The Impact of English 103

     In Accelerated Composition 103, I have gotten the chance to read many short stories that I would not have been introduced to otherwise. All of these short stories had a deeper meaning and I usually did not grasp this meaning until we went over it in class. I think it is interesting that an author can write a story that could mean one thing literally and something completely different when it is analyzed further. The stories that I enjoyed reading the most were the Stephen King stories. The stories we read were "Harvey's Dream" and "Boogeyman". I liked "Harvey's Dream" because it was different than a lot of the stories we have read. In this story, a man is suspected of having alzheimer's disease. He wakes up in the middle of the night and does things around his house and sees his neighbor come home with a dent in his car. His house phone rings and his daughter is on the other end of the call and something seems to be wrong. She sounds like she is hurt and when he wakes up in the morning he thinks he dreamed the phone call. When he starts explaining the story to his wife, she starts realizing that everything he said he did had been done in the house. She starts to panic and then the phone rang and the story ends. The audience were left to choose if the man character has alzheimer's of if it was just a coincidence. In "Boogeyman" a man went to a therapist to talk about how all of his children have been killed and it was his fault. He says that his children always woke him up crying and looking at the closet. After all of his kids were found in their cribs dead he found out that there was a boogeyman in the closet so they moved to a different house to try and escape it. After a while, the boogeyman ended up finding them in their new house. The man would leave his children in their room even if they were crying and obviously scared, because he wanted them to be able to sleep in their own room. All of them, however, ended up dying and he feels like it is his fault. At the end when the man left the office there was no one at the front desk so he went back to ask the therapist about it and he walking out of the closet and pulled off a mask and it was the boogeyman. Once again, the audience was left to decide if the boogeyman ate the therapist, or the therapist was the boogeyman the whole time. In both of these stephen king stories, the audience was left to decide the ending of the story and what happened. I was interested the entire time in both of these stories and they were by far my favorites. My dad is a high stephen king fan and loves reading all of his novels, so reading these stories has made me want to read more of Stephen King's writing. here stories had made me become more creative and think about things for myself. I think t has also impacted my writing and I have learned by reading all of these stories how to write better.

"Harrison Bergeron"

     In "Harrison Bergeron" America has turned into a society of complete equality. People who are supposedly supreme are given handicaps to make them not so supreme. Everyone is made equal and it is implied that this is the direction America is heading in now if we try to continue pushing equality.
     Harrison Bergeron is a symbol of the most advanced and supreme human being in this story. He is said to be a wonderful athlete, dancer, and is extremely good looking. In order to fix this, they give him weights so he is less strong, they put a red nose on him and black stuff in his teeth to make him ugly. The government tries to make him just like all of the below average Americans so everyone will be equal.
    In this story there is a ballerina scene at the end. The character Harrison Bergeron is a boy who does not believe in this equality he is being forced into, and he does not want to be a part of it. He continually pushes to change this equality and has been put in jail for it. After escaping jail, he breaks into the dance studio where the ballerinas are dancing on television, and shouting "I am the Emperor". Harrison then starts to break all of his handicaps and take off his weights. This is a form of rebel against the government because he does not agree with everyone being equal. Then, Harrison says that the first ballerina to stand up will be his empress. When a ballerina stands up, Harrison takes off and breaks off all of her handicaps as well. This is a symbol of them breaking free of the imprisonment they have been in for so long. They start dancing after this and it is described as "defying gravity". The dance is so majestic and they are kissing the ceiling and kissing each other. To me, this is a symbol of their hopeful rebirth. They are showing off their beauty. I pictured this scene as baby chicks hatching from their eggs and entering a new world. They broke through their handicaps and were able to experience a world that was so much more beautiful to them. The ballerina showed this through her dancing. The dance she was doing before with her handicaps on was not as pretty and majestic because she was weighed down. However, without her handicaps on, she was able to reach her full potential  and dance beautifully. She kissed the ceiling because she was able to get up that high without her weights on. It was something she has not been able to do and she was embracing it.
     In the end, the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, arrives and shoots both Harrison Bergeron and the ballerina. This was a symbol that any hope of changing this new form of equality in society will be shot down. If the one American who was strong enough and smart enough to change this was shot and killed for it, than there is no other hope for anyone else to try. This equality was the new way of life and everyone needed to except it.

'Hills Like White Elephants' vs. 'Cat in the Rain'

     In the short story 'Hills Like White Elephants' the women is pregnant with a baby. She is sitting at a table near the train tracks looking at the mountains in the background. She describes the hills by saying "They look like white elephants"(Hemingway). By referring to the hills as "white elephants" one can infer that she is referring to an unwanted gift that she was given. As the story continues, the reader is able to conclude that the women is pregnant and the man she is pregnant with is trying to get her to get an abortion because he does not want to be a father and have the responsibility of taking care of child. In the beginning the woman is also drinking beers with the American man which pregnant women are not supposed to do because it will harm the baby. This can also be a clue that she does not want the baby. After the man continually brings up the idea of her getting an abortion, the woman starts to get annoyed and irritated with him and ends up changing her mind about wanting the baby. She says, "They don't really look like white elephants"(Hemingway). This could mean that she has changed her mind about the baby and she no longer sees it as an unwanted gift and she wants to keep it now. In the end it is apparent that the couple will probably break up because the woman now wants the baby and the man doesn't and they end up drinking separately by the end of the story.
     In the short story "Cat in the Rain", a woman is looking out a window into a garden with a war monument when it is raining. It can be inferred that the monument is a naked man. The woman is starring out the window when she sees a cat under a table. She gets extremely excited and wants to go outside and get the cat. Her husband offers to go get the cat for her, but she insists on getting it herself. When she gets outside, the cat is gone and she gets sad because she wanted the cat really badly. When she gets back up to her room she starts naming many other things she wants including the cat. She wants to take care of it. In the end the maid comes to her door and gives her a tortoise-shell cat that the padrone wanted to give her. By the woman looking at the monument and wishing she had a cat to take care of, it is apparent that she really wants a child. However, when she went to get the cat it was gone, so the reader can infer that the woman has fertility problems and is not able to become pregnant. She wants the cat so bad to take care of, just like a child, but when she tries to have one, she is unable to.
     Both of the women in these stories are in a situation that they do not want to be in involving being pregnant. The woman in "Hills Like White Elephants" is pregnant, but does not want to be, in the beginning, and the woman in "Cat in the Rain" wishes she was able to become pregnant, but is unable to. The man in "Hills Like White Elephants" wants his girlfriend to get an abortion because he does not want to be a father and have to take care of a child, but the man in "Cat in the Rain" is willing to have a child with his wife (represented by him offering to go get the cat), but the wife is unable to become pregnant. They both start off in situations that they do not want to be in and by the end they both want end up wanting a child.

Shooting an Elephant/Banksy

            The short story “Shooting an Elephant” was set in Burma in the early 1900’s. This was when the British Empire took control of the Burmese, and the native Burmese people hated it. The main character in this short story is an English police officer who works in Burma. He continually gets ridiculed and harassed by the Burmese people because he is working for the British government. However, he hates his job and is on the Burmese’s side because he does not believe the British should have taken over Burma. One day when an elephant broke loose from it’s owner and started destroying the town, the main character was forced to take action. The elephant was trampling people, killing them and destroying houses and ruining the town. This elephant can be a metaphor for the British Empire taking over Burma and destroying the Burmese way of life. When the police officer heard about the elephant, he jumped on his horse and took his gun with him. When the people saw he was carrying a gun, they all started following him because they were excited that the police officer was going to kill the elephant. Once the police officer saw all of the people following him hoping he would kill the elephant, he felt like he had to kill the elephant even though he wasn’t going to in the first place. When he finally found the elephant, he went through an internal conflict in his head on weather he should kill the elephant or not. He thought if he killed it, he would have the respect of the Burmese people, and if he did not, they would think he is a coward and continue to disrespect him. When he finally decided to shoot the elephant, it took multiple shots until the elephant actually fell to the ground, and it took half an hour to actually die. The internal conflict the police officer had about killing the elephant could also stand for the internal conflict he has with working for the British government. He wants to quit his job, but he feels like he cannot. Having to make the decision of shooting the elephant or not could also symbolize his decision to quit working for the British government, the job he hates. The elephant is a metaphor for the British Empire and when he finally shoots the elephant it takes a lot of effort to actually kill it. This could be a metaphor for the British Empire slowly declining.

            My favorite Banksy piece of artwork is the little girl holding the balloons and the saying next to the painting that says “There is always hope”. I think this saying corresponds with all of his paintings of the girl with the heart shaped balloon flying away, or the girl holding onto the five balloons flying away with them. I think this painting symbolizes hope because balloons are seen as majestic when they are flying through the air. When the little girl is holding onto them flying away with them, I think it symbolizes her trying to escape everything she knows and to go on an adventure somewhere. It could also stand for freedom because the balloon can end up anywhere in the world and they are taking her with them. In the painting where the little girl is reaching for the red heart balloon, I think the saying “There is always hope” means that even though she is losing something she loves, there is hope in the world and things will turn out better. 

My Composing Process

     Throughout my writing career I have not had a specific process I absolutely have to follow in order to write, but I do have certain things I have to do to organize my thoughts before I start writing. When given a prompt or a question I have to write about, I have to read the prompt more than once and highlight exactly what I need to answer and include in my essay. After I know exactly what I am writing about, I have to complete a form of free-writing. During my process of free-writing, I usually just write down any ideas that come to my head about my topic. Then I start clustering them into certain categories in order for me to make a thesis statement. I am not the type of person who can come up with a well-worded thesis statement in five minutes. I have to list all of my ideas and points out and then take time to create a working thesis statement. Once I organize all of my thoughts and write them out in front of me, I am able to start my rough draft. There is no specific place I have to be when I write, as long as I have planned my thoughts out on paper, I am able to write my rough draft in one sitting. After I write my rough draft, I like to take a break from it for a while before I start revising it. When I revise my paper I have to read it very slowly to make sure my wording and sentences make sense, and to see if I have any spelling or grammer errors. After I do this, I like to give my paper to someone else to get another opinion on my writing and ideas. I want to make sure my ideas make sense and if I put them in a good order. After I get another opinion, I read my essay one more time and then I am ready to turn it in.

     In this class I am excited to analyze things and write about what I think they mean and why people did what they did. For our upcoming project about finding a commercial, visual, or essay, we are able to analyze it's rhetoric. I think for this project I am going to do a Subaru commercial. In the commercial it shows a man driving a Subaru with a puppy in the front seat going to the country to play with his dog. Then it shows the man driving the same Subaru with his wife in the front seat and the grown dog in the back seat driving to that same spot in the country. Finally, it shows the couple with a little boy in the back seat and the old dog in the very back driving out to the country in the Subaru. It goes through the man's life showing how the Subaru, just like the dog, is a loyal companion. This commercial is full of rhetoric and is what I am going to write my essay on. It will be easier to write this essay now that I have thought about what processes work for me when I am writing. 

Hannah Ross' Bio

     My name is Hannah Ross and I am a freshman at Clemson University! I chose to come to Clemson because I fell in love with the campus the first time I visited. I love how the campus is the town and it makes anyone feel at home. I grew up in Charleston, SC, and loved living five minutes away from the beach. I am an Early Childhood Education major and want to become a kindergarten teacher after college. I had an internship in a first grade classroom during my entire senior year and I was able to teach students and see what it was like to be a teacher. I love feeling like I am impacted the students in a positive way and I am so excited to start my field experience at Clemson. I have played soccer since I was five years old and I played for Wando High School for the past four years. During the time I was there, we won three state championships and was runner up on year. I miss soccer now that I am here at Clemson, but I plan to get involved in the inter mural soccer teams and other sports.
     During high school, I took Honors English for three years and then AP Literature my senior year. I loved AP Literature because we read so many different novels that I would not have picked on my own. I got to learn the deeper meanings of many novels and it made me like reading a lot more. As far as my writing goes, I do not have a huge vocabulary, but I have always loved writing. I love writing about the meaning of a work. I feel like anyone can read a novel or look at a painting and interpret it differently. I am looking forward to this English class because I love to write and because we do a blog. I have never done a blog before and I think it will be a fun thing to do.