Alicia's_APLang

From the birth of the American Dream it has progressed throughout the years. The famous quote from “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson “ All men are created equal” in the time period that the speech was created, all men was not created equally, it was only speaking to men of upper class who were landowners at the time. Many could argue that in current society the American Dream can be tedious to reach. The ideas is that if one can work hard enough your able to reach the dream. In today’s society for some people the American Dream can seem out of reach “The American Dream should require hard work, but it should not require 80-hour workweeks and parents who never see their kids from across the dinner table.” ( Vanityfair) achieving the dream can feel like giving up your unalienable rights “Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” In this example many parents want to give their kids a better life,in order from them to achieve this dream they have to work hard and sacrifice meals with their kids. Giving up their rights to the pursuit of happiness.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/04/american-dream200904

3.The Great Gatsby

Author Fitzgerald vision of the American Dream is that it is an illusion, that it makes men do elaborate things just to achieve the dream. In the book Gatsby hosted lavishing parties every night hoping that the woman of this dreams Daisy would walk in. When his plan doesn't work , he comes up with an idea of inviting her cousin Nick to the party " I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited — they went there (chapter 3)." Gatsby did so much at get to Daisy. In "The Declaration of Independence" Thomas Jefferson created an illusion " That all men are created equal" but that wasn't true. In a women perspective "The declaration of Sentiments and Resolution" by Elizabeth Stanton mocks and steals ethos from Jefferson by quoting his speech "All men and woman are created equal." In order to support that women deserves rights. The American Dream makes people go out their way in order to achieve it.

6.Reflection

In quarter 1 I learned how to mange my time during a 40-minute timed write, soapstone, 7 modes, how to write a Précis and many more. The assignment that was most meaningful was the précis because I got to study a columnist work and deconstruct it. Connecting the American Dream to four different text was something that I gained from quarter 1. The section based on rhetorical devices we could of skip because I learned that in 10th grade. I'm excited to jump into Identify, Race and Culture so, I can find the deeper meaning and deconstruct it.

1. Their Eyes Were Watching God

While reading “Their Eyes Were Watching God” I came across many literary devices that circled around the theme of gender. Each gender had a role that was played in the novel. For instance, Men played roles of being strong and powerful; while women played roles of trophy wives. Throughout, the novel we saw the change Janie goes through to womanhood and power.

In the first line of the book it says “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board”. This quote can be identified as a metaphors. It creates the idea of a ship out on the horizon which represents a man’s dream. Sometimes the dream comes true and sometimes it sails away.

In the Novel Janie'ssecond husband Joe Starks was the Mayor of Eatonville. When he came into power he starts to change for the worst. He treated Janie unfairly and she couldn't do anything about it. Later on when Joe died, Janie became independent and inherited Joe's position; which give her power.

2. Q2 Columnist Précis Paper

My quarter two Columnist was Michelle Malkin. The columns were all based on the 2016 election. Though she is a Trump supporter, her arguments were bias to Trump's views. So she used quite an excessive amount of rhetorical devices to support Trump'sviews. She used pathos and logos quite a bit to persuade last minute undecided voters.

Malkin not only used her columns as a news source, but to also play with her audience emotion. She used Pathos to draw in her readers. She used simple facts from each candidate and twisted it. The outcomes of this was to play with the emotions of her viewers and to destroy Hillary’s credibility.She used these tactics to drag Hillary down, while rising Trump’s credibility.

In her articles she used logos to show that Hillary wasn’t a good candidate. Since Michelle Malkin is viewed as a credible source to her audience, this give her the advantage to persuade readers. While she wasn’t bashing Hillary, she used logos to support Trump to again persuade her readers. Her overall message was to wake up her audience to not fall into the hands of Hillary lies.

5. Reflection

This quarter our themes was identity, race and culture. Though we go everyday knowing little to nothing, but the general meaning of these words, there is so much more to learn. My AP Lang class boiled down these words into simple definition that answered the question of “What defines a person’s identity?”. This was meaningful because though my classmates and I, had many conflicts along the way. We worked with each other to understand the underlying of these terms to later create a Synthesis Paper.

The process of writing a synthesis paper was challenging at first, but I got through it .Throughout this process I learned how to use a picture as visual evidence, and how a counterargument can strengthen a person’s work. Going through the process one step at a time give me a better understanding of how to create a synthesis paper. In quarter two I wished we had skipped the rhetorical squares. I found that it was not helpful, when writing my paper. Ending this chapter and moving on, I hope to increase my writing technique in third quarter.

The American Dream

1. Reflection on the Quarter 1 Theme.

2. Your Quarter 1 Columnist Rhetorical Analysis Reflection.

3.The Great Gatsby

4.Formal Paper

5.Timed Write

6.Reflection

Quarter 2Identity, Culture and Race