English 131 has been academically challenging and a rewarding experience this semester. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a passion for writing, and strive to do my best, especially in the subject of English. A lot of the assignments that I have done in this course have helped me blossom into a better writer. I believe that planning, drafting, and revising my critical essays, textual analysis, writing for an online audience, and presenting critical essays as blog posts has made me into the writer I am today.
At the beginning The first critical essay that I wrote was on the play Creature, by Heidi Schreck. In this essay I wrote about how the main character, Margery Kempe. Margery makes impulsive decisions that cause her not to trust her friend, Jacob. Planning, drafting and revising this critical analysis helped me to become more comfortable with writing long and short length pieces of writing. I had been given the chance to incorporate divergent thinking into my writing and to better understand difficult concepts when writing. Drafting my essay in class was helpful because I could use that time to gather my thoughts and put them down on paper. The drafting process also gave me the responsibility of asking my professor any questions that I had at the time. Drafting my first critical essay helped me with citing my sources within my writing. Citing textual evidence on a college level was relatively new to me, and writing my critical essays helped me to improve on citing my textual findings. After I explained Margery’s reasoning behind not trusting Jacob and figuring out the theme, I cited textual evidence to backup my claim. I stated that the character, Jacob, seemed to be a loyal person, but not everyone is who they claim to be. Jacob says “I wonder if they’ll use green wood to burn you (Schreck 63). Using this method of citing my sources helped me to be able to write on a more advanced level. Revising my draft into a final piece of writing was thrilling. The process of editing was quite stressful because I wanted every detail to be perfect, and no mistakes present in my writing. Personally, the revision process when writing my critical essays was difficult at first, but by repeatedly revising, I became much more confident and attentive to my work. Planning, drafting, and revising my essays has made me more confident as a writer, and has enriched my thinking to heights I never thought possible.
Writing for an online audience and having a blog has been a fantastic experience. The reason I think it has helped me develop as a writer is I have gotten to express myself more clearly outside of the classroom. When posting my blogs, I felt like I had more freedom to write from the heart. Being able to have a blog has given me the opportunity to write a variety of things for a wider audience. One of my blog posts was based on the book Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. In my last essay I wrote about how Wilder’s play influenced Frank Capra’s film, It’s A Wonderful Life. I expressed that Donald Margulies said It’s a Wonderful Life owes a great deal to Our Town. (xi). Sharing my critical essays as a blog post has allowed me to let my classmates see my thought process and presentation of those thoughts. Sharing my work means being able to develop my ideas further, as opposed to keeping those ideas to myself.
English at Lenoir Rhyne University has allowed me to realize that there is more to writing than just writing an essay a for class. Writing is a combination of three things: storytelling, creativity, and heart. When I think about how far I have come, it brings a sense of pride over me. English isn’t about being the best writer, it’s about sharing your story and being a diverse intellectual . I plan on continuing my passion for writing well into my career as a teacher, and telling my future students that writing begins with an open mind.
Works Cited
Schreck, Heidi. Creature. Samuel French, 2011.
Margulies, Donald. Foreword.Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Harper Perennial, 2003, pp. xi-xx
Annotated Bibliography
Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.
The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson is centered around the Chicago World Fair of 1893. The story follows the lives of Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes, two men who prepare for their individual missions of success. Burnham is in the process of making the fair an spectacular event for everyone, even in the midst of a series of serial murders committed by Holmes.
Maslin, Janet. “Add a Serial Murderer to 1893 Chicago’s Opulent Overkill.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2003,http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/10/books/books-of-the-times-add-a-serial-murderer-to-1893-chicago-s-opulent-overkill.html.
“Add a Serial Murderer to 1893 Chicago’s Opulent Overkill” by Janet Maslin takes a personal look at Larson’s book, The Devil In The White City. She states that Larson likes to embroider the past that way…so he relentlessly fuses history and entertainment. Maslin goes on to say that Larson uses specific detail such as historic events to give the book the feel of a novel.
Richtel, Matt. “Blogs vs. Term Papers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2012,http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/muscling-in-on-the-term-paper-tradition.html.
“Blogs vs. Term Papers” by Matt Richtel opens up an argument about which two of these methods are best for English students. Some professors use blogs because it gives students the opportunity to write for an online audience. Other professor find it more effective to have students write academic term papers, to show the instructor what the students have learned.
Schreck, Heidi. Creature. Samuel French, 2011.
Creature by Heidi Schreck follows the life of Margery Kempe, a woman disturbed by the presence of the devil. The story focuses on trust and psychological interference while giving insight on the universal idea of love and hell. “He who has seen her comings and goings knows that love is the highest name of hell.” (Hadeuhjoh of Brabant), Earth can be a form of hell and even worse the hell itself.
Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 4 Aug. 2017,http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/.
“Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation” by Jean M. Twenge is about what smartphones have done to teens both socially and psychologically. In this argument Twenge presents statistics and scientific evidence to support her claim. Twenge expresses her concern about too much screen time and not enough interaction with the outside world. The authors main concern is the higher rates of depression and other psychological impact from too much screen time.
Whitehead, Colson. The Underground Railroad. Doubleday, 2016.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Captures the life of a young girl named Cora, who is a third generation slave in the south. On her journey Cora is faced with the harsh and brutal realities of being a slave. At her lowest point she describes having the last thing she had to call her own being taken away, her pride. Cora is determined to make a better life for herself, even if that means running for her life.
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. Harper, 2003.
Our Town by Thornton Wilder tells the story of multiple families living in the small town of Grover’s Corner. In the story each family has the challenge of dealing with hardships and taking care of loved ones. The setting, dialogue and themes, paints a picture of small-town American life. The story follows Emily Webb, one of the main characters, from early childhood until death.
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