ENG 325 Week 9 Unit B: The Lover 1. DISCUSSION BOARD Reading: The Lover (Page 49 to the end) novel by Marguerite Duras (If you cannot find novel, you can read summary from internet. Try to use sentence from book for Weekly Wiki.) Discussion question: “The book is much more about power than love. Love is an exchange of power. Look, The Power Exchanger wouldn’t be as great a title, but the book is a chess game. It’s about what happens during these moments of exchanges of power, between the lovers, between cultures, between family,” [Catherine Lacey]* said.  http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/27/on-a-pedestal/ The Lover is a post-colonial book; set in what was then called French Indo-China, now Vietnam, the action of the novel takes place within the political, economic, and cultural boundaries of a colonial relationship.  The main character is female, young, inexperienced and poor, but she is also a white European, while her male lover, experienced, older, wealthy, is Asian.   What do you make of the shifting "moments of exchanges of power" that occur throughout the novel?  Who has more power and why?  Does this change over the course of the narrative?   Which characters develop (if any) and how? 2. Weekly wiki (150 words). (Try to find a sentence from book) Students will choose a short excerpt / quote from one of the readings of that week, type it in, then add a short (150 words or so) explanation for your choice. Was your selection important because it: · is an example of beautiful or striking language? · exemplifies a particular theme or character? · makes the reader think about something in a new way? · is typically "American" in some way (and in what way)? · was just something that you liked? Try not to use the same quote that someone else already has; if you must, make sure that what you say about it is original. For example: "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."  Thomas Paine.   I chose this quote because I think it is a good example of Enlightenment thought which was very popular during the late 1700's.  Paine is rejecting formal ties to any specific country or any particular religion (humanist world view).  He is focused on the here and now, not an afterlife, and this concern is evident in his writing about social and political systems that influenced the thinkers behind the American Revolution.  The language is simple and straightforward. 3. Write responses for other 3 student’s work. (50-75 words for each) First student: Duras recreates a chain of memories all stemming from this ferry ride on the Mekong.  Some of these memories, fading, but reworked for the liking of our narrator.  Some incredibly vivid, multifacted, and live within the ordinary of her adolescense. These remnants of  memory, so far, have been some of the most enjoyable words I've read. She tells us how she remembers her sepia toned silk dress.  She tells us she always remembers certain dresses she wore during those days.  Not so muc ...

1. ENG 325 Week 9 Unit B: The Lover
1. DISCUSSION BOARD
Reading:
The Lover (Page 49 to the end) novel by Marguerite Duras
(If you cannot find novel, you can read summary from internet.
Try to use sentence from book for Weekly Wiki.)
Discussion question:
“The book is much more about power than love. Love is an
exchange of power. Look, The Power Exchanger wouldn’t be as
great a title, but the book is a chess game. It’s about what
happens during these moments of exchanges of power, between
the lovers, between cultures, between family,” [Catherine
Lacey]* said.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/27/on-a-pedestal/
The Lover is a post-colonial book; set in what was then called
French Indo-China, now Vietnam, the action of the novel takes
place within the political, economic, and cultural boundaries of
a colonial relationship. The main character is female, young,
inexperienced and poor, but she is also a white European, while
her male lover, experienced, older, wealthy, is Asian.
What do you make of the shifting "moments of exchanges of
power" that occur throughout the novel? Who has more power
and why? Does this change over the course of the narrative?
Which characters develop (if any) and how?
2. Weekly wiki (150 words).
(Try to find a sentence from book)
Students will choose a short excerpt / quote from one of the
readings of that week, type it in, then add a short (150 words or

2. so) explanation for your choice. Was your selection important
because it:
· is an example of beautiful or striking language?
· exemplifies a particular theme or character?
· makes the reader think about something in a new way?
· is typically "American" in some way (and in what way)?
· was just something that you liked?
Try not to use the same quote that someone else already has; if
you must, make sure that what you say about it is original.
For example:
"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
Thomas Paine.
I chose this quote because I think it is a good example of
Enlightenment thought which was very popular during the late
1700's. Paine is rejecting formal ties to any specific country or
any particular religion (humanist world view). He is focused on
the here and now, not an afterlife, and this concern is evident in
his writing about social and political systems that influenced
the thinkers behind the American Revolution. The language is
simple and straightforward.
3. Write responses for other 3 student’s work. (50-75 words for
each)
First student:
Duras recreates a chain of memories all stemming from this
ferry ride on the Mekong. Some of these memories, fading, but
reworked for the liking of our narrator. Some incredibly vivid,
multifacted, and live within the ordinary of her adolescense.
These remnants of memory, so far, have been some of the most
enjoyable words I've read.
She tells us how she remembers her sepia toned silk dress. She
tells us she always remembers certain dresses she wore during
those days. Not so much for the shoes. She repaints herself
wearing gold lame high heels decorated with diamante flowers.
She must be wearing these, they have afterall eclipsed all other
shoes that have come before them. She is wearing a a man's

3. fedora. She doesn't remember how she got this hat, but tells of
what may have happened for her to have such a hat. It could
have happened this way, she tells us. This story reminds me of
one of those old italian frescos. For centuries they've been
touched up again and again. How can we be sure they're still as
close to the original image? Regardless, she fills in the blanks
of her memory with grand and sometimes ridiculous images that
no doubt are ingrained in my memory. Now that we have the
image of this girl we're able to navigate the surreal way this
story is told and have a place to return if we find ourselves out
of rhythm with our narrator.
She tells us it's over, she doesn't remember when referring to
her mother. She's closed her out of her head. She can't
remember her voice, scent, eyes, laughter, or cries. Our narrator
doesn't attempt to fill in these blanks. She wants to leave them
as blanks. Here our narrator's forgetfullness feels intentional
and almost like solace. She has no need to flesh out something
more from what little memory she has of her mother. This
makes her easy to write about.
Duras shows just how maleable can be. In those dents of
memory where she can't give exact details, she'll hammer out an
image that looks too perfect. Though sometimes she'll leave
them just as they are. As if recalling some would be too
strainfull.
Second student:
Beyond doubt, the relationships between memory and
forgetfulness are Duras’s way to write the novel, the Lover.
Fortunately, I have read a book about psychology, and it says
that people will spend more time and thinking to describe more
details when they are lying. However, liars would like to repeat
the situations and details many times for correct themselves
because people always cannot remember all events.
The lover is an autobiographical novel, all stories mostly base
on Duras’s experiences. However, the time span is quite long
for Duras when she started to write the novel. So, forgetfulness

4. is reasonable, but the forgetfulness makes the novel pretty
authentic. For example, the protagonist can remember all the
rude or dissatisfied things that her mother did to her, but she
cannot remember her mother’s smell, the color of her eye,
voice, and countenance. I think if Duras focuses on describing
the mother, it is hard to avoid mistakes, and make the situations
not look like real. Also, she can give us a feeling of her hate to
her mother.
Contract with her forgetfulness to her mother, she can
remember all the details about her lover, the Chinese guy. For
example, the protagonist says that she can remember the tactile
impressions of his skin, and his smell, even the furnishings of
the room where they enjoy with each other. Also, she repeats
several times in the novel to show her emotions to him, which is
not forgetful.
Anyway, the Lover is a novel, instead of a memoir. People
will not think all the stories are true, and there are something
fictitious. However, Duras makes the novel looks so true by
using the memory and forgetfulness.
Third student:
The association between forgetfulness and memory in The
Lover story is that, for Dura, the knowledge, recognition or
awareness that one has forgotten something is in fact part of
memory. These two are what defines the true nature of memory
in human beings; it becomes clear that memory is not linear, but
random and what makes it random is that people, when
remembering incidences tend to forget some aspects. It is for
this reason (forgetfulness) that a person’s memory is rendered
contradictory and unreliable.
The incidence of the photograph highly describes memory-
forgetfulness relationship. The narrator in the contest of the
otherness notes that she can only think about the image, as she
can envision it right then, often treating it like a photograph.

5. She is not sure about it, as she notes it may have existed and
even photography of it takes. However, none happened because
the subject back then was of little concern, as no one could have
thought of taking a photograph. Someone would only have taken
a photograph, if he/she was aware about the importance of the
crossing of river event in the narrator’s life. However, the
narrator indicated that except for God, no person knew about
the occurrence of the event and its happening. After describing
this, she notes that the image exists not, it was forgotten,
omitted, and “It never was detached or removed from all the
rest “(10). The narrator seems to suggest the image is typical to
a photograph, which symbolically represents the memory. The
memory, just like the photography has presence, in that like the
photograph, it can be examined, interrogated, as well as,
scrutinize. Like the photograph, only the memory knows and
can reveal what is real and true. The photograph also tells more
about forgetfulness, as it also highlights what was present or
absent leading us to remember the events or memories attached
to it, which may be easily forgotten. Likewise, a prick of our
memory, captivating use just like a photograph may lead us
towards remembering memories forgotten in the past that we
may try to recreate, thus making memory random.
Nonetheless, there is also the indication of human forgetfulness,
which even a photo cannot recreate. At one point, the narrator
thinks that the photograph may have been takes. She even notes
that the image may have been detached from her memory and at
some point, at the end, notes that it never existed or it was
forgotten or omitted. She cannot examine her memory to
determine whether the image really existed and neither can she
rely on it to remember its existence. This shows forgetfulness
makes memory contradictory and unreliable.
ENG 205 Week 8 Unit B: Edgar Allen Poe
1. Discussion board: (200 WORDS)

6. Fall of the House of Usher (1173)
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/fall.html
The Tell-Tale Heart (1186)
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/telltale.html
The Purloined Letter (1190)
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/purloine.html
Discussion Qestion:
Is Lady Madeleine real, or a figment of the narrator's or Usher's
imagination? What does the narrator feel when he first sees her,
and how does he respond to the news that she has passed away?
Could Madeleine be a psychological part ("twin") to Usher?
2. Write responses for other 3 student’s work. (50-75 words for
each)
First student:
Moral ambiguity is defined as a lack of making a moral decision
due to unclear conflicts. In all three short stories from
Hawthorne, we witness an overall of theme of sin with a hint of
self-remorse/guilt. I think Hawthorne's ideas for these stories
was to connect with readers to do a self-evaluation of what they
would consider right and wrong in the situations presented in
the text. In all three stories, there is a clear subject and an
action being taken. However, the characters tend to question
their actions and do not make a decision to right the wrong that
they may or may not have committed.
In "Young Goodman Brown," the main character and the
readers are not sure if the initiation into the cult was real or if it
was just a dream. As Brown reflects on this, he self-analyzes if
the decision that he made was the correct one or how to handle
it. In "The Minister's Black Veil," a possible reason for this

7. story is to show how we as humans suppress our guilt or hide
our sins away. The minister is hiding behind a black veil, yet
the townspeople never question his actions. In "Rappaccini's
Daughter," Rappaccini clearly has taken the guilt in his hands
by making his daughter an experiment. Are his actions
justifiable? Was it worth risking his daighter's happiness?
Throughout all three stories, there rarely any form of good,
moral-standing characters. I think that this is fair to say because
as humans, we all have our form of sins or guilt that we try to
forget, but never deal with. Hawthorne's stories allow us to
ponder on our own decisions and justify what is the best course
of action to move on
Second student:
Upon meeting the young and older man (possibly father and
son) along Goodman Brown’s Journey, John Hawthorne quickly
injects his moral ambiguity when he sees them neither as evil or
good, describing their features until the young man wishes he
go further, which then he describes him as a “serpent.” This
tells me they were evil when a few paragraphs before that I
believed they were two standard Puritans.
He uses Mr. Reverend Hooper in “The minister’s Black Veil”,
early on he describes how he hides his face and faintly steps
onto the parish. He is described as a quiet yet maybe dangerous
figure? He doesn’t describe him with and glaring detail that
would lead you from one to the other. At least early on he gives
signs each of good and evil that leave me questioning what he
actually is. Thorughout all three of his stories it is very hard to
discern good from evil. I actually believe it is easier to to see
evil than good.
Third student:
Moral ambiguity, making it impossible for a person to tell
whether a character is good or evil is highly evident in Young
Goodman Brown. While going to undertake his evil mission,
Brown attests that he cannot share with his wife about the

8. errand, because “’t would kill her to think it”, meaning that his
wife’s faith, which is puritan-based would be reduced to
nothing if his wife knew of his evil ways. He therefore gives his
wife a parting kiss and attests that he is not guilty of leaving
her to undertake his evil errand. Yet, as readers, we somehow
know that he is not inherently evil, but he seems to have the
desire to undertake his evil errand. This makes it difficult to
tell, whether he is evil or not. At one point Brown notes that he
will cling to his wife’s skirts if need be to follow her, as she
goes to heaven. This implies that he recognizes that what he is
doing is not right and he is a man of good puritan virtues, as
expressed in his wish to go to heaven. Still, he seems to want to
go to heave by his wife’s virtues rather than his own doing. In
this case, one cannot make a forceful conviction on whether he
is evil or good, as it is not clear whether it is by his own accord
that he seeks to fulfill the evil errand or by the very fact that he
is shaken by the fear of not accomplishing what the devil wants,
thus making him a victim.
In The Minister's Black Veil, Hawthorne present Hooper as an
ambiguous man, that makes morality in this context ambiguous
and inability discern whether he is good or evil difficult. As a
man of God, the reader expects that by all possible ways that
Hooper is a good man tendering to his congregation.
Nonetheless, changes and starts wearing a black veil, seemingly
making people wonder his motivations, as the veil, which is
black in color, could seemingly symbolize sin. Could he have
turned into or possessed by demonic creature that has made him
evil? In addition, the veil seems to grant him power over others;
people cannot speak about it, even if they want him to remove
it. When in a funeral, a woman claims to have seen the minister
standing hand in hand with the dead young woman after funeral
meaning that he could have devilish powers. Hooper is also
frightened by his reflection that he ends up spilling wine and
departing. This indicates that he may not be in control of the
changes happening to him or may be afraid of what he has made
himself become. However, could he just have won the veil to

9. send a message to his congregate; that all people wear a veil of
sin, as he claims, to provoke them change behavior? There is no
way of telling whether he could be good or evil, because his
moral actions are ambiguous. In Rappaccini's Daughter
Hawthorne present Giovanni as an innocent soul with good
virtues who has fallen in love with Beatrice. Nonetheless, he
pursues her despite being warned about Rappaccini’s tendency
to experiment even those he loves to conduct experiments and to
an extent discovers that he has become as poisonous as
Beatrice. Nonetheless, he bring an antidote that kills Beatrice
with the wish that it would enable him and Beatrice be together.
This makes one wonder whether he does this out of selfish
interests, despite having no knowledge of science and Beatrice
poisonous nature. In effect, it is difficult to tell whether is good
and the innocent victim or the evil calculating lover.