Tiffany James- English 145

Love is a Lost Treasure The theme of sacrifice love appears to fill the entire ambience of the novel. However, underneath the surface is the truth love is a defeated foe when it comes to money. At first look, Master Li, is smitten by Du Tenth, for no other explanation than he has never encountered a woman, not to mention, she was beautiful and sexually experienced. One can see that Master Li, being unable to pass the civil service examine, is not so bright and foolishly falls in love with a prostitute. Luckily for Master Li, Du Tenth was an honorable woman despite her misfortune of being a made a courtesan at the age of thirteen, “Tenth, knowing how greedy and unjust her madam was, had long been meaning to go straight,” even the “the ancient’s said, “friendship based on profit grows cold when profit runs dry,” but this was not the case with Tenth. She had a genuine fondness for Master Li and knew that there were more valuable things in the world than money.   From these ...

Introduction: the creation of a magical stone that is quickly deemed unworthy/ reshaped into something of value by the Taoist and Buddhist monk. ( redemption) could the stone represent the author? Vanitas the Taoist realizes the stone carries some consequence but is not sure that its worthy enough to be shared because it has no dynastic period/no social message/no valid accreditation. The stone gives validation of why the story should be published, insisting that the events and characters in the story are of true account. This caused Vanitas to take another look and realized that the stone spoke of nothing but truth and ventured off to look for a publisher. (this could be how the manuscript of Cao Xueqin after his death was viewed and how it was finally published)  The land of illusion – “Truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true; real becomes not-real where the unreal’s real (528).   (truth is something that is accepted by an individual/individuals than what re...

Feng Menglog (1574-1646) Most versatile writers of early modern China/ Ardent scholar of the Confucian Classics Introduction to a soon to be corrupt system civil/political/logrolling “In view of the present armed strife, our logistical supplies are insufficient. Let us provisionally adopt the precedent of accepting payment in exchange for positions in the imperial academy” (500). Du Tenth/Master Li, Prostitution /rank/money / an arrangement of sexual favor develops into real affections towards one another. The theme of money equals power.   Career advancement based on money/love is not more valuable than money. The women of low standing showed honor/kindness/concern for the Mater and Tenth than the friends/acquaintance of the master’s caliber.   Yuelang stated, “Our sister will be journeying hundreds of miles over the hill and dale along with her husband. Yet her savings are scanty, and she is not in the lease prepared. This is a matter that should concern all of us...

I will be doing more research about the theme of “free thinking” and “Hypocrisy” in Candide. Voltaire not only highlighted but criticized different philosophies and civil constructs throughout the story. Candide is symbolic of one who is incapable of thinking for himself. In my pursuit, I need to take a closer look at the popular philosophies, civil and religious intuitions during that time to help readers understand Voltaire’s strong position of reason, freedom, and progress. Allowing one to think for themselves. I believe that is why he challenged several beliefs throughout the story so that his readers could made a sound judgment for themselves. Like Candide, who was being presented with truth throughout the story through his experiences, his readers also have the same opportunity, as we are faced with what we believe. Yet, Candide continued to hold on to a system of belief that he had been taught from Dr. Pangloss.   Understanding this is hard because Voltaire, at on...