The following is an essay for my English 1 course. Enjoy!
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If I were in the position of Thoreau, writing an autobiography about life in the woods, I would be more inclined to write more pages on an ant war than on loons. (In this case, 'loon' refers to an aquatic bird resembling a duck.) This is because since loons are rather close in behavior and appearance to ducks, people would not find them as interesting as ants. Thoreau aptly described the ant war, and I found it more interesting than the section on loons. Therefore, I believe it would be wise to include more pages on the ant war. Also, I believe it is easier to describe an ant war, than to describe loons. This would be beneficial, because better descriptions make for more interesting passages.
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I hope you enjoyed this essay.
-RPCStudent1414
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
How Important is it for a Person to Summarize His Philosophy of Life in an Early Chapter of an Autobiography?
The following is an essay for my English 1 course.
Enjoy!
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How important is it for someone to summarize their philosophy of life early in their autobiography? I would say that it is very important! If you have an absurd philosophy of life, say, Thoreauian, then I don't want to read your autobiography. Plain and simple. However, if you don't warn me of this early in your biography, then I will waste my time reading your autobiography, of which is of no interest to me. Many people read the first few pages of a book before fully reading, or purchasing, to see if it is going to be worth his time or money. If you don't make those first few pages interesting, attention-grabbing, appealing to the reader, then they probably won't pick up your book! Thoreau certainly didn't make his first few pages interesting, and I wouldn't have read his autobiography if it wasn't an educational assignment. Perhaps if he had explained his philosophy of life, no matter it's absurdity, I might have been more inclined to read it.
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I hope you've enjoyed this essay. If so, leave a comment below. If you're viewing this on my 'main page', then you must first click the essay's title before being led to an area where you can comment.
Thanks for reading,
- RPCStudent1414
Enjoy!
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How important is it for someone to summarize their philosophy of life early in their autobiography? I would say that it is very important! If you have an absurd philosophy of life, say, Thoreauian, then I don't want to read your autobiography. Plain and simple. However, if you don't warn me of this early in your biography, then I will waste my time reading your autobiography, of which is of no interest to me. Many people read the first few pages of a book before fully reading, or purchasing, to see if it is going to be worth his time or money. If you don't make those first few pages interesting, attention-grabbing, appealing to the reader, then they probably won't pick up your book! Thoreau certainly didn't make his first few pages interesting, and I wouldn't have read his autobiography if it wasn't an educational assignment. Perhaps if he had explained his philosophy of life, no matter it's absurdity, I might have been more inclined to read it.
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I hope you've enjoyed this essay. If so, leave a comment below. If you're viewing this on my 'main page', then you must first click the essay's title before being led to an area where you can comment.
Thanks for reading,
- RPCStudent1414
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Would Walden Have Been a Better Book if Thoreau Had Supplied More Background Information on His Life?
The following is an essay for my English 1 course.
Enjoy!
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Henry Thoreau spent 26 months of his life living in a shack, next to a pond, doing just about nothing, a mile and a half from Concord. Afterward, he wrote a book about it. I don't have to make a stretch to say that it was a quite disappointing. Thoreau is revered in my day as intelligent, keen, wise, and even as a good writer, but I see none of these attributes in his book, 'Walden'.
What did he do before Walden? I'm not sure. Thoreau didn't exactly provide copious amounts of information on his life prior to living at Walden pond. Would the book have been better if he supplied more? I don't know. I really don't think so. It might have made it more interesting, but it sure wouldn't lessen his absurd theories later in the book, or make us not notice them. It would have been interesting to see what he was like before Walden, sure, but I don't think much could be done to make this book better -- it's beyond help in my eyes.
He did give a bit of background information; he had been a schoolteacher, he lived with his mother, he never liked commerce, and he worked 6 weeks a year. It's not a lot, but it was sufficient for the story. Of course, he never went into detail. He didn't say why he lived with his mother. He never described why, 'trade curses everything.' We could only understand why it was possible to survive on $40 per year because we knew that he lived with his mom! More information expounding on the already existing information would have been quite helpful.
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I hope you found this essay interesting. Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought.
-- RPCStuden1414
Enjoy!
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Henry Thoreau spent 26 months of his life living in a shack, next to a pond, doing just about nothing, a mile and a half from Concord. Afterward, he wrote a book about it. I don't have to make a stretch to say that it was a quite disappointing. Thoreau is revered in my day as intelligent, keen, wise, and even as a good writer, but I see none of these attributes in his book, 'Walden'.
What did he do before Walden? I'm not sure. Thoreau didn't exactly provide copious amounts of information on his life prior to living at Walden pond. Would the book have been better if he supplied more? I don't know. I really don't think so. It might have made it more interesting, but it sure wouldn't lessen his absurd theories later in the book, or make us not notice them. It would have been interesting to see what he was like before Walden, sure, but I don't think much could be done to make this book better -- it's beyond help in my eyes.
He did give a bit of background information; he had been a schoolteacher, he lived with his mother, he never liked commerce, and he worked 6 weeks a year. It's not a lot, but it was sufficient for the story. Of course, he never went into detail. He didn't say why he lived with his mother. He never described why, 'trade curses everything.' We could only understand why it was possible to survive on $40 per year because we knew that he lived with his mom! More information expounding on the already existing information would have been quite helpful.
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I hope you found this essay interesting. Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought.
-- RPCStuden1414
Friday, April 11, 2014
Was Thoreau Dependent on the Division of Labor While He was Living on Walden Pond?
This is an essay for my English 1 course. Enjoy!
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I believe whole-heartedly that Henry Thoreau was dependent on the American division of labor while he was living on Walden Pond. First of all, he lived in a shack. Even if he chopped down the trees to make lumber, he most likely didn't make the hatchet or axe that he used to do so. Also, he would have to have some way to affix the pieces of wood to one another...nails perhaps? I can almost guarantee that he didn't make those. When he built the shack, he would have to have had a place to put it. This was provided by someone else! As much as Thoreau wanted to be independent, he wasn't...at least not completely.
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I hope this essay gave you a little bit of insight into Thoreau's mistaken theory that you can fully escape the division of labor.
Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought! (If you are reading this on my 'main page', then you will need to click on the title of this post to be taken to a separate page where you can comment.)
- RPCStudent1414
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I believe whole-heartedly that Henry Thoreau was dependent on the American division of labor while he was living on Walden Pond. First of all, he lived in a shack. Even if he chopped down the trees to make lumber, he most likely didn't make the hatchet or axe that he used to do so. Also, he would have to have some way to affix the pieces of wood to one another...nails perhaps? I can almost guarantee that he didn't make those. When he built the shack, he would have to have had a place to put it. This was provided by someone else! As much as Thoreau wanted to be independent, he wasn't...at least not completely.
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I hope this essay gave you a little bit of insight into Thoreau's mistaken theory that you can fully escape the division of labor.
Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought! (If you are reading this on my 'main page', then you will need to click on the title of this post to be taken to a separate page where you can comment.)
- RPCStudent1414
Friday, April 4, 2014
How Could I Adopt Northup's Technique of Using Contrasts?
The following is an essay for my English 1 course.
Enjoy!
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How could I adopt Solomon Northup's remarkable technique of using contrasts? I'm going to be perfectly honest with you...I'm not quite sure. My first instinct says that this skill can be honed over years of experience. However, Northup didn't have years of experience. My next thought would be, 'It must just be a talent of his.' Well, that may or may not be true. I suspect that there are in fact a few things I can do to develop the skill of using contrasts.
First, I've got to be able to recognize and pick out contrasts in my life. One example would be the rowdiness, distractions, and time-wasting of public school versus the quiet, focused, 'time-well-spent' environment of homeschool. Once I've found contrasts like this, I need to identify whether or not that specific contrast is useful in my autobiography. If I can pick out the more stark, sharp, clear contrasts, then I should probably use those, instead of 'blurry' contrasts. Second, I need to place these contrasts in meaningful spots in my autobiography. Using a contrast about school in the middle of a chapter on photography wouldn't make much sense. However, if I were describing my transition from public school to homeschool, this contrast would be logical, and helpful.
Contrasts are a great literary device to convey a point to a reader. By picking out the stark contrasts, and putting them in logical portions of my autobiography, I will have a better chance of making my autobiography an easy to read one.
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I hope you enjoyed this essay. Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought. (If you are viewing this post on my 'main page', you must first click the title of this post to be taken to a separate page where you can leave a comment.)
Thanks for reading.
- RPCStudent1414
Enjoy!
-----
How could I adopt Solomon Northup's remarkable technique of using contrasts? I'm going to be perfectly honest with you...I'm not quite sure. My first instinct says that this skill can be honed over years of experience. However, Northup didn't have years of experience. My next thought would be, 'It must just be a talent of his.' Well, that may or may not be true. I suspect that there are in fact a few things I can do to develop the skill of using contrasts.
First, I've got to be able to recognize and pick out contrasts in my life. One example would be the rowdiness, distractions, and time-wasting of public school versus the quiet, focused, 'time-well-spent' environment of homeschool. Once I've found contrasts like this, I need to identify whether or not that specific contrast is useful in my autobiography. If I can pick out the more stark, sharp, clear contrasts, then I should probably use those, instead of 'blurry' contrasts. Second, I need to place these contrasts in meaningful spots in my autobiography. Using a contrast about school in the middle of a chapter on photography wouldn't make much sense. However, if I were describing my transition from public school to homeschool, this contrast would be logical, and helpful.
Contrasts are a great literary device to convey a point to a reader. By picking out the stark contrasts, and putting them in logical portions of my autobiography, I will have a better chance of making my autobiography an easy to read one.
-----
I hope you enjoyed this essay. Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought. (If you are viewing this post on my 'main page', you must first click the title of this post to be taken to a separate page where you can leave a comment.)
Thanks for reading.
- RPCStudent1414
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