We had a great time at Persepolis, Texas Saturday, July 16, 2011. We all thought Maryam's contemporary take on dislocation in the Texan Diaspora entertaining and thought provoking.
This week we look at poetry. Today we will have peer reviews of the Persepolis essays. As this is our third look at fiction, what do we know about literary analysis? How have we grown as critical thinkers about a popular genre of literature? When we look at our own writing, how has it developed over the landscape of three papers? Did we challenge ourselves to look at the work in a different way or did we rely on the more comfortable modes of literary critique, themes (smile)?
When one thinks about poetry, once again, themes are certainly a way to analyze it. However, we are going to look at the various styles of poems and for tomorrow and Wednesday we will in groups present a brief analysis of the various styles with examples.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 19, 2011, students are to bring in a favorite poem to share and talk about. Please bring in enough copies for everyone--22, which includes one for the presenter.
Today after this initial freewrite, students will choose a poem from the collection for a freewrite. Think about how poetry differs from fiction and dramatic literature, yet is the same. What do you like about the poem you chose? Share favorite lines; talk about the rhythm and language used. More so than in fiction, the language is heightened in poetry--language is almost in itself a character.
Homework: Finish the "Persepolis" essay. Due via email by 12 midnight.
Today is the last day to drop with a "W." Sometimes we jump into the deep end before its time, this doesn't mean we can learn to swim, it just means we need a bit more preparation first.
Read the section on Poetry. Be prepared to present Wednesday, July 20, 2011.
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30 comments:
Stephanie Chan
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Free-Write
Fiction can come in many forms; there are novels, plays, and short stories. When one analyzes fiction, one may incorporate secondary sources for more background information to the story; such examples are periodicals, magazines, and scholarly journals. If one chooses to analyze a literary piece of fiction, one should interpret and evaluate the underlying meanings of the texts. One may explore the central themes of the story, as well as the characters and setting. Other topics to explore include gender criticism, cultural studies, and historical and new criticism. When I look at my own writing, I notice that I have improved through the three literary papers. I really challenged myself to look beyond the characterizations and the plot summary when I read the texts. I have also tried to develop the language I use to describe the summary and commentary of my essays.
B.P
English 1B
Professor Wanda Sabir
18 July 2011
Fiction is a literary form of writing surrounding ideas and images which may or may not be related to the real world. This allows the writing to be imaginative, fairy tale, and other forms of writing; this expands the amount of subjects fiction writing can be based upon. The reading of The Dance Boots by Grover, Girl In Translation by Kwok, and The Complete Persepolis by Satrapi each have an imaginative style to their writing but overall is based upon their own life stories and the real world.
Reading through the three books, literary analysis depends upon the realism and a real world view of the fictional novels, as each book is related to the author’s life in an indirect way. Looking at how these novels are written and told, the author defines for the audience that fiction needs the real world in order to create a compelling story, that critical thinking means thinking about the factors of the real world and its impacts. The realism of the novels are created through the first person perspective on each story, since experiencing the conflict through a character experiencing it allows the reader to better analyze the reasons behind it. By placing the characters in a real world setting, it allows the readers to connect with the story.
Alex Lam
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite
After writing a few papers on fiction and plays, it is now easier for us to know what to write about. At first, we were all writing essays that just summarized the story we just read. We did not know what to do and what to write about. We also learned how to write about culture, history and more.
In my opinion, it is easier to focus on themes to write an essay, as you could add things you already know about that particular theme. I just can’t think of a great thesis that would argue about something; I am just not good at arguing.
Ricardo Antonio Chavarria
Professor Sabir
Emglish 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite: Literary Analysis
Over the course of this class I think I have improved my writing a bit desptite a couple of setbacks. One of the mistakes I often made while writing the papers was just giving examples and describing what happens in the play. I know now to write my own thoughts and interpretations of the works of literature we read. There is no wrong theme or interpretation of a piece of literature because people have their own interpretations and thoughts about the books they read. As long as you can provide examples for your arguments and claims then the paper is a literary analysis. One of my favorite types of genre is fiction, I like fiction because the author can come up with original ideas for the plot and the characters in fiction are not restrained to stay true to any source. One of my favorite graphic novels of all time is Watchmen by Alan Moore because it takes a different perspective on the superhero genre. The characters of Watchmen are inspired by original characters of DC but they are not the same.
The papers I have written over the course of this class have been different. For the first paper I wrote about the theme of family and its importance, for the second I wrote about why Kim is like a hero, and the third was about love during wartime. Although all papers had themes, I tried to focus on the unique aspects of each type of literature. For example I focused on character for the play Ruined. I hope that the final paper is my best one yet.
Daniel Lu
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite on Fiction:
After having written three papers discussing fiction, I personally feel that I have grown in the area of analysis. I now feel a lot more comfortable with symbols and themes, discussing the impact that they have on the narrative. When I look back at what I wrote for the first essay I realize that I’ve begun to feel more comfortable passing beyond the familiar subject of themes, exploring new territory by choosing more creative topics to focus my papers on. Writing now feels less formulaic and more natural than it did back in high school. Analysis now feels less forced and a whole lot less frustrating. The absence of a restricting prompt and the experience of having to come up with my own topic has allowed me to look more deeply into the text, as opposed to a superficial reading where I just find what the teacher asks me to write about.
James, Deborah
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Satrapi, Marjane The Complete Persepolis 2002
Reflections – Freewrite
Throughout the novel, misogynist theories are repeated. From the requirement that women wear veils to women being accosted in the streets when not accompanied by male relatives, the theory that women are sub-human is evident. The television announcer claims that “Women’s hair emits rays that excite men.” Pg. 74Throughout history, the erratic behavior of men has been attributed to women. The Bible, in the book of Genesis, quotes Adam as saying “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."
Female victims of rape and incest are frequently blamed for the perpetuators’s acts. There is a saying that originated in rural Louisiana “A man will only go as far as a woman lets him.” I remember hearing that as a child and later as a teenager telling one of the talebearers “You should tell that to the 6 month old baby who was raped. Look at the newspaper article.” Needless to say, this announcement did not endear me to my relatives.
It is permissible for men to be sexually explorative, but women are viewed as “whores” if they are explore their sexuality. I have never figured out what men view themselves as if they frequent “whores.” The current child prostitution in East Oakland and other parts of the country are crimes that are not being actively fought.
Years ago, when I lived in San Francisco, there was a stoy of a former streetwalker who’d been recruited to work for the SFPD vice squad. She’d been beaten a few times by her customers and decided she’d finally had it. Her most recent beating left her near dead. After her hospitalization and recovery, she enrolled in martial arts classes and obtained black belts in tae kwon do and gung fu. When the police started finding males who’d been and left for dead in areas known to be frequented by prostitutes, an all out manhunt began. The initial theory was that the men had been attacked by the women’s pimps.
When it was discovered that the perpetrator of the violence was the prostitute who’d barely lived after her most recent attack, the woman was going to be tried and the goal of the District Attorney was to have her imprisoned for life. I don’t remember how it came about, but the police department decided that she knew the streets and would be a great addition to the vice squad.
Sadly, women adopt the male view of their usefulness; that is as sex objects whose service should be governed by male dictates.
Rebecca Ramos
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Free Write
For me many times I tied in the writing with experiences in my own life. For example, Girl in Translation was an easy piece to associate with because I come from a family of immigrants and can understand the boundaries Kim experienced. However if I didn’t find a connection personally with the books I would analyze the history of the time. In Ruined and Persepolis the historic background is extremely prevalent, because the characters are constantly being influenced by outside forces. The theme of war in both the book Persepolis and the play Ruined acts as the catalyst in both pieces and it causes the characters to develop differently. Both of the protagonists in each piece were changed by the war they experienced and found a way to overcome the war and not let it dictate their lives. Themes broaden our way of thinking and allow us to group things within the piece. I have grown as a writer because I see themes but also see the greater picture themes play. Also I have learned to look at the history during the time of each piece to get a greater understanding of how the characters might have felt. Analyzing literary pieces are not closed off to just the writing but can be analyzed using the history of the time and themes within the piece. Analysis can be much greater than just character analysis or themes. It is all about coming up with an idea that looks further than just the obvious.
Shipra Pathak
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Free-Write: Literary Analysis.
Literary analysis is an analysis of the literature. In literary analysis, a literature in broken down into several pieces and then a piece is further studied in depth. Literary analysis gives us a better understanding of a part of literature. In literary analysis, the text of the literature is the guide and the entire discussion is based on the text. The discussion interprets the text, which can be an image, a character, the language or the meaning.
When I started this class, I was naïve in writing literary analysis, but now after weeks of struggle and hard work, I have understood the meaning of it. My first two essays, received lower than expected grade, and one of the reason was my lack of understanding about what to include in an essay about literary analysis. Yes, I think, as a class we have challenged ourselves to look at the work in a different way. My first two papers, discussed the theme of the fiction novels read in class, but in my last paper, I choose to write about the relation between to two different yet similar characters. However, I still think I need to broaden my vision about how to analyze literature more, so I can write better essays.
Jeffrey To
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
We know literary analysis involves reading a text and give a deeper meaning within the text. It is basically explaining the text. Looking at fiction, from reading Persepolis, I can tell that it is kind of hard trying not to summarize writing and trying to analysis what is happening.
Reading about different popular genre of literature has shown me different styles of literature as a critical thinker. It makes me think about different point of views when I reads different genre now. For example, when I read the graphic novel fiction, I can read it as a normal book or I can read and look at the pictures giving me an idea of what the authors wanted the readers to see.
When I look back over my three papers, I see a lot of changes from them. I think all my papers have a different style of writing. The class has changed my writing skills. I think I write differently. Or write in a different way for this class. My writing looks over on grammar a lot more now. I think that’s the only thing that has change over my last three papers.
I think in the class I challenge myself to write in a different way. I have no idea how to explain it but it feels like I write differently for this class. When I look ay my essays now, I look heavily on grammar.
Raymond Ye
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
As we read the books, I realized that a literary analysis is comparing the literature to our points of view and how we interperate the words of the author as opposed to summarizing the book. As critical thinkers, we grew from a group that looks at how we analyze the text to reflecting upon the text comparing it with our own knowledge. My papers started out as plot-summary papers, but I put a lot more of my own viewpoint into my writing now. As I write my papers, I look at the themes of the author from my point of view, then I compare it to the point of view of the author by context. They usually end up fairly similar because I try to not contradict my paper with opposing viewpoints.
SD
Professor Sabir
English 1b
18 July 2011
Free write: Class Reflection
Looking back over the past 5 weeks, I can see my growth in writing. When I first started the class I thought I had some writing ability, but after my first paper I realized I needed improvement. The first paper was the worst, and the second was only slightly better. The grade I was working for was not the grade I received. By my third essay, I was using the Diane Hacker writers guide; it made all the difference in the world. The grade on my third essay was much better, and I now understand my mistakes. The corrective Essay really helped. Having to write about my mistakes has made me more aware when writing; I still have to cut down on the commas. I have not done much reading for pleasure so this class has opened me up to literature; I wish I would have taken this class before I had all my other classes. It probably would have made writing much easier. I realize the only way to get better is to write more. When I read other papers I now pay more attention to the style of writing as appose to just reading. I’m glad I did not drop this class.
S.C.
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response:
To B.P. I really enjoy your thoughts about literature. They are deep and opened my eyes; I never really thought about how the real world is put into play so much when we talk about fiction. I agree that we learn a lot about our own lives through the actions of these characters, as well as the underlying themes of the stories.
Alex Lam
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
To BP:
Great freewrite. I entirely agree with you about how novels are “written and told”. I really liked how you defined writing and the stories. When we all read the same book, however, we don’t interpret ir the same way. We all have different backgrounds, and reading certain stories may not interest all of us, even if we are supposedly part of the same audience: students attending college, writing papers about stories.
Michelle Kith
Wanda Sabir
English 1B
7/18/2011
Lately we’ve been doing literary analysis on fictional books in class. I have noticed that my writing has taken a different turn. It takes a lot more critical thinking and creativity in this process for me. I have to re-read, outline, and plan how I will show the reader who may have never read the material that I plan on writing about. In my opinion, the compare and contrast method really helps me dig in deeper, and look for parts in literary works where I can make my point clearer to the audience. I seem to have trouble in introduction, and grammatical errors.
Response to Ricardo Chavarria:
Ricardo, I think that you have some very good ideas in your essays. I actually thought you gave good examples and descriptions in your essay. The only thing is to work on cohesion, so that the audience can follow your main point, or thesis that you are trying to prove.
Trang Tran
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite
Over the past five weeks, what I learn about literary analysis is the different viewpoints concentrating on either theme, characters, setting, and plots to style and language which is use to develop the story throughout the whole reading. As critical thinkers, we find that with popular genre of literature, there are many different perspectives that we use to read our story. For example, I read Girl in Translation in the perspective of feminism but I could have also look at it through the lens of culture where Kim adapts to the American culture but willing keeps her Chinese culture with her. We have grown from just summarizing the story in our essay to actually analyzing and finally learn to answer to answer question so what. I find that theme is a comfortable literary device to write about, but it allows me to input more ideas and evidence to my thesis than what I could do with style or settings.
B.P
English 1B
Professor Wanda Sabir
18 July 2011
That is very true Ricardo. Fiction is an imaginative style of writing, and although it sometimes bases off of the real world, it also comes from the imaginative world so the ideas are unique and different. Since fiction is based on both real and imaginary, interpretation of fiction are broad, allowing many more forms of analysis open to different viewpoints and arguments.
Manuel Francisco Seminario
Professor Wanda Sabir
18th July 2011
FREEWRITE
As this is our third look at fiction, what do we know about literary analysis? How have we grown as critical thinkers about a popular genre of literature? When we look at our own writing, how has it developed over the landscape of three papers? Did we challenge ourselves to look at the work in a different way or did we rely on the more comfortable modes of literary critique, themes (smile)?
For me literary analysis has become about looking at things with a much deeper meaning. In my last three essays, i've looked at things from a different angle and point of view. Like in the last essay i did about Ruined i had the chance to step into the characters shoes ,take Christian for example ;he in the beginning only wanted fantas but as things changed to hard liquor,such being that he would act in a manner that would be unlike him . In Kimberlies ive had the chance to see the world through her eyes ,which made me think if she can do so could i . As a crititcal thinker ive gone way too far ,way too deep into the meaning of somethings ,like the cold building Ah-Kim was living in with her mother .I took a more deeper view in a way thats almost too meaningfull.
Raymond Ye
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response to Stephanie Chan:
I agree completely, I write supporting my viewpoint with previous research or general knowledge. Much of my post is similar to yours, but with less detail. The difference, though, is the way we read and how we write. Rather than commentary, I explore the author’s point of view compared to mine. Also, I read to understand the author’s main points, his/her standing on those points, and I read for the characterizations and plot summary in interest.
Daniel Lu
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite Response to Ricardo:
For me, writing my thoughts and interpretations used to be my biggest challenge. I used to always think to myself whether what I was writing was correct, obsessing about what the general consensus was and whether my own opinion differed from others. However, now I know that as long as you can back up your opinion no one can say whether it is wrong or right. They can argue against your thesis but they cannot label it as completely invalid. (I think Watchmen is a great graphic novel too).
Joanna Louie
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Freewrite
We know a literary analysis differs from a general summary, as a summary simply gives a brief overview of the piece of work and the literary analysis goes in much more depth. In an analysis we actually need to critique the work and reflect on the text, rather than simply restating what the author has already said. Use specific passages from the text as evidence to support your discussion and after each example, analyze what it means, to demonstrate your understanding and position of the text. The selection of literature we examined this summer were very interesting in my opinion, I actually learned something from each piece of work. I generally find an underlying motif and base my essay simply of that, sometimes trying to tie in personal examples or opinions. I believe I have grown as a writer. In my last essay about Persepolis, I took a shot at a different style of writing, really analyzing the text and understanding it. I chose to examine the cultural differences and gender criticism.
Rebecca Ramos
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response to Stephanie and Alex
I understand what you both mean when you say most of us stick to summarizing the novels and plays instead of coming up with something original. It is hard to know how to come up with an argument about a book, so many of us stick to just character development, summarization, and themes within the piece. Many times readers have to look beyond the surface of a novel or play and get the greater meaning or purpose of a piece and then maybe we can dig deeper into the analysis.
Shipra Pathak
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response: Stephanie Chan’s Free-write.
I agree with you Stephanie that when analyzing fiction or writing analysis of any form of literature, it is helpful to incorporate secondary sources for more background information about the topic. I found secondary sources very helpful in understanding the literature in more depth. I also agree that when I compare my first essay with my third essay, I defiantly see improvement, and I give the credit to Professor Sabir for pointing out my mistakes to help me improve my writing.
Trang Tran
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
To Alex-
I agree with you that focusing on themes in the essay allows you to add more of what you know. In my opinion, i find themes holds more evidence to strengthen your thesis than the other literary device because with themes, we are able to incorporates quotes from the reading and outside resources into our paper. We write on themes in different perspective, so not all themes are alike.
Jeffrey To
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response to Shipra Pathak:
I like your analysis of literary analysis. It gives a better definition of what literary analysis is compared to mines.
I feel like I had somewhat the same trouble with literary analysis when I started the class. Every time I write an essay now, I would review it and ask, “Myself does it look like a summary?” When I reread all my papers they feel like a summary to me. Analyzing can be difficult at times because sometimes I feel like I am summarizaing instead of giving an analysis.
In Response to Debra
Interesting story about the woman prostitute that came back for revenge; it sounds like something you would see on a movie. I also agree with your last statement about women adopting the male view of their usefulness. It is really sad but that’s the way it is. If I think about it to much it might make me angry.
SD
Professor Sabir
English 1b
18 July 2011
In Response to Debra
Interesting story about the woman prostitute that came back for revenge; it sounds like something you would see on a movie. I also agree with your last statement about women adopting the male view of the usefulness. It is really sad but that’s the way it is. If I think about it to much it might make me angry.
In Reponse to Raymond Ye
I have to agree with you on that" As critical thinkers, we grew from a group that looks at how we analyze the text to reflecting upon the text comparing it with our own knowledge" theres nothing more satisfying then comparing your knowledge and experience to an authors text. The last two books Girl in Translation and Ruined ;showed us how even in the darkest of places hope is there and when you want something don't be afraid to get it ,because you know your dreams are worth fighting for,even if that dream is just love.
Joanna Louie
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Response to a Student
To Stephanie:
I agree on how you describe to analyze literature. Also, what you say about your own writing is very true. Having read all of your papers you have wrote in this class, like you, I see an improvement in your writing. We both know our flaws in our writing, and we are working on improving them day after day in each essay we write. I can see your dedication to this course, and your urge to improve your essays. Keep up the good work! :)
Works Cited
Chan, Stephanie. “Week 7: Day 1 (smile).” Online Posting. 18 July 2011. College of Alameda. English 1B Web Forum. 18 July 2011
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Ricardo Antonio Chavarria
Professor Sabir
English 1B
18 July 2011
Respond to B.P:
I agree with your view on fiction, altough I enjoy fiction I think it needs to have that real world feeling to it so that people can relate and connect to the story. That is what makes the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore one of my favorites. Alan Moore tries to put superheroes in a real life setting where they are vulnerable and everything does not always turn out well for them or for the people. The fiction part of this type of literature gives the writers freedom to take their characters wherever they want, the writers can also come up with unexpected plot twists and write about a theme they are passionate about.
I loved the conversation about literary analysis (smile).
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