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English Blog Reflection

The blog post that I've made in this past semester that I think shows my ability to use textual evidence to support text analysis is my Krista Ramsey Article post. In this post, I was able to analyze how diction and syntax are used effectively in an article. I was able to pick out which lines of the article used techniques of diction and syntax in order to make the writing more appealing to reader. For instance, I could analyze how Ramsey used both elevated and casual diction and how she used syntax by taking lines out of the article and explain how they demonstrated these writing techniques. One thing that I struggled with while blogging was being able to read enough to be able to write a sufficient blog post. There were several times where I found myself at the day before the blog post deadline and I only had a few pages read from my book. This forced me to be able to use my time wisely enough so that I always had enough pages to read so that I could write a good enough blog po...
Recent posts

Ingledove

Well, so far this book is turning out nothing like I expected. For one thing, the main character's brother has not disappeared yet. The first chapter spent a few pages foreshadowing some big fiasco where the brother, Lang, will be held captive by some sort of snake monster. Now on their trip back to their home from visiting their parents graves Lang has yet to encounter much danger. Stemming from that, there hasn't been any sort of epic quest to save anybody. Instead the conflict of the story isn't saving  Lang from a danger already encountered, but it's stopping  him from encountering it in the first place.  So to begin the book I decided to read in a huge splurge so that I didn't have to worry about it during spring break, so as such I was able to read about half way through. Now halfway through, my previous predictions of the book have scored no points. Author of Ingledove : Marly Youmans As the siblings make their way back to their home Lang begins...

Beginning Ingledove

Welp, back at blogging, I suppose... The book that I picked randomly off a bookshelf and will share with you today is called Ingledove  by Marly Youmans. If you want to ask me what I'll expect from this book then expect a pathetic response since I've only read the summary. The summary tells about two siblings who happen upon a fabled civilization in the mountains call "Adantis" (Atlantis?) where Ingledove's brother is very vaguely described to be kidnapped or taken or stabbed. I don't know the details, the summary says "drawn to a place of death", so maybe it's a literal place of death? Anyways, Ingledove is caught in  quest to save her brother from whatever it is that's killing him. What I expect is a fantasy adventure where the main character must undergo several trials in order to reach her goal. The author of the book, Marly Youmans, is an author I've never heard of before. After finding a Wikipedia article about her I found that...

Krista Ramsey Article

This article, written by Krista Ramsey, covers the story of 5 students from Lakota East who have released a 16-page package full of information about the use of guns in America. One of the most well-made lines in this article, in my opinion, is stated when Ramsey describes the project that the students had made. She says, " Under an eye-catching cover of a map of the U.S. formed by rounds of ammunition, they produced 16 pages of stories looking at everything from unanticipated results of restricting gun sales to the effects on the family of a shooter."   I liked this line because it was able to utilize diction well and be informative of the project at the same time. Ramsey used words such as "produced" or "eye-catching" instead of more casual words such as "made" or "interesting". The sentence structure was designed so that both what the project's appearance and subject matter could be thoroughly described. For instance, Ramsey wa...

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

Wow, that's one heck of a book title Anyways, The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian  is based off of the true story of an aspiring, Native American cartoonist. The character you follow is nicknamed Junior, and it is about his struggle of trying to be someone more than himself while at the same time, fighting the opposition of discrimination and the hardships of his life. It sounds like a serious story, but the narrator, Junior, tells it in a sarcastic, comical way that made me laugh several times. The setting of the story takes place in an Indian reservation. This is basically a community of poor Native American people. One of the drawing's made by Junior in the book. It compares his shortcomings as an Indian to the opposite qualities of a white person. When Junior decides to go to an all-white school instead of the school at the reservation, he is faced with all sorts of problems. He is the only Indian in the school and at first, he finds it hard to fit i...

Grendel - Finished

After reading Grendel , I was more satisfied than I thought I would be. I expected the book to be boring and disgusting. After all, in the most general terms, you could just say it was just Grendel rambling on about how stupid he thinks everything is, and then proceeding to kill whatever he wants to kill for the heck of it. But upon further inspection, Grendel  was much more than that. After I thought about it and I decided that it wasn't about killing and other peoples' stupidity, it was about a lonely being trying to cope with his feelings. The book showed Grendel constantly around humans. Most of the time, he was observing them in their mead hall from someplace near. He started doing this when he was young, and as he grew older, as he began to realize just how lonely he is in the world, so he started doing it more. Later, he began to make fun of them because of their moronic values such as when villages invaded other villages for honor, or when they hold parties in the...

Grendel

So. Since I need to read two more books in the span of two more weeks and I'm a slow reader, I decided to pick up a book that wasn't 500 pages long. Sorry, Bourne Identity , but I'll have to finish you in the second semester. So instead, I'm going to read Grendel . This book... I was reluctant to start this book because I've seen the movie of the story this book is a spin-off of. Let me tell you, Beowulf  is one gory movie. Grendel as depicted in the book. Trust me, you don't want to see him in Beowulf. He looks 10000% more disgusting. Grendel  is based off of the story Beowulf , except instead of the perspective of the "heroes", it is in the perspective of the "monster", Grendel. Grendel is... a monster. I don't know how else to describe him. He didn't really describe himself at the beginning of the book, so I'm going off of the cover. He seems to be a sort of human shaped beast. It is also stated that he is much larger th...