a sort of dope, a drug to her senses. This implies that in her saner moments the Bride realizes that this passion is drugging her. It is making her forget her instinct for survival within the security of the community. That is why, in the grips of this emotion she feels that she is going down. She feels that she is drowning. She is helpless against it. It appears that by drowning in her passion, she will be dead because drowning is also a cause of death. The metaphors she implies in explaining this emotion are also suggestive of death as she talks about going to a heavily drugged sleep and not about becoming alive as a result of her passion. Her sleep can also mean death. The Bride realizes that her passion is destructive in its very essence and this is the reason why she struggles so desperately against it. The love she feels for the Bridegroom is a soft and serene emotion, which is no match against the raging tide of her passion for the other man. John Gassner declares that n Blood Wedding the passion of love is elemental and destructive?. It is not the passion of love but passion itself, which is elemental and destructive, because the Bride feels love for the bridegroom too. What she feels for Leonardo has to be different. Her feelings for Leonardo transcend love. They assume a dark and violent aspect, which signifies an unnamable, elusive human drive that seeks to break the very thing it cherishes, and at the same time, wants to possess it intact.
BRIDE: The same hands, these that are yours
but which when they see you would like
to break the blue branches
and sunder the purl of your veins
These lines explain the multifaceted feeling which the Bride possesses for Leonardo. Though she cherishes him still she wants to annihilate him. Her possession of him is tinged with the flavour of death because the passion, which drives her, is basically exterminating in nature. This is why that love cannot help her in saving her self from the onslaught of passion. Leonardo tells her that she may think that ime heals and walls hide things, but it isn true,?. (act 2 sc i). The Bride also fears that despite what the mother has told her about walling things out, she does not stand much chance of escaping from the force of her passion. For this reason she wants to get married as soon as possible so that she be able to safe guard her survival in the society.
Passion is destructive in its nature whether it turns inwards upon the self of a person or outwards upon the society. The Bride is afraid of its force because she knows that it will eventually sweep her to nothingness in its raging tide. Her instinct for survival within the community tells her to stop the tide of this passion from consuming her but it is too strong for her to tackle. The codes and checks of society try to offer human beings protection against their destructive yearnings. But sometimes the need for the satisfaction of such yearnings is so strong that it does not bear any restraint. Even then, the need is not assuaged because it is not possible for human passion to fulfill itself. Its effort for fulfillment always ends up in destruction because it is in its very essence a destructive phenomenon. When the Bride runs away with Leonardo, some woodcutters are talk about it.
FIRST WOODCUTTER: You have to follow the path of your blood.
SECOND WOODCUTTER: But blood that sees the light of day is drunk up by the earth.
FIRST WOODCUTTER: What of it? Better dead with the blood drained away then alive with it rotting. (Act 3 sc I)
Here blood becomes a metaphor for passion. One has to follow the path of fulfilling one passion but the risk of annihilation is always there. In following the path of passion, daylight is going to creep up upon the travelers. These dialogues imply that only hidden passions are safe from being ravaged. If passion is not hidden but displayed and led towards fulfillment then the earth will drink it up. The self, which tries to attain satisfaction for its passion is at risk of extinction through the very nature of that passion. In the same scene, Leonardo tells the Bride:
LEONARDO: [. . .]But I was riding a horse
and the horse went straight to your door.
And the silver pins of your wedding
turned my red blood black.
And in me our dream was choking
my flesh with its poisoned weeds.
Oh, it isn my fault?
the fault is the earth?
[. . .]
In these lines passion turns the man red blood black. Red is the colour of life and black colour is significant of death. Passion seems to be working hand in hand with the force of death. Fate is also playing its part here. In the shape of the moon faced woodcutter, it seems as if fate is conniving with passion to bring about the death of the Bridegroom and Leonardo. In the first scene of second act, death in the guise of a beggar woman is waiting for the moon-faced woodcutter to turn up so that he can help her in bringing about the deaths she wants. They are going to light up the place so that the runaway couple can be easily caught. Moon says to death:
MOON: Let them be a long time a-daying so the blood
will slide its delicate hissing between my fingers.
Look how my ashen valleys already are waking
in longing for this fountain of shuddering gushes.
Moon seems to be bloodthirsty fate. But the blood, which it wants, is not only the real human blood but also the passion that is there in the human breast. The moon is also indicative of passion. As a sign of the zodiac, it is related to emotional upheavals, which are born in human beings as yearnings and desires that are grand and unattainable. Fate seems to be at work behind the elemental passion which Leonardo and the Bride have for each other. Passion becomes an instrument through which fate traps them.
LEONARDO: [. . .] But wherever you go, I go
Youe the same. Take a step. Try.
Nails of moonlight have fused
my waist and your chains.
These lines show that moon has played its part in bringing the lovers to the edge of a ravine of passion. If they fall, they fall together to their extinction because they are unable to free themselves of their passion. The fate of the lovers is to be unhappy. But the reason for this is not fate. Their destiny has not brought them unhappiness; it is their passion, which has brought them unhappiness. Even when the Bride struggles to do so, she cannot break away from Leonardo. Their passion is the result of the emotions that reside in their breasts and not a machination of fate. In the very nature of this passion there is tragedy. It is a force like a torrential rain, which destroys the very land it was supposed to fertilize. Fate is a factor, which is merely organizing the sequence of the events leading to tragedy. The essence of tragedy lies in the passion that originates in the hearts of human beings.
The bride tires to heed her instinct for survival but she fails miserably to do so. She goes away with Leonardo when her wedding feast is being celebrated. Leonardo and the Bridegroom kill each other and are brought back to the house. The bride also comes with them. The Bridegroom mother tries to kill her. The Bride does not try to escape. Instead she declares that she would prefer to die now. According to her speech:
BRIDE: [ To the Neighbour] Let her. I came here so she kill me and they take me away with them.
She has no desire left to live. The passion in her breast has taken everything from her. Her only desire now is to be finished herself as well. Passion has succeeded in bringing her to self-extinction. When she is unable to fulfill her passion for Leonardo, the Bride gives up all pretense of living. Her instinct for survival has already suffered defeat. Her going away with Leonardo is a testimony to that. But she is helpless against the force of her passion. She can not fulfill it but neither can she break free from it. Once the passion makes its presence known in her breast, the only option the Bride has is to strive for its satisfaction. Even though she tries her best to stem its flow she cannot control it. The very essence of this passion is self-exterminatory. In her last speech, she says that:

BRIDE: Because I ran away with the other one; I ran away! [With Anguish] You would have gone, too. I was a woman burning with desire, full of sores inside and out, and your son was a little bit of water from which I hoped for children, land, health; but the other one was a dark river, choked with brush, that brought near me the undertones of its rushes and its sweet song [. . .] . I didn want to; remember that! I didn want to. Your son was my destiny and I have not betrayed him, but the other one arm dragged me along like the pull of the sea, like the head toss of a mule, and he would have dragged me always, always, always--even if I were an old woman and all your son sons held me by the hair!
Her passion for Leonardo has been like a brute force. It has the power of a river in flood which sweeps away everything that comes in its path. Even if she had tried she could not have broken free from the traps of this passion. She would always have been a victim of it even if all the world had tried to save her. There is a comparison between passion and the instinct of survival. Even though the Bride realizes that her son could have given her land and childrenecurity and continuity within the communityhe cannot help but choose Leonardo even if it leads to her annihilation because her self craves fulfillment. It is the conflict between the individual self and society. Both are trying to triumph over each other. But even if self triumphs, by the very nature of that triumph it is exterminated. Because the community is devoted to survival of the group and self is devoted to its expression, not survival. Self chooses to express itself even at the cost of extinction. In the Bride character, self-expression triumphs over the instinct for survival. Passion leads the Bride to self-extinction in Blood Wedding.

Form and Structure for Blood Wedding

Form and Structure for Blood Wedding Blood Wedding is written by Federico Garcia Lorca. It is similar to a classical tragic Greek tragedy. The play is split into three acts in act one, two scenes in act two and two scenes in the third and final act. There is a cyclic structure used in the play with the lonely mother inside talking at the start and the finish. All throughout the play we (the audience) know what is going to happen, with the deep romance between two actors all ending in tears, also the deaths happen off stage and choral speech is used, this is the typical Greek way as all the events are determined. The woodcutters, moon, girls and the beggar woman, determine the events throughout the play. These are like narrators that when they are talking, are telling the audience what is going to happen, and what is happenening in the play. The Beggar woman is symbolic of death, she has bird imagery in lifting her rags symbolic of the female sexuality

The Symbolism of Blood blood is referred to as whether a person is good or bad.

In Lorca Blood Wedding, In some examples, blood is explained in different metaphors. Blood has many significant symbolisms structured throughout the play. For example, hat kind of a blood do you have??A person of a good blood experiences honor and love throughout his and or her life and also gets respect from the environment and society. On the other hand, bad blood represents the behavior of a person and that usually comes from the teachings of a family. Blood is repeatedly referred to as having magic powers and as the only food for supernatural beings. In this essay, I will examine the elements of blood, which shows one reactions in various situations, and how blood refers to as one feelings psychologically. Blood represents itself psychologically in the play where Leonardo says ?I hot-blooded and I don want to shout so all these hills will hear me?(Lorca, 59). This behavior shows that Leonardo gets angry easily and cannot keep his anger within himself. By shouting outloud, everybody would hear him and it to be a secret meeting. Leonardo sees bride secretly and she becomes unhappy about it and she gets afraid of being seen by the others. In addition to the last statement above, blood is associated with a variety of notions, including how it affects one emotions as well as affecting him or her psychologically. Once again, Leonardo describes this concept in act two, scene 1, in a dialog with the bride. He states that he is hot-blooded and he does not want to shout so all these hills will hear him. In act three, scene 1 another conversation takes place between Leonardo and the bride and Leonardo describes how his red blood turns black when he thinks of her wedding. In every conversation, blood has a different meaning. Again the blood shows Leonardo emotions toward a particular event. Although there is no rational evidence to prove that the blood directly affects emotions, Leonardo uses terms that allude to the unproven fact. Moreover, blood represents genetic and heritage information. By saying genetic information, it appears that blood shows the person way of behavior as if they come from the same blood. Leonardo demonstrates this by running away with the bride. In this case, the bride runs away with him intentionally. For example, in different cultures this running away represents a pressure on the bride and the family of the bride eventually accepts the marriage of whom she wants to marry. In that particular event, the father states Leonardo lacks good blood, which basically shows a wrong behavior of a person. A good blood therefore, goes away from that person and people recognize him with a bad blood. A person with a bad blood can steal stuff, harm people and become a dangerous identity in the society once his name goes around the people. When the father thinks Leonardo lacks good blood, the mother reaction comes out sturdy. The mother responds with, hat blood would you expect him to have? His whole family blood. It comes down from his great grandfather, who started killing, and it goes on down through the whole evil breed of knife wielding and false smiling men?(Lorca, 68). The mother, in one way explains the kind of blood he possesses. Each symbol has a particular meaning with the blood as one understands on a deeper level. Through generations, ways of thinking have evolved into a process in which leads them to the truths of life. In many cultures, ways of thinking is different and the symbol of having a good or bad blood has a different meaning. Truth of life becomes the physiological truths of nature over the time.

The Bride is a victim of her owm passion in Blood Wedding

In Blood Wedding, Lorca's dramas deal with people who are caught by passions which conflict with custom, reason, and restrains. The bride's passion is an expression of her self, Self is actually a set of charactistic, which make the Bride a unique person in her own right. Her passion contains her desires, her wishes and her fears. When the Bride tries to satisfy her passion, she ends up destorying her self.

Her passion can be divided into two kinds of contacts, one is inwards, another is outwards.

Inward contact means the Bride's inner emotion for love- nature of passion

Outward contact means in contact with the external circumstances which means Society is a system devoted to the survival of the group. If a person does not dare to go against the criterion of the society, then the survival will be difficult. .

In Blood Wedding, the Bride struggles against her inner passion but it is a loosing battle.

We can see some examples:

When the Bridegroom mother comes to ask the bride if she knows what marriage means and told her that merriage is about A man, some children and a wall two yards thick for everything else.(act1 sciii)
The mother makes it clear that marriage is about the survival of the community and not for the individual desires. Marriage does not allow self-expression.

The Bride declared that she knows what marriage is. but it does not mean that she will follow it as well.

In her talk with Leonardo in the first scene of the second act, she tells him that she will lock herself with her husband in a room and then she will have to love him. The Bride is trying her best to forget Leonardo and love her husband, even if it means forcing herself to do so.

So, This conflict is quite clear , and it forces the Bride to ask the bridegroom to hurry up to marry. .(act 2 scii)

BRIDE to Bridegroom: Yes, I want to be your wife right now so that I can be with you alone, not hearing any voice but yours. even though my dead mother should call me, I wouldn't be able to draw away from you

The Bride is afraid that the passion is going to control her and destroy her. the Bridegroom becomes a symbol of social security and survival within the group. She uses him against her passion for Leonardo,

However, the Bride knows that there is a lot of difference between her feelings for the Bridegroom and for Leonardo. we can see her strong feeling for Leonard, when

BRIDE talk to Leonardo: I can listen to your voice. as though I drunk a bottle of anise ( herb) and fallen asleep in a quilt of roses. It pulls me along, and I know I drowning.(act 2 sc i)

This speech shows the nature of the passion, which the Bride feels for Leonardo. It is a drug to her senses. the Bride realizes that this passion is drugging her.

When the Bride runs away with Leonardo in forest, some woodcutters are talk about how to deal with passion. (Act 3 sc I)

FIRST WOODCUTTER: You have to follow the path of your blood. (Here blood becomes a metaphor for passion. )

SECOND WOODCUTTER: But blood that sees the light of day is drunk up by the earth. ( One has to follow the path of fulfilling one passion but the risk of death is always there.).( These dialogues imply that only hidden passions are safe from being ravaged, If passion is not hidden, then the earth will drink it up)

FIRST WOODCUTTER: What of it? Better dead with the blood drained away then alive with it rotting. ( even though the passion leads to death, but it is better when you live without passion)

( Lorca chooses woodcutter to express the bride's life will be destroyed, as we know woodcutter is the symbol of a professional killer to the nature and the seed of life)

In the end of script, when Bridegroom & Leonardo all are dead, The bride said to the mother :

Your son was my destiny and I have not betrayed him, but the other one dragged me along like the pull of the sea, Her passion for Leonardo has been like the power of a river in flood which sweeps away everything that comes in its path. It revealed that It is the conflict between the individual self and society. Passion leads the Bride to self-extinction; so the Bride is a victim of her own passion.

=========================================================================================================

A Comparison of Plays

Everyone pretends to be a model of propriety. So, Sin is concealed in secret; In “Blood Wedding” and “Miss Julie” both focus on reflecting the hypocrisies. In both of the plays, these pretenses of virtue are easily to see by forbidden love affairs.

In “Blood Wedding”, the bride is hypocritical to agree to marry the bridegroom regardless of her strong love for Leonardo. The bride shows that she is aware of her hypocrisy by saying, “...[marriage] is a huge step to take” when asked if she was happy. Her response shows that she is fully aware of her passion for Leonardo.

Leonardo also reflects his own hypocrisies in “Blood Wedding” when he refers to the bride as “a slippery little thing.” He is mischievously deluding his wife.

In " Miss Julie" - Julie begs her servant-Jean for advice and comfort. Jean becomes hypocritical because earlier in the drama, he acts as a noble, respectable man not interested in destroying Julie’s reputation. However, when Jean asks her to run away with him and bring money for the hotel, Julie admits, “I can’t. However, this action we can see his hypocrisy was performed.

In both plays, hypocrisy becomes the center of a universe of betrayal and desire.

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:32
The Convergence Of The Twain

The Convergence Of The Twain

受希腊悲劇

人是神的plaything，人怎麼做都無法resist神。

Poem lyrics of The Convergence Of The Twain by Thomas Hardy.

(27:30)

1-5描寫海底下的景色，主詞 she，安靜地躺靠在孤絕的海底 ( like titatic- 沉在海底下的titatic 的出於人的驕傲，遠離人的
。利用contrast，反諷的作用)

I
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity, 遠離
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she. 遠離今生的驕傲

II
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires, (神話中的神，可以抵抗火)
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
燃料艙，是有cold的水流流過，把火葬用的柴堆已變成豎琴，發出顫律)

III
Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls-grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
客房部的鏡子，也是設計給有錢人照的，現在是海蟲，海蛇，黏答答的在上面，對他們來說一點也沒有意義。

IV
Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
帶著喜悅被設計出來的珠寶去擄獲重視愛慕榮的人

lightless- 現在暗淡 ( 反諷)

1- 4 對照人的虛華驕傲

V

Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?"...
用人的 personalification

VI
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,( 指船 titatic)
The Immanent Will(內在的意志力) that stirs and urges everything(在攪動著，在促使所有事運作)
轉折( 有run-on)

VII
Prepared a sinister mate ( 一個看不見的力量，預備一個邪惡的伴侶)
For her - so gaily great - 如此美好的伴侶
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate. 冰山，為著未來一個遙遠看不見的未來

fatalism- titatic (時間，空間都看不見)

VIII
And as the smart ship grew 當船越來越美，讓冰山有生命，慢慢地長大，冰山默默地。
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
(美vs邪惡)

IX
Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
他們似乎是無關的，世上沒有一個凡人，可以預知的道在未來的歷史上會有親密的結合

X
Or sign that they were bent
by paths coincident ( 交叉路)
On being anon(很快) twin halves of one august event,
同時走向交叉路會路，促成一個重大事件合起來是一個圓- 完整 )

twin- iceberg & ship

XI
Till the Spinner of the Years 命運女神- Immanent Will
Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
(他自各自在各自的道路上，圓滿大結局，震驚全世界)

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:29
Well made play

Well-Made Play

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The Well-Made Play is a genre of theatre from the 19th century, codified by Eugène Scribe. It has a strong neo-classical flavor, involving a very tight plot and a climax that takes place very close to the end of the story, with most of the story taking place before the action of the play; much of the information regarding such previous action would be revealed through thinly veiled exposition. Following that would be a series of causally related plot complications. One of the hallmarks of the Well-Made Play is the use of letters or papers falling into unintended hands in order to bring about plot twists and climaxes. Following the recommendations found in Aristotle's POETICS, the letters must bring about an unexpected reversal of fortune, in which it is often revealed that someone is not who he/she pretends to be. The reversal will allow for a quick denouement, and a return to order, at which point the curtain falls.

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest exaggerates many of the conventions of the well-made play, such as the missing papers conceit (the hero, as an infant, was confused with the manuscript of a novel) and a final revelation (which, in this play, occurs about thirty seconds before the final curtain).

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House follows most of the conceits of the well-made play, but transcends the genre when, after incriminating papers are recovered, Nora (rather shockingly) rejects the expected return to normality. Several of Ibsen's subsequent plays seem to build on the general construction principles of the Well-Made Play. The Wild Duck (1884) can be seen as a deliberate, metatheatrical deconstruction of the Scribean formula.

Although George Bernard Shaw scorned the "well-made play" and actively attempted to create works which defied its conventions, his use of the General's coat and the hidden photograph in "Arms and the Man" generate the classic plot twist of a "well-made play".

Also, J. B. Priestley's 1946 'An Inspector Calls' may in some ways be considered a "well-made play" in that its action happens before the play starts, and in the case of the older Birlings no moral change takes place. The similarity between Priestley's play and this rather conservative genre might strike some readers/audiences as surprising because Priestley was a socialist. However, his play, like Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' transcends this genre by providing another plunge into chaos after the return to normality.

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:21
about Jack and the Beanstalk

想到應付考試時，還得準備三個版本同一個故事的兒童文學。雖然文章內容簡單易懂，但要分析不同版本的差異性，還真得花上時間仔細推敲呢!!現在看文學作品純欣賞，大部份只去感受故事性所帶來的情感衝擊，不太能去分析其理性面。

Jack and the Beanstalk

B (An English Tale by Andrew Lang)

Andrew Lang's version of Jack and the Beanstalk is based on the first literary, or recorded, version of the tale published in 1807 by Benjamin Tabart.

More detail and description on the reason why Jack need to back to castle when his father was killed by giant, and fairy wants to help him because he is courage.B

Joseph Jacobs
(1854-1916)B Jacobs' versionB : oral, simple version

Jack and the Beanstalk

B As told by Joseph Jacobs

There was once upon a time a poor widow who had an only son named Jack, and a cow named Milky-White. And all they had to live on was the milk the cow gave every morning, which they carried to the market and sold. But one morning Milky-White gave no milk, and they didn't know what to do.

"What shall we do, what shall we do?" said the widow, wringing her hands.

"Cheer up, mother, I'll go and get work somewhere," said Jack.

"We've tried that before, and nobody would take you," said his mother. "We must sell Milky-White and with the money start a shop, or something."

"All right, mother," says Jack. "It's market day today, and I'll soon sell Milky-White, and then we'll see what we can do."

So he took the cow's halter in his hand, and off he started. He hadn't gone far when he met a funny-looking old man, who said to him, "Good morning, Jack."

"Good morning to you," said Jack, and wondered how he knew his name.

"Well, Jack, and where are you off to?" said the man.

"I'm going to market to sell our cow there."

"Oh, you look the proper sort of chap to sell cows," said the man. "I wonder if you know how many beans make five."

"Two in each hand and one in your mouth," says Jack, as sharp as a needle.

"Right you are," says the man, "and here they are, the very beans themselves," he went on, pulling out of his pocket a number of strange-looking beans. "As you are so sharp," says he, "I don't mind doing a swap with you -- your cow for these beans."

"Go along," says Jack. "Wouldn't you like it?"

"Ah! You don't know what these beans are," said the man. "If you plant them overnight, by morning they grow right up to the sky."

"Really?" said Jack. "You don't say so."

"Yes, that is so. And if it doesn't turn out to be true you can have your cow back."

"Right," says Jack, and hands him over Milky-White's halter and pockets the beans.

Back goes Jack home, and as he hadn't gone very far it wasn't dusk by the time he got to his door.

"Back already, Jack?" said his mother. "I see you haven't got Milky-White, so you've sold her. How much did you get for her?"

"You'll never guess, mother," says Jack.

"No, you don't say so. Good boy! Five pounds? Ten? Fifteen? No, it can't be twenty."

"I told you you couldn't guess. What do you say to these beans? They're magical. Plant them overnight and -- "

"What!" says Jack's mother. "Have you been such a fool, such a dolt, such an idiot, as to give away my Milky-White, the best milker in the parish, and prime beef to boot, for a set of paltry beans? Take that! Take that! Take that! And as for your precious beans here they go out of the window. And now off with you to bed. Not a sup shall you drink, and not a bit shall you swallow this very night."

So Jack went upstairs to his little room in the attic, and sad and sorry he was, to be sure, as much for his mother's sake as for the loss of his supper.

At last he dropped off to sleep.

When he woke up, the room looked so funny. The sun was shining into part of it, and yet all the rest was quite dark and shady. So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? Why, the beans his mother had thrown out of the window into the garden had sprung up into a big beanstalk which went up and up and up till it reached the sky. So the man spoke truth after all.

The beanstalk grew up quite close past Jack's window, so all he had to do was to open it and give a jump onto the beanstalk which ran up just like a big ladder. So Jack climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed till at last he reached the sky. And when he got there he found a long broad road going as straight as a dart. So he walked along, and he walked along, and he walked along till he came to a great big tall house, and on the doorstep there was a great big tall woman.

"Good morning, mum," says Jack, quite polite-like. "Could you be so kind as to give me some breakfast?" For he hadn't had anything to eat, you know, the night before, and was as hungry as a hunter.

"It's breakfast you want, is it?" says the great big tall woman. "It's breakfast you'll be if you don't move off from here. My man is an ogre and there's nothing he likes better than boys broiled on toast. You'd better be moving on or he'll be coming."

"Oh! please, mum, do give me something to eat, mum. I've had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, really and truly, mum," says Jack. "I may as well be broiled as die of hunger."

Well, the ogre's wife was not half so bad after all. So she took Jack into the kitchen, and gave him a hunk of bread and cheese and a jug of milk. But Jack hadn't half finished these when thump! thump! thump! the whole house began to tremble with the noise of someone coming.

"Goodness gracious me! It's my old man," said the ogre's wife. "What on earth shall I do? Come along quick and jump in here." And she bundled Jack into the oven just as the ogre came in.

He was a big one, to be sure. At his belt he had three calves strung up by the heels, and he unhooked them and threw them down on the table and said, "Here, wife, broil me a couple of these for breakfast. Ah! what's this I smell?

Fee-fi-fo-fum,

I smell the blood of an Englishman,

Be he alive, or be he dead,

I'll have his bones to grind my bread."

"Nonsense, dear," said his wife. "You' re dreaming. Or perhaps you smell the scraps of that little boy you liked so much for yesterday's dinner. Here, you go and have a wash and tidy up, and by the time you come back your breakfast'll be ready for you."

So off the ogre went, and Jack was just going to jump out of the oven and run away when the woman told him not. "Wait till he's asleep," says she; "he always has a doze after breakfast."

Well, the ogre had his breakfast, and after that he goes to a big chest and takes out a couple of bags of gold, and down he sits and counts till at last his head began to nod and he began to snore till the whole house shook again.

Then Jack crept out on tiptoe from his oven, and as he was passing the ogre, he took one of the bags of gold under his arm, and off he pelters till he came to the beanstalk, and then he threw down the bag of gold, which, of course, fell into his mother's garden, and then he climbed down and climbed down till at last he got home and told his mother and showed her the gold and said, "Well, mother, wasn't I right about the beans? They are really magical, you see."

So they lived on the bag of gold for some time, but at last they came to the end of it, and Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more at the top of the beanstalk. So one fine morning he rose up early, and got onto the beanstalk, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed till at last he came out onto the road again and up to the great tall house he had been to before. There, sure enough, was the great tall woman a-standing on the doorstep.

"Good morning, mum," says Jack, as bold as brass, "could you be so good as to give me something to eat?"

"Go away, my boy," said the big tall woman, "or else my man will eat you up for breakfast. But aren't you the youngster who came here once before? Do you know, that very day my man missed one of his bags of gold."

"That's strange, mum," said Jack, "I dare say I could tell you something about that, but I'm so hungry I can't speak till I've had something to eat."

Well, the big tall woman was so curious that she took him in and gave him something to eat. But he had scarcely begun munching it as slowly as he could when thump! thump! they heard the giant's footstep, and his wife hid Jack away in the oven.

All happened as it did before. In came the ogre as he did before, said, "Fee-fi-fo-fum," and had his breakfast off three broiled oxen.

Then he said, "Wife, bring me the hen that lays the golden eggs." So she brought it, and the ogre said, "Lay," and it laid an egg all of gold. And then the ogre began to nod his head, and to snore till the house shook.

Then Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoe and caught hold of the golden hen, and was off before you could say "Jack Robinson." But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the ogre, and just as Jack got out of the house he heard him calling, "Wife, wife, what have you done with my golden hen?"

And the wife said, "Why, my dear?"

But that was all Jack heard, for he rushed off to the beanstalk and climbed down like a house on fire. And when he got home he showed his mother the wonderful hen, and said "Lay" to it; and it laid a golden egg every time he said "Lay."

Well, Jack was not content, and it wasn't long before he determined to have another try at his luck up there at the top of the beanstalk. So one fine morning he rose up early and got to the beanstalk, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed till he got to the top.

But this time he knew better than to go straight to the ogre's house. And when he got near it, he waited behind a bush till he saw the ogre's wife come out with a pail to get some water, and then he crept into the house and got into the copper. He hadn't been there long when he heard thump! thump! thump! as before, and in came the ogre and his wife.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman," cried out the ogre. "I smell him, wife, I smell him."

"Do you, my dearie?" says the ogre's wife. "Then, if it's that little rogue that stole your gold and the hen that laid the golden eggs he's sure to have got into the oven." And they both rushed to the oven.

But Jack wasn't there, luckily, and the ogre' s wife said, "There you are again with your fee-fi-fo-fum. Why, of course, it's the boy you caught last night that I've just broiled for your breakfast. How forgetful I am, and how careless you are not to know the difference between live and dead after all these years."

So the ogre sat down to the breakfast and ate it, but every now and then he would mutter, "Well, I could have sworn --" and he'd get up and search the larder and the cupboards and everything, only, luckily, he didn't think of the copper.

After breakfast was over, the ogre called out, "Wife, wife, bring me my golden harp."

So she brought it and put it on the table before him. Then he said, "Sing!" and the golden harp sang most beautifully. on singinAnd it went g till the ogre fell asleep, and commenced to snore like thunder.

Then Jack lifted up the copper lid very quietly and got down like a mouse and crept on hands and knees till he came to the table, when up he crawled, caught hold of the golden harp and dashed with it towards the door.

But the harp called out quite loud, "Master! Master!" and the ogre woke up just in time to see Jack running off with his harp.

Jack ran as fast as he could, and the ogre came rushing after, and would soon have caught him, only Jack had a start and dodged him a bit and knew where he was going. When he got to the beanstalk the ogre was not more than twenty yards away when suddenly he saw Jack disappear like, and when he came to the end of the road he saw Jack underneath climbing down for dear life. Well, the ogre didn't like trusting himself to such a ladder, and he stood and waited, so Jack got another start.

But just then the harp cried out, "Master! Master!" and the ogre swung himself down onto the beanstalk, which shook with his weight. Down climbs Jack, and after him climbed the ogre.

By this time Jack had climbed down and climbed down and climbed down till he was very nearly home. So he called out, "Mother! Mother! bring me an ax, bring me an ax." And his mother came rushing out with the ax in her hand, but when she came to the beanstalk she stood stock still with fright, for there she saw the ogre with his legs just through the clouds.

But Jack jumped down and got hold of the ax and gave a chop at the beanstalk which cut it half in two. The ogre felt the beanstalk shake and quiver, so he stopped to see what was the matter. Then Jack gave another chop with the ax, and the beanstalk was cut in two and began to topple over. Then the ogre fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling after.

Then Jack showed his mother his golden harp, and what with showing that and selling the golden eggs, Jack and his mother became very rich, and he married a great princess, and they lived happy ever after.

Source: Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons and David Nutt, 1898), no. 13, pp. 59-67.
Jacobs' source: "I tell this as it was told me in Australia, somewhere about the year 1860."
Return to the table of contents.

Jack and the Beanstalk

As told by Andrew Lang

Jack Sells the Cow

Once upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a little cottage with her only son Jack. Jack was a giddy, thoughtless boy, but very kind hearted and affectionate. There had been a hard winter, and after it the poor woman had suffered from fever and ague. Jack did no work as yet, and by degrees they grew dreadfully poor.

The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, "I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her."

Jack liked going to market to sell the cow very much; but as he was on the way, he met a butcher who had some beautiful beans in his hand. Jack stopped to look at them, and the butcher told the boy that they were of great value and persuaded the silly lad to sell the cow for these beans.

When he brought them home to his mother instead of the money she expected for her nice cow, she was very vexed and shed many tears, scolding Jack for his folly. He was very sorry, and mother and son went to bed very sadly that night; their last hope seemed gone.

At daybreak Jack rose and went out into the garden. "At least," he thought, "I will sow the wonderful beans. Mother says that they are just common scarlet runners, and nothing else; but I may as well sow them." So he took a piece of stick, and made some holes in the ground, and put in the beans.

That day they had very little dinner, and went sadly to bed, knowing that for the next day there would be none, and Jack, unable to sleep from grief and vexation, got up at day-dawn and went out into the garden.

What was his amazement to find that the beans had grown up in the night, and climbed up and up until they covered the high cliff that sheltered the cottage and disappeared above it! The stalks had twined and twisted themselves together until they formed quite a ladder.

"It would be easy to climb it," thought Jack. And, having thought of the experiment, he at once resolved to carry it out, for Jack was a good climber. However, after his late mistake about the cow, he thought he had better consult his mother first.

Wonderful Growth of the Beanstalk

So Jack called his mother, and they both gazed in silent wonder at the beanstalk, which was not only of great height, but was thick enough to bear Jack's weight. "I wonder where it ends," said Jack to his mother. "I think I will climb up and see."

His mother wished him not to venture up this strange ladder, but Jack coaxed her to give her consent to the attempt, for he was certain there must be something wonderful in the beanstalk; so at last she yielded to his wishes.

Jack instantly began to climb, and went up and up on the ladder-like beanstalk until everything he had left behind him -- the cottage, the village, and even the tall church tower -- looked quite little, and still he could not see the top of the beanstalk.

Jack felt a little tired, and thought for a moment that he would go back again; but he was a very persevering boy, and he knew that the way to succeed in anything is not to give up. So after resting for a moment he went on. After climbing higher and higher, until he grew afraid to look down for fear he should be giddy, Jack at last reached the top of the beanstalk, and found himself in a beautiful country, finely wooded, with beautiful meadows covered with sheep. A crystal stream ran through the pastures; not far from the place where he had got off the beanstalk stood a fine, strong castle.

Jack wondered very much that he had never heard of or seen this castle before; but when he reflected on the subject, he saw that it was as much separated from the village by the perpendicular rock on which it stood as if it were in another land.

While Jack was standing looking at the castle, a very strange looking woman came out of the wood, and advanced towards him. She wore a pointed cap of quilted red satin turned up with ermine. Her hair streamed loose over her shoulders, and she walked with a staff. Jack took off his cap and made her a bow.

"If you please, ma'am," said he, "is this your house?"

"No," said the old lady. "Listen, and I will tell you the story of that castle:"

Once upon a time there was a noble knight, who lived in this castle, which is on the borders of fairyland. He had a fair and beloved wife and several lovely children; and as his neighbors, the little people, were very friendly towards him, they bestowed on him many excellent and precious gifts.

Rumor whispered of these treasures; and a monstrous giant, who lived at no great distance, and who was a very wicked being, resolved to obtain possession of them.

So he bribed a false servant to let him inside the castle, when the knight was in bed and asleep, and he killed him as he lay. Then he went to the part of the castle which was the nursery, and also killed all the poor little ones he found there.

Happily for her, the lady was not to be found. She had gone with her infant son, who was only two or three months old, to visit her old nurse, who lived in the valley; and she had been detained all night there by a storm.

The next morning, as soon as it was light, one of the servants at the castle, who had managed to escape, came to tell the poor lady of the sad fate of her husband and her pretty babes. She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones. But the old nurse, with many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.

The lady yielded to this reasoning, and consented to remain at her nurse's house as the best place of concealment; for the servant told her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, he would kill both her and her baby.

Years rolled on. The old nurse died, leaving her cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to her poor lady, who dwelt in it, working as a peasant for her daily bread. Her spinning wheel and the milk of a cow, which she had purchased with the little money she had with her, sufficed for the scanty subsistence of herself and her little son. There was a nice little garden attached to the cottage, in which they cultivated peas, beans, and cabbages, and the lady was not ashamed to go out at harvest time, and glean in the fields to supply her little son's wants.

Jack, that poor lady is your mother. This castle was once your father's, and must again be yours.

Jack uttered a cry of surprise. "My mother! Oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor father! My dear mother!"

"Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But the task is a very difficult one, and full of peril, Jack. Have you courage to undertake it?"

"I fear nothing when I am doing right," said Jack.

"Then," said the lady in the red cap, "you are one of those who slay giants. You must get into the castle, and if possible possess yourself of a hen that lays golden eggs, and a harp that talks. Remember, all the giant possesses is really yours." As she ceased speaking, the lady of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course Jack knew she was a fairy.

Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he advanced, and blew the horn which hung at the castle portal. The door was opened in a minute or two by a frightful giantess, with one great eye in the middle of her forehead. As soon as Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught him, and dragged him into the castle.

"Ho, ho!" she laughed terribly. "You didn't expect to see me here, that is clear! No, I shan't let you go again. I am weary of my life. I am so overworked, and I don't see why I should not have a page as well as other ladies. And you shall be my boy. You shall clean the knives, and black the boots, and make the fires, and help me generally when the giant is out. When he is at home I must hide you, for he has eaten up all my pages hitherto, and you would be a dainty morsel, my little lad."

While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The poor boy was very much frightened, as I am sure you and I would have been in his place. But he remembered that fear disgraces a man, so he struggled to be brave and make the best of things.

"I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you, madam," he said, "only I beg you will be good enough to hide me from your husband, for I should not like to be eaten at all."

"That's a good boy," said the giantess, nodding her head; "it is lucky for you that you did not scream out when you saw me, as the other boys who have been here did, for if you had done so my husband would have awakened and have eaten you, as he did them, for breakfast. Come here, child; go into my wardrobe. He never ventures to open that. You will be safe there."

And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall, and shut him into it. But the keyhole was so large that it admitted plenty of air, and he could see everything that took place through it. By and by he heard a heavy tramp on the stairs, like the lumbering along of a great cannon, and then a voice like thunder cried out.

Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,B

I smell the breath of an Englishman.B

Let him be alive or let him be dead,B

I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

"Wife," cried the giant, "there is a man in the castle. Let me have him for breakfast."

"You are grown old and stupid," cried the lady in her loud tones. "It is only a nice fresh steak off an elephant that I have cooked for you which you smell. There, sit down and make a good breakfast."

And she placed a huge dish before him of savory steaming meat, which greatly pleased him and made him forget his idea of an Englishman being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he went out for a walk; and then the giantess opened the door, and made Jack come out to help her. He helped her all day. She fed him well, and when evening came put him back in the wardrobe.

The Hen That Lays Golden Eggs

The giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the keyhole, and was amazed to see him pick a wolf's bone and put half a fowl at a time into his capacious mouth.

When the supper was ended he bade his wife bring him his hen that laid the golden eggs.

"It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that paltry knight," he said. "Indeed, I think the eggs are heavier than ever."

The giantess went away, and soon returned with a little brown hen, which she placed on the table before her husband. "And now, my dear," she said, "I am going for a walk, if you don't want me any longer."

"Go," said the giant. "I shall be glad to have a nap by and by."

Then he took up the brown hen and said to her, "Lay!" And she instantly laid a golden egg.

"Lay!" said the giant again. And she laid another.

"Lay!" he repeated the third time. And again a golden egg lay on the table.

Now Jack was sure this hen was that of which the fairy had spoken.

By and by the giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder.

Directly Jack perceived that the giant was fast asleep, he pushed open the door of the wardrobe and crept out. Very softly he stole across the room, and, picking up the hen, made haste to quit the apartment. He knew the way to the kitchen, the door of which he found was left ajar. He opened it, shut and locked it after him, and flew back to the beanstalk, which he descended as fast as his feet would move.

When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for she had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the giant had found him. But Jack put the brown hen down before her, and told her how he had been in the giant's castle, and all his adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would make them rich once more.

The Money Bags

Jack made another journey up the beanstalk to the giant's castle one day while his mother had gone to market. But first he dyed his hair and disguised himself. The old woman did not know him again and dragged him in as she had done before to help her to do the work; but she heard her husband coming, and hid him in the wardrobe, not thinking that it was the same boy who had stolen the hen. She bade him stay quite still there, or the giant would eat him.

Then the giant came in saying:

Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,B

I smell the breath of an Englishman.B

Let him be alive or let him be dead,B

I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

"Nonsense!" said the wife, "it is only a roasted bullock that I thought would be a tit-bit for your supper; sit down and I will bring it up at once."

The giant sat down, and soon his wife brought up a roasted bullock on a large dish, and they began their supper. Jack was amazed to see them pick the bones of the bullock as if it had been a lark.

As soon as they had finished their meal, the giantess rose and said:, "Now, my dear, with your leave I am going up to my room to finish the story I am reading. If you want me call for me."

"First," answered the giant, "bring me my money bags, that I may count my golden pieces before I sleep."

The giantess obeyed. She went and soon returned with two large bags over her shoulders, which she put down by her husband.

"There," she said; "that is all that is left of the knight's money. When you have spent it you must go and take another baron's castle."

"That he shan't, if I can help it," thought Jack.

The giant, when his wife was gone, took out heaps and heaps of golden pieces, and counted them, and put them in piles, until he was tired of the amusement. Then he swept them all back into their bags, and leaning back in his chair fell fast asleep, snoring so loud that no other sound was audible.

Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags of money (which were his very own, because the giant had stolen them from his father), he ran off, and with great difficulty descending the beanstalk, laid the bags of gold on his mother's table. She had just returned from town, and was crying at not finding Jack.

"There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father lost."

"Oh, Jack! You are a very good boy, but I wish you would not risk your precious life in the giant's castle. Tell me how you came to go there again." And Jack told her all about it.

Jack's mother was very glad to get the money, but she did not like him to run any risk for her. But after a time Jack made up his mind to go again to the giant's castle.

So he climbed the beanstalk once more, and blew the horn at the giant's gate. The giantess soon opened the door. She was very stupid, and did not know him again, but she stopped a minute before she took him in. She feared another robbery; but Jack's fresh face looked so innocent that she could not resist him, and so she bade him come in, and again hid him away in the wardrobe.

By and by the giant came home, and as soon as he had crossed the threshold he roared out:

Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,

I smell the breath of an Englishman.

Let him be alive or let him be dead,

I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

"You stupid old giant," said his wife, "you only smell a nice sheep, which I have grilled for your dinner."

And the giant sat down, and his wife brought up a whole sheep for his dinner. When he had eaten it all up, he said, "Now bring me my harp, and I will have a little music while you take your walk."

The giantess obeyed, and returned with a beautiful harp. The framework was all sparkling with diamonds and rubies, and the strings were all of gold.

"This is one of the nicest things I took from the knight," said the giant. "I am very fond of music, and my harp is a faithful servant."

So he drew the harp towards him, and said, "Play!" And the harp played a very soft, sad air.

"Play something merrier!" said the giant. And the harp played a merry tune.

"Now play me a lullaby," roared the giant, and the harp played a sweet lullaby, to the sound of which its master fell asleep.

Then Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and went into the huge kitchen to see if the giantess had gone out. He found no one there, so he went to the door and opened it softly, for he thought he could not do so with the harp in his hand.

Then he entered the giant's room and seized the harp and ran away with it; but as he jumped over the threshold the harp called out, "Master! Master!" And the giant woke up. With a tremendous roar he sprang from his seat, and in two strides had reached the door.

But Jack was very nimble. He fled like lightning with the harp, talking to it as he went (for he saw it was a fai

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:09
生態文學課表

Dr. Catherine Diamond diamond_catherine@yahoo.com

Nature has always been a primary source of inspiration for artists and writers; the creativity of Nature itself has been the model for human artistic creativity. During the last fifty years, more of the world’s species of plants and animals have been made extinct by human activity than in all the rest of history put together. From the upper parts of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans, to the interior of forests and deserts, have all been polluted, devastated by human greed, carelessness, or poverty. For the first time in human history we are facing the finiteness of Nature. The damage being done is permanent. At stake is not only the survival of human civilization, but the recuperative ability of the entire earth. The magnitude of this threat not only makes it an important subject for literature, but also a necessary concern for every person living today. This course will look at the literary works that consciously address the issues of human’s relationship with the natural environment, and later with the human-made environment that impacts nature. The course will combine science, literature and sociology because we will discuss individual action and responsibility as well as social movements.

The readings will be a combination of essays, poems, stories and criticism, but as most of them will be by American and English writers, I will ask students to find relevant Taiwanese writers. The course will combine literary criticism, creative writing, journalism in its approach to studying the relationships between humans and nature.

Requirements for Second Semester:

Regular and prompt attendance. I will start class on time, not five or ten minutes late. After three unexcused absences you will receive a zero. Three late appearances will be considered an absence. If you have a reason for being late, please let me know IN ADVANCE.
Reading and being prepared to discuss the readings BEFORE class. You need not finish the article, or understand everything, but you must have looked at the readings and have a general idea of the contents. This is a senior seminar and students should be prepared to offer their views on the readings during class discussions. I will give surprise quizzes on the readings.
A group in-depth investigation project about some aspect of environmentalism or eco-literature. At the end of the semester the groups will present an oral presentation in which every member will participate. Students will keep a weekly record of the progress of the investigation and how they are conducting it—their methods, results and aims.
A final on the readings.

In-Class Behavior:

Please follow these rules:

No eating in during class. Once class starts, put away all food. You can eat during the break.
Turn off your mobile phones when you enter class. You can talk on your phones during the break OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM.
The teacher is not called “teacher.” She has a name. You can call her “Dr. Diamond” or “Professor Diamond” or Dai Laoshih. You cannot use her first name.

Second Semester Reading List:

1. Blind Panic Douglas Adams

2. Cetecea Otto Fong

3. Making Peace Barbara Kingsolver

4. Airborne Toxic Event Don DeLillo

5. Ecotopia Ernest Callenbach

6. A View of the Woods Flannery O’ Conner

7. The Ecological Crisis as a Crisis of Character Wendell Barry

8. The Idea of a Garden Michael Pollan

9. The Land Ethic Aldo Leopold

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:08
文明社會的控訴者-摘自百科大全

文明社會的控訴者

盧梭提出：在自然狀態（動物所處的狀態和人類文明及社會出現以前的狀態）下，人本質上是好的，是「高貴的野蠻人」（noble savage）。好人被他們的社會經歷所折磨和侵蝕。而社會的發展導致了人類不幸的繼續。盧梭的《論科學與藝術》（"Discours sur les sciences et les arts", 1750）強調，藝術與科學的進步並沒有給人類帶來好處。他認為知識的積累加強了政府的統治而壓制了個人的自由。他總結得，物質文明的發展事實上破壞了真摯的友誼，取而代之的是嫉妒、畏懼和懷疑。

[編輯] 法國大革命的精神偶像

描述人和社會關係的《社會契約論》也許是盧梭最重要的著作，其中開頭寫道「人是生而自由的，但卻無往不在枷鎖之中」^[1]。這本書於1762年出版，當時無人問津，但後來成為了反映西方傳統政治思想的最有影響力的著作之一。與他早期作品相反，盧梭認為自然狀態是沒有法律和道德的獸性狀態，好人是因為社會的出現才有的。自然狀態下，常有個人能力無法應付的境況，必須通過與其他人的聯合才能生存，因而大家都願意聯合起來。^[2]人們聯合在一起，以一個集體的形式而存在，這就形成了社會。社會的契約是人們對成員的社會地位的協議。

在《不平等論》（"Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité"）中，盧梭嘗試把政府的出現解釋為統治者與被統治者的一種契約。人們願意放棄個人自由並被他人所統治的唯一原因，是他們看到個人的權利、快樂和財產在一個有正規政府的社會比在一個無政府的、人人只顧自己社會能夠得到更好的保護。不過，盧梭又指出原始的契約有著明顯的缺陷。社會中最富有和最有權力的人「欺騙」了大眾，使不平等成為人類社會一個永恆的特點。他在《社會契約論》中提到，統治者與被統治者的契約應該被重新思考。政府不應該是保護少數人的財富和權利，而是應該著眼於每一個人的權利和平等。不管任何形式的政府，如果它沒有對每一個人的權利、自由和平等負責，那它就破壞了作為政治職權根本的社會契約。

這種思想是法國大革命和美國革命的根本。事實上，說法國和美國革命是盧梭在社會契約上的抽象理論的直接結果毫不過分。羅伯斯庇爾就是盧梭的忠實信徒,被稱為"行走中的盧梭"。

盧梭是最早攻擊私人財產制度的現代作家之一，因此他也被認為是現代社會主義和共產主義（見馬克思）的始祖之一。同時，他質疑多數人的意願是否一定正確。他指出，政府應該排除多數人（見民主）意願的影響，捍衛自由、平等和公正。

盧梭的政治哲學中最主要的原則是政治不應與道德分離。當一個國家不能以德服人，它就不能正常地發揮本身的功能，也不能建立對個人的權威。第二個重要的原則是自由，捍衛自由是國家建立的目的之一。這也是法國大革命由政治革命而社會革命，再由社會革命而道德革命，規模和程度遠超英美的一個淵源。

[編輯] 「教育的自然福音」

在《愛彌兒》中體現的盧梭對教育的觀念深深地影響了現代教育理論。他降低書面知識的重要性，建議孩子的情感教育先於理性教育。他尤為強調通過個人經驗來學習。

「讓我們回歸自然」

在早期的作品中，他把自然描述為原始人所處的原始的狀態。後來，在伏爾泰（Voltaire）的批評下，他把自然描述為人建立自己個性和個人世界過程的自發性。所以，自然意味著內心的狀態、完整的人格和精神的自由。與之形成對比的是社會在文明的幌子下進行的關押和奴役。因此，回歸自然就是使人恢復這種自然過程的力量，脫離外界社會的各種壓迫，以及文明的偏見。

1782年出版的自傳《懺悔錄》（"Confession"）是最早最有影響的自我暴露作品之一，書中毫不掩飾個人醜行，對後世影響深遠。中國的作家郁達夫就深受盧梭自我暴露風格的影響。

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:04
about Chihiro

一、	動機

	「神隱少女」甫在日本各大戲院上映，立即刷下前所未有的驚人票房紀錄，令人難以想像的是，一部以奇幻故事為情節的宮崎駿動畫電影，何足以風靡了無數男女老少的日本人，老少咸宜，究竟其魅力何在，這是引起我們欲深入探討的主因。

二、	前言

	我們在現今瞬息萬變，及科技的日新月異下的世界，情緒被散落了太多東西，而本心也在太多的紛紛擾擾與現實的佐料中被層層的包藏，逐漸的隱匿了其原有的光輝。而堅持理想與朝目標邁進，不可否置是神隱少女中，所帶給大家的感動。而那些因追求物慾而失去自己的本質，在本片所述說的在迷失中找回自我的過程，我們也去找尋了解答。

三、	故事大綱

	一名十歲的平凡少女－千尋和其父母，被捲入人類不能踏入的世界，為了拯救忘記自己人類身分而變成動物的父母，千尋原先沉睡的求生力量，終於被喚醒，在錢婆婆的溫泉旅館工作的同時，她也意外的重新發現自己生命的可能性，以及體驗了更深刻的愛與被愛。

　肆● 正文　　

一、

「神隱」的涵義

「神隱」是指小孩為山神或天狗帶走，而神秘失蹤。（註一）而千尋是屬於失蹤後平安歸來，仍留有神隱時的記憶（沒有被鬼神消除）的情況。（註二）

二、

人物臉譜

01.	荻野千尋

	平凡富裕的生活已把她與生俱來的天賦潛能給丟懶了，使她失去了自信和原始生存力量，也失去了自我存在價值，總是毫無生氣。原先帶有一點的冷漠與依賴，在故事的起始有著一雙對世界淡漠的眼睛，和在搬家時悶悶不樂的神情，還有對父母的處處依賴。在闖入神靈聚集的人類禁地後，千尋在這逆境中發揮求生適應力，慢慢的建立起無比的勇氣，甚至變得堅強起來。而千尋在這趟可謂是生命的修練之旅中，她學會如何付出，如何去愛，悟得了在施予時的那種個人存在感。

02.	白龍（琥珀川）

	一個本質善良，溫柔的男孩，「琥珀川」因為人類開發城鎮，把它填平蓋房子，白龍無處可去，在投奔湯婆婆學習魔法的時候，連自己的名字也被湯婆婆收走。因為失去了名字，所以他找不到回去的路，在與千尋互相扶持與幫助的過程中，白龍終於想起自己的名字。

03.	湯婆婆與錢婆婆

	雙胞胎姊妹，卻有截然不同的性格，湯婆婆是迷戀金錢的溫泉經營者，對自己的子女放縱不加管制，是個失格的母親，肆意揮霍，性格宛如小兒缺乏思考理性。而錢婆婆住在簡樸的小屋中，說：「用魔法織東西始終比不上大家用線一針一針織」，（註三）反映出魔法相對於現代的發達科技，縱使便利，卻破壞了我們週遭的環境。姊妹鬩牆不只直接幫助了千尋，也間接幫了湯婆婆的「小少爺」一把。

04.	無面男

	意味深長的一個角色，初登場下半身是半透明化，不能發聲，需借被吞掉的人的聲音，才能與人溝通，卻遭污染，下半身也開始具體化，性格也暴戾了起來，是喪失自我，缺乏自信心的可悲人物。因為內心充斥著寂寞，又無處表達，只好藉由金錢或討好他人，博取別人的喜愛。

三、

內容主題

01.	一直記得你的名字──拋開迷惘、真實的自己

	每個人都會迷惘，也難免困惑。「當我們走在真理之路上時，我們必須時時提醒自己，真正重要的東西在心裡，因為我們心中的東西是最珍貴的寶藏。」（註四）一旦記起了原來的名字，就能變得坦然，毫無畏懼。而深愛的人，曾在我們心中有著一定份量的人，也一定能在我們迷失的時候，替我們指出，我們本來的樣子，我們原來的名字。千尋能重新找回了自己的「生命力」，正是因為她了悟了「要讓自己找到本來的自己」。原來的名字象徵原（本）我，而這個世界就是個大舞台，人們各自扮演好自己的角色。若忘了自己的名字，等於忘了所扮演的角色，喪失了真實與自己，無臉男是個好例子，迷失了方向與自我，一直在舞台上徘徊。或一味地受別人影響，附和、挪用他人的觀念，這也是等於放棄了真實自我。因此好好珍惜自己的名字，真實的作自己，就是我們坦然的以自己這個個體存在於世上的最好憑據。

02.	自主性與主體性的培養

	千尋的性格隨著在溫泉旅館工作時的磨練，逐漸趨向更獨立自主的人格，換句說就是在做中學，工作中成長的意思是一樣的，所謂的「自主性」，簡單說來就是「做自己認為正確的事情」、「清楚的說出自己的意見」，（註五）當她面對湯婆婆的威嚇時，能夠無畏的表明自己想要留下來工作的意願；在無臉男的物質和金錢利誘下，還是能夠堅決的說不。更直接了當的說，「自主性」即是「獨立而不受他人的保護及干涉」，在辭典中則被解釋為「自己主宰自己」。自主性多半是使用於以思考和判斷為主。自主性和自立相較之下，帶有更多他律型行動的意味，並且與不合常理的，反社會的自我性也有所區別。（註六）和自主性意思相近的「主體性」，則主要是使用於與行為有關的時候，意指擁有實踐性的個性，內心蘊含自主性的態度或是積極性。就像片中的千尋，當白龍深負重傷，情況危急的那千鈞一髮，她並不是只枯坐在原地傷心悲哀，束手無策的坐以待斃，而是前往去見錢婆婆，明知道危險，但還是勇敢的出發。

03.	關於貪婪

	從千尋父母親的貪吃，千尋解救河神後留下許多的金子，無臉男挑起與運用的也是人類的貪念，只有無所求的時候才不會被控制或是被利用，青蛙為了得到金子，被無臉男吃掉，接著全湯屋的人為了得到金子，不斷的奉出美味的食物來取悅無臉男。反應出在現代的社會中，大部分的人是貪婪、好逸惡勞的。而一切的罪惡之源都始之於貪婪。

04.	對自然環境的省思

	片中提到，日本泡沫經濟之後各地有很多這種荒廢的小鎮。而當工業的重心轉移、甚至跳脫出工業主流後，為了追逐更豐碩的利益，人們遷離家鄉、轉移到更大的城市去，徒留荒蕪的小鎮與陳舊的遺跡被遺置在被人們拋棄的一隅。我們為了更便捷的生活，更是肆意的摧殘我們所處的世界，卻鮮少有人會回頭再去俯視孕育我們的大地，本片藉由河神變成腐爛神的情節，向身為破壞自然界的罪魁禍首的我們，提出嚴厲的抗訴。今日的地球環境正在急遽惡化中，人類所建立起來的文明社會，確實為地球寶貴的自然環境與生物帶來無可彌補的傷害。

05.	自我評價對一個人的影響

	無臉男是最好的例子，對自己評價低，缺乏自信心的人，往往會不擇手段地想要提高他人對自己的評價。而對於自我評價很高的人來說，他人對自己的評價便不是那麼的重要了。無臉男以為只要用利益交換，就可以得到他人的尊敬和重視，但是這招在千尋身上卻完全行不通，他於是深深的被激怒了，在現今的社會當中，也有不少這種人的存在，以為友情和愛情，都是可以交換買賣的，如同「援助交際」、「越南新娘」在我們日常生活當中都是層出不窮的事情。最後真正能夠解救無臉男的人，其實還是他自己，願意留在錢婆婆的身邊工作，是的，必須斬釘截鐵的和墮落的生活斷絕關係，改變自己對自己的看法。相信自己，秉持著自信，而世界才會因而改變。

06.	從遇合中學習──成長

	人與人之間的相遇，常常能夠使人奮發圖強，改頭換面。千尋，正因為誤闖了神明的世界，而和許多非現實世界的人物相遇、相知、相交，在完全被動的窘境裏爆發出生命無可抗拒的生存意願，人類無限的可能性在這裏體現的淋漓盡致。湯婆婆的嬰兒，原本也只是一個驕縱狂妄的小孩，卻因為因緣際會遇見了千尋，才能跟隨著千尋的帶領，看到外面遼闊的天空，而不是一輩子如同溫室花朵般的躲在湯婆婆為他準備的嬰兒房裡。人類往往藉由和彼此的相遇和相處，來磨練與生俱來的素質，並且使自己更上一層樓。人的品行或是道德，也可以說是透過這種遇合所造就出來的，就連希臘的蘇格拉底是西洋的先賢之一，他也是以和人進行問答的方式，讓對方體悟到自己的無知，並從這種的深處悟出靈魂之美究竟為何的智慧。在重重的考驗中，千尋所體認到的，正是為了他人而做一件事。對於生來就只知索取而不知付出為何物的千尋，這次如夢一般的經歷也許會成為最不容易被忘懷的事情也說不一定，至少她已獲得全新的成長。

07.	被遺忘的記憶

	忘記也許亦是人的本相，正如白龍忘記自己的名字、人忘記與大自然是唇齒相依、人忘記求生的本能，「曾經的發生過的事不可能忘記，只是想不起來。」（註七）記憶是有選擇性的東西；我們經歷過的事被埋藏在深邃的記憶窟窿，因為時間歷歲久遠，所以蒙上一層灰塵，被動的待在記憶的僻靜一角裡陳封為往事，它們並不會因為不被找出來而遭到銷毀。而人最珍貴的東西就是自己的過去，因為那形成了自己的人格。

08.	重新回歸──找回我們的安身之所

	千尋說：「你從哪裡來的？你最好回去你的地方。」（註八）無臉男迷失了自我，當她感受到千尋的關懷時，他終於把自己從孤獨中釋放出來，在錢婆婆的小屋找到了自己的安身之所。在千尋坐上公車的旅程中，她已成長了不少，而這趟旅程只是心靈澄淨的一個儀式而已，在那裡是和油屋天南地北的光景。沒有魔法的紙醉金迷，卻有滿溢的樸實人情；在油屋工作需要簽上契約，而在小屋中憑藉的是互助互信基礎上。別讓貪婪操縱我們的心，用愛與關懷面對我們的人生。

　伍● 結論　　活在現代的人們，失去了什麼，忘了什麼？繁忙的都市生活導致我們失去了最應該被重視珍惜的一些寶物，許多人都因為追求物慾而失去自己的本質，「神隱少女」是在說一段在迷失中找回自我的過程。我們已經遺忘了太多東西，我們要如何重新拾回那些曾對我們而言曾是珍貴的記憶？我們是不是該重新回歸以孩子那樣純真的眼光再度重新的省視這個世界？

現今社會物欲橫流，失去了昔日承托社會的核心道德價值，犯罪、偷竊、欺詐層出不窮，現今青少年問題也日趨嚴重，最主要的原因是世界已缺乏關懷，而人們也失去了去相信事物的勇氣。歸正反本是我們的要務，重拾健康之種子改善我們這個世界，就先從關懷與付出做起吧。　

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/chara.html

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/reviews.html#iht

, a 10-year-old girl in the midst of a move to the suburbs with her parents, wanders into a mysterious town. It's the "other world" of gods and monsters, ruled over by a witch. There, humans are changed into animals and disappear. Chihiro, who has a listless disposition, must start working at a huge bath house to survive. Can she return to her own world?

This film is an adventure story, although the characters neither swing weapons around, nor use supernatural powers in battle. It is an adventure story, but its theme is not a confrontation between good and evil. It will be a story of a girl who was thrown into a world where both good and evil exist. She gets trained, learns about friendship and devotion, and survives by using her wisdom. She finds her way out, dodges, and comes back to her old daily life for the time being. However, it is not because evil was destroyed -- just as the world does not disappear, (evil does not disappear). It is because she gained the power to live. Today, the world has become ambigous; but even though it is ambiguous, the world is encroaching and trying to consume (everything). It is the main theme of this film to describe such a world clearly in the form of a fantasy.

Being enclosed, protected, and kept away (from dangers), children cannot help but enlarge their fragile egos in their daily lives where they feel their lives as something dim. Chihiro's skinny limbs and sullen face, which indicate she would not be amused so easily, are a symbol of that. Still, when reality becomes clear and she finds herself in a crisis, her adaptability and endurance will well up within her. She would find an existence in which she can bravely decide and act within herself.

Certainly, many people might simply panic and sink down to the ground. But such people would vanish or quickly be eaten in the situation Chihiro faced. Chihiro is a heroine, because of her power not to let herself be eaten up. She is a heroine, (but) not because she is beautiful or because she has a matchless heart. This is the merit of this film, and this is why it is a film for 10 year old girls.

A word has power. In the world into which Chihiro has wandered, to say a word out of one's mouth has a grave importance. At Yuya, which is ruled by Yu-baaba, if Chihiro says one word like "No" or "I wanna go home," the witch would quickly throw Chihiro out. She would have no choice but to keep aimlessly wandering until she vanishes, or is changed into a chicken to keep laying eggs until she is eaten. In turn, if Chihiro says "I will work here," even the witch cannot ignore her. Today, words are considered very lightly, as something like bubbles. It is just a reflection of reality being empty. It is still true that a word has power. It's just that the world is filled with empty and powerless words.

The act of depriving (a person) of one's name is not just changing how one (person) calls the other. It is a way to rule the other (person) completely. Sen becomes horrified when she realizes that she is losing the memory of her name, Chihiro. And every time she visits her parents at the pigsty, she becomes (more) accustomed to her parents as pigs. In the world of Yu-baaba, you should always live in the danger of being eaten up.

In this difficult world, Chihiro becomes lively. The sullen, listless character would have a surprisingly attractive expression in the end of the film. The essence of the world has not changed a bit. This film will persuade one of the fact that a word is one's will, oneself, and one's power.

It is also the reason why we make a fantasy that takes place in Japan. Even though it is a fairytale, I do not want make it a Western one in which we can find many ways out. This film will probably be looked at as one of those run-of-the-mill other-world stories. But I'd like you to consider is as a direct descendant of "Suzume no Oyado (Sparrows' House)" and "Nezumi no Goten (The Palace of Mice)" in the Japanese folktales. Although they did not use such a phrase as "parallel world," our ancestors have blundered at Sparrows' House or enjoyed a party at The Palace of Mice.

The reason why I made the world of Yu-baaba pseudo-Western is because it is a world filled with Japanese traditional designs, as well as to make it ambiguous whether it is a dream or reality. We just don't know how rich and unique our folk world - from stories, folklore, events, designs, gods to magic - is. Certainly, Kachikachi Yama and Momotaro have lost their power of persuasion. But it is poor imagination to put all the traditional things into a snug folk-like world. Children are losing their roots, being surrounded by high technology and cheap industrial goods. We have to tell them how rich a tradition we have.

By combining traditional designs with a modern story, and putting them in as pieces of colorful mosaic, (I think) the world in the film will have a fresh persuasion. At the same time, (we must) recognize again that we are inhabitants of this island country.

In an era of no borders, people who do not have a place to stand will be treated unseriously. A place is the past and history. A person with no history, a people who have forgotten their past, will vanish like snow, or be turned into chickens to keep laying eggs until they are eaten.

I would like to make it a film in which 10 year old girls can find their true wishes.

Hayao Miyazaki

n the movie, Chihiro Ogino is a little girl who is moving to a new town with her parents, Akio and Yuko. She is clearly unhappy about the move and appears rather petulant. They lose their way and come across a tunnel, which they enter out of curiosity, unaware that it actually provides access into a spirit world—specifically, to a spirit bathhouse, in which spirits of the Shinto religion go to rest and relax.

The family enters what is apparently an abandoned theme park populated exclusively by restaurants, and Chihiro's parents, finding a place to eat, immediately help themselves to a meal. Chihiro is uneasy and hesitates outside, watching her parents eat voraciously. When they offer her some food, she refuses and runs off to explore more of the place by herself. She comes to a grand-looking bathhouse and approaches a bridge leading up to it. Suddenly, a mysterious boy named Haku appears on the bridge and warns Chihiro that she must leave before it gets dark. Just then the sky darkens and the lamps of the bathhouse light up. Haku creates a magical diversion and tells Chihiro to get across the river. Chihiro then runs back to the restaurant where her parents are still eating and discovers to her horror that they have been transformed into large pigs. Terrified, Chihiro screams and runs off in attempt to find the tunnel back to her parents' car. As she runs, ghostly spirits and shadows appear in the previously-deserted theme park and frighten Chihiro even more. However, she is stopped from going back to the tunnel by a ocean, which has replaced the grassy plain she originally crossed with her parents to get to the park.

When Chihiro's distress at losing her parents is compounded by discovering that she's turning transparent, Haku finds her and comforts her, giving her something to eat from the spirit world so that she does not vanish. He somehow knows her name without being told and helps her sneak into the bathhouse, which is managed by Yubaba the witch. He tells her that the only way she can safely remain long enough to rescue her parents is to find work in the spirits' bathhouse.

Chihiro follows Haku's advice, descending to the boiler room where she asks the human-looking, six-armed boilerman, Kamaji, for work. He rebuffs her, until one of the coal-carrying sprites (reminiscent of My Neighbor Totoro's soot sprites) collapses under an extra-heavy lump of coal. Chihiro picks up the coal and feeds the boiler, despite the fact that she can barely carry the fantastically heavy coal. Kamaji warms towards the girl and assists her in getting a job in the bathhouse by enlisting the help of a young woman named Lin (Rin) to take the girl to Yubaba on the top floor so that she can ask the witch for work. Lin helps Chihiro find her way through the labyrinthine palace undetected, diverting a fellow servant while Chihiro squeezes into an elevator behind a grotesque but benign radish spirit (daikon kami).

Upon arriving at Yubaba's penthouse suite, Chihiro discovers her to be a regal but monstrous lady, who dotes on an equally monstrous (and unfeasibly large) baby. Chihiro repeatedly and stubbornly asks for a job, and finally Yubaba consents, on condition that she give up her name. Yubaba expresses regret for having taken an oath to give a job to whoever asked for one. Yubaba literally takes possession of Chihiro's name, grasping the kanji from the contract in her hand and leaving Chihiro only one piece of her original 2-character name on the contract, in isolation pronounced "Sen".^[8] Sen is assigned to be Lin's assistant, since she is unwanted in most other areas of the bathhouse.

The next morning, Haku shows Sen where her parents are being kept (along with scores of other pigs). Outside, Haku gives Sen her old clothes and the card from her farewell bouquet of flowers at the beginning of the film. Reading the card, she remembers her name. Haku warns her that Yubaba controls people by stealing their names; once they forget their names, as Haku forgot his, they belong to her.

Chihiro and No Face.

While at work, Sen has a difficult time adjusting to the work regime but wins respect by dealing with a difficult customer, a slimy "stink spirit" whom she discovers is actually a heavily polluted yet powerful river god. The river god rewards her with an herbal cake ball, or medicine ball, which acts as an emetic. Sen succeeds only with the help of a somewhat monstrous spirit called No Face, who is attracted to her because she was kind to him, unwittingly allowing him to enter the bathhouse against policy. The bathhouse seems to bring out the worst in No Face. Able to produce gold out of thin air, he feeds off of the greed of the bathhouse's employees. Eventually he goes out of control and begins eating everything in sight, including three staff members. While No Face is keeping everyone busy, Haku returns to the bathhouse in the form of a dragon, but he is in trouble as he is being pursued and attacked by a large flock of enchanted kirigami birds. Badly injured, he makes his way to Yubaba's quarters. Recognizing him despite his dragon form, Sen goes to find him but is secretly followed by one of the paper birds.

While looking for Haku, Sen encounters Yubaba's giant baby boy, Boh, who wants to play with her. She manages to get away from him to see one of Yubaba's servants, three disembodied heads called Kashira, trying to push the dying Haku down a shaft. The paper object that followed Sen transforms into a mirage of Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister, who was chasing Haku because he had stolen her gold seal. The seal has a spell on it so that whoever steals it will die. Zeniba transforms the baby into a little mouse-like creature because he makes too much noise, and Yubaba's hawk-like lieutenant into a tiny bird-creature. She then transforms Kashira into a clone of Boh to fool Yubaba. Haku cuts Zeniba's paper puppet in two with his tail, causing her image to split and disappear. He then tumbles down the shaft, taking Sen with him, but they land safely in Kamaji's boiler room.

Sen manages to feed Haku a piece of the River God's herbal cake, causing him to spit out the stolen seal. The seal has a black slug on it which Sen squashes with her foot. Resolving to help the unconscious Haku by returning Zeniba's seal and apologizing on his behalf, Sen first returns to the bathhouse to deal with the out-of-control No Face. She feeds him the remaining herbal cake, causing him to regurgitate the food and three bathhouse workers he has eaten. His pathological gluttony is cured once he follows her outside. Using a train ticket from Kamaji, Sen takes a train to where Zeniba lives, accompanied by No Face and Boh (who shares a mutually helpful relationship with the tiny bird creature).

Haku later recovers from his wounds. When Yubaba finds out that her baby is missing she is furious. Haku manages to make a deal: he will get the baby back and, in return, Yubaba must set free Sen and her parents. (The plots of the Japanese- and English-language versions differ slightly here: in the original, Yubaba and Haku talk about what's necessary to break the spell on her parents.) At Zeniba's simple cottage, it is revealed that the black slug Sen squished was put in Haku by Yubaba. The slug was how Yubaba controlled Haku. Zeniba states that the only way the spell on her seal can be broken is by love (Haku's illness in the boiler room was the spell of the seal, and Chihiro's love actually breaks the spell).

Haku, again a dragon, finds Sen at Zeniba's cottage. Zeniba forgives him for stealing her seal and takes No Face in as a helper before seeing Chihiro off. The two of them fly back to the bathhouse. While riding on Haku's back, Chihiro remembers that she and Haku met before: when she was young, she fell into a river and somehow got carried to shallow water. She was actually saved by Haku, who was the river spirit of the Kohaku River, near which Chihiro used to live but which has since been drained to make room for construction. Upon remembering this, Chihiro tells him that his name is 'Kohaku River'; as a result, Haku is free from the control of Yubaba. At the bathhouse, Chihiro has to perform one last task to free her parents: she has to pick them out from a group of pigs. Emboldened with her newfound courage, Chihiro firmly accepts the challenge and correctly answers that none of the pigs are her parents. As a result, she and her parents are set free and return to the human world, after Haku promises her that they will meet again one day. Chihiro is considerably more grown up from her experiences.

When they return to the human world, the viewer can see that some time has passed, as Chihiro's parents' car has many fallen leaves covering it. Her parents have no recollection whatsoever of the incident. There is proof that the "spiriting away" really did happen though, because of the leaves, and a glittering hair tie on Chihiro's head, which was given to her by Zeniba.

[edit] Characters

Chihiro Ogino/Sen (荻野千尋, Ogino Chihiro^?)

Chihiro is the 10-year old protagonist of the movie. Chihiro is in the process of moving to a new town when her family stumbles upon the entrance to the bathhouse. During her adventure she matures from a whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic child to a hard-working, helpful, optimistic young girl. She is re-named "Sen" (千 sen^?, lit. "a thousand") by the proprietor of the bathhouse, Yubaba. Note that in Japanese orthography, the character for "Sen" is one of the kanji of her true name, "Chihiro".

Voiced by: Rumi Hiiragi (Japanese), Daveigh Chase (English)

Akio Ogino (荻野明夫, Ogino Akio^?)

Chihiro's father. Akio's impulsive behaviour catalyzes the unfolding of events in the beginning of the movie.

Voiced by: Takashi Naito (Japanese), Michael Chiklis (English)

Yuuko Ogino (荻野悠子, Ogino Yūko^?)

Chihiro's mother who is turned into a pig, at the start of the movie.

Voiced by: Yasuko Sawaguchi (Japanese), Lauren Holly (English)

Haku creating a distraction to protect Chihiro.

Haku (Spirited Away) (Haku/Nigihayami Kohakunushi, ハク^?, Haku, lit. "white")

A young boy who helps Chihiro after her parents have transformed into pigs. He helps prevent her from becoming a spirit and gives her advice on getting work at the bathhouse in order to survive to see her parents again. Haku works as Yubaba's direct subordinate, often running errands and performing missions for her. He has the ability to fly and become a dragon. Toward the end of the story Chihiro recalls falling into the Kohaku (コハク^?) river, of which Haku is the spirit, and she thus frees him from Yubaba's service by helping him remember his real name. While he seems often cold, and is not terribly popular with the bathhouse staff, Haku is unfailingly kind to Chihiro, perhaps because of his experience with her in the past. (He remembers her name, though not his own.) Haku is probably only cold to Chihiro at certain times because he knew Yubaba was watching him and that they both could be punished if she knew that he helped Chihiro get into the bathhouse, or even that Chihiro might remember Haku (as he recognized her from the start) and remind him of his real name. Yubaba seems to care about Haku only as a magical errand boy: when he is dying in her quarters because of the seal she ordered him to steal, she is mostly concerned about getting rid of the body before he bleeds on more of the carpet.

Voiced by: Miyu Irino (Japanese), Jason Marsden (English)

Yubaba (湯婆婆, Yubaaba^?, lit. "bath crone")

An old sorceress with an unnaturally large head and nose who runs the bathhouse. She also appears to be extremely intuitive. She reluctantly signs Chihiro into a contract, taking her name and re-naming her "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract. Yubaba has an over-bearing and authoritarian personality, but she does show a soft side through her love for her giant baby, Boh. In contrast to her simple and hospitable sister, Yubaba lives in opulent quarters and is only interested in taking care of guests for money. Though she is very intuitive (she senses the approach of No Face and realizes that the River God is not a stink spirit as he appears), she doesn't notice that her own baby is gone. When Haku prompts her by telling her that something she values is missing, her first reaction is to scrutinize the gold.Her name is similar to that of another legendary witch, Baba Yaga.

Voiced by: Mari Natsuki (Japanese), Suzanne Pleshette (English), Nina Hagen (German)

Kashira (カシラ, Kashira^?)

A trio of heads living in Yubaba's office that move around by bouncing. They do not speak except in small grunts when they bounce about. They are later changed into an illusion of Boh by Zeniba in order to trick Yubaba.

Kamaji (釜爺, Kamaji^? lit. "boiler old man")

An old man with six arms who runs the boiler room of the bathhouse. A number of Susuwatari (ススワタリ^?) (Soot balls) work for him, by carrying coal into his furnace. Also, he has a large cabinet where he keeps all the herbs that are used in the baths. After some persuasion, he allows Chihiro to work at the bathhouse and even pretends to be her grandfather to protect her. He also takes an injured Haku into his boiler room and cares for him, while Chihiro, given train tickets by Kamaji, journeys to Zeniba's cottage.

Voiced by: Bunta Sugawara (Japanese), David Ogden Stiers (English)

Lin (リン, Rin^?)

A worker at the bathhouse who becomes Chihiro's caretaker. Although cold at first, she warms up to Chihiro and grows a strong bond with her. She warns No Face, who had previously gone on a rampage, not to harm Chihiro or there would be trouble. At the end, she is very happy for Chihiro when she finally manages to find her way home.

Voiced by: Yumi Tamai (Japanese), Susan Egan (English)

No Face (カオナシ, Kaonashi^?)

No Face is an odd spirit that takes an interest in Chihiro. Chihiro lets No Face into the bathhouse through a side door. At first he is a strange cloaked and masked shadowy thing that merely breathes and smiles.

No Face is a lonely being who seems to feed on the emotions of those he encounters. He is helpful to Chihiro since she helped him. After observing the bathhouse staff's reaction to gold and attempting to win them over with more gold, he reacts to their greed by becoming a grotesque monster and eating lots of food and some of the staff. He calms down and reverts back to normal after he leaves the bathhouse's influence, and at the end he stays with Zeniba as a helper. No Face's mask, movement and name share many similarities with the Japanese Noh theater. He also assumes the voice(s) and personality of those he "eats".

Voiced by: Tatsuya Gashuin (Japanese), Bob Bergen (English)

River God (川の神, kawa no kami^?)

A customer of the bathhouse originally thought to be a "stink spirit" who is assigned to Chihiro and Lin. Yubaba suspects that he may be something more than a stink spirit, and when Chihiro helps him by pulling trash that had been dumped into his river out of his side, her suspicions are proven correct. He is in fact a famous and wealthy river god. As a reward, he gives Chihiro a ball of plant material which we are told by Kamaji, in the English-subtitled version, is a "healing cake." In the English dubbed version he just states that it is medicine from the river god. The "healing cake" is later used to heal an injured Haku through ingestion and to cause No Face to vomit the people and vast amounts of food he ate during his rampage.

Boh (坊, Bō^?)

Boh is Yubaba's son. Although he has the appearance of a young baby, he is twice Yubaba's size. Yubaba spoils him and goes out of her way to give him whatever he wants. He believes that going outside will make him ill; Sen tells him staying in his room all that time will make him sick. Later, Zeniba turns him into a mouse. Though the spell wears off, Boh stays as a mouse simply because he doesn't want to change back. He becomes good friends with Chihiro while in his mouse form and eventually stands up to Yubaba to protect Chihiro. Boh tells Yubaba he had a good time when he was with Chihiro. His little adventure may be seen as an analogy to Chihiro's adventures and growing up. This idea suggests that Boh is so overgrown because he has never really matured under Yubaba's doting care.

Voiced by: Ryunosuke Kamiki (Japanese), Tara Strong (English)

Note: Elements of Ryunosuke Kamiki's voice can be heard in the English language version (i.e.: when Boh cries during the scene where Chihiro/Sen gets her contract.).

Zeniba (銭婆, Zeniba^?, zeni can refer to both money and public baths, making her name a play on Yubaba's): Zeniba is Yubaba's twin sister and rival. Although identical in appearance, their

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Sep 09 Wed 2009 11:04
about Chihiro

一、	動機

	「神隱少女」甫在日本各大戲院上映，立即刷下前所未有的驚人票房紀錄，令人難以想像的是，一部以奇幻故事為情節的宮崎駿動畫電影，何足以風靡了無數男女老少的日本人，老少咸宜，究竟其魅力何在，這是引起我們欲深入探討的主因。

二、	前言

	我們在現今瞬息萬變，及科技的日新月異下的世界，情緒被散落了太多東西，而本心也在太多的紛紛擾擾與現實的佐料中被層層的包藏，逐漸的隱匿了其原有的光輝。而堅持理想與朝目標邁進，不可否置是神隱少女中，所帶給大家的感動。而那些因追求物慾而失去自己的本質，在本片所述說的在迷失中找回自我的過程，我們也去找尋了解答。

三、	故事大綱

	一名十歲的平凡少女－千尋和其父母，被捲入人類不能踏入的世界，為了拯救忘記自己人類身分而變成動物的父母，千尋原先沉睡的求生力量，終於被喚醒，在錢婆婆的溫泉旅館工作的同時，她也意外的重新發現自己生命的可能性，以及體驗了更深刻的愛與被愛。

　肆● 正文　　

一、

「神隱」的涵義

「神隱」是指小孩為山神或天狗帶走，而神秘失蹤。（註一）而千尋是屬於失蹤後平安歸來，仍留有神隱時的記憶（沒有被鬼神消除）的情況。（註二）

二、

人物臉譜

01.	荻野千尋

	平凡富裕的生活已把她與生俱來的天賦潛能給丟懶了，使她失去了自信和原始生存力量，也失去了自我存在價值，總是毫無生氣。原先帶有一點的冷漠與依賴，在故事的起始有著一雙對世界淡漠的眼睛，和在搬家時悶悶不樂的神情，還有對父母的處處依賴。在闖入神靈聚集的人類禁地後，千尋在這逆境中發揮求生適應力，慢慢的建立起無比的勇氣，甚至變得堅強起來。而千尋在這趟可謂是生命的修練之旅中，她學會如何付出，如何去愛，悟得了在施予時的那種個人存在感。

02.	白龍（琥珀川）

	一個本質善良，溫柔的男孩，「琥珀川」因為人類開發城鎮，把它填平蓋房子，白龍無處可去，在投奔湯婆婆學習魔法的時候，連自己的名字也被湯婆婆收走。因為失去了名字，所以他找不到回去的路，在與千尋互相扶持與幫助的過程中，白龍終於想起自己的名字。

03.	湯婆婆與錢婆婆

	雙胞胎姊妹，卻有截然不同的性格，湯婆婆是迷戀金錢的溫泉經營者，對自己的子女放縱不加管制，是個失格的母親，肆意揮霍，性格宛如小兒缺乏思考理性。而錢婆婆住在簡樸的小屋中，說：「用魔法織東西始終比不上大家用線一針一針織」，（註三）反映出魔法相對於現代的發達科技，縱使便利，卻破壞了我們週遭的環境。姊妹鬩牆不只直接幫助了千尋，也間接幫了湯婆婆的「小少爺」一把。

04.	無面男

	意味深長的一個角色，初登場下半身是半透明化，不能發聲，需借被吞掉的人的聲音，才能與人溝通，卻遭污染，下半身也開始具體化，性格也暴戾了起來，是喪失自我，缺乏自信心的可悲人物。因為內心充斥著寂寞，又無處表達，只好藉由金錢或討好他人，博取別人的喜愛。

三、

內容主題

01.	一直記得你的名字──拋開迷惘、真實的自己

	每個人都會迷惘，也難免困惑。「當我們走在真理之路上時，我們必須時時提醒自己，真正重要的東西在心裡，因為我們心中的東西是最珍貴的寶藏。」（註四）一旦記起了原來的名字，就能變得坦然，毫無畏懼。而深愛的人，曾在我們心中有著一定份量的人，也一定能在我們迷失的時候，替我們指出，我們本來的樣子，我們原來的名字。千尋能重新找回了自己的「生命力」，正是因為她了悟了「要讓自己找到本來的自己」。原來的名字象徵原（本）我，而這個世界就是個大舞台，人們各自扮演好自己的角色。若忘了自己的名字，等於忘了所扮演的角色，喪失了真實與自己，無臉男是個好例子，迷失了方向與自我，一直在舞台上徘徊。或一味地受別人影響，附和、挪用他人的觀念，這也是等於放棄了真實自我。因此好好珍惜自己的名字，真實的作自己，就是我們坦然的以自己這個個體存在於世上的最好憑據。

02.	自主性與主體性的培養

	千尋的性格隨著在溫泉旅館工作時的磨練，逐漸趨向更獨立自主的人格，換句說就是在做中學，工作中成長的意思是一樣的，所謂的「自主性」，簡單說來就是「做自己認為正確的事情」、「清楚的說出自己的意見」，（註五）當她面對湯婆婆的威嚇時，能夠無畏的表明自己想要留下來工作的意願；在無臉男的物質和金錢利誘下，還是能夠堅決的說不。更直接了當的說，「自主性」即是「獨立而不受他人的保護及干涉」，在辭典中則被解釋為「自己主宰自己」。自主性多半是使用於以思考和判斷為主。自主性和自立相較之下，帶有更多他律型行動的意味，並且與不合常理的，反社會的自我性也有所區別。（註六）和自主性意思相近的「主體性」，則主要是使用於與行為有關的時候，意指擁有實踐性的個性，內心蘊含自主性的態度或是積極性。就像片中的千尋，當白龍深負重傷，情況危急的那千鈞一髮，她並不是只枯坐在原地傷心悲哀，束手無策的坐以待斃，而是前往去見錢婆婆，明知道危險，但還是勇敢的出發。

03.	關於貪婪

	從千尋父母親的貪吃，千尋解救河神後留下許多的金子，無臉男挑起與運用的也是人類的貪念，只有無所求的時候才不會被控制或是被利用，青蛙為了得到金子，被無臉男吃掉，接著全湯屋的人為了得到金子，不斷的奉出美味的食物來取悅無臉男。反應出在現代的社會中，大部分的人是貪婪、好逸惡勞的。而一切的罪惡之源都始之於貪婪。

04.	對自然環境的省思

	片中提到，日本泡沫經濟之後各地有很多這種荒廢的小鎮。而當工業的重心轉移、甚至跳脫出工業主流後，為了追逐更豐碩的利益，人們遷離家鄉、轉移到更大的城市去，徒留荒蕪的小鎮與陳舊的遺跡被遺置在被人們拋棄的一隅。我們為了更便捷的生活，更是肆意的摧殘我們所處的世界，卻鮮少有人會回頭再去俯視孕育我們的大地，本片藉由河神變成腐爛神的情節，向身為破壞自然界的罪魁禍首的我們，提出嚴厲的抗訴。今日的地球環境正在急遽惡化中，人類所建立起來的文明社會，確實為地球寶貴的自然環境與生物帶來無可彌補的傷害。

05.	自我評價對一個人的影響

	無臉男是最好的例子，對自己評價低，缺乏自信心的人，往往會不擇手段地想要提高他人對自己的評價。而對於自我評價很高的人來說，他人對自己的評價便不是那麼的重要了。無臉男以為只要用利益交換，就可以得到他人的尊敬和重視，但是這招在千尋身上卻完全行不通，他於是深深的被激怒了，在現今的社會當中，也有不少這種人的存在，以為友情和愛情，都是可以交換買賣的，如同「援助交際」、「越南新娘」在我們日常生活當中都是層出不窮的事情。最後真正能夠解救無臉男的人，其實還是他自己，願意留在錢婆婆的身邊工作，是的，必須斬釘截鐵的和墮落的生活斷絕關係，改變自己對自己的看法。相信自己，秉持著自信，而世界才會因而改變。

06.	從遇合中學習──成長

	人與人之間的相遇，常常能夠使人奮發圖強，改頭換面。千尋，正因為誤闖了神明的世界，而和許多非現實世界的人物相遇、相知、相交，在完全被動的窘境裏爆發出生命無可抗拒的生存意願，人類無限的可能性在這裏體現的淋漓盡致。湯婆婆的嬰兒，原本也只是一個驕縱狂妄的小孩，卻因為因緣際會遇見了千尋，才能跟隨著千尋的帶領，看到外面遼闊的天空，而不是一輩子如同溫室花朵般的躲在湯婆婆為他準備的嬰兒房裡。人類往往藉由和彼此的相遇和相處，來磨練與生俱來的素質，並且使自己更上一層樓。人的品行或是道德，也可以說是透過這種遇合所造就出來的，就連希臘的蘇格拉底是西洋的先賢之一，他也是以和人進行問答的方式，讓對方體悟到自己的無知，並從這種的深處悟出靈魂之美究竟為何的智慧。在重重的考驗中，千尋所體認到的，正是為了他人而做一件事。對於生來就只知索取而不知付出為何物的千尋，這次如夢一般的經歷也許會成為最不容易被忘懷的事情也說不一定，至少她已獲得全新的成長。

07.	被遺忘的記憶

	忘記也許亦是人的本相，正如白龍忘記自己的名字、人忘記與大自然是唇齒相依、人忘記求生的本能，「曾經的發生過的事不可能忘記，只是想不起來。」（註七）記憶是有選擇性的東西；我們經歷過的事被埋藏在深邃的記憶窟窿，因為時間歷歲久遠，所以蒙上一層灰塵，被動的待在記憶的僻靜一角裡陳封為往事，它們並不會因為不被找出來而遭到銷毀。而人最珍貴的東西就是自己的過去，因為那形成了自己的人格。

08.	重新回歸──找回我們的安身之所

	千尋說：「你從哪裡來的？你最好回去你的地方。」（註八）無臉男迷失了自我，當她感受到千尋的關懷時，他終於把自己從孤獨中釋放出來，在錢婆婆的小屋找到了自己的安身之所。在千尋坐上公車的旅程中，她已成長了不少，而這趟旅程只是心靈澄淨的一個儀式而已，在那裡是和油屋天南地北的光景。沒有魔法的紙醉金迷，卻有滿溢的樸實人情；在油屋工作需要簽上契約，而在小屋中憑藉的是互助互信基礎上。別讓貪婪操縱我們的心，用愛與關懷面對我們的人生。