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!