Thanksgiving Break Extra Credit

     Annotating seemed pointless. Just a few sticky notes with literary vocabulary. How was this going to help me? At first it seemed like a drag. I didn't feel the need to have to stop reading to write something down. Then it started to be something that I did without thinking. I would automatically have a pad of yellow sticky notes and a sharpened pencil sitting next to me while I read. Tone, diction, characterization, setting, word choice, and imagery would pop into my head and I would jot it down. After analysing an entire book, it gave me the well needed practice about how to recognise different types of tools that authors use in their writing to make it more appealing to the reader. In turn, this has allowed me to think about how I could apply different literary devices to my own writing to improve it. What seemed like a pointless, boring assignment at first, has actually helped me the most.

Something Interesting

     The question had come up during discussion of The Lobster. I was sitting outside of the circle listening to what others had to say when it came up. It was, "Why did the author use Lobsters as the main animal and not some other animal?" My first thought was that it was probably some random animal that the author liked. Then I remembered that nothing in literature is random. That everything was picked for a reason. Therefore, this author had picked the lobster as his character for a reason.
     As we got deeper into the discussion, some people suggested that lobsters reminded the author of humans. This made sense, at the end of the poem the author compares the world boiling from the original boiling pot of water for the lobster. The author had also compared the physical characteristics of the lobster to human characteristics such as a bruise. The lobster is also most of the time portrayed as a very violent creature with their claws and such, but with them "pegged shut" all they are able to do is "waver their claws slowly and vaguely". They have dreams to go back home, but those are also taken away when they are "dropped" into a pot of boiling water. Humans can also be vulnerable when we have our main line of defence, and our dreams taken away, just as the lobster does. But there is still part of the question that is left unanswered, and it may be that only the author can answer it completely.

5 Part Paragraphs

     During the readings for the 5 part paragraphs, there was a huge distinction between the paragraphs that were organized, unique, clear, and had everything that the format had required, verses the paragraphs that lacked those things. Without even one of the items from the checklist, the reader would tell that it did not flow as well as it could have. For example, if a paragraph did not contain a transition from one concrete detail to another, that specific part would sound choppy and unfinished. Embedding concrete details (or in this case, quotes) was very important to whether it came off sounding clear or not. If there was no introduction to the quote, the reader (or listener) would not know when the quote had started, it would sound sloppy and not "tucked in"
     Personally, I believe that I need to work on choosing my concrete details so that they fit into the point that I am attempting to make. If the concrete details are not fitting for the topic, the main point would not necessarily come off as clear to the reader. To help with choosing the concrete details, I would have to look through the novel or topic we are working with having a more open mindset.