Most of this past month was taken up with Death of a Salesman. When we watched the movie in American Lit, we didn't analyze it very much at all, so I didn't see where in the movie my teacher was drawing her conclusions from. I just went along with what she said in order to pass a quiz about it. But this year, I understand it so well, and while I was annotating, I understood why things I hadn't annotated yet would happen to the characters. It also became clearer to me how a text can be interpreted in several ways after we read the articles about Death of a Salesman. Willy, a very complicated character, can be perceived as a misguided hero or a horrible person twisted by his insanity from the same exact text. Everyone in our class had a different opinion about him, and all of them are valid.
We have also been starting reading Hamlet. So far, I have been pretty confused by it. I am not very good at reading Shakespeare, and even after reading a part of it several times, I still am not totally sure what it means. The basic plot is clear to me, but I'm not sure how on earth I'm going to be able to annotate it like the other plays we have read this year. If I barely understand it, it seems impossible to get the same depth I got from Death of a Salesman. Hopefully, it will get better after a while.
It's good to hear that you understood things before you annotated. That probably made it a lot easier for you. I think your personal comments throughout your reflection showed that you really understood the topics in class! Good job!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how you brought up the fact that a text can be interpreted in several ways, but that all of them are valid. I get so frustrated when people take a black-and-white approach to interpreting literature--that you're either right or you're wrong. When we're interpreting a book or a play, we're pretty much in a grey area the whole time. Anyway, I digress. I completely agree that "Hamlet" has been more challenging to annotate. I can understand what they're talking about, but that's about all I get. The whole "deeper meaning" stuff goes completely over my head, more so than usual.
ReplyDeleteGood response, Julia! I had fun reading it.
It is so cool how you got so much more out of the book this time! This has been my experience with AP Bio- are you also feeling like everything is so much more coherent the second time? I guess thats why we read everything twice and watch so many movies in AP lit; it takes a few times for the themes to really sink in.
ReplyDeletePersevere through Hamlet! After 4 hours of Kenneth Branaugh, you will be as solid with Shakespeare as you are with Miller.