This past month we finally finished
discussing and analyzing the American
Dream and wrote that in-depth summary and analysis for our blogs. Maybe I
should just be taking more notes during class discussions or pacing myself
better with my blog posts, because I thought that writing that summary and
analysis was super time-consuming. I guess it’s supposed to help us later as a
study guide, so it’s better than having to re-read the book or something like
that, but I just found it a lot harder to write than any of the other blog
posts that we’ve written up to now.
Aside from wrapping up the American Dream, we’ve also talked a
bit about poetry. I thought it was interesting when Ms. Holmes mentioned how
Shakespeare used prose, rhymed couplets, and blank verse throughout his works
to portray different messages, such as class or to identify the supernatural. I
remember touching on the topic in Brit Lit last year, but we never did much
with the topic so I had pretty much forgotten it until Ms. Holmes mentioned it
again during class. This time, I think the information will actually be useful
since I’ll be taking the AP exam this May and I might come across a Shakespeare
passage. Other than just talking about Shakespeare, we read and analyzed Promises like Piecrust and wrote a practice
essay prompt on it, as well as responded to a peer’s.
The other major thing that we’ve
been spending our time on is the play
Death of a Salesman. We watched the movie, then annotated the play and now
have read a couple critiques on the work and have begun class discussions on
it. Personally, I feel like the class discussions on this book haven’t been as
mind-blowing as the class discussions on the
American Dream. Part of the reason might just be because DOS is a lot easier to understand
(there aren’t as many theater of the absurd elements) and there don’t seem to
be as many symbols and hidden meanings. Maybe I’m wrong and after our
discussions on the work are finally over I’ll realize how much of the book I
didn’t understand after doing a close-reading, but that’s just how it seems to
me at the moment.
Although we haven’t gotten too deep
into our discussions of the book, it seems like one of the central themes is
that being too fixated on the American dream can lead to disaster and
dissatisfaction. I always find it hard to try to wrap up the theme of a work in
just a sentence, and this is probably way too general. As we discuss the book
further though, we’ll probably all come to a more precise conclusion of the
theme.
I hope that the DOS "goldfish bowl" sparked some of those deeper understandings you're talking about here! Great job covering the material and reflecting on its significance to you--I would like to see a bit more synthesis of material across the course and connecting of the material to experiences (academic and otherwise) from outside of this course.
ReplyDeleteJackie,
ReplyDeleteI also have trouble fitting everything that happens in a novel or play into one sentence. It is getting easier as we do it more in class, but I still need the support of my peers to get a full statement.
For me, the movie was helpful overall, but I keep noticing that my thoughts on certain parts are from how the scene was portrayed. Though Miller is very specific with stage directions and dialogue, there is still going to be liberties taken by the actors and director in the movie. Little things can change the feel and message of a scene. I still heard Dustin Hoffman in my head when I did my close reading, but certain parts held a different tone for me.
I agree with Ms. Holmes that you should focus more on connecting to other things. Your thoughts on what we did in class are good, but you will synthesize the information better if you make connections to past knowledge or events.
Hey Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI also found the summary and analysis of The American Dream to be time consuming. The play didn’t really have a clear plot, and it was sometimes hard to tell what was plot and what was just plain absurdity. I like what you said about expanding our ideas from Brit Lit on the topic of Shakespeare’s poetry. I remember touching on that last year and it was cool to dig deeper this year. I see what you mean about D.O.S. discussions being a little less mind blowing than The American Dream discussions, but I definitely had some pretty crazy moments in our Death of a Salesman discussions and found them to be very valuable. For example, when I found out that Happy and Biff parallel Willy and Ben, Ms. Holmes had to wash Sydney brain bits from all over the floors, walls, and even the ceiling. Overall, very nice post. I don’t have much criticism other than you forgot to mention our work on the multiple choice (don’t worry I forgot that too) and tragedy. Otherwise, awesome job.