End of Year Reflection

As an AP writer coming into a year of 11 AP English I started at an inadequate skill level. The summer reading essay I wrote in the beginning of the year exemplifies that it many different ways, such as too much summarizing, unclear purpose and reasoning, and lack of depth. My early writing also included more specific errors, like use of first-person, lack of transitions, and comma errors.

     "As a result of these complications, Hillenbrand(author) wrote Unbroken in hopes of inspiring the audience and herself to overcome obstacles. In addition to inspiration, Hillenbrand writes in order to teach modern society the hardships of war through a passionate tone and concise structure."

     To begin, this excerpt is only the thesis. Clearly, I failed to not only hone in on one central idea, but I also created a too verbose thesis leaving the author as unsure of what the main argument of the paper was. Another simple mistake I made was using the wrong tense. On top of these mistakes, it has also been common for me to go off topic in the middle of my writing, like when I said:

     "Hillenbrand displays her passion by taking the time to know what Louie was doing on a mental level."

     Given my thesis, Hillenbrand's passion and attention to detail doesn't in anyway inspire the audience to overcome any obstacles, as well as teach society about the hardships of war. Overall, my early writing in 11 AP English lacked focus and clarity.

     However, throughout 11 AP English I have learned to control and master my thoughts in order to create an effective argument. As seen in the thesis below I have grown quite a lot in writing.

     "Overall, luxuries not only waste goods causing ecological damage, but they also drive people into an obsession of aspiration for these things."

     The main argument that I am arguing is very clear, as well as the reasons why: Luxuries are bad because they hurt the environment and cause an obsession of material things. Compared to my earlier thesis, this is a big step up. Furthermore, in one of my body paragraphs I convey this argument in a logical and clear way.

     "To begin, luxuries have a large negative impact on the environment. The abundance of goods presented in modern society drive people to buy unnecessary items, and with the production of any good comes packaging. This creates most of the garbage itself. Things like "cans, bottles...whole bags of garbage " can be seen littered across rivers all throughout the U.S (Source D). On top of that, nature houses "thousands of...worthless automobiles, refrigerators, stoves", which further the damage done by excessive spending(Source D). Ultimately, through the ecological damage and past misconduct of disposal, luxuries are rendered as a hindrance to mankind."

     In the first sentence of this body paragraph I clearly state what piece of my thesis I am arguing creating an effective claim. After that, I start to reason why luxuries are bad. This can be clearly backed up when I reason that luxuries either produce waste with their packaging or by failing to be disposed across nature. My clarity is not only based off of my claims, but also my evidence. Since, I use my source to drive my argument, I create a logical argument that is clear to the audience. Lastly, I include an effective concluding statement that sums up everything in the paragraph, as well as revisiting how the paragraph supports the thesis.

     Where I am now as an AP writer is clearly shown through the difference in the two paragraphs and thesis'. Overall, the hardest thing I had to overcome was being able to construct a logical argument with clarity. Prior to this year, I felt that I didn't really know exactly what I was writing or where this idea was going. The way I overcame this problem was by organizing my thoughts effectively. By understanding the prompt and taking the time to think about in what order should my paragraphs be written, I have solved my previous dilemma.

    What I have learned this year in 11 AP English is the importance of hard work. Originally, English has always been challenging, but after overcoming my main problem of bad idea organization I have become a significantly better writer. The aspect that I am most proud in is being able to write an effective full-length essay in 40-60 min. on the spot. My plans for future improvement include 12 AP English and English courses in college, as well as help from instructors if I need help overcoming obstacles. The aspects I want to improve on in the future lie in more detailed writing, such as diction and sentence structure. Ultimately, this year in 11 AP English has been both very helpful to my writing capabilities as an individual, and a super fun class.


   

So we were told to be "creative"

As our topic, Ms. Nagi instructed everyone in 11 AP to "be creative" on our next blog post. Today I wanna talk about creativity, what it means and how I see it in Huck Finn.

The dictionary definition of creativity is involving any new idea.



This photo is one of the first things I found when I google image searched "creativity." This photo, like every other picture involves colors. Colors aren't something that is new, but colors are thought of as exciting. Using different colors allows there to be more difference. Also, these colors contrast a simple black and white suit, which is probably work clothing. When people think about the opposite of creativity you think of boring stuff where everything is the same. In the picture specifically we think of, work, cubicles, grayness, and most of all conformity. What does this have to do with anything we're learning you ask? Well, I am glad you said that because I'm not sure. Just kidding.



In the novel Huckleberry Finn, Huck plays a very interesting role as a character. He is seen throughout the novel struggling with an internal conflict concerning slavery. The two decisions Huck struggles with are giving up Jim but suffering the guilt of betraying a friend who trusts him, or keeping Jim but suffering the consequences of helping a slave runaway. Around Ch 31, Huck chooses his decision when he states "All right then, I'll go to hell." This choice is clearly helping Jim escape to freedom because Southern society has taught Huck to view helping runaway slaves as a terrible crime that can deem anyone worthy of going to hell.



Huck in making this decision is not only courageous, but he is also creative. Going back to the denotation of creativity, freeing slaves wasn't a new idea at the time obviously because of abolitionists and all that stuff, but it may be if you view it from a different angle. Remember conformity and all that being the opposite of creativity? Well that is what the Southern society imposes on everyone in the South. When Huck encounters some problems where people ask if he is helping a slave escape, Huck knows full well what will happen if he honest, so at some points he is forced to act like he is a conformist to succeed in being different. Since Huck is going against a conformist society, and thinking for himself, in a sense, he is being creative.





Anyway, I think that the we can all apply this instance of knowledge within Huckleberry Finn in our lives by thinking for ourselves. Being different and original is the only way things will change, and is the only way we can improve the world, so don't be afraid to take a risk.

America's True Enemy

Today, I want to discuss censorship in literature.

       


          Censorship in general is prohibiting ones freedom of speech in order to impose their own values. This includes stifling vocal, written, and physical actions of a person. Every place with literature that oppose other people's ideals experience some sort of censorship. The result of censorship is where other people change the author's works to impose their ideals on the author's work, which usually causes argument and discord. Content that includes, violence, sex, conflicting ideas, and inappropriate language. This is shown throughout various countries with repressive governments including, Russia, Iran, Nazi Germany, Egypt, and Cuba. They exercise censorship through extreme methods such as burning books. Overall, the cause of censorship is summed up by the philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon's quote, "Knowledge is power", which means people have a fear of knowledge.

Repressive government (Taliban) burns books

          Good thing we have the first amendment, which allows freedom of speech in any form right? Well, not exactly, America experiences these problems too, but in different ways. A book that has been challenged in the past is Huckleberry Finn. Critics claim that the use of the N-word is vulgar and takes from the work as a whole. The updated or more friendly version of the book replace the N-word with the word slave. The change of Twain's masterpiece not only violates his work, but it also doesn't capture the region in the specific time. At the time, African Americans were addressed by that term. By saying this I am not saying it was right to do this, but it was what happened in history. Neglecting to look at past events makes the U.S bound to repeat the same mistakes, and creates a false sense of reality. The key in all of this is to allow to not neglect past events, but to accept them and move forward.

American censorship

The Crucible on Camera!

The Crucible, originally written as a play by Arthur Miller, is also shown in various modern formats, such as a movie . The Crucible film was directed by Nicholas Hytner and produced by Robert A. Miller and David V. Picker. The movie truly brings the drama to an entire new level, which is achieved by emotion, camera tricks, and music.

In the scene where Elizabeth Proctor is called to court to tell Danforth why they "fired" Abigail, a higher level of drama is used primarily through camera tricks and music. If you watch the scene lies, there is a subtle zoom in on Elizabeth's face when she faces her internal struggle of telling the truth of John being an adulterer or lying and saving him from any punishment. In addition to this camera trick, the producers tie in an addition of music to maximize the drama. This scene deserves such close attention to detail because it determines the fate of Abigail Williams. The two outcomes include Abigail making it away, or her being hung to death for causing so many people to die for things that never happened. When Danforth posed the question to Goody Proctor of "To your knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery?" the fate of the entire town of Salem was determined (Miller.190). Elizabeth control affected everyone when she lied "No, sir" (Miller.190). This is only because the Puritan people allowed vengeance to rule their entire society through lies that they believed. Overall, whether you liked the movie or hated it, the producers attention to detail projects a higher level of drama making the movie's significant scenes much more enjoyable.

*Sorry, I couldn't find any videos of the scene, so here's a meme.*

Satire in everyday life

Around the 1950's in the U.S, Joseph McCarthy announced he would investigate the 200+ Communist party members who worked for the U.S Department of the State. In doing so, he would use a very aggressive strategy to calm the paranoia, but he bullied and falsely accused people of disloyalty to the America. This was the creation of McCarthyism. Many people were fired and blacklisted as a result: Hollywood Ten, Charlie Chaplin, Hellen Keller, Artie Shaw, etc.

Arthur Miller happened to be one of the victims of this flawed system, and as a result he wrote the Crucible. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses Juvenalian satire to criticize the random unsupported accusations McCarthyism makes through the Salem Witch Trials. In Act 4, *No spoilers* "I have come to counsel Christians they should believe themselves", which means that his Hale's purpose is to save certain characters from the Devil, but this leads many of them to be killed, which is already breaking one of the ten commandments. Hale then returns to being them God, but because they are already holy he is getting them he is getting them to lie about things they did not do. Miller shows how Hale, like McCarthy, uses unsupported evidence to convict people of disloyalty to the U.S through the Crucible. This satire is very clear and direct criticism, which is much more serious compared to the other type of satire, Horatian. 

Horatian satire is also way of ridiculing the intended opponent or subject, but the difference between this and Juvenalian satire is that it uses comedy or wit and a little ridicule to make the audience laugh. The implications of satire in society are immense. From the political cartoons you see on the internet, to the SNL skits you watch on television. Many things you may not think of revolve around satire. Anyway, the implication of Horatian satire I included is in the SNL skit. This ridicules teens about their addiction to social media, but exemplifies it in an over the top example in a comedic fashion.

Horatian Satire- Ridicules the government with comedy.

Columbus got beat to America by 11,000 years!

          "In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue" (to soon discover America) is the rhyme taught to students in elementary school, but is that really true? To begin with, No.
          The answer to who discovered America is very simple, the Natives, but most people think of who was the first European to discover America, and still Columbus wouldn't be the first.
           Indigenous People's Day is a movement that multiple states celebrate on the second Monday in October, but there is controversy because Christopher Columbus Day is a federal holiday on the same date. Indigenous people are natives whom live with nature, have a small population, and uphold various traditions. America would support Native Americans for Indigenous People's Day specifically. The reasons behind this change is because the movement wants to proclaim how the Natives rescued and "nourished him(Columbus) to health" (Chappell.43). They also want to change the myth of history that Columbus discovered America first because they discovered it first. Evidence is first found around 12,000 years ago when Natives crossed a land bridge from Siberia to North America.
          Although I do think Native Americans need to be recognized, but I also believe that both Indigenous People and Christopher Columbus should be celebrated in the form of a holiday. The Natives beat Columbus by around 11,000 years in discovering America, but Columbus Day does not only stand for discovering America, but it also celebrates Italian-American Heritage; therefore, I say that there should be no reason why anyone can't celebrate their heritage ;furthermore, freedom to celebrate ethnicity is why I support Indigenous People's Day. The holiday should represent the minority of Native Americans and should bring an overall appreciation to the diversity in America.