I am very proud of all of the thinking I have done this semester so far. We have thought over with many difficult concepts like the ideas of self, identity, and worth. As seen in the image on the left above, while discussing Scott’s argument we defined a lot of terms as a class. A few that I found the most interesting were criticism, beauty, and taste. I thought for each of them we came up with a very well rounded definitions. Defining these terms help me, and I think the class as a whole, better form a central argument for Better Living Through Criticism. I think something that was really helpful during this particular discussion was the ground rules that we set midway through. I think setting those really helped me to feel more comfortable speaking up. After weeks of discussion, we finally landed on the idea that art is there for enjoyment but the criticism of it is the true art.
Another section of my CPB I am very proud of (seen in the middle image above) is a spread combining a class discussions and my own breaking down of Greenblatt’s introduction. Of the left page of the image we were talking the first part of the introduction. One idea I found very fascinating was that Greenblatt weaved his definition of self into the writing. I believe he did that to make sure readers knew exactly what he was referring to when he talked about selves. Additionally, I during this discussion, I asked How can self-fashioning exist without identity. Now that we have discussed Greenblatt a lot more, I think I am able to answer this question. I think that self-fashioning is the way that we create our identity, but it does not exist before we self fashion. On the right page of this CPB spread, I broke down every sentence of the first 12 paragraphs of the introduction. Though this seemed like a very tedious assignment, it really helped me to understand the meaning of each sentence. And it made me appreciate the importance of every sentence within Greenblatts’s writing. The last page I was very proud of (seen in the image on the right of the images above) was further in our discussion of how Greenblatt writes to convey his argument across. One thing that really stuck with my from this day of discussion was how many ways that one person can write to get their ideas across. Greenblatt uses references to people, uses m-dashes, dialectical movement, and much more to make readers understand what he is talking about. But one big idea we came out of this discussion is that it’s about the dialectical movement, not the end point that is achieved. Out of this discussion as a whole, I took away that there is a lot of movement that goes into writing, but that movement is an important part of the writing, not where you end up. I have enjoyed this class so far this semester. I love the conversations we have that last multiple days so we can really dive deep into the concepts. I have still been struggling with speaking up during class, but I am working on it. I hope in the near future we move away from summer work and start looking at more writings. I imagine we will continue to grapple with the difficult concepts that have come to light while we have been reading. I am excited to see what we move onto next.
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I loved the show! Last year in Latin, we read parts of Metamorphoses so it was really interesting to be able to see some of the stories I translated in action. One big idea I saw throughout the entire show is that of you may set out with good intentions, but things do not always end up the way you expect. For example, King Midas is granted a wish by a god. He wishes that everything he touches be turned to gold. Midas wanted to become richer which is why he wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. But he accidentally turned his daughter to gold and realized that though he had good intentions in his wish, it did not turn out well.
One connection to our AP Lit class is the idea of lots of outside forces contributing to our identities (this idea comes from A.O. Scott). In one of the acts, Alcyone, daughter of Poseidon, warns her husband Ceyx not to sail far away because she knows Posedion will send the winds onto his ship. Ceyx, thinking that is ridiculous, reassures his wife that everything will be fine when he is at sea. Poseidon decides to send the winds on Ceyx killing him. This outside factor that Alcyone warned Ceyx about ends up changing the identity and demeanor of Alcyone. She becomes presumably depressed and a widow always hoping her husband will come back. With mercy from the gods, another outside force shaping their identities, the two are reunited and turned into birds flying over the ocean. Both the decision of Poseidon and the mercy of the gods are factors that neither Alcyone nor Ceyx expected, but ultimately shaped their identities. |
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