Skip to main content

Semester Reflection

Thinking - Colorful Thought Bubble Png Transparent PNG - 600x510 - Free Download on NicePNG
During this past semester, I have grown as both a reader and a writer, mainly due to the differing types of literature that we have covered and studied in class. Reading pieces such as "The Stranger" really opened my eyes to another side of literature that I have not seen before. I have never witnessed or read a novel that has a writing style similar to Albert Camus's. Camus's unique way of writing challenged us readers given that most of us have never seen a character such as Meursault. Typically when reading a novel, I am able to connect and understand the protagonist and the reasons behind the way they act. However, when I read about Meursault, I found myself confused yet at the same time, astonished. It became clear that even when a character has an unusual mindset, a theme or message is still able to be portrayed through the author's work. As I was doing my research for the midterm paper and digging into the psychology of authors to understand further why they write the way they write, I realized that their mindset and psychology heavily play into their work. Before, I never thought twice about the author, however now it makes sense that an author's psychology would significantly influence their writing. In particular, I believe the debate we did helped me develop as an overall English student. This assignment required a lot of research which allowed me to find new meanings of the work that I missed the first time reading "Oedipus". Also the hours spent conversing our ideas as a group both grew me closer and more comfortable with my classmates and also opened my eyes to new ways of thinking/viewing literary works. Conclusively, I think this semester has been quite beneficial seeing how much I have grown as a student in such a short and unique period of time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who is Meursault?

 The Stranger's Meursault, displays a pattern of behavior that is very uncommon in most literary works. While readers are usually able to relate to the main character and sympathize with the emotions that they are feeling, Meursault is the opposite. The way Meursault interacts and feels about certain situations and characters is quite strange, as if he's almost a stranger (hence the title) to the readers throughout the novel. We begin to wonder, is he a sociopath? Where are his emotions? Or why does he act this way? We wonder these questions because of how unfamiliar his character is to its readers. A term to somewhat describe Meursault's perspective and type of behavior would be nihilism. A nihilist is someone that does not believe in anything, has no loyalties, and ultimately believes that they, and society, have no purpose. Wow, that sure sounds like someone I'd love to be around! Meursault's detached personality erupts strange emotional behavior. For example, du...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thank You School for...

 This I have learned... With such an interesting and unpredictable year, I have to admit, to my surprise, that I actually learned the most important life lessons this year. I find that my life and lifestyle is more appreciative and meaningful now because of the lessons that both COVID and online school have taught me. The most important takeaway being to never take anything for granted--even the endless hours of schoolwork or early morning school alarms. One particular thing that I will remember from this year is to always appreciate not only your closest friends but also your "school friends" because if not for school, then those close relationships would have never formed. While I never use to think twice about these concepts, I now will never be able to forget them and they'll always positively linger in the back of my mind.  The big understanding that I will take away from my entire school career as a whole is that school is meant for so much more than just the classe...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's So Great About Poetry?

Poetry- the unit that most students dread to learn about in their English class. But why is poetry so disliked among high school students? A few of these reasons, and that I can attest for personally, are that poetry is seen as old, it can be quite difficult to understand/interpret, and we just fail to see the point of it. However, after interpreting some poems in class, my perspective began to shift (only slightly not significantly though). While I am still not the biggest fan of poetry, I am beginning to see a different side to it.  Yes, poetry is all of the negative things that I stated above (at least in my opinion) but once poetry is understood, the lesson becomes that much clearer and applicable. Understanding and correctly interpreting poetry is not only a beneficial skill to have but it also opens your eyes to a deeper understanding to things that are important in terms of culture, history, and etc. For example, poetry has effectively been used to advocate and teach about i...
Post a Comment
Read more