Essay on "Oranges the Purpose of Literature"

Quoted Instructions for "Oranges the Purpose of Literature" Assignment:

Reading Responses to a Poem ( I have chosen Oranges by Gary Soto.

Select one poem from this week*****s assigned readings, and identify at least three elements in the poem that you found interesting or engaging (e.g., form, language, content, and/or other literary elements).

Then, assess how these elements affected your response to the poem, in its entirety.

(e.g., Did these elements affect your opinions on (or reaction to) the content of the poem? Did they cause you to focus on one aspect of the poem over others?)

Assignment Requirements

Length: Your paper should be two to four double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference page)

Sources: Support your reflections with textual details and analysis from at least two scholarly sources.

APA: Your draft must be formatted to APA (6th edition) style.

Separate Title Page: Must include an original title

Separate Reference Page

Proper Citations: All sources must be properly cited, both within the text and in a separate reference page.

Elements of Academic Writing: All academic papers should include these elements.

Introduction with a thesis statement

Supporting paragraphs

Conclusion

***Please let me know how descriptive I need to be on my request as I had a problem with my original request.***

Below is an example of what the instructor is looking for:

The difference between drama and other forms of literary art is that it imitates life. Although drama*****s can be read it is better experienced as it is played right before you imitating life, with all its characters. As part of the audience you actually become part of the play be witnessing the actions and giving feedback to the actors without realizing that you are contributing, in a way, to the drama being played out. In the drama, *****Riders to the Sea,***** by J.M. Synge, the main character, the mother, Maurya is the protagonist and the sea is portrayed as the antagonist. Her daughters, Cath***** and Nora are minor characters but they contribute to the drama, through dialogue, revealing pertinent information, helping to advance the plot, establishing the tone of the play as well as help building the intensity of emotion in the drama. Her son, Bartley also helps in that process especially when he becomes the last victim of the sea.

One of the repetitive lines in the play that perked my interest was when Bartley left on the *****red mare followed by the grey pony.***** Didn*****t catch the symbolism or knowing that is was going to be used as a foreshadowing technique, until after hearing what Maurya had to say to her daughters when she came back from trying to wish her son Bartley, good luck. When she tried to speak to Bartley on the red mare, she thought she saw her son, Michael who has been missing at sea for nine days. She said, *****I looked up then, and I crying, at the gray pony, and there was Michael upon it***** (Clugston, 2010, section 13.3, lines 226-227). She also described him as wearing fine clothes and new shoes which basically tell me that he has died and gone to heaven. That made me think of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, where conquest rides the white horse, war rides the red horse, famine rides the black horse, and death rides the pale horse. Bartley was riding the red mare and the mother saw Michael, who was already dead riding the grey (pale) pony. In a way, the sisters believed their mothers vision as saw the omen. Maurya took it for granted then that she will lose her last son as well.

This play is a tragedy because Maurya *****suffers and fails to overcome powerful opposing forces but demonstrates courage and the greatness of the human ***** in engaging them***** (Clugston, 2010, Ch. 13.4). Maurya has lost a husband, and father-in-law, and six sons to the sea. Although she couldn*****t control the situations that occurred around her and to her family she was in an unsteady peace knowing the sea won*****t be taking anymore of her sons since it has claimed them all.

The instructors response to the above discussion post was as follows:

This is a very organized response. I like how, in your opening, you explain the difference between reading drama & truly experiencing it as you see it acted out. I think that*****'s one vital difference between the forms of literature we*****'ve been encountering. Simply put, poems & stories are mostly private affairs, something you have a one to one interaction with. A play literally springs to life before you & communicates in a wholly new way!

Do you need me to forward you a copy of the poem? *****

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