Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Book Title : Sense and Sensibility 

Author : Jane Austen 

Publisher : Words Worth Edition Limited 

Date Published : 1992 

Number of Pages : 257 

Genre : Romance 

 Book Code : 0656 

          The main characters of this novel are Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Edward Ferrars, Willoughby, and Colonel Christopher Brandon. Elinor, the eldest sister of Marianne, was a wise and quiet woman who was attracted to Edward Ferrars, her half-brother-in-law. Edward who was also attracted to Elinor, unfortunately, before meeting Elinor, had been engaged to Lucy Steele, the niece of his tutor. However, the engagement was kept secret by Edward in the hope that his family would mind with the engagement. Another character is Marianne, Elinor’s sister, who had a great selfish sensibility. She was an object of attention of Brandon, a close friend of her mother’s brother and 19 years older than hers; and Willoughby, her neighborhood who was capable of seducing every woman. Initially, Marianne was interested in Willoughby -a young, handsome and romantic man; not Colonel Brandon - an older and more subdued for her; until she realized that Brandon was a better man for her. 

          The part that is interesting for me is when Edward decided to refuse and give up his engagement with Lucy, a person had never he love. He preferred his inheritance rights revoked by his brother to obeying his engagement with Lucy because in his heart, there’s only Elinor, a girl he loved. It would torture him if he had to marry Lucy. Indeed, this part is realized me that the true love needs sacrifice such as Elinor, she had suffered broken heart when she knew that Edward was engaged to another woman. In short, a true love needs sacrifice, such as wealth and feelings. 

          The part that is confusing for me is on knowing that Colonel Brandon, a man who loved Marianne, didn’t tell her about Willoughby’s bad behavior instead of keeping silent until Marianne realized that he wasn’t good for her. I think, if Brandon told her that Willoughby had ever abused his foster child and left her foster child when she was pregnant, Marianne wouldn’t ever love Willoughby and suffer broken heart, and moreover he would win her heart easily because his competitor would be decreased. 

           I don’t like the part when Fanny, Elinor’s half-sister-in-law who was a selfish and greedy wife, did a bad thing to Elinor and family. She incited John, Elinor’s step brother not to fulfill his promise to his father that he would take care of his step mother and his two half-sisters. Instead, John and Fanny take their place as the new owner of Norland and the women became uninvited guests in their house. I hate this part because I think reneging on a promise and taking the rights of others is very innocent and it will make other people torment, in this case, the Elinor family. 

         I have the same experience with this novel on the sacrifice of love. I had ever loved a man. Initially, he loved me too. We then made a relationship until one day, there was a girl came into our love. He is more attracted to her than me. He left me for her. I felt hurt but I realized that true love needs sacrifice and my sacrifice is my feelings and I knew that he didn’t truly love me. 

          I think this novel is enough well-formed and the plot is so interesting. Consequently, there’s no need to make any change on this. However, I’m so curious if I changed the character of Fanny who is greedy and selfish, become to be a good half-sister-in-law, would Elinor’s know that Edward was already engaged to Lucy and would Marianne meet her soul mate namely Brandon? If so, how will they meet?

         Issue that arises from this novel is about what is the best? Is it sensible (Elinor’s character) or sensibility (Marianne’s character)? They both are faced with their love. Elinor responds her love by her sensible being whereas Marianne responds it by her sensibility. 

       The moral value from this novel is both of sensible and sensibility are needed and, ideally, must be related to each other because when we want to determine if something or someone is good for us, we need sensibility to check the thing first and we must be sensible to choose it. However this novel is initially just to compare what the best is from them but at the end the author shows uncertainty.

Running Blind by Desmond Bagley

Title : Running Blind 

Author : Desmond Bagley 

Publish : Fonata Books, 1978 

Genre : Action 

          I chose this novel because of three things. First, I wanted to know what feeling I would get when reading an action novel because I had never read any action novel before. Next, when looking its cover, I thought this novel was a good one because what was written on its cover showed me that this novel was a BBC TV serial. Last, after reading the first page of chapter one, I thought I could comprehend this novel because most words which the author used in this novel are familiar for me. In short, I chose this novel because of interest and easiness. 

          My favorite actress is Elin Ragnars Dottir; a main actor’s girl friend. I like her because of her brave that was really helpful. For instance, in a battle against opposites, Alan Stewart; a main actor, passed out because he lost his blood so much. At the moment, I thought it was the end of Alan’s life because Alan was only with Elin who had no ability for battling. It was, however, surprised me that Elin took a rifle and started to shoot the house where the opposites stayed in. she waited and when nothing happened, she walked into the house. She reached a telephone and rang Commander Nordlinger for a help. I think it was a very brave thing to do and very helpful to save Alan’s life. 

         I don’t like the end of this novel because, actually, the operation that Alan had been involved as a messenger boy was only a deception operation. This operation was only to make Russians keep their minds for a long time to solve an electronic package that Alan brought. Alan was almost killed by Russians who wanted to get the package. Alan really didn’t know about this operation. I think that was unfair to involve Alan, an innocent person, in such horrid operation. 

          The moral value of this novel is we must be a critical person. We should know not only what we must do but also why we do it. In this case, Alan had ever killed a person who was actually his innocent friend because he just did what he was told without analyzing why he had to do that. He really regretted it.

A Daring Courtship by Valerie King

Title : A Daring Courtship

Author : Valerie King

Publish : Zebra Books, 2003

Genre : Romance

           I chose this novel because its cover looks nice and its title makes me curious. I really wanted to know what a daring courtship means, so I took this novel for further reading. In short, I chose this novel because of interest.

          I like Mr. Piper; Madeline’s father because he really astonished me. It was only because he saw Madeline; a main actress, looking at Sir Roger in such fancy way at the first time, he designed to make Madeline meet and close to Sir roger. He wondered if he was true that Madeline fancied Sir Roger or not. That’s why I think he was really astonishing; however, he really cared her daughter even in such detail attention.

          I like the part when Madeline realized and gave all of her effort to prove that she really loved Sir Roger after making him hurt. I like this part because I could feel and imagine how sad I’m if I lose my soul mate because of my mistake.

          The moral value from this novel is “love doesn’t look someone’s parentage”. That’s what Mr. Piper taught to Madeline. He really disagreed with his society’s narrow perception that forbad a marriage with other nations such as English was forbidden to marry Scotsman. They thought doing that was misbehavior. After all, Madeline realized that her father was true. She loved Sir Roger and married him, a Scotsman.

My Lady Luck by Hayley Ann Solomon

Title     : My Lady Luck

Author : Hayley Ann Solomon 

Publish : Zebra Books, 2004

Genre : Romance 

          I chose this novel because when looking its cover, I predicted that this novel would tell me about the emergence of love because of gamble, since its cover showed me that a woman and a man were gambling. I thought its story was unique, so I took this novel for further reading.

           I like Miss Honoria Finchley because she was smart and brave. She had been proclaimed as the best student of her year at school and she always won gambling in games of skill with cards; moreover, she could notice that Chittlingdon was fleecing her in gambling. She didn’t like it, then she bravely accused and proved that Chittlingdon was a cheat.

          I like the end of this novel because it is a happy ending. I’m happy to know that Miss Honoria won a gamble at Brooke’s and became a rich person, then she married Lord Laxton who helped her win by asking his aunt; Laddy Darfield to tutor Honor in the finer points of playing.

          The moral value of this novel is “our family is our worth”. Our family will do everything for our good. For instance, Honor really cared her sister, Faith, even she gambled to get sufficient fund for Faith’s dowry.

The Raging by Jutta F. Jarnagin

Title     : The Raging
Author : Jutta F. Jarnagin
Publish : Living Books, 1982
Genre  : Inspirational

          I chose this novel because the vocabulary which the author used is familiar for me so that I thought I could comprehend this novel well. In addition, when reading its synopsis, I predicted this novel might tell me about family; therefore I thought the moral value would probably fit in my real life. In short, I chose this novel because of easiness and interest.

         I like Harold, a main actress’ husband, because of his pure love to his wife, Jutta Friedlander. He really cared and loved his wife; even his wife couldn’t bear a child. He always took care after his wife when Jutta was hospitalized. He encouraged her to recover. I adore Harold and I hope I have my future husband like him, a kind husband.

          I really got touched till my tears rolling down on my cheek when reading a part that told me about the death of Jutta’s mother. When reading this part, I remembered my mother. I haven’t done much good to help my mother and I imagined that if my mother died, I would be so sad.

          The moral value of this novel is “Problem is a gift that God gives to teach us”. In this case, when Jutta suffered a mental illness because she really gave her attention to what her neighbor said about her such as “you have a clean house because you don’t have any children”. Initially, she didn’t accept her fate but, further she realized that it was God’s way of teaching her to depend on him for everything and not look to others for approval.

Definition of Grammar

         Definition of grammar is often changed. The shifting of grammar definition is merely to improve the old grammar perspective with the better one. The old one refers to traditional view while the better one is functional view

        Commonly, the teaching of English grammar in Indonesia is under an assumption of traditional view point for the term of grammar. In this view, grammar is regarded as a set of rules that govern language behavior. It describes how a speaker produces sentences using the words, and serves as a way to manipulate language and combine words into sentences. If we look more carefully, traditional grammar more focuses on the language form rather than meaning. Moreover, this view left the importance of how to use grammar in real life. As stated by Alexander the primary concern of traditional grammar is with the forms of grammatical structures rather than with their meanings or uses in different contexts. Therefore, the teaching of grammar with this view makes students not be able to connect grammar with their lives. Consequently, students will feel grammar not meaningful to be learnt and finally their motivation to learn grammar will decrease

          On the contrary, the functional view includes a consideration of the structure functions and their meanings in context. In this view, grammar is regarded not only as a set of grammatical forms, but also grammatical meaning and use as a whole. Thus, grammar deals with three dimensions i.e. form, meaning and use. This assumption leads teachers to teach grammar that should be meaningful in the context and also teach students how to use it. As a result, students can connect grammar with their lives and their motivation to learn grammar will increase.

        In short, the two different main streams for the term grammar are traditional and functional views. The former more focuses on structure rather than meaning and use whereas the last focuses on not only structure but also meaning and use.

Importance of Grammar

     Grammar plays an important role in language teaching and learning. The importance of grammar is so many. The followings are the five importance of grammar.

          First, it is the function of grammar as a structural foundation of language skills. Grammar is regarded as a structural foundation of language skill because of an assumption which states that learning language skills is like build a building. Students have to build its foundation first before building its higher parts. If they do not make a strong foundation, the building will easily break and cannot be built into a higher one. The foundation of this building is grammar. So, to develop students‘ language skill, teacher needs to teach grammar since the teaching of grammar is so important for students as a foundation for their language skills.

          Second, it is the existence of grammar in language curriculum. As a language element that is needed to develop and measure students‘ proficiency in English,grammar becomes to be a subject that has to be taught and tested in language curriculum. It is on the language curriculum whether students like it or not. They have to pass this subject in order to graduate and be considered as having enough proficiency in English. Consequently, grammar is a must and important to be learnt by students.

         Third, it is the function of grammar as a sentence-making machine. Grammar becomes to be important for students because it can function as a sentence-making machine for them. It can describe the regularities of language behaviors and provide students with patterns to generate enormous number of new sentences. So, by knowing grammar students will be facilitated to produce new sentences. 

          Fourth, it is the function of grammar as a tool for language monitoring. Grammar enables students to self-monitor. It can assist students in becoming aware of a structure that they encounter and help them continue to notice it in subsequent encounters. Once students have internalized the structure through repeated exposure, they can use this knowledge to monitor their own language use. It then improves their proficiency in creating polish and acceptable English sentences. In short, knowing grammar can help students monitor their language use. 

           Last, it is the function of grammar to prevent students from fossilizing early. It is assumed that students who receive no grammar instruction seem to be at risk of fossilizing early because they cannot monitor their own language use. They will easily feel satisfied with their current ability. It then makes their language progress stop and fossilize early. Therefore, grammar is so needed to prevent students from fossilizing early. 

          To sum up, grammar is so important in language teaching and learning. It is because grammar functions as a structural foundation of language that enables students to develop their language skills. Consequently, grammar should be taught in language curriculum since it can function as a language-sentence machine for students because it describes the regularities of language behaviors so that students can use it as a pattern to make an enormous number of new sentences and help them monitor their language use. Finally, it will prevent them from fossilizing early.