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Joshua Moreno

Batty, English 102

December 6, 2017

My Reflection

Over this semester I have learned many things in regard to writing, critical thinking and

reading. I have also been tested in my work based on these subjects. If I had to say I believe that

this class has allowed me to think more abstractly towards how I should be reading literary text,

poems and even graphic novels. Before this course I believed stories and novels were just a form

of entertainment one that I had not enjoyed often, because I fall asleep after reading ten pages

most of the time but thats besides the point Fact is books, novels, comics everything has a

purpose and has the potential to teach something great to us as people. While some might say

thats not always true I believe it is as it has shown me different methods to approach problems

in my field.

Upon preparing for the poetry essay, I had read the poem The Flea twice and thought

nothing of it. However, when I personified the words I was able to analyze the text as if it were

two people having marital issues. More specifically, the man having a feeling of his wife

cheating on him and I then was able to relate it to the author whom also had complications when

it came to marriage. Critical thinking as well as using my knowledge of psychology both

contributed to my writing birthing interesting angles, motives and giving a deeper understanding

of how to properly read the poem. It was quite delightful to feel that rush of clarity, as I have said

I hadnt really enjoyed reading in the past.

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When analyzing M. Butterfly, It felt personal to me as being a part of the LGBTQ

community. However, just as I struggle in the real world with how to explain myself I couldnt

translate the masculine perspective as much as I could the feminine perspective. It was a

challenge because it felt personal, but again through critical thinking a persevered and came out

with a solution to the problem. That is to remember what each region considers to be masculine

or feminine, as although it may be standard for us here in the U.S. it may not be somewhere else.

After doing this I was able to be more expressive by using culture as a catalyst for how to shape

my arguments. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that the female character is indeed more

masculine than the male character and vice versa. As confusing as that may be I believe in my

interpretation of the play, and accept that each countrys view does not align with that of

everyone else.

The monster novel was probably my favorite piece to write as we had to apply a

psychoanalytic lens to the novel and examine who the monsters were within. My novel was Do

Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, in this story humans and androids attempt to coexist within

a dystopian society. I felt more at home with this novel because it gave me a chance to work with

certain characters as if they were clients, giving a more client centered form of psychoanalysis.

By using psychology and critical thinking skills I was able to relate the human qualities in

androids to humans and thus distinguish humans as being the monsters. Androids were born

from the desires of humans, by the laziness of humans and by the faults of humans. However,

they are treated as though they were the reason for why the Earth is in the state it is inIts

terrible but I believe the author intended it to be this way for the effect it would have on readers

who will come to see technology as the absolute future and the problem solver that would at

some point become the problem. The novel helped me to understand interactions between the
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known and unknown as well as allowed me to further my practice of analysis moving forward

into psychotherapy as a field.

From Hines Duncan the Wonder Dog, I was able to explore the lives of animals and

humans as if they both had a voice in how the world should be. I was interesting to say the least

and by applying an ecocentric lens I found the atrocities by man against animals are expressed

more strongly within the dark themes of the graphic novel. It deals with animal cruelty, culling

of animals, and extremism while also giving a religious worldview essentially giving animals the

same views as humans. While reading this I felt Hines conviction with how humans treat

animals and was able to determine that he was successful in regards to expressing his idea and

giving awareness to the issue.

As said before Ive learned a lot in this course. For the most part Ive learned more how

to properly apply knowledge I already have to mediums that I used to believe had no merit. Im

thankful for how much I have learned, and hope to continue further improving my skills going

forward into my education.