REFLECTIONS
EXPOSITORY WRITING
A Feminist Standpoint on Jane Eyre
I particularly like this piece of expository writing, and considered it as one of the best pieces I have ever written in my high school life. I was quite successful in raising some important points in the story of Jane Eyre who was in search of her identity and place in the world during the time when society tended to be disadvantageous to women. This also shows the bad effects of feminism in society and how it has greatly affected the values and way of thinking of people during that time. I was able to convey the message that for a relationship to succeed, couples must not only love one another, but also respect and understand each other. They must learn to communicate and compromise if they want to have a stable relationship. I also raised the point that a woman must not compromise her morals and dignity for her personal happiness and needs. I do think that I was able to explain the feminist points raised in Charlotte Bronte’s novel. I was able to find some supporting details from the book and information from online resources that help support my thesis and strengthen my arguments regarding the feminist standpoint in Jane Eyre that made this piece quite strong and effective.
Culture Collision in Things Fall Apart
This piece would probably be one of the few that I do not like so much. For one thing, my ideas were quite scattered all over the piece. And the other was that I was having problems with my sentence structure and voice. I just don’t know what happened to my writing the day I wrote this piece. The only lame excuse can come up of is that I just didn’t feel writing the piece that day and I didn’t feel doing very extensive research. I was just probably lazy when I was making this piece, that’s why it suffered in structure. However, the main points of my argument were not compromised and I was still able to convey what I wanted the reader to know and feel about the issues raised in the Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart.
CREATIVE WRITING
Letter from the Heart of Darkness
I think that among my works, this is the piece I can be proud of. It was very successful in mimicking the relationship of a Marlow and his aunt and I was able to provide great insights and vivid descriptions of the Congo during that time. I guess my imaginative personality showed in this particular piece as I tried putting myself in the shoes of Marlow, adapting to his state of mind to know what he was thinking and how he would act to his environment at that time. I studied how he would write a letter to his aunt based on the book’s description of their conversation. Though I may have made some mistakes with regards to some instances in the story that I have cited in my letter, I was made up by the many insights and arguments that I’ve raised which I thought were good and strong as they were supported by the events in the book.
A Bizarre Journey Indeed
I do not really know why I wrote this story. And I also do not know how I wrote it in just a day. But I surely enjoyed writing it. This piece probably shows my creative, observant, and sarcastic personality. I just wanted to have fun in writing and was able to convey a story that has clear transitions and something that will entice the reader to keep on reading. I made good insights on the experience I had in the last five months of my stay in Monterey High School and the things I learned through mere observation of the people around me. This peace was quite effective in showing a student who is in a foreign land, adapting to the new environment and culture.
JOURNALS
Journal- March 3, 2003 Entry
However brief, I believe that this journal of mine regarding my proposition that Marlow is not the hero of the Heart of Darkness was quite effective in laying down my arguments that indeed Marlow is not the hero of the story. But I still believe that I can be capable of improving this piece given more information and supporting arguments from other sources. I do believe that I have not given enough information to fully establish the point I raised since I only cited a few instances in the Heart of Darkness that would probably help me in my argument. I wrote this piece to argue that it is not necessarily true that the central character of the story is not the narrator. And that for a character in a story to be considered a hero means that that character has had a great impact through the course of the story. I believe that it was Kurtz who had a greater impact in the story and not Marlow who merely acted as an observer.
Journal- April 3, 2003 Entry
I am not quite satisfied with my work on this Journal. I believe that it still needs further research and I should cite more examples. The arguments that I have laid are rather incoherent, that is, the ideas are sort of scattered, which is not good in proving the point of my thesis. The writing on this novel is quite ineffective in conveying my ideas regarding the topic. I can improve this piece by making more research on the story patterns of men and women and trying to understand the reasons why there are differences on how men and women relate their stories. It will also be improved when I obtain some additional support from other discussions by people regarding the topic and studying them for me to come up with a strong argument for my case.
