Close Reading 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/making-us-safer-one-ipad-at-a-time.html?ref=opinion

            The article “Making Us Safer, One IPad at a Time” by Steve Cohen uses diction, sentence structure, and detail to get across Cohen’s point that the methods of the justice system seem to be lacking. With this setting he sets the stage for his idea about IPads and how they should be used to improve the justice system.

            Cohen uses precise words to get across the point that he disagrees with the structure and organization of America’s justice system. For example, Cohen talks about how inefficient the use of handwriting paperwork is when it comes to logging cases. Cohen uses words like “scratch” to describe the handwriting and “decipher” to show how much trouble others have to go through to read it.

            For sentence structure he uses the dash to provide more information supporting his claims, about the unsatisfactory organization of the judicial system. For example, he says “One of the biggest sources of delay — and case dismissal — involves prosecutors’ getting signed statements from victims, witnesses and police officers. Last year, more than 58,000 cases — 15 percent of all misdemeanors — were dismissed or not pursued by the district attorney’s offices…” As shown here, he adds in extra tidbits of information to create more emphasis on his point, that many cases get overlooked because of the faulty system of logging information.

            His use of detail and description is what makes the piece interesting to read and easy to understand. He gives multiple comparisons to illustrate his point about the problems with using handwritten notes. For example, he says “It resembles the children’s game of telephone, with 7-year-olds whispering a phrase in turn to the person next to them and the resulting message getting distorted. That’s why I was only momentarily surprised to see an arrest report describing the defendant as 6’10” tall. His arrest record listed his height as 6’01.”” The comparison really makes it clearer for the reader to understand his point of view.

            After using these diction, sentence structure, and detail, Cohen has effectively established the situation he wants the reader to be in when he describes his idea about the policemen and other law enforcers using the IPads to record their information. That situation being that they understand the problems with the organization of the law enforcement and judicial system and that he has a solution. 

Open Prompt 4

2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

            The past often plays a big part in the lives of many people. It’s hard to move on from the experiences that have already happened. A novel that shows how a person deals with their past personal experiences is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The novel centers on the character Willy Loman and how his relationship with his past is so strong that it’s a daily struggle for him to say in the present. It’s through this constant reminder of the past that that we see what Willy has been through and how that relates to his eventual death.

            Willy’s past actions always haunt him, because he thinks they are the reason for his unhappiness now. His past memories are shown in the book as hallucinations, because Willy actually thinks it’s going on in the present. One particular memory that continues to haunt him is the memory of him cheating on his wife Linda and his son Biff walking in on it. In that moment, Biff loses all respect for his father and their strong relationship goes downhill. In this moment, not only does Willy feel guilt for cheating on his wife, which we see stills affects him, but also sadness and more guilt because he lost his relationship with Biff, causing Biff to not pass high school, setting him up for failure for the rest of his life. It’s through this memory that the audience understands the bitterness always exchanged between father and son throughout the story and their constant attempts to bridge that gap between them. It shows the importance of the reconciliation at the end, when Biff finally frees his father of the guilt, by taking responsibility for the failures in his life and not blaming them on Willy. Then, it seems that Willy kills himself because he is finally free of this memory and the guilt. He realizes Biff still loves him, so he kills himself so Biff can collect the insurance money. In a way, the past acted as a barrier against this sad end. Once he got over that particular memory, it seemed to push him towards killing himself.

            Willy Loman’s past haunted him every day and we see that he was negatively affected by it, by seeing his constant guilt. The novel uses flashbacks of his past to let the audience understand the character of Willy and his mindset better. We also see that the past was a barrier for Willy, because he couldn’t seem to move on from it, until the very end. Overall, the past was an important part of Willy’s present life and the novel.  

Summary and Analysis of Death of a Salesman

• Arthur Miller is a famous American playwright whose other works include The Crucible and All My Sons. He was married to Marilyn Monroe, but that marriage didn’t last.
• The setting of the play takes place in New York City, where their house is located. Their house doesn’t have any corners and seems to be run down, because things are always broken. Willy travels around to Boston and other big cities in New England for business.
• The story revolves around Willy and his visions of the past. He’s a salesman whose life is basically crumbling around him because he loses his job and is depressed about his son’s lack of success. Many of the characters call him “sport” or “kid,” even his sons and Linda’s attitude toward him is motherly towards him, so all together it creates a childish persona for him.
• Biff is Willy’s son and they had a falling out many years ago, when Biff caught Willy cheating on Linda. Biff was a football player in high school and it seemed like he was going to amount to a lot, but then he never amounted to any success because he didn’t pass high school.  He used to blame that on Willy, until the end, when he realizes that he, himself, is the actual reason behind his lack of success.
• Happy is Willy’s other son, and he’s meant to be like another version of Willy when he grows up. Even though he seems happy, he’s not, because he is neglected by his parents.
• Linda is Willy’s wife, and at first she seems like a really good character who puts up with a lot, she actually seems to control Willy, and he eventually blames her for his lack of success in the business field.
• Charley is their next door neighbor, who is rich and even though Willy doesn’t come out and say it, Willy is jealous of Charley because of Charley’s success and because of Charley’s son Bernard’s success.
• Bernard is Biff’s childhood friend who always let Biff cheat off him in school. He became a lawyer and very successful.
• Ben is Willy’s older brother and Willy idolizes him throughout the story. He is shown as a father figure to Willy and the way he appears, in all white and as a vision, makes him seem like a Jesus figure.
• Plot: It’s the last few days of Willy Loman’s life. He is a salesman disappointed with his life, because he was never as rich as he wanted to be. His kids are all grown up and moved out, but during this play they are back and staying in the house for the first time in a long time. The two boys, Biff and Happy, realize that their dad is going insane and try to bring up his spirits. Willy is having visions of the past combine with the present, so he’s shouting and raving at things that are just memories, as if they were happening now. Even though Biff and Willy’s relationship had been strained, to keep his dad from killing himself, Biff tries to make him happy and go into business. However, it doesn’t work out. In the end, Willy realizes that Biff actually does love him, so he is happy. Then Willy enter another crazed state of mind and thinks if he kills himself and it looks like an accident, his family will get $20000 and that will get Biff started in business. So he purposefully gets into a car accident and kills himself.
• There isn’t really a narrative voice. For the author’s style, he just seems to use normal English for all the dialogue.
• For imagery, all we see is what the characters tell us in their dialogue, which isn’t much, because in conversation, there isn’t a lot of lengthy description.
• There are multiple symbols throughout the story. The diamonds Willy wants to find in Africa represent tangible wealth. The stockings represent cheating and betrayal. The seeds represent planting and cultivating opportunity.
• The theme is a sad one in that, no matter how hard you try, sometimes things just don’t work out.
• The title seems to point to this too, because it implies that the character was never able to achieve a higher status than a salesman, and that he died as unsuccessful as he started.
• The plot shows the theme because the entire plot outlines Willy’s dream to be successful and it shows all his efforts as a salesman but then he gets fired and his life falls apart even more.
• “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such –personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff –he’s not lazy” (6). This quote represents the initial idea that Willy had about how anybody that is a hard worker, should be able to be successful. This idea is not present at the end of the play.
• “Why boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich” (33). This is a quote by Uncle Ben and he makes it seem like being rich is so easily done, which is probably where Willy got that idea. 

Response to Course Materials 12/2/12

            This week we started the in class reading of Hamlet by Shakespeare. At first, when I saw the length of the play, I didn’t want to read the entire work out loud in class. Then on the first day we started, I was sick, so everybody already got assigned a part. While at first I was glad I didn’t have to read out loud in class, as the days went on, I began to want to.  Reading the play out loud I feel will help me understand the characters more, and overall the story. Even though at first I thought the play would take a really long time to read out loud, we’re going by pretty quickly. I actually appreciate that we’re reading it in class because the language is often times hard to understand, so I won’t really know what’s going on. Then Ms. Holmes steps in and explains the scene, and it begins to make more sense. It also makes annotating easier because we talk about techniques like irony and iambic pentameter that are being used and the significance of that. For any other story, I wouldn’t like to pause through it because I just want to finish reading, but for a play like this, I think it’s necessary and I’m glad we’re doing it. Hopefully I’ll be able to play a part later in the play. 

Close Reading 3

This article is a political article called “The Liberal Gloat.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/douthat-The-Liberal-Gloat.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss 

            “The Liberal Gloat” is a political article by Ross Douthat written about the Democrats’ attitude after their win of the Presidential election. The use of the author’s syntax and figurative language really emphasize his opinion and help the reader see what he’s thinking.

            The author’s syntax is used for specific reasons, especially the use of the dashes. Most of the time, when he makes a statement, he follows it with a dash, and multiple examples or more details that show what he is trying to say. This emphasizes his point, because it provides real-life examples or more specifics that the reader can relate to. For example, he says “Liberals look at the Obama majority and see a coalition bound together by enlightened values — reason rather than superstition, tolerance rather than bigotry, equality rather than hierarchy.” Following the dash, he gives examples of the values he thinks the liberals see about themselves. While this statement seems as if he’s favoring the Democrats, it’s actually quite the opposite. This statement merely mentions that delusion he thinks the Democrats are living under, and then he goes on to refute it. Another example of when he uses the dash, is when he says “What unites all of these stories is the growing failure of America’s local associations — civic, familial, religious — to foster stability, encourage solidarity and make mobility possible.” Here, Douthat again goes into more specifics, of exactly which types of local associations are going in the negative direction.

            Douthat also makes comparisons between the two political parties multiple times. In this specific quote, he again scorns what the liberals think of themselves. He says according to Democrats, “Republicans are now Radio Shack to their Apple store, “The Waltons” to their “Modern Family,” a mediocre Norman Rockwell to their digital-age mosaic.” Through a couple of common-place comparisons, the reader can get a better feel for the supposed attitude of the Democrats, because most of them can relate to the pop culture examples. In another instance, he talks about how Republicans think of Democrats, mentioning that they view “Democratic-leaning voters as lazy moochers or spoiled children seeking “gifts.”’ In using these comparisons, Douthat again is making sure to use an example that his readers can relate to, so it’s easier for them to understand him.

            Overall, the syntax and figurative language used in this political article were strategies used by the author to help the reader with the understanding of the article and to make his position clear. The syntax structure with the dashes allows for more information and the comparisons make the point easier to understand for the reader.  

Open Prompt 3

2001. One definition of madness is "mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it." But Emily Dickinson wrote

    Much madness is divinest Sense-

    To a discerning Eye-

Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a "discerning Eye." Select a novel or play in which a character's apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the "madness" to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

           

            Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller has a classic example of a character that goes through eccentric behavior. Willy, the main character, is a salesman, a father, and a husband. He has reached the point in his life where everything seems to be falling apart, which is when this play takes place.

            It is mentioned throughout the novel that the rest of the business world thinks he has officially gone crazy. He mumbles and talks to himself, when looking from the perspective of someone in the story. However, as the reader, we know that he is actually having hallucinations and sees images of people like his brother Ben, whom he thinks he is talking to. He has flashbacks of memories from the olden days, when everything seemed to be going right for him, and he imagines himself there talking to the people. He has finally snapped. His wife Linda explains at one point in the story that he talks to himself because he is tired of all the disappointment in his life. Everything that he had looked forward to had failed him, his job was low to begin with then he lost it, not striking it rich in Alaska, losing his relationship with Biff, having Biff be a failure in the workforce and thinking it was his fault; it all piles up. So it makes sense that he tries to remember the times when things were going well and there was still hope for being rich and for his children being rich.

            His mad behavior is important to the play because the entire play revolves around it. We see reality, then it switches to a flashback occurring in his mind, and then back to reality. As the reader, we get an inside view of the madness going on inside of Willy’s head and we can see how the other characters react to him while he is going through that episode. The boys are initially cold to their father but as they see the struggle he goes through daily to make his living, they try to help him overcome his hallucinations by trying to bring success to their own lives, which is all he wanted in the first place, especially for Biff. This is why Biff tries to make a big sports deal. His mad behavior is essentially what threatens to tear the family apart but then ends up bringing the family back together right before his untimely death. 

Response to Course Material 11/4/12

            Over the past couple weeks, we read chapter 4 and part of chapter 5 in the Literature and Composition textbook and wrote an essay comparing the tone from 2 pieces of work from chapter 4. I liked this because we got a firsthand chance to analyze some pieces of work, and I think that’s the place where I need the most practice. Once we got to class, we discussed the pieces with partners, which I also liked because we got to see different perspectives on the same piece, and it helped me realize new ways to analyze pieces of literature for next time.

            We also spent much of the week watching Death of a Saleman. Watching the movie first before reading the book was interesting because now I see the movie actors when I read the book and I see the actual scene being played out in my head. I usually don’t like when this happens, but for this book, I liked it because the scenes and the characters stuck better with me. I think this is because I’m analyzing the characters as I read and it’s not a book for pleasure, so it’s good to have an actual movie actor to go off of. In a normal situation, I wouldn't want to see the movie first because it ruins the way I form personalities in my head for characters. 

Summary and Analysis of The American Dream

·         Edward Albee was born in Virginia, adopted, and raised in New York. He was part of a wealthy family, however eventually left home for good. He was expelled from multiple schools. He is gay, and still living. He is 84 and is a professor at the University of Houston.

·         The setting of the play is in the 1950s/1960s and it’s right at the time when consumerism set in. The actual place of the play is in the living room of Mommy and Daddy’s apartment.

·         The plot of the story is that Mommy and Daddy are waiting for a person to come to their apartment, that person turns out to be Mrs. Barker. The three of them, and Grandma, make small talk while they try to remember why Mrs. Barker is there. Eventually a Young Man comes in looking for work. Then the story spills out, that Mommy and Daddy had adopted a baby and had mutilated it and killed it because it wasn’t their idea of perfect, so they had called Mrs. Barker to fix it, because they had adopted the baby from her. Grandma arranges the solution, so that she ends up leaving the house, Mrs. Barker looks like she knows what’s she doing, and the Young Man looking for a job, gets one, as being the perfect son for this family. The Young Man is actually the twin of the young boy that they had adopted and killed earlier, and all that they had done physically to the baby, the Young Man had too, but emotionally. In the end, everyone is happy, Mrs. Barker “fixes” the problem, the Young Man gets a job, Grandma gets to leave, and Mommy and Daddy get the perfect son.

·         The significant characters are Mrs. Barker, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and the Young Man. Mrs. Barker is a professional woman and we think that she is a stripper. Mommy is a powerful woman, shown in a not so good light, and she emasculates Daddy. Daddy is passive and shown to be feminine. Grandma is outspoken and represents the old American Dream, when values were important. The Young Man represents the new American Dream, which ends up kicking out the old American Dream.

·         The play is a piece of writing from the “theatre of the absurd.” Albee uses lots of repetition, so often times it’s frustrating to the reader, because something that could be said in one line, takes half of the page to say. This is to show the lack of movement in the story. However, I think this is a characteristic of the literary movement in general, and not Albee himself.

·         The tone of the play is almost monotonous because none of the characters express emotion. Instead, they say their emotion such as Daddy when he says “I’m going to blush and giggle” to show that he’s nervous or embarrassed (19).

·         Since this is a play, the author’s style isn’t so evident, because each character has their own style of speaking. For instance, Grandma has a sharp, sarcastic tone most of the time and says one-line quirks a lot. The Young Man barely says anything, and when he does, he’s so passive, he just agrees with what was said. Daddy is passive as well, so he doesn’t say much. Mommy is a rambler and likes to talk a lot, giving emphasis to details that aren’t really relevant. The only thing in common with the characters’ speeches is that they all pause a lot. I can’t tell if that’s just Albee’s mockery of how people in the real world talk, or just how he decided to write the play.

·         For imagery, it’s not so evident here because since it’s a play, most of the time the characters are talking to one another and they don’t describe the setting or anything out loud.

·         “…I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions, I have been drained; torn asunder… disemboweled. I have, now, only my person… my body…my face. I use what I have…I let people love me…I accept the syntax around me, for, while I know I cannot relate… I know I must be related to” (36). This quote is from the Young Man and in describing himself, he is actually describing some qualities of the new American Dream and consumerism. About how things are about money now and not values and morals as much, how superficial things are.

·         “She’s a dreadful woman, you don’t know her; she has dreadful taste, two dreadful children, a dreadful house, and an absolutely adorable husband who sits in a wheelchair all the time. You don’t know him. You don’t know anybody, do you? She’s just a dreadful woman, but she is chairman of our women’s club, so naturally, I’m terribly fond of her,” (10). This quote demonstrates the new American Dream again, the superficiality. Mommy seems to hate this woman, but then she mentions that the woman has some power, so then she says she loves her, because of her position, not the woman herself. Also, it’s a good example of a writing technique, because the author repeats the word “dreadful” multiple times, but at the end says adorable, which makes the husband stick out more than everything else.

·         I believe the theme is that even though the something may seem like it’s gone, there’s always a way for it to live on, in this case, the old American Dream.

·         Symbolism supports this because at the end of the story, instead of killing Grandma off, who was the old American Dream, she’s still there, which shows that even though there’s the new American Dream, the old one hasn’t entirely left. She’s just hiding for the moment.

·         The tone shows this because one of the only times that emotion is shown in this story is when Grandma leaves and Mommy is very upset and wants to get her back, so it shows that Grandma, the old American Dream will be missed, if only for a minute.

·         The setting works into the theme because the story takes place in the 1950s/1960s so that was the time when people where switching from the idea of values and morals to the idea of consumerism, and the theme shows that just because overall the switch was happening, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t some trace of the old American Dream left.  

Close Reading #2

The name of this article is called “The Other Missing Man” and it’s by Timothy Egan. It’s a political article that talks about the 2^nd presidential debate that took place a few days ago. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/the-other-missing-man/

            There are 2 types of political articles, those that try to stay unbiased and those that completely favor one opponent over the other. In this article, the latter is the case. The title of “The Other Missing Man” is referring to the “missing” men in the first debate. The two missing men, according to Egan, were “forward-looking, crisp-thinking, quick on his feet” Obama and the “petulant, unlikable and bullying corporate” Romney. He says this because Obama clearly didn’t speak as well as he normally does, in the first debate, and Romney shed his “normal” persona in favor of one that appeals to more Americans. Egan shows examples of Romney’s “bullying corporate” persona by showing examples of it in the 2^nd debate where it was present. In doing so, Egan uses multiples methods of rhetoric to get his point across, such as diction, imagery, and syntax.

            Egan chooses specific words with a negative connotation to emphasize his view of Romney. Words such as “squabbling” and “whining” portray an image of an annoying child, and put the readers in that mindset of dealing with an impatient, difficult child. That way, while reading about Romney, the readers feel the same way about him. Other examples of diction with negative connotation are “feigned” and “arrogance,” both of which bring about the idea of a bad person due to lies and superiority.

            As for imagery, Egan makes sure to uses phrases that will paint a picture for the reader about Romney’s supposedly true personality. Sentences and phrases such as “Romney was the very picture of a C.E.O. used to getting his way” and “‘looks like that guy that fires you’” both are used to describe Romney. In painting Romney in this unflattering light, Egan is attempting to persuade Americans to think of Romney in this way as well. Other phrases Egan uses are “Romney went full boss-in-a-snit mode” and  “Insulated, seldom-challenged C.E.O.s who live in a bubble — in this case, the fact-challenged world of Fox News and right-wing radio — also die in that bubble.” In both instances, Egan again compares Romney’s attitude to that of a stuck up, too-powerful boss, because that’s a common type that people in American are familiar with, and in general don’t like. In comparing Romney with this type of image, it appeals to many Americans because many of them have some form of an over-powering boss in their life. His imagery, along with his diction both create a negative image for Romney.

            One of Egan’s sentence structures that caught my eye was the one where he uses a dash. This lets the reader pause for a moment to think about what they just read, and creates more emphasis on what the next part of the sentence is going to be. For instance, in the sentence “Except his business was a very predatory form of venture capital — no way to run a country.” The ending comment of “no way to run a country” sticks out in the reader’s mind because it’s somewhat more separated from the rest of the sentence. This occurs throughout the article and it works well for the Egan.

            In general, Egan makes it very clear that he is on the democratic side of the election, and does so by pointing out flaws in Romney’s debate last Tuesday. In doing so, Egan uses specific words, images, and sentence structure to help get across his point, to great effect. 

Open Prompt #2

2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

            A power struggle is a common reoccurring event in literature, whether it be a character trying to escape someone else’s power, gain power for themselves, or both. Macbeth from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is one such character. Macbeth’s struggle to gain power is the main focus of the play and the event that defines his character.

            The first instance when Macbeth shows his intention for power is when he and his wife plot to kill the present King of Scotland, King Duncan, so that Macbeth can be king. They invite the King to their house and Macbeth stabs him to death that night and frames the servants, who he then also kills to make sure his bloody acts aren’t found out.  Now that he is King and has gained all the power, one would think that he would stop the murder acts. However, now that he has power, he is so paranoid about losing it, that he continues with the murdering.

            In order to maintain his power, he wants to kill everyone who could potentially take his thrown away from him. The power has gone to his head so much that he orders his best friend Banquo and Banquo’s son Fleance to be killed. He doesn’t stop there, he finds out that Macduff, a Scottish noble, is against him, and orders him and his entire family to be killed. Macduff is gone when the hitmen arrive, so his entire family is killed. Now, he’s committing cruel acts that don’t have anything to do with maintaining power. For instance, there was no need to kill Macduff’s family, but Macbeth goes through with it anyway, to show his power.

            This constant struggle for Macbeth’s power enhances the meaning of the work, because every time Macbeth commits an act that has to do with guarding his power or getting more power, we can see the effect it has on him and his wife. The entire play is based on the how the effects of his greed lead to his downfall. The cruel acts cause his wife, Lady Macbeth, to go insane and kill herself, and cause Macbeth to go insane as well and be defeated and beheaded in the end.

            Overall, Macbeth’s struggle for power is what defines his character and leads to his eventual death. Since this was the main focus of the play, it seems to show that nothing good can come of greed for power. 

Response to Course Material 10/7/12

Over the course of the last few weeks, much of the time was spent learning about the different literary periods, critical lenses, and the Bible and mythology. While it involved a lot of note taking, I really appreciated it, especially the part about the Bible. I never really understood the allusions to the Bible in the literature we read in the past years, like in Macbeth or Beowulf, because I was unclear of the stories in the Bible, so covering that really helped clear the stories up and now I think I can understand many more allusions, especially since many of the novels and pieces of literature contain allusions that are related to the Bible in one way or the other. I also really found the mythology information very relevant because much of the older literature such as works from the classical era have characters that are Greek and Roman Gods, and I was unfamiliar with their story and characterization, so therefore sometimes it was hard to keep up with parts of the story. Now, with all this information to reference, I feel like I can analyze the literature much better for allusions and understanding in general.

            Last week we finished reading The American Dream and initially I thought the play seemed pretty plain, with no sort of rhyme or reason to it. It seemed pointless, which essentially was the point of the works written in that period of “the theatre of the absurd.” However, after reading the handouts we received about the play and analyzing the play on a closer level, I’ve realized that the play is actually an allegory of “The American Dream” and it portrays the shift from the old American dream (represented by Grandma) to the new American Dream (represented by the Young Man). Reading this play helped me practice the skills for analyzing literature and helped me realize that while sometimes something may not seem important, looking closer, it might have a deeper meaning. 

Close Reading #1

The article I read was a commentary in the New York Times. The article, by Diane Ackerman, is called “Underwater, Feeling Our Ocean Origins.”  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/underwater-feeling-our-ocean-origins/

            This commentary is written about an experience of scuba diving and the revelation it caused in the thought process of the author. The vivid imagery, powerful and concrete words, and reoccurring figurative language make the article interesting to read and really help the author convey her experience.

            One of the first aspects I noticed about this article was how descriptive it was. The phrases that she used to describe the feeling of being underwater and to describe the underwater beauty really painted a picture in my mind and made me feel as if I was experiencing what she had experienced. Sentences such as “After a 10-minute swim, we suddenly came to a maze of underwater canyons thick with enormous sponges and coral fans, around which schools of circus-colored fish zigzagged. Plump purple sea pens with feathery quills stood in sand inkwells” describes the atmosphere of underwater in the ocean and helps the reader to visualize the vibrant colors of the fish and the sponges. The sentence “My guide’s eyes questioned me through the fishbowl of his face mask” especially stuck out to me because not only does she describe the face mask, she uses ‘fishbowl,’ a term relating to fish and water, which is the general context of this story. The amount of detail that goes into the descriptions is intentional because it’s the author’s way of allowing the reader to be submerged in the ocean alongside her as she goes through the scuba-diving experience.

            Ackerman’s diction, which goes hand in hand with her imagery, is also one of the strengths of the article. She uses concrete words such as “spellbound” to indicate that not only is she happy, but that she’s overwhelmed with happiness and frozen for the moment because she’s trying to take it all in. The connotation of that one word brings the idea of ‘breathtaking’ and it seems that Ackerman uses this word because of its connotation and association with that idea. Another word that caught my attention is “cell-tickling” because this word is used to describe a feeling and is great example of a concrete word. It is a very specific word that cannot really be used in many circumstances, so the fact that it was used here, helps emphasize that the feeling wasn’t one that people normally feel. “Hooked” is also used in the article to describe the feeling of being drawn to something, however instead of saying that she uses the word “hooked” because she is sticking with the theme of fish and water, and hook is a common term used water activities such as fishing. In reading the article, I can see that many of the words were chosen carefully to create the right effect in the reader.

            Figurative language is found throughout the article most commonly in the form of a simile or a metaphor. In using these comparisons, the Ackerman is trying to help the reader understand and experience the same thing that she saw and felt because she knows that many of the readers, such as myself, haven’t been scuba diving. Therefore, she is using the figurative language to connect with the audience and show them what they couldn’t see before. When she says the simile, “On a coral butte just in front of us, a dark sea whip jutted out between the canyon walls, its Medusa-like hair straggling in the current. I laughed. That sea whip’s hair is just like my own” it does multiple things. First, it illustrates to the reader what a sea whip looks like by comparing it to the common Greek reference of Medusa’s hair. She uses a common Greek reference like that because she knows that many of the readers will know what she is talking about. Secondly, she compares the sea whip’s hair to her own, which helps the audience visualize what she looks like. In doing so, she not only compares her hair to the sea whip, but she also compares her hair to Medusa’s creating an image of a wild, tangled mess. A metaphor she uses is “The simple, stupefying truth that, as a woman, I am a minute ocean, in the dark tropic of whose womb eggs lay coded as roe, floating in the sea that wet-nursed us all…” In saying this, the entire article comes together in that she’s comparing herself, and every other woman, to an ocean. This quote shows that the entire article was to describe this metaphor, that as the fish and creatures lived and thrived in the ocean, the eggs in the female live and thrive in the womb. This metaphor also connects and makes sense of the title “Underwater, Feeling Our Ocean Origins.” Our ocean origin being that every person started out living and thriving in the womb of their mother, as the fish live and thrive in the ocean.

            Analyzing the imagery, diction, and figurative language in the article creates much more meaning because it helps the reader to understand the intent of the author and the reason behind the word choice, descriptions, and comparisons. Initially looking at the article, it seemed like a quick commentary about an experience of scuba-diving, just an easy story to read.  However, after analyzing the various literary factors, I realized the entire point of the story was to make the unlikely connection between the ocean and a woman. Ackerman did a wonderful job displaying these literary elements.

            

Open Prompt 1

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

            Shakespeare’s characters Romeo and Juliet in his play Romeo and Juliet both face the internal war of deciding between passion for each other or responsibility to their family.  Romeo’s family, the Montagues, and Juliet’s family, the Capulets, have been in a long standing feud that affects the entire city of Verona because of the constant duels and deaths between the families. It is in this atmosphere that Romeo and Juliet’s secret forbidden love begins to blossom and the war between passion and responsibility begins. The war has many battles in that there are many situations where both Romeo and Juliet have to decide which side to take, passion or family responsibility?

            Once Romeo and Juliet realize they are in love with someone from the house of their family’s enemy, they both are incredibly shocked and upset. It causes both of the characters distress to have gone against their family and they are both conflicted with what to do. This is the first time they face the decision of choosing passion over their responsibility to family. At this point, passion wins out, and Romeo and Juliet secretly get married, complicating the plot even more due to the secrecy.

Soon, Tybalt and Romeo meet and Tybalt wants to fight causing Romeo to again have to make a decision between passion or responsibility. Tybalt is now Romeo’s family member, although it isn’t known to anyone yet. According to his family’s expectations, he needs to fight Tybalt because he is part of the enemy family. But, if he did fight Tybalt, it would hurt his Juliet’s feelings because that is her family. Again, passion wins out and Romeo tries to avoid a fight with his new relative Tybalt.  

Julie hears later that Romeo has killed one of her family members and has to decide between her love for Romeo or her family. If she picks love, she would forgive Romeo, but if she picks her responsibility to her family, she would leave him for committing this act against her family. Passion wins out yet again as Juliet makes the difficult decision and picks Romeo and therefore decides to forgive him.

As the play goes on, the two characters continue to face many situations where they have to decide whether to choose their love for one another or their family. Each time, passion wins out, which seems to show that in conflicts where passion is one option, it always wins. Having the characters go through this type of internal conflict time and time again builds up suspense in the audience as they are watching the play, making them wonder if the characters will continue to choose passion over responsibility, or if they finally had enough. Also, it constantly reminds the audience of the difficult decision and the sacrifices Romeo and Juliet had to face in order to make their marriage and love work and it really emphasizes their love for each other. In conclusion, the famous tragic lovers Romeo and Juliet go through the classic war between passion and responsibility found in many classical pieces of literature. 

Response to Course Materials 9/9/12

During the first week of school, we worked on memorizing the literary terms for our quiz on Friday. At first, I thought I could analyze literature well, because I thought I knew everything I had to look for, like diction, sentence structure, imagery; basically all the terms we had learned up until now. I hadn’t realized there were still so many terms and techniques that writers used that we hadn’t been exposed to yet. After looking at all the literary terms we needed to learn for the test, I realized there was a lot more to sentence structure than I had originally thought. Words such as anadiplosis, anaphora, antistrophe, and chiasmus had never come across in my reading or vocabulary before. While I had seen sentence structure like that before, I had never known that it was a literary technique. But after understanding what these words meant, I realized that many of the books and movies that I have seen and read employ these strategies to draw attention to those sentences.

For example, in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, the famous quote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” uses the antistrophe technique because of the repetition of “of times” at the end and the anaphora technique because of the repetition of “it was” at the beginning of the two phrases. Before understanding these terms, I would have never caught the significance of the sentence structure of this sentence. Another example is the song “Life is Wonderful” by Jason Mraz, his lyrics “it takes an egg to make a hen/ it takes a hen to make an egg” is a great example of anaphora because both phrases start with “it takes.” It is also an example of chiasmus because the phrases have reversed the order of the words. Before being able to understand and apply these words, sentence structure like this, would have gone right by me. But now, especially after we work with these words and techniques more, I can distinguish the different literary devices. This will help me not only understand an author’s writing and style better, but it will help me when I am analyzing literature in the AP Exam. 

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" Analysis

            The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing by Michael Harvey is a great little guide that has many helpful tips on how to improve writing.  After reading David Sedaris’ excerpt from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day, I could see that many of the tips and ideas mentioned in the guide were displayed in Sedaris’ writing.

            First and foremost, Nuts and Bolts talks about concision and clarity. The slogan used in Nuts and Bolts throughout the chapter for concision is “cut the fat!” (Harvey 9). The idea is to cut down on the wordiness so the main idea of the sentence or paragraph is easy to understand. Sedaris employs this strategy throughout his essay by using simple sentences such as “I’ve moved to Paris with hopes of learning the language” (Sedaris 11).  This sentence is short and easy to understand because there are no excess words. Nuts and Bolts also says “to write clearly, begin by making your narrative’s characters the subjects of sentences, and their actions and identities the predicates” (Harvey 10). In other words, use active voice. Sedaris does a pretty good job with this throughout the essay, especially when he introduces each of the characters. For example, to describe the teacher, he says “The teacher licked her lips…” (Sedaris 12). The subject of the sentence is the teacher and her action of licking her lips is the predicate. But, he does go against this rule occasionally by using passive voice like when he says “Vacations were recounted, and questions were raised…” (Sedaris 11). In general though, “Me Talk Pretty” is written in active voice, just like Nuts and Bolts wants it to be.  

            While most of the essay is clear, multiple times in his writing, Sedaris uses French words and broken and run-on sentences. For example, the teacher says “‘Even a fiuscrzsa ticiwelmun knows that a typewriter is feminine’” (Sedaris 13). The use of the French words confuses the reader because, unless they know French, they won’t know the meaning of the words. Another example of unclear writing is “‘That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. Much work and someday you talk pretty. People start love you soon. Maybe tomorrow, okay’” (Sedaris 14). The English is broken, so obviously the writing is harder to understand. However, while these examples go against the ideas in Nuts and Bolts, Sedaris uses them on purpose to emphasize the point of his essay. This essay is talking about learning a different language and how hard it is to overcome a language barrier, so the broken English and the French words are added in to emphasize that overall point of the essay. Therefore, I don’t think they take away from the overall clearness of the writing. While most of the essay steers clear of run-on, Sedaris does have the occasional lapse. For instance, in just the second sentence of the essay, he says “After paying my tuition, I was issued a student ID, which allows me a discounted entry fee at movie theaters, puppet shows, and Festyland, a far-flung amusement park that advertises with billboards picturing a cartoon stegosaurus sitting in a canoe and eating what appears to be a ham sandwich” (Sedaris 11). This sentence is describing some benefits of being a college student, but the huge list of activities and descriptions make the sentence hard to follow. It would have been much clearer if he broke it up into two separate sentences. Other than these specific instances, Sedaris’ writing is concise and clear according to the criteria in Nuts and Bolts.

            A tip in Nuts and Bolts for the flow of the passage is to “use consistent characters” and “control how your reader moves from one character to the next” (Harvey 23). Sedaris follows this tip exactly when he introduces his classmates. He starts out describing the two Polish Annas, then Carlos the Argentinian, then a Yugoslav girl, and lastly the teacher (Sedaris 12). He finishes one description before he starts the next, and describes all the classmates in turn, so the reader doesn’t get confused. Sedaris also uses introductory phrases at the beginning of his sentences just like Nuts and Bolts advises to provide some a smooth transition into the sentence. This happens when Sedaris says “Unlike the French class I had taken in New York, here there was no sense of competition” (Sedaris 14). The first part of the sentence provides some extra information for the reader. These examples are perfect to show how a piece of writing can flow smoothly.  

            Harvey also details some techniques to help make the writing more graceful. One of the techniques is parallelism and the book says it “makes writing more comprehensible, graceful, and memorable” (Harvey 50). Specifically the book talks about the tricolon, a type of parallelism. The book says “lists tend to feel balanced and complete when they contain three items,” (Harvey 53). This is present in “Me Talk Pretty One Day” multiple times. Sedaris uses a tricolon when he describes his classmates as “young, attractive, and well-dressed” (Sedaris 11) and when he says “stopping for coffee, asking directions, depositing money in my bank account” (Sedaris 14). These little rhetoric devices are what make the writing as graceful as it is.

            Even though Sedaris sometimes strays from the path, the majority of “Me Talk Pretty One Day” follows the various techniques outlined in The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” is concise, clear, graceful, and flows well, all of which are necessities of a good piece of writing. After the analysis, it is evident that Sedaris wrote clearly and effectively in his essay. 

Poetry Study Goals

-Review the different forms of poetry like an ode, sonnet, lyric, etc.

-Become more familiar with different rhythm schemes and how to distinguish them such as iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter.

-Learn more terms like the types of literary devices or types of rhyme, like cacophony, apostrophe, masculine rhyme, or feminine rhyme.

-Try to understand the main idea of the poem so it’s easier to find the theme.

-Try to read the poem slower, so it’s easier to understand.

After doing the practice questions, I realized that many of the questions are technical questions about the type of poem, how the poem is structured, what types of literary devices are used, etc. It’s just as important to be able to identify these characteristics as it was to understand the poem. I wasn’t very familiar with the technical wordings for the types of rhyme, rhythm, and literary devices, so brushing up on those terms is definitely important. Also, the poems were tricky to understand when just reading it through quickly, so I think reading it slower will make it easier to understand.

AP English Diagnostic Test

The set-up of the test surprised me, because I had originally thought that there would be more multiple choice questions and that instead of reading and analyzing passages and then answering questions about them, we would be questioned on the books we read in class this year. Instead, most of the exam involves us analyzing the passages given in the exam, using the methods we will have learned this year.  While surprising, I found out that I liked this approach because it didn’t require any kind of memorization. It just basically tests your understanding and how well you can analyze the different types of literature, such as poetry. In general, this section went alright, but I realized that some of the questions I got wrong had more to do with the words they used in the question instead of misunderstanding the passage. Some of the questions and answer choices used words that aren’t really in my basic vocabulary, and while I have heard them used, I wasn’t confident in their meaning and therefore had some difficulty picking an answer. Now, broadening my vocabulary is a goal I have to work on for the year. The essay portion of the test was an unwelcome surprise because I hadn’t realized there would be that many essays. After completing the essays, I realized that I knew more than I thought I did which made me feel more confident. However, I definitely need to learn much more on analyzing literature, especially for the poetry sections. Also, out of the entire list of books given for reference in the 3^rd essay section, I had only read 3 books, which severely limited my essay options. Hopefully by the end of the year, I will have read many more books on that list, so I can have more options for topics for my essay.  Overall, for a diagnostic test, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and therefore has given me more confidence for the class.