The Summons is a classic novel by the legendary author John Grisham who tells a tale of how lawyers aren't always the advocate of justice, and how the end product isn't a reflection of the process. What do I mean? Read on to find out.
Main Characters- Ray Atlee (main character)
Forrest Atlee (Ray's younger brother, on-and-off drug addict)
Reuben V. Atlee a.k.a The Judge (Father of the Atlee brothers, strong advocate of the law)
Plot overview:
Ray Atlee is an average guy. He lives on his own, is single and teaches law at University of Arizona. His life is almost completely cut off from his father, Reuben, and maintains little contact with Forrest. All that changes when one day, his father sends him a typewritten letter arranging a meetup to discuss the selling of the family estate after his death as well as the proceedings. Ray expresses little emotion over it, but calls Forrest and tells him to be present on that day for the meeting knowing his brother's nonchalant attitude over his father.
Things, however, are not according to plan. When Ray arrives there the house is silent, and the Judge is still on the couch dead. Ray is surprised, but before anything else is done he searches the whole house. There are a stack of boxes hidden in his study, and in each of the boxes are stashes of thousand-dollar-bills totalling three million.
Thinking that Forrest does not have a single clue he is unsure of what to do with the money, soon he keeps it with hiself as he goes on a journey to find the cause for the stash of bills and why the Judge had not ever used it. However, the suspects on the list are few. The Judge hardly gambled, earned low wages and did not do other jobs other than a chancellor. There were people who seemed to be after the money too-primarily his subordinate, Claudia, although she proved to be clean.
After a long search he finally found a case his father had taken in Hancock County, a faraway place from the hometown. It rang a bell, and so he went there to their library of state affairs and looked at the file with the proceedings of the court case. His father had supervised a case about Ryax, a wonder drug that lowers cholestrol but destroys the kidneys. On the case was also Patton French, a rich lawyer who had won the case. Seeking some answers Ray looks this man up.
As the man reveals info Ray discovers this man, Patton French has taken on hundreds of Ryax cases and won all of them earning hundreds of bilions. And as thanks to the man who had kickstarted the spree of cases Patton French gave Reuben Atlee three million.
Meanwhile Forrest locks himself up in the drug rehab centre. He suddenly disappears and soon at the end of the story he has been transferred to another high security rehab centre. There Forrest reveals that all along he had known about the money and had replaced the will with his own to get half the money. This is a great shock, and the story ends here.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
A doze of poetry, food for the thinking soul
Well this is the last week of a term in the academic year, and poetry is in the air!
Today I will share with you the different literary techniques or devices which are used by singers, poets, playwrights and others who want to inject flavour into a literary piece. Of course I love it, and I hope your spine is tingling hard.
Poem, as in the word, originates from the Greek word, poema, and is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative quality with or without its ostensible meaning. Its power is derived from achieving a low word count encapsulating a deep and rich meaning. Actions, moods or feelings are widely used in expressing the subject of the poem.
Poems are defined like this by Archibald McLeish: "A poem should not mean, but be."
Poems usually have meters, rhythms and intonations. First, we will study the analysing of a poem.
1 line is a poem.
2 lines are a couplet.
3 lines are a triplet or tercet.
4 lines are a quatrain.
5 lines are a quinrain or cinquain,
6 is a sextet,
8 is an octet.
1 stanza of 4 lines make a quatrain.
From lines we go to stanza. A stanza is a group of 4, 5, 6 lines and usually used to develop an idea or a picture. They make an organised structure of a rainbow of ideas.
With that said I will go on to various techniques we commonly see, and their specialties.
Alliteration is two words with the same starting letter.
Atrocious Apples, Boisterous bear are some examples. This adds some catchiness to the poem.
Personification is adding a touch of human to a non-living item to add liveliness to the subject. Thw window panes flapping their arms- what do oyu picture in your mind?
Rhymes add catchiness and bounce. They make you wanna say the poem out loud.
Exaggeration is to emphasize a point.
Well I should not be spoonfeeding you, reader. Go find out more on your own.
Now look at the poem The Son is in Secondary School by Affian Sa'at
The poet or the student in the poem recalls his school days and specific moments in time and he feels that the little things of school life are the hardest to forget like the cleanliness of his shoes, the jokes shared among the Malay chaffeurs, him in a photograph. You can see some techniques like he shares his thoughts rather than narrate events, like when he talks of the schools Latin motto, he says, hope for the future, or the future is hope, or something." He plainly states his feelings at grappling with Latin.
We can see that he feels that he will forever be a part of the school; He will remember the teachers like Mrs Lee who sang Bengawan Solo.
Now, I also share fond memories of my primary school. Students laughing, no fear of embarrassment, progressing together, uncompetitive students who see the process more importantly then the end result, or the exam results for that matter. We laughed, groaned at hot weather during PE and I will always love and cherish the times I had in the Primary School- Rulang Primary.
I will attempt constructing a poem of my own.
The sun bathes the neighbourhood in morning light,
students come in uniforms so clean and bright,
I greet the security guard with a smile so wide,
We bear the school name with pride.
I play with my friends during break time,
About our sweaty attire our teachers gripe,
We give a cheeky smile and can only say,
Sorry teacher, we forgot today.
Teachers always give us care,
inspiring us to love and share.
Friends we are and friends we will be,
This school belongs to you and me.
Today I will share with you the different literary techniques or devices which are used by singers, poets, playwrights and others who want to inject flavour into a literary piece. Of course I love it, and I hope your spine is tingling hard.
Poem, as in the word, originates from the Greek word, poema, and is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative quality with or without its ostensible meaning. Its power is derived from achieving a low word count encapsulating a deep and rich meaning. Actions, moods or feelings are widely used in expressing the subject of the poem.
Poems are defined like this by Archibald McLeish: "A poem should not mean, but be."
Poems usually have meters, rhythms and intonations. First, we will study the analysing of a poem.
1 line is a poem.
2 lines are a couplet.
3 lines are a triplet or tercet.
4 lines are a quatrain.
5 lines are a quinrain or cinquain,
6 is a sextet,
8 is an octet.
1 stanza of 4 lines make a quatrain.
From lines we go to stanza. A stanza is a group of 4, 5, 6 lines and usually used to develop an idea or a picture. They make an organised structure of a rainbow of ideas.
With that said I will go on to various techniques we commonly see, and their specialties.
Alliteration is two words with the same starting letter.
Atrocious Apples, Boisterous bear are some examples. This adds some catchiness to the poem.
Personification is adding a touch of human to a non-living item to add liveliness to the subject. Thw window panes flapping their arms- what do oyu picture in your mind?
Rhymes add catchiness and bounce. They make you wanna say the poem out loud.
Exaggeration is to emphasize a point.
Well I should not be spoonfeeding you, reader. Go find out more on your own.
Now look at the poem The Son is in Secondary School by Affian Sa'at
The poet or the student in the poem recalls his school days and specific moments in time and he feels that the little things of school life are the hardest to forget like the cleanliness of his shoes, the jokes shared among the Malay chaffeurs, him in a photograph. You can see some techniques like he shares his thoughts rather than narrate events, like when he talks of the schools Latin motto, he says, hope for the future, or the future is hope, or something." He plainly states his feelings at grappling with Latin.
We can see that he feels that he will forever be a part of the school; He will remember the teachers like Mrs Lee who sang Bengawan Solo.
Now, I also share fond memories of my primary school. Students laughing, no fear of embarrassment, progressing together, uncompetitive students who see the process more importantly then the end result, or the exam results for that matter. We laughed, groaned at hot weather during PE and I will always love and cherish the times I had in the Primary School- Rulang Primary.
I will attempt constructing a poem of my own.
The sun bathes the neighbourhood in morning light,
students come in uniforms so clean and bright,
I greet the security guard with a smile so wide,
We bear the school name with pride.
I play with my friends during break time,
About our sweaty attire our teachers gripe,
We give a cheeky smile and can only say,
Sorry teacher, we forgot today.
Teachers always give us care,
inspiring us to love and share.
Friends we are and friends we will be,
This school belongs to you and me.
Term 2 Post- Music
I love music as it is so refreshing,
the likes of Kenny G, Michael Buble,
awaken me to my senses, and I just
adore their rich, sexy voice,oozing
feeling and richness into the melody
and I find solace in the soothing touch
of sound; I cock up my ears, relax in
the chair and rest quietly. At times
I wish I could have the gift of singing,
to translate feelings into songs.
the likes of Kenny G, Michael Buble,
awaken me to my senses, and I just
adore their rich, sexy voice,oozing
feeling and richness into the melody
and I find solace in the soothing touch
of sound; I cock up my ears, relax in
the chair and rest quietly. At times
I wish I could have the gift of singing,
to translate feelings into songs.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Term 2- Families
Welcome back to another round of intellectual discourse. In this post we will look at functional and dysfunctional families. What are the apparent actors of a dysfunctional family? What sets them apart?
Functional family: In The village by the sea, one functional family is Biju's family. Biju fulfills his father role by going out to sea to catch fish to earn a living for the family. His wife fulfills the mother role by staying at home and maintaining the household. A family is functional and strong when the roles are met, e.g. The father-figure, mother-figure, child-role as a student, descendant of the family. I will be talking on the roles as we move on.
Father role: The father takes care of the cash flow and the teaching of the children. Responsible for the monetary needs of the family, or the "structure" of the family.
Mother role: The mother maintains the household and uses the earnings to provide for the family. She uses it to buy groceries, school bags, books, food or for any other family needs. She must also spend time with the children, to teach them and help them through their journey in life.
Child role: The child plays many little roles. One would be as a filial child, as a student, to study hard and build a foundation to prepare for the workforce, and as a descendant of the family, to continue the lineage although this is of little importance of our topic.
Now, what is a dysfunctional family? A family whereby roles are not fulfilled and there is a mix up. For example, in The village by the sea, Hari's family is dysfunctional. His father is a drunkard who wastes away at the toddy(alcoholic drink)shop, his mother is down with disease and cannot do anything, Hari's sister has to take over the roles of the mother, and Hari has to work in the fields. The elder children have to stop schooling, which is detrimental to their future, if they have it.
Also, in B.B, B.B's father is always travelling, thus the family is not too strong, but B.B's father still provides for the family, so the role is satisfactorily completed. B.B's parents' marriage is strained, because they do not communicate often enough. Thus, their family is not so functional.
Families can be functional or dysfunctional. For it to be functional, the members must fulfil their roles well so that the children can study hard to contribute back to the society, and the parents must fully commit to prevent any strains.
Functional family: In The village by the sea, one functional family is Biju's family. Biju fulfills his father role by going out to sea to catch fish to earn a living for the family. His wife fulfills the mother role by staying at home and maintaining the household. A family is functional and strong when the roles are met, e.g. The father-figure, mother-figure, child-role as a student, descendant of the family. I will be talking on the roles as we move on.
Father role: The father takes care of the cash flow and the teaching of the children. Responsible for the monetary needs of the family, or the "structure" of the family.
Mother role: The mother maintains the household and uses the earnings to provide for the family. She uses it to buy groceries, school bags, books, food or for any other family needs. She must also spend time with the children, to teach them and help them through their journey in life.
Child role: The child plays many little roles. One would be as a filial child, as a student, to study hard and build a foundation to prepare for the workforce, and as a descendant of the family, to continue the lineage although this is of little importance of our topic.
If these roles are fulfilled then the family is complete and functional. Now, if one role is not fulfilled, like the father role, the family cannot be fully supported, the child has a lack of fatherly love and guidance.
Now, what is a dysfunctional family? A family whereby roles are not fulfilled and there is a mix up. For example, in The village by the sea, Hari's family is dysfunctional. His father is a drunkard who wastes away at the toddy(alcoholic drink)shop, his mother is down with disease and cannot do anything, Hari's sister has to take over the roles of the mother, and Hari has to work in the fields. The elder children have to stop schooling, which is detrimental to their future, if they have it.
Also, in B.B, B.B's father is always travelling, thus the family is not too strong, but B.B's father still provides for the family, so the role is satisfactorily completed. B.B's parents' marriage is strained, because they do not communicate often enough. Thus, their family is not so functional.
Families can be functional or dysfunctional. For it to be functional, the members must fulfil their roles well so that the children can study hard to contribute back to the society, and the parents must fully commit to prevent any strains.
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