The Americans' Dream 

Since the birth of America, 2015 years ago, the idea of the American Dream has mindlessly flown through the heads of our great patriotic ancestors. In fact, some die hard Americans still believe in this "American Dream", to find them you must search the depth of any local NASCAR race track or shooting range. Historically, there have always been ideas that have changed America. These have been classified by the public as American dreams after they have succeeded. But they aren't really dreams, they are desires. These desires have ranged from freedom from England, emancipation, secession, material success, to basic civil and human rights. The reoccurring factor here is change. Change in society seems to be the true American dream. America will never be good enough, a group of hippies will forever be protesting some big government conspiracy, and people will always be struggling to get by. Each big change that leads us to our future will be looked back on as the American dream of its time. 

Wealth comes down to the beholder. A rich man might forever be poor in good spirits, and a poor man might forever be miserable. It really all depends. Wealth should be assessed when you die. Are you dying with regrets, or with dignity and happy memories. Personally I see it that wealth is not monetary and psychological, but the balance of the two. Supporting yourself and those who rely on you is simply getting by, as well as mental and emotional stability. Treating yourself and those around you, while feeling good about yourself is wealth. 

We view those impoverished as lesser peoples. They are weaklings in society and we take pity on them. It is unfortunate but true, even though they are just as human as the rest of America, they are looked down upon condescendingly. They wealthy are viewed as evil, and scheming villains looking to grab every penny they can and pay about 14% income tax... Everyone has a reason to hate everyone, wealthy and poor are just two more adjectives that separate Americans. I feel that there are a lot of poor idiots and a lot of poor geniuses. Life isn't fair to those geniuses. The same applies to the rich idiots and rich geniuses. 

 

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

• the syntax and structure of the sentence is odd, and not very fluid
• the only imagery derived from this is that of a bed and a large bug during the morning
• keeping the original name "gregor" gives the phrase a lot of cultural context as we can see it is not a normal english name

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

• the structure of this sentence is the most pleasing of them all 
• it is short and sweet, very straight froward
• imagery appears to be the same aside from there not being a bed, sometimes that detail can be implied
• the name is changed so it sounds more normal for the english language 
• the word "changed" is not as powerful as transformed as well as the word "bug"

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

• the syntax/ structure here is not so bad, the sentence itself sounds as odd as all the rest
• transformed, and enormous are both powerful words 
• the use of "bug" stands out as it is such as simple word
• as for imagery a giant bug comes to mind here
• keeping the name as gregor is a smart move

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

• the syntax of this sentence is that of what appears to be a run on sentence
• the imagery here is not of a bug anymore but maybe a rodent or lizard
• the use of the word monstrous really packs a punch
• and vermin is an interesting choice in vocabulary

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? 

The word choice is probably the hardest choice the translator has to make. There is no real spectrum as to weather their choices are right or wrong. A lot of times writers (artists) are very snobby and mean, so they might think there peculiar, unappealing, and absurd word choice is the best of the best. The most appealing or normal sounding sentences are the simple ones. Not too complicated, not too many commas, and certainly not any ridiculous words that only nerds know. There is imagery in all of the sentences, but I believe it is because many readers have imagination. The only senses that these phrases are appealing are vision. Touch, taste, sound, and scent are left out in the details. 

The biggest difference in all of the sentences was the variations of "large insect" used. Such a general detail was altered drastically in each phrase. The affect of this was the weight of that detail. Monstrous vermin out shined giant insect, but it steered away from the word bug. The difficulty of reading a translated text is that you are not reading the original. It would be more effective to learn the original language of the book than to read a poorly worded and altered spin off. Some of the sentences seemed emotionless by the way they were translated. Otherwise, the tone seems very straightforward and stern in the sentences. 

thank you and goodnight to all, god bless  

mfw...