Book Review-Blindness (José Saramago)

    
    'White darkness'

    What if everyone goes blind, plunging into the white darkness except one? What if, that one person does not have the ability to lead others? This book, called 'Blindness' and written by José Saramago, tests and unveils the whole human race's virtue and their true nature.
    
    'Blindness'- The story starts with an completely normal person getting abruptly blind-well, not exactly blind, because they get into the state of pure whiteness-which is illustrated as 'A sea of milk'. And this symptom increases by geometrical progression, and everyone gets blind, except one-the doctor's wife. And there are a small herd of people which are the followers of the doctor's wife. then, a tremendous chaos rampages the whole society. They tend to live-and the doctor's wife gets an enormous burden, which is to lead not only her followers,but the whole society.
    
   Well, after those endless days of sufferings and corruption, one by one, the 'test' ends and once again gets their vision returned. Though I expected this affair to take place at the last, I was able to read this book with thorough interest and emotion. I assume that Saramago-the author, tried to accuse the whole human race for not viewing the truth and their reality even when they aren't blind. However, in the other hand, I believe that he tried to indicate- to emphasize the human race's essential virtue and hope by presenting the character- doctor's wife and her followers.
    
    Even though she- the doctor's wife, had a great burden, which was to lead the whole blind world, she successes to lead them until the end. And yes, she was a normal person with numerous weakness and effeminacy-she cries alone, tries suicide and to run away-but she is also an normal person with firm determination and  bravery. I realized that from the most tough situations, a human beings natural virtue would be emitted.  Furthermore, I was also impressed with the other characters, such as the prostitute-which helped me greatly to break the old prejudice about certain people, and the old man and the doctor- who showed tremendous modesty and humility in the most difficult situations. Again, I was- in overall, thoroughly touched by the story, and was able to gain hope from their behavior.
    
    I would like to recommend this book to all people - to reflect themselves for their hypocritical view and their conceit, but especially to pessimistic, negative people to see the hopeful, warm  message left veiled in the book.     

Fictional-Invisibility potion

    "Yes!!!"
    A short cry of pure glee came out from Paul's room. Naturally, his roommate Silvester at a small,old building which often gets called from his roommate as 'Silv', heard that abrupt noise. So, wondering about the sound, he headed to Paul's room and opened the door slowly and cautiously.
    There was no one in the room. But Silv was sure about the sound he heard second before. He could bet on it if he wanted to. Suddenly, someone pinched his nose with great force. Both surprised and greatly irritated, he wildly looked around him in order to find the suspect. And that sound came out, once again, from nowhere.

    "I'm here. You won't be able to see me for a while." Said Paul. "I'm invisible!"

Sliv was totally surprised when he looked at the way that the sound came. He was awestruck, horrified and scared at the same time. The source of the noise was invisible-well, only the skin. Paul's skin turned clear as crystal, and his veins, bones and other organs of his body was fully visible. And when Paul saw his reaction and looked down at his body, he was terrified, too. No words came out from his mouth.

    After that incident, Silv started to avoid Paul. He seemed to clean out Paul from his view. So, Paul, lonely and isolated, stayed in his room for a long time. He was a prisoner of his room, and his dread for himself. Food came in daily from Silv, but there were no possibility to meet his roommate again. A month later, an agonizing smell seemed to leak from his room, and Paul was adapted to total darkness.

    Then, one day, the supply of food seemed to stop, abruptly. "Silv? Are you there?" Asked Paul with a creaky, hoarse voice. There was no answer. So, after a great deal of conflict with himself, he went out from the room, squinting at the bright sunlight that came in from the window.. Silv's room was vacant. Empty. He left his roommate, and the building and moved into another house, where there were none of those half-invisible people. Paul gave out a cry of despair, hopelessness.
   

Narrative Essay - Clarinet

   

    New challenges always make me ambitious, and passionate. In my case, the process of learning how to play the clarinet was one of my best challenges. Although it took a lot of time to be skilled, I value and cherish the experiences I had when praticing the clarinet. Today, I spend most of my leisure time playing the clarinet, which I love to play. I would like to tell you the myriads of trials and errors with my practice today. 

 
    To be honest, it was quite a coincedence to meet the clarinet at the first place. When I was ten, I had a friend who was about a year or two older than me. Then one day, I heard a sound, somewhat interesting-but not so beautiful-but it obviously captivated my mind. When my mom came back from the store, I asked her about the sound that came from next door. Then she told me about the unfamilliar instrument, the clarinet. She also showed me some videos playing the clarinet, which made me much more fascinated. And about a week later, there was a clarinet in my hands. Not a magnificent one, but a faithful-looking one. And with my teacher Mi-Shim, I started to learn the clarinet together with my friend next door.

   
     At the first class, I was finally allowed to actually set up th clarinet parts. I was excited, and also nerveous, because I didn't have much confidence in playing that instrument. However, my expectations were going too far; I was  a bit arrogant. But then, when I first put my lips on the mouthpiece, only a noisy beeping sound came out from the bell-the horn shaped part at the end. I was horrified and disappointed at the same time. The sound that came out was far, far lower than my expectations. Suddenly, all the intrest started to leak out. The guy playing clarinet on the video doesn't seemed to make sense. 

 
     However, a word of compliment came out from the teacher. The friend of mine couldn't even make sounds. Only a windy sound came out from his instrument. I felt better, and once again passion and ambition seemed to fill my mind. So at the first time, I was unable to learn perfect skills; but I learned a significant lesson-be moderate. And from that day on, like a warrior learning from its master, I was able to develop day by day. The thickness of reeds that I used increased-which means my lung capacities increased, and my hands became more fluent and flexible over handling the clarinet. And there were times when I got too tired with practicing. My head aching, my lips all itchy because of the mildew on the mouthpiece and all others. But I was able to overcome those obstacles with my passion and ardor.

 
      Now, I feel quite happy and worthwhile all my experiences with my practicing-each experiences gave me an important lesson. And I am quite skilled on it too. Also, it gave me an oppertunity to have intrest in classical musics, and modern classics. And an attempt a challenge gave me this great gift to my life. So, I ask you-no, I recommend you to have challenges in new things, to have and adventure, because they could bring you unexpected gifts to your lives.

Ode-Fountain pen

O fountain pen O fountain pen,

Your streamlined shape

Bring adores from all men,

Your constant ink fountain

Makes paper pile a mountain.

O fountain pen O fountain pen,

Your crisp but smooth feel

Makes my hand to kneel,

 And let your hearthole overflow

Until my heart stop its bloodflow

Ode to my fountain pens,

Ode to my faithful servant

Ode to my constant companion.

Argumentative Essay-TVs

   . 
      TVs have given a myriad of  impacts to us since the 20th century. It changed numerous hstorical moments, and today, many people's main topics are mostly about a soap opera or a variety program broadcasted on TV. They are a powerful source which influence a large number of people. And although there are a lot of positive aspects of television, as TVs can be the source of information and entertainment, they are being a major argumental issue amongst people. In my footing, I believe that TVs can be addictive and the contents are mostly inappropriate.

 
      First of all, although TVs can give us useful information and recreation, the excessive watching of TVs can bring you to the state of addiction. And being addicted to TVs, being a 'couch potato', can cause various health problems, such as obesity, declination of eyesight and many others which would also be harmful for your body. Also, the way of accessing TV is pretty easy, easier than the Internet, so the age group of the TV watchers are very broad. And this, the ease of access can also bring an increase on the number of addicted people. For example, most Korean teenagers spend their leisure time watching TVs, more than 10 hours a week. This would be a severe problem both mentally and physically not only for teenagers, but to all people addicted to TV.  

   
     Secondly, some of the programs broadcasted on TV can be inappropriate. Today, many programs include contents with exclusive sexualities and  violence. However, because of the absence of age restrictions, teenagers and younger children are easily able to view this contents, and to gradually resemble their attitudes. This can be one of the sources of the crimes and other violence potentially to young children addicted to TVs. This has already proved scientifically-in statistsics that children that watched TV more than 3 hours a day showed far more violence and impatience than others. So, although TVs bring us information, it may harm, damage our society with its inappropriate contents.
   
     Therefore, I firmly believe that when watching TVs can bring us information or entertainment, it is incongruous, improper for parents to let their young kids to watch TVs in their free time, or to replace their communications or their dialogues with TVs at dinnertime due to its inappropriate contents, and its high risks of addiction with phisical, mental disadvantages.