Q1 English book report: GIFT FROM THE SEA by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Book Report

I.                   Title – Gift from the sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Anne M. Lindbergh is a mother, pilot, explorer, writer and wife of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.

II.    Theme – Life, like the sea, may be unknown and often turbulent, yet it also offers wonderful gifts – which are likened to shells – from which the author draws inspiration about a woman’s life, its simplicity and complexities.

III. Setting – While on vacation on Florida's Captiva Island in the early 1950s, Anne wrote this essay-style work, which contains reflections on the lives of American women, in the mid-twentieth century.

                    

IV.             Plot

A.    Introduction/Exposition

·            Main character: Anne Morrow Lindbergh

·            Family members mentioned only (do not appear) in the book: Anne’s husband, the aviator Charles, and their five children

·            Secondary “characters” – the five major shells and a few other shells

B.     Rising Action – tells the conflicts in the story.

1.      (Wo)man versus Nature – “The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith.”

2.      (Wo)man versus Society – “My life in Connecticut, I begin to realize, lacks this quality of significance and therefore of beauty, because there is so little empty space. Too many worthy activities, valuable things, and interesting people. . . . We can have a surfeit of treasures – an excess of shells, where one or two would be significant.”

3.      (Wo)man versus Himself – “Solitude, says the moon shell. Every person especially every woman, should be alone sometime during the year, some part of each week and each day. . . You will remind me that woman must be still as the axis of a wheel in the midst of her activities, that she must be the pioneer in achieving this stillness, not only for her own salvation, but for the salvation of family life, of society, perhaps even of our civilization.

C.     Climax – This happens when Anne reaches a realization while preparing to leave the beach: “Perhaps this is the most important thing for me to take back from beach-living: simply the memory that each cycle of the tide is valid; each cycle of the wave is valid; each cycle of a relationship is valid. And my shells? I can sweep them all into my pocket. They are only there to remind me that the sea recedes and returns eternally.”

D.    Falling Action – When Anne leaves the beach behind and heads off to her family and home in Connecticut, she thinks, “In the small circle of the home she [woman] has never quite forgotten the particular uniqueness of each member of the family; the spontaneity of now, the vividness of here. This is the basic substance of life. … They are the essence of life itself.”

E.     Denouement / Resolution – “The waves echo behind me. Patience – Faith – Openness, is what the sea has to teach. Simplicity – Solitude – Intermittency . . . But there are other beaches to explore. There are more shells to find. This is only a beginning.”

V.    Characters – Briefly explain who he/she is and how he/she is related to the main character.

CHARACTER	DESCRIPTION	RELATION TO MAIN CHARACTER – WHAT EACH SHELL MEANS TO HER
Anne (writer, protagonist) )	In the book, Anne travels to an island (Captiva) where she will remain for two weeks. Anne struggles with leaving the family behind in Connecticut. Although knowing one must have alone time to contemplate, she shows some guilt about the solo vacation. She becomes seduced by both the beach and the sea.
Channelled whelk	“Deserted … once housed a whelk, a snail-like creature”	Her life is not simple since she has a husband, five children and a home which requires her attention. Nevertheless, she still wants to give to the world as a woman, an artist and a citizen. To do so, she wants to achieve a balanced core of inner peace and simplicity which this shell symbolizes.
Moon shell	“Round, full and glossy …milky and opaque… on its smooth symmet-rical face … the tiny dark core of the apex, the pupil of the eye”	All people are alone. However, Anne claims that people have forgotten how to be alone because they clutter themselves constantly with many things. She encourages people to seek solitude (symbolized the moon shell) sometimes, so they can get to know themselves as persons.
Oyster bed	“It is an oyster, with small shells clinging to its humped back.”	This shell symbolizes the middle years of a marriage: “… So most couples in the growing years of marriage struggle to achieve a place in the world.”
Double sunrise	“Both halves of this delicate bivalve are exactly matched … translucent white, ex-cept for those rosy rays that fan out from the golden hinge binding the two together.”	This shell symbolizes pure relationship / love, in the case of Anne, her relationship with her husband: “The first part of every relationship is pure, whether it be with friend or lover, husband or child. It is pure, simple and unencumbered.” But … “how relationships were easily damaged, or weighed down with irrelevancies – not just irrelevancies, just life itself, the accumulations of life and of time.”
Argonauta (paper nautilus)	“Rare creature… Almost transparent, delicately fluted like a Greek column, this narcissus-white snail shell is feather light.”	This shell is “intermittency”: “When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment.” … “One must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – surrounded and interrupted by the sea, continually visited and abandoned by the tides. One must accept the security of the winged life, of ebb and flow, of intermittency.”

VI.  Character Analysis – (For answers to nos. 1-4, please see text / chart above.)

1.    What is the physical description of each of the main characters? Use quotes / details from the text to support your answer.

2.   What motivates the main character to behave the way she does?

3.   What is the internal mental, emotional and spiritual state of the main character that she does not show others? Use details from the text to support your answer.

4.   What are the external traits that the main character shows others? Use details from the text to support your answer.

5.   In your opinion, why does the main character hides truths about herself from the other characters in the story?

In this essay-style work, Anne shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment. She does not hide her thoughts and what she reflects on as truths.

6.  Describe events in the story that resulted in the growth/development of the main character/s. – Please see section B and chart above.

7.   In which part/s of the story did you become involved in the emotions of the characters?

When the author goes to the beach and hears the waves echo behind her: “Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith.” I need to often remind myself to be patient with myself, my loved ones and other people.

8.  In which specific event would you have acted in the same manner as the main character? Why do you say so?

There are two events: One, “I am seeking perhaps what Socrates asked for in the prayer from the Phaedrus when he said, ‘may the outward and inward man be at one’.” And, “I want first of all ... to be at peace with myself. I want singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these and activities as well as I can.”

Like most youth, I have this struggle between what I like to do (part of free expression and creativity) and what I am supposed or expected to do (often obligations and responsibilities). Sometimes I give in to the least resistance of the struggle, without thinking of the consequences. I learn lessons from these occasions. As I mature, I hope to be more focused and properly well-motivated.

9.  In which specific event would you have acted differently from the main character? Describe what you would have done, instead.

In Anne’s being married – because I still don’t think about getting married with a person and living with him. Now I can only think of living with my mom forever.

10.     As a reader, did you accept the main characters as plausible real people? Why or why not?

Like Anne, I like picking shells along the beach. I even talk to them at times. (I have a collection in my room.) I love looking at them at times and when I do, I think of Jehovah God who created them.

11.      Did you find yourself totally immersed in the world of the characters, or were you unable to fully envision their lives and circumstances? Explain.

I found myself totally immersed. I even felt I was along the coasts, like Anne, relaxing and meditating using God’s creations.

12.     Which characters did you find most relatable? Why?

I can relate to what the double sunrise shell symbolizes – pure love, which in my case, my love for my mom. I learned some valuable insights on how to love.

VII. Conclusion

1.   What is your general impression about the book? Discuss.

The book is very refreshing to read. After reading it, the shells found on the beach will have meanings for me. I think every girl should read the book. While reading it, I also felt like the author herself is talking to me. I love the way she takes up these conditions: simple, contented, alone, peaceful, loving and young..

2.   Was the author successful in creating authentic characters that helped in presenting the message of the story? Why or why not?

Yes! J Even though the secondary “characters” are shells, they seem to be real persons with qualities.

3.   Will you recommend the book to your friends/loved ones? Why or why not?

Yes. First, because I think the author is a great one. Second, because the book was recommended by my mom.

Q1 MAPEH Music Indian music: Ravi Shankar

Research about an Indian music video. Put it in your blog with a description and a little history / background about it.

Indian music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieBNKL5xM7U

The above video features the music of Pandit Ravi Shankar, who has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician. 

 

Ravi Shankar Biography (1920–2012)

Younger Years

Born on 7 April 1920, in Varanasi, India, Ravi Shankar came into the world as a Brahmin, the highest class of Indians according to the caste system. Shankar lived in Varanasi until the age of 10, when he accompanied his brother, Uday Shankar, to Paris.

Shankar absorbed the musical traditions of the West and attended Parisian schools. This mixture of Indian and Western influences would be apparent in his later compositions, and would help him cultivate the respect and appreciation from Westerners that he sought for Indian music.

 

Early Music Career

At a music conference in 1934, Shankar met guru and multi-instrumentalist Allaudin Khan, who became his mentor and spiritual and musical guide for many years. Shankar went to Maihar, India, to study sitar under Khan in 1938. (The sitar is a guitar-like instrument with a long neck, six melody strings, and 25 sympathetic strings that resonate as the melody strings are played.) Just one year after he began studying under Khan, Shankar began giving recitals.

Thereafter, he went to Mumbai, where he worked for the Indian People's Theater Association, composing music for ballets until 1946. He went on to become music director of the New Delhi radio station All India Radio, a position he held until 1956.

Mainstream Success and Later Career

In 1956, he debuted in the United States and Western Europe. Also helping his star rise was the score he wrote for famous Indian film director Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy. The first of these films, Pather Panchali, won the Grand Prix—now known as the Golden Palm or Palme d'Or—at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. The prize is been awarded to the best film of the festival. Already an ambassador of Indian music to the Western world, Shankar embraced this role even more fully in the 1960s.

From the 1970s to the early 21st century, Shankar's fame, recognition and achievement continued to grow steadily. In 1982, his score for Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi earned him an Oscar nomination.

Death and Legacy

Shankar won many awards and honors throughout his career, including 14 honorary degrees, two Grammy Awards, and a membership to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

He died on 11 December 2012, in San Diego, California, at the age of 92.

Known fondly today as the "godfather of world music," Shankar is remembered for using his wealth of talent to infuse Indian culture into the world's forever-growing music scene, and is largely credited with building a large following for Eastern music in the West.

MY EXPERIENCE IN LISTENING TO AND WATCHING SHANKAR’S MUSIC VIDEO:

I felt like and imagined that I was in an actual community in India, with the local people there welcoming me with Shankar’s music. At first, my hearing sense adjusted to the sound of the sitar but after some minutes, I already felt relaxed.

The music could pass for a lullaby or a religious piece. That was why I also felt like I was in an Indian place with many children. My mom studied Oriental literature (which included Indian) for her masteral studies in UST. She said many aspects of Indian literature are connected with the spiritual nature of the people of India. Maybe the same can be said for their music, particularly this one by Shankar.

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/ravi-shankar-9480456#awesm=~oIKlyeFAY5lTpb