Perhaps the essays themselves weren't that fun to write, but the project was kind of alright. As with a lot of things in this class, I wouldn't go as far as to say that I really enjoyed this week's project, because I would still rather be doing math or playing video games and stuff, but at least it was somewhat interesting. The stories under symbolism in particular were pretty cool to analyze, and "close reading" them really gave them a whole new layer of depth. "Once Upon a Time" by Nadine Gordimer had lots of hidden "Easter eggs" within the story that makes the connections between seemingly unrelated things pop out. The comparison between reading it without any careful thought, and really going into depth and analyzing it really made a big difference. It didn't feel like it was missing anything major if it wasn't carefully read, but reading it more carefully really added new meanings and stuff.
Granted, it was more of a "huh, cool" kind of feeling, and not super like eye opening, but still, not too shabby. The SSR book that I am reading also is really nice. It has a lot of the similar characteristics of the previous one that I read, in that it focuses on a more atmospheric feeling, but it is significantly more interesting. I find the story more fun, and the descriptions of the antics of the characters in the story feel less mundane, and that it has more of a general purpose than the previous book that I read. Overall, not too shabby.
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A lot of what I have been thinking about in terms of literature this week is regarding my creative writing piece that I am supposed to submit. I feel like I have a solid piece, but in general, it's just hard to be wholly satisfied with what I have. It's not horrible, which is a plus, but I definitely don't think I'm going to be bragging about it anytime soon. Perhaps my use of better, more colorful sounding phrasing is too out of practice, and it's not boring, per se, but it doesn't sound super intelligent. Looking towards the future, I suppose that's what I'll have to work on.
I wouldn't call the literature project "cool" yet, but basically a page into the characterization piece that I was supposed to read describing the characteristics of literature, I had already noticed something that I could immediately recognize in my SSR book. It mentioned that what would be more considered "capital 'L' Literature" would actually have more of a character-driven story, where the plot is secondary, whereas in pop culture, the book is more plot driven. This really goes a long way to explaining why to a lot of people that often read plot-driven novels just don't find the "Literature" books entertaining: the focus is just different, and it can be awkward and off-putting to read something that seemingly caters to a whole other type of reader. With this I realized what my SSR book was really trying to accomplish, and I realized that I was waiting and looking for plot that really wasn't there, or at least prominently there. I'm not going to say that this really increased my enjoyment of the book significantly, but I do understand why the book is considered "good", and I recognize what it's trying to accomplish, which I guess is an improvement from the original "wait wtf this book is so boring". I look forward to reading my new SSR book with this new knowledge with me, instead of having to look back in hindsight. Ohhhhhh boiiiiii, we're actually gonna learn what literature is, and I'm kind of excited. Maybe I will understand why I can't read the stuff that I want to read in class because it's not "capital L Literature", and maybe finally I'll finally figure out what the plot of my book is, and what makes it so deserving of the praise in the first couple of pages of the book. It's got a lot of potential, but it could also be such a huge letdown, so fingers crossed that it's gonna be something that I at least appreciate and understand. The pieces that my group and I picked for the project also seem to have a bit of potential, and I'm pretty optimistic about how this project will turn out even if I've sucked at English for the last 3 years of high school (Sorta. Kinda. Ok maybe not really, but hey, think positive right?).
We also picked our short stories/creative writing pieces that we wanted to feature this marking period and turn in. I have been writing stuff similar to what I am working on for some of my college essays, and I'm ok with how it turned out, but I'm excited to see what closer inspection and review can do to make it something that stands out at least within the stuff that I've written. So long story short this week: it's a setup for the weeks to come, and I'm excited about the possibilities of this class moving forward. |
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