This semester so far

I think this semester in this class is going pretty difficult for me.  English is a tough subject for me, especially literature.  Writing papers is tough for me, but I have to learn how to write them well to become successful in college.  I enjoy reading a lot, but its hard for me to understand literature.  I'm not a big talker, so when we have discussions, its hard for me to say something, but I have to get in the habit of talking during class for discussions.  I like the gists and blogging because it lets me say what I think and what I want to say.  Its going to be tough rest of the semester but I'm going to fight through it and do my best.

"Drown" by Junot Díaz

I chose to read Drown by Junot Díaz because I was told by you that I would like it, and I did!  The point of view of this story is first person, told by the main character who is also the narrator.  It is told from his prospective of his life and what he did with his best friend, Beto.  The setting of this story takes place in New Jersey and is told from a Dominican American's perspective of what life was like for them in 1996.

Bartleby, The Scrivener and The Birthmark

I think that both stories had a good meaning behind them but I thought "Bartleby, The Scrivener" took too long to get going.  The author talked about pointless things for the first half it seemed like.  "The Birthmark" got right to the point and did not take so long to get started.  I thought the characters in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" didn't change very much but the characters in "The Birthmark" did.  Bartleby changed a little bit from the beginning but after that he stayed the same the rest of the story. 

Class Discussion

I thought the discussion in class on Wednesday was true, but not entirely.  I grew up and lived in Sioux Center which is a town of about 7,000 people and is starting to have a lot more Hispanic people.  Right away this was different, but now I'm used to people of different race talking different languages around me.  I do think everybody has a little bit of racism in them, but not everyone is a heavy racist.  I have a lot of friends from my high school that were Hispanic and I had a really good friend who was Asian.  I think its fun hanging out with other people of different race because I learn a lot about their life and culture.  I have cousin's on my dad's side of the family who are part Indian, and I respect that.  I love them just as much as my other cousins.

Twitter: There's no way of changing it so get used to it

I myself use Twitter because I like to know what athletes are thinking and doing.  There is a way of verifying that it is really them, which is nice so people know that it is actually them.  Now, there is a lot a people who try and imitate them, which I think is stupid.  If I found out somebody created an account and tried to be me, I would be pissed, but I can't do anything about it.  Today's society is largely on the internet and because of this, there is no way of knowing who somebody is 100%.  Its the world we live in and we have to deal with it.  There is no way to take it back and that's the way it is going to be.

First Paper for Lit

The first paper for this class was pretty difficult for me.  Writing papers is one of my greatest weaknesses, especially literary analysis papers.  I thought the hardest part for me was finding information on my topic and relating to my topic for my paper.  I read the whole book but I did not understand it well so that also made it hard to write the paper.  I am more of a numbers and math person, but writing relates to everyday life so I thought it was good for that purpose.

The Metamorphosis

I thought that the Metamorphosis was very boring because the only part that I thought was interesting was when he turned into a bug.  I am a person who likes adventure books, so this was not entertaining to me. 

Sources Cited

 Amey, Michael D. "Living Under the Bell Jar: Surveillance and Resistance in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. "Critical Survey 17.1 (2005): 22-38. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

Hutchings, William. "Structure and Design in a Soviet Dystopia: H.G. Wells, Constructivism, and Yevegeny Zamyatin's We." Journal of Modern Literature 9.1 (1981): 81. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

We. Trans. Natasha Randall.  New York: Moderen Library, 2006. Print.