Ho 1

Tina Ho

May 27, 2012

World Literature Block B

Liberty

 Ho 2

Table of contents

Title page                                                                                                                                              1

Table of content                                                                                                                                    2

Preface                                                                                                                                                  3

Synthesis essay   4

Artistic rendering   9

Diary of Esperanza   10

News article about Esperanza   13

Betrayal   15

Letters from Ralph to Collin   16

Works Cited   23

Ho 3 

Preface

  First of all, the stories I am synthesizing together are The House on the Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Lord of the flies by William Golding, The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

  I chose liberty as the title of my project because the character in each book is seeking liberty. Liberty has a lot of meanings, it can mean freedom, it can mean human rights, and it can mean independence. The meaning I am using for my project is the first two meaning, in The house on the , Esperanza was seeking freedom from her poor community, and in Lord of the flies Ralph is seeking human rights from being completely destroyed by Jack. In The Tempest Prospero was seeking peace for his mind, and he was freed from his hate through forgiveness.

Mango Street

  The different genres I chose to stress my points in my synthesis essay are artistic rendering, letters, diaries, sonnet, and a news article. My artistic rendering was on the last scene from Lord of the flies where Ralph found himself in front of a naval officer with a bunch of savage boys chasing after him. The letters I wrote were of letters written from Ralph to an imaginary best friend I created for him. The diaries were from the point of view of Esperanza and showing how she changed. The sonnet was from Prospero’s point of view writing about his feelings when he was first betrayed by his brother. The news article was an article that will come out 10 year after Esperanza get out of Mango Street and become a successful woman.

I hope you like my work!

 Ho 4

Synthesis Essay

The three stories that I am going to synthesize together are Lord of the flies by William Golding, The house on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and The Tempest by William Shakespeare. I think the main character of each stories, Prospero, Esperanza, and Ralph, have very similar experiences in what they went through in life. First of all, all three of them, their behavior and attitude toward life make them not be able to fit in with the people around them. Second of all, all of them were betrayed by their trusted ones and lost their innocence after the betrayal. Third, all three of them holds some kinds of power in their hands that could change lives and help them fight for the life they want, but all three of them believes in non-violence way of fighting for it. Forth, all three of them learn something in the end after all that they have gone through, and realizes what it is that they truly want. All three of them in my opinion are very noble characters that could make an impact on the people around them and make a difference in life.

In my opinion, all three of them have an air to them that just doesn’t fit in to their society and the people around them. We can see it very clearly in the character Prospero in The Tempest, because before he was betrayed, he was just a man who loves books and studies them all the time. But people around him were all power loving and corrupted, so because of his uncaring attitude toward power, it had caused him to be kick out of his own homeland. If Prospero wasn’t so out of it, his brother wouldn’t have the opportunity to plot against him, and the king of Naples wouldn’t need to work with his brother to get more money if Prospero had been the bribing type (Shakespeare 852). Esperanza’s opinion on how women should be doesn’t fit in to her society, and it’s because of this that makes Esperanza feel like she couldn’t find a friend in her neighborhood, or that she couldn’t understand her friend at all. In one of the short event she talked about in the book, we can clearly see that she doesn’t think the same way other girls her age think. In that short story Esperanza went to a garden with her friend Sally, but what Esperanza was interested in was jumping and running around while Sally is more interested in flirting with the boys there. In that scene Sally was asked by the boys to kiss them, and Esperanza thinks it’s wrong and went to try to save Sally from having to do that. But what she got in return was an unappreciative remark from Sally telling her to leave her alone (Cisneros 96). In that scene Esperanza showed hurt at being chase away by her own friend when she is only trying to help her, she don’t understand her friend anymore, and her friend doesn’t understand her either. Ralph in Lord of the flies doesn’t fit in with the majority of the people around him either, he was too civilized. When everyone was only looking for fun and freedom from being adult like, he was seeking ways to be an adult and setting rules and trying to make their group a group of civilized boys. That’s why in the end there are almost no more boys following his way of life on the island, and he became an outcast of the group he once was a leader of (Golding 269-281). When people doesn’t think the way people around them think, they will become a lonely outcast because no one wants to be in contact with people they don’t agree with or understand about.

The three characters were betrayed by their most trusted ones and they lost their innocence through the betrayal. Prospero was once a very innocent man who doesn’t bribe and doesn’t care about power and only care about his books. Because of his uncaring attitude it makes his brother have a chance to get rid of him and become the rightful duke of Milan. This betrayal made him lost his innocence, because before he was a very trusting man and let his brother take over ruling his dukedom, but after the betrayal he realizes that books can’t be everything in his life and he started caring about having power and start to think about getting it back(Shakespeare 928). Esperanza was once a very innocent young girl who wonders about what it’s like to be with men just like every other little girl, and she also wants to be admired by the men around her. She was so innocent she only wanted playmates to play with her, and she values her friends a lot, that’s why when Sally arranges to go out with her she went trustingly. She never knew Sally would let another boy rape her, never knew Sally would much rather be with men than with her (Cisneros 99). This event shattered her innocence, she no longer feels that going out with men is a beautiful thing, and she wants to change her society so that women would stop thinking they can only get a better life if they have a men. The rape matured Esperanza. Ralph use to like Jack a lot and dislike Piggy, he use to think that Jack is fun to be with and hunting games are fun, and Piggy is annoying with all his worries. He used to trust Jack a lot and let him have lots of power, sharing half of his power in ruling the other boys with him. But when Jack starts to become less and less understanding of the importance of fire and more and more into funs and hunting, and less and less obedient of Ralph’s word and more and more revolting against his rules, until at last betraying him completely by taking all the other boys to form his own tribe, Ralph’s innocence about human nature was broken. Ralph was too innocent to know that Jack would want to have more and more power and would betray and try to kill him for it (Golding 281). Men’s heart couldn’t be trusted, its human nature to want more and more and no amount of power can stop it from wanting more power. We see corrupted governments, they use to only want a little, but the a little grows as their power grows until later it becomes a full blown corruption happening, they betrayed their citizens because they want the money that their citizens hold. And we can clearly see that people can betray when they are jealous of others and would try to get the object of their jealousy no matter what (Harris).

All three of them holds a power in their hand that can change the world around them, Prospero got his magic staff, Esperanza got her pen and Ralph got his ability to remain civilized no matter what. Even though Prospero hate the king of Naples and his brother a lot but he didn’t kill them, instead he use his magic and made them understand what they did was wrong. He created illusions for them and made them fear and made them realizes their obsession with power is not right. His magic made those betrayers realizes their wrong doings (Shakespeare 921). Esperanza’s power is her ability to write and her realization that men isn’t everything to a women. Her ability to write can change the women on the Mango Street’s life. She can get famous writing and have the ability to leave Mango Street, then she can write around the world and make people realize in her works that women don’t need to only rely on men to get a better life. Writing can help people outside the community to realize what is happening inside the community, and raising awareness to the women might help them get out of their own shell and try to get a better life with their own ability (Cisneros 110). Ralph’s power is his ability to remain civilized no matter what the situation is, because of his ability to do so he didn’t get involved with Jack’s crazy idea of becoming savages, and tried his best to get them all rescued. His sensible mind is what is needed most when all is hopeless, and luckily he didn’t give in to becoming savages, because he can later recount his tale and make people realize the darkness of men’s heart and not be the one who create more chaos (Golding 284).

All three of them went through so much in their life that in the end they came to realize what is truly the important thing of life. Prospero realizes in the end that it is really pointless to revenge on his brother and the king, because looking back he realizes that if he revenge he will be just like them when they betrayed him and sent him out to sea all those years ago. He realizes in the end he had rather have his dukedom back and his family happily back with him rather than killing everyone that betrayed him and having no one left to be friends with (Shakespeare 923). Prospero in the end wanted peace because he had already become so old, he had rather live happily ever after. I think Prospero is kind of like Mahatma Gandhi, because both of them are very fond of the nonviolence way of going against oppressors. Gandhi wouldn’t let the Indians resist British rule violently, he wanted them resist it quietly and taking pains in until the British realizes what they are doing is wrong (Powell). This is like Prospero’s attitude, when he was teaching the betrayers a lesson he didn’t hurt them physically or anything like that, but he used illusions and made them realizes how bad they were. Esperanza at first only wanted to escape from Mango Street by herself and never going back to Mango Street again because of all the hurt and loneliness women get from relying on men. But she was warned by three witch-like sisters and it made her realizes that she should come back and help the other women get out of the bad life they are creating for themselves (Cisneros 103). Her decision to come back even after she get out of the Mango Street herself reminds me of Harriet Tubman, the African American that use to be slave before slavery was abolished. She was slave and she ran away from her master into free land, but she kept going back to the land that still allows slavery to rescue others that is still slave. She went back for those that got left behind and those that don’t have the ability to run away for themselves, just like what Esperanza would do in the future (Ripley). And in the very end Ralph realizes that Piggy is his one true friend in that world of no adults, Ralph use to hate Piggy but as Jack shows more and more violence it scared Ralph and made him see the value in Piggy. Ralph didn’t get to appreciate Piggy as much as he did after Piggy died, when Piggy was there it’s so natural to get his wisdom from him, but after Piggy is gone he realizes that having such a good and supportive friend isn’t something that everyone gets naturally (Golding 284).

Reading these three stories it make me realizes that noble people’s life don’t usually go smooth, because noble people are so different from the people around them that it’s hard for them to live their lives like normal people. Ralph was too noble to give in to his natural instinct and desires, he refuses to give up being sensible. Esperanza was very noble she wouldn’t give up on the people around her, she went through life fighting hard for everyone, trying to save everyone from having a bad life using her power. Prospero is a noble character too, he decides to forgive even after he was betrayed so thoroughly by his brother and his king. Their life wasn’t smooth, but they still remain a noble character, their mind must be very strong to endure all those pains and still follows their own principle.

Ho 9

 

Ho 10

April 18 Sunny

Hey Diary! I am very happy and excited today! Today while I was playing with my friends on the street the lady next door opened up her door and came and gave each of us a pair of high heels that she didn’t need anymore! High heels! So I wore them immediately and it fitted, just like in Cinderella story the princess wears the shoes and it fits perfectly and she is going to be taken away from the unloving home to the prince’s loving palace! I look good in high heels, I know it, because I when I wear it and walks around in the neighborhood, EVERYONE is looking at me! I wish my prince will come soon! Nights diary, gotta sleep now or else I won’t be able to get up for tomorrow’s school!

May 17 Sunny

Hello Diary, today I was riding a bike and I saw a boy older than me staring at me. His name is Sire, I have notice him for a while now because he have that mature and scary feeling to him. He’s got a girlfriend and I see them together a lot. I wonder what it’s like to go out on a date with a boy? What’s it like to hold hand with a boy? What’s it like to be hugged by him in his long strong arm? What’s it like to be kissed by him? I want to know! I envy his girlfriend! Today I was riding my bike past him and he is giving off a scary aura again, and every other girl in my grade level won’t go near him so they had to cross the street before they are willing to walk past him. But me, I am different, I am not scared of him at all, so I ride my bike past him like I ain’t afraid of him. To prove that I stared past him and when I feel him looking at me I stared at him. But what’s the meaning of him staring at me? Does he like me? Omg, I can’t sleep if I don’t solve this mystery!

July 1 Cloudy

Today Sally ran away from her house again and came to our home, when she showed up she was all blue and purple from the beating her husband gave her. She use to be beat up by her father at home and now she is being beaten up by her husband at home. I feel sad for her, she married her husband to escape from her father, but her husband was even worse than her father. How can men do this to women? Poor Sally, why does she have to suffer so? She wasn’t even allowed to go out of her house anymore because her husband feels like she will run away if she does. I use to fantasize about getting a good and beautiful house and a good life by marrying a handsome prince, but now my dream is all shattered. What’s the use of having a nice house if the prince of my dream beats me up and won’t let me out of the beautiful house? So many women have been the victim of thinking they can get a better life through attaching themselves to a man. After seeing Sally I don’t feel like I want to marry and trap myself into this small community anymore. Luckily my teacher at school says that I have good writing skills, and I can go far with so much talent in writing. If my teacher’s word prove to be true, I will go far far away from Mango Street and have a good life there never coming back to this run down community.

November 6 Sunny

I have been working hard on my study and writing ever since I realize I don’t want to be trap in this small town. Five month have passed since I have last wrote in this diary. But it can’t be helped, I need every minute possible to work on my education so that I can go to a college out of this town and get a degree and get work and have a better life. Even though I don’t want to come back and rescue the other women who won’t fight for themselves, but I think I have changed my mind. Yesterday I was at a little baby boy’s funeral and I met three witch-like women, they told me they know what I am dreaming of, and they told me it will come true, but they say “Come back for the others that can’t get out as easily as you will be able to”. It is kind of a creepy experience but I guess I know what they are talking about. When I was a little younger before I start fantasizing about a prince coming to take me away from this place, I use to look up at the stars and wish that those successful people can come and take me away from this place. If I had wished for others to help me when I was young, then that means there is a lot of others who wish for help too. Even though I want people to fight for themselves, but I guess not everyone is lucky like me to have a great power of writing, so I will come back. I will come back for those that can’t get out as easy as I can, and maybe someday I will meet the three old women again and I can tell them proudly “I went away successfully and now I am back to help others get out!”

 Ho 13

Another slum to fame big story of the week!

Esperanza Cordero the renowned writer, rescued another girl from Mango Street
from child abuse yesterday!

Yesterday morning Esperanza was invited to a live talk show to talk about her childhood life and about how she became such a great and famous writer. Esperanza went and starts telling the world of her tragedy childhood. Esperanza use to live on Mango Street with her family when she was a child, and she told us of how bad life was there, it was poor and people hardly have the money to go through every day. She told us that under this situation women were not valued in the community, the men don’t value them, the women themselves don’t value them. She said that in her community women are most of the time kept in the house and not allowed to go outdoor and find a life for themselves. The only way for a women to escape from a place is to go to another man’s place and be kept inside of that house. She tells us “Women are not made to follow and serve men! We should stand up for ourselves!” and we can understand why she would say this, because she says that her childhood friend Sally was a victim to this inferiority feeling about women. “Sally was beat up a lot by her father when we were young, and finally she couldn’t take it anymore and she got herself married to a man old enough to be her father at eighth grade.” The story of the women in Esperanza’s old hometown is really a shock to us, and Esperanza is doing her best to raise awareness to these problems in the poor communities.

During the show she kept telling the female audiences to stand up for themselves and leave behind the inferior feeling they have about themselves. And half way through the show a little girl called in to the show, the little girl was also from Esperanza’s hometown. “Esperanza I really admire you! The way you fight for your own right! I will follow in your step too, even though I am currently beaten up a lot just like your childhood friend Sally, but I will not escape all this by marrying another abusive man like she did!” said the child. Such brave words coming from a child, and this call just proves to us the inferiority complex still exist in a lot of communities. Esperanza encouraged the girl and tell us raising awareness for the girls to their own self worth was her purpose in becoming a writer.

Because of this show it encouraged a lot of women to jump out of the inferiority feeling about themselves and because of this show the little girl was encouraged to speak up for herself, raising awareness to her situation. Child care center agent has already gone and taken the little girl away from her father and put her into a better home. Once again Esperanza has saved another little girl from being abused by raising awareness to the abusive environment poor communities have. Keep up the good work Esperanza!

Ho 15 

Betrayal

My brother, I know not you hate me so

To push me out to sea and left to die

I use to love you, but now you’re my foe

For my dukedom, all’ur love to me was lie

Making me trust you with all your sweet words

Making me entrust to you my dukedom

Making yourself the great substitute lord

While I buried myself in books at home

You ungrateful thing! I gave you so much

But what did you give to me in return?

You scornful thing with your poisonous touch

Betraying me? Why wouldn’t you let things be?

With your poisonous touch you took e’erything!

Now, I have in my possession nothing.

 Ho 16

Letters from Ralph to Collin

Dear Collin,

  Yesterday we were evacuated from school together, but they didn’t put us on the same plane, and that’s a pity. But I don’t know if it’s a pity for me or for you, because you see, our plane crashed, and now I am on an uninhabited island with other boys from school that I don’t know of. I know it sounds like bad news, but I think this is really great! Because when our plane crashed, our only adult, the pilot, went down with it too! So now it’s only us children on this Island! You can imagine what this means don’t you? It means complete freedom! I feel very excited about my time here, so while I am waiting for rescue I will be enjoying myself! But don’t worry, I will write letters to you so that when we meet again you can read them and not feel like you were left out!

  Another good and exciting news is that the other boys elected me as their chief and I also met an interesting boy that loves adventure just like us, he’s Jack. When we get rescued and meet again, I will introduce you to him, you will definitely like him too! This island is such a good place, it’s sunny with fresh water and lots of fruits, and a great big lagoon to swim in, you would definitely love it here! If only you were here….

  And today I also met with a fat boy named Piggy who is very annoying, he kept telling me things that his auntie said and all those other annoying stuff, I wish he could stop following me around! But I will just have to tolerate with him since it’s pointless to fight when we are all trap on the same small island and it’s impossible to avoid him later on if I really did fight with him.

Ralph.

 Ho 17

Dear Collin,

That annoying boy Piggy seems to have some sense in him, but it’s still annoying to have to listen to a fat boy! Today while we were discussing about the exciting things on the island he interrupted us and told us that we should start worrying about ourselves because no one knows where we are. I hate to have to face the facts, but since I am chief I guess I should. Considering that no one knows where we are then that means we might be stuck on this island for a while before we get rescued. So I decided to set things up so that we can survive while having fun on this island waiting for the adults to come and take us home. So first things first, we need shelters to get away from wind and rain at night, and we need fires, because fire can help others notice us and get us rescued. Then hunting parties, because Jack says that we need meat and protector from wild animals. So with these decisions made, I gave out orders for the other boys to follow, doesn’t it all sound exciting to you? All those plans we make ourselves and acting adult is so fun! This is like the survival game we play a lot at school, except this is more real and more fun! It feels like life is just getting better and better! You will definitely wish you were here with me after you read all my letters!

Ralph.

 Ho 18

Dear Collin,

This survival game is getting kind of tiring, it’s no longer fun to be chief, and surviving alone without adults are hard. My views have changed, now I appreciate Piggy following me around all the time more and more and I am understanding Jack less and less with each day that goes by. In the beginning everyone follows my order and we built shelter together and people were taking turns on watching the fire, and Jack was more easy going. But I don’t know since when there’s only 3 people left building the shelters, and that’s me, Simon and Piggy. Simon is another guy I got pretty friendly with during our time together on the island, he is quiet and mysterious, but gives off a pleasant feeling to the people around him. Okay, so anyway I was saying that we were the only one left building and the shelters we built looks like they will collapse any time. And Jack has become less and less understanding of the importance of keeping the fire going, and more and more obsessed with hunting pigs. Just a few days ago he took the watcher of the fire away to hunt with him, and the fire went out. And I guess you know what happens next, the fire is out and a ship chooses this time to pass by near our island. Without the fire they didn’t notice us and we were alone on the island again with no way of going back home! I am really pissed right now, and I am going to call an assembly now! I have to discuss the matter of fire over with Jack again and I need some consultation with Piggy, maybe he will know what to do in this kind of situation. I have discovered recently that he actually got more brain in him than most adults. Wish you were here with me, I miss your care free laughter very much….

Ralph.

 Ho 19

Dear Collin,

Life on the island is turning from heaven to hell, last week I called an assembly to talk to Jack about the fire situation, but I was so angry we didn’t actually talk, it was more like a shouting contest between me and Jack. In the end we didn’t get our ideas over to each other at all, and the situation only worsened. Jack didn’t like to be shouted at and being blame for everything that went wrong, nor does he like that I have more power than him, so he went away from our group and formed a new tribe on his own. Each day there will be people going missing from our group and joining the tribe of Jack’s, they just don’t understand that fun and hunting can’t be everything, the fire is the most important! It’s very depressing, we need a lot of people to maintain our fire, but now there are not much people left. I regret shouting at Jack, if only I had been friendlier then maybe the situation wouldn’t have come to this. I have known from the very start that Jack hate to be lead by others and he already hates me for being elected chief, and now I go shouting at him, I shouldn’t have done it! But Piggy has been a great support to me, now that Jack is completely gone Piggy is as supportive as ever trying to cheer me up telling me the situation can’t get any worse.

But I know it will, because yesterday Simon was killed. Yesterday me and Piggy went over to the tribe to try to talk to Jack about the situation wanting him to be more sensible, but Jack won’t listen, the power have gotten to his head, there is no going back. And during the talk Simon came scrambling down the mountain, except that we didn’t know it was Simon and Jack’s tribe killed him. I am scared, if they can kill Simon, what stops them from killing me? I am still a chief of a very small group, and I know that Jack feels that I am a threat to his power, now all I want is to co-exist with his tribe, but while I was talking to him yesterday I can feel his hate for me very strongly. I wish we can just live peacefully, but I think the balance was broken yesterday when Simon died. I told Piggy of my fear and worry, and he seems to be unwilling to admit that Simon was murdered, he kept telling me it was just an accident and that we shouldn’t worry about it. I hope he is right. I truly miss you Collin, I wish I can go home to my parents now. I hope we will meet again, we will, won’t we?

Ralph.

 Ho 21

Dear Collin,

Piggy died.

Jack’s tribe killed him.

Yesterday I went to see Jack again to try to talk some sense into him, and even though Piggy feared going to see Jack so much, he still accompanied me, he is a very loyal friend. Jack’s tribe has moved up onto the mountain where there is a cave to accommodate them. We went up there, I shouted at Jack to come to his sense out of desperation when he won’t listen to me or to Piggy. We fought, I wounded him, he wounded me. Piggy was just standing there fearing I would get hurt when a great big rock came from the sky and smashed him into pieces. I shouldn’t have let him come with me when I know Jack despises him so much. I caused his death, I shouldn’t have let him come with me. The one that should have died was me, not Piggy. I am the one who is a threat to Jack’s power, why did they have to kill Piggy? The only true friend I have on this island, is dead. I regret, I regret very much for putting Piggy in danger and now he’s dead, there’s only me left. After I saw them kill Piggy with a great big rock, I ran, I ran away out of cowardice. I don’t want to die too, so I ran away and hide in the forest. I hide in the forest until morning fearing Jack’s tribe will find me. I was so afraid. I tried to hide deeper into the forest when Jack’s tribe started looking for me in the morning. But it was no use, they found me, THEY FOUND ME! They took spears and chased after me. Deeper, DEEPER, and DEEPER I ran into the forest! Faster, FASTER, and FASTER as they pursue me into the forest! But it was no use running, they start burning the forest, they ARE BURNING THE FOREST! I have to keep ahead of the fire! I don’t want to die, I DON’T WANT TO DIE! I ran FASTER AND FASTER AND FASTER, and I broke through the forest, I reach the beach. NO! I CAN’T TRIP HERE! THEY WILL CATCH ME NOW! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! I closed my eyes waiting for their spears to go through my body, waiting, waiting and waiting, fearing, fearing and fearing. But no pain came, I opened my eyes and saw a great big boot. I look up and saw a naval officer standing in front of me. I AM SAFE NOW. Was my first thought. I have never appreciated seeing an adult this much in my life. I have never hated adults this much in my life. He stopped me from getting killed, but they didn’t stop the war from causing us to be stranded on this isolated small island, they didn’t stop Simon or Piggy from getting killed when the innocent boys turned into savages. If only, if only, if only they had been more sensible, all this won’t have needed to happen. If only.

Ralph.

 Ho 23

Works Cited

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on . New York City, NY: Vintage Books, 1991. Print.

Mango Street

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York City, NY: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

"Harriet Tubman." The United States, 1859-1865. Ed. Peter C. Ripley. Vol. 5. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1992. 222-23. The Black Abolitionist Papers. Documenting the American South. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 20 May 2012.

Harris, Christine R. "The Evolution of Jealousy." UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture. University of California, Los Angeles, Jan.-Feb. 2004. Web. 20 May 2012.

Powell, Alvin. "Pacifism Is Fruit of Family Tree." Harvard University Gazette. Harvard University. Web. 20 May 2012.

Shakespeare, William. “The Tempest.” World Literature. Albert, Susan W., Richard Cohen, Rose S. Kam, David A. Leeming, Thomas Monsell, Carroll Moulton, Susanna Nied, and Eileen H. Oshinsky, eds. Orlando, FL: Rinehart and Winston, 1998. 844-930. Print.