Close Reading #5 - Frank Bruni

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Frank Bruni's article "One Country's Big Gay Leap" talks about the legalization of same-sex marriage in Portugal, other countries that have legalized same-sex marriage, and why or why not countries are able to do so. He uses diction and detail to create for the reader an idea of what is happening in Portugal and to enforce the idea that the United States should follow in Portugal's footsteps.
Throughout the piece, Bruni uses interesting choices in diction to give an accurate idea of the state of affairs in Portugal and the other countries which have recently legalized gay marriage. He uses certain sensory words in places where they are not commonly found. For example, he writes that he had a "potent case of Portugal envy". The use of the word "potent" is an interesting choice because it is usually used to describe a stong, powerful smell and is instead used to describe envy, a feeling. The use of this word enhances Bruni's envy, making it seem like something palpable and not just an abstract emotion. Of course, his envy is of the great strides Portugal has made toward equality, that the United States has not. He does this in other places to create a stong sense of the positive atmosphere about same-sex marriage in Portugal.
His use of detail is also important in giving the reader an idea of what is going on in Portugal. He begins the essay with a detail about Brenda Frota Johnson and Isabel Advirta, whose family seems to accept their relationship now that they are officially married. Other details like this, including a similar one about Sara and Rita Martinho, demonstrate the positive ways in which the legalization of gay marriage has affected Portugal and its citizens.
By using detail and diction to show just how good the legalization of same-sex marriage has been for Portugal and the other countries that have recently passed similar legislation, Bruni argues that America should do the same. While he acknowledges the differences between our country and theirs, he asks whether it "might be possible for President Obama... to take a lead on the issue" and that he might find out "that it wouldn't make or break him".

Response to Course Material #5

In class lately, we've been reading Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. And it is so hard. But I'm also convinced it's brilliant. I really like it, too. Everything about it, really: the story, the nonlinear storyline, the characters, the culture. It's all pretty fascinating. It's just so hard to understand every part of it. Going through in annotations, we can write so much in a page. And it our group, we've been having trouble deciding if we're making brilliant observations or just reaching for meaning because there is so much of it. And then Ms. Holmes chimes in with some tidbit of info that would have taken us years to recognize. We also read some articles for the forum assignment. Mine were on cultural background of the Pueblo people and some essays by Silko. The cultural background one was great, it gave me a lot of info that helps understanding some of the motifs and symbols in the novel, especially the directions and the sunwise cycle. Overall, Ceremony is crazy difficult but I'm really enjoying it and I can't wait to get a clearer picture of the meaning as we keep annotating!

Close Reading #4 - "And Now... Professor Gingrich" by Frank Bruni

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As the 2012 election draws nearer, the race for Republican nomination is as crazy as ever. In his article for the New York Times, Frank Bruni, discusses Newt Gingrich's recent ascent to the position of front-runner. Bruni's use of diction and detail make it clear that he is not a Gingrich supporter and doesn't take any of the Republican candidates seriously.
He uses diction brilliantly, picking words like "yahoos" to describe the Republican candidates, making it clear that he doesn't support any of them. He goes on to say that Republicans have tended to shy away from any sort of intelligence and intellectualism. He says that even the "less ridiculous" republicans in the recent elections have played "hide-the-degree", never mentioning their impressive backgrounds at Yale, Harvard, and the like. That's why he says that Gingrich's rise to the top is the "strangest". Suddenly, it seems Republicans are willing to overlook his "braininess" and his "ostentatious know-it-all" nature. He uses other negative words to describe Gingrich, making it clear he doesn't support this sudden rise in the polls. Words such as "pomposity" and "flamboyant" make Gingrich seem arrogant and words like "magically" and "abracadabra" make him seem silly.
Bruni's details also make the Republican party seem ridiculous. After calling the candidates "yahoos", he goes on to describe the recent flubs made in the last week. He highlights Bachmann's idea that we had an embassy in Iran and Perry's "delusion" that the voting age is 21, not 18. Details involving Gingrich's arrogance and pomposity are also effective in making the audience see that Bruni is not a Gingrich supporter. He includes many quotes by the candidate that highlight his "knowledge-flaunting", comparing him to the beans one would pick at a salad bar when there is no "baby shrimp" or "chicken strips". These details combined with the diction used by Bruni make it clear to the audience that he does not like Gingrich nor does he take any of this election's Republican candidates seriously.

Open Prompt #6

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

In the Western World, we are taught to think in a straight line, beginning with point A and ending at point B. In many Native American Indian cultures, however, thought is circular and while it may begin at point A it visits and revisits many other points before reaching the end. This is very apparent in many works of Native literature, particularly in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony. Silko uses a nonlinear storyline to mimic the cycle of thought and Tayo's eventual realization that all things are connected in a great web, which ends up being one of Silko's most important messages in the novel.

Silko's incredible novel is scattered with smaller stories from the Pueblo people that enhance the narrative. The narrative itself jumps all over the place in Tayo's timeline. One moment he is hunting a deer with Josiah and the next he's in a South Pacific jungle, fighting the Japanese with Rocky. The details Silko uses in her writing help the reader to figure out where in time Tayo is at each point in the story. For example, in one part Tayo is in the hospital in Los Angeles and with little warning or transition, he is back in the jungle, watching who he thinks is Josiah get shot. Silko's details allow her reader to understand the transition of the nonlinear plot. She describes the muggy air and the large mosquitoes, details that would not be found in a white hospital in California. 

The nonlinear storyline that Silko employs in her novel mimics the reciprocal nature of thought and life that is so central to Pueblo beliefs. Just in the way that thought does not follow immediately from one thing to the next, her narrative does not move in a straight line down the timeline. It also represents Tayo's new knowledge of the great web that has been created by Thought-Woman. Everything is connected and as Tayo begins to realize this, the nonlinear plot becomes less confusing for the reader. He understands now that all things are related. This is mirrored in the way that Silko, through Tayo, connects one event to another. Tayo laying in bed, trying to stay sane, connects to a deer he once hunted with Rocky, which leads to the humid jungle, which leads to the bar with Harley and Leroy, and so on. Silko's seemingly crazy timeline is actually just as sane as our world, which, the Pueblo people say, is all connected and all related. 

Despite the confusion the nonlinear plot line creates in Ceremony, it is very important in getting Silko's message across to her readers. The nonlinear story is a representation of the circular thought that is understood by the Pueblo people. At the same time, it helps us understand what Tayo is coming to understand: that all things are connected and related through Thought-Woman's web. 

Response to Course Material #4

Since my last response, we've finished reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. I love this play so I was very excited to get to talk about it with the class. We looked at it a little bit in my American Lit class sophomore year but it was great to delve into a little bit further. I still feel very little sympathy for Willy but I love the boys. I am bummed though, I don't feel like we got to discuss it enough in class. I was really looking forward to it but our discussion didn't feel like it really ended. I don't expect us to be able to really "finish" talking about anything we read but we never really got to talk about the play as a whole which I would really like to do. Ms. Holmes did say we'd compare The American Dream and Death of a Salesman  so maybe we can talk some more then. Other than that, we did our Eras Presentations on Prezi. I love Prezi, I think its a great program. We did Modernism and Postmodernism which I've studied before in American Lit but even so, I enjoyed doing the project. We're just starting Ceremony now which is difficult but should be interesting and provide for a lot of material for the AP test in the spring!

Open Prompt #5

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Conflict between parent and child is one of the most fascinating topics for authors to explore, possibly because they have experienced it. Arthur Miller delves into this complex issue in his play, Death of a Salesman, as Willy Loman and his son Biff struggle through their tense relationship. Miller uses detail and a nonlinear timeline to create and explore the conflict between father and son which ultimately shows his audience that the so-called American Dream will not bring the happiness and success that Willy expects it to.

Miller uses a nonlinear time line in the play to reveal to the audience some of the sources of the conflict between Willy and Biff. The play begins in present day and often flashes back in time to some memory of Willy's. In the beginning, flashbacks show us that when Biff in high school, the two had a wonderful relationship. Present day, however, the conflict and tension in their relationship is evident. Later, Willy flashes back to a memory of Biff visiting him on one of his trips to Boston. Biff had come to tell Willy that he flunked math and finds a young secretary in Willy's hotel room. Willy tries to lie his way around the truth but eventually just tries to excuse himself by saying repeatedly, "I'm so lonely", to his stunned, devastated son. The nonlinear way the story is told shows the audience the original source of conflict between Biff and his father. Miller also provides details that enhance the audience's understanding of this father/son conflict. Throughout the play, details reveal to the audience Willy's idea of a successful life. In other words, his American Dream includes being involved in business, being financially wealthy, and being "well-liked". Details also show Biff's idea of the American Dream. Many times, Biff has left his home to go west. We are given details about what Biff loves about being out west: baby calfs being born, open air, "the time to sit around and smoke". This, being contrary to Willy's idea of success and happiness, is a major source of tension between the two. 

This conflict, among other things, contributes heavily to Miller's main point which is that the American Dream, as Willy sees it, will not bring happiness or success to the one who achieves it. In the end, Willy finds himself poor and forgotten in the sales world, despite how important those things have always been to him. He still has not let go of this dream, however, and kills himself so his family can have the insurance money that will come of his death. At his funeral, which no one but his family and two family friends attend, his wife, Linda, repeats the words, "we're free". Willy, dead, is certainly not free, nor is Linda or their other son, Happy. Biff is the only one who is really free. He finally realizes who he is and that happiness and success comes of that, not of being "well-liked" and rich as his father always said. This realization effectively proves Miller's meaning to the audience. 

Father/son conflict is a commonly explored theme in literature. Miller uses this theme, which he creates through detail and a nonlinear timeline, to get his message across to his audience. He shows that the American Dream that Willy couldn't let go of, one of wealth and being "well-liked", will not bring happiness or success.

Open Prompt #4

1993. "The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter." Choose a novel, play, or long poem in which a scene or character awakens "thoughtful laughter" in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is "thoughtful" and how it contributes to the meaning of the work.

A confused adoption lady, a crazy grandma, a day-old cake, some missing pekingese, and lots and lots of boxes. These details and many others, along with some sarcasm and irony, make Edward Albee's play, The American Dream, quite a funny one. Underneath the laughter, however, an audience is forced to stop and think about what Albee is trying to say. He uses details and language to, as one critic called it, "awaken thoughtful laughter" in his audience, entertaining them while, at the same time, causing them to consider that when people are unsatisfied in their personal lives, they turn to the artificial and fleeting satisfaction of consumerism. 

Albee uses language and includes many details to make his audience laugh. Humorous language techniques are found in many places in the play. For example, h

e uses alliteration in the phrase "a penchant for pornography" to highlight the comedy of an adoption lady who is interested in the "intimate" things her clients say. He also uses a paraprosdokian when grandma calls their era "the age of deformity", rather than the age of conformity, as one might expect. These language choices, and others, infinitely add to the humor of Albee's play. He also 

uses a plethora of details to create funny moments in the dialogue of his characters. For example, Mommy tells Daddy the story of how she went to buy a beige hat that was really wheat and then when she went to return it, they gave her back the same hat, which she then believed was beige. The story is incredibly lengthy, complete with Mommy's complaints and Daddy's inability to pay attention to what she says. The result is a hilarious, albeit somewhat irritating, story about a trip to a hat shop. 

All the laughter found in The American Dream must be accompanied by real thought on the part of the audience. That thought inevitably leads the thinker to Albee's main point: that if someone is unsatisfied and unhappy with their personal life, they will turn to consumerism to find satisfaction, although it is false and fleeting. The paraprosdokian used by grandma, for example, is a funny use of a common phrase, but it also forces the audience to consider how messed up and therefore unsatisfying, their lives really are. The details of Mommy's hat story show that, because of her unsatisfying, "deformed" life, she has turned to consumerism to fill the void. 

Even through the lighthearted laughter that an audience may experience during Albee's play, they must confront the sad, unhealthy aspects of the characters lives. This laughter, while serving its purpose by entertaining, completes another duty by forcing the audience to think about what they are actually laughing at and, in turn, about Albee's meaning: that unsatisfactory personal lives will lead people to the false, fleeting satisfaction of consumerism.

Close Reading #3 - "Letting Go" by David Sedaris

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David Sedaris's article "Letting Go" is all about giving up smoking, or, as a German woman he once met put it, "finishing" with smoking. Sedaris is all about the comedy so his anti-smoking message was pretty subtle but his use of certain techniques definitely created one.
His diction and detail created conflicting views of smoking, while he uses syntax everywhere for comedic affect. An example of his use of syntax is when he places the funniest part, or the punch line, at the end of the sentence. For example, he writes "... I went to the world's first elementary school, one where we wrote on cave walls and hunted our lunch with cubs." His use of diction and details demonstrate his feelings on smoking, some positive and some negative. He starts out by using words that contribute to good idea of cigarettes, calling them "wonderful" and a "godsend". He also talks about the bonding that takes place between fellow smokers. Cigarettes, he says, act as a "beacon" that "somehow bring [them] together", calling other smokers "[his] team". Other diction used later and vivid details show the flip side of smoking, the side that ultimately won the argument in Sedaris's mind.  He describes the effects of smoking, first on his uncle and later, his mother. His Uncle Dick had a "mucky" cough that was "painful sounding" and ultimately led to his death due to lung cancer. Later, his mother developed the same cough. He said that she would have to stop "every fifth step or so, while she wheezed and sputtered and pounded her chest with her fist" because the smoking had so damaged her lungs. She also died to lung cancer. By ending with these details and diction choices, Sedaris gives them the most weight, much the same way he puts the funniest part of the sentence at the end for maximum impact. He ends the essay with the day he quit smoking, following up the negative sides of smoking, subtly sending his audience an anti-smoking message.

Response to Course Material #3

Recently in class, we've just been annotating and analyzing Albee's The American Dream this might be a quicker response than usual. I have some mixed emotions about what we've been doing. I think the play is fascinating, Albee is a genius. To be able to find patterns and connections to theme and meaning is great, our group gets so excited when we think we figure something out. The play itself is not my favorite, I just don't really enjoy it. Its definitely not one that I would jump at the chance to see. However, I love discussing in class. The most interesting thing about what we've been doing, I think, is how things all sort of fit together. Even the tiniest of details contribute somehow to the overall meaning, like the repetition of the phrase "very much like" or Albee's specific stage directions. The Young Man fascinates me. My group has discussed a million times what actually happened to his "twin". Did the twin actually exist and was killed by Mommy and Daddy? Or was the Young Man actually that child, who was emotionally and mentally torn apart by his parents, and who reappears on their doorstep as a stranger, due to the vague and disappearing nature of the recent past? We've found some evidence to support this second theory and I cannot wait to look for more and to keep discussing it with them, Ms. Holmes, and the class.
We've also been reviewing terms for our test next week and I've been playing games to get them down!
I can't wait to begin Death of a Salesman next week because we will annotate and analyze much the same way we've done The American Dream but here I get the added bonus of loving that play!

Open Prompt #3

1972. In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.

Many great authors manage to hint at major themes in their work in the opening scene. Edward Albee masters this in his absurdist play The American Dream. The play centers around several unhappy characters, specifically Mommy and Daddy, and their so-called American Dream. Albee uses diction and detail in the opening scene of the play to hint at one of the overall themes: that when people become dissatisfied in their personal lives, they turn to the artificial satisfaction of consumerism.

The curtain rises on a relatively empty stage: just two armchairs occupied by Mommy and Daddy, a couch separating them. This furniture arrangement hints at the distance between the husband and wife, a detail Albee was adamant about in his stage directions. Other details demonstrate the dissatisfaction Mommy and Daddy feel in their relationship, such as the disinterested way that Daddy listens to Mommy talk about her day. They speak of dissatisfaction in other things that reflect their dissatisfaction with each other, such as the tardiness of whomever they are waiting for, as well as that person's inability to get things fixed. They say over and over again that "that's just the way things are today", as if they have no say in the matter. Diction supports that idea, also, as Albee uses words like "naturally" and "of course". Albee's diction and details show the audience right away that Mommy and Daddy "can't get satisfaction" from each other or their marriage.

The scene continues with Mommy telling Daddy about the new hat she had bought earlier that day. She says that she bought a beige hat but upon leaving the store and speaking with the chairman of her women's club, she discovers that the hat is actually wheat-colored. She storms back into the store, demanding a beige hat. When the store gives her the exact same hat, insisting it is beige, not wheat, she is satisfied and purchases the hat. After she finishes her story, Daddy says, "You did get satisfaction, didn't you." And Mommy says that she certainly did. Throughout the story, she continues to use the word "naturally", implying that she cannot change the fact that she only gets satisfaction through shopping. She even says to Daddy, "I can always go shopping." Details used to tell her story, as well as the specific diction choices, show the audience that since she isn't satisfied with her marriage, she turns to consumerism to fill the void. 

Despite Mommy's apparent satisfaction, Albee is sure to make it clear that her satisfaction is false and only temporary. Mommy is immediately satisfied with her "beige" hat until only minutes later when she decides that it is wheat. This detail demonstrates the brevity of consumer satisfaction. Albee is telling us that, with consumerism, as quickly as we get what we think we want, we want something else. Albee also talks about the false nature of satisfaction through consumerism through Mommy's comment about the lights in the store. She tells Daddy, twice, that the store has "artificial lights" which caused her to think the wheat hat was beige. The artificial lights are representative of the artificial satisfaction Mommy finds in the store that they illuminate. 

In the first scene of The American Dream, Albee manages to convey a major theme of the play. He comments on the fact that when people become dissatisfied with some aspect of their personal lives, they turn to consumerism to compensate. He also tells his audience that the satisfaction found in this way, is false and only temporary. This important theme is introduced briefly in this first scene and is brought up again and again through the play.

Close Reading #2 - "One Country's Big Gay Leap" by Frank Bruni

Read it here!

Frank Bruni's article "One Country's Big Gay Leap" talks about the legalization of same-sex marriage in Portugal, other countries that have legalized same-sex marriage, and why or why not countries are able to do so. He uses diction and detail to create for the reader an idea of what is happening in Portugal and to enforce the idea that the United States should follow in Portugal's footsteps.
Throughout the piece, Bruni uses interesting choices in diction to give an accurate idea of the state of affairs in Portugal and the other countries which have recently legalized gay marriage. He uses certain sensory words in places where they are not commonly found. For example, he writes that he had a "potent case of Portugal envy". The use of the word "potent" is an interesting choice because it is usually used to describe a stong, powerful smell and is instead used to describe envy, a feeling. The use of this word enhances Bruni's envy, making it seem like something palpable and not just an abstract emotion. Of course, his envy is of the great strides Portugal has made toward equality, that the United States has not. He does this in other places to create a stong sense of the positive atmosphere about same-sex marriage in Portugal.
His use of detail is also important in giving the reader an idea of what is going on in Portugal. He begins the essay with a detail about Brenda Frota Johnson and Isabel Advirta, whose family seems to accept their relationship now that they are officially married. Other details like this, including a similar one about Sara and Rita Martinho, demonstrate the positive ways in which the legalization of gay marriage has affected Portugal and its citizens.
By using detail and diction to show just how good the legalization of same-sex marriage has been for Portugal and the other countries that have recently passed similar legislation, Bruni argues that America should do the same. While he acknowledges the differences between our country and theirs, he asks whether it "might be possible for President Obama... to take a lead on the issue" and that he might find out "that it wouldn't make or break him".

Response to Course Material #2

Since my last response, we have covered a few more things, one of them being syntax. After going through  Syntax as Style by Virginia Tufte, the concept of syntax makes a lot more sense. There is a lot to recognize about syntax and I'm still having trouble doing so especially with the more subtle things like "deliberate omission of conjunctions". It makes a lot more sense now, though, especially in looking at things like sentence length, fragments, punctuation, and inverted syntax to see how they draw attention to certain things and emphasize an author's point. Sarah and I went through a part of Ernest Hemingway's Walden and found lots of evidence of how he used syntax to prove his point. For example, he writes in very lengthy, drawn out sentences and then all of a sudden, he throws in a short sentence ("Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!") which immediately catches your attention (notice the use of an exclamation point and repetition, as well) and happens to state, in one word, the essential meaning of the passage.
We've also looked at comedy, which absolutely fascinated me. The six elements required for something to be funny as well as all the theories about why something is funny really interested me. We laugh so much, at so many things, and we never stop to think about why it they make us laugh. I particularly like the relief theory but I think in order to cover all of comedy, you have to accept that what makes something funny may be a mix of all five theories. Or it may also be true that some humorous things could fit into some of the theories but not the others. The comedy terms were familiar to me but some were new and I think it's difficult to remember the differences between some of the close ones like travesty and burlesque. I'll need to practice a lot with the games before the terms test!
The Theatre of the Absurd is an interesting concept, as well. I'm a history nerd so I liked that they were, in the article, able to trace the origins of the Theatre of the Absurd throughout the history of theatre. I'm not at all surprised that they said that WWII was what eventually set off this style of theatre. From what I know, from history classes and American Lit, the Theatre of the Absurd follows naturally from the disillusionment following the war. It would have been easy for people feeling that disillusionment to accept that we're never going to get a good answer for why life is the way it is. In some aspects, I feel that way today. The idea of language not being a successful means of communication being a part of the Theatre of the Absurd is another post-modern idea that doesn't surprise me at all, especially when you think about Absurdist plays like Waiting for Godot and The American Dream.
The first read we did of The American Dream was great since I've been looking forward to getting started in our reading in this class. It's a very strange play, to say the least. In trying to write our intros and topic sentences, our group kept getting off topic, caught in these great discussions about the play. We came up with some interesting theories and have a lot of questions. I cannot wait to discuss as a whole class.
Writing intros and topic sentences was very difficult, especially since we aren't entirely clear on what Albee's meaning may have been in the play. It's stressful, how hard writing a good essay seems and it makes me nervous. But I just remind myself that we're working on it and we have until May to learn how to write a good essay. It will take some time but I can do it, I just have to be patient!

Open Prompt #2

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

Some of the most tragic love stories involve a hero or heroine who cannot be with their loved one. Just this happens to poor Walter Hartright in Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, he falls in love with his drawing student, Laura, who is already engaged. Walter suffers privately in his quiet love for Laura as it conflicts with both her promises to her fiance and his promises to his employer, her uncle. Collins uses intense detail to show the apparent hopelessness of Walter's situation which emphasizes the universal tragedy of separated lovers. 

Walter first falls in love with Laura when he is instructing her and her sister, Marian, in drawing at their home at Limmeridge House. Although she is engaged, Laura's fiance, Sir Percival Glyde, is absent from their lives and he is allowed to quietly admire her, while struggling privately with his love for her and his more obligations to treat her as nothing more than a student. Collins uses imagery to highlight Walter's feelings for Laura. They sit in a lovely garden, in full bloom, as he helps her with a drawing. There he notices her soft features, her gentle smile, and her delicate hands. He admires her blonde hair and fair complexion as she focuses on her work. The details given of Laura and the beautiful nature around her show Walter's intense emotion and love for her. Conflicting with this, however, are the details of his struggle. He knows he cannot touch her for he is her pupil and would be violating his employers trust, almost certainly losing his job. More pressing than this, even, is the fact that she is engaged. Socially, as well as morally, confessing his feelings for Laura would be impossible. These details provide an intense look at Walter's internal struggle, which has been and will be felt by many different despairing lovers.

Soon, Walter's struggle can no longer be kept private when Marian realizes that Walter has fallen in love with Laura and kindly advises him to leave Limmeridge. He heeds this advice and journeys to Central America as Laura marries Sir Percival and goes on a 6 month honeymoon to Italy. Collins uses colorful details here, as well, to describe their separation. Walter writes to Marian of his travels through brutal landscapes, often on dangerous missions in rain forests teeming with deadly creates. Laura, meanwhile, is traveling with her new husband through Italy, trying her very best to love him and be his wife, although she is still in love with Walter. Sir Percival, despite Laura's efforts, turns cold and bitter toward her, completely opposite of his prior charming, polite, considerate manner. Their misery in their respective situations creates the terrible tragedy of lovers separated due to the impossibility of the drawing master and his married pupil being together. Walter and Laura's pain at being separated stems from the conflict between their passion and obligations that prevent their marriage, a pain felt by many tortured lovers. 

Despite their strong love, Laura and Walter cannot be together due to their morals and prior responsibilities and obligations. Collins creates the hopelessness of their situations by using intense and beautiful details and long descriptions, emphasizing to the reader the idea of the tragic suffering felt by lovers who cannot be together.

Response to Course Material #1

DIDLS was one of the first things we studied this year: diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax. As I've been writing, I've found that diction, imagery, and details have been the ones that come most easily to me, depending on the work. Language (as in metaphors, similies, personification, etc.) was one I didn't really understand at first, I just sort of skipped over it, lumping it in with diciton and syntax but now that I read about it in the chapter, I realize its really quite simple, you just have to look for it. Syntax, then, it the difficult one. I understand that it's the "arrangement of words into phrases or sentences", in the words of our text book. It's just a little bit harder to recognize and use to show effect and overall meaning in an essay. The more we talk about it and work with it, however, the easier I think it will be become.
Close reading has also been a big topic. I never though about annotating text before but now that I've begun, I think I enjoy it. I haven't thought about it much in any novels I've been reading but I did annotate a few poems by Allen Ginsberg in my copy of "Howl" and Other Poems. Nerdy, right?

As far as writing the essays, its very hard to get used to and I've always had difficulty writing a thesis. However, the idea that an intro should consist of only three parts (opener, background, thesis) is definitely helping. As for the thesis itself, breaking down the prompt as we learned is making it a little bit easier. It helps to be able to recognize the goals of the prompt and find the techniques, effects, and overall meaning (sometimes, the hidden "so what" question). Overall meaning is probably what many of my theses have been lacking or at least, it was something I certainly didn't understand. So far, I don't think closed prompts are easier or harder than open prompts. They're just very different. On the one hand, its nice to have the text in front of you for the closed prompt but its also nice to be able to choose a work that you might know fairly well. Putting DIDLS into my essays has helped give them a focus and annotating the closed prompt texts is an obvious advantage, as well as marking up the prompts themselves.

Poetry is a genre of literature that, although I've always appreciated, I've just started to really enjoy reading. I was blown away by Rossetti's poem "Promises like Pie-Crust" in the text book. Because of her poetic techniques as well as her powerful meaning. So far, I've found that close reading a poem is just like close reading any other text (annotating, looking at DIDLS, techniques to effects to meaning, etc.) except that you have to be aware of poetic techniques that wouldn't be present in prose, such as meter, rhyme, and form. We talked about reading sentences on a first read and then going back to look at line breaks. Reading a poem in sentences instead of lines has never been an issue for me. In fact, I find I have to remind myself to go back and see if line breaks are significant.

Overall, what we've gone over in class so far has gotten me excited to keep getting better at close reading and analyzing texts, as well as simply being exposed to new literature. I love talking in class about certain pieces and techniques used in them to create meaning. I think talking out loud about a text is one of the best ways to get new understanding out of it, especially after you've gone through on your own first, annotating and seeing what you can find.

Open Prompt #1

1985. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that produces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the work.

More often than not, as humans, we experience many emotions at one time, often conflicting, caused by the multitude of people and circumstances in our lives. Great works of literature, according to one critic, should produce this same effect of "healthy confusion". In Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, a romance set during the Civil War, almost every emotion felt by readers are accompanied by opposite ones. Mitchell uses details and imagery to show characters and events that create the conflicting emotions of "pleasure and disquietude" in the reader.

Scarlett O'Hara, a young woman of the southern aristocracy, is the novel's protagonist. Throughout the novel, she alternately hates, gets along with, and eventually loves the charming Rhett Butler, a blockade runner who turns up now and then in Scarlett's life. Through her constant use of well-placed details, Mitchell shows readers that Scarlett's character is a head-strong young woman, willing to use any means necessary to get what she wants. For example, when Scarlett's plantation, Tara, is threatened by heavy property taxes, Scarlett dresses to the nines and goes to visit Rhett in jail. Despite the fact that she hates him, she smiles and batts her eyelashes, before finally asking Rhett for the money. The details given in this scene paint a clear picture of Scarlett's character. She makes a dress out of the green velvet curtains at Tara, peers at Rhett from underneath her delicate eyelashes, and, when he sees through her flirtations, storms away like a toddler having a tantrum. These details certainly create a "disquietude" and displeasure about Scarlett's character. This negative feeling toward her, however, is countered when we are given details of Scarlett at her best. Later in the novel, after Scarlett and Rhett have married, Mitchell's wonderful description of their daughter, Bonnie, through Scarlett's eyes, create the "pleasure" that was missing. Scarlett watches her baby girl and notices the curve of her soft cheek, the gentle curl of her hair, the bright blue of her eyes, and later, as a toddler, her curiosity and vivacity. The details Mitchell so carefully weaves into the novel create opposite emotions about Scarlett and her personality.

Imagery also plays a heavy role in creating the "healthy confusion" of emotions in the novel, especially when Mitchell describes the South during the Civil War. At one point in the novel, Scarlett leaves her family at Tara to stay with her aunt in Atlanta. At first, Atlanta has all the charms and romance of a Southern town in the 1860s. Mitchell paints glorious pictures of its people and places. For example, Scarlett goes to a dance with her sister-in-law, Melanie. Although Scarlett is in mourning for her first husband, Charles, she longs to dance. Mitchell describes the atmosphere clearly. She writes of the brilliantly colored skirts twisting and flowing around the dance floor; the sharply dressed Confederate soldiers in their gray uniforms; the banners on the walls of the brightly decorated hall. All of these descriptions create a feeling of immense pleasure as the room seems to come alive inside the mind of the reader. Later, though, as the Yankees attack Atlanta, the town turns grim. During one attack, Scarlett is forced to deliver Melanie's baby and cannot flee the invading army. The scene is described flawlessly. As Scarlett runs through the streets, looking for help, cannons explode in the distance, moving closer and closer to her house; dust rises up from the streets; brightly colored houses lay dark and deserted. Scarlett screams for aid but finds none and as she puts on a brave face for Melanie, the reader can feel her terror. This emotion is completely opposite to the one felt at the dance hall, both created by Mitchell's use of imagery.

A certain level of "healthy confusion" is necessary to any great work of literature, as one critic stated. A piece comes alive when readers can feel those opposing emotions. Through the use of well-thought out and carefully placed detail, as well as stunning imagery, Margaret Mitchell creates that sense of "pleasure and disquietude" about characters and events in her novel, Gone with the Wind.

Close Reading #1 - "Tasteless" by David Sedaris

Read it here!

Imagery and details are two of David Sedaris' most important tools in his writing. He uses detailed descriptions to create clear pictures in the reader's mind. These help to tell his story in the clever, funny way that is obvious is all his writing. In this article, he creates images relating to food and his inability to taste or appreciate differences between foods. One of his first great uses of detail and imagery is in his comparison of himself to a convict, in the way he eats. He says he eats "how a prisoner might eat", shoveling food into his mouth, not caring what it is as long as he gets it into his mouth. He provide details about how he eats ("one arm maneuvering the fork and the other encircling the plate like a fence") that further his use of imagery. He goes on to say that might be due to his coming from a large family. Then, he brings up the convict simile again when he says he would whisper to his sister, "convict-like, out of one side of [his] mouth" to ask for her food. This comparison and the details he uses to create it, form a very clear picture in my mind of what David must look like when he's eating, which, when you picture it, is laugh-out-loud funny. He uses this same technique of comparison by imagery and detail to make the article witty several more times throughout the work. For example, he compares eating the giant food at a hamburger chain called the Claim Jumper to being "miniaturized, shrunk to the height of a leprechaun or a doll and dropped in the dining room of regular-sized people."
David also uses diction and language to his advantage in order to make "Tasteless" a clever, funny piece of writing. For instance, when he is creating his convict comparison at the beginning of the piece, he uses language to enhance that when he says his arm was "encircling the plate like a fence". When he equates his arm to a fence, I automatically think of a prison yard, furthering the comedy and effectiveness of the comparison. In the way of diction, David often makes interesting word choices. For example, he writes that some French friends who were visiting the states "are floored by the size of the portions". The use of the word, "floored", creates such a clear image in my mind of these shocked, appalled French people. That one word did so much more than the use of "surprised" or "taken aback" could have done. He uses other strong words that have the similar effect of creating strong, clear images such as "giddy" and "mediocre".