Close Reading #4 (12/16)

     http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/opinion/collins-the-woes-of-roe.html?ref=opinion

      The article "The Woes of Roe" by Gail Collins is an editorial discussing the abortion issue that is constantly debated.  Her article defends a woman's choice to have an abortion, and discusses how labels such as "pro-life" and "pro-choice"  can affect how people view the question.  To support her argument, Collins utilises diction, syntax, and details.
      The main function of Collins' choice of diction is to relate to the target audience.  She begins the article by mentioning that young Americans are giving less support for abortion rights, so young Americans are the people she needs to convince that abortion rights are important.  To do this, Collins uses simple terms that teens use, but not too much so she still sounds like an imformed adult.  Diction that relates to teens are words such as "crazy," "labels," or "popular."  Throwing in words that teenagers hear on a daily basis from their peers helps them relate to the writer.
      To make supporting abortion rights seem like the obvious choice, Collins includes different syntax techniques.  As said above, Collins states that more young Americans are calling themselves pro-life rather than pro-choice.  After this Collins writes, "On the other hand — I know you had faith that eventually we’d get to the other hand — the polls depend on the question."  Breaking up the middle of the sentence with dashes makes the middle of the sentence sound like an aside.  It implies that the reader was waiting anxiously to hear the rebuttal.  Later, Collins includes the quote, "We’re just doing business as usual. Trying to be there for the women of Mississippi."  The person saying the quote uses short simple sentences as if nothing more is necessary.  This tone magnifies the point that what's truly important is supporting women no matter their personal choices.

       Lastly, details greatly  reinforces Collins' point of view while convincing the reader.  Even though lately more people say they are pro-life, "according to the Quinnipiac poll, if you ask Americans whether they agree with the Roe decision, nearly two-thirds say yes."  Basically this is saying that even people that are pro-life agree with the decision that allows abortions.  To help her case Collins includes details that tie into the struggle economy issue such as, "Abortion clinics around the country are reeling under crazy new rules that make it impossible for them to operate...only a handful managed to reopen." This detail says to the reader that this decision doesn't only effect women, it effects our economy.  Finally, to drive it home Collins pushes the argument that women should decide what's right for women with the detail, "If you want to rack up a real positive response on a poll, ask people whether the women or the politicians should make decisions about their pregnancies. One of the surveys commissioned by Planned Parenthood showed 83 percent of likely voters picked the women, including 64 percent of those who called themselves pro-life." 

      A woman has the right to believe that an abortion is not right for her, so a woman should also be given the right to choose the alternative.  This is what Collins' article wants to get across to the audience.   To do this diction, syntax, and details, are skillfully used to support her view.

   

Open Prompt #4 (12/9)

        In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a group of school boys are stranded on an island left isolated to fend for themselves.  The story follows their struggle to survive while they slowly progress from civilized to savage.  Several symbols and motifs are implimented to reveal traits about the characters and enhance the themes of the story.  One of the most important symbols is the conch shell, a source of power and order because the boy who holds it is allowed to speak.  The conch becomes the symbol for civilization to magnify the theme of civilization vs. savagery and characterize the boy Ralph.
       After a plane crash, the boys are scattered about the island and the sound of the conch shell brings them together again.  The keeper of the conch shell Ralph becomes the leader of their  group.  In the beginning of the book, all is well on the island with everyone being responsible for a job (even if they don't always work diligently).  Under the rule of the conch shell, the boys are civilized human beings.  However, as violence increases the power of the conch decreases.  Not long after the leader of the hunters Jack makes his first kill he decides to leave the group.  As more and more boys follow Jack and abandon the conch shell, the more savage they become.  Giving in to their inner beast, the boys turn severely violent without showing remorse.  Without the order the conch provided, their state becomes so savage that they murder the only innocent character without the blink of an eye.  Civilization finally loses the battle when the conch shatters.  Following the destruction of the conch, the savages hunt down the original leader, Ralph, to murder him.            
      Another main function of the conch is to characterize Ralph.  Ralph finds the conch and uses it to round up all the boys on the island.  He is elected to be the leader and controls the conch.  He is the one who decides the  conch will be used to organize who will speak at their meetings.  Other boys are not always concerned with the chores they are assigned but Ralph continuously tries to get work done for survival and to get home.  When the other boys leave to join Jack's tribe, Ralph who still holds the conch refuses to join and denies the violent tendencies the other boys contracted.  His close connection to the conch keeps him civil.  At one point, Ralph leaves his camp and the conch and visits the other camp.  While he is there he commits an act of violence, the murder of the innocent boy.  However, Ralph is not transformed into a savage like his comrades.  He returns to the conch and clutches it while he admits his sins to himself.  After the shell is broken Ralph, the only civil one left, is hunted but before his attackers catch up he discovers a ship that will rescue them.  Knowing he is safe, Ralph "wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart," (Golding).  This boy who found the conch shell is able to reflect on the events and feel remorse for the loss of civilization.
      The conch supports the book's main theme and is used to guage how characters lie on the spectrum of civilizaed or savage.  The events involving the conch can provide insight into the theme and reveal the characters' true self.  Without a conch, or gavel, or flag, society will discover the true nature of human beings.

Response to Course Material #4 (12/2)

As much I as enjoyed discussing Death of a Salesman in class, I did not have as much fun annotating it.  We are supposed to use at least three of the DIDLS and connect them to our annotations, but I found that most of the time I was just making comments on the motifs, theme, tone, etc.  Finding techniques to annotate was a greater struggle than it was for American Dream.  However, after reading the commentaries on Salesman, I saw that Miller said that the only real technique he used was Willy's use of Victorian language.  This definitely made me feel better about my troubles with the annotations, and it also made me realize that a book or play doesn't have to be stuffed with DIDLS to create the theme.  Of course DIDLS are still necessary and I'm still going to work hard to find them, but now I know to relax if they aren't as frequent as they are in other works.

Now that we are on to Hamlet, I am more confused then I have ever been.  Reading along with the text while people read aloud is almost the same thing as tuning everyone out and waiting until Ms. Holmes stops to explain.  Even if I knew what all of the different words from Shakespeare's time meant, I would still have trouble following.  If something doesn't have straight-forward sentence structure I can't flip it around in my mind fast enough to understand the play as we're reading it.  Hamlet is even harder than Romeo and Juliet or Taming of the Shrew because the plot even in plain English is difficult to comprehend.  At least I have something to work on!  We're only just starting so I'm hoping to improve as we get further into the play.

The other difficult thing about Hamlet is envisioning the staging.  I also found this difficult in Salesman, but not so much so in American Dream.  So far this year, we've only read plays, and plays do not give very detailed stage directions so the reader is left up to his or her own devices.  Staging can greatly affect a scene, and knowing where the characters are in relation to each other affects mood and can even affect tone.  Therefore with little stage directions, I feel like I could be picturing and hearing the scene extremely different from what was intended and possibly missing something important.  Then again, perhaps that is the point.  Forcing us to decide what exactly is happening can help us analyze the scene more closely.  With this in mind I'm hoping to take this into account when we really get into Hamlet.