Blog 12

I feel like I have learned so much over this past semester. I really enjoyed our class. When I came in, I felt like I was a pretty good writer but I always have room for improvement. I think I learned most how to read and write critically in the class. Before, I was good at just reading the text straight through and telling you what I read and where you could find connections, but now I am really able to make meaningful, in-depth connections regarding the text. The theories still give me a bit of a time and so do the counterarguments but overall I think with work I have a much better idea of what I’m supposed to have. I definitely think what I have learned in this course will help me in other areas. I like to read a lot so knowing certain things to look for when I read will definitely help me to understand the material a little more initially. Also we learned a lot about researching! I had no idea it took so much time and so much work! Now that I know how to research I can better plan my research and know how to use it and when and where to use it. Finding and analyzing research takes a good bit of time; I’d even say it took more time to research than to actually write the paper. As far as the class goes, I really like it and I think it was neat that there were only three of us because we all got a lot of one on one time. However I did not like our schedule. We only met once a week and we never really had finite due dates which is not good for a procrastinator like myself. I think if we would have met more as a class and had definite due dates we would have learned a little more and been better prepared for our papers and assignments. I really liked the class though and I enjoyed discussion.

Blog 11

I have chosen to write about Beneatha and how she represents modern feminism in my research. I chose to write about Beneatha because of all the characters I related to her the most. I was first attracted to her because she is a college student with dreams of being a doctor. I myself want to be a doctor so that really makes a difference to me. I really liked that Beneatha was so independent. She did not want to marry a man because he could support her but she wanted to marry because she and he truly loved each other. She also made it very clear that she wanted a man to love her in every sense, not just because she was pretty or because she could cook and clean. The men in her life nor the women for that matter could really respect Beneatha’s desire for her own identity. Walter wished she would just be like other women, Asagai and George wanted her to be a trophy, and Ruth and Lena wanted her to just appreciate being a woman and fulfill her womanly “duties”. It might be important to other readers because Beneatha was standing up and being different at a time when women just were not doing that at all. So I would not necessarily say that my research or thesis addresses being a human purse` but it does address how one is treated as a result of who they are. In Beneatha’s case, she was born a woman! She cannot help that, however she is judged and viewed differently because she is a woman. I do not think it really addresses how to live a good life either. I really think Hansberry wanted to show black women that they too could have part in the women’s independence area. Beneatha knew what she want and she would not settle just because her dream did not line up with the average person’s dream.