Final Portfolio

Over the course of this semester that I r I've written many essays. I will admit some of my essays  were not

my best. The writings that I chose were The Little Black Boy (Revised), Midsummer's Night Dream,

Metamorphosis, and Starsky and Hutch. I believe that I've become a better through this class. My strengths

as a writer is how well I come up with ideas for my essays. I've learned how to correct my sentence

fragments and avoid comma splices.

I believed that the essay that I improved the most on was The Little Black Boy (Revised). I rewrote the

entire essay and changed what I felt needed the most improvement. For each one of my essay I chose a

different literary theory. I found the Metamorphosis essay to be the hardest to develop.

Writing a comparative analysis was also a challenge especially when comparing a a video to a graphic novel

or a written work.

Starsky and Hutch Annotated Bib

     William and Ryan Blinn are two very well-known producers. The have produced many hits, especially the 

1970’s hit television series Starsky and Hutch. In 2004 there was a remake also produced by William Blinn 

and many others. Starsky and Hutch is about two street wise cops that bust criminals in their red-and-white 

Ford Torino with the help of police snitch called Huggy Bear. (“Wikipedia”).

            The remake does not differ that much from the original television series. Both of them have the same 

two protagonists southern California policemen; David Michael Starsky and Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson.  

Starsky is a streetwise detective and U.S. Army veteran with intense, sometimes childlike moods, and the 

blond Duluth, Minnesota native Hutch, a more reserved and intellectually inclined character. The movie takes 

place in the fictional city of Bay City California in 1975. The storyline of the movie is about the two partners 

bringing down the biggest drug kingpin and making the biggest bust of their career.

           

       The Literary Theory that best fits the essay is Carl Jung Criticism. The question at hand is what trials or 

ordeals do the protagonist face? What is the reward for overcoming them? In the television series the two 

protagonists faced drug pushers, murders, rapists, and similar scum. On the surface the two partners were 

like oil and water but when put together the meshed well. In the remake one of the ordeals that the 

protagonists faced was the biggest drug bust of their career; with the help of their street wise informant 

“Huggy Bear.” In the end they capture the man behind the drug ring.

            The television show and the movie remake are both great depictions of how cops do their jobs. 

There were some great comparisons to real life situations.

Cited Sources

Starsky and Hutch.Wikipedia.Web.25 Jun.2012

Starsky and Hutch.Tv.com.Web.24.Jun.2012

The Little Black Boy Essay Revised

“The Little Black Boy”

My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but O! my soul is white;

White as an angel is the English child,

But I am black, as if bereav'd of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,

And sitting down before the heat of day,

She took me on her lap and kissed me,

And pointing to the east, began to say:

"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,

And gives his light, and gives his heat away;

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

And we are put on earth a little space,

That we may learn to bear the beams of love;

And these black bodies and this sunburnt face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,

The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice,

Saying: 'Come out from the grove, my love and care,

And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.' "

Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;

And thus I say to little English boy,

When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear

To lean in joy upon our father's knee;

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him, and he will then love me.

My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but O! my soul is white;

White as an angel is the English child,

But I am black, as if bereav'd of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,

And sitting down before the heat of day,

She took me on her lap and kissed me,

And pointing to the east, began to say:

"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,

And gives his light, and gives his heat away;

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

And we are put on earth a little space,

That we may learn to bear the beams of love;

And these black bodies and this sunburnt face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,

The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice,

Saying: 'Come out from the grove, my love and care,

And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.' "

Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;

And thus I say to little English boy,

When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear

To lean in joy upon our father's knee;

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him, and he will then love me.

My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but O! my soul is white;

White as an angel is the English child,

But I am black, as if bereav'd of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,

And sitting down before the heat of day,

She took me on her lap and kissed me,

And pointing to the east, began to say:

"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,

And gives his light, and gives his heat away;

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

And we are put on earth a little space,

That we may learn to bear the beams of love;

And these black bodies and this sunburnt face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,

The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice,

Saying: 'Come out from the grove, my love and care,

And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.' "

Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;

And thus I say to little English boy,

When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear

To lean in joy upon our father's knee;

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him, and he will then love me.

The literary theory that this poem applies to is Marxist Criticism. “Marxist literary criticism is a loose term describing literary criticism based on socialist and dialectic theories. Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they originate. According to Marxists, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author.” (Wikipedia)   Who does its benefit of the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed, etc? This work benefits anyone who reads it.  “In the past the Blake holds a fast desire of acceptance by the white English child.” (Blake) In today’s society there is no longer the want of desire of acceptance between blacks and whites. Most of the time everyone seems to get along and they don’t try to compete with one another. The image that I chose depicts the poem. It shows a mother speaking with her children, explaining why the world is the way it is. I also found a song that relates to this work, it’s a religious but very inspirational song that reflect the little black boy,  Watch Video

William Blake’s poem The Little Black Boy has been long recognized as a work of “astonishing complexity,” in a dualistic perception of the world. This poem tells the story of how the little black boy came to know his own identity and to learn about God through his mother’s teachings. I believe that the poem state he was born in the “southern wild” which is Africa. He states that even though his skin is black his soul is as white as an English child. He meets a white English boy that he wants to be like. “He talks about his mother teaching him about how God lives in the east, who gives light and life to all creations and comfort and joy to men.” (Blake)

 The black boy passes on his lesson to an English child, explaining that his white skin is likewise a cloud. He vows that when they are both free of their bodies and delighting in the presence of God, he will shade his white friend until him, too, learns to bear the heat of God’s love. Then, the black boy says, he will be like the English boy, and the English boy will love him.

 The black boy internalizes his mother’s lesson and applies it in his relations with the outer world; specifically, Blake shows us what happens when the boy applies it to his relationship with a white child. The results are ambivalent. The boy explains to his white friend that they are equals, but that neither will be truly free until they are released from the constraints of the physical world. He imagines himself shading his friend from the brightness of God’s love until he can become accustomed to it. Blake implies that the black boy is better prepared for heaven than the white boy, perhaps because of the greater burden of his dark skin has posed during earthly life. This is part of the consoling vision with which his mother has prepared him, which allows his suffering to become a source of pride rather than shame. But the boy’s outlook, and his deference to the white boy, may strike the reader as containing a naive blindness to the realities of oppression and racism, and a too-passive acceptance of suffering and injustice. We do not witness the response of the white boy; Blake’s focus in this poem is on the mental state of the black child. But the question remains of whether the child’s outlook is servile and self-demeaning, or exemplifies Christian charity. The poem itself implies that these might amount to the same thing.

            Overall I think this is an excellent poem by William Blake, it shows you different point of views from all walks of life; the past and the present. I think that everyone can learn a valuable lesson from this work. The song shows a religious view of how they believe the poem is portrayed. I would recommend anyone who loves to read to engage in this work.

Works Cited

Hofmeister,L.Poetry analysis: The Little Black Boy. By William Blake.16May2012.Retrieved from: L Hofmeister

Adams, Hazard . William Blake: A Reading of the Shorter Poems . Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1963

Wikipedia

Annotated Bibliography Revised (The Little Black Boy)

21 minutes ago

The Little Black Boy

My analysis of this work!!!!

1. 
   

   

   Bcbits

   
   

   30 minutes ago
2. The Little Black Boy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   

   It becomes clear over the course of the poem, however, that Blake had a deeper message to convey to his reader. "The Little Black ...

   

   Wikipedia
3. The Little Black Boy - T Mychael Rambo - William Bolcom/Blake

   
   

   lelandbug

   
   

   a year ago
4. I was amazed to find that someone had written a song to go along with the poem.
5. The Little Black Boy Analysis William Blake : Summary Explanation ...
   

   Songs of Innocence1789My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white. White as an angel is the English...

   

   Eliteskills
6. My Reading of Blake's “The Little Black Boy” | Significant Pursuit by ...
   

   Sep 27, 2008 ... Helen Losse has a provocative blog entry about the poem “The Little Black Boy” by WIlliam Blake. She asks whether ther...

   

   Wordpress

Did you find this story interesting? Be the first to like or comment.

Comparative Analysis Essay

Yolander Whitson

Blog Post 6

            I found it fascinating to explore two different versions of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. There were several differences between the play and the movie. One of the biggest differences that stood out the most was the relationships that were being portrayed by the men and women in both versions.

            One of the relationships that were portrayed was that of Hermia and her Father. In the movie Hermia tried to tell her father that she was not in love with James. Her father never wanted to hear what anyone else had to say he was always preoccupied with other things. During the engagement party Zander shows up to profess his love to Hermia. She admits her love as well, but her father disagrees. When she turns to leave with Zander her father tells her she is doomed to die. In the play Hermia is set to be married to Demetrius, because her father Egeus chose him to marry his daughter. Hermia has two suitors Demetrius and Lysander but she is only in love with one. In both versions Hermia decides to run away with her true love.

            The second relationship compared in both versions was that of the King and Queen of the Fairies. Their names were Oberon and Titania. They always disagreed about the smallest things. Oberon didn’t want Titania to keep the indian child, he wanted the child for himself.

The third  relationship being between Theseus and Hippolyta in the play. They are planning their wedding which is set to take place in four days. Theseus won Hippolyta in a battle, although their relationship has not always been so loving the are still planning on get married. In the movie they were comapared to Hermia’s parents.

Cited Sources

            A Literary Analysis of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. The Hawk. 3.Dec.2011.Web.11Jun2012.

            Castaldo, Annalisa. “No More Yielding Than a Dream: The Construction of Shakespeare in the Stadium.” College Literature 31. 4 (2004): 94-100. MLA International Biblography. EBSCO.Web.10Oct.2011

Midsummer's Night Dream (Feminist Criticism)

Yolander Whitson

Blog Post 5   

 In the 16^th century William Shakespeare wrote a comedy play A Midsummer Nights Dream and compares it to Romeo and Juliet both are about lovers. For this literary analysis I chose to use feminist criticism. The question I chose was how is the relationship between men and women portrayed? In this work there are several relationships ongoing. The first relationship being between Theseus and Hippolyta. They are planning their wedding which is set to take place in four days. Theseus won Hippolyta in a battle, although their relationship has not always so loved the are still planning on get married.

The next relationship is Hermia, who is the daughter Egeus. At the age of 12 and 14 the parents of Hermia has already picked a husband for his daughter. (I, 1). Hermia has two suitors, but she is only in love with one of them. She wants to marry Lysander. “Her father has other plans for her; he states that if she won’t marry Demetrius, she will die.” Theseus believes that Hermia should obey her father, because it is the law of Athens. She is given until the day of Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding to make a decision.

After Lysander starts to come up with a plan for he and Hermia decide to run away to his aunt’s house. The mother tried to tell the father maybe she didn’t love Demetrius and had the right to choose who she loved. The king of the fairies Oberon and Titania . The king of the fairies talked to Puck about putting s spell on Lysander and Demetrius for both of them to fall in love with Hermia. That did not work out right because they began to fight. Helena was trying to stop the two guys from fighting. Then Hermia and Helena past word and said thing to each they didn’t mean.

   Oberon and Titania were always into in the wood like the woods had a spell on them because they would always disagree. Oberon had puck to put a spell on Titania. And when Titania a woke she would fall in love with the first person she saw who was Bottom. Who Puck had turned into a jack ass (III.1). Out of all that Bottom wanted to sing because he was in love with Titania it was like a dream come true. Oberon was still not happy so he had Puck to take the spell off of Lysander and Demetrius so the fall in love the right girl. Also take the spell off of

Titania because Oberon really loved her.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William.A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.6June2012. Retrieved from: www.Cliffnotes.com/study_guide/literature/a_midsummer_nights_dream/play_summary.html

Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 8 Jun. 2012.

For this literary analysis  I chose to use Marxist Criticism. One the of questions I chose is what social classes do the characters represent?

I also want to discuss one of the themes of the work which is friendship.

http://storify.com/jameslee43/annotated-bib-midsummer-s-night-dream/edit

For this annotated bibliography I chose to use feminist criticism. I chose the following questions: What are the power relationships between men and women and how are male and female roles defined? In Neil Gaiman's version of this work he uses a character by the name of Sandman to grant dreams. One of the relationships portrayed in the work is that of Shakespeare and his son Hamnet.

a midsummer night's dream

Yolander Whitson

Blog Post 5   

 In the 16^th century William Shakespeare wrote a comedy play A Midsummer Nights Dream and compares it to Romeo and Juliet both are about lovers. For this literary analysis I chose to use feminist criticism. The question I chose was how is the relationship between men and women portrayed? In this work there are several relationships ongoing. The first relationship being between Theseus and Hippolyta. They are planning their wedding which is set to take place in four days. Theseus won Hippolyta in a battle, although their relationship has not always so loved the are still planning on get married.

The next relationship is Hermia, who is the daughter Egeus. At the age of 12 and 14 the parents of Hermia has already picked a husband for his daughter. (I, 1). Hermia has two suitors, but she is only in love with one of them. She wants to marry Lysander. “Her father has other plans for her; he states that if she won’t marry Demetrius, she will die.” Theseus believes that Hermia should obey her father, because it is the law of Athens. She is given until the day of Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding to make a decision.

After Lysander starts to come up with a plan for he and Hermia decide to run away to his aunt’s house. The mother tried to tell the father maybe she didn’t love Demetrius and had the right to choose who she loved. The king of the fairies Oberon and Titania . The king of the fairies talked to Puck about putting s spell on Lysander and Demetrius for both of them to fall in love with Hermia. That did not work out right because they began to fight. Helena was trying to stop the two guys from fighting. Then Hermia and Helena past word and said thing to each they didn’t mean.

   Oberon and Titania were always into in the wood like the woods had a spell on them because they would always disagree. Oberon had puck to put a spell on Titania. And when Titania a woke she would fall in love with the first person she saw who was Bottom. Who Puck had turned into a jack ass (III.1). Out of all that Bottom wanted to sing because he was in love with Titania it was like a dream come true. Oberon was still not happy so he had Puck to take the spell off of Lysander and Demetrius so the fall in love the right girl. Also take the spell off of

Titania because Oberon really loved her.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William.A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.6June2012. Retrieved from: www.Cliffnotes.com/study_guide/literature/a_midsummer_nights_dream/play_summary.html

Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 8 Jun. 2012.