Sanaya Kosanovich

The work that I feel was most successful was the discussion boards. I believe that they helped me situate myself when I needed to write essays.  The discussion boards helped me learn more because I was reading other classmates’ opinions and stories. With that said, I think I did really well on my essays because of the development of the discussion boards. The work I feel I could have done better was my final essay. I feel like I could have done better in my transitioning from paragraphs. The skills I developed in class that I can use in real life are how to properly reply to others’ inputs. I also learned how to dissect poems, texts, and novels. I learned how to properly input quotes into my writing and how to introduce them to readers. I learned that I need to question every paragraph in the readings in order to understand them.

The vignette that stood out to me was, “My Name.” This vignette stood out to me because I have always struggled with liking my last name. My last name is from my Dad, who I have never had a great relationship with. Unfortunately, I have always longed for the name of the family I am always around. Sometimes I feel left out because I am the only person with this last name. It is hard to resonate with my name because of this. When it was brought out that she was bullied or people would say it incorrectly, I went through the same thing at school. Many people would purposely say my name incorrectly to spite me and it was very upsetting because I already didn’t have a great relationship with my name. I have learned from my mom that I should embrace my name no matter what and that’s why this vignette stood out to me.

The writing style of Raymond Carver is very simple and blunt. He says exactly what is going on and you do not have to wonder. In the very first few sentences, he explains that a blind man was “on his way to spend the night. His wife died. So he was visiting the dead wife’s relatives in Connecticut.” As shown here, he leaves no detail out. However in “Araby” by James Joyce, he sets the scenery and leaves the suspense for his readers. He is very descriptive in his imagery as he explains the “uninhabited house of two stories stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbors in a square ground.” James’ attention to detail is a huge contrast to Raymond’s style of writing. Until James explained the character had “never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” The readers weren’t completely sure if he knew this woman he seemed to be so fond of. Unlike Raymond, who told us from the beginning what the mood between of characters and tone was.

In watching a terrifying movie, some actions can be responded to, like jumpscares and screaming. Movies are made for you to jump and get scared. Scary books are made for you just to be nervous about. You cannot be reading a scary book and jump from words, but you can jump from a pop-up of a clown or monster on your screen. Unlike books, movies have eerie music to go along with the story that gets your skin crawling. Books have descriptive words to have you imagine yourself in that scene to feel the fear. I think reading scary books is more imaginative and probably less scary. After watching a scary movie, I am sure everyone has had at least one nightmare about a character from that movie. Reading a book, you can only use your creativity and imagination to see characters. Knowing this in our minds may make the characters less scary in our heads to keep us from scaring ourselves.

My ideas for my research paper are either constructing gender identities in fairy tales or vigilante feminism. This topic interests me because it is something that has always bothered me since I could remember. I was the kind of child to ask why the prince saved her or why couldn’t the princess be the hero. Gender roles are very set in the world today and it is because of the way we are brought up and taught as kids. If the only stories we are reading are the ones where the women is getting saved then that is what we will expect. If we only read stories where women are stay-at-home mothers who do not get to have any fun… then that is what is to be expected. I have found two very great articles for my essay that I will be using to help prove my case. This is a topic that should be written about more!

One of the specific ideas that I came across in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” that I would have missed if I had not read the article, “Flannery O’Connor On Writing” was the gesture. I knew that this scene in the story was deeper than I thought it was. At first, I thought she said that just because she was scared. Although, after reading the article I am aware that she said this because she felt she was responsible for the Misfit. Also, this scene could’ve been a turning point for the Misfit. After reading the article it is possible that he will seek out to be the prophet he was made to be and it was because of that moment with the grandma. I think these points definitely make sense looking back at the story. Although, I would have never thought of this myself. The article gave me good insight into this moment. 

I would rate my ability to read and understand Oedipus the King, as mildly efficient. I understood the beginning very easily, but the ending got very confusing. I did enjoy reading the play because it is different and interesting. However, the elements of Oedipus towards the end were very confusing. This was confusing because the lines got shorter and harder to comprehend. When we were in class and we broke down the lines, understanding every word and part of the lines helped with my confusion. If I could pick a character to portray if I had to be in a production of the play, I would be Creon. I would choose him because he seemed content with what he had. Unlike Oedipus, who was very short-tempered and oblivious to his own murder. I think the best character was Creon, even if I had to become King, I would still choose Creon. He would be a good leader and be happy.

  I don’t think I have ever had a problem with reading poetry. I have always loved poetry, it is something near and dear to me and I enjoy writing it myself. In the past two weeks, I think my ability to read poetry has gotten better so far. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” poem is an example of a poem that was harder to understand at first, but I got it later after discussing it. The poem, “My Last Duchess,” was very confusing at first, but after the video we watched in class and the discussion, I can understand now. Although poems seem to be hard to understand at first, sometimes the meaning is easier than we think. Poems are deep, but sometimes the meaning is exactly what it says. I learned this from the poems we have read. There are different ways to dissect a poem. We can break them down and use context clues to help. 

During Covid, the behaviors of the American population that I personally witnessed was a worldwide worry and panic. No one knew how to handle this on their own, so like the people in Oedipus the King, they turned to the “authorities” or government because that’s who is there to protect and keep them safe. In contrast, during covid 19 we had Donald Trump as President. His responses to the pandemic were not very leader like and as we can see Oedipus was not very leader like either. Oedipus had killed his father and married his mother. Knowing this, the chaos that followed the pandemic and the plague in both cases were getting out of hand. In Oedipus the King, we see that he sent his brother in law to figure out a solution, like the government today. The President has people to do things for them in situations like these. The plague and pandemic are similar because it was a dark time for the citizens and for the government as well. No one knew the solution to this new problem.

The quote by Boris Pasternak can be applied to the story, “The Necklace.” The quote states that “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.” The story starts by introducing this ordinary woman who married an ordinary man. Although the story continues to give details about this woman and her thoughts about a rich life. She constantly thought of a perfect life for her, which can be said for many people. That is what makes her ordinary. However, to her surprise, this lavish life costs her ten years of her life from one night of fun. The quote can be applied because this woman was ordinary. Yet the story gives an extraordinary summary of her story and how her dreams got the best of her. This literature quite truly takes an ordinary woman and her story and puts it into extraordinary words to read.

This sentence lacks any personality of the story being talked about in this essay. It is a very general sentence and could be about any story. It also has the word compelling, which I think is an unnecessary addition to the sentence. The sentence doesn’t give the characters’ names or any description of the complexity of the human condition in this story. The sentence also doesn’t give an example or explanation of what the reader is examining about this no named character. Reading this sentence my questions would be; Who is this intricate character? What are we examining? What about the complexity of the human condition? What condition is this? If I were to rewrite this sentence, I would give details to the characters and provide their name. I would describe the human condition and why that is important. I would also take out compelling from the first part because I think that’s an opinion and that should be left up to the reader. In addition, When referring to the author I would use their last name.

A Chat GTP-generated essay on “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara would probably discuss economic disparity, lack of equal opportunity, racial inequity, and other broad social issues. If I were to write an essay about “The Lesson,” I would name it “The Unknown Path.” I would call it this because Miss Moore had taken them on that trip to the store to show them this world beyond the world they live in. This gave them options and things to think about for their sake. Our narrator doesn’t seem fond of Miss. Moore even though most do. In “The Lesson,” Miss Moore takes them to a place where it is challenging to watch, but not touch. I think this is perfect for students because upon getting there, they wanted everything. However, the prices changed their minds. Our narrator seems threatened that everything is out of reach. She missed the lesson, which was one day you could be buying whatever you want. “The Lesson” gives a powerful, “You can do whatever you put your mind to ” mentality.  

In the short story, “Salvation,” The author introduces a naive little boy attempting to make his Aunt happy. In doing so, he loses trust in people and begins questioning what others tell him.  As a child, everything you are told you believe, especially from your loved ones. When I was little, I had a similar experience with religion. My family are Jehovah’s Witnesses and I was raised to not celebrate any holidays. Although, In school, they would have birthday parties and holiday parties. I would always feel left out because I wouldn’t participate. My teacher was told by my Mom to have me sit out. One day at a birthday party during school, a boy came up to me and asked me why I never participated. I had no answer, I had no idea why I wasn’t allowed to celebrate holidays. After that day, I began to question my Mom about this and she gave me answers. Although the answers didn’t make sense to me. In fact, the next birthday in class, I participated. Unfortunately, guilt began to form and I felt the urge to tell my Mom. Instead of telling her, I continued to do the same at every party at school. In “Salvation,” At the end of the story, he feels guilty and feels as if he left everyone down which was exactly how I felt at that age. “Salvation,” is relatable because the way the boy thinks is exactly how I felt as a child, naive and gullible.

“The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is a story that is different, a small town being affected by a washed up corpse that changes the perspective of life for every person that looks at him. Assigning this story first is a decision precisely on the fact that it can broke into different interpretations. It has a larger meaning to it and it can be different meanings to others. In this story, We are introduced to men and women in this small town with a daily routine. This routine was then interrupted by a corpse, who they all began to obsess over. They began to build a story for his life and how he could’ve ended up here. This story is not only different, but very descriptive, which sets a perfect example of setting and imagery that we will be exploring throughout this semester. These quotes are from the overview of the story, “…stories about how one interprets unexpected events in one’s life…” and “…demand that the reader approach interpretation–and the process of reading these stories–with an awareness of the problems of interpretation.” These quotes bring out that the reader is who is breaking down this story and giving it meaning for themselves. In this course, We will be writing essays on stories and using our knowledge on the stories to write. This is why “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” is preparing us to do the same for other stories.