Free Write:Warm-up

On my way to class I felt drowsy and cold. I had a million things running through my mind at one time. If I had to describe the mood i was in through color, I would describe it has a dark blue color with gray swirled around in that color. The dark blue color would describe the mood I was in because when you typically are sleeping you want things to be dark and the blue is a relaxing color that makes you fall asleep. The gray swirls mixed in are the million ideas that were and are cluttered in my head at the same time.

Question 1: "Hills Like White Elephants"

The couple in this story are argueing about whether or not to get an abortion. In the first half of the story the women isn't sure whether or not she wants to. while the man is trying to get her to basically drink away her doubts and fears. The man keeps offering more drink to the women. By the end of the story the women is convinced to go with the operation but, is fed up with the man. She tells him to stop talking because she just will go through with it but, doesnt want to talk anymore about it. Abortion is a vey serious issue and is probably a very sensitive issue for the women so she refuses to talk about it. In the second half, the quote, "I realize,"..."Can't we stop talking now," sums up her postition she realizes what she needs to do and now she doesnt want to talk about it anymore.

Question 3: " The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

I think the convenience store worker based his fear on the indian's skin and hair because maybe he has problems in the past with others who have had the same skin color and hair. Another reason he may fear the indian is because it may just be a stereotype in that area that many people fear people with his kind of skin and hair. The narrator suggests that the store worker fears him because of his skin and hair because many other people do and he knows the stereotype around that area.

Question 3: "Girl"

The main reason the mother speaks more than the daughter is because she is going trough and laying out every possible situation for her daughter and every possible rule that her mother has. The daughter says so little because her mother is overwhelming her with these rules and possibilities she will incounter. The daughter only has time to get her mind set on only a few details in her mothers rambling to arguer or question. Her arguments or questions to her mother may not be the most important thing in the conversation but they are the things that stook out in her mind. When somebody is going on about things you should or should not do and you come across something that you know you never do, that thought sticks in your mind untill you have a chance to question it. That's the reason the daughter argued things a little after they were already discussed. The reason the mother says so much more than the girl is because she is rambling on with out many pauses or time for debate from the girl.

“The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”

"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven"
The story is about an Indian living in Seattle with a women who he argues with frequently. he describes one night where he goes to a 7-11 store and the man suspects him to be dangerous just because of the way he looks. He also describes a time when he was driving around and got lost in a higher scale neighborhood was and got pulled over by the cops. The cops thought he was suspicious because he was indian and didnt belong in that area. The indian doesnt think he fits the profile for the whole country, not just that neighborhood. The story continues with him going back home to live with his parents and become a bum who watches t.v. all day. The author describes is characters as either white or indian. He must be trying to get a point across that there is tension between the two races.

"Girl" by:Jamaica Kincaid

"Girl"
This story is about somebody laying out a list of how to do everything in life that the girl will come across. I picture the person who is writing the list to be the girl. It could be that the mother has passed away or has left and the girl is writing down a list of things that she thought her mother was supposed to teach her. When she is referred to as the slut her mom always told her not to be, the girl could be saying this because she feels she might have let her mother down. She may not think she turned out how her mother imagined her to. If it is her mother writing the list, the sentences in smaller italic font could be the daughter briefly responding to a few of the items on the list. Another reason I believe it is the girl writing the poem is the fact that some of the items on the list are things that a mother wouldn't typically teach her child. For example, the story says, " This is how you spit up in the air if you feel like...". That sentence makes me think that the girl doesn't know if spitting up in the air is something her mother would have taught her. Maybe the mother hasn't gone anywhere and the list is just a reference for the girl for whenever she comes across anything on the list.

Comparison of Esenin's "Golden Grove"

Golden Grove:
I think the first translation is much better than the second. The first translation seems to be alittle bit deeper and seems to flow more smoothly. The first translation paints a more sophisticated picture than the second translation. The second translation lays everything out to you without you having to search for the meaning. Each translation has the same meaning, they just say it in different ways. The better version I think has a better way of portraying the meaning behind the poem.

Freewrite

Shepherd:

• A shepherd is somebody who guides a group of followers.
• A leader.

Desert:

• A place in the middle of nowhere.
• Somewhere you can get easily lost.
• A place with out water or access to food.

Universe:

• Planets
• Endless space
• everything around you
• The galaxy
• black space with stars

Warm-up

1. Close Reading- To me close reading means to read something to find meaning in the text or reading to find specific information or gain specific information in the text.

Pastoral-To me pastoral might mean something religious. Some type of religous reading.

Oxford Dictionary meanings:
Close Reading-b. spec. in Literary Criticism, close criticism, reading, etc., critical and detailed analysis of a text; an example of this. Also applied to the analysis of other works of art.

Pastoral-I. A person or thing associated with spiritual care.

2.Mistress- A wife or maybe a women a husband is having an affair with.

Nymph-I'm not sure what this one means. Maybe something new.

Oxford Dictionary meanings:

Nymph: 1. Chiefly Classical Mythol. Any of a class of semi-divine spirits, imagined as taking the form of a maiden inhabiting the sea, rivers, mountains, woods, trees, etc., and often portrayed in poetry as attendants on a particular god.
or
b. Chiefly poet. A beautiful young woman; a maiden, a damsel.

Mistress: I. A woman having control or authority.
or
2. a. The female head of a family, household, or other establishment; a woman holding such a position in conjunction with a male counterpart.

Practice 6-D/ Practice 6-E

In "Black Elvis," the character's name does have a connection between his name and his character. He is black and sings elvis songs in a bar. The name black elvis has a meaning. The black part could mean he's black or that nobody believes he can sing like elvis because he is black. In the end of the story nobody believed in him.

6-E The connotation to the word Grandmother to me is Grandma. Grandmother to me means somebody who you visit every year more than once, who always is cooking homecooked country meals. A Grandmother to me is somebody who always loves you no matter what and is there to teach you while you are young.

Homework 01/24/07 Notes/Comments/questions poems

In the Desert:

• I think the author was implying that the creature is lost by saying he is in the desert.
• Him eating at his own heart is like him sinning which is biting away at his heart.
• The creature likes to sin so he likes eating away at his heart.

A Man Said to the Universe:

• Maybe the Man doesn't feel like he is appreciated or noticed.
• When he tries to be noticed the world just blows him off.

The Flea:

• The poem is about a flea who sucked blood from the person in the poem. He or she must be angry that the flea took life(blood) from them.
• The person realizes that the flea took only a small thing from them but he or she kills the flea anyway.

The Passionate Shepard to His Love:

• The Shepard is trying to persuade his love to come live with him by describing what it would be like to be in love with him.

To His Coy Mistress:

• The man is telling his mistress that if they had an eternity to live together he would love her forever and he is telling her how many years he would spend loving every part of her.

The Nymph's reply to the Shepard:

"If all the world and love were young," - this means that if there was more time in the world and more time to love.

"And truth in every shepard's tongue," - This must mean that many shepards lie. It could also mean that many or a shepard has told tales of the world being endless and love lasting forever.

"These pretty pleasures might me move, To live with thee and be thy love," - If all these previous suggestions were true then he could live with her and be her love.

The poem means that world is not timeless and that things fade, but if they did have no age then they could live together and be lovers.

Notes/Comments/Questions (strategies reading)

NOTES:

• When reading it is important to make the distinction between leisure reading and academic reading.
• Leisure reading is reading for pleasure, for no particular purpose.
• Academic reading is reading for a purpose. Academic reading can still be pleasurable.
• Our purposes for reading are different, so our processes - our behaviors and practices - must also be different.
• Primary text- the original piece of fiction or the poem. The primary text is used when reading for basic understanding within the text.
• Secondary text- literary criticism or other cultural or historical artifacts and information. The secondary text is used to situate the text into a larger cultural context.
• Annotation- Taking notes in the margins as you read.
• Skeleton outline- A brief sketchy overview started in the margins of a text and often transferred to outline form.
• Summary- an objective restatement of the main ideas presented in a text.
• Photo collage- a visual representation of your response to the verbal text.
• Dialogue-records quotations from the text and pairs them with the reader's response in the form of a two- column list.

Comments:

The best strategy for me to understand the text is to use the skeleton outline and briefly state what is happening in the text, to better understand and remember a few details.

I think between the photo collage and dialogue to explore my response to a text, I would use the dialogue and form the column to pair quotations from the text and respond to them.

Homework 01/22/08

2. When you encounter a new text, you should ask yourself, what kind of work is it?(what is the genre), what is the focal point of the text?, how is this text different from others?, and what is the work's medium?
9. Subject matter can be signaled by a title, or the subject matter may be clearly stated. In many cases the subject matter is inferred or interpreted.
13. People approach texts differently because everyone has a different background and their own connection(s) with the text. One person may relate to some part in a text when others can not really find any part of the text to relate to or they may find a different part to relate to. The main reason given by the reading is that by birth, education, and experience, we all come to texts differently, find different things in them, and react in unique ways.
14. When taking a text apart, the things you should look for are, the elements that give unity to the text, sequences that link events of a text, the way the whole text is divided, and the arrangement and balance of a text.
15. Details are important in a text because they often provide support for a claim, in written texts. In visual texts, they enrich or complicate your initial experience.