Response to Course Material

This feels like the first substantial response since before winter break. We have accomplished quite a bit in this last month not only in lit but in all of my classes.
 In this class we started off with Ms. Holmes pulling each of us aside to review our Century Quilt essays while working on multiple choice questions. Both activities helped me better understand what the AP graders are looking for. I now know that I need to practice shouting out my ideas in my essays and I need to practice my vocabulary. My lack of vocab was apparent when I was trying the multiple choice questions, I understood what the questions were asking but many times I gave the wrong answer because I did not know what the answers meant.
After a week of working through questions and essays we discussed Ros and Guil. This is my favorite play we have read so far, there is so much to it that even now I still want to talk about it. I felt slighted because we only had four days to discuss such an in depth book but I know that we are crunched for time, I have noticed this in many of my classes, in bio Ms. Palmer gave us so much homework after the long weekend break to catch us back up. To slow our progress even more (at least for my 6th hour class) was the band festival, apparently more than half our class is in band or just absent on the same day. This day was meant for a closed prompt Eleven but instead we created the worst t-shirt idea ever to make the skippers feel guilty. This was a great plan and we had so much fun devising a hideous shirt, and I mean hideous, so it was so funny when the band kids came back and some even liked the shirts! Ms. Holmes had to turn away to compose herself because of how ridiculous the shirts were and the only person who stood against the shirt was Max who was shut down by us plotters.
6th hour then started to catch up to the other hours, we read the same essay and watched the same power point until we were back in the classroom where we could work on Eleven. I thought this story was interesting and I loved how the world's issues were exposed through an eleven year old girl. 
After we caught up with the class we started Ceremony, read and discussed the stiffs of Defending Walt Whitman. These are both about Indians although they are from different tribes. It is interesting to hear the differences between the tribes and Ms. Holmes is always willing to share her knowledge so it was a bit like a history class when we started these works. 
Now we are working on critical lenses and the circle that encompasses all stories. I find this perplexing and have thought about fitting all shows and books into this in my spare time. It is entertaining when you have nothing to do. 

open post

2006. Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For

example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and ignorance.

Choose a novel or play in which such a setting plays a significant role. Then write an essay in

which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole.

    Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman portrays the country as a location of hope and freedom. Both Willy and Biff long for the country even though Willy does not admit it. Through Willy’s memories, his happiness is shown in the country and Biff tells everybody about his freedom in the country as opposed to the strained feeling the city brings.

The country in Willy’s memories is always full of sunshine, hope, and admiration. His boys love him and respect him when he lived in the country.  Life is perfect for him, he has a wife who loves him, boys who help him around the house, and a beautiful, large yard but all of this changes when he goes to the city. In Willy’s memories Biff is great at football and Happy does whatever Biff wants playing the adoring younger brother.Willy could not be any happier but one step into the city starts his downfall.

 Miller shows the city as a dirty place, it is always gloomy in the city and people act out of the ordinary when surrounded by this gloom and dirt. Willy is no different, in the country he is a family man, and in the city he is a business sleaze. Fallen under the corrupt spell of the city Willy finds himself a mistress and hides it from his family until his son Biff finds them together. Biff from then on is destroyed and runs to the country to get back the values it brought.

Biff goes South to find a job, one where he can work in the fresh air and support a family. Although Biff had good intentions he was unable to stick to one job and found himself in jail. Once he was set free he came back to his family in the city. Here he finds the city depressed his father to the point of suicidal thoughts and corrupted his little brother, turning him into a ladies man. Biff who still holds the country values tries to convince Happy that one girl is enough and that physical labor is better than talking your way up. But Biff is the only one who keeps these values and so when his father dies he goes back to the country to  be free and start his own family.

Arthur Miller’s play shows that all family values come from the country where life is simple and peaceful. He does this by contrasting the country values with the values of the city which leads many good men astray.