American Literature

My three strongest blog posts are: https://jtj2372.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-ignorance-and-impact-of-war.html This one feels more developed and does well with contrasting and comparing the forms of ignorance experienced by the narrator in Mark Twain's "The History of a Campaign that Failed" and the boy in Ambrose Bierce's "Chickamauga." It also presents the varying impact of war powerfully. https://jtj2372.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-trickster.html This blog post exemplifies the specific characteristics of a the trickster; the deceptive diction, manipulation of knowledge, presentation  of self, etc. https://jtj2372.blogspot.com/2019/03/robert-frosts-mending-wall-insight-to.html This blog post allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" and modernism overall. It also sparked the idea for my critical essay. I selected these three specific blog posts because of the clarity of point and ...

Preparing for the small group discussion I made sure to take note of the setting and way the story was presented. The time frame of Sonny's Blues  is extremely important because it sheds light on the race relations of the country as well as why music is so important in the specific neighborhood of Harlem. The way the plot is presented is also vital to the story; moving from the past to present does well to compare the different portrayals of Sonny as well as evoke the sensation one gets from witnessing family change over time. I was also sure to make note of the importance of music and how Baldwin describes a musician as "dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air." This attempt to control something wild and vivacious reflects Sonny's battle with drug addiction. The sensation of feeling good and the pleasure derived from it can be hard to tame, for it is only human nature. This same view is found when Sonny details his thou...