Last Blog of the Semester

When first coming in to the English Comp 101 class, I was nervous just like all of my classes because it had been so long since I had been in school. I didn't know if I would remember anything about writing a paper. Now, looking back at the semester, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get back into the swing of things and I feel that I did a pretty good job at writing this semester.

Blogging was an interesting way to do an assignement. I can say that I did like it better than having to write an assignment in class. I would say as far as writing assignments go, I think that this is my preferred way to do it as long as we aren't getting graded on grammar and spelling.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this class this semester and I think it has helped me as a writer very much. I feel much more confident going into my next semester English Lit class.

A blog about the weekend

So this weekend, I got to drive home to Rapid City to spend time with all of my friends and family. It was a little stressful to start, getting out of town was a pain and when we finally were able to leave, the rain was turning to ice and I was so scared that the roads would be that way the whole way home. Luckily though, once we got to Mitchell, the roads were pretty much dry the whole way home. Thursday was spend at my boyfriend's family's house and we had an awesome Thankgsgiving dinner! Then, Friday was spent shopping and then we drove up to Spearfish to see our friend's band play. Then Saturday was spent enjoying another Thanksgiving dinner with my family and then that night we got to go out and party with all of our friends. I had a great time back home but I am also happy to be back in my own home and back to life. I definitely can't wait for Christmas time though when we get to do it all again!

#3 On Page 244- The Most Dangerous Game

The biggest detail that I found in this story that was reoccuring was the darkness. It seemed like every time something bad happened, it was dark. The story started out talking about how dark it was which set up for everything else to happen. Also, Zaroff had dark features and hunted in the night. The fact that both of the men were great hunters was also a reoccuring detail, it was shown in how Rainsford was able to get away from Zaroff and also how Zaroff was able to hunt him down. I think the biggest object that had significance in the story was the pistol, the sounds are what brought Rainsford to the island and to the home and it turned out to be the gun that would potentially kill Rainsford. Also, Ivan was of great significance to Zaroff because he seemed to be a kind of companion and he also helped in the hunt so it really set him off when Ivan got killed. The description of Zaroff makes him out to be an intelligent, worldly, and sophisticated man by the fine liquors and wines that he drinks, the food that he eats, and all the things he has done and places he has gone but he is actually just a psyco serial killer. The fact that Rainsford was not a killer at the beginning of the story showed that he valued his own morals but he did value his own life more than his morals and he became a killer in the end.

Young Goodman Brown

While reading Young Goodman Brown, I noticed a lot of symbolizm throughout the whole story. There was everything from Goodman Brown's title, symbolizing that he was a puritan, the forest symbolizing sin, the older man in the forest in Goodman Brown's image symbolizing the devil, Goodman Brown's wife Faith, symbolizing his faith, the ribbons symbolizing innocence and purity, and the snake staff further symbolizing the devil and the temptations he creates. The story was a little hard to read because of the old language that it used but it was very easy to see the symbolism in the story. It was as if every tiny thing in the story symbolized something bigger. It took me awhile to realize what was going on but once I figured it out, it caused the use of imagination to try to understand the moral of the story and also other details of the story like why he had to be tested in the first place and why this experience changed him so much. Especially since he didn't even know if it was real or not. I think this was a very good story to show how much symbolism and morals can be a part of a story.

Review of A Rose For Emily

When I was reading A Rose for Emily, the biggest thing I noticed was how the story was narrated. It was an interesting way for the author to do this because it was a way to let the reader use their imagination and fill in the blanks. The way that the people of the town seemed to think they knew everything that was going on when they really had no idea what was going on behind closed doors was an interesting take. I could sense by the tone of the story that something strange was going on but only having the different people's take on what was happening led to the ability to have a twist at the ending. I liked the way that it was narrated but I don't think that it would work well on a longer story or novel. I think after too long of not know the details of the story, it would be easy to lose what was actually happening. It would just seem like gossip and the story wouldn't be able to shock you at the end like this story did.

The Most Dangerous Game

I really enjoyed reading The Most Dangerous Game. It was suspensful and a very easy story to follow. Something that I noticed throughout the whole story was how the author made it a point to point out the darkness of everything, and how the story unfolded and moved within the darkness. This was something I noticed right away when Rainsford was talking about how he couldn't see 500 yards out from the yact and how the sea looked like black velvet. Then, shortly after explaining the darkness, he fell from the boat. Anytime that it was day time, nothing really happened but then that next night, he found Zafford's house by the lights on the house that were shining through the darkness and when he saw Zafford, the author made a point to show how he had dark features. I also noticed that the only time the hunting happened was at night which also plays into the darkness theme.

Something else that I thought about after reading this story is what will happen to Rainsford now that he has killed Zafford. He too is now stranded on this island and will get shipwrecked boats full of people. He was so against killing a human when he got to Zafford's house but in the end he went back and killed him so could it be that he has turned into a killer himself? He already had the same mind frame as Zafford when it came to the sport of hunting and now he will be in a position to do the same thing that Zafford did. It would be interesting to see the story unfold into a longer novel.

Through the eyes of Katrina Van Tassle

I always thought Ichabod Crane was an odd man. He was older and I was his student but I couldn't help to notice the way he would look at me in class. Especially once I started having my eye on Brom Bones. Brom was the man I truely wanted to be with but I couldn't be rude to Ichabod, he was my teacher. I always just thought he was a funny man, always reading his witchcraft books and singing through his big pointy nose. I couldn't believe it the night that he came to the party at my father's house. He kept looking around at all of the fine things in the house and I think he was trying to catch my eye at all points in the night, anytime I was looking in his direction. He even tried to dance to impress me. I kept staring at Brom who was sitting on the side of the dance floor and I think he knew that I was beginning to be uncomforatable with Ichabod. So we all devised a plan to scare him away. At the end of the night, Brom followed Ichabod through Sleepy Hallow on his horse to pretend to be the Headless Horseman. It was all fun and games and we all thought that the pumpkin would be the perfect touch to play the missing head. I never imagined that Ichabod would run away forever though! I guess we scared him more than we thought. Oh well though, at least now Brom and I can live in peace and I don't have to worry about the teacher eyeing me any longer! I'm just glad no one got hurt. Physically anyways.

Katrina Van Tassle- Bones