THE SPIDER’S THREAD-RYONOSUKE AKUTAGAWA

( MORALIST APPROACH)

The story tells about a man, a notorious , a murderer ,and performed other act of evil whose
named Kandata. Taught. us a valuable lesson about attitude of a person. Despite of being a very
sinful man in the story, the buddha still gave him a chance to get out of hell and gave him a
chance of salvation . through his one good deed the buddha got his attention and offer his
compassion to houd kandata from floating and sinking in the lake of blood at the bottom of hell.

The story is about a bandit named kandata who was given the chance to redeem his soul from
hell but eventually been denied after he refused to share the thread from heaven to his fellow
sinners .

The story is inspiring and full of priceless lesson. For me kandata did was so bad he refused to
share the thread from his fellow sinners .
The spiders thread teaches a lesson about selfishness. So if im kandata I wasn’t do the same he
did from hes fellow sinners because that is selfishishness. Iwill share a thread to my fellow
sinners so that me and others sinners will free from hell.
About the author:
Akutagawa Ryonosuke was born in Tokyo into a family which had lived for generations in the
shitamachi district of Tokyo, famous for its cultural traditions. Shortly after Akutagawas birth his
mother , Fuku, became insane . his father, Niihara Toshiza , a dairyman , was not able to take
care of his son, and Akutagawa was adopted by his uncle , Akutagawa Dosho, whose surname he
assumed . in 1913 Akutagawa entered the Tokyo Imperial University,where he studied English ,
graduating in 1916.

Summary:
 Buddha was strolling along the brink of the lotus pond of paradise. He's eyes fell in a man that
had done many evil things and he only did good thing once like saving the spider's life and he's
name is Kandata. Kandata is in the pool of blood with the sinners. When Buddha remembered
the good deed that Kandata did. Buddha decide to help Kandata out to the hell by grabbing him a
spider's thread that he saw in the paradise. Kandata lifted his head by a chance and he saw the
spider's thread and he hold it tightly and he began to climb. When he was finally exhausted and
could ascend an inch higher he started to rest but he look below with fear, the countless sinner
were climbing eagerly after him. Buddha was strolling along the brink of the lotus pond of
paradise. He's eyes fell in a man that had done many evil things and he only did good thing once
like saving the spider's life and he's name is Kandata. Kandata is in the pool of blood with the
sinners. When Buddha remembered the good deed that Kandata did. Buddha decide to help
Kandata out to the hell by grabbing him a spider's thread that he saw in the paradise. Kandata
lifted his head by a chance and he saw the spider's thread and he hold it tightly and he began to
climb. When he was finally exhausted and could ascend an inch higher he started to rest but he
look below with fear, the countless sinner were climbing eagerly after him.
REFLECTION:
I can connect Kandata to my cousin,but I don't need to mention his name. Kandata and my
cousin's attitude is a little bit the same. If Kandata is selfish, my cousin is selfish also. If Kandata
did a good thing once , my cousin have a good side not like Kandata because he only did one
good thing. Stealing things to other people is also an attitude of Kandata and my cousin also do
that sometimes, he's not asking permission to get anything from his sister.

Critics review:
I recommend this story because the story taught us and give us valuable lesson to us , you will
realize how selfish you are maybe , I preferred this story because us readers making realize to
think first and not to be selfish .

Authors purpose:
Akutagawa was known for piecing together many different sources for many of his stories, and
"The Spider's Thread" is no exception. He read Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in
English translation sometime between 1917 and 1918, and the story of "The Spider's Thread" is a
retell of a very short fable from the novel known as the Fable of the Onion, where an evil woman
who had done no good at all in her life is sent to hell, but her guardian angel points out to God
that she had in fact done one good deed in her life: she once gave an onion to a beggar. So God
told the angel to take that onion and use it to pull her out of hell. The angel very nearly managed
to pull her out, but when other sinners began to hold on to her so they could also be pulled out,
she kicked at them, saying that the onion was hers and she was the one getting pulled out, not
them. At that moment, the onion broke and the woman fell back into hell, where she remains.

Another inspiration for Akutagawa appears to be from a story of the same name found in Karma:
A Story of Early Buddhism, an anthology of five Buddhist parables published in Tokyo in 1895.
He took from here the character of Kandata, who is also an evil robber damned to Buddhist hell
until his bad karma expires. Here, however, Kandata does not have a path to immediately leave
hell but instead is told that any good deeds he may have done such as sparing the spider, would
return to help him rise again.

THE LAST LEAF-O. HENRY

(HISTORICAL APPROACH)
Art is valuable asset and offers hope even in the most tring situation . it has the power to heal the
human spirit deficts the value of art as it saves a precious young life . although the artist sacrifies
his own life in the process, his masterpiece on mortalizes him .

Hope is what threads through this moving story of the love that one young lady from New York
has for another from California, along with the love from one grumpy little old man. The power
of the hope that these characters hold onto throughout O. Henry's narrative acts as an antidote to
Johnsy's deadly illness.

Sue tells Johnsy that her idea of dying when the last leaf falls is "nonsense" and makes an effort
to change her friend's mind by giving her hope. She tells her to hold onto the words of the doctor,
who has said that her chances are ten to one. Sue then draws down the curtain so that Johnsy will
not watch the leaves.

Sue also solicits the assistance of Old Behrman, who cares deeply for Johnsy. He ensures that
Johnsy will retain her hope of getting well by painting the ivy leaf on the wall of a building
opposite her window because she has said she will die when the last leaf falls. When Johnsy sees
the painted leaf, she is encouraged to get well with a renewed hope.

To me, the main idea of this story is that a person's attitude is what matters the most in life.

In the story, Johnsy is dying largely because she thinks she is dying. When her roommate tries to
reason with her and treat her like an adult, Johnsy continues to fade toward death.

But when the old man paints the leaf on the wall, she becomes convinced that she is not going to
die after all. Objectively speaking, nothing has changed. But she has convinced herself that she
can live where before she had convinced herself that she would die.

"The Last Leaf"

Author O. Henry
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Short story
Published in The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories
Publication date 1907

About the author:

“The Last Leaf” takes place in Greenwich Village, a bohemian neighborhood in New York City,
sometime in the early 20th century. The story centers on Sue and Johnsy, two young women
artists who share a studio at the top of a run-down apartment building. When winter comes,
Johnsy becomes grievously ill with a case of pneumonia. The doctor who visits them predicts
that Johnsy won’t have much chance of survival if she doesn’t find the will to live, since his
medicines have little effect on a patient who has decided that she’s going to die. When the doctor
asks if Johnsy is depres something in particular, Sue mentions Johnsy’s unfulfilled ambition to
paint the Bay of Naples, but the doctor is dismissive and asks if Johnsy is troubled over a man.

Reflection:
Sometimes in our life, there always comes a time where we want to give up. Why? Simple
because we are already tired, we are already hurting and of course we always think that there are
no more reasons for us to live in our world. But, the truth is there is, you just have to look around
and appreciate everything that’s surround you. If you want to go, think twice first or maybe
thrice. Think, if you go, What about your family? What about you friends? What about the
people that are always been there for you? Think carefully then you can make a wise decision.
Don’t be too much selfish, you have to be selfless sometimes, not always. In Johnsy’s case, she
forgot to think about Sue, the one that is been there for her. I understand what Johnsy feel, she is
depressed, she feels like there are no more chance for her. We usually feel that everytime we
face a big problem, we think we cannot solve it and it’s okay because that is life, we experience
fear and by the way we have also weakness. But, that weakness can’t stop us from living a good
and happy life. Just trust in God for He has reasons on everything that happens.

Critics review:
After reading it, you will agree that the story is about the last masterpiece of a very kind artist.
Johnsy, a young artists, gets pneumonia and is at her final hours. The doctor advices her room
mate, Sue, that Johnsy should do something that could make her happy. But according to the
doctor, her true passion, painting, is not the answer.
Author porpose:
"The Last Leaf" is a short story by O. Henry published in 1907 in his collection The Trimmed
Lamp and Other Story. The story is set in Greenwich Village during a pneumonia epidemic. It
tells the story of an old artist who saves the life of a young neighboring artist, dying of
pneumonia, by giving her the will to live. Through her window she can see an old tree (growing
against a nearby wall), gradually shedding its leaves as autumn turns into winter, and she has
taken the thought into her head that she will die when the last leaf falls. The leaves fall day by
day, but the last lone leaf stays on for several days. The ill woman's health quickly recovers. At
story's end, we learn that the old artist, who always wanted to produce a masterpiece painting but
had never had any success, had one night spent considerable time painting with great realism a
leaf on the wall. Furthermore, the old artist himself dies of pneumonia contracted while being out
in the wet and cold.

THE AGED MOTHER-MATSUO BASHO

(READER PORPOSE)

A japanese folktale....
long long ago there were  lived  at the foot of the mountain a poor farmer ang his aged widowed
mother they owned a bit of lang  which supplied them with food ,and their humble were peaceful
ang happy.

Also known as The Story of the Aged Mother, this Japanese folktale tells the story of an unkind
ruler who issues cruel orders, including one demand that all old folks are to be abandoned and
left to die. Basho tells a poignant story about a mother and her son and their love for one another.
ABOUT AUTHOR: The Aged Mother
by Matsuo Bashō
Date: 17th century
Publisher: n/a
Reading level: A
Book type: short story
Pages: 2
Format: e-book
Source: "The Aged Mother"
SUMMARY:
There lived a cruel ruler of the land who despises anything of failing health and strength,
especially on the elderly. He made a proclamation to have the elderly sent to the mountain called
Obatsuyama or the mountain where “the aged are abandoned” and leaves them to die. In that
land lived a man and his old widowed mother who are at the foot of the mountain. Upon hearing
the proclamation, the man was compelled to sent the mother he loves to the mountain.

By the time he reached the summit, just before he climbed down the mountain, he was advised
by his mother to follow the twigs she left laying on the ground while he was going up the
mountain. He could not bear leaving her so he went home with his mother and hid her beneath
the floor where he tended her.
REFLECTION:
Every mother in the world is very important to their daughter or their son. Even though they yell
or even scold us often, that’s just their way of showing their love to us. Our parents is one of the
most important and valuable people that we need to thanked for in our life and for change, we
should appreciate them more that we could ever know and that’s one of the things that The Story
of The Aged Mother conveyed and taught to me as a student or even just being a daughter.
CRITICS REVIEW:
I recommend this story for us to realize our mothers is important and bleesing with us to have a
mother .

Author porpose :
Also known as The Story of the Aged Mother, this Japanese folktale tells the story of an unkind
ruler who issues cruel orders, including one demand that all old folks are to be abandoned and
left to die. Basho tells a poignant story about a mother and her son and their love for one another

HOW MY BROTHER LION BROUGHT HOME A WIFE-MANUEL ARGUILLA

(HISTORICAL APPROACH)

The only symbolism that i have found in the story was the "Journey" itself that the Maria and
Leon took before arriving home. This "journey" can symbolize the problems and obstacles that
they have to face with their relationship, where a journey can have it's ups and downs through the
way, so it means that you and your partner should be prepared with all the sacrifices you have to
make in order to succeed in your journey. The lesson of the story is even though there are a lot of
obstacles and problems in life, there is a possible solution especially when you're with the one
you love.
The story did explain some ways on what is the meaning of true love and how this true love can
be shown. I’ve also included values in the story or attitudes that each character possessed like the
obedience of Baldo, being supportive of Maria, being responsible of Leon and the hardworking
Labang.

This story shows uniqueness because it has its own moral value that readers may follow it. The
author is very good in making techniques in writing that can make readers be more interested in
the story.
ABOUT AUTHOR:
Manuel Estabilla Arguilla (Nagrebcan, Bauang, June 17, 1911 – beheaded, Manila Chinese
Cemetery, August 30, 1944) was an Ilokano writer in English, patriot, and martyr.

He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a
Wife," the main story in the collection How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other
Short Stories, which won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940.

His stories "Midsummer" and "Heat" were published in Tondo, Manila by the Prairie Schooner.

Most of Arguilla's stories depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union, where he was
born. His bond with his birthplace, forged by his dealings with the peasant folk of Ilocos,
remained strong even after he moved to Manila, where he studied at the University of the
Philippines, finished his BS in Education in 1933, and became a member and later the president
of the U.P. Writer's Club and editor of the university's Literary Apprentice.

SUMMARY:
She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely.
SHe was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his
mouth.

"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but
they were not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small
dimple appeared momently high on her right cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard
so much." She held the wrist of one hand with the other and looked at Labang, and Labang never
stopped chewing his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of
his insides was like a drum.
I laid a hand on Labang's massive neck and said to her: "You may scratch his forehead now."

She hesitated and I saw that her eyes were on the long, curving horns. But she came and touched
Labang's forehead with her long fingers, and Labang never stopped chewing his cud except that
his big eyes half closed. And by and by she was scratching his forehead very daintily.

My brother Leon put down the two trunks on the grassy side of the road. He paid Ca Celin twice
the usual fare from the station to the edge of Nagrebcan. Then he was standing beside us, and she
turned to him eagerly. I watched Ca Celin, where he stood in front of his horse, and he ran his
fingers through its forelock and could not keep his eyes away from her.

"Maria---" my brother Leon said.

He did not say Maring. He did not say Mayang. I knew then that he had always called her Maria
and that to us all she would be Maria; and in my mind I said 'Maria' and it was a beautiful name.

Now where did she get that name? I pondered the matter quietly to myself, thinking Father might
not like it. But it was only the name of my brother Leon said backward and it sounded much
better that way.

"There is Nagrebcan, Maria," my brother Leon said, gesturing widely toward the west.

She moved close to him and slipped her arm through his. And after a while she said quietly.

"You love Nagrebcan, don't you, Noel?"

Ca Celin drove away hi-yi-ing to his horse loudly. At the bend of the camino real where the big
duhat tree grew, he rattled the handle of his braided rattan whip against the spokes of the wheel.
We stood alone on the roadside.

The sun was in our eyes, for it was dipping into the bright sea. The sky was wide and deep and
very blue above us: but along the saw-tooth rim of the Katayaghan hills to the southwest flamed
huge masses of clouds. Before us the fields swam in a golden haze through which floated big
purple and red and yellow bubbles when I looked at the sinking sun. Labang's white coat, which
I had wshed and brushed that morning with coconut husk, glistened like beaten cotton under the
lamplight and his horns appeared tipped with fire.
REFLECTION:
“Love is worth fighting for,” many people strongly believe in this saying. Sometimes I am
thinking how powerful love is. In the story, How my Brother Leon Brought His Wife, it showed
the real power of love. Maria, the wife did all the challenges given to her to prove that she is the
one meant for Leon. Her fears were replaced with faith and perseverance. She was ready to
change her living only for his only love. And this true love convinced the father of Leon which
sets them free to love each other.

As I reflect on the story I read, love can really change a person. It makes a person brave and
strong in order to achieve what he wants. I’ve seen and experienced this love in my parents.
They fight and do all things for us, their children, in order to live and be happy. Even life is hard,
they are earning for a living. They faced different challenges to take good care of us.

True love is really admirable. It teaches a person to be patient.

CRITICS REVIEW:
This interesting story tells about a woman’s struggle as she tries to gain the worthiness needed to
be accepted by her husband’s family. The story is set in Nacreban, where the husband lives.
AUTHOR PORPOSE:
He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a
Wife," the main story in the collection How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other
Short Stories, which won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940.
 HANDS OF THE BLACK-HONWANA
(MARXIST)

in the story is seen when the author tries to establish why the palms of black people are white
unlike the rest of their bodies. The authors gives us many explanations as to why this is so.We
witness the climax of the story when he narrates that they were dried in smoke since there was no
enough time and space in the furnace for them to dry, we are also told of they were asked to
bathin a heavenly river so they could be white but the blacks went there too early in the morning
and could step into the river hence only washing the hands and feet. We also see some comical
parts in which we are told they were given white hands so they could dirty their masters food and
lastly because of washing too much.
The question about the hands of the black people is firstly raised by the narrator’s schoolteacher
and then the most offensive explanation possible is given to the class. According to the teacher,
the black people didn’t evolved as fast as the white ones, so the palms without tan is a memory
about the times when they were walking on their four like monkeys.

The first disturbing thing in the story is that the narrator (who is probably Bernardo Honwana
himself) is the only one who disagrees with this explanation and starts to seek another answers
from random people. But still, none of them satisfies him, because – this is the second thing that
makes us worry – people claim that black people as a race have some special traits that
distinguish them from whites, that they have different personalities. This version, on the
contrary, makes black people better than whites and more obedient to God – but by intuition or
logic the narrator understands that it isn’t true either. So he continues his quest for answers,
trying to comprehend why adults have such different versions of them.
SUMMARY:
"The Hands of the Blacks" is a short story by Luis Bernardo Honwana. The story follows the
narrator as heasks different people to explain the reason why the hands of black people are
lighter than the rest of theirbodies. First he speaks to his teacher, who tells him that their hands
are lighter because humans once crawledon the ground like four legged animals, leaving their
palms unexposed to the light. Next, the narrator speaks tothree religious men, Father Christiano,
Señor Antunes, and Señor Frias, who provide him with differentreligious explanations. The
narrator then says that he once read a book that explained the phenomenon as theoutcome of
slaves picking cotton in Virginia. REFLECTION:
People often judge someone by their physical appearance. But don`t judge a book by its cover.
Racism is not smoething like joke. Its a serious issue. The problem is we think as a race. We
might solve this problem if we think, do and act as a people with the same species not with the
same race.

CRITICS REVIEW:
ITS GOOD STORY, The story starts from the simple question a schoolboy he asks just out of
curiosity, but the answers turn it to something much more complicated. The comprehension of
the questions the adults ask in return and the answers they give can say a lot about the world of
racial discrimination.
AUTHORS PORPOSE:
Luis Bernardo Honwana’s The Hands of the Blacks highlights the misconceptions that other
races have against Blacks. It is unfortunate that all these misconceptions are inculcated in
children at a very young age and they grow up believing that these misconstrued ideas are true,
when they are not. Written from the point of view of a very young kid, Honwana uses humor to
bring into focus the issue of racism that is taken lightly by the perpetrators, who find it amusing
to make fun of others who are different, not knowing the serious repercussions that their actions
have on those affected.
 TONIGHT I CAN WRITE THE SADDEST LINES-PABLONERUDA
(STRUCTURALIST APPROACH)

The night wind revolves and sings and the stars shiver, so that on this night he can write the
saddest poem. ... Tonight, he can write the saddest lines about stars and immensity because he
feels he has lost her.
It does the poet request in the lines of the shutters of windows. The message conveyed through
the poem Wind is that we should never give up when there are obstacles and hardships in life.
We should face those obstacles with strong will power like poet befriends the wind so that it
could not harm the poet in any way.
In this poem, the speaker is dealing with the end of a relationship and longing for the woman to
be back in his arms. The repetition of, “Tonight I can write the saddest lines,” brings the
reader's attention to that theme throughout this sad love poem.
I heard that in the 1960's famed poet, Pablo Neruda, was in Venezuela reading his poetry. When
he was finished, he asked the audience if they had requests. Someone shouted out Tonight I Can
Write, the last poem from his moving book, Twenty Love Poems And A Song Of Despair. The
story goes that Neruda apologized—he had not brought that poem with him and did not have it
memorized—at which point, 400 people stood up in the audience and recited his poem to him. I
would have been one of those people. It is my favorite poem by him and below is my favorite
English translation of it by M.S. Merwin. This is by far the best interpretation of the original and
it still moves me in ways I can't always explain.
SUMMARY:
The speaker of the poem says that that night he could write the saddest lines. He loved a girl and
the girl loved him back too, but only at some times. That night was like the nights in which he
held her and kissed her. He loved her great still eyes. But now he does not have her, he lost her.
He knew the nights were immense but without her they seemed more immense than ever. The
verse of his poems fell to his soul like dew to the pasture. His love could not hold her back. He
could hear someone singing somewhere but no song could satisfy him now. His eyes and heart
seek her but she is nowhere to be seen. The nights they lived through remained the same though
but they themselves changed. He says he no longer loved her but he used to love her and how; he
tried to find the wind just to hear her voice. And soon she will be another’s.
REFLECTION:
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer

and these the last verses that I write for her.

memories are what we make of these relationships...we gain love, we lose love...we get hurt, we
feel pain, we fight back...we exult in victory, be resilient in defeat...all these...all these we can
suffer and survive...they'll all pass, but memories will stay behind.

To the man i loved, thank you for these memories. i shall hold on to them even when...i become
another's.
CRITICS REVIEW:
For me the story TONIGHT I CAN WRITE THE SAADDEST LINE is so good it took about
pain and suffers but its so loved story for me.
AUTHOR PORPOSE:
“Tonight I Can Write” was published in 1924 in a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda titled
Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada. The collection was translated into English in
1969 by W. S. Merwin as Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Although some reviewers
were shocked by the explicit sexuality in the poems, the collection became a best seller and was
translated into several languages. Marjorie Agosin writes in her article on Neruda, “One of the
reasons that Twenty Love Poems draws the reader so powerfully is the sobriety of expression
and the economy of the images.” René de Costa in his article on Neruda notes that all the poems
in this collection contain “a highly charged confessional intimacy that challenged and charmed
the sensibility of its reader, creating in the process a contemporary stil nuovo which continues to
resonate in the language of love.” The poems chart a love story from the initial infatuation to the
release of passion, and finally to a separation. “Tonight I Can Write,” the penultimate poem in
the poetic sequence, expresses the pain the speaker feels after losing his lover. The bittersweet
sentiment recalls their passionate relationship and his recognition that “love is so short,
forgetting is so long.”