**Hey guys, I’m sure you are about to notice that some of my sentences are a bit disconnected and that my thoughts don’t really flow well to create a unified response. Please understand that I just got my wisdom teeth removed yesterday, and I’m having a lot of trouble writing well. Holmes knows this, but if you could just cut me a break on my actual style and just look at my ideas I would really appreciate it. Thank you!**
In this section of the course, we finally got a chance to look at syntax! Despite all of the negative hype, I don’t feel like the concept is too difficult to understand. What is difficult for me though, is discovering how it applies in all forms of literature. The carefully-chosen examples of syntax in our syntax packets made a lot of sense to me, but I think it will be much harder to find examples of syntax in other, perhaps not so obvious, pieces. Nonetheless, I’m glad that we finally tackled the last element of DIDL’s.
In our pursuit to further understand how to best analyze fiction and drama, we read chapter three of our textbooks. The section dedicated to fiction wasn’t so helpful; we had already learned about DIDL’s in class and reviewed the techniques using supplementary packets. However, I thought the drama section proved useful. I really liked how the textbook titled the section: “Special Considerations for Analyzing Drama”. Instead of making drama seem like a completely different sect of literature, instead the words “special consideration” bridged fiction and drama and allowed readers to understand that the same techniques in fiction are apparent in drama although drama uses different tools to achieve these techniques. For example, in plays, symbols are often more clear as they often take the shape of commonly used props. This point about drama also proved useful in our first read of the American Dream.
We relied on other tools as well in order to prepare for our first read of the American Dream, such as comedy packets. It was interesting to me how straight-forward the packets made comedy seem. I never considered there to be any logical aspects to what makes us laugh. The packets were interesting, but only through our reading of the American Dream was I able to see how applicable they were. As strange and twisted as the play is, I really enjoyed the American Dream. Although often, I find the theatre of the absurd to be annoying or flat out dumb (think: any Will Ferrell movie), I found the American Dream to be a worthwhile piece. I think perhaps it was because the play had such a rich sub-text that it wasn’t hard to see that Edward Albie wanted to create a work that did more than just make people laugh. Although right now it’s a little bit hard to see exactly what Albie was attempting to convey, I hope that the meaning of the American Dream becomes more clear later.
In this section of the course, we finally got a chance to look at syntax! Despite all of the negative hype, I don’t feel like the concept is too difficult to understand. What is difficult for me though, is discovering how it applies in all forms of literature. The carefully-chosen examples of syntax in our syntax packets made a lot of sense to me, but I think it will be much harder to find examples of syntax in other, perhaps not so obvious, pieces. Nonetheless, I’m glad that we finally tackled the last element of DIDL’s.
In our pursuit to further understand how to best analyze fiction and drama, we read chapter three of our textbooks. The section dedicated to fiction wasn’t so helpful; we had already learned about DIDL’s in class and reviewed the techniques using supplementary packets. However, I thought the drama section proved useful. I really liked how the textbook titled the section: “Special Considerations for Analyzing Drama”. Instead of making drama seem like a completely different sect of literature, instead the words “special consideration” bridged fiction and drama and allowed readers to understand that the same techniques in fiction are apparent in drama although drama uses different tools to achieve these techniques. For example, in plays, symbols are often more clear as they often take the shape of commonly used props. This point about drama also proved useful in our first read of the American Dream.
We relied on other tools as well in order to prepare for our first read of the American Dream, such as comedy packets. It was interesting to me how straight-forward the packets made comedy seem. I never considered there to be any logical aspects to what makes us laugh. The packets were interesting, but only through our reading of the American Dream was I able to see how applicable they were. As strange and twisted as the play is, I really enjoyed the American Dream. Although often, I find the theatre of the absurd to be annoying or flat out dumb (think: any Will Ferrell movie), I found the American Dream to be a worthwhile piece. I think perhaps it was because the play had such a rich sub-text that it wasn’t hard to see that Edward Albie wanted to create a work that did more than just make people laugh. Although right now it’s a little bit hard to see exactly what Albie was attempting to convey, I hope that the meaning of the American Dream becomes more clear later.
I like it. Good ideas. I think another thing to think about is to connect these ideas about syntax, props, and the American Dream because it is all there, you just need to connect the dots.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as clear cut as in the packet, but syntax is present whenever words are put together.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how the book approached drama by building on what had been said before instead of taking up space with super detailed explanation.
A lot of people seem to think that Theater of the Absurd = Dumb. To me Theater of the Absurd = Accessible to anyone
"Albie" is spelled "Albee", but I'll attribute that to your surgery
You covered everything, though I can tell you were a bit loopy when you wrote it....Wisdom teeth removal is awful.
ReplyDeleteSyntax was fun for me. I never knew there was an actual process to structuring sentences, rather than innate tinkering. The drama section was very in-depth and I'm going to have to reread it a few more times. I liked the comedy packets as well. Very informative.
Cassidy Murphy