A (Slightly) New Direction

After class last week, I was talking with Annalee about our topic/working theses. Annalee is writing about The Count of Monte Cristo, and how existentiality and loss of identity were prevalent themes in both Count of Monte Cristo and Alice in Wonderland as a result of their respective historical contexts, which sounds really interesting. I proposed my thesis idea to her—how I wanted to talk about how language affects the characters in both Anthem and Alice—and she expressed enthusiasm in my topic as well and agreed that it would be a paper worth writing.

I received some helpful comments when I posted my “tweethis” on the blog as well. Although Sophie is discussing childhood and authority figures in As I Lay Dying, she still recognized that language affects things within her story, too. My professor provided a useful external source discussing the relationship between thought and language, and Adam suggested narrowing my thesis to focus on how the language affects the different contextual mediums (governmental opposition vs. imagination), which is also a possible angle I could take on this paper.

Then I proposed my working tweethis to my friend Alyssa, and she suggested a different direction. She asked me how language affects the story in Alice in Wonderland, and I realized that the language seems to distort reality in Wonderland more than it affects Alice’s thoughts, and that the same could be said about language distorting reality in Anthem. But then again, reality is just how we perceive things, so that ties into thought as well.

So then I went back and read a comment on a former post and saw a comment that Annalee had posted that I'd previously overlooked--a suggestion to look at the language from the lens of identity. This seems to have more relevance to both novels and I think this would be a really interesting direction for my paper.

Taking Risks and Owning My Thesis

While I've been sharing my ideas with friends and family through Facebook, I've collected a nice array of compliments and support, which has been beautifully propelling my confidence as a writer and blogger. That is step one, and I'm glad I have them to help me with it.

Additionally, I know that my fellow classmates are a little more confident and comfortable to give me criticism, which I am very thankful for! I relish the opportunity to question my thought process and see my ideas through another's point of view.

Krista mentioned to me that my thesis could be a little riskier. I think I will be able to do this by making my argument more specific. A broad topic is less risky and less interesting.

Dr. Burton and Adam commented on the dissimilarity of the genres that I am analyzing. The Alice books are Victorian children's stories, while As I Lay Dying is a more mature American rural novel written in 1930. Through their comments, I realize that I do need to acknowledge that the two genres are vastly dissimilar, but there is a connecting theory about the importance of having strong and value-centered parental figures that ties the novels, which says a lot about psychology and human society as a whole.

Taking It to the Old FB

Creative Commons Flickr

I decided to create a private message  board on Facebook where I could share my working thesis with friends who were English and Humanities majors, as well as a few who are studying film and music. The messages went something like this:

ME: Okay, friends-- so I'm supposed to share one of my theses for a research paper via social network and get my homies to comment on it. I'm so sorry for the imposition, but if you could just give one line (not like "good" or "bad," but a suggestion or source or something it reminds you of- any sort of helpful feedback- I would love you forever. It's also about two very specific books and this is just a working thesis, so I apologize for the weirdness of this task:

FRIEND: Hit me

FRIEND: I'm down.

ME:The Poisonwood Bible and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland both tell the stories of white females from ordered, conservative backgrounds who find themselves adrift in a foreign land and struggle to maintain their previous faith and sense of reality as the customs of the new land disorients and strips them of their basic foundation. Both of these texts feature aspects of post-colonialism and even reverse post-colonialism. Both texts also tell the stories of women who struggle against the didacticism of the patriarchy of their homeland. I would argue that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, though normally considered to be a Victorian text, has many aspects in common with post-modernist texts in the sense that it fights against didacticism. For those who don't know, The Poisonwood Bible is about a missionary family in the 1950's that go to the Congo to convert all the Africans, but everything goes wrong and it destroys their family.

FRIEND:So what sort of comment do you want from us again? And what's didacticism?

ME:Honestly, not exactly sure, but just whatever you got that goes beyond saying it's good or bad. Like, I'm supposed to share my research paper throughout the process so the feedback I get can help sculpt the paper. Didacticism is like moralizing. Like, Aesop's Fables are didactic because they teach a moral.

FRIEND:Gotcha. Ok well I like how you've introduced your subject in such a way that your argument description fits in really well. A great start for a working thesis but defining a couple of terms and show how you'll describe post modernist writings connecting to a traditional Victorian book. Idk if this helps at all or even makes sense but there ya go

ME:Thank you, that is perfect! Just a couple more peeps and I'll have this assignment in the bag! You guys are the best!!!

The Hand of Friendship

I don't like to attract attention. I'm the kind of person who is more content in sitting on the sidelines and observing than being the focal point. It isn't easy for me to put my writing out there for everyone to see, and it really isn't easy for me to talk about my problems. But, here we are.

My roommates last semester at the SLC light display

I have depression. It manifested itself last summer, though it came on so gradually that I can't really say for sure when it started. I've been working through it with a counselor since the beginning of September. This semester has been particularly difficult. My mood plummeted at the start of the year, and it stayed there for a really long time. I missed nearly 3 solid weeks of class because I simply couldn't get out of bed. I had this voice in my head that constantly weighed me down, telling me that I was worthless, that all of my friends were fake, that no one cared about me.

Luckily, things have started to get better. For the past week and a half, I've been taking medication which has helped balance things out. I still have my bad days, but now, at least, they are less frequent and more manageable. I have started to feel like myself again for the first time in several months.

This Post Includes Pirates

Every smart writer has great people behind them backing them up. Parents and friends, peers and critics--in order to be a good writer, you need readers. I'm no exception to this rule, of course. I have close friends and loved ones that proof read, comment on, criticize, praise, and revise my writing because they love me and they want to help. My first source of this help is usually my fiance, Kurt.