So, let's see. We finally finished The American Dream, began and completed The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, and watched Death of a Salesman. That's a lot of italics. But it's all good, because we learned that next year, for the AP Exam, we're going to need all the italics we can remember. Seeing 3 in one month makes me feel pretty.. productive?
Beginning with a final analysis of American Dream, I think I'm writing a thought everyone else has already written in that it makes more sense now. It's actually kind of disturbing how much sense such a bizarre piece can make. But that's old news.
Next was Nuts and Bolts. I agreed with that book a lot more than HTRLLAP. And I know Ms. Holmes told us all that you can't disagree with either book, they're gravity, it's just how it is, but here's the thing about gravity: No one knows how it works. We know how to manipulate it, how to computate it, and (in the case of our books), how to annotate it, but I can still be as obstinate as I want until I hear an explanation. So I accept the rules found in Nuts and Bolts, but while I respect the ideas in HTRLLAP I can't always agree with them. But I suppose that that too is old news.
Finally, Death of a Salesman. I did enjoy the movie. In this case, I even agree that it was OK to watch the movie before reading the book. I think there is a bigger spoiler in the title than there could have been in the movie. So it was no surprise that the salesman died and we knew it was going to happen the entire time. Anyway, a good movie, and what promises to be a challenging book. All in all, not a bad couple of weeks.
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteNice response! I thought you spent an equal amount of time talking about what we've done in class, and I liked how you compared HTRLLAP to "Nuts and Bolts". I agree with you that watching "Death of a Salesman" before reading it was helpful.
What did you think about the daily warm-up activities that we began doing, though? I think this is the only thing you did not mention.
In the future, I guess, you might want to work a little on discussing how what we learned in the past tied into what we learned recently. Honestly, I don't have too much criticism on this post.
-Andi
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteNice summary, well written so that it doesn't feel all so dry. The gravity comparison is an interesting way of looking at the two texts, and I agree with you-- except I'm pretty sure they are less well accepted than gravity. The field of English isn't particularly coherent, I doubt that it is unified behind much of anything.
Counting learning by the number of italics is also a fun point you make, the more the merrier I suppose, by May I would bet there will be dozens of italics.
The movie of The American Dream was a really well done movie, and I'd take it one step further-- I think it was more or less necessary to watch the movie to be able to read it correctly because it is meant to be performed-- things are so much better in their natural medium.
~Erik
Hey Jason,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed you response it was focused without being boring and while I don't agree with all your points (I would rather eat rocks than read Nuts and Bolts Again despite how useful it is) I enjoy the way you approach your response with a strong narrative voice that doesn't always find its way into pieces like this. Death of a Salesman really ends up in my opinion being much better when read or performed on the stage so I think you might be surprised (hopefully pleasantly). Not a whole lot to say aside from I like the way you did this, it made a generally boring post become much more readable.
-Andrew