We recently retook the terms test, which I did just a little better on than last, but that was to be expected, for how much effort I out forth. The games were helpful at first, but after the first couple of times we did them in class I had already memorized the answers, so they were only good for examples and not for application. I do feel like I do know the terms much better now though. I also feel like some of the questions on the terms test had more than one right answer for them, but that just might be me. We usually do a tone exercise everyday, which for me is more of a vocab lesson than a tone lesson. I think it really just depends on how you say it to get the piece of candy. Like the song Santos and I made "America is Sick". If you didn't hear us say it you would probably think we meant it literally, not America is awesome.
We watched Death of Salesman, which I found really boring. I think I might like it more when I read the play, but I really disliked the movie. The point that Miller was trying to get off, I think was overplayed at the time by critics of society in that time period. I personally don't like the way he did it. That may be because I watched it as a movie and couldn't go back and re-read something, if I didn't catch it. I think after our small discussion of the play definitely helped in my understanding.
I'm going to disagree with your claim that Death of a Salesman was boring. Compared to The American Dream, I actually found the Death of a Salesman movie pretty engaging. On my first viewing, I was able to see a lot of the important details and dynamics of the characters. I thought The American Dream was a lot more frustrating because of all of its under-the-surface symbolism and implied messages. On the surface, it was just a group of adults talking nonsense while sitting in a living room.
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple spots in the second paragraph that I found a little confusing. When you talked about Miller's point being overplayed, which one did you mean? His criticism of capitalism? Also, you should elaborate on what you mean by not liking the "the way" Miller conveyed his message. Was it too indirect? Too hard to understand? And make sure to reword your last sentence so that it makes sense.
You brought up some interesting points. Good job, Mohan.