Presentations and a Class Reflection.....

Over the past couple of class periods I have had the privilege in seeing some amazing presentations. I just wanted to briefly go over some of the ones that stood out to me. I guess I will start with Rosa.....it was just a beautiful written passage that she read us. If you honestly were to ask me what it was about I am not sure, but I remember the creativeness as well as honesty in her voice. Honestly, I will not forget her three minutes in which she read us her paper.

Kasidy had an extremely interesting way in connecting all of the names in Lolita back to their origin. One name to note is the name RITA. Rita is the pearl of the book.

Valarie displayed a gothic version of the abduction stories we see throughout American Literature. She used examples of Daizy Miller, Patty Hurst, and Lolita, saying that is it a women's choice to be abducted. She ended with saying that Lolita is AMERICA, and got this information from "Love and Death in the American Novel" by Leslie Fieldler.

Jesse made me realize just how much we all go nuts over these novels trying to find connections. He made his connections through South Park, the Simpsons, henry James, Citizen Kane, Hemmingway, need I really go on.....

Serena brought in a bunch of American Gothic photos, giving us an idea into her thoughts on the painting. She talked about all of the different parodies and how Nabokov states that parody is just a game.

Gosh there were just so many great ideas that have come up in the past couple of class periods. I know that there were more, but ya'll were there. These were just ones that stood out to me!

I have learned so much about myself in this class. From realizing that the little things in the book matter, to realizing my innocence and invisibility in American Literature....I feel that I have truely grown up over the course of the semester. I would have to say that exploring the mind of Wallace Stevens has led me to many sleepless nights and epiphanies that I dreamed I could never possibly come up with. Before, Lolita was just a name. Now it is not just a name but a meaning of metamorphasis. Lolita is a beautiful butterfly and I would have never come up with that on my own. Now....maybe. I have realized the importance of aesthetic bliss and how everything and anything can be connected through art with curiosity, tenderness, kindness, and ecstacy.

The Wizard of Oz is no longer just a movie to me. It is a replication of all stories, and the attempt to find oneself over a period of time. It is a projection of the real world. I would have to say that there are so many things that I know now that I did not know yesterday that it would be useless for me to go through them all. I will tell you this, I will not longer be looking at just the words of a text.....but the lines that are between the texts. There is so much meaning in everything that we read....and I think it ultimately comes back to us, and our understanding of ourselves and the life we live.

I have had a most amazing experience in this class and thank all of you for going along with me and sharing it :)

Kim