Boy, has this class been moving quickly. I feel like there has been so many packets of information thrown at us since the last "Response to Course Material" post. Luckily, I already had a good grasp on the literary movements (thank you, Ms. Huntley) but it's still a lot to process. The biblical stories were probably the hardest for me to remember. I only knew a few of the stories, whereas I recognized everything that was presented on Greek mythology.
...Then we read The American Dream. That play is unlike anything that I have ever read. The first time through reading it, I couldn't make sense of it. I had no idea what to think about the play, let alone what it was even about. It wasn't until Ms. Holmes handed out that life-saving packet that explained everything. Suddenly, the play was crystal clear--of course Grandma represents the old American Dream! And isn't it obvious that the Young Man represents the new, materialistic American Dream? Not everything made sense, but a lot more of it did. If I hadn't gotten that packet, I probably could have read the play fifteen times and still not figured it out.
Finally, working on the AP essay in class has me freaked out for the test. I am still not good at reading poetry or applying DIDLS to poetry. Seriously, how is anyone supposed to analyze a poem and write a good, solid essay in under an hour? Right now, that seems impossible. Especially since I still didn't have the poem figured out after working with it for a whole class hour.
I am the complete opposite from you about the allusions presentations. I recognized almost every single bible story, but not so much the Greek myths. In your response, you could have said a little bit more about what exactly you got out of learning all of the stories; for me, it helped me make connections in pieces of literature and it was entertaining to listen and learn new stories.
ReplyDeleteAs for the American Dream, I think most of us were confused; I know I was! The packet definitely did help with the understanding, and it made the play more enjoyable for me.
The AP test is going to be the death of me, I definitely need more practice and motivation to analyze poems and prose more carefully. I am sure we will get in the practice to help :)
This was a solid response. You could have gone into a little more detail in some parts, but you got your point across and made good connections.
I totally agree with you when it comes to the American Dream. I was so annoyed with the play because I was so confused throughout the whole time I was reading it. When I saw all the symbolism in it though I thought it was really interesting! It made me see the play in a whole new way. I also feel where you are coming from when you talked about the A.P. essay. I am dreading having to take that test. Tests in general are a struggle for me which was evident when I took the terms test. Hopefully after this class is over I will feel more confident though! I think you should have mentioned more about DIDLS because we worked on that for a while and I feel like more attention should have been brought to it. Other than that great job!
ReplyDeleteReading your Course Response, it seemed like you were reading my mind! With "The American Dream" read through I was totally lost. In my hour I ended up reading the part of Mommy, and I had NO IDEA what was going on. The packet really cleared things up for me (it may be the only packet I can distinctly remember).
ReplyDeleteFor me the literary movement/biblical stories experience was the opposite! I seem to have trouble with the basic information...for most of the literary pieces I'm able to pinpoint the time it was written in by pulling cultural details from the text, not my looking at the themes/characters. I should probably work on that...
But enough about me! You definitely bring up some good points - and your opinions are probably shared with a good majority of the class. I really like how you expressed your "American Dream" paragraph. I think it had excellent tone and a strong voice.