Writing About Redeployment [Categories: Life Choice, Course Reading, Re-Genre]: Please complete the following:
In the story Redeployment we hear about Sgt. Price’s rough transition being home from deployment. He talks about how it is hard to relax. He is so use to having to scan his surroundings and constantly be looking over his shoulder. Even going to the mall something that seems so normal for us was hard for him. Re-Genre Analysis I am now going to write an alternate ending or an add on to this story describing why Sgt. Price shooting Vicar was the right thing for him. After the light was gone and I finally got my nerves calmed...or what was my new calm I began to focus on what to do with Vicar’s body. I went back to my truck and sat there in the cab for a little longer thinking about what to do. I remembered there was a shovel in the back from before I was deployed and grabbed it. I started to dig. I dug and dug and dug. Not really thinking or knowing when I was going to stop. I just lost track and kept going. Before I knew it I had a huge hole in front of me. I went over to where Vicar’s body laid lifeless and not all there. I picked him up and gently lowered him into the hole. I gave his back one last pat as a tear escaped from my eye. I buried Vicar there in the middle of the woods by the creek with the beautiful sunset. Once he was buried a sense of relief came over me. I knew things would never be how they were before and it would take a lot longer for me to get use to this new life but I knew I could do it. I sat there a little longer and then headed home to my wife. When I got home Cheryl was sitting on the couch watching TV. I stood in the doorway for a little and then walked over and sat with her. It was weird being able to sit and relax but it was nice. Putting Vicar down myself was hard and it brought me back to my deployment but it was what I had to do. It helped in the long run. Vicar’s Grave was now my place to come and collect my thoughts and to be with him. I visited often, pretty much every day. It was spot to go. Cheryl asked to come with me a couple of times but I could not bring myself to let her come. It was the one space I could go, think, let go of some of them emotions I have bottled up. It was my place to break down and although I wanted to I could not let her see me like that.
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Writing About The Lottery [Categories: Life Choice, Course Reading, Making Connections]: Please complete the following:
Although this story is called “The Lottery” it is not at all the lottery you would think. In this story a town gathers every year and draws papers from an old worn out black box. The men or head of the family are the ones to pick. All the papers are blank except for one. One paper has a black dot on it, and if your family gets that paper you are the “winners”. The family with the black dot paper then redraws to see who in their family is the unlucky recipient. The person who picks the black dot paper then has stones thrown at them until they die. Literary Analysis: In the text “The Lottery” there a couple of themes throughout. One being hierarchy. This is shown through the men picking the papers, Mr. Summers reading the list, and the older townspeople’s input on the lottery. Another being what we talked about in the class the theme of choice or lack of. A motif in this short story is the black box and the tradition it showed. Argumentation: A tradition in America that I feel can be considered close to the lottery tradition is the way American’s binge drink. In America it is usually encouraged to drink as fast, and as much as you can. Bring sports into the mix and it seems to get worse, and on many occasions violent. A similarity I see between this and the lottery is the lack of empathy for other people and their lives. In the link I put below a Phillies fan is sentenced to 7-14 years for killing someone and seriously injuring another. This man who was only nineteen ran over two women while driving under the influence. Another incident I found were a group of eagles fans knocking out a giants’ fan. They were on the El taunting him repeatedly. This just shows how much of an impact the love for sports people have. Put drinking in the mix and things can get much worse. We do not even see this complete disregard for people’s lives when it comes to defending our teams but as talked about in class today it also comes with hazing in college. There have been several cases over the past couple of years where college students have been forced to drink massive amounts. In these cases, the kids are either injured by others or cannot control themselves and end up hurting themselves. Narration: A cultural tradition I as well as many women my age have broken away from is being the stereotypical women. As most of us know women were always considered weaker. They were expected to be the perfect house wife, staying home cleaning, taking care of the kids, and making dinner. I have decided that is not the life I want and I want to earn for myself and be able to support myself. It is a big movement for women to be treated equally, and it has been a long time coming. Many strong women have paved the way to where we are now. In choosing to break away from this tradition I am not saying women who stay home are weaker. My mom was a stay at home mom throughout my life and trust me it can be tough. Keeping up with four girls was definitely not always easy for her but she made it work. Although my dad worked he was always involved with us and helped with anything he could. I understand some women would just like to stay home but I feel as though we are becoming more and more independent and like to earn for ourselves. I love this movement and the empowerment of women. Writing About The Yellow Wall-Paper: Please construct a typed literary analysis of The Yellow Wall-Paper. Here is the framework we discussed in class:
The story The Yellow Wall-Paper is about a women suffering from mental illness. She is taken to another house by her husband so she can get better. In her room there is this awful yellow wall paper that she becomes obsessed with. She is convinced there is a women stuck in the wall paper and she is determined to free her. In the end she rips most of the wall paper off the walls and goes on to say she is free. Literary Analysis One dominate theme throughout this story is mental health. Clearly the narrator is having some issues and they were not addressed properly. You can see this throughout her journal entries. There is a lot of different symbols and or motifs too. Some could be the yellow wallpaper, the lady stuck in the wallpaper, and her secret journal. This story seemed to have more of a serious tone. It shows the ignorance there use to be and sometimes still can be towards mental health. Argumentation The narrator in this story was not given a lot of ability to make many life choices, and I think that is why the ones she did get to make were so odd. She was able to make the choice to keep her secret journal. Even when her husband John told her it was not good for her. She also was making the choice to figure out this pattern in the wallpaper. She was determined to do so. She wanted to get better so you could say that was also a choice of hers. But the treatment she was being given by John was not what she wanted. It seems as though she goes along with what John tells her but she really does her own thing. She kind of makes herself believe she is the one that is actually in control. Like when John starts making her sleep in the day more she makes it seem better to herself by saying the pattern is easier to figure out during the night. She chooses to free the women she is seeing in the wallpaper. This is obviously a big symbol because at the end when most of the wallpaper is ripped off she is saying I am free now. Implying that she was the women who was trapped in the wallpaper and she has now freed herself. Narration A time when I felt my ability to make an important life choice is when I was deciding my major going into college. I was always back and forth between Criminal Justice and Early Childhood Education. When deciding I would frequently talk to my mom about which to choose. My mom felt that teaching would not be the best choice because there could be a lack of jobs. After hearing her opinion over and over I decided to go with Criminal Justice. I went to Kutztown University for two years with my major as Criminal Justice. After the first year I knew I did not love Criminal Justice, but I decided to stick it out for a little longer. Ending my sophomore year I knew this was not for me and decided to change my major to Early Childhood Education. Unfortunately, Kutztown does not offer an associates degree program for criminal justice and that is what brought me here to Delaware County Community College. My mom gets very upset when I say I picked criminal justice because of her. She tells me I could have picked either one and she would have been supportive. What she does not realize is her opinion is very important to me and that is why I felt I should pick criminal justice to make her happy. 1) Writing About What You Don't Know [Categories: Life Choice, Course Reading, Making Connections]: Please copy and paste the following bullet points into your blog post and complete the following:
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Erica O'Brien
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December 2017
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