Open Prompt 4

1982. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.

Violence never exists for its own sake, and even scholar Thomas C. Foster said so in his book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Thus, even with Shakespeare, violence exists for a reason, such as in his tragedy Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo finds himself in a quarrel, representing a loss of innocence and a foreshadowing of tragedy.

Near the climax of the play, Romeo has a fight that ultimately leads to the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio, but this fight is not all about the deep-rooted family rivalries. Before Romeo had this fight, he was a more or less carefree young man, mostly happy, although in love with his rival family’s daughter. However, after the violent scene, Romeo seems to have matured quite a bit; he realizes that he murdered his cousin in law and is in deep grief. He even marries Juliet before he leaves Verona due his banishment. Marriage is a well-known sign of maturity, and due to the fact that it happens after the violence and is partially caused by the violence in this play, it can be assumed that the violence is symbolic of the loss of innocence.

Not only does this scene contribute and symbolize the loss of innocence in Romeo and Juliet, it also foreshadows the tragic ending of the play. The death of two major characters through violence is a tragic event, but not as tragic as the death of Romeo and Juliet at the very end. Tybalt and Mercutio were similar to Romeo and Juliet in that they were both rivals, although not of rival families. The violence lead to their untimely deaths and through all of this tragedy, the families still kept up their bickering, ultimately leading to Romeo and Juliet’s death.

Violence does not exist for its own sake. Seen in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the use of a violent scene portrays the loss of innocence and the foreshadowing of future of the two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

Closed Reading: "If You're Happy and You Know It, Must I Know, Too?"

If You’re Happy and You Know It, Must I Know, Too?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/fashion/emoticons-move-to-the-business-world-cultural-studies.html?ref=technology

Emoticons are often overused by teenagers, for reasons that are yet to be determined, but it is not too commonplace for professional adults to do this. However, this article states that professional adults are starting to use emoticons, such as “☺” and “☹” to communicate as well. Using details, syntax, and diction, this article brings out the humor in this topic.
This article uses details, such as quotes, to create a humorous tone to capture the interest of readers. One example is the use of Dr. Bates’ quote about the misconception of his “big hug” emoticon. If that quote had not been there, the reader would have had a lot less amused by the article. Similarly, the ending phrases about The Great Gatsby is equally humorous. Readers know the last lines of The Great Gatsby to be quite melancholy, but with the addition of the smiley face from Ms. Farinet, the lines actually loose their sense of seriousness. Even though her point was not to mock The Great Gatsby, the addition of the “☹” was definitely quite humorous!
Syntax is also used to create humor in this article, starting with the use of italics to emphasize words. When the author of this passage italicizes the word “actual” in the second paragraph, it causes the reader to chuckle because it is ironic how a person does not smile in real life, but while communicating via e-mail or chat, that person puts a smiley face, creating a sense of humor. Similarly, the third paragraph is more or less a run-on sentence. This sentence creates a sense of humor because the entire sentence could have been summarized into a much smaller sentence, but in order to give the feel that the text-talk of teenagers has really ‘migrated’ to business people, it was extended. This extension causes readers to really question why professionals are now using the text-talk of teenagers, also giving readers quite the chuckle.
Diction in the passage is also an important factor that creates a sense of humor. Many of the vocabulary used in this passage is higher level, such as “gravitas” and “prestigious”, but due to the topic of this article, instead of sounding more sophisticated, it sounds more humorous. Also helping to create the sense of humor is the contrasting low level of vocabulary. Including words such as “perv” make the reader laugh; it’s not everyday when you see words like that in a New York Times article!
In the article If You’re Happy and You Know It, Must I Know, Too, Judith Newman helps to create a sense of humor Through the use of details, syntax, and diction.

Annotations, Annotations, and more Annotations!

These past weeks were all about annotations. Not a whole lot of joy to work on, but definitely quite interesting. I realized that annotations weren’t all about “talking to the text”, but also about analyzing what the text means. For our first read through of The American Dream by Edward Albee, I didn’t realize that there were so many innuendos, sarcastic remarks, and hidden meanings. I also didn’t quite find all of the symbols in it, such as the hat. It’s quite a time consuming process, but I felt like the results are worth it! Who would have thought that Grandma was really the sane one in the play during the first read? I sure wouldn’t have.

Although I felt like doing these annotations as a class was useful, I think doing them in small groups and then presenting is much more time efficient; we spent a lot of time discussing the issues as a class, but as groups, the issues were solved a lot faster. However, the discussions were much more in depth when talking to the class as a whole, so I felt like I had learned much more.

Overall, I quite like the idea of annotating a text because it provides for a deeper understanding, which at least for this class, is quite important to have! I just hope that the time used to annotate a work will shorten up once I get more acquainted with this process…

Open Prompt 3

1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view.

Often times, the title of a work has a significance to the piece as a whole, such as in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Other works, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, and Much Ado about Nothing have significant meanings as well. Through the use of literary devices such as point of view and repetition, the authors create a significant meaning for their respective works.

The work To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a great example of a title with a significance. The Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, and the killing of the Mockingbird signifies the loss of innocence, which is exactly what happens in the novel. Seen mostly from Scout’s point of view, the novel has an innocent perspective for the most part. Scout thinks similar to a young child, but after the trial, Scout seems to have grown up, and is no longer as innocent as she was. Scout’s change of point of view shows that the title is indeed significant because it signifies Scout’s loss of innocence.

In the Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing, the use of a pun is in place with the title, giving it significance to the play as a whole. The entire play is centered around the mishaps that happen to a group of people, all of them interrelated. Many misfortunes occur in the play, all of them caused by eavesdropping, such as the entire misunderstanding between Hero and Claudio. Problems due to eavesdropping repeat themselves many times through out this novel. Due to this strong repetition of eavesdropping, it is clear that the word “nothing” in the title is a pun to the word “noting”, which means eavesdropping because the word “nothing” also can be pronounced “noting”.

Through the use of the point of view of an innocent child, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has given the title of the novel a significant meaning. Similarly, the play Much Ado About Nothing has also given a significance to the title, this time through the use of a repetitive theme.

Clarifications

So these weeks passed in a blur, with the German students here and all of that fun. It doesn't quite feel like it's been so long, right? Anyways, the most memorable part of these weeks has most definitely been learning about syntax. Before, I was completely confused about syntax. What possible ways could a sentence's length influence the tonality of a piece? I didn't quite think syntax would really shape a piece in any way. However, once I learned about it, everything just came together. I finally realized what syntax was about, and I feel like I can now apply it to my own writing (Correctly, that is)!

The play The American Dream was also quite an interesting part of the week. It wasn't quite what I expected when I first read the name of the play, but it definitely was entertaining! At first, I was still quite weirded out that the characters' names were "Mommy" and "Daddy". However, once we got into the play farther, I started to get used to it, and it started to make sense as well. The play was a bunch of fun to read, but unfortunately, the essays prompts that followed weren't the highlight of the week. The essay prompts were a bit difficult to understand at first, and it took us two entire days just to complete three prompts! If you ask me, that's quite a long time! Part of that time includes constant disagreements over what should be written within our group, but the majority of it was still trying to understand and relate to the prompt with The American Dream. It was quite a relief when we finally finished the prompts!! Although I was glad the finish, them, which I believe the rest of the class was too, I felt like they did indeed help me to truly analyze the play and to think about how to write a thought-out thesis and topic sentence. These weeks were definitely full of education as well as fun, and I hope to learn more in the following weeks!!

Closed Reading: "Casey Anthony Pleads the Fifth in Video Deposition from Undisclosed Location"

Casey Anthony Pleads the Fifth in Video Deposition from Undisclosed Location

http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey-anthony-plead-video-deposition-undisclosed-location/story?id=14690394&page=2

Casey Anthony's case has been quite a controversy, especially in the past few months, and this article addresses certain parts of her case. In her statement, Casey Anthony had said that a woman named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez was the nanny when her daughter Caylee had disappeared, but this was seen to be false. Now, Casey Anthony is pleading the fifth against Fernandez-Gonzalez, and the writer uses diction, syntax, and details to provoke readers' opinions on Casey Anthony.

The diction of this article is extremely strong and thought provoking. The use of the word "Invoked" is used in place of the word "pleaded" when talking about the fifth amendment at one point to make readers think that Anthony is refusing to plead guilty to the case. If the word "pleaded" had been used, like it is used in many scenarios, it would have made readers believe that Anthony is more vulnerable, less guilty, and less crazy than if the word "invoked" is used. Also, in the ninth paragraph, the writer uses the word "compel" to provoke opinions about Casey Anthony. The use of this word is stronger than other words possibly used in this context, such as 'force'. The use of the word 'compel' makes readers feel like Morgan's questioning is powerful, and Anthony will not be able to answer the questions without self-incrimination, thus making readers' believe that Casey Anthony is guilty.

The use of syntax in this article is also very important in provoking opinions. The majority of the sentences in this article are all mid-length, lacking in variation of length. In some cases, the lack of variation could cause blandness, but in this article, it causes the tone of the article to become more formal and serious. Entire paragraphs are written in these somewhat bland lengths, but it creates the effect of an urgently serious issue that must be resolved, which causes readers to believe that this case truly is urgent; that Anthony's hearing is headline-worthy and time-worthy. If the sentence length had a variation, the article might have been a bit more interesting, but a lot less serious, losing the effect to make readers feel extremely opinionated on the case of Casey Anthony.

The details that the writer uses also creates opinions about Casey Anthony's trial. The most obvious detail used is "pleads the fifth". Pleading the fifth is invoking a Constitutional right, and by bringing the Constitution into the entire article shows the severity of the case. Also, the writer brings up Anthony's previous trial over the summer, the one that found her not guilty of murdering her daughter Caylee. The detail of mentioning of the emotional trial that had many people outraged in July provokes opinions about Casey Anthony, as most believed that she was in fact guilty of murder. With this thought provoked, it is more likely that people will also believe her to be guilty of falsely accusing Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, and therefore is guilty of causing the disturbances to Fernandez-Gonzalez's family's life. The writer uses this detail to specifically lead readers' opinions to believe that Casey was in fact guilty.

Through the use of diction, syntax, and details, the writer, Christina Ng, provokes opinions about Casey Anthony's latest trial, as well as opinions on whether or not she is truly guilty.

Open Prompt 2

1978. Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary.

There are always characters in a plot line that don't quite seem right; like something is wrong with them. Truthfully, this does happen in literature such as in An Inspector Calls, where Inspector Goole is quite a unrealistic character. However unrealistic Inspector Goole is, there is definitely a realistic element of his presence to the rest of the play.

Inspector Goole's role in the plot is surely a significant one- the entire plot revolves around him. When he first enters the scene, Goole seems to be a somewhat normal person, just there to investigate a suicide. However, as the story progress, Goole just seems to get more unrealistic. He knows little details about every family member, as well as specific details relating them to this girl, Eva Smith. The family members find it strange how he knows everything, and this adds to the realistic elements of the drama. The fact that all of the family members had done something undeniably wrong is enforced with his presence; had his unrealistic or even supernatural powers not been there, the family would not have realized their wrongdoings, defeating the moral of the drama.

Inspector Goole's name is already quite a bit unrealistic- it resembles Ghoul, which means ghost, thus implying that Inspector Goole is a ghost. This is related to his ghost like powers, such as foresight and excessive knowledge about the family's deeds and behaviors. If it were not for his ghostly qualities, the story would not have been as eerie as it was. Near the end of the drama, it is revealed that at that point, there was no Eva Smith that had committed suicide, deeming Inspector Goole to be a fake. However, even closer to the end of the story, it was revealed that an Eva Smith had just been checked in to the infirmary; this makes Inspector Goole seem even more like a ghost. If Inspector Goole had not ghost like qualities, the fact that Eva Smith had died would not have been as important.

Although An Inspector Calls is full of unrealistic characters, Inspector Goole is the one unrealistic character that stands out of the crowd due to his many traits, causing most of the realistic elements in this drama.