Before this class, my definition of "research" was looking up sources online specifically by title, then skimming for meaningful quotes. No understanding of the source, no actual learning from them and application to my writing, just "go in, get the quotes, get out." I realize now that my first attempt at researching sources for Nicole back in February was much like that; I wasn't so much looking for useful information as I was just trying to find sources that sounded like they were useful. However, the more I tried, the more I realized that just skimming wasn't going to cut it. After that, my research was so much more in depth (literally, in some cases, as I found myself lost in the depths of the HBLL a few times), but I emerged with a much better knowledge of what makes a research paper and how sources are used within it.
I will admit, I still need to work on thesis statements, but at least I understand what makes a good one now. I may not have participated in the different theses assignment (that was the day my computer broke and took the Apple Store most of the day to fix), but reading everyone else's and understanding the differences between them was incredibly helpful for any future writing and criticism I may write.
The most glaring improvement I've made in writing is the use of scheduled drafts. All through high school, I was very much the student who was so confident in their writing ability that they never do more than one draft. I'd write an essay and turn it in without any kind of drafting process, proofreading, peer-editing, or any other kind of revising. I shudder to think of what my grade would have been like for this class if I'd taken that approach for the final paper. The first time we did an in-class drafting assignment really opened my eyes to how actually reviewing and planning my writing improved it so much.
Finally, peer critiques as well as just discussing works with friends really helped me understand where I could go with the assignments. Rebekah and I were just idly discussing different concepts in our papers and, while I can't speak for her, just that discussion really helped me figure out where to go for the final draft. Having a friend or classmate read through your work and drafting was an important step that, as a full-fledged socially anxious introvert, I never wanted to accept, but now, I don't think I'll ever submit another essay or paper without having someone else read it first.
Showing posts with label posted by Jonah Byers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label posted by Jonah Byers. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
I Guess Now We Move On to Actually Writing the Thing
Based on what Rebekah and I discussed in class on Monday, I've got a fairly good idea of where to go with my paper. My thesis involves discussing paradoxes and contradictions in terms of each of the characters, but I'm also planning on analyzing the paradoxes of the environment they live in (the Congo under control of the Europeans, for example). My goals for today are to
Finalize the order of what I analyze
Figure out the best way to synthesize my sources together
Write at least a respectable portion of the rough draft, but hopefully all of it
Get in the right frame of mind to prepare to write the rest of the paper and drafts.
With luck, I'll get most or even all of these done during our writing hours!
Update:
Wow, that hour went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I only managed to get about halfway through the paper (of course, it's the rough draft, so the final product will most likely be even longer). But still, it helped so much to have this time to just plan out and write the paper! Here's what I have:
Finalize the order of what I analyze
Figure out the best way to synthesize my sources together
Write at least a respectable portion of the rough draft, but hopefully all of it
Get in the right frame of mind to prepare to write the rest of the paper and drafts.
With luck, I'll get most or even all of these done during our writing hours!
Update:
Wow, that hour went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I only managed to get about halfway through the paper (of course, it's the rough draft, so the final product will most likely be even longer). But still, it helped so much to have this time to just plan out and write the paper! Here's what I have:
The Paradoxes of The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible has been hailed as many things: a symbol of female empowerment, criticism of the United States’ interference in the newly-formed Independent Republic of the Congo, and even an analysis of the destructive nature of religion. However, though all of these readings of her book have merit, none of them quite encapsulate everything that The Poisonwood Bible is as a whole. Kingsolver’s novel is not just a historical opinion piece set to fiction, or a feminist work, or any of these, though bits and pieces of them are quite prevalent within the text. Regardless of other readings and interpretations of the work, what The Poisonwood Bible contains at its very core are the themes of paradox, balance, and contradiction within both the individual and the environment they find themselves in. The book, to summarize briefly, documents the lives of the fictional Price family as they move to the Congo on a religious mission to convert the people of the village of Kilanga. It is narrated by each of the women in the Price family: the mother, Orleanna, and her four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. Each woman has her own inner paradoxes and conflicts, and some of them find balance in the Congo while others only find more disparity.
But what about the Congo itself? It and the village of Kilanga are a veritable hoard of paradoxes and contradictions, all of which somehow meld together into a balance unlike anything else seen in the world. The Congo the Prices find themselves is the country controlled by Belgium, a contradiction in and of itself, being an African nation ruled by a king in faraway Europe. Yet another paradox the Prices find themselves in is the paradox of prosperity. According to a 1962 history of the Belgian Congo written by George Martelli, during this time “the Congo embarked on a period of prosperity unequalled in any other African country.” (Martelli 205). And yet, to the Prices’ eyes, none of this prosperity is evident in Kilanga. Orleanna describes how the entire village subsists on enormous amounts of tubers called manioc, and almost nothing else (Kingsolver 92), indicating that none of this prosperity has come to the ordinary people. Indeed, Martelli explains that the wealth was mainly in the large cities of the Congo, where a quarter of the entire population lived. This left the other three quarters out in the dust, and yet, the people of Kilanga still remain despite their seeming lack of any kind of decent living. The paradox of this, that prosperity does not cause the majority of the population to prosper, adds to the deeper meaning of Kingsolver’s narrative by bringing to light the idea that sometimes one’s idea of happiness or prosperity is not needed for another.
Of course, each of the daughters has her own idea of happiness in an environment rocked by contradiction. Rachel, the oldest, exemplifies the kind of paradox that fuses two completely incompatible parts. She clings with a fury to the ideals and culture of America, and becomes a living paradox of a Western woman in an African nation. Rather than keep the balance the Congo has formed, she attempts to assimilate her own views of how people should act and be compared to one another, and yet at the same time keep herself aloof from the natives she finds all around her. Her inner paradox shapes her actions; where Leah finds herself almost at home within the activities and culture of the Congolese, Rachel purposefully excludes herself in a vain attempt to convince herself that nothing has changed. Roy Cook writes in his book Paradoxes that “they are in one sense nothing more than extremely clever puzzles,” (Cook 1) and Kingsolver’s purpose in these paradoxes is to give the reader a puzzle to solve, with the solution being a deeper understanding of Rachel as a character and as a common figure seen in society.
Leah Price, the second daughter of Orleanna and twin to Adah, exemplifies the concept of balance between two sides. Unlike Rachel, who simply refuses to accept her environment as natural, Leah dives right in and learns all she can. Thus we have the paradox of a white woman attempting to live in a black culture, but also the balance of Leah now part of two worlds. However, the balance is not omnipresent; Kingsolver brings in conflict to disrupt this balance in the form of Leah’s father, Nathan Price, in order to examine this balance more closely by breaking it apart. Leah’s actions are not viewed favorably by Nathan, and he attempts to pull her back to Western ways entirely. In her Master’s thesis discussing the resolution of conflicts within Kingsolver’s different books, Catherine Altmaier points out that, because of this, Leah is “both the most changed and the least changed” of the Price daughters (Altmaier 15). She refuses to accept her father’s view that their cultures are mutually exclusive, and when she finally escapes his tyranny, she says in her words that “I don’t know what has crept in to take his place... [Some] trust in Creation, which is made fresh daily and isn’t lost in translation.” (Kingsolver 525) Only once she escapes a paradoxical view of the world can Leah find her own balance of African and American.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Poisonwood Bibliography
I enjoy playing with the title of the book far too much, but that's not the point.
I will admit, assembling these sources took more time than I thought it would, and I'll probably find a few more just because more sources would be great for the paper, but here are the sources and thesis I have right now.
Working Thesis: Although The Poisonwood Bible is hailed as a masterpiece of historical criticism of the United State's relationship with the Congo, its core theme is actually that of paradox, balance, and disparity within each individual's life.
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. Harper-Flamingo Publishing, New York, 1998. [Primary Source]
Slade, Ruth. The Belgian Congo. Oxford University Press, New York, 1961
It took me a while to find this in the actual library after finding it in the catalog (I've never been down to the first floor of the library and got kinda lost at first), but this one's really helpful because it was written as the events in The Poisonwood Bible take place, so it's a very helpful study of the paradox of an African nation being ruled by a European monarch that was written right after said nation's downfall.
Cook, Roy T. Paradoxes. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2013
This is an ebook listed on the catalog that is exactly what I was looking for. It gives a detailed analysis of the philosophy of the paradox, as well as insights into how there are different kinds of paradoxes and how they can be found in society.
Salvatore, Anne T. "Against Platonic Authority: Collective Vs. Absolute Truth In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible."CLA Journal 51.2 (2007): 155-169.
This is a peer-reviewed article I found on the Academic Search Premier that is direct analysis and criticism of the text. Its discussion about the paradox of truth and the disparity between collective and absolute knowledge will be extremely helpful when analyzing each of the individuals and how their reactions to the collective truth of their environment show their inner balances and paradoxes in their behavior.
Jeanna Fuston White. "The One-Eyed Preacher, His Crooked Daughter, and Villagers Waving Their Stumps: Barbara Kingsolver’s Use of Disability in The Poisonwood Bible." South Central Review 26.3 (2009)
I will admit that I had to use Google Scholar for this one as well as the next, as the ASP wasn't yielding any more helpful sources. This is an article analyzing how Kingsolver portrays many different characters with disabilities in The Poisonwood Bible. These disabilities are one of the best examples of paradoxes in the text; for example, the character Mama Mwanza, who does not have the use of her legs, is more competent and can work harder than Orleanna Price, the mother of the Price family who tries her best to adapt to living in the Congo.
Altmaier, Catherine, "The Gospel of Cosmopolitanism: Conflict Resolution in Barbara Kingsolver's Fiction" (2006). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 439.
This is the other source that I used Google Scholar for. It's a master's thesis written by a student at Western Kentucky University that analyzes conflicts and resolutions in Kingsolver's various works, and there's a section on the relationships between the Price daughters and their father. Conflict is a very important aspect of disparity, and the resolution of it brings new balance to the characters and their relationships.
I'm not entirely sure what I'll actually title my paper yet, but I'll figure that out as the scope of the paper begins to take shape.
I will admit, assembling these sources took more time than I thought it would, and I'll probably find a few more just because more sources would be great for the paper, but here are the sources and thesis I have right now.
Working Thesis: Although The Poisonwood Bible is hailed as a masterpiece of historical criticism of the United State's relationship with the Congo, its core theme is actually that of paradox, balance, and disparity within each individual's life.
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. Harper-Flamingo Publishing, New York, 1998. [Primary Source]
Slade, Ruth. The Belgian Congo. Oxford University Press, New York, 1961
It took me a while to find this in the actual library after finding it in the catalog (I've never been down to the first floor of the library and got kinda lost at first), but this one's really helpful because it was written as the events in The Poisonwood Bible take place, so it's a very helpful study of the paradox of an African nation being ruled by a European monarch that was written right after said nation's downfall.
Cook, Roy T. Paradoxes. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2013
This is an ebook listed on the catalog that is exactly what I was looking for. It gives a detailed analysis of the philosophy of the paradox, as well as insights into how there are different kinds of paradoxes and how they can be found in society.
Salvatore, Anne T. "Against Platonic Authority: Collective Vs. Absolute Truth In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible."CLA Journal 51.2 (2007): 155-169.
This is a peer-reviewed article I found on the Academic Search Premier that is direct analysis and criticism of the text. Its discussion about the paradox of truth and the disparity between collective and absolute knowledge will be extremely helpful when analyzing each of the individuals and how their reactions to the collective truth of their environment show their inner balances and paradoxes in their behavior.
Jeanna Fuston White. "The One-Eyed Preacher, His Crooked Daughter, and Villagers Waving Their Stumps: Barbara Kingsolver’s Use of Disability in The Poisonwood Bible." South Central Review 26.3 (2009)
I will admit that I had to use Google Scholar for this one as well as the next, as the ASP wasn't yielding any more helpful sources. This is an article analyzing how Kingsolver portrays many different characters with disabilities in The Poisonwood Bible. These disabilities are one of the best examples of paradoxes in the text; for example, the character Mama Mwanza, who does not have the use of her legs, is more competent and can work harder than Orleanna Price, the mother of the Price family who tries her best to adapt to living in the Congo.
Altmaier, Catherine, "The Gospel of Cosmopolitanism: Conflict Resolution in Barbara Kingsolver's Fiction" (2006). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 439.
This is the other source that I used Google Scholar for. It's a master's thesis written by a student at Western Kentucky University that analyzes conflicts and resolutions in Kingsolver's various works, and there's a section on the relationships between the Price daughters and their father. Conflict is a very important aspect of disparity, and the resolution of it brings new balance to the characters and their relationships.
I'm not entirely sure what I'll actually title my paper yet, but I'll figure that out as the scope of the paper begins to take shape.
English Symposium Shenanigans
I call them shenanigans, but it was more like "Jonah having no idea what any of the session titles meant and panicking, or that the only session he could attend was Friday morning and he still didn't know what to pick so he went to a Creative Writing session instead of a criticism one."
Anyway.
So yeah, that was my symposium story. I went to the session of Creative Writing based on the topic of grief, and it was actually really interesting. "Creative Writing" as a phrase is fairly ambiguous, and so a lot of different styles were presented. The first girl read a really cool horror short story she'd structured as the diary of the main character, another girl did a poem, and the last presentation was an excerpt from a graphic novel the presenter was both writing and drawing herself. To be honest, just the sound of well-written pieces helped me get into a better mindset for writing my final paper. Other than that, it might not have been as helpful as other sessions may be for my paper, but since Creative Writing is the focus of my major, it certainly helped in that regard.
Anyway.
So yeah, that was my symposium story. I went to the session of Creative Writing based on the topic of grief, and it was actually really interesting. "Creative Writing" as a phrase is fairly ambiguous, and so a lot of different styles were presented. The first girl read a really cool horror short story she'd structured as the diary of the main character, another girl did a poem, and the last presentation was an excerpt from a graphic novel the presenter was both writing and drawing herself. To be honest, just the sound of well-written pieces helped me get into a better mindset for writing my final paper. Other than that, it might not have been as helpful as other sessions may be for my paper, but since Creative Writing is the focus of my major, it certainly helped in that regard.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Quotes as Plot
My prewriting for The Poisonwood Bible was fairly straightforward; as I read through the book again, I underlined all of the quotes that dealt with paradox, contrast, or balance. I then took all of these quotes and rearranged some of them to try and give a summary of the plot or theme of the book. Here's how it went:
"Kikongo is a language that is sung rather than spoken; each word means many different things depending on how it is said."
"If I'd had the foggiest idea... we brought all the wrong things."
"My father thought he was preaching the absolute truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible."
"When I'm gone, I'll still be there in the tree, and I'll see you, but you won't see me."
"I came home that afternoon and realized I no longer believed in God... that is my own mantra: 'Evol's dog! Dog ho!'"
"Beéne, you are mistaken... such a thing cannot exist."
"Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side."
"That last breath, that ended the sentence of her life, was a semicolon rather than a period... the semicolon started somewhere around her heart."
"When I brought the table out with my baby on it, it felt right to bring everything else out with it."
"The spirits ask "Mother, May I?" while their mothers try to eat the dirt off the graves."
"The death of something living is the price of our survival."
These are just some of the quotes I found in the book, but the story they depict is really haunting if you think about it. It's given me a clear vision of what I could write and analyze for my paper.
As for the social aspect, I talked with a lot of my friends (a few of which were my teachers in high school) about the Poisonwood Bible, and just about every single one of them rates it as one of their favorite books of all time. We talked a bit about its critical tones towards the American interference in the Congo, as well as the many symbols and themes that are introduced in the most innocuous ways, such as the theme of nothing being what it seems introduced through discussion of the language spoken in the Congo.
"Kikongo is a language that is sung rather than spoken; each word means many different things depending on how it is said."
"If I'd had the foggiest idea... we brought all the wrong things."
"My father thought he was preaching the absolute truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible."
"When I'm gone, I'll still be there in the tree, and I'll see you, but you won't see me."
"I came home that afternoon and realized I no longer believed in God... that is my own mantra: 'Evol's dog! Dog ho!'"
"Beéne, you are mistaken... such a thing cannot exist."
"Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side."
"That last breath, that ended the sentence of her life, was a semicolon rather than a period... the semicolon started somewhere around her heart."
"When I brought the table out with my baby on it, it felt right to bring everything else out with it."
"The spirits ask "Mother, May I?" while their mothers try to eat the dirt off the graves."
"The death of something living is the price of our survival."
These are just some of the quotes I found in the book, but the story they depict is really haunting if you think about it. It's given me a clear vision of what I could write and analyze for my paper.
As for the social aspect, I talked with a lot of my friends (a few of which were my teachers in high school) about the Poisonwood Bible, and just about every single one of them rates it as one of their favorite books of all time. We talked a bit about its critical tones towards the American interference in the Congo, as well as the many symbols and themes that are introduced in the most innocuous ways, such as the theme of nothing being what it seems introduced through discussion of the language spoken in the Congo.
Monday, March 7, 2016
The Poisonwood Blog Post
I decided that, rather than do my final paper on a Brandon Sanderson book, I'd like to write my paper on Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, which is an absolutely amazing book that I read in high school for a small book assignment. I couldn't get much into the book because of the size of the assignment in question, so I'd love to use it for this assignment so I can go much more in-depth. It is also an important look at political upheavals such as that of the Belgian Congo, where the story takes place.
Besides the fact that Kingsolver is an established author in the literary canon and this book provides ample material for literary discussion, it's also a fantastic book just to read. The assignment I read it for let us choose the book, and the reason I picked it was because my teacher had been reading it in her spare time and gushing over it at the beginning of class. So many people I know (relatives, teachers on Facebook, friends) love to talk about the book and all of the themes it has within it. It's the kind of book that everyone can get something out of. Finally, I also did a search of blogs only on blogspot and still found a plethora of blogs dedicated to discussing themes and devices within The Poisonwood Bible.
Besides the fact that Kingsolver is an established author in the literary canon and this book provides ample material for literary discussion, it's also a fantastic book just to read. The assignment I read it for let us choose the book, and the reason I picked it was because my teacher had been reading it in her spare time and gushing over it at the beginning of class. So many people I know (relatives, teachers on Facebook, friends) love to talk about the book and all of the themes it has within it. It's the kind of book that everyone can get something out of. Finally, I also did a search of blogs only on blogspot and still found a plethora of blogs dedicated to discussing themes and devices within The Poisonwood Bible.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
It Would Probably Be a Good Idea to Actually REPORT My Research...
As I went through the list of source types that we would need as well as the sources Rebekah so kindly compiled for me, I found that I could use a lot of what she suggested. The sources suggested fit my thesis and arguments perfectly, and I could see a use for most of them. That being said, I went on the hunt for other sources I'd need as different types. I successfully found a single volume from an academic publisher that was also an ebook, and it will be of great use to me because it's about the science of loneliness and love. I do have to admit, finding a journal article from more than ten years ago was a bit difficult, but I found one eventually. I'll probably expand my paper to explore other roles in the allegory of the soul besides just the mother.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Nicole, Here are Some Sources...
1. This one's an interesting look at how Scrooge's transformation in A Christmas Carol can be used to help develop spiritual and psychological therapy, which may increase the strength of your comparison between Scrooge's transformation and Vivian's.
Clarke, Joseph H. "The Metapsychology Of Character Change: A Case Study Of Ebenezer Scrooge." Journal Of Spirituality In Mental Health 11.4 (2009): 248-263.
2. I thought that maybe it may also be good for your comparison between different stories using flashbacks to incorporate a story where the flashbacks are actually harmful to the character instead of eliciting a character transformation. I think this story would help because there are several ways one could interpret the use of flashback in this story.
Thurber, James. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." The New Yorker 1939
3. This one's an academic article about how the use of flashback can add drama to a story. Very straightforward and relevant to your thesis.
Moore, Sarah. "How the Techniques of Flashback and Foreshadowing Can Have a Dramatic Effect on a Piece of Writing" Seattle Pi http://education.seattlepi.com/techniques-flashback-foreshadowing-can-dramatic-effect-piece-writing-5044.html
4. This is an article about the different learning styles children can have; it could help flesh out why the first flashback with Vivian as a child had such an impact on the rest of her life.
"Affective Learning Styles Of Children: Implications For Special Education." Education 106.1 (1985): 29.
5. As cheesy as this source may seem, your last paragraph about Vivian choosing her death because Susie explained the choices reminded me of the verse in the Book of Mormon that says "By small and simple things may great things come to pass." So, what better way to give a comparison for the small kindnesses Susie does for Vivian than to cite that verse and examples in the BoM of small things bringing great results?
The Book of Mormon. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Palmyra, New York 1830. Print.
Clarke, Joseph H. "The Metapsychology Of Character Change: A Case Study Of Ebenezer Scrooge." Journal Of Spirituality In Mental Health 11.4 (2009): 248-263.
2. I thought that maybe it may also be good for your comparison between different stories using flashbacks to incorporate a story where the flashbacks are actually harmful to the character instead of eliciting a character transformation. I think this story would help because there are several ways one could interpret the use of flashback in this story.
Thurber, James. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." The New Yorker 1939
3. This one's an academic article about how the use of flashback can add drama to a story. Very straightforward and relevant to your thesis.
Moore, Sarah. "How the Techniques of Flashback and Foreshadowing Can Have a Dramatic Effect on a Piece of Writing" Seattle Pi http://education.seattlepi.com/techniques-flashback-foreshadowing-can-dramatic-effect-piece-writing-5044.html
4. This is an article about the different learning styles children can have; it could help flesh out why the first flashback with Vivian as a child had such an impact on the rest of her life.
"Affective Learning Styles Of Children: Implications For Special Education." Education 106.1 (1985): 29.
5. As cheesy as this source may seem, your last paragraph about Vivian choosing her death because Susie explained the choices reminded me of the verse in the Book of Mormon that says "By small and simple things may great things come to pass." So, what better way to give a comparison for the small kindnesses Susie does for Vivian than to cite that verse and examples in the BoM of small things bringing great results?
The Book of Mormon. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Palmyra, New York 1830. Print.
H Hopefully some of these help!
as
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Wit's Conclusion-lacking Analysis
With the time limit in class, I was barely able to finish my last body paragraph before we had to be done, so if you're looking for a conclusion, you won't find anything.
In Margaret Edson's Wit, the audience is shown the life and death of Professor Vivian Bearing, who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her gradual physical degeneration is recorded quite closely as she struggles to come to terms with her illness; however, it is not until the final scenes of the play that the audience begins to see the true meaning of the play. near the very end, Vivian's mentor, Professor Ashford, visits her in the hospital and reads to her, of all things, a simple children's book called The Runaway Bunny. In the story, a young bunny wants to run away, but whenever he tries, his mother is always there to find him again. Professor Ashford makes an offhand comment on the story, saying "A little allegory of the soul. Wherever he hides, God shall find him." This comment's innocuousness hides the fact that it allows the audience to see that the play Wit is just that: an allegory for Vivian's soul.
When reading through the play with this in mind, the first question that arises is to the identity of the mother/God figure in the play. There are, in fact, several figures in Wit who each fulfill a role as the mother in Vivian's life allegory. The first, and arguably most obvious, choice would be Professor Ashford. She was Vivian's mentor, and so the role of mother she fulfills is the figure who helps Vivian realize her life's calling. Much like how, in The Runaway Bunny, the young bunny eventually realizes where his life truly lies, Vivian's interactions with Professor Ashford allow her to see the best path she can take for her future.
The second figure in this story of Vivian's soul his Susie, her nurse. In the children's book, the bunny wishes to run away and avoid his mother, and similarly, Vivian tries to distance herself from Susie and maintain a cold, intellectual, emotionally disconnected attitude toward the nurse; but again, like the bunny, in the end all she desires is the kindness that Susie offers her. Susie fulfills the mother's role by first giving Vivian something she wishes to avoid, then slowly coaxes the dying professor into accepting it. More evidence of this can be found through the use of music in the film adaptation of Wit. Through the first half of the play, there is very little background music, and what music is there is sudden and jarring, much like Vivian's first experiences in the hospital. However, once she begins to shed her intellectual and distant mindset, soft music begins to play as finally, Vivian accepts the kindness Susie wishes to give her.
The final figure is not so much a mother figure as it is a God figure, as Professor Ashford's comment compares the mother too. This figure is both the most sinister and most poignant: Vivian's cancer. While the terminal illness is by no means a merciful god or a herald of kindness, it fulfills the mother's role by bringing Vivian to acceptance of her life and fate. Vivian tries as hard as she can through the play to ignore her cancer, ignore everything that invades her little world of teaching Donne, in the end, she begins to understand that her cancer cannot be avoided, and through that self-realization, finds peace.
Like I said, there's no conclusion, and one thing I've found is that I'm really bad at conclusions, so I'd probably have to work on it before I actually wrote the thing.
In Margaret Edson's Wit, the audience is shown the life and death of Professor Vivian Bearing, who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her gradual physical degeneration is recorded quite closely as she struggles to come to terms with her illness; however, it is not until the final scenes of the play that the audience begins to see the true meaning of the play. near the very end, Vivian's mentor, Professor Ashford, visits her in the hospital and reads to her, of all things, a simple children's book called The Runaway Bunny. In the story, a young bunny wants to run away, but whenever he tries, his mother is always there to find him again. Professor Ashford makes an offhand comment on the story, saying "A little allegory of the soul. Wherever he hides, God shall find him." This comment's innocuousness hides the fact that it allows the audience to see that the play Wit is just that: an allegory for Vivian's soul.
When reading through the play with this in mind, the first question that arises is to the identity of the mother/God figure in the play. There are, in fact, several figures in Wit who each fulfill a role as the mother in Vivian's life allegory. The first, and arguably most obvious, choice would be Professor Ashford. She was Vivian's mentor, and so the role of mother she fulfills is the figure who helps Vivian realize her life's calling. Much like how, in The Runaway Bunny, the young bunny eventually realizes where his life truly lies, Vivian's interactions with Professor Ashford allow her to see the best path she can take for her future.
The second figure in this story of Vivian's soul his Susie, her nurse. In the children's book, the bunny wishes to run away and avoid his mother, and similarly, Vivian tries to distance herself from Susie and maintain a cold, intellectual, emotionally disconnected attitude toward the nurse; but again, like the bunny, in the end all she desires is the kindness that Susie offers her. Susie fulfills the mother's role by first giving Vivian something she wishes to avoid, then slowly coaxes the dying professor into accepting it. More evidence of this can be found through the use of music in the film adaptation of Wit. Through the first half of the play, there is very little background music, and what music is there is sudden and jarring, much like Vivian's first experiences in the hospital. However, once she begins to shed her intellectual and distant mindset, soft music begins to play as finally, Vivian accepts the kindness Susie wishes to give her.
The final figure is not so much a mother figure as it is a God figure, as Professor Ashford's comment compares the mother too. This figure is both the most sinister and most poignant: Vivian's cancer. While the terminal illness is by no means a merciful god or a herald of kindness, it fulfills the mother's role by bringing Vivian to acceptance of her life and fate. Vivian tries as hard as she can through the play to ignore her cancer, ignore everything that invades her little world of teaching Donne, in the end, she begins to understand that her cancer cannot be avoided, and through that self-realization, finds peace.
Like I said, there's no conclusion, and one thing I've found is that I'm really bad at conclusions, so I'd probably have to work on it before I actually wrote the thing.
Friday, February 12, 2016
W;t vs. Wit
Being a theater person, it's a well-known fact that reading the script of a play is VASTLY different from seeing it performed, be it on film or stage. That being said, here are some observations of form I found in the Emma Thompson performance of Wit.
1. Setting: With the original script, the directions don't require much in way of setting; Edson calls for a minimalist setting, with a bed and possibly a few machines to give the feeling of a hospital. With a film production, however, that cannot really be done to its full effect, so in the film version, they film it in such a way as to make the set as much like an actual hospital as possible.
2. Dialogue: Some of the inner thoughts Vivian says to the audience while Kelekian and other doctors are talking in the stage play would seem out of place in a film production, so they were mostly taken out. However, the final lines, where Vivian recites "Death be not proud" can be very profound in the film setting, because we can hear Vivian's voice talking about death and still get the feeling that she is no longer alive.
3. Props: There is one painting that shows up in Kelekian's office, Vivian's room, as well as in several rooms during the flashbacks. It looks to be possibly a picture of Christ or one of the saints, possibly foreshadowing Vivian's own death.
4. Music: There is very little background music whenever Vivian is with other people, but when she is alone, slow music starts to play softly in the background. The only other instance of music is the very jarring violin noises playing at the very beginning of the film.
5. Mood: Along with where the music is present, the key and tone of the music changes to reflect the mood of Vivian herself. As the play progresses, it shifts slowly into a minor key, sounding more and more like a funeral song.
6. Flashbacks: What's interesting to note is how the flashbacks and present time flow and meld together. Some of the time during the flashback, it shows Vivian as she was then, but at other points, it shows Vivian as she is in the hospital: bald, in a hospital gown, etc.
7. Sound effects: No matter where she is in the hospital, there are always the whirs, beeps, and drones of different machines and apparatus. The omnipresent nature of these noises do, however, fluctuate in how loud they are depending on the mood of the scene in question.
8. Character shots: With the doctors, the camera almost never shows both Vivian and them in the same shot; it's always a close-up of one of their faces. With Susie, however, they're often shown together, as if Susie is closer to Vivian than any of the doctors could possibly be.
9. Metaphor: In the final scenes, Professor Ashford reads Vivian The Runaway Bunny, and even comments on its allegorical plotline. This book can be seen as a metaphor for the play itself; Vivian tries to stay away from sentiment, emotion, and connection with others, but through the course of the play, she realizes that that's all she wants now, is to receive kindness from others.
10. Make-up/ Facial features: In the movie, Vivian's face gradually becomes more gaunt and sickly, which is something the stage-play could never show, because the audience cannot see close-ups of Vivian's face as she goes through these changes.
I think the observation that I could write about the most would probably be the 9th one, because it was so interesting to see Professor Ashford comment on the "Allegory of the soul" and realize that that could very well be what W;t as a play and as a film could be. It could be a very profound theme of love and death working side by side within a single work. The symbolism inherent in the painting and in Vivian's camera interactions with the doctors and with Susie could also be used to explore the concept of her experience in the hospital as an allegory of the soul. There could also be a theme of time having no meaning to Vivian now, as her flashbacks are sometimes invaded by the hospital itself, such as Susie walking in while Vivian is flashing back to a lecture she gave to her students a few years ago. The main theme to be explored would still probably be the theme of Professor Ashford's comment on The Runaway Bunny, as well as exploring how the children's story seems more profound in Vivian's final moments than Donne's poetry, which she rejects in the scene itself.
Working Thesis Statements:
Evaluation: The more one analyzes and ponders the many themes of Wit, what is realized is that Vivian's life parallel's Donne's ruminations on life and death.
Causal: Professor Ashford's comment on The Runaway Bunny being an allegory of the soul allows the reader to view Vivian's life and the play as a whole as just that: an allegory for Vivian's own soul.
Comparison: The use of camera angles and focus allow the film version of Wit to explore themes in ways that the stage play cannot.
1. Setting: With the original script, the directions don't require much in way of setting; Edson calls for a minimalist setting, with a bed and possibly a few machines to give the feeling of a hospital. With a film production, however, that cannot really be done to its full effect, so in the film version, they film it in such a way as to make the set as much like an actual hospital as possible.
2. Dialogue: Some of the inner thoughts Vivian says to the audience while Kelekian and other doctors are talking in the stage play would seem out of place in a film production, so they were mostly taken out. However, the final lines, where Vivian recites "Death be not proud" can be very profound in the film setting, because we can hear Vivian's voice talking about death and still get the feeling that she is no longer alive.
3. Props: There is one painting that shows up in Kelekian's office, Vivian's room, as well as in several rooms during the flashbacks. It looks to be possibly a picture of Christ or one of the saints, possibly foreshadowing Vivian's own death.
4. Music: There is very little background music whenever Vivian is with other people, but when she is alone, slow music starts to play softly in the background. The only other instance of music is the very jarring violin noises playing at the very beginning of the film.
5. Mood: Along with where the music is present, the key and tone of the music changes to reflect the mood of Vivian herself. As the play progresses, it shifts slowly into a minor key, sounding more and more like a funeral song.
6. Flashbacks: What's interesting to note is how the flashbacks and present time flow and meld together. Some of the time during the flashback, it shows Vivian as she was then, but at other points, it shows Vivian as she is in the hospital: bald, in a hospital gown, etc.
7. Sound effects: No matter where she is in the hospital, there are always the whirs, beeps, and drones of different machines and apparatus. The omnipresent nature of these noises do, however, fluctuate in how loud they are depending on the mood of the scene in question.
8. Character shots: With the doctors, the camera almost never shows both Vivian and them in the same shot; it's always a close-up of one of their faces. With Susie, however, they're often shown together, as if Susie is closer to Vivian than any of the doctors could possibly be.
9. Metaphor: In the final scenes, Professor Ashford reads Vivian The Runaway Bunny, and even comments on its allegorical plotline. This book can be seen as a metaphor for the play itself; Vivian tries to stay away from sentiment, emotion, and connection with others, but through the course of the play, she realizes that that's all she wants now, is to receive kindness from others.
10. Make-up/ Facial features: In the movie, Vivian's face gradually becomes more gaunt and sickly, which is something the stage-play could never show, because the audience cannot see close-ups of Vivian's face as she goes through these changes.
I think the observation that I could write about the most would probably be the 9th one, because it was so interesting to see Professor Ashford comment on the "Allegory of the soul" and realize that that could very well be what W;t as a play and as a film could be. It could be a very profound theme of love and death working side by side within a single work. The symbolism inherent in the painting and in Vivian's camera interactions with the doctors and with Susie could also be used to explore the concept of her experience in the hospital as an allegory of the soul. There could also be a theme of time having no meaning to Vivian now, as her flashbacks are sometimes invaded by the hospital itself, such as Susie walking in while Vivian is flashing back to a lecture she gave to her students a few years ago. The main theme to be explored would still probably be the theme of Professor Ashford's comment on The Runaway Bunny, as well as exploring how the children's story seems more profound in Vivian's final moments than Donne's poetry, which she rejects in the scene itself.
Working Thesis Statements:
Evaluation: The more one analyzes and ponders the many themes of Wit, what is realized is that Vivian's life parallel's Donne's ruminations on life and death.
Causal: Professor Ashford's comment on The Runaway Bunny being an allegory of the soul allows the reader to view Vivian's life and the play as a whole as just that: an allegory for Vivian's own soul.
Comparison: The use of camera angles and focus allow the film version of Wit to explore themes in ways that the stage play cannot.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Thesis the Thesis I Have Chosen
The thesis I chose to work with is from the paper "A 'Most Happy Wrack'", which describes the musical aspects of Shakespeare's play. The thesis is as follows:
"Because Shakespeare laces his musical references with so much meaning, it becomes a useful lens with which to analysis the strange ending of Twelfth Night."
This thesis is an evaluation claim, where the writer takes something and measures it up to some task or standard that they already have in place. As it is, it is slightly weak in quality, not being able to spark that much of a debate, and may do better as a different thesis type. I would rewrite it as a comparison thesis, and it would say something a bit more, if not controversial, sparking of intellectual discussion.
Thesis rewrite: "Considering the strangeness of Twelfth Night's ending, it is best analyzed through the lens of musical devices within Shakespeare's writing, as he laces these musical references with meaning."
p.s: I hope you all enjoyed the pun in the title.
"Because Shakespeare laces his musical references with so much meaning, it becomes a useful lens with which to analysis the strange ending of Twelfth Night."
This thesis is an evaluation claim, where the writer takes something and measures it up to some task or standard that they already have in place. As it is, it is slightly weak in quality, not being able to spark that much of a debate, and may do better as a different thesis type. I would rewrite it as a comparison thesis, and it would say something a bit more, if not controversial, sparking of intellectual discussion.
Thesis rewrite: "Considering the strangeness of Twelfth Night's ending, it is best analyzed through the lens of musical devices within Shakespeare's writing, as he laces these musical references with meaning."
p.s: I hope you all enjoyed the pun in the title.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Who Knew a Semicolon Meant So Much? First Impressions: W;t
Tone: Considering Vivian's diagnosis, her frank tone, almost like she's just teaching another class, feels very out of place (which, I suppose, is the point). She almost never lets her emotions get the better of her until the very end, where everything becomes wistful and sad. What I think this might do for the play is that it shows how even the most academic of us need love and emotion, even if it doesn't seem that way.
Language/Grammar: One very specific discussion I feel is significant to all parts of the play is Vivian's discussion with her professor about the editions of Donne's poetry, and how there are mistakes in punctuation in Vivian's edition. The title of the play is not "Wit", it is "W;t", symbolizing how the play should not have happened, that Vivian's life should just be like everyone else's. It could also connect to the ending of the play, where the Jason mistakenly calling a code-blue creates a lot of stress and grief as Vivian's life, and the play, both end abruptly, much like a period in a sentence where there should only have been a semicolon.
Setting: While the entire play technically takes place in the hospital, the numerous flashbacks Vivian experiences reveal how much she feels that she needs the classroom where she taught, the office where she worked, and how the hospital almost feels no different, like she could just keep on teaching Donne poetry to all of the other patients and doctors. It gives a sense of disconnect to the play while, almost paradoxically, giving a sense of continuity to Vivian's last few days.
Other impressions: The ending of the play was abrupt, as I've already said, but I feel like there's a lot of things you could analyze with it. It's ambiguity is a lot like the ending of The Giver, where the reader is left wondering just what happened. Did Vivian die and make it to the light, or did the Code team successfully resuscitate her despite Susie and Jason's effort to stop them? I was thinking it was the latter one, because the lights went out and the play ended just before Vivian could fully make it to the light. But, I suppose, each person can draw their own conclusion.
Language/Grammar: One very specific discussion I feel is significant to all parts of the play is Vivian's discussion with her professor about the editions of Donne's poetry, and how there are mistakes in punctuation in Vivian's edition. The title of the play is not "Wit", it is "W;t", symbolizing how the play should not have happened, that Vivian's life should just be like everyone else's. It could also connect to the ending of the play, where the Jason mistakenly calling a code-blue creates a lot of stress and grief as Vivian's life, and the play, both end abruptly, much like a period in a sentence where there should only have been a semicolon.
Setting: While the entire play technically takes place in the hospital, the numerous flashbacks Vivian experiences reveal how much she feels that she needs the classroom where she taught, the office where she worked, and how the hospital almost feels no different, like she could just keep on teaching Donne poetry to all of the other patients and doctors. It gives a sense of disconnect to the play while, almost paradoxically, giving a sense of continuity to Vivian's last few days.
Other impressions: The ending of the play was abrupt, as I've already said, but I feel like there's a lot of things you could analyze with it. It's ambiguity is a lot like the ending of The Giver, where the reader is left wondering just what happened. Did Vivian die and make it to the light, or did the Code team successfully resuscitate her despite Susie and Jason's effort to stop them? I was thinking it was the latter one, because the lights went out and the play ended just before Vivian could fully make it to the light. But, I suppose, each person can draw their own conclusion.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Writing Plan and Record: Jonah Byers
Apparently I've been clicking the "Save" button instead of the "Publish" button for my writing record, so none of it has actually been appearing on the blog itself in the past three days. *facepalms* Anyway, hopefully you guys will still have enough time to read it.
January 17, 2016, 6 p.m
It's becoming easier to read through Donne's poetry, despite some of the words being spelled differently than they would be in modern times. One thing I noticed specifically about "A Valediction" as opposed to "The Extasie" is that the latter gives the reader almost a picture in their head of these two people lying on a river bank, gazing into one another's eyes, whereas with the former, it isn't so much an image as a feeling, one that can be universally understood due to the lack of concrete images, allowing the reader to imagine their own scenario of lost love. I think at least part of my analysis will be a comparison/contrast of the ambiguity or lack thereof between these two poems.
January 18, 6:30 p.m
After listening to the poem, there are more differences that I can add to the compare/contrast prompt given. Besides just the imagery and ambiguity in the poem, there are very clear aural differences between the two poems. "A Valediction" combines alliteration and a clear rhyme scheme to give the feeling of the lines rushing forward but stopping suddenly at the last word, much like the abrupt end to love that Donne is describing within the poem. "The Extasie" Uses a lot of enjambment, so that rather than each line giving the impression of an end or stopping, each line flows into the next, creating a flowing poem that can be a metaphor of the river the two are sitting by or the constant flow of emotions between them as they gaze into each other's eyes.
January 19, 1:30-ish p.m
Here's a screenshot of the pre-writing I did. I'm not that good of a pre-writer because I never feel like I go into detail about what I plan to write; it's always more of an outline of how I'm what I'm going to write then how I'm going to write it. Oh well, hopefully it helps.
January 19, 2:30 - 3:40 p.m
Just finished writing the paper (it ended up being 1009 words), and took me an hour and ten minutes to write. I feel that my explanation of the poems' differences is very clear and well-written, but I'm still worried that it may sound like I'm rambling and the conclusion might be too short. Well, only one way to find out. See you guys tomorrow!
January 17, 2016, 6 p.m
It's becoming easier to read through Donne's poetry, despite some of the words being spelled differently than they would be in modern times. One thing I noticed specifically about "A Valediction" as opposed to "The Extasie" is that the latter gives the reader almost a picture in their head of these two people lying on a river bank, gazing into one another's eyes, whereas with the former, it isn't so much an image as a feeling, one that can be universally understood due to the lack of concrete images, allowing the reader to imagine their own scenario of lost love. I think at least part of my analysis will be a comparison/contrast of the ambiguity or lack thereof between these two poems.
January 18, 6:30 p.m
After listening to the poem, there are more differences that I can add to the compare/contrast prompt given. Besides just the imagery and ambiguity in the poem, there are very clear aural differences between the two poems. "A Valediction" combines alliteration and a clear rhyme scheme to give the feeling of the lines rushing forward but stopping suddenly at the last word, much like the abrupt end to love that Donne is describing within the poem. "The Extasie" Uses a lot of enjambment, so that rather than each line giving the impression of an end or stopping, each line flows into the next, creating a flowing poem that can be a metaphor of the river the two are sitting by or the constant flow of emotions between them as they gaze into each other's eyes.
January 19, 1:30-ish p.m
Here's a screenshot of the pre-writing I did. I'm not that good of a pre-writer because I never feel like I go into detail about what I plan to write; it's always more of an outline of how I'm what I'm going to write then how I'm going to write it. Oh well, hopefully it helps.January 19, 2:30 - 3:40 p.m
Just finished writing the paper (it ended up being 1009 words), and took me an hour and ten minutes to write. I feel that my explanation of the poems' differences is very clear and well-written, but I'm still worried that it may sound like I'm rambling and the conclusion might be too short. Well, only one way to find out. See you guys tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
A (Preliminary) Formal Analysis: Forbidding Mourning
Preliminary Formal Analysis of John Donne's (A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning)
1. Genre - Considering the rather personal nature of the lines and stanzas in this poem, its genre is a lyrical poem, one which focuses on the speaker's own emotions, feelings, inner thoughts, etc. The line that most indicates this reading is the final stanza, which reads:
"Such wilt thou be to mee, who must
Like the other foot, obliquely runne
Thy firmnes drawes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begunne."
2. Speaker/Narrator - The narrator in this piece does not necessarily have to be Donne himself; he could be portraying the general emotional state of any lover at their lovers' parting. The ambiguity of the narrator is what makes this poem more universal in its meaning and message. "So let us melt, and make no noise..."
3. Setting - The setting is quite ambiguous, allowing any and all people who know the pain of lost love, regardless of what environment or country they live in, to understand Donne's message and relate to it.
4. Structure - The poem is structured in stanzas of four lines each, with the rhyme scheme being consistently ABAB through each and every stanza, which gives a feeling of solidarity and consistency to the speaker's thoughts.
5. Character - Much like the analysis of the speaker, the characters portrayed in this poem are two lovers at the moment of their parting. They haven't quite stopped loving each other, as evidenced by the line "But we by a love, so much refin'd // That our selves know not what it is."
6. Audience - As with the setting, the audience is never strictly defined, but from the almost universally relatable nature of the poem, one can assume that the audience could be anyone and everyone who knows the pain of parting from a lover.
7. Tone - The title proclaims the piece to be on the subject of mourning, and the lines of the poem themselves emphasize this theme. Some lines that sound mournful and melancholy are:
"Dull sublunary lovers love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it."
8. Metaphor - The theme of death and mourning is a metaphor in the case of this poem, as the first line states "As virtuous men pass mildly away," but Donne uses death as a comparison for the death of love described in the rest of the stanzas.
9. Thesis - It's unclear whether a poem can truly have a thesis or not, but in this case the thesis could be said to be either the meaning of the poem as a whole or the main point. The final two lines are where one can find this point the best, where it says "Thy firmnes drawes my circle just // And makes me end where I begunne." The point in these lines is that losing love only makes him go backwards, not moving forward like he should be.
10. Plot - As with the thesis, poetry does not necessarily have a plot to it, which is the case with this poem. Instead of a plot, the poem takes a sort of snapshot of the speaker's reality: the moment of his and his lover's parting. The thoughts at this exact point make the moment more real to the audience.
1. Genre - Considering the rather personal nature of the lines and stanzas in this poem, its genre is a lyrical poem, one which focuses on the speaker's own emotions, feelings, inner thoughts, etc. The line that most indicates this reading is the final stanza, which reads:
"Such wilt thou be to mee, who must
Like the other foot, obliquely runne
Thy firmnes drawes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begunne."
2. Speaker/Narrator - The narrator in this piece does not necessarily have to be Donne himself; he could be portraying the general emotional state of any lover at their lovers' parting. The ambiguity of the narrator is what makes this poem more universal in its meaning and message. "So let us melt, and make no noise..."
3. Setting - The setting is quite ambiguous, allowing any and all people who know the pain of lost love, regardless of what environment or country they live in, to understand Donne's message and relate to it.
4. Structure - The poem is structured in stanzas of four lines each, with the rhyme scheme being consistently ABAB through each and every stanza, which gives a feeling of solidarity and consistency to the speaker's thoughts.
5. Character - Much like the analysis of the speaker, the characters portrayed in this poem are two lovers at the moment of their parting. They haven't quite stopped loving each other, as evidenced by the line "But we by a love, so much refin'd // That our selves know not what it is."
6. Audience - As with the setting, the audience is never strictly defined, but from the almost universally relatable nature of the poem, one can assume that the audience could be anyone and everyone who knows the pain of parting from a lover.
7. Tone - The title proclaims the piece to be on the subject of mourning, and the lines of the poem themselves emphasize this theme. Some lines that sound mournful and melancholy are:
"Dull sublunary lovers love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it."
9. Thesis - It's unclear whether a poem can truly have a thesis or not, but in this case the thesis could be said to be either the meaning of the poem as a whole or the main point. The final two lines are where one can find this point the best, where it says "Thy firmnes drawes my circle just // And makes me end where I begunne." The point in these lines is that losing love only makes him go backwards, not moving forward like he should be.
10. Plot - As with the thesis, poetry does not necessarily have a plot to it, which is the case with this poem. Instead of a plot, the poem takes a sort of snapshot of the speaker's reality: the moment of his and his lover's parting. The thoughts at this exact point make the moment more real to the audience.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Well-Written but Under-Analyzed
As the title of the post suggests, Jonah Byers' strengths and weaknesses in academic writing are quite oxymoronic in their nature. You see, much of the critiques he received in the rough draft of his senior year literary criticism paper on Hamlet was that his analyzation was well-written, but the analyzation itself was lacking in depth and perhaps he should go back and read the text some more in the mindset of his topic.
As you could imagine, it was a bit crushing to Byers to hear his work so criticized. The compliments on his writing were encouraging, but he had felt that there was nothing more he could analyze from Hamlet that would add to his paper. Still, he knew that to make his final draft worthy of an A+, he should probably do what the teacher said and go back through the play again. As he did, he discovered the following:
As you could imagine, it was a bit crushing to Byers to hear his work so criticized. The compliments on his writing were encouraging, but he had felt that there was nothing more he could analyze from Hamlet that would add to his paper. Still, he knew that to make his final draft worthy of an A+, he should probably do what the teacher said and go back through the play again. As he did, he discovered the following:
- His teacher had been correct (of course)
- His analyzation had been severely lacking
- There was so much more to be criticized and analyzed in terms of his topic
- Never assume you've analyzed everything
- Always revise drafts with the new information you've found
- Revise the writing itself as well. Never assume your language is as perfect as it could be.
With these realizations, Byers came to more fully understand what he excelled at and what could be worked on some more. Far more qualities fell into the latter category than the former.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
"Literary Life" is an Understatement
As the title suggests, those two words can never cover just how much of my life involves literature and the English language in general. Books and writing were a part of my life from the moment I could listen to my mother and understand what she was saying as she read "Good Night, Moon" to me. I clearly remember how my reading evolved from picture books to Magic Tree House, from there to Harry Potter, and now we have eighteen year-old me reading thousand page-long fantasy novels in three days.
Of course, being an introvert with a slight case of Asperger's Syndrome is probably what made fiction and language such a large part of my life. I could hardly ever bring myself to talk to people, and when I did, my lack of understanding of social norms and guidelines inevitably led to a whole slew of social faux-pas, which resulted in my parents, siblings, or (however few) friends I had to say things like "why would you say that?" or "Don't ever do something like that again." Eventually the fear of messing up while talking to people was so overpowering that I hated even knocking on someone's door because I was so scared to talk to people. Thus, I was drawn to books, where I could read perfectly written dialogue where everyone talks comfortably and there is no fear.
The book that really expanded the kinds of books I liked to read would have to be Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-Li Jiang. It is a story of the author's life in China during the infamous Cultural Revolution, and her struggle to be able to even say what she wanted to resonated with me. From there, I began to read more "classic" works of literature, and even my reader friends scoffed and stared at me, wondering why I would ever want to read Gone With the Wind or Pride and Prejudice instead of the newest Harry Potter book (which I'd already finished in less than a day). They worried that I'd start talking like Mr. Darcy or Rhett Butler or, heaven forbid, become an English teacher someday. However, there were some perks to reading such works of literature. Beyond immediately finding favor with every English teacher I happened to be a student of, my understanding of the language of "classic" books made reading them in class more enjoyable. Whereas all the other students read "To Kill A Mockingbird" in a monotone when we read it out loud in class, I was volunteered more and more by my fellow students to read it because I actually put emotion into the words and unique indicators for each character's dialogue (Atticus Finch was formal, Scout and Jem spoke in southern accents, etc.)
Around the same time, I was discovering how much I enjoyed writing my own books. It was another interest spawned by my intense fear of speaking to people who aren't my family or close friends; with writing, I could edit and tweak my words so that they were perfect, before anyone ever even read them. I started with (somewhat silly) science fiction books and am now working on three different novels, after completing a 20000 word novella that I feel is my best piece of writing to date. One of those novels happens to be my alternative to journaling, which I always felt awkward doing; the novel documents my experiences in high school, but through the eyes of my fictional counterpart Gabriel.
If I had to choose one quote or phrase that could describe the quite literary life I have just described, it would have to be from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he states "It is imperative you do not listen to [other people], for otherwise they will become right." It helps me remember that the best thing to do when creating something, especially writing, you have to shut out all of those critical voices, whether they are friends, family, or those quiet internal voices of doubt, in order to even begin to find a way to say what you have never been able to express.
Of course, being an introvert with a slight case of Asperger's Syndrome is probably what made fiction and language such a large part of my life. I could hardly ever bring myself to talk to people, and when I did, my lack of understanding of social norms and guidelines inevitably led to a whole slew of social faux-pas, which resulted in my parents, siblings, or (however few) friends I had to say things like "why would you say that?" or "Don't ever do something like that again." Eventually the fear of messing up while talking to people was so overpowering that I hated even knocking on someone's door because I was so scared to talk to people. Thus, I was drawn to books, where I could read perfectly written dialogue where everyone talks comfortably and there is no fear.
The book that really expanded the kinds of books I liked to read would have to be Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-Li Jiang. It is a story of the author's life in China during the infamous Cultural Revolution, and her struggle to be able to even say what she wanted to resonated with me. From there, I began to read more "classic" works of literature, and even my reader friends scoffed and stared at me, wondering why I would ever want to read Gone With the Wind or Pride and Prejudice instead of the newest Harry Potter book (which I'd already finished in less than a day). They worried that I'd start talking like Mr. Darcy or Rhett Butler or, heaven forbid, become an English teacher someday. However, there were some perks to reading such works of literature. Beyond immediately finding favor with every English teacher I happened to be a student of, my understanding of the language of "classic" books made reading them in class more enjoyable. Whereas all the other students read "To Kill A Mockingbird" in a monotone when we read it out loud in class, I was volunteered more and more by my fellow students to read it because I actually put emotion into the words and unique indicators for each character's dialogue (Atticus Finch was formal, Scout and Jem spoke in southern accents, etc.)
Around the same time, I was discovering how much I enjoyed writing my own books. It was another interest spawned by my intense fear of speaking to people who aren't my family or close friends; with writing, I could edit and tweak my words so that they were perfect, before anyone ever even read them. I started with (somewhat silly) science fiction books and am now working on three different novels, after completing a 20000 word novella that I feel is my best piece of writing to date. One of those novels happens to be my alternative to journaling, which I always felt awkward doing; the novel documents my experiences in high school, but through the eyes of my fictional counterpart Gabriel.
If I had to choose one quote or phrase that could describe the quite literary life I have just described, it would have to be from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he states "It is imperative you do not listen to [other people], for otherwise they will become right." It helps me remember that the best thing to do when creating something, especially writing, you have to shut out all of those critical voices, whether they are friends, family, or those quiet internal voices of doubt, in order to even begin to find a way to say what you have never been able to express.
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