Blog Post #13

1. How would you describe the “American Dream?”

2. What is your definition of wealth?

3. What are Americans’ attitudes toward wealth and poverty?

4. What is your attitude toward wealth and poverty?

The “American Dream” is a collection of shared goals that a majority of American society agrees one should direct their focus towards. In many circumstances, Americans could concur that the American dream includes getting married, raising a family, owning a house, and attempting to become wealthy in a monetary sense. I believe that the “American Dream” is to become the stereotypical American; someone that the average person within the United States strives to be, as they have everything made and life is easy and perfect for them.

There are several ways in which I could define wealth, all different based upon the context that the term is applied to. For instance, if wealth were to be applied to a monetary situation, I would say that it means accumulating an amount of money that is significantly more than the average person within a society retains. I say more than the average person because wealth can be a relative thing; what seems like a lot of money to one person or group of people could be an unsubstantial amount to another. If I were to apply the term wealth to the quality of one’s life, the definition I would be left with would be much different. In this context, I would say that wealth deals more with the quality of relationships an individual has in their life, the impact that they have had on their society and the world, and the value of the morals that they have. One could be wealth in a monetary sense, but not wealth in the quality of their life.

I believe that Americans, as a whole, are mostly superficial in their attitudes towards wealth and poverty. The majority of society values the quality of their life and the level of their happiness based upon the amount of money that one makes. This means that they could look down upon someone who makes less money than them, or feel jealousy or hate to those who make more than them. In regard to poverty, it is my opinion that most Americans do not see those who live in poverty as equal to themselves. Many are condescending to people who live in poverty, and make judgments on their value based upon the amount of money that others make.

In my lifetime, I wish to be a person that is wealthy in both the ways that I have defined; my hope is that I am wealthy monetarily and in the quality of my life. I have worked hard to do well in school so that I can go to a good college and receive an education that can propel me into a favorable career. I do this so I can be successful and accumulate much money later on in my life. While I believe money can help one to be happy, I do not think that it alone can provide all the satisfaction necessary to have a quality life. Therefore, I also know that I need to have quality, lasting relationships in my life. My attitude to poverty is that it is a situation that can lead to much pain and uncomfortable circumstances for many. The rate of violence, imprisonment, and drug and alcohol addiction for those in poverty is much higher than those who have money. I believe that poverty is a cycle that is difficult to break; once a family falls into poverty, it is likely that generation after generation will remain there. Due to this belief, I think that it is necessary for others to help those trapped in poverty. This could be by donating money, doing charity work, or for our government to provide social programs or increase spending on education to help lift Americans out of poverty. It is extremely difficult for the poorest Americans to escape their circumstances and achieve the American dream, and I think that we should all try and do more to assist our fellow citizens.

Blog Post #12

#1: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

-        -This translation uses very strong words to make its point. “Uneasy” and “gigantic” are evidence of this.

-        -This almost sounds like a run-on sentence; it is meant to sound jumbled, as there is no use of commas.

-        -There is strong imagery in this translation. “Uneasy dreams” and “gigantic insect” paint a vivid image of the situation.

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#2: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

-        -The difference in diction that occurs in this translation is that it is stated that Samsa has “changed into a giant bug” instead of having transformed. This difference could hint that the change that occurred could be more metaphorical than physical.

-        -This translation’s use of syntax causes it to seem more coherent than the previous. It does not sound like a run-on sentence, and communicates the same information more concisely.

-        -There is not as strong of imagery in this translation as the previous. Instead of stating that the bug was “gigantic”, the bug is said to be “giant”. This effect diminishes the size of the bug in the reader’s mind.

#3: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

-        -An interesting note on the diction of this translation is that Samsa’s dreams are described to be “troubled” as opposed to the “uneasy dreams” the previous two translations have stated. This could mean that Kafka wants to communicate that there was a specific issue plaguing Samsa instead of a simple emotion that had overcome him.

-        -The syntax of this translation is similar to that of the first.

-        -The imagery in this translation is mainly just commenting on the “enormous bug”, which uses a different adjective to describe the size of it than the previous two.

#4: One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

-        -The diction used in this translation is very unlike the first two. “Agitated dreams” and “monstrous vermin” are used, which is different from the previous ones. “Monstrous vermin” seems like less of a commentary of the size of Samsa, and more of the quality of how he looks.

-        -The arrangement of this sentence is different in this translation than the previous. The sentence starts off with describing the state of the dream Samsa had been awoken from instead of stating Gregor Samsa’s name.

-        -The imagery in this translation is much different than the previous quotes. The image of the transformation that Samsa has undertaken causes the reader not to think that he has been turned into a large bug, but rather a vermin that looks like a monster.

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence?

Shifts in diction, syntax, punctuation, and imagery can have great effects on the way that the reader perceives the meaning of a text. When the syntax of these translation is changed, it does not have much of an impact of the information that is being communicated. It has a greater impact on the coherence of the translation because it can cause some of them to sound jumbled. Diction was perhaps the most important aspect in changing the meaning of these translations. When the diction was changed between translations in these texts, it sometimes caused the image that the reader was meant to see. In example, the first translation stated that Samsa had been transformed into a “giant insect”, while the fourth stated that the being he had been transformed into was a “monstrous vermin”. This is a significant change because when the first translation states that Samsa was now a “giant insect”, this sounds literal, but when the fourth says that he was a “monstrous vermin” this sounds like more of a metaphorical comparison that speaks to the character of Samsa.

This exercise highlights the difficulties that can be associated with reading translated texts. The reason that the difficulties can exist is because when a text is translated, there is no perfect way to convey the message that the author intended perfectly into another language. Therefore, it is up to the translator to make assumptions about the authors purpose in order to convey it to their audience. This is why discrepancies can exist among different translations; every translator can interpret the authors text in their own way. Translations one and two do little to change the tone of the sentence. They both speak of “uneasy dreams” and use similar words to describe the bug. Translation three changes the tone of the sentence by speaking of “troubled dreams”, which makes the audience think that there is a specific reason the dreams Samsa was having were bad. Translation four does the most to change the tone of the passage. This is done by describing Samsa as a “monstrous vermin” which makes him appear to be more of an evil person than a physically changed being.