Lecture Responses

Post Modernism

I found the lecture on Post Modernism to be intriguing. Considering that we are currently in the era of Post Modernism, I found it to be more relative to my style of thinking and writing. In the lecture we learned about what Post Modernism is and where it came from. It began in the 1960’s and focused on themes such as Human Flaw and Fantasy Exposure. When analyzing characters in works, we tend to notice some of their traits and how it effects their actions. Understanding Human Flaw helped me understand the character on a greater level. Acknowledging this style of writing allows us to understand the mindset of most writers throughout the era. As we discussed, literature is a product of its time period. Understanding the period in which a work was written can only benefit us as readers.

Idealism

I enjoyed this lecture very much. I feel as though it grasped one of the most common aspects of human nature. Our desire to create an ideal world in which everything is “perfect” stems from one of our many pitfalls. We sometimes do not realize that our ideal world cannot be created or that if it can, it will come at a price. During the lecture we were asked to expand upon our ideas through evaluating quotes. “Man is not perfect, nothing is perfect” (Anonymous). This obsession with perfection has become increasingly important in our society. Some may even argue that modern outlooks on perfection are extreme. Within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece “The Birthmark” we were able to see the effects of idealism taken too far. A question I have asked myself is how far has society taken perfection? With diseases such as bulimia and anorexia becoming more and more common, I am lead to believe that we have indeed pushed ourselves to the limit to obtain this perfection. I would say this lecture was among the most helpful in giving me tools to better understand literature and characterization.

Theme & Tone

This was the final lecture of the class and in my opinion one of the most engaging. We started off with a quote involving Piglet and Pooh from Winnie the Pooh. We could all relate to the characters. We were able to better understand the quote since we knew of the characters and their traits. I find it fascinating when something apart of your childhood can be reflected later on in life. We deciphered the theme and tone of the quote after a brief verbal discourse over its possible themes. We then applied the same tactics used to interpret the quote to interpret themes and tones of another work called “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco. Overall, I felt as though interpreting theme and tone within a work is vital towards understanding the piece as a whole. What is the piece trying to convey? How does the author express their feelings? What kind of feelings are they expressing? These are all relevant questions one must identify in order to analyze a work. I know that I will take the lessons from this lecture and utilize them within my critical analyses of future works.