Blog #5

Hello, my active readers of this literature oriented blog.

I regret to tell you that I wrote to soon. I thought in the last blog that Reader-Response criticism was the most interesting form of analysis to me but that was until today, when I read about historical criticism. Historical criticism takes what a person reads in a text and interprets and completely changes that interpretation dramatically. Historical criticism puts biographical information into play when interpreting a piece of work. What seems fine in today's society could be a completely different attitude in the past in which that text was written. Let me give you an example “We finally made it to New York City from Eastern Germany." (Written in 1940)

 In today’s society this seems quite fine to do. If a person looks at the time period this sentence was written in, 1940, shows that this group of people just escaped the beginning of the Nazi movement.  Knowing the biographical context of a piece of work the meaning and interpretation completely changes dramatically. This week I was instructed to read Norman Stock's “What I said" and Amis' “The Last Day of Muhammad Atta”, then use historical criticism for my interpretations. These pieces of text were perfect for historical criticism for the sole fact both texts revolved around the 911 terrorist attacks which was a tragic and pivotal point in American history. This text to no surprise was filled with emotion that created many understanding biases which to me is the point of historical criticism.

Stock's “What I said" is a powerful and emotional text, stock employs a feeling of helplessness and at the very end he uses the words “let’s kill them." In today’s society it’s pretty easy to interpret Stock's feelings since the 911 terrorist attacks are still recent and relevant in most if not all Americans minds. The helplessness Stock portrays in this text from my understanding is nothing this tragic has ever happened in American history. Like him no one in America were prepared for this emotional shock  that only option left is/was learned helplessness. Now transitioning to when Stock states “let’s kill them" mean a variety of things. I interpreted Stock's meaning of this quote   was that war was the next step of action against the terrorist. I also interpreted Stock’s quote that even though the word kill is a very serious and powerful word that a vast number of Americans could or have agreed with him. the anger and insecurity crated form 911 could beyond a doubt push a person to that rationale.  From this text 911 showed an unfair negative view of Arabic decent individuals were created, which could have loose ties to Stock’s quote of “ Lets kill them.”

So! As the final weeks of this class has begun to wind down my writing style has grown notably which I like. I have learned to analyze a variety of text and to communicate my thoughts more effectively.

 Once again good bye bloggers till next time!