Barbie is a Product of Her Environment by Jan Edwards
I picked this essay to read because the title reminded me of the poem we read at the beginning of the year called "Barbie Doll." The essay was very similar to this poem in a lot of ways, as they both are about the negative conotations of having to be the perfect person, but while "Barbie Doll" ends with death, this essay ends with the pattern established throughout merely continuing.
This essay was about Barbie and her life - a life of doing absolutely nothing with any purpose, hooking up with guys and drinking. The point was to show that the idea of the Barbie doll, which morphs into the idea of the "ideal girl," is not really as great as it seems at first.
The tone in this essay is very sarcastic. At first it seems to be just explaining what is happening in this girl's life, but it clearly is negative. Some of the diction used implies that the author is ridiculing Barbie's way of thinking - "she is a good California girl," and the many swear words used throughout are just a couple of examples of this.
Edwards does not use very much imagery in this essay. She doesn't go into very much detail, but she certainly does not shy away from saying exactly what she means. A lot of the thoughts, however, are implied. From the previously quoted statement, "she is a good California girl," the reader can imply that Barbie thinks that she is better than her little sister who is perhaps not such a "good California girl."
The tone used in this essay would not work for an AP essay. The diction is not very advanced, and it is seperated into small sections which are each about three sentences long. The sarcastic tone and the occasionally crude language would not go over well in an AP essay, either.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sarah Kells Editorial Feb 19
Why We Need Women in War Zone by Kim Barker
This editorial was written in first person, which caused it to have a very strong and persuasive tone. If it had been written in third person, it would be less personal and would have seemed to me like it were not nearly as trustworthy. About halfway through the paper, though, it changed into being written about someone else, Lara Logan. This did not make the editorial any less persuasive, though. The first part was to prove that the author knew first hand what she was writing about, and the second part proved that she was not the only one.
Barker's voice in this column is made my not only her use of first and third person, but also by how she phrased questions and statements that the readers might be thinking such as "Why take the risk?" and "because she’s pretty; because she decided to go into the crowd; because she’s a war junkie." Her diction also helps her voice, because it is very confident, but not terribly fancy or confusing. It is everday diction ("predictably," "dismissed," and "important") but this kind of diction makes the column seem to be something for anybody to read, not just people with a large vocabulary or people who are big readers.
Barker also uses syntax to emphasize her point. She says "The men kept grabbing. I kept punching." using short sentences to make her point clear and to make the reader feel like this is a repeated process. These kind of techniques were very helpful in her voice and in making the reader sympathize with the point she is trying to make.
This article would not make an appropriate AP essay because the beginning of it is written in first person. If it were edited to be in third person, however, I believe that it would make a very strong essay.
This editorial was written in first person, which caused it to have a very strong and persuasive tone. If it had been written in third person, it would be less personal and would have seemed to me like it were not nearly as trustworthy. About halfway through the paper, though, it changed into being written about someone else, Lara Logan. This did not make the editorial any less persuasive, though. The first part was to prove that the author knew first hand what she was writing about, and the second part proved that she was not the only one.
Barker's voice in this column is made my not only her use of first and third person, but also by how she phrased questions and statements that the readers might be thinking such as "Why take the risk?" and "because she’s pretty; because she decided to go into the crowd; because she’s a war junkie." Her diction also helps her voice, because it is very confident, but not terribly fancy or confusing. It is everday diction ("predictably," "dismissed," and "important") but this kind of diction makes the column seem to be something for anybody to read, not just people with a large vocabulary or people who are big readers.
Barker also uses syntax to emphasize her point. She says "The men kept grabbing. I kept punching." using short sentences to make her point clear and to make the reader feel like this is a repeated process. These kind of techniques were very helpful in her voice and in making the reader sympathize with the point she is trying to make.
This article would not make an appropriate AP essay because the beginning of it is written in first person. If it were edited to be in third person, however, I believe that it would make a very strong essay.
Sarah Kells Book Review Feb 19
Misery Loves Company by Sylvia Brownrigg
The Old Romantic Louise Dean
Before I even finished the first paragraph of this review, I was already interested in not only the book it was describing, but the review itself. The diction used by Sylvia Brownrigg is intriguing and catches the reader's interest. Phrases such as "spectacularly savage," "squat, tittering woman," and "chilly Astrid" are sprinkled throughout, drawing readers into the review and causing them to want to read on.
Brownrigg also uses many well placed quotes throughout this review, allowing the review to be read smoothly without awkward breaks, while allowing the reader to see a bit into the actual book.
This review hits upon what I imagine is one of the most important techniques in The Old Romantic -gender roles. It is about a man with two sons who has divorced his first wife and is in the process of divorcing his second. Throughout the review, I got a feeling that the main character felt superior to women, based upon Brownrigg's descriptions and the quotes chosen, but I felt as though the book ended with the women acheiving a higher level of respect in his eyes than in the beginning.
This book review did not bring to mind any previous books that I have read or any previous book reviews I have read, but the very descriptive diction did make me think of some of Conrad's writing style in Heart of Darkness. I do not believe that the plots of the books are similar, except perhaps with the male/female ideas seen in both, but both Brownrigg and Conrad use a lot of description and very advanced diction.
The imagery seen in this review was unpleasant and dark at times, but near the end, the tone became much more upbeat and happy. Brownrigg says that this book contains "vivid evocation of love and marriage," which seems to go against what she has said previously, but it makes the book seem more positive than it had before. This was possibly the only problem that I had with this review - Brownrigg sometimes changes the way that she is writing and seems to contradict things that she has said before. This was very minimal, though, and did not really change my opinion of the review.
Overall, this review was terrific and I am most likely going to read The Old Romantic as soon as I can.
The Old Romantic Louise Dean
Before I even finished the first paragraph of this review, I was already interested in not only the book it was describing, but the review itself. The diction used by Sylvia Brownrigg is intriguing and catches the reader's interest. Phrases such as "spectacularly savage," "squat, tittering woman," and "chilly Astrid" are sprinkled throughout, drawing readers into the review and causing them to want to read on.
Brownrigg also uses many well placed quotes throughout this review, allowing the review to be read smoothly without awkward breaks, while allowing the reader to see a bit into the actual book.
This review hits upon what I imagine is one of the most important techniques in The Old Romantic -gender roles. It is about a man with two sons who has divorced his first wife and is in the process of divorcing his second. Throughout the review, I got a feeling that the main character felt superior to women, based upon Brownrigg's descriptions and the quotes chosen, but I felt as though the book ended with the women acheiving a higher level of respect in his eyes than in the beginning.
This book review did not bring to mind any previous books that I have read or any previous book reviews I have read, but the very descriptive diction did make me think of some of Conrad's writing style in Heart of Darkness. I do not believe that the plots of the books are similar, except perhaps with the male/female ideas seen in both, but both Brownrigg and Conrad use a lot of description and very advanced diction.
The imagery seen in this review was unpleasant and dark at times, but near the end, the tone became much more upbeat and happy. Brownrigg says that this book contains "vivid evocation of love and marriage," which seems to go against what she has said previously, but it makes the book seem more positive than it had before. This was possibly the only problem that I had with this review - Brownrigg sometimes changes the way that she is writing and seems to contradict things that she has said before. This was very minimal, though, and did not really change my opinion of the review.
Overall, this review was terrific and I am most likely going to read The Old Romantic as soon as I can.
Sarah Kells Class Notes Feb 7-Feb 17
We spent the majority of this time studying Heart of Darkness and watching Apocalypse Now.
This novella combines symbols of the Garden of Eden and some of Dante's ideas, which asks how both of these can exist at the same time in the same place. We did not come up with an answer for this.
Metacognition: "knowing without knowing." This is something that could be seen as a kind of survival tool.
We discussed the roles of women in this book - the three main types are the Crone, Mother and Maiden.
The Crones are the three women in the office. Notice the 'magic number 3,' often related to witches. This actually reminded me of Macbeth because for some reason, whenever I think of the number 3 relating to witches, I remember the scene with the witches around the cauldron.
The Mother figure is the aunt.
The Maiden is Kurz's fiance.
These are only three of the women. Possibly the most important woman is the African woman that Kurz possibly is having an affair with. She represents the land, in a way, therefore showing that Kurz's relation with the land has caused him to forget about his life (his fiance) where he came from.
Kurz's last words, "Oh, the horror" could mean many different things. I took them to mean that now that he is dying, he realizes the futility of his life. He realized that no matter how much ivory he took, or how much work he did, or how much fear he instilled into people, none of it really matters. If somebody is a good person or a bad person, black or white, male or female, everybody ends with death.
Frame narrative: The narrator tells the story via another character.
At the end of this last week, we were watching Apocalypse Now, which is relatively disturbing.
This novella combines symbols of the Garden of Eden and some of Dante's ideas, which asks how both of these can exist at the same time in the same place. We did not come up with an answer for this.
Metacognition: "knowing without knowing." This is something that could be seen as a kind of survival tool.
We discussed the roles of women in this book - the three main types are the Crone, Mother and Maiden.
The Crones are the three women in the office. Notice the 'magic number 3,' often related to witches. This actually reminded me of Macbeth because for some reason, whenever I think of the number 3 relating to witches, I remember the scene with the witches around the cauldron.
The Mother figure is the aunt.
The Maiden is Kurz's fiance.
These are only three of the women. Possibly the most important woman is the African woman that Kurz possibly is having an affair with. She represents the land, in a way, therefore showing that Kurz's relation with the land has caused him to forget about his life (his fiance) where he came from.
Kurz's last words, "Oh, the horror" could mean many different things. I took them to mean that now that he is dying, he realizes the futility of his life. He realized that no matter how much ivory he took, or how much work he did, or how much fear he instilled into people, none of it really matters. If somebody is a good person or a bad person, black or white, male or female, everybody ends with death.
Frame narrative: The narrator tells the story via another character.
At the end of this last week, we were watching Apocalypse Now, which is relatively disturbing.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sarah Kells Class Notes Jan 24-Feb 4
Medievalism and Allegory
Common Motifs include:
-Church/faith
-Values
-Allegory
-Salvation/damnation
-Life/death
Important info from the worksheet:
Literature is an embodyment of culture.
Allegory is something external to validate a text - something can be utterly unrealistic, but if there is a commonly told story or myth to "validate" it, this is allegory.
An Everyman is a character that represents culture as a whole - a "common man," often unnamed with very few characteristics. I am not sure, but I thought that the Lawyer and the Accountant at the beginning of Heart of Darkness were everymen - they were characterised by their careers, and they were merely listening rather than participating.
Trends in Western Literature
Classical --> Medieval --:> Renaissance --> Romantic --> Modernist --> Post modern
Protagonist: God/nobility -----------------------------------------> lower class/common man
Themes: God/nobility -----------------------------------------------> individualism, self, family
Motivations: Religion/fate ----------------------------------------> self, family, nothing
Forms: Epic/drama ---------------------------------------------------> essays, papers, novels
Techniques: 3rd person, all knowing ------------------------> 1st person, not all knowing
---------------------------------------power slips---------------------------------------->
Plot-------------------------------------------------------------------character driven--->
loyalty to Gods-----------------------------------------------------------------family---->
all knowing-------------------------------------------------------------------...not------->
nobility-----------------------------------------------------------------------everyman--->
---------------------------------------less formal----------------------------------------->
---------------------------------------less limited----------------------------------------->
------------------------------moves towards human narrators----------------------------->
Why do we need to know this? This enables us to make reasonable assumptions of when a piece was written.
Northrop Frye
First to develop the idea that all literature is based upon one story.
Start at a great place: if it goes down to trials and ends well, it is a quest.
if it goes to trials and does not return, it is a tragedy.
Start at trials: if it goes up to a great place, it is a comedy.
if it goes around and around in little circles, it is an irony.
When writing...
Capitalize a specific time if the person lived in that time.
Keep it lowercase if the person didn't live in that time.
Structure and Support
-Topic sentence
-clear, arguable claim
-sufficient evidence (3 pieces of evidence, 2 quoted)
-evidence relates to claim
-all required information included
Style and Usage
-Plain style (precise, clean)
-avoid first person
-include parallelism, repetition, sentence length
-no informal diction or usage
-correct syntax and diction
Common Motifs include:
-Church/faith
-Values
-Allegory
-Salvation/damnation
-Life/death
Important info from the worksheet:
Literature is an embodyment of culture.
Allegory is something external to validate a text - something can be utterly unrealistic, but if there is a commonly told story or myth to "validate" it, this is allegory.
An Everyman is a character that represents culture as a whole - a "common man," often unnamed with very few characteristics. I am not sure, but I thought that the Lawyer and the Accountant at the beginning of Heart of Darkness were everymen - they were characterised by their careers, and they were merely listening rather than participating.
Trends in Western Literature
Classical --> Medieval --:> Renaissance --> Romantic --> Modernist --> Post modern
Protagonist: God/nobility -----------------------------------------> lower class/common man
Themes: God/nobility -----------------------------------------------> individualism, self, family
Motivations: Religion/fate ----------------------------------------> self, family, nothing
Forms: Epic/drama ---------------------------------------------------> essays, papers, novels
Techniques: 3rd person, all knowing ------------------------> 1st person, not all knowing
---------------------------------------power slips---------------------------------------->
Plot-------------------------------------------------------------------character driven--->
loyalty to Gods-----------------------------------------------------------------family---->
all knowing-------------------------------------------------------------------...not------->
nobility-----------------------------------------------------------------------everyman--->
---------------------------------------less formal----------------------------------------->
---------------------------------------less limited----------------------------------------->
------------------------------moves towards human narrators----------------------------->
Why do we need to know this? This enables us to make reasonable assumptions of when a piece was written.
Northrop Frye
First to develop the idea that all literature is based upon one story.
Start at a great place: if it goes down to trials and ends well, it is a quest.
if it goes to trials and does not return, it is a tragedy.
Start at trials: if it goes up to a great place, it is a comedy.
if it goes around and around in little circles, it is an irony.
When writing...
Capitalize a specific time if the person lived in that time.
Keep it lowercase if the person didn't live in that time.
Structure and Support
-Topic sentence
-clear, arguable claim
-sufficient evidence (3 pieces of evidence, 2 quoted)
-evidence relates to claim
-all required information included
Style and Usage
-Plain style (precise, clean)
-avoid first person
-include parallelism, repetition, sentence length
-no informal diction or usage
-correct syntax and diction
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