Final Assessment: Mind Mapping

Life and Book

I think that it is very interesting that the life of Knut Hamsun, and the protagonist in "Hunger." The fact that Knut was not only sold to his uncle and then was physically beaten repeatedly, was very influential in his writing. Many of the reactions that the character in "Hunger" has reflects this experience, especially when the protagonist is talking to the old man and is lying. /I think that the experiences throughout his life effected his writing significantly. I think that some of his habits might also have been incorporated into his characters. In the article the author stated that he was often changing what he did from week to week, not being very concentrated. His feelings toward other authors also found its way into his novel, as seen when the protagontist talks about how he wishes to rip apart a specific authors claims. / I think that Knut Hamsuns relationship with religion through his abusive uncle and other experiences was also added to the protagonist in "Hunger."/It is also interesting that Knut also prefered to be poor, or underprivilaged.

Imitating Insanity

The room I sit in frustrates me. The dark, musty walls feel like they are closing in... They are going to fall any moment. As I sit here, I write as furiously as my hand can move, the words falling onto the paper, in hopes that the room will survive long enough to get this inspirational thought on to paper. There is a hole in the corner of the decrepit room; a rat scurries in and out. Does the landlord know about this inhabitant? The rat buries its head in the wall and yanks out a small bundle of rubbish he must have found around the building. This rat fascinated me, as is moved from one hole to the next, disappearing out of sight only to reappear in another area… traveling from one room to another without any trouble. Does the rat live well, is he content? But I must get back to my article for the newspaper.

Distractions

This article is very important, especially to students our age. We being expected to finish all our assigned work, study for SATs/ACTs (or any other test you can think of), do community service, sports and art, look at colleges, and on top of all that have time to relax. I think that at this point we have just become so overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we have to do all these distractions are what keep us going. Like in the article it says that “we’re waiting for our next ‘hit’,” this is very true, we are searching for a break that is not cause directly by ourselves.
However, I also believe that in some ways that this might be beneficial to our generation. If we are always looking for a distraction then that means that the latest news is often read (just so that you don’t have to begin writing your English blog) and students are more up to date with everything that is going on in the world and not only what is happening in their tiny little bubble. Though it is true that many people don’t read the news and facebook is probably the first choice of distractions the fact that due to all the work that has to be done and the distractions we find (or create) people nowadays don’t have down time is a problem. Saumya brought up a pertinent point in her blog(http://saumya22.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/quiet-room/), “as young adults we are still discovering who we are.” The amount of time we are just being has shrunk. Our time to figure out what we are or who we want to be has been reduced because of our never ending distractions.

Existentialism...

The existentialism lecture translated by Philip Mairet, was interesting and confusing. / It was interesting to see existentialism from not only the author’s point of view, but also from people who dislike it, or people who believe or "follow" existentialism who actually misinterpret the beliefs. What I found really intriguing was that not only were they attacked because they were "[dwelling] in quietism of despair" but also that they denied "the reality and seriousness of human affairs." / I also find this article on existentialism interesting from my point of view. Even though I don’t believe that there is a God, existentialism seems a little off to me. I think that this is because of how one would view life believing as the existentialist do. My view of this belief however is probably not very accurate because of my limited knowledge of the beliefs. / After reading this lecture I’m still a little confused about the existentialist belief towards essence and existence.

Blog Portfolio

1. Coverage- Talking Back- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/at-least-there-was-no-trouble.html Klaus Barbie- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-we-all-want-to-be.html The Beauty Myth- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/next-glass-ceiling.html Blame it on Feminism- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/no-way-to-win.html Blog 6 -http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/houses.html Blog 7 -http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/about-road.html Blog Extract Deconstruction- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/falling-women.html 2. Depth- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-we-all-want-to-be.html I selected this post for depth because I did extra research to emphasize my point. 3. Interaction- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/at-least-there-was-no-trouble.html I selected this post because I mention what I had encountered on other people's blogs, as well as brought more information. 4. Discussion- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/next-glass-ceiling.html#comments 5. Xenoblogging- You do not need both a primo and a grande. http://saumya22.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/the-world-is-flat/#comments 6. Wildcard-http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/uncomfortable.html

About "The Road"

I found that the novel by Cormac McCarthy was a very interesting read. The post-apocalyptic setting that the audience is given at the very beginning of the novel starts the fear for the father and son. I think that this is an amazing novel that could very well be helpful to push society to reduce the pollution in the atmosphere because of the horrific images that "The Road" leaves with the reader. / Throughout the novel we are never privy to the name of the father and son. This lack of information has an effect that I had not realized. By refraining from naming the two main characters the author has made it so that they could be anyone, you and your father, your brother and father, it makes the experiences that they go through a lot more personal. By doing this McCarthy has written a books the touches everyone because the environment that the father and son live in is not so impossible with the way that we are pollution and living now./ The recurring image of “carrying the fire” has great significance in “The Road.” When the little boy talks about carrying the fire and others that also carry the fire, he is talking about goodness, hope, love, everything that the world before him no longer has but had before the unexplained apocalypse. At the beginning of the novel McCarthy begins with a lot of dark imagery while at the end after the father has died, the boy finds others who “carry the fire” and the boys prospects are looking up after the death of his father. /

Houses

After reading "How Fiction Works" by James Wood, we see that the style that "The Road" is written in is indirect. McCarthy uses this style of writing to make the information presented more reliable and less personal to the father or child. We are rarely given information about the area that the father does not already have so "The Road" has some limitations to the descriptions that we read."The Road" is very enthralling read because of the way that it is written; because we never really get a huge influx in information but what we do get is well rounded and not biased toward one character./ In Wood's text he describes a house with "many windows, but only two or three doors," comparing the house to writing an how it can be done. I think that this is a very interesting idea that Wood has put forward. I think that if the windows are different ways to write (perspectives) then the doors would be the products./When Wood’s talks about the unreliability of first person narratives and other styles of writing I found it interesting. Thinking back to the other novels that we read this year such as “We” and “The Handmaids Tale” it is obvious that we were obviously not getting truly reliable information as we only got parts of the story as well as information that the characters were (themselves) unsure of.

Falling Women

In Atwood's novel "The Handmaids Tale," the notion of love has been twisted and warped since Gilead had been formed. In this excerpt Atwood shows Offreds reaction and connection to love as well as the doubts involved due to the horrible conditions that she is required to live in. Through the use of specific diction the mood of this excerpt is felt, while imagery and irony helps intensify the tone./ The diction in this excerpt clearly portrays the reaction of the commander to love as well as Offreds own feelings toward love. While Offred talks about love she expresses the opinion that love was inevitable by using “one way or another,” “it was the central thing,” “we we’re falling women.” The diction used to describe the commander’s reaction is also quite vivid as Atwood uses “sneered.” The reaction of both the commander and Offred displays that the world they live in does not have the same connections to love as it used to have. This diction also affects the mood of this excerpt because the it shows that the commander does not take love seriously while women (in general) were centered on it. Near the end of the excerpt, Offred beings to explain the negative side of love by comparing love to pain. This idea is very similar to the purpose of the handmaids and Gilead, the love if freedom and uncontrollable, while when they do start to control people they are no longer able to love, creating mutants./ When Offred describes those who have never been in love as, “mutant[s], a creature from outer space,” the imagery that is provided intensifies the tone because the audience can feel Offreds disgust and revulsion. This imagery is very effective because the reader pictures disfigured people, while the handmaids and people living in Gilead do not know what love is and have never experienced it. “The shadows in the sockets of his eyes darker and more cavernous than in day-time,” this imagery illustrates the doubt and fear the creeps into everything in the lives of the people that live in Gilead.