Month: June 2020

Open endings, in some cases, it leaves the reader really irritated. But open ending also forces the readers to think and guess what will happen in the rest of the story. It will not give the reader an ending but the reader can think of their own. It gives the reader the choice to their ending bast on the information that they got. There is one reason why an author might choose to have an Ambiguous ending, and here’s why.

The reader wants you to think and give the story an ending best on the information that they give, and your background information. He might think that he is not able to get the reader a perfect ending that they want cause everyone likes their own ending. However, they well give you a huge quantity of clues based on the story and the information. So you can find out the ending that you like.

Lastly, In some ways, I feel that an author allowing us to make up our own minds about the ending of their story is almost an honor. So don’t get mad and keep thinking.

“The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton takes place in a semi-barbaric nation ruled by a semi-barbaric king. One of the defining features if the kingdom is its way of trying those accused of a crime. The accused is put in a Roman inspired arena. He will then choose between two doors, one which contains a hungry tiger, the other a lady whom he will be immediately married to. One day the king’s daughter is discovered to be in love with a young man who instantly gets tossed into the arena. When he is about to chose which door to open, he looks at her for a gesture, which she gives. However, the story ends there, and no conclusion is offered. So which door did the princess choose? Furthermore, what is Stockton trying to say about humans and the world?

At the end of the story, Stockton explains the princess’s struggle to decide which door to have her lover open. She could either have him live and marry another woman who she despises, or watch him get shredded by a tiger. He asks the readers the question of what door she chooses, never providing his own answer. This is intended, because the question is best left unanswered. Throughout the story there is much evidence that alludes to this. For example, the king used to be barbaric, but after Roman influence, he is now halfway between barbaric and civilized. The trials also reflect this halfway point. One outcome is tragic, and the other is pleasant. In addition, the king thinks of the trials to be “perfectly fair”, as there is an equal chance of uncertainty between the outcomes. The ideas of semi-barbarism, 50/50, and uncertainty should be a part of the ending too. Stockton also never shows any bias towards civilization or barbarism, which further supports the idea that the ending has to be left without an answer.

Like mentioned earlier, Stockton writes that the princess spent days pondering the fate of the young man. Her two options are reflective of the driving forces of love. There is the selfish side, shown through her loathing of the idea of the man spending his life with another woman. Also present is the selfless side that wants the best for her better half, because even though he is with someone else, at least the one she loves is alive. The lack of a conclusion also means the lack of an answer to which driving force of love is stronger. It is likely Stockton is saying that love is a balance of both.

After examining “The Lady or the Tiger”, the ending is clearly not just a cheap cliffhanger. The themes of the story require it to be left unconcluded, and it also shows how love is a mixture of selfish and selflessness.

Today we learn about the story of Beethoven, the first thought that came to my mind is being successful is not easy for any person.

As we all know, we all want to be successful. But we also know, that is not an easy thing. Behind all the gorgeous, has survived numerous dark night. We can see how confidence Beethoven was when he was playing the piano. We can know how amazing his music was. But we can never know how much time and energy he spent on it. I think that is the way how can a person be successful. You need time, energy, and patient. There is a person I know who is crazy about dancing to hip-pop. He went to Korea to learn dancing when he was 13 years old. He couldn’t speak any Korean, so he spoke English. He kept practicing dancing in all his free time and he did a very good job of dancing. He also learned how to speak Korean. After 3 years, he became a pop star. Unfortunately, not all people like him. Some of them even tried to hurt him. They slandered him online. He needed to bear all of those when he was 16. He didn’t give up. He worked much harder than before. Sometimes he even forgot to sleep and eat. After 4 years, many people started to notice him and discover the shining points of him. He became a household name. He succeeds.

The truth I want to point out is there is no shortcut to success, no pains, no gains. The things you can do is work hard, don’t give up, and be modest. You must be successful one day.

Prologue: In a semi-barbaric fantasy high-tech world, where guilt is decided by chance. The illegal lover of the king’s daughter is put into a stadium to choose between two doors. One door contains a beautiful lady, whom the man would be instantly married to. The other door contains a fierce and powerful tiger which will pounce on the man.

A long arched dark tunnel which led into the stadium stood in front of the handsome man. The tunnel’s walls and the floor were constructed out of heavy stone bricks, and moss was starting to form between the brick’s gaps. There was a bright light that awaited the man at the end of the tunnel. As he walked closer, the chittering and chattering of the audience could be heard clearly. The second the man walked out of the tunnel, everyone applauded. The large clapping echoed throughout the entire stadium.

The sandy floor of the stadium was covered in small dusty pebbles. In front of him were two doors, identical. Their dents, ridges, designs, colors, or anything could not be differentiated. The man cautiously approached the doors, one mistake, and he would die. He looked up at the princess, his lover. She was clothed in sparkling dress, with a small shining tip peeking out one of her pockets. The princess quickly confidently nodded, secretly communicating, Remember the plan, and jerked her righted hand upwards. Nobody but the man saw her gesture.

As the man walked in front of the doors, everything was silence. Every eye was fixed upon him, every breathe was held. He took a deep breath and opened the door on the right.

Instantly, the man’s nervous emotion changed into pure fear. In front him sat the tiger. It was over a dozen feet tall and towered over the man. Its vibrant yet deceiving black and orange stripes decorated its skin. His massive paws were equipped with razor sharp claws that looked like daggers. It’s expression was focused, fierce, and frustrated. The tiger’s cold empty red eyes were flaming with anger and fixed on the man.

The tiger jerked its head and leaped into the air. Its massive body cast a terrifying shadow over the man. Just before the tiger landed, the man slid across the dirt and dodged its attack. The dust obscured the tiger’s vision, but just as fast as it had happened, its eyes were locked onto the man again. The tiger walked towards the man in strange twitching motions and opened its mouth wide. The man swiftly pulled his emergency knife out of his pocket and thrusted it at the tiger’s chest. The puncture was leaking out a gassy substance, and seemed to not effect the tiger’s approach.

Out from nowhere, a second knife shot at the tiger’s back, and the same gas started spewing out. It was the princess jumping down from the audience seating, and the shining tip was no longer in her pocket.

“Let’s do this together,” the princess shouted. A smile of hopefulness appeared on the man’s face.

The tiger twisted its head backwards, its eyes following the princess’ movements like a tracking missile.

The tiger jumped in a perfectly straight line directly at the princess just as if gravity did not affect it. The tiger’s claws lengthened and it scraped the princess’ leg.

“NOOOO!” the man shouted. Just before the tiger was about to unleash its killing move, the man swung his foot at inhumane speeds directly at the tiger’s waist. The tiger was knocked off guard and flew many feet away from the princess before landing with a booming thud.

“Are you okay!” the concerned man shouted.

“Yeah! It’s just my foot,” the princess responded, “If you hadn’t kicked it there, I would’ve — WATCH OUT!” The tiger almost snuck up behind the man, but the princess held the man with all her might and jumped aside. The tiger’s powerful attack left a large crater on the floor.

“We need stronger weapons!” the man screamed.

“There’s some weapons in the tunnel,” the princess responded. The man was confused, but just listened. Together, the man and princess sprinted into the tunnel, moving in zig-zag lines in order to confuse the tiger. When they got inside the tunnel, the princess placed her hand on one of the bricks, opening up a gateway which revealed a large variety of weapons. There were maces, swords, guns, flamethrowers, electrical weapons, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The princess took out a freeze gun, and the man took an electric gun. The princess waved her hand, and the secret gateway closed itself back into the stones.

“GRRRR!” the terrifying growl of the tiger echoed from the end of the tunnel. The princess squinted her eyes and shot out a beam of ice. The beam engulfed the tiger in a block of hard ice, disabling its mobility. The man followed in her steps and shot out a zap of electricity. The electricity hit the tiger and it looked as if an invisible force had blown up something inside the tiger.

Strangely, the tiger’s red eyes extinguished and its body fell limp. It was no longer moving in any way, it had been powered off. The two fighters walked towards the tiger, and noticed that below its skin was a large machine, some batteries, and many wires. The tiger every was afraid of had been a machine the entire time.

Epilogue: The king was astonished by the man’s abilities, and he eventually decided that he wanted her princess to be married to this legend. Together, the princess and her lover lived happily ever after.

Today, Ludwig van Beethoven is known as one of the greatest composers and musicians of all time. His well-known works include Symphony No.9 and Für Elise. However, a distinct factor that separates Beethoven from other composers was his deafness. Beethoven started losing his hearing in his late-20s with an increased ringing sound in his ears. Eventually, he became completely deaf. At the time, people felt that the more deaf he was becoming, the stranger and worse his music became. Now, Beethoven is appreciated and admired for his unique type of music. Many people now, including myself, believe that his deafness, in fact, was an enhancement for his music instead of holding him back. 

In my opinion, Beethoven could compose music without the fear of not being accepted or being judged by himself and others. Instead of having to compose music that would fit into the style of his time, he could not worry about what people thought of him. Furthermore, this would allow him to express his feelings and thoughts through his music more clearly. When he wrote a song, he didn’t have to listen to it first, and correct it if he didn’t like the way it sounded. Overall, Beethoven’s personal judgement of the way one of his songs sounded was not a blockade for his music, and instead gave him free reign of what he wanted and didn’t want to express through his music. 

Secondly, Beethoven’s lack of hearing could enhance his creativity and imagination, similarly to how deaf people’s other senses are often slightly enhanced. Beethoven could focus on a more visual and emotional form of music instead of focusing on the specific notes and overall sound of the music. This can be shown through the differences between his and Mozart’s music. Mozart’s music is more clean and precise than Beethoven’s, as if to satisfy himself and the audience. In contrast, Beethoven’s music is more personal and emotional, reflecting his own thoughts and opinions. 

Overall, Beethoven’s lack of hearing impacted his music through one way or another. He did not have to worry about the sound of the music and his judgements through the sound. Furthermore, he could express his personal feelings and emotions more clearly through his music. 

The story, “The lady or the tiger,” leaves an unsettling ending. It leaves on a cliffhanger that lets the readers anxious to know what the fate of the commoner would be. There could be many conclusions to what the fate of the commoner would be, but in every single way, the commoner would never get the chance to be with the princess due to his wealth status and her overbearing father.
First of all, I think the princess would have chosen to kill her love rather than give him up to another woman. Feelings like jealousy, anger, and hatred probably aroused in the princess, so letting her lover go to another woman was probably the last choice she had on her mind. Envy makes people do appalling things and things to the extent to achieve what one wants. In one line in the story, the princess herself said that it would be as if her soul burned in agony. The choice of sadly killing her lover would most likely be the conclusion of this story for the sole reason of jealousy and what the princess wants. To put it in simpler terms, if she can’t get him, no one can get him, especially the beautiful lady that stands behind the door. Of course, killing her lover would be so painful, but it would not be as painful as for the princess seeing her ex-lover living off a life with the beautiful woman without her. She would have to live through her life knowing that she would never get the chance to be with him. Consequently, if she chose to kill her lover, she would remember him forever, but also experience that pain of losing him and not having a future with him. However, the pain would not be as unpleasant as the pain of witnessing her love move on without her.
In the end, whether or not the choice of the princess is to kill her own lover, I think jealousy would overpower one’s choices. Surely anyone in the princess’s spot would also crack under jealousy. In this situation, would most people give up their own happiness, or be selfish and do what they want? In the end, we can’t technically blame the princess for feeling jealousy if her lover will have a future with someone else. Of course, my judgement out of the limited information may be way out of line, however, there are no wrong answers. The author himself wanted the readers to make the conclusion and take it upon ourselves to imagine the end of the story line. So, given the circumstances, the princess would probably not have sacrificed her happiness for his life, even though it would lead to killing him in the end sadly.

Beethoven is a musical composer that is said to have music that is confusing and surprising. His music even includes a strong power full of energy. His life was full of ups and downs making it interesting.

Beethoven was born in Germany. His father and grandfather were singers, which made his family a musical one. He started learning piano when he was four-years-old, with his father as the mentor. When he grew older, he became an assistant organist, and also played viola, apart of the violin family, for a Prince’s orchestra. The prince enjoyed it and began to live in a musical environment. Beethoven moved to Vienna when he was 22 to study with Haydn. He thought Hayden was the greatest composer of all time, so having this opportunity for him was like a dream come true. Because of Beethoven’s gifts in playing the piano, he was surrounded by the people of Venice during his career. Beethoven made himself as a famous piano player but wasn’t known of his structure yet. In his twenties, he started to hear large ringing sounds and lose his hearing ability. Beethoven was devastated after understanding the news of becoming deaf. He started thinking about committing suicide, but after thinking more about it, he decided to continue living for music.

Beethoven evolved as a composer, creating more heroic works explaining struggle and revolution in the central part of his life. An example of one of his revolutionary pieces is his third symphony which is dedicated to the leader Napoleon. Beethoven started growing his attitude around this time. He started dressing informally and was very rude towards people. He cared very little about how he looked like. He also didn’t like conversations because of his hearing problems. Some people thought his attitude came out because he didn’t find a spouse yet. He was a stubby man and would often stomp around Vienna, deep in thought. Later, different Princes gave Beethoven a lifetime payment, but only if he stayed in Vienna. He immediately agreed without hesitation and settled there for the rest of his life.

The final years of Beethoven’s life were very hard for him. He was almost completely deaf, adding to that, his attitude and appearance were getting worse. Most of the time during his last years of life, he tried gaining custody of his nephew because his father died. Beethoven wasn’t good with financial things and used up a lot of his money resources battling with his brother’s wife. He eventually lost and lost his ability to lead orchestras. He composed his last songs at this point, which shocked many of those who loved music. He became ill during the last years of his life, with rheumatic fever, and other illnesses. He pushed himself to write the 10th symphony, right after Ode to Joy (9th symphony) but didn’t finish in time. While he was in the process of dying, he couldn’t sleep at night nor drink and was paralyzed. Beethoven, sadly, died after four operations on a stomach wound which eventually got infected. Many mourners went to his funeral to say farewell to the successful composer.

Beethoven can teach people many things according to his actions. For example, he didn’t commit suicide because he thought he would continue living for his passion, music. This lesson may teach others to always live for their dreams because giving up will not do anything. His music has heavily inspired others to play piano, maybe other people will continue to spread positivity around.

Once upon a time lived a brute king

Who looked upon his people as play things

Think think, and he had a great scheme

Oh, but how it was so very mean

Alas the ones accused of a crime

Would blindly pick death, or there life-line

Two doors laid upon the man

Containing a tiger and bride hotter than a frying pan.

A handsome mortal was the king’s pick .

Accused of an affair with the princess chick.

From afar sat the royal lady.

Knowing something quite so shady.

How she despised the likely bride

Yet would she let her lover be left to homocide?

The appointed day has arrived. People from far and wide gathered in the great galleries of the arena. The princess sat beside her father, and as the crowd hushed, the signal was given. A door beneath the royal party opened, and the princess’s lover walked into the arena.

Her lover was tall, beautiful and fair, and the princess could hear the murmuring of the crowd, especially of the ladies. Half the audience had not known that such a grand youth had lived among them! Jealousy slowly started to fill her head.

As her lover advanced into the arena, he turned to bow to the king, but his gaze was fixed upon the princess. She understood what she had to do.

The princess knew who was in each room, the tiger and the lady. Not only did she know which room the lady stood in, ready to emerge, but she knew who the lady was. It was one of the fairest and loveliest of those who have been selected as the reward of the accused youth, and the princess hated her.

She have had nightmares of her lover opening one of the doors, and being pounced on by the ferocious tiger. But the princess had seen him at the other door much more, rushing to meet that woman, with her flushing cheeks and her sparkling eyes of triumph. Jealousy clouded the princess’s mind, and she made her choice.

As her lover’s eyes met hers, the princess raised her hand and made a slight, quick movement to the right. She had lost him, but who should have him? No one, the princess thought resentfully.

“We shall meet each other in the afterlife,” the princess muttered softly.

Her lover turned, and without the slightest hesitation, walked and opened the door on the right. The cruel tiger, waiting for its meal, pounced on the youth. Shrieks echoed through the arena, ringing in the princess’s ears. Tears ran down her face, and she cried miserably, looking away from her lover’s betrayed face.

The short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” is about a trial system, that completely randomly decides if a person is guilty or innocent. If the person is innocent, the person is married to a lady that was chosen beforehand by the King, regardless of whether the man in the trial was married or not. If the person is guilty, he gets killed by a tiger. The main plot of the story is about the internal struggle of the princess, who has to choose whether to let her lover live and be married to a woman that she does not like, or to let him die painfully in the hands of a tiger. When the lover looks at the princess for help during the trial, the princess makes a short movement, which indicates the choice the lover should make. However, the story ends without us knowing whether the lover got killed or if the lover was married. However, what was it like for the King, who arranged the entire system of the trial?

Imagine the King’s point of view. The King is doing the things that a monarch would usually be doing, such as managing the food supply of the kingdom or seeing who didn’t pay their taxes, and minding his own business, when he hears that his daughter was in an affair with a man behind his back. The King is enraged, and tracks down the man and throws him in prison to await his trial. In the trial, the man will open one of two doors, one of which would hold a tiger ready to feast on the roles of the man, and another would hold a woman, who the King knew loved the man, and also knew that the man did not love her.

A few days pass, and finally the day arrives. The King watches as the man approaches the two doors. His daughter, who is seated next to him seems to be very focused. The man looks at both doors, and then back at the princess. In the corner off his eye, the king sees a small flash of movement from the princess’s direction. The King does not know to which door the princess showed, but it didn’t matter, as either way, the King would have his revenge. The man would either be torn to shreds by a tiger, or be trapped into a loveless marriage, where the man would suffer for the rest of his life. The man, looking more focused and confident walked over to the door on the right, and puts his hand on the doorknob. The King smiled, the man opened the door, and the confidence the man had shown opening the door quickly vanished, and out sprang the tiger. The man ran back, and right before the tiger got him, he looked at the princess, and through his pained expression, one could easily see what his was thinking: Why?