Sunday, April 20, 2014

Week 3 Discussion Question

As Tree-ear prepares for his journey, he has much to do and think about. Min's wife offered food to Crane-man in return for his help, while Tree-ear is gone, but at first he politely refuses. Tree-ear thinks about this action in this way, "Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often companions?"(p. 102). What does he mean? Can  you relate with any experience from your life?

20 comments:

  1. What Tree-Ear means is that since a lot of the time people can be very proud and maybe a little too proud, that person could get regret and make a fool of themselves. Even though they do that they are still the same person. Tree- Ear could also mean that when someone is proud they could be doing an extremely foolish move. One time that I did that was when my friends were e-mailing and it was all sent to me, so I decided to join in. When I did I wasn’t really there like I was invisible, but since they could see everything I sent I felt weird since it was like I wasn’t there, but I really was. Doing it then felt like a good idea, but when I look back on it now I wish I wouldn’t have done it. In the story Tree-Ear thinks of what Crane-Man has done and thinks he will wish he hadn’t done it when he looks back on it. I think Tree-Ear isn’t liking what Crane-Man has done, Tree-Ear thinks of Crane-Man being fed as pity. To me it seems weird since Tree-Ear helped and got payed with food from Min’s wife why would it be different if Crane-Man does it.

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    1. I love how you say people get so much pride they make a foolish mistake, I really like how you thought of that

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  2. I think Tree-ear means that maybe you are trying to do something for good but you make a silly mistake or one that is foolish. Like Crane-man made a good decision by helping Min and his wife but made the foolish mistake of not accepting a meal. Therefore, Tree-ear yell at Crane-man for his silly mistake because he is worried Crane-man will have trouble feeding himself. It is like when you are doing a favor for your parents or brothers but you do it wrong.

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  3. I think what Tree-ear is saying is Crane man said no out of pride and foolishness and that it happens a lot. Crane man was doing it out of of pride because he didn’t want to seem poorly un able to get his own food. It was foolish to say no because she was making a kind offer and trying to help him, and he refused. I think it was smart when Crane man finally chose to accept the food. I think this because he is not the man that he used to be and he might not be able to get food very well. I also think that because it is kind of rude when someone wants to help you and you refuse. Crane man doesn’t need to pride all the time in my opinion. Every once in a while it is okay to accept help. I have also done things like this many times before. One time is was for a competition. I had a part for a performance but some one else wanted if too. So they came up with a competition that they wanted me to take part in or I couldn’t play the part. At first I said no way, but then I thought to myself, If you like the part so much, be a good sport and compete! So I did. And I won. I was so foolish thinking that if I didn’t take part that I could win because we wouldn’t have to do it. I was too prideful because I believed that I was the only one who could ever make my friends happier. I think that I was a lot like Crane man in that incident. Tree-ear was right when he said that it happens a lot.

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  5. When Tree-ear says, "Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often companions?" I think he means that Crane-man was trying to have pride by refusing Min’s wife by meaning that, “Just because I may be poor does not mean that I have no pride and that I can’t find food for myself.” Crane-man might have a bad leg, but that doesn’t stop him from eating and living like he did before Tree-ear came. Also I think that Tree-ear is saying that Crane-man is being foolish because he is refusing an offer to get food for when Tree-ear is gone. I can relate to that in my life whenever someone offers me something I really what because I didn’t get it or I was going to buy it first. When that happens I always say like, “ No. I’m fine” or,” Thanks, but I can always go online.” but really inside I’m like, “Take it! Take it! They are offering you the thing you want!”. To me I feel like I have no pride, too because it’s like a pitty offer and I am more than that.

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  6. I think the quote, "why is it that pride and foolishness are such close companions" means that it seems that you can never win in life because there are always problems in our world. The main reason I think Crane-man said that is because he is telling Tree-ear to look on the bright side because if one thing is bad then another can be good if you get your mind off of the bad things.

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  7. When Tree-ear did think “Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often close companions?” I think he means that even though people sometimes need or could use help (like and old man living under a bridge with no companion or food for about a week) they still turn down the offer or back away from it because they are too prideful and they don’t want people to look at them with pity which leads to foolishness or slight stupidity.I know this because of evidence like “Tree ear watched until Crane-man disappeared beyond the bend in the road, then turned to Ajima, a question in his eyes. “Because he is proud, Tree-ear,” she said. “He does not wish to be fed out of pity.” That is how I know what Tree-ear means. I can relate to that. I have had a time when I have either thought that about myself or others, like if I need to ask a parent or teacher for help but I don’t want to because I think that I can figure it out by myself and do it all on my own.

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  8. When Tree-ear says this, I think he means, in this case, Crane-man was proud of himself for being able to feed himself, and he did not want to take food from someone else when he could supply his own food. But, Tree-ear believed it was foolish of Crane-man to not take the offer of the food since they lived under a bridge and, at times, it could be hard to supply enough food. When he says pride clashes with foolishness, Tree-ear means people pride too much upon themselves to take the offer or item given to them, but really, they might need what is given to help themselves to survive, so it is foolish of them to not take the offered item. If someone is too proud to do something or take something, but they need it, then the pride clashed with foolishness like Tree-ear was thinking.

    I can’t really relate to anything that I’ve done like this, but something I do often is somewhat close to this. Sometimes, if someone offers something like, I sometimes refuse out of politeness. (This is Hannah A.)

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  9. I think when Tree-ear says, “Why was it pride and foolishness were so often companions” he means why doesn’t Crane-man take the food. Crane-man wants the food but he wants to be nice and kind, so he refuses. Tree-ear always gets food from Min’s wife so they don’t have to dig in the rubbish. When my dad asks if I need help for anything I usually say no thanks or I am fine.

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  10. I think that when Tre-ear said "Why was it pride and foolishness were so often companions" he meant that when Mins wife offered food he didn't want to look foolish and keep accepting food from Mins wife, he wanted to have pride in himself. I can relate this to me because when my mom gives me extra time on the computer I shouldn't keep asking for more time or eventualy she will stop.

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    1. @ Dominic That is a very good connection and now that I think about it, the same thing happens to me almost everyday.

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  11. I think pride and foolishness are so often companions because when people have a lot of pride they don't want to take something from someone that they are too good for. so if a good offer is made but pride makes the receiver decline the offer that may have been a foolish choice. When tree ear said why is it that pride and foolishness are so often companions I think he meant that cran man had too much pride and made a foolish mistake by not taking the offer mins wife made.

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  12. When Tree-Ear thinks, “Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often companions?”, I think he means that Crane-Man is being foolish because he is not helping the poor old woman, but his pride in what Tree-Ear is doing is what made him not think about working for Min’s wife. Sometimes, pride or foolishness overrules the other one. That is what he means by “Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often companions?”. I can relate to an experience where it seemed that pride and foolishness were so close at hand, like pride and foolishness are like siblings. It was the time I went to Innovation Avenue. I was so full proud of myself that foolishness overtook me. I told my parents not to go and that was foolish of me. They ended up going and that situation kinda relates to Tree-Ear’s situation.

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    1. I agree Jen I would have never thought of it that way I thought that he was thinking that Crane-man was proud and he was not going to help. But when you said it that way it completely changed my idea and my thoughts.

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    2. Jen I love how used your experience from innovation avenue as you connection to life.

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  13. What Tree-ear means is that pride would lead to greed and foolishness.That happens by having pride make someone careless and greedy,then when someone gets what they want and then the become foolish and think they can get anything then it could turn into a problem. It can also relate to being proud makes you think you could do anything in life,then you could do something then not do it correctly and that person would be foolish to think that he/she could do anything. I do have experience in life when I was young I finished a challenge my mom gave me and I thought I could do anything then I tried holding my breath and I almost passed out.

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  14. I think Tree-ear thinks pride and foolishness are so often companions because people think so highly of themselves sometimes they think, “Who cares about you, I don’t need your help” but sometimes you do. I think so because Crane-Man might have thought, “I can go back to finding my own food.” but he might hurt or even kill himself doing that. Experience from my life is once my room was really messy and I said I didn’t need help cleaning it but then about 15 minutes through I asked my mom for help.

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  15. I think that "Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often companions?" means that when you have pride for something then usually it brings foolishness for being proud to much and too often. My connection is that I am a very good swimmer and sometimes I think of myself too highly, and usually when I am thinking about myself this way I get beat in whatever I am about to swim. So I think that when too much pride comes there is also a lot of foolishness.

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  16. By this he means that when people are foolish they are most likely protecting their pride. Some people just act foolish like not taking food only to make people think highly of them. He might also just think that since Crane-man is his friend so he is really sympathetic. So if he sees a total stranger acting the same way, he might not think the same thing I can’t think of any times in my life when this happened.

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