Reflection

I really liked the graphical novels that we read. At first I didnt think that I would really learn anything from them, but after reading them I found that I actually got a lot more out of them than I expected. I was able to understand the material better, and the pictures in the text really helped me to understand what was going on in the story. For example after the reading Maus I understood the Holocause better because this story gave a very straight forward story about what went on inside concentration camps. Not all of the stories that we read were fun but I learned something from all of them.
The main impact that the literature that we have read has had on me is that when I am a teacher I will be more open to differnt kinds of texts like comics. I understand that not everyone loves to read books, and these comics provide the same information just in a differnt way.
At first I did not like reading graphic novels. I thought it was weird and it took a lot more time to read. I sitll dont love them, like if I had to read a book I would rather just read the book, but I think that the graphic novels can be an excellent resouce tool, and another way to get your information. I think that my appreaciation has grown from these graphic novels over the semester because I usually have a hard time with Shakespeare and the comic version helped to explain it a lot better than just actually reading it word for word from the original text.
Overall as a reader and interpreter of literary and non-tradtional, visual text I think that I have learned a lot more from the actual stories. And I have also learned that there are differnt ways to get your information (book, graphic novel, etc) you just have to find the one that works best for you.
I had a hard time reading Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, because I thought it was raelly boring. I didnt relate to it and it was just not my favorite book to read. I think that I didnt learn that much from it because I didnt really like it. So in order for me to be prepared to discuss it in class I read it, and reread it and if I still didnt understand it I just googled it.
My intrepretations of non-tradtional text have changed a lot. I think that if you get something out of it then it can be useful. Its just all about what you take out of the text and how you interpret things. You can learn many things from a book you just have to be open to it.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

While looking online at pictures and images I found several differnt things.

one was a play clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi2DhV1j_k)

While I was looking at the pictures the majority were pictures from the movie or pictures taken of the play.

I think it is okay that people re-do and sort of make a goof out of the original version. When other authors & producers change it up a little they are making it accessable to more people. And more people become engaged and learn the overall idea.

FOR CLASS: Argue to keep Shakespeare in the original form:

~You might lost some things when you change its form

~It is not as meaningful

~Mabye if you dont understand it than its your fault & you need to work harder to study it and learn about it

~ Its not always good to change things from the past

~ It was written the way it was for a reason

Part # 2

Romeo & Juliet

After looking at the manga version of Romeo and Juliet I dont think that it is a good idea to change some things about a story but not everything. for example in the manga version the author changed the pictures but not the words. I think that if they were going to make a comic book about it they should have kept the pictures realistic to the times or changed the words to make them flow better with the modern pictures. The death scene is one of the most commonly known scenes in this play. Romeo and Juliet decide that if they cant live with one another than they would rather not live at all. The scene in the manga is displayed differntly and gives you a differnt interpretation of the story.

Part #3

Demetrius/ Helena

Helena loves demetrius and demetrius loved hermia. Its a classic loves story about wanting what you cant have. It seems very typical to todays socitey as well. Its always more fun when you have to work at it but once you dont your usually over it adn dont think that it is worth your time.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

After reading this book it really seems like a story within a story. On page 68 the scene looks like it is staged with Demetrius trying to get rid of Hermia and Hermia attaching herself to Demetrius in any way she can. He is standing to the left trying to leave her and she is at the bottom right holding on to his leg. All of the word bubbles are in the shape of a heart. There is love between both of them and you can tell becasue the word bubbles that are in the shape of a heart are going both ways. This realtionship is valuable becuase it is the main relationship in the story. The words are very important but the pictures add so much more to it that it really makes this scene come alive and it is easier to understand.

I think that if readers were to read the manga version of this as well as the regular version of this story they would get a lot more out of the manga version. This seems to be a harder story to understand and the pictures really add a lot to it, making it easier for the reader to undersatand .

Maus Second Part

After our first in class discussion I realized that Maus was called mouse and it made me read the story a little differently. I loved how in the end of the story Valedik was burried next to Anja. On page 295. They were shown with their gravestone together but cracked down the middle. I am guessing that hte author decided to shown their gravestone this way becuase by the end of the story they were no longer married even though they still both cared very deeply for each other. They were true sweethearts and it was a cute way to end it. I also liked how in the end Mala and Valedik became clsoer they had a lot of hardships and had a very long time getting along with one another. I would have liked it better if in the end Valedik had more compassion for Mala and would have shown her some appreciation. Mala went through the same things as Valedik went through they just both reacted in their own differnt ways to them.

Maus Homework

After reading some of the articles I noticed that a lot of them mentioned about how Art Speigelman used mice, cats and pigs to represent the characters was a form of sterotyping. I find it very interesting that others and not only our class find this to be true as well. When I was writing my response paper I wrote about how the characters were portrayed but I thought that I was the only one who thought anything of it. I love how so many people in our class had the same idea.
A lot of the articles also go into great detail about how this story was like a guideline of the Holocasut providing details adn perspectives pre/post the holocaust as well as during it. And since it is Artie's father telling the story and Artie writing it, its almost as if you get the story exactly.
I also find it very interesting that he decided to use a comic book form to write about such a tragic and historic event. Most people think of comics as being funny and a joke so I am very suprised that this book turned out so well and that it won so many awards.

Maus

After reading the first part of Maus, a theme that I thought was present all through out the story was friendship and family bonds. The story starts off with Artie roller skating with his friends, when he starts complaning about his friends his father says the way you know someone is your true friend is if you are locked together in a room with no food for a week and you manage okay. This was in the first two pages before the actual story begins.

Friendship and family bonds are present in several other situations as well such as on page 112-113 when Artie's father and mother hide in a bunker with some other Jewish people to try to escape from the Germans.

My response paper was mainly focused on why the characters were depicted as mice instead of people. But for today in class I think tha ti would like to focus on the idea of friendship. Their is a lot of information that can back up and support my thoughts.

Artie's father met his wife on page 18 through friedship and family ties.
Met friends in the P.O.W. camp page 55
Friends and business partners get hung page 85
changing sides page 93
hiding page 112-114, 123

Ideas for Research Papers

I am thinking about writing about self image. And I would use the bookes American Born Chinese, The Bluest Eye, as well as Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. These three books inparticular work with my research paper because they are about people who want to be something that they are not.

I was also thinking about presenting my research paper in the multimedia way becuase it looked to be exciting, and differnt. I plan on starting my paper by doing it the multi-media way but I am also nervous that it will be like the others so i need to work on finding differnt resources than they used.

The main thing that I would research would be teenage girls and how the media affects them and their self image. I plan on looking up books in the library, medical journals, magazines, movies, and many other things as well.