Entry 1_ Trần Thị Vân Anh

Entry 1_ Trần Thị Vân Anh 

Item 1: Story [1]

Carrots, Eggs or Coffee

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one would pop up.

Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire, and soon the pots came to boil. In the first pot she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her grandmother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The grandmother then asked the granddaughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the grandmother asked the granddaughter to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma then asked,

"What does it mean, grandmother?"

Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her granddaughter.

Rhetorical devices:

Metaphor:

The boiling water- difficulties in life

Carrots- people who are strong on the surface but soon become weak and influenced by difficulties in life

Eggs- people who seem to be weak from outside but when experiencing difficulties in life, their weak cover helps to protect themselves and to make them stronger as well

Coffee- people who can change their lives, rather, control their life and get over difficulties.
Rhetorical question: "Which are you?"

Message:

Life is sometimes hard for us. You can choose to be made weaker in spite of strong cover; to be stronger despite fragile cover or to change the situation and overcome difficulties under any kind of weather.

Item 2: Cartoon [2]

Rhetorical devices

Symbol:

The man - EU

The Parthenon temple’s collapse- Greece’s economy

Message: In recession in Euro zone countries, Greece has the worst economic situation and it has been looking for more help from other Euro zone countries and IMF (International Monetary Fund) to manage.

Item 3: Poem [3]

Choice

Angela Morgan

I'd rather have the thought of you 
To hold against my heart, 
My spirit to be taught of you 
With west winds blowing, 
Than all the warm caresses 
Of another love's bestowing, 
Or all the glories of the world 
In which you had no part. 

I'd rather have the theme of you 
To thread my nights and days, 
I'd rather have the dream of you 
With faint stars glowing, 
I'd rather have the want of you, 
The rich, elusive taunt of you 
Forever and forever and forever unconfessed 
Than claim the alien comfort 
Of any other's breast. 

O lover! O my lover, 
That this should come to me! 
I'd rather have the hope of you, 
Ah, Love, I'd rather grope for you 
Within the great abyss 
Than claim another's kiss- 
Alone I'd rather go my way 
Throughout eternity.

Rhetorical devices:

Rhyme: you- you; blowing- bestowing; unconfessed- breast; abyss- kiss- eternity

Repetition: you- you- …- you; forever- forever- forever; I’d rather; lover- lover

Parallelism: I’d rather… than- I’d rather… than-…

Message: when the one you love has gone away, you could choose to go alone in the rest of you life because no one else can match him/ her.

[1]  http://www.psychic-victoria.co.uk/inspirational-articles/carrots-eggs-or-coffee

[2] http://tamnhin.net/Tieu-diem/5187/He-luy-cua-khung-hoang-va-suy-thoai-kinh-te.html

[3]  http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/famous/poem/choice-by-angela-morgan 

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