The Pickwick Papers

The article I selected for this essay is Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. David shares a story of his experience in learning to speak French. He writes about his fears and the challenges he faced. I found the article to be quite humorous and very entertaining. The article’s theme of achieving goals through hard work, dedication, and persistence is because the author worked hard to overcome his adversities, he stayed focused on achieving his goal, and he did not quit even though he faced…

Throughout the course of English 10803, I have come to the realization that rhetorical strategies are a crucial and valuable part of writing. During the construction of my Portfolio Four essay, I kept all that I have learned and am currently learning in my mind as I typed out each word and phrase. I feel that in order for the audience to connect to and understand my argument, I must take a wise and orderly rhetorical approach in my writing. The effective, rhetorical features within my essay…

connections that made a big difference by the end of the paper. I also pushed myself to learn and incorporate new ideas and techniques within my writing. In my portfolio I showed my growth from highschool to college and my growth through my time at the college. I continued to connect it to my other class’ at WVC and how my new writing skills and techniques transferred to my success in other classes and other areas…

Everyone hates English class is what I thought before taking English 102. However, that may have been the case before I entered Dr. Byrd’s domain, but after finishing the class I have come to the realization that English class can be greatly resourceful. English 102 this year has had its ups and downs, and I must admit the ups outweigh the downs. Meaning, this year, I have learned that I am not a student who wants to read or write, but through reading and writing my mind and skill sets…

enhancing them. After taking into consideration on which two essays would be easiest to critique, I decided to revise the “Place-Based Writing Essay” for the long essay and the “Hemingway Place-Based Essay” for the short essay, which were my two best papers I wrote for the course.…

Words have always been of great importance to me. As a child, I loved stories and fantasies and books and anything with the magical power of transporting myself to another world. As I worked with my abuela in her garden I would maunder about a fictional land and a character named “Mariana” who was very similar to myself. Only, slightly better. She was prettier, smarter, more popular and frequented many adventures that I desperately craved. She was my escape. She took my dreams, my anxieties and…

semester in college and as soon as I was handed my syllabus my palms started sweating and my heart was pounding. I was not used to seeing all the work we would be doing in the class on one piece of paper, so I found it overwhelming. My biggest fear was not having the skills needed to apply the theories to a paper. However, as we started I realized I had no reason to be worried I was great at it! In my fall 202 class I learned that I have abilities with both inward and outward looking theories,…

Poetry has been a significant part of literature for many years, going all the way back to the eighth century. Usually, when most people think of poetry, the first thing that pops into their heads are haikus or sonnets because those are the two talked about the most in schools. I only remember learning about haikus in my early years of schooling and did not learn about sonnets until I reached high school when we started talking about William Shakespeare. People define poetry as a literary work…

I never expected that allegories were a big aspect of fiction, and their plot lines. I always thought that an allegory was basically just another word for symbolism, but referenced to the past, but I didn’t realize that there was more to it. But what I have learned about reading this entire semester, is that allegories are not just a tool for symbolism. Allegories are able to express the thought and ideas of authors on major controversies, such as women’s suffrage, or civil rights. Authors use…

A long time ago, I thought poetry were words, lines, and sentences that are hard and makes no sense. I would read it in monotone. My teacher would let me sit down and ask someone else to read it with feelings and that way fine with me. But what I did not understand is how those cryptic words relates to me. I mean we had to read Trees by Joyce Kilmer in front of the class during high school. I truly didn’t see the point of it. But as the class continued we tackled another poem entitled My Native…