"How to Do a Close Reading" response

I thought it was interesting how this article gave you the definition of a close reading and then gave you a short passage to read. By breaking down the parts of the passage, the article helps the reader realize what things he should be looking out for while reading. For example, the article describes many different literary devises that are used in the passage: metaphor (spider's web becomes a universe), personification (the spider has human qualities: "owner," "fingering her guidelines"), and diction (of the western setting- "gulch," "arroyo," "buffalo grass.") Then the article tells the reader to ask questions about the patterns in the passage. I think this is a very helpful tool in looking at small details in depth and coming to a conculusion about what the passage as a whole means (inductive reasoning). Then, the article tells you one interperatation of the passage: "Eiseley is suggesting that our universie is also finite, that our ideas are circumscribed, and that beyond the limits of our universe there might be phenomena as fully beyond our ken." This is a pretty detailed conclusion that shows the reader where each part of it came from. For example, the article shows how the word "circumscribed" is used in the passage: "The spider was circumscribed by spider ideas." This shows the reader the meaning of the connection between our ideas and the spider's ideas.

"China's Rise isn't our Demise"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/chinas-rise-isnt-our-demise.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I read this article, by Vice President Joe Biden, about the growing concern for China becoming a more major world power and its negative impact on the United States. In the article, Biden clearly tries to discredit all reasons why citizens should be concerned about China's increasing power. He mostly discredits it because of economics reasons. Mainly that the United States is not really in debt financially to China. He states, "China holds just 8 percent of [the United states'] outstanding Treasury securities." Another important claim he makes is that the United States has a competitive edge over China with regards to the labor force's skills. He states, "In the 20th century, we measured a nation’s wealth primarily by its natural resources, its land mass, its population and its army. In the 21st century, the true wealth of a nation is found in the creative minds of its people and their ability to innovate." He continues to remark about the United State's educational system to be far superior to China's. I thought this was an interesting remark; especially because in class we have been focusing on educational reform. Sir Ken Robinson's video ("Changing Education Paradigms") gave a strong argument that the United State's educational system is very outdated and not suited for the current economy. Robinson also strongly argued that our current education system does not develop these "creative minds" that Biden suggests. This is interesting because Biden is saying almost the complete opposite in his article. Biden is saying how the United State's education is what is helping us keep up and stay a world power over upcoming powerful countries.

"The American Scholar" #2

One interesting paragraph I found in this section of "The American Scholar" is the one that begins with, "These being his functions, it becomes him to feel all confidence in himself..." I thought this paragraph was interesting because it talked about the way mankind is so similar and that one can relate to generations past. Emerson sates, "The world at any moment is the merest appearance. Some great decorum, some fetish of a government, some ephemeral trade, or war, or man..." This is saying that even though events that are currently happening seem like new news, they may not need so much attention because it is just a spec of history in the long run. Furthermore, he states, "He then learns, that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts, is master to that extent in all men whose language he speaks, ad of all into whose language his own can be translated." Essentially, Emerson is stating that once a scholar has mastered learning from within, he can find truths about all of mankind, or as Emerson calls it "universal truth." Later in the passage, Emerson states, "Brave; for fear is a thing, which a scholar by his very function puts behind him. Fear always springs from ignorance. It is a shame to him if his tranquility, amid dangerous times, arise from the presumption, that, like children and women, his is a protected class." This comment would probably strike the attention of many 21st century scholars because it suggests that women are not part of this "protected class" and are fearsome and ignorant. The word choice would probably be different if a modern day Emerson wrote this because of the feminist movement becoming more prevalent in literature.