Close Reading

Once again, I don’t know how this did not get posted, I re-did it though and hopefully it did not interfere with anyones responses.

Justice officials express new concerns about Alabama immigration law

By Terry Frieden

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/us/albama-immigration-law/index.html?hpt=ju_t4

Diction - When portraying both sides of the issue Perez is quoted on saying that victims of domestic abuse are being driven further “underground” this is a very powerful word choice because underground send the message of it being hidden and hard to find, and that the law is impeding efforts to free those who are victim to it. West uses the word “vindicate” when describing the justice departments goal to challenge many state passed immigration law. This word is often associated with a sense of righteousness   making it seem like the Justice department is in the right in challenging these laws.

Details - The article is very focused on explaining the consequences of the law and what the legal aftermath will be. The negative sides of the law are presented as being: a large increase in the absences in the public schools from kids who are most likely worried about their immigration status, an increase in the hiding of domestic abuse, and an increase in racial profiling in which people are being questioned just on their appearance. The proponents of the bill are shown as supporting it based simply on the principal of illegal means illegal. 

Imagery- The supposed vindication by the justice department creates an image of a noble force riding out to combat the evils of the state legislature. This is very powerful especially in the constant debate over whether the states of the federal government should be in control of the most power. Also the description of employers using the law as a method to not pay workers creates the image of a greedy fat cat executive exploiting the masses for personal gain.

Course Response

Somehow this didn't go up on the blog when I made it a week ago.

This week in class we worked extensively on our literature era presentations. We used Prezi to do these, a presentation system I had never used before. It was a little difficult for me to figure out how to use the program but after I got he linking method all figured out it was easy. My group was tasked with the classical antiquity and middle ages eras. This gave us a very large scope of authors to talk about. The most interesting part to me was the allegory of the cave, set forth by plato revolving around his idea of what was necessary for a philosopher king. Another author that I researched was Chaucer, whose work The Canterbury Tales, was quite interesting especially in its portrayal of chivalry.

Open Prompt 5

2007.

The old saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again” has little merit if one does not also learn from their mistakes. In The American Dream, Mommy and Daddy have had a dreadful experience with adopting a child, yet they attempt to go through it again, asking for the same instant gratification they requested before. Mommy and Daddy’s inability to come to terms with the past causes them to continue to pursue 

a conformist american dream and not be able to achieve satisfaction.

 White picket fences with two point five kids are the traditional images of the american dream. Unfortunately it has become more and more common to view this as the only american dream. Daddy and Mommy have fallen prey to this and it results in them being compelled to adopt another child. Mommy is the biggest culprit to conformity as seen in her escapades in buying a hat. She needed to be on the same page with the chair of her woman’s club even if it meant causing a large amount of trouble for another human being. After the first child adoption went horribly wrong a normal person would most likely decide to not have another child, but Mommy us dead set on having her satisfaction even though it is apparent that her life choices are not accommodating to one.

 This inability to learn from the past has caused Mommy and Daddy to not be able to reach proper fulfillment in there lives. They continually feel empty as evidenced by the continual inability to reach satisfaction with mundane things such as appliances failing. Instead of re-evaluating their lives though, they continually try to appease this faux american dream. It even causes them to mistreat the one sane individual who is able to learn and adapt, so much so that she leaves the household.

Mommy and Daddy’s inability to learn from the mistake of adopting a child, due to there obsession with an conformist american dream cause them to have a deficit of satisfaction in their lives.