Before even reading these short stories, I assumed that they were going to be exotic and weird. I’m not sure why but every time I think about Latin culture, I think of a culture that is wild and fun. So, I naturally assumed that this wildness would be demonstrated in their works of writing. Furthermore, “Don Quixote” was the only novel I read that was somewhat “Latin” and Don Quixote was a weird and crazy book. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it though.
So, when I began to read the two stories, it really struck out to me how normal they seemed. I would have thought that it was an English writer who wrote them if I hadn’t known prior. There was no exotic features, crazy storyline, and belligerent characters. They were normal folk short stories. Of the two short stories, I found “The Pongo’s Dream” by Jose Maria Arguedas the most interesting. It was short, simple, and powerful. What I find in old folk tales is that they always address a moral. When I was young, my mom would always tell me Chinese folk tales on how the most righteous person in this life will be reborn into someone great in the next. Which, is somewhat similar to “The Pongo’s Dream”.
What I found different about “Legend of the Singing Tablets” “Legend of the Crystal Mask” “Legend of the Silent Bell” and “Legend of the Dancing Butchers” by Miguel Angel Asturias from “The Pongo’s Dream” was how religious it was. It seemed to me that there was also a large focus on nature. I found this surprisingly consistent with most of Asian folk stories that I read. It really is interesting on how while these cultures were created thousands of kilometers apart, their stories are strikingly similar. Religion, nature and duty is a theme in a lot of them.
ng the show, it occurred to me that the main reason the restaurants were dysfunctional was because of the lack of motivation among the employees. Employees of dysfunctional restaurants said that there was no incentive to work hard and that the only reason they worked there was because of the pay. After reading the textbook and going to class, I found that there were actually different ways to motivate your employees and increase productivity. A perfect theory that applies to the situation is the “Motivation-Hygiene Theory” which was proposed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg. The theory basically states that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and extrinsic factors are relate to dissatisfaction.
with management and demonstrated poor behavior. Personally, I feel that Rajon Rondo didn’t know his role on the team. This, on top with his poor behavior caused him to storm with the talented team that he was on. So, while the individual talents of each player are amazing, they weren’t able to work as one cohesive group during games. This was indicated through the Dallas Mavericks’ record in the league in which they are were surprisingly placed 8th out of 15 in the highly competitive western conference. However, the Mavericks were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. Furthermore, Rajon Rondo was benched numerous times during the critical situations because of his inability to listen to the coach. So, in conclusion, while individual talents are important to the success of a group, the ability to work together is what matters most.