The "American Dream"

1. How would you describe the “American Dream?”

I would describe the American Dream as the belief that a person can move to America and have the opportunity to work hard. This opportunity to work hard will ultimately pay off in them being successful and being able to provide for themselves and their families.I think the American Dream is applicable to both citizens in the United States and citizens of other countries.

2. What is your definition of wealth?

My definition of wealth is having enough money to cover the necessities that come with living in the United States as well as having plenty of money to cover any wants that a person has. There are different types of wealthy people though. Some people buy all the necessities and wants they have in life. Then there are some wealthy who are very frugal with their money and by all the needs of life but do not spend large amounts of money on wants or indulge in many of their wants even though they have enough money to do that.

3. What are Americans’ attitudes toward wealth and poverty?

I think many Americans have a negative connotation towards people that have wealth. I think this is because we often see wealthy American's not making smart decisions with their money. However I think Americans have a positive association with wealth in the terms that one day if they are smart enough and work hard enough being wealthy is an obtainable thing. I feel like Americans have a helping attitude when it comes to poverty. Many citizens in the country that are well off make an effort to help out those who live in poverty. I also think that many Americans think that the amount of poverty in our country is way to high.

4. What is your attitude toward wealth and poverty?

Wealth is always something I have strived for and continuing striving for in my life. I wanted to be well enough off to provide for my future self and hopeful family to cover all of our needs as well as live a comfortable life where I can provide for some of their wants as well. The idea of poverty has always scared me because I do not think the average person really knows what its like to live in poverty. I do think that it is possible to work your way out of poverty in the United States if you have the right work ethic and mind set. There are a vast amount of opportunities in the United States where someone can be successful. I think knowledge of poverty in the United States is very minimal within the country as well as outside the country because it receives less media coverage compared to the coverage that wealth gets in the United States and outside of the country because people seem to follow the stories of the wealthy more than they do of people who live in poverty.

The Stranger Blog Post

#1:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• The diction choice of uneasy shows how the dreams the character was having were harsh and unsettling enough to wake the character from his sleep
• The use of the word insect outlines what he transformed into compared to the word bug because it is more direct

#2:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Bug has a more negative connotation than insect in translation one
• This translation does not include an introductory word like the other three when referring to when the character awoke

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

• The word choice of transformed is more positive rather than changes in translation two because transformed make the character being turned in to a bug seem more of a privilege than a curse like the word change does
• The word when makes it seem that this transformation was in the characters destiny to become an insect

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• Vermin is a different translation from the other three and the translation includes monstrous which makes his transformation seem worse
• The introductory saying of one morning makes it seem as if it was an ordinary day
• This translation is separated with commas where as the other three are not broken apart with any commas. This makes this translation seem 

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence? 

Different translations from original text carry different interpretations by readers compares to the original text. Translator interpret the original text in their own ways and then translate the original text in their own ways. This leads to different wordings of parts of the text. Translation that correlate directly with what the original text are the most similar to the original text. However translation that are similar to the original text but vary in wording so it flows better with the language that it was translated in to are more effective at allowing the reader to understand the text because the translation is easier to read and glows better with the language they are reading it in rather than reading a direct translation of a text because the direct translation most likely does not create flowing sentences compared to a translation that was made to be read in the language it was translated in to.

The exercise shows how different translations of text can lead to difficulty to understanding the original text. Translations allow for different word choice based on what the translator sees fit. This shows that readers could read to different translations of a text and they could read two different stories just because they are two different translations and could not receive an understanding of what the original text was trying to say. Translators can use different syntax or sentence structure to alter the tone of their sentences and these tones could e different compared to what the original author's tones in the story.