Final Blog Entry: Reflective Paper

         After looking over the syllabus' listed objectives for the students in English 102, from analyzing the relationship between literary genre and meaning to examining logical fallacies, I believe I met the objectives listed and much more. I not only expanded my knowledge on fallacies and how they are used in mass media but also developed skills that will benefit me in the future with various tasks. Because of the copious imformation I gained from English 102, I would definately say I am glad I took this class.
         Due to the consistant bloggings and the numerous papers that are required for this class, I quickly leanred the skill of managing my own time. I frequently experience technical problems with my computer and printer at home, making last minute blog posts and papers even more stressful and challenging. By managing my time wisely, by spending a few hours in the public library and the TLC Lab at the school campus, I successfully finished all my blog posts and papers well before the deadlines and without any uncessary stress.
         Furthermore, the pieces of literature I read in this class, namely The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman and Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, slightly changed my view points on the treatment of women in society and also how woman project themselves due to society's standards. I previously held a narrow viewpoint regarding how woman were treated in society, believing that all women were degrated and looked down upon in the past. However, after reading The Yellow Wallpaper, and seeing how caring and gentle John was towards his wife even though society held a different, diminishing attitude towards women, my view of the treatment of women changed to a brighter and more positive regard. Also, after reading Chrysanthemums, my solid perspective that most women projected themselves in accordance with society weakened. Elisa projected herself as a strong, capable woman and fought off society's standard weak steriotypical woman during that time period. Elisa, in my eyes, knows she is a woman and therefore the "weaker" gender, but confronts her femininity in order to set herself on equal footing with males. I am thankful that these stories were the readings chosen for English 102, because these two short stories reshaped my view points on femininity and social expectations in the past.
         I enjoyed the experiences and new view points that Ive developed in English 102. I hope to keep in touch with all my classmates that I have met and also wish everyone the best of luck in reaching their desired future goals! Happy holidays! :)

Brina Koohbanani

Blog #11: "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible."

Blog #11: Chapter 2 of Ivan Ilych opens with the narrative comment that "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." What does this mean?

This brief commentary from the author is describing how terribly original Ivan's life is lead. Ivan solely focuses on obtaining social power, wealth, and prestige; all being shallow and meaningless values in life. Ivan does not realize the true values in life that deal with relationships with others, love, trust and family. Because Ivan lives such a shallow life, Ivan's life is terrible, and aslo original, because everyone strives to become a little bit wealthy throughout their lives.

Blog #10: "The Tempest" obviously works in the realm of fantasy--magic, spirits, unlikely coincidences. Would you therefore describe it as a lighthearted, escapist work? Or is it a "serious" drama?

I view "The Tempest" as lighthearted, escapist work more than a serious drama. I view the drama in this light because of the atmosphere created by the play. Figments of our imagination such as faries and magic make the work appear to be less sophisticated because of these elements in the drama. These make the play look childish, innocent, and even naive. Plus, the drama itself focuses on the basic morals that humans learn when we are young, and also contributes to the play's overall innocence.

I view "serious" dramas as those that place new perspectives on human thinking. These plays most likely address issues in a new light, allowing the readers to argue against the basic teachings that society has taught about certain subjects. Many of these dramas describe situations that are typically not accepted in modern day society as well!

Blog #9: "A Doll's House" - What themes from this story have we encountered before? How would you compare the way these themes are treated in this play to the way they are treated in short stories or in poems?

What themes from this story have we encountered before? How would you compare the way these themes are treated in this play to the way they are treated in short stories or in poems?

There are a number of themes from "A Doll's House" that we have encountered before in pervious readings. The theme of masculinity or male dominance is present in both "A Doll's House" and "The Yellow Wallpaper." John, Emily's husband, believes to know what is best for Emily and controls her every activity. John is alike to Trovald, who controlled his own wife as if she was his own play doll.

The theme of womanly independence is present in both "A Doll's House" and "Chrysanthemums." In "Chrysanthemums," Elisa is a strong, independent woman who has a hard exterior, never showing any passionate emotions. In "A Doll's House," Nora gains her own independence at the end of the play, when she finally realizes how she appears in her husbands eyes, and leaves the household. 

& There are several more motiffs that run throughout many of the stories we have read in this class!

Blog #8: "Oedipus" - Is Oedipus really a tragic figure? Why or why not?

According to Aristotle's definition of a tragic figure, Oedipus accurately falls into the category of a tragic hero or figure.

- Oedipus is the main character in "Oedipus," a tragic play.

- Oedipus is noble: He gorges his own eyes out in punishment to himself once he realizes that he killed his father and married his mother.

- Oedipus is caring: He loves his family and is devistated for his daughters and son's newly discovered social rankings.

- Oedipus is a good man, but has a tragic flaw: his fate!

Blog #7: Discussing dramatic form

What problems did you encounter in translating a message to dramatic form? How did you overcome them?

One problem I encountered is rereading a line over several times before finding out the meaning of the line! Since the lines in the drama "Everyman" are not written in today's typical language, that people speak today, the words in the drama require more effort to decode. Personally, I looked up a quick summary of the work before reading the play in order to give myself a mantal image or guide lines that I would expect the play to follow. With these guidelines I was able to decode the meaning of many words and sentences much quicker, allowing me to read the drama in a reasonable time frame.

Also, the plays that everyone performed in class were so funny. :) There are several problems that we had to face in order to make our message as clear as possible in our play.
We had to make sure that everyone was aware of the different characters, so when we were performing we had to address the different characters with their names, so the audience will understand. However, in written drama, there's no need to state the names of every character!

Blog #6: How did your views of your poem change as you researched and wrote your paper? How did your views of poetry in general change?

The poem I chose for my research paper is "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. Primarily, I thought that all aspects of the poem connected to the main theme of the poem, but after rereading the poem over and over and over again, I noticed many more connections between literary devices and the theme of the work as a whole. By writing this paper, I became even more knowledgeable about my poem, and this is great, because I was able to produce a great paper, but, on the other hand, I had to revise my essay so many times because I came up with better ideas!
In general, my viewpoint on poetry changed slightly. I've known that poetry contains several different interpretations and connections that weve throughout pieces of poetry. This project just reopened my eyes to how true that statement is.

Blog #5: Which poem are you using for your explication?

I am explicating the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath.

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What attracted me to this poem was the personal emotions put into this poem by the poet. This poem is deelpy personal, discussing her relationships with men that result in betrayal, heartbreak, and even attempted suicide!

In another light, I might like this poem because it deals with overcoming a family member's death. Since I experienced the same thing, it is easier to relate to the poet's conflicting feelings in this poem.

Blog #4: Likes/Dislikes in Poetry

Which poem did you find most difficult? What questions do you have about the poem? Which poem did you find most accessible?

My favorite poem read in this class so far is "To his Coy Mistress" solely because of the last two lines:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

I love it :) Perhaps it's because im female, and like mooshy lines like this, but I remember that when I read this poem the first time, I reread it a second time over because of those last lines and how they pulled at my heartstrings.

The most accessible poem however, was "The Chimney Sweeper." The theme of the poem was easily identifiable and the overlaping imagery of darkness and light was evident throughout the entire poem. I might find this poem the easiest to read because I always used to watch cartoon shows when I was younger, and the cartoons always dealt with good versus evil; evil being dark, and goodness being light. Since I always watched these cartoons, I am used to associating characters as either "good" or "bad," and it turns out that this poem has many of the same elements in the poem.

The most difficult poem for myself was "Cinderella." The poet changes up the entire story line of cinderella, having the prince cover the steps in "cobbler's wax" and the evil stepsisters cut off their toes and feet in order to fit into Cinderella's shoe! I understand that the poet is trying to convey the typical, perfect, fairytale in a different light, but I did not like the method he used in order to get his point across. Taking a child's fairytale and presenting it to an older generation does not seem very sophisticated and classy of the poet. It does not convey any puns or ironic twists that truly make the readers think about the poets message. This poem seems like a high schooler could of been the poet! Or maybe I'm missing an even deeper alegory in the poem? If anyone has anything to comment on "Cinderella," please do so!

Blog Post #3: Working In Small Groups

Blog Post #3: How did your understanding of the short stories change during the process of drafting, revising, and working in small groups?

     When working in small groups, we are able to focus on eachother's essays and what each group member is trying to incoorporate into his paper. This proves very useful since this cannot beachomplished in a large class discussion, where more broad and general ideas are discussed. Having two or three other group members critique my work in depth is a great method of strengthening my paper because I am able to see a subject from another person's view point, which, in turn, will lead to new ideas and a stronger, more supported paper.

     For example, when discussing "The Chrysanthemums" in groups, I noticed one of my group members had a very similar point of view on the story as mine. After discussing both of our similiar views, we began stating important supporting facts that could back up our colaborative view point. However, once we began listing our supporting details from the text, we realized that our views on the short story were not as similiar as we first thought. My view point did cover the general idea of my group member, but both views were actually quite different and could be argued in diverse ways with contrasting evidence from the text.

     These small groupings helped clearify my own view points as well as my supporting arguement backing up my supportive evidence. Furthermore, the groups allowed me to build up my paper's defense against other people's views and ideas that may prove my arguement false. 

Blog Post #1: "The Yellow Wallpaper"

How does the 1st-person narrative point of view affect

your experience of reading "The Yellow Wallpaper?"

Blog Post #2: "Rose for Emily"

2nd Blog entry--What is the significance of "time"in "Rose for Emily?" How does it fit into the theme(s)of the story? How does it work in the narration? What is your sense of time as you're reading the story?

In "Rose for Emily," time is another element that Emily Grierson wishes to control. Emily is a proud woman who is seen as an "idol," placing herself on her own pedistool, and carries her own air of importance. Emily heavily controls her own life by subjecting those around her under her will. For example, when the entire neighborhood was given individual mailboxes Emily simply refused to have one stationed in front of her house and thus she didn't receive a mailbox. Another example is when Emily buys poison and refuses to state the reason for her doing so, even though it is required by law to state your reason.
 
Emily wishes to control time just as she does with everything else in her life. Emily gets a "girly" haircut in order to project herself as a younger woman since her youth was robbed from her when she was a child living with her father. Emily even poisoned her husband in order to prolong her wedding night for eternity. Emily does achieve control over time, and this ties into the timeline of the short story.
 
"Rose for Emily" is narrated from a third person point of view and has a fragmented time sequence. Different events in different time periods are sporadically placed in the narration. This unchronological time sequence fits into Emily's character perfectly. Emily controls her own time, placing events where she wishes them to be, just as the narration is done. The irregular timeline allows readers to look further into Emily's character and enhance her personality of wanting absolute control of her life.
 
As I read "Rose for Emily" I disregarded the exact dates of events. Trying to piece together the events in a flowing timeline seemed too challenging to mentally prepare. In the end, after I read through the entire story, I created my own timeline in order to correctly list the sequences of events in the short story.
 
The narrators timeline:
CHAPTER 1
-Emily's funeral
-1894 Colonel Sartoris remitted Emily's taxes
-Colonel Sartoris dies
-A generation later, Emily is asked to pay her taxes (she refuses to pay, of course)
-Talks about China painting lessons 8 years previously
CHAPTER 2
-Explains how her house smelled 30 years previously
-2 years after her father's death people complained about her smelly house
-Went further back in time to days after her father dies
CHAPTER 3
-Emily meets Homer Barron the summer after her father's death
-Emily buys poison
CHAPTER 4
-Emily's relations in Alabama visits Emily and stays for a while then left
-Emily vanishes for years
-Emily is now seen as fat with gray hair
-Years passing, her hair is turning more grey
-Emily refuses mailbox
-Emily dies
CHAPTER 5
-Emily's funeral
-Found Homer Barron dead in bed
 
Correct timeline:
-Emily's father died
-Remitted her taxes
-Meets Homer Barron
-Relations come to visit and leave
-Emily buys poison
-Kills Homer Barron
-Stays cooped up inside
-China Painting lessons
-People come to make her pay taxes (she declines)
-Emily dies
-Emily's funeral
-Find Homer Barron dead upstairs