I feel my Essay 4 was the most successful assignment this semester. I was able to create a clear thesis and effectively support it with analysis and evidence. I like argumentative papers more and having a different point of view and perspective on simple ideas. I think I could have done better with my prewriting process and organizing my ideas before diving into the drafting stage. At times, I rushed through brainstorming and outlining, which made it harder to stay on track with my arguments. If I had spent more time refining my outline and clarifying my points, it would have been easier to develop a more cohesive essay. The most important thing I learned this semester was how to integrate sources more effectively into my writing. Through practicing citation and connecting quotes to my argument, I became more comfortable using external material to support my points and enhance my analysis. This skill will definitely help in future writing assignments.
Quayyum Mustapha
I think Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” really shows what Raymond Carver means by “commonplace but precise language.” Carver talks about how everyday things can have a lot of meaning when they’re used carefully, and I see that in Dickinson’s writing. One quote that stands out is, “She rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life to take the honorable work of woman and of wife.” At first, it seems like the woman is just giving up childish things to become a wife, but when you think about it in the context of the poem, it could be seen as sarcastic. The “playthings” she’s leaving behind might actually be important hobbies or relationships, but now she’s expected to put them aside for her role as a wife. The language itself is simple, but there’s a lot of deeper meaning when you look at the situation more closely.
My thesis for the research essay on fairy tales is that, while fairy tales have long been popular for their magical narratives, they can have harmful effects on children by promoting unrealistic expectations, normalizing violence, and reinforcing harmful gender roles and stereotypes. From List A, I would choose the article by Mary Howarth, “Rediscovering the Power of Fairy Tales.” What caught my attention in her article was her discussion of how fairy tales create a “fantastical reality,” where problems seem to be solvable through external forces, such as magic or outside intervention. This concept stood out because it connects directly to the idea that fairy tales can set children up for disappointment in real life when they encounter challenges that can’t be solved with magic/ From List B, I would pick David Isaacs’ article, “Sex and Violence in Fairy Tales.” His point about how fairy tales blur the lines between justice and cruelty really struck me. Isaacs explains that violence is often portrayed as an acceptable solution to problems, which can desensitize children to the real-world consequences of violent actions. This idea helps support the argument in my essay that fairy tales normalize violence and can influence children’s understanding of how to resolve conflicts.
Reading Flannery O’Connor’s The Element of Suspense really helped me catch things in A Good Man Is Hard to Find that I might’ve missed otherwise. For one, O’Connor used suspense to show the grandmother’s hypocrisy and self-deception. The way she manipulated her son and his family to get her way had me unsure of how things would turn out. Her self-righteous attitude was another layer she dressed like a “lady,” but it was just for show because, deep down, she was prejudiced and dishonest. The suspense got even deeper when “The Misfit” showed up after the accident. His talk about religion and his memory lapse about why he was imprisoned brought up some big questions about justice and punishment. It felt like he was wrestling with his own humanity, especially in his conversation with the grandmother. The ending was classic but unexpected, violent, and grotesque. It really hit home how brutal and complicated human nature can be, and how she uses those shocking moments to make her readers think. Without her insights on suspense, I don’t think I would’ve noticed how these elements worked together to make the story so intense.
I think I’ve gotten better at reading poetry over the past two weeks, but I still find myself rereading certain lines to really understand them. The older poems, especially ones like Shakespeare’s, are tricky because they don’t use modern language or sentence structures, which makes them harder to follow. At the same time, I think this has been good practice for reading Oedipus the King. For example, in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun, the line “I have seen roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks” doesn’t flow like modern writing. You have to slow down and really think about what it’s saying. Oedipus the King has a similar style, with complex sentence structures and formal language, so reading poetry like this has helped me get used to paying closer attention to every word.
When I worked on Essay 1, I realized I struggled a lot with balancing my analysis and just retelling the story. I kept catching myself summarizing instead of digging deeper into how things connected to my thesis, which made my argument feel weaker. Using pre-writing really helped me organize my ideas and get a draft going, but I think I got too stuck on following my outline exactly. Because of that, I ended up leaving out a few ideas that could have made my essay stronger. Another thing I noticed was that my thesis didn’t stay super clear throughout the essay. Sometimes, my points felt more like they were repeating details from the text instead of directly supporting my argument. What I learned is how important it is to stay focused on my main point and make sure everything I include connects back to it. It also showed me that being flexible with my outline can help me add better ideas as I go.
If I were to write an essay about The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara without focusing on the socio-economic stuff, I’d probably explore the symbolism in the story. For example, the sailboat at the toy store really stood out. It’s priced at $1,195, which shocks Sylvia so much she has to reread the price tag. Her reaction says a lot about her view on money and what it represents in her world. The boat could symbolize the gap between different lifestyles—who can afford something like that and who can’t even imagine it. It also ties into how Sylvia sees wealth and what it means to her. For a title, I’d keep it simple, like “The Power of Symbolism in The Lesson.”
The prewriting assignment is about analyzing a sample essay to see if the writer followed the guidelines for creating a strong essay. First, we read The Most Handsome Drowned Man by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and an analysis of it by Dean Rader. Then, we go through some PowerPoints, one about thesis statements and another on how to include quotes in a literary essay, which help us learn how to structure essay paragraphs. There’s also a video on formatting and an MLA citation guide to make sure we know how to format and cite sources correctly. Once we’ve gone through all that, we look at the sample essay and check if it follows the rules we’ve learned. The whole point of this is to teach us how to write better essays by understanding these key elements.
