Class Reflection

CLASS REFLECTION

 

moreaboutcamila.blogspot.com

     For my English 102 class this semester we worked on blogs to help us understand our readings better.  This will be my 15th and last blog.  I cannot say that my blogs have improved in time because, to be honest, there were times i waited for the last minute and just wrote anything just to get it done.  There were a few topics that did catch my eye and I actually spent my time wirting about it though.  Most of my blogs were written in a clear, easy-read-style.  I also tried to organize the writers ideas around a main point.  I didn't want to drive myself or the readers crazy.  Having class discussions was also a big part in helping me write my blogs.

     Writing online was a different experience for me.  Especially the fact that other people can see what i'm writing.  That made me feel a bit vulnerable.  I was used to writing a paper and handing it in,  but I guess this experience made writing in a way more fun.  I dont think writing blog entries really helped improve my writing ability because I felt as if I was just talking to people when I would write.  Whatever was on my mind I would just jot it down.  In essays there is more of a thought process the style and format is different.  Sometimes I read other students work to either give feedback or compare their work to mine.  I noticed that the other students would also read my work sometimes.  Their feedback was very helpful.

     Overall, my experience in this class was very different from any other English class i've ever had.  It had its ups and its downs.  Some ups would be watching the play, "Much Ado About Nothing," or playing the Jeopardy game, that was a fun group activity.  I would also say that that was the most memorable moment for me.  It was a day   It helped us reflect on the play some more.  Some of the down times for me were writing the papers and some of the blogs also.  I got stuck a few times trying to put words on paper without sounding less sophisticated.  For any students who plan on taking this class next semester, i would recommend staying on top of the work.  Getting assignments done on time is extremely important or else you find yourself backed up with work.  English 102 was a good experience and Dr. X was a very helpful professor.  I will miss her.

BLOG 14

BLOG # 14



    On my fourteenth blog I will be choosing one of my blog entries written about Shakespeares, "Much Ado About Nothing," to explain the reason why it is my favorite and why I am most particularly proud of it.  When we first watched this play it was kind of difficult to understand the context so writing blog # 11took me some time to write.  I dedicated a lot of time into writing this blog but it helped me to understand the story.  Once I understood what the story was about it became easier for me to write blogs  12 and 13.

     In this section of my ENG102 class we have done many activities about writing about drama.  These activites have helped give me a greater understanding about this subject.  The Literary Quiz helped me learn the meanings of literary terms in a play.  The literary terms also helped me with the play "Much Ado About Nothing" because i got more of an understanding on what i had watched.  Having class disussions with Dr. X probably my favorite part.  She spoke about the metaphors and similes in the play and opened my eyes to a lot.  Dr. X makes the class see thingsin a different way.  In the future when I read or watch a play I will be able to really understand it.

BLOG #13

BLOG #13

     The symbolic meaning of the unmasking ceremony in 5.4. 52-66, in "Much Ado About Nothing," is to make Hero reborn.  Because of the false accusations made by Claudio in front of all Messina, Hero was sentenced to death.  She was never actually killed but they made Claudio believe she was dead.  When the truth came out, clearing Heros name, Claudio promised to do whatever it took to make things right with Heros father, Leonato.   Leonato told Claudio that he wanted him to still marry into his family but he would not see his wife until after they were married.  When Claudio unmasked his wife and seen that it was Hero it was a symbol that the old Hero had died being accused of awful allegations, and a new pure Hero was born.
     Claudio is also reborn because I believe this is a lesson learned for him.  He will now be the type of person that gets all the facts straight before jumping to conclusions.  He will not be so naive anymore.  Also, Leonato and all of Messina is giving him a 2nd chance, so for them to forgive and forget the past he has to be reborn.
      Benedick and Beatrice are reborn at the unmasking ceremony because they are now showing Messina that they are capable of loving another, especially eachother.  Im not sure if these 4 characters being unmasked means that these are their "true selves," but I do think the ending was perfect.  I believe that Benedick and Beatrice all had these feelings for each other deep inside and it was finally a relief for them to be able to say it out loud.  Claudio and Hero were both almost cheated out of love but the story shows that in the end love conquered all.

Blog 12

BLOG # 12

     In my 12th blog entry I would like to continue talking about William Shakespeares, "Much Ado About Nothing."  Claudio and Hero attempted to get married but the wedding was a failure.  Benedick and Beatrice have a meeting afterwards and their love is tested.  Beatrice wants Benedick to kill Claudio because Claudio slandered Heros name in front of everyone at the wedding.  Claudio and Don Perdo were fooled into believing that Hero had cheated on Claudio the night before.  Beatrice thinks that Hero is falsely being accused and wants revenge on Claudio for his false accusations against her cousin.  Beatrice wants Claudio dead and she wants Benedick to kill him to prove his love to her.  

     When Beatrice asks Benedick to kill Claudio she is risking losing him.  One way she might lose him is by him saying no, and another way is to lose him to death.  Just because Benedick challenges Claudio does not mean that Benedick will win.  At first she tells him that doing such a deed is not his job because she feels like he doesnt owe her anything.  Once he professes his love to her she wants him to prove it by doing her this favor.  Once Benedick accepts her request, he risks losing a friend and possibly losing Beatrice.  If Benedick kills Claudio he may regret it later on and feel resentment towards Beatrice, and then their relationship would never work.  He may gain Beatrices love and respect but I don't think he would be able to look at her the same way and love her back. 

     I don't think that Benedick should kill Claudio.  Claudio did not ruin the wedding because he is a horrible person.  He was tricked into believing that Hero was cheating on him.  He saw the proof with his own eyes even though who he seen was not Hero.  It was not his fault.  If Benedick would have killed him, it would have broken up the relationship between him and Beatrice.  In the end the truth came out and Hero was alive.  Claudio would have felt guilty for what he did and he would have blamed Beatrice.

BLOG 11

BLOG # 11

     Today I will be discussing a new play we are reading in my English 102 class.  The story is called "Much Ado About Nothing," written by, William Shakespeare and it reflects on a few topics: power, betrayal, manipulation, jealousy, and definitely LOVE.
     Beatrice is a strong woman who is not afraid to say what is on her mind.  Benedick is a clown.  He is arrogant and cocky and we learn in the story that Beatrice and him clash.  They just can not get along.  In Act 2.1, Don Pedro says that Beatrice would make "an excellent wife for Benedick," and Leonato tells him that "if they were but a week married, they would talk themselves mad." (265-7)  I agree with Don Pedro because Benedick needs a strong woman in his life to put him in his place.  Benedick likes to make fun of people and look down upon them, as he did to Beatrice on the beginning of the story. Beatrice did not stay shut when he would treat her this way.  She had a lot to say and they were constantly battling.  Once Benedick was fooled into believing that Beatrice was in love with him,  he treated her differently.  He respected her and gave her his love.
     Even though I agree with Don Pedro, a small part of me agrees with Leonato.  Just because Beatrice and Benedick are now in love and happy, they still have the same personalities.  I believe there will be plenty of battling between the two.  They both always want to be right, and it is hard for either one to give in.  At the end of the day Beatrice is the perfect woman for Benedick.  Only a strong woman could put up with what Benedick     has to give.

My Reflection on Kindred

    Reading and discussing the story "Kindred" opened my eyes to unserstand some issues from the past and the present.  I have written about 5 blogs about this story and I would have to say that the blog entry that I am most particularly proud of is, blog # 5.  Writing this blog was when I first started to understand how bad slavery really was.  I already knew it was a digusting tragic issue, but reading and learning details about what went on made me very sad interested to learn more.

TO BE CONTINUED..............

HEROISM

In my 9th blog entry I will be speaking about "Heroism."  In the story "Kindred" there are many heroic characters.  Three specific characters that stand out the most are Sarah, Alice, and Dana.  All three woman are slaves except Dana is from the present time.  Somehow she has traveled back to the 1800's, when slavery existed.
Sarah is a slave of Tom Weylins.  Tom ripped Sarahs family apart, selling her children and leaving her with only one child who was not healthy.  He did this to scare Sarah from running away.  She was afraid he would hurt the only child she had left.
Alice was Rufus Weylins slave.  Alice and Rufus grew up together and were friends as children.  As Rufus grew older he became more and more like his father.  Rufus fell inlove with Alice and grew to be obsessed with her.  Alice did not love Rufus in return so he became angry and abusive towards her.  He raped her and whipped her just to have her in any way he could.  Alice tried escaping but could not get away.
Dana was someone that was not even from this era.  She was not used to all the abuse that was going on around her.  This was all new to her and still she stuck it out and did whatever she had to do to get through it for her and her husband Kevin.  She was treated as a slave.  Instead of curling up in a ball and crying about it she played the part hoping that somehow she would eventually return home for good with her husband.
In my opinion Dana is the most heroic character.  She is a strong woman who fought her way home through slavery.

SLAVERY/DOMESTIC ABUSE

                         

SLAVERY/DOMESTIC ABUSE

Today I am writing my 8^th blog.  As I continue to read Ocatavia Butlers, “Kindred”, I see how the author addresses issues of domestic abuse.  In the book Dana is given a beaten by her master Tom Weylin.  When she returns to the present time her relatives believe that her husband, Kevin did this to her and she is covering up for him.  Dana cannot really explain the truth to them because they will not believe her.  This happens every day.  Women who are abused are either embarrassed or afraid to get the abuser in trouble because they love them. Slavery can be compared to domestic abuse in the sense that slaves were afraid to escape from their abuser in fear of getting caught and having to face the consequences.  In a domestically abusive relationship the fear is the same.  Also, when a person is physically abused a numerous amount of times after a while they become immune to the pain.  Slaves were beaten all the time. Their bodies became numb after it happening so frequently.  



DESTRUCTIVE SINGLE-MINDED LOVE

                As we continue reading the story, Kindred, by Octavia Butler, we learn more about the character named Rufus.  Rufus is growing up and becoming more of a manipulator.  He is basically becoming more like his father.  He claims to love a free black woman named Alice who does not share the same feelings.  Rufus then threatens and forces himself on her or she will be sold or brutally hurt. 

                When it comes to his “friend” Dana, Rufus uses her husband, Kevin against her.  Dana desperately wants to get back to Kevin but Rufus will not let her.  He even goes as far as to threatening her life if she would try to leave.   Dana is forced to help Rufus do horrible things.  He even has her help him rape Alice. 

                I don’t know how Rufus can say he loves Alice or call Dana his friend.  Loving someone means you want them to be happy.  Friendship is supposed to consist of loyalty, understanding and love.  Rufus does not show any of these qualities.  In the end Rufus got what he deserved.  I strongly agree with the choices these women made to survive.  If they hadn’t done what they did eventually Rufus could have killed them.  Alice would have lived a lifetime of abuse and misery and Dana would have never seen Kevin again. 

A Threat to a Slave-Owner

4/20/2012

 A Threat to a Slave-Owner

In English class we have been reading the book, Kindred, by Octavia Butler, which was published in 1979.  The story is about a black woman, Dana, who is married to a white man, Kevin, in the modern day.  Somehow Dana keeps traveling back and forth through a time when slavery on blacks existed.  Dana become friends with a slave-owner’s son, Rufus, and becomes a threat to the slave-owner, Tom Weylin.   Tom believes that Dana is trouble for many reasons.  Dana told Tom that she is from New York, which is a free state.  He was unhappy to hear this because that meant she was an independent woman.  The way Dana speaks is a problem for him because he sees she is very educated.  When Tom discovered that Dana could read and write he began to fear that she would teach his slaves and one day they would learn to free themselves.  Tom also has a problem with Dana because his son Rufus has taken a liking to her.  Tom is afraid that this will affect his son in the future when he himself owns the slaves.  He believes that Rufus will feel some kind of compassion for blacks because he is friends with a black woman.

04/18/2012       

Slaves and Education

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-civilwar/4439

                Today I read an interesting article about the education of slaves in the 18^th Century.  Or should I say the NON-education of slaves?  In the southern states of America the white people had a great concern about slaves learning and it becoming a problem for the slave system.  They believed if the slaves had become intelligent, then they would be able to somehow free themselves.  In order to keep this from happening, no black children could attend any free schools.  There was a law passed that stated that slaves were forbidden to read or write.

            Another way that the whites prevented slaves from learning was to punish others who would try teaching them.  Teaching the slaves was considered a crime.  Even though this law existed there were still some courageous teachers that took the chance and tried educating the slaves secretly.  One brave teacher, Margaret Douglass, was even convicted and imprisoned when she was caught teaching black children in Norfolk Virginia.  This is how serious it really was.

            In the northern states of America the slavery situation was not as bad.  The first African Free School was opened in NYC in 1787.  It started with 40 students in a single room and continued to expand.  In 1824 this school and 6 others began receiving public funding.  Other schools began opening up for the slaves’ children.  Some schools would get threatened by the white people to be burned down.  They even went as far as to pass laws that stated that the children would receive 10 lashes of the whip if they attended the schools. 

            There were many strong advocates for black education who fought for these laws to be put to rest.  They believed that everyone had an equal right to be educated.  Without knowledge there is no future! 

           

March 31, 2012

Self-Reflection and Evaluation

     Today I will be reflecting on my experience of writing blogs.  I have written three so far and the one that I can say I am most proud of is, "Summary of Poem: Bitch."  Writing this blog gave me a chance to analyze the poem, "Bitch."  Analyzing is something I do in general, especially with people, so writing the blog entry was sort of exciting.  I really took my time with it and I think I did a pretty good job.  The poem itself, I can relate to because I myslef have been in a similar situation. (But who hasn't?)

     What I have learned so far about writing about poetry in my English class is that it is extremely overwhelming.  It's easy to read something and talk about it, but when you have to write your thoughts about something on paper it is not a simple task. We have done a few activities in class to teach us the steps on how to write about or summarize a poem.  Writing blogs 1-3 was not easy at first, and is still not easy, but i am getting more comfortable with it.  Dr. X's brief lectures on symbolism, allusions, images and metaphors was a big help because, learning the meanings of these terms gave me a better understanding of a poem when I would read it.  That made it easier for me to summarize poems.

     One of my favorite activities that we did in class was working with my House members on helping another class with their work for Emily Dickinson's "I felt a Funeral..."  I enjoy doing group activities because I love to hear others ideas and opinions.  This activity was similar to the others we do in class because we had to summarize the poem and give our opinions on what we thought the speaker was talking about.  It was different in the sense that we were doing this to help another class.  I felt pretty good about turning in our group response because I believe our House did a great job analyzing this poem. I would do this group project again because we all worked really well together. There were no disagreements and it went so well that the time in class that day went by pretty fast. 

     I enjoyed reading my classmates blogs because everyone has their own opinions and in writing these blogs we are kind of forced to express our opinions.  I don't know everyone in my class but reading their blogs gave me an impression of who they are. 

    



Summary of Poem: BITCH

March 21, 2012

Summary of Poem: “Bitch”

 

Carolyn Kizer www.poetryfoundation.org

This week we had to pick a poem from the list given to us by Dr. X and basically summarize it.  I decided to stick with the poem I chose for my previous entry, Carolyn Kizers’ “Bitch,” which was published in 1984.  This was the only poem that really stuck out to me. 

Here is my paraphrase of the poem:

         

   “Bitch” is describing the persons feelings towards an ex-partner from years ago, that they have just ran into.  This person was very hurt by their ex and has a lot of anger deep inside towards this person but does not want to show it.  The main image is the speaker and the ex running into one another and catching up.  Now, when him and I meet,  after all these years, (line 1) I say to the bitch inside me, dont start growling.(line 2) He isnt a trespasser anymore, (line3) Just an old acquaintance tipping his hat. (line 4) "Give my regards to yout wife," I say. You gag (line 32) As I drag you off by the scruff, (line 33) Saying, "Goodbye! Goodbye! Nice to have seen you again." (line 34)

"Bitch" is the speaker of the poem.   It is actually her thoughts and feelings that are the "Bitch", but it is still her.  If i had to compare this poem to anything, I would have to say it definitely reminds me of the lyrics in the song "Like We Never Loved At All" by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, which was made famous in 2005.

The main image in this poem is the two ex lovers in conversation, while the speaker is keeping her cool as she thinks about their terrible past together.  The key words could be grouped as:

1. him and I meet, after all these years--means they havent kept in contact
2. bitch inside me, dont start growling--means even though she is still upset about the past she is goin to be nice
3. bark hysterically--means she is becoming more furious deep inside
4. He isnt an enemy now--means she should not be dwelling in the past. He can not hurt her anymore.
5. she slobbers and grovels--means that she is calming down

The tone of this poem is angry and sad.  Like in the song "Like we never loved ate all" in every relationship someone will always get hurt and miss the other person.

In the end I believe the them of this poem is closure. 

Link to YouTube Video on Faith Hill and Tim McGraws "Like We Never Love At All"  http://youtu.be/s7Qob5zr2Bk