There are some instances in life that cause us to act out of our own character, either for our own personal gain or anothers. Peer pressure is common during adolescence since this is the time where we struggle for acceptance from those around us. I can recall several events where I have been guilty of acting in a way I know I’m not. It was a stupid mistake of mine, but I felt the change after my freshman year in high school. My freshman year was a very tough time in my life as I went through horrible events that I could never wish upon anyone. At that point, I simply wanted to fit in with whoever would have me. After I got through my freshman year, I built friendships with a group of kids that were at least a year older than I was. I spent the entire summer with these people I considered to be my close friends, being relatively close to one in particular. My family accepted him as my good friend and with me being as naive as I was at that age, I thought this was an opportunity to build a strong bond with all of them and a chance for me to start over after a rough first year of high school. However, at the time, I wasn’t quite aware that they were into drugs, drinking and having unprotected sex and I was beginning to get sucked into their lifestyle. I would never partake in drinking and doing drugs with them, but I began to accept it after being around these “friends” that I just wanted acceptance from despite the fact that I have always, and I feel I’ll forever be, completely against everything they did. However, as the summer went on, the pressure slowly fell on me to join them. At that point, knowing that they wouldn’t accept me and these people I was with, I began to separate myself from my family, being secretive and deceptive towards them, which I feel was the biggest mistake I made. If it weren’t for those who I found to be my true friends, I believe that I would have gotten myself into serious trouble and I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would have ended up in the same predicament they’re in; high school drop outs, having court dates, attending AA meetings, or even pregnant. Needless to say, the one my family and I trusted the most and had the most influence on my life at the time completely disappeared after I lost their acceptance since I knew there was no way I would sink so low as to ruin my high school career to be like them.
Although this seems to be a typical story of struggling to fit in with the high school crowds, this really had a strong impact on my life. This experience along with my entire freshman year taught me that I need to put myself and my values and morals first before anyone else. In a way, I feel that deep down I knew that I should have done that to begin with, but I think the desire to fit in and start anew was too overwhelming that it did distort my thoughts and feelings. It’s a tough lesson for some to learn, myself included and even to this day I sometimes struggle with wanting to put others needs before my own. However, now I’ve learned how to distinguish which scenarios are important enough to put others before myself and I know that no one is worth lowering my standards and morals just to satisfy an instant gratification in making a friend.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Responding to Literaure
As a body of readers, we all respond to literature in very different ways. Through an educational standpoint, readers may be instructed to respond to literature in a scholastic manner; through writing a summary and in-depth analysis of the piece. Outside of the educational spectrum, literature may inspire people to write themselves to comment on the piece they read or simply on their own experiences. There are some writers that were inspired to being their journey of writing literature through reading the work of others. Some readers may respond to the literature they read through a more productive manner. After reading literature about a struggling culture or someone who suffers from a chronic disease, the reader may even become active in helping to support a cause tat aids those in need through charities or other bodies of charity organizations.
Although analyzing literature may seem insignificant to some, there are many important ideals that are derived from analyzing literature. One of the most important pieces of literature that many people appreciate and live by is the Bible. Like any other piece of written literature, the Bible can be analyzed and interpreted in many different ways. In any manner that we interpret the Bible, those who believe in the messages written in the Bible treat this book as a way to live their lives based on the religion they practice. There are also those who believe in some aspects of the Bible, not not others, based on their individual interpretation. There are many things that can have different meanings to different people, and the importance in understanding one's own interpretation of the Bible has a huge impact on the way some live their lives. Literature also has the power to inspire people in different ways. As mentioned above, some readers may have been inspired to begin writing themselves through reading literature from and idolized author. However, a reader may relate to a character's adversity in a story and can see the courage within the character to overcome their obstacles and inspire the reader to do the same. There are pieces of literature that put their primary focus on teenagers and young adults that have the ability to ensure the reader that they're never alone in their specific situations and can strongly impact their overall outlook on life. Young readers may then reach out and help other teens their age to empower them through the same obstacles.
The discussion of literature is heavily based on understanding the piece and being comfortable with one's own interpretation of the piece. When a meaning can be determined and supported with proper textual evidence, one's interpretation can be discussed with other readers of the same piece. This can be incredibly beneficial in expanding the view of other readers in exposing them to different perspectives of the same material. Very rare is the occasion that upon the initial analysis, there will be a unanimous agreement to one particular viewpoint; the story is examined through various points of view thus producing differences in opinions among readers. To be able to agree to disagree on a story's theme and employment of figurative language and the symbolic meanings behind it can only help up grow as readers and broaden out view and opinions on literature interpretation.
Although analyzing literature may seem insignificant to some, there are many important ideals that are derived from analyzing literature. One of the most important pieces of literature that many people appreciate and live by is the Bible. Like any other piece of written literature, the Bible can be analyzed and interpreted in many different ways. In any manner that we interpret the Bible, those who believe in the messages written in the Bible treat this book as a way to live their lives based on the religion they practice. There are also those who believe in some aspects of the Bible, not not others, based on their individual interpretation. There are many things that can have different meanings to different people, and the importance in understanding one's own interpretation of the Bible has a huge impact on the way some live their lives. Literature also has the power to inspire people in different ways. As mentioned above, some readers may have been inspired to begin writing themselves through reading literature from and idolized author. However, a reader may relate to a character's adversity in a story and can see the courage within the character to overcome their obstacles and inspire the reader to do the same. There are pieces of literature that put their primary focus on teenagers and young adults that have the ability to ensure the reader that they're never alone in their specific situations and can strongly impact their overall outlook on life. Young readers may then reach out and help other teens their age to empower them through the same obstacles.
The discussion of literature is heavily based on understanding the piece and being comfortable with one's own interpretation of the piece. When a meaning can be determined and supported with proper textual evidence, one's interpretation can be discussed with other readers of the same piece. This can be incredibly beneficial in expanding the view of other readers in exposing them to different perspectives of the same material. Very rare is the occasion that upon the initial analysis, there will be a unanimous agreement to one particular viewpoint; the story is examined through various points of view thus producing differences in opinions among readers. To be able to agree to disagree on a story's theme and employment of figurative language and the symbolic meanings behind it can only help up grow as readers and broaden out view and opinions on literature interpretation.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Insight on Literature
Literature in it of itself has a very structured and categorized concept that ironically has no limits. There are four major categories that literary work can be classified under, including nonfiction, poems, dramas, and fiction. There are literary devices that must be used in order the classify a work under one of these categories, however, the manner in which these are used are completely limitless, leaving the writer to be free in having the ability to express deep emotions in any manner they so choose. In poetry, for example, writers can incorporate many different types of figurative language such as personification and metaphors into the type of meter the writer is looking to use to classify the work as poetry; however those writing a drama can use the same type of figurative language and incorporate this into the drama. This idea has an impact on me as a reader of literature in seeing the manipulation of some form of limitless structure that can only be found in writing literature.
Literature is one of the few ways that draw people, as well as myself into becoming interested in obtaining information on historical events and the unique aspects of cultures that we aren't exposed to as a society in the United States. I'm not someone who particularly enjoys sitting in a history class learning about historical battles and struggles; however, the process of learning about history is more stimulating through the eyes of literature, which has the ability to express emotions that a history book can't portray.
As a writer prepares to create a new piece, that are reminded of the heavy responsibility that they hold in doing justice to the perspective of those they so choose. William Faulkner's piece, The Sound and the Fury, took advantage of this task and told the story of one event through the perspective of four different characters, one being a mentally retarded 33 year old man. This shows a manner in which writers allow their readers to see more than one dimension to their story, thus giving the reader an intriguing and unique reading experience. As a reader of this piece, I was able to begin to understand the concept behind showing the society of readers that there is a major distortion between points of view from four different characters recalling the same event and the significance of seeing all sides of the story.
By the end of the term, I hope to explore deeper into literature and all it has to offer to gain a better understanding of the significance that it has on culture and our society as a whole. Literature has the power to influence its readers and, in the right hands and with an open mind, can alter a reader's prejudice points of view and help unify our society as a while. My goal for this semester is to find evidence of this and even learn how to write powerful and passionate works with the potential to do just that. In addition to writing material, I hope to learn how to apply various new methods to dive deep into the heart of written literature and find deeper meanings through comprehensive analysis, something that has never been my personal strong suit.
Literature is one of the few ways that draw people, as well as myself into becoming interested in obtaining information on historical events and the unique aspects of cultures that we aren't exposed to as a society in the United States. I'm not someone who particularly enjoys sitting in a history class learning about historical battles and struggles; however, the process of learning about history is more stimulating through the eyes of literature, which has the ability to express emotions that a history book can't portray.
As a writer prepares to create a new piece, that are reminded of the heavy responsibility that they hold in doing justice to the perspective of those they so choose. William Faulkner's piece, The Sound and the Fury, took advantage of this task and told the story of one event through the perspective of four different characters, one being a mentally retarded 33 year old man. This shows a manner in which writers allow their readers to see more than one dimension to their story, thus giving the reader an intriguing and unique reading experience. As a reader of this piece, I was able to begin to understand the concept behind showing the society of readers that there is a major distortion between points of view from four different characters recalling the same event and the significance of seeing all sides of the story.
By the end of the term, I hope to explore deeper into literature and all it has to offer to gain a better understanding of the significance that it has on culture and our society as a whole. Literature has the power to influence its readers and, in the right hands and with an open mind, can alter a reader's prejudice points of view and help unify our society as a while. My goal for this semester is to find evidence of this and even learn how to write powerful and passionate works with the potential to do just that. In addition to writing material, I hope to learn how to apply various new methods to dive deep into the heart of written literature and find deeper meanings through comprehensive analysis, something that has never been my personal strong suit.
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