Blog Report REVISED- Carter Goss
Throughout the course of my English 219 class, I've been exposed to many different genres, ideas and teachings. When I found out we were assigned to read "The Lottery," the literary device of situational irony hit me like a wrecking ball! I figured that I was about to embark on a literary journey of happiness and fortune; however, I was completely wrong! I actually was listening to the audio book while I was on I-75, driving to class, and the scary music in the background made the story even more tense. In the beginning of the short story, it is told in a tone of delight that talks about flowers and birds, and the next thing you know, a woman is being stoned to death. The elevation of plot and theme blew my mind. When I experienced the irony of the story, I was almost disappointed, attentive, and intrigued all at once. "The Lottery" also highlighted the themes of tradition, ritual and community, in extreme ways. The community went to extremes to keep the tradition of The Lottery alive and they practiced the "ritual" the same way they have for centuries, and the community was very tense and almost to comfortable with the idea of murdering one of their neighbors, to produce a better harvest. Also, through learning the different angles of literary analysis, I can shape stronger opinions and can understand the opinions of others. I'd never read a horror story in my life, or in this case, a thriller. As my mind began to process these feelings for the first time, I kind of liked them, but not in a creepy way where I'm gonna start acting all thriller-like. I'm just trying new genres and appreciating literature in different aspects. As I've been analyzing the literature we've been reading in ENG 219, I've began to appreciate literature as a whole; nevertheless, this class has is making a positive impact on me and my future in literature!
Hi Carter,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you are making a personal connection to the story. Specifically, it seems like you are describing your response to a moment of situational irony in which the actions in the story have an opposite effect on what seems to be intended. I think you need to build on this observation to help shape your main idea. While you bring up some great observations here, I am still not sure what the main idea is. Once you clearly state the main idea, use what you have here to organize and build on your the points you make.
1.) The person's name is Carter Goss.
ReplyDelete2.) I believe his main idea was "The Lottery" and how the people in the story make it sound like it was just another day and how they ended up stoning someone.
3.) He supported his main idea by talking about how they started off the story by talking about flowers and birds. Also he talked about how they have done it for centuries, how they do it the same way every year, and how they believed it will help produce a better harvest.
4.) Yes, his examples are convincing. I also feel that the people in "The Lottery" make it sound like it was just another day to them.
5.) I feel like he could state his main idea better. I say that because I wasn't positive on what his main idea was at first decides that it had to do with the story "The Lottery". But other than that I feel like it was really good.