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(2014
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2014 #3: Web Highlights |
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Laura Tompkins
Points of Views
I read Jeff Derrickson’s “The Soul of the
Times”, which was a little
depressing. I say that because when I read other people’s writing, I feel like
my own is so limited. I know how to express myself musically but when I try to
express myself in writing, it is difficult. In his first paragraph, he described
my feelings exactly about taking this course. I read about Professor White
online (highly recommended), I signed up for this class (Early American
Literature), and after the first two weeks, I was a little disappointed. But
after reading and discussing the subject matter in class, as Jeff says, it came
to life and I made connections to people who lived hundreds of years ago.
What I learned from reading his essay is
that I need to delve more into the intertextuality of my readings. I do see many
connections after I have finished a class but as I am taking a course, it is
difficult to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. In his fourth paragraph,
he really put a lot of great themes and works together. A great point Jeff makes
about Rowlandson, which applies to Jemison, is that people had a low life
expectancy, especially children. Perhaps Jemison was able to assimilate quickly
to her new family because that’s just how it was back then.
Then I read Adam Glasgow’s “Do Captivity
Narratives Deserve Their Title?” which made me chuckle and then scratch my head
thinking about captivity narratives. Like Adam, I knew they existed but never
thought to put them into a category. Shoot, I took a Holocaust class last
semester, which is one of the biggest captivity narratives that ever happened,
now that I think about it. It is a broad term but so are the categories fiction
and non-fiction so why not use it? Again, as with Jeff’s essay, I see the little
details but I have a hard time with the big picture. I am so impressed that they
can talk about such broad subjects and make these major connections.
To round up this portion of the assignment,
I read Robbyn Smith’s “The Bible: Common Currency of Western Culture”. My view
is different; most of the people I call friends and family are Christian so it
was interesting to hear the statistics that she gave about the lack of classes
that teach the Bible (I read this AFTER I wrote my second essay). Sadly, we are
encouraged to study all forms of religion at UHCL but not Christianity. One
professor of mine said this was because we already know about the Bible but the
statistics that Robbyn provided give a different reality. In “Religion’s Power
to Influence”, I was very happy to see that she was open-minded enough to want
to learn more and that she was able to make the connection of the Bible to
Western culture and literature. History and religion are difficult to study from
an objective point of view but if teachers give the facts, use original
documents (the author’s words), and not hold up any religion as better or worse
than others, then students can draw their own conclusions.
