Thesis Statement

1.  (Weak) I'm going to write about Darwin's concerns with evolution in The Orgin of the Species.
     
     Darwin's concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of the Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution-survival as a matter of interependence.

2.   (Weak) An importand part of one's college education is learning to better understand others' points of view.
    
       Although an important part of one's college education is learning to better understand others' points of view a persistent danger is that the students will simply be reuired ot substiture the teacher's answers for theones they grew up uncritically believing.

3.   By inventing terms, such as "loose fit" and "relaxed fit", the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older fatter generation.

       (Weak) The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.

4.    (Weak) Othello is a play about love and jealousy.

       Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it also supports the skepticism of the jealous characters ober the naivete of the lovers.

5.    (Weak) The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the Feelings of indiciduals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat's songs are meaningful to me because I can identify wiht them.

      The punk rock group Minor Threat uses emotional lyrics to appeal to their target audience, which considers itself individualistic and therefore the lyrics must convey a message of individuality.

My Thesis Statement:

The tragic My Lai Massacre is virtually unknown to the public, and history of the Vietnam war because it shows an unfavorable light on the United States.
1. No.
2. Yes original and arguable.
3. Yes

sillysoft.net

Source Evaluation

Author Robert C Prewitt. On google it came up saying that Prewitt was a United States Marine. It did not have any information about his term in Vietnam. The article was written in February 2006. Prewitt's article had information regarding the Quang Ngai Province, which is my essay topic. It describes the area and enemy surrounding him. Since it is a personal experience reference I did not try to search elsewhere. The fact that it was published in the Marine Corps Gazette made me feel that I could trust it.

Amazon.com
Tim O'Briens lecture was film of what he said. I do not know when the lecture was given, it was not on the website. I know that the lecture was given at Brown University. It was also on their website so I feel that is ery creditabl. Since it had it written out and had audio I felt it was very reliable. The lecture was very informative and O'Brien talked about numerous stories and experiences.

Robert C Prewitt. Marine Corps Gazette. Quantico; Feb 2006. Vol. 90, Iss. 2; pg 63, 2 pgs.

O'Brien, Tim. "Writing Vietnam". President's Lecture. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 22 Oct. 2010. Lecture.

Mid Session Check In

Dear Mrs. Cline,

This class has been very enjoyable. My biggest challenge has been writing the papers, I have a difficult time grasping the concept of literary analysis. I am learning and trying to write A papers, and it is difficult. The biggest success I have had would be correcting and learning from my mistakes. I think that my challenges and successes are fairly equal.
The readings have been really interesting and were greatly informative for me. I have never read poems or stories that were so graphic. The poems gave me a lot of different emotions reading them. I enjoyed reading O’Brien and Huze. I have never read a book about war and what happens during a time of war, but those two authors were great to read. It broadened my horizons on that topic by reading them.
Literary analysis is different because the writer does not talk about his or hers experiences as much, or that is not the main point of the paper. The point of the paper is to really understand the writing and what the author is trying to get across. It is hard to write literary analysis papers, at least for me.
My goal is to get better at writing literary analysis papers and keep learning about them. I want to become efficient in writing them. I want to improve my last two essays in case I choose to use them for the final portfolio. My overall goal in this class is to accomplish an A, so I just need to keep improving my work and learning to achieve that.

Sincerely,

Kirsten Lambertson

Summary vs. Analysis

Summary vs. Analysis

“On the Rainy River”

Summary:

            Tim O’Brien talks about his way of becoming a soldier. He tells the reader about his life, going to college, his job, and his girl friend. He goes home after work one day and receives his draft notice. His body goes into a mental overload and shuts down. He has an extremely important decision to make that will change his life as he knows it. He has two choices and both will change his life. Tim can either go to war in Vietnam or flee to Canada. One day after work Tim goes on a drive searching for something to help him in this difficult decision. After all his driving he ends up at this lodge. An old man runs the lodge and allows Tim to stay. The old man doesn’t ask any questions and allows Tim to fall into his everyday chores. Tim works for the old man for a couple days until the old man decides to take him fishing. Once they get to the river Tim breaks down, and cries until he can’t anymore. Tim leaves the next morning knowing what his choice is.

Analysis:

            Tim is an average college student, balancing school, a job and a girlfriend. When Tim receives his draft notice he is angered because he has a life. He does not want to give up his life at home and go to fight in Vietnam because he does believe the war is right. Tim thinks that people who support the war should go and fight it in full. Life is unfair to Tim because he is left with two options that both require his life to change. Tim does not want to go to war in Vietnam and he does not want to flee to Canada. He takes a trip and comes to a lodge where he believes the old man was his savior. The old man takes him to a river where Tim makes the final decision. Tim considers himself a coward and goes to Vietnam to fight the war he does not agree with.

image found at faculty.smu.edu.