They Say, I Say Exercises 1 & 2

Exercise #1
Many people view maturity as a person's higher mental and emotional capability. If someone was older, and wasn't acting their age, someone might say that they have have "a low maturity level". However, the dictionary defines maturity as being "the state, fact, or period of being mature", and mature means, "fully developed physically; fully grown." So on the contrary, when someone is not acting their age, their maturity levels are not lower, but their mental and emotional capabilities are lower. The difference is this, children and adults react to situations differently because of their life experiences. When a child loses a toy, their whole words is now in total caos, but when an adult loses "a toy" they do not throw themselves on the floor and wail until they get a new one, but even though they may be sad, they know that their world will continue to turn with or without that "toy". So even if a person's mental and emotional capabilities are lower, and they act in a way that is not their age, it is not because their maturity leves are low, but that they just are not acting their age.

I don't know id that made any sense! haha :) I hope you enjoyed earning about the differences between maturity and mental and emotional capabili... "wait, you lost me at 'i hope'"... haha :) have a great summer everybody!

Exercise #2

In the Introduction to "They Say/I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to help students not only write better essays, but to help them take their opinions and form it into an argument, easily. As the authors themselves put it, "In our view, the above template and the others in this book will actually help your writing become more original and creative, not less". Although some people believe that when you give students a formula to follow, it takes out any real thought and creativity, Graff and Birkenstein insist that their formulas are there to assist the students, so that one day, they can leave the nest and fly on their own easily and affectively. In sum, then, their view is that the templates are there so that the student learns HOW to take their ideas and opinions and formulate them such that the reader can affectively convey what they need to.

I agree with Mr. Graff and Miss Birkenstein. In my view, the types of templates that the authors recommend are applicable and easy to use. For instance, in this essay I used their template so that I could better understand their method, and in using this template, I find that I can understand my opinion better because the template not only helped the reader understand, but also me as the writer. In addition, this template makes my opinion better formulated, better understood, and easier to write. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that I am just copying the template, and that I am not really using my brain to write this. Yet I would argue that I am still conveying my opinion, but in a better, understandable way to the reader, and to myself. Overall, then, I believe that these templates will be of great use not only to me, but also my peers and fellow users.

The End.

:) Yeah! I got to pull out my Big Girl Words! haha

Dialectic Journal #1

Chapter: 1
"After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushes; and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by-and-by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; when I didn't care no more about him; because I don't take no stock in dead people." (page 6)

Comments and Questions:
Mark Twain does a good job of showing insights early on in the book about Huckleberry and his opinions. Based on the passage, we could say that Huck feels that he is invincible, that he is immortal. He doesn't care about history, or about "dead people", because he feels that anyone before him can not help him, that you cannot learn from the past, that you can only make your own choices. I think this will come into play, because if you don't learn from the past, how will you ever be able to avoid the mistakes that others have made. If you learn from the past, you can easily avoid certain obstacles. But even if this does not come into play, we can easily say that this gives us an insight into Huck's mind.



Chapter: 2
"Now we'll start a band of robbers and it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood." (page 10)

Comments and Questions:
In this passage, Twain gives the boys a childish attitude. Little boys make gangs, and make promises and oaths that make them feel larger than they really are. Tom Sawyer has a confidence around him that makes all the other boys want to be larger than life. His overly confident attitude affects Huck and his future actions. Huckleberry asks himself multiple times, "What would Tom Sawyer do?" Huck wants to be larger than life, that might even be the reason why Huck does not like to learn from the "dead people". 
I think we could use this passage later on and compare this to Huck at the end of the story, and see how his maturity level has grown.



Chapter: 3
"So then I judged that all that stuff was only just one of Tom Sawyer's lies. I reckoned he believed in the Arabs and the elephants, but as for me I think different. It had all the marks of a Sunday School." (page 17)

Comments and Questions:
I liked how Twain used this passage to show that Huck is not easily persuaded one way or the other. That he is not a leaf just blowing in the wind, but that he is a tree that is firmly planted and not easily pulled one way or the other. So far throughout the book, Huck has always had his own opinion, whether he was living with his the widow and she had her own thoughts about life, or with his dad, or with Tom, he may have agreed with them on certain points but his life and his opinions were never swayed by them and their choices.



Chapter: 6
"But by-and-by pap got too handy with the hick'ry, and I couldn't stand it." (page 25)

Comments and Questions:
Huck references his distaste for any kind of liquor many times, and we can link that straight to his father's overuse of alcohol. Huck has seen what it can do to a man, and the affect that it has on the man's life, and people around him. This is definitely a one of the themes of the book.
Liquor is just a symbol. It is a symbol for something that Huck does not want to become. His father is easily influenced by alcohol, and so Huck does not want to become someone who is easily persuaded, who can be influenced by anyone who comes around.



Chapter: 8
"I reckon I was up in the tree two hours; but I didn't see nothing, I didn't hear nothing-- I only thought I heard and seen as much as a thousand things." (page 39)

Comments and Questions:
Mark Twain uses 'I' a lot throughout the book. I think it gives the reader a deeper look into Huck's thoughts and actions, and it gives the reader a personal connection with Huck. It makes you think that the 'I' is you. That this is your adventure as much as it is Huck's adventure. Just in this one sentence, Twain uses 6 I's. It also gives a feel of suspense. Sometimes repetition gives a slowness to the book, not boring, but just a suspenseful tone.



Chapter: 10 
"Old Hank Bunker done it once, and bragged about it; and in less than two years he got drunk and fell off of the shot towers... But anyway, it all come of looking at the moon that way, like a fool." (page 51)

Comments and Questions:
This is another reference to the evils of over usage of alcohol. This also probably influenced Huck's dislike of liquor.
This is a good example of the craziness of superstitions. It's amazing to me that they connected those two events. The bad superstition and him dying. It gives us an insight though on how gossip-centered Huck's village is. Not that it has changed too much, with our magazines and social networks, but it shows how small town Huck's view point is. Now back to my main point, the belief in superstitions. This is definitely a theme of the book. It was referenced especially when Huck is around Jim. This is definitely an influence of the African tribes through Jim.



Chapter: 14
Summary: Huck tries to explain to Jim that there are men that speak like them, and there are men that speak french. 

Comments and Questions:
This part made me laugh so hard! The idea that someone doesn't know that there are hundreds upon hundreds of different languages, just blows my mind. This passage really made a time separation between us and Huck. Nowadays everyone knows that their native language is not the only language spoken, but because of the limited communication, and the limited dispersion of knowledge, many people in Huck's time did not know even an 1/8 of what we globally know and understand.
I can see this being a small sub-theme of this book. We can already see Huck mature and  grow, but when he comes into more encounters with more people, I can see his knowledge of the world grow as his maturity grows.