Prompt: Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? (Please limit your response to 650 words.) When I first think of the Hotel Shangri-La in Singapore, I don’t think of opulent decorations and swaying palm trees. Instead my thoughts go to the table in every room where there should be a book waiting to be read. Rumor has it that when the place first opened up in 1971 every single guest received a copy of a single book, the owner’s favorite: James Milton’s Lost Horizon. The adventurer in the novel, Hugh Conway, stumbles upon a fictional Tibetan sanctuary of long-living citizens and the …show more content…
namesake of the hotel. I read the book a couple of months ago after hearing this story. That’s is the wonderful thing about literature. It has the ability to both capture the imagination, inspire people to create and connect many people through shared intellectual and cultural references. This searching for a connection to the exterior world is what draws me to literature and anthropology, particularly sociocultural anthropology.
Loving to read since I was little, I believe that literature defines itself by its ability to capture the ineffable emotions of people. Through the process of understanding the written word I can open the door to the exterior world and experience a sense of belonging by understanding other’s feelings, in both fiction and non-fiction writing. I’ve “wandered lonely as a cloud” with William Wordsworth’s poems, recollecting those emotions of tranquility as if I was there. I’ve looked for the deepest longing for a sense of inner peace and purpose by roaming in Lost Horizon. I’ve struggled at the edges of love and hate for Shakespeare’s King …show more content…
Lear. As with literature, I wish to explore further sociocultural anthropology to deepen my connection and understanding of different cultures. I feel as if humans are like scattered pearls on the ground. Culture, I believe, can be the delicate yet tough threads that string those pearls together to form a necklace. I’ve begun to try and search the innate connection between people and their culture by exploring L.S. Stavrianos’ A Global History: From Prehistory to the Present. The religions, architecture, literature, ethics and technologies are all that connect us, the individual people, to an aggregation known as humankind. I appreciate Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences opportunity for independent study. Beyond the natural sciences, my interests include wishing to further understand literature’s contributions to sociocultural change. I believe it can help me understand the importance of culture in shaping a person’s identity, expose me to related academic disciplines such as feminism, archeology, religious studies and sociology, and sets the tone for my future intellectual development about how multiculturalism transforms into homogeneity with the loss of cultural diversity. Anthropology courses such as “Cultural Diversity and Contemporary Issues” helps to further understand how to fuse understand literature with cultural changes. As I read, Hugh Conway, the protagonist in Lost Horizon, sought a physical space to explore his sense of purpose.
Beyond wishing to learn about cultural influences and literature, I am also fascinated by the natural sciences. I view chemistry as a more immediate exploration of the basic elements around me. Rather than contradicting with each other, I think of my various interests as way to more holistically understand the world around me, from the elemental level to the vast. I wish to major in chemistry because chemistry is what makes up the nature. Elements combine to form material and processing reactions, either vigorously or silently, to tailor the shapes of substances. I’m especially attracted to Cornell’s “Entrepreneurship in Chemical Enterprise” course, which introduces students on how to tackle scientifically-oriented business
ventures. I see Cornell as a place both providing me with the connection to humans’ exterior world through the understanding of both individuals’ inner world and cultural influences and accessing me to the exploration of chemistry and a sense of purpose. (620)
Each literary work portrays something different, leaving a unique impression on all who read that piece of writing. Some poems or stories make one feel happy, while others are more solemn. This has very much to do with what the author is talking about in his or her writing, leaving a bit of their heart and soul in the work. F. Scott Fitzgerald, when writing The Great Gatsby, wrote about the real world, yet he didn’t paint a rosy picture for the reader. The same can be said about T.S. Eliot, whose poem “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock,” presents his interpretation of hell. Both pieces of writing have many similarities, but the most similar of them all is the tone of each one.
Abcarian, Richard. Literature: the Human Experience : Reading and Writing. : Bedford/Saint Martin's, 2012. Print.
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
Right out of the gate, Bradbury explains arguably the most important characteristic any writer can possess: love for one’s work. Instead of droning on about boring fundamentals, Bradbury leaps right into the fun stuff. Instead of espousing trite clichés about his craft, Bradbury embraces the passion and enjoyment that writing fosters. Bradbury immediately gains the reader’s interest by rejecting the conventional methods of discussing writing and instead focusing on why people love to write.
For some people life may not be satisfactory. Life has many troubles including death, pain, and suffering. It leaves little hope. There are ways in which people can live to have a good life. This method of how a person should live is viewed differently thoughout the world. James Hilton represents this combination of ideas and cultures in the novel, Lost Horizon (1933). This novel tells the tale of four distinctively different people retreating from a war zone. In their retreat they are kidnapped and taken by plane deep into the Himalayan mountain wilderness. Little did they know that here in the confines of the mountains there is a paradise. This paradise is called Shangri-La and is a Tibetan Monastery and community in a place of splendid beauty. Surprisingly, the kidnapped group finds that they are considered guests in this elevated community. They are apprehensive of the cerebrated treatment that they receive, but soon accept and enjoy their "misfortune." Shangri-La is a paradise, but the guests become held prisoner to pleasure and happiness.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2013). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and
Who would have thought that good reads can come from depression and self insecurity? I wouldn't, but this author gave a new outbreak to the giving of thoughts. For my junior project, the author I chose is Ned Vizzini. Vizzini was able to contribute to the world of literature by giving honesty to youth. Vizzini’s greatest strength is empowering people struggling with depression and difficult lives, giving them courage and such. Vizzini wrote about his life to show that we are all human, Stating that we should be honest and strong, so we as people, don’t seem vulnerable to what’s being said in a negative reference since he himself suffered from depression. Growing up he was a good kid, he made good grades, and all but felt pressured. This caused him to develop an eating disorder by the age of seventeen, which later led on to his depression. Ned Vizzini’s style including his use of imagery, similes, and numerous allusions allows the readers to see the importance of his life and self issues which took place during his lifetime, and that led him to write about significant theme of overcoming depression.
James Hilton's “Lost Horizons” tells the story of a random group of characters who become stranded in a strange lamasery. Located among the Himalayan Mountains, this place called Shangri-la seems to have strange effects on anyone who resides within the valley (Zurich). These individuals, their reactions and this new utopia are the basis for a story that raises the question if given the chance, who would choose to live in a place like Shangri-la?
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print.
I graduated in applied chemistry science, which gave me a strong fundamental to my analytic skills and excellent overview of industrial business. The specific core courses throughout this program allowed me to explore not only scientific techniques, but also business management subjects, which have sparked my interest of marketing during my undergraduate time.
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.
As a writer, I struggled my first semester, which took a huge toll on my excitement for both English and writing. Although, I came to realize that with a little help, proofreading, and editing (several times), I was able to generate a well-written essay or at best an average one. Regardless of my poor start, I continued to appreciate my love of English language arts courses. I was blown away by all the juicy classical literature and landmark poems I was able to read and comprehend. I loved all of my classes in college, and I honestly enjoyed the readings! There is so much that can be learned from examining literature and research. Without having read and wrote countless assignments about various topics, novels, poems, and more, I do not believe I would still be motivated to become a high school English teacher and literature professor. My love of reading is a love that I hope will be contagious enough for my future students to capture and spread. In the meanwhile, my continuous love of the Brothers Grimm Tales has inspired a concentration in Children’s literature for my second master’s degree, and I am almost positive that I have conjured a snippet of my future dissertation as well from observations in select
Throughout my school career I have always loved chemistry. In Chemistry there was always a sense that there was more, there was always something new and exciting to be discovered and theories to be proven (or even disproven). Chemistry was the main subject with a real practical aspect to it during school and it is this, along with my genuine fascination with the subject, which fuels my desire to study it further.