Response to Course Materials

These past couple weeks have been incredibly long. I found myself more often than not running on less than 5 hours of sleep and caffeine, which, might I add, makes 6th hour mighty difficult to get through.

We finally finished Death of a Salesman. I feel like we spent more time on this than the American Dream, but did not get into as much detail. We created our theme statement as a class: Prioritizing success over moral values will harm others and cause personal failure. We concluded that Willy's obsession over his ambitions in commercial America were destructive to both his family and his own life. We also found that both The American Dream and Death of a Salesman have similar themes in exemplifying how specific attitudes toward societal roles is inevitably destructive in some way. 

Before we began reading Hamlet, we read and annotated "Elizabethan Theater" and "The Renaissance". These two pieces explained the cultural context of the time period that Hamlet was written, which is helpful when considering different perspectives. For example, Ms. Holmes explained the significance of Hamlet studying in Wittenberg, which was the epicenter of the beginnings of Protestantism, where Martin Luther supposedly nailed his grievances to the door of a Catholic church. 

Shortly after reading those pieces, we began reading Hamlet. I really am enjoying it so far, for out of the small collection of Shakespeare's play that I am familiar with, Hamlet is definitely my favorite. This may be in part because I can't help but picture Hamlet as Mel Gibson, who is incredibly attractive, but I digress. I love how the play not only has a plot that is complex and interesting, but also has an underlying political relevance to Elizabethan times, such as Hamlet's comment if incest to his mother and Claudius. I am really excited to figure out what the whole point of the play really is compared to the simplified lessons I received on it in the 10th grade at Corunna.

The next activity that I am going to talk about does not have a name, Well, it does have a name, but for whatever reason, it escapes me. Basically what we do is flip through a bunch of pictures on a power point and collectively decide which is the most controversial (If you are in 6th hour, you will know exactly what I mean by controversial). Then, we argue for about 15 minutes about which words from the word bank describe the picture. Then, when we have finally figured out what kind of mood we want to allude to, we attempt at writing a paragraph that actively describes the picture in the way we want it to, while at the same time does not directly state the mood. By the time we have reached this point, everyone in the class is frustrated, including Ms, Holmes, and we may even receive a lecture on productivity before the bell rings. Hence the phrase, "saved by the bell".

Another thing that we did in class was practice writing our AP test essays. I was absent on Monday when we got a really helpful lesson on introductory paragraphs. I am still not completely confident that I know what I am doing in that area of essay writing, but I think I got the just of it from Vanessa the next day. We basically were given a formula for writing introductions, and to use that for the structure of the body paragraphs. We wrote about Death of a Salesman, which I found to be more difficult than The American Dream.

All in all, we have gotten through a lot of material the past couple of weeks in class. I do feel that we could be a lot more productive in my class, but at least we are a lively bunch!

Summary and Analysis of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

SETTING
The play is set in Brooklyn (most likely the 1940s and 50s). Most of the play takes place in Willy Loman's home as well as the back yard. Within the flashbacks, the house is surrounded by a cemetery and the skyline of New York City is visible in the distance. In the present tense, the house is surrounded by suffocating apartment buildings. The play also takes place in various buildings of New York City such as a restaurant and Willy's office building. The era that the play is set in is a developing urban society; rapid urbanization is evident throughout the play.

Close Reading Response to: Dad: Son brushed up against poisonous plant, died

     Evann Gastaldo's article, "Dad: Son brushed up against poisonous plant, died", about an English gardener who died supposedly from accidental poisoning, provokes the arguable illegitimacy of the investigation. Gastaldo uses diction and syntax to instill a feeling of controversy into the reader, along with details regarding cultural connotation and comparison. The use of rhetoric in the piece leads one to believe that Gastaldo does not in fact believe the allegations made concerning the death of Nathan Greenaway, and confirms the article as a subtle call for further investigation.

     The most obvious use of rhetoric in the piece was diction; Gastaldo consistently used words and phrases such as, "must have" and "not clear", to make a point on the uncertainty surrounding the case. In both of the following sentences he uses the word potential to further emphasize the same idea, "He died on Sept. 7 of multiple organ failure, and at a pre-inquest hearing this week, a potential cause was heard." and "... the plant's toxin wouldn't have been detectable in his blood in as little as 24 hours, making samples taken after his death potentially useless ..." The potential cause of death was heard, but it is not known for sure. Taking blood samples of the diseased to test for the toxin is potentially useless, but again is not proven and there is a possibility that a presence of the toxin could be found. Almost all of the facts that Gastaldo reports within his article include some word that reflects the flimsy logic and evidence of the investigation.

     In the second and third to last paragraphs in the article, where Gastaldo talks about the purpose of the blood samples of Nathan Greenaway, syntax is used in an interesting way to allow the reader to form skepticism without having it deliberately pointed out:

Others testified that the toxin would have caused massive damage to the gardener's internal organs within hours. But a lawyer for his employer isn't convinced, and one problem is that the blood sample taken when Greenaway was admitted to the hospital has been destroyed. 

According to testimony, the plant's toxin wouldn't have been detectable in his blood in as little as 24 hours, making samples taken after his death potentially useless, the Independent reports.

In the first paragraph, a condition is presented that would allow a solution by testing the blood for the toxin. Then, in the same paragraph, it is revealed that the blood test was destroyed. This creates the skepticism. Why would the blood be destroyed? In the second paragraph it is revealed that officials believed the blood to be useless to the inquiry of cause of death. However, the controversial implications of the first paragraph have already set a precedent of distrust, and leaves this information ineffective to reader. Thus, the structure of the two paragraphs help create an ideal feeling within the reader that supports Gastaldo's purpose.

     Aconitum, the plant that supposedly poisoned the man, goes by many different names, such as wolfsbane and blue rocket. In his article, Gastaldo specifically uses names for the flower that are associated with supernatural connotation, "The deadly flower, also known as Devil's helmet, monkshood, and wolfsbane ... " The names, Devil's helmet, monkshood, and wolfsbane are all referring to using the flower to ward off enemies of supernatural and evil entities. The use of these names bring about an uneasy air of skepticism throughout the article that support the overall purpose to make the reader have doubts in the investigation.

     Through the use of diction, syntax, and details, Gastaldo indirectly tells the reader that the investigation over the death of Nathan Greenaway was incomplete and probably unjust.