1. The assignment I feel I did best on was Essay 3. I followed the instructions carefully and made sure things matched the requirements. I felt comfortable with the topic and how I organized my ideas. I put effort in this work and it turns out successful that I am so joyful. 2. I think I could have done better on Essay 1. At the beginning of the course, I was so confused with the instructions. Writing essays in English was hard for me and my brain was lack of ideas. Although I had a chance to edit it, I rushed the writing and didn’t spend enough time revising. If I had planned more and reviewed the feedback closely, I could have made the essay clearer and more focused. 3. One important thing I learned this semester is how to follow assignment instructions closely and organize my writing better. I now understand how important it is to connect my ideas clearly and support them with good examples.
Hsu Wai Phyar
In my opinion, Raymond Carver pointed out how powerful the ordinary language can be when it is used clearly and with emotions. One story that got me thinking was “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel García Márquez which we learned at the first week of semester. What I found powerful was how the author described an extraordinary presence using very simple and familiar words. There’s one moment where the narrator says “Not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their imagination.” None of the words are fancy nor complicated however the way they’re combined together reflects how Esteban feel huge, mysterious, and unforgettable, short to the point.. I felt like I could see him with my eyes.
Fairy tales can offer important benefits for children. They encourage imagination, introduce basic ideas of right and wrong, and help children explore emotions in a safe way while some stories reflect outdated values that can be not practical in real world nowadays. From List A, the article “Sex and Violence in Fairy Tales” by David Isaacs caught my attention. In it, Isaacs explores concerns about the scary or violent parts of traditional fairy tales, such as death or cruelty. He argues that while these elements may seem harmful, they actually give children a way to face fear in a safe setting. This idea made me think differently about how children process intense emotions and situations From List B, I was interested in “Rediscovering the Power of Fairy Tales” by Mary Howarth. She writes about how fairy tales can be valuable in the classroom to help children understand life challenges, solve problems, and talk about feelings. What caught my attention was her point that these stories allows children to make sense of their own experiences relating to their own life journey.
In my view, the authentic language in literary texts should not be removed. Literature reflects its time so I assume changing the language risks may lose important historical and cultural context. In a story like A Good Man is Hard to Find, set in the early 1950s, reflect and even hold up a mirror to a society where racism was not just present but often routine. The grandmother’s casual racism is part of what builds her character and shows how deeply ingrained prejudice was in that society. Editing out offensive words might put the story simpler but it also waters down its message. Besides, I think we can understand the roots of racism and how it was woven into everyday life by learning its ugliness through the story.
I have become more confident in the reading and interpretation of poetry since last week. I have learned to look beyond the mere surface meaning and instead focus on the elements of figurative language, tone, and structure to understand the more profound, oftentimes more relatable, messages. Oedipus the King relies heavily on the same symbolism and layered meanings found in more standard poetic forms. Thus, I believe that my poetic interpretive skills will serve me well as I undertake the reading of this equally significant and profound play. A poem that left a strong impression on me was Milton Bluehouse II’s “The Sound of Water.” The speaker reflects on memory, ancestry, and the spiritual connection forged between nature and personal identity. The themes of the poem made me think about how fate plays a role in Oedipus the King. We aren’t told or shown exactly how the story’s characters—primarily Oedipus himself and his wife/mother, Jocasta—are fated to fail. We do know, however, that fate in this story is something like a river that carves a channel through solid rock: the river is there, even if we can’t see it until we’re in the middle of its path. Listening to the poem’s speaker made me appreciate the emotional depth and dramatic tension in Oedipus the King.
Essay 1 was difficult for me, but I ended up finding it manageable. One of the biggest problems I had with it was with the sample student essay that I was trying to analyze. I felt like I had to read that essay several times over just to get to the point where I understood its meaning well enough. On the top of that I didn’t understand the instruction and I made some mistakes. At first attempt, I wrote it in totally wrong format. However, after the essay I became more aware of mistakes in formatting and citation in my own work. I used to overlook issues like overspacing and wrong formatting in my works cited page, which I now pay much closer attention to. I also understood that I sometimes included sentences that felt like filler—like they were just there to make the essay seem longer, when in fact I could have said what I needed to say in fewer words. Overall, I recognized that I need to pay more attention to making my writing precise and to developing my ideas in a way that feels more satisfying. This assignment has enabled me to find areas where I need to improve, and I will apply the lessons I have learned to future essays. I will be more evaluative and more argument-based, and I will refer back to the text to support the kind of claims I am making, ensuring that my claims are clearly stated and that my writing is, overall, more clear and focused. I also learned that I should pay attention to the details of formatting.
