Jessica

I feel that Essay 1 was my most successful assignment because it was easier compared to the other essays. In Essay 3, I had a hard time finding a poem that I liked and spent a lot of time searching for a picture. The most frustrating part was finally finding a picture I liked but forgetting to save the link. Also, I misunderstood the meaning of the poem. In Essay 2, I felt confused about how to approach the assignment, and for Essay 4, I started it late, so I didn’t do well on it. I think I could do better on essay 2. I will try to do the essay early, not start my essay at the end of the day. I will look at the easy 2 directions carefully. Also, I will write my essay more clearly by planning out my ideas in advance and supporting them with specific examples. This will improve and add detail to my essay. This semester I learn that I need to write my essays longer and with more thorough justifications. I also came to understand how crucial it is to thoroughly read the directions in order to adhere to the assignment’s criteria and prevent confusion. I also discovered how crucial time management is. I can avoid rushing near the deadline and give myself more time to plan, write, and revise if I begin my work earlier. I’ll be able to produce better essays in the future because to this.

My thesis statement is the belief that a woman’s value is correlated with her physical attractiveness is reinforced by fairy tales, which also uphold traditional gender roles and beauty standards. List A, “Experts Say Fairy Tales Not So Happy Ever After” by Liz Grauerholtz stood out for its discussion on how fairy tales shape children’s perceptions of beauty and morality. Grauerholtz emphasizes how these stories associate physical attractiveness with goodness and success while linking unattractiveness with evil, creating harmful stereotypes. This resonates with the challenges young girls face in balancing societal beauty pressures with modern ideals of independence and confidence. List B, “The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children’s Fairy Tales” by Lori Baker-Sperry and Liz Grauerholtz was fascinating for its analysis of how fairy tales like “Cinderella” and “Snow White”was intriguing because it examined how beauty is emphasized as being essential to a woman’s worth in fairy tales like “Cinderella” and “Snow White.” By placing more value on beauty than other attributes, this emphasis limits women’s prospects and upholds patriarchal systems. 

Flannery O’Connor’s article “On Her Own Work,” included in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” illuminates several important points that enhance the reader’s understanding. One specific idea is suspense, which is carefully developed through character interactions and a intense mood. This slow buildup of tension creates a sense of inevitable outcome that culminates in the pivotal encounter with the Misfit. O’Connor also highlights the complexity of her characters, especially the grandmother, who embodies contradictions. Her selfishness contrasts sharply with her vulnerable moments, making her both relatable and unsettling. The theme of moral ambiguity emerges as the Misfit’s philosophical beliefs challenge simplistic notions of good and evil. Additionally, O’Connor employs Southern Gothic influences, exploring complex themes like violence and redemption through grotesque characters and dark humor. The symbolic significance of objects and settings further enriches the story’s examination of identity and the search for meaning. These insights draw the reader deeper into the narrative.

After the past two weeks, I think my ability to read poetry has improved a lot than before. I am able to have a deeper understanding of the words or sentences in the poem. This helped me to understand what the poem, “Oedipus the King”, is talking about. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot exemplifies the loneliness and existential dread that can resemble Oedipus’s voyage. As Oedipus faces his destiny and the revelations of his past, so too does Prufrock struggle with identity and fears. Prufrock’s hesitation and contemplation mirror Oedipus’s terrible discovery of his previous deeds, as both works explore the human condition. Just as Sophocles uses tragic foreshadowing and dramatic irony, Eliot uses vivid imagery and stream-of-consciousness to deepen emotional depth. Similar to Prufrock’s sense of alienation in a busy world, Oedipus experiences growing solitude as he learns difficult realities about who he is and the repercussions of his choices. This comprehension of the emotional facets of poetry will improve my reading of Oedipus the King by enabling me to more fully appreciate the subtleties of subject and character.

In writing Essay 1, I realized that my Essay 1 is kind of short. My response to the student sample was primarily based on what I observed, and I followed the assignment instructions closely to identify what the student sample essay  might have missed. However, I struggled to find additional points to elaborate on, which resulted in a less developed argument. I noticed that while I wrote extensively in the second paragraph, the first and third paragraphs were quite brief. This imbalance made my essay feel incomplete. I also overlooked the proper format for my Works Cited page; I didn’t include a hanging indentation, which I now understand is an important formatting detail. Through this experience, I plan to take more time during the drafting process to expand my ideas, and ensure each paragraph is fully developed for my future essay and add a hanging indentation for the works cited.  

I will write about wealth inequality and I will give this essay title called “the wealth inequality of the word”. In this essay, “lesson”, by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore asks a group of children if they know what money is like and says this world is made of wealth inequality. She also says they are poor and live in the slums. Sylvia personally doesn’t agree with her until they go to the fifth Avenue. They see the price of a hand-crafted sailboat of fiberglass through the window of a toy store and that cost one thousand one hundred ninety five dollars. When she saw this price she was very shocked and couldn’t believe this sailboat cost that much. Her sailboat is just fifty cents, she doesn’t believe people will buy that expensive sailboat and believe this sailboat should have a motor or other special on it. Unfortunately, there was nothing special on this sailboat, just a handmade sailboat. There is a big gap between the poor and the rich. They don’t care how much this thing is worth,because they can afford it. For low income people like Sylvia won’t spend that much on a sailboat. Even if she has the money, she will spend this money on other places, but it is likely that she still couldn’t afford it with her savings. When Miss Bambara tells them to go inside the store everyone stops moving including her. This made her very angry because she felt that this was not like usual self where she could go wherever she wanted. She thought in her mind but her body just can’t move forward. No one moves because they feel the inequality between poor and rich, they know they can’t afford anything in this store. Finally they followed Miss Moore into this […]