Answer the following questions. This post should not just report on work done, but should reflect on the argumentative and organizational goals of the paper. Ideally, writing the post will help you produce a stronger draft.
- How are you thinking about your paper’s organization or key arguments right now? You might reflect here on how your textual examples connect to your paper’s overall focus or argument.
- Have you encountered any challenges or stumbling blocks?
- How has your understanding of the novel or the secondary sources changed in the process of writing?
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In my paper, Disconnected Humanity, I’ve been able to have the focus of the piece be clear to readers while giving some background about the two writing pieces the paper is touching base on, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters Written in Sweden. I’ve described the themes in both writing pieces, the messages they are trying to send as individual pieces, and how the message they are trying to convey compliment each other. I’ve provided textual evidence of the ways the authors unfold their messages through their leading figures and how what both Wollstonecraft and The Creature experience, within said writing piece, is applicable to us readers. What is now left for me to do is continue finishing up my analysis for the quotes used, tie it back to the thesis of the paper, and complete my conclusion. I believe the biggest road block will be meshing three ideas for Frankenstein at once, those three ideas being 1) Humanity was always disconnected, 2) This disconnection caused a bad influence on the creature, who is very impressionable, leading to violent tendencies and how the very same human race who in directly caused this behavior, ridicule the creature for the behavior, 3) the revelation Ivan Frankenstein has with HIS disconnect with humanity, without making things seem too all over the place.
In terms of actual writing completed, I have written an introductory paragraph and most of a body paragraph for my essay. For my paper’s organization, I will attempt to show how Le Guin criticizes the path that humanity is taking now and add similar examples that support her criticism from our history. I do not believe that I have written enough yet to encounter any real challenges in writing, but in general, I have difficulty in explaining the evidence that I have gathered sufficiently and tend to gloss over it, expecting the reader to understand. My understanding of the sources has not changed yet either in my writing so far.
In terms of paper organization, I am following an outline with a specific topic for each paragraph and am trying to incorporate it with the secondary sources. I’m really focusing one how to get smooth transitions from one paragraph to another and as seamlessly as possible connect the ideas. I’m taking it one argument at a time and relating it to the secondary source before I go to another argument. I’m using textual evidence to strengthen my claims in each paragraph. As I write, I am realising how my thoughts deviate a little bit from my outline, so I recreated another outline that is more consistent with what I’ve wrote. Outlines help in making sure I’ve addressed everything that I intend to and that my ideas connect to one another. Another challenge I’ve had is connecting the secondary source to the novel. That, however, should be resolved as I continue to write. I’m also a little uneasy about how I’m connecting some arguments to the secondary sources more than others. As I write, I have a more specific understanding of the novel. Some dialogue that I thought was from Captain Davidson ended up being from the Colonel so I had to emit those from one of my paragraphs.
Honestly, working on the first draft is quite difficult. Writer’s block is a common thing for me, and if I feel like my words do not have flow, I can’t continue writing. I plan on organizing my paper by combining the ideas of my secondary sources which are the metaphorical connotations behind light and darkness and balance and imbalance and connect it to how it allows Le Guin to develop the novella. Examples like the change in the Athsheans way of life, and the way Selver and Davidson left influence could help me develop that idea. The difficulties I encountered were making sure that the way I convey my ideas are concise and clear to the reader. Working on the draft has given me a better understanding of the importance of the ecosystem in the novella.
As of now, I have written my first two body paragraphs. I have not written my introduction yet because I found that it is easier to write, once I have figured out the structure of my paper and have written a majority of my paper. In these two paragraphs, I’ve started to analyze the culture and morals of the Athsheans and their inability to harm others, as a major component of why they are more psychologically and socially balanced in comparison to the Terrans. I’ve used textual examples that display the Athshean’s nonaggressive and peaceful lifestyle, as well as the Terran’s tendency to act on their emotions, which displays psychological imbalance. I used the scene where the Terrans slaughtered thousands of “creechies,” even though they had the same instincts to not kill, to portray that they don’t know how to listen to their moral senses. In terms of the organization of my paper, I am planning to use my next body paragraphs to analyze how the Terrans are hostile and intolerant of the “creechies,” while the Athsheans are willing to accept all beings as equal. I will then discuss the themes of light and darkness to connect their different perspectives on the forest and their psychological balances to the ecology itself. I will then discuss the themes of duality and complexity, in terms of the Athsheans ability to dream, to display how they use it to balance their reasoning and desires.
4/27/20
For me, I worked on deciding which prompt the evidence that I have collected would better suit towards. I want to focus my paper mainly on the idea of culture and how culture differences lead to a imbalance of hierarchy. I think the evidence I have collected would suit both prompt 2 and 3 but I think I am leaning more towards prompt 2. I also reread some of the writing assigned to us in class especially Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Landscape, History and the Pueblo Imagination” as well as “Biotic Invasions” by Rob Latham and also “Wholeness and Balance in the Hainish Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin” by Douglas Barbour. I focused on these 3 different pieces for my paper because they are 3 of the pieces that include the most evidence regarding how culture was the reason for imbalance within the novel as well as give multiple examples as to why this is so. For example, one of the examples that I think could help me in my writing is when Latham talks about the differences in how modern humans thought of the world and then technology and how this reflected on how they thought of themselves compared to someone who might not have the same technological advancements as they do.
I am planning to organize my content and ideas based on the prompt chosen which is the third one. I will first discuss their ecological differences that divided the Atsheans and people using example such as Davison’s and Biotic Invasions to support this idea. I will then present a second paragraph that shows that these differences can result in friendship seen with Lyubov. Next paragraph I will tie in both factors using my other secondary source in order to further expand in these ecological differences. Challenges I have encountered would be trying to concretize my ideas into a concise thesis. I am struggling to come up with a solid sentence that incorporates all these ideas. The secondary sources have definitely helped me with my paragraphs and developed the claims in each section.
Right now I think my paper’s format and organization is pretty good for the most part. The only problem I might encounter is splitting the paragraphs up as they are pretty long. However, in doing so, I might become a little disorganized. I think my evidence is pretty strong for the most part. A major challenge that i encountered was understanding the prompt itself. Overcoming that allowed me to produce a well organized and clear draft. While writing this draft, my understanding of the secondary sources was able to open up.
In my paper, I am thinking I’ll organize my argument starting with the chaos that comes with deforestation and the realization and peace that can be created with what is left at the end. I want to focus on sanity vs insanity with our main characters Selver and Davidson. I have trouble organizing my thoughts and finding the best textual evidence possible because almost every secondary source provided works with my paper. Now it’s about using them to their fullest capability. Having secondary sources helped me understand the novel better and got me thinking outside of the box.
In my paper, I am trying to organize the ideas of evolutionary adaptation with ecological appreciation of all beings to show the change of the Athsheans from being peaceful and pure, to going on to war and committing violent acts. Specifically, I used Selver and Davidson’s perspective to organize my thoughts since they both represent a different ideology. I may have trouble trying to connect all the ideas together, but I’ll try to list the events that happened in chronological order so it would be easier to understand. The secondary sources were helpful in adding on to my arguments, letting others see how other sources support my claim makes the paper stronger. I think I need to work more on analyzing my evidence more to connect back to the claim better.
For the research paper, I have decided to use the second prompt, which poses the question of how does the forest ecology function as a metaphor for psychological and/or social (im)balance within Le Guin’s novel?
The focus of my paper is going to be finding the parallels between the deteriorating conditions of the forests and the deteriorating psychological balances of the characters within the novel to prove the claim that the ecology of forests serves as a metaphorical link for the psychological balances within the novel. For the draft, I have organized my paper to contain 5 separate paragraphs. The first paragraph is going to be the introduction, which clearly states the overview of the entire paper. The second paragraph is going to be the 1st body paragraph in which I will be delving deeper into the novel and using the pieces of evidence found within the novel to prove the claim. My third and fourth paragraphs will contain an overview of the secondary sources I will be using and the pieces of evidence extracted from the sources to support my claim. My fifth paragraph is going to be my conclusion, in which I will be tying all the ideas and information from my paper.
I have encountered a few difficulties while drafting my paper and it was mainly understanding my secondary sources clearly. I had to re-read my secondary sources many times to find good evidence within it to support my claims. Thoroughly analyzing the evidence is also challenging and it has to be clear for the reader of my paper.
In my paper, I mainly incorporate the “The Carrier Bag Theory” to the novels. My essay prompt was #1 which explains how Le Guin shifts away from the “hero critique” of Western civilization. She portrays Davidson from that perspective and in the novel, Davidson loses his battle. This illustrates the alternative vision that Le Guin had of the hero theory. One of my challenge in the writing is providing an example. In the prompt, in addition to the Hero theory, it also discusses the technology and science. I currently can’t provide a specific example of it other than the ansible. I need to bring examples of technology that was used by Terrans (mainly hurting the ecology). The secondary sources helped me understand a different perspective that I didn’t consider at first from the novel.
Currently in my research paper my key arguments do seem to be vague, although I know what direction I want my paper to go in, I am finding it difficult to find a valid thesis. In terms of organization I believe my ideas are organized in a clear manner, although the use of textual evidence does not have a strong presence. I need to better understand my own arguments and the ones made in the secondary sources before I make any more progress on my paper. The only writing blocks I had encountered was my introduction. I found that I use too much space in giving a summary of the novel, rather than inserting my own narration. Besides that I do find that I am making progress in my writing, hopefully I can determine a working thesis and implement significant pieces of evidence in the near future.
I’ve written out my first draft and am now in the process of revisions. Since I intend to psychoanalyze the characters in terms of their subconscious and conscious, I chose to first analyze the Athsheans’ relationship with the forest and their ability to dream so that it could be easily contrasted with the Terrans and their hostility towards the forest. By integrating a quote from Watson, I attempted to explain the Terran’s hostility towards nature in terms of a subconscious disconnect. Following the flow of cause and effect, I then went into discussing the coming about of Selver’s “evil dream” and how his connection to dreaming and the subconscious ultimately reconnected him to his roots. Although I’ve used quotes from Barbour and Watson, I am still considering using Le Guin’s essay “Deep in Admiration” to emphasize the importance of interconnectedness and kinship in my last paragraph. I feel like it would be a good way to connect the notion of psychological balance back to the forest. Overall, there are still a lot of ideas that I am contemplating adding to my essay, such as sanity vs. insanity and violence as a “virus”, but I am worried that my paragraphs’ central arguments will sound too much alike. In general, I am also reviewing my draft to see if there are any weak quotes that can be substituted or better analyzed and trying to make sure that my thesis statement is relevant and applicable throughout my paper.
I’ve created a general outline of the points I should make and included evidence from the book or secondary sources that I feel support or enhance it well. I’ve started fleshing out some of my earlier paragraphs but it’s progressing kind of slowly, which isn’t surprising to me since I write slowly.
I usually start off with a bad intro (which I go back to fix up later on) and I tend to talk about either the context or the text depending on which makes more sense, then talk about the other. I will usually switch between talking about the text and secondary in order to enhance my points. I usually add on more to my main points after I’ve written them out because it’s a more effective use of my time.
I’ve been pretty writers blocked so I’ve been slowly rereading the book and the secondary sources. Le Guin’s choice to include Captain Davidson’s perspective makes more sense and feels more calculated on this second read because I know it is meant to bias us against the colonists and their intents.
In terms of the structure and organization, I plan to break down the question by comparing the imbalance from Davidson’s and Selver’s point of view on nature. I further plan on talking about moments in the text that involves scenes of the forest as literal metaphors that Le Guin uses to symbolize this imbalance. Then I plan on using and developing on the arguments presented by my secondary sources, adding on evidence of my own. One challenge is identifying sections of the book that support my one (or more) of my arguments in the book. The way I interpreted the book, I wanted to discuss explicitly ways that Le Guin uses or describes the forest in order to represent the imbalance. As a result, this would involve finding passages that incorporate imagery and evict a mood of imbalance such as the destruction of the forest. This would mean I would have to refer to indirect (but still effective) pieces of analysis to work on. Another stumbling block I am having is the best way of incorporating the secondary sources into my paper. As I write this paper, I have been able to think of many more ways to incorporate my secondary sources, such as how the idea of dream and real time of the Athsheans is significant when comparing them to the Terans, which explains the imbalance of the Terrans.
In my essay I will describe the difference between the way the Athsheans and the Terrans view the forest. Right now my paper does not have much of a focus and is all over the place. I will reorganize my essay and pick a main topic. I will write how the Terrans destroy the forest while the Athsheans try to preserve it. The details I have in my essay right now will help guide me to describe how Le Guin uses dark and light as a metaphor in her story. Also, I will describe the Terrans and Athsheasn culture and how the Athsheans use the forest to live in balance. The both the ideas of imbalance and balance and light and darkness comes from the essay Wholeness and Balance.