Peer Evaluation

Seriously, I think that peer evaluation is a very 'exciting' and 'nervous' activity. It is more stressful to be evaluated by our own freidns rather than the tutor and lecturer. Personally, I would think this way because peer evaluation is done by a big number of people in the class while tutor evaluation is done by only one tutor. so, I tend to feel uneasy to be 'watched' by so many pairs of eyes, knowing that they will judge you from tip to toe. Every posture, speech, action and reflect will be evaluated. Of course, somehow I know that peer evaluation can encourage you for better improvement than tutor evaluation. This is because friends are the persons who stay with you all the time, knowing most of your behaviors and attitude. Therefore, I would say they understadn me more than the tutor. However, peer evalutaion is prone to be bias as our friendds normally won't judge us from our presentation only, but also from our performance in the course. Of course, I have been one of those who evaluate our own friends. I think I would know what weakness and strong points my friends have and pay attention to these while evaluating them. So, I couldn't deny that I may view that subjectively. Nevertheless, I would give my sincere opinion on their presentations in order to help them in improving. Most of us are going to be teachers one day and I hope we can really handle the responsibility as educators.

Deepak- The Best Man in The World

I have to say that Deepak is the best character that I have ever seen in the plays. His character is so good that I think it is so hard to find even in this society today. After being rejected by Mala, he is so determined that he dares to visit Mala's mother--Shanta, for her approval and help. This shows that he really leaves behind the risk of being humiliated. He really loves Mala more than his own dignity. Furthermore, knowing that Mala has an un-speak-able problem in her heart that contributes to her behaviors today, he is willing to go to the therapist and find solutions to save her from the hell. What a great man he is. As a successful man he is, Deepak does not need to do all these and he can have other better girls perhaps. However, his loyalty gives him this bravery to achieve Mala's love and trust. Therefore, if compared to Mala's uncle and the paper wallah who place female in a very low position, Deepak is certainly the best choice of Mala's.

A Streetcar named Desire...

The play 'A Streetcar named Dersire' evolves between two sisters, named Blanche and Stella. In my point of view, Blanche who always have intimate relationships with her students is actually one of the victims. She suffers failure in her marriage in which she finds out that her husband is a gay. Before she can really accept this cruel truth, her husband is killed! What a double-attack for her. Moreover, she has no family there to support her through this trauma. Hence, I would think that a fragile female like her is sure not able to stand this whole tragedy. Due to this, I think her sister, Stella is in fault that she chooses her husband over her sister. As the saying goes, 'blood is thicker than water.' I think she should try harder to settle her sister, instead of giving up on her and sending her to the mental institution. This is so selfish. And, since her husband can do this brutal act to her sister, I'm sure he will do the same to other women. This is totally not a correct attitude in a marriage. Stella shouldn't just close one eye and continue to live like this.

30 Days is a Long Journey...

This play is indeed a very very sad-ending play. Both of the female characters are the victims of child sexual abuse. The theme of child-abuse is really relevant in our society today. So many little children have become the preys of those paedophiles: Nurin and now Sharlini.. It was kind of sad when i read this play, finding that the main character--Mala had suffered the most horrible 30 days in her childhood being mollested by her uncle. Personally, I would say the injury caused by a close person is far more painful than the one caused by an enemy. My emotion was strongly affected when I come across Sharlini's pictures in the newspaper, magazine, as well as the shops. A child is the most innocent and fragile human in the world. How can an adult take advantage of this and harm the little heart? This is so sad. Our society has been so sick and human is acting more brutal and violent than the animals. Sometimes, I wonder, are they animals that disguise in human mask? How can Mala's uncle seemingly kind and helpful to Mala and her mother, while at the back become the villain in their lives?

Caesar and Antony

Based on my understanding on ACT I and ACT II of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, I think Antony and Caesar are two extreme people; Antony indulges too much into lust whilst Caesar stresses too much on violence. Antony lost himself in the arms of Cleopatra and neglected his responsibility as a general of his country. Due to his indulgence, he loses the trust of his country people. The rumors of him being idle and enchanted by a woman were spread all over the country. On the other hand, Caesar concentrates too much on the war and violence that he cannot tolerate with Antony’s negligence. Since he takes Antony as a partner, he should be patient enough to lead Antony back to his responsibility. Instead, he blamed Antony to his face, causing an unhappy conversation and awkward relationship between the two of them.
Perhaps, my understanding is not that accurate, yet these are my thoughts after the lecturer with Dr. Edwin. Therefore, I would like to share it with my fellow friends.

Antony and Cleopatra

Today in our lesson with Dr. Edwin, we were introduced to the Act I and II of another drama ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. In the first two Acts, I would opine that Cleopatra is of no difference with other women who try to get their male partners to stay by their side. Knowing that Antony has a wife named Fulvia, she always use ironic words to tease Antony in order to prove that she is more important to him than his wife. She even gets jealous when Caesar sends his messenger to Antony because she feels that Antony’s attention is distracted. Like other women, Cleopatra wants Antony’s full attention on her. Instead, she wants him to leave away from his role as a general as well as a husband to Fulvia. I think that her ideas are kind of silly, as the harder you try, the chance of losing it is bigger. Therefore, I have no doubt but to feel that she will lose Antony at the end of the drama.

The Day with Dr. Edwin

Last Wednesday, Dr. Edwin FINALLY discussed 'Oedipus Rex' with the class. He went through the lines with us. Suddenly, i found that the lines of the text seem to be quite easy to be interpreted than the readings we did on our own. He pointed out a few significant words in the texts that are ignored by us, for instance, the use of the sense of 'touch'. During the last few readings, we just focus on the words on the sense of sight because Oedipus becomes a blond man in the later part of the drama. However, we already forget about the fact that , the sense of touch will take over the place of the eyes when somebody is blind. After being pointed out, I think I'm still not a proficient reader who really reads between the lines of the drama. Every line that seems to be so simple actually has its own embedded meaning.

The Power of Fate

Again, I would like to question the power of fate in Oedipus Rex. I think fate plays a major role in the plot of the drama. What does Sophocles try to convey to the readers? People should not fight against fate? Iocaste is an ignorant and tragic character. She does not even know the person who sleeps beside her is her son as well as the murderer of her husband. Undoubtedly, this is the power of fate. Human can never know the whole truth before he or she is destined to know. Sophocles has come out with the helplessness of human, or even their foolishness of trying to handle the things beyond their ability. For example, Oedipus who tries to know the truth despite the disagreement of Teiresias and Creon has finally defeated by his own ignorance. Maybe, human should be moderate in everything they do; Maybe, human should not try too hard to know everything in this universe. Maybe, curiosity does not only kills cats, it kills human as well.

Fate Or Choice?

Last week, we had come to the theme of the Oedipus Rex. Our tutor Ms. Baiti required us to identify the protagonist and antagonist, as well as the symbol that they represent in the drama. I was wondering, why most of my coursemates chose the fate as antagonist instead of a real character. Personally, I do not agree with most of them that fate is the antagonist that causes conflict to Oedipus. At least, Oedipus is not fated to find out the truth, neither that he is fated to blind his eyes. It is undeniably that the person whom Oedipus killed happened to be his father, but the choice of finding out the truth is on him. He CAN choose to listen to the prophet, as all we know prophet is the person who foresee the future. Thus, he should not force the prophet to reveal the truth since he knew the prophet has his reason behind his action. What should I say? Oedipus is over-confident in which he thinks he is capable to handle every thing. The real antagonist, I think, would be his over-confidence. It is the major reason that leads to his fall.

The teaching of drama

After the first class with Miss Baiti, a question mark appears in my mind. Am i capable to "TEACH" drama to my students? I don't think I really understand it either, especially the Greek drama. The dialogues seem to be groups of familiar alphabet yet the meanings are so hard to predict. Although i have expected it to be hard (which means it's full of 'thou', 'thee'...etc), yet it really drives me to my limit reading Oedipus Rex. We were given some time to understand the prologue in the first class, and there are still lots of scenes to go. A big challenge to overcome, i think.

The Beginning of Oedipus Rex

It takes three times of readings for me to really understand the drama, Oedipus Rex. From the prologue, I would say that Oedipus is a responsible king who tries to save his people from the plague. His intention is good. However, his overconfidence seems to drive him to unveil the darkest secret that he would never want to face. Personally, I felt that Oedipus should not be led to such tragic ending. Just look at the way he is so brave to kill Sphinx for Thebes and his determination to bring his people out of the plague. Although he is a little bit overconfident and lacks of discretion, nobody would ever predict the ending to be in such a way.