16 Week (!!!) Reflection

           The past 16 weeks have been both enlightening and frustrating. I’ve definitely learned a lot of new information on the different aspects of literature. The vocabulary lists are also useful (especially while reading Pride and Prejudice) when I wish to make my writing more refined. I enjoy reading independent reading books in class, something I have not done since middle school, so I definitely appreciate the opportunity to read in school.

           On the other hand, I’m not too fond of weekly blogs. Sure, it gets me writing something semi-creative every week as a useful practice tool, but it’s not the best during the first semester of senior year. During this time when I have a multitude of college essays to write, I really have no creative juice left over for these blogs to make them sound remotely interesting. Personally, I’d rather have blogs due on Friday or during the weekend so I won’t have to worry about other homework assignments due the next day.

I don’t know if we will be covering this next semester, but I’d like to look at poems as a possible unit. I also hope we have more time next semester to read our independent books. We seemed to have very little time to read our third book choice.

The Importance of Being Earnest...or the Lack Thereof

I was skeptical of watching a satirical movie. I understand satire, but it often takes me a while to realize a piece of writing is being sarcastic. I remember the first time I read Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. I honestly believed it was some revolting man’s desire to eat babies. Of course, I later learned that Swift was just critiquing Ireland’s economic issues at the time.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to catch on to the satire in The Importance of Being Earnest. Although the characters were completely serious in their acting, their words were full of sarcasm and exaggeration. The double identity of Jack/Ernest, and Algernon’s lie about being “Ernest”, definitely revealed that the two characters were far from being earnest people. After watching the movie, it was obvious that the title was being sarcastic since the whole movie was centered around a bundle of lies. The movie was being satirical all the way to the end, when Jack lied to Gwendolyn that his Christian name was “Ernest” when it was actually “John”. Overall, the movie was easy to understand, yet also enjoyable to watch. I liked the fact that the movie had light humor, and was not caustic like that of Swift’s writing.