smithlj's blog

This is my revised literary work collage for The Sound and The Fury. I wanted to make these images stand out more and make it easier for the viewer to read the page from the book. I think this collage better represents the literary work as a whole.

First of all, I’d like to start of by saying how much I have enjoyed this class. When I first came to summer school I was enrolled in Chemistry 21 and Lab, but after a couple of days I knew that wasn't the class for me. Luckily, I found another class that piqued my interest and that class just happened to be English 28--Major American Authors. Lucky for me Professor Anderson was nice enough to add me to his class roster. The first day of class I realized that this wasn't going to be what I expected, but that hasn't been a bad thing! When I signed up for Major American Authors, I was expecting to read a lot of books from well, major American authors! Instead I have learned so much more than I could ever read in a book. I have learned from personal experience. This summer session has been full of interesting and challenging assignments. I have completed a playlist, profile, group podcast, two collages, a video collage, and multiple blog postings. This final portfolio will reflect what I have accomplished in this class and will offer some reflections on my work.

This is the podcast for my group. We concentrated on Gender and Body Image in today's society. We used two songs, "Unpretty" by TLC and "Can't Hold Us Down" by Christinia Aguilera. We felt that the first song by TLC portrays how many women feel. It is about a woman who tries to do everything in her power to look pretty and finally she realizes that if she doesn't know who she is on the inside, she will never be happy with herself on the outside. The second song is more about the way women's points of views can change. The singer recognizes that no one can hold her down, she will achieve her dreams. We also used a poem "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy. This poem was sad because it told the story of a young girl who was never able to appreciate all of her qualities and abilities. She only worried about her "fat nose and thick legs." Nobody saw her strengths until she had chosen to end her life because she could not accept the way she was physically. All three of these pieces help portray the importance of gender and body image in society today.

I really enjoyed reading The Wal-Mart Effect: Scouring the Globe to Give Shoppers an $8.63 Polo Shirt because I have seen the effects that cheap overseas labor can have on business and families. There is a family from my neighborhood where the father has moved his business overseas in order to stay in business. First the business was moved to Mexico, then Honduras, and now they are moving to Asia. This man only gets to see his family for about 3 weeks out of the year, including holidays, all in the search for the cheapest labor. I’m not going to argue that Wal-Mart doesn’t have its positives. I know that new Wal-Marts open across America nearly every month and provide many Americans with jobs. The problem is that in search for cheap labor, jobs are leaving the country. I learned about Wal-Mart and its affects on the country and the globe in another class and believe that one could affectively argue for either side: is Wal-Mart good or bad for America.

The Transformation of Silence into Action by Audre Lorde is about fear’s hold on our lives because we are afraid of what people will think if we speak our minds. The author realized the importance of speaking her mind when she came face to face with her own mortality. A tumor was found and the author underwent breast surgery, but luckily, the tumor was benign. During this time, the author looked upon her life with a clarity she never had before and found that she most regretted her silence. Death is viewed as the ultimate silence and is inevitable for everyone, but while living we have the chance to speak, to turn our silence into action. One of my favorite lines says, “What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make them your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? I think this line demonstrates that while death may be the ultimate silence, if we don’t speak our minds it can be just as devastating as death.

“The Market Economy” by Marge Piercy is about life choices we must make, and ironically, sometimes we don’t even realize we’re making a choice. This poem can be found on page 536-537 in the responding to injustice section. The introduction for this section states, “many of the conflicts we face in society are more pervasive and subtle.” Marge Piercy’s poem fits well into this section because a person often has to choose between two choices, but the decision is often a subtle one. I think Piercy uses this poem to critique our culture and society. Many of the choices Piercy presents seem to be very dissimilar and have nothing to do with each other. For example “you can have polyvinyl cups and wash and wear suits but it will cost you your left lung.” I looked up Marge Piercy on the Internet and read what she thought about her poem, “The Market Place Economy”. She said that the type of line is very important because it is a short, more conversational line and is drawn from Emily Dickinson through Williams.

I found A&P by John Updike to be very interesting. Updike uses a lot of descriptive words to describe the girls, the store, and the monotonous routine of being an A&P clerk. I found it ironic how Sammy tried to stand up for the young girls and act heroic, but in the end only lost his job and any future hopes of working in the store.

Two of the girls seemed less comfortable than the "leader" who walked up straight with her straps off of her shoulder. These girls act like they were asked to go into the store with the leader because she didn't want to go by herself. When the Manager confronts the girls about their bathing suits, they proclaim that they are dressed appropriately and are obviously upset about the comment. Sammy tries to do the heroic thing and stand up to the Manager, but receives no thanks or praise from the girls. This story is full of ironic situations and I enjoyed reading it.

I found Hard Rock by Etheridge Knight to be very similar to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They are similar because both main characters are subject to some kind of treatment, surgery, shock therapy, or something to change the way they acted. In Hard Rock, the main character seemed a beacon of hope for other inmates. They liked to tell stories about him; he was almost like a legend to them. At first, the other inmates are hopeful that this surgery has not harmed Hard Rock and that he will go back to his old self and not be "tame."

The line "We told ourselves that he had just wised up" shows that the inmates don't want to come to the realization that Hard Rock has actually been taken away from them.

I just wanted to take a little bit of time to give some information on Carrie Chapman Catt for those who don't know who she is. I had a hard time picking a person to compose a playlist for and write a profile for. I had an idea about what I was looking for in a person, but couldn't decide who to choose. So of course I turned to Google and searched for famous American women and chose someone I had never heard of, Carrie Chapman Catt. What I found interesting about Catt was that she has been hidden behind larger figures of the suffrage movement and I wanted to find out why. For those who want to learn more about her check out these links or feel free to read my profile and make some comments, I welcome it all!

I just wanted to take a minute to say that I didn't think the added scene in "The Story of an Hour" portrayed the characters as the author, Kate Choplin, wanted to. I think that Kate Choplin wrote "The Story of an Hour" to depict the traditions women were supposed to uphold. The traditional woman was expected to be a housewife and mother. The death of Mr. Mallard in this story represents a new beginning for Mrs. Mallard. I don't think the character was physically abused as the movie clip portrayed, but that she simply wasn't happy with her life. She wanted freedom and realized that it could be hers, finally.