The Semester

This semester I think actually has gone pretty well. I was skeptical in the beginning about how much use this class was going to be for me, but it has shown to have some good effects. I know that how I write papers will be better for my future classes. I also think that just reading in general will be more fun for me. I haven't always been the biggest reading enthusiast is the world, but I have started to enjoy reading more now that I start actually looking for the symbolism in stories. It has been more enjoyable reading and understanding what the reading is saying through what the setting or how the characters are. I would say that I have been happy to be in intro to lit.

Free Choice

I read the different style of story The Last Question by Isaac Asimov. I liked it overall, the story confused me at first after the first character switch. I thought it was just another completely separate story, but I figured out it was just different characters to represent the changing universe but the same old problem. I think one of the meanings of the story is a theory of that life is in a huge cycle and it repeats over and over and over again and that it is a non-understandable unbreakable cycle. Another theme is that people can't make life last forever or anything, and that everything has to reach its maximum entropy and there is no reversing it. 

Compare and Contrast

1) I think the characters and plot are extremely similar, by that I mean how in the end the same things happen and that there is someone being changed. Let us start with the characters, there is Bartleby and then there is the lawyer and they parallel Alymer and Georgina. Both the lawyer and Alymer want Bartleby and Georgina to change. When the lawyer and Alymer force the change they end up killing the people they are changing. The difference is how the story goes, but that is needed to have a different story instead of the same exact story. Like the lawyer is trying to change Bartleby's personality and Alymer is trying to remove a birthmark off of Georgina. When finally though that each character has changed they end up dying. Now yes Bartleby starved himself, but it was because of the force change of surrounding and how he couldn't be accepted for who he was just like how Georgina wasn't accepted for how she looked, but the birthmark was apart of her essential.

2) You learn from both stories that you should just accept people for who they are instead of forcefully changing them, because the people you try to change are already good people and by changing them it could have drastic outcomes.

Class Discussion

The class discussion was interesting. I actually really dislike the discussion, racism isn't one of my favorite topics to talk about. I didn't like either side of the discussion whether it was you explaining how deprived we here are of racism, because I think that is actually a good thing because now I don't actually judge people as much based on color, but more on personality. I also didn't like how some people were judging Native Americans, I know I said  something about them, but I was just pointing out a stereotype that I've heard before. I actually really do like Native Americans, the family of them that I know treat me like I'm part of their family and so I feel no hatred towards them. Same with any other race, in my hometown I'm friends with all different colors of skin and there were never any real fights because of skin color.
I know that racism happens, I know I participate in it sometimes also, but everyone is going to be likes this. I think it's all the stereotypes that are made up by people and then those stereotypes get followed by both the discriminator and person being discriminated against. Like I was told by my black friend and sister from Albert Lea that I'm white because I put pepper and ranch on my food all the time, and that I put my maple syrup in the fridge.  Then there is a laughing fit about half a hour about me putting pepper on my food.  So now I feel completely different every time I put pepper on my food.
I think is racism wasn't made such a big thing and everyone was finally able to get over the fact about skin color or even any other discriminations that we would as a society would be better off. Then yes there would still be those who discriminate, but if the majority of people were not discriminating then  the people that were would be like out casts in some groups not having a huge affect anymore on society.

Those Fake Twitter Accounts

I'm actually alittle torn about how I feel about this article. One side of me thinks it's fine to be making fake twitter accounts especially since twitter makes you have to put something saying it's fake in the name. With that being said, that side of me that feels okay with it thinks that it's just fun and games or even beneficial to society. I'll use Matt Mackowiak as the example of it being okay; Matt said in the article that the fake account helps point out how ridiculous he has been by lately. So it helps express people's opinions on what is bugging them or what they thought was wrong, but these people are to shy to voice what they think so they hide behind the fake twitter account which is fine in my book seeing how it's still getting the message across. The thing that makes me think that fake twitter accounts are not a good idea is that someone people can take it to far and instead of being funny or calmly explaining their point of view, people could start posting more hate messages than actual messages that will help out. I think it is a perfectly fine idea as long as you don't have people taking their comments to far.

Thoughts On My Final Draft

After getting everything orgainzed, I thought that the paper went decently well. The things I could work on in my opinion is making a better thesis and then finding better supporting facts. I did enjoy the peer review style because it really did point out my flaws of the paper and the honest one-on-one helped direct me to the right place for improving the paper. This paper overall didn't seem too tough, but we'll see when the grade comes back

2nd Time Around With the Bug

Reading The Metamorphosis a second time around was more interesting. I noticed more of how Gregor's family treats him right away in the beginning, how Gregor's parents transformation happen quickly too. I found it ridiculous of the dad violently ready to get rid of Gregor and how they were astounded by how Gregor looked. I mean I understand that when your son instantly transforms to an insect that could be a bit frightening, but they continually treated Gregor as an alien which isn't right. Gregor's parents should have been more supportive and trying to help Gregor out then locking him up in his room and claiming they did everything they could. I think Gregor was looking for me family support in his life, and then when he really needed it, it was only his sister (to a certain extent) that showed that support. That's the new thing I noticed reading the book a second time around.
It was pointed out though in class was that Gregor doesn't even really show any care that he is a bug. Gregor is just focused on getting to work, because he needs to support his family. Which Gregor thinks he is solely responsible for his family he even says to the chief that he is in a jam, and he shouldn't think that, it should be more of him worrying about himself. How I see of being in a jam is when, for example, if I was in debt and about to lose everything, but if it happening to my mom instead then she's the one in the jam. I can see it being a good thing to want to help your family, but you should not make it your obligation to take care of them. The real jam that Gregor does need to worry about is the fact he's some weird bug, and should be trying to figure out how to change back.

Sources in MLA style

Source A:
Service, Robert. Stalin: A Biography. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005. Print.

Source B:
Wright, Patrick. Iron Curtain: From Stage to Cold War. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

We MLA Style:
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. New York: Modern Library, 2006. Print.