assignment 2 ideas

Emerson- “The American Scholar”

-       “It is the raw material out of which the intellect moulds her splendid products. A strange process too, this, by which experience is converted into thought, as a mulberry leaf is converted into satin.”

Moulds-  slowly puts together

Converted- turned into

Experience- going out and acting on something

Process- action that takes time

I think that the author is trying to highlight the key point to enhance knowledge.  The point that this passage brings out is, people need to go out and experience things on their own, then think about it, and produce useful information from it.  This will help the person gain their own opinion and realize how they want to live their life, rather than just following what you’ve always been brought up to believe in.

Close Readings

The article we read states that "when you close read, you observe facts and details about a text."  I believe that close readings has helped me with my writing, but i think i've always just naturally done this and never really thought so hard about it.  The goal is to aim on one passage at a time of a text and break it down into pieces.  You have to try to find new meanings to the words you think stand out in the passage, and analyze how different the meaning of the sentence then would be if you changed the word.  After this is done, it might help someone understand more on why the author used the word choice that he used.  "close reading requires careful gathering of data (your observations) and careful thinking about what these data add up to." Using close reading techniques can help a reader more understand what the author is talking about.

A day in the life of myself, in 1943

While I was thinking about what my life would be like in 1943, I realized that WWII was happening during this time.  Considering I've never had to live through that, it's hard to tell what an average day would be like.
Being 18 years old in this time is very difficult.  I'm leaving my house today, on my way to work.  I need to help my parents pay for our bills, and for food for our family.  This war is starting to kill us financially.  My father was just drafted into the war a few weeks ago, and i really miss him.  My mom and I work in this filthy factory from sun-up to sun-down.  We don't even make a lot of money, even though I think the work labor we put into this factory is great.  I have to operate a heavy machine, which cut off multiple peoples hands before.  I also work next to a young boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old.  I feel bad because whether the boy is too tired to work, the boss won't let him have a break.  Children means cheap labor.  I can't bare the smell of this place.
The employees here don't get treated as they should.  We work all day long just to be able to pay off for food for maybe 2 days.  And don't think we get to eat a feast, we get to eat a few bites of something plain.  After today's long day of work i get to sleep, only to wake up and go back to the factory again in the morning.

The American Scholar

While reading "The American Scholar" I learned that Ralph Waldo Emerson is an extremely intelligent writer.  Considering my level of reading and writing isn't as great as his, i found his essay to be difficult to understand in some parts.

I think his main goal of this essay is to spread his knowledge on how to become a better student.  He expresses his thoughts on how people should branch out and have their own way of thinking.  People should not just stick to the thoughts and ideas they were brought up to believe in by their parents, but go out and explore and create their own logic themselves.  

Emerson also states that "The theory of books is noble".  He shows that in order to increase a person's reading and writing skills, all they need to do is read a lot of books.  Books that will expand the mind.  

Another thing that Emerson explains is important for man to do is become one with nature.  He says that "The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature."

The  21st century Emerson would agree with all of Emerson's theories.  Still to this day, in order to become a smarter intellectual you have to go out and experience different things and broaden your mind with difficult passages by more intelligent writers.

"Help must come from the bosom alone." is another quote that stands out to me.  To me this means that you cannot rely on the help of others if you're not willing to help yourself.