Joining Loose Ends - a reading report

I am posting the essay BECAUSE I think that the highlighted part at the end of the REPORT correctly shows - exactly what I want you to do - to make connections between DISCONNECTED strands of thought. The Report has a number of errors in DICTION and Sentence Structure - BUT the essay makes this ONE message clear. So, I chose it. This is Rashif's Essay.

Shahidul Mamun

Sir,

Today’s first essay was Samba e Choro. It is narrated by a man who went to Brazil after a break up for redemption. As soon as he set his foot in Brazil’ he started hating it. It was raining constantly for days and he did not like that in any way. Then one night out of pure despair he set off to go to a downtown nightclub. Then through his car journey he portrayed the scenery of the part of Brazil he was in. He then tells us that soon he started appreciating Brazil and ended up living there for two more years.

The part of Brazil he was in is southern Rio. He praises all of Rio and the development it had in the two years he was there. It was a very lively town where he was and apparently everyday was a Sunday. He thought so highly of Rio that he soon goes on to say that the reason for Brazil’s development was Rio and that Rio was pulling Brazil forward. He felt that Rio was in itself beautiful and he loved the beaches and the people there.

The second essay I read was a much shorter essay than the first but this one I liked better. It is named On Waking from a Dream. The fact which I loved about it was again the platforms the author was setting for what he was going to say next and the unpredictability of it. 

The essay started with a man and woman in a hospital with their son. They had been there for a week because of the son's illness. After he was brought home he didn’t want to take his meds and despite trying multiple times, the parents failed to convince him. Then they went to sleep and the man had a dream; he only remembered the last part of it. He saw a lizard running between two rocks and disappearing into the earth. He also remembered seeing the letters SIDA. Soon he started getting annoyed that he could not remember what his dream was especially because of the fact that he was a psychoanalyst and this was not supposed to happen to him.

He goes on to do what he would do with his patients if they were going through something like this. He tried to note down everything that came to his mind when he focused and soon he remembered that SIDA was that Spanish for AIDS and one of his patients had Aid and refused to take medicines. The man tried to convince the patient into taking his meds but he did not concur. The patient soon decided that he would go to Brazil and he died there. The man then figured out his dream. It was his child’s reluctance to take meds that brought it about. The fact that if his child didn’t take meds he would end up deep inside the earth is what the lizard disappearing signified was now clear to him.

I appreciated the second essay a lot. The fact that all these random things were linked up together mesmerized me. The psychoanalyst figuring it all out and writing about it seemed very impressive to me. Suddenly I thought of the psychoanalysis discussion classes with you and the link it had with improving our writing and thinking. That’s all for now!

Thank you,

Rashif