Grade

Last class Sweeney gave us a writing assignment that was to be done while in class. It asked us to grade ourselves on contribution in class. I believe that I did my part in class and deserve at the least a 90 for contribution. During discussions I was never the first to raise my hand and give my opinion or really ever put my two cents in. I did a few times, but not always. I am a shy person and do not think I should be penalized for that. Especially when I have gotten my work done in a timely manner. I am not really sure if that counts since we did not have REAL deadlines for our work. I procrastinate just like anyone, but try really hard to do everything I need to. I also went to class. I never skipped class just because I felt like it. I missed maybe two classes at the maximum. I always read the stories before class. The only thing I did not read and finish was the novel, but I do not think Sweeney even finished. I attempted it and read at least 200 or more pages. I believe that I gave my best in class and that is all anyone can do!

Last day!

Today has been my last day of English class with Mr. Sweeney. We did not do anything, but did the evaluations. I gave him a pretty good evaluations, because I actually enjoyed his class, unlike any other English class I have taken. English is quite a boring subject, but I enjoyed almost all of the stories we read. Some of my favorites were "The Glass Menagerie", "The Yellow Wallpaper", and "Hills Like White Elephants." The dog poems were pretty cool too, because I love animals. Although, I am more of a cat person! He should look into some cat poems for his future classes, because I'm sure those are enjoyable. I hate writing papers and procrastinate too much, but I got through the semester. The best class days were the ones where we played games. The winning team got the most extra credit points for their essays, sadly I do not think I was ever on a winning team! :( We played Jeopardy and Taboo. I never participated in Taboo, because I hate getting up in front of people or having attention on myself, but I enjoyed watching everyone else play. Sporcle was also fun, just to pass the time. Mr. Sweeney is an awesome professor and everyone should take his class!

Today...

Today we went over all of the poems we were supposed to read over break. I think almost all of them were about war. I am not a big poetry fan, because I like literal things. I rather the story just come out and say what they have to say not dance around the matter to make it sound cool.

I also need to start the essay that is due in a couple of weeks. I am not sure what to write about since it is basically whatever we want, but we have to mention the stories we read. I am one of the worlds biggest procrastinators.


I am adding to this because I have not made this blog at least 200 words. I decided to write that paper on the female dependency on males in stories we have read. I used "The Glass Menagerie", "The Yellow Wallpaper", and "Hills Like White Elephants" in my paper. They all had more than one example of women being dependent on the men in the story. In "The Glass Menagerie", Jim had the control over Laura treating her just like any other girl. Also, Laura and Amanda showed their dependency on Tom. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", there is an obvious male control theme. The husband, John, who is also a doctor locks his wife up and belittles her condition. He does not allow her to write her feelings or anything. In "Hills Like White Elephants", Jig is dependent on the American to make the decision of getting an abortion.

We Real Cool

We read We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks for one of poems. It seemed like a poem about a "typical" teenager. Even though I do not agree with that phrase. Most people think of teenagers getting into trouble and doing bad things. The poem talks about how they are cool because they left school, stayed out late, drink alcohol, and had sex. I interrupt it to mean they ditched school then stayed out after curfew drinking and having sex. "We die soon" is the last phrase in the poem. I am not positive about what Gwendolyn Brooks meant by that line, but I think it could mean that since they are doing all of these wrong things or sinning that they are going to get killed or die from it.

I hate short poems, because it seems like they are the ones you have to read the most into. They do not just come out and tell you what is going on you have to guess. They use different metaphors and illusions to compare things. I am not good at pulling things apart to reveal the real meaning.Then again if the poem is too long, that makes it even harder. Sometimes after reading stories or poems or anything I have to do some research to understand what I read. We read "The Cask Of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe and reading pieces by Poe is similar to reading stuff by Shakespeare.....CONFUSING!

Novel

We are supposed to be reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. I have started the book, but cannot get too far into it because I find it so boring. Even when I am reading it I do not feel like I am retaining any of it. I am not the biggest reader in the world, but I like some stories and if it is really good I can finish it, but I do not think I will be able to even finish it. People I have talked to have told me that it gets better, but I just do not see that. What makes it even worse is the fact that it is about 600 or more pages. This is a pretty short post, but I know most people do not want to see a 300 word rant about how much I dislike a book.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Adding to this, I read a plot summary on the book and found that the book actually did get interesting! I was surprised by this, but still have yet to finish the book and I definitely never will since the semester is over. Joe had a baby with the girl but went off to war. Sammy is gay, but does not want his sexuality to effect his life. He actually helps raise Joe's baby, because it is the right thing to do and probably to try and cover up his homosexuality. They name him Tommy, because Tommy was the name of Joe's brother that died. There was a lot more that happened, but these were just key points!

catching up

I am definitely a few weeks behind on my blog posts. So I am trying to catch up and write some where I left off. My last post was about The Glass Menagerie. I had not finished the story yet. I have a few opinions on the ending of The Glass Menagerie and such.

I did not expect for Jim to have a girlfriend. He seemed like he liked Laura, but then turned around and said he was with some girl name Betty. I thought that was dumb for him to even come to dinner. How could Tom not have known about this girl Betty? He talks about how he was best friends with the guy at work. Laura was a special character and almost every symbol in the story referred to her and one night with Jim and he takes it away. The unicorn signified Laura and how she was so different from everybody. It fell off the table as they danced and kissed. It showed that Laura was just like every other girl. Because the unicorns horn broke off turning it into just a regular horse.

Tom just ditched Laura and Amanda, but I mean with a mother like Amanda who really wants to stick around? She is very annoying and way too talkative. We would all like to think that Laura turned out okay, but it does not tell what happens to her. I do not think she will ever find a gentleman caller, because she is so nervous around people.

The Glass Menagerie

We have been watching the movie "The Glass Menagerie" the past few classes. It is the one directed by Paul Newman, the guy that made all of those dressings and sauces. It is also a play written by Tennessee Williams. It also has John Malkovich in it. He plays Tom Wingfield in the movie. I knew I had recognized him and then realized he is in that new movie "Warm Bodies." Anyways, my first thought was that the movie was really old looking and did not look like it would be interesting. It has yet to put me to sleep, because I am actually enjoying it. I am confused about a few things though. For instance, why is Laura crippled? I know it is something that is wrong with her foot, but they have not mentioned what happened to her. Also, what is the story behind the glass? I mean it IS in the title and I still do not really know why. I need to get to reading the play before Friday though and hopefully figure out what happens in the end. I would like to see Laura step out of her comfort zone an actually go for this "gentleman caller."

So far...

English has never been my favorite subject nor my best. I am not the best at speaking up in front of others. I hate being the center of attention. I enjoy the fact that the Sweeney is using the blogging technique. It gives us shy people a chance to speak out. I have enjoyed English 102 so far and have been keeping up with all of the readings. When I read the first story "How to Become a Writer", I thought "well this is going to be pretty easy." Because it was such a short story, but I have realized that the stories get longer as we go along. We have read about seven stories already. I think I have liked almost all, but a couple. For instance, I have never been a big Edgar Allan Poe fan and I had to read " A Cask of Amontillado" once before and did not like it. He is a strange man and rather creepy. Also, "The Yellow Wallpaper" was weird. Other than those two, I actually liked and read to the end of all of the other stories. For some reason, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" was one of my favorites.

Hills Like White Elephants

I read "Hills Like White Elephants" and it left me kind of confused. I think if it had not been so confusing then I could have enjoyed it more. I feel like it should have been a bit longer and told more about what was going on. I mean they never even told you what this "operation" was. At first I thought they were talking about a marriage and eloping, but then thought it was about an abortion.
As Jig said the hills looked like white elephants and elephants are sometimes used to describe something awkward that everyone knows, but does not want to acknowledge or talk about. The elephant in the room could be her pregnancy because she would like to keep it, but he wants her to get an abortion. They keep talking about going back to the way were before and she asked if he will love her more. She keeps telling him that she cares more for him than herself and he does not want to hear that. but all they do is drink and go out and try new drinks together, I do not think that they really know how to communicate effectively with each other.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

First off, I am not a big reader or writer. English has always been a harder subject for me since I hate both of these things. I have been reading each of the short stories in the book and have found almost all them to be pretty interesting. I was surprised because most stories you read at school are pretty boring.

I just finished reading A Good Man Is Hard to Find. I am sorry but this is no "short" story. At least not when compared to the other stories I have read so far in this book. Overall it was an interesting story, just not my favorite. The grandmother character is kind of annoying with her nagging ways and "back in the day" remarks. Although, grandmother was thoughtful enough to grab the kitty before they left so he would not die if they left it alone. Also, why do the characters have such off the wall and strange names? For instance, June Star or Edgar Atkins Teagarden. I mean, Teagarden is strange enough, but once you realize his initials are E.A.T. You're probably like, "what in the world?". 

Overall, it was an okay story. I am just not very good at writing my opinions down for everyone to read.