The way we think...
We all have memories and experiences that lead us to the way we think and interpret things in a unique way. I began to ponder why I interpreted Annie Dillard’s “Total Eclipse”, Lynda Barry's “Common Scents”, and Zadie Smith's “Speaking in Tongues” the way I did. Experiences have a major part of everyone's life and I will begin to demonstrate why I interpreted the essays I wrote of the aforementioned articles the way I did.
Being enrolled in English 101 during summer has had a great influence on me and I have been more productive than any other summer I can recall. I have never taken a summer class before and I have learned that it is great to focus on one class and take in all the class has to offer. On the other hand, I have struggled with all of the social influences that are simply a part of being summer. It can sometimes be quite difficult to focus properly. I have learned to overcome these difficulties by using my time wisely.
My interpretation of Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse" was that I felt that the story relates to a nuclear tragedy because of a couple of different factors. I have both personal experience with potential nuclear tragedy and also because of the timing the piece was written. The main question that needs to be addressed is how my life led me into thinking this particular way? Well, I had a uncle that was part of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and he frequently told me horrific stories about it. He would talk about the fear he felt that his country would be demolished by a bomb. He felt so much uncertainty because there were rumblings among the community that nuclear forces could be used at any time. The Dillard text made me think of the stories that he had told me. The only date written in Dillard's piece was February 29th, 1979. She writes of the 'eclipse', "From all the hills came screams. A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching. It was a loosened circle of evening sky, suddenly lighted from the back. It was an abrupt black body out of nowhere...seeing this black body was like seeing a mushroom cloud." Given the date reference that Dillard gave I felt it was compelling to compare this to the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
During the late 1970's, a major political issue was occuring. The United States was involved with trying to dismantle the uprising of a fundamentalist regime in Iran. There was no option off limits. Dillard's piece can be interpreted in many different ways but I enjoyed reading this piece mainly because the readers have different perspectives. "The world which lay under darkness and stillness following the closing of the lid was not the world we know...the event was over. Its devastation lay round about us. The clamoring mind and heart stilled, almost indifferent, certainly disembodied, frail, and exhausted. The hills were hushed, obliterated"(Dillard 167). I feel Dillard makes it very clear in this statement that she is not simply talking about a simple eclipse. She describes the devastating aftermath of a nuclear attack. Every word chosen in this quote was carefully contemplated to best describe the horror left by the events of a tragic nuclear bombing. "The hills were hushed, obliterated" (Dillard 176). She described the hills earlier as "screaming". Now they are hushed and obliterated. This perfectly displays the tragedy of such an event.
As I started to interpret Lynda Barry’s essay "Today's Demon: Common Scents", I found it more difficult to express my writings about this text. The key terms and quotes helped me get through my interpretation of the piece. My impression was that Barry was trying "to demonstrate the importance of accepting others for who they are and their background. I believe that Barry is trying to make a statement by saying you should not look at people and judge them by the way they look or ‘smell’” (Qureshi 1). Similarly, in Zadie Smith’s "Speaking in Tongues", she writes about how society has to be more understanding or "flexible" of the differences that people have.
The reason why I interpreted in these ways was mainly because of the quotes given in these essays and the importance of getting to know someone before making assumptions of who they are. It is important to me as a person growing up in a society where we give everyone a equal chance. "I have always noticed the smell of other peoples houses, but when I was a kid I was fascinated by it. No two houses ever smelled alike, even if the people used the same air freshener" (Barry 52). Barry wants to show us that we are all different, and no one is the same, so do not judge people by their "scents". We are all human beings but we have unique differences that make us who we are. It shows that we have to be accepting of the way people are.
Both Barry and Smith attempt to demonstrate that it is OK to live in your own skin. Smith takes a quote from President Obama, in which he is describing a ‘black’ girl who happened to have multiple ethnic backgrounds. "I'm not black...I'm multiracial...Why should I have to choose between them?" (Smith 5). The lady the president describes appears to have trouble living in her own skin. She is looked at as simply a black girl, but she wanted to be seen for what she was really made of, which happened to be Italian, French and Native American. President Obama "ridiculed" this girl because he felt she should simply be happy in her skin. Obama, himself, has been extremely successful doing just that, taking pride in his origins and not hiding from any of it. I think he President perfectly symbolizes how Smith and Barry feel we should live with the aforementioned example.
Lastly, I enjoyed reading all three of these texts but at times they were difficult to read. I can say that I can relate to the Dillard text most because of my personal connection to my interpretation of the story through my uncle. Throughout this summer English 101 class at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I have developed a greater appreciation of these texts and the way I can interpret ideas now. In past English classes I had a difficult time expressing my thoughts and putting them onto paper. I have now learned to "critically interpret a text by identifying key terms" and "provide context for readers, such as background information". I hope I have demonstrated how my interpretation of the text was formulated from my personal experience and the timing it occurred and from also a critical evaluation of the papers.
Works Cited
Barry, Lynda. “Today’s Demon: Common Scents.” In One Hundred Demons. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2002. Print.
Qureshi, Sophia. “Do you smell that?” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: English 101. Summer 2009. Print
Qureshi, Sophia. “Aftermath of problems conclude with a glimmer of hope.” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: English 101. Summer 2009. Print
Dillard, Annie, “Total Eclipse.” In Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters. New York. Harper and Row, 1982. Print.
Smith, Zadie. “Speaking in Tongues.” The New York Review of Books. Volume 56, Number 3. 26 Feb. 2009. Online
Sophia, this is generally a much stronger draft; however, there are still some repetitive sentences is here. Additionally, you don't seem to transition very smoothly from one idea to the next or from paragraph to paragraph. Work on this so that your draft will better reflect that you have mastered writing clearly and cohesively. Otherwise, I good draft.
ReplyDeleteOne other suggestion: you might also think about incorporating quotes from your own writing--you seem to mostly cite the published course texts.