Haywire

   After reading the essay “Haywire” by Heather Sellers, I  have a lot to think about. The important message is that children who were outcasts and suppressed by their parents were the most harm in an incomplete family. Heather Sellers grew up with her father who was a cross-dresser and her schizophrenic mother which made her life haywire. When I read of her father’s strange performance that he looked like manhood but feminine indeed, it occurred to me that he might be a gay or transgender, or a person with a mental illness utilized another way to comfort himself. Sellers’ idea is the same as mine while she didn’t exactly believe it. The question of “what was the” always confused her. On the contrary, because of this, she asked for therapists to figure out just what his sexuality was and even more, why it was. From her story, I knew that she loved her father and desired for her father’s love. In some cases, she didn’t want to be suppressed by her family so that she had to get rid of them to be independent. As for becoming a professor and having a good job, they symbolized Sellers’s independence and her ability after leaving home. This is a way to save herself from the damage. At the end of the essay, it mentioned that Sellers asked her father why he wore women’s clothes and her father responded: “You knew about that?” I had already read the ending over and over but I still didn’t understand. In my opinion, her father might be not aware of that people around him knew his strange behavior. Hence, he didn’t think he needed to hide something. In short, this essay attracted me and I hope to read more essay something like this topic.

 Since we started to work on the second assingment, I was a little anxious becuase this time we have to do more than just write an essay. We have to do an interview and research. We need to really focus since we have to include these two things in the essay. Also, interviewing a professor makes me really worry because I barely know them. Its quite a challenge. However, Thanks to the class at the library, I began to feel a bit more confident about the research. The class helped me a lot with the references and actually the book that I had to search there, its really good! I think I might include it in my essay. Equally important the group critic this last Thursday. It help me a lot with my writing becuase I was unsecure about some parts of my essay and also I wanted help with suggestions about the essay and how to continue with it. I got some feedbacks from my classmates and that helped me to think about the story and also with my creativity. I feel a bit more confident now and I hope I can write a good essay.

Writing the second essay seems pretty interesting to write for me. Although it seems hard to write and how to include our primary and secondary sources, I'm thrilled to write the essay. When we had group critiques on Thursday, it was really helpful and my group gave me good feedback and they were able to help me figure out what to write and what to add on to my essay.

Second Essay

This second essay initially seemed like a standard essay assignment. But as I really start to think about the future I want to build it makes me realize how important role models are. Essentially their molds of what we want to be/become. This essay also requires to use primary and secondary resources which is something I have little experience with and that's the factor that seems to throw my plan off the tracks since I have to find a way to utilize both in the writing. When I try to compare this assignment to other works it comes back to the works of nonfiction literature of stuff of that nature which I was never too keen on or worked around. The essay has a freedom to it that the last paper did too which helps tremendously. This essay seems to be a glimpse of standard college papers which in the long run will help us for those assignments

Haywire Reaction

When I first read Haywire it already seemed different than the other readings we had. As I went along I realized how different the topic is. We hear about this girl who through her upbringing it was rather unorthodox. She had a mother on drugs which made her reality more odd and "looney" in a sense and when she moves in with her father she notices his clothing is covering women's clothing. I couldn't relate but I tried to put things in perspective on what it would be like to have a transvestite father and a paranoid mother. The story revolved around how her upbringing was almost tortuous and when she finally left how it was a hard journey but in the end, its relatable to a degree which is why I feel many liked this story. Not relating in the transvestite father aspect but the pursuit of independence. Overall this may be my personal favorite story or the Murder Manual one we read in the first week.

Writing my Second Essay

When starting my second essay assigment I found the topic pretty interesting but kind of hard to begin writing, especially when it came to taking about my own major and why I choose Queensborough Community College as my beginning path. When we entered class on thursday the workshop was really helpful in making me decided what I could add or take out from my essay. The three classmates from my group gave me great comments that I could follow as I contunie writing my essay such as adding more details about by recent past and continuing to give more details about my future goals that involve my major. So far I have been trying to add as much as could to my essay about how I relate to my major and how I see my future relating to it as well. I feel like the group comments do help a lot because when other people are able to read your work they might see things that the own writer might not see, so it helps a lot when classmates have ways in how I could improve in some parts of my writing.

Haywire

I think that having a less than ordinary father, or "haywire" as Heather Seller describes it, affected her because she didn't know what a normal life was. After her parents divorce, her mom started to lose herself. She developed some sort of anxiety that convinced her they were being watched and therefore, it wasn't safe for Heather to leave the house. She was always on edge and as a result, living with her was close to her impossible.

Seller's sought her father for comfort, she believed things would be different with him and for the better. She had this idea in her head of what he would be like since she last saw him but, much to her dismay, she was met with someone completely different. There was a sudden sadness in her father's eyes that she didn't recognize and she felt the straps underneath his shirt that weren't supposed to be there.  Physically, everything about him was different, it was feminine. Her father was never the same.

It became difficult for Seller's to develop a proper relationship with her father because she didn't know what he was. I believe this is why it had such a profound affect on her. I would imagine it felt like losing a dad. His sexuality was the biggest elephant in the room but neither of them could manage to talk about it.

College was an escape from her life at home. This is why, during her breaks, she would purposely stay in her dorm to avoid going back. I think it became a distraction, even. She immersed herself in her studies so she wouldn't have to go back to her life with her father and mother. It was her exit. Being a professor symbolized an achievement she was able to reach without either of her parents support.

Haywire

Haywire was one of my favorites essays so far. When I started to read it, I got completely immersed in the story. Throughout the essay, there's a whole mystery about the author's father's sexuality. While I was reading, I found myself trying to figure it out about her father, his behavior and personality. What was him? Why did he like cross-dressing? When did it start?  Sadly, I still have these questions unanswered.
Another thing that I was trying to figure it out was the relationship between father and daughter. At the beginning why did he leave her with her mother knowing about her mother disability? Also, it seems that there's a strong bond between father and daughter, she said that she loves him and likes to be with him even when she was uncomfortable with his behavior but why didn't she try to talk to him and resolve their problems? Why did she wait till the last minute to talk about their issues?
The end of the essay left me very dissatisfied, first because it did not answer the questions that you have through the essay. Second, because I wanted to read more about the last conversation between father and daughter and also if her father did actually answer to her question? However, overall I did enjoy reading this essay a lot! I was full of mystery and it made reading it till the end without stop.

Haywire Reaction

When finishing the essay Haywire, it left me wanting to read more especially because it ended with a cliff hanger. It left me wanting to know how the conversation went with the author and her father, also leaving me with some questions to be answered such as, what was the authors reaction to her father when he said "You knew about that? " at the end of the essay and why did the author wait until the last minute when her father was in such a bad condtion to ask him such a personal question?. Even throughout the essay I felt angry that the author didn't confront her father and ask him, what was going on but instead she isolated herself and was too scared  to approach him with the many questions she had and because of that she lived most of her life confused of who her father really was. The essay was interesting but as I kept on reading it left me more with questions than answers. Thinking back I realized, it was what made the essay so interesting and it made the reader want to keep reading more. Overall this essay was a fun read, and it made me think a lot of how people could react differently to situations like in the essay.

Haywire was much more interesting than the other essays we had to read, for me. Reading Haywire had me interested from the beginning to the end. It had me on the edge of my seat wondering if Sellers was ever going to ask her father about "what" and "who" he was and I was so eager to know the answer. I was disappointed at the ending but it caught my eye when Fred said "you knew about that." That caught my eye because it made me think that Fred was shocked that someone, especially his own daughter, was paying attention to him when he thought no one was.

group critics

having group critics every time we start another essay is really helpful for me because I get so many peoples opinion about my draft, and different people telling me what they like about my essay so I can extend on it and what they think I should expand on is super helpful. knowing that I can better my essay before I hand it in helps my grades. today 3 people looked over my essay and told me I should go more into details about my me wanting to pursue my fashion career because I didn't give that much info, I'm glad they were so blunt about it because now I can fix my essay before I hand it in.

haywire

Reading haywire was very interesting to me, the story itself caught my attention from the beginning. starting from how she didn't know her dads identity from a very young age and even till she grew older she didn't understand him at all, her mother who was very strict which pushed her to go live with her dad even though she was so embarrassed of him. as the story grew, I realized a lot of her childhood tormented her through out her teenage years, she didn't have any friends and after she was old with a good job, she didn't want to look back at her past at all. rekindling with her dad made all the childhood memories come back, for starters she didn't want to stay with him even when her aunt begged her to. I feel like she pushed her past so far away from herself that she forgot it was even there. I felt really bad for her dad because he was hurt no one wanted to stay with him and from his perspective he really never got to fully transform into the person he wanted to be, it'd be really cool if there was another story but all from his perspective instead of hers.

Library Visit

Thanks for all of your work yesterday at the library. Prof. Mohess has already responded to your questions. I'll also put this link on Blackboard.

Someone asked if a retired teacher can be used as your primary source. As Prof. Mohess said, you should always ask your prof. It says on the assignment sheet that if you would like to interview someone other than a QCC prof, you need to get approval from me. So speak to me if you'd like to do this.

Haywire

I found Haywire to be the most interesting essay we've read so far. It was so different in comparison to the last three yet so relevant to the times now. I think that from the beginning, I was just as confused about Heather Seller's father as she was herself. How could this man, who appeared as just that on the outside, also be attracted to wearing, lipstick, powder, and nail polish? How could he shave every inch of his body and wear brassieres under his clothes? Better yet, why? By the end of the essay, we never really get the answer.

I got the impression the man was private. If Seller's knew about his little secret, and she did, her father didn't talk about it. I think he was hurting in all of his confusion. He cried a lot in the story, I noticed. Sometimes in the middle of the night while sitting on the sofa, sometimes during long drives and weeknight dinners. His chain-smoking, attraction to women, his pleasure in heterosexual porn,  all seemed like such a contradiction, but maybe he was just playing his part. Maybe he was pretending to be something that he wasn't or convincing himself that he was. Then again, it's possible he did find pleasure in all of these things while simultaneously finding happiness in women's attire.

Defining who Fred was became so important because it brought us one step closer to understanding. If Seller's father labeled himself as gay, we knew what he was and what that meant. We knew what he wasn't. However, it's challenging to understand when we don't exactly know what that person is or how they choose to be seen. Labels, especially in terms of gender or sexuality, can be controversial. It's a touchy subject considering some decide to forego them all together. Sometimes, things aren't so black and white.

"Haywire"

So what do you make of Heather Sellers' father in "Haywire"? How do you reconcile his seeming performance of manhood (attracted to women, wears boots and jeans, watches hetero porn, etc.) and his dressing in women's underwear? On p. 240, Sellers writes, "What was he?" Why is that important to define? How did you react to the end of the essay?

For Sellers, the fact that her father was "haywire," or strange, had a profound affect on her. Why do you think that is?

We're all writing about our college experience (and what led up to it). What did college, and then graduate school and then being a professor, symbolize for Sellers? How is that similar and/or different from what school symbolizes for you?

I found the best line from “The Book of the Dead” to be the following, found on page 138: “I am a married man and have a family. God/ knows if they can do anything for me/ it will be appreciated if you can do anything for me/ let me know soon /.” It put things into perspective as a reader, knowing that these were real, every day people with real families and every day struggles. It shows their desperation and fear. They had people to come home to and, unfortunately, they had tragedy awaiting them. Reading the essay was challenging because of the death of all these workers, how they suffered with silicosis, and how it was also during a time where African Americans were treated with such prejudice. 

How does the essay comment on race?

In the essay black people are looked down upon and not treated fairly. In the accident where the workers were exposed to dangerous chemicals(silica dust) hundreds of workers died of lung disease.  Most of the workers were black people.  When they needed a place to be buried the main cemeteries would not accept the bodies because of their color.  Also when the company issued settlements the black workers received much less money than their fellow workers. 

After re-reading The Book of the Dead in order to fully grasp the meaning behind it, I noticed that religion was a prominent role throughout the essay. Since the Egyptians were big on the after life and reincarnation in general, they wanted to bring the people back to life. Death was seen in a negative light. These people went as far as praying to the non-living as an attempt to bring them back. Additionally, race is is another theme the essay brings up. Black families went without food and work, freezing through the winter. Cemeteries made up of mostly white people wouldn’t accept blacks who had died. They, unfortunately, didn’t have the same privileges as others. Even when it came to their death. 

The group critique we had was really helpful for me towards my literacy narrative. I got good and helpful feedback which made me try to write a better narrative. Professor Talbird's feedback made me go in depth in my narrative and it helped me even more. I was able to know what to specifically add in my narrative. Hopefully, I do good on this second essay.

group critique

            To be honest i didn't know what to expect from the group critique we had to do. it turned out       to be extremely helpful to me in the writing process. together with professor Talbird's notes i made          major expansions and revisions to the first draft. the peer responses were also a big help since i
   was able to determine what "potential readers" found entertaining or confusing. I'm really                 beginning to appreciate professor Talbird's teach style. in the short time we've been here in the semester i feel like I'm already improving as a writer.

While reading "The Book of the Dead", I felt hurt because of the tragic event that happened at the time. Workers in West Virginia dying because they were exposed to silica dust, lung cancer silicosis. Moore talked about the racial elements of how the Union Carbides treated black miners. The black workers who died because of the silica dust, didn't have graves in the cemetery like the white workers who died.

After reading "The book of the dead" By Catherine Venable I realized that religion was a big part of the Egyptian 's. The Egyptian's believed in reincarnation and the after-life which is the belief that when someone dies they would be resurrected in another body and spirit/soul. They believe that this would keep happening and live forever because they believed death was a bad thing so they would try to bring back the person by praying and talking to the dead.

Reading the essay "The Book Of Dead" By Catherine Venable Moore became a little more questionable on why many of these people died , i know that there religion played a big role in this , they believed in the after life and wanting to bring people back to life . They prayed to talk to the dead but after reading the essay , i wasn't sure on why would they want to disturb the dead and not letting them rest in peace. What was it so important to them?

The Book of the Dead Response

While reading the essay "The Book of the Dead" by Catherine Venable Moore I couldn't help but feel like an event in our human timeline was done dirty. With such a tragic event and inhumane, the writing should have done it justice. Through the whole essay, an underlying tone of ingenuine was somewhere weaved in the essay. I genuinely feel like the essay was done to capitalize on an interesting subject not to bring awareness. Besides the feeling of appropriation, the actual wording and narrative were boring and underwhelming. I felt like I was reading a documentary and not a good one at that. Maybe I had higher expectations due to the first two essays I've read in this book but this wasn't it.

Reading the essay “The Book of The Dead” By Catherine Venable Moore was quite a challenge for me. It was really long and it took me a couple of days to actually finished it. The reason was due to the complex vocabulary within the essay. As a person whose English isn't my first language, many of the words were unknown to me. Sometimes, I had to read a paragraph multiple times to be able to understand the meaning of it. However, the essay was really enjoyable and I was really interested in the reading. The way that the author was describing the setting and how specific she was by doing it was pretty fascinating. Also, the way that she combined the past and the present into different paragraphs made it more engageable and understandable to read in the way that she's explaining everything for people that actually have no idea about many of the US background. In conclusión, although it was difficult for me to understand, it was really entertaining to read it.

   The book of the dead written by Muriel Rukeyser responded to the worst industrial disaster in U.S. history, the Gauley tunnel tragedy. This event killed hundreds of workers, most of them African  American, but their families didn't get corresponding compensation or even forgotten. Through the investigation of the survivors and the site of the accident, as well as the combination of the poem of the book of the dead, Rukeyser revealed the phenomenon that the bourgeoisie severely struck the workers. In that cases, we can figure out that racial discrimination is still a ubiquitous social problem. Even though the government departments have repeatedly proposed to eliminate racial discrimination, I think some ineradicable thoughts cannot be changed in a short time.

The Book of the Dead

Here are the questions that we discussed in class on Thurs. There are no entries required on the blog next week. However, you must make entries this week, at least two, on "The Book of the Dead." You may respond to any of the questions are ask your own.

“The Book of the Dead” by Catherine Venable Moore

1)   How does Moore’s essay use Muriel Rukeyser’s poem cycle “The Book of the Dead”? In what ways do the two texts interact w/ each other?

2)   In what ways do Moore’s essay and Ruykeyser’s poem use the original Egyptian “The Book of the Dead”?

3)   How does Moore create a sense of place for you? What is her West Virginia like and how does it come alive?

4)   How does the essay comment on race?

5)   How does the essay comment on economic class?

6)   What role does religion play in the essay?

Bonus Questions:

a)    What do you think is the best line or passage from the essay?

b)   What line or passage do you have a question about?

I had a one on one discussion with professor tallbird last Thursday and it really helped me because he told my what I could do better on my essay and answered tons of my question, I found this really helpful because it made me feel better and I felt more confident about sharing my essay, we also had our group critics where we all read our essays out loud and each of us corrected one another and helped each other fix our essays. I enjoy doing group things in our class because we get a second opinion about whatever it is were working on and it feels good to know that were not alone in the problems were having with writing.

  This Thursday, we had group critiques about our own drafts in the class.  You know, it was my first time to ask to write an essay with so many pages which challenged me because  I had never written it in that case. I just could finish an essay on one page that was my limit. In the class, even though I  had an only one-page draft to share, I  gained a lot from my classmates and my professor which were useful to me. They suggested that my essay should connect with more about my experiences and gave more specific details. With the help of their suggestions, I think I will write the essay much better than ever before.

After reading one part of the  story, the reader is the pro protagonist, I get a lot of from it. One of the messages is that in some cases, what you see is not true, and you shouldn't believe it. In the story, I know that the woman 's ex-husband told her that his life was an open book before dating. However, after they married, something had changed. The wife realized that her husband killed a man for a girl. Also, her husband being  sarcastic said that never judge a book by its cover. The woman thought he was a monster while the husband thought  he was a hero. Absolutely, it just from how people judge in their ways. Most of times, there is no denying that people are  more likely to know others by their appearances. From this way, I think it is not respectful to others, and we should stop this.

This literacy is a narrative because the author presents herself as the victim.  In the passage the author tells us about her failed marriage with her husband.  She first tells us about how her husband used to say "Baby my life is an open book".  As time went by and her husband started drinking and becoming more angry his aphorism changed from "Baby my life is an open book" to "Never judge a book by its cover".  The change in aphorisms was used to foreshadow the husband telling the author that he once killed a man who raped a neighborhood girl.  The passage gets ironic when he tries to portray himself as the hero for killing the man while having the author trapped in the corner of the bedroom.

I think this passage is really interesting because she mentioned how her husband changed after getting married. I like the phrase when he said "Never judge a book by its cover" sometimes we judge books just by looking at the cover  without even read the introduction and we said  oh that book must be boring, but if we really try to discover a little bit more on the contents we might change our perspective about the book. The author shows that the same thing happens in the personality of people.The author also explains her fear of her husband when he tells his story of how he killed a rapist. I think  he was narrating his story to create fear in her, but she wanted to run after that. His husband did not show regretful, he thinks that the rapist deserved it.

A paragraph in The Reader is the Protagonist

Since the story began, you could feel the bunch of feelings that she's transmitting; one of these feelings was a big fear towards something or, in this case, someone. So, you start to formulate questions about the feelings that she’s showing, and the situation that she’s in as well. She was running away with her family that's how the essay started. However, the question was why did she do it? was because she did something and she has to hide? Another question that came to my mind was: why did she continue on calling her partner the "new-husband"? As I read the paragraph, what it came to my mind was that this was the climax. This part is when the author chose to explain the conflict of the essay. She explained why she ran away, why she was in fear of going out, and why she chose to start a new life. This part is when you finally understand what the story is about; When the questions that you have since the essay started were respond. All of this was about her ex-husband, who as it says in the essay was threatening her. That’s why she told the story about him and the person he killed.So as a result, She was scared of being killed by him. Therefore, she chose to ran away and start a new life, a happy life, without being afraid of her husband trying to kill her family and her.

After reading that passage i feel like author's ex-husband has been through a lot in his childhood in New York like his time in army and his various other jobs. he was not scared to tell his wife about the truth that he killed a rapist because he knew that he was right but his wife got scared and started thinking that her husband is a murderer.after reading this passage i feel like her ex husband hasn't done anything wrong because a they mentioned in the passage the the person who raped a girl has gotten away with it because the crime either was unreported or investigated improperly.he killed that person because the rapist bragged about having dated a neighborhood girl. the rapist said ugly women needs love too. but the wife still did not believe him so he pincered her bicep until it burned. at this point of the story i feel like her husband was lying and just trying to threaten her like what he is capable of.

During the reading of "The Reader Is the Protagonist" the ex-wife and her family had to run away from her first husband. The husband told her about the time he killed a man back in New York. he tried to make is seem like it was the right thing to do by saying the man he killed raped a girl and that no one would miss him or even cared about him. After this everything that she thought she knew about him was completely wrong. This is showed by his own words in the book at one point he states "Baby, my life is a open book" to "Never judge a book by its cover".

Response to " The Reader Is the Protagonist "

Throughout the reading the author who is portrayed as the victim is full of confusion when confronting her ex-husband. She feels as though she knows only the outside of the man she once married because on the inside, he is full of dark secrets that to her are hard to believe. Clues of how her ex-husband acts and what he carries such as a gun, leads her to believe that all he is says might have some truth to it but she just doesn't want to believe it. She was full of fear from what her now ex-husband was capable of, she was lied from the beginning by the man she married thinking he was different but then quickly realize that he was never a open book but a man who was in hiding thinking he was a hero.

In The Reader Is the Protagonist, Karen Palmer is giving us a timeline of her domestic abusive relationship with her ex husband. She tells us about the time when her ex told her that he killed a man. He wasn't an ordinary man, he was a rapist. He thought he was being a hero when he killed the rapist. He thought killing the man as the right thing to do since he's used to killing people, since he was an army man. Him killing and protecting the girl shows irony. It's ironic because he protected the girl that was getting raped but he abused his own wife. He thinks himself as a hero when in fact he was acting the same way towards his wife by being abusive. He made his wife think he was someone else, a good person in the beginning of their marriage by saying, "baby, my life is an open book" to saying, "Never judge a book by its cover", showing his true side by being abusive and being drunk. I feel like he told his wife about this story to tell and show her what he's capable of.

After reading what we read in class I noticed that the ex-husband is very violent and tends to terrorize his ex-wife and she feels that he can be a threat to her. Even though the took the law into his own hands, it is still wrong to murder someone and have no remorse about it, because he was in the army so he doesn't have a hard time killing people without remorse which is scaring the wife

Ashley Velasquez                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

           "The reader is the protagonist" makes very good text evidence there are many points in the essay where you can actually have a vision  in your mind about whats going on , she says her ex-husband murders this man who's a rapist and he thinks he's a hero, he was once in the army and he was always saving people so his mind set is still like if he was still in the army and its kind of sickening  because she's becoming afraid of this man who's shes still currently living with. Wishing she would've finished her story.  

In the text " The Reader is a Protagonist" we learn about an ex wife and her family running away from her ex husband . We learned that he is a murderer , yet the wife isn't clear  she states "he wanted me to see him, as someone to be mortally feared. He was instructing me ,  in the clearest way , as to what he was capable of". She doesn't know , not sure whether he did it or not . Back then she didn't see any false hope in him because he said "Baby my life is an open book". But realizing it that after they were married , things changed between them , and he would always say "Never judge a book by its cover" .

The Reader is the Protagonist

                Based on the reading it seems the narrator of "The Reader is the Protagonist" wants the readers to see the monster that her ex-husband is. She begins by giving the readers a vivid picture if the man her ex-husband was. When they first were dating he was very open with her saying the phrase "Baby, my life is an open book". However, after they married she began to see that a lot of the words that he spewed were just lies. If she ever complained about his erratic behavior, he would say " Never judge a book by its cover". This was a contradiction to what he had said earlier to her.  Eventually he told her about the murder he had committed at the end of a terrible fight they had over a broken dish. He goes on to say that he killed a man that had raped a neighborhood girl but the man was never convicted for the crime. The narrators husband goes on the say that he had run into the rapist at the drinking hole in New York. Together they shut the place down drinking and talking about their lives. Afterwards the narrators husband suggested they take a walk by the East River and right there by the water was where he had shot the rapist. He pushed the body into the water with no remorse and claimed the rapist was trash that no one would miss. All while he's talking about his so called heroism he is grabbing his wife arms clearly hurting her. He thinks he's a hero but in reality he just seems like a mad man. The narrator realizes that he fooled her and he wasn't the man that she thought she knew. Now she just wants the reader to see that too.

The passage we read in class today was very suspenseful for my opinion. Throughout the passage we see a structure which creates suspense and anticipation. The passage mainly refers to  Karen's ex husband who is an alcoholic murder. while reading the passage i personally had a dark image in mind, which expressed how frightened Karen is about her life due to her ex husband. Karen's ex husband as explained in the passage kidnapped there two children and killed a so called rapist just so she can end her relationship with her new husband. The ex husband basically thinks of himself as an hero, while on the other side his wife views him as an drunk crazy person. As i read the passage i viewed Karen as a victim who is being taunted, just because she left a certain person she did not want in her life.  Now living in fear, Karen worries about herself and her two children! 

In The Reader Is the Protagonist, Karen Palmer is looking for an escape from her old life with her two daughters and new husband by her side. They travel by car with new names and Karen with newfound hope that maybe, if they're lucky, they won't be found. The book could be considered a literacy narrative, as Karen contemplates her love for books and how she ends up distancing herself from them. She reflects on literature while reading to her daughters, and in the end, she finally has her own tucked in her side. The story follows the precise timeline from the moment Karen gets in a car and she goes on to explain the criminal who was her husband. He was abusive both during their relationship and after, and she showcases that as the story progresses.  That's what makes this a literacy narrative, the narrator is telling a story. She's not just telling us what happened but she's showing us using dialogue and description. She adds the element of suspense, leaving the reader at the edge their seats, eager for more. Including such structure is what makes the story an enticing read.

The text we read in class mentioned a mysterious character who tries to give off a murderer personality that he may believe shoots fear into people. The character seems like hes telling off a foreshadowing story that may come back into play later on in the passage. The passage mainly looks likes its focused in on one topic which is about karen's ex and the devious murderer. The passage gave me an idea of how i might shape my writing skills because of how it keeps the reader hooked on so that they keep reading and wanting to find out more about what happens down the line. The book is filled with suspense and mystery which will hopefully lead to a plot twist. As we keep reading along the passage you notice how karen falls as more and more as a victim because she basically got tortured because of someone else's point of view about her.

The Reader Is The Protagonist Response

Through the passage we see a clear architectural like building while reading. We see a structure that is based to create suspense and a "pathos". The pathos is suspense and empathy. While we read this thriller like script we see a build up. Basing the whole passage on a refuge from her ex husband who is an alcoholic murderer. We're painted a picture of darkness in a apartment where Karen the narrator and protagonist speaks about her frightful life with a man who is not only a veteran and father of two but a drinker who supposedly killed a rapist in an act of vigilance and kidnapped her children and only returned them in exchange for Karen to end her relationship with her new husband who at the time was having an affair with. The author creates this double sided view on the main antagonist. Everything in this passage seems to contradict each other. The reader is often left to pick how he/she wishes to judge the character.
  The whole narrative creates not only a sense of victim-like pity on Karen but creates a whole sense of urgency and heroine like traits for her as well. Her ethos is a dual personality split. The damsel in distress and the brave women who packed her bags and left an abusive relationship. Although Karen and her ex is not the only bi dimensional character here. The new husband also fits the dual character system she has built for us.
 In the last element of Karen's use of rhetoric we see her use of "logos". Logos is the author trying to persuade the reader with facts,narrative and credibility. The whole passage is like previously stated a double sided argument but also carries feminist elements and creates the illusion that Karen is a victim and has bravery to create a new life. We've seen and gone over points in which Karen is not only made to seem a victim but really was a victim trapped with a psychotic husband and two innocent children. A woman who created a plan with her new husband to run away with the kids and start a new life. A woman who did the what every person deserves and creates a new life for herself

The reader is the protagonist

This section of this passage sets how the life of the main character changed! And how her ex husband  is a killer. The reader can determine how the killer is a hero or not. Because she sets up the events and  she gives vivid details on what exactly happen. The fear that she tried running away before the divorce happened. She is basically showing how her life shifts from a past tense view and what she have went through. Talking about rape allows the reader to feel empathy with each character knowing how intense this problem is. It makes you want to read more and more to know how she is doing! The author uses what she went through as a baseline on how her life and the actions that she will take will be affected based on what she went through.
Like for example, if she haven’t heard that her husband was a murderer she would of just stick with the job even after reading all those books. She won’t have the fear like she did! And she would read them as if it’s normal books stack there for entertainment.

Meghna Tuladhar

Reading through " the reader is the protagonist" the author came up with a really good suspenseful story, which made the readers really get into it. i personally enjoyed reading it, the story was very catchy, how her husband supposedly killed a man and felt no remorse after whatsoever she didn't believe him. maybe because she was in denial or she was really scared of him. either way she never brought it up and what really caught my attention was how she left the readers wondering and switched the topic to new subject where she talks about how theres multiple other murders in a whole new state.

      Based on "The Reader is a Protagonist", the text we read portrays the background of the narrator and her violent ex-husband when they were once together. We also learn that the ex-husband is a murderer and is capable of hurting people around him, which sheds light on the upcoming events in the text. His past also foreshadows reasoning to why him and his ex-wife are no longer together.

response to reading in class

The author presents herself as the victim of an abusive relationship. She describes how her now ex-husband used various fear tactics in order to control her feelings, by grabbing her by the wrist and cornering her in her bedroom. He also goes on to talk about a time he murdered somebody, but then justifies it by claiming the man he murdered is a rapist, painting a picture that he is the hero. The irony in the situation is that he "defends" a girl in her honor by murdering a rapist, but here he is abusing his own wife. The author then goes on to describe how bitter husbands can commit heinous acts, even from a long distance away. She tells a story about a man who hired a hit-man to kill his ex wife, her disabled son, and her disabled son's caretaker all to get the insurance money protecting the sons life. Because of this knowledge she has, she believes that her ex-husband could legitimately cause her and her children harm.

structure in "the reader is the protagonist"

             The author is telling her story of dealing with domestic violence. She structures it by making a timeline of her relationship with her ex-husband. the author begins with their meeting and the naive outlook she had at her husbands manner of being. it then moves to the threats and psychological mind games the husband plays such as hem recounting a murder he committed when he was younger. It just escalates to the dishes breaking and the manhandling. it is a constant progression of the ex husbands anger and her ensuing fear and paranoia of his capabilities.

Answers to questions about "working the city"

The author and Cato rebook their flights every week because it makes their dream seem real to them,it makes it tangible. The essay is written in the present tense because the author is still in Africa trying to "work the city" into funding he and Cato's dream of an American education. He refers to his hustling around the city, going door to door of banks and offices, dressing up to manipulate gaurd's perceptions of him as "working the city". I know they refered to USA as America for several reasons, first being they called it the "American dream" which we all know refers to immigrants coming to the USA in the pursuit of life,liberty, and happiness. Secondly the author mentioned that the scholarships he and Cato received were for universities in Ohio. Last but not least you never hear anyone refer to Canada, Guyana, or Honduras as America, its the short version of USA like calling Dunkin' Donuts "Dunkin". It is a literacy narrative because the entire story revolves around the letters they bonded over,write and deliver daily, and how the writing of the letters have given them purpose and hope in a country full of filth and despair.

Korina Gialamboukis

    After reading the syllabus, I thoroughly understand and comprehend the class requirements, rules, and assignments that will be done within the course. Most sections in the syllabus are self-explanatory and fair. I am looking forward to reading The Best American Essays 2017, and learning skills that I have not yet acquired throughout the years of reading and writing.

 

    My experience with writing has always been positive. Growing up, I loved writing down not only my thoughts and events that took place, but even essays and more. Reading has always been one of my interests, and through the course of high school has helped improve both my vocabulary and writing skills.

"Working the City" & "The Reader Is the Protagonist"

These are just some questions that I have. It is not necessary for you to answer all of these questions. Choose which ones you find most interesting to explore. You may have others. Ask them!


"Working the City":

• Cato and Matambo (the author) rebook their flights to America every week although they don't have the money to buy them yet. Why?
• They refer to the USA as "America," but America is really a continent comprising North, Central, and South America and is made up of 35 countries. Why is it that we know what they mean? 
• What does going to school in the US symbolize for Cato and Matambo?
• On p. 107, Matambo quotes from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist:

What is the significance? 

• What does it mean to "work the city"? 
• Why is the essay written in present tense? 

"The Reader Is the Protagonist":

• How is this a literacy narrative?
• What is the significance of The Monster at the End of This Book?

Syllabus entry

          I’m really excited for this class because of the theme of this course!! It seems like we’re not just going to know about others, we will also learn about ourselves too! For the first assignment we will write something that talk about our personal experience! And I feel like the atmosphere of the class is not as I was expecting it to be, it’s actually better and feels more as a place where it’s easy to let your thoughts out! I’ve struggled with writing pretty much so I’m looking forward to improve it with professor John! :)