I’ve seen so much progress in my writing abilities, especially in terms of the revision process. I have learned to be confident in my writing–I’m capable of more than I usually give myself credit for. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve discovered that making changes to my work does not mean that I am not a good writer. It means that I am making my writing the best that it can be by taking the time to review and revise.

I am very proud of the work that I’ve done this semester, and I hope that I will continue to grow as much in the following semesters as I have this semester.

First I think that I learned a lot this semester.  You don’t always get the chance to write from so many different writing theories in normal English classes.  So it was interesting and refreshing to write so many different ways as well as difficult.  When writing with different writing theories one must put themselves in a completely different mindset which can sometimes be difficult.  I know I still need to learn how to balance my focus on writing theories and writing style because sometimes I focus on one or the other too much.  Besides that I think I grew in my abilities to develop papers.

This class also taught me a lot about revision.  I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with revisions.  I LOVE being able to revise because a paper can always be better but at the same time I HATE revising.  One thing I hate is the fact that I get lazy when I know I have revisions.  I know that is not a good thing and I should probably fix it but I do get the feeling that since I have revisions I can fix whatever I didn’t try very hard on later.  That just leaves me with a bunch of work to do at the end.  Revisions are also just hard to do.  It is difficult sometimes to cut out complete paragraphs you worked so hard on.  And sometimes you change your thesis completely and over half your paper needs to be deleted.  But revisions are good because you learn from them.

So all in all, I learned A LOT from this class (and could still learn loads more) and my relationship with revisions is sometimes rocky but I love them anyways!

Sometimes when I take a step back and examine how I got to where I am I realize part of the reason I am in college at all is due to me simply going through the motions. Money is the root of all evil and too often the focus of all human existence. In this day and age it is challenging to lead a comfortable lifestyle without an occupation obtained with the ownership of a college degree.

This blog feels very much like a personal statement for a scholarship or program entry, but I suppose editing my Reader-Response paper for my Literary Theory portfolio has put me in an introspective mood. Especially since said paper encompasses the theme of analyzing the meaning of life. I spend so much time analyzing the things that I read and sometimes I branch out and enter myself into the equation. I would have never guessed as a young child that by the time I was twenty I would get a nerdy buzz from picking apart literature. Even now I cannot predict where I will be in ten years. I do not incessantly worry about my future, but I often muse and wonder.

I know we are supposed to treat these blogs as if they are “developing research papers” but I guess at this point of the semester I begin to wind down and would rather research the network of my brain. Perhaps the best way to sum up this reflection would be to ask how Literary Theory and Writing is going to change the outcome of my life. This seems overly dramatic, but since taking this course I find myself looking at things with a more critical eye and the more I write, the more eloquent I feel. Graduate studies are a possibility in my future, and from this vantage point it seems like that would be one perpetual Lit Theory class. My view of graduate school sounds far from my dream of writing a screenplay, but perhaps it is not quite so distant. My belief that when we study and analyze literature, we learn about life can also apply to a screenplay or movie. The process of learning to examine something and then expressing one’s thoughts is easily applicable to life as a whole. Every college course I have taken has broadened my world view and that is something I cannot take for granted.

Poetry and creative writing, close readings, literary criticisms, newspaper articles, the list goes on off all the different mediums I’ve covered this year. However, the jump from creative writing and close readings to the criticisms and articles was not an easy one. Granted, part of this is becoming acquainted with style. Yet I would argue that in each of these cases the difficult objective is to make a good case, a good argument, which is something Literary Theory and my other classes have drilled into me.

For example, in my poetry course we talk about “uncovering the dragon” and discovering what the poem is revealing about life. In other words, we discuss the argument of the poem and whether or not it conveyed some sort of message. I learned from the course that the best creative writing lets you melt into another world and uncover some truth about life, and without this “truth” or argument the poem is just pretty language. The reasons of the poem are more subtle and emotional than the explicit approach of analytical essays (such as through topic sentences), but they’re there.

Similarly, with writing for the SNC Times I had to cover certain facts but without including the narrative, without the take-away point, the articles would have fallen flat. Instead of solving “practical problems” I addressed the theoretical problems we talk about all the time in class: problems about perspective and access to certain knowledge.

Moreover, no matter what medium of writing you encounter, in each one, whether a poem, song, book, or literary essay, the important aspect is your argument. Sure, with each medium you have different stylistic approaches and those can be at first troubling to master, but the heart of the matter is the argument. Now that I have realized the importance of having an argument with supporting reasons and costs/benefits, I look back at some of my early essays and cringe a little. But as I see the trend of “argument-building” in all of these mediums, it is no longer as daunting as it is necessary to be an effective communicator and writer.

Some of the books on my list this summer include:

1. Helter Skelter
2. Fifty Shades of Grey [The Trilogy]
3. The Second Sex
4. The Handmaids Tale

Now I know my list covers quite a few different genres but like I said, normally I get comfortable in one literary field…I have to ensure I change it up! If any of you have read these, I would love your input!

I’ve found it hard to juggle multiple papers at once. I feel as though I finally finish a paper and submit the first draft, and then the next day I have two other drafts waiting to be edited. This is the first class that has really forced me to manage my time and papers so well. Also, as Leah mentioned, I’ve found myself getting caught up in the different theories. I’ve struggled to write good papers because I’ve been too concerned with staying within the realms of a specific theory.

I’m seeing the comments from Professor Cordell, the peer editing process, as well as my own editing process finally come together, and it’s feeling really good. As someone who’s always struggled to get revision done, this class has been extremely useful for me.

The short story which prompted me to write this blog is “Mama” by Dorothy Allison. This character sketch depicts the strife of a working-class woman trapped in an abusive marriage and lousy working conditions. It is told from the perspective of this woman’s daughter who adores her mother’s strength in spite of their poor circumstances. The details are heartbreaking, especially since the narrator clearly loves her mother more than anyone or anything. What amplifies the short story’s power is the author’s use of humor. This working class mama must be tough in adversity, and though her main line of defense is hiding her pain, cursing is her most prominent sheath.

To keep the story’s plot as vague as possible… I will be vague.

The humor accompanying the profound cursing of Mama sharply contrasts the tender moments, making both realms of emotion all the more effectual. Furthermore, the authenticity of the work reinforces the emotional elements; nothing feels forced, and readers do not have to think twice about how the work makes them feel. I will stay vague, but the sad parts of the story gripped me tighter because I was laughing out loud during the much needed comic relief. My personal favorite moment of the story involves the Divine Savior and bodily function.

If I were to argue further about the impacts humor has upon literature, I might look into authors like Mark Twain, or explore more of Dorothy Allison’s work. This stance may glorify the work of comedians a little too much, but perhaps I am not too far off. Charlie Chaplin was a deep-thinking movie maker who longed to change the way people think, and he is one of the most well-known comedic actors (in silent films at the very least). Slapstick humor is slightly more anticipatory, which I find less compelling, but it also makes its way into literature (not that I can think of any examples off the top of my head). I appreciate the subtle humor I have found in the literature I have read in college, and perhaps it is all due to comparing it to somber classic works.

I still need to work on my papers before the final portfolio and sometimes I think my brain turns into a pool of uselessness after working on papers for hours on end but now I know that I am on the right track.  I look forward to helping my other team-mate with their papers tomorrow.  Sometimes it is hard to edit papers without putting your own feelings and personal style into the mix.  I am always second guessing myself when editing if I want to change it because it is really wrong or because I would personally say it differently.  Therefore I think that everyone when getting their papers edited should take the edits seriously but not feel compelled to use them.  Though I’m sure everyone know that already anyways

I also wanted to continue a little bit with my business and ethics tangent from a previous post.  I was going to bring it up on Wednesday, but we had some pretty good discussions already happening.  When taking my Marketing capstone class last semester, each group had to present a business ethics case.  They covered topics like, greenwashing (misleading eco-friendly claims), window dressing (making financials/company appear better than actual) and marketing to disadvantaged (kids, for example).  It was interesting to see specific cases of companies who had “committed” these acts, but whose to say they actually did something unethical?  There is no business ethics police that reprimands a company for participating in one of the aforementioned actions.  So, what holds a company to participating in “ethical” actions when providing services or goods to their consumers?  And how to they know what is deemed “ethical”?  These questions can’t be easily answered because there are still debates and arguments about what companies should and shouldn’t do when taking consumers into consideration.  It also depends on a lot of different variables: who is in your market, whether they will think it’s ethical, whether it matters if others not in your target market think the action is ethical, whether your competitors think it is ethical and so on.  I also remember an exercise I did back in my Foundations of Management class, where we were given stories about employees and had to decide who to fire.  How much should these stories (whether deemed true or not) be taken into account when firing an employee?  Or should the betterment of the company be kept in sight?  There is still a lot to be said about what role ethics plays in the business world, but definitely something worth pondering.

Finally, I wanted to end my post with a little more talk about Booth.  I was delighted when Dr. Cordell said Booth was a contributor to The Craft of Research text.  I immediately read the introduction and found that he passed away before the book was even finished.  After spending so much time with the introduction of his book, I find myself wanting to read the rest of The Company We Keep and seeing what else Booth has to say on the subject of ethical criticism.  And just a few of my favorite quotes from Booth thus far…

“If the maker of the art work did not believe that simply experiencing it constitutes a superior form of life, why was the work created and presented to us in the first place?” -The Company We Keep, Wayne Booth, page 17

“His dedication to the spirit of research is a lesson to us all.  At its moral center was his belief that ‘intellectual understanding is one of the best versions of the Golden Rule: Listen to others as you would have others listen to you.  Precise demonstration of the truth is important but not as important as the communal pursuit of it.  Put in terms of Kant’s categorical imperative, When addressing someone else’s ideas, your obligation is to treat them as you believe all human beings ought to treat one another’s ideas.’” -The Craft of Research, Wayne Booth, page xvii

Booth explains that in academia the impact literature has on a reader is rarely emphasized compared to the meaning of the literature itself–independent of the reader. However, this seems to be a misstep. We need to account for how literature affects readers, largely because if we claim literature is important, then the reading of it will certainly carry some weight by the influence it has in shaping the reader’s perspective. Booth raises questions like: “Is this poem morally, politically, or philosophically sound? Is it likely to work for the good or ill of those who read it?” (5). Generally, these questions indicate that poems and pieces of literature can shape the way we live–morally, politically, or philosophically–and so simply by reading a person can access an alternate view of the world. Simply by reading–which is crazy.

Albeit, whether or not someone adopts a way of life wholeheartedly is up to them; but I would like to think that even exposing yourself to a book or movie or play changes your thinking in subtle and sometimes unconscious ways that are not “chosen.” Therefore, I think that a good book should in fact portray positive morals and ways of being because it is highly likely that people adhere to those worldviews that they find inspiring, or conversely that are subconsciously influencing them.

Finally, one of the most important things I took away from the reading is that choosing not to teach a particular book is ok. While this is not the same as saying that refusing to read a book is acceptable (because everyone knows you cannot judge a book by its cover…you have to woman-man up and read it) it is saying that someone’s choice to dislike a book or refuse to spread its message to others is an informed and educated decision. Because books impact the way we live by offering up alternative ways of being, I think professors and teachers and parents (whoever!) have some right to say that books should not be taught based on the negative message they provide.

I may be a little extreme on this, but I think that claiming a book is a “good” book implies that the book shares some sort of genuine knowledge about the world, some way of being that makes you want to live that way. I can concede a little to say that good books may also show other darker sides of life that are not necessarily meant to be adopted by the reader. But concerning ethical criticism, I believe that books are influential in ways beyond our imagining, so we must be careful with the knowledge we spread and hold up for others.