Close Reading 1

Many times we come across articles that attempt to persuade us one way or another, and the way that these articles are written greatly effects the outcome of the persuasion. For instance, Seth Mullins wrote "An Argument Against Television for Children"which proves the idea of how effective a piece can be. The diction, imagery, and syntax helps Mullins persuade the reader about the effects of television.

Mullins uses precise diction that is appropriate for his audience, which, in this case, are parents of young children. He describes the television as "a world they cannot enter, and where their action and initiative make no difference", which suggests to parents that television is not good for children's growth. The use of the words "action" and "initiative", or the lack there of, may be concerning to parents and keep then engaged in the article. Also, Mullins makes the television into  a new "world"for the kids, and this effect makes parents wonder what world their children are in, which can also create worry. The word choice in just this one sentence helps the work seem even more engaging.

The use of imagery in this argument is, also, prominent. Mullins is attempting to get parents to think about what it is their children are thinking and imagining. He claims that the television "exacts a dear cost to their budding imaginations and sense of initiative." The phrase "budding imagination" creates that image of the child's growth and development. A parent may hear that and automatically picture the child's well-being. Parents need to make sure that they give their children the best environment for growth, and Mullins pulls in the imagery to help parents connect the dots.

The syntax in this piece is helpful in describing the situation at hand, and making the facts as specific as possible. Syntax simply refers to the sentence structures and format of the article. For instance, Mullins uses a variety of sentence structures. This keeps the piece interesting and helps make the material have better clarity. He states, "There are, no doubt, many television programs available-especially if one has cable-that are educational in nature." This one sentence uses the phrase "no doubt" to make his argument more factual, which also makes it more believable. He, also, uses a dash to represent an interruption of thought, creating more description. The syntax of a piece of writing adds clarity to the text and allows the reader to better understand what is being said.

Diction, imagery, and syntax are quite useful while writing a piece, but detail and language are also important. All together, these structures are helpful to engage readers into the text, and in the case of this article, to persuade.

http://articles.familylobby.com/287-an-argument-against-television-for-children.htm

Open Prompt 1

1984. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

In this day and age, there are many novels that reflect the ideas and such of pop culture. One of these novels is simply, "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. The novel is a classic love story between and guy and a girl in high school; however, Edward is a vampire, but Bella falls in love anyway. The idea of unexpected romance is prominent within the text, and one particular scene proves this the best. During the scene where Bella and Edward are in the meadow there is not much dialogue, but there is plenty of imagery that describes the scene and makes it so memorable. 

During the couple's time spent in the meadow, Bella discovers what Edward's skin looks like in the sun. She describes it as "white despite the faint flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface" (260). This was a climactic moment for there relationship because it shows how they are growing closer and are becoming more deeply involved. The novel as a whole is based around the development of their relationship, and this scene is the perfect example of this development. Bella seems to study edward and even compares him to a statue by saying, "A perfect statue, carved in some unknown stone, smooth like marble, glittering like crystal (260)." The way in which Edward is described in this scene brings forth vivid images and ideas that are important to the story.

Stephanie Meyer must have had a good reason to place this scene where it is and the way that it is. For instance, it seems as though she was making the connection between the two characters more prominent, but it, also, seems to make a direct connection with the audience. Personally, the passage made me more engaged in the novel and made me think about the ideas and controversies that could be thought of while reading. For example, Bella's descriptions are almost fantasy-like, and the fact that Edward is a vampire makes that a reasonable point. It is almost a scene in which the love is too good to be true, but because of this controversy, it makes the story more engaging because readers, like myself, put themselves into the scene and fantasize about the situation as if it were them. 

The ideas in this one scene are effective in making the audience think about and fantasize about this even after they put the book down. I find that "Twilight" creates a new romance and a new idea for readers to enjoy, and the meadow scene brings this to life. 

Response to Course Material (Sept. 9)

The year has barely begun and surprisingly, I have learned a lot, and our class has covered quite a bit of material. I have never really looked at homework assignments as having any meaning or connection to my life, but honestly, the summer work made me look deeper into literature than I have ever before. My thought process while reading Thomas C. Foster's "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" was, "Why are we reading a piece of literature about how to read literature..?" It seemed redundant because clearly, I know how to read literature if I was reading it right then. However, of course, the reading surprised me and showed me the different meanings of various elements found in literature and how to make sense of them. I admit that in the past I have disregarded symbols and ideas in books because I was not sure how to decipher them. In doing the Power Point, I was forced to connect the ideas to pop culture that I am connected with every day. My favorite part was talking about my favorite movies like "The Notebook", "Twilight", and "The Hunger Games" because instead of "Awh! Noah and Allie are kissing in the rain, how cute!" it became "Oh, the rain created a whole new idea and effect in the scene making it more intense." I feel like I became more analytical of movies and songs that I just watched or listened to for fun.

As I went on and read "The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing", I discovered that there are many solid fundamentals that need to be learned and practiced to succeed in writing. This book went into depth about punctuation and clarity and the flow in writing, and I could not help but realize the many mistakes I have made in my own writing in the past. I have always thought of myself as a decent writer, but I know now that I still need a lot of practice.

Now, both pieces of literature that we read had deeper meanings that the title displayed. Both texts took broke apart literature piece by piece and showed how it is not sufficient to just read or write words on the page; you have to know the fundamentals and set them into action. Given, that one book talked about reading and the other talked about writing, but the point of reading both was to bring the two concepts together to make my understanding of English Literature better and more effective.

From the tiniest punctuation to the nice flow of sentences, Harvey’s book “The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing” pinpoints the main fundamentals and ideas of this type of writing. David Sedaris wrote “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, which is a novel that has a structure that very well follows the structure and ideas of Harvey. Sedaris’s narrative includes a gracefulness, flow, and clarity recognizable from Harvey’s novel.

The gracefulness of Sedaris’s piece is almost unexpected due to the title, “Me Talk Pretty One Day”. It may be expected to have many errors or even a strange dialect. However, the narrative is read simply and with ease. For example, he uses the sentence, “The teacher marched in, deeply tanned from a recent vacation, and proceeded to rattle off a series of administrative announcements,” with a strong purpose and meaning, but it still contains that simplistic ease (Sedaris). As Harvey says, “Words matter,” and that is easily displayed by this one sentence and all throughout the work of Sedaris (Harvey 5). 

It is, also, clear that there is a motion to the way the narrative is written. The flow of an essay helps moves the piece “from point A to point B”, and this is important when writing a solid essay like the one Sedaris has provided (Harvey 3). Sedaris is telling his story in a way that is quite intriguing to read because the sentences flow. He describes his teacher and his learning, and in doing so makes it flow together to create his piece. For example, “The teacher, through word and action, conveyed the message that if this was my idea of an identity, she wanted nothing to do with it,” and then he continues on to say, “My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of the classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards” (Sedaris). The two sentences flow and make sense together, easily.

Harvey uses the words “competent, disciplined plainness” to describe his idea of clarity. Clarity can be described as the ease at which the audience reads the work. Again, Sedaris uses a clear tone for the audience that decides to read his narrative. In fact, his whole narrative has a little bit to do with clarity because in his classroom there was little instruction that he understood. He describes what this means while saying, “Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It’s a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxication and deceptive” (Sedaris). This sentence itself helps defines clarity, and the words and structure remain clear as well. 

Many of the ideas that Sedaris does quite well involve simplicity and ease, which are, also, what Harvey includes in his novel. Gracefulness, flow, and clarity all fall under the category of reading with ease, and the two writers work hand-in-hand to display this.