...When one ask themselves what violence is in literature, do they think of abuse, revenge, romantic, or even thematic? Violence can portrayed in several ways more than most people think. One can think of violence as meaningless in some situations but usually in literature violence always has a meaning behind it. This essay is going to compare how the titles The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass , an American Slave and The Crucible can relate to violence on how it is described in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas E. Foster, he explains how violence has a variety of ways to be expressed as well as many meanings to be understood. He states , “ It can be symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent.” These describe in literature why violence is a key part of the story. Violence in literature always has a meaning never usually you will find it meaningless. Foster states , “Violence in literature, though, while it is literal, is...
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...The Decline and Fall of Literature November 4, 1999 ANDREW DELBANCO E-mail Print [pic]Share [pic] [pic]In Plato’s Cave[pic] by Alvin Kernan A couple of years ago, in an article explaining how funds for faculty positions are allocated in American universities, the provost of the University of California at Berkeley offered some frank advice to department chairs, whose job partly consists of lobbying for a share of the budget. “On every campus,” she wrote, “there is one department whose name need only be mentioned to make people laugh; you don’t want that department to be yours.”1 The provost, Carol Christ (who retains her faculty position as a literature professor), does not name the offender—but everyone knows that if you want to locate the laughingstock on your local campus these days, your best bet is to stop by the English department. The laughter, moreover, is not confined to campuses. It has become a holiday ritual for The New York Times to run a derisory article in deadpan Times style about the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, where thousands of English professors assemble just before the new year. Lately it has become impossible to say with confidence whether such topics as “Eat Me; Captain Cook and the Ingestion of the Other” or “The Semiotics of Sinatra” are parodies of what goes on there or serious presentations by credentialed scholars.2 At one recent English lecture, the speaker discussed a pornographic “performance artist”...
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...English Comp II Editing and Revising Being a college student I can clearly see how the average writer can become “cluttered” or “flustered” when writing paper with the increase flow of all this new information. When you find all these different articles or facts off the Internet or textbooks we students can sometimes put too much information in our papers and not have enough sited sources. Often times the cluttering of essay and point can side track or even confuse the reader. This is the reason the revision of essays is 100 percent fool proof and is essential to have an extra set of eyes read your own work. In the essay "Simplicity," William Zinnser states, "clutter is the disease of American writing" (129). With writing any type of paper the writer may run into the same problems that pelages many students, which is the clutter of information. Today generation have an almost infinite amount of sources of information on the Internet trying to document each source is often not taking into account. The biggest problem that professors have is to advise students to site their sources to comply with MLA format; but if hey have too much information and don’t source their information they are plagiarizing. With today’s technology becoming smarter the younger generations are losing some of their grammar skills with spell check or auto spell. In "Its Academic, or Is it?” Charles R. Larson writes how students writing grammatically correct sentences are having problems because they...
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...William Thompson Professor Tatum ENGL 200 26 May, 2013 Dear Professor Tatum: For my final essay I am writing a revision of an earlier essay that I wrote. The previous essay that I am choosing to rewrite is What You Pawn I Will Redeem written by Sherman Alexie. I chose to use the first topic choice because the first thing that came to mind when I read the topics choice was my first essay. I feel that I barely scratched the surface when I wrote my first essay when the topic was over relationships within the story. Now that I am revisiting the original essay my thoughts have changed but only in that I have grown more intrigued into the life of Alexie and his character Jackson Jackson from the story What You Pawn I Will Redeem. The thing that I found to be hardest about the rewriting of the essay was to substantially change the essay, and expand on it but to stay focused enough to give clear and concise subject matter for the topic at hand. The strengths of my new essay are that I was able to expand and elaborate on my previous work while the weakness may be that I was not as focused on the main subject topic as I would have like to have been. I did try to incorporate as much information that I could from the new resources that I found from JSTOR, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. I do think that I did pick great resources to gain insight into the mind of Mr. Sherman Alexie. I would like to know if the research that I chose to write about piqued more interest...
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...Final Essay Exam As everyone knows, education is the key to success, even though there might be some challenges. I personally was able to find one of those challenges which unfortunately I was not able to overcome. For the first time in my junior year of college I had failed a class. After seeing the letter “F” as one of my grades, I knew at that point that I had to work twice as hard from previous years if I wanted to make up for it. Now, that I’m about to register for my senior year is where I start to realize that failing a class does make you fall behind. In order to make up for the class that I failed, I will be taking six classes for next semester. As you can see, education has shaped my life; it has taught me that there is no time to waste. One of the hardest things that education has to offer to students I would say is reading. Not everyone has the time to sit or lie down and read a book. I am one of those students that do not like to read because it does not catch my attention. The only time that I do read is when the professors assigns it to me. However, when I do read those readings, I always learn new things such as, what has and could happen in real life. For instance, the book that I identify with is Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzalduá. In her writing she shows us a new direction that women need to take in order to free themselves psychologically, spiritually, and sexually. Furthermore, Anzalduá argues that as a result of the traditional...
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...the assigned reading within the first two weeks of the school year. AP English IV (11th grade students entering AP IV in 2016-2017) Seniors should create a synopsis card for each novel read of literary merit. Your teacher will explain how this will prepare you for the open questions for the AP Literature exam. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C, Foster Complete writing assignments from the chapter sheet that accompanies Foster. See Assignments on the back of this sheet. Access this link for tips on dialectical journal entries: https:www.YouTube.com/watch?v=CBsJTqfB1Ws AP English IV Writing Assignments Directions: Complete assignments for chapters 1-10 as you read Foster’s work. Writing Assignments for How to Read Literature like a Professor By Thomas C. Foster (Adapted from Donna Anglin by Sandra Effinger) Introduction: How’d He Do That? How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern. (200 words) Chapter 1 – Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5. Chapter 2 – Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion Choose a meal...
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...CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Local Literature Foreign Literature (Scott Young) What are Good Studying Habits? I’m just another student like yourself. I don’t believe there is one perfect key to excellent grades that will work for everyone. But there are some common themes to improving study habits and not all of them require investing more time. In fact, most of these suggestions will be aimed at reducing your total time usage, by studying smart–not just hard. I believe learning is a product of investment. If you make small, efficient investments in learning throughout the term you can spare yourself the frustration of cramming near the end. Your grades will thank you and your social life doesn’t need to wither and die to learn more each term. Here are some tips for improving your study habits next term: 1. Use 30-Day Trials. Popularized by Steve Pavlina, trial periods work under the principle that by committing to a change for a month, it will become a habit. Since it is study techniques you want to reinforce, pick one or two habits and work on them for an entire month. 2. The Learn-It-Once Approach. Spend your time learning things as they come up in your courses. Attend classes with the perspective that you could be tested at any moment. It should only be material that you were just presented that you might not have had time to fully learn. Waiting before tests, assignments or finals is taking things too far. 3. Morning...
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...Everyone suspects that the essay he reads illuminates the puerility of the student’s essay that preceded because Forrester reads his own work of genius. The essay Forrester reads is entitled “Losing Family.” It lures the reader into thinking that Forrester is addressing how Jamal, whom he has not yet revealed as his friend, has replaced his dead family. Forrester abruptly ends his reading and attempts to excuse himself, setting up the English teacher to ask why he attended the event. Forrester then strategically reveals that the essay he just read was written by Jamal. As the students, members of the board, and the principal applauds, the English teacher literally attempts to “shush” the students. Of course, Forrester has tricked the teacher, whom he has sabotaged before, into exposing himself as a power monger. In the midst of much applause, Jamal leaves the room with Forrester who explains that he is about to leave on a...
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...If you happen to have a 2013 edition The Best American Essays, please open to Richard Schmitt’s Sometimes a Romantic Notion on page 27. In this narrative, Schmitt wants to lead those who think there is a way to face reality and get rid all of the nonsense illusions to realize that we are living in a world surrounded by dreams and hopes. We will never know what it is until we try it ourselves. Mr. Schmitt conveys such idea by walking the readers through the story of a narrator who runs away from home, joins a circus, and becomes a professor. What makes this essay so interesting and fascinating to read is Schmitt’s ability to control the character, to create doubt and to twist the narrator around that make the readers want to discover more about this...
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...AP English Literature and Composition 2012 Summer Reading Assignment I. DRAMA Oedipus Rex by Sophocles We are not requiring any particular edition of the play; however, we would highly recommend a version which includes supplemental materials/explanations of Greek drama and Greek mythology. Purchase, read, and annotate the play prior to the first day of class. It would be wise to focus your annotation on instances of dramatic irony, images of vision and blindness, and tension between fate and free will. The following literary analysis assignment will be collected during the second week of school. LITERARY ANALYSIS OF DRAMA In a typed, one-page essay, offer your assessment of Oedipus at the end of the play. Was he foolish? Heroic? Fated? Support with textual evidence as appropriate and follow MLA format. II. READING FOR PLEASURE Read a book—fiction or non-fiction—strictly for pleasure. Strong readers and writers have a wealth of textual experiences and a vast amount of background knowledge from which to draw. The most important aspect of this assignment is that you select a work you will enjoy reading. During the first week of class, you will conduct a book talk over your selected work in which you will “sell” the experience of reading your book to your peers, so pick something good! Some suggestions for selecting your “reading for pleasure” book include, but are not limited to: * Classic works of literature from an era, author, or genre you...
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...Despite that throughout history it has always been shown in films from A Nation Reborn to literature To Kill a Mockingbird. Racism has always been questioned if it has played an effect in the court system. Because its is become more popular discussed in today society i feel it is important to get rid of it all together. While writing this essay on racism I found myself re questioning myself countless times as I did not wish to either contradict myself or come off as “strong left wing liberal” as some of the kids from our composition class would say. Throughout this essay I was doing countless research from the documentary on racism that we viewed in class to statistics regarding racism in the court system. I find that research in essay allows for us to gain knowledge in order to support our own ideas in the paper and to better grasp the realism of the pigeonholes that are present in our society today. The most valuable piece of evidence in my essay would be the interview I had with one of my former professors from high school who was a law teacher and was my mock trial coach. We read some Iowa court cases that were deemed to be racist primarily from the early fifties and late sixties when prejugdism and racism were much alive and well in the...
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...Writing Your Graduate School Application Essay Generally speaking, there are two types of application essays for graduate school: the statement of purpose (SOP) and the personal statement. (Refer to FAQs to find out how the two types are different.) Both types let you convince the admissions committee that you are a good fit for the program and can contribute to the department. Although different graduate schools may ask you to answer different prompts, most ask that you write no more than a two-page application essay. The application essay is difficult to write because you must pitch your candidacy to a few department faculty members who read through hundreds – or sometimes thousands – of other essays. In this handout, you will learn how to show these busy readers that you will contribute meaningfully to the university and their department. 1. Relate your past and present experiences to the future. In their application essays, many applicants make the mistake of underemphasizing the future. But it’s important that you show how your past experiences have informed your present work, and how your present work can be extended to the future or raise new research questions. Admissions committees assess many qualified applicants based on whether their research will reflect positively on the university and their department. Committees will think your past and present work is relevant only if it relates directly to your plans for the future. If you don’t know exactly where your current...
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...since I have always had issues with writing due to things like grammar errors and fragment sentences. Thus, it is never easy for me to form a five-paragraph essay that would constricted my ideas for so long, and yet would cost me more than a week to write. However, during this semester, I have learned multiple things in English composition 1304. I have learned how to think outside of the box on every assignment I wrote. I have become a better writer, at least in my mind. The different writing assignments in this class were very unique and were helpful to me using research which includes how to use appropriate MLA formatting, and how to find and properly use different sources. Also,...
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...section, having us read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Before that, we studied classics like Antigone, The Catcher in the Rye, and Hamlet. The Hobbit was something different. We still studied symbolism and figurative language. We still had pop quizzes on comprehension and vocabulary. But this was the action-packed adventure that put sparkles in Mrs. Gordon's eyes. I already liked to read and write. But that day while observing my teacher instruct a bunch of rambunctious teens, only interested in cell phones and instant messaging, I realized how fulfilling it could be to share the love of literature with others. By the end of that year, we all loved Tolkien's adventure and we all enjoyed reading more. But I left with one extra passion: learning more about the world's great stories, and sharing my love of...
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...Jordan Hollingsworth Professor Appling English 1102 28 February 2016 Paper on Simon J. Ortiz “(My Father’s Song) A poem is a set up of words out together into a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and song that is nearly always rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such formal elements as meter, rhyme, and stanza structure. In the poem written by Simon J. Ortiz is a very touch poem about ones father and how he misses him dearly. He recalls a memory they had once shared together. The next poem that will be laid out and made more clearer to the viewer will be a poem about a mans father and his hard work. The narrator of the story is one that is recalling his past and how he felt bad for his dad as a young boy. As he has gotten older and more understanding to challenges in life he starts to relative the hardship and to feel bad for his dad. Some expressions or descriptions that are used inside poems are figurative language, symbolisms, metaphor, simile, and personification. Figurative language is words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. Symbolisms are the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In the essay we will discuss the ideas of how the author uses different ways that they have put there thought together in the poem. Metaphor is a term of used to imply comparison between two literally incompatible items; it does not use explicit connective words. Simile is an explicit comparison...
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