Kate Chopin and Feminism
11-7-19
I’m so glad I finally get to write about the Awakening again! I chose to ignore it for the Feminist paper just because I wanted to be a little more creative, but now I get to revisit it. This time around, I just need to stay a little more focused on the time frame of the novel. I just submitted by proposal to Dr. Pennington, and it looks like I’m gonna have a lot of material to choose from, so this should be fun.
I first read The Awakening in high school, and I remember being really annoyed with it. High school English classes focus so much on the method of analyzing and the different ways to understand a novel, that I never really got to just sit back and enjoy the story. Now that I’ve had a couple years to work on my writing and interpreting skills, The Awakening is a lot more fun to read and I feel a lot more connected to it. In this English 305 class, it’s great to get to choose what novel you want to write about. This way, I’m not forced to read a book and the write a paper about it. Instead, I choose what I like to read, and then I write about what I’ve seen.
“History Has Its Eyes On You”
11-15-19
Writing my New Historical paper seems to have fallen in line with a lot of things occurring in the world as well. New Historicism revolves around seeing things in the context of how it was affected by its time and how the things will affect the time moving forward. Edna Pontellier acted as both a response to the injustices against women of her time, but she also proved to be a hero and an inspiration to the women following the publication of the novel.
All of these impeachment hearings occurring in the U.S. right now, to the campus movements taking charge right now, to the people speaking out about the climate crisis in the world, all seem to remind me of the impact that we have as individuals. The actions that we take right now will be remembered later on. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and nothing really should. New Historicism looks at how history plays an important role in the meaning of a work, and I think we should all keep in mind what we are doing with our own actions right now.
As the Hamilton quote goes: “You have no control who lives, who dies, and who tells your story.” -Lin Manuel Miranda
Nineteenth Century Feminism
11-19-19
Generality is my worst flaw as a writer. Every single time I submit a first (or even second) draft, I always get told that I’m being way too general in my analysis and I need to hone in on one or two concepts. When I start an outline of a paper, the first thing I do is search for quotes and search for sources to go along with them. My head gets filled with ideas and I don’t want to discard any at first glance because I don’t want to miss out on good analysis. I think I just need to get a better filter for my ideas so that I don’t just grab any idea I can think of.
When I hear that I’ve gotten too general with my analysis in a paper, I usually respond with a deep sigh (to myself), and I grab my laptop and head to the Mulva library. I can usually get work done in my room, but when I’m on a deadline or when I’m feeling really out of focus, I head straight to the second floor with a mission: I can NOT leave until I get all of my work done at this library desk. That’s how my second draft of this paper was written, and I feel a lot better about this draft than my last one.
