Reflective Blog Post: Reflect
At the beginning of the year, we analyzed excerpts from A.O. Scott’s Better Living Through Criticism. Although this piece was initially difficult to understand, it became progressively straightforward with each in-class discussion and commonplace book assignment. I believe this initial struggle with comprehending the message of the text can be accredited to Scott’s unique writing style, which forces the reader to use their own critical skills to analyze the argument rather than revealing the argument to the reader. Scott’s piece served the purpose of explaining criticism and the importance of criticism in day-to-day life, especially in regard to identity. Although I did not know it at the time, reading this piece prepared me for the upcoming analyzation of Stephen Greenblatt’s Rennaisane Self Fashioning, as it forced me to grapple with identity and the formation of an individual’s identity in response to external forces. Additionally, reading Better Living Through Criticism forced me to look at big-picture-ideas such as perception, taste, and art through a new perspective. This practice of reshaping the way that I define long-held concepts prepared me to read Renaissance Self Fashioning later in the semester, which would require me to take an approach of open-mindedness in order to fully understand Greenblatt’s arguments. By carefully analyzing perception, taste, art, and aestheticism I gained a deeper understanding of these vital ideas and learned how to view ordinary concepts through the eyes of the author; this required me to disregard previously held definitions of these key terms in order to understand their meanings in regards to Scott’s argument. Finally, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of criticism which will allow me to better criticize the pieces that we are currently reading in class and the pieces we have yet to read. Although we did not spend as much time analyzing Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question as we did analyzing the other two excerpts, I initially felt that Berger’s piece was of equal importance. However, now that we have analyzed the other two excerpts from A.O. Scott and Stephen Greenblatt I understand that, although Berger’s piece was enjoyable to read, it does not carry the same impact as the other pieces. In other words, although Berger’s piece still provides useful insight into the art of questioning and details the importance of posing meaningful and constructive questions, it did not impact me as deeply as A.O. Scott’s Better Living Through Criticism or Stephen Greenblatt’s Renaissance Self Fashioning. This could be due to the fact that I have been exposed to Berger’s arguments throughout my experience at Galloway, which fosters an interactive learning environment that encourages meaningful questioning. On the other hand, the reflection upon an aesthetic experience that Scott encourages and the explanation of how one’s identity changes over time in relation to external forces that Greenblatt provides were relatively new concepts to me. Thus, it was important that we spend more time in class discussing and analyzing Scott and Greenblatt’s pieces in order to fully understand their messages. Before taking this class, I did not recognize the significant impact that self-fashioning has on me and how it has impacted me throughout my life, so it was fascinating to finally put a name to the concept that I have always grappled with.
REFLECTIVE BLOG POST: incorporate
REFLECTIVE BLOG POST: Synthesize
When reading the excerpts from the course pack, understanding Greenblatt’s set of ten governing conditions was the most challenging part of the summer work. Therefore, finally understanding the message behind the ten conditions and grappling with Greenblatt’s reasoning behind them is very rewarding. This understanding (or at least a better understanding than I had previously) was accomplished by combing through the ten conditions in class by discussing and questioning them while also laying them out in simple language in my commonplace book. I have found color to be a useful tool in wading through Greenblatt’s difficult language as it allows me to simplify his message so that I can comprehend it. As pictured above, I used a highlighter to identify recurring terms, which helped me to identify the word which describes each condition. Additionally, by simplifying Greenblatt’s argument I was able to pinpoint important concepts such as the balance between the authority and the alien, the role of the force of submission, and the influence of threat throughout the process of self-fashioning.
REFLECTIVE BLOG POST: Explain
Looking forward, I am excited to apply the new skills of analysis and examination that I have acquired from reading A.O. Scott’s Better Living Through Criticism and Stephen Greenblatt’s Renaissance Self Fashioning to our upcoming assignments, especially metamorphosis. I imagine that we will finish our analysis of Greenblatt’s Renaissance Self Fashioning and continue to grapple with the grand concepts of criticism, questioning, and identity as the semester comes to a close. I hope that, by using these new rhetorical skills I have gained, I will be able to achieve an equally detailed understanding of upcoming concepts in a shorter amount of time than it took me to grapple with the excerpts from Scott and Greenblatt.