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.

SOS - Save Our (tweethis)Statement

I'm struggling, folks.

Wikimedia Commons

I've tried sharing my ideas on Facebook but the lack of mature answers made me realize that that method may be a dead end. Or that my idea is too broad. Or that I need better friends.

After reading the posts of others here, I am relieved that I am not the only one who has struggled with sharing their statement on social media. After reading Robbie's and Analee's posts in particular, I was inspired to at least try it out on here. Maybe I just need to fine-tune my ideas and make them less broad? I don't know.
Here, let me explain:

The paper I wrote earlier this semester was about the visual content in Lewis Carroll's works, and how it was an important aspect in his books. Important enough even to challenge the written word in value. I loved writing about that.

Now I'm working on research for The Princess Bride, which has little visual material to study. There's a map in the front, and the chapter headings are decorated, but I don't think that's enough to relate back to John Tenniel's masterpieces in the Alice works.

I've been playing with the idea of relating the visual importance of the illustrations in Carroll's works to the visual importance that perhaps the movie "The Princess Bride" has on reading the novel. Note - the author of the novel also wrote the screenplay of the movie.

I am drawn to this idea, and yet I feel like I am treading thin ice. I do not want to end up with a paper that belongs to a film criticism class. Does that make sense?

What do you all think? I don't want to seem like I'm begging here, but I could really use some help with this.

Ok, so maybe I'm begging.

I have no shame.

Help.

"That's a Lot of Death"

When I first posted my “tweethis” statement on Facebook I wondered how much feedback I would get simply because of the nature of the content (the personification of Death), but I received quite a bit of help (excluding my dad's comment that received the highest honor by becoming the title of this blog post).

Creative Commons 2.0

Not only did I ask them for feedback on my “tweethis” statement, but I asked them for any other modern interpretations of Death. Several people told me that I had a good idea, but most of the feedback was in the form of other interpretations of Death. I now have several ideas that I never would've thought of before. I not only received ideas from other books (Watership Down, A Christmas Carol), but ideas from mythology (Thanatos) and comic books (Thanos loves Death).

I received more feedback from my friend, Ashleigh and my cousin, Alexis (who I talk about, here). through old fashion conversation. They helped me straighten out my thesis. While, it’s still not perfect, it’s getting there. I also received feedback through the blog. Annalee gave me feedback on how to strengthen my thesis by being more specific.

The Blog That Binds

I put my idea for my thesis on Facebook, and at first I wasn't getting very many takers.  So, I started instant messaging my friends and begging for feedback.  I got responses that way, but no one seemed to really get excited about what I was writing.  Someone else on the blog (I'm sorry, I tried to find you but I couldn't remember who said it) mentioned that they received a "lukewarm response."  That's pretty much all I've been getting.  Then, I started chatting with a friend, and things started going somewhere.

My friend Crystal challenged what no one else had - she stepped up and told me that my thesis wasn't a strong one.  So, I went back to the drawing board and came up with something new.

And who doesn't like raspberry truffles?

One of my "general question" posts.

I didn't think my Facebook friends would respond well to an academic thesis post. Instead, I've been posting a series of very general questions like, "Who has read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol? Tell me what you think about his writing." and "What's your favorite part of Ella Enchanted?" I found that these questions probably resulted in more responses than a specific thesis would have.

The most useful comment was a link to a book/movie review from my cousin. So awesome. I wouldn't have even known she had written it.

People care. Not just about what I am about writing about, but what I have to say about what they're writing about. On this group blog it's been neat to read posts with my name in them. It makes me feel like I really am helping other people with their papers. People want their opinion to be heard. This process has been fulfilling and validating for me.

I received some helpful comments on my tweethis statement blog post from Sophie and Annalee. Sophie suggested that I look at the literary techniques each author uses and how it affects their portrayal of decision-making and control. Awesome! I really liked that idea. Annalee also commented and suggested that I relate the idea of their lack of control to the male main characters.

Combining these comments made me think about how the gender of the writer plays a role in the perspective they each have on womanhood. From the beginning I have wanted to avoid feminism but it keeps cropping up and I'm considering it some more before I dismiss it entirely. I'm going to ask the Facebook community about feminism in young adult and children's literature and see what they have to say about it! #gettingexcitedaboutsocialproofs

At the beginning of this process, I've learned that ideas can fluctuate in importance. They come and go and create new ideas with different concepts. Sometimes I have to let an idea go so that a better one can take shape. Sometimes we need to pass up truffle in order to make way for a raspberry caramel turtle truffle.



This blog and the associated activities have already taught me a lot about how ideas work. 

They don't happen alone.

We Accept The Feedback We Think We Deserve

From Wikipedia

I always find it kind of fun to talk to different people on things I'm working on. It's usually very beneficial feedback. I decided to share my tweethis statement with others in person because I feel like social media isn't very intimate. Talking to others face to face allows me to see how they actually react when they first hear or see my thesis. First, I went to my roommates. They're typical guys and science majors so I didn't really expect them to give me any profound thoughts. Surprisingly, they we pretty interested in the topic. They have never read the novel or seen the movie but have heard of the title. The idea of comparing novel and movie intrigued them and they thought it would be an interesting paper. It was cool to see how it really provoked them to think about it and discuss. Then, I decided to go over an apartment in the complex I live in. I chose a random apartment that I have never visited and started to talk to them about my thesis. Fortunately, one of the girls that lived in this apartment is an English major and gave me great feedback. She had read the novel and seen the book and thought there were awesome points to be made about the relationship between the two. I really appreciated her support because I was unsure if this thesis was strong enough to pursue. This also occurred when Sophie and Chelsea commented on my post. They both expressed their agreement with my argument and posed more questions and points I could bring up. This movie and novel comparison is seeming more interesting thanks to the social proof I have been getting!

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, to the drawing board I go

From Wikipedia

Posting my thesis both on the blog, on Facebook, and talking about it with my roommates forced me to confront the scary idea I'd been avoiding: that my initial idea may not work, and doesn't really make me excited to write it. In a past paper, I talked about how Alice wasn't mad, but found a way to cope with the madness by creating her own meaning.  I really liked my last paper and wanted to execute it better and continue with this idea with the Count of Monte Cristo. But things are not exactly flowing together.  Tori called it out best on the blog. She pointed out that there seemed like there was too much going on in my thesis and that the comparison format made it look like two papers instead of one. On Facebook, one of my past high school teachers commented and made me realize that my set up inadvertently led to the conclusion that one way to find existential meaning was better than the other—which isn’t really where I wanted to go. So right now, I’ve decided to focus on Count of Monte Cristo first, and get an idea of what I want to do with it and then connect it to Alice. What forever interests me is the ending scene. Edmond renounces his attempts to play God and then desperately hopes to find himself through others. This moment contradicts everything he worked for—all his talk of being no one, all his vicious plots for revenge. I think I'd like to do something with this idea of futility.