There aren't many aspects of the course that I hate you have much control over. As always, I really enjoy having one-on-one time available to see you, and you always quickly respond to e-mails. One thing I don't particularly care for in the course is the peer reviews. I cannot stand them, I fell that I am often faced with a group that 1) has low standards or 2) doesn't want to piss anyone off. Because of this, I quite frequently receive little to no help in the revision process and feel as though we have wasted an entire class period on nothing.
Other than the classes not being longer (not your choice, I know), I never feel that there is much we can improve on. I do think our discussions bring about good ideas for our papers and I find myself actually learning aspects of the piece we are discussing I had not originally known/saw.
I really enjoy the class and hope this was helpful!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Setting and Point of View for "The Little Mermaid"
Setting, which is the time, place, and social setting of a story, is crucial to the story. So many paragraphs (probably the majority of the story) are spent describing where the Mermaids are, who they are around, and the time of day it is. Though we rarely are told what time period this story takes place we are given thorough account of what the mermaids see and live in. If we took out all the accounts of setting in our story, to me at least, we would lose the point.
The imagery projected by the paragraphs of setting description often reference to the mood of the story, whenever their is a dramatic mood switch, as seen when the mermaid goes to the witch to ask for help, the mood is described through the setting. Since the setting is murky, dark, and morbid it reflects how the mermaid feels and how the witch may act towards the mermaid.
Point of View, the way the story is told, is third-person limited omniscient. While the narrator is not directly involved with any character he often restricts himself to knowing how the youngest mermaid is feeling or doing. When she becomes human he focuses, not on the other mermaids or life under the sea, instead worries about the little mermaid. She is overall the main character, which according to the book, if the narrator focuses on mainly one character in a short story it is most commonly referenced as limited.
Overall this story was rather interesting, I loved how in the end she had the chance to get her immortal soul even though the Prince did not love her in the way she wished he did. By being nice she got the chance to gain her soul through good deeds.
It may not have been the fairytale Disney spun off for us, but it definitely had a unique quality.
BAM!
The imagery projected by the paragraphs of setting description often reference to the mood of the story, whenever their is a dramatic mood switch, as seen when the mermaid goes to the witch to ask for help, the mood is described through the setting. Since the setting is murky, dark, and morbid it reflects how the mermaid feels and how the witch may act towards the mermaid.
Point of View, the way the story is told, is third-person limited omniscient. While the narrator is not directly involved with any character he often restricts himself to knowing how the youngest mermaid is feeling or doing. When she becomes human he focuses, not on the other mermaids or life under the sea, instead worries about the little mermaid. She is overall the main character, which according to the book, if the narrator focuses on mainly one character in a short story it is most commonly referenced as limited.
Overall this story was rather interesting, I loved how in the end she had the chance to get her immortal soul even though the Prince did not love her in the way she wished he did. By being nice she got the chance to gain her soul through good deeds.
It may not have been the fairytale Disney spun off for us, but it definitely had a unique quality.
BAM!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
"Bartleby, the Scrivener" and "The Birthmark"
Each character in Bartleby seemed to, in some way, be very static characters. If taken out, there wouldn't have been to terrible of a loss. Their descriptions did not aid us in the story. At least, that is how I saw it. The characters in comparison to "The Birthmark" were very bland, overdone.
Whereas in "The Birthmark" I felt the characters where not just words on a page, this led me to like the story dramatically more. I didn't quite understand the point in the characters when reading "Bartleby, the Scrivener".
Alas, I am not fans for Hawthorne's characters very often, nor Melville's. In comparison Hawthorne's made my mind grind more than Melville's.
:D
:D
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Racism
Around every corner, behind ever ignorant joke lies some hint of racism. We may try and say I'm not racist, but most of us are. What matters is how you approach every day situations. Since I've moved to South Dakota I have never experienced such a denial of said racism. I have never felt so much anger towards a group of people because of how they feel about others, but I just can't help myself when it comes to being here.
I grew up in the South, clearly a place that knows racism and knows it well. The key difference from the people home and the people here are that they recognize that they are racist, hell they'll tell anyone and everyone that they are. What does that mean? It means while it is ignorant to be racist, they acknowledge what they are doing and saying whereas South Dakotans are oblivious.
It's not okay, and we can't stop it until we take a look at ourselves and accept the fact we may be a tad bit racist.
I grew up in the South, clearly a place that knows racism and knows it well. The key difference from the people home and the people here are that they recognize that they are racist, hell they'll tell anyone and everyone that they are. What does that mean? It means while it is ignorant to be racist, they acknowledge what they are doing and saying whereas South Dakotans are oblivious.
It's not okay, and we can't stop it until we take a look at ourselves and accept the fact we may be a tad bit racist.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Thoughts about my paper.
Overall the process was fairly easy, I was actually surprised at the ease that was writing my paper. I never really liked peer review because I always feel that students try and just rush through it, not hurt anyone's feelings, and they tend to not give me many helpful hints. To me, it's a waste of time.
However, I do adore the conferences we are required to have with you. I do wish they could be longer, however, I know since you have three classes it is a little harder to have anything longer than ten minutes. I think you give us a lot of helpful hints and you allow us to ask you some questions on how you would like to see our paper written.
Overall, those are the things I have the most things to say about.
Adios.
However, I do adore the conferences we are required to have with you. I do wish they could be longer, however, I know since you have three classes it is a little harder to have anything longer than ten minutes. I think you give us a lot of helpful hints and you allow us to ask you some questions on how you would like to see our paper written.
Overall, those are the things I have the most things to say about.
Adios.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Metamorphosis.
I'm not going to lie reading this I thought our main character may have ingested some sort of drug and was in a dream state. As the story progressed I noticed how the author took all communication away from the bug. To me in his bug state he represented the loneliness one would expect when they put work ahead of their family, personal lives, and pretty much everything in between.
Our main character's main priority throughout the story was his job. He couldn't get to his job, he wasn't going to be able to make money. He wasn't even concerned as to why he was a bug! It just seems to me that he failed to look at the real situation and as a result died a bitter death.
If he had worried more before he was a bug about personal relationships he would not be in this situation.
That is all!
Our main character's main priority throughout the story was his job. He couldn't get to his job, he wasn't going to be able to make money. He wasn't even concerned as to why he was a bug! It just seems to me that he failed to look at the real situation and as a result died a bitter death.
If he had worried more before he was a bug about personal relationships he would not be in this situation.
That is all!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Works Cited
Kumar, Krishan. "The Ends of Utopia." New Literary History 41.3 (2010): 549-69. Project Muse. Web. 31 Jan 2011.
Rozin, V.M. "Esoteric Ideas on the Transformation of Man and Society in Comparison with Utopian and Social Projects." Russian Studies in Philosophy 46.2 (2007): 37-44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Jan 2011.
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. Random House Inc. (2006):. Print.
Rozin, V.M. "Esoteric Ideas on the Transformation of Man and Society in Comparison with Utopian and Social Projects." Russian Studies in Philosophy 46.2 (2007): 37-44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Jan 2011.
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. Random House Inc. (2006):. Print.
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