Class Eval.

1. During the course of this class I have definitely grown in my understanding of literature. It was hard at first to really look into a piece of literature and pick it apart but the more we did it the easier it became. I started to be able to look critically and draw questions from the text. My writing improved because I genuinely had questions and ideas that I believed and it did not feel like I was writing a paper on a book but on my feelings of the book which was interesting.
2. The text I responded to the most positively was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I really liked the novel because the story was interesting and it was fun to read. I was interested in this novel the most because it was my favorite type of literature, a novel.
3. Graphic novels have made a way into my definition of literature. We spent so much time as a class picking apart the different elements of graphic novels and all the work that goes into making one that I don't see how it isn't literature. The multimodality, symbolism, icons, gutters--everything put together made the graphic novel what it was at the end. I can't not appreciate the authors of graphic novels and I believe they should be called literature.
4. I really enjoyed the response papers because they didn't have to be too long and it was basically all opinion based. The least favorite for me would be the research paper and the other paper because they tok the longest to write, but that wasn't even bad. I enjoy to write papers so I liked this class. The discussions we're sometimes dragged out but we had a lot of good ideas that we went over in class.
5. I definitely feel more prepared to think critically about different texts. This class really has taught me the right questions to ask and how to find the answers with in the text. I didn't expect much more out of this class because I can not interpret literature much easier.

ehhhh...

I don't like it. The pictures, the text, everything seems to be making fun of Shakespeare's creation. I think William Shakespeare wrote beautiful plays that we're meant to be challenging to understand and funny to the audience. When Gaiman's text says
"Now, fait Hippolyta our nuptial hour draws on apace; FOUR happy days bring in another moon: but OHH, methinks how SLOW the old moon wanes!"
The language in Shakespeare is hard to understand but the wait Gaiman says "methinks" destroys the language presented in Shakespeare's plays. I dislike the introduction of some alien type people. It seems like they are there to kind of explain whats going on in the panels to come but they used an audience of aliens to do it. That completely degrades Shakespeares work! Gaiman might be trying to be funny to the readers but I find it quite obnoxious. Once again the word "methinks" was put into a phrase said by the alien, it's irritating. After the alien is done talking the story line comes right back into play picking up where Helena and Hermia are having a conversation about Demetrius. A lot of content was skipped over due to the annoying aliens, and I feel that content is needed to understand why Helena is so persistent on having Demetrious. I do not enjoy the way the play is set up. I get very confused with the random alien creatures and the story lines keep jumbling together. Part of the play seems to be a play put on for people and creatures and the other half is actually happening...it's just confusing and awkward.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Helena Soliloquy

How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know:
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities:
Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity:

At this part of Helena's soliloquy she is saying that she is just as good as Hermia and Demetrius does not see that. He does not know that Helena still loves him but he knows that he is in love with Hermia. He focuses on Hermias beauty when Helena knows that she is an ugly person inside. This is when Helena questions cupid...

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured every where:

Helena is questioning why Demetrius is looking only with his eyes and not his mind because he just see's the beauty on the outside of Hermia. Helena feels that Demetrius is being rash with his decision to marry Hermia.

For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.

This section talks about how when Helena and Demetrius were together he looked onto Hermia and instantly he gave up every promise, or oath, that he had with Helena and that he was hers. So when he was with Hermia all of his promises melted away and meant nothing.

I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.

Here is when Helena decides that she will tell Demetrius about her running off to marry Lysander at his Aunt's house. He will then go into the woods to find her. Helena hopes that Demetrius then will fall in love with her if she follows him into the woods.

Shakespeare

Along with many others in the class, I did not understand the play very much. The language was extremely hard to follow and the large amount of characters and plots did not help very much. The relationship I tried to look into was between Oberon and Puck. Oberon obviously over rules Puck in any situations, Puck follows Oberon's requests. Oberon and Puck try to make everything right by using the potion from a flower.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.

This potion is the basis for a lot of the plays conflicts. Puck accidentally puts the potion on the wrong person's eyes, Titania falls in love with Bottom who has a donkey head. I find it odd that the play ended by just being a dream but that also helps with the ridiculous events that took place. Thats really all that I got from the play. It was very confusing to read through and I lost track of who was who a lot.

I'm trying to decide what topic to focus on, I have a couple of ideas. Self image and influence of religion are two topics I'm looking at. A thesis for self image would be...

Over the course of time the popular media has distorted the definition of "beautiful".

A thesis for religion would be...

Christian fundamentalism breaks down relationships in a family because of the overindulgence and obsession with being holy and pure in God's eyes.

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. I'm stuck.

Persepolis

When reading Persepolis I noticed many similarities in the panels and the poem On Being Asked to Write a Poem Against the War in Vietnam. Both texts seemed to have the similar normality of murder and war going on around them. In the panels on page 29 Marj's father is taking pictures of people being killed in very violent ways. He is standing in the back just watching. There also is another set of panels on pages 14-15 that are pictures of a cinema burning down. The text says that the doors had been locked from the outside right before the fire, the police were there but wouldn't let the people burning inside be rescued, it took the firemen 45 minutes to get to the scene. While the father is explaining this story he is nice and sound in his bed speaking with his wife. It seems to be that it is just another day during the Islamic Revolution and they are just accustom to the murder that happens around them. The father has no emotion when speaking about this horrific situation that has taken place. Just as in the book, the poem by Hayden Carruth, also plays down murder and war as if it is just the same thing happening on another day.

and not one
breath was restored
to one

shattered throat
mans womans or childs
not one not

one
but death went on and on
never looking aside

except now and then
with a furtive half-smile
to make sure I was noticing.

This selection shows the lack of emotion that Hayden had at the time of war. She practically had to be shaken to make sure that she was noticing what was going on around her. She said not one breath was restored to one shattered throat mans womans or childs. This shows that anyone was being killed, there were no exceptions, however Hayden still showed no emotion. It seems like war has been a part of her life for a very long time that she forgot how to feel. The same thing happens to the characters in Persepolis, they become so used to hearing about people being murdered everyday that they have no initial reaction. During these two texts the characters, and authors, involved seem to be numb to death. They take death as just a normal event that happens every day. To answer the question of how does conflict transform, forge, deny, identity? I believe that any type of conflict whether it be war and death, or pregnancy and birth, changes your life forever. You may try to not let things get to you but eventually you have to deal with what is happening in the environment around you. Conflict shows who you really are by how you deal with it.

Blankets

In the text blankets I found it interesting that Craig always turned certain things into demons. This happened throughout the book whenever he thought something was wrong. An example of this was on pages 16-17 when Craig's father is putting his brother, Phil, into the cubby room because they were being too loud upstairs. There are two panels next to each other, the first is the Dad going into the small cubby room and opening something that looks like an alligators mouth. There are teeth coming off of it and it looks like the mouth is being pushed more and more open. In the back of the picture Phil looks terrified of where his Dad is putting him. In the next panel however it shows that the "mouth of an alligator" actually is only a cot being unfolded. I found it interesting that the author made the cot seem like such an unplesant thing. I think this is because the two boys had "sinned" and the cubby room represented a "hell" to the young boys. It was seen as a punishment to go into that room and especially alone, since they slept in the same bed through their childhood. The author has a theme going through the story that whenever something seems to be bad, or a sin, it turns into a creepy demon. Another example of this is when Criag drew a picture of a naked woman on the bus. His bus driver contacted the parents who then talked to Craig about the picture. In a panel on page 208 the woman in the picture started to scare Craig. Craig was scared of this picture because he knew that God did not want him to be drawing naked women and it was a "sin". There also was a panel,on the same page, where Craig was looking at a picture of Jesus and Jesus' back was turned to him. This symbolized that Craig had sinned, and he was afraid of that. The demons continued through Criags life. When Craig was visiting his friend Raina he was staying in her sisters bedroom and thought of a story in the bible. It was of a woman who bled for 12 years and when she touched Jesus she suddenly was cured. Jesus asked "Who touched me?" For some reason after thinking of this story Craigs imagination went wild. On page 223 there was a picture of the stuffed animals in the room, all of them have really big eyes that look crazy and each one is asking "Who touched me?" I find this really interesting because I don't necessarily find the coorilation between the story and the stuffed animals. I assume, from the pattern in the book, that Craig has thought of something unholy. I don't exactly have an interpretation for this panel, I just found it very odd.

Beliefs.

I believe in love at first sight, miracles, happiness, friendship. I believe that hard work and dedication can get you where you want. I believe that practice makes perfect, and that mistakes will help you learn. I believe my mother is one of the greatest people, and that she is one of the strongest women I've come to know. I believe that there is a higher power, which I look to for guidance. My belief system has been challenged every single day. It doesn't have to to be just my religious belief system, it is all of them put together. Especially during the election my beliefs as a republican are challenged by my peers constantly. I believe that I fell in love with my boyfriend the second I saw him. Some people think it is a ludacris thought, but it's true. The way I handle being criticized is not taking offense to what other people are saying, listen to their ideas, and revaluate my thoughts and see if I still feel the same way. You need to listen to others to be able to really stand up for what you believe in. My mother has been the sculpter of my belief system. She never tells me what to think, but will always listen with an open mind. If my mom disagrees with me then she will say so, and give a valid reason. She's one of the most honest people but knows how to express her opinion in a generous way. In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit there is a strong Christian belief system in the family. The mother will pray for 2 hours a day, everything they do is devoted to God, is something happens to anyone in the family it is Gods doing. When Jeanette went deaf her mother said she was in a state of rapture, and the Lord would get her through it. A time when Jeanettes beliefs were challenged were when she went to school for the first time and had to write a paper on what she did that summer. Jeanette started to tell the class about Bible study and all these stories of God and holyness. The teacher became upset with Jeanette and then asked her why she spoke of God so much. Later on Jeanette is in a hard position because her whole life she's been told that God is the way, sex is a sin, and anything done with out God in mind is wrong and unholy.

The Bluest eye

Iconography was used in the bluest eye....I wasn't able to read the text over the weekend but will be by wednesday...sorry shannon

Thesis

How does the author use iconography in the story to persuade the audience to feel a certain way?

Do repetitions and patterns in the text help add to the story or take away from it?

How do multimodal elements draw in the reader? Does a piece of literature need multimodal elements to be a success?

Any suggestions on a thesis would be appreciated = ]

I was going to be looking into the iconography used in American Born Chinese. I will be focusing in on how the shoes and the transformer added to the story by foreshadowing and symbolism.

Wednesday Sept. 24 Assignment

A quote from Emerson can be used to describe the types of situattions the characters in American Born Chinese were dealing with. "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion." This quote describes how people conform to what other people believe they should be like. As in American Born Chinese the monkey even replies when given a compliment "I am not a monkey." It is clear that he is a monkey but because of what other people consider the social norm he wants to become more like a man so he starts to wear shoes. He even goes as far as wanting to be a God, which we know is very unlikely. I think the quote and this monkeys situation are easy to relate to. Many people feel like they don't quite "fit in" when it comes to other groups. When you feel isolated you tend to try and be just like the people that are isolating you, so you will be accepted. This stage usually happens to people going through high school or any grade for that matter. I want to know where the social norm came from. I also want to know why so many people strive to become just like any body else? Both of these texts work together to try and prove my point that you can be what anyone else wants you to be but until you find out for yourself then you will never live a full happy life.

bell hooks

bell hooks has a very controversial argument. When she was talking about popular culture and the media being a main reason of why people have certain viewpoints or stereotypes, I agree with a little bit of what she is saying. hooks described the way women are portrayed in films is trying to suggest the degradation of women. A woman playing a prostitute in a movie suggests whore or slut and I believe that these words are used very frequently these days because of the popular culture. Movies can be a great influence on the way we think today, look at the Michael Moore films. People may not read up on any of the political battles that go on in Moore's films but once they see one they think they have all of the perfect information. bell hooks also talks about the word racisism, and how it keeps whites at the center of attention, as the racist. White supremacy, however, puts whites at the top of the list and how the other cultures think they are lesser than whites. This idea of bell hooks I do not agree with. White supremacy is the ridiculous idea that whites are the superior race. I believe that everyone is equal and should get the same opportunities from one culture to the next. bell hooks trys to make it seem like every other culture looks up to whites, which is not entirely true. I personally don't believe there is a todem pole of cultures with one one top and one on the bottom, every one is intermixed.

American Gothic

When looking at "American Gothic" I tend to focus on the man before the woman. My interpretation of this art is two farmers who are focused primarily on their crops. Both the man and woman have stern looks on their faces but I'll start with the woman. She is not smiling nor is she looking at the camera. This suggests to me that she is focused on something else that is going on besides the "picture" that would be taken or the portrait being painted. It seems that she is thinking of other things and because of the farm in the background I would think that her mind is probably on something with the crops. Her body language doesn't show any type of affection towards the man in the picture, I assume it is her husband but because of the lack of emotion she could also be a relative such as a sister working on the farm. Now, the man in this picture looks like a very hard working man. He is even posing with his pitch fork which I'm sure is a part of his daily life. The attire he is wearing suggests that he is very religious. The wrinkles on his face show many years of hard work and dedication. I believe the overall picture shows a husband and wife who have known nothing other than the farm for their whole lives. They are very conservative, religious people. The color of their clothing suggests these two things, the black and blues come off conservative. This picture shows the hardworking American. People who do what they must to get by.

What are real books?

Defining something as a real book is hard to do. There are many different types of things to read it's hard to say if they would be considered a book. Obviously something that is written as a novel is a book. Fiction, Fantasy, Non-Fiction, Bibliography- these are all types of books that you can find that are usually over 150 pages. What about the childrens books that are 20 pages filled with big pictures and only 5 words per page? Are these real books? I personally believe that this type of visual text should be considered a book. They help children learn basic skills like colors and shapes. With out these books then no one would have started to learn at a young age and life would be a lot harder. Comic books are a different story however. I don't really know what to consider them but I wouldn't say everyone is or isn't a book. I think it really depends on how long the comic is. If its just a one page comic then no thats not a book, possibly a story, but not a book. However, there are comics that are 20 pages long that take a while to read because of all the information through out all the pages. Honestly, I don't like comics. The only comics that I enjoy are The Farside, but other than that I do not like them. Children's books are fine because I believe they can teach valuable lessons while comics are meerly for entertainment.

Multimodal Literacies

The new form of literacy was described in a very unappealing way. It was very hard to keep focus because I kept getting lost in the article. Multimodality is about people all doing the same exact thing, I disagree with this. Everyone is different, there's no way to say that any two people will do the same thing in any situation. McCloud's book was driving me absolutely crazy. I could not catch any type of interest in this book because there was so much going on, on each page. I've never read a book in that format before so it was a shock how hard it was to read.

What is an American?

I believe there are many different ways to describe what an American is. First there is the person who came from the bottom and rose to the top, thats the "American dream" isn't it? There is also the soldier, the person who will fight for their country and die for it. To me a soldier is the most honorable American possible. A typical citizen is also another form of an American. I am not in the army, nor have I over come a very hard time in my life to reach fame. I am the typical American, going to school, working a part time job, just trying to live my life. Anyone living in the United States can make the argument of being an American. Putting a flag in your front yard shows your patriotism, it doesn't take much. An American, in my opinion, is anyone who has had to work hard, dedicate themselves to something, and work towards a goal. That goal can be whatever the person desires but hard work and dedication are qualities of an American.

Hey girl heyyyy

Hey there!! I chose this scene of peace because at first it caught my eye and I really like peace sign's in any form. Probably because I feel like a hippie at heart. I also chose this picture of a squirrel...because I love squirrels.

Peace.

Literary Theory

The two types of literary theory that I think are the most interesting are popular culture and biographical. Popular culture because I like to read about what other people are doing in the world and what is being talked about either literature, fashion, etc. Biographical because I like to read about what a person has done in life. Being first hand stories you really get to feel what the author felt and I think that's a really good quality in stories.