Final Blog

I feel that my writing has improved a lot since the beginning of the semester. I feel my writing has become more academic and that I sound a lot more educated now. There has been a lot of elements that I have worked on to do this improvement. One inparticular would be choosing a strong argument. At the beginning of the year, I would choose arguments that were very observational or ones that were very hard to support. Now I can see the difference in a strong argument and the opposite. Another thing that has changed for the better has been my word choice. I have learned which words sound more academic. This also helps with writing college level papers. For the argument aspect, the questions you gave us helped a lot. I found myself writing out the answers to those questions to find my argument. Freewriting these questions let me organize my ideas better. For the word choice aspect, the grammar guides were very helpful. I actually caught myself using one of the words in just everyday conversation. I really surprised myself. I felt like the Dr. Faustus paper was the easiet for me to complete because of feedback on previous papers. I know from the Zamyatin paper and the short story paper what exactly I needed to improve on. I took your comments from these and applied them to this paper. It helped make my paper of better quality. For the most beneficial lesson, I feel like the open discussions were most helpful. They presented new ideas to all of us to help us form a thesis statement. I do feel like I am better prepared to write college level papers now. This class really showed me what seemed like little mistakes but really affected my whole paper. Before I thought that having a thesis statement that I believed in was enough but if there is no support behind it, your paper will not be of high quality. That backup is very important.

Poetry Packet

I think the poetry packet shows that poetry can be written for all ages and all people. The children's poem showed that kids can be involved in poetry. The Sexism poem showed how both men and women can be invovled in poetry. The songs described different styles of people in involved in poetry. "If I Were a Boy" reminded me more of the city type of people for some reason. "Sold" reminds me more of country or cowboys. Packet really shows the diversity in poetry.

The Flea

I feel that "The Flea" is about a couple that had sex outside of marriage and now they are pregnant. The flea would be the child from the line "And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;". Another line that states the flea may be a child would be "This flea is you and I,". Then when it goes on to say "Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead," means that it can not be told that the child is from them because it is outside of marriage. Another line about the child being outside of marriage may be "Though parents grudge, and you, we are met, And cloistered in these living walls of jet.". At the end of the poem it seems like the couple is scared for the baby's life and their own lives.

Expectations of Poetry

I have not had much experience with poetry. I know we did a little but not much in high school. I am kind of excited to learn more about poetry just because I really have not had much to do with it. I do have a feeling that, just like some of the stories, the wording of some of them may make them hard to understand. I will just have to take the poems line by line to figure them out.

My definition of poetry would be: lines of words that have meaning and have a rhythm to them. (They can not just be sentence thrown together in a paragraph. They need to be in stanzas.)

03/25/11

When Faustus and the scholars are talking about Helen of Greece really stuck out to me. I am wondering why Helen of Greece? What was so special about her and why not some other lady? I am not sure how I can turn this idea into a literary analysis instead of just a research historical paper. I know at the beginning of the play Faustus talked about how he had not found love yet and wondered if I can work this two incidents together to form an idea. Nothing has come to me yet but hopefully as I keep looking into it, I find something.

03/23/11

I really like our class discussions. They are really helpful for understanding the story. It shows me that there is more than one way to see each interaction. I really like hearing other people's opinions.

I have been having a hard time trying to think of a paper topic. I can't really find a concrete argument that I feel strong about. I plan on re-reading to see if I can find any part that really sticks out to me. Hopefully this will help.

Scene V

Scene V is when Faustus officially gives his soul to the devil. Mephistophilis tries to warn him about hell but he refuses because he wants to do black magic so bad. I feel the suspense already built up in the story. It makes you just want to yell at Faustus. Being an outsider we can see all the mistakes that are going to happen. I feel that the Good and Evil Angels really add to this effect too. You want Faustus to pick the Good Angel but over and over again he keeps picking the Evil Angel.

Dr. Faustus

I think that in this last part of the play, they are talking about all the different great things they are going to teach Faustus. They are building up his curiosity and adding more suspense to the story. I feel that if we continue discussing the play like we have that I will really like it. I find it hard to understand peices that are written in this language and having the group discussion makes it easier and much more enjoyable.

This Semester

This semester has started out a little rocky for me. I do feel like I am back on the right track though. I hope that my work keeps improving. I am starting to realize how important this class is in my studies. It relates to almost every subject. My biggest improvement will need to be making sure I understand truly what the text means. A lot of times I just read it and whatever comes to mind it what I take it for. I need to slow down and really think about each part. There may be a deeper meaning to it. I hope to keep improving with my studies throughout the semester and look forward to what is ahead of me.

Drown

I chose to read "Drown" and I really liked it. It was very interesting. I like stories that have unexpected twists like this. The setting changed a couple of times. Sometimes they were at the narrators house and other times at Beto's house. Another place they hung out was the pool. The point of view is first person major character. The narrator is an important person in this story. I hope the stories we read in the future are just as exciting as this one.

Racism

The discussion we had in class on Wednesday really got a lot of us thinking. I noticed some people would give their input and after being questioned about it they realized how many different ways it could be interpreted. We only saw it in from the way we wanted to see it. We really need to think about any thing that may come from our comments.

I also realized how unintentionally racist I am. I do not mean to be but sometimes it just happens. Being at USD is very different for me. I know some people think that this is a very secluded place with hardly any difference in culture. There are places that are even worse than this. I am from a small town of only 400 people and graduated with 10 classmates. We never had to interact with a person of a different culture. I always claimed that I was not racist but now being exposed to other cultures I am in little ways. One example I noticed was talking back from the library late at night. I was getting very nervous walking past certain types of people but then others was no big deal. Thinking about it now is I feel horrible. I should not think this and I am working on getting over this.

College Students

I can see this article from both sides. From the supporting side, I can see myself in this group. In high school, I took a lot of the more advanced classes. I took more than just the required classes. Now being at college, some of the classes feel the exact same as some of the AP classes that I took. I did not have very much literature in high school so this course is new to me. My psychology class on the other hand seems very repetitive. From the opposing side, I can see my older sister in this group. In high school, she took more of the standard classes. She only took what would help her reach the requirements. Then her freshman year, she took some introductory classes that were new to her. She would tell me a lot about what to expect from certain classes and how interesting they were. Little did she know, I was sitting there thinking "Wow, this seems a lot like what I am actually already learning". The coursework you chose in high school really determines which view you have of this article.

Fake Twitter

I think the fake twitter accounts are immature. If these people want to make comments, why don't they make an account with their name and own up to what they are saying? I would not have a problem with this if the person actually admitted to who they were. If that person wants to make a comment they should not be ashamed to put their name behind it. If they do not want to own up to the comment, they should just keep it to themselves. Having an account that makes jokes is ok. Having an account that mocks people is not ok.

The Metamorphosis

To me, the story was really random. Who would ever think of a person turning into a bug? That is a really weird thing to picture in your head. This face became a lot less random after reading the Metamorphosis for the second time. I saw a lot more of the symbolism in it. I realize that it represented changes in people. Sometimes people do change and that causes them to be treated differently. I think a couple of lessons could come out of this story. The first one is that never take what you have for grant it. The family did not realize how much Gregor contributed to the family. Once he was unable to work they knew that they needed to start picking up the slack. Another lesson could be that you should accept pepole for who they are even if they do change. The family knew that this bug was Gregor. Even though, this was their son and their brother, they treated him as if he was a bug. If physical appearance had changed but not his feelings and thoughts. They should of thought more about how Gregor felt on the inside.

Sources

"We." Publishers Weekly 253.16 (2006): 161. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 29 Jan. 2011.

Wegner, Phillip E. "On Zamyatin's We: A Critical Map of Utopia's 'Possible World.'." Utopian Studies 4.2(1993): 94-112. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 29 Jan. 2011.

Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. New York: The Random House Publishing Group. Print.


*Need hanging indent

Paper Topic

The topic that I have picked for my paper pertains to the theme of love through out the book. This theme is shown constantly popping up. My first example will be the love D-503 has for One State. I will show how strong his love is for his home and work. The next example will be his love for I-330. This will be shown by his comments and actions done towards her. The last example would be his renewed love for himslef and One State and how it has changed. His love definitely changes from the beginning of the book.

Finishing the Book

The ending of this book was a real surprise to me. I honestly thought that I-330 and D-503 were going to fall in love and live happily ever after. I guess not everyone has a story book ending. I think the author may have wanted to use this as lesson for his readers. His lesson may have been that not everything works out the way you hope it will. D-503 fell in love with I-330 and expected her to be in love with him. As he comes to find out, she has a lot of secrets hiding from him. What seemed to be perfect to him on the outside really was not working.

The topic of love is related to our society also. The characters in this book were taught not to have feelings. They had no idea what love was or even felt like. In today's society, a lot of people rush into relationships. They do not know what love is yet. They think they have the right idea and they don't. D-503 rushed into the thought of being in love with I-330. He really had no idea what he was feeling. He did not know the real I-330 once he would get to know the real her, his feelings may have changed. That relates to us such as in rushed marriages ending in divorce or many fights between the spouses. Just depends on if what the person thought was love actual was or just a rushed emotion.

What I Would Like Least

    The thing that I would like least about One State is not being able to show love and affection. One example is the kind of love and affection that I show my family. We are always calling each other to check on one another and we end every conversation with "I Love You". My family is so caring. No matter what when one person needs help all of us coming running. I have four sisters and they all mean the world to me. I do not know what I would do without them. If I were to live in One State, I would have never known these people. I would not even know what the concept of family would have been. I need that feeling of support from my family. That is what gets me through my everyday life.
    The other type of love and affection that I would need is that towards my boyfriend. I'm sure you know the difference of love for family and love for a mate but having both is very important to me. He keeps me strong in other ways that my family does not. He tells me I'm beautiful and that he would do anything for me. He gives me that feeling of security. My heart races every time I see him because he makes me that happy. He is another person I do not know what I would do without. If I were to have lived in One State, I may not have met the person that I could possibly spend the rest of my life with. The person that I could possibly raise a family with. Love is the most important thing in my life and I never want that to be taken away from me.

Strategy

I think the historical strategy relates most to the story. Russia, in this time period, was going through some rocky waters. They did not want any one rebelling against the government. This book was not even published in Russia first. Authority figures did not want anyone getting ideas from the book. Knowing this historical fact helps the reader relate this story to real life. They know that actual people went through this. Not knowing about this would just make this a science fiction novel. The historical feature really gives it meaning.

1/21/11

Style- We has more of a personal style. They talk in short sentences and has a lot of dialogue. The writer did not want the book to seem too formal.

Tone- The author had a pretty calm tone. He was never too over dramatic in situations.

Irony- I noticed a lot of verbal irony in D-503. He tried to be serious but when debating between I-330 and chosing to follow One State he became very sarcastic.

Plot- The author arranged the story in chronological order. He just kept updating the reader day by day.

Characterization- Even though the characters in We are not really the author does a great job of making them seem real. He uses characteristics that we may be able to relate to.

Setting- One State is where this book takes place. Also, the time period of this book is not specific. It is set soemtime in the future.

Point of View- We is written in first person narrator. D-503 is the narrator.

Symbol- I feel D-503 is a huge symbol in this story. I feel he symbolizes all the people who have temptations in our world. He really shows that deep down predicaments like the one he is in can really tear a person. He was debating between I-330 and showing up for work. Him chosing I-330 can symbolize evil being chose over good way more often.

Theme- A theme that stands out to me is that you are going to have to make decisions in life. The people around you may not make that decision easy but you have to overcome that. Making sure to do what is right for yourself first. One certain lifestyle is not always the best for everyone.

Mattey Hanten

My name is Mattey Hanten. I am from White Lake, SD. I am a freshman with a Health Sciences w/ Pre-PA major here at USD. While in high school I was involved in volleyball, basketball, track, softball, and student government. I have four sisters, four neices, and one nephew. Family is very important to me and all of us are very close. I love going out with friends on the weekend and cannot stand just laying around doing nothing. I really enjoy Vermillion and love living down here.