My Reflection

High school for me was fun and overwhelming. My senior year gave me several reality checks and learned lessons. I had some classes that were rigorous and some that were just laid back. My 9th-11th grade years didn't really prepare me for higher education, such as college. I really just goofed around but I did get my work done. My 12th grade year was totally different. I didn't have time to play around but I did make sure I had some down time so my brain wouldn't fry from all of my AP and Dual Enrollment classes. As I look over my four years of secondary education, I can actually say that I have matured as a young lady. I love the woman that I am becoming; thanks to my teachers and advisers.

AP English Literature was a interesting class. I first came in intimidated but left out confident. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I signed up for that class. Mrs. Day was the best and only wanted the best. I didn't feel like I was the best but she sculpted me. I came to her class with little knowledge of writing and slang terminology; however, that didn't stop me. I can honestly say that this class helped me grow as a person. Mrs. Day taught me how to write correctly and talk intelligently.  She's a wonderful teacher.

Tragedy of the Common Man

In Arthur Miller's essay, "Tragedy and the Common Man," he states his ideas on what a tragedy and tragic hero are today. He argues that a tragic hero does not have to be someone important but can be a common, everyday person. He points out the idea that the tragic hero is unable to accept anything that may affect them. I feel like everything he stated was accurate.

On Boy Actors in Female Roles

In Lisa Jardine's, "On Boy Actors in Female Roles", portrayed that the female parts in plays were taken by young male actors. It was universal and a commonplace. But some people opposed because of moral uneasiness. Dr. John Rainoldes stated, "The appareil of wemem is a great provocation of men to lust and leacherie." He is saying that if women performed on stage, it will cause men to lust after them. He also states, "A woman's garment being put on a man doeth vehemently touch and moue him with the remembrance and imagination of a thing desirable doth stirr up the desire." What he means by this is that if you put a boy in female clothes, the desire and lust won't be there. According to Rainoldes, misdirection toward the boy dressed in females clothes will cause male prostitution and perverted sexual activity.

On Minimalist Fiction

John Barth's "On Minimalist Fiction" was terribly difficult to interpret.

On Close Readings by Peter Rabinowitz

In Peter Rabinowitz's "On Close Readings", he argues that close reading rests on faulty assumptions about how literature is read which can lead to faulty prescriptions about how it ought to be read. Rabinowitz believes that there are variety of ways to read and the way one reads varies. I agree with him when he says, "Different authors, different genres, different periods, different cultures expect readers to approach texts in different ways". He also believes that once you give priority to close reading, you favor figurative writing over realistic writing, indirect expression over direct expression, deep meaning over surface meaning, form over content, and the elite over the popular.

On the Diffrences between Poetry and Prose

In T.E. Hulme's "On the Differences between Poetry and Prose", I agree that poetry should appeal to the senses and prose can't accomplish that as well. Hulme states, "It is a compromise for a language of intuition which would hand over sensations bodily." Hulme makes the point that poetry appeals to the senses, that it focuses on image versus abstraction. “There are in prose,” Hulme states, “certain type situations and arrangements of words, which move as automatically into certain other arrangements as do functions in algebra.” He suggests that, "prose is an old pot that lets them leak out".

Figuring Out Metaphors

John R. Searle actually help me figure out and and question metaphors.I understand how authors speak metaphorically and do not mean what they say literally. I didn't understand how I might assume that the author is speaking metaphorically, but it might be much harder to figure out what he means. I didn't know that the existence of such utterances pose a series of questions for any theory of language and communication. Such as: Why do some metaphors work and others do not?; Why do we use expressions metaphorically instead of saying exactly and literally what we mean?