Freewrite

I thought the topic sentence in the first paragraph about Shiitakes was the beginning sentence. I felt that there was a lot of extra information about how to cook these mushrooms, unless the topic sentence was turned into something that details how to cook these mushrooms.

In the second paragraph I think the topic sentence, which is the first sentence needs to change and describe what vegans do to try and help the environment by what they eat. I just thought that the rest of this paragraph was a persuasive argument that did not relate to the beginning of the paragraph.

Tony Harrison "A Cold Coming"

This poem deals with birth because the soldier talks about other soldiers having offspring even after they die. The images of death are seen in the death of the soldiers. The author focuses on the idea of sperm banks and procreation in the portrayal of the atrocities of war because it shows how inhuman war is. I think Harrison is stating that it is a shame that war causes men to have to put sperm in sperm banks because they may not make it. This can be seen as inhuman because it is not at all natural. The Iraqi soldier is speaking to a poet rather than a journalist because poets can morph words and disguise his words with words that sound differently where as a journalist can only directly quote people or paraphrase what has been said.

Response to Interview

My interpretation of the story was similar to hers, but I felt hers was much deeper. In the interview she basically discusses that names should be chosen more carefully. I also found it interesting that she actually has personal experience with naming things due to different characteristics and not calling them the same thing. I did not realize that she did not mention the Bible in this interview until you posed the question. I find this interesting also. I think she used the story of Adam and Eve because it is something that most people know.

Tony Harrison “A Cold Coming”

I thought this piece was fairly blunt. The Iraqi soldier discusses US soldiers that froze their sperm in case they died in the war. The Iraqi soldier is not at ease with this decision because he did not think that he would have been put in the situation that he is in now when he went to war. He never thought that he would die this way and wants to send a message to the warring nations. He is basically saying that war solves nothing. It was interesting that he wants the reporter to portray him as a person that is okay with the situation. I think this helps to justify the point that war is unjustified.

T.S. Eliot “Journey of the Magi”

This poem is about the birth of Christ. The last stanza discuss a Birth and a Death. The Birth is Jesus being born and the death is the Magi no longer believing in pagan gods. The speaker was not at ease in his Kingdom because he realizes that Christ is real. I think personal religious beliefs have a lot to do with how one perceives the meaning of this poem. People with different religious beliefs feel differently about Jesus. When I was reading the questions following the poem it states that the narrator is neither Christian nor Jewish. I think he is contemplating his religious beliefs due to what he witnessed.

Ursula LeGuin “She Unnames Them”

This story discusses the generalization of names and how sometimes they do not fit a personality. I found it interesting that she discussed how the different animals feel about their names. The story came together for me at the end when I realized the speaker was Eve. I realized this when she called the man Adam and mentioned his father. The animals prefer Eve because she does not give them general names, but names that correspond with their personalities. At the end she realizes that words are powerful and should be chosen carefully.

William Butler Yeats “Leda and the Swan”

After doing my research I found that this was one of the most interesting poems. Zeus was king of the gods in Greek mythology. He changed into a swan and raped Leda. However, she went along with him. I think part of this poem has to deal with wanting the unattainable. I think Leda liked the idea of being with Zeus, but in reality she was with a swan. I think the last stanza of the poem puts it perfectly. Leda got caught up in the moment and did not process everything clearly.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson “Ulysses”

This poem is about Ulysses returning to his kingdom and being reunited with his wife and son. However, he wishes to go on another journey. This can be seen when he states, "Some work of noble note, may yet be done." I found the last line of the poem to be really significant. It seems as if Ulysses always wants to be on an adventure and learning knew things continuously. After looking online to find out the Greek mythology behind this poem I found out that Ulysses was a legendary Greek king who fought in the Trojan War. I think this connects it to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem because it relates to his sense of wanting adventure.

Margaret Atwood “Siren Song”

After researching Siren in Greek mythology I found that they were women who served as seductresses. This poem is stating that it can be hard to resist something and when you don't something bad may result. This can be seen in the second stanza where it states that there are skull bones, but men still come. The women do not enjoy being on the island, but it seems like they have nothing else to do so this keeps them entertained. The speaker wants to control someone else because she doesn't have control over her own life.

Introduction to Essay #3

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe is known for writing pieces of literature that not only take the reader to a certain time in Nigerian history, but do it with an accurate historical account. In his short story Civil Peace, Achebe does just this. He uses the history of the time to give an account of how it would have been to live in Nigeria directly following the Nigerian War. Achebe also allows some of his personal experiences to be illustrated in his works. One of the themes from Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe is the struggle and hardships of life after war. This theme can be better understood through knowledge of the Nigerian War and through knowledge of the life of Achebe.

Annotated Bibliography

Chinua-Achebe.com. 6 Apr. 2008 <http://chinua-achebe.com/>.
This website is great for getting background information on Chinua Achebe and his feelings on some of his works and why he wrote them. This was the first source I found and it helped me understand the Nigerian war even better and its affect on how he wrote Civil Peace. This source will be very useful for my paper. It will provide me with
basic information about Nigeria, but most importantly it will give me an idea through quotes of how Achebe feels about the story and the Nigerian War.
Emenyonu, Ernest. “Post-War Writing in Nigeria.” Issue: A Journal of Opinion 3:2 (1973): 49-54.
This source was another very interesting source. It offered an overview of what kind of writing was being done after the Nigerian War by Nigerians. It quotes Achebe and gives insight into why he wrote the way he did and what specific aspects of the war affected his writing. I learned from this source that the war had a huge affect on Achebe’s writing and the points he wants to get across. I can definitely use this source to show how Achebe’s life has influenced his writing.
Interview: Chinua Achebe on Biafra. Transition. 36 (1968): 31-38.
I found this interview to be very interesting. It took part right in the middle of the Nigerian War. Achebe was still living in Nigeria at the time and is able to give many first hand experiences. Achebe’s responses indicated that he is really intent on affairs in Nigeria getting better. I think using this source is so important to my paper. The
theme I am addressing in my paper is war and the hardships and struggles people face after it. I can use this source to show how hard the war was, which made it difficult for the country as a whole to adapt once it was over.
Nafziger, Wayne E. The Economics of Political Instability: the Nigerian-Biafran war.
Colorado: Westview Press, 1983.
This source gives reasons as to why it was so difficult for the Nigerians to form a government after they were not under British rule anymore. It discusses how the country was dealing with difficult things, like thieves, which can be seen in Civil Peace. I learned from this source that the Nigerians were under British rule for so long that it was hard for them to come together as one people and form stable and working government. I can use this source to show why it was easy for thieves to rob people in Civil Peace and how this was common after the war ended.
Niven, Rex. The war of Nigerian Unity. Ibadan: Evans Brothers, 1970.
This source provides great information about the historical context of the Nigerian War. It is very objective because it just states the facts. It gives great information that I can link to certain situations in the short story. I learned about how the war started and
what it did to Nigeria from this book. After reading some information from this source it gave me a clearer picture as to why some of the characters acted the way they did in the story. This source would be helpful because it provides me with a great basis on what the war did to Nigeria as a country and a people.
Ojinmah, Umelo. Chinua Achebe: new perspectives. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited, 1991.
This source gives an account of how Nigerians were written about after the Nigerian War. This source shows that Achebe has pride in his country and wants it to improve. This book delves into why Achebe writes the way he does. It discusses his life experiences and how they affect his writings. This text will help me even more with relating Achebe’s personal experiences to the short story. Using this source will be very beneficial because it will help me to show the importance of knowing the author’s background information because it can be transferred into the piece of literature

Topic Proposal #3

I have decided to write my paper on Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe. It is important to write about this topic because it is often overlooked in history in general and I think Civil Peace contains so many links to the period in which it takes place. There are many historical and cultural connections to the work. The war is the biggest I have found so far. The short story is set after the Nigerian War had taken place. During this time the Nigerians were no longer under British rule. However, they had been under British rule for so long it was hard for them to start a new government. Therefore, people were doing whatever they had to do to get money. They would often steal because there was no law enforcement. This war put lots of strain on the Nigerian people, so to survive the war was no easy thing. This connection to the war helps me to understand the short story even more. This war was brutal and to survive it among all the destruction that was caused was nothing short of a miracle. When I first read the story I found it interesting that the townspeople would greet one another by saying “Happy Survival.” Now that I know that the war was really hard for them it makes more sense. One of the themes of the short story is definitely the hardships and struggles following war. Researching the war helped me to better understand why Jonathan was so grateful for his bicycle, his house, and most of all his family.
Researching the author is also important to understanding the theme of war in this story. Chinua Achebe is Nigerian and was alive during and after the war and often relates some of his experiences to the war and the short story. I think researching him and getting some of his first hand accounts of the war would be very beneficial in understanding the text even better. Knowing that he was alive during the war and in Nigeria during some of it gives him even more credibility and helps me to understand the story even more. While reading it I continuously thought about how optimistic the main character Jonathan was. Knowing that Achebe is Nigerian helps me to better understand why he was so happy. Achebe wants his country to get better as a whole and having an optimistic character helps lighten the mood and make it feel like things will get better.
As of now I think I have all of the information I need. For this essay I want to link the information about the war and Chinua Achebe to the short story and how its theme of war is portrayed.
Thesis: One of the themes from Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe is the struggle and hardships of life after war. This theme can be better understood through knowledge of the Nigerian War and through knowledge of the life of Achebe.

"Trifles" and "A Jury of Her Peers" Susan Glaspell

A Jury of Her Peers and Trifles by Susan Glaspell are very similar in nature. They both share the same plot. However, one piece is a play and one is a short story . I found that it was easier for me to read the short story. I believe plays are easier to understand if they are actually acted out, rather than reading them alone. Personally, I liked the short story better because it flowed much better because there were no breaks to denote what a character was doing. The only advantage I found in reading the play was that its title was more poignant. Another thing I found interesting was that even though both pieces have different names, both titles are effective after reading the pieces. The short story is named A Jury of Her Peers because Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter basically decided the fate of Minnie. They both decided not to turn in the evidence and, therefore, held a major role in the story. The name of the play is also very interesting. In the play Hale states that women are constantly “worrying over trifles.” Yet, these are the same trifles that if the men paid attention to they would be able to get plenty of evidence against Minnie. It is very ironic that the men are sarcastic towards the women during the whole play when the women solved the case.
Before I first read the pieces I thought it would be easier to base the Cultural/Historical analysis off of the play because I thought it would be more descriptive. However, as I read the short story I changed my mind. I think through the descriptions given, it would be easier to relate the short story to what was actually going on in America at the time it was written. It would be good to research women's rights at the time and how women were perceived, especially by the opposite sex.