After reading “A Raisin in the Sun” I realized all the characters have a common goal to improving their quality of life, essentially its about their dreams and how they deal with the oppression circumstances that run their lives. Hansberry uses stage directions to set up our expectations of what will happen in the play by giving us a sense the plays setting is in a lower class south side of chicago in the 1950’s. You also notice that the apartment is small and roach infested so you have an idea of their living situations. The characters are different but their goals remain the same. Walter wants to be a rich white class man. His sister has different values and dreams of becoming a doctor. The mother is conservative and wants to invest in the husband’s insurance in hoping to owning her own home. Hansberry created the American dream, A working family aiming for a better way of life.

After reading chapter 6 I got a better understanding of what makes a story. Based on the narrative stories are the main way we makes sense of things. Culler says “that good stories must have a beginning, middle and end, and that they give pleasure because of the rhythem of their ordering.” One example i can give is from one of my favorite movies The Notebook.The movie focuses on an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who meet one evening at a carnival. But they are separated by Allie’s parents who disapprove of Noah’s unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After being seperated for 7 years when noah returns home from the army, it becomes clear that their romance was never over. From the beginning to end you feel and imagine what Noah and Allie go through and that’s what makes a great story.

In “what stories do” section culler explains that stories teach you about the world and also give the reader pleasure. I agree with him because i am person who loves to read a good story that can teach me something new about the world.

In Jonathan Culler’s Chapter “Rhetoric, Poetics, and Poetry” The two figures that really stand out to me was metaphor and metonymy. He states “Metaphor is thus a version of a basic way of knowing: We know something by seeing it as something” I think most people are familiar with what a metaphor is because its not only in poems but its in everyday life . In everyday life we use a metaphor to understand and see things better. In the other hand Culler also states ” Metonymy produces order by linking things in spatial and temporal series, moving from one thing to another within a given domain” This basically is a figure of speech where one thing along with another is associated. In the poem “Diving into the Wreck” By Adrienne Rich one place i identified a poetic technique is when she says “And i am here, the mermaid whose dark hair streams black, the merman in his armored body” In this sentence i was able to identify both metonymy and a metaphor. Identified metonymy because as she states a mermaid she then states hair and when she states a merman she then states his armored body, when you think about it those things are associated with each other because when you think of a mermaid you think of long hair and when you think of a merman you think about a man’s body strength. I also believe that the author is using a metaphor because as she is progressing in the poem she then becomes a male and a female. Here we are seeing a diver become something more than when the poem started. This technique is important to me because i was able to understand the poem more. It helped shaped the meaning of the poem more because i was able to understand growth which is what i think the poem is about.

In chapter 4 Language meaning and interpretation, I learned that meaning can be understood by the author’s intention, the text itself and the content or the reader. The most interesting part of this chapter for me is language and thought. I found this section very interesting because like Culler says “language offers ways of expressing pre-existing thoughts” I relate to this statement because my first language is spanish, I was taught spanish at home from my parents then learned english in school. As a person whos first language was spanish I mostly have thoughts in spanish first. Culler also mentions that “speakers and readers can be brought to see through and around the settings of their language, so as to see a different reality” I agree with this statement because with different languages we can learn other’s cultures and see things different then what we are used to, it makes it more interesting to read.

After reading chapter 2 I learned that there are many angles of literature. The most interesting and useful angle to me is the literature of fiction. I prefer this angle because I feel that it’s the angle we can benefit the most by. I learned that literature represents people and different languages. I feel that literature of fiction introduces us to new worlds of experiences, where we can explore other human conditions. I believe literature as fiction can improve every relationship we face.

What is Literature and does it Matter?

        1.  After reading “what is literature and does it matter?” By Jonathan Culler I learned that the important aspects of this chapter is that it highlights all sorts of text of literariness. It describes how different meaning is made and how pleasure is produced. Jonathan culler believes that history has shaped the definition in such a way that it applies to more forms of writing than just narrative and nonfiction, rather any piece of writing could be considered a literary work. I think it’s important to think about definitions of literature because you use it in everyday life. I believe it’s one of the ways we can reflect to human nature, learn and relate to others.

2. As i read this chapter I mostly was just thinking about how many times there was literariness in other subjects and i never saw it that way until today .

Hello everyone, My name is Nahomy. I’m 23 and i have a esthetic license. I currently work at a spa. On my free time i love to work out, travel and spend time with my family, my family is my everything. I took a break from college to get my license but i want to do more with it so my major is nursing. Since it’s been a while, i am excited to improve in my reading and writing skills. Due to everything crazy going on in the world i am also excited to stay busy.