So to be completely transparent, I feel in the beginning to the middle of the semester my progress was okay. I struggled a little with quizzes mostly due to rushing because as a single mother of two under seven I never have a clear full alone time to do work(there is always a need to be be fulfilled that my children feel as if its dire). With all of that aside I still feel like I was getting things done. I started to slip off when my youngest child got sick and then my mother got very ill behind her so everything went haywire. I feel my progress in the class reflects that which I can not be angry with because things happens. I am a 80% procrastinator and a person who doesn’t like to ask for help when needed, so I always wait til the last 1-2 days to finish assignments before their due or if I don’t fully understand something I won’t ask for clarification. So I feel like I could have done better with my papers if I would have given myself enough time and ask for help when I did not understand something about an assignment. I feel like I was the most successful when it came to my discussion post because I was able to articulate what I sometimes can not put into words. One thing that I feel like I can take to the real world with me from the class is giving my point of view about things more easily. I feel like these discussion board post help with that for me.
Yasmin Matthew-Johnson
To me Raymond Carver style of writing is very detailed orientated to detail He did not leave his readers or listeners guessing about the setting and/or scenery. He told you exactly what his surroundings were or what was happening in relation to his topics with no room for self interpretation. For example in the his poem “My daughter and Apple Pie,” he said, “She serves me a piece of it a few minutes out of the oven. A little steam rises from the slits on top. Sugar and spice -cinnamon – burned into the crust. But she’s wearing these dark glasses in the kitchen at ten o’clock in the morning.” In these first 7 lines he describes his setting and what is currently going on at that moment in the poem to his listeners. This is a very different style of writing than the poet Gwendolyn Brooks in her poem, “We real cool.” To me she left her listeners guessing about the setting and was not very detailed orientated.
An aspect that I want to talk about in my research paper is the elements of feminism and moral lessons. I want to discuss this topic because to morals lesson was and still is unclear for children. For example in my preteen years I learned that the fairy tale Jack and the bean stalk was basically about doing what your parents tell you to do or you might have negative experience or outcomes from your actions. I did not know that when I first heard the story around the age of five or six. I think it was just about a young boy taking a trip to a magical land with a giant. Another example of a moral lesson that was unclear but is the same moral lesson of Jack and The Bean Stalk is Little Red Riding Hood. I think this message was unclear due to so much attention being put onto the world of the fairytale instead of the lesson,
When I used to read fairy tales when I was younger, I thought it was stories about fantasy, magic, happiness, etc., after reading this weeks story’s gave me a different outlook of what fairy tales can be about. I learned that fairy tales can teach lessons to it readers. After reading “The Little Snow White,” I want to go reread all of my childhood favorite fairy tales to get a new perspective of them as an adult. I thought the fairy tale story of “Snow White” was basically about a princess with a evil step mother and sisters and navigating life through that, but in this week reading “The Little Snow White,” The fairy tale is actually about toxicity, coming of age, and jealousy. In the story the queen was becoming older and her beauty was not enhancing with age so she became jealous of Snow White who was young and her beauty was growing more and more everyday. Snow White ran away after the abuse from her evil stepmother and had to essential grow up due to being saved by the price. To me this can also be reality for some women due to Snow White having issues with her step mother that girls/young women face today with their mother/ step mothers.
I would rate my ability to read Oedipus the King a 7 due to me reading plays in previous classes. I did struggle with the use of Greek language in the play because I am not accustomed to reading Greek language. Besides the minor struggles I faced while reading the play I like the play because of the drama that it displayed in the play. Once I learned that the play was about a son killing his father and marrying his mother, my attention was focused on the play because to me it gave scandal of something that could happen in today day and age. I myself like drama movies and don’t mind to read about public scandals from time to time so to be able to read about a Greek scandal was exciting. If I had to portray a character from the play I would want to be Oedipus because of his persona of being a strong person and taking responsibility for his actions.
I would rate my ability to read poetry a 7. I say a seven because even though I like poetry sometimes poets use of language gives me a hard time understanding their poems. For example the poem titled “Shall I compared thee to a summer’s day?”, I had trouble understanding due to the language Shakespeare used. Line 2 of the poem says, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” due to the European language that was used. Another thing that I struggle with when reading poems is the use of imagery and relating to the poet. Sometimes if I cant relate to the poet I cant imagined or use my imagery to see what the poet is saying figuratively. If I can overcome these things I think it will strengthen my ability to read and understand poetry. In middle school and high school I did not know knowing all of these things would make me understand poetry better but since reading poetry these last two weeks, improve my ability to read and understand poetry a lot more.
When the Covid-19 plague was brought to the attention of the American people, a widespread of panic and scatter took place. A comparison I found between the American people during Covid-19 plague and the people of Thebes in “Oedipus the King”, during their plague is that both people were desperate to find a solution to end the plague. Yes, the people of Thebes felt that their plague was a curse and our plague was a virus, both people wanted it to be over. I personally witnessed many states make social distancing a requirement when you were out in public, people wearing masks, and no toilet paper or other basic necessities that were needed. I also experienced deaths in my family and went through having Covid-19 personally twice. Now Covid-19 was a global issue but to the people of Thebes the plague was thought to be a curse due to the people ill ways.
The literature quote that I chose to use for my essay is the quote by C.S. Lewis, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it.” I picked this quote for the story ” The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant because of the similarities between the author and his style of writing for his short story and the meaning of the quote made by Mr. Maupassant. Maupassant used his writing to reveal his interpretation of people’s true nature. To me the quote means, Literature defines reality, which in simpler terms means that, reality can be interpreted by people based on their feelings. Madame Liosel in, “The Necklace,” felt that because she felt because she had beauty she had been able to marry a man that was more wealthy. This part of the story gave description to her reality which was, even though she had beauty she was unhappy due to feeling like she married beneath her.
The sentence is ineffective because it is a generalized statement. The sentence does not offer any details to support its claim about the author trying to get her readers to understand the complexity of the human condition. It offers no details about what the condition is either. The sentence is also ineffective because it is trying to tell us the authors point of view which is not the readers job. Also the sentence did not explain what made the “condition” complexed? If I were to rewrite the question I would include details about what the condition is and how that effects the characters development and his development. I also will include details about the different themes and languages used in the story. I also will included information about why the boy was blinded by love and his struggles with reality. I also would include the characters names, since that is important details also.
If I was writing an essay, I would write about the characters language, tone, and personality. I think these are interesting topics to write about because, it can help a reader connect with the story and characters. Sometimes people struggle when writing due to not being able to see themselves in the stories. This also may be why, sometimes, readers have a hard time writing about what they’ve read, because they have a hard time relating with the characters since their personalities might differ. Also, readers might struggle with the language that the author chooses to use for the characters in their stories because they might not be used to the type of language the author is using. The tone of a story is also important because if readers don’t understand the tone of a story then important details can be missed, overlooked, or misunderstood. This is why I would choose to write about the characters language, tone, and personality.
I think I personally relate to the narrator in “Salvation”. I relate to him on the fact of realizing reality and the effects that, that can have on you as a child. Langston Hughes was very naive, as so was I and many children his age in his story was. He was naive because he took the adults in the story word for what will happen to him when he is saved. He expected like a magical feeling and see “God” which as adults, we know this not to be true, but telling this to a child he took it very literal. This reminded me of a time when I was younger and my cousin told me my mother was not coming back home after work because, she ran away. Now as a child I did not know that they were joking but just like the narrator, I was naive and took them very literal. I was very sad and confused. So I was able to relate to him on this through this.
I think Professor Conway assigned “The Handsome Drowned Man” as our first story to show a sense of caring for others, no matter if we know them or not. I say this because the in the story The Handsome who drowned up onto the village was unknown to the woman of the village and even though they did not know him, they wanted to make sure that the was cleaned, clothed, and had a funeral. They also felt saddened by the fact that he had drowned onto a village that he was unknown that they went to neighboring villages to get people to come to his funeral. These things showed a great sense of caring by the women of the village that The Handsome Man drowned up on because the women did not know the man at all but still felt compelled to care for him and prepare him for a funeral that they were going to give to him.
