RMST 202 Blogs

Hi, everyone! Happy weekend! Welcome to my fourth blog. I am so excited since I have already read four books. This week's book is kind of special, I have a lot of thoughts to share with you.  This week we read a book called "The Shrouded Woman", this book was written by María Luisa Bombal .  When I first saw this book's title, I wondered if it might be a horror story, since the name sounded a bit eerie. Of course, this thought was dismissed as soon as I began reading. The novel's theme is quite innovative, centered around a deceased woman named Ana María. Even though she lies on her deathbed, she can still see and hear everything. She witnesses relatives and friends coming to bid her farewell. The appearance of these people opens the door for the woman to revisit memories of the past. I feel like the depiction is reminiscent of an out-of-body experience; although Ana's physical body has died, her soul remains. This makes me doubt whether a person's soul ca...

Hi everyone. Welcome to my third blog! This week I read the book "Mad Toy" and have many thoughts to share with you.  This book is written by Roberto Arlt. He  writes this book from the perspective of a lower-class youth named Silvio. From Silvio's descriptions, it seems that the people around him are not good individuals . The first person he describes is an old cobbler, who is portrayed as hunchbacked, with a face covered in stubble, a haggard complexion, and a slight limp. Next is Irzubeta, the second person he describes. He is tall and thin, with freckles all over his forehead and a slanting gaze. What shocked me was the family of Irzubeta, his family is a family that buys things on credit and has creditors. Despite their impoverished state, they are still quite arrogant, viewing those creditors as untouchables . This makes it difficult for me to imagine their psychological state. When Silvio describes the people around him, it is not difficult to see that he lives i...

Hello everyone, welcome to my second blog! After reading Proust’s Combray this week, I have a lot of insights that I want to share with you. In this novel, the author mainly recounts a childhood memory in Combray. In the first part, the personal traits of Swann, great-aunt, and grandmother are vividly depicted. A significant portion of the novel's opening is dedicated to portraying Swann. I believe there is a stark contrast between Swann's humility and politeness and the great-aunt's arrogance and ignorance. Swann is very modest, so the narrator's great-aunt does not consider him part of the upper class. Instead, she thinks that his status is lower than hers. Therefore, when hosting banquets, she does not extend an invitation to Swann because she thinks Swann is not qualified to be a participant in her banquet. But in contrast to Swann, he doesn't have the nobility and arrogance that we might expect from someone in the upper echelons of society. He doesn't even ...

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog! My name is Xinrui Wang and you can also call me Shirley. I am excited to join this class and meet you guys. Let me briefly introduce myself first. I come from China and this is my third year in UBC. I am in the faculty of arts and I major in Economics.  In my leisure time, I enjoy drawing, singing, and reading. This is also a motivating factor behind my choice of this course. When selecting elective courses, I opt for those aligned with my interests and hobbies, ensuring that attending classes doesn't feel like a mere task. This class reminds me of a similar course I took when I was in high school at Langley. In the class, the teacher asked us to choose the books we wanted to read, and then write down the insights we read in the books. Looking back, the pressure to study after I entered college was much greater than in high school, so the time I had to read was also reduced. But once I have time, I like to sit by the window, enjoy the sunshine,...