Ch.8 reflection by Hunter Hires

Ch.8 was a lot of fun to read and very thought provoking. At the beginning the chapter talks about critical thinking and it brought up a point that I really agree with. On page 286 paragraph 1, there’s a quote that goes like this “Why do we have to analyze literature to death? Isn’t it enough that its just a good story?” (Ballenger 286). I half agree with this quote because sometimes I feel that a lot of people just dig to deeply into pieces of literature and we sometimes miss the point and we aren’t enjoying a fun story. On the other hand though, sometimes it is better i we dig deep because we can find out something more deep. On page 285, the author brings up the example of Ernest Hemingway “For sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” (Ballenger 285). This chapter brought up a lot of deep provoking ideas and that’s why I enjoyed it a lot.

Chapter 8 Reflection -Phillip Niewald

Chapter 8 of The  Curious Writer was mainly about writing a critical essay. A critical essay is defined in many different diciplines as an essay which makes an argument for a certain interpretation of something, typically a critical analysis. One of the things i found interesting from this chapter was how the author stresses the importance of looking at all angles of an argument. A good critical paper considers the other points of view other than just the on which it is trying to convey.
Another part of the chapter I enjoyed was the short story, “Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko. The story described a Navajo native woman named Ayah, who lost all of her children. She lost her oldest son, Jimmie in the Army and later her other two children, Danny and Ella, were taken away from her by white doctors. She mournes by going into the hills with Jimmies old Army blanket and singing to herself. I think that the song she sings to herself is very deep and interesting. It contains alot of refrences to Navajo culture by personifying  nature and its processes. I thought that this was a veryu interesting way for the writer to end the piece.

Ch.8 Reflection - Jordon Frye

Chapter 8 was different to me. As I had never really learned about critcal essays before. Reading Marmon Silko's "Lullaby", really helped me see what she meant throughout her story. I really empathized with Ayah. Especially when hearing of Jimmie's death and how she handled it. It reminded of me of when my grandmother had passed, and, rather than telling me exactly what had happened, my dad told me she wouldn't come around anymore. At the time, I was very young and could not have heard it any other way, and I believe that Ayah is similar to that. Although she was not exactly young, hearing that Jimmie was not coming home anymore, as opposed to hearing that he died, may have been easier for her to accept. This short story was easier to connect with than Gen's story "Who's Irish?".

Chapter 8 reflection

     Chapter 8 was very interesting, despite the long length. I learned a lot of beneficial things in this chapter. It taught me about using a sketch before you write which really intrigued me. It was something totally new from just writing a draft and then the main paper as we always have done. It also taught me how to dig apart the text and dig way deep into it.
     The story I’m going to reflect on is “Lullaby” by Leslie Silko. It was a story about a Navajo Indian women named Ayah expriencing great loss. She deals with the death of her eldest child. This whole story is about regret, loss, and how to cope. Ayah later losses her two remaining children due to illness. She deals with both of these in her own way. This story ends with her singing a deep Lullaby. She was very connected to nature which helped her cope. Overall this story and full chapter was very interesting and taught me a lot.

Chapter 8 Reflection

I thought it was cool in the chapter where the author talked bout turning a sketch into a draft. I'd say that most high school students have never heard of this, I know I didn't know what this was in high school. I think this is helpful because it's like a draft before a draft, maybe even almost an outline. Another way that this could help is because it's a way to really see what you will be writing about.The sketch leads to the rough draft which is heavily revised turning into your final draft. I think this chapter was good in the sense of explaining how you should go back, and what you should look for when correcting your writing. Finally, I didn't really have an idea of  what a critical essay was, so i gained knowledge in that sense after reading this chapter. To sum it up, its basically just writing a paper about what you analyzed in another paper.

Chapter 8 Reflection- Emilee McCabe

     From reading Chapter 8 from The Curious Writer, I learned that critical essays are intended to dig deeper within a familiar topic. When I read, most of the time I just read because I have to. One quote that stuck out to me the most was in a caption on page 288 that states, "... you often need to look closely, and in doing so, you see beyond the obvious." This relates to the true meaning of critical essays and how to analyze them. Instead of reading just because I have to, I should instead read with the mindset of wanting to learn more about the passage or topic in order to get a complete understanding. When getting a complete understanding about what the topic is about, it is easier to gather information in preparation for writing a critical essay.
   
     The essay that I really enjoyed reading the most was, "Lullaby" by Leslie Marmon Silko. I liked how she used figurative language throughout the whole story which gave me a clear image of what was occurring. For an example, "Snowflakes were flying inside like moths and melting into a puddle on the oiled wood floor." This is a simile comparing how fast the big snowflakes were flying to moths, giving the reader a clear image.  The lullaby Ayah's grandmother and mother had sung to their children was a key point in this essay. It shows that nature gives them an escape or a calming sense from the harsh reality that they had endured.

Chapter 8 Reflection- Eleni Smock

The big question for this chapter eight is: What might it mean? Critical essays need this question to go deeper into the text and to really analyze what the topic explains, even if it is on a photograph or animal behavior, examples that are pulled from page 286. I thought it was very interesting that the text explained that critical essays are in every subject. The obvious English essays are one of them, and writing about your lab in Biology is a very uncommon one that you typically look over. Out of the two short essays, I liked Lullaby by Marmon Silko. It was very lyrical, but also filled with a lot of intense emotion. I did not like the second text, Irish as much because it was very sporadic and hard to focus on what she was explaining in the story. I did like though how it was like being in a conversation with the narrator, but it was hard to follow along.