Sunday, April 20, 2014
This year in Review
As this is my last blog as an AP lit student, I would like to discuss some of my favorite experiences in out class. First though, I must say that the skills and writing experience that I have acquired through taking AP lit are things that I know will come in handy in college. Following my junior year, I had thought that the level fo my writing had peaked especially concerning writing about literature. From sophomore year to junior year, I received consistent A's on my writing and thought that i had reached a level of writing that I was stuck at. However, from my first writing assignment in AP lit (I think this was the Frankenstein open question time writing) I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn and needed to improve a lot. I have found that before I was in AP lit that I was not able to read at the level an AP lit student needs to in order to write intellectual and academic papers on these novel that we have read. However, gradually, through the intensive writing processes and demand that we read closely, I feel so confident in my reading skills now. I notice now that when I read, I pay so much attention to every aspect and symbol and allusion. It gives me a lot of satisfaction that I notice so many different themes and motifs when reading now that I would have not even recognized a year before now. This is one of the many great things about AP lit. I think what many students misunderstand is the purpose of the intensity of this course. Through all the wirting and readinig assignment we have, I think many students can't see the forest through the trees. A lot of times, when bogged down with a lot of work, lit assignments can lose their purpose. However, I think that once everyone has gotten to the end of the year, I truly feel that I have acquired so many skills in writing and reading and have advanced my level of analysis in my writing and reading over the course of this year. It is kind of funny that just like Mrs. Clinch said at the beginning of the year, I cannot help but apply literary analysis to so many aspects fo my everyday life. I find now that as I watch Grey's Anatomy, I am also trying to pin point to meaning of the mug that sits on Derek's desk and why it is half empty versus full! I even think that my vocabulary has advanced substantially from all of the reading we have done. All in all, now that I have basically reached the end of my term in this course, I do not regret in the least bit taking this class despite warnings from previous seniors about the work load. For someone who usually does not read for fun, I am glad that I have been exposed to so many great works of literature through this course.
Friday, April 11, 2014
"I Will Wade Out" E.E. Cummings commentary
I Will Wade Out
I believe Cummings's poem is a lot about deciding what type of person and what type of life one wants to live. To the speaker this life is one of spontaneity that follows the movement of nature. If you take a look at the physical structure of the poem, the lines are indented in and out like the waves of the ocean. This type of spontaneous and random motion follows that of another one of Cummings's poems "O Sweet Spontaneous" and "Lets Live Without Thinking" (cool right?). The type of living that the speaker describes is very intense.
E.E. Cummings had transcendental influences thus, I get from the poem a lot about retreating into nature to become aware of self. Flowers, the sun, the moon, all objects of nature with profound presence and meaning. The sun is symbolic of death and rebirth, evolution, and divine. The moon is described as a timepiece, personified as a deity, in some cultures associated with insanity and irrationality. Furthermore, the moon represents a feminine symbol, a middle ground between the light of sun and darkness, the realm between conscious and unconscious, a symbol of the soul, and determines a subjects capacity for reflection and adaptation.In some way, shape or form, all of these representations could be connected with the evolution of self and of one's soul.
There are a few instances of very visual and oxymoronic objects. For instance, "burning flowers" and "sleeping curves". The burning of flowers seems to be like destroying beauty. A flower is a very delicate and gentle object;however, burning is a very violent, strong, and destructive action. Furthermore, curves connote movement, action, winding, and instability while sleeping is non active, without movement. this could be an overstatement but i feel that this juxtaposition goes along with the sense of uncertainty in wading and wavering and possibly not knowing what you want out of life.
Even with all of this asserting of what the speaker will do, There is still an underlying sense of insecurity in their assertions. After all the poem is titled "I Will Wade Out". Of the many definitions of "wading", one is "to make one's way slowly or laboriously". Thus, the speaker seems to emote uncertainty in his actions and decision about the future. Wading is uncertainty by not having enough confidence to go all in. Wading is almost synonymous with wavering, going back and forth. The words that Cumming's uses connote the same idea: leap, curves, dash.
What I can take from this poem is about self-actualization even f it is not Cummings's intent. Interpretations and analysis are entirely the readers' though right? Ether way, i understand the pseaker to be expressing that he is reclaiming himself.
I believe Cummings's poem is a lot about deciding what type of person and what type of life one wants to live. To the speaker this life is one of spontaneity that follows the movement of nature. If you take a look at the physical structure of the poem, the lines are indented in and out like the waves of the ocean. This type of spontaneous and random motion follows that of another one of Cummings's poems "O Sweet Spontaneous" and "Lets Live Without Thinking" (cool right?). The type of living that the speaker describes is very intense.
E.E. Cummings had transcendental influences thus, I get from the poem a lot about retreating into nature to become aware of self. Flowers, the sun, the moon, all objects of nature with profound presence and meaning. The sun is symbolic of death and rebirth, evolution, and divine. The moon is described as a timepiece, personified as a deity, in some cultures associated with insanity and irrationality. Furthermore, the moon represents a feminine symbol, a middle ground between the light of sun and darkness, the realm between conscious and unconscious, a symbol of the soul, and determines a subjects capacity for reflection and adaptation.In some way, shape or form, all of these representations could be connected with the evolution of self and of one's soul.
There are a few instances of very visual and oxymoronic objects. For instance, "burning flowers" and "sleeping curves". The burning of flowers seems to be like destroying beauty. A flower is a very delicate and gentle object;however, burning is a very violent, strong, and destructive action. Furthermore, curves connote movement, action, winding, and instability while sleeping is non active, without movement. this could be an overstatement but i feel that this juxtaposition goes along with the sense of uncertainty in wading and wavering and possibly not knowing what you want out of life.
Even with all of this asserting of what the speaker will do, There is still an underlying sense of insecurity in their assertions. After all the poem is titled "I Will Wade Out". Of the many definitions of "wading", one is "to make one's way slowly or laboriously". Thus, the speaker seems to emote uncertainty in his actions and decision about the future. Wading is uncertainty by not having enough confidence to go all in. Wading is almost synonymous with wavering, going back and forth. The words that Cumming's uses connote the same idea: leap, curves, dash.
What I can take from this poem is about self-actualization even f it is not Cummings's intent. Interpretations and analysis are entirely the readers' though right? Ether way, i understand the pseaker to be expressing that he is reclaiming himself.
Friday, April 4, 2014
A Visit from the Goon Squad First Impressions
Thus far, I am enjoying the style and structure of writing than Jennifer Egan offers. I have never read a book that is not a mystery novel that still requires that I piece together information from each chapter to help understand the next one. It has become really fun to decide which minor characters from a previous chapter have become major characters and often key characters moving forward in the book. My literary circle actually was quite intersting adn delightfl ebcause we often had to back track to figure out which characters were who and who plays central roles in various parts of the novel.So far the book is becoming for me a kind of puzzle. I am having to weave relationships in and out of each chapter and often I am having to calculate years past and ages of character to find out who certain characters are from previous chapters. However, I am really enjoying the dynamic of the text because I have never read a text that is structured in the way Egan constructs this story into a series of intertwining short stories. In the opening chapter, I sense a mix of comedy and introspection Sasha is a classic kleptomaniac, unable to quell her impulses to steal. She has a therapist Coz and already is being shaped as an unstable and possibly volatile character. Coz is unique in herself for a therapist. She is eccentric and surprisingly dislikes eye contact. This detail stood out to me in particular. A therpaisst is an intimate figure, one who has to be able to connect with another’s life and identity in order to offer council. Yet, coz avoids this level of intimacy thorugh a lack of eye contact. Nevertheless, Coz offers advice to Sasha on her theft issues. The idea of Coz being a mentor figure for Sasha reminds me of that same dynamic in Invisible Man. I enjoy finding commonalities in every book we read even when these books are totally different genres. I have noticed most prominently; however, that authors tend to base their central characters around some eternal conflict that inhibits the procession to the climax of the novel. In Hamlet, it was a hesitation over how to avenge his father. In Invisible Man, the central internal conflict was that of the narrator and his struggle to balance between two parallel ideologies which inhibited his identification with himself. Similarly, in Winesburg, Ohio, George Williard had to discover an "ungrotesque" truth that allowed him to escape the small town of Winesburg. Oh and I just thought of this one! Grendel has to revel between two states of existence : meaninglessness and meaning in a world that he is not welcome and viewed as a monster. Unable to establish a human-like existence in the Anglo-Saxon world, Grendel has to decide whether to concede to meaninglessness or embody the role of the monster in order to find meaning in the people's world. I am finding that AP lit has opene my eyes to these types of connections. I do not think that if I would have not taken this class that I would be able to have a level of sophistication in my reading to draw parallels in novels written in totally different time periods and totally different genres.
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