Reflection of the Course

This semester was really fun and I know that my writing skills have greatly improved because of the paper requirements we had. I have met the learning outcomes for this class by working a lot on my thesis statement this helped me focus my attention to the main point and help me convey to others what my main point is. By improving on my thesis I also think that creating an original thesis helped my voice come through my papers. I tried to create a new way to look at the writings and use my ideas to show my voice. To hone in on my thesis I also focused on how important it is to organize my papers with an introduction paragraph that slightly tells what I will cover, then making sure I re-cap it in the final paragraph. I always have a hard time with fragment sentences which sometimes I think are okay to use for emphasis, but then sometimes they do not make much sense to the reader. Overall, I think that my final paper was one of my best written and I think I really improved in all my aspects of writing.
What I learned from doing the final paper, is that it is not as hard as you think it is, once I finally got started it was easier to finish than just thinking about it. I can apply this to every class I take that requires me to write a paper, I just need to start on it and not put it off, even if I just write a few sentences that could get me going the next day.
I think I enjoyed the readings more than other classes because there was not many things to read, the poem, Frankenstein and a few academic papers but that made it easier to focus all my attention to one thing and therefore I think I put a better effort into understanding and writing about it.
I think that now my writing process has grown to more of a structured creation, before I would just write and write and not really care about the conclusion, but now when I write my conclusion I will re-read my introductory paragraph and start writing, then when I run out of ideas I begin to re-read the rest of my paper to make sure that my conclusion is tying my paper up as a whole. I never used to do that, and I think that will help my audience understand my thesis also. Before I also could not convey my thesis to anyone properly but I do think that I am on my way to doing so in my writings now.
My biggest challenge in this class was the final paper, and that is because I was really putting myself down about it. I kept thinking I was not going to be able to find any secondary sources and I just did not seem to be enjoying Edgar Allan Poe as much as I thought I was going to. Then when it came time to turn it in, I was not finished, so that stressed me out even more and I just left the paper alone for a long time. That was probably the biggest challenge, and to overcome it I just had to start the paper and I had to trust in myself that I was capable and that I could write a good paper about Poe that made sense to me. Once I got started the secondary sources were really easy to find and everything fell in order, and it turns out it was not as hard as I was making it out to be in my mind.

Zombies

I had no idea that zombies could and do play such a significant role in symbolism. I never thought that any sort of “zombie craze” would happen after major tragic world or country events. This paper really opened my eyes and my mind even if that sounds cliché. It can be proven that movies after events such as the Vietnam War and September 11th led to the creation of zombie apocalyptic movies. The question is why?

The article described that after such events people are more inclined to watch zombies movies because of the idea of horror, people liked being scared, and when there is fear of terrorists, the film industry thinks of ways to create their own “terrorist”, and the terrorists they chose was in the form of zombies, but why? The article described that zombies are a more frightening being than any vampire or ghost, because zombies are known as the living dead. Vampires are normally portrayed as being very sexually attractive, take Dracula or Edward Cullins, the girl always seems to fall in love with the vampire. Zombies however are dirty, ugly, probably smelly, and want to eat your flesh. So the film industry created a “zombie-terrorist” because they are usually someone who you knew but is now infected or bitten and turned zombie. Finally, they are already in your territory, what better type of terrorist than one that is already living in your neighborhood? I enjoyed this article a lot. I did not know that a zombie book has never been written. Most other monsters i.e. Frankenstein or vampires, first rose to stardom after the publishing of a book, but not zombies; their whole creation was from death, of no one knowing what they were, to life, in their movie roles, and I feel that is very appropriate in the sense of who they are. The living dead.

My link is to a symbolism of zombies website: http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/zombies/zombie.html

My picture is from my favorite game!! Plants vs Zombies!! http://www.download-free-games.com/pc/plants_vs_zombies.htm

Annotated Bib.

Beidler, Philip D. “Mythopoetic Justice: Democracy and Death of Edgar

Allan Poe.” Midwest Quarterly 46. 3 (Spring 2005): 252-67.

This is an academic database article, it gives details on the strange death of Edgar Allan Poe, but most importantly to my research it gives light into the strange world that surrounded Poe. The article goes on to state that it is unknown how Poe really died. Some suspect Poe just being a drunk or sick, and the most shocking, murder. Poe’s strange murder and life ties directly into the theme of my paper, the strange writings, life, and death that contributed to peoples’ feeling towards Poe are great points that I could bring up to connect Poe’s life and writings. This article is helpful towards understanding Poe’s life; it does not directly give criticism of his writings so it might not be very helpful on that aspect of things.

Canada, Mark, ed. "Edgar Allan Poe." Canada's America. 1997.

http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/poe.htm. (October 2011, 28).

I found an educational website that is not a database but had some very useful information. I do not think I will use any of it thought, because it does not seem as a reputable source as a database or encyclopedia. This site did tell me about other writings that Edgar Allan Poe has completed and it had some very thought invoking questions that I do think will be helpful to think about while reading Poe’s writings. Questions such as, “What other elements in this story and Poe’s life suggest that “The Cask of Amontillado” has autobiographical elements?” Not only does this question get you to think deeper but it also means that the author, Mark Canada, does think that Poe used his life experience in some of his writings.

Poe, Edgar A. and Greg, Hilderbrandt. Poe: Stories and Poems. New

Jersey: The Unicorn Publishing House, 1886. Print.

This is my primary source; it contains 26 poems and short stories that were written by Edgar Allan Poe. I have read the whole book but I am only planning on using a few of his works to point out the theme of imagination, horror, and trauma. The poems Alone, Eldorado, and The Raven are a few that I have chosen to specifically talk about in my paper. This book does not contain any information about Poe; it only has his writings so I am going to have to look for other sources to learn more about him and what people have said about his writings.

Walker, I. M. Edgar Allan Poe the Critical Heritage.

London: Routledge, 1997.

This is the best secondary source that I have found so far, it has criticism of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, but it also contains some contemporary along with older criticism. It was also from a library database source, so I know that it is credible. This critical book is also 400 pages long and contains many different sources of criticism. I am going to use this for the main bulk of my secondary source. It analyzes letters, poems, and short stories written by Poe. This book also contains and introduction to Poe and his life, describing his meager beginnings and life as an author. What I found very interesting about his book is that it contains criticisms that are anonymous, and there are many different opinions, some who state that he was a poetic genius and others that disagree. Having such a wide choices of criticism will help me create a clearer thesis and prove my ideas to my audience.