Response to Course Material IV

At this point in the year, I am happy to say that I feel a lot more comfortable in the AP-style essay.  I think I have improved in the structure and organization of my essays, especially the open-prompt, and while I still dislike timed tests and struggle with the time limit, I have been working on limiting the time I take to write my essays over the weekend, with varying success.  I think this is the main thing I want to the work on, still: getting my ideas to be coherent within that annoying time limit.  I also struggle with the time limit because I, for some reason, write a much better essay when I verbally give my thesis to someone.  Once I have verbally clarified my ideas outside my head, then I write a much better essay.  Obviously, doing this during the AP exam isn’t going to work. 

I have really enjoyed analyzing Death of a Salesman, and it’s been really cool to close read the whole thing, because this is not a way I have had the opportunity to read it in the past.  All of the different perspectives on the meaning of the play are also incredibly fascinating to hear.  My favorite way to approach literature is a verbal group discussion, so I’ve been loving it.  It’s also interesting to me how many parallels there are between Miller’s play and The American Dream.  It’s also interesting to imagine what these authors would be writing if they lived today.

I look forward to start reading Ceremony today, and for reading a novel, because as much as I love plays, novels are wonderful things.  I also have never reader any Native American literature, so this should be really fascinating.