Evaluation

I feel like this semester has gone by fairly fast, most likely because I've been so busy with school work.  I feel like the the amount of reading we have done thus far is impressive, especially when considering everything else we have accomplished.  We have been able to learn many grammar lessons that have been extremely helpful.  The ones that I learned the most with were probably the apostrophes and titles.  I didn't realize how much detail was involved in each of those.  I feel like after this class I will have improved my writing skills immensely along with reading by the amount I am required to do each night.

"The Little Mermaid"

"The Little Mermaid" was written in third person objective narration and gives a better understanding of the details of the story rather than just the feelings of the little mermaid herself.  Had Andersen chosen a different type of narration, such as first person from the little mermaid's point of view, the scope of the story would be on a much narrower perspective. The elements that would prove more relevant would be the major characters because we would be allowed to observe the exact emotions the little mermaid was feeling when going through her heartbreak.  With the third person objective narration chosen by the author, we show more concern toward the setting and plot which makes a better impact of the storyline overall.  The setting of the story changes between two very different environments.  She goes from a life of luxury underwater to a struggling, torturous year on land by going from one palace to the next.  Andersen's choice of setting shows irony in that fact that someone with such authority by living in two marvelous palaces still could not manage to escape the miserable feeling of mystery and loneliness.

"Bartleby, the Scrivener" and "The Birthmark"

The plot structure shown in both of these short stories is in media res meaning starting in the middle.  When looking at other possibilities for plot structure, flashback would not be as exciting for "The Birthmark."  In "The Birthmark" Aylmer's wife Georgiana dies in the end, and by using flashbacks the story wouldn't have the same impact and wouldn't be as dramatic at the choice of using in media res.  I feel that in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" flashback would have been an option because it would give the readers insight from Bartleby's perspective and give a better explanation for his actions.  In "The Birthmark" Aylmer was very motivated to remove his wife's birthmark and stayed that way throughout the story giving him consistency throughout.  Since Aylmer remained the same throughout the story and didn't undergo any change of mind whatsoever, he is definitely portrayed as a static character.  When we look at Bartleby, he was not motivated or plausible because when he was asked to perform a task by his boss he would respond that he "preferred not to" for no apparent reason.  However, Bartleby was very consistent with these actions because he never changed his response, making him a static character as well.  By comparing these two short stories we can see that a character can be static (unchanging) throughout the storyline and still have many differences, such as motivation, plausibility, and consistency.  Even thought a character fits a character trait, they can also possess many other traits as well.  For example, even though we first saw Bartleby as a static character because he was stuck with his thought of "preferring not to," but we can also see that he is a flat character as well.  Relating to the plot structure of a story, we can see that the author makes the choice to choose in media res for the layout of the story, but there can be other ways to present the storyline in a dramatic way as well.  For example, in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" the author could have chosen to use the flashback method to give a better understanding of why Bartleby acts the way he does.  Some may also say that the flashback method could have been a good way to go with "The Birthmark" by saying that the storyline could have been showing the process to how Georgiana lost her life.  By comparing and contrasting these two short stories, I was able to dig a little deeper into the making and choices of the text.  It shows that each person may have an opinion of what the story is presenting and how it should be presented.

Class Discussion (Black/White)

The class discussion got pretty in depth on Wednesday about racism and stereotypes.  I feel that stereotyping is a huge part of the world today and I don't agree with it.  Everyone will have their beliefs about there own race along with other races.  In class everyone seemed to be saying that Native Americans are seen as alcoholics and white people aren't really seen in that way.  I feel like this was because since there are so many Caucasian people, when you come across a group of drunk white people it doesn't seem to relate to that many people; but when you see a group of Native Americans drunk, people relate it to their race because the lower number of people representing their race in this area.  I realize that is worded in a confusing way, but I'm not sure how to explain what I'm trying to say.  For example, if there were a group of ten drunk white people and group a ten drunk Native Americans, statistically by percentage of the actual number of people in that race it feel like there are more drunk Indians as compared to white people.  I'm sure this is one of the ways some people see it, but I honestly don't think that way at all.  I have come across several great white, black, and Indian people and several not so good white, black, and Indian people.  Stereotyping is overrated and equalization between race and gender are gone and done with so we should do away with all racism or sexism in society.  Everyone is a person and deserves the same rights, advantages, and opportunities.  It's time for people to grow up and embrace the differences in individuals, whether it be personality, gender, or race.

Student Don't Learn Much in College

This article pertaining to college students and the amount of knowledge they receive throughout their four years of college is actually more relevant than I thought at first sight.  It stated that after the sophomore level, 45% of students reported showing no significant improvement; after four years, only 36% did not demonstrate significant improvement.  I believe this is a correct assumption because through the first two years of college, students are completing general education classes, some of which are not anywhere related to their chosen field of study.  I believe the percentage of students that didn't show improvement reduced by 9% during the third and fourth years of college because they were then admitted to classes related to their major of choice and they were actually enjoying, or at least were concerned about, these courses.  One issue presented in this article is when Julia Rheinecker states "I love the environment, don't get me wrong. I just haven't found myself pushing as much as I expected" (Gorski 1).  This is exactly how I felt as a freshman in college.  I felt high school was much more challenging than my first semester in the college environment.  My freshman year I attended Dana College and was also active on the varsity golf team.  Going in, I assumed I would be extremely busy.  I expected to be behind and struggling to keep up during golf season since I would be missing so much class, but it was actually the complete opposite.  I had all of the free-time in the world and when I hit my sophomore year I had to change everything.  I was unprepared for the heavy workload and didn't know how to manage at first.  I feel that incoming freshmen should be eased into the transition, but to an extent.  They need to get the experience of a busy lifestyle so they will know how to better manage their time and better their future.  Another important issue mentioned in this article relates to the quote by Lindsay McCluskey saying "...more classes are being taught by teaching assistants and in some cases undergraduate students" (Gorski 2).  I feel like this is an issue that needs to be tended to.  I'm not saying that all student teachers are bad because I have had student teachers that know the subject matter very well and should receive the opportunity to teach those classes; but I have also had some student teachers in classes that I knew the material just as well as they did.  I would recommend that the student teachers should have class agenda and notes approved before they are allowed to educate students at the college level.  I'm not sure what specifications they must meet before getting the opportunity, but I feel that some student teachers are not up to those standards.

Fake Twitter Accounts

This article mainly stated that fake Twitter accounts were not as fatal as some may think.  It showed Mr. VandeHei's comment toward the account under his name.  He made it into a joke and suggested that it could be his co-founder John F. Harris pulling a prank on him.  Another person, Mr. Mackowiak, viewed his fake page as funny as well and even made a comment relating to Brad Pitt.  It was said that in order to create a phony account on Twitter it must be labeled as a parody account.  I feel that as long as the account is labeled as a fake account then freedom of speech should protect their right to do so.  It is not any different than Mad TV and Saturday Night Live dressing as a celebrity or politician and making fun of them by performing a skit.

First Paper

This first paper I feel went well.  I liked that I was able to go off of the first gist I wrote and elaborate more on that topic.  However, I didn't like that as we continued to make revisions we started other stories.  It was hard trying to focus on making the final product of this paper while constantly reading and writing in addition.

The Metamorphosis

This short story is very confusing to comprehend the meaning of after one reading.  I understand the fact that he was the sole supporter of the family and the pressure got too extreme to handle anymore, but why did they choose a bug to represent the change? After meeting with our groups in class on Wednesday, one of my classmates gave me a better understanding of the meaning behind everything.  He told me that when they analyzed this story in high school they came to the conclusion that Gregor had a mental breakdown and his change was to a mentally handicapped person.  This makes more sense to me because he could no longer take care of himself, he couldnt communicate well, and they couldn't leave him alone.  I definitely think is was necessary to reread this story again to catch the points that didn't jump out during the first time reading.  After understanding what to look for from the analysis of a classmate there were many things that made this meaning much more clear.