1. Book Review
Rat Girl
Kristin Hersh
Reviewed by Rob Sheffield in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/books/review/Sheffield-t.html?_r=1&ref=books
Rob Sheffield’s review of Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh in the New York Times reads more like a short biography of the author, Kristin Hersh, than a review of her book. Sheffield inserts his opinions about the book between expertly chosen passages paraphrased from the book. This format for the review makes sense, as Rat Girl is a memoir based on Hersh’s diary. Sheffield writes in a formal tone, yet the review still reads very casually. He intersperses his own analysis and paraphrasing with quotes from Rat Girl, often inserting them in parentheses to help affirm a point. This somewhat liberal use of parentheses combined with the relatively informal tone Rat Girl is written in makes Sheffield’s review a more relaxing read than, say, a review of a more formal novel.
Sheffield is especially suited to reviewing Rat Girl, as he reveals halfway through his review that he has actually been to see Throwing Muses, Hersh’s band that she writes about in her book. This allows him to respond to the book on a much more personal level. Sheffield uses his own opinions of Hersh as well as quotes from her book to help establish her as a free spirit, someone who lives in the moment. This clear definition of who Hersh is makes Sheffield’s review much more exciting to read. How did her bipolar disorder and pregnancy affect her ability to write songs and perform? How did Hersh’s band achieve their success? Sheffield carefully leaves the answers to these questions out of his review, leaving the reader wanting to know more.
Sheffield seems to hold Hersh in high esteem, as evidenced by his choice of words to describe her. Sheffield focuses primarily on her strength and will to succeed. The question of the moral implications of Hersh becoming a mother at 19 never crossed my mind.
I really can't connect this piece with any I've read, since I haven't had the chance to read many biographies. I can, however, relate Hersh's story to movies like Juno, which also deals with a teenage mom who manages to succeed in life.
2. Reflexive Essay
"The Joy Of Photoshopping"
Oyl Miller.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/8/17miller.html
This essay my Oyl Miller seems to be a simple paper about how much he enjoys photoshopping pictures of Chuck Norris, and how he likes adding different pieces to his face for no apparent reason. Reading deeper into this paper shows a different idea altogether: that changing a picture is much like a person's personality. Although some things can be added to it, it can never truly be changed from what it started as and it is futile to attempt to change it.
The paper is kicked off with the introduction of "Hello friends," and the tone becomes even more informal with the first person format ("I've already prepared the canvas") and rhetorical questions added: "Let's see, what kind of Photoshop image...?" The informal tone makes the paper seem almost careless and lighthearted, and as I read it I was constantly thinking that the author appears to almost be making an inside joke that the reader is not aware of.
Diction in this essay is very immature, as Miller uses phrases such as "happy little -----" (which he uses three times) and words like "silly," "totally," and "magic." He actually uses the word "little" nine times. As a matter of fact, this entire essay seemed insultingly condescending to me as I read it. When Miller said "Isn't that majestic, kids?" and "Now I'm just getting silly," I was hesitant to believe that this kind of word choice would be used in an actual published essay.
The grammar throughout this entire essay is also very condescending. This is seen when he says he picked out a "real deep, dark, tentacley green," and with all of the sentence fragments he uses, for example when he says "There we go. Happy little lasers."
The final paragraph switches the tone to a more mature, serious feel where he compares the picture to a personality. This becomes evident through the diction and word order, such as when he says "Keep some reality in your fantasy," and "There are no right answers." The diction is still very deficient, though, and the final sentence ends with "...feel like turning those happy little pixels into next."
Although the goal of this paper was clearly to be humorous and amusing, I was bored by the informal tone used in it, and slightly insulted by the low level of diction throughout the paper. This essay would not work well on an AP English test because one of the main goals of the AP English paper is to tell how advanced the vocabulary of the writer is, and this paper did not display a high level of vocabulary at all.
3. Editorial
Why Firemen Let That House Burn Down
Anonymous
The New York Times
The author gives a clear voice by bluntly supporting the Cranicks family and believes that in this situation, the role of government should be to help whoever is in need, no matter the financial tensions. The author also incorporates of conservative commentator of Glenn beck who insists that this whole issue is more about “paying the $75” rather than just having “compassion”. If the firefighters would have put out the fire, then others who saw this event would believe that they wouldn’t have to pay their dues for such labor. Then what were the dues really for? But the author bounces back by giving a solution. He believes this issue was caused by the government and is in discontent about how they are handling it. The firefighters need to examine their conscience and that if the government can’t trust the people (in financial terms), they should do something about it, even if it means raising taxes
He also gives a last punch to his argument and opinion stating that the founding fathers would have objected the way this situation came out and the actions of the firefighter. They would not have supported the government “make an object lesson of a neglectful citizen” by letting the Cranicks’ house burn down. He also states that Cranicks “deserve an apology” from (probably) the firefighters. So he is clearly critical of the firefighters and what they did.
The intro is crafted to support the opinions of the author of the editorial because he starts off with a strong point. He states that even with all of this political arguing and fighting, nothing will bring back or fix the house that burnt down just because the owners did not pay the annual surcharge. The author also believes that it was not a good idea to just let the home burn down; assuming he also believes that it was not morally right.
In another sense, instead of just writing that the house burned down, he wrote that Mr. Cranicks, owner of the home, actually “watched” his home burn down. This added a personal touch. Instead of just stating the house burned down, it gave the statement a personal touch that sympathized with Mr. Cranicks and put the firefighters in a negative light. In addition, the family is described as being “helpless”, while the firefighters are described as being “idle”. The two contrasting words really impact the tone of this editorial, creating a good guy and bad guy effect. The author obviously believes that the family is the victim while the workers were the ones at fault. Such use and choice of descriptive words really help carry out the purpose of the editorial.
This editorial would be appropriate for an AP exam because it gives a very clear stance. Points are very nicely organized and the voice of the author is very easy to follow and understand. In addition, the impression that the whole piece of writing creates is simple, apparent, and structured well. But it would also be very inappropriate because it provides no concrete evidence for claims, which would not be useful on an AP exam.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Core Concepts: 3.07-3.18
Modernism
Surrealism
The Hollow Men by T. S. Elliot
- Disillusionment following WWI
- Disappointed with society, wanted change
- "Cry of the heart"
- Unreliable narrators
- Multiple narrators
- Minor characters as narrators
- Nonlinear narrators
- Stream of consciousness
Surrealism
Between WWI & IIAttempts to join dream/fantasy worlds with reality
Modernism - Universal Truth + Irony = Post-Modernism
- Influenced by Freud and Jung
Modernism - Universal Truth + Irony = Post-Modernism
- No universal truth
- Blending of high and low culture
- Self-reference
- Simulacrum: flawed idea that seems real
The Hollow Men by T. S. Elliot
- "Stuffed men": efigees burnt to tease Guy Fawkes
- Sterility
- Lord's prayer cannot be finished
- Lower class narrator in the midst of upper class
Outside Readings
1. Book Review
The Gendarme
2. Editorial
Immigration Hardball
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/opinion/15mon1.html?_r=2&scp=98&sq=editorial&st=nyt
This editorial on the negatives of the GOP's history regarding immigration gets its point across effectively without resorting to the usual name-calling. While the article was written to attack the GOP and does so in an extremely negative tone, it isn't so negative as to distract me from the overall message. Perhaps it's because I'm rather liberally biased, but I think this article is still pretty fair. That said, this would still be on the strong side for an AP essay - It's much too opinionated.
This author of this article comes off as someone who is rather pissed off at the Republican party's history of anti-immigration policies. However, he/she simply complains. No positive reforms were mentioned, and no alternatives to the poorly designed Republican policies were proposed. However, this article makes several good points against the Republican party's immigration policies, and all of its claims were backed up by what appears to be well-researched evidence. For example, the author cites specific years and the names of congressmen who spearheaded imposing limits on immigration. These facts make the article seem that much more credible, something it needs since it was written anonymously. Not divulging his/her identity gives the author several advantages, but hurts him/her as well. Because he/she is writing anonymously, he/she doesn't have to worry about possible reprisals or personal attacks from those who disagree with his/her opinions. For many political writers, criticism from extremists on both sides is something they have to take daily. Thus, the author of this piece can express his/her true opinion. On the other hand, many people dismiss anonymous articles or editorials as being unreliable rants from random people; nobody knows who the author is, so the article has no credibility. Personally, I tend to enjoy anonymous pieces. Although I often do not take them as seriously as pieces with known authors, it's still very interesting to see the true points of views of people when they do not fear the judgement of others.
3. Reflexive Essay
"The Hissing of Summer Lawns"
Jonathan Franzen
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/11/101011fa_fact_franzen#ixzz1209ZdfSq
Jonathan Franzen uses his personal experiences, written with humor, regret, and lessons learnt to explain a decision he has made, a code to live his life by. In his reflective essay for the New Yorker, "The Hissing of Summer Lawns", he tells of how he decided to live within his means.
Franzen opens with an anecdote, common in reflective essays. Franzen makes it clear that the force behind all his actions is his poor wealth, as an almost desperate writer, this plays a part in the lessons learnt from his reflection. The essay takes place in the past; opening with “In the early nineties,” however, Franzen avoids any passive tense. Through a series of stories Franzen tells of his poor experiences house-sitting. “The first house I sat belonged to a professor at my alma mater”, immediately he saw all the outweighing downside to his new occupation, realizing “it’s in the nature of a borrowed house that its closets will be hung with someone else’s bathrobes, its refrigerator glutted with someone else’s condiments, its shower drain plugged with someone else’s hair.” The point of the reflection was not, however, that it is an uncomfortable situation to live in someone else’s home. Though, this was all necessary to develop Franzen’s light-hearted tone and disappointed voice. The precedent that house sitting is bad must also be set. Only after Franzen had grown tired of living in another’s home was he told “This is my house, Jonathan.”
At the next house, “the grand stucco house of two older friends, Ken and Joan, in Media, Pennsylvania”, Franzen reasserts, almost as an excuse, that he had “less than no money at all”. Continuing with the comic tone he mocks his hosts “Ken gently chided Joan for having “bruised” with melting ice”, and states “The only thing I had to do to earn my keep in Media was mow Ken and Joan’s extensive lawn. Mowing lawns has always seemed to me among the most despair-inducing of human activities.” The most valuable thing stated by his hosts was that they always live beyond their means. Franzen takes this as advice. Implementing this advice comically, “by way of following Ken’s example of living beyond one’s means, I delayed the first mowing until the grass was so long that I had to stop and empty the clippings bag every five minutes” however perhaps seemingly comic, this turned out to be the catalyst for the change and revelation in Franzen’s life. “I delayed the second mowing even longer. By the time I got around to it, the lawn had been colonized by a large clan of earth-burrowing hornets”; the following anecdote contains the essay’s message. “Ken told me that I needed to visit the hornet homes one by one after dark, when the inhabitants were sleeping, and pour gasoline into the burrows and set them on fire.” With this advice Franzen almost burnt himself out of house and home, and he reflects “and the home wasn’t even mine”. The terrifying experience jolted Franzen. After much anticipation Franzen tells us what was learnt in punch-line-like format he concludes, “However modest my means were, it was seeming preferable, after all, to live within them.” Using short sentences, he bluntly ends with “I never house-sat again.”
The Gendarme
Mark Mustian
Reviewed by Mike Peed in the New York Times
The author of the review seemed to like “The Gendarme” quite a bit, or so it seemed in his review. But I found a few parts of his review struck me as somewhat odd. The title for the review for the book “The Gendarme” really set up the tone for this particular review. What an interesting way to title a piece “Death March” this titles really snaps the readers attention and makes them somewhat wary of what they are about to read. I believe that the best type of criticism that fits this review is Postcolonial Criticism. The review seems to focus heavily on the main characters cultural identity. Which he very well should focus on, because that is what this book is all about. Peed uses very strong and strange words to convey what appears to be his very strong emotions about this book. He used the word precipitate to explain how this tumor in the main characters brain was returning memories to him. When we read precipitate we normal relate to the weather, where here he relates it to “hurling down”. This book review is pointedly interested in the racism that is happening in this book, particular the Armenian Genocide. Another classic case of European dominance and cruelty over a race that is viewed as weak and subordinate. This particular review seems to hit most of the most important points for Postcolonial Criticism.
Reviewed by Mike Peed in the New York Times
The author of the review seemed to like “The Gendarme” quite a bit, or so it seemed in his review. But I found a few parts of his review struck me as somewhat odd. The title for the review for the book “The Gendarme” really set up the tone for this particular review. What an interesting way to title a piece “Death March” this titles really snaps the readers attention and makes them somewhat wary of what they are about to read. I believe that the best type of criticism that fits this review is Postcolonial Criticism. The review seems to focus heavily on the main characters cultural identity. Which he very well should focus on, because that is what this book is all about. Peed uses very strong and strange words to convey what appears to be his very strong emotions about this book. He used the word precipitate to explain how this tumor in the main characters brain was returning memories to him. When we read precipitate we normal relate to the weather, where here he relates it to “hurling down”. This book review is pointedly interested in the racism that is happening in this book, particular the Armenian Genocide. Another classic case of European dominance and cruelty over a race that is viewed as weak and subordinate. This particular review seems to hit most of the most important points for Postcolonial Criticism.
Peed seemed less concerned with trying to sell the book as we was trying to explain it. Which I found to be somewhat nice, because there are only some many ‘raving’ reviews you can read before you get sick of it. Just by reading this review I was reminded of a book I read in middle school, I can’t remember the title of the book for the life of me. The book was about a Holocaust survivor and his story about the concentration camps, but “Gendarme” is from the view point of the one who inflicts pain, the prison guard, the evil one. Of course these books deal with two different incidents but core theory is the same. Every one deserves redemption, even the ones you thought where not even capable of having a soul.
2. Editorial
Immigration Hardball
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/opinion/15mon1.html?_r=2&scp=98&sq=editorial&st=nyt
This editorial on the negatives of the GOP's history regarding immigration gets its point across effectively without resorting to the usual name-calling. While the article was written to attack the GOP and does so in an extremely negative tone, it isn't so negative as to distract me from the overall message. Perhaps it's because I'm rather liberally biased, but I think this article is still pretty fair. That said, this would still be on the strong side for an AP essay - It's much too opinionated.
This author of this article comes off as someone who is rather pissed off at the Republican party's history of anti-immigration policies. However, he/she simply complains. No positive reforms were mentioned, and no alternatives to the poorly designed Republican policies were proposed. However, this article makes several good points against the Republican party's immigration policies, and all of its claims were backed up by what appears to be well-researched evidence. For example, the author cites specific years and the names of congressmen who spearheaded imposing limits on immigration. These facts make the article seem that much more credible, something it needs since it was written anonymously. Not divulging his/her identity gives the author several advantages, but hurts him/her as well. Because he/she is writing anonymously, he/she doesn't have to worry about possible reprisals or personal attacks from those who disagree with his/her opinions. For many political writers, criticism from extremists on both sides is something they have to take daily. Thus, the author of this piece can express his/her true opinion. On the other hand, many people dismiss anonymous articles or editorials as being unreliable rants from random people; nobody knows who the author is, so the article has no credibility. Personally, I tend to enjoy anonymous pieces. Although I often do not take them as seriously as pieces with known authors, it's still very interesting to see the true points of views of people when they do not fear the judgement of others.
3. Reflexive Essay
"The Hissing of Summer Lawns"
Jonathan Franzen
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/11/101011fa_fact_franzen#ixzz1209ZdfSq
Jonathan Franzen uses his personal experiences, written with humor, regret, and lessons learnt to explain a decision he has made, a code to live his life by. In his reflective essay for the New Yorker, "The Hissing of Summer Lawns", he tells of how he decided to live within his means.
Franzen opens with an anecdote, common in reflective essays. Franzen makes it clear that the force behind all his actions is his poor wealth, as an almost desperate writer, this plays a part in the lessons learnt from his reflection. The essay takes place in the past; opening with “In the early nineties,” however, Franzen avoids any passive tense. Through a series of stories Franzen tells of his poor experiences house-sitting. “The first house I sat belonged to a professor at my alma mater”, immediately he saw all the outweighing downside to his new occupation, realizing “it’s in the nature of a borrowed house that its closets will be hung with someone else’s bathrobes, its refrigerator glutted with someone else’s condiments, its shower drain plugged with someone else’s hair.” The point of the reflection was not, however, that it is an uncomfortable situation to live in someone else’s home. Though, this was all necessary to develop Franzen’s light-hearted tone and disappointed voice. The precedent that house sitting is bad must also be set. Only after Franzen had grown tired of living in another’s home was he told “This is my house, Jonathan.”
At the next house, “the grand stucco house of two older friends, Ken and Joan, in Media, Pennsylvania”, Franzen reasserts, almost as an excuse, that he had “less than no money at all”. Continuing with the comic tone he mocks his hosts “Ken gently chided Joan for having “bruised” with melting ice”, and states “The only thing I had to do to earn my keep in Media was mow Ken and Joan’s extensive lawn. Mowing lawns has always seemed to me among the most despair-inducing of human activities.” The most valuable thing stated by his hosts was that they always live beyond their means. Franzen takes this as advice. Implementing this advice comically, “by way of following Ken’s example of living beyond one’s means, I delayed the first mowing until the grass was so long that I had to stop and empty the clippings bag every five minutes” however perhaps seemingly comic, this turned out to be the catalyst for the change and revelation in Franzen’s life. “I delayed the second mowing even longer. By the time I got around to it, the lawn had been colonized by a large clan of earth-burrowing hornets”; the following anecdote contains the essay’s message. “Ken told me that I needed to visit the hornet homes one by one after dark, when the inhabitants were sleeping, and pour gasoline into the burrows and set them on fire.” With this advice Franzen almost burnt himself out of house and home, and he reflects “and the home wasn’t even mine”. The terrifying experience jolted Franzen. After much anticipation Franzen tells us what was learnt in punch-line-like format he concludes, “However modest my means were, it was seeming preferable, after all, to live within them.” Using short sentences, he bluntly ends with “I never house-sat again.”
Friday, March 11, 2011
Core Concepts: 2.21-3.04
Types of comedy:
Theories of Comedy:
Requirements for comedy (according to that one handout we got):
Pride and Prejudice Discussion
High comedy that appeals to both intellect and emotions
Jane: pretty, stereotypical successful woman, second most successful
Lydia: stupid, fails
- Low: stupid comedy
- High: relatively serious, appeals to intellect
- Burlesque: exaggeration and distortion
- Farce: improbable plot, exaggerated characters, slapstick
- Lampoon: broad satire
- Parody: imitates another, usually serious, work
- Satire: makes fun of an aspect of society
- Slapstick: mostly physical, low humor
- Travesty: frivolously presents serious things
Theories of Comedy:
- Superiority: character has some failing
- Incongruity: different
- Relief: relief from societal constraints
- Ambivalence: attracted to repulsiveness
Requirements for comedy (according to that one handout we got):
- Appeal to the intellect rather than emotions
- Be mechanical
- Be inherently human
- A set of established social norms must be in place
- Situation must be inconsistent with social norms
- Be perceived as harmless and painless
Pride and Prejudice Discussion
High comedy that appeals to both intellect and emotions
- Mrs. Bennet, Jane: mechanical -> funny
- Elizabeth more serious. Develops instead of remaining single-sided
Jane: pretty, stereotypical successful woman, second most successful
Lydia: stupid, fails
Friday, February 18, 2011
Core Concepts: 2.07-2.17
Heart of Darkness
Chinua Achebe Essay: don't remember much, sorry.
Apocalypse Now: Heart of Darkness in Vietnam
- Post-colonialism novella
- Alludes to Dante's Inferno and Garden of Eden
- Jungle - Eden, Congo - Hell
- Frameshift narrative: story told within a story
- 3 phases of womanhood
- Maiden - "the intended"
- Mother - aunt
- Crone - old knitting women
- Knitting black wool: African hair: company exploits Africans for profit
- Russian: dressed in motley - jester
- African woman: earth mother; embodiment of Congo
Chinua Achebe Essay: don't remember much, sorry.
Apocalypse Now: Heart of Darkness in Vietnam
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Core Concepts: 1.31-2.04
Medieval Literature
Everyman: Main character represents all humansDante's Inferno (Dante):
Archetypal Criticism
Structure of these is a bunch of circles - see handout
- Written in Middle Ages( 500-1500 CE)
- No specific author, secular texts
- "Extended metaphor" - represent things in real life
- Characters: too stupid to live
- epic poem
- allegory
- Dante: everyman
- 3 circles of Hell, 7 circles in Purgatory, 9 circles of Paradise
Archetypal Criticism
- Based on archetypes. Have to "get" them.
- Something that is repeated with the same meaning
Structure of these is a bunch of circles - see handout
Romance (top): hero ends successfully
Tragedy (right): hero ends up stuck somewhere
Irony (bottom): things bad, possibly getting better
Comedy (left): getting better, ends well
Novel: prose, complex, long
Novella: prose, longer than short story but shorter than novel (Heart of Darkness)
Novel: prose, complex, long
Novella: prose, longer than short story but shorter than novel (Heart of Darkness)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Week 12/13 Core Concepts (12.06-1.07)
Death of a Salesman
Linda:
- Willy is also a son. Happy + Biff have to compete for love.
- Cares about Willy above her sons.
- Takes his abuse.
Willy:
- Failed American dream, tries to thrust onto kids.
- Lies/exaggerates about everything to make himself seem successful.
- Convinced himself that he is.
- Never grew up
- Puts himself above everybody else
Biff:
- Realizes his and his father's failings, tries to reform.
- Knew about the Woman, didn't tell Linda
- Was actually "well-liked" in high school
Happy:
- Doesn't get it.
- Least favorite child
- Still wants to "make Willy proud" after Willy's death
Movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089006/
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)