“Literature and Composition” introduced me to
applying DIDLS. My understanding of the
six parts went past merely restating the definition; instead I was able to
apply them to writings. For example
after reading “The American Dream” and the article on it I realized that
Grandma was the symbol for the old American dream. In the play I noticed how Grandma was the
character who worked hard and the image created by her carrying in the
boxes, while Mommy and Daddy just sat there, helped reiterate this.
Whether or not this interpretation of the image of her carrying in the
boxes is correct, I found that it helped portray Grandma’s character. In addition Mommy only married Daddy because he
is rich which means she doesn't work hard and only thinks of money. I still need to work on applying DIDLES but
hopefully that will come with practice from our close reading assignments.
From “Literature and Composition” I also
reflected on character development in “The American Dream”. There is a lack of character development in
the story; Mommy and Daddy’s conversations are absurd and don’t add meaning to
their characters. However, perhaps the
lack of character development helps show that Mommy and Daddy are shallow. In this case Albee would be showing us what
the characters are like, not telling us.
In class we learned about literary
movements one of which was the Victorian Era.
We learned that writers from this time period were concerned with
morals. I remember reading Oscar Wilde’s,
“The Picture of Dorian Gray”, and how the novel focuses around Dorian’s change
in morals. He used to be innocent and
young, however, as time progresses he becomes egotistic. Even though Wilde wrote during the Victorian
Era, he tended toward Realism which focused on appearance versus reality. I definitely noticed aspects of Realism when
Dorian doesn't age yet his portrait does.
Upon greater reflection of “The picture
of Dorian Gray” I also noticed a Biblical allusion. Lord Henry Wotton leads Dorian through a
garden, and at this moment we see Dorian’s innocence shatter as he follows the
corrupt path of his new friend. This is
an allusion to the creation story in the book of Genesis in the Bible. While in a garden, after Satan convinces Eve
to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil, she falls from grace; her
innocence is no longer present. I found
it interesting to see how even writers in the 1800s created allusion as we do
today.
Hi Caroline!
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty good Response to Course Material, since you've mentioned some of the big ideas that we've learned about so far. One suggestion I have is for the first paragraph: Could you show how you applied DIDLS? (that's another thing, I don't there's an "e" in there!) Maybe instead of saying that you applied the DIDLS thing and then found new connections, say how looking at the details/language/whatever caused you to see different symbols, etc. And then my last bit of criticism is that in the last paragraph, just make sure that the full title is capitalized. You might want to change the last sentence a little bit, since you mention that the writers way back when created allusion like we do today, but you didn't give any examples or mentioned before the allusions we use today. But otherwise good job!
Hi Caroline! I agree with Kenzie, in the first paragraph, you mention that you have learned more about DIDLS, but then you start talking about the character of Grandma as a symbol. Do you mean to say that using DIDLS helped you focus on details that then helped you figure out the use of Grandma as a symbol, because symbol itself isn't one of the DIDLS. Maybe you can make that a little bit more clear? I like how you use examples for each aspect that you improved on to show us how your thought process changed. As for the concluding sentence, I agree with Kenzie as well, because it seems to bring up an entirely new idea on the use of allusions today. So change that sentence to one that wraps up your entire piece, such as "Going through the Literature and Composition textbook has helped me analyze literature more effectively such as interpreting symbols, characters, literary eras, and allusions." Overall, nice post! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline!
ReplyDeleteI think it was really important that you included DIDLS, since that is one of the main ideas that we learned about. I have to admit, I was a little confused when you said the six parts. I thought DIDLS was five parts? The detail that you added about Grandma carrying the boxes and therefore being the only worker in the family was an interesting interpretation of that detail. I think it's really great when you add details from the things we read (like the American Dream) to the concepts that you are explaining. I think you can use more details like this in the future.
For your second paragraph, I think either explaining how Mommy and Daddy are lacking in character development or showing more about the characters can really solidify your point.
Your example of "A Picture of Dorian Gray" was really helpful and shows that you apply your new found knowledge from AP English outside of class too!
Also, I agree with everything that Tulsi and Kenzie are saying!
Great work!