Kelsey Sullivan
EN102 Section 004
Final Thesis Paper
Due: May 16, 2008
Part II:
Introduction
Throughout this semester of English 102, we have talked mostly about Nature. Covering topics like what Nature is, where Nature is, and what influence Nature has on people and the world around them. All of the stories we read this semester all have some element of Nature in them. In Macbeth, Nature wreaked havoc on his and Lady Macbeth's minds. In Frankenstein, the Doctor created the monster using Nature. Dr. Jeckyll inadvertantly created Mr. Hyde by using the elements of Nature to make his potion. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Nature has a very negative affect on the narrator's mind and makes it nearly impossible for the audience to believe a word she is saying because she is such an unreliable witness. And in The Fall of the House of Usher, Nature’s toll on the mansion is quite obvious, and also for the fact that Roderick and Madeline are both sick with some type of disease. In the Transcendentalist way of life, you take on a new meaning of life, religion, philosophy, and culture, usually by feeling the energy of Nature and becoming one with it. Nature had a part in everything that we have read this past semester, and we have learned about how it influences literature.
Part III:
Background
Part IV:
Source Material
Part V:
Summary of the Arc Thesis
Part VI:
Conclusion
While I did get more of an in depth view of what Nature is during this class this semester, I can’t help but feel that it was more of an overview of everything I have learned in my English classes since my Junior year in high school. In my Junior year, we learned about Transcendentalism. My Senior year we read Macbeth. I had previously read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for Halloween in almost every English class I have ever taken, plus one of my friends went to a private school and they performed that play his senior year in high school and he gave me a copy of the DVD and I still watch it every now and again. I had also already read Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. And last semester in English we had read the essays. The only new things to me were The Yellow Wallpaper, The Turn of the Screw, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
I think that’s part of the reason I had participated more in class during the first half of the semester. I felt more confident in what I had to say because I already knew what I was talking about. Then towards the middle of the semester, when we were talking about Turn of the Screw, and you brought up Judge Judy and how she figures out who’s lying and who’s telling the truth, you asked how she did that. My response was that she looks for inconsistencies in their stories, and you told me no. Then, when you called on Lynn, she said that Judge Judy looks for holes in the stories, and you told her she was right. The rest of class that day, I just kept talking to myself and Kelley, trying to replay what had happened in my mind trying to figure out if I said something wrong, and I just couldn’t think of anything that could have been misinterpreted when I told you my answer. After that point in class, I didn’t want to say anything because I thought you either wouldn’t understand what was coming out of my mouth, or that you would tell me I was wrong and then tell someone else that they were right even thought they basically just repeated what I had just said in a different way.
That is the point when I think my grades started to decline. Granted, I still did pretty well on the five minute papers and term exams. And I did still show up for class every day. And I was on time every day. I did also always pay attention whether you thought I was or not. Even while I was talking to Kelley. We were usually just commenting on something you said most of the time. Other times we would just be answering each others questions about what you had just explained.
To be quite honest, I have never really been a fan of English classes. The only two times in my life I have ever looked forward to going to an English class were during my Freshman and Senior years in high school. The only reason I have ever taken an English class was because I had to. That’s the only reason I signed up for English this semester, was because I need it as part of my hospitality management program curriculum.
Don’t get me wrong though. I enjoyed going to class and learning about all the stories, especially The Fall of the House of Usher. That was probably my favorite out of the ones that I hadn’t already read. Although, I will tell you that I didn’t really enjoy myself as much in the beginning as I did toward the end because in the beginning it was more of a lecture with just you talking and there was no discussion about anything, but then after a few weeks, people started talking and there were slight debates at times and it was just more of a group discussion rather than just you talking for the entire fifty minutes of class. I realize that I have totally missed the point of this essay because I haven’t done anything for it other than the introduction and then just went off into my own world with the conclusion, but I was just thinking about what you said after we gave you your evaluation for the semester and how some people are too afraid to tell things to you and would rather just hide behind the anonymity of the evaluation and give you low marks. So I’m hoping that in the off chance that you appreciate my honesty right now, you will just ask me about everything in general and grade me on that, rather than what we were supposed to write in the essay. You did say in class, after all, that the oral defense was most of the grade for this final paper.
Also on another side note, I’m not that good at writing papers that don’t have a set question that I can answer. I am MUCH better at writing papers when it has a direct question that I can give a straight answer for. Which is just another reason why I’m hoping that you will just ask me about what you really wanted to get out of my paper and grade me on that, yet still taking into consideration all of the honesty that came out in what I did happen to write.
I would also like you to know that I work best under pressure and that I did try and e-mail you a proposal, with the e-mail address you have posted on your website, but it got sent back to me saying that the e-mail address doesn’t exist. I think that maybe next semester you should just try using Blackboard rather than the website you have now. Also, of the two or three times that you actually cancelled class, your website never emailed most of us and we usually showed up for class and sat around for fifteen minutes before we all realized that you had probably cancelled class and had someone take out their laptop to check the website to make sure. It’s just a friendly suggestion because I know that I had a lot of technical difficulties with the website, and I know Kelley had a few issues too. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I just thought I would put that thought out there while I just continue to go even more off topic.
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