Reflection-- The Crucible and Nature Walk Essay

Reflection
Part 1-- Thinking and Writing

My four pieces are my Memoir, Scarlet Letter Essay, Crucible Essay, and Nature Walk Essay, but I'll mainly be talking about the two on my blog; My Crucible essay and my Nature Walk essay. When I wrote the Crucible essay, it was after I had written my memoir and Scarlet letter essay, and I still wasn't really used to writing essays, so I was pretty annoyed while writing it; all I was trying to do was figure out how to write a good essay so I could get a good grade on it. It was a metaphor essay about how John Proctor related to a television. Coming up with similarities and differences between each wasn't difficult, but actually writing it in an essay form proved to be a little bit, at first; I had to learn how to keep my main focus on the character John Proctor, and not on what he was being compared to, and also how to be more subtle about how I wrote it and how to better correlate him in my writing to what was actually in the play. It was difficult when I went back and did revisions, because when I had originally wrote the essay, the diction was pretty swift, and every time I went in and added something that may have sounded good in my head, it wouldn't fit; it always seemed too long-winded while everything else moved along smoothly. When I wrote my Nature Walk essay, I was mainly trying to figure out how to make it sound good; I was honestly trying to figure out a way to put more of my 'heart' into my work and how to make it sound like me. I also wanted to be able to add quotations where they seemed most legit and like they really belonged instead of just throwing them in anywhere, and I think I accomplished that for the most part. The essay was about how I agreed with their (Emerson and Thoreau's) ideas with Transcendentalism even though my experience on the nature walk wasn't as nice as I might have liked, and how I can acknowledge the differences between their beliefs and mine. When I first wrote it, it seemed too informal and not really like an essay at all; just like my thoughts being thrown onto a sheet of paper, and I actually had to go back and make it more formal, even though it was supposed to be an informal essay. After I put a little less of me in it and changed things 'here and there' about a thousand times, I thought it was perfect, but Mrs. Turner commented on how I needed to fix my comma errors, so I had to go back and read about them and then fix them. Basically, I better learned about how to use commas (which has actually helped a lot!). In the end, I really loved how I did on this essay and the comments I received from Mrs. Turner, and I noticed how this was a pattern; with every essay I wrote, I liked the proceeding one a little more than the one before it, and I've improved my writing and thinking skills drastically (in my opinion). Three things I have learned that have helped me the most was how to write an essay (obviously), learning when and where to add commas, and that practice with writing and revisions only serves to help in the long run.

Part 2-- Process of Revision

In all four essays, I revised for new ideas; but the craft lessons we learned are probably least apparent in my Crucible essay; but my revisions consisted of me having to change who my focus was on in the essay, and I also had to relate John Proctor to the theme of the play. I really liked the first paragraph but the second proved to be very hard; there seemed to be no easy way to compare John to a TV without it sounding corny, and so I think a lot of it was awkward; but adding how he related to the theme of the play made it seem less forced and more natural; probably because then the whole paragraph wasn't literally about the comparisons and contrasts between the two. In the conclusion, it was hard to restate what I proved in the essay without sounding really redundant because the essay wasn't very long, and when you summarize something seemingly short, it can sound almost the same. An example of where I revised for new ideas is in my Crucible essay is when I added how he contributes to the theme of the play (I decided it was betrayal), and this is evident mainly in the second paragraph when it talks about how Abigail was able to 'throw' and 'smash' John: [link]. In my Nature Walk essay, I revised the whole thing when I tried to not make it as personal as I had originally, and when I had to fix the first sentence so my classmates would actually know what I was talking about when they read it. Using the 'Examples of Transcendental Thought' sheet and practicing writing quotes helped me revise my quotes so they fit the essay, and so it flowed smoothly after doing so. I fixed any and all awkward sentences after I made it not so personal, and because the essay is pretty long, I avoided too much (obvious) repetition in the last paragraph. An example where I revised using craft lessons learned is in the Nature Walk essay like I just stated (through the quotes): [link] And the example of fixing the awkward sentence structure can be found in the Crucible (after I added how John related to the theme): [link]

Part 3-- Learning from your Classmates
One of the most important things I learned is that it's important to use good word choice and diction while writing an essay; it helps to form the tone and over all feel of your essay, and I saw this as very apparent in Luke's Nature Essay; as you can see, it sounds professional and well written. Another important thing I learned is how to be persuasive in an essay, and this is apparent in Natalie's Scarlet Letter Essay; as you can see, her calm tone of voice makes the essay very believable. Another important thing I learned, I got from Dylan; after reading his Crucible Essay, I realized how you're never really supposed to use 'I' in essays; hence, 'One' could say... I actually remember an English teacher talking about it one year, but he helped me remember, and I think it's important. :)

Nature Walk

As we hiked up the hill towards the woods, I was just relieved that we were taking a break from the classroom; I didn't really care about the fact that we were taking a nature walk; and as we scuttled down to the woods edge, I began to anticipate a little bit about just breaking away from the others and heading in my own direction. When Mrs. Turner finally gave the word, we were off, and most of us went our seperate ways. My particular experience in the woods was okay, but I may have liked it a little more if people didn't keep running by me and weren't just standing around talking to each other. It was hot, and I walked into a few spider-webs, and there were also thorns. I tried to really think about it and enjoy it from time to time, but I was too distracted. People were talking about getting poison oak and laughing, and I ventured off. I ducked under trees and got turned around a few times; then I noticed the leaves everyone seemed to be so afraid of, and when the light beamed on them, tapering through the tree silhouettes, and washed over them with a kind of radiance, the glow transmitting through them allowed me to see the textures on both sides of the leaves; and these few, boundless moments reminded me of the bottom of a forest floor in some kind of exotic jungle. The air was thick with moisture, but it was hot and seemed arid. It was hard to come up with imagery in my head while walking around because the constant movement and voices of engaging students kept breaking my train of thought.

Though this particular adventure did not turn out like I may have liked, I do like Thoreau and Emerson and the ideas of Transcendentalism; one reason being because I naturally love the outdoors; I love going out and looking at a waning sky as the colors melt from blue into hues of red, yellow, and orange, and watching/feeling the sun melt into these gold-rimmed memories... the feel of an idealistic world is so nice: "One might think the atmosphere was the perpetual presence of the sublime."(219); it is cordial to a cut and dry existence. All and all, their writing reminds me of my own perspective, so I see it as very beneficial. Aside from being appealing to the heart, their ideas of transcendentalism teach different clever philosophies that may actually compel you to move ahead in life. For example, in transcendentalism, it's better to be a nonconformist than to conform, and Emerson goes to explain how being a misunderstood individual is often better than being part of an understood collective: "Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today-- "Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood"-- Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood..."(225) Another example could be showing confidence, because it is often the brave and confident who find success in the end, and it is Thoreau who has the confidence to post how much money he spent on making his house: "The exact cost of my house, paying the usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work, all of which was done by myself, was as follows; and I give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various materials which composed them--"(236) Also, it's philosophies like these that allow a person to open their minds eye; and I also like how the differences in their writings actually are able to harmonize and help bring out the best in each other.

My experience today was not how I usually experience nature, but the actual experience was different from the way they wrote about it; for example, in 'from Nature' by Emerson, he describes how luxurious and extravagant nature can be, and goes into detail about how exhilarating it is to go and embrace this natural universe; but during my experience, I got stuck by pines, walked through spider-webs, and it was hot: "Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of a special good fortune, and enjoyed perfect exhilaration."(220) Thus, when it comes to being idealistic, what actually is there isn't always the same (even if it often is in my own world), and anyone should be able to acknowledge the difference. I see Emerson and Thoreau's ideas of Transcendentalism to be very beneficial, even if, at first glance, my experience begs to differ.

The Crucible

In the play, The Crucible, Aurthur Miller's protagonist is John Proctor. He's a farmer and a well respected man in town, but he has a terrible secret; he's had an affair with Abigail Williams. Abigail is very vengeful towards John when he refuses to continue the affair, which causes the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials-- the persecution of accused witches-- and John, along with eventually everyone else in the town, has to suffer for it. Many innocent people are tried and hanged in a court that's based off of vengeance, all because John didn't admit for the sake of his own reputation; but when he finally does, he realizes it's far too late to turn back, and he is forced to chose between his reputation and integrity or his life; a sinful, corrupted pleasure turned into the corruption of a whole town, as Abigail found a way to corrupt John, a generally pure man.

There are many ways to symbolize a man like John; an example could even be a television. John educated people and taught them things; he tried to to tell the people of the town that the girls were lying and Hale eventually got the message; just as tv's can educate people and teach them things. Abigail had the ability to 'throw' John as she used his betrayal of his wife as ammo until the guilt 'smashed' him both mentally and symbolically; it had grown in him and grew in the town after the mass hysteria was over-- just as you can throw and smash a tv. Being a big name in the town, John was often watched; just like a television. A difference could be that he was well rounded-- he was courageous, brave, and determined; he tried to put a stop to all the false truths and the disloyalty of the people in Salem, just as he had been in the very beginning-- while tv's generally are square. John also was not lazy, and tv's tend to make people the exact opposite; and John also had the ability to be 'dark' at times and 'light up', the same way a tv is dark when turned off and then, at times, can kindle a whole room.

John taught and educated, was watched, thrown and smashed by guilt, had his light moments and dark moments, and was a seemingly judicious man; but when it comes down to it, he's the best symbol for himself.