LEARNING TASKS IN

ENG 122
(SURVEY OF AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE)

Submitted by:
Fatima Faye V. Daguman

Submitted to:
Mr. Rogelio Mora
ACTIVITY 2 CHINESE LITERATURE
1. What are the 3 interesting facts about the Chinese spoken language and
Chinese written language?
 The Chinese language doesn’t have an alphabet.
Here’s where the challenge of learning Chinese lies – it doesn’t have a
segmental alphabet. You learn Chinese by studying different characters.
The good thing is, Chinese can be transcribed into characters with the
use of Pinyin. This takes out the burden of memorizing thousands of
Chines characters!
 Chinese follows different calligraphy styles.
There are five traditional forms of Chinese calligraphy: Seal Character,
Official Script, Formal Script, Running Script, Formal Script, Running
Script, and Cursive Hand. All these are considered Chinese art styles.
 There is no gender in Chinese!
Whether writing or speaking Chinese, there are no masculine, feminine
or neuter words.
2. What are the 5 Chinese classics?
 The Book of Changes
 The Book of History
 The Book of Rites
 The Book of Odes
 The Spring and Autumn Annals
3. Who are considered as some of the greatest Chinese poets?
 Wang Wei
 Li-Po
 To-Fu
 Po-Chu-I
4. How did Chinese communist affect Chinese literature?
Communists affected the Chinese literature by telling the writers to write with
comprehensible words for the peasants, soldiers and workers. During China's
past three decades, literature under communism has stocked the cultural
desert of the Chinese countryside with nourishment of a kind. It has provided
heroes, role models, lessons in practical socialism. A number of established
poets who had spent the war and postwar years in the Kuomintang-controlled
areas of China made attempts, following the establishment of the People's
Republic, to bring their work into accord with the new spirit of the age. By an
irony of history, precisely the years during which literary creation was most
rigidly fettered on the mainland were a time of the most vigorous new activity
in Taiwan. The death of Mao and the overthrow of the Gang of Four opened the
floodgates to literary creation in all genres. One of the themes of post-Mao
writing was the private values of personal life. The proper place of love in
socialist life, the damage done by love's denial.
5. How would you describe Chinese literature at present?

 Modern China's political arena, thriving economy and culture provides

more freedom and an open atmosphere in which present day literature
takes on a greater brilliance. Poems, essays, fiction and drama in a broad
spectrum of themes and in many forms are quite popular. Newspapers,
magazines, radio, and the Internet, all give writers of literature much
scope for their exertions. Consequently, for their encouragement, there
are literary prizes such as the Lu Xun Prize, Mao Dun Prize, Spring Prize,
Feng Mu Prize, and Lao She Prize and more besides.

ACTIVITY 1- THE TALE OF GENJI

Answer the following question:

1. How would you describe the love affair between Prince Genji and "her"?
 According to the story, the love affair between Prince Genji and "her, is
that Genji has a sexual relationship with Yugao, who lives around Gojo.
Genji loves the pretty and obedient Yugao deeply, but Rokujo no
Miyasudokoro is so jealous of Yugao that her spirit possesses Yugao and
causes her death. Moreover, I would describe their love affair between
Prince Genji and "her" as selfish because both of them have a partner,
but their love is still fantastic since the love of Genji remains generous to
the women. Neverthaless, Genji had a huge amount of romantic affairs
involved true love that neither men practicing monogamy nor polygamy
2. Why did she not reveal her identity to Genji?

 She did not reveal her identity to Genj because she wants to stay
mysterious, she is called "The Lady of the Evening Faces'. She is a
mysterious woman whom Genji begins a romance with in the beginning
of the novel. She's relatively young, very small, and does her best to
obscure her true identity from Genji. However, they conceal their
identities from each other, and she became mistress
3. How does the non-disclosure of her identity contribute to the appeal of the
story?

 Because of the non-disclosure of her identity it makes the story more

interesting and mysterious, it makes the reader catch their attention to
the true identity of Yugao.
4. What parts of the story best appealed to you? Why?
 The best parts of the story that best appealed to me is the chapter 4
(Evening Faces), in this chapter you will see how much Gengi inlove with
Yugao, Genji to Yugao is true, especially when Yugao died, Genji feels ill,
even their affairs looks selfish. Moreover, he chose to find Yugao's
daughter, intending to raise her himself. That really touched my heart
even though Yugao is just a mistress. Thus, the chapter ends with a final
poetic exchange with Utsusemi, whom Genji also loses.
5. In the end, what redeeming qualities did Prince Genji show?

 Genji is cold and seemingly without a conscious. His main redeeming

features are his good looks and athleticism.
ACTIVITY 3 – JAPANESE LITERATURE

1. Why was Kandata in hell?

- Kandata was in hell because he used to do bad things on heart. He used to
rob and murder people.
2. Why did Buddha help Kandata? How did he help Kandata?
- Buddha helped Kandata because of the one good thing that he did, which is
letting the spider live instead of killing it. In return, Buddha let down a spider’s
thread for Kandata to use as a way of going up to Paradise.
3. Why did the spiders thread break?
- The thread broke because of Kandata’s selfishness.
4. Would Kandata have been saved had he behaved more generously to his
fellow sinners? Explain.
- Yes, he would have been saved if he let the other sinners get the blessing that
he got.
5. How does the description of Paradise and Hell in The Spider’s Thread
compare with your concepts of these two places?
-It was almost similar with my concept of the two places. Hell for me was very
scary and dark while paradise is a peaceful and pretty.
6. In what way do our counter values work against us? Give examples.
In what way do our counter values work for us? Cite examples.
- In a focused review of the literature on the nature of human values, we
identify a disconnect with the literature on human motivation despite the
otherwise inherent relatedness of the two fields. Specifically, extant theory and
research have conceptualized values generally in terms of ideals, namely
desired end-states that individuals strive to approach. Although values, by this
definition, express motivational concerns, theories of human motivation
suggests that there are two forces to consider, i.e., approach and avoidance
motivation. By applying this “two forces” perspective to value research, we
identify a gap in the literature on values: namely, the idea that individuals are
also influenced by counter-ideal values, i.e., end-states that they deliberately
seek to avoid. The identification of this gap opens up new opportunities for
value research in general and organizational value research in particular. To
pave the way for future research, we critically discuss the few studies that have
taken first steps into that direction and outline research questions that may
follow for issues such as employer branding and person-organization fit. We
close by providing suggestions on how to tackle the issue in organizational
practices,

1. What could be the possible dreams of the warriors?

- The dreams of warriors could possibly be about triumph in war.
2. What is meant by grass growing in one’s dreams?
- Grass dream is a positive sign meaning that there is something in your life
which is making you happy. A dream of green grass can indicate wealth,
relaxation, being happy, growth and growth.
3. What could be the cause of afterglow?
- The afterglow is caused by dust in the high stratosphere, which catches the
hues of the twilight arch below the horizon. The afterglow is commonly seen
during or after volcanic eruptions, which deposit large amounts of dust and
ash into the high atmosphere.
4. Why is the crow detestable?
- The crow is detestable because of its detestable deeds and its unpleasant
nature- a nuisance pest.
5. What made the crow a pleasant sight at the time the writer saw it?
- The crow is a pleasant sight when the writer saw it because of the artistic
effect it brought to the contrast of the "black" crow against the "white" snow.
6. What makes some unpleasant things acceptable? Give examples.
- To answer this, consider what makes a lie unacceptable. It is generally
considered bad when people lie to help themselves, and particularly when, in
doing so, they harm others.
Acceptable lies, often called 'white lies', are those that help others. Such white
lies are required in many cultures, where saving face is important, and not
telling lies to protect others is considered a bad and selfish thing. Lies are also
more acceptable from those who are less likely to know the rules for not lying,
most notably young children.
7. What contrast is mentioned in the second haiku? What effect is achieved by
the contrast?
- The contrast mentioned in the second haiku is the contrast between the
silence and stillness of the pond and the movement or enthusiasm of the frog
that jumped in it.
- The effect achieved by the contrast was the splash. It gave beauty and life to
the silent pond. The splash in the haiku symbolizes an event in one’s life that
may cause to break the monotony and bring a glimpse of happiness and life.

ACTIVITY 4 – INDIAN LITERATURE

The mahabharata is a very nice story it is filled with knowledge and moral
lessons. Personally I learned a lot. The story talks about power, integrity,
leadership, as well as selfishness and consequences. If I am going to connect
the story to present time, the story is all about power. How a person changes
because power. How a person uses its power. As we all know power can change
a person’s life. Having a power is not a bad thing, it’s how you use it.
Leaders have this power to lead other people. Most of the leaders of today do
not exercise the leadership very well, they sometimes use the power that they
have in a wrong way. They became so selfish that they think only of
themselves. They need to understand and know their responsibilities. They
need to remember that the power vested in them is not a quirk of fate. It is a
confluence of events and actions which require them to deliver bearing
responsibility as leaders. As a leader you ought to serve and not the other way
around.
Now let’s talk about selfishness, in the story, The great-grandfather and brave
warrior of the Hastinapur royal family had several chances to save his kingdom
and people. He was repeatedly beseeched by his step mother to take over the
kingdom and get married, but he refused to break his vow of celibacy. Had be
not been so self-righteous, the greatwar could have been avoided. See,
selfishness brings problem and war or trouble. Another realization is that, you
cannot have everything you want. Draupadi had done penance in her previous
life and asked Lord Shiva for a perfect husband who was a brave warrior,
morally pure, has the strongest body, is the most learned and also the
handsomest man on earth. She got whatever she wanted but in 5 different
husbands. The moral of the story is that, one man cannot have all these
qualities and you cannot always get whatever you want. You have to accept it.
And the last is that too much love can ruined someone or somebody’s life. The
King of Hastinapur had but one fault; he loved his children too much and he
never reprimanded or disciplined them. This is a parenting lesson for every
father and mother. Correct your children before they go astray because your
blind love won’t help them.
I believe that in everything you do, good or bad will bring consequences. You
will reap whatever you have planted. So if you do good things to others,
definitely it will bring good to you as well, but if you do bad things to other,
then expect things to go wrong as well. There are lots of realizations and good
lessons that I’ve learn in reading the story. I hope i may be able to apply
everything that I’ve learned in this story. I hope that the people who are going
to read this story will be able to apply everything that the book is telling, the
good morals and lessons.

RAMAYANA REFLECTION

Ramayana is a story that I believe, reflects the culture of Hinduism. It speaks

of one’s faithfulness to the person he loves, and the adherence to truth and
honor to one’s word. The story is about an epic journey of a prince who vowed
to protect the lady he loves as part of his vows to be wed with her. It also
showed how colorful the beliefs of Hinduism which even involves animals as
characters and antagonists that can transform into different evil beings.
Ramayana is not just a story, but also a medium to determine the importance
of values such as loving and respecting your family, keeping your
promises, protecting the weak and so on. As a manifestation of this,
we can think of Rama’s (Ram as named in the movie) state in agreeing to what
his father’s other wife has wished for, to let his brother rule and to make Rama
depart their kingdom and be exiled in the forest for years. Though this hurtful
to think, Rama openly accepted the idea as he respects his family. He also
protected his wife Sita as it is part of his duty. Though he can possibly be wed
again with some other women just like his father, Rama remained faithful to
his wife.
Rama has also been respectful. All the deceased soldier whether belongs in his
army or not, has been given burial by him with his belief that everyone must be
buried properly. That idea made me think that Rama is really a good guy.
Rama is said as the incarnation or avatar of the god Vishnu.
Generally, one of its main idea is that no matter how powerful evil is, it will
always be defeated by good. As for Rama, he is always been good, he is an
advocate of peace and as possible as he can, he avoid bringing up war against
others. The most important life lesson to learn from the Ramayana is that truth
always prevails and the victory of good over evil is inevitable.