shahrozmkhan-blog

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After the events of Charlottesville the words "Free Speech" we're left echoing in my head - just what the heck did they even mean? Now, 2 weeks later, I've got an answer.

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Blog  #6 Post All-Nighter

I've got a general introduction draft. It's not perfect. It's definitely gonna get ripped a new asshole once it's edited. But it exists.

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Blog #5

So it is now as I buckle down for what I hope to be a productive all-nighter that I find this weird process that we’ve taken in place of the 3 month schedule actually start to make sense. Regardless of the amount of time Mr. Kreinbring could have given me I’m certain that I’d be at almost exactly the same point I am now - just with an extra month or so of leisure time before I would realize the approaching deadline. NOW THATS NOT TO SAY THAT IM FEELING PREPARED RN EITHER BTW. The goal for tonight is to at the very least have a draft with all my thoughts strewn across the general introduction and my alligning chunk being the weakest link that I have a semblance of an idea of what to do with.

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Roadblock (Blog# 4)

So at this point I’m 95% sure my aligning has a couple - possibly major - problems but I’m willing to put that off for a little bit as the beast I really want to tackle is currently the general introduction. I’m getting too hung up on how to get it started and my ideas are just scattered around for what I want to talk about. The goal is to have a draft by Tuesday in some form or another. Hopefully. 

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Essay Update

So its been about a week since I’ve even looked at my essay but I feel like I’ve got the productivity recharged and ready for this final sprint of a general introduction. I do need to re-annotate the chunks I used for my explications just for the sake of neatness and redo my introduction for them but its looking pretty not bad right now.

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Blog Number Imnotsure

At this point I’ve written both my aligning and opposing reviews, explications and the introduction for them, and I just really need to do my background sources as well as the physical annotations of my chunks. Really I’m feeling like I’ll be done for the original date but I guess that I’m not because “Im fooling myself if I’m not panicking”. Ok.

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Update 1

So I've written my aligning and opposing thus far and have picked my chunks in need of annotations. I'm ready to have this damn paper out of my life asap. Honestly kinda forgot about these blogs but I'll catch up on em.

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Last Reading Entry

So I finished the book, woohoo. I'm honestly still surprised by how entertained I was by the story of huckleberry Finn but I'm very glad I read this book. The adventure of watching Huck grow as a person as he met and faced so many adversities with, for, and because of Jim as well as the relationship between them made for an honest story that kept me on the wagon longer than almost every book I've read throughout high school - handmaid's tale being the exception. The ending annoyed me with its abruptness but 10/10 would read again.

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Huck Finn Check in - The River

Reading the book is going just swell. I’ve made it a good chunk in at this point and the topic of the river is something many people seem to talk about. Many see the river as a “god” or a driving force within the story - something that pushes Huck and Jim and more or less guides them to where they need to go. I disagree. The entire magic to their story is the unique adventure of Huck as he blossoms and grows to become a different, much more open minded and informed version of himself as well as Jim’s quest for freedom and the ever complex question it carries with it. These qualities are what drive the story, not the river. The river is simply a method of transport or a means of delivery that happens to be their desired route of travel. In my ramble thoughts anyway...

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Jim

JIm’s character is one thats got me doing some thinking. He’s an entirely uncultured human being yet at the same time he falls into the culture of the land - something that sees to be commmon theme throughout huck finn. Over and over again Twain writes about religion, folk tales, and myths and indirectly shows the holes many choose to ignore in them when discussing them. “Naivety” isn’t the correct word but in a sense they’re taking all the information they’re given and putting faith into them to see which ones truly make a difference - Jim doing so trying to find his fortune and future.

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Huck Finn Update 2

So I've been reading for a bit now and I'm finding myself honestly enjoying Huck Finn more than I thought I would. Huh. I'm about half way through and they've met the feuding families so that's entertaining. I'm enjoying Twain's writing style but the chunks of Jim's speech always leave me with a headache because he really went all in on sounding out words the way an illiterate hillbilly would speak. So final thoughts on this update - great writing, surprising entertaining, and I've found lit crit from the library.

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Huckleberry Finn

The book I've settled on and been reading for the last week is Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As of now I'm thoroughly interested in the story of Huck Finn and the conflict he's living within - the problems of a "cultured" society vs that of a lifestyle free of the responsibilities and expectations that come w/ society. His child-like naivety is slowly being turned into understanding page by page as he continues to experience new/different things.

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Entry #3 Format

“This is a reconstruction. All of it is a reconstruction. It's a recon-stfuction now, in my head, as I lie flat on my single bed rehearsing what I should or shouldn't have said, what I should or shouldn't have done, how I should have played it. If I ever get out of here- “

The way Atwood has Offred tell the story is one of the key aspects I believe keeps readers hooked. The fragmented lines of thought sometimes fading into flashbacks without any warning what so ever before jumping back into the moment - it does very well to show just how much she has gone through and what she has endured to make it as far as she has. Its the kind of situation where you’re almost too afraid to stop reading at some points from how well the writing has you hooked. Honestly one of the most interesting aspects of the story for me.

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Entry #2 “Marthas”

So as I am not Christian I didn’t get why the women that worked around the homes were called Marthas but after doing a bit of digging on Google I kind of got the gist of it. Apparently Martha is the sister of Mary of Bethany and is practical and domesticated whereas Mary sat at Jesus' feet to listen to his teachings. For that reason all the house workers were called as such yet it still doesn’t really clarify to me why beyond that as both are apparently following Jesus’s teachings in differring manners - meaning that this is one of the many examples of the governing body’s manipulation of the bible that Offred mentions offhandedly throughout the story

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Handmaids Tale Entry #1

“‘Showoff,’ a voice hisses, and this is true. A woman that pregnant doesn't have to go out, doesn't have to go shopping. The daily walk is no longer prescribed, to keep her abdominal muscles in working order. She needs only the floor exercises, the breathing drill. She could stay at her house. And it's dangerous for her to be out, there must be a Guardian standing outside the door, waiting for her. Now that she's the carrier of life, she is closer to death, and needs special security. Jealousy could get her, it's happened before. All children are wanted now, but not by everyone.

But the walk may be a whim of hers, and they humor whims, when something has gone this far and there's been no miscarriage. Or perhaps she's one of those, Pile it on, I can take it, a martyr. I catch a glimpse of her face, as she raises it to look around. The voice behind me was right. She's come here to display herself. She's glowing, rosy, she's enjoying every minute of this.”

This passage interested me because it represented the state of the social structure amongst women in the world Handmaid’s Tale takes place in. Almost as if to establish her own superiority Janine walked among the other women to flaunt her pregnancy - taking it upon herself to grasp whatever shred of opportunity she is given to further herself. This may be in part to her own past with the treatment she received from the others because of the trauma she went through prior to this social order but it does clearly establish an idea of “survival of the fittest” regardless.

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If you’re into hyper-vulgar comedy based around a revenge scheme then The Serpent of Venice is the book for you. The story follows the journey of a fool as he struggles to unfurl the plans of 3 three men - a merchant, a soldier, and a government official - as they made a bid for power and status in the city of Venice. The story never took itself seriously - in-fact the fool broke the 4th wall multiple times throughout the story as he randomly conversed with the narrator and the reader - and that was quite possibly one of its best qualities. A great example was right at the beginning of the book when the Fool first confronted the trio of antagonists and - in a situation where he was completely outnumbered and alone - proceeded to insult the living crap out of them using his handy dandy stick puppet that 100% (not lying at all) was definitely not him. As the story progresses the humor begins to degrade to just blatant vulgarity for the sake of having vulgarity and honestly just making it difficult to keep reading and the added vagueness of the main story line gets lost in the multitude of side stories the book decides to delve into. Overall I would recommend giving this book a read for the sake of a good laugh, just keep in mind that the book won’t ever take itself seriously.

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Permission

Shahroz has permission to calm down just a bit this year in general.