Critical Reading

                The ability to read critically is a much needed skill for all people, even at the professional level. “You may be trying to understand a new company policy, seeking the truth in a campaign ad, researching a complicated historical treaty, or looking for pointers to sharpen your reading and writing skills.” The ability to critically read is required to understand the full meaning of all these tasks. There are certain activities that should be participated in before, during and after an essay is read, in order to critically read.

                Before reading an essay the reader should before reading consider the title, facts about the author, where the work was published, when the work was published; all of which could allow the reader to make predictions concerning the piece at hand.  Some titles, such as “How to Dump a Friend” and “I Want a Wife,” obviously state what the paper will be about. While others, “The Broken Chain”, do not clearly state the topic. Knowing more about the author- background, special training, previous works, or ideology-  also allows the reader to guess about the paper. For instance, if a writer, known for a strong comedic tone, writes about the president the essay will likely joke about the job of the president. An essay published in a scientific magazine about aliens is more believable than one published in a comedy magazine. Also, an article from 2010 is comparably better in facts than one published in 1650. Back ground information can help provide important information for the reader.

                When reading for the first time, the reader should not “bog down over every troublesome particular,” instead underline, or circle, the word in pencil and come back to it later. Also, one should underline (or circle) important section in the essay, and write questions out to the side.  Both steps will decrease the amount of time spent on reading, and writing a summary to the essay, or digesting the context in your own words.

                “Critical thinking is a process involving several overlapping operations: analysis, inference, synthesis, and evaluation.” Separating a piece of work into its parts- tone, purpose, etc. - is analyzing it. Also, the reader should make inferences in order to comprehend the essay. Synthesizing is  where two or more elements are linked. For example, if the reader were trying to discover the purpose of an essay, or other piece of art, the reader would synthesize it. Another way to fully grasp a piece of art would be to evaluate the quality of the work.

American Tongues

1)      Voice in literature is how one writes. For example, a writer or speaker may beat around the bush, or go straight to the point. I person creates voice in writing by having a certain sentence structure they may prefer to use, vocabulary they use often and/or the same opinion. The creation of voice in literature is sometimes intentional and other times not. I believe if depends on the author. I don’t intentionally have a voice in writing, I just do. I believe other, professional writer, do have a certain voice intentionally.

2)      A subject I may beat around bush with may be a question I am nervous to know the answer to. For example, if I wanted to ask someone a personal question, or one that I was nervous to know the answer to, I would likely beat around the bush.

3)      Voice is important in non-fiction because it shows who the writer is. An author’s voice can help to prove a writers point, or help the writer gain readers.

4)      There are definitely things to be avoided when writing an academic essay. One thing to avoid is using I in a persuasive essay. If a writer can find a different way to word a sentence where I is not being used, it would help to prove the point. This is true, because “I” makes it so the writer is saying I (one single person) believes something. If a different word was used what the writer is trying becomes more universal.

5)      You can improve your voice by improving your vocabulary, and knowledge of how to write.

SOAPSTone of “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” by Dave Barry

The subject of Dave Barry’s “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is that men and women have different views on different topics. Different views are illustrated by women seeing clean differently than men, and men viewing the point in sports differently than women.  Barry says that “women can see extremely small quantities of dirt… at the level of molecules, whereas men don’t generally notice [dirt] until forms clumps large enough to support agriculture. This shows that the author believe that women have a magical ability to see dirt before it can be noticed by men. Then, the author goes to on to say, in sports “men tend to feel very sensitive and women tend to be extremely callous.” He does however say that there are some women who are an exception. Barry goes on to explain this statement by mentioning when his friend, Maddy, invited him, his wife, and a few other people to her house during a World Series game. The men could not stand missing the game, thought up little reasons to leave and watched the game in another room. The women continued to talk about human relations. This example shows how men are “sensitive” to sport and women are “callous.”

                “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” was written in the late 1900s. This essay’s time of creation is illustrated by the large importance of the World Series to Barry. I believe that the importance of the World Series helps to show the time period because in the late 1900s baseball was a large part of the American culture. Now in 2011, football and basketball seem to be more important to the American sports society. The probable place of the essay’s creation is Miami, because that is where the author lives.

                The time and place of the essay’s creation influences the essay by creating the importance of the baseball and the World Series. I believe that this article would not be a strong as it is if the author could not complain about Maddy having a get together during a world series.

                Dave Barry’s specific audience for “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is likely married women and possibly men. The author’s target audience is identified with the examples. When Barry says that women don’t understand sports and mentions the get together, he is showing women how men actually care about sports greatly. He also, in a way, insults women on being picky on what dirty is. Barry has the view that women are overly concerned about cleanness.

                Dave Barry’s purpose in “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is to show women men’s view on different topics. Barry show’s this to women by saying, “the primary difference between men and women is that women can see extremely small quantities of dirt.” This shows how men don’t exactly view, or literally see, everything in the same way as women do.

                Dave Barry, called the “funniest man in America” by New York Times believes that women are more nit-picky then men. This value is illustrated by the fact that he thinks women can see dirt the size of molecules. This proves that women are more nit-picky because it shows how women believe that everything has to be nice and clean. This helps to influence the author’s purpose because women may not believe they are nit-picky, while men may think they are.

                Dave Barry, who graduated from Haverford College in 1969, also believes that men care more about sports. This value is illustrated by his disbelief that Maddy scheduled the event on the same day as the World Series.  The way Barry speaks about Maddy scheduling an event “during the World Series,” shows disbelief because he had during the World Series in italics, which almost makes it seem as if he I yelling. This value helps to influence the essay’s purpose because it demonstrates the different sex’s different views on sports.

                Dave Barry articulates a humorous and sarcastic attitude about the different views of women and men in “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out.” These attitudes are expressed by words in italics, the humorous example of men in Pompeii not noticing ash until it had completely covered the children, and women being able to see molecules.  Women really can’t see molecules, and the men or Pompeii could probably see the ash before it covered their children. These two examples show sarcasm. Then, placing words in italics gives an “oh, really?” feeling to the essay. These tones help to show how exasperated Barry is with some of women views, and actions. Dave says, “I’ll go into Robert’s bathroom, and it always looks perfectly fine.” This usage of italics emphasizes how Barry believes that the bathroom looks “perfectly fine”, and that his wife is seeing molecules of dirt.

Wassily Kandinsky vs. Jackson Pollack

 Wassily Kandinsky vs. Jackson Pollack ; after looking at each of these answer the following questions: Which of these do you like better? Why? Which of these is more pleasing to look at? Why?

            After looking at both pictures, I prefer the Pollack. I chose this selection of art because it is more relaxed and natural with the brown color scheme.  Kandinsky’s painting is chaotic and overwhelming because there are many different shapes and colors.

            I think Kandinsky’s painting would be more pleasing to people who are energetic. I think Pollack’s Painting would please more of the laid back, and sophisticated group. If I was forced to choose the painting that I believe would be generically pleasing, I would choose the Kandinsky, because it has many different colors and it is abstract.

           

"Sign Language"

"Sign Language" ; What is the single effect you got from this short film? Give specific three reasons (of choices the director made) why you were persuaded to that effect? Change one aspect of the film (besides narrative and dialogue) and explain how that would change the film and the single effect.

            The single effect I got from this short film was that it is important to always love what you do and make the best out of it. One choice the director made to allow this effect was the music, which was slow but seemed to have a since of hope. The director also made the choice to have Ben be friends with all the other board holders. Ben could have been a very pessimistic man, who just stood there with misery holding his sign. Instead the director creates Ben as a very optimistic man. This leads to the third choice made by the director, Ben believes that there is opportunity in a job many people would not enjoy having.

            The cold and rainy weather helps add to show Ben’s optimism. If the director had made the day a warm and sunny day an important aspect would have been lost. Rain is normally considered to be sadder than a warm sunny day. This allows Ben to show how he can always make the best of his job, which he loves.

SOAPSTone of Harry Nelsons "Good Old Desk

What is he talking about in this song? What if I told you that the desk is a symbol for god, how does that change your impression of the song? Look through the song lyrics and find three instances that support that the desk is a symbol for god.

·         Subject- His Good Old Desk, which symbolizes God

·         Occasion- Everyday, his desk is always there

·         Audience- Anyone, especially Christians

·         Purpose- to express his feeling and love for God, who is always there for him

·         Speaker- By the song, it seems as if Harry is an active follower of Christianity, and believes that God is always there for him.  

·         Tone- comporting

In this song Nilsson is talking about his feelings and beliefs before God. He believes that God is always there for him. However, at first, I did not realize that the song was about God. When I was told what the song was actually about many of the song’s lyrics made more sense. “It’s a pleasure to see it's waiting there for me To keep my hopes alive,” “It’s always there,” and “never needs a rest, And I’ve never once heard it cry,” are all lines that were made clear when the true subject was made clear to me.  At first it seemed silly to say that a desk was able to keeps one’s “hopes alive” or that one believed the desk waits for them. Once I knew that the Good Old Desk actually symbolized God, this line was made clear.

SOAPSTone of “Shooting an Elephant”

                The subject of Gorge Orwell’ “shooting an Elephant” is that sometimes doing the right thing is hard for the one doing so. This difficulty is illustrated by Orwell not wanting to shoot the elephant, but being forced to by the large group that had assembled. Orwell believed that the elephant was peaceful when he found in eating grass on the side of a road. At first he just wanted to walk near the elephant and see if it charged, if it did he then would shoot it. However, he noticed that he may miss, and could possibly die himself. He eventually decided that he had to shoot the elephant, he felt the “two thousand wills [of the assembled group] pressing [him] forward.” 

                The time period of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is the mid to early 1900s. This time period is illustrated through the point that the British Empire in Burma fell in 1948. The article says that the narrator “didn’t even know that the British Empire was dying.”

                The place of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is lower Burma. Burma is illustrated by the first sentence, where Orwell says, “in Moulmein, in lower Burma.” This supports that the story took place in Burma because it is directly stated so.  

                George Orwell’s specific audience in “Shooting an Elephant” is both the English and the Burmese. The author’s target audience is exhibited by his beginning hatred for imperialism. This helps to point out the audience because both of these groups can relate to how he feels. The two groups may be able to relate to Orwell’s feelings because both were involved in the imperialism of the time.

                The author’s general audience for the essay is everyone or anyone who feels as if they are being forced into something. The author’s general audience is shown through the narrator being forced into shooting the elephant, the regretting it. The narrator was forced by the crowd to shoot the elephant, however he is clearly unhappy because he had to walk away. The narrator may also have been frustrated since it took multiple shots to kill the elephant, which didn’t even die until he had been gone for thirty minutes.

                Orwell’s purpose in “Shooting an Elephant” is that if one feels as if they are being forced into an activity they should leave, or not do the act, for they may dislike the outcome. The need for the strength against pressure is revealed by “I couldn’t stand it any longer and went away.” This quote shows how after the narrator was forced into shooting the elephant he was saddened by the elephant’s suffering. The purpose is further articulated by “I did not want to shoot the elephant… It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him.” This shows that the narrator truly didn’t want to shoot the elephant, instead he felt as if it were murder.

                Orwell, considered the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture, believes that imperialism is an “evil thing.” This value is illustrated by his hate towards his job as a police officer. Imperialism is expanding an empire, this creates a slight irony. The narrator hates his job as a police officer, however as an officer he works for the government, which he hates.

                Orwell, best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and the satirical novella Animal Farm, also believed that one could be forced by a crowd. This value is illustrated by the fact that the narrator shoots the elephant because he believes he was forced to by the crowd. If Orwell didn’t believe that one could be forced to do an activity the narrator of this paper may not have killed the elephant. This value is included to show that one can be forced into something they don’t wish to take part in.

                Orwell shows an apologetic and disgustful attitude towards being forced into shooting the elephant. These attitudes are expressed with a sense of hatred towards his act. The narrator is so disgusted by the fact that he caused the elephant to suffer, that he was forced to leave the site. He also shows an apologetic attitude because he killed another man’s elephant.

               

"The Runaway" By: Norman Rockwell

"The Runaway" by Norman Rockwell (1958) Create an intro paragraph for the following thesis statement: Rockwell’s “The Runaway” overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the late 1950s – an emerging counter (no pun intended) culture that was not concerned with how things were in America, but rather how they are. “

Norman Rockwell, born on February 3, 1894 and died on November 8, 1978, is famous for his cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios in The Saturday Evening Post for over four decades.  However, these scenarios were not the most realistic. All of Rockwell’s art showed what a carefree American life would be like, he shows no flaws. For example, in “The Runaway” he shows the little boy running away with a carefree happy spirit. The policeman and the waiter don’t are showing any concern for the child either. He does not show that a counter culture is emerging. “The Runaway” overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the late 1950s – an emerging counter (no pun intended) culture that was not concerned with how things were in America, but rather how they are. 

"Across the Universe"- The Beatles

Identify three images in this song. Are any of the images also symbols? If so, explain. Choose one symbol that you know to be a symbol and explain it. What makes it more than just an image? Explain how the word circle can be used as both an image and a symbol (think visually).

Images from “Across the Universe”

            ~”Endless rain into a paper cup” causes the reader to imagine a small paper cup with rain overflowing into it.

            ~”Sounds of Laughter” creates the image of a bunch of people in a room laughing and joking around. For me, these people are my fencing friends.

            ~”Millions of suns” creates the image of a person surrounded in a million suns.

“Millions of suns” is a symbol for love. When one is in love, they may as if they are surrounded by something incredible.

The cross is a symbol for Christianity. This is a symbol because Jesus, God’s son, was hung on a cross.

The circle can be both an image and a symbol because it could symbolize something, like a group of friends, all connected. It is also an image because if one is explaining a circle, many people could say exactly what was being explained to them.