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(2016
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2016 #3: Web Highlights |
LITR 4328 |
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Jackie Rodriguez
A crash course: Romance and Correspondence
When reading the model assignments, I found
that it was easy to pick the ones that stood out to me. First I looked into an
essay by Andy Feith entitled “The Scaffolding of Romance” from 2012. I was drawn
to this as soon to be teacher by the word scaffolding; I wondered immediately
what he was planning to add to explanation of the term Romance in order to make
it clearer. However, the further I looked into this essay the more I did not
like it. I felt that it was ridiculous that this student was unable to
comprehend that Romance was not what he had thought it was originally. He
states, “I love Star Wars, and I love the Wizard of Oz, but it’s a bit of a jolt
to recognize how perfectly they conform to White’s definition of a romance” and
then I realized I had not wasted my time in reading this essay because it is
even more ridiculous of myself to assume that everyone comprehends at the same
rate. I was also pleased to see that he had asked the question “How does this
differ from the way a comedy typically ends” in regards to the fact that Romance
novels have a transcendent goal. I had not thought of this question and I was
pleased to see that there was a good answer to it. However, It makes me wonder
why the idea that Romance stories can have comedy and love interests in them as
well. I dislike that this student is trying so hard to separate the two when in
reality most genres blend in many places and that is okay.
In 2015 Zach Thomas wrote the essay
“Romanticism Feeding Realism” which I had been very interested to read because I
also believe that it is possible to romanticize certain portions of a story
while depicting realism in regards to other aspects. I felt like this essay was
very clear and well organized. I felt like the information given in this essay
was valid except it left me wanting in a few areas. For instance, in his last
paragraph about Ligeia he goes into detail about how Romanticism is displayed
for the reader but this essay is supposed to show how that Romanticism leads the
reader to Realism. I do not feel like he was clear in how that was the case,
perhaps the information is there and able to be inferred but I would like to
have seen him clearly point out the realistic patterns as he did with the other
stories he read closely. The second and final issue I have with this essay is in
the portion about Rip Vin Winkle. I think he did a great job giving a mini
analysis of the text but I wish he had gone into deeper detail about which
elements of Romanticism were present and which pointed toward Realism. His only
comment is that “Realism takes place though when he has to face reality when he
comes back to his sleepy town and does not recognize anything” However, I feel
that he missed a few points. For example, the entire story had the potential to
be shrugged off as a dream by the main character, then he saw his gun, which had
rusted. This was hard evidence that time had passed and rust is a real
consequence of what would have taken place during the time of his slumber; his
long beard is another minor detail that points to Realism. I suppose he could
have been showing in Ligeia how Romance does not always lead to Realism and I
suppose he could have been short on time but I just wish he had gone into detail
and elaborated more on his points or in some cases been clearer.
The third and final essay I read was written by
Melissa King “You Can Rain on my Parade” from 2010. I was really pleased
to see an essay written on correspondence as I really find it to be something
that makes so much sense and that you can sort of spot in everyday novels and
yet, I was totally oblivious to it. I believe just as Melissa does that it
“Truly sets up the mood for a piece of literature… It explains so well why
characters feel the way they do or why the setting is set up to portray a
certain emotion”. So it seems we are in agreeance on both the function of the
term which was to set the mood of the character or to describe the setting and
how it will portray a specific emotion. I agree with Melissa that we often can
interpret the world around us through the filter that is our perspective. She
states that “Correspondence can also be used to project one’s own emotions onto
nature” many writers do this in Romantic poetry in order to help the reader
understand how they feel. I think this may be a matter of bringing an abstract
idea into something more tangible and concrete. We can see nature, we can feel
the changes in the wind and see the setting of the sun therefore the human
emotions become easier to talk about and understand when used in this way.
Although I spoke of three different model
essays I feel as though they all had something to offer me this semester. I
enjoy seeing that other students are able to view the texts in similar ways to
me. I also enjoy challenging myself to take the information others have
presented and go the extra mile and find what they may have been missing.
