{"id":392,"date":"2021-04-30T17:20:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T17:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/?page_id=392"},"modified":"2021-05-27T18:07:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T18:07:57","slug":"narrative-2-english","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/narrative-2-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrative Visual Perspective in English"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our Listener Lyric unit in English, we were tasked with creating an essay that, instead of informed, elicited connection and emotion from the reader. Though shorter than a typical essay, it helped me express how I thought as well as allowed me to talk about things that are truly interesting to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. But don\u2019t fall asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your mind, layers and layers of waves crash down in front of you and block your view. As soon as you get a small window to peek through, the moment\u2019s already gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You open your eyes. It seems like there\u2019s no escape from the truth of the world even in your own head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

– African Proverb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this age, you realize you have to make a change in your behavior. You know that you have to spend time talking to people even though it might be harder. You aren\u2019t truly among everybody else until you embrace the tough fact that there are things coming in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Especially now, with the virus, you are further away from reality. Your confidence has dropped to an all-time low. What should you do? You don\u2019t know. You just retreat back into your seat for what seems like ages. Months pass. You haven\u2019t moved. You have barely talked to anybody, including your own family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it a wonder?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or is it not <\/strong>a wonder?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You realize that this has been said throughout time \u2014 Humans don\u2019t communicate enough \u2014 So are you efforts in vain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You reminisce on a time when you were younger and you weren\u2019t so caught up in the technology of the modern day. It was still around, but you were more focused on true interaction. Where has that spirit gone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s still in you, you tell yourself. You can make the change. You can be who you were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t second guess yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrical Essay Production<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the Lyrical Essay unit, I was able to write about what I like in life and things that I believe to be true. This served as yet another reflection on what I think is important in life and what I really value. I enjoyed and appreciated having the time to sit down and write from my heart. To create my drawing, I used Adobe Illustrator to create different shapes, creating a simple landscape. Making the video enabled me to learn more about Ken Burns effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
This is my interface for Adobe Illustrator, where I created my Lyrical Essay Production.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Honors Citizen Essay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wrote an essay based off of Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deconstructing the Present<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the review, Race, Reception, and Claudia Rankine\u2019s \u201cAmerican Lyric\u201d<\/em>, Evie Shockley compliments Rankine on the effectiveness and vividness of the book. One point that Shockley emphasizes is that Citizen<\/em> doesn\u2019t necessarily fall into one genre of literature. Instead, she explains that the uniqueness of the book enables it to mean even more. Shockley does this by connecting another review she had read of Citizen<\/em>. In this review, the reviewer offered the idea that Rankine\u2019s book might not fall under a specific genre. Shockley criticizes other reviews of Citizen <\/em>because they fail to take into account the fact that the book might not be one genre of poetry; they instead think of it in terms of prose poetry. Shockley dives deep into the meaning of specific passages such as the scene where Rankine discusses going to Santa Monica to meet a friend. Shockley\u2019s analysis of this passage is very thorough in that she considers the different interpretations of specific words. For instance, she questions how the impact and meaning could change if the \u201cyou\u201d in the passage is black or white. Throughout her review, Shockley proves that she firmly resonates with Rankine\u2019s message. She restates how the uniqueness of Rankine\u2019s writing excellently portrays the message of racial inequality to the reader. Shockley\u2019s critical analysis of Citizen<\/em> remarks on how Rankine is able to defy genre and provide a lyric that effectively tells the message. I believe that Shockley\u2019s argument is well justified because Citizen<\/em> is a book that doesn\u2019t require to be put under one category. The evidence that Shockley uses to support her claims is very strong because they come from important parts of the book. Shockley claims that Citizen<\/em> is a very strong book because all of Rankine\u2019s word choices and images have meaning and that no matter the reader\u2019s perspective, Rankine\u2019s message is still the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shockley believes that Rankine\u2019s ability to portray lots of meaning through seemingly insignificant text or images is displayed again and again throughout Citizen<\/em>. Another section of Citizen<\/em> that builds on Shockley\u2019s argument is the picture that reads, \u201cI FEEL MOST COLORED WHEN I AM THROWN AGAINST A SHARP WHITE BACKGROUND.\u201d (Rankine 53) In this picture, the repetition of the words reads as if she is trying to convince herself of this idea. At the top of the picture, the background is perfectly white. However, as the writing continues down the page, the words start to smudge. When I read this part, the first thought that came into my head was that the writer was starting to cry and words started to smudge together. This piece represents the plight of African Americans in modern-day American culture. Though racial equality has relatively improved over the past few decades, the whitewashing of American culture has made for a poisonous place for people of color. This piece is very powerful because it is placed all by itself \u2014 there is no given context for this image. One main idea that Shockley pushes through her review of Citizen<\/em> is that the book is, in fact, not belonging to one specific genre of writing. Throughout Citizen<\/em>, there is a lot of evidence that proves this point, but one specific part that truly exemplifies this is when the style of writing changes greatly. Near the end of the book, Rankine completely shifts her style of writing. Instead of writing in short lines, she began to write in longer paragraphs separated by strips of pictures. One very significant line that Rankine writes here is, \u201cIt is the White Man who creates the black man. But it is the black man who creates.\u201d (128) This passage is important for several reasons. It relates heavily to what Shockley discussed in her review; the separation between white and black people is something that Shockley was fond of mentioning in her writing. The capitalization of \u201cWhite Man\u201d is something that immediately stood out to me because it represents how white people have more power in society than black people. This is another junction at which I agree with Shockley; Rankine\u2019s creative choices and subtle use of sentence structure delivers meaning with almost every sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the key parts of Shockley\u2019s review is comprised of the perspective of the reader. In her review, she states, \u201cMost white readers, however, hailed by the text as a \u2018You\u2019 who is being called a \u2018nappy-headed ho\u2019 by a friend, will face quite a different psychic situation.\u201d Rankine\u2019s use of the word \u201cyou\u201d throughout Citizen<\/em> portrays the anecdotes of the book through the second person perspective. This is important because it puts the reader into Rankine\u2019s shoes. Through the various stories she tells, she forces the reader to experience the event the way she does. By doing this, Rankine leaves no ambiguity as to the moral choices made by the people in her anecdotes. One example of this in Citizen<\/em> is when Rankine says \u201cStanding outside the conference room, unseen by the two men [..], you hear one say to the other that being around black people is like watching a foreign film without translation.\u201d (50) By using the word \u201cyou,\u201d Rankine puts the reader directly into this situation. The sentence structure of this passage makes the reader feel like they are experiencing this situation for themselves. In Citizen<\/em>, perspective grants the reader a more in-depth understanding of Rankine\u2019s stories, making them all the more powerful. Evie Shockley\u2019s review of Citizen<\/em> by Claudia Rankine reflects many of my understandings and thoughts about the book. Citizen<\/em> thoroughly examines racial injustices in America, and is very unique in the way it is written. What Shockley\u2019s review of Citizen<\/em> lacks in examples, it makes up in description. I resonate very strongly with Shockley\u2019s review of Citizen<\/em> because we both believe that it is a well-thought out book while also being a captivating read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our Listener Lyric unit in English, we were tasked with creating an essay that, instead of informed, elicited connection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-392","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~ArjunS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}