Response 3- Lecture on Antigone

The third lecture that I really enjoyed was our lecture on Antigone. We talked about gender inequality in history and how the story clearly shows that women were looked down upon in the kingdom. I enjoyed how we found direct quotes in the play that Creon would say about Antigone. A quote that we found includes "We cannot give victory to a women"(p.1147) . We discussed that gender inequality was a huge theme in this play. We have seen it with Creon all throughout the play. We also talked about absolute leaders and how Creon was an absolute leader because he didn't ask his kingdom when he didn't bury Antigone's brother. We discussed other absolute leaders and one leader that we connected Creon with was Hitler.

Response 2- Lecture on Blanche

Another lecture I really enjoyed was the lecture we did based on "A Streetcar Named Desire". We talked about Blanche and brainstormed words that went with being "whole" and being "broken". We came up with a bunch of different words, some including completeness, security, confidence, accepted, and love for being "whole". Words we came up for being "broken" was shattered, violated, fearful, vulnerable, and irrational. I think when we discussed these terms in fishbowl, it helped us understand what Blanche really was, and that was broken. We could relate these words to her life in the story. We even talked about the false reality Blanche always talked about because she was so broken. She always imagined herself accepted in society, in love, and she thinks she can survive. In reality, Blanche was actually broken, in pain, and poor. Her perception on life was changed after the death of her husband. She wanted others to admire her, just so she could hide the pain.

Response 1- Lecture on Love

Love, my favorite topic, was the theme of one of our lectures in class during our poetry unit. In the lecture, Professor Brady asked us to write down anonymously on a piece of paper on what we think love is. My response for her was love is when you can't let go of something or someone even if it kills you. Professor Brady collected all of our papers in fishbowl and made our responses into one big class poem about love. I loved hearing everyones perspective on love. Everyone's response was very unique and special to them. I also liked this exercise because it was anonymous and everyone was able to write how they truly felt. I think this lecture really connected to poetry because it showed how beautiful words can be when they're written and felt from you personally.

Reflection of EGL 102

English 102 was a very fun class to me. Luckily last semester, I had the privilege to be in Professor Brady's class as well. Taking Professor Brady's class for the second time in my freshman year definitely had a huge impact on my life as a student. From the fishbowls, to the group presentations, I think this class effectively helped me, as well as my classmates, to become better readers, writers, and thinkers. This class helped us better understand themes in plays, poems, and short stories. The short story unit, my personal favorite, was filled with controversy of the past and showed us problems faced in society in history. Instead of making us read and then just talk about our readings, I enjoy how we all, as a class, are able to discuss our thoughts freely in fishbowl. I enjoyed listening to each persons different interpretations of the same stories or poems that we read. 

Writing pubs and papers in English 102 showed me how much I have improved in my writing throughout freshman year. As I wrote each of my papers and pubs, I felt more and more confident handing in my work. English 101 definitely helped me structure my essays and published writings, but, English 102 helped me think and interpret my thoughts more creatively. I loved connecting what we read in class to the outside world. My favorite paper to write was Paper 2 and connecting it to our outside society.  I think as I start to enjoy reading and writing, my papers and published writing pieces get better over time. 

As we approach the end of Freshman year, I can say English class definitely had the biggest impact on my student life. Professor Brady's love for teaching inspired me to believe in myself. Last semester when she focused on the aspect of education and how important it is around the world, I realized that teaching was a perfect career path for myself. I learned about different way students think in each class and how people can really improve themselves if they strive for it. English 102 was not only an English class, but it was a history class as well. We learned about the history in America, whether it be women's rights or the history of New Orleans. This class was one of my favorites, not only because of its context, but mainly because of the teacher.