Response to course materials #4

In the past few weeks, we have been mainly working on Hamlet. First we read through the play, which took forever, and then we began to watch different films to compare. The biggest impact reading Hamlet had on me was realizing how much ambiguity could be in one piece of literature. We've now read, discussed, and watched Hamlet a million (approximately) times, and I still have conflicting views over what actually happened and how things are supposed to be acted out. The three major relationships I can't explain are between Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet and his mother, and Hamlet and the deceased King Hamlet.
For homework we annotated Hamlet and two essays on Hamlet. Annotating it took a much shorter time than I originally imagined and I caught and understood many more of the jokes and hidden meanings the second time through. The two essays discussed some of the major disagreements about Hamlet, including whether the ghost is from Heaven or Hell. I thought this was slightly stupid because the ghost tells Hamlet that he is burned during the day to purge away his sins, so he is definitely not in Heaven. One interesting thing that was included was that Hamlet is based off of Amleth, a much older play.
In class, we watched the BBC version of Hamlet with David Tennant, the Olivier version, and the Branaugh version. I liked the one with David Tennant the most, mainly because I felt they added their own twist to it.

Response to Course Materials #3

These past few weeks we have started to begin class with analyzing the mood and atmosphere of a picture. We begin by picking an image and a single word that describes it and then writing a paragraph that makes the reader feel the word without stating it. I do think that this has been helpful although I haven't had any immediate way to use this and see what I have learned from this.
My least favorite, but probably the most vital, thing that we have done is practicing writing introductions in short amounts of time. I definitely need more practice with this because I can't seem to understand what answers the question and does not acknowledge the question has been asked. The only other essays I have had to write have been for AP World and APUSH, and the introductions followed a strict format for those. We also did some multiple choice practice. I'm not sure if the section was easier, but the most recent time we did it I did much better than the previous one.
In class we discussed Death of a Salesman more and read some essays about what defines a tragedy and whether Death of a Salesman counts as one. I think this idea of words meaning different things to different people applies in so much of life and I am always so shocked by how offended people can get by a single word. So what if Death of a Salesman is a tragedy? Why does this word hold such intense meaning?
The most recent thing we have done is read Hamlet out loud as a class. I don't think any of us could read it on our own at this point so having the whole class do it is helpful.

Death of a Salesman Close Reading

Characters:
Biff: stops blindly following his father and provides some hope for the future.
Happy:follows in his fathers footsteps, a player
Linda: Madonna, loves Willy and views him as a child
Mistress: whore, gets kicked around
Willy: has big dreams and high expectations, daddy problems
Bernard: actually successful because his father doesn't push him to be something he isn't
Plot:
Willy is a salesman living with his wife Linda and his two adult sons. He is growing older and is not capable of driving back and forth to New England to sell things like he used to. Biff and Happy are disappointments to him, but he also contradicts himself often and says how wonderful and hardworking they are. Right from the beginning of the play Willy has many flashbacks involving his brother Ben, who became very wealthy, and the boys younger days when they adored him. Throughout the play Willy becomes more and more confused and has these flashbacks often. Linda tells her sons this and Biff promises to meet with Bill Oliver and ask for a loan so he can provide for his family. She continues to try and find out why Biff and Willy do not get along, while the audience learns that Biff walked in on his father having an affair. Willy goes to his boss to ask for a job that does not require so much driving, gets fired, and then refuses a job from his friend Charlie who has been lending him money. Willy goes from here to a restaurant where he is meeting Biff and Happy to talk about Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver. This turns into a very emotional scene when Biff tries to stop lying and tell his father that his perception of life is not reality. The play ends with Willy killing himself just as the mortgage on their house is payed off, and no one attends the funeral except the family.
Theme: The sense of entitlement for the idealized American Dream of financial and social prosperity can lead to tragedy.

Quotes:
"We're free" This is what Linda says at the end of the play after Willy kills himself. She is referring to the fact that the mortgage on their house is finally payed off.
"He's liked, but not well liked" Willy repeats this throughout the play showing that he believes a personal touch is necessary is business. He thinks being known and liked is important, but this is proved wrong when he is fired by his boss after thirty years.
 Setting: This is set in urban America in the 1940's, when business began to grow rapidly. The setting is important because the whole play is about the apartments, and business, encroaching and ruining the Loemans lives.
Title: Death of a Salesman. Willy says he wanted to be a salesman because he heard of an 80 year old man who would call up anyone he wanted and sell to them from his home, and could earn a living this way. Willy said this man had the "death of a salesman" and this is what he desired.

Close Reading #3

In recent years parenting has taken on new and completely consuming expectations. In Our 'Mommy' Problem,  Heather Havrileskay talks about how this effects mothers and why it is a problem. She uses diction, figurative language and details, to show how being titled as only a mother can be a negative thing.

Havrilesky uses diction to show that she feels the expectation of mothers to be "moms" all the time is unreasonable. In the first paragraph she uses the word "violently" to describe the change in women becoming mothers but also says one stays the same underneath. The role a mother is expected to take is described as "all encompassing" which is used to prove Havrileskys point that motherhood is now viewed as a task that requires constant attention. In the fourth paragraph the word "mommies" is used to show how a group of women can be classed together only by the act of having children, and also makes the piece less formal. In the next paragraph Havrilesky talks about how mothers are seen as an "alien" breed, cut off from the rest of the world because of their parent status. Diction is also used to display sarcasm, such as jokingly repeating the word "mommies" after discussing how a group of parents were described as this and calling mothers "a strange breed". 

Havrileskys use of figurative language starts in the first paragraph when she relates becoming a mother to a weather forcaster saying that a tornado will give a town "an extreme makeover". She is trying to show that she understands that becoming a parent is a huge change, but then the rest of the essay shows why being a mother is not the only character trait a woman with children possesses. Havrilesky also brings up the "Mommy bow", or the imaginary thing that a mother is supposed to be; one person that can be neatly described and placed in a box as a mother. 

Detail is used in this piece to show specific examples of people being classified as only mothers, and to bring to light the unrealistic expectations society has for these people. Havrilesky used examples of everything; Mothers are displayed unrealistically in TV, movies, and modern fiction. She discusses specific events such as being referred to a group of mommies at a soccer game and an example of a man mocking her and some friends at a bar. These details add credibility and highlight the specific issue in society today. 

In recent years more and more has been expected of being a mother, an already daunting task. Havrilesky eloquently shows the unfairness of this stereotyping and categorizing through memorable words, specific details, and figurative language. 

Response to Course Materials #2

Last time I posted one of these, we left off with the American Dream. After our initial read, we took a break and annotated HTRLLAP and then went back and annotated The American Dream and had a second discussion. Our discussion of HTRLLAP wasn't great, lots of side stories and irrelevant details, but The American Dream was much better. I think this was because we had already discussed the play so we knew which parts to go back to and discuss. We also had a goal when discussing The American Dream which was to find all the motifs and put them together into a theme. This was new to me because although we discussed motifs all the time with The Great Gatsby and The Crucible, we had never tried to find a theme that embodied all of them. Annotating the play after discussing it in class made it much easier for me to catch important details and words, and reading it again allowed me to find evidence for all the motifs found in class.
Next we read Nuts and Bolts of College Literature. This book was incredibly helpful for class and also for college essays, seeing as it focused on all the mistakes I commonly make. I write in passive voice by mistake often and with NBOCL, I am trying to stop. In class we wrote our first AP writing practice and then used the Nuts and Bolts rules to correct it a few days later. This showed me how much my writing could be improved by being made more clear and concise.
At the beginning of each class we have been doing an exercise with a particular passage. We generally have to identify how form follows function and then model a sentence after it. It has been a lot harder than I would have imagined, but as a class we are getting better at it. We especially have have problems with modeling the sentence, which is odd because you would think that would be the easiest part.
For the last few days we have been watching Death of a Salesman. I think watching it helped a lot with comprehension because there were constant flashbacks that would be difficult to understand without actually seeing them. This play is incredibly sad and reminds me of The American Dream mainly in its criticisms of society.

The American Dream Close Reading

author: Edward Albee, one act play, first performed in 1961, adopted very young and his parents (especially mother) extremely strict.

setting: America in the 1960’s, well furnished apartment that looks expensive.

plot. The American Dream starts out with Mommy and Daddy discussing that their visitors are late. Neither mentions who “they” are, and this turns into a discussion about how achieving satisfaction is impossible these days. Mommy then takes the lead and gives an example of this by explaining her trip to buy a hat, a beige hat to be specific. She sees the Chairman of the Women’s committee who then claims the hat is beige, and Mommy is forced to take the hat back and throw a tantrum until the people in the shop find her a new hat that they swear its beige. Daddy then makes an interesting comment about it being the same hat as before, and Mommy says it most certainly was. The conversation about satisfaction continues with Daddy listing all the things that are broken in the house, and then Grandma arrives. She has a large pile of neatly wrapped boxes which she places in the room. Mommy tells a story about her poor childhood, when Grandma would wrap Mommy’s lunch up neatly but Mommy would never eat it because she wanted to take it home for Grandma. Several conversations take place about Grandma being old and then Grandma gets angry at Mommy and says she always said she would marry a rich man to live off of. The doorbell finally wrings but Daddy doesn’t want to answer it anymore and Mommy has to persuade him by telling him how manly he is. Mrs. Barker comes in and a very odd sequence of social niceties occur: Daddy asks if she might want to cross her legs and Mommy asks her to take her dress off. Daddy talks about having qualms right where the stitches are. Mrs. Barker talks about the many committees she is part of and Mommy cannot find the water. Grandma begins to tell Mrs. Barker why she is here: Twenty years ago Mommy and Daddy adopted a “bumble of joy” but it misbehaved and they were forced to chop it apart until it died. They have invited Mrs. Barker here so they can get satisfaction. Next, Grandma meets the young man who tells her his life story. He had a twin but he was separated from it and now he cannot love or feel anything and will do anything for money. Grandma takes him upstairs and is now offstage and narrating. Mommy is upset because she thinks Grandma has been taken away with the van man, who she says she never called. The play ends with Grandma saying that the play must end now because everyone has what they want, or what they think they want.

Significant characters

Mommy: Daughter of Grandma, controlling, was poor and married Daddy for money

Mrs. Barker: sickeningly sweet, professional women, power struggle with Mommy, Chairman of woman's committee, husband in a wheelchair, only one with a name, embodies femininity

Young Man: twin of baby Mommy and Daddy mutilated, representation of American Dream, hollow attractive shell, no substance, plans to kill Mommy and Daddy

Grandma: old American Dream, has substance, gender neutral, knows she is playing a role

Daddy: had sex change, emasculated, controlled by Mommy, rich, never says anything important.

All the women in this play are controlling and manipulative, while the men are pathetic. This could be because Albee had a controlling adoptive mother. This play was also written at an extremely tense and changing time in American history. The Civil Rights movement was going on, and Albee may not have thought that woman should have more power because he believed they would abuse it. Albees tone throughout the play is mocking and condescending towards American values and culture, especially the false politeness. 

Symbolism: The Young Man symbolizes the superficial new American Dream while Grandma represents the old one. The boxes represent substance.  Mommy and Daddy cannot find anything because they have no substance. The competition that Grandma wins with the day-old cake symbolized Yankee ingenuity and relates to the day old cake Mommy used to save for Grandma in her lunch box. Her nicely wrapped lunch box represents illusions and the boxes that Grandma wraps now.

THEME: Consumerism is corrupting American societal structures and values.

TITLE: The American Dream references the ideals of society and what people are striving towards. It is used mockingly because Albee views the American dream as superficial and a threat to America. The Young Man embodies the new American Dream because he is beautiful on the outside, but empty on the inside. Grandma is the foil to him as the old American Dream, and although she is nowhere near perfect, she does have substance.

QUOTES: " I have, now, only my person, my body, my face" This is a quote from the Young Man that shows the motif of superficiality and also how he embodies the empty American Dream. He goes on to say that he lets people use him, and will do anything for money because he is empty inside.

 "I can't quite remember anyone very much like Mommy and Daddy coming to see me about buying a bundle." This quote shows Mrs. Barkers stupidity because she cannot connect what Grandma is saying to her experiences twenty years ago. Albee wanted to show how fake the "professional woman" was, and how she is lost and confused just like Mommy and Daddy. The destruction of language is also shown by the word "bumble" instead of bundle of joy, because it turns something human into something not human. 

Close Reading #2

This article, fittingly called Vote Yes on Proposition 47, argues for a proposition in California that will reduce the number the number of people being put in jails for nonviolent crimes. The money saved by doing this will be spent on things that will help prevent the inmates from committing crimes again, such as: substance abuse and mental health treatment and reentry support. This article uses detail, syntax, and diction to persuade readers to vote on a proposal to reduce jail time for petty crimes, and help former criminals get their lives back. 
This article makes no effort at all to be subtle, and this shows in the diction. Only words with good connotations are used in relationship with the proposal and these words are used to make it seem cost efficient, humane, like the most reasonable thing to do. It does this to appeal to both the people who are interested in the social side, or the economic side. In the first paragraph alone, the words "good" and "timely". It also states that Times "strongly recommends" voting yes to this proposal. Times uses this language to push people into agreeing with this proposal because Times has such a solid opinion on it. When Times talks about the counter argument, that waves of criminals will be released, in an offhand, condescending way. The words "baseless" and "ominous" are used to describe the warnings given by the "fear-mongering" opponents. They are depicted in an extremely negative light, as if the opponants argument has no base in fact at all. 
Vote Yes on Proposal 47 uses syntax to emphasis their points, and discard and hide the opinions of people who do not want Proposal 47 to be passed. One example of this is in paragraph three, which discusses why people do not want the proposal to be passed. Instead of being split into multiple sentences, colons are used to create a wordy sentence that is easy to get lost in. This makes the arguments much less poignant, and leads to emphasis being placed on the shorter sentences in the paragraphs above and below it. In the next paragraph, the article is back to talking about why the proposition should be passed and the first two sentences are much shorter. The reader is much more likely to remember these than the cluttered and jumbled sentence before. 
This article does a wonderful job of explaining what Proposal 47 is and what the benefits are of passing it. Details are used abundantly to make the reader feel like they know everything there is to know about it. If the reader feels like the Proposal is explained sufficiently in this, they are likely to agree that it is a good idea to pass it without reading other sources that may have a different bias. Especially in the second paragraph the three parts of this bill are explained clearly and deliberately with a positive light. Specific examples are used to lend credibility. 
Vote Yes on Proposal 47 is an informative piece with an agenda. It uses a detailed description of  the proposal along with many positive words describing it, plus emphases on the positive aspects to show its opinion and push others to vote yes. 

Response to Course Material #1

In the first three weeks of school, we have begun to learn about the different ways to analyze literature, as well as reading and the discussing The American Dream. The first few days of class were a little off, because of all the new technology, meaning that Ms. Holmes could not show us her blog or even her website, but we have it now!
The first actual lesson we had was on DIDLS, which stands for diction, imagery, details, (figurative) language and syntax. We practiced annotating some papers and had to do this as homework later in the week. We read a poem called "Promises Like Pie crust", and discussed it in small groups. What stuck with me the most from this, was how much more information it is possible to pull from a poem when doing a close reading and using DIDLS.
We then learned about syntax, using a Syntax as Style paper, which we read later on in the week in my Expos class. It was better the first time. What stuck with me most from this, was how switching around sentence structure can add drama and emphasis to the end of a sentence. After discussing syntax, my group read Walden by David Thoreau and had a pretty good discussion about the many ways the sentence structure showed the tone and mood of the piece. It is all about nature and going back to the simple things, and Thoreau uses long, winding sentences with short, repetitive ones for emphasis. Unfortunately, we didn't present until the next day and volunteered to go first, meaning that we all forgot what we were actually supposed to be presenting on and didn't say half the things our group discussed.
We also read our first piece of literature as a group, The American Dream. I've heard about this play before and people always say things along the lines of, "It's super weird", and "Don't read it", but personally I liked it. I definitely thought that reading Existentialism 101 and Theater of the Absurd gave me a much better understanding of what the writer was trying to accomplish, and why the play was written as it was. We started a class discussion and got a few of the major plot questions covered, but without Ms. Holmes there the next day, the discussion deteriorated slightly.

Close Reading #1

One of the biggest, and most reported on, issues at the moment is Obama's dealing with ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. His long awaited plan of action, delivered to the public several days ago, consisted of destroying ISIL with air power and local forces, but no American ground troops.   Paths to War, Then and Now, Haunt Obama takes a closer look at Obama's feelings on the crisis, and how he has reacted to it. This article uses diction, syntax, and details to show that it supports the President in his actions toward ISIL.

 The author, Peter Baker, uses diction throughout the entire article to invalidate those who oppose Obama, and praise the President and his actions. In the twelfth paragraph, the author describes how the president was viewed at a dinner on Monday night. He uses the words "calm", "confident", and "well versed", in relation to the President. This gives the impression that Obama is not anxious or concerned about the issue with ISIL, because he is confident in his strategies, so the public should be as well. By using "well versed", Baker shows that Obama is knowledgeable about the subject, and therefore is trustworthy. Baker also makes the decision to include positive quotes from people, and Obama himself, while not including many opposing views. In a quote from Jane Harmen, the word "focused" is used, and Zbigniew Brzezinski says Obama is "not a softy". By including all of these words with positive connotations, Baker gives the impression that Obama is making all the right moves and that the majority of people agree with his decisions. He is made to seem collected, in control, and strong. 

The detail in this article is mostly many peoples names and descriptions of who they are. This is used to get the authors point across because its adds legitimacy to the quotes they give, and makes the piece sound more professional.  This is extremely noticeable because in the first few paragraphs when Baker is referring to  what Obama said before his speech about his plan of action, he uses the words "group of visitors". This is very vague and contrasts with the details in paragraphs twelve, fifteen and sixteen. Richard N. Hass talks about how Obama has been forced to take action about ISIL, and is then described as "President on the Council of Foreign Relations and a former Bush administration official". All of this detail is used to show the reader that this person has experience, and knows what they are talking about. This is also strategic detail because Hass was part of the Bush administration, so he would be expected to disagree with Obama, and yet he is not.

Syntax was also used in this article to emphasize certain points, and show what the author wants the reader to take from this piece. In the third paragraph, there are two long, flowing sentences contrasted with two short choppy sentences. The last two sentences are "He would not rush to war. He would be deliberate.". These sentences make a large impact, and it is obviously something Baker agreed with, and wanted to show. Baker wants to make it very clear that Obama will not rush into anything, he will make an informed decision when the time is right. The rest of the article is mainly long sentences, with many commas which give it an academic feel. This is not meant to be a story, but an informative piece of writing and the similar sentence lengths show this. Passive voice is not used at all in this article, Obama is given full responsibility for his actions and for all statements he has given. 

Paths to War, Then and Now, Haunt Obama , is an article with a definite opinion which is shown through diction, syntax and detail. Although the author's view on Obama is never directly stated, it is possible to make the assumption that he supports the President's plan for ISIL, and wants the reader to do the same.