What makes a novel "a classic? Discuss

I think all the classic novels that I read have a few things in common. First, they are written in somewhat poetic ways. The authors use many imagery and vivid details. Second, these books have themes that are not familiar at the time the books were published. The themes shock the readers at first because they are so untraditional ways of writing books. However, these books influence other writers to write in similar styles or techniques, in addition to similar themes. To sum this up, classic novels are the ones that are written with great details, have shockingly new themes, and influence other authors to write similar themes.

"Ghosts do not exist."

Hey guys. I'm pretty sure that many people believe that ghosts do not exist. I don't blame you because I used to be the same. However, a few weeks ago, I saw a Korean show called "Exorcist." The first two shows I saw were about people who are victims of ghosts/spirits/souls in their bodies. One lady had 15 ghosts in her body because her body was easy to get to. Every time a different ghost took over her body, she acted differently. When a young gangster ghost took over, she acted tough and said previous experiences of fights that she was in. Then when a 5-year-old ghost took over, she acted, cried, and talked like a baby. It was astonishing to see how she changed her posture, voice, tone, speaking habits, and expressions every time a different ghost took over her. Next, the exorcists exerted all the ghosts out from her. Another incident was when a woman requested to investigate what happened to her parents on the day that they passed away. She said that her parents went out in the ocean to fish (her parents were fishers) and then they passed away there. The funny thing was that her father and step-mother's bodies were found at different places that were pretty far from one another. Even more weird thing was that her father was found at her hometown. Anyways, the program brought the most skilled shamans to investigate what happened. They found out the places and causes of their deaths by sensing her parents' spirits in the ocean. Then, they did a ritual to  accept her parents' souls into their bodies so that her parents' would be able to tell the daughter what happened to them. As I watched these episodes, I just thought it was creepy and that was it. I still managed to persuade myself that ghosts did not exist. 2 weeks ago, however, I saw another episode. There is a woman who passed away at age 28 and she was not married before she passed away. So her mother, feeling guilty that she didn't make her daughter to get married, wanted to get her daughter a "Soul Marriage." In the program, 3 candidates that matched the most with her daughter's ideal type of man, age, and death reason. Then the shamans brought the souls to say how they thought about the marriage. I did not yet finish the who episode, but up to the part that I have seen, one guy rejects because he saw that the woman already has someone that she loves. The other guy says he doesn't mind her except for the fact that she likes someone else and that she is too pertinacious and stubborn. Anyways, from the episode, I learned that there are many people who call shamans to do soul marriages for the past-away ones. One of the men's parent said that if the marriage is that satisfied between the souls, the souls come to their dreams complaining about how the marriage sucks until the people call the shamans to divorce the souls. So, I'm starting to think that ghosts actually do exist.

P.S. I'm sorry for writing too much. I bet there are many grammatical errors, but I'm too lazy to re-read this long post so please ignore the errors! ;D If you don't understand what I'm writing then..... oh well, that's too bad.

Anticipation Comments

To Yuma:

Hi~ 

I agree with you that children should not be responsible for what their parents have done. It seems to me that the parents are irresponsible if they make their kids to take the responsibility of mistakes that they have made. Blaming the children for the parents' blunders is completely wrong. The parents are older, mature, and wiser so they should have known that something that they are about to do is not right. If they were not aware if it, then how do they expect their children to know?

btw, I like how you ended the post :)

To Gabby:

Hi, Gabby.

I

experienced similar experiences when I was young. Those night images scared me so much that as soon as the lights were out, I could not open my eyes until I fell asleep. The "pictures" were worse for me because my vision gets extremely blurry without my glasses so I actually saw them 'moving.' Once, I thought I saw a ghost man pedaling a bike (it turned out to be my clothes that were hanging on the wall). I'm still extremely fearful of dark and ghosts. Even a few weeks ago, I didn't believe that ghosts existed although I was still scared of them. However, after seeing a Korean show related to shamans, my view on the existence of ghosts changed completely. (I'm writing about it on my blog).

To Allison:

Hey, Allison :)

I agree. That statement is way too general. It is like how Malcolm X called all whites devils. There are some who are not nice but there are also some who are very nice. Overall, just as how Malcolm's statement seems exaggerated, I think this quote, "All rich people are selfish and stingy," is the same. Like your examples, there are rich who give out scholarships to others. On the other hand, there are others who help people live better lives. An example is Barack Obama. He is powerful and no one can disagree that he is rich, right? So, I agree with you because there are rich who support less fortunate people with either money or power or skills that they have.

V. Betrayal

I guess it is human nature to be afraid of losing your position when someone younger, more intelligent, and more persuasive serves under you. From the way Muhammad seemed to trust Malcolm and always pleased to teach him made me view Muhammad as a fatherly type of person. However, when Malcolm learned that Muhammad had been considering him as dangerous, the fact just absorbed through me as a natural fact. Surely, it was a little harsh to watch him attentively to catch a chance to discriminate him and to even tell others that it was forgivable to kill him.Nevertheless, no matter how much Muhammad tried to act like the Messenger of Allah, he was still a human being. It was obvious that he should feel nervous that people may begin to worship Malcolm instead of Muhammad. From my experience, betrayals or conflicts always bring good things in the end. Because Malcolm was isolated from Muslims, he decided to go to Mecca. There, he was able to learn that whites were not devils.  

 

I am currently a second degree blackbelt in a martial art called Kumdo (for many of you who do not have any idea what this is, I posted a picture of it above). I have good posture and deep understanding of Kumdo as a blackbelt, but there is a limit in my skills because I am a female. Like how the preacher had told us at the mosque in Harlem, guys are stronger than girls. There is a no way I can beat guys over power and stamina. So when the guys improve so much and their skills catch up with mine, I get very nervous because I don't want people to think that I suck at Kumdo. Although Kumdo is not all about winning and losing in sparring, it is still embarrassing to lose to people with lower levels than me. With the nervousness always following me, I attempt to practice harder to improve my skills. 

Also, there was a movie that I saw several years ago. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the movie because I never pay attention to the names. Anyways, it was about this police officer who always worked hard and overly achieved his work. Then one day, his bosses/supervisors (some people who had higher rank than him) called him. He was expecting them to nominate him to a higher position. Instead, he was sent to an uncontrollable town that had the highest rate of crimes because everyone at the department didn't like his over-accomplishments. Officers at his level and below didn't like him because they got compared while people with higher ranks were afraid to lose their jobs. In the end, he changed the town to a very lovely place and everyone loved him and he became less frigid. 

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/competition-is-sometimes-good-for-you/

The article from the link above is written in a sarcastic way that competition is not always good for you. Well, I think differently. I feel like although the companies will be having a nasty time trying to beat each other, but in the end, consumers will get better and better deals than before. the more they compete each other for more customers. the more they must provide good deals to attract consumers. No matter how unsolvable a conflict seems at that moment, it will always leave something in the end.

My Comments to Others

To Ashley:

At the mosque, I was surprised to see myself nodding in agreement with what he had said about how women pays more attention to their children and how males should be stronger in strength. I always thought that Muslims are extremely radical and scary because of the terrorist actions done by them, but I realized that I was wrong. They are just like any other religious people.

To Allison J.:

I was shocked that he used those strong words to describe whites, but I was glad to see that African Americans these days do not feel the same hatred Malcolm felt towards whites. But then again, back in Malcolm's days, generally speaking, whites were not the way they are now. They are more liberal and treat colored people equally in the Northeast region. However, back in those days, whites were extremely racist toward blacks. Because whites nowadays are not racist, they will be insulted to read how Malcolm called them devils. However, maybe if whites in that period read this book, they might have felt less insulted because they know that blacks were less accepted in the society. So the comparison between Malcolm and his followers today proves how the world has changed over time.

To Isabel:

I understand your point-of-view. Although I didn't feel strong insult when Malcolm called whites devils, I did observe that he was being radical and overly generalizing. But then again, back in his times, whites probably were extremely racist unlike today. Also, I was very amazed at how influential he became as a Muslim leader when he used to live a life where getting watched by police was normal. The fact people still accepted Islam even after Malcolm's extreme teachings just proves that this man was very persuasive and passionate. So, in that way, I really do respect him no matter how he viewed this world.

To Gabby:

I like the new definition of hypocrisy. There are so many people, including me, who say things that they don't necessarily believe in but are forced to say. But I feel like people grouping together because of color is not completely right. I mean, I get what you are trying to say is that these people are grouping with one another because they share the common culture, but your wording seemed a little vague since color is not what bonds these people. It is more of ethnicity, culture, language, tradition, customs, etc. In my case, I like and value both my Korean and white friends, but I guess I do feel more comfortable among Korean friends because we share the same interests in music and TV shows. Also, we can go on and on about our memories in Korea. But with American friends, I'm a lost child when they start to talk about "24," "LOST," or "the secret life of an american teenage girl." I guess when you say "color," all the things that I said are included. But I just wanted to point that out as a non-white perspective :3

IV. Under Control

I personally feel like Malcolm is being too radical when he calls whites as the "devils." Yes–whites have done miserable things to their ancestors and people of other nations as well, but you can't blame everything at the whites. It is not their fault that African Americans became the victims of slavery because they were too weak as a society. It is nobody's fault. Technically. 

During World War II, Korea was conquered by Japan. Koreans had no freedom. Their civil rights were not protected under Japanese rule. They were forced to speak, write, and read Japanese only to make Korean a forgotten language since language is the first step in intelligence. Their respected king was treated not even the way they do to Japanese soldiers. When I was young, I used to hate Japanese. But as I grew older and encountered several Japanese people in America, I came to realize how nice they were and they were not to get blamed for what Japan did to Korea since they weren't even alive back then. So, I decided to just hate their ancestors' actions. Then when I learned about accomplishments of other countries, I began to think: what was Korea doing when Alexander the Great was conquering most of Asia? They were fight among themselves for that little land that they have! I still dislike the fact that my people suffered and prayed for the day when Korea would be free every night under Japanese rule. But the reality is that weaker ones obey the strong and Korea was the weak one. Instead of hating Japanese for what they have done, I dream about one day when Korea will become economically, politically, culturally, and physically stronger than all the nations that tried to oppress weaker people. It will be a long journey to get to the destination and they might get lost, but they will not be "taken care" by anyone anymore. 

Below is an article from Britanica related to Japanese rule in Korea.

III. Unity

This is something that I missed when I read the book but noticed after the trip to Harlem: African Americans are united like a family. I saw how the guide truly desired for one day when everyone, no matter what ethnicity, become one big family. At the streets, Malcolm knows many people and everyone knows each other. They way they greet one another by saying "Daddy-o!" and how Malcolm feels like he is back home when he goes back to Harlem after staying at another places for a while. 

 http://bea.engineering.ucdavis.edu

This picture above shows many African Americans together. Surely, just having a group picture does not prove how these people are united as a community. What makes this picture special is that it is from an association where these people are united to help other African Americans to provide more opportunity for future generations to excel.

Koreans also have organizations to help young Korean Americans to succeed in the society. However, I feel like we lack in unity as a community. They talk on other people's backs. They get jealous and envious easily. I think Koreans favor individual success is more than community success.