Topic Proposal

While reading Margaret Atwood's story The Handmaid's Tale, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the way the women were treated and how they basically had no rights what so ever.  They were only good for doing womenly things such as cooking, cleaning, and making babies.  This really bothered me and I realized that I was not familiar with how women were treated in the past and it led me to the question: Why were the women in Atwood's story treated so poorly?  I think that if I could better understand this question
it would make me better understand Atwood and the story as a whole because I could not really relate to the text.  This question led me to my topic for my essay which is The Feminist Movement in the United States.  I think by researching this topic and learning more about the rights that women had and did not have back then, I will be able to relate it to the text and it will eliminate a lot of the confusion that I had.  I did not choose this topic just to relate it to the story but also because I want to become familiar with woman's rights and find out what led us to have the rights that we have today.  I think it will be great to be more educated about the topic and I am also looking forward to understanding why Atwood chose to write about the subject.  It must have been an important subject to her and I am sure she had strong feelings about the topic. I really hope that this topic will work out great for my essay and it will help me meet all of the requirements that need to be met. I am hoping that this topic will also work well for the Literary Analysis part of the essay and that the research will not be too hard to find.  I think that this is a good topic to study because there should be numerous sources for it but yet it is not to broad nor is it too narrow.  Overall, I feel that The Feminist Movements in the United States is a great topic to relate to The Handmaid's Tale.

Here is a link with information about The Feminist Movement in the United States.

Link for photo 1

Link for photo 2

Cover Letter

Dear Ms. Cline:

The first half of the semester has been quite an experience for me.  I never thought I would obtain so much knowledge through an online English class.  I was introduced to different aspects of English that I was not aware of before.  I am amazed at how much I have already learned in this class and we are only halfway through.

Not everything I have learned in English 102 has come easy and there are a lot of assignments that I struggled with.  Literary Analysis is much different from any othre writing I have done in my previous English courses.  Most of my writing assignments in my other courses were based on personal experiences and persuasive essays.  It was hard for me to understand how to write Literary Analysis without having summary.  I have been doing much better with the subject and I am sure that I will keep progessing the more that I practice.  Another thing I struggled with in the beginning of the course was the Blog Posts.  I had never done any kind of blog before and I was really nervous with the first one.  At first, it was confusing and a bit overwhelming and I couldn't figure out how to post links and images, but it didn't take long for me to become comfortable with it.  Now I look forward to blogging and it has become my favorite part of this class.

The second half of the semester isn't going to be easy, but I'm sure that I will continue learning about Literary Analysis and I hope to have it mastered by the time the semester is over.  I would like to become more educated with new authors like Margaret Atwood and be a little more familiar with them.  Overall, I want to be an experienced writer and be comfortable with learning new things.

Sincerely,

Courtney Guinn

Sean Huze "The Sandstorm"

Image link 1. Image link 2.
 Here is a good link with poems and stories about war.

After reading Sean Huze's play "The Sandstorm", I realized how powerful a play can be even when it is not seen in person.  I had actually never read a play before and I was really touched by how much emotion was spread throughout the characters.  The characters were so honest that it almost made me feel uncomfortable when I read the play outloud.  I could really tell the stories were coming from real soldiers and the things that they had to deal with is truly remarkable.  It really takes a strong person to be able to handle those situations for example when the soldiers continue to eat their food as other people are dying.  That part really stuck out in my mind and I cannot imagine having a strong enough stomach to endure the things that are seen by the vietnam soldiers.  I'm sure Sean Huze is a true inspiration to others considering he made such an impact on others with a short play.  I think that if the play was seen in person it would be twice as ispirational as it was when reading it.  I think the monologue in the play really worked well and helped to create a connection between the audience and the characters.  I have never been well educated about the war and what a soldier actually goes through nor do I have any friends or family in the war.  After reading this play it gave me a better understanding of the war and what it actually means to be a soldier and have to endure all of those hardships, and then live to tell about it.  It must be something that has to be experienced first hand in order to relate to it at all and I'm sure that all of the characters share a special bond with eachother considering they have all experienced similar hardships.  I was very pleased with Sean Huze's play "The Sandstorm" and it made me more open minded to plays and learning about the war.

The Things They Carried

 Link for image

Tim O'Brien's short story "The Things They Carried," was very strange and unique.  I did not think that the whole story was actually going to be about the things they carried.  Each person that O'Brien spoke about in the story carried something unique, and I found that very intriguing.  I guess that is one thing you don't think about when you picture a soldier; the things that they carried.  It never occured to me that all of those little things they carry add up in weight and can get much heavier depending on the weather.

 Link for image
It was clear that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was madly in love with Martha and I really did not want the story to end the way that it did.  The whole story is basically about Cross expressing his love for Martha and I wanted him to run away with her at the end, but I guess that's just the girl in me.  I think that in order for Lieutenant Jimmy Cross to do his job correctly, he had to stop loving Martha.  She took over all of his thoughts and controlled his emotions.  Cross felt that it was his fault that Lavender died because he could not stop thinking of Martha.  O'Brien's story really gave me a new outlook on soldiers in the war and the things that they carried.

Here is a website with some info on O'Brien.

Responding to Poetry

Image link

One of the poems that really caught my attention was "Song of Napalm," by Bruce Weigl.  It was very unique and I really liked how the poem seemed so peaceful in the beginning and it made me paint this beautiful image in my mind.  Then there is a twist and the poem really takes an ugly turn when you realize what is going on and that it isn't so peaceful after all.  The poem made me sad for the characters and it made me cringe when he said, "And the girl runs only as far As the napalm allows Until her her burning tendons and crackling muscles draw her up into that final position," (Weigl, lines 36-40). 

 Image link

The other poem that really pulled me in was Jimmy Santiago Baca's, "Immigrants in Our Own Land."  My father spent three years in prison when I was in elementary school and it was really hard on me.  For some reason when I read this poem it gave me a better understanding of what he went through in there.  Even though you see stuff bout prisons on television all the time, it made me think differently because it is not very often that you read poetry coming from a convict's point of view.  I actually felt sympathy for the prisoner and I cannot imagine what it must have been like for my father.  The author really gets your attention by making it seem as if they are entering a new world and that is what kept me reading.  The most emotional part for me was when it said, "But it's no different here.  It's all concentrated.  The doctors don't care, our bodies decay, our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value.  Our lives don't get better, we go down quick," (Baca, lines 36-39).  It made me sad to think that so many young lives are wasted away because othey make stupid decisions and they have to spend their lives in jail cells.

                                                           Works Cited
Baca, Jimmy Santiago.  "Immigrants in Our Own Land." New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1990.  
Weigl, Bruce.  "Song of Napalm."  Poetry Foundation. 1999.  7 February, 2011.  Web. 

This a cool website on tips for poetry.
Here is a link to the poem by Baca.
Here is a link to the poem by Weigl.

Sam Hamill

 

I found Sam Hamill's essay very strong and very opinionated. I had a difficult time relating it to the poetry that I read under the poetry and witness tab but I was able to relate a lot of his beliefs with my personal life. I watched my mother be abused for seven years when I was a young girl and it was one of the most difficult things I have had to deal with. I never understood why she wouldn't leave him and get us somewhere safe, I'm sure that is what a lot of people don't understand but it is like an addiction. My mother would call my grandmother sometimes after he would hit her and tell her the situation and my grandmother would say "No he didn't, you're lying." Like Sam Hamill said about not believing what the real world is really like and that we create a different reality for ourselves, my grandmother did not want to believe that her daughter was being abused.

This essay really brought back a lot of powerful memories for me and it is so sad to think that so many people have to go through this everyday. Hamill is right about us not stopping to think about all of the battered women and children that need our help, yet a lot of us would not stop to give them the time of day. I just hope and pray that our generation can have the courage to change the way our society blocks out the reality of what is going on in our world.

Here is a link for online support for abused victims.
This is the website for the Sam Hamill image.
This is the website for the abuse image.

Good Readers and Good Writers

After reading the article “Good Readers and Good Writers” by Vladimir Nabokov, I learned that Nabokov has a lot of opinions of what he believes makes a good reader.  He believes that one who has memory, an imagination, a dictionary, and somewhat of an artistic sense defines a good reader.  Nabokov also says that the best temperament a reader can have is a combination of an artistic and a scientific one.  He is basically saying that those two temperaments will balance each other out and give the reader a better sense of judgment.

I absolutely agree with Nabokov and I think that he has an excellent perspective on what makes a good reader.  I have learned over the years that it is very difficult to be a good reader unless you read with an open mind.  If you are too opinionated while reading you tend to argue with the writer the whole time rather than take in the beauty of great literature.  

This is the website for the image.

Here is a cool article on ways to be a good reader.