Personal Reflection

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Ashley Singleton

Mrs. Parkinson

English 3

14 March 2016

Of Mice and Men Inquiry Activity

   

      The question that I received pertained to chapter four.  Why is it that sometimes people attempt to make you believe something or feel something that isn’t true? After analyzing this I recalled the conversation that took place between Lennie and Crooks. In the novel Of Mice and Men crooks said to Lennie, “well s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What will you do then?” (72). In this we see that Crooks is referring to George during this conversation. From what we have learned about Lennie we know that he is very reliant upon George and this comment quickly frustrates him. Lennie is confused. Crooks realizes that he shouldn’t have said that and eventually follows by saying, “I didn’t mean to scare you. He’ll come back. I was talkin’ about myself”(73). What struck me was when he stated that he was talking about himself. As a reader it is fairly obvious to me that Crooks feels he has no one which is why he made that remark to Lennie. I personally have experienced an instance similar to this. When a person I know had something happen to them, they made remarks to me attempting to make me feel the same way. Often we as humans may say things to others that are unnecessary and hurtful to cope with our own feelings, which is what I believe to be true after digging deeper into the dialogue between Lennie and Crooks.

Ashley Singleton

Mrs. Parkinson

English 3

7 March 2016

 The Impact of Claude McKay

Through the reading of America by Claude McKay the reader engages in the differing thoughts that he presents. Claude talks about America from two different sets of eyes, showing the reader contrasting thoughts. One example is “her vigor flows like tides into my blood, / Giving me strength erect against her hate” (McKay 5-6). This example strikes the reader. Claude is saying that America feeds into him allowing him to grow and prosper, but he claims that he is getting this strength to be able to fight and protect himself against America. Another example is “I love this cultured hell that test my youth” (4). He is stating that he loves America but also refers to America as a cultured hell that constantly is testing him. I believe that Calude shows people today that you can’t be scared to have differing opinions, since we often are forced to conform to just one.

Blog 3

I was assigned George Saunders, "on the Importance of kindness." Throughout the video I watched, I acknowledged many aspects of writing voice. This allowed me to gather information and further understand the message of the video.




Narrative
The first writing voice technique that I acknowledged as the audience was Saunders use of imagery. I noticed this in the description of Ellen. George states, "Ellen was small, shy, and she wore these cats eye glasses that only old ladies wore at the time." This description gave me a glimpse of the appearance of this character. Another example of imagery is when he says, "When she was nervous, which was pretty much always, she had a habit of putting a strand of hair in her mouth and chewing on it." This example gave me an insight of what Ellen's personality may have been like, and led me to the conclusion that she may be semi antisocial and uncomfortable in certain situations.


Perceptivity
George Saunders does a great job of describing this character and helping us feel empathy for her. Mid way through the video we can see that the writer shows insight regarding Ellen. He no longer is describing Ellen in a surface level way but allows us to really dig deeper as he says, "I could see this hurt her. I still remember the way she looked after such an insult." This phrase not only allows us to understand what Ellen had to deal with but gave us further details on her reactions and responses.


Surprising information
As the video continues we learn not only about Ellen, but about George as well. As he transitions from his story about Ellen to his personal feelings he states, "What I regret most in my life are my failures of kindness." I consider this a quote that the audience was not expecting and we learn more about Saunders intentions and thoughts. I believe this allows a shift to a more serious tone.

Blog 2

There are many powerful moments throughout chapter 15 and 16 of The Catcher in the Rye. In class we reviewed the speech from Jeff Bezos, and saw that through his dialogue he produced a powerful speech that left a powerful message. I believe that in chapter 16 we get the same effect from Holden. During this chapter Holden is in the playground and uses vivid description allowing us to understand this setting.  On page 118 we see Holden describing his setting when he says, “It was lousy in the park. It wasn’t too cold, but the sun still wasn’t out, and there didn’t look like anything in the park except dog crap and globs of spit and cigar butts from old men, and the benches all looked like they’d be wet if you sat down on them.” Through this Vignette we are able to envision the setting that Holden is in. I believe the author used commas instead of periods in this section for a reason. I believe he wanted the description to flow and allow our imagination to start running. Directly after this quote the author starts using short sentences to pull the reader back and allow the shorter sentences to stand out when it says, “She likes to skate near the bandstand. It’s funny. That’s the same place I used to like to skate when I was a kid.” I believe this is a very powerful and important moment in the novel. This allows us to catch a glimpse of Holden’s softer side and understand him a little bit more.  Through the combination of longer and shorter more choppy sentences, we are able to get the full effect of this vignette.

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

Ashley Singleton

Blog option one:

The author of this article uses a simple discussion to trigger something within the reader. This author uses an everyday problem of the rattling noise in her car to express the “rattles” that we all face. The author compares her car rattle to “a thorn in your side that others can’t see or detect that you’re told to get over.” To me, a rattle is a self-battle, in which case, Holden has many rattles. “He’s dead now. He died of Leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946.” This is one of Holden’s rattles. The death of his brother Allie and the pain that comes along with it. Holden finds peace in the presence of Allies old baseball mitt and the positive memories that come along with it. We all have our own rattles, and some may be louder than others. We must learn to find our baseball mitt, for our rattles may never be silenced.

Entry 4: Looking for Alaska

  I am so glad that I chose the book, Looking for Alaska. It caught by attention right away, not because of the title necessarily, but because of the author. I am not usually opinionated about authors of books, however once I saw this book was by John Green I immediately was interested.When deciding my summer reading choice I searched books written by John Green.  I first was introduced to John Green when the Fault in Our Stars came out. After reading Looking for Alaska, I am very pleased with my choice.

  I found myself constantly making personal connections to this novel. All of the characters changed so  much throughout this book. I really enjoyed seeing that, because they weren't huge changes however the little ones really added up in the end. This reminds me of myself. I thought of Miles first day at Culver creek like my first day of high school. I believe that my personality has not changed however my interest and my friend groups didn't turn out how I expected. I went into high school with one best friend and came out with a huge group of completely different ones. I went into high school playing one sport and came out playing another. I am happy with the changes, however just like miles I feel I am still searching for my great perhaps.

 I completely loved this book, I was in love with the structure, the word choice, and the constantly captivating details. Therefore I would encourage anyone and everyone to read this book. However if I had to choose I would say sophomores, because this novel took place in a high school. I believe they should all read it because it allows them to decide for themselves what their great perhaps is. It questions you and makes you determined to dig deeper in your own life. It also teaches many lessons along the way. It is not the boring kind that teenagers don't care to listen to, they are just little things that really make you think and analyze your own life. Who really are you? Who do you want to be? Those are two questions I have been thinking about after actively reading this novel. I am on the search for my great perhaps, and I hope that others are too.

Entry 3: Looking for Alaska

  I have finished the book, Looking for Alaska. One thing that I really enjoyed about this novel was the ability for the author to easily hook me as a reader. There are not many moments of foreshadowing in this book, but the few that are there are very important. I believe that kept me on my toes. Not knowing exactly what something meant made me want to dig further into this reading. Throughout the book I was hooked, however right at the beginning I knew I was interested.

  The section of the novel I will be sharing is from page five, right before Miles started attending Culver Creek. Miles says at the bottom of page five; '"So this guy"', I said; standing in the doorway of the living room, '"Francois Rabelais."' He was a great poet, and his last words were "'I go to seek a great perhaps"', that's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a great perhaps. I was after a great perhaps, and they knew as well as I did that I am going to find it." This particular section of the novel hooked me. I believe it is very important to be hooked within the first 20 pages of a novel, or else you will not want to continue reading. This section allowed me to really think and ask questions, get to know my character, and interest me to understand what exactly he considered his "great perhaps."

      This quote was early on in the novel so it helped me understand Miles a lot better. It helped me to understand his passion for last words, and not only passion but desire to put them into action. This showed me he is determined. Secondly it interested me and allowed me to ask myself questions.  What was this great perhaps? Why was he trying to find it? How will he knew if he found it? These are the types of questions that came to my mind while reading this short paragraph of text. From page five on I was actively reading to find out if he would find his great perhaps.
   
     After finishing this novel and watching Miles change so much I do believe he found his great perhaps. Some may disagree because things turned out a lot differently than he planned at Culver Creek, but you will have to read it and see if you believe that Miles did indeed find what he was searching for.