Since the last reflection post, I would say that I have really focused on our reading and analyzing techniques. Through annotating both The American Dream and Death of A Salesman, I have really started to notice both the minutia and the overarching themes, along with the differences between those two. I especially liked our theme discussion of The American Dream, where we went through and listed out the thematic motifs and eventually came down to our final theme statement. This process really helped me understand different elements of the play, and how theme transcends the story and acts more or less like a life lesson. We repeated this exercise with "Promises like Pie-Crust," and I found that our discussions were getting more efficient and focused, especially with Ms. Holmes guiding us through the title's allusion.
Watching Death of A Salesman was a very helpful experience because, even while annotating afterward, the text's transitions into Willy Loman's flashback scenes are hard to understand. I almost wish that we could see an acted out version of The American Dream, for it might reveal more meaning in certain moments of the play through a visual representation of the action. In addition, I learned another acronym for big reads (S.T.I.F.S.), and I thought that this different technique helped reinforce the idea of big vs. little picture. This last week, we learned some new ideas on the definition of tragedy, especially how that idea has changed between the ancient Greek and modern eras. After reading the articles last Friday, I was left with the idea that Death of A Salesman is a tragedy. Though we are still ruminating on this idea, I still think that this story has many things in common with Shakespearean tragedies, like Macbeth and Othello, especially with regards to the idea of an individual fall. As we continue in our discussion of the text, I hope to gain a better grasp of this along with some of the overarching messages in the play. As I annotated, I felt like there were some repeating motifs, but I was not sure about their significance or contribution to the meaning, such as the water or the dynamic between Willy and Charley.
Going back to the idea of analyzing texts, I thought that the multiple choice practice activities were also helpful. Having already done some in the summer, I felt more prepared this time (especially with Ms. Holmes' strategies). One of the things about this class that is rather surprising to me is the lack of specific units. In my previous lit classes, there was always a framework to guide the activities we did in class, but with A.P. lit, it's almost like I come to class with no idea about what we'll cover next (other than the list of novels). In a way, I would say that the articles and discussions have made me start thinking on my feet more, which will definitely be a useful skill come May.
As we continue along on our intellectual quest, I hope to continue checking in on poetry, which I still have some trouble analyzing, and I also hope to continue building on my knowledge of terminology, so that I can effectively respond to the texts we read.
We will definitely be working on poetry more! Great job covering the material and reflecting on its significance to you--I would like to see a bit more synthesis of material across the course and connecting of the material to experiences (academic and otherwise) from outside of this course.
ReplyDeleteAbhijit,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job talking about everything that has happened so far and voicing your opinion. It seem as though as everyone is struggling to comprehend poetry and hopefully Ms. Holmes has a plan to ease the frustration.
From annotating The American Dream and Death of A Salesman, how much do you think you have improved identifying themes, connections between passages in the text, motifs and so on?
When we were examining Promises Like A Pie Crust, did you find it one of the easier or harder poems to analyze? Due to the basic language in the poem, I felt as though it was easier to understand the poem and the meaning behind but we have a long way to go before we can analyze for connections between the passage, motifs, themes, meaning behind the title and how it connects to the poem as a whole on our own.
For the Death of A Salesman, if Ms. Holmes didn't show the movie, how do you think that would have affected our perception of the story? Did you think that you have improved in analyzing from the American Dream? What were some of your thoughts on the Death of A Salesman after we were finished with the story.
Yes i agree that practicing the multiple choice test has been very helpful regardless of the scores. Did you see yourself improve from the last practice test we took? Were you able to identify which poem you had a stronger understanding towards?
Also, I do find the lack of special units quite unusual but I also find it relieving. The ability to be flexible to the schedule is necessary for an AP class in my opinion. Just this week, 2nd hour spent an entire hour trying to make the perfect thesis statement for the atmosphere activity. If we were in a regular english class, we would not have been to do that and left many students unsatisfied with their work.
But other than that, keep up the good work!
I agree with a lot of your post. I also think that finding all the motifs and then creating a theme was very helpful. Last year in American lit for our PA assignment we had a theme of "happiness" or "freedom" and now after reading plays and looking at poems I understand that that is not a theme at all. I am very glad that we go through as a class and look at everything otherwise I would be lost but it makes a lot of sense. I agree with you as well that doing the multiple choice (though grueling) is very helpful. The practice we did on Friday over the three poems, the first I got almost all of the answers wrong but as I did the other two I improved. By the third I only got three wrong, I thought it was interesting you could see that much improvement after just one day so I am very happy we are doing them. I thought your post was very honest and well done. Is there anything your really looking forward too in class?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post Abhijit! You have covered a ton here. I agree with you on nearly everything, especially the bit that you touched on about poetry. One thing that I would disagree with you on is the classification of Death of a Salesman as a tragedy. In our hour we discussed this and came to the conclusion that while the play was certainly tragic in the feelings that it gave to the reader, it should not be filed into the tragedy genre because it does not meet the specifications that are set in place for tragedies. Essentially we quibbled with the idea that an author could just make up his own rules for a genre. It would be really interesting to hear more of your discussions on that point. I would like to see your reasoning behind classifying it as tragedy.
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