Response Paper on The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthys novel The Road, while telling the tale of the endless effort for survival of a father and a son in a post-apocalyptic world, mainly focuses on the human relationships, the incredible strength of the love that we can feel for each other.
The globe is perished. The wasteland offers no goods anymore. If one wants to live through, he has to search for the necessities, or even has to take them from the others who have it. But why would he? Why would he fight, why not just give up? Seemingly there is no outlook, why all the trouble in vain then, what could be the motivation? Even in a world of sorrow, in a landscape that is cruel to men and everything else living, in a situation where there is no place left for hope, a flickering light burns in the darkness, a light that will keep burning, as long as forever or beyond, the light that is called love, giving an only base for further struggle, a purpose when there would be none left, the fear for each other that keeps one moving, living and fighting, come on! Push it just some more, We’re almost there, take the gun, it will protect you if I can’t! Eat it all, I won’t need more! We have to go South, to the unknown, maybe nothing is better there, who may know, but for each other, it is worth it.
This clinging on to each other – McCarthy suggests – is what forces one to carry on in such desperate conditions, if not for one’s own sake, then for the sake of the beloved one. The point he makes here, cannot be argued, and hopefully, will never have to be.

Response Paper on White Noise by Don Delillo

“…These things happen to poor people who live in exposed areas. Society is set up in such a way that it’s the poor and undereducated who suffer the main impact of natural and man-made disasters. People in low-lying areas get the floods, people in shanties get the hurricanes and tornadoes. I’m a college professor. Did you ever see a college professor rowing a boat down his own street in one of those TV floods? We live in a neat and pleasant town near a college with a quaint name. These things don’t happen in places like Blacksmith.”

The above quotation from the beginning of chapter 21 tells about how (wealthy) people tend to think about disasters when it comes to them. At this point in the novel it is quite certain that a toxic event has occurred and that people should be prepared for whatever safety steps need to be made. Babette is even trying to convince Jack about this fact, but as his “speech” reflects, he simply couldn’t realize that it could happen to his family. Because of his status he feels untouchable in a way, sealed up from all the trouble that may come. Once again he relies on “the box”. As he’s saying “TV floods”, it gives the feeling that those floods never even happened in real life, just on the screen, so how could it possibly get them? And if there was no such occasion to be seen on TV when not the poor got hurt, it cannot happen! Especially not to them. Not right here. Not in Blacksmith, as if the neat little town, or the quaint name of the college, or simply his wisdom could save them in any way from catastrophes. Instead of making the urgent preparations for a possible evacuation, Jack locks up on the thoughts of being safe, out of reach from the harm just as long as they don’t receive the concrete call for the evac.

Dialects of American English

Slangs
(Handout)

Study of Slang

- brings a group of people together

- groups use their slang as their own "secret" language

- to show unification of group recognition

- slang makes language unique

- slang helps to develop socially

- a way of communication for teens

- broad vocabulary to express ideas


Slang Influences

- music and television shows

- songs & TV shows constantly coming out → slang continuously changing


CA Slang


Northern California Slang

- the word "hella" (really or very)

- "hecka" as an alternative to "hella"

- also influenced by the Spanish language → mainly used by the "gangsters"

- shortened Spanish words (for drugs, sex, and violence)


The Bay Hip-Hop Culture Slang

- hyphy (crazy), hella, thizz (some state of being on drugs), bopper (girl only caring about status), ripper (an “anybody’s female”), scraper (an oldsmobile), perkin'(very drunk)

- originated from local music scene → "E-40" and "Keak da Sneak" etc.


Southern California Slang

- “surfer slang”

- "freaken" (incredibly)

- more words for the size of a wave, cool tricks, etc.

- "gnarly" (beyond extreme), "dude", "grinders" (container grinding marijuana)

- "Surf talk"


Canadian/US Slang Words and Phrases


bender - a heavy drinking session, usually lasting more than one day

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt! - refers to an experience you have already lived through

bitchin' - cool

brekkie - breakfast

crash - to fall asleep at someone else's house

da bomb - an ultimate experience

douche bag - very negative description of a person

idiot box - the television

In a New York minute - very fast

Joe Blow - an ordinary, average person

lose your cookies - to vomit, or throw up

lush - an alcoholic

party pooper - a person who leaves a party early

rollies - hand rolled cigarettes

The Man - the law


Texas Slang Words and Phrases


ugly as a mud fence - very unattractive person

long time no see! - greeting

cold enough for ya? - asked when it's bitterly cold

mad as a wet hen - very angry, usually said of a woman

cute as a bug - said of a very adorable, small child

I wouldn't have no more use for that than a hog would a side-saddle!- notes that something is useless


Fun Stuff


Translating Southern United States Slang to English (not real)


HIRE YEW - complete sentence. Remainder of greeting.

Usage: "Heidi, hire yew?"

BARD - verb. Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow."

Usage: "My brother bard my pickup truck."

MUNTS - noun. A calendar division.

Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck, and I aint herd from him in munts."

TAR - noun. A rubber wheel.

Usage: "Gee, I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh doesn't git a flat tar in my pickup truck."

THANK - verb. Ability to cognitively process.

Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."

BARE - noun. An alcoholic beverage made of barley, hops an yeast.

RATS - noun. Entitled power or privilege.

Usage: "We Southerners are willing to fat for out rats."

PURDY - adjective. Beautiful.

Usage: "She is purdy as a pitcher."

FARN - adjective. Not local.

Usage: "I cudnt unnerstand a wurd he sed... must be from some farn country."

YURP - noun. A continent overseas.

Usage: "I herd haze from Yurp"

VIEW - contraction: verb and pronoun.

Usage: "I ain't never seed New York City ... view?"

HEAVY DEW - phrase. A request for action.

Usage: "Kin I heavy dew me a favor?"

BAHS - noun. A supervisor.

Usage: "If you don't stop reading these Southern words and git back to work, your bahs is gonna far you!"


The New York Black Street Slang Exam


- answers at the end of this page -


1. How do you say "Excuse Me" or "Pardon Me" or "Sorry!"?

2. If someone says "Ayyyy-Yooo!" to you on the street, what is your reply?

3. "I'm a snuff you" means...

1. I'm gonna punch you.
2. I'm gonna kill you.
3. I'm gonna leave you.
4. All of the above.

4. "She got a gas face" means...

1. She has light skin.
2. She's very happy.
3. She's giving you a dirty look.
4. None of the above.

5. "It's the ball!" means what?

6. "Nine pound" means what?

7. What is a "Hoop-Dee"?

8. Name the following places in New York:

1. Up North
2. Strong Island
3. Boogie Down
4. The Hill
5. Sha-Lin

9. Does "Buttafuco" mean:

1. Faggy.
2. Cool.
3. Both.
4. Neither.


Answers: New York Black Street Slang Exam


1. "My bad."

2. "Aw-ite" (derivative of "alright!")

3. A. "I'm gonna punch you."

4. C. "She's giving you a dirty look."

5. "It is good!"

6. The year 1995.

7. A broken down car that rides low to the ground driven mainly by Dominicans.

8. A. The New York State Penitentiary

B. Long Island

C. The Bronx

D. Staten Island

E. Brooklyn.

9. C. Both. "Buttafuco" in the Penitentiary means "Faggy", but on the street it means "Cool".



Control Questions

1. What are the main characteristics of a slang? What may be it’s most frequent sources?

2. How many types of the CA slang do we distinguish? List some of their features!

3. Could you mention some Canadian/US slang words or phrases?

4. How about the Texas slang?



Sources:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_slang


http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/5949/Help/canus1.html


http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081119085457AAd8WW7


http://baetzler.de/humor/southern_translation.html


http://goinside.com/97/10/slang.html

Response Paper on The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien

The Burdens

The characters of the book mainly bore two kinds of weights: physical and emotional burden. Right in the first chapter, Tim O’ Brien sets up his storytelling by writing long lists of the things the soldiers were carrying in the Vietnam war. Beyond the basic gears of war, he goes on mentioning the personal luggage, that varied from person to person, mostly depending on their necessity, helping the reader to get to know the protagonists in a deeper sense this way, to know their souls, their customs, the way they would probably live their “normal” lives. A letter, a photograph, a bible, the drugs, condoms, comic books, a pair of moccasins, all life-story-telling property.

In addition to the physical burdens, O’ Brien tells about the emotional pressure one had to wear on the shoulders during the war, which was believably the greatest mass: "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice.... Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to." We can see their fears, their happiness through these things, the way they couldn’t just get over the tragedies and terrors of war, their beliefs, their last refuges to grip on to in a hopeless situation, the things that pull them apart, the things that bound them together as a team. A team in a desperate situation, still, struggling to find their roots to remain what they were before the hell on earth started: human beings.