A Composer and His Parakeet by: Ha Jin - Essay Example

Rewrite: A Composer and His Parakeet By: Ha Jin Ha Jin, is a famous Chinese who has already settled in the United s and is currentlyteaching at the University of Boston. He writes English novels and also composes poems. The short story titled “A Composer and His Parakeet” is about a composer who was left with a parakeet by his girlfriend actress whom he grew attachment with and tremendously helped him in composing. Supriya was an actress who takes the supporting role in the films that she was casted. On one particular film that she has to do was located in Thailand that she has to leave Boris, her parakeet to his composer boyfriend Fanlin. While Fanlin did not show initial interest with the bird that the author even hinted that he seemed to be initially annoyed with the bird, their relationship blossomed which was the central drama of the story. Perhaps one of Fanlin’s reason of initial hesitation to take care of the parakeet was that he suspected that the bird might have been given to Supriya by another man whom she had a relationship before but he did put much mind in it. To earn a living, Fanlin gives music lesson to a group of five students who comes to his apartment regularly. The students tuition has been the source of his regular income. In addition, Fanlin was also collaborating with a local theater group based on the legendary Chinese folk musician Ah Bing. It was an opera titled the Blind Man of whom he has to put music on the libretto of whom he dislikes as the words cannot initially be changed. The musical Blind Musician contracted Fanlin to compose the music and get paid $6,000 dollars to be paid in two installments of which he will also receive 12 percent of the opera’s earnings. At first, Fanlin did not put much importance to the parakeet only feeding it to take care of the bird. He was even seemed annoyed at the presence of the bird teasing the bird that “your mother has dumped you.” As time went by, he fed Bori with his own meal which amuses him for the bird gladly partook his food. Furthermore, the parakeet seemed to show interest in his music although Bori is just a bird. He took first notice of the bird when Bori alerted him when a burglar entered his apartment. The attempted robbery or assault on Fanlin’s house was aborted as he took noticed of the intended crime when Bori alerted him. He also began to be fond of the parakeet when he had to eat out for lunch for he was too busy in his work to cook for himself and the bird showing some wily characteristic by preventing him to give out his dollar tip. As he told this incident to Supriya, she was but not enthusiastic to hear the story about her bird and being disinterested in her usual self. Fanlin’s attachment with the parakeet begun when Engel Chang, the person whom he signed contract with the opera postponed the payment his first payment. He was informed that Engel Chang will only pay when he has the money. Whereupon Bori flew to Engel Chang and splotch at his shoulder. As a composer, Fanlin is not very fond of the libretto. Especially with the writer, Benyong, who initially doesn’t like even a single word to be altered. As an artist, he felt restricted by this strict conformity. For Fanlin, these poses to be a problem because unlike poetry, opera is a collaborative art form. He also does not agree with Benyong especially when his music structure in mind does not agree the verbal text of Benyong’s composition. So one day, when Fanlin felt the need that certain words are to be changed, he set out for Staten Island to see Benyong, intending to get permission to change some of the words. While he did not plan to take Boris along, the bird insisted by pulling out his antics. Perhaps it was with the help of Bori that Fanlin got the librettist’s agreement without difficult on the condition that they talk before Fanlin make any wording changes. They set out for lunch in a nearby pan-fried pizza afterwhich they strolled along the beach of white sand. Bori liked the ocean and kept on flying away until a sudden gust of wind caught Bori and swept him into the waters. Without thinking, Fanlin rushed to the waters to save Bori. And as Fanlin tried to resuscitate Bori back to life, it touched the onlookers to the point that it appeared in the Metro section of the New York Times and later at the North American Tribune describing how Fanlin plunged into the ocean and patiently resuscitated Bori. After the accident, Bori was no longer the same parakeet after drowning in the beach. He has grown weak and lethargic and this was first manifested when Elbert Chang delivered half of the advance payment to Fanlin. Bori did not fly to Elbert Chang to splotch. Fanlin took cared of Bori but despite all the attention, Bori proceeded to wither. Bori eventually died which devastated Fanlin. Fanlin reported this Supriya but she took the news lightheartedly. He was not able to attend to his students cancelling his class for days and intensely worked on the opera. His composition flowed spontaneously with the melodies so fluent and fresh that he wondered that he might have had unconsciously copied from master composers. Fanlin’s neglect for his students prompted them to give him a replacement bird to alleviate his nostalgia for Bori. Fanlin appreciated the gesture and had the bird placed at Bori’s cage and had it named, Devin. And though Devin seemed to be a jolly bird, Fanlin ignored it and even left the transom in the bird’s cage open hoping that the bird will leave. Finally, the composition was completed to the puzzlement of Engel Chang as the first half of the composition was different from the second. As Engel Chang was unsure whether the composition was good or bad, he asked Fanlin to sing it. Fanlin sang one passage after another with grief. He felt the hero of the opera, as he grieved over the loss of his beloved to a general who was to make her his concubine. It was so moving that Engel’s assistant wanted to cry after hearing the composition especially in the second part of the composition. Engel Chang suggested to Fanlin to make the composition more consistent as the first part was bouncy while the second part was emotional though it felt right. This was influenced by Bori’s presence. On the first part when Bori was alive, the melody was bouncy. The second part was composed after Bori’s passing and the melancholic melody reflected Fanlin’s temperament as he grieves for the parakeet’s loss. After Bori died, Ha Jin contrasted the sadness of Finlin to the ruthless of Supriya. When Fanlin told her Bori was dead, he thought Supriya would be confounded about it; however, Supriya did not care about Bori and instead told Finlin that he could buy a new one in pet shop if he wanted another parakeet. Both Fanlin and Supriya were involved in the arts but the story contrasted the two opposing nature of the art. Fanlin doing the soul of the art by composing and moving his audience while Supriya also tried so hard to be successful in her acting career but only lands on a supporting role. Perhaps this also has something to do with the analogy of the bird of how each artists treat their craft with how they treat the people and animals around them. Supriya has Fanlin and a lot of men in her past, yet she did not put much importance to them because in her point of view, she has to make the most of the last five years of her career. Fanlin even had the feeling that he was just a back up in case things will not go right for Supriya. Fanlin as an artist however treat things differently. He treated Bori, the parakeet not just with care, but also with an attachment that can move people. This demonstrated his compassion and soul as an artist which reflected in his composition in the end of the story and helped him create an excellent composition that moves people to tears. When applied in real world, it will be Fanlin who will succeed more as an artist than Supriya. Fanlin attends to real purpose and intent of the art which is the expression of the soul while Supriya subscribes to its glamour and superficiality. 2. "reflection essay explaining the decision you made to successfully revise your work.you might also want to include an explanation of the things that went well in your original essay and your overall growth as a writer in this semester. do your best to show what you have learned about this semester." so for this task, you basically need to talk about the change you made in my essay 2-5 pages The initial writing of this paper proved to be tough for me. I tried to shorten the story without really appreciating what the story is all about. As a result, my first composition seemed to be incoherent and the transition of thoughts was not smooth. It was just badly written and it did not capture the narrative and emotion of what the story is all about. When I rewrote my paper, I tried to reread the story again. This time, I read as if I did not intend to summarize but just to appreciate the story and feel the “flow” of what the author is trying to convey. In short, I reread simply just to understand and appreciate the story. So when I did the rewriting, I reflected and just wrote how I understood the story. As I rewrote this piece, I did not stop after the first draft. I tried to go back and reread again and have some phrases rewritten and added some details to enhance my narrative. On most parts, I used my own understanding while on some other parts, I borrowed words from the story to provide a vivid and animated rendition of the summary. This proved to be effective as I was able to do my next composition smoothly. All I have to do next is just to go back and check if my narrative is faithful to the original story. I have learned this semester that writing begins with appreciation and understanding. That to effectively write a certain story, I must first appreciate and understand what I intend to write. It is also equally important to feel what the author is trying to say. Then provide an outline for the smooth transition of the story. Construct it in my head before writing. I also learned that it needs practice to write effectively. The first draft is never enough. I have to go back to edit and polish it. I wrote how I understood the story first, then read it again and edit it. Along the way, I removed unnecessary sentences and improved some details to make it an accurate narrative of the Blind Man. Rereading it and editing is polishing my composition until such time that I am contented on what I wrote. I also learned that writing is a means of expressing myself. Most importantly, I learned that abbreviating a story just to comply the summary is never good. The summary should be a narrative by itself, a story that can equally be appreciated just like the original composition. This proved to be effective. I believe that in my initial composition, I did pretty well in presenting the humane aspect of the story. The parallelism on how Supriya treated Fanlin compared how Fanlin treated the paratee which was supposed to be taken good care by his girlfriend for it belonged to her. I believe I was able to highlight the grief that Fanlin suffered when Bori passed away compared to the indifference of Supriya. My only mistake was that I dwelled on it too much that I missed the other essentials in the story. In my final composition, I was able to draw the parallelism how this difference translated on how they fare as artists; for Fanlin as a composer and Supriya as an actress. During the process of finishing my final composition and reading it back again, I realize that writing is really not that hard. I initially thought it was so. Perhaps this mindset affected the total rendition of the summary which is why my first composition was written badly. I failed to capture the story thinking that it was difficult and it reflected on my writing. All it really takes to be able to write, is just to have a clear understanding of what I intend to write and the rest will just be easy and narrating will come naturally. In this case, the answer was just to really understand and appreciate the story. For when I really did, expressing what and how I understood it was easy. Of course, my initial draft will need some adjustments and polishing, but that is just perfect it and add life to the story. The narrative is already there, it just have to be improved. And by doing this, I believe I was able to write a good composition just by writing what I really understand. Writing is also not much on how intelligent or smart we are. It is more on how we understand certain things and able to feel what others are trying to say. Then we proceed to pour ourselves through writing hoping that as we write, the same thought and emotion we are trying to convey will get through the reader. Writing really is more of an expression that if I able to feel more, it will be easier to express and write. I believe that what I learned in this semester will stay with me all my life. Because I was able to learn how to express myself better. I am also grateful because I can use this newly developed skill set in the future be it in my future professional life or as a student. I just realize that we need to effectively communicate ourselves to get our message across in almost all aspect of our lives be it in school, social relations and professional life. I will not stop with what I learned during this semester. I realized that writing is also an art that needs to be enhanced and improved and as such needs constant practice. And to be able to continue doing it, I learned I have to enjoy the process. I just realized that writing is also fun and when I am enjoying the process of writing, it ceases to be a drudgery and it will reflect on our composition. Above all, I also learned that writing is a manifestation of our character. Through writing, we are able to learn more about myself. For the process will show our value system as reflected on how we construct our sentences and paragraphs which is most likely a construct of ourselves. Our level of cultivation will also show on our choice of words as well as our prejudices because there are certain areas in writing which we are more inclined to write than others. In conclusion, writing does not only allows us to express ourselves but it also gives hint on the kind of person that we are. Read More