Beneficial and Improvement

Over the course of several months, as a class ad on my own time, I have read four book length texts and several sample writing pieces. After finishing each book length text, we were assigned to write an analysis. This course has helped my writing develop, become stronger, and helped me figure out a writing process that works best for me.

When I first started this course, my writing was on the weaker side. I struggled to get my thoughts to flow. As the semester had progressed I have become more in tune with my writing skills. I have bettered my writing skills and though it is still not as good as I would like it to be, it has improved significantly. My writing skills will continue to only get better as I progress through my college career.

This course has helped me find a writing process that works for me. Before this class, I use to not brain storm or write a draft unless it was a required process. I now know that these things benefit my writing because they allow me to get all my thoughts out at once and allows me to work through the kinks that come with a rough draft. I never really wrote my drafts on paper either. I have found that writing my essays longhand benefits me in the long run because it allows me to be more familiar with what I am trying to write about and the ideas I am trying to convey.

All my writing shows improvement compared to my high school writing. My strongest piece of work from this class would be my analysis for Heidi Shrek’s Creature.  In this analysis, I offer an insightful look to Asmodeus’ character and the true meaning behind his character. As a reply to the line “I’m going to open my mouth very wide and then you look in there. I think you’ll be surprised by what you see“(9), I state, “Asmodeus was most likely trying to show Margery that if she kept sinning, Hell would be where she would spend her afterlife.” Maybe Asmodeus was just weird or maybe my statement “As the readers, we never find out what the sin was but if it was bad enough it would’ve gotten Asmodeus’ attention and would explain his interest in her.” Proves that Asmodeus was really the devil. Asmodeus states, “Yes, if you poke it in the belly, the arm, the fingernail, or the eye it always lets out a little squeak – eek – or sometimes a shrill cry. Sometimes my brothers and I, we all gather around, pick up one baby and blow air into it like a balloon and then we play catch with it” (9). Which goes to show that he had devilish intentions. I feel like this analysis was my strongest because I spent a lot of time on my longhand writing of my rough draft. The longhand writing of this rough draft benefited me because I was able to write all my thoughts down and then slowly cut out what I no longer needed. My writing process for this analysis was my longest time spending on the before part of the analysis process. I spent a lot of time editing through my drafts to get a good mixture of opinion and textual evidence.

This course has benefited me a lot. I believe if I would have waited to take this course I would have really suffered in my classes this semester. I took very writing intensive courses this semester and English 131 has helped my writing skills better which in return has helped me in all my other papers for the fall semester. I have been able to apply what I have learned in this course to my other courses and that has allowed me to succeed to my full potential as a student.

Works Cited

Bost, Sierra. “Asmodeus, the Devil or just Weird?” The Life of a Uni Student, 1 Oct. 2017, sierrabost.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/asmodeus-the-devil-or-just-weird/. Accessed 29 November 2017.

Shrek, Heidi. Creature. Samuel French, 2011.

Annotated Bibliography

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.

Erik Larson’s book The Devil in the White City has a dual plot line following Daniel Hudson Burnham and H.H. Holmes. In this book we get to see the unfolding of Chicago’s World’s Fair and the serial killings committed during the fair. As the fair progresses through creation and then through allowing guests to attend, we follow the killings H.H. Holmes commits. H.H. Holmes is eventually caught by the end of the fair and Burnham was successful with the output of the World’s Fair. Larson’s two-point perspective of these historical events creates a unique narrative to nonfiction.

Lucas, Jane. Peeling Away the Window Dressing of History. WordPress, 2017. https://janelucas.com/2017/09/26/peeling-away-the-window-dressing-of-history/. Accessed 29 November 2017.

The blog post Peeling Away the Window Dressing of History offers an inside look to the book and the history behind it. Though Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad is a work of fiction the history behind the book is very real. Lucas focuses on Cora’s time at the museum in South Carolina to focus on how even though it is a work of fiction there is truth behind even the smallest details of the book. She portrays that well in her writing by stating “Readers witness Cora’s reflections knowing them to be the observations of a fictional character but realizing as well that that the tableaux vivant of the Museum of Natural Wonders are as fictional as the novel, itself. Cora is not a historical figure, but her plight parallels the harrowing experiences of real-life fugitive slaves.”

Lucas, Jane. Saint Wannabe’s Spiritual Journey. WordPress, 2017. https://janelucas.com/2017/10/02/saint-wannabes-spiritual-journey/ Accesses 29 November 2017.

In this blog post Lucas talks about Margery Kempe’s spiritual journey after she claims to have seen Jesus in purple robes. Though Margery still has a lot of secrets and no one knows much about her, we still follow her through her journey. Lucas states, “Like religious devotion itself, following Margery on her spiritual journey requires a leap of faith—one that can feel like Hell, as Creature shows.” Not everything will be easy to go through but if you have faith you will be alright.

Lucas, Jane. Through a Glass Darkly: “Girl at the Mirror” and Grover’s Corners. WordPress, 2017.  https://janelucas.com/2017/11/20/through-a-glass-darkly-girl-at-the-mirror-and-grovers-corners/. Accessed 29 November 2017.

In this blog post Lucas talks about the comparisons between Wilder’s Our Town and Rockwell’s Girl at the mirror She talks about how Emily from Our Town and the girl in the mirror are most likely going through early adulthood and are very confused about not only the world around them but themselves. Lucas talks about how in Our Town Emily is the striking image of sexual innocence and how the Girl at the mirror portrays the sexual innocence we all held at some point. She goes on to make connections to recent events about sexual predators in our society and how we never really say anything for the young women going through the sexual harassment which can start at any age for a woman. Our Town may be meant to paint the perfect picture of America but that is far from it paints. As Lucas states, “The same innocence may prevent us from seeing Our Town with real clarity, the way that Emily only truly sees her twelfth birthday when she revisits it after death.”

Shrek, Heidi. Creature. Samuel French, 2011.

Creature by Heidi Shrek, follows the life of Margery Kempe, a loving wife and mother. In the script, it shows her battles internally and externally as she tries to find what is right for her. In the prologue, we are showed Asmodeus tempting her and her reactions to his temptations. The script gives the reader an opportunity to dive into the world that Margery lived and gives a slight insight on the time that the script is written in.

Whitehead, Colson. Underground railroad. Sphere, 2017.

Colson Whitehead’s Underground railroad follows the life of a slave girl named Cora. Cora, after enduring enough on the plantation, runs away with her friend Caesar to escape the chains of slavery. While in South Carolina, they take fake names and try to live as normal of a life as possible. Not long after they have settled into the life they have started, Ridgeway is hired to bring them back to the Randall plantation. Continuing to run further North after escaping a few run ins with Ridgeway, we see Cora reach freedom.

Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. 1983. Harper Perennial, 2003.

In Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town we get to experience what a small American town is life. Throughout the play we see two childhood friends acknowledge their budding romance and a short time after, George and Emily get married. Emily later dies during child birth, leaving George to mourn and care for their baby.

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Unconventional but Creative

In Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town we get to experience what a small American town is life. Through out the play we see two childhood friends acknowledge their budding romance and a short time after, George and Emily get married. Emily later dies during child birth, leaving George to mourn and care for their baby.

In Our Town the set and props are very minimalistic. The actors use pantomime to carry out the actions in the play. Wilder’s use of the imagination gives this play a very creative outlook. Our Town was considered unconventional for its time and that can be seen throughout the play. Though it might have been unconventional, it was a very creative way to show the life of people living in a small American town. An example of this is in act one, the stage manager states “Well, I’d better show our how our town lies” (4). The stage manager then starts to describe the town to the audience. He tells them where everything is even though there are not set pieces for them to have a visual representation of everything. Wilder’s use of the pantomime technique gave this play a very unique outcome. While watching the play it is very clear that the audience will have to use their imagination to get the full experience.

Act one starts with the stage manager setting up a table and three chairs which represents one of the character’s house. After a few set pieces are set up, the stage manager introduces the play. He tells the audience where and when the play will be taking place since the limited set pieces do not provide that information. The stage manager states “There’s some scenery for those who think they have to have scenery” (5). Wilder allowed the character to break the fourth wall because he knew people would question as to why there was no scenery since traditional plays including scenery and props. Without the traditional play scenery people thought it was unconventional but, it is creative. It gave a new look for the audience, so they were not seeing a normal play. Wilder knew that his play was going to be different for this reason and he was okay with that because it opened people up to the idea that not all plays have to have scenery and props. Without the scenery people were able to focus more on the characters’ development.

Wilder knew what he was doing when he decided to include little scenery and props. He did not want the focus of the play to be what people were expecting. He wanted to give them a unique, creative, and mind-blowing way for a play to be performed. He was extremely creative when it came to the play. He used outside of the box thinking to get his point across. Since he wrote his play to have a lot of character development, it gives the audience a more personal feel. His unconventional play shed a new light on the small American town life and shows there is more to a story than when and where.

 

Work Cited

            Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. 1983. Harper Perennial, 2003.

 

An Unstable Soul

An Unstable Soul

Erik Larson’s book The Devil in the White City has a dual plot line following Daniel Hudson Burnham and H.H. Holmes. In this book we get to see the unfolding of Chicago’s World’s Fair and the serial killings committed during the fair.

Towards the end of the book the reader gets to switch from focusing mainly on Burnham and the World’s Fair to focusing on Holmes. On page 148, Holmes commits his first murders. He first murder began with Julia and then Julia’s daughter Pearl. Larson states on page 148, “The chloroform and his own intense arousal made him feel light-headed. The sensations, as always, was pleasant and induced in him a warm languor, like the feeling he got after sitting too long in front of a hot stove.” It was disturbing that he was aroused at the fact that he killed Julia and Pearl. Holmes than began switching the story of where Julia and Pearl were, most likely to mislead anyone who tried to follow her path. Holmes was extremely smart and could play off everything very well. He had the ability to never show any emotion outside of the emotion he needed to be displaying for the show he was giving. Without the ability to hold his emotions at bay Holmes would have been caught Christmas day by Julia’s neighbors.

Holmes emotions are not those of a normal person. It is questionable if Holmes even had human emotions. He was extremely unattached to the world around him. Larson depicts that extremely well in his book. On page 265 it states, “…where knifemen drenched in blood made the same few incisions time after time until, as the hog advanced, slabs of meat began thudding wetly onto the tables. Holmes was unmoved; Minnie and Anna were horrified…” Larson did an amazing job at depicting Holmes as a true serial killer. Having Holmes be completely heartless gave his character a substantial amount of depth. It showed how cold he really was. Holmes was a true devil. He was a man of evil and he didn’t care who he killed. Holmes’ soul was beyond consumed in the darkness of itself.

Larson’s book The Devil in the White City follows the story of two men, one trying to live his life in riches and the other a true devil in disguise. He did a great job mixing the two men’s plots together to make one plot. His technique of cross cutting added dynamics that were like that of a film but gave the book a way to carry out a dual plot line. Holmes came to Chicago during Burnham’s building of the World’s Fair to commit his crimes. He gave no remorse to the fact that he was killing daughters, sisters, and mothers. He had no real human emotion and Larson depicts that extremely well. Holmes had a lot of character development because you never knew who he was killing next or how he was going to be committing his crimes. He added suspense to the book though which kept it intriguing.

 

Work Cited

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.

 

 

Asmodeus, the Devil or just Weird?

          

 Creature follows the life of Margery Kempe, a loving wife and mother. In the script, it shows her battles internally and externally as she tries to find what is right for her. In the prologue, we are showed Asmodeus tempting her and her reactions to his temptations. The script gives the reader an opportunity to dive into the world that Margery lived and gives a slight insight on the time that the script is written in.

In Creature, there are quite a bit of internal conflicts for Margery. Margery is faced by many things to make her sin and throughout the play she is very tempted by these things. In the prologue, Asmodeus state, “I’m going to open my mouth very wide and then you look in there. I think you’ll be surprised by what you see” (9). When he opened his mouth, he was going to show Margery what Hell looked like or maybe he was going to swallow her into the depths of Hell. Asmodeus was most likely trying to show Margery that if she kept sinning, Hell would be where she would spend her afterlife. The devil is said to tempt us so God knows if we are true to him and his word. I believe God was testing her too see her faithfulness to Him.

Asmodeus also states, “Yes, if you poke it in the belly, the arm, the fingernail, or the eye it always lets out a little squeak – eek – or sometimes a shrill cry. Sometimes my brothers and I, we all gather around, pick up one baby and blow air into it like a balloon and then we play catch with it” (9). Asmodeus shows how devilish he is and he does not seem to want to hide it from Margery who he is. No one in their right mind would do those things to a baby but he knows it will bother Margery and that is why he said the things he said. The devil knows no boundaries.

Asmodeus could have just been a hallucination that Margery was having since at the beginning of the script they think she is very sick but that does not explain the whole play and the behaviors in it. The play relies on the religion that is shown throughout the script. Without the devil being present there would not have been any significant conflict. The time the script was set in was a very religious based period. It makes sense that Asmodeus was the devil trying to tempt Margery so he could get her to come to Hell with him. Margery tries to tell several people about a sin she has carried with her since she was a child but is never able to finish telling due to being interrupted. As the readers, we never find out what the sin was but if it was bad enough it would have gotten Asmodeus’ attention and would explain his interest in her.

Work Cited:

Shrek, Heidi. Creature. Samuel French, 2011.

Art is more than a hobby, it’s a lifestyle

My name is Sierra Bost and I’m an artist. Or well, an aspiring artist. I use all kinds of mediums from just pencil and paper to watercolors and acrylics. I have recently started to do digital art as well, which is where you draw with a drawing pad and a drawing software. I’ve been drawing since I can remember and I started taking art seriously in middle school. I mainly like to draw people and fantasy things so I tend to combine the anatomy of humans and bits of fantasy creatures to create a work of my own. I sometimes do self portraits but I haven’t done any portraits of other people. When it comes to replacing my art supplies I usually have to wait till Christmas or my birthday due to the fact that art supplies are very expensive and even buying just a few good quality markers can take half a paycheck, especially while only working minimum wage. One of my favorite markers to use are the Copic markers pictured in a few of the pictures of my art pieces and they are roughly about eight dollars a marker. They’re one of my favorite mediums to use though.

Art has always been a huge aspect in my life. Both my father and his father were very art orientated and they are both very big inspirations to me, along with Vincent Van Gogh. I hope to one day be able to make a living from selling my art because my mom always told me that I shouldn’t end up in a dead end job that I hate. Whether it be that I go to several Comic Conventions and join the Artist Alleys or I take commissions and sell online, I just want to be able to do something I love but also be able to live a comfortable life. Even if I’m not living the life I’ve always dreamed as long as I’m able to create art my life will be a joyous one.