Cover Letter
Vincent Qian
June 12, 2007
Cover Letter
This is actually the first time for me to write a cover letter. I have never been required to finish a job like this whether in Chinese or in English before. I found it really helpful because it serves as a reflection upon my recent writings, through which I can see clearly where I have improved and what is still not enough.
In my portfolio, a reading log was listed at the bottom because it was the preliminary work I did before getting down to the final essay. Then is the final timed-writing, followed by three drafts of the essay. All three are listed because by comparing with each other, readers can see my progress along this advanced English writing course, directed by Mr. Corio. Personally, I am satisfied with the progress I have made under the guidance of my teacher and with the advice from my peer group. From the first to the final draft, I have revised the thesis, optimized the structure, improved the formality and selected the supporting evidences more carefully.
Also, I learnt some new approaches and skills about writing an essay. For example, brainstorming helps me greatly. When I don’t know how to proceed, by brainstorming, I let my mind flow freely. I don’t have to care about the grammar and spelling, because all I need to do is to focus on the thoughts. Brainstorming actually inspired me of the thesis of my final essay.
In addition, I learnt how to use quotations from the original work correctly and more effectively. What I used to do is simply copy the whole sentences and put my own explanations behind them. But now I have learnt to mingle the key words and phrases into my own thoughts and words. By quoting this way, I have a better understanding of the function of these words in the original work, which also enables me to express my thoughts more skillfully and make the quotations support my thesis more strongly.
My essay analyzes the story of the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen, by Bruno Lessing. Because it is my favorite of the four stories I have read in the course and I am very interested in the clash between different cultures, which manifests itself as the conflicts between Jewish and American culture in this stories. Seeing how Shadrach Cohen adapted into the American life, I was inspired to explore the differences between his and the two sons’ Americanization so as to find out the real sense of being Americanized.
During the time when I worked on the essay, I got a better and more insightful understanding of the story. I dived deep to those details which were neglected before. After completing the final draft, I found I really enjoyed the whole process. Make yourself happy and entertained is the most important thing about writing, isn’t it?
Thank you for taking time reading my works, hope you will enjoy and draw some helpful ideas from my portfolio.
Essay Draft Three
June 12, 2007
Draft Three
At the turning of the twentieth century, many Jewish immigrants poured into America to escape religious prosecution. Imaginably, clash occurred between the American and Jewish culture. This kind of clash manifested itself in many ways. One of them is the conflicts between different generations of Jews, because of their respective ways of accepting this new culture and their different attitudes towards traditional Jewish religion, which was the case in the story of the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen.
In this story, Bruno Lessing tells us how Shadrach Cohen, an old Jewish, coming from the Russian ghetto, adapted himself into American life, centering a series of conflicts and divergences between him and his two sons, Abel and Gottlieb. To understand the story, the first thing is to understand the difference between the Americanization of Shadrach and his two sons.
Five years of departed time, the gap between the two generations of the Cohen was already quite evident, which surfaced as soon as they reunited. Abel and Gottlieb had changed so much that even their own father took some time to recognize them. According to their perception, these changes should be called Americanization. Wearing “a flaring necktie with a diamond on it”, the two “dapper-looking” (Pp46-3) young men thought modifications in appearance made them Americanized. It was because of this mentality that they emphasized their father’s image so much and expected the same extrinsic changes to happen to their father. They asked him to wear his beard shorter and trimmed differently and “learn to speak English”. (Pp47-14)
They skipped the after meal grace because they believed “it’s not quite American.” (Pp46-2)Factually, they had discarded everything about the Jewish traditions─everything that marks who they really are.
So it is easy to see that Abel and Gottlieb focused on the surface. They valued appearance more than the inner side and they believed clinging to the traditions was something out of date. Then what about their father?
At the beginning, by refusing to polish his appearance, Shadrach already showed us that his way of being Americanized was bound to be different from his sons. He felt nothing embarrassing about his looking like a “newly landed Russian Jew” (Pp46-9). He believes that the same Jehovah rules over him wherever he goes.
His Americanization omitted the skin-deep part and started right from the core, which was one’s spirit, value, character and above all, one’s view on the world. Through contact with his American business partners, Shadrach Cohen became “broader minded”,” more tolerant” and “more flexible in his tenets”. (Pp50-1) He learnt from them “the faculty of adaptability”. (Pp50-1) But these changes still had nothing to do with appearance, still had nothing to do with his firm belief in religion.
By saying “And yet, it was the same Shadrach Cohen” (Pp50-2), Lessing actually means, religiously, Shadrach Cohen never changed. He still demands from the two sons “implicit obedience and profound respect” (Pp50-3).He put strict observance of every tenet of religion in front of anything else. He knows religion is what makes him who he is, is what leads him to where he stands. He would never discard it.
Besides, unlike Abel and Gottlieb, Shadrach’s Americanization was natural and gradual. He never deliberately pursued to be Americanized. It just so happened through his contact with the outside world. Perhaps, in Shadrach’s dictionary, there was even no such word as Americanization because he just took in the good things this country offered to him, which however, made Shadrach’s Americanization more thorough and profound.
At the end of the story, Shadrach merged into American life in his own way. The two sons were no longer that fervent and passionate about being Americanized. Jewish traditions and religions didn’t seem that out of date to them. A new member came to the family, Miriam, Gottlieb’s girlfriend. Through her eyes we see the image of this old man again─“with a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos”(Pp51-1). Just as what he looked like previously. But, if there was any difference, the eyes were shiner, moisturized by America’s liberty and democracy.
Coming along all these, we can see that Shadrach’s Americanization was more profound and closer to its essence. He skipped the superficial parts and precisely caught the core─democracy, liberty, adaptability. As to Abel and Gottlieb, their Americanization stayed on the surface and didn’t go deeper. Appearance and language were the only two things that could relate them to America. Inside them, there was nothing because they threw the Jewish part away and didn’t replace it with American one. The beautiful garment was all they got. But for their father’s salvation, one day they would wake up and find they don’t even know who they are.
All these differences mentioned above made it so easy for us to discriminate whose Americanization was better and closer to its real meaning.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants flock into the U.S. each year in pursuit of the American dreams, among which there are people like the sons as well as people like the father in this story. I believe the reason why Lessing wrote this story is to tell us that what really precious America provides for its people is a dreamland where everyone can enjoy its liberty and democracy while still be committed to his own traditions, just as Shadrach did in the story. Moreover, while these newcomers’ virtues and culture mingle into the American society, they all contribute to make this dreamland a better place.
Essay Draft Two
Vincent Qian
May 20, 2007
Draft Two
In the story of the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen, Bruno Lessing tells us a story about how an old Jewish man, coming from the Russian ghetto, adapted himself into American life, centering a series of conflicts and divergences between he and his two sons. Thinking themselves as fully Americanized, the two sons, Abel and Gottlieb, tried so hard to Americanize their father. Seeing the contrast between the old man and his two sons, I can’t help wondering, what is the real sense of Americanization, who is better Americanized, Shadrach or his two sons?
Five years of departed time, the gap between the two generations of the Cohen was already quite evident, which surfaced as soon as they reunited. From the quotation “It took him some time to realize that these were his two sons” we can see what complete changes must have happened to Abel and Gottlieb, at least in their appearance. According to the two brothers’ perception, these changes should be called Americanization. Wearing “a flaring necktie with a diamond on it”, the two “dapper-looking” young men thought modifications in appearance made them Americanized.
It was because of this mentality that they emphasized their father’s image so much and expected the same extrinsic changes to happen to their father. But their suggestion was rejected. Old Cohen felt nothing embarrassing about his looking like a “newly land Russian Jew”. However, at that moment, he could never know that more profound changes of his two sons were yet to be discovered-religious ones-they had omitted the after meal grace because they believed “it was not quite American”.
A wall stood silently between Shadrach and his sons. “Distressed and puzzled” as he felt, what he didn’t know was that this wall wasn’t built up in one day. It started from the moment the two sons become “Americanized” but had just unveiled itself in front of him. Shadrach just wouldn’t understand even when “he was racking his brain to find some explanation that would account for the changes that had come over his sons”.
Nevertheless, it showed from that early a stage that Shadrach Cohen’s way of being Americanized was bond to be a different one from his sons. Unlike them, he believed that “the same Jehovah rules supreme over America even as he does over the country that he came from”. He clung to the Jewish traditions and culture.
Things kept on worsening-money seemed to be the only tie between them. Again, we can tell how shallow the sons’ Americanization was from how much they cared about their father’s appearance and other superficial aspects-“wearing your beard shorter and trimmed differently and learn to speak English”.
Then there came the trigger of final explosion. By refusing to arrange a meeting for his father with his girlfriend, Gottlieb hurt Shadrach’s feeling badly. The old man turned. What had happened to his son that they were now even ashamed of him? The sound of Marta dropping the iron port tore that moment of silence apart. A lightening must have dashed in Shadrach’s mind. It was the pivotal point of this story. And it was from then on that Shadrach began to take the initiative and things began to develop for the better.
The old man stepped into the business by criticizing “if becoming Americanized means becoming stupid, I must congratulate you upon the thoroughness of your work”. After taking over the shop, Shadrach’s business instinct was finally made full use of. The two sons began to look upon their father with increasing respect.” “They became proud of the old man.”
Meanwhile, there came the most essential and exciting part of the story-Shadrach Cohen’s Americanization-“he, too, was slowly undergoing a change”, “broader minded, more tolerant and above all, more flexible in his tenets.”
But these changes still had nothing to do with appearance, still had nothing to do with his firm belief in religion. “And yet, it was the same Shadrach Cohen”. By nature, Shadrach Cohen never changed. Through contact with his American business partners, he learnt from them “the faculty of adaptability”. And they, at the same time, evinced “an amount of deference and respect never showed to the sons.” On top of these changes, Shadrach still demands from the two sons “implicit obedience and profound respect”. “He insisted upon a strict observance of every tenet of religion”. He taught them that “life was earnest”.
The two sons seemed no longer that fervent and passionate about being Americanized as “they learnt value of discipline, learnt the beauty of filial reverence, learnt the severe joy of the earnest life.”
At the end of the story, Miriam, whose boyfriend had been so reluctant to arrange a meeting for her and his father but now so anxious, finally got the chance to meet Shadrach. From her angel, the writer again, portrayed the image of Shadrach Cohen. The appearance never altered-“with a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos”. But, if there was any change, the eyes were shiner, moisturized by the essence of America-liberty and democracy.
Same as his two sons, Shadrach finally became Americanized, only that he omitted the skin-deep part and started right from the core, which was one’s spirit, value, character and above all, one’s view on the world. That difference made it so easy for us to discriminate whose Americanization was more profound and closer to its real meaning.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants flock into the U.S. each year in pursuit of the American dreams, among which there are people like the sons as well as people like the father in this story. I believe the reason why Bruno Lessing wrote this story is to tell us that what really precious America provides for its people is a dreamland where everyone can enjoy its liberty and democracy while still be committed to his own traditions. In return, while these newcomers’ virtues and culture mingle into the American society, they all contribute to make this dreamland a better place. That, I’m sure, is the real sense of Americanization.
Essay Draft One
Vincent Qian
May 6, 2007
Draft One
In the story of the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen, Bruno Lessing tells us a story about how an old Jewish man, coming from the Russian ghetto, adapted himself into American life, centering a series of conflicts and divergences between he and his two sons, Abel and Gottlieb, who thought themselves as fully Americanized and tried so hard to let their father also become Americanized by giving up his cling to the Jewish traditions. Seeing the contrast between the old man and his tow sons, I can’t help wondering, what is the real sense of Americanization, who is better Americanized, Shadrach or his two sons?
Five years of departed time, the gap between the two generations of the Cohen was already quite evident, which surfaced as soon as they reunited. From the quotation “It took him some time to realize that these were his two sons” we can see what complete changes must have happened to Abel and Gottlieb, at least in their appearance. According to the two brothers’ perception, these changes should be called Americanization. Wearing “a flaring necktie with a diamond on it”, the two “dapper-looking” young men thought modifications in appearance made them Americanized. It was because of this mentality that they emphasized their father’s image so much and expected same extrinsic changes to happen to their father. But their suggestion was rejected. Old Cohen felt nothing embarrassing about his looking like a “newly land Russian Jew”. However, at that moment, he could never know that more profound changes of his two sons were yet to be discovered-religious ones-they had omitted the after meal grace because they believed “it was not quite American”. A wall stood silently between Shadrach and his sons. “Distressed and puzzled” as he felt, what he didn’t know was that this wall wasn’t built up in one day. It started from the moment the two sons become “Americanized” but had just unveiled itself in front of him. Shadrach just wouldn’t understand even when “he was racking his brain to find some explanation that would account for the changes that had come over his sons”.
Nevertheless, we can already tell from that early a stage that Shadrach Cohen’s way of being Americanized was bond to be a different one from his sons. Unlike them, he believed that “the same Jehovah rules supreme over America even as he does over the country that he came from”. He clung to the Jewish traditions and culture.
Things kept on worsening. Money seemed to be the only tie between them, although they both had tried to find a solution. Again, we can tell how shallow the sons’ Americanization was from how much they cared about their father’s appearance and other superficial aspects-“wearing your beard shorter and trimmed differently and learn to speak English”.
Then there came the trigger of final explosion. By refusing to arrange a meeting for his father with his girlfriend, Gottlieb hurt his father’s feeling badly. Shadrach Cohen turned. What had happened to his son that they were now even ashamed of him? The sound of Marta dropping the iron part tore that moment of silence apart. A lightening must have dashed in Shadrach’s mind. It was the pivotal point of this story. And it was from then on that he began to take the initiative and things began to develop for the better. The old man stepped into the business by criticizing “if becoming Americanized means becoming stupid, I must congratulate you upon the thoroughness of your work”. After taking over the shop, Shadrach’s instinct in business finally got an arena in which to function. “His sons began to look upon their father with increasing respect.” “They became proud of the old man.”
Meanwhile, there came the most essential and exciting part of the story-“Shadrach, too, was slowly undergoing a change”, “broader minded, more tolerant and above all, more flexible in his tenets.” But these changes still had nothing to do with appearance, still had nothing to do with his firm belief in religion. “And yet, it was the same Shadrach Cohen”. By nature, Shadrach Cohen never changed. Through contact with his American business partners, he learnt from them “the faculty of adaptability”. And they, at the same time, evinced “an amount of deference and respect never showed to the sons.” On top of these changes, Shadrach still demands from the two sons “implicit obedience and profound respect”. “He insisted upon a strict observance of every tenet of religion”. He taught them that “life was earnest”.
The two sons seemed to no longer that fervent and passionate about being Americanized as “they learnt value of discipline, learnt the beauty of filial reverence, learnt the severe joy of the earnest life.”
At the end of the story, Miriam, whose boyfriend used to be so reluctant to arrange a meeting for her and his father but now so anxious to do so, finally got the chance to meet Shadrach. From her angel, the writer again, portrayed the image of Shadrach Cohen. The appearance never altered-“with a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos”. But, if there was any change, the eyes were shiner, moisturized by the essence of America-liberty and democracy. Same as his two sons, Shadrach finally became Americanized, only that he omitted the skin-deep part and started right from the core, which was one’s spirit, value, character and above all, one’s view on the world. That difference made it so easy for us to discriminate whose Americanization was more profound and closer to its real meaning.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants flock into the U.S. each year in pursuit of the American dreams, among who there are people like the sons and there are also people like the father in this story. I believe the reason why Bruno Lessing wrote this story is to tell us that what really precious America provides for its people is a dreamland where everyone can enjoy its liberty and democracy while still be committed to his own traditions. In return, while these newcomers’ virtues and culture mingle into the American society, they all contribute to make this dreamland a better place. That, I’m sure, is the real sense of Americanization.
Final Timed-writing
06301030001
Vincent Qian
June 21, 2007
Timed-writing Three
Directions: From the necklace, what might have been the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life if she had not lost the necklace? Is her life better or worse now?
Before losing the necklace, Mme. Loisel was actually experiencing the highlight of her life. Her beauty and elegancy astonished every man in the ball. Maybe some rich officials or businessmen have already been deeply attracted by her. Mme. Loisel could have been asked to see them or date them or even marry them later. She might live in a fancy big house, dress in groovy fashion, wear precious diamonds and attend all kinds of balls and parties, just everything she longed for. So from the material perspective, the quality of Mme. Loisel’s life could have been so much better if she hadn’t lost the necklace. But except that, the inside of her would remain the same. She would still live in vanity, value material comforts more than anything and be so upset about not having a nice dress to attend the party. Moreover, we can see that even if all these assumptions come true, Mme. Loisel could live this luxurious life style only because of her beauty. But time would take good look and youth away, and when that destiny comes to Mme. Loisel, would she still live this kind of fancy life? Somehow I doubt it. But now, after all, Mme. Loisel still got Mr.Loisel, a man who at least loves her for who she is and tries to offer the best he can to her. So if Mme. Loisel had not lost the necklace, she might live better materially for a while, but in the end, after all the superficial things floated away, she would find herself in a more difficult situation.
What about now then? Mme. Loisel lost the expensive necklace, and in order to pay the debts, she had to work so hard and earn her own life. Hands were no longer slim and smooth, eyes and skin became wrinkled, and old acquaintance could hardly recognize Mme. Loisel. Was this woman the beautiful and classy lady they used to know? What happened to her? Yes, the beauty had gone. But Mme. Loisel learnt to live on her own, she became earth-grounded, vanity and desire for fortune no longer haunted her. She became a calm and mature person. That’s why when she saw the old friend in the park, dressed in expensive clothes, Mme. Loisel still got the courage to stand in front of her. She knew that she can face the truth as it was frankly and in a mature way. And because of these nice qualities Mme. Loisel has now as a person, she got paid back. I am sure that when the truth was revealed, Mme. Loisel would get the money back, the money she had earned with her ten years of hard work and ten years of youth. And with that money, Mme. Loisel could live a much better life then any of those rich officials could offer, because she had the man who loved her. So I think her life is better now.
Reading Log
(Dead Men's Path by Chinua Achebe)
I noticed that the story was set in a time when British colonial power invaded into Nigeria. So it's actually a reflection of the clash of culture and religion between the aggressive west and the conservative local people. Mr. Obi stood for the west and western culture, which took it for granted that the belief and tradition Nigerians observed so loyally was nothing. I can feel this from the way he treated the village priest. He thought it was a mission for him to teach locals to abandon their "silly superstitions", regardless of those people's emotional reactions. We all can imagine how one would feel when something he has been so faithful to is humiliated or trashed by someone who in fact knows nothing about it.
Mr. Obi backfired himself. There was nothing wrong with his will to help people get rid of silly thoughts. But even if you mean well, approach also matters, especially when it comes to the clash of two different civilizations. We need communication and the knowledge of others' culture, most critically, on the basis of mutual respect.
Keep it in mind that no form of culture is superior to the other.