Section A (question 1)

There are several reasons why various list of great books are still
publishing.
The first reason is the heritage of wisdom. Great books regardless of genre
carry message that the author wanted to convey. Without great books, those
wisdom or message will eventually fade out and no younger generation can ever
reach it. Authors who were trying to tell something always present his idea in his
works, if great books will stop being published one day, I think our world will start
reversing the steps and heading back, not forward because we had abandon the
wisdom that support mankind to move forward.
The second reason is great books serve as the paradox of the certain time.
Great books tell us about the culture, the social at the particular time from a
different perspective from the official view. Even though it is subjective, but great
book had present the realistic from the authors view. This help us to know more
about the time from different perspective. Great books become bridges to
connect us to the time.
The third reason why great books are still published is because great
books can be used as guideline for us in life. In this case, it doesnt matter what
genre are we reading, either philosophy or literature, great books will always give
us inspiration to face our life. Without great books, we may probably spend
longer time to achieve civilisation.
Section A (question 2)
In the dead, James Joyce had chosen the name of characters to symbolise
certain meaning.
James Joyce used Lily to symbolise death. Lily is a kind of flower that
commonly used in funeral. James Joyce was trying to give readers the ambience
of death by naming the beginning character as Lily.
The name Gabriel is originated from one of the seven archangels. Gabriel
is to believe as the messenger of god. James Joyce used this name because
angel is a creature that no mortals like us stand a chance to see, we could only
see an angle after death. James Joyce again emphasise the ambience of death by
using names related to death.
Michael is also originated from one of the seven archangels in the Bible
bringing the meaning of who is like God. Michael was Gretta, Gabriels wife, first
love and he died for the love for Gretta. Again James Joyce named his character
after an archangel to lead readers further to the ambience of death.
Section B (question 1)
Great books are certain piece of work of literature, philosophy, history, and
science that are believed to contain the basic ideas of western culture. Great
books are to believe as the foundation of classics.
Classics are the works that serving as a standard of excellence and proven
to have value to be reprinted.
Great books the fundamentals of humans civilisation, its central thinking
should be preserve meanwhile classics can be rebranding and retell in different
forms. Besides, no books can be added into the great books list anymore but the
number of classics will on increasing.
Reading great books for the first time in one maturity is an extraordinary
pleasure, different from the pleasure of having read it in ones youth. Every time
we read and revise a great books or classics, we will have different taste of it.
This is because our experience and maturity changes as we grow. Reading great
books or classics help us to train ourselves to be more focus on certain things.
Reading great books or classics inspire our mind. Our life are too short to
go through too many experience. But there is another way for us to learn the
lesson without going through it personally, namely via reading great books or
classic. From the reading of great books or classic, we can gain knowledge and
wisdom from peoples works. We need not go through problems and struggle in
it. We can learn from reading great books or classics.
Besides learning and gaining wisdom, we should not put the aesthetic of
great books or classics aside. We should appreciate the work piece not only from
what it present, we should also pay our attention on how it is presented. In this
case, I shall focus on the literature works. It is true that literature works can be
considered as the essence of a language because without sufficient language
mastery, the literature work can be very dry and dull. We can discover the
beauty of a language by reading works written in the particular language. The
literary devices used in great books or classics are usually very elegant or very
bombastic. Either way show the mastery of language of the author and how the
author manipulate the language.
Reading great books or classics also increases of landscape of thinking.
The more we read, the more we know, the greater our thinking landscape
become. By obtaining and adapting the ideas in great books or classics, we can
have a better and more holistic thinking as we had gone through peoples
experience by reading their works. People who do not read books will always
have no idea to speak of because they have no substance and material.
Reading great books or classics let us understand more about the process
of civilisation. There should be more than one perspective to see the whole
process. Great books or classics provide us the lens to see the process in a very
different viewpoint. We can learn to interpret things not just with one point but to
understand it from various point of view.
Section B (question 2)
I have read the Analects of Confucius in this semester and I was
astonished that the ideas in this books are still useful and applicable in this era.
This analects is the collection of Confucius speech in daily life and in his
lesson with his pupils and in the conversation with the minister of different
kingdom. This collection stress on the following concepts.
The first concept is Junzi. Junzi is a concept of an all-rounded man.
Confucius stress a lot on this concept because Confucius thought that Junzi is the
best model of human beings. To become a Junzi, Confucius had stated 3 main
features. The first feature is Ren (benevolence), Yong (courage), and Zhi
(wisdom).
Analects of Confucius also pin point on the relationship between people.
Confucius categorise these relations into 5, namely, Wulun. The relations
between parents and children, the relations between husband and wife, the
relations between friends, the relations between king and citizen and the
relations between siblings. Confucius believed that if everyone can follow the
rules and manners, the whole society will be peace and harmony.
The third thing that I learned is a sentence that is applicable throughout
my life, do not do something that you do not wish people to do to you to
people. Everyone have feelings, if we can protects their feelings, people will not
feel bad and we can minimise the chance to offend others. Confucius stress a lot
on the interactions of human, he believe that the world can be peaceful if
everyone respect others feelings.
Section C (question 1)
The justice in The Republic literally means the responsible of everyone to
be well-behaved for the benefits of the nations. He believe that if everyone is
well-behaved, the nation will eventually become prosperity and peaceful. He also
believe that justice is a pathway of a stronger element to scare the weaker
element to follow their will.
I personally do not agree with this idea because I think to be well-behaved
is the responsible of everyone for their own benefit not for the nation. The
prosperity and wealth of the nation is only the side-effect of it. And justice define
the nature of good or bad, if it had been manipulated by people, the justice will
become injustice because justice itself is for benefits of all, not just a group of
people.
To be well-behaved is to restrict our behaviour so we will not do any
immoral action or illegal action. This is to save us from being caught by
legitimate and being punished by them. Any punishment will harm ourselves. So
to be well-behaved, regardless of its rewards and punishments, it is a good thing
for us.
I also refute the concept of that justice is a pathway of a stronger element
to scare the weaker element to follow their will. Justice is a balance point
between good and bad. The nature of good and bad cannot be define by a
certain portion of people. If good and bad is to be define by people, it will most
probably sticks to their benefits and gains. If is such, the justice will lost its
meaning of to regulate the society and become denature to help certain people
to gain benefits.
Section C (question 4)
James Joyce named the last chapter of Dubliners as The Dead to symbolise
some important message.
I believe that the message James Joyce wanted to convey is the death of
humanity in Dublin, and the destruction. In his collections of short stories in
Dubliners, James Joyce had presented the dark side of humanity in Dublin. For
example, in the story after the race, James Joyce had emphasised the greed of
humanity, people cannot satisfied of what they possess and keep pursuit for
more and eventually bring themselves towards destruction. And to be clear, The
dead symbolise destruction. The destruction here simply means the destruction
of humanity, not the physical destruction of the town. James Joyce believe that if
people still behave in such way, they will eventually facing destruction one day.
There are some symbol that James Joyce used to symbolised dead. The
first is the naming of characters. James Joyce had named his characters related
to dead. For example, Lily, the flower used in funerals, Gabriel, a name of an
archangel, and Michael, name of an archangel, are all related to dead. James
Joyce also used snow to represent dead. Snow in The dead represent new
growth. Although snow ruthlessly suffocates life from the vegetation, but it also
aids in the cycle of life and gives a chance for new growth.