Close Reading #3

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/opinion/the-tarnish-of-the-electoral-college.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This editorial discusses several ways that the author thinks the electoral college is a terrible and undemocratic way to choose the country's executive. The author uses many literary techniques in this editorial to emphasize their point. They effectively used diction, syntax, and figurative language to create and emphasize meaning.
When reading this article, there were many examples of pejorative diction found that show the author's true feeling on the subject. For example, in the opening paragraph the author states, "this archaic system..." to talk about how old the electoral college system really is. The use of the word archaic makes the whole thing seem very old and outdated. If the author would have replaced it with another ordinary word, such as "old" than it would not have created such a strong meaning. Another example of this was when the author said, "...the system continues to calcify American politics," using the word "calcify" to show how the author thinks the electoral college restricts politics. Again, if replaced by another word, it would not have the same effect on the reader.
The types of diction that the author used did indeed help emphasize the meaning of the work, but so did some of the ways she formed her sentences, otherwise known as syntax. There were a few short sentences in the editorial, and although there were few, they were powerful. For example in the first paragraph the author wrote, "They were right, but they were ignored," about Democrats complaining about this system. Since the sentence is so short, it brings a lot of meaning and emphasis to it. It makes it much more powerful, than if the author was to write a long sentence about how they were ignored. Long sentences make it harder to get the point across, and the reader often loses interest in the topic. With this shorter sentence about how the Democrats were ignored, it gets right to the point with great meaning.
Lastly, the author used figurative language to show how things are more in favor of the Democrats now. For example, in the second paragraph, the author writes, "Now the demographic pendulum is swinging toward the Democrats." Of course there is no actual pendulum that is swinging towards them, but this is a creative way the author used to get across the point that the Democrats have more of the upper hand now about how the system should be.
All in all, the author of the editorial used many literary techniques to get the point across about the electoral college. Everything from the diction to the emphasis on the shorter sentences in the editorial create meaning and engage the reader.

Open Prompt #3

2008. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.

In the play, Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, there are many contrasting characters. When comparing these characters, we see that they really bring out the good and bad qualities in one another. Without Miller juxtaposing certain characters, a lot of their flaws or good deeds would go unnoticed. The minor character that serves as a foil to one of the major characters, Biff, is Bernard. Miller used Bernard as a foil to Biff to show the reader how Biff should have ended up as an adult, and how Willy, Biff's father, dreamed of Biff to end up like. 

One of the most obvious foils in this play is Biff and Bernard. One of the main ways that Miller juxtaposes these two characters is right from the beginning of the play. We see these two characters growing up together as high school friends, only Bernard is the "nerd" that focuses on his studies, and Biff is the popular athlete, that couldn't care less about school. Willy is fine with the fact that Biff doesn't care about school, because Willy thinks that the only thing that will get you far in life is being well-liked, and Biff was certainly well liked in high school. Bernard was not as well-liked, but he knows that what is really going to help him out in life is education, not popularity and this works out for him in the end. The differences in Biff and Bernards actual characters is seen here too. Biff is the typical jock character, and Bernard is the typical nerd, at the end of the food chain. Little did they know, that it would be the opposite in their adult lives. 

One key difference between Biff and Bernard is that Bernard becomes successful after high school, and Biff doesn't. Biff was too brainwashed by his father that everything was going to be great in his life as long as people liked him. This was probably the reason that he didn't do well in school, like failing math. Bernard on the other hand worked hard, because he knew that it didn't matter whether people liked him or not. He was not caught up in that. And ironically, Bernard turns out to be everything Willy wanted Biff to be. Willy made fun of Bernard and Charley, Bernard's father, for studying so much, but it turns out that they had the right idea all along. Bernard was studious, determined, and had a head on his shoulders, while Biff had his head in the clouds, thinking that he could get anywhere.

Towards the end of the play, Biff ends up lost, insecure and wondering how to be happy in life. Bernard, on the other hand, is happy, mature and adjusted to adult life. Biff says himself in the play that he has had many jobs after high school and he lost all of them, unsure of how to be happy with what he is doing. At this point in the play, Biff was finally starting to figure out what Bernard already knew about life. You need to find yourself first and do what makes you happy, instead of worrying about becoming the wealthiest man in the city, or being the most well-like man around. That is how Bernard being a foil to Biff illuminates the meaning of this entire play, as well. The whole play is focused on how being well-liked and wealthy gets you respect and happiness, when in all reality, you should find your place in the world and do what you were always meant to do.

Bernard being a foil to Biff is important to the play as a whole because it shows Bernard being the son that Willy always wanted. Even down to the smallest things, like Bernard being married with two sons of his own, something Willy had said that he wanted Biff to be. It all comes down to the fact that Willy won't be able to accept Biff for how he is. Bernard was made a foil to Biff to show how Willy would have wanted Biff to end up in life. 

Response to Course Material #3

Last Friday we had the retake of the dreaded terms test. Fortunately, I did better on the retake, but it still wasn't my best work. To me, it seemed like there could be more than one answer for a lot of examples on the terms test, so I think that was what really messed me up. I was just happy to see I did better than last time!

We also recently started looking at the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. We only watched the movie so far, which was pretty good, but we also had an in class forum about it. This was where we had multiple sheets of paper with different questions on each of them and we write responses to the question in class. It helped to do this in class first before having to write an analysis on it. It cleared up a few things and it also helped me annotate. I also liked reading some of the ideas that other people in the class had on the subject, and seeing how they compared with my ideas. That really helped me analyze the play as well. Some of the things that we were talking about were the characteristics of Post-Modernism in the play and talking about literary movements, and identifying the characteristics that we saw really help me distinguish between the literary movements.

Something pretty fun that we did in class was a project on how a character from The American Dream would feel about some of the ideas an author of one of the poems that we read (from chapter 4 in the textbook) had. We could have done a dialogue, a short skit, anything. My group did a short skit, and it was fun. It was kind of cool to connect the ideas from The American Dream to another poem that has absolutely nothing to do with it and see the similar ideas between the two. It helped me see the play and the poems in a whole new way.