Book: A Farewell to Arms
Pages read last week: 92
Pages read since semester: 342
Weekly Style: Quotation
“ Do not forget that (love) is a religious feeling.”
Love is a religious feeling. Sounds interesting and a bit ridiculous? No, it is not ridiculous. I believe that love can be religious also, especially your love for God. I come from a religion where the devotion and love for God are profound as well as paramount. It was the love of God that gave my ancestors the courage to get themselves boiled in hot water and cut by saws. Their body parts were cut one by one. Even infants and toddlers were tossed up in air and caught on lances, and the garlands of their intestines decorated the necks of their mothers. 40 persons offered stiff resistance to a million. All this for what and why? The answer is for God, due to his love and for justice, righteousness and good of humanity.
Even the holy Sikh scriptures, our present Guru, ‘Guru Granth Sahib ji,’ contains holy hymns written by our prophets. They portray human soul as a bride who is in grief due to its separation from the ‘Supreme Soul’ (God). She is longing for her unification with Him, which she can earn only through good deeds and by remembering Him.
My motive was not to praise my faith, but to present my viewpoint through it. I believe that, “Self praise is no recommendation.” Love requires your selfless devotion for someone, and thus can be termed religious. However, love can be blind, and so does faith; but neither one justifies any wrongdoing done by anyone to attain his goal, even if he did it due to his devotion. Every faith advocates the love for God. One feels that it his duty to be true to his love, and he has the similar feeling towards his faith also. You can fight with the world for you love and your faith. People who advocate going to forests or high mountains for long prayers are terribly wrong, in my opinion. It is pretty pessimistic to give up this world for love. (I am not talking about committing suicide.) Faith can also be exercised by being part of this world. In the end, I can conclude Count Greffi was not wrong in saying the quote to Frederick Henry.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Blog 3
Book: A Farewell to Arms
Pages read this week: 84
Pages read since semester: 250
Weekly Style: Writing Challenge, Fan Fiction
Frederick Henry is the only son of a wealthy businessman who is well settled in New York. His father provided him with everything, but love and care of a father, after Henry’s mother died soon after delivering him. Frederick loves to just live life, and never really thinks seriously about it. In short, he is a troubled and spoiled son of a rich man. Henry goes on a voyage of different countries. He meets a young girl named Catherine Barkley in England. They both fall in love at first sight, but are reluctant in expressing it to the other and confessing it. After some hesitation, they realize and finally accept the truth. Henry marries Catherine, and they come back to America. Henry’s father accepts him too. Frederick and Catherine had dreamed of a happy married life, but things are never so easy. They had not sorted out and talked about many matters before marriage, which begin to cause them problems. Catherine is always sincere about life, but Fred keeps ignoring them. They were supposed to adjust to each other and realize their commitment to one another as life partners, something in which Fred failed miserably. Fred’s irresponsible acts such as spending whole night out of the house aggravated the situation. His father never really had an authority over him. The lively and good looking couple began to part their ways by the end of first year of their marriage. At last, Catt decided to go back to England for sometime, in order to teach Fred a lesson. However, the plane crashed, killing all aboard, bringing a sad end to the story, and ending the world for Fred as he realized how lonely he has become now.
Pages read this week: 84
Pages read since semester: 250
Weekly Style: Writing Challenge, Fan Fiction
Frederick Henry is the only son of a wealthy businessman who is well settled in New York. His father provided him with everything, but love and care of a father, after Henry’s mother died soon after delivering him. Frederick loves to just live life, and never really thinks seriously about it. In short, he is a troubled and spoiled son of a rich man. Henry goes on a voyage of different countries. He meets a young girl named Catherine Barkley in England. They both fall in love at first sight, but are reluctant in expressing it to the other and confessing it. After some hesitation, they realize and finally accept the truth. Henry marries Catherine, and they come back to America. Henry’s father accepts him too. Frederick and Catherine had dreamed of a happy married life, but things are never so easy. They had not sorted out and talked about many matters before marriage, which begin to cause them problems. Catherine is always sincere about life, but Fred keeps ignoring them. They were supposed to adjust to each other and realize their commitment to one another as life partners, something in which Fred failed miserably. Fred’s irresponsible acts such as spending whole night out of the house aggravated the situation. His father never really had an authority over him. The lively and good looking couple began to part their ways by the end of first year of their marriage. At last, Catt decided to go back to England for sometime, in order to teach Fred a lesson. However, the plane crashed, killing all aboard, bringing a sad end to the story, and ending the world for Fred as he realized how lonely he has become now.
Blog 2
Book: A Farewell to Arms
Pages read this week: 76
Pages read since semester: 166
Frederick Henry, after being injured at the front, was sent to Milan for better treatment of his injured knee ands Catherine Barkley is also transferred there. Henry goes under knife for his knee. Both he and Catherine spend the entire summer together, and they also make love at night, which consequently leads to her pregnancy. By the end of book two, Henry leaves for the front, late by three weeks due to jaundice.
Questions
Que. 1: Why did you choose this story? Has it met your expectations so far? Why or why not?
Ans.: I chose this story because I had heard a lot about Ernest Hemingway and his novels. I had always longed to read his works, and the title of ‘A Farewell to Arms,’ had always fascinated me. Moreover, I consulted my sister’s English teacher from last year, Mr. Dyer, about some book. War stories have been my favorites, whether they are books, real life incidents or Indian movies. Also, this book is romantic too. Until now, I have enjoyed the book, except for the love making part(s). I do not like to read about that stuff because I consider such things unethical and immoral. However, it does make the story more realistic. The rhetoric and concreteness of the lexicon are just fabulous. In addition to all this, the youthful vigor of the characters of the story make the book a masterpiece, and it can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. The connotation of the incidents has moved me the most, and that is why I have neglected some minor flaws of the story.
Que. 2: What does the story or the characters remind you of?
Ans.: The characters of the story remind me of one of my favorite movies, “Veer Zaara.” It is an Indian Bollywood movie, but certainly novel, not a copy of a Hollywood movie. It involves the love story of an Indian Air Force officer, Sq. Ldr. Veer Pratap Singh; and a Pakistani girl, Zaara. Now, everyone knows that there is no love lost between India and Pakistan. Things are better now, but they were very bad before. Being a Punjabi and a Sikh, I feel the pain of partition of India. Both Veer and Zaara are in love with each other, but they could not marry, and I need not tell why. Although I have watched this movie numerous times, yet it is very close to my heart due to its emotional appeal, and the sentiments it erupts in one’s mind. Fredrick Henry and Catherine Barkley are just like Veer and Zaara for me.
Honorable Mr. Seal, I did not want to play a spoilsport by narrating the entire story of "Veer Zaara."
Pages read this week: 76
Pages read since semester: 166
Frederick Henry, after being injured at the front, was sent to Milan for better treatment of his injured knee ands Catherine Barkley is also transferred there. Henry goes under knife for his knee. Both he and Catherine spend the entire summer together, and they also make love at night, which consequently leads to her pregnancy. By the end of book two, Henry leaves for the front, late by three weeks due to jaundice.
Questions
Que. 1: Why did you choose this story? Has it met your expectations so far? Why or why not?
Ans.: I chose this story because I had heard a lot about Ernest Hemingway and his novels. I had always longed to read his works, and the title of ‘A Farewell to Arms,’ had always fascinated me. Moreover, I consulted my sister’s English teacher from last year, Mr. Dyer, about some book. War stories have been my favorites, whether they are books, real life incidents or Indian movies. Also, this book is romantic too. Until now, I have enjoyed the book, except for the love making part(s). I do not like to read about that stuff because I consider such things unethical and immoral. However, it does make the story more realistic. The rhetoric and concreteness of the lexicon are just fabulous. In addition to all this, the youthful vigor of the characters of the story make the book a masterpiece, and it can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. The connotation of the incidents has moved me the most, and that is why I have neglected some minor flaws of the story.
Que. 2: What does the story or the characters remind you of?
Ans.: The characters of the story remind me of one of my favorite movies, “Veer Zaara.” It is an Indian Bollywood movie, but certainly novel, not a copy of a Hollywood movie. It involves the love story of an Indian Air Force officer, Sq. Ldr. Veer Pratap Singh; and a Pakistani girl, Zaara. Now, everyone knows that there is no love lost between India and Pakistan. Things are better now, but they were very bad before. Being a Punjabi and a Sikh, I feel the pain of partition of India. Both Veer and Zaara are in love with each other, but they could not marry, and I need not tell why. Although I have watched this movie numerous times, yet it is very close to my heart due to its emotional appeal, and the sentiments it erupts in one’s mind. Fredrick Henry and Catherine Barkley are just like Veer and Zaara for me.
Honorable Mr. Seal, I did not want to play a spoilsport by narrating the entire story of "Veer Zaara."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Blog 1
Book Title: A Farewell To Arms
Pages Since Last Week: 90
Pages Since Semester: 90
Weekly Style: Quotation
“There isn’t always an explanation for everything.”
In the book, the main character Frederic Henry speaks this quotation while talking with Helen Ferguson, an English nurse, when she asks him why he is in Italian Army even though he is an American. In my opinion, this quotation becomes of a great significance as we move on into the book. I found some things, some instances where I was either confused by the lack of a reason for some ting or I was not satisfied with the writer’s explanation. An example is why did Catherine Barkley allow Henry to kiss her, even though she had slapped him seconds ago when he had made similar attempt. That was one of the many incidents when I pondered over her ambivalence.
Even in real world we find a lot of happenings which go unexplained. One is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Why was he killed? No one really knows about it. Another one is about the whereabouts of notorious terrorist Osama Bin Laden. What created the planet earth or this universe? Such things prompt people to make guesses of wide variety and range. And sometimes, there is indeed no explanation of some things. It is just better to avoid them. Because the reality might be more hurting. And that does explain the reply given by Henry to Helen. Perhaps, he was tired of the same question, and so, did not wish to respond to it. I can relate the same situation to my life also. Like when I am asked about my career choice, I try to step away from the question. My point is that one finds it easier to skip troubling question rather than actually answering them. Another example is Barack Obama not explaining why he voted in favor of Iraq war and John McCain defending Bush policies and neglect of Afghanistan besides Sarah Palin’s willingness to attack Pakistan, which he opposes. Because the answers to them will be more damaging than being quiet. So, everyone, at some point in his or her life, does face such type of situation, where he or she tries to get away with a mistake without acknowledging it.
Pages Since Last Week: 90
Pages Since Semester: 90
Weekly Style: Quotation
“There isn’t always an explanation for everything.”
In the book, the main character Frederic Henry speaks this quotation while talking with Helen Ferguson, an English nurse, when she asks him why he is in Italian Army even though he is an American. In my opinion, this quotation becomes of a great significance as we move on into the book. I found some things, some instances where I was either confused by the lack of a reason for some ting or I was not satisfied with the writer’s explanation. An example is why did Catherine Barkley allow Henry to kiss her, even though she had slapped him seconds ago when he had made similar attempt. That was one of the many incidents when I pondered over her ambivalence.
Even in real world we find a lot of happenings which go unexplained. One is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Why was he killed? No one really knows about it. Another one is about the whereabouts of notorious terrorist Osama Bin Laden. What created the planet earth or this universe? Such things prompt people to make guesses of wide variety and range. And sometimes, there is indeed no explanation of some things. It is just better to avoid them. Because the reality might be more hurting. And that does explain the reply given by Henry to Helen. Perhaps, he was tired of the same question, and so, did not wish to respond to it. I can relate the same situation to my life also. Like when I am asked about my career choice, I try to step away from the question. My point is that one finds it easier to skip troubling question rather than actually answering them. Another example is Barack Obama not explaining why he voted in favor of Iraq war and John McCain defending Bush policies and neglect of Afghanistan besides Sarah Palin’s willingness to attack Pakistan, which he opposes. Because the answers to them will be more damaging than being quiet. So, everyone, at some point in his or her life, does face such type of situation, where he or she tries to get away with a mistake without acknowledging it.
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