Dawnmarie Delfino

The feeling of fear when reading “Where Are You Going, “Where Have You Been?” is different from watching a scary movie. When reading, the fear comes from imagining the scenes in your mind, which can feel more personal and intense. In contrast, watching a movie provides a visual experience that can be more immediate and intense because you see everything happening. So, while both can be scary, the way fear is felt is different; in reading, it’s in your mind, and in watching, it’s through what you see on the screen. I personally DO NOT like horror movies at all!! They have always given me horrible nightmares. Plus, I don’t find it at all interesting. Everyone, in my family loves to watch these horror movies and movies which have lots of killing and blood etc. I don’t like to watch to many movies like this. I like true stories; trues stories always make me feel engaged and interested.

What work do you feel was most successful and why? The work that was most successful to me was “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.” I feel this story was my first essay experience after many years of not being in school.  I loved the short story, and I learned a lot being able to revise it a few times. Also, being able to analyze the story and take notice of what is really going on in the story. I learned how to take the story apart. I feel that skill is very valuable piece that I learned. On what work do you feel you could have done better? The work I feel I could have done better on was my Essay #3 “The Intricate Process of Decoding Poetry”.  I find it a bit challenging to piece the essay all together.  But as I have found out, practice does make perfect.  Each time I feel more confident in my writing abilities. What specific skills developed in this class that might be relevant to real world experiences? The skill that I feel I developed in this class was the way to look at a reading and analyze it. How to take the story apart, t0 uncover what is really going on in the story.  I learned the different writing styles of the authors and how to interpret what they are trying to say. This really helps when you’re getting ready to write your essay.  

I do have one personal experience that is echoed in the house on Mango Street, but not one of the vignettes.  My personal experience is remembering how many times we moved! Each time we moved the places got a bit better. I remember how I hated to move. Till one day, my dad had bought some scratch off lottery tickets, and he asked my little sister to scratch it off. As my little sister was scratching off the lottery ticket my father started to scream, we have a winner here!!! We all had to go into the city to collect the prize, it was so exciting.  I had to be 10 years old at that time and my brother and sister were 2 and 6 years old.  Now that my parents won the NYC Lottery, they finally got to buy a real house with stairs inside and bedrooms for all of us. We even had a big back yard and a garage to keep the car. My parents had to add their personal touches to the house, but it was so nice and big.  We didn’t have to worry about how much noise we made, or if we would have enough water to take a shower.  Nobody was banging on the ceiling with a broom stick to tell us to lower our voices or tv.  We finally had that house of ours dreams and we never moved again.

Raymond Carver and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have very different writing styles.  In “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver is simple and concise.  He uses short sentences and not many words to show how the main character feels and how people interact.  For example, “She wanted to talk. They talked. He asked her to send him a tape and tell him about her life. She did this. This shows how simple, short, and concise his sentences are. In ‘The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez his writing style is very magical. His style blends elements of fantasy or myth. He has a rich, imaginative style, drawing the reader into surreal and enchanting places. For example, “The first children who saw the dark and slinky bulge approaching through the sea let themselves think it was an enemy ship. Then they saw it had no fags or masts and they thought it was a whale. But when it washed up on the beach, they removed the clumps of seaweed, the jellyfish tentacles, and the remains of fish and flotsam, and only then did they see that it was a drowned man. This writing style evokes a sense of wonder and anticipation as the villagers discover the mysterious figure washed up ashore. Marquez uses descriptive language and imagery.

As a little girl and even a bit older, I’ve always loved fairy tales. It takes us on a magic carpet ride and makes us think wow I wish I was the princess, and the handsome prince will save me.  The princess always gets her man, and the endings are always happy, well at least the poems I have read. The original Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales aim to teach important morals about life, and I enjoy reading them. think I will be writing my research paper about how fairytales often show that parents are missing in stories like “Snow White” and “Hansel and Gretel”. This shows situations where parents are not there when they are really needed.  I want to explore the psychological reasons behind this in fairytales.  While I search for a good article to support my ideas on the BMCC database, I am also thinking about using another fairytale to strengthen my arguments.

Had I not read the article prior to the story, I believe I would have overlooked the significance of the parents’ roles and their actions within the narrative. I felt they were hardly mentioned, and they seemed to be very unassertive when it came to disciplining their children. The father also didn’t do much or say much, even when they were dealing with the misfit. The mother seemed to be uninvolved and passive with her children as well. The article didn’t talk about the grandmother’s self-centered behavior.  She was more concerned about her own desires, like finding a house from her past, than with the safety of her family. By the grandmother not using a road map for directions to find this house from her past, led to the car accident. She seemed more worried about getting attention for herself, then checking on her family after the car crash. I feel if I hadn’t read the article prior to reading the story I might have missed how the grandmother’s behavior changes. She comes across as selfish at the beginning, but by the end of the story she shows a sense of concern and compassion.

I would rate my ability to read and understand Oedipus the King a 6/10 because I*m still getting a bit confused on how the play was worded. I feel the beginning of the play was much easier to understand then the end.  I feel I was able to read the play and understood parts of it but others not so much.  If it weren’t for Professor Conway stopping us and going thru the lines and explaining what was happening, I wouldn’t have been able to break it down that way on my own.  There is a much deeper meaning to this play and I’m glad she stopped us; I enjoyed it better!!!  If I had to choose a character to portray, I would choose Creon, because he seemed to appreciate what he had, unlike Oedipus who didn’t. At least Creon seemed happy with what he had, and I would rather live my life like that.

After the past two weeks, on a scale from one to ten, I would rate my ability to read poetry a six. I always loved poetry, but it’s always been challenge for me to understand at times. When I read some poetry, I grasp it right away.  At other times, I just don’t get what the poet is trying to convey.  During the past 2 weeks, I enjoyed reading poetry in class with the professor.  I like the way we break it down.  This is a great way to better understand the poem.  I enjoyed the poem “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Breaking it down in class help me see things I wouldn’t have noticed, helping me to better understand and think about what the poet is trying to convey.  I think I learned how to break the poem down, but I think I still need lots more work in this area.

“Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.” by Boris Pasternak Literature reveals extraordinary qualities in ordinary people and expresses them uniquely, using everyday language. The poet Pasternak understood the challenges of balancing personal desires of a traditional community, particularly among the repressive atmosphere of the Soviet Union. This quote embodies my story “Another evening at the club” by Alifa Rifaat showing how a young woman has to except her parents arranging her marriage to an older man.  She has to be submissive to him. She has no freedom to do as she pleases. She even has to be submissive to her dad by listening to whatever he advises her to do. She is a young girl who was in school still, but her dad tells her she won’t be going to school any longer waiting for the day she gets married.

The quote I have chosen is by Boris Pasternak it states “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.  This quote is perfect for my story choice because it does tell us something extraordinary about ordinary people. “Another Evening at the Club” employs ordinary words to unveil the extraordinary inner struggles of a middle-aged woman.  A woman who has needs, and personal desires. Desires that she really isn’t allowed to even speak about. There are societal constraints, and longing for personal fulfillment. This story uncovers how women had to listen to the man of the house, back in those days. Men are the head of the household.  The women had to listen to their husbands. They didn’t have their own independence. They wanted their independence back. Literature is an art, it helps us to discover a whole new world thru their words.

What is ineffective about this sentence? What I think is ineffective about this sentence is, sentence doesn’t really show what the story is about.  It’s too general and could be about any story.  The sentence lacks the clarity and detail needed to capture the essence of the story.  It fails to introduce the main characters by name or provide any description of their complexities, leaving the readers questioning who the intricate character is and what aspects of the human condition are being explored.  Additionally, the use of the word “compelling” is subjective and unnecessary. This word is just someone’s opinion and shouldn’t be used at the beginning of a sentence. How might you rewrite this sentence it in a way that offers specific details to improve the clarity and detail would rewrite the sentence to include character names, describe their complexities, specify the aspects of the human condition being examined, and avoid subjective terms like “compelling”.

I would title this story “The Harsh Realities of Life”.  Miss Moore was teaching life lessons to these kids in the neighborhood.  They all come from different backgrounds, and they all live in Harlem.  Silivia being the leader of the friend group, she seemed confident in her surroundings before Miss Moore started showing them different things in life. She taught them about money. What money can buy.  She took them on trips to different places other than Harlem where they lived.  When they realized how other people live, well Silivia felt ashamed when she couldn’t afford what she wanted to buy.  She has always been really tough and sarcastic, but now she wasn’t the leader. She always wanted to do what she wanted to do, and nobody was going to tell her any different.  Maybe her home life wasn’t the best, and that’s the way she dealt with it.  Miss Moore was trying to show them the situation they were living in, and that you don’t have to stay in that situation if you get your education and work really hard the sky is the limit.

In the narration of “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, I personally relate to the young narrator because, I decided as a young adult that I wanted to convert to Christianity (Born again Christian) in a Pentecostal church. This church was very lively. It had a live band, the words to the songs were on a large screen so that everyone could sing along. Everyone would raise their hands and shout to the Lord, Praise you, Lord! I had never experienced this kind 0f church. It was very different. At the end of the sermon, the Pastor would say, won’t you come? won’t you come to Jesus?  This is where I really relate to that 12-year-old boy, because I felt the same way he did. Everyone was going up to the alter and I just sat there. Not knowing how I was feeling about coming to Jesus in this way. I think new things and different things make us have questions and make us scared, even as young adults..