Course Material Blog Post.

 So far this has been a great year. I feel like everything im learning from this class is actually useful and applicable in real world situations. The most helpful part would probably learning how to write introductions. Those are something i have struggled with since forever, so having a teacher show us a way to break them down and address then logically was very helpful. I also am enjoying (I know this is going to sound crazy.) analyzing the use of diction in our literature. It is interesting to me that you can find so much meaning in one word, and how that meaning can shape and entire story. Hopefully we will learn more helpful stuff throughout the year.

Open Reading prompts

                                                                                1974

               

                To Our generation, the harry potter series is one of the best known of our time. Anyone who has seen the movies or read the books will know that Severus Snape seems to be a genuinely mean and evil person. As the reader moves towards the end of the series, they are presented with a different view of Snape, one which shows his relationship with Lilly and James Potter. When the audience is shown Snape’s perspective, it allows them to sympathize with him a great deal.

            From the first time we meet Snape, he is telling harry about what a lousy person harry is and how he is just like his father. Snape is always looking for ways to penalize and chastise harry by any means possible, oftentimes preferring the most severe punishment he can muster. At first Snape’s treatment of harry seems downright evil and we assume this character will be uniformly evil throughout the series.

 In the 5^th book in the series, the idea is presented to us that Snape might have some justification for his treatment of harry. It is presented in the form of a memory of Snape’s in which he is bullied and teased by a young James Potter.  Later in the 7^th book, we see that Snape grew up poor in a broken home with few friends and fewer fellow wizards.  When we read and watch a young Snape be bullied and humiliated by James potter, it invokes a certain amount of sympathy in most people which alters the way we look at Snape and his treatment of Harry as a whole.

Snape grew up as a poor kid from a broken home who had to work extremely hard to gain a reputation and respect. Harry on the other hand despite being orphaned, is brought up into a world where he is famous and rich. Harry’s childhood circumstances cause a great deal of resentment from Snape who feels that Harry is spoiled and cocky. From the readers stand point, we can see why Snape might harbor ill feeling towards Harry. When considered from all viewpoints, we gain a sense of sympathy for Snape as an underprivileged child who feels Harry does not deserve the recognition and respect he gets.

            Though Severus Snape might seem to be a vile and evil person, when we look at the big picture, we see that his actions may be justifiable by his background and upbringing. When we acknowledge his childhood difficulties, we as human beings are wired to feel a twinge of sympathy and sadness that we otherwise would not feel.

Closed Reading: Imagery, Details, Language

I chose to analyze an article from Rolling Stone called "The Truth About the Tea Party" which can be found here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/matt-taibbi-on-the-tea-party-20100928

The article i chose is full of all sorts of imagery, details and language. From the first scentence, the author draws us a very vivid picture of what they see on their journey to a  tea party rally in the heart of Kentucky.
     My favorite example of imagery from the article is this bit right here: "seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters". I think the imagery in this bit is brilliant, it paints a perfect picture of what the author is seeing but also uses the imagery to show his flagrant bias against the tea party. He uses the visual aid to show us in the most negative way what he sees when he looks at the people around him which he uses to invoke similar feelings into his readership.
     The details that the author uses throughout the article are another superb touch. The most recurring and well used of these details is regarding the demographic of the crowd; elderly and white. his use of details, particularly in this line, "Palin chortles, to best applause her aging crowd can muster.", shows the demographic of the crowd very well. In my mind, it generates the thought of a bunch of decrepit, senile, white people who will be dead before they get a chance to vote anyway. Does it matter that they are that old, no, but it helps to conjure an exaggerated image of the demographic of the tea party and what it stands for.
      The author uses a very unique language in his article. What makes it unique is the use of curse words. His use is not liberal and not used against anyone, but is effective in that it shows his appalled reaction to the argument used by the tea party advocates. The author is by no means vulgar, he simply uses curse words as a tool to bolster the strength of his phrases. When he says "Stay in what truck?", in reaction to one of Palin's comments, "What the hell does that even mean?", it shows that he isn't just skeptical of Palin's comments, but he is upset by the lack of intelligence he sees in it. This use of language isn't necessary, but it adds oomph to his sentences and adds a little extra humor to an already fun piece.