Quarter 1

 


The American Dream. A hope for success, liberty and equality. It was the theme for the first half of the semester. We read many pieces on it. Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions and I Have A Dream area few examples of text that had The American Dream as a theme. Vanity Fair's Rethinking the American Dream speaks about how the American dream has changed into being famous and well-known with riches and a following, rather than liberty, equality and a better America.  Vanity Fair states, "What needs to change is our expectation of what the dream promises—and our understanding of what that vague and promiscuously used term, “the American Dream,” is really supposed to mean." and "The American Dream is not fundamentally about stardom or extreme success; in re-calibrating our expectations of it, we need to appreciate that it is not an all-or-nothing deal—that it is not, as in hip-hop narratives and in Donald Trump’s brain, a stark choice between the penthouse and the streets." They make these point as if the American Dream can't be a subjective topic. To someone in a third-world country, the American Dream may be just coming to these country and living on the lowest paying job, because where their from, its worse than working a somewhere like McDonald's.  I feel as though this article took a subjective topic and made it objective. That everyone's interpretation of the American Dream must be the same. As if no one is allowed to think differently.


Throughout the first half of the fall semester, I had 5 precis papers to write. The topic of my precis was a columnist, Leonard Pitts Jr who wrote on political and social issues, tending to lean towards the more liberal and democratic side. He used a couple of persuasive elements, but these two devices were reoccurring throughout his columns: Pitts had the tendency to start all his columns with one sentence to grab the reader's attention. Not only is the  paragraph one sentence but it usually had the purpose of the column within it and was normally comical. Which is another rhetorical device he used, Humor. Pitts loved to connect to his audience by adding humor to his work. He would make his pieces humorous and enjoyable, that way his audience is being entertained whilst getting informed.



One reading we did throughout the first part of the semester was The Great Gatsby. The a theme of the American Dream reoccurred throughout the story. A main example of The American Dream is life of Gatsby, he grew up with two farmers and parents and not as wealthy. He worked hard to get to a place of wealth and success, a factor of the overall American Dream.  Another Example of the American Dream is the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wanted his people to free from the power of the British and be independent. He states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The American Dream is also about being free and having your own right.  The Declaration of Resolutions and Sentiments is also like the Declaration of Independence, but their freedom was from the power of men. Elizabeth Stanton wrote this a document to demand the respect of men, since during her time women and men weren't seen as equals (even today's society, but that's a topic for another day). She was the voice of the women in America who were seen as the shadows of their husbands or just inferior to men.   


 





As stated previously, I read Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence and Elizabeth Stanton's Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Both text are very similar (seeing that Stanton did replicate Jefferson's document) and I was giving the task to find the similarities and differences. Below is a link to my essay. Read away!



 I vow to use evidence and analysis to the best of its ability in my next formal paper. I also will strive to not ramble on in my essays.


Below is a link to one of my favorite timed-write. One of the reasons I love this essay is the topic and how essay it show how Russell Sander's claim of being disconnected from society can have bad side effects can be valid, invalid or both. I like argumentative essay, it lets me chose side of the claim I wanna talk about. It allows the writer's creativity show alittle more than another essay. 

Quarter 1 Reflection

I feel as though I've progressed a lot in English after the first half of the semester. I've learned a lot about 5 paragraph structure and how to stretch them into a 9 essay for an AP test. I've improved my vocabulary and analytical skills throughout the quarter. I've had trouble with deadlines and the amount of assignments but that's something I can adapt to. Overall, I've had a great experience in AP English. 

Quarter 2

Zora Neale Hurston is the author of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God , and throughout the story, there's a character named Janie. Shes goes through life discovering many adversities and life changing experiences, which is what Hurston uses as a rhetorical device to display how race and gender play a big role in not only Janie's life but real life, day-to-day people.

Janie experienced a lot of marriages throughout the novel.  She went through a marriage with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks and Tea Cakes. Janie married her first husband, Logan, due to her nanny arranging a marriage to him for money. Joe Starks was her second husband and Janie's second husband and a born entrepreneur with a few good qualities. Tea Cakes being her third and actual love. all of these contribute to her experiences on being a woman in the different relationships she was in.

Race also played a big part in her experiences. She tends to be oblivious to her surroundings when the topic of race was brought about. In the beginning of the story, she is comes to find out that she is black after looking at herself in a picture. She also goes through discovering her privilege as a fairer skinned black woman .  

 

 Throughout second quarter, I read a compilation of column by one specific columnist. The author of the columns I read is Maureen Dowd, who writes about politics and social events/issues from a democratic/left viewpoint. Throughout her column she wrote using persuasive diction and real life experiences (logos).

Persuasive language ran all throughout her text. It was in the title, it was in her actual content. She would ask rhetorical question and attention grabbing titles to reel in her audience. She also had an extensive vocabulary, but in a way that made you want to reader to find out what it meant.

She also used real life situations. She used tweets made by real people. She used used the presidential election whenever she could because things like that are what we catch onto nowadays. People are so hooked to social media that authors and many other professions used it as a way to grab our attention and make us analyze what it is they are presenting to us.


So one of my assignments for this quarter was to write a synthesis essay about identity. Whether it was shaped by culture or by biology. Below is a link to my essay where I argue that both sides, culture AND biology, is what identity is comprised of . 

 

Below is the self analysis of the essay that i wrote above. I follow certain question to see how well put together my essay is.

Quarter 2 Reflection

Overall, 2nd quarter has been good for me. I learned a lot more about identity than i thought i would. I learned how people identify themselves, the meaning of identity to everyone, being the identity is such a subjective topic. I learned that people normally identify with cultural and/or biological background. I learned the stance on people's perception of identity through writing a synthesis essay on what identity is comprised of, culture or biology

I learned how to properly address a synthesis essay. I learned more about MLA format, an essential way of typing for an English student. I learned about rebuttals and counter-arguments and how to present both sides of an argument, whilst still defending and justifying your claim. My grades were good in this class and I stayed on task and achieved an A.