Critical Reading Summary

When reading, there are important steps one must make to make sure that one fully grasps and comprehends the information. The title can sometimes give hints to the tone or subject of the work. Any background information can give clues of what was going on their mind when they wrote it. The location and time of the piece is also crucial information. If a political essay was written by someone living in America during the Civil War, it may influence some of the things that the author says.
During your reading of the piece it is beneficial to take notes of what you're reading and write a summary after you have finished.
After reading the piece it is important to analyze or break down the information and topics the author has laid out and look for the main idea. After that you can now draw conclusions with the knowledge of the author's background and bias, and your analysis. After one draws conclusions, one can now link ideas of the work to make better sense of it and reconstruct ones conclusion. This critical thinking strategy is will help one understand literature better and reach logical conclusions faster.

American Tongues

Voice is how your writing sounds, how you can tell who's writing through use of tone, formation, puncuation, and other writing elements.

Every morning I wake up and smell my dad's oven roasted coffee. I never drink it though, it's too black for me. I like my coffee white.
It refelcts my voice because I use my formation of describing, and then explaining it with a short sentence afterward.

A subject I would talk around would be being pregnant. If I was pregnant I'd hint that I was and then come out and say it.

It can influence people's opinions. Avoiding inappropriate subjects would be neccesary so you don't offend people.

We can write how we talk in real life, so we have a consistant voice.

I dont Bust Back Beacaus I Bat First

I don’t Bust Back Because I Bat First

Joey Vranicar

Subject- The subject of Dave Barry’s ‘Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out,’ is that women and men care about different things, those things are mainly for women, cleaning the house, and for men, sports. The different genders care for opposite activities is illustrated by the way Barry writes that women look for and see more dirt and grime than men, and the way he wrote that he and his friends felt like they ‘needed’ to watch a baseball game.

Occasion- ‘Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out’ was written during modern times, probably during the 2000’s. This I exhibited by the way he uses certain modern terms such as ‘Windex’ and his writing style is very much how my dad would talk to me present day. The probable place of this essay’s creation is America, as it states Barry and his three friends were very anxious to watch the World Series, which is an American only sport.

Audience- Barry’s audience for Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out’ is married couples male and female in their 30’s-50. The author’s target audience is clearly exhibited by the way as he uses his own marriage as example and support many times throughout this piece. He does not talk like he would to someone older or younger, he writes as if he is talking to someone his age, and that age is around 30 to 50.

Purpose- The purpose of Barry’s ‘Batting Clean-Up and Striking out’ is to entertain a general audience, and to inform of the key differences between man and woman. He is entertaining many times because he tells personal anecdotes and adds his own humor to spice it up. He also wants to inform married couples that there are many differences between men and women. He probably wants to inform couples this so they understand the differences between their genders and don’t get into petty arguments. For example, in the fourth paragraph Barry writes, “…I tell her I already cleaned the bathroom, she gives me this look that she has perfected…” If you are a male you know exactly what the author is talking about, him exposing this truth in his essay will make women realize that men don’t know how to clean or see the dirt. This in the long term may stop future conflicts.

Speaker- David Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning American, believes that women care too much about cleanliness. This value is illustrated by the way his wife tells him to clean his son’s bathroom, he does, but she believes that the room is still very dirty. The way he explains how his wife gave him ‘the look’ after he did a ‘great job’ cleaning makes it seem like his wife is too nit picky about being clean.

Barry, age 64, also believes that most women do not care about sports. He portrays this belief by writing that only ‘certain’ women are the exception of being callous about sports. He also states that while him and his friends were excite about a sports game, his wife and other women were just sitting and chatting about other topics. The way he portrayed these women as indifferent about the ‘big game’ makes it seem like almost all women are this way.

Tone- Barry articulates a humorous and incredulous attitude about his wife’s behavior towards cleaning and sports in ‘Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out’. The way he talks about his wife’s lack of care about sports makes her seem like a crazy and unusual person. He is in shock of how his wife could be calm when such a big game is on and he uses sarcasm and hyperboles to add a humorous tone to his arguments.

Dubstep Remix v.s Original

I like the dubstep version better than the original because I like heavy beat in my music and I have listened to dubstep previously and I always like it. The dubstep version gives the song more of a dance feel and I found myself tapping my foot, and I like those songs rather than slow sorrowful music.

The original Beatles version was more pleasing to listen to because it was softer and more peaceful. The original is thoughtful and sad, and I could listen to it 100 times through, while the other version would get annoying quick.

Art Wars

I like Kandinsky's painting better because the colors are more bright and vibrant and it doesn't look random. The shapes are clear and intentful in contrast to Pollack's painting where there are random splotches everywhere.

I think Pollack's painting is more pleasing to look at because there is no focal point. You can look at the painting as a whole without being distracted and having to move your eyes constantly. I could sit and look at Pollack's painting for 15 minutes and be happy, but after about 15 minutes of Kandinsky's my eyes would hurt.

My Good Old Desk

S- Nillson's reliable object in life
O- 1972
A- Listeners with a compressed sense of religion.
P- To talk of the importance of a stable and gracious God
S- Nillson
T- Happy and thankful

Nillson is talking about god, he says, "It's always there," "It's the one thing I got," and, "A giant of all times."

Sign Language

Single affect- To find happiness, one must be open to everything around him, enjoy life, and not let anything slip away.

Three contributing factors- The narrator and the girl have matching gloves.
The way he avoided eye contact with the girl.
The way the camera was up in his face.

If there was no music in the film, the dramatic parts would have been less dramatic and the happy parts would have been less happy. The music allowed us to feel what the narrator was feeling.

I shot the elephant

Joey Vranicar

Shooting an Elephant

The subject of George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is that pressure to do what someone wants one to make can control many decisions that one makes. This pressure is shown through a police officer’s experience where he was sent to control an elephant and ends up killing it. The officer was wary of shooting the elephant at first because it was seemingly peaceful, but he ended up shooting it because the crowd wanted him to. The officer did not want to walk away from the situation because he had a gun and he thought that he would look like a fool.

Shooting an Elephant was written during the 1920’s. The essay’s time of creation is displayed by the fact that Britain had recently took over Burma. It is supported in this essay by the way Orwell was mal treated by the Burmese and how he said that he hated the British Empire and the Burmese people. The probable place of the essays creation is Moulmein, lower Burma because the essay states it in the first paragraph.

George Orwell’s specific audience for Shooting an Elephant is anyone who is subject to negative pressure. The author’s target audience is revealed by the way he talks about his killing of the elephant was the wrong decision. He realizes that he was under pressure and he wants to communicate to people who may be under pressure themselves.

Orwell’s purpose in Shooting an Elephant is to show that if one follows the crowd and does what others want them to do, one will regret it in the long run. Orwell wants this essay to speak to others in situations like his, to make the right decision and to not make a mistake like him. The purpose to reveal the negative effects of pressure is revealed when Orwell states, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” He is stating in this sentence that he is not content with the decision he made and that the only reason he did kill the elephant was to avoid looking foolish.

George Orwell, best known for his novel ‘Animal Farm’ believes that pressure can often be negative and takes great self-confidence to resist. These values are illustrated in the same situation, Orwell has an elephant gun, there is a possibly dangerous elephant in front of him, and a group of people waiting for him to shoot it behind him. He does not want to shoot the elephant at first because it seems like it is not bothering, and if he did that would be a waste of 200 pounds (British currency). However, the crowd behind him is urging him to shoot it and he doesn’t think it to be the right decision. If Orwell was confident in himself that he did not want to shoot the elephant he wouldn’t have. But the crowd behind him broke his will for the safety of the beast. Orwell shot the animal, despite his judgment.

George Orwell articulates a disheartened and un-confident attitude about pressure to do what one wants you to do in Shooting an elephant. These attitudes are expressed by the way Orwell is unsure whether to kill the animal and the way he described things after he shot the elephant. The author uses this tone to express his utter mistake and how one doesn’t have to make the same choices as somebody else.

Across the Universe- The Beatles

Three images I imagine are, rain pouring into a paper cup as it overflows, an image of the Earth from space, and light.

The rain into a paper cup is in context as the singer says those exact lines.

One symbol is the light which is the happiness of the song as well as the peace with themselves the band members must have.

The Runaway

America in the 50's was a time of seemingly endless bliss. People lived in the moments and tended to not worry about tommorow or yesterday. In Rockwell's painting 'The Runaway' there is a small child that appears to be a runaway. This child is sitting and talking with a policeman who should be trying to help get the kid back home, but instead the scene is painted as peaceful as the policeman seems to be exchanging small talk with the minor. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950's - an emerging counterculture that was not concerned with how things were but rather how they are.