To Whom It May Concern:

First, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my selected works for my portfolio. This semester I attended the advance writing class in order to improve my writing skills. The five works in the portfolio represent the process of learning. My writing class teacher is Ron. He let us read five famous works by different authors at the beginning of study. Through the five stories in the book I read, I witnessed different people and backgrounds the author wrote in the story and learned a lot from their works. I wrote the reading log on these five stories and put a lot of attention on one story.

Before joining in this class, I am not very confident about my ability to write. Because I think I only can use the simple sentence and the volume of the vocabulary is very small. This will make my essay seem not very professional. But my teacher Ron has helped me to understand that whether the essay is good or not depends on the strong thesis and the clear structure. He always lets us express the meaning which we really want to express and do not focus on the complicated words. I have made progress due to his helpfulness and guidance. I feel as though my papers can show others what exactly I think as well as share my feeling with others. The most important thing I learn from this class is to use the evidence to prove my thesis. At first, I tended to write the similar sentences to express the same meaning which can pretend I wrote a lot. From comments on my drafts the teacher gave me, I knew this is not the right way. I should use the details as the evidence. Overall, I believe my writing is becoming stronger as I mature and I like the writing more.

My first essay is draft three. It is the final version of my essay. I choose “The necklace” as my writing topic and the name of my essay is “Necklace: The Symbolism of Mathilde’s dream”. I want to have a different view of this story since it is known to all. I believe that in this paper I have few grammatical errors but I also use the details to prove my thesis. Actually, I have wrote draft one and draft two as you can see in my second essay and third essay. This is the process of improvement. In the draft one, I do not have a strong and clear thesis. In the draft two, I do not have the strong evidence.

My fourth essay is the final time-writing. The topic is to discuss one sentence in the story “ The Dead Men’s Path”. I think this sentence is an implication of warning and I also thought the priest is a very intelligent person.

My fifth essay is one of my reading log. I chose the reading log of “The Necklace”. Why did I choose this one? Because my essay is also about “:The Necklace”, I want you to know how I make the progress. This reading log can tell you how I think when I first read this story. After that you can see the way I have passed and what I learned in the end.

Thank you for taking the time to read my essay. I hope you enjoyed reading each one and that you learned from my ideas. One more thing I want you to share is the idea “ Happy writing”!

Sincerely yours,

Maggie

Maggie Jiang

2007-6-17

Draft Three

Necklace: The Symbolism of Mathilde’s dream

“The Necklace” written by Guy de Maupassant is a very famous work in the literary world. It tells us a woman named Mathilde dreams of the top class living. She borrowed a necklace from her rich friend for a noble party. Unfortunately the necklace was lost. In the end, it costs her youth and beauty to pay for this mistake.

The fate of this woman is not easy to analyze because of society. During that time, the marriage depends on which class you are in. A man wants to get married with the woman who has a big fortune. Mathilde is a pretty woman without any fortune. So she dreams of the top society but she can not have it. As you can see the necklace plays a very important role through this story. Because of this necklace Mathilde had the opportunity to touch the top class while her life fell into poverty since the necklace is lost. In my view, Maupassant takes advantage of the necklace not only as a clue but also as a symbolism of Mathilde’s dream which can not come true.

Mathilde “had no dresses, no jewels, nothing”(39). Other women who have the some situation like her will be used to this peace and tranquility life. But Mathilde is not that woman. She feels “herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.”(38). When her husband told her that he had got an invitation to the minister’s party, Mathilde was depressed instead of being glad since she had no glory dress to wear. After her husband gave her money to buy a beautiful dress. She felt annoyed again and this time it was because she had no single jewel. These details reveal to us  in her mind she has a dream about being the rich class woman. A glory necklace which shows somebody’s status can make her like a woman in the top class of society.

Other important details presented in the story, before Mathilde lost her necklace, are the plot she borrowed the necklace from her rich friend. When she asked her friend to lend one beautiful necklace to her, her friend took out many necklaces to let her choose. She liked the one in that black box and “her heart began to beat with an immoderate desire.”(41). Here the necklace for Mathilde is like an important actor who can help her long-term dream to be realized. Mathilde wants to have it just like she wants to have a nobility status. The author used the black box here to put the necklace in. I think it is an implication that the black box means the unpredictable future. Sometimes it will be a good thing and sometimes not.

When everything is on the successful process, the miserable thing happened. The necklace disappeared. Mathilde is a Cinderella but the real world is not the fair world so no prince will show up to save her from the low status of society without consideration of her fortune. The necklace was lost as if her temporary glorious dream broke suddenly. The top class fate didn’t belong to her finally and also she must pay for this temporary glory. As we can see from the story, the cost of this dream is huge. She works very hard every year for ten yeas, which let her dream and beauty flow away. They are the only thing she was proud of. Although sometimes “she thought of that gay evening of long ago, she knew her dream is lost as soon as the necklace could not been found. Because the necklace is the symbolism of her dream.

In the end of the story, ironically, the necklace is paste. It means even her temporary glory is fake. She still is a middle class woman because of the relationship of her fate and society which judge women according to her fortune. Because of society, Mathilde can never change her life. The fake necklace is always fake. There is no chance that a fake necklace will become a real one as well as there is no opportunity for her dream to be true.

Throughout the story, we see how a woman’s fate becomes so complicated just because of a necklace. Although this may seem unbelievable, it can be considered sound and it is a description of that society. Mathilde is a victim of the society of her days, a society in which people judge others by fortune.

Necklace: the symbolism of the Mathilde’s fate

Maggie Jiang

2007-5-17

Draft Two

Necklace: the symbolism of the Mathilde’s fate

“ The Necklace” written by Guy de Maupassant is a very famous work in the literary world. It tells us a woman named Mathilde dreams of the up class living. She borrowed a necklace from her rich friend for a noble party. Unfortunately the necklace was lost. In the end it costs her youth and beauty to pay for this mistake.

This is a story of a woman’s fate. The fate of this women is not easy to analyze because of society. During the time in which the story is set. it was expected that a husband would receive a dowry from the family of his future bride. A man often chose a wife on the basis of how large her fortune was. Unfortunatly, Mathilde is a pretty women without any fortune. So she dreams of the top society but she can not have it. As you can see the necklace plays a very important role through this story. Because of this necklace Mathilde had the opportunity to touch the top class while her life fell into poverty since the necklace is lost. In my view, Maupassant takes advantage of the necklace not only as a clue but also as a symbolism of Mathilde’s dream which can not come ture.

Why can I say this? There are some reasons.

First, Mathilde “had no dresses, no jewels, nothing”P(39). Other women who has the some situation like her will be used to this peace and tranquility life. But Mathilde is not that women.She feels “herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.”p(38). The dresses and jewels can show one’s status. In spite of the beautiful dress, Mathilde still wants a glory necklace which can make her like a women in the up class of society. Here the necklace for Mathilde is like an important actor who can help her long-term dream to be realized.Mathilde wants to have it just like she wants to have a nobility status. But she hasn’t this kind of the necklace so she only can borrow one from her friend who is very rich. Actually, she succeeded in the party everybody was hearing of her.

When everything is on the successful process, the miserable thing happened. The necklace disappeared. The necklace has to change his role to show Mathilde’s dream or fate on the other side.

What is the other side? The former part of the story describes us that the Mathilde danced as if she was a noble woman with this necklace. However, she is a Cinderella but the real world is not the fair world so no prince will show up to save her from the low status of society without consideration of her fortune. The necklace was lost as if her temporary glorious dream broke suddenly. The up class fate didn’t belong to her finally and also she must pay for this temporary glory. As we can see from the story, the cost of this dream is huge. She works very hard every year for ten yeas, which let her dream and beauty flow away.

Ironically, the necklace is paste. It means even her temporary glory is fake. She still is a middle class woman because of the relationship of her fate and society which judge women according to her fortune. Because of society, Mathilde can never change her life. The fake necklace is always fake. There is no chance that a fake necklace will become a real one as well as there is no opportunity for her dream to be true.

What can we learn from this story? I think it shows us an unfair and materialism society. People judge others by his fortune even use this level to decide whom I should get married. Man can not decide which kind of family he should be born in. So it is not right to divide them into different classes by the fortune. I think the hard working is the priority. If a person works hard, Society should give him an opportunity to change his status.

In conclusion, the necklace is the symbolism of Mathilde’s dream. The dream is changing between the real and the unreal. It will let people feel as if they have been successful. When they wake up, they will find the dream is just the dream and the real world has not changed a little.

0526088

Maggie Jiang

2007-6-21

Time-writing 3

Directions: In Dead Men’s Path the priest says “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.” Discuss what you think he means and what this saying reveals about him.

In “Dead Men’s Path” written by Nigeria, Michael Obi who is a headmaster of a school sticked to close a dean men’s path which is very important to the villagers in order to regulate his school. Finally the school’s building was ruined. During the process, a priest tried to persuade him not to close the path. But Michael did not accept his advice and something miserable happened.

In my view, the building was destroyed by the villagers. How can I say this? Because the priest once said to him that “Let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.” This sentence is just a good advice in advance.

As we know, the hawk and the eagle is a kind of very ferocious animal. But they don not attack people if you do not disturb them. So when a hawk or an eagle is perching, the best way for us is to let it rest. If not, you will be hurt by it. Why did the priest use this sentence to persuade the headmaster? In the story, I think the hawk and the eagle mean the strong belief villagers have that the path connects the village shrine with their place of burial. If somebody destroys this belief, the people who depend on this belief will put the punishment on him just like the hawk. So the priest means that Michael should reopen the path and let this traditional belief exist or he will have troubles. Actually, in the end, he lost his position as the headmaster because of the villagers’ revenge.

This sentence also reveals that the priest is a very intelligent person.

In the story, the priest came to the office of Obi and told him how important the path is to the villagers. After Michael insisted on his decision, the priest said this sentence to him and said nothing anymore. I think the priest knew it would not work whatever he said to Michael because he was such an adamant person. But he still wanted to save him. He used this sentence to tell him what will happen if he did not reopen the path. In this way, he not only expressed his meaning but also gave a warning to Michael.

Loser or winner
I have read the story “The necklace” for many times. Astonished by the ending of the story which is the best and the most unexpected part of the whole, I was wondering if the women really deserves that punishment like many readers think because of her vanity or she is just innocent. Between the lines of Maupassant's story, there is the indication that the woman is a loser of life who spent ten years on the most meaningless thing of the world. However I don't agree with that. I think the beautiful dream that the women always has is a dream that every women will have. Everyone will have an empty glory. Who will blame such pretty lady wants to be elegant and attractive? No one will. If I were her, I would do what she do.

On the other hand, after she lost the necklace, instead of complaining about that, she managed to borrow money from others to return the expensive necklace to her friend. Faced with trouble, she didn't give up. Before the miserable destiny of the life, she can't do anything to change her life. But before the difficulties, she has a great power to get through it like a giant. I was moved by her persistence of life and also was shamed by my withdrawal when sometimes I was in trouble. So in my eyes, she is the winner of the life.