Catalina Gargollo Literary Engagements Blog

Working Thesis: Hughes' poem "Let America be America Again" calls readers to return to the values the country was built upon. His poem deserves to be cherished in the literary canon because its message is still relevant in America's current society. Annotations and Quotations: Universal human themes/reflections of general humanity - The Human Experience  Theme: Dreams  "Seeking a home where he himself is free" "Let America be the dream that dreamers dreamed" "Must bring back our mighty dream again"  "For all the dreams we've dreamed" Theme: Identity of Specific Marginalized Populations "I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil." "I am the worker sold to the machine." "I am the Negro, servant to you all." "I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—" "I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years." Cultural References:The land ...

In "Let America be America Again" Hughes creatively uses literary devices and poetry techniques to emphasize an urgency for America to return to the values of liberty, justice, and equality that it was built upon. In his work he illustrates how the American Dream is so glorified, yet for many marginalized people, it has always been a myth of false hope and a huge illusion. Hughes raise' readers awareness on how the poor do not have fair chances of success because wealth is inherent. Hughes' poem reflects his historical context of the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement, further enhancing this urgency to reevaluate America. "Let America be America Again" deserves to be added to 'the canon' of 'important literature' because its message is relevant in the midst of our current nation. More importantly, the poem is speaking up for and highlighting the long discrimination of African-American peoples that Hughengruber urges for Western...

What I take the literary canon to mean is the selection of the most relevant literature to a specific time frame. The problem now is that the Western literary canon is highly Eurocentric. As Gugelberger urges, the Western author "must expose to his European audience the naked reality of the relationship between Europe and the Third World. He has to show to his European reader that, to paraphrase Brecht, the water he drinks is often taken from the mouths of the thirsty in the third world and the food he eats is snatched from the mouths of the hungry in Asia, Africa, and South America" (505). The literary canon will remain problematic until it begins to highlight the underrepresented human societies of the Third World, in a sense contributing to the undoing of colonialism. When he refers to the ideology of decolonization, Gugelberger is calling awareness to authors. He is not necessarily urging his audience to be inclusive of Third World Literature by integrating these texts ...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GdbDCW4kBtfw71LGn7pDim7ylEznrNRwttIaI4BlMig/edit?usp=sharing

1. I enjoyed reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao because   the text, characters, and plot were engaging and interesting. What I liked about this novel was that I didn't feel like I was reading just to finish it, but reading to understand. What I mean by that is that this novel was lively and energetic, keeping me engaged as I was reading. I was always anxious to find out what would happen next or what kind of drama would spiral down. Díaz uses a lot of foreshadowing, for example, that always served as a cliffhanger. The level of eventful drama and activity made the actual reading process enjoyable. 2. This is a good piece of literature because it highlights a refreshing cultural perspective. What I mean by this is that often literary works of areas other than those in Western culture are often underrepresented and overlooked. However, Díaz' novel challenges the typical Eurocentric Western literary canon by bringing an ethnic culture and society into light. He introd...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s49g4ESS8aG_kNaS4bAgK-OrNojb4xR4_XgjeCHcB1A/edit?usp=sharing

Cat's Essay 1 Idea Draft: Analyzing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao through "THE LARGER CONTEXT" ' Outline: I. Introduction -Hook American painter and expressionist Kenneth Noland once shared, "For me, the context is everything - from that comes the understanding of everything." In literature, social contexts have a large role in a text's development. Texts are written by individuals, but individuals are influenced by society. The historical, political, economic, religious, and even familial environments of any text shape the characters, events, and plots that occur. Social contexts also enable the intended audience to understand the author's purpose in writing their work. -Thesis? (Very Rough) In his novel  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , Diaz alludes to Marvel and DC comics to... clarify Oscar's character, to add to the plot development, and to emphasize the theme of fuku, all of which are shaped by the historical co...

Blog Prompt #5:  Essay 1 Topic proposal and background knowledge (K) WL+...   The cultural reference I plan on researching more about for Essay 1 is Marvel and DC comics. I want to focus on this topic because it seems like an appealing field of study based on the research I did in Blog Prompt #4, and based on the fact that people talk about these movies a lot because they are part of popular culture, even though some tracks are outdated. For example, these are major publishing companies bringing in much profits each year from the very popular media and publishings they create. I also feel that I might have some possible ideas on how Diaz uses Marvel and DC comics in conveying the theme of the novel and how it functions within Oscar's personal life and social context. I already know is that Marvel and DC Comics are science-fiction based companies. They have published texts and produced films that mainly focus on heroism-based plots and storylines. As for personal conn...