The Writer
Writing has been the focus of English classes since middle school. Each year of English just seemed to be another course with the same old personal narrative, book review, and research paper. Even at the college level, English 111 fell under this category, but with a little more writer's choice for subject. I came into my first year of college knowing I had to take English 111 and English 112. I anticipated a writing course and then a reading course. Going into English 112, I figured the focus would be on reading and was disappointed to see in the back of the CCM book that there were four inquiries for English 112. However, upon entering the classroom, I discovered the writings based on the texts were much more open and enjoyable than the typical book report of high school.
My writing over the course of English 111 grew far from what it was in high school. I especially noticed the increase in ease of thought. I could crank out a six page paper with solid references with ease. After Christmas break and coming back to college level English, I noticed a drop in the quality of writing. I would describe my writing going into the first semester and then coming into the second semester as "almost." As I discussed in my writing journal, "I’ve found my writing to fall just short of being a great piece of writing. My thoughts are almost always clearly organized with support in my head. The issue I find is, once putting words on paper, my thoughts become unclear and disorganized. I generally have creative trains of thought that unfortunately derail. As a result of my disorganization, I have found my writing to stay surface level. I will forget the organization and begin to ignore my detail and support." As I have said, this reflection fits my first semester of English well. However, I have found that the same description only fits my first inquiry this semester as I am happy with my second and third inquiries. As a writer, I find good supporting detail and have strong trains of thought. I've found the most trouble transferring these thoughts from my head onto paper. When I make this transfer, my writing becomes very surface level. In my first inquiry, I analyzed "Four Poems for Robin" by Gary Snyder. I went into this paper not knowing how to critically read. This void proved to be an issue when I went to write my essay. As I was reading along, I had trouble finding anything noteworthy to discuss about the piece. Eventually, I settled on word choice. The problem was that I only focused on word choice. The main focus of my inquiry was how certain word choices established the theme. When I reviewed my inquiry later on for this reflection, I was surprised to see how much I've grown since then. I noticed that besides only focusing on diction, I had issues with organization. My resulting organization from only focusing on diction and the troubles transferring thoughts to paper resulted in about three sentences in a six or seven sentence paragraph. The same ideas were reworded and repeated over and over. The same is true for the rest of the inquiry. One example I found in just the introduction is about the subject of the poems. My introduction stated, "The narrator is reminiscing about his past love when he was young. Since he and his lover have parted ways, his life has taken a downward turn where as hers has become successful. Over the course of the four poems, Snyder reveals the details about both the past and present of the two former lovers". The only real idea is that the poems are focused on two lovers; however, I manage to repeat the same thought a few times before calling it quits. I noticed the same occurrence in a forum post in response to "Equinox". I once again focus just on diction citing "war club", "force", and "smoke of grief." I wanted to discuss how these words set up the theme. As these thoughts do support the theme, I ended up only grazing the surface of the theme. I could have found so much more to discuss and other ways to make connections to the theme. I can say this is the turning point of my writing. When I tried to connect to the theme is when my writing began to improve. I also became a better critical reader which meant I had more information to back up claims and I was also able to better organize my thoughts before putting them to paper. My second inquiry shows my development as a writer. I think this is my strongest research paper I've ever written. I read, included, and cited multiple sources instead of the typical use of only two good sources. The quotes I included added to what I was saying and improved my paper. When I reviewed my work, I was particularly proud of my paragraph on Les' therapy at the Chinese restaurant. The paragraph read as follows, " Roth continues to use Les’s PTSD to develop his character along his road to recovery. The trips with Louie to the Chinese restaurant open the reader’s eyes to Les’s vulnerability. As a sufferer of PTSD, the symptom Les is challenged to overcome is his “Avoidance of thoughts, feelings, conversations, places, and people associated with the event”(Mowery 89). He relives a scene where he was able “to detect the unwashed odor of a soundless sniper” when in reality he is sitting in the Chinese restaurant (Roth 220). Roth is demonstrating the everyday struggle faced by Les to overcome his past. The smell of the water used by the women cutting peas, the offering of water, and the approach of the Chinese waiter are all normal occurrences that most readers would be fine with but Les is instead terrorized. The reader feels for Les and wants him to succeed. Should Roth have decided not to give Les PTSD, the entire cast of characters and plot involving the restaurant would be irrelevant. By including this aspect of Les’s character, the reader sees that Les has people who care about him. Before discovering more about Les, he seems to be a stalker and a loner. After witnessing his struggle to recovery, the reader understands Les has a social life even if it simply includes the support system. This especially comes in handy for Les when it is revealed that Faunia has died. Had Les not had PTSD and not had these relationships, the guys in the garage as well as most of Athena could have easily assumed Les was the murderer because of his stalking tendencies". I think this paragraph represents my growth as a writer. I have a solid transition from my previous paragraph that flows well. The claim I am making is clearly stated with support from both The Human Stain itself and academic articles. I continue to add to the train of thought throughout the paragraph without unnecessarily stating ideas. The paragraph is reflective and analytical of Les and his personal situation. My conclusion wraps up the paragraph well by pointing out the necessity of the passage within The Human Stain. |
Inquiry 2
Because I feel particularly proud of my inquiry two, I have decided to include it here for consultation.
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