Theme of "World in Hounding Me"

The theme of the poem is that people should care more about insight beauty rather than superficial value. The author is trying to say that she hated the world for hounding her with conventional beliefs that material possession and wealth are important. In the sonnet, she said “The only happiness I come to find derives from setting treasure in my mind and not from mind that’s set on winning treasure.” She expresses her view that treasure is the knowledge and meaning behinds things, instead of the shinny or superficial value of objects.

I agree with the theme that people shouldn’t care too much about superficial stuff because it makes u look shallow. However I disagree with the part where we should completely get rid of all material possession because all necessary beauty and treasure lies within our mind and knowledge. As human beings, we all love shinny fancy objects and hope to be satisfied once obtaining those items. Yes it is true that we should also value the artistic value and appreciate the knowledge in items such as computers or I-phones. However, in the first glance, people notice its appearance rather than its meaning. People shouldn’t be so limited as to live in a world where owning material possession is evil. We lived on to obtain knowledge and gain material possessions in order to survive and enjoy life. It is possible for us to appreciate insight and superficial value at the same time

How Effective is the Poem's Title?

How effective is the poem’s title “Hounded by the World” conveying the author’s theme or point of view. Although it may see abstruse at the first glance of it, the meaning of it begins to show after reading the poem for a couple of times.

In the poem, the author is indeed hounded by the world that she disagrees with conventional beliefs that the only beauty is thing that can be seen such as material goods and wealth. She argues that her mind and knowledge are more important compared to possessions. I guess she is reflecting the time where women aren’t really allowed to gain knowledge as man because the world, or society, doesn’t allow it. In her background story, she described the time where she wanted to dress up like a male in order to enter the University of Mexico. However, being hounded and limited by the world, she can only self-study in her grandparent’s library. With strong puritan beliefs, she thinks it’s a waste of time to pursue material possession and wealth. Instead, she thinks the real treasure already lies in people’s mind where knowledge and imagination are true beauty. In conclusion, the author is hounded by the world that she is limited by conventional beliefs that material possessions and wealth are important. It's quite a bit different then what i define as "world". My world's meaning is broader and literally means reality

Hounded by the world

To me , hounded by the world means to be obligated and limited by reality. The world literally means the reality we faced today, such as social problems, peer pressure, homework stresses, etc. As human beings, we are always hounded by the world with the world throwing problems and challenges to us. Whether we like it or not, we need to accept the world around us and deal with the issue. For example, we are being hounded by the world for polluting the planet, therefore we are facing global warming which causes all weird weather phenomenons arould the world such as extreme hot temperature in Russia and stronger typhoons in the pacific. Also, we are hounded by the world that we follows rules and society's expectation of us. Although it may be stressful and annoying, the world helps us grow strong, both mentally and physically, and prepare us for more challenges ahead of us. People may sometimes want to break out of the world by using their imagination and innovative ideas to change. However, reality will never stop hounding us. It will just keep beating us back down to reality, destroying our day dreaming. We face challenges and are obligated to take responsibility for what we have done, even if we think we have done nothing wrong. There are no way to escape the world as long as we are still living.

My Personal Disaster

"Where's my laptop!!"

Searching through my room,
Going up and down the stair,
Asking my sister if she have taken it.
"Where is it?!"

Looking through the car,
 the kitchen, basement,
and even the back yard.
"Where's my laptop!!"

Going around the school,
Looking through the lost and fund,
Asking teachers and office staffs
I still can't find it

Sadly giving up after a month of search
Good bye my dear friend,
Missing laptop.

Guilt

Everyone feels guilty about something at sometime in his or her life. Describe a time when you feel guilty. How did guilt change your behavior? How did you get rid of guilt?

        Guilt is a feeling that I believe most people experienced sometime in their life. It’s a feeling that you felt deeply regretful when you did something. It may be because your action causes someone else’s misery or making you felt ashamed. I remember back in second grade I did something that I felt pretty guilty about. At second grade, during the cram school class section, we were doing math or mandarin exercises. After doing the exercise for like an hour, the teacher decided to give us a break. During the break, I saw an exercise sheet on the table. At first I thought it was just a piece of scrap paper because the hand writing on it looks messy, so I decided to draw circles and mess the paper up with pencil marks. When everyone returned back to their seat after the break, I suddenly realized that the paper I drew on was actually someone else’s paper. The teacher was mad and started to ask who did it. After the teacher asked some of the naughtier, suspected students, the teacher gave up and told the student to redo his exercise again. I was lucky to get away with it, but I felt extremely guilty for not admitting my crime. Although I soon forgot the guilt because I was only in second grade, now thinking back, I didn’t really do anything to apologize to the kid. However, after that experience, I learned not to draw on papers that are not mine. If I had a time machine, I would simply apologize to the kid and admit my crime. If I could just explain that I didn’t do it purposely, I could probably get away with a less severe punishment.

Puritans and Possessions

Think about the major Puritan belies as you re-read this poem. What philosophical beliefs about God and the purpose of human life are reflected in Bradstreet’s poem?


In the poem, Anne Bradstreet described how she felt when her house burned down and how she reminded herself that she shouldn’t be sad about it. For Puritans, they believed that they should be grateful for things that god gives them. “It was His own, it was not mine”. The puritans believed that God have all rights to take away or give them things. Although she was sad that all her precious books and material possessions were destroyed and burnt in the fire, she chided herself that she shouldn’t care so much about earthly things because all the great thing are actually high above in the haven, as she described in her poem “My hope and treasure lies above.” By thinking this way, Bradstreet can easily move on in her life that she can restart despite losing all her previous possessions. Puritan believed that what is important is keeping the bond between God and put hopes and treasure high above in heaven. She treasured the time when she enjoyed possessing and using god’s gift for a period of time in her life.

Hester's Punishment

How do you feel about what happen to Hester Prynne?


I kind of feel sympathy and pity for Hester Prynne. It isn’t entirely all her fault that she had committed adultery, a crime that is unforgivable in the Puritan Society. I think the person that should be blame is the preacher, Dimmesdale, who seduced the young puritan women and had an affair with her. Being a respected puritan, Dimmesdale should have known his responsibility better than anyone else that it’s a crime to admit adultery. Dimmesdale should deserve a much more severe punishment than Hester Prynne, for not admitting the crime proudly as a man and committing crime on innocent soul. In order for Hester’s baby be legitimate, Hester should have first married with Dimmesdale and legally have a new family. Being too naive and impatient, Hester thought her husband was dead and justified to have an affair with the preacher. In conclusion, Hester Prynne deserved her punishment and Dimmesdale should be condemn as well.

Material Possessions

How important are material possessions? How would you deal with the destruction of your home and all of your belongings? What do you think you could most easily live without with?




For me, material possessions aren’t that necessary anymore. Although I may felt extremely depressed at first if I lost a certain possession, the feeling may be gone within a few weeks that new possession will fill the emptiness in my heart. However, if my house somehow got bombed or destroyed, the most important material possessions I will be carrying with me are my passport and money. It is important to carry some identification such as social security card or passport with people during evacuation. No one will like to be a nameless person when survivors find your body under some piles of ruined buildings. Things that can be easily replaced such as pencils, eraser, and books are something we can easily live without off. Now a days, most people uploaded their pictures on facebook or other online website. As long as computer and internet continued to exist, those files aren't likely to be gone. There fore it's not necessary for us to carry our photo albums as our most valuable material possessions.

Puritans & Rationalist Today

What exactly are we today, puritans or rationalist? Both of them are religious groups yet share different views of life.
Puritans are extremely pious and believe only a few "Chosen Ones" can go to heaven. Hoping to be the chosen one, puritans live a hard working life. They disclaim anything that is not written in the bible as the acts of devil and Satan. On the other hand, unlike the puritans, the rationalists believe that everyone has the capacity to regulate and improve his or her own life. If people worked hard and used reasons and logics, they would be able to go to heaven. The rationalists believe that God is like a clock maker, who created a system which allows people to use logic to keep the system functioning on its own. Humans are given the power of wisdom and logic to discover scientific and spiritual truths that God created.

There is no exact answer, but most people today are rationalists. By being rationalists, humans are able to use science and logic to create advance technologies such as computers, cars, medicines and etc. Not restricted by the bible, we are able to use logic and morals to create a world today that operates on its own. One with puritan’s idea can claim that God is still actively participating in shaping our world, such as creating Global Warming phenomenon to punish the evil deeds of technologies. Yet, in today’s world, we believe that by doing good things and keeping the system working, God will bless us.