Over last three weeks, the Death of a Salesman, The American Dream, and the Eras Presentation have greatly enhanced my critical analysis skills as well as augmented my general awareness of how the literary eras, especially the Renaissance, have impacted the literature produced by authors of the particular literary periods.
The analysis of the Death of a Salesman as a class allowed me to gain ideas from others and see the work of literature in a different light. One idea that I felt would have been beneficial to discuss is how Willy is solely a salesman and he always just wants to sell, whether it be a material product or an idea. The discussion about the religious aspect of the work was also interesting to note, along with the feminist considerations as well as the purpose the names of the characters serve. Overall, I feel that I have a solid understanding of what the text generally means, but I would like to discuss the text as a whole so as to grasp the central theme as well as the various sub-themes.
I feel that we should spend more time talking about the relationship between the Death of a Salesman and The American Dream. For myself, I found many converging instances and themes in both plays. I am very much interested in acquiring the views of others in my class and what they think about the relationship between the two texts, in terms of specifically the larger theme. By doing so, I believe I will be better able to understand both texts in order to effectively apply its various aspects in my open prompts for my blogs as well as the AP exam.
Researching the Renaissance literary era has provided me with greater insight into understanding how the characteristics of the literature from the 14th to 17th century developed in the first place and how they influenced authors and their works in the future. By reading about the famous writers of the Renaissance and acquiring a general picture of the situation at the time, I can now see what motivated them to write their particular texts. Over Thanksgiving Break, I look forward to reading Ceremony and being transported to the Native American past, attempting to reconcile the past with the present to project for the future.
I agree with your comment about class discussions focusing on details rather than big pictures... For me, broad themes are more helpful rather than specific details. I too appreciated the eras projects, however it's hard to see just where that fits into our ap lit knowledge so far. As we've only read some pretty current things thus far, it's hard to understand the other eras on the same level. Hopefully, by the time we get to Pride and Prejudice, we'll be able to see the contrast in the eras and to better understand them in context.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should spend more time comparing American Dream and Salesman thematically. After all, we won't be able to remember details anyways by the time we get to AP test time. We should focus on themes because we will actually be able to use them.
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