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Adam Ludwig ENG 112L Final Exam: Self-Assessment ePortfolio

Opening Reflection

Before this class I always had a general understanding of the literature I was reading but never really went too in depth as I have with this class. One of the things that I struggled with in this class was being able to explain or evaluate in great detail about such a short story especially in the poetry section. At first glance with some of the material it looks like there isn’t much to go off of but after doing this class I could see there is so much more context and meaning in just one sentence. Once I realized there was deeper meaning and was able to interpret more from these stories, I was able to understand what message was being delivered by the authors.

SLO #1: Comprehension

In general, I feel like I have comprehended fairly well the plots of the texts this semester. For example, in the text “Between the Pool and the Gardenias” in the very beginning she picks up a deceased baby off the street and it never mentions the baby is deceased until the end of the story but the details in the beginning like she was found in a street near the gutter and her veins were so close to the surface that it looked like you could rupture her skin if you touched to hard, which was the first giveaway that baby Rose wasn’t alive. A second example of my comprehension was in “Sweat” which uses a unique dialogue which is pretty much broken English or slang terms. It was difficult at first but eventually you are able to understand what is going on in the story where Delia and her husband Sykes are on bad terms in their marriage and while Delia works her husband is cheating on her and one day brings home a snake to torment and try to drive her away but Delia has worked too hard to leave everything behind.

Example #1 “Between the Pool and the Gardenias” by Edwidge Danticat

Week 2 Reading Responses

Delia: So, this whole time you’ve been carrying around a dead baby?! You can’t be right in the head woman; you should get help as soon as you can or be locked away for good that is unforgivable and disgusting.

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

Example #2 “Sweat” by Zora Neal Hurston

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

SLO #2 Interpretation

In general, I feel I have done well with interpretation of deeper meanings and themes in the texts this semester. Two examples of that are from the texts “All Summer in a Day” and “The Tale of the Rose.” In “All Summer in a Day” the emotions you felt from Margot were very relatable in the sense of being different from everyone else, as she was the only one in the class who has experienced the Sun while her class singles her out for this and bullies her. You can feel the depression or sadness she feels from missing home and not being like the rest of the kids and being treated differently. For “The Tale of the Rose” it was easier to interpret due to the fact that there is a modern-day retelling of the story “Beauty and the Beast” with characters and pieces of the plot twisted around. In either story you are able to tell who the protagonist and antagonist are based on there view on society they live in such as the daughter who is expected to settle in and get married to one of the village men and live like everyone else.

Week 1 Reading Responses

Example #1 “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

Example #2 “The Tale of the Rose” by Emma Donoghue

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

SLO #3 Analysis

In general, I feel like I did pretty well with analysis since I am very analytical when it comes to pretty much anything, I strive to know everything about whatever I am dealing with or working on. Two examples of this are “Citizen” by Claudia Rankine and “Fun Home” by Alison Bechdel. In “Citizen” they use a second person narration where it puts you in the shoes or in the mind of the characters in the story. It gives you the perspective of the issues someone faces something like being falsely accused of being a suspect when all they were doing was talking on the phone outside their home. In “Fun Home” the author is telling experiences about her childhood home and her experiences with her father which were mostly negative due to their differing views. Her father was very meticulous and neat while the author herself was the exact opposite and very boyish.

Week 3 Reading Responses

Example #1 Citizen

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

Example #2 Fun Home

One panel that I think best represents and helped me understand the relationship between Bechdel was on page 15 the squares on the right. All of the squares are simple to understand, they are just complete opposites of each other, her and her father. She’s the spartan to her father’s Athenian, modern to his Victorian, butch to his nelly, and utilitarian to his aesthete. They also depict her as being the masculine one in all images and her father as more of a mother than a father. This relationship impacted Bechdel by having zero attachment to her father as if he was already dead to her as she explained towards the end. He wasn’t absent in her life, and he was always there, but they never bonded and the moments they tried to it were embarrassing for her and loathsome for him as if any kind of attachment or show of affection was a negative thing between them.

SLO #4 Evaluation

In general, I felt that I could connect to and represent wider issues in society fairly well since I have been almost everywhere in the world and experienced multiple cultures in and out of the military, with that you are able to compare and contrast how people live in different settings plus a lot of personal experiences. Two examples are from Major assignment 1 and 2. In major assignment 1 with the alternate ending of “All Summer in a Day” I showed the audience the real dangers and consequences of treating someone differently and just how ugly people can be towards each other over something as simple as seeing the sun for an hour. In Major assignment 2, the character conversation between Delia from “Sweat” and Marie from “Between the Pool and the Gardenias” talked about their relationships with their husbands and how each them handled it differently where Delia was the more sane one and Marie carrying around a dead infant was obviously the deranged one but both had their reasons for how they reacted to these situations.

Major Assignment 1 & 2

Example #1 Alternate Ending

William couldn’t handle the pressure of knowing she’s still locked in the closet and shouted, “she’s still in the closet!” The teacher sprinted down the hallway. The kids followed along with William. Once they reached the closet it was eerily quiet, and the teacher frantically opened the door.

Margot was there as if she was sleeping, the kids were frozen in place as they suddenly realized how long she had been left here alone. The teacher was shouting and holding Margot in her arms.

“Margot! Wake up! Wake up Margot!!

Example #2 Character conversation

Marie: I wanted nothing more than to be a mother to a daughter, I’m the last of my line.

Delia: Doesn’t matter that aint right, I’ll take the snake over a dead baby.

Personal Reflection

The texts that stood out the most to me were “All Summer in a Day” “Citizen” and “Between the Pool and the Gardenias.” “Citizen” gave me a new perspective on a modern-day struggle for those of color and made me realize that a whole culture is always on defense when they don’t have to be. Everything they do is either misjudged or assume they are doing something wrong while no one takes the time to find out what is actually going on with them and show a sense of care and understanding. Going through this course I grew more in finding deeper meaning and seeing the bigger picture of things and thinking more with emotion instead of logic.