Evaluation

What has improved about your writing since the beginning of the semester?
I don't really know if it has improved, but one thing I took from it was finding a solid thesis statement and rolling with it through the points.

What strategies have been the most helpful?
I find finding the elements in the stories are the most useful.

Which paper was the easiest for you to complete? Why?
I would probably say my Dr. Faustus paper was the easiest because I actually understood it and could write my paper from a solid book.

Of all the lessons we did, which one was the most beneficial to you as a student?
Being able to create a thesis statement and trying to go off of that through out the paper.

Do you feel more prepared than you were to write college-level papers?
Yes, I feel like I have a firm understanding of what to do and what is expected.  Catchy intro, solid thesis, analyze points, don't summarize, and finish strong.

Poems read thus far

As I read these poems it seems like most of them are thought of in a sexual context.  Not all of them of course but it seems like most of them have some form of sex in them.  Like you said in class, if a symbol is shaped like an I and a symbol is shaped like a U then theres a great chance that is has something to do with sexual content.  Also, in reading some of these poems I don't really think outside the box like I should when reading these.  I think more of what it actually means and get confused on to what I should take literally or look at in a different way.  Sometimes that gets me in trouble, but the extracting deal helps me out alot so I have other things to keep in mind while I read the poem.

"The Flea"

One flea has marked 2 different fleas, they suck up the bload so that the bloods "mingled be".  With that blood they make a kid, "one blood made of two".  Supposedly they do not do it so it must be a dream or a situation.

Now theres 3 lives (mom, dad, baby), where they are "almost" married.  The fleas stole the baby from another family, and the parents want to grudge.  Want to kill the parents and the baby, because it would be "three sins in killing three".

Could the parents now feal guilty of taking the baby, they kill the baby and the fake parents because they are weaker without the kid.

Experience with Poetry

I have very little experience with poetry.  I think we read maybe two poems in high school and I could not even tell you what they were called.  I know for me reading them is kind of tough because of the old english language.  I'm definitely going to have to go through and summerize what I read for each stanza to help me comprehend it easier.  I'm hoping to further my understanding of poems and what the real meaning of poems are.  I believe poetry is a way of literature that is understood through stanza's by a way of speaking differently than the norm.

Proposal

I started out with one the questions you said in class because I thought it was a really good one.  I'm having trouble with a couple things though.  My thesis statement ALWAYS kills me when I write papers, Does it look like that thesis statement could lead to good information?  Also, I think trying to find a source can be hard.  The one I have helps a little bit in the first couple of pages, but does not give me any substantial evidence to what I'm talking about.  I'm thinking I'll talk about the people who have changed him along with his hierarchy that he lives by.

Scenes 6-10

I find what Faustus is doing is that he is taking pure advantage of his magic and everything that has to come with it.  He wants to rule the world and everyone in it, yes but I think theres a way he should go about it.  Like what his hiarachy consists of should also be involved in there.  There is a way to take control of everything and its not by going invisible, changing people into animals, or by bringing spirits back from the dead.  He has religion next on his list and there is nothing "religistic" to bring spirits back or any of that magic that he seems to be doing.  It all just seems like he's doing it because he can and wants to take full advantage of everything.  Which in the end will probably put him on his ass because he will no longer have friends or family or anything that will want to be associated with him.

Dr. Faustus

Scene 4
In scene 4 Wagner wants the clown to be his servant for 7 years.  The clown does not want to be a servant so Wagner says he'll fetch 2 devils, Baliol and Belcher to come and kill him.  The clown runs and cries, and then agrees as long as wagner teaches him magic.  Wagner wants to be reffered to as Master Wagner in the end.

Scene 5
Good and Bad Angel enter and try to sway Faustus one way or the other.  Good angel wants him to think of Heaven and heavenly things while the bad angel wants him to think of honour and wealth. Faustus cannot write because his blood congeals.  Meph goes to get some fire to heat up the blood.  Faustus asks himself questions as to why his blood will not write and wonders if it is a sign. Meph comes with the fire and now it writes again.  Lucifer has Faustes's soul.  They agree to Fuastus's deed toward lucifer.  Then Faustus wants to know where hell is, and he thinks is a fable.  Faustis insists he will have a wife and watns Meph to go and get one. Meph gets a wife with a Devil's name who Faustus says lookslike a whore.  Faustus wants all the books so he can have all power.

Faustus Hierarchy

I think what leads to hierarchy in most people is their morals and what they believe in the most.  So if they believe God is almighty and he created this world, then they would put praising him at the top of their hierachy.  I think with Faustus'es Hierarchy, he believes that if he were to find a way for magic to help anywhere within the world, that he would be the greatest of them all.  He discovered it all, so he believes he could rule the people and be dominate to everyone else.  He would be greater than God because he thinks everything else is nonsense and he would be one of a kind to find and create magic.

Point of View & Setting in "Drown"

Setting-The setting of drown seemed to be in a low income neighborhood.  It was the mom and the main character living there and they hardly had any money.  The main character was swearing alot which portrayed that his life was not easy.  The atmosphere within the story was kind of a sad atmosphere, along with a built up of anger.  There were gangs I believe where they lived or around where they lived.  There was lots of violence, lots of breaking and entering, and lots of selling drugs but the kids didn't care.  Thats more the social environment for which the setting was in.

Point of View-The kid who is telling the story is a major character who tells the story from the First-person narrator.  Which means he's a huge participant in the book, and he tells it from what he sees and only what he sees.  We didn't read how the mother thought of everything or Beto or the dad.  We saw it from only the narrator's perspective.

"Bartleby, the Scrivener" and "The Birthmark"

Both stories are relatively the same, Bartleby has a theme of depression where as the Birthmark is in Chronological order.  If they would've used different plot structures then it would be hard to get anything out of the story.  Both stories have motivated characters that contribute to the story and were very consistent within the story.  There were many types of characters such as protanganist, static characters, foil characters, and round characters.

That the theme is different but they are all for the same meaning.  It was a meaning that it doesn't matter what color they are, or what they have on their skin, they are still people and deserve to be treated like people.  Both stories had the same type of characters which lead to the real meaning of the story.

Class Discussion

I agree with you to some extent that everyone is racist at least a little bit.  I grew up in Sioux Center which has an abundance of hispanics and it continues to grow there.  I was good friends with one of them until he moved away in 6th grade.  But I think it has something to do with how they present themselves that really distinquishes whether we are racist against them or not.  I would think bad of another race if when they presented themselves they did certain things to pick them out.  If they were to present themselves in a clean and "normal" way I guess you could say then I wouldn't feel like I was racist.  Granted, not everyone race or person can be clean or normal, that comes into affect.  I don't feel racist towards any other race except hispanics because I have grown up with them and known how they are and act.  But I do believe that everyone does have a little racism in them, yes.

College Learning

In my first year of college I don't really think it has anything to do with whether a TA teaches the class or a proffesor does.  I've had both a TA and a proffesor and it all depends on how thorough they are with their work.  It depends on how much they want to teach and how to apply it to the students.  I've noticed that in my larger lecture classes they don't assign homework, they just read off of a power point and you're expected to take notes and then test.  In my smaller lecture classes, I feel like I've learned more because it's more hands on and the instructor has less people to talk to and you don't feel like 1 in a 100.  I agree in some aspect that it doesnt feel like we're learning a lot because it's all generals.  It isn't completely aimed at what we're learning and wanting to be in life so people don't care as much.  I also disagree because I have two classes right off the top of my head that are about 25 people and they're real good teachers who teach thoroughly.  All my teachers are welcoming to help me, it just depends if I want to come in or not.  I agree and disagree because there are different factors as to why people aren't graduating and seems useless.

Twitter

Twitter is something I don't have an account for, nor will I ever.  It seems useless to me to update what I'm doing on a daily bases or what I think about certain things.  If people want to know then they will ask and I won't have to post it to the whole world.  In reading the article I thought there are several points that make sense.  One guy said, "he started the account in hope that it might make its targets a bit more self-aware."  Another guy said that it really shows how you are as a person, and reflects your ego that your putting off.  Both of those make complete sense, some people do need to check their ego to figure out how they're coming off to others.  Also, it shows that what the "imposters" are saying need to be looked at it and aware of what is happening.  It is almost like an outside view through a fake account that they look at because it is them.

First Experience

In my first experience in writing a paper for the literature class I thought it was good.  It's weird how there is no length requirement but it makes sense.  It's just how much information your willing to provide to support what your saying, which is what a real paper should be.  There shouldn't be any BS in it; it should contain the content that needs to be known and thats it.  It seems tough when we have to dig deeper.  In class there are a bunch of people who have different opinions about the book and what they interpret when alls I see is what I'm reading.  I don't really think outside of the box so I don't really look at the different views and styles to look at the context.  I thought writing the paper is how the college experience should go, so I was pleased with it.

The Metamorphosis

In reading The Metamorphosis I thought the aspect that stuck out the most was family.  He started out making money for himself and his family.  He supported his family and could not lose his job otherwise they would have no income.  Once, he turned into a bug and was just shunned by his family.  They rented out his room to loggers and gradually started to ignoring.  He turned out from being the best man for the family and supporting the family to becoming nothing at all.  He ended his life because it was not worth it for him to be ignored the whole time.  He didn't enjoy life and lived in a "dark" world so there was no point for him to keep going as a bug.

Cites

McCarthy, Patrick A. "Zamayatin and the Nightmare of Technology" Science-Fiction studies 11 (1984): 122-129. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 30 Jan. 2011

Alford, Fred C. "Freedom and Borderline Experience" Political Psychology 24.1 (2003):  151-173. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2011

We. Trans. Natasha Randall.  New York: Moderen Library, 2006. Print.

Freedom..or Lack Of

In WE I found that freedom is a pretty serious topic there and different from what we have today.  They have nothing like what we consider freedom today.  We aren't confined into a space with a wall all around our whole state.  We aren't running a "table of hours" and we definitely don't need a pink slip to have sex.  They're controlled by the benefactor where as we can do anything under certain circumstances.  Also we actually have names, where they have a letter and numbers because thats how they're defined.  We have laws but nothing as strict as some of their rules/laws that they have.  They're all controlled and told what to do in a small space so there is no freedom for them, or their freedom is a lot less free than what we have today.

WE

I thought WE was a very different book then what I am used to reading.  It probably isn't something I would pick out to read.  But I thought the writing of the book was different..something unique..something different then what we're normal too.  It almost makes you read "between the lines" sort of speak because you have to infer so much information from what is being said.  I did enjoy it for it even thoughit was out of my comfort zone.  If I sat here and thought about it for awhile and tried to connect the dots it made more and more sense to me each time I thought about it.  BUT it was still confusing and don't think it is something I would read unless I was feeling like I wanted to be out of my "bubble."

Worst Possible Thing

I think the worst thing about living in "The Unit" would have to be how everyone is the same.  I strongly feel that everyone on this earth was created for a different reason.  Everyone is unique in their own ways, and for everyone to be the same just doesn't seem right to me.  I would hate going outside and seeing myself, in a sense, everywhere.  We weren't created to be the same; the world wouldn't go round if we were the same.  I wrote my whole graduation speech on being unique in this world because there is a spot for everyone in this world for whatever depicts them from everyone else.  In WE they all seem like robots and it reminds me of iRobot and I would not like that.

Strategies of Text

Biographical Strategies-Use of using the biographical information to determine what the reader is like.  To know the "knowledge" of the author's life.  In WE the author gives his background information as to why he wrote this story.  Even though it was written in the 1920's he wanted to write something to "heroize."  He wanted to see what the future was like and see he could interpret within in his own thoughts.

Historical Strategies-Relationship between literature and history.  It is using history as a meaning of understanding.  There are four sub-topics that go under this topic which are, Literary History Criticism, Marxist Criticism, New Historicist Criticism, and Cultural Criticism.  WE is written in the 1920's but is interpreted to be used in the much later years such as now in 2011. Marxist Criticism shows that power and class are all parts of their world today.  They are almost all equal and do everything the same.  They also have the same culture which is very futuristic.  It's easier for us to read WE because we know how things have changed and how the author's thoughts are different, but may even be more futuristc, from what actually happened to this day.  Thats all part of the New historicist criticism.  Cultural Crticism has two parts, the cultural critics and postcolonial criticism.  This is sort of like the historical background but focuses on social, political, and economic contexts instead.  So...WE is criticized by what they are like, such as, being numbered or all the same.  They are all considered equal in their unit.

Reader-Response Strategies-focuses its attention on the reader rather than the work itself.  In the book the focus is on D-503 rather than what the author did.  We read about what he did in early on in the book but now it is set on D-503.  We have to interpret what D-503 is doing in the book and respond to it with the knowledge we have to comprehend, and then think ahead as to what could happen.

Style-He uses words that are mathematical and futurstic to show they're his (D-503) style.
Tone-The state has a tone in the story that is meant to always be on schedule and to always be happy.  They move and function like robots because that's how they were meant to be.
Irony-D-503 appears to have a girlfriend named O-90 but is way more attracted to a woman who is more of a tease called I-330.
Plot-Story starts with who D-503 is. Goes to what the world is like there and who we are to them.Then it goes to what he wants to do with his spaceship.  Shows what time management is to them all and how they are all like robots. It continues on with his girlfriend and then the girl that is really catching is eye.
Characterization-In the story they don't really "characterize the characters."  Men are given constanents with even numbers and women are vowels with odd numbers.  It is said they are all the same, moving and being like robots, in this state.
Setting-Story takes place in the future, because they mention that we humans are ancestors to the population there.  It's full of glass buildings and walls so that the "officials" can watch everything that is happening.
Point of View-D-503 is the narrator in this story.
Symbol-A symbol in the story is the Intergral.  It is being built to conquer other planets and the solar system, which shows that the book is very futuristic bc today there isn't anybody that is really thinking about that and 80 years ago it was like a dream to humans.
Theme-Theme for this story would have to be how futuristic the whole the book is.  It was wrote 80 years ago and thats how they thought everything was going to be to this day and in some aspects it is, but it also isn't.  We still have a ways to go for this stuff to be true.

My Blog

Hello, my name is Matt McDaniel and I'm 19 years old.  My home town is Sioux Center, Iowa but I was born in Henderson, North Carolina.  I work for the City of Sioux Center during the summer and during any breaks I get from school.  I'm a freshmen at USD and attempting to be a criminal justice major.  I love watching and playing sports, especially basketball and baseball.  Favorite teams are the Packers and Twins, and the packers are looking at a super bowl victory this year!  Twins are still struggling but they're a good average team.  I also love to play COD just like any other guy in this world.