Revision Assignment 3
Annie Dillard Essay “Total Eclipse” focuses on Language, communication, or expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. Dillard’s essay was able to draw in the reader though personal experience that produce emotion. Her essay was purposeful, strong and abstract. I never recognized the importance of communication until I read the Annie Dillard essay. I concluded the importance of language: If there no (in depth) understanding of the language system it would be very easy to miscommuicate one’s idea. The main purpose of “Total Eclipse” was to communicate an important life event. The essay includes ideas about life in general - growing as an individual: and how life can change one’s perspective. The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language.
Dillard shares an experience as she travels to witness a total eclipse in 1979. On route, though the Mountains of Washington state as she observes the cirro-stratus clouds surrounding Mount Adams. She also marvels at the scenery of Yakima Valley layer with slopes and slopes of orchards. Dillard’s observes every detail of this trip. She documents much of what seen on route to an event that changes her perspective of life. During the eclipse, she realized life is unmeasureable.
More than not, most people have had some experience of life. Be it, those of specific trades: professors, firefighters, homemakers, students, etc. Society in general can relate to life experiences.
Strategies used in “Total Eclipse” are non-traditional in structure. The method she used does not appear to go with the usual rhetorical analysis. Dillard’s strategies include Parallel ideas for example: The clown head represents the insignificant things we remember. The words and objects chosen are there to help in delivering her message to the reader. The object chosen usually is general in nature. Something many people can relate too. This method used to soften the message and allow Dillard more expression to communication. In appointing the strategies, in this essay, Dillard carefully chose ideas and pared it with an object that has the same or similar meaning and goes in the same direction. The object and idea have the same or are parallel in meaning. Dillard possibly chose this paring of objects to ideas to express more meaning or depth within the essay. Therefore, leading the reader to a better understanding of the message she wants to communicate. Dillard’s strategy of design and structure of this essay accredits to understanding the English language.
Another strategy is Symbolism for example: The coal miner’s condition was a symbol of things that require change. Here, Dillard is describing what happen if certain conditions in life do not change. She equates, without change then there are possibilities that terrible things may happen. It goes further in Dillard’s essay, without change then death will take place. Death does not mean a physical death of one’s person but the undevelopment of personal growth. Undeveloped personal growth is a condition that should changed. In Dillard’s essay, the condition of the coal miner’s can be change to save their lives. She states, “In South Africa, in India, and in South Dakota, the gold miners extend so deeply into the earth’s crust that they are hot. The rock walls burn the miners’ hands. The companies have to air-condition the mines; if the air-conditioners break, the miners die” (161-162). This passage in the essay “Total Eclipse” demonstrates conveying a message about individual change and personal growth.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Barry-Smith Revised
Revision Assignment 3
Lynda Barry’s comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” gives a message of tolerance. The comic strip opens the door to societal intolerance of difference. The way we talk, the way we look, or the cultural difference that makes ethnicity special. One’s heritage gives an individual a sense of belonging and pride. Heritage is special. Unhealthy pride causes intolerance. Barry’s topic in “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” is an uncomfortable subject for those who want to stand with the politically correct crowd. It is un-nerving for some who have not decided to follow the alliance of injustice. Essayist , Zadie Smith wrote “Speaking in Tongues” with similar ideas of intolerance and diversity as Barry’s comic strip. Her message also opens the door to societal views of multiple ethical backgrounds. Her wording and term are quite different from Barry’s but the message was very similar. Using Smith’s terms give greater understanding of Barry’s comic strip. Both authors focus on how society has dealt with intolerance, bigotry, and bias for centuries. Yet instill, cultural indifference still exist. Barry’s comic strip demonstrates the intolances of difference in unsimiliar cultures. I believe Barry’s main purpose of the comic strip is to show that all cultures have distinctions, therefore tolerance, empathy, and understanding, needs to commune peacefully as a society.
The author writes this comic strip for society as a whole and it can reach by the masses. Easy accessibility of a newspaper or news articles on the web help in delivering information. Comic strips are a part of society’s daily media. In addition, the majority understands the format of the message written in comic strips. Barry’s message of tolerance might be discussed at the dinner table; it can be viewed at the office; and most important the message is delivered. On the other hand, Smith’s audience includes many individuals who have multiple ethnicities. Those whom faced the lack of multiplicity: it simply means a large varity. Barry’s message in “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” is shown in a comic strip format. The comic strip is a method that communicates fun but important ideas. Comic strips are in politics, news, and the media, just as a friendly reminder, “this situation” is still over our heads but still needs a resolution. It gives a more relaxed message for serious situations. On the other hand, Smith’s message in “Speaking in Tongues” is in an essay format. This issue of intolerance literally has not been resolved for centuries. There were men of the past such as William Wilberforce of England, Mohammad Gondi of India, and Martin Luther King of United State of America who also questioned the mindset of those whom think intolerance is an alternative for a solution. These men lived in different time but they all seen tolerance, empathy, and understanding as means to coexist in the world.
Another strategy Barry uses is displaying herself as a young child. Most children are usually unbiased and are free from judgment. Children don’t see color, heritage, or pride. Displaying herself as a young child also lightens up communicating the message. Smith’s strategy to communicate intolerance was viewing ethical identity as a voice. The more complex one’s heritage the more voices a person has. An individual that has more than one ethnic heritage has multiple voices. How do Barry and Smith handle these sensitive issues of society so well?
Barry as a young child in the comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents”, welcomed a variety of different smells: “I have always noticed the smell of other people’s houses, but when I was a kid, I was fascinated by it. No two houses ever smelled alike, even if the people used the same air fresher”.
Barry comments: “what’s that kind again”?
Neighbor comments: “Fresh Evergreen Glen”
Barry comments: “Yeah. At the Bidman’s they got the same kind but here it smells like a fresh, um, bus bathroom”.
Demonstrating her ability not to judge others, as she states: “Some of the smells were uncomplicated, like the cat pee smell of the house next door. The lady had 14 cats. It was hard to stay and visit. She sometimes burned incense with also smelled like cat pee”.
Barry action: breathing through my mouth
Neighbor 2: “have some peanut brittle, dear. Just pick the fur off if you’re fussy, but it won’t hurt you none” (Barry 52).
Barry as a young child in the comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” welcomed the variety of different smells. The variety peaked Barry’s interest, not only the smell but also the people behind the smell. She became more interested in her neighbors. Visiting all the houses in the neighborhood she learned more and more about the people she lived with. Barry as a young child began to learn flexibility. “Flexibility is the ability of being bent, usually without breaking. Barry does not make any judgment about her neighbors she just looks and listen as she realizes the differences”. As a child in the comic strip, Barry shows compassion by making no critical remark about neighbor’s difference yet instill also realizing they do exist. There was no judgment.
Learning this skill of tolerance allowed Barry to have an open mind, learn about other cultures while adding more knowledge to her heritage. In Zadie Smith book “Speaking in Tongues” also view learning or adding as a way to bring cultures together. She states, “I thought I was adding Cambridge to Willesden, this new way of talking to that old way. Adding a new kind of knowledge to a different kind I already had. And for a while, that’s how it was: at home during the holidays, I spoke with my old voice, and in the old voice seemed to feel and speak things that I couldn’t express in college, and vice versa” (Smith 1).
Smith expresses how multiple voices – (viewing ethical identity as a voice) can be used at different time and view it as adding to her original ethical identity.
Lynda Barry’s comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” gives a message of tolerance. The comic strip opens the door to societal intolerance of difference. The way we talk, the way we look, or the cultural difference that makes ethnicity special. One’s heritage gives an individual a sense of belonging and pride. Heritage is special. Unhealthy pride causes intolerance. Barry’s topic in “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” is an uncomfortable subject for those who want to stand with the politically correct crowd. It is un-nerving for some who have not decided to follow the alliance of injustice. Essayist , Zadie Smith wrote “Speaking in Tongues” with similar ideas of intolerance and diversity as Barry’s comic strip. Her message also opens the door to societal views of multiple ethical backgrounds. Her wording and term are quite different from Barry’s but the message was very similar. Using Smith’s terms give greater understanding of Barry’s comic strip. Both authors focus on how society has dealt with intolerance, bigotry, and bias for centuries. Yet instill, cultural indifference still exist. Barry’s comic strip demonstrates the intolances of difference in unsimiliar cultures. I believe Barry’s main purpose of the comic strip is to show that all cultures have distinctions, therefore tolerance, empathy, and understanding, needs to commune peacefully as a society.
The author writes this comic strip for society as a whole and it can reach by the masses. Easy accessibility of a newspaper or news articles on the web help in delivering information. Comic strips are a part of society’s daily media. In addition, the majority understands the format of the message written in comic strips. Barry’s message of tolerance might be discussed at the dinner table; it can be viewed at the office; and most important the message is delivered. On the other hand, Smith’s audience includes many individuals who have multiple ethnicities. Those whom faced the lack of multiplicity: it simply means a large varity. Barry’s message in “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” is shown in a comic strip format. The comic strip is a method that communicates fun but important ideas. Comic strips are in politics, news, and the media, just as a friendly reminder, “this situation” is still over our heads but still needs a resolution. It gives a more relaxed message for serious situations. On the other hand, Smith’s message in “Speaking in Tongues” is in an essay format. This issue of intolerance literally has not been resolved for centuries. There were men of the past such as William Wilberforce of England, Mohammad Gondi of India, and Martin Luther King of United State of America who also questioned the mindset of those whom think intolerance is an alternative for a solution. These men lived in different time but they all seen tolerance, empathy, and understanding as means to coexist in the world.
Another strategy Barry uses is displaying herself as a young child. Most children are usually unbiased and are free from judgment. Children don’t see color, heritage, or pride. Displaying herself as a young child also lightens up communicating the message. Smith’s strategy to communicate intolerance was viewing ethical identity as a voice. The more complex one’s heritage the more voices a person has. An individual that has more than one ethnic heritage has multiple voices. How do Barry and Smith handle these sensitive issues of society so well?
Barry as a young child in the comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents”, welcomed a variety of different smells: “I have always noticed the smell of other people’s houses, but when I was a kid, I was fascinated by it. No two houses ever smelled alike, even if the people used the same air fresher”.
Barry comments: “what’s that kind again”?
Neighbor comments: “Fresh Evergreen Glen”
Barry comments: “Yeah. At the Bidman’s they got the same kind but here it smells like a fresh, um, bus bathroom”.
Demonstrating her ability not to judge others, as she states: “Some of the smells were uncomplicated, like the cat pee smell of the house next door. The lady had 14 cats. It was hard to stay and visit. She sometimes burned incense with also smelled like cat pee”.
Barry action: breathing through my mouth
Neighbor 2: “have some peanut brittle, dear. Just pick the fur off if you’re fussy, but it won’t hurt you none” (Barry 52).
Barry as a young child in the comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” welcomed the variety of different smells. The variety peaked Barry’s interest, not only the smell but also the people behind the smell. She became more interested in her neighbors. Visiting all the houses in the neighborhood she learned more and more about the people she lived with. Barry as a young child began to learn flexibility. “Flexibility is the ability of being bent, usually without breaking. Barry does not make any judgment about her neighbors she just looks and listen as she realizes the differences”. As a child in the comic strip, Barry shows compassion by making no critical remark about neighbor’s difference yet instill also realizing they do exist. There was no judgment.
Learning this skill of tolerance allowed Barry to have an open mind, learn about other cultures while adding more knowledge to her heritage. In Zadie Smith book “Speaking in Tongues” also view learning or adding as a way to bring cultures together. She states, “I thought I was adding Cambridge to Willesden, this new way of talking to that old way. Adding a new kind of knowledge to a different kind I already had. And for a while, that’s how it was: at home during the holidays, I spoke with my old voice, and in the old voice seemed to feel and speak things that I couldn’t express in college, and vice versa” (Smith 1).
Smith expresses how multiple voices – (viewing ethical identity as a voice) can be used at different time and view it as adding to her original ethical identity.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
To Thy Self be True
Reflective Essay C
Interpreting Annie Dillard’s essay “Total Eclipse” was very challenging. I actually struggled to understand her main idea. “Total Eclipse” can take the reader in so many directions that it could be confusing. Therefore, it is my conclusion that “Total Eclipse” focuses on language, communication, expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. Dillard’s essay was able to draw in the reader though personal experience that produced emotion. Her essay was abstract, purposeful, and strong (“Express Yourself” pg.1). My first draft didn’t have a specific purpose so it was better to start all over. The original draft went into so many directions it appeared much like Dillard’s essay. For a moment, I froze and was unsure what direction to go. I tried a few methods to help myself get out of that motionless position so I start reading my peers blog. Doing so really got me confused because everyone had his or her own take on Dillard’s essay. At this point, time is moving, which is something I didn’t have much of because English 101: Introduction to College Writing is an eight-week summer writing class. I sit quietly to rethink “I look deep, to understand, what is it, I’m to learn. I ask myself, what is it, what is the lesson? Looking and looking, what am I to see” (“Growing into Myself” 1). All of Sudden, I realize, “I have grown up and out of ignorance and no change. “We have so mastered the transition we have forgotten we ever learned. Yet, it is a transition we make a hundred times a day, as, like so many will-less dolphins, we plunge and surface, lapse and emerges. We live half our waking lives and all of our sleeping lives in some private, useless, and insensible waters we never mention or recall. Useless, I say. Valueless, I might add – until someone hauls their wealth up to the surface and into the wide-awake city, in a form that people can use” (Dillard 168). Now it is time to change myself and to walk me, to talk me and be me” (“Growing into Myself” 1). Rather than being fake it is so easy to be “Me”: the real McCoy.
My interpretation of “Total Eclipse” focuses on language. It includes any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures, or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion, etc. Language can include songs from rap singers like LiL Wayne; essays written by various authors such as James Baldwin or California J. Cooper; or plays from Shakespeare. While all of these authors have their own specific form of expression, yet they all deliver a message. Therefore, expression, communication, and language are vital skill that helps enhance society. “The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language” (“Express Yourself” 1). I realize that many people in society will not or can not, except difference. “…opens the door to societal intolerance of difference. The way we talk, the way we look, or the cultural difference that makes ethnicity special” ("Life Expressions" 1).
Interpreting Annie Dillard’s essay “Total Eclipse” was very challenging. I actually struggled to understand her main idea. “Total Eclipse” can take the reader in so many directions that it could be confusing. Therefore, it is my conclusion that “Total Eclipse” focuses on language, communication, expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. Dillard’s essay was able to draw in the reader though personal experience that produced emotion. Her essay was abstract, purposeful, and strong (“Express Yourself” pg.1). My first draft didn’t have a specific purpose so it was better to start all over. The original draft went into so many directions it appeared much like Dillard’s essay. For a moment, I froze and was unsure what direction to go. I tried a few methods to help myself get out of that motionless position so I start reading my peers blog. Doing so really got me confused because everyone had his or her own take on Dillard’s essay. At this point, time is moving, which is something I didn’t have much of because English 101: Introduction to College Writing is an eight-week summer writing class. I sit quietly to rethink “I look deep, to understand, what is it, I’m to learn. I ask myself, what is it, what is the lesson? Looking and looking, what am I to see” (“Growing into Myself” 1). All of Sudden, I realize, “I have grown up and out of ignorance and no change. “We have so mastered the transition we have forgotten we ever learned. Yet, it is a transition we make a hundred times a day, as, like so many will-less dolphins, we plunge and surface, lapse and emerges. We live half our waking lives and all of our sleeping lives in some private, useless, and insensible waters we never mention or recall. Useless, I say. Valueless, I might add – until someone hauls their wealth up to the surface and into the wide-awake city, in a form that people can use” (Dillard 168). Now it is time to change myself and to walk me, to talk me and be me” (“Growing into Myself” 1). Rather than being fake it is so easy to be “Me”: the real McCoy.
My interpretation of “Total Eclipse” focuses on language. It includes any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures, or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion, etc. Language can include songs from rap singers like LiL Wayne; essays written by various authors such as James Baldwin or California J. Cooper; or plays from Shakespeare. While all of these authors have their own specific form of expression, yet they all deliver a message. Therefore, expression, communication, and language are vital skill that helps enhance society. “The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language” (“Express Yourself” 1). I realize that many people in society will not or can not, except difference. “…opens the door to societal intolerance of difference. The way we talk, the way we look, or the cultural difference that makes ethnicity special” ("Life Expressions" 1).
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Connecting Dillard with Lehrer
Acitivity 1.7
Annie Dillard Essay “Total Eclipse” focuses on language, communication, or expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. In the essay, Dillard shares a personal experience of watching a physical eclipse: where the sun covered the planet. The result of that action causes the earth to become total darken, without any light from the sun. An eclipse means “the obscuration of the light of the sun by the intervention of the moon between it and a point on the earth” (solar eclipse). Watching the full eclipse was more than just a physical event for Dillard it became a revelation to her current state of perception. She recognized how her life had become idle. She recognized how small her perception of life truly was. Dillard notice that her current knowledge could not assist her in comprehending the full eclipse. The main purpose of “Total Eclipse” was to communicate an important life event. The essay includes ideas about life in general - growing as an individual: and how life can change one’s perspective. The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language.
Another essayist, have similar ideas on language, communication, or expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. Within Jonah Lehrer Essay “The Method of Memory”-“Proust Was a Neuroscientist” also shared a personal experience of attempting to understand how the (human) mind created memories and maintain them. Memory is “the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences” (The American Heritage). Lehrer also wanted to point out the importance of saving the information of his experiment. Lehrer logged much of the information he gathered. Yet, during the processes of the experiment, he continued to write and rewrite over time to update new information. He inserted more information within already prepared documents. The main purpose of “The Method of Memory”- Proust Was a Neuroscientist was to a message about the opportunity to continue to re-arrange one understands though life experiences. Like an experiment, new information may possible come later that can be added to the old information. In the essay, Lehrer realized scientific experiment may not render an absolute trust yet the opportunity to “fix itself” is the beauty behind trying things again. Despite that both authors topics were different the common thread was communicating an important life events. The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language.
Annie Dillard Essay “Total Eclipse” focuses on language, communication, or expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. In the essay, Dillard shares a personal experience of watching a physical eclipse: where the sun covered the planet. The result of that action causes the earth to become total darken, without any light from the sun. An eclipse means “the obscuration of the light of the sun by the intervention of the moon between it and a point on the earth” (solar eclipse). Watching the full eclipse was more than just a physical event for Dillard it became a revelation to her current state of perception. She recognized how her life had become idle. She recognized how small her perception of life truly was. Dillard notice that her current knowledge could not assist her in comprehending the full eclipse. The main purpose of “Total Eclipse” was to communicate an important life event. The essay includes ideas about life in general - growing as an individual: and how life can change one’s perspective. The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language.
Another essayist, have similar ideas on language, communication, or expression and how to link ideas and thoughts to the reader. Within Jonah Lehrer Essay “The Method of Memory”-“Proust Was a Neuroscientist” also shared a personal experience of attempting to understand how the (human) mind created memories and maintain them. Memory is “the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences” (The American Heritage). Lehrer also wanted to point out the importance of saving the information of his experiment. Lehrer logged much of the information he gathered. Yet, during the processes of the experiment, he continued to write and rewrite over time to update new information. He inserted more information within already prepared documents. The main purpose of “The Method of Memory”- Proust Was a Neuroscientist was to a message about the opportunity to continue to re-arrange one understands though life experiences. Like an experiment, new information may possible come later that can be added to the old information. In the essay, Lehrer realized scientific experiment may not render an absolute trust yet the opportunity to “fix itself” is the beauty behind trying things again. Despite that both authors topics were different the common thread was communicating an important life events. The most important purpose is how to communicate those experiences to others, which mean conveying expression through language.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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