final blog

I think that my writing has improved alot. I feel like I don't just ramble on and on and repeat myself so much. I don't think that I am summarizing as bad either. I never wrote a literary analysis before, so it was kind of hard trying to figure that all out. The easiest paper would have to be the last one on Doctor Faustus. It was probably because I actually knew what I was supposed to be doing and I felt strongly about what I was arguing and trying to prove. The strategies that probably worked the best for me were the cluster things when you just branch stuff off and say how they relate and what they mean. I also thought that group discussions worked well too, it helped to hear other people's ideas and opinions on the stories. I think he Whoopie game was the most benificial for me since it got me to actually speak up and say what was on my mind because I'm not good at that when I'm in an uncomfortable situation. I don't feel uncomfortable anymore though. I feel more prepared to write literary anaylsis papers, but I know that college isn't all about that so that's kind of a scary thought.

If I Were a Boy

This was hard for me to read as a poem because I have listened to the song so many times. I would catch myself singing it instead of actually reading the words. I really like this song because it switches the roles. When guys do stuff like that they think it's fine and not a big deal, but when a girl does that kind of stuff that's just not ok. She says that if she were a boy she wouldn't do those kinds of things because she knows what it's like. I just really like the song because it's putting women in charge. It shows that it's not ok for men to act like that because they wouldn't wanted to be treated like that either.

"The Flea"

I Think that "The Flea" is about two people that were in a relationship and then a third person became involved. I think this because it talks about how it sucked her and then someone else and now they are mingled. When it says that three lives in one flea it supports that all three are together as one Then they are all in one relationship and I think there is one guy and two girls. They know that it is a sin and shameful, but it makes them happy. People judge them and think it's not religious. One of the girls get jealous, probably the one that was first with him and then she kills the flea, which is the boy.

poetry experiences.

I never really liked poetry. It seemed like I could never understand what it meant. If I could figure out what it meant, it was never what the teacher thought, so it was wrong. They way that I interpret it would never be "right". So that was pretty sucky. I think poetry is always supposed to rhyme, but that's not always the case. I don't really know any good poems or poets because I was never interested in it because my ideas always got shut down.

doctor faustus 4

I really like the first part of the last scene of the book. I thought it was cool how Faustus actually realized that selling his soul to the devil was not a good choice. He came to the conclusion that there was no help for him and the he was screwed. I like how the scholars told him that he should of said something earlier so they could help him. It's kind of like when you keep something in and don't tell anyone and when you finally do it's too late for them to really help you with your problem. The scholars are the people that faustus should have been involved with the whole time. I like how they tell him that God can still save him, because that's what I believe too.

doctor faustus 3

I thought in scene 8 and 9 they were trying to be like Faustus. They stole one of his books which isn't going to do them any good. It seems kind of weird to me because everyone acts to against what he is doing, but here they want to be like him and do magic. I guess they want to be rich and famous too. Robin and Ralph know that the book was written by and related to the Devil, but they still proceed to try and read it. Why would anyone want to get involved in something like that when they know it isn't going to have a good outcome. Everyone in the play seems so selfish and always wanting the best for themselves.

doctor faustus 2

One part that really interested me in our reading was the fact that there was a He-devil and a She-devil. I think of there only being one Devil, just like there is only one God. We don't know if they are male or female, but they are both portrayed as being men. The He-devil has horns, while the She-devil has clifts and cloven feet. This is weird considering they are both devils, so why wouldn't they look the same? I could understand why he would put more than one devil in the play, but not a female one. It just rubs me wrong becuase I was brought up thinking the devil was male.

doctor faustus

The my list of important things were pretty much in the same order as the lis tof things in Doctor Faustus, so I don't think that very much has changed since the book was written. Obviously alot of things have, but not really in the importance of how people view things. I would still consider religion at the top because that is a very important thing in a lot of peoples life. It is how people make decisions and become who they are by what they learned about their faith. Under that I had law and politics, like it was in Doctor Faustus. Everyone has to follow laws and rules to keep the world as safe and working place. Medicine is still important and above scholarship. I put technology at the bottom and that wasn't even on his list.

class evaluation

I think the class is going pretty well so far. Some days it's alot of work. I feel like I'm not really getting the whole textbook thing, with the readings that we have to do in it. I was confused on the gists. I thought they were supposed to just be what we thought of the story not a whole analysis. I don't always like coming to class because it always seems so negative in there. I really liked getting to choose our own stories! I like working in groups and doing hands on stuff.

little mermaid

The setting of the story would be on both in the ocean and on land. It's hard for me to figure out why she would want to go up to the earth and live there when the ocean is sooo pretty, especially her castle. Everything is so perfect down there and she just wants to leave it. It's located at the way bottom of the ocean that nobody sees except for them. Having the setting set down there makes it seem so awesome, why would she want to leave. It's like the author made it seem like she was making a bad choice and she couldnt just be happy with how things were down there. The fact that the witch's house is in such a creepy place lets you know that she's not a good person to be around. She's pretty sketchy and is probably going to screw you over. It's just gross down there. I think if her real house was in the ugly part where the withc lived she would have wanted to leave. But why would you leave such a pretty place? I don't think the color red or crimson has anything to do with setting, but it is brough up soo much in the story and really stuck out to me. I associated the color of red with blood right away so then I was like woah this is creepy stop talking about red and then I figured something bad was going to happen and it did.

birthmark and bartleby- compare and contrast

I think that the plots were pretty much the same. They were both in chronological order. They didn't really have anything in common and they were both weird. I really don't think that the stories were that relates at all, except for the characters having stuff in common and the plot taking place in the same order. The characters were all motivated, plausable, and consistant in both stories. Both stories had to do with helping others and trying to make them better.

Racism discussion

Today's class discussion really bothered me. I never really thought I was "racist," but last year in my sociology class our teacher asked me a question kind of like your dark alley one. I was shocked when I heard my answer. I totally agree with what you said about how everyone is somewhat racist. I think what you learn in school has a lot to do with everything. You are taught all the negative things about minorty groups and are taught that they were the bad ones and we were just helping them. I really think that if people didn't put such an emphasis on the differences between our skin colors there wouldn't be such big problems. Having to check the caucasian box on tests is stupid, it shouldn't mattter what your skin color is. Everyone is taking the same test to measure their abilities, not to see if they are smart because they are asian. My mom grew up in Sisseton, SD which has a reservation. My grandparents still live there and it's not even an hour from our house so we go there alot. I have friends that are Native American that I met through gymnastics and through my grandparents neighbors and they are awesome. One of my cousins is Native American and at her wedding we were the minority, but it wasnt a big deal. I think that being exposed to them more than any other person my town has kind of helped. I feel more comfortable and I'm not scared because of the stereotypes they hold. People always think of the bad things when they think of Black people or Indians. White people kill people and live off the government and do drugs too, but I think that is just more hidden and its not thought of as oh they did that because they're white. Sometimes it's scary the stories that my mom would tell me when she was younger about what would happen at school. It's weird going to my hometown and all my friends talk about how that town is soooo scary and parts of it are, but they'll only hate on you if they know you're from Milbank since our towns are HUGE rivals.

twitter

It's really scary that people can just make up a fake account of someone else. If that ever happened to me I'd be super super pissed. I just don't think that you should try and make someone else's life your own. People just need to mind their own business. If they have enough time to make someone else a twitter and update it with stupid comments all the time, they really need to get a life. It sucks that there isn't a way to monitor who makes accounts, but that would be really hard. Especially since there's no way to prove who you are on a free site. It makes you think about limiting your profiles and trying to be careful about what you post on your profiles because if you have all sorts of things on there about your life it will be way easier for someone to jsut make another one, since they would already have all your information.

First Paper

I thought my first paper sucked. I couldn't really get my point across and it was way not in order. I just kept jumping from topic to topic. I can't figure out how to analyze a paper and not just make a summary. I can't figure out how to go deeper and find the real meaning and it's kind of really bothering me. I thought meeting with you really helped. It was better than just having comments on a paper and then handed back to us because we could ask you questions and throw out ideas too. I didn't use my outline. I thought it was too confusing for me, but I've never liked doing things like that. I like just starting and seeing where I go, instead of planning it all out. It's probably more work that way, but it just is easier for me. I put off doing my paper and notecards so that way sucked because I was pushing the clock.

Metamorphosis

It's weird how at the beginning he isn't even freaking out about the fact that he is somehow a bug. He doesn't ever think how it happened or why, he acted so calm like it wasn't even a big deal. He is more worried about missing work, but then he thinks how he wouldn't even be working at the same place if it weren't for his parents because he needed to support them and his dad had debt to his boss. It's weird how he still pans to go to work when he's a bug and can't even do anything. I never understood why his sister was so sad and was crying before he even came out of his room. It was like she already knew something was way wrong with her brother or she was scared. Gregor and his sister seem to be really close. He wishes that she was there when he came out of his room because she would be able to keep everyone calm. It makes me mad that they literally lock Gregor in his room and move the keys to the outside of the doors so he can't get out. Which is probably one of the reasons he becomes so depressed and eventually stops eating. I feel bad for him because he knows they're talking about him and they don't like taking care of him and there isn't really anything he can do to make it easier on them.

works cited

Gibbs, Jack P. "Social Control, Deterrence, and Perspectivevs on Soical Order." Social Forces 56.2 (1977): 408-23. Academic Seach Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

Munck, Ronaldo. "Marxism and nationalism in the era of globalization." Capital & Class 34.1 (2010): 45-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

Zamyatin, Yevgeny. "We." Trans. Natasha Randall. New York: Modern Library, 2006. Print.

paper topic

I think my paper is going to be about contol. I want it to be about how there are different objects in the One State that control the people in it and how people have contol over the other people, like how I-330 has control over D-503. I think too much contorl leads to rebellion and I hate being controlled, so I want to know more about when people are controlled for so long how they feel and what they don't like about all the control and why they would rebel. I kind of feel like I have my one big idea and then there's like 3 other ideas in that and I want to make is not so broad. But, I want it to be like how control leads to rebellion.

#5

So, I found it really hard to follow along in the last part of the story. Maybe it was because I was really tired, I don't know. Anyways, I didn't really like the ending of the book that much. I wanted them to fly off and live happily ever after in a different place that wasn't so crazy. Instead, the One State somehow got all the people under control again and even D-503 did the operation to lose his imagination. It was like he worked so hard for nothing. He lied and hurt people he cared about for no reason. It seemed like everything was going to work out when the wake-up bell didn't go off and everyone was just doing their thing without the blinds down. I basically just odnt like how it ended and he doesn't really even remember what happened before his operation.

state of the union

I never really watched a State of the Union before. I mean my parents always would and they would be really into it and I was just like wow they're weird and that sounds dumb, but it was actually pretty sweet. President Obama was trying to pump up America and get us back on track to succeed in the world. He said how we are recovering from the recession, which is obviously news that people want to here. I didn't really like how he was talking about the shootings in Arizona. I think that they are really important and need to be dealt with, but not there. I got really excited when he started talking about education, since that's what I'm considering for my major. He said that my country needs me and that felt awesome. It made me think that what I want to do was the right thing, so I'm thinking about it way more seriously since he said that. He said we need more science and math teachers and i want to teach bio so that would work out perfectly. He said that they are going to get rid of "No Child Left Behind" and I was excited because I personally think its bullshit. He talked about getting more loans and grants for college students so they can continue school and make our country better. I thought it was a really good speech, although all the clapping was really annoying. It got me pumped up for my future and John Thune looked mighty fine.

#4

The one thing that makes me the most upset is not getting to keep your baby. It's just dumb. I think it would be so hard not to be emotionally connected to something that was inside you for 9 months. And then to just have to give it away like it's nothing wouldn't fly. Not knowing who your child was or what they looked like or who they are and what they do would be so sad. It's hard thinking how it doesn't even phase them that they're giving a part of them away and never going to see it again. I keep repeating myself. Having a baby is a big thing and in the story 1-330 wants to have a baby with D-503. What would be the point to having one if you can't keep it. I know it's because thats how the One State works, but One State sucks.

criticism

The one criticism that made the most sense to me was the cultural criticism. I guess you could also consider it postcolonial criticism. In the textbook it talks about how this type of criticism is related to writers who from really controlling countries, like how in our story Zamyatin is from Russia which was communist. Both criticisms compare peoples race and gender. In the book it seems like the men are greater then the women. He doesn't talk about race as in color, but the race is the same because they all live in the same communtiy and do the same things. Basically, I don't really know how to say what I want to about the race thing, but they are all the same.

Plot- The "people" in the story go day to day doing the same things. They have an hourly schedule that they have to follow, but D-503 gets off track when he meets I-330 so everything gets mixed up in his life.

Characterization- D-503 seems like a real person because he's writing about what's actually going on in his life in his journal. His the main character in the story, so he has to be somewhat real.

Setting- The setting takes place in One State and it's set way in the future. No one believes in freedon and all live in basically a communist community. It goes day by day so it's lots of times during the day.

Point of View- The book is told in first person because the narrator is the main character and the story that's happening is about his life.

Symbol- I think I-330 is a symbol of freedom and rebellion from then place that she currently lives in. Whenever D-503 is with her they are always doing something that they shouldn't be. Like drinking, smoking, or having sex without a pink ticket.

Theme- It's about not having freedom and how people jsut go with the flow because they don't want to be different and don't want people to think they're weird if they do something in a different way. They don't want to get in trouble for not following the norm.

Style- The author writes in a way that you have to really think about what you're reading to get the whole point of what he wants you to understand.

Tone- I think that as the story goes on and D-503 continues to write he realizes that it doesn't matter if you don't do what others do and he's going to start rebelling more.

Irony- Well he makes the people seem like they are really robots, when they're actually real human people but they act like they are.

Intro about myself

Well my name is Mary Lenards and I'm a freshman. I haven't declared a major because I have no clue what I want to do. I have a really hard time making decisions and change my mind alot. I grew up in a small town in South Dakota. I was a cheerleader for football and did gymnastics while I was in high school. I worked at a restaurant that my uncles owned and taught gymnastics to little kids in the summer. I am the oldest sibling and have one brother and one sister. I like working out and running. I have 2 black labs, a cat, and lots of fish back home. I really like going to the lake and camping in the summer. I really like babies, silly string, and sparkles. I have a big family and I love it. I am really shy when I first meet people, but when I feel comfortable I'll eventually come out of my shell. I'm not a fan of spicy food. I like looking at the stars. I was born on July 9th. I was in 4-H and showed dairy cattle. I went to Denmark this summer and now I want to travel all over. I want to live in cool places like New York City and Hawaii. And that's about all I can think of.