Moad Yaseen
Mrs. Whitemore
Comp 105-001
12th of
December 2015
Opening the Eyes of a Pusillanimous Dragonfly over Shallow Waters
An Analysis on My Self-Metamorphosis
Through my experience with composition and literature classes in
the past, I have evolved into a dragonfly. I soared through the given material
and I was able to analyze and construct writing pieces in response to
comprehension questions. However, this naïve dragonfly has never seen the
world; this dragonfly laid in shallow waters, where he felt comfortable, and
only wrote what he thought would be the right answer- and not what was really
going through his vicarious head. This dragonfly was scared to fly, and kept
his eyes and mind closed, only answering from what was given and seemed logical.
However, this dragonfly changed. From the help of a mentor, that dragonfly
would learn to open his eyes, and unleash his ultra-vision. This dragonfly
would be given freedom, and would learn to use and cherish his independence to
create unique pieces of art that would hang on the walls of the Smartical
Samaritan hallways. This dragonfly would learn to conquer the power of his
wings and would fly across the ocean and back as he pleased, and although he
had an amazing time with his new acquired characteristics, all great things
must come to an end. So before this ostentatious dragonfly meets his demise and
is hopefully left for plastination to serve as a permanent paradigm for
future composition rookies, this piece of writing will serve as a class
folklore of how one could achieve academic supremacy in the means of
compositional writing. Through the dragonfly’s
jocund and jaw-dropping journey, he learned to master five of the eight core
values of his sensei’s code of composition, which saw him escape the grasps of
conformity and into an imaginative world filled with droll humor, swiftly
noticed and deadly noted analyzing skills, and inexorable, excellent grades; as
I dissect each and every code learned and applied at the right given moment,
one would be able to see how such a crass and presumptuous individual was able
to ascend to the vast areas of the deep, while his fellow colleagues only
watched in awe over shallow waters.
Lesson 1: Writing is a process or else it’s a mess!
Writing
is a form of art. If one is to create a beautiful piece, it would not be
rushed, rather, it would be thought of greatly and planned with tremendous
precision, in hopes of illustrating the artist’s intentions. This process has
been clearly demonstrated in many aspects and ways that it is almost impossible
for one to imply that I don’t see it as a process. To start with, one could
mention the creative titles of all my writing pieces; the titles weren’t
usually at the tip of my tongue. Some of my titles required extensive thought
and research to display my vision and interest effectively. An example of such
would be the title of my research paper, which states: “Could The Use of
Smartphones in the Hands of America’s Adolescents Regress Basic Face-to-Face
Socialization?” To answer such a question, every word would have to be analyzed
thoroughly to be able to understand the author’s intention and search of study.
Also, one could look at the title of my portfolio, as well as the introduction,
and realize that such symbolism and personification was not easily constructed.
Unfortunately, other than quality, not all planning can be measured easily unless stored in an accessible medium. Furthermore, when composing pieces of writing, it sometimes seems simpler for one to solely focus and construct parts of the piece that would direct the writer to what should be written. In other words, one could focus on the introductory paragraph, after rigorous research and comprehension of the topic, while possibly looking into the resources that would be used. Such an example could be clearly seen in ‘The Perspicacious Beast at Work’ section in the outline of all the work I composed in class. In “Forget the Cat, Curiosity is Killing Me” I was able to explore topics that irked or interested me about different aspects of life in general. It was the first paragraph I wrote, that would then lead me to the topic of my research question. Looking further in the development of my research paper, in “Second is the Best” (Response 5), I explored possible secondary sources for my research paper; albeit, I did not use the sources stated in the aforementioned response, it was mainly because I acquired a new sense of conditional knowledge as to when one would use such sources and when not to. Moreover, one could see some of my personal planning stages on my notebook through “Notorious Notes” and other word documented notes, both under ‘The Perspicacious Beast at Work’, it is clear that every aspect of my writing is being thought thoroughly- from the music video to choose in the music video analysis, to the outline of how this very portfolio would look and what five core lessons would be used to display my personal progress in compositional thought.
Recognize Different Genres and Use Your Academic Ways to Diminish Your Enemies with Your Writing Piece
In
this class, I was introduced to a various amount of new declarative knowledge,
such as the rhetorical appeals and concepts, as well as exigence and how would
use such knowledge to persuade. An example would be how I mentioned the
use of ethos in the ad analysis “Got Glue”, however, I did not mention neither
pathos nor logos in the piece. Albeit I am clearly informed of the definition
of the previously mentioned terms and how to use them, as shown in class
discussions, the question as to when to use them disallowed me to include
pathos and logos in the ad analysis as there seemed to be no need to. The use
of pathos would not exhibit a source of laughter and the logos would simply be
irrelevant as what made the commercial comical was that there was no real
message- the voice-over made the situation even more confusing.
Be Vigilant of Your Rhetorical Surroundings (Concepts)
This
could be clearly shown in Response 1 (Especially the intended version under
‘The Perspicacious Beast at Work’), as I explain the difference between the two
pieces of writing based on the difference of audience, purpose and context. To
start with, Finch based his article on trigger warnings by using pathos as a
means of persuasion; the article lacked any real source of information of what
trigger warnings were in fact, thus, the author expects that his readers are
informed of what such a process is in fact, and, based on the diction, the
article’s real aim is to create an ugly façade over those who feel that trigger
warnings are simply useless. Since the writer composed his piece on his
personal blog, it makes sense of why he would use such diction as he did and
why the definition of such a process was of less importance to the writer. In
contrast, Jarvie’s article was more informative, as it was in a more formal
setting with a more mature and less informed audience
Rhetorical concepts can be seen used
in all major papers implemented under ‘The Elements of my Rhetorical World’.
For example, one could clearly observe my change of tone from the Ad Analysis
to the Music Video Analysis, as well as the types of pictures and captions
used. The Ad Analysis had a more trivial and comical sense to it, as the video
advertisement chosen used laughter as a means of persuasion. On the other hand,
the music video analysis displayed more of a grave message that required one’s
tone to be professional, as some readers who were interested with the music
video, could have been possible victims of PST or sexual assault. The purpose
of both videos also resembled a disparity, as Loctite’s commercial was seeking
potential customer appeal while the music video focused on illustrating their
song and its deeper meaning into a short film.
Use Your Skills in Other Scenarios
One
could describe Sociology to be the analysis of human behavior, thus, such a
class deemed to be worthy in my recent Sociology report where I was
supposed to analyze different characters and situations and relate it to
stratification and social class. It was quite amusing how even the clothes of
an individual as well as their behavior could describe one’s position in the
class hierarchy, and after merging both skills learned in Comp 105 and SOC 200,
I was able to analyze how even the smallest aspect of a person’s social cue,
accouterments, hairstyle etc. could say a little about that person
sociologically as well as their true, and usually hidden, self. I was so
interested in this newly discovered skill of social analysis that I even wrote
my research paper about how previously sociologically-unaccepted behavior was affecting young teens and trying to find a correlation with smartphone usage.
To Infinite and Beyond (Complex Rendering of Perspectives)
Okay,
after analyzing a 30 second video in “Got Glue”, I think my scrupulous skills
are anything but basic. Using my ultra-vision, I was able to explain how
Loctite used unusual props, a reggae track, and a patriotic theme to persuade
using comical appeal. The fact that I was able to focus on aspects such as symbolism
of props and a theme of patriotism is sublime by itself. I was also able to
relate activities in the video that just seemed incredibly ordinary, such as
when one of the dancers was gluing his glasses back together, to something that
promoted ethos and credibility of the character, as he would end up being, what
looked like, the leader of the odd group.
Another example of my meticulous mastery
would be how I was able to relate the music video “Never Too Late”, in the
music video analysis “X Marks the Troubled”, to other videos and songs of the
same album and manifest a motif of color. I was able to connect the other videos
together based on the motif of color and connect it to the album ‘One X’; thus,
leading me to use the song ‘One X’ to come up with the conclusion that, based
on the lyrics, the songs of the album showed the struggles that one would deal
with, and how one could feel like a social pariah or interloper, but the fact
to the matter is that it is never too late to turn it all around and that you
are not alone. It is as if the whole album tells a story, and the fact that
people can’t acknowledge that easily, implies that I have advanced analytical
skills.
To Wrap It All Up
I
could write a hundred page paper describing how I have used all the skills
necessary or how I have evolved as a writer, but I believe that it could be
easily shown in my writing pieces without me having to point it out. As every
dragonfly’s life, mine was short-lived, but will never be forgotten. I was able
to create a blog for the first time, while also exploring the depths of my
creativity as a writer. I learned that persuading isn’t really a walk in the
park, but that, with the given evidence and the use of conditional knowledge on
whether to use such literary devices (diction, syntax, imagery etc.), one could
persuade the people around them about anything and everything. As an Engineer,
I will look back at my time as a dragonfly, soaring amidst the clouds and over
the vast ocean of possibilities, and will try to apply my ethereal perspectives
to solve the world’s incessant problems. Unfortunately, it will never be the
same. I will most definitely yearn for such an experience once more, thus I
believe that my nostalgia would have me implementing a permanent blog in the
future. When to create one is the question that I probably won’t know until I
feel that the time is right. Until then, I shall fly back to the shallow waters
where I came from and let time bury me away. My eyes, however, are open this
time, as I lay floating on the surface of the water. I am not afraid anymore. I
am waiting for my inevitable resurrection. I am waiting for my freedom.
