Fabled to reflect souls
Filled with secrets untold
An item of immortality
with its fragile heart
Filled with kindness or cruelty
A being of many personalities
A marveled work of art
unlike any other
Unduly playing its part
Hung on a wall or even a cupboard
Ode to all mothers
that man in the mirror
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Lesson 5: Poetry on Gambling
Thread 1:
Paul's weakness was that he never managed to contain his fervour for betting on horses, and this led to his addiction to it. He only allowed it to fester like an infected wound, only draining him of his strength and weakening his mentality, a contrast to what he thought of it. This just led him to repeatedly betting on horses which causes him to die in the end.
As for the cards stacked against him, it meant that things were not likely to go entirely his way, as he started losing money despite his initial wins, causing him to use a lot of effort just to predict who will win for the next match.
Paul was better off dying early rather than as an old man seventy years of age. If he had lived to seventy, who knows how addicted he would be to betting, seeing how addicted he was already when he was such a young boy. He is also unable to contain his interest for it, if he had money in the future he could most likely squander it away with a bad pick if he was unlucky, or made many times its original amount in profits if he was in luck. Money and horse betting could be all he thinks about, with a possibility that he would explore even more aspects of gambling leading him to use different methods to source for "luck". If one of this sources was to kill someone, would he not have done it for the sake of amassing a greater fortune? It would not have been worth it, killing just to win in a bet.
Thread 3:
Ah Boh could be said to be blinded throughout the entire story - by superstitions. Even up till the end of the story I doubt that she has repented. Despite saying that she would buy a grand coffin for her dead mother-in-law, she said that it would be with her winnings. If she did not win anytime soon, would she carry on gambling, using the excuse of buying a grand coffin for her mother?
As for numbers, she was obsessed with them, interpreting everything around her as a sign for a winning number in the lottery. Even sacrificing much of her time to go around looking for such numbers show how much this numbers really meant to her.
Eventually she would end up with no income or savings if she continues to squander her money away on useless gambling. In the meanwhile, her interpersonal relationships have spiralled down as she fails to listen to her friends and family's advice to quit. Her hopeless hope for a quick windfall would cause her ultimately - zero dollars.
Paul's weakness was that he never managed to contain his fervour for betting on horses, and this led to his addiction to it. He only allowed it to fester like an infected wound, only draining him of his strength and weakening his mentality, a contrast to what he thought of it. This just led him to repeatedly betting on horses which causes him to die in the end.
As for the cards stacked against him, it meant that things were not likely to go entirely his way, as he started losing money despite his initial wins, causing him to use a lot of effort just to predict who will win for the next match.
Paul was better off dying early rather than as an old man seventy years of age. If he had lived to seventy, who knows how addicted he would be to betting, seeing how addicted he was already when he was such a young boy. He is also unable to contain his interest for it, if he had money in the future he could most likely squander it away with a bad pick if he was unlucky, or made many times its original amount in profits if he was in luck. Money and horse betting could be all he thinks about, with a possibility that he would explore even more aspects of gambling leading him to use different methods to source for "luck". If one of this sources was to kill someone, would he not have done it for the sake of amassing a greater fortune? It would not have been worth it, killing just to win in a bet.
Thread 3:
Ah Boh could be said to be blinded throughout the entire story - by superstitions. Even up till the end of the story I doubt that she has repented. Despite saying that she would buy a grand coffin for her dead mother-in-law, she said that it would be with her winnings. If she did not win anytime soon, would she carry on gambling, using the excuse of buying a grand coffin for her mother?
As for numbers, she was obsessed with them, interpreting everything around her as a sign for a winning number in the lottery. Even sacrificing much of her time to go around looking for such numbers show how much this numbers really meant to her.
Eventually she would end up with no income or savings if she continues to squander her money away on useless gambling. In the meanwhile, her interpersonal relationships have spiralled down as she fails to listen to her friends and family's advice to quit. Her hopeless hope for a quick windfall would cause her ultimately - zero dollars.
Lesson 4: Gambling
Thread 2:
As seen in the story, Ah Boh was very superstitious when it came to gambling. She was also addicted to it as she could forsake her mother-in-law and her own daily needs. She interpreted winning numbers from dreams, even taking the effort to pen down her dreams and figure out what they meant, like a spider represents the number three and so on. Weighing her employer's cat and even asking a month-old baby to help her pick numbers, these are just a few ways in which she satisfy her superstitious needs. She would even go so far as to rush to accident scenes and stand the gruesome sight just to copy down the car plate number of the cars involved in the accidents. These unfounded beliefs just led Ah Boh to gamble even more.
Thread 3:
The person who led Paul to his demise was his uncle, Oscar Cresswell. Although the person who introduced him to gambling was his gardener, Basset, Paul won his first race using ten shillings which Uncle Oscar had given him, causing him to think that Uncle Oscar was lucky. This caused Paul to ask Uncle Oscar to join him in horse betting and become partners. If Uncle Oscar disagreed to being partners, Paul might have given up on horse betting. In addition, when Uncle Oscar started winning money through Paul, he started to get greedier, and this encouraged Paul to continue with his gambling habits, eventually leading to his death.
As seen in the story, Ah Boh was very superstitious when it came to gambling. She was also addicted to it as she could forsake her mother-in-law and her own daily needs. She interpreted winning numbers from dreams, even taking the effort to pen down her dreams and figure out what they meant, like a spider represents the number three and so on. Weighing her employer's cat and even asking a month-old baby to help her pick numbers, these are just a few ways in which she satisfy her superstitious needs. She would even go so far as to rush to accident scenes and stand the gruesome sight just to copy down the car plate number of the cars involved in the accidents. These unfounded beliefs just led Ah Boh to gamble even more.
Thread 3:
The person who led Paul to his demise was his uncle, Oscar Cresswell. Although the person who introduced him to gambling was his gardener, Basset, Paul won his first race using ten shillings which Uncle Oscar had given him, causing him to think that Uncle Oscar was lucky. This caused Paul to ask Uncle Oscar to join him in horse betting and become partners. If Uncle Oscar disagreed to being partners, Paul might have given up on horse betting. In addition, when Uncle Oscar started winning money through Paul, he started to get greedier, and this encouraged Paul to continue with his gambling habits, eventually leading to his death.
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