I feel like assignment 3 was my best work because I was able to express myself freely and was able to read a lot of poems that interested me and picked out the one i resonated with the best. I really like being able to decorate and organize my work the way I thought looked the best. I would say that in essay 1 I could have done much better if I had paid closer attention to the meaning and the directions given. I really liked the story but I didn’t really connect to the other material that had to be used in order to write the poem. If I had to do the assignment again I would pay more attention to the directions and make sure I read all the material closely. something i learned in class was to not use words that i think make me sound more intellectual in order to make my essay sound better because in a lot of cases it is better to be more specific when writing so the essay can sound more natural.
Andreany Estevez
One of the stories we read in class that I noticed used “commonplace but precise language” was the story by Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” The part that most stood out to me was when the simple image of the horse shaking its harness bells questioning the actions of the man riding him. “He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake.” The line is using common words and yet I felt it was overwhelmingly charged. That one moment, the horse is inquiring about stillness, brings animation to the hushed woods and underscores the pause of the speaker between action and reflection. This moment seems to be peaceful in a way but also a little heavy, like the quiet could pull someone in too deep if they’re not careful. The horse shaking its bells feels almost like a nudge back to reality, back to responsibilities. It’s a small action, described in a straightforward way, but it carries so much meaning.
Fairy tales are not just entertaining stories, but powerful instruments that helps the emotional development and moral understanding of children. The article that I am looking for is “The Positive Impacts of Fairy Tales for Children” by Leilani VisikoKnox-Johnson. I enjoyed how the writer emphasizes the fact that fairy tales allow children to build emotional resilience. She explains how the form of fairy tales characters face difficult challenges but eventually triumph is capable of assisting children in overcoming their own problems of hope and courage. I enjoyed this idea because it suggests that children’s stories are not just entertainment but actually promote children to be strong inside. Another article I read was “Why Fairy Tales Matter” by Maria Tatar. Tatar feels fairy tales are important because they allow children to explore complex emotions and issues in a safe, symbolic way. She talks about how fairy tales are a field for imagination and self-knowledge, and that really resonated with me. Her discussion of why children see themselves in fairy tale characters made me think about how fairy tales can be reflections for children who are trying to determine who they are and what kind of person they want to be. Together, these articles affirm the idea that fairy tales are powerful cultural instruments that helps children’s psychological and emotional growth.
I believe that offensive language in literature should be kept in its original form because it reflects the time period and the realities of the time as well as social beliefs and ideologies that were held during that era. While the words are very uncomfortable to read, they do serve a purpose in showing how people thought and spoke during that time in history, and they might give us a perspective on how some people still hold similar beliefs. Censoring these words risks erasing or softening the impact of the story and it would also prevent the reader from really getting information about the character’s characteristics and beliefs. But I do believe authors should be cautious of the settings and different situations in which these words are being used in their stories to avoid the shift between useful information about history and characteristics and turning into a distasteful use of a very hurtful word with no good reasoning behind it.
I would say that my ability to read poetry has somewhat improved over the last two weeks. Even though I still find poetry difficult at times, I’ve discovered that by reading slowly and paying close attention to the words, I can begin to understand their deeper meanings. This ability will help me as I read Oedipus the King because the play and poetry both employ subliminal messages that require critical thinking. I realize how the poem we read, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost, relates to Oedipus the King; in the poem, the speaker pauses in the dark woods but reminds himself he has responsibilities he still has to take care of, so he must continue his journey. This is pretty similar to Oedipus, as he is on the path of learning the truth and getting justice even when the truth is seemingly painful; he has a responsibility to bring justice to the people in town.
When I was analyzing the riding in essay 1 it made me realize that I was indeed not putting all my potential and my effort into my writing as I did not follow along with all the directions as well as I should have. This assignment was a good lesson on how to critique your own work as well as you do others. I found myself being too focused on critiquing the student sample essay that I forgot to take some time to slow down and make sure that I wasn’t making the same mistakes I was writing my own essay. For my future essays I am going to most definitely take a better and longer look at all the writing directions and make sure all my thoughts are coming across the way I intended them too as well as finding better ways to formulate my ideas more coherently throughout the text.
I think most of all after reading The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is Sylvia’s resistance to accept change. She is smart and observant, but layers her discomfort under sarcasm and judgment. Instead of openly confronting the discrepancies Miss Moore points out, she directs her frustration toward Miss Moore and everyone around her. This is defensive; it helps her feel she has a level of control, even as she begins to wonder about her world. Her secret rivalry with Sugar brings this to the fore; when Sugar raises her hand, Sylvia feels challenged and suddenly is made aware that her grip is not as steady as she has always believed. Miss Moore’s method of teaching requires her to think for herself, and while she won’t admit it, days even weeks later, the lesson still lingers. Sylvia hates wealth but won’t let go of the money she won from Miss Moore, which suggests a tension between her hostility and awareness. I would title my essay “Sylvia’s Defense”.
For the rewriting assignment, we need to read and understand the assigned texts “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and “Overview of ‘The Most Handsome Drowned Man'” by Dean Rader. After reading these works, we will be reviewing several PowerPoint presentations covering the essentials of a successful essay. This week, we will include understanding the MLA format, effective thesis statements, and quoting in our writing properly. We will receive guidelines for a sample student essay on what the essay should be able to do for us. These guidelines touch on important things such as grammar, specific details, and structure. The compiled student essay is to demonstrate if the guidelines were followed. Prewriting is a great way to give me some idea of what my future essays have to feature in order to get full credit. The readings also give me insights in order to tackle the essay prompt and collect pertinent information for my writing.
