8. 6/25 (due 6/29)

8 (6/25) | Comparing Content, Comparing Form & Style
READ:
–Roupenian, “Cat Person” (p. 76) —Essay 3 Assignment MLA Citation Quick Guide –Find, read, and summarize (below) one article using a Research Resource

  1. Please read Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person” and consider as you read the ways in which this short story is similar to and different from Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” For starters, both stories are about ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters that could be considered sexual assault, depending on how you interpret/define this term (sexual assault). This is one broad similarity, but I want you to see if you can notice other, more specific similarities.  I also want you to take note of the differences between these two stories: how are the two sexual encounters described in each text different?  How are the styles of these two writers—Roupenian and Munro—different?  You don’t need to write anything (although you can), but this is what I want you thinking about as you read.
  2. Please read the MLA Citation guide (link above) and give Essay 2 feedback to two (2) classmates. In your feedback, please indicate where and how the writer could improve either their in-text citations (when they quote) or their Works Cited page (at the end of their essay).
  3. I want you to find and read a research article using the resources linked above—preferably an article that helps you make a connection/comparison between your main Essay 2 text and another work of literature that it is similar to in some way. Once you’ve read your research article, I want you to write 2 paragraphs below.

3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found.  In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).

3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways.  At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

 

17 thoughts on “8. 6/25 (due 6/29)”

  1. 3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found.  In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).

    The research article that I found is titled, “Fooled by first impressions? Reexamining the diagnostic value of appearance-based inferences”. This article discus the concept that we often form opinions about the characteristics of others from single, static samples of their appearance. These are things that we can tell from looking at them, but not things that actually make up their personality. This research article used a data set of over 1 million appearance-based judgements that were obtained via a commonly used website, and evaluated this data to determine how accurate judges were in making assumptions about an individual based upon their appearance. The overall findings of this analysis suggest that appearances have too much power in our judgements of others, and that our judgements are not as accurate as if we ignored appearance and instead judged others based on knowledge of their character traits and personalities. This is directly relevant to “The Other Man” because in two separate instances in this short story, the narrator incorrectly judges other people based off of his brief interactions with them. The narrator judges the tourist to be a truth-telling businessman from Poland. He also incorrectly judges a woman at the bar to be a single woman, looking to have a good time, when she is in fact married. This research article also relates to Denis Johnson’s “Two Men” in that in this short story, the men judge the man in the car to be deaf, when it turns out that he actually is not. The narrator also discuses hating his two friends, who he had grouped together with off of a basic misunderstanding, or a basic misjudgment. The narrator also seems to judge the woman at the club’s boyfriend as “mean, skinny, and intelligent” when he did not know that this was the case at all.

    3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways.  At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

    Both “The Other Man” and “Two Men” by Denis Johnson utilize human judgements as part of the story. “The Other Man” includes judgments of the tourist from Cleveland, who the narrator believes is from Poland, and of the woman whom the narrator assumes is not married, when in actuality she is married. In “Two Men” There are judgements throughout. There are judgements of the woman at the club’s boyfriend, there are judgements that formed the group of three friends, there are judgments of “the deaf man”, there are judgements of the woman at the house, and of the black man at the house. While it is less clear if these judgements are true than they were in “The Other Man”, the text leads us to believe that the “deaf man” was not actually deaf. What makes “Two Men” different from “The Other Man”, however, is that in the end of “The Other Man” it appears that the married woman and the narrator go on to share some sort of secret relationship. In “The Other Man” the narrator is constantly SEEKING new relationships. In “Two Men” it appears that the narrator is trying to escape from the deaf man, and is thus trying to avoid a new relationship, and he does so successfully.

  2. Prompt 5
    1. In Roupenian’s short story The Cat Person, the story is similar to the Wild Swan by Munro, which has accounts of sexual assaults that have violated women’s dignity. There had been unpleasant sexual encounters that occurred in the stories, but only one story have a proven sexual assault claim. In the Roupenian’s story, the only sexual assault that is when there is a coerced sexual intercourse that the woman have not consented the activity. The similarity is that they were uncomfortable with the events that have violated their dignity. The difference is that only in one story that there is a proven sexual assault that is done without the consent of the woman. In the Roupenian’s story, there is no sexual assault because the woman have consented the sexual intercourse, and even though is is not pleased with the sexual intercourse there is no sexual assault due to the consent. The woman have also fantasized the sexual activity that is an evidence that there is no sexual assault. The two writers are informing and making the viewers aware which actions are considered sexual assault, which are not sexual asssault.
    2.I commented on Kevin Sosa and Melanie Sabino.
    3a. The Roman Catholic Church has been around since the first century. It was founded by Jesus Christ, the person who was sent by God to save the world from sins. The Catholic Church is the body of believers in Christ. But it has been shaken by the numerous scandals that include clergy sex-abuse on the minors. In the United States alone, there have been 4,434 cases, in which the number of cases have quadrupled in 2019 alone. One Roman Catholic Cardinal was expelled from priesthood due to his action on molesting minors and seminarians. There have been lawsuits, and the Catholic Church have been strictly performing background checks and spent money to stop the sexual abuse by priests.
    Source: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-06-25/clergy-sex-abuse-allegations-triple-us-roman-catholic-bishops-report
    b. There is no similarity between my Essay 2 and the text I found.

  3. Please read Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person” and consider as you read the ways in which this short story is similar to and different from Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” For starters, both stories are about ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters that could be considered sexual assault, depending on how you interpret/define this term (sexual assault). This is one broad similarity, but I want you to see if you can notice other, more specific similarities. I also want you to take note of the differences between these two stories: how are the two sexual encounters described in each text different? How are the styles of these two writers—Roupenian and Munro—different? You don’t need to write anything (although you can), but this is what I want you thinking about as you read.

    – There are some similarities between the texts “Wild Swans” and “Cat Person”. First, in both stories two characters, the girl and a man, have a big difference in the age. The man is a lot older than a girl. Secondarily, girls in both texts fantasize at some point. For example, in the “Wild Swan” the girl imagining that a corner of the newspaper that touched her leg is an old man’s hand. Similarly, Margot, the girl from “Cat Person”, was fantasizing about Robert, a thirty-four year old man that Margot met at the movie theater, when she was away for break.
    – The difference between those two stories are that in “Wild Swans” the “sexual assault” was only the girl’s imagination. However, in the “Cat Person” the sexual acts were real.
    – The “Wild Swans” was written in a formal language, unlike the text “Cat Person” which was written more in casual and informal language.

    3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found. In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).

    – In “The Bloodstained Pavement” Joyce, the painter, was telling a story to “The Tuesday Night Club” where people were solving unsolved mysteries. Joyce told what she saw when she was on a holiday. When she was painting two cars drew up to the hotel within a couple of minutes difference in each other. There was a couple in the first car, and in the other car there was a woman who was dressed in a scarlet. A man, Denis, recognized the scarlet-dressed woman, Carol, as an old friend. Then he introduced her to his wife, Margery. Later, Denis was talking to Margery and Carol and suggested they take a boat to see the cave. However, Carol hated boats and she told the couple that she will go along a cliff path and meet them there. That day, when Joyce was still painting she noticed the bath suits drying out on the balcony and thought that all three people had returned. For some reason, Joyce did not understand why she painted bloodstains on the sidewalk, and when she looked on the sidewalk there actually were bloodstains. At some point, Denis left his hotel room and started to ask people if they had seen Carol returned. Denis and Margaery could not wait any longer for Carol to return, so they left. After they left, Joyce examined the sidewalk but bloodstains were gone. Two days later, Joyce read a newspaper and it said that Margaery was found dead. “The Tuesday Night Club” was arguing that the bloodstains were dripping from the scarlet sween suit, and the criminals did not realize their mistake when they hung it to dry on the balcony. Joyce ends the story by telling that a year later she saw Denis, Carol, and another woman (Denis’s “wife”) on a little east-coast resort. It seemed very suspicious to Joyce so she went to a police station. Unsurprisingly, the inspector was already investigating Denis, who married women under several names, insured their lives, and then killed with Carol’s help. Carol was his real wife. Turns out that when they killed a woman, Carol put on her clothes and returned with Denis under a different identity. This story connected to “The Money” because both of them were double crime stories that were based on the desire to get money. “The Bloodstained Pavement” was also similar to “The Purloined Letter” because there was a repeating idea of substitution. In “The Purloined Letter” there was substitution of a letter, and in “The Bloodstained Pavement” there was identity substitution.
    – Another article that I found is “Privatizing Poverty: How the poor became an alien population” by Kimberly Phillips-Fein. It is talking about people who live in poverty and problems that they have to face every single day. It connects to the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz because Junot and his family struggled financially and they lived in a bad neighborhood.

    3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways. At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

    – Both texts “The Money” and “The Purloined Letter” have a similar idea that something valuable and important was stolen. Then, to return the stolen thing back, someone breaks into the house or an apartment where the stolen item is. In the end, the valuable object was returned back to its owner.
    The differences between those texts are that in “The Purloined Letter” the police were involved in searching for the stolen thing. Unlike, “The Money” where Jonot did not tell anyone that he is going to break into his friend’s apartment. Additionally, in the “The Purloined Letter” everyone knew from the beginning who stole the letter, but in “The Money” Junot figured out who robbed him only later on in the story. What makes the story “The Money” unique is that it was a child who solved the crime and ultimately went unpunished.

  4. 3a) The research article “Black Lives Matter: on the topic of protesting and looting” by Jessica Zang is about the moral ambiguity of looting, destroying, and causing havoc among businesses and buildings. This article connects to the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz because I feel that both story and article speak about the moral ambiguity of the character and the people who chose to either loot/steal. This article explained how far the people who considered themselves to be protesting for George Floyd’s death leading to the Black Lives Matter Movement to be causing destruction among communities.

    3b)The similarities with “The Money” and “Black Lives Matter: on the topic of protesting and looting” are the motives being that the character’s motive in “The Money” was to steal back his belongings for a good cause which was to make his mother happy as they really needed the money. In “Black Lives Matter: on the topic of protesting and looting” people are looting and causing havoc among communities which are promoting violence towards the Black Lives Matter Movement in order to stop the violence of cops on Black Americans. The article discusses the matter of hypocrisy in which ..”The actions of looters have corrupted the message of those who are demonstrating without violence..” as stated by Zang; like in “The Money” which I mentioned in my essay 2 about the character’s morals being questionable in regards to stealing his belongings back and avoiding calling the cops on his friends who stole from him. The difference I found with both article and story are the different motives the character and people might have towards stealing, and setting.

  5. HW. 8. 6/25 (due 6/29)
    1) Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person”, describes a story somewhat similar to Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” Even Though, both stories could be categorized under “ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters”, they are not alike. In “Cat Person”, Margaret was clearly attracted to him and she didn’t hesitate to show him that.Roupenian writes “Robert did not pick up on her flirtation. Or, if he did, he showed it only by stepping back, as though to make her lean towards him, try a little harder”.(Roupenian 65). Accordingly,Margret was the one who initiated the romantic atmosphere and Robert was the one who was holding back at the beginning. Then, Margret agree to go out with Robert to a bar, a movie, and to his house and had sex willingly, even though she felt disgust after. Since she initiated and willingly participated in sexual encounter it is not considered sexual assault. Unlike in the story of “Wild Swans” the minister was the one who pursued and took advantage of Rose without her permission in public.
    The similarities I see here is that both women in both stories are much younger than the male. In both stories both young women felt disgusting about the experiences they had. Sexual assault is considered as an act in which someone intentionally touch another without that person’s permission.

    2) My 2 essay feedbacks could be found under Galina Drozdova and Kwame Manuh

    3) Research article I am using –

    How the Bronx was Branded

    3a)
    In the article “How the Bronx was branded”, Shellyne Rodriguez, describes transitions occurring in the Bronx in 2015 during which the stereotypical criminal Bronx turns into a luxurious neighborhood. This article also talks about gentrification and how the Bronx transition throughout the years. Article also talks about how Neoliberalism plays a big role In transitioning neighborhoods. It brings the upper middle class into poor neighborhoods, it brings alone new investors to the area often resulting in creation of new jobs. Due to such transitions living conditions could improve and the neighborhood conditions could be changed and lower the criminal activities. In ”The Money” Diaz describes his poor neighborhood and he repetitively makes it clear that burglary is a norm in such impoverished neighborhoods. Living in this neighborhood he learned ” to know” that police are worthless. The surrounding life experiences had embedded this stereotype police in his head. Diaz’s stereotypical vision of his neighborhood connects with Rodriguez’s vision of stereotypical Bronx.

    3b)
    The article I found has certain similarities to my essay 2. The article “How the Bronx was branded” describes the image of stereotypical Bronx. “The billboard announced Rubenstein’s desire to purchase the South Bronx and build a luxury colony in one of the poorest regions of New York City, which for decades had been associated in mainstream media with stereotypical images of dereliction, crime, and violence”. One can easily stereotype a place or a neighborhood based on life experience as Diaz uses the local stereotype of the police being useless, and decided to do detective work himself to recover stolen items. In this article Rodriguez stereotypes the Bronx as an area infested by crime just like Diaz describes his neighborhood.

  6. 1.) “Cat person” by Kristin Roupenian is about main character Margot and Robert. The story is told in third person narration which compares to the style of writing from “Wild Swans” by Alice Munro. Besides the style of narration being similar amongst the two stories sexual assault seems to be present in both. Both stories let us know that the men accused of the sexual assault were older then the protagonists. Both of these stories share similarities with the idea of unwanted sex or sexual acts. These stories show the protagonist whether it is Margot from “Cat Person” or Rose from “Wild Swans” as young impressionable women. Women who either to embarrassed, and scared to say no.

    2.) Feedback provided for Crispin and Chelsea

    3a.) The new inquiry – “The Devil’s Playground” by Sophia Giovannitti she talks about the pressure that is placed on women to be silent and complacent when it comes to sexual assault. It goes on further to talk about suppressing memories leading to “hysteria”. More prominent in women. She writes “Wright seems to believe that the violent imagery and language strewn across the abortion debate disturbed young women to the point of making up graphic memories that involved violence wreaked upon babies.” This compares to “The Dirty Wedding” by Denis Johnson and the protagonist Michelle. Michelle at the end commits suicide, leaving the readers to wonder why? In the beginning of the story we know she is getting an abortion. A painful traumatic experience which can relate back to the feeling of “hysteria.”

    3b.) Both texts “The Dirty Wedding” and “Wild Swans” have similarities as we read about two young misguided women in both stories. In Johnsons’ “The Dirty Wedding” we see Michelle being taking advantage from the narrator. As she’s heckled by him even after an abortion. We also see Rose in “Wild Swans” by Alice Munro getting taking advantage of by her older companion Flo and the minister who sat next to her on the train and sexually assaulted her. “The Dirty Wedding” however is different from “Wild Swans” because Munro for “Wild Swans” discusses more about sexual assault then “The Dirty Wedding.”

  7. 1. Please read Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person” and consider as you read the ways in which this short story is similar to and different from Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” For starters, both stories are about ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters that could be considered sexual assault, depending on how you interpret/define this term (sexual assault). This is one broad similarity, but I want you to see if you can notice other, more specific similarities. I also want you to take note of the differences between these two stories: how are the two sexual encounters described in each text different? How are the styles of these two writers—Roupenian and Munro—different? You don’t need to write anything (although you can), but this is what I want you thinking about as you read.

    I think in both stories, the girls were afraid to speak up, but each for different reasons. In Wild Swans, she was worried about people believing her, but in Cat Person, Margot was afraid to hurt Rob’s feelings. She had immediately changed her mind when she realized that she had romanticized Rob and that she was in fact attracted to her idea of him rather than the actual Rob that was standing in front of her. Not to mention the fact that she repeatedly stated throughout the story that the possibility of him hurting her or murdering her crossed her mind. At one point she even worried he’d rape her. But she’d shake the feeling off and continue. When she was finally in the sexual encounter she was able to see what it would all really look like to an observer.
    As far as the differences in style of the two stories, Wild Swans feels more of an older kind of story where anything inappropriate is frowned upon. Cat Person, on the other hand, seems more like a modern situation. Many times women go on dates with someone where they have this specific idea of a person based on their text conversation. And when they meet in person and realize “wow, this is a whole different person” they feel it’s too late to back out or say something. Like Margot said, she was worried he’d think she led him on and that’s why she felt she couldn’t say anything.
    What I like about the two stories is that Wild Swans shows a situation with a total stranger, and Cat Person shows a situation with someone that the character has gotten to know over time. But whether or not you know a person, it doesn’t change the fact that in both situations a person can be subject to a form of assault.

    2. Please read the MLA Citation guide (link above) and give Essay 2 feedback to two (2) classmates. In your feedback, please indicate where and how the writer could improve either their in-text citations (when they quote) or their Works Cited page (at the end of their essay).

    I commented on Jesse and Crispin’s Essays.

    3. I want you to find and read a research article using the resources linked above—preferably an article that helps you make a connection/comparison between your main Essay 2 text and another work of literature that it is similar to in some way. Once you’ve read your research article, I want you to write 2 paragraphs below.
    3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found. In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).

    Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories (review) by Jonathan P. Eburne is an article that is a review of a book. When reading the contents, I noticed how it talks about American Crime stories and the content they focus on. Eburne even goes as far back as Edgar Allen Po’s work. I think the contents of this article connect with the main text I’m analyzing by focusing on the common themes and structure of crime stories.
    Eburne, Jonathan P. Review of Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 57 no. 1, 2011, p. 154-158. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0033.

    3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways. At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

    My Essay 2 focused on “ The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allen Po. One thing that stood out to me in the article was “ “Different times require different scripts,” Cassuto explains, suggesting the extent to which ideological forms can be occupied and adapted consciously, constituting a mode of discursive power rather than a restrictive set of historical and imaginative conditions alone (63). Authors—along with politicians and other manipulators of public discourse—are privileged for their control and creativity on the order of these scripts.” (Eburne). I think he has a point here. Looking at Po’s work and Diaz’s work, it’s clear that each story took place at a different time just from the style of writing alone. That’s one of the main differences of each story. But the similarities of the two stories are the way the characters are portrayed. In my HW Prompts, I go into more detail about recurring themes. In both stories, something was stolen only to be retrieved by means other than police. The process in both stories included scheming.

  8. 1. Please read Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person” and consider as you read the ways in which this short story is similar to and different from Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” For starters, both stories are about ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters that could be considered sexual assault, depending on how you interpret/define this term (sexual assault). This is one broad similarity, but I want you to see if you can notice other, more specific similarities.  I also want you to take note of the differences between these two stories: how are the two sexual encounters described in each text different?  How are the styles of these two writers—Roupenian and Munro—different?  You don’t need to write anything (although you can), but this is what I want you to think about as you read.

    Roupenian’s “Cat person” is similar to the idea of “ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters” to Munro’s “Wild swangs” but they are completely different. In “Cat person” Margot knew what she was doing and what was going on because she had a feeling for Robert which led her having sex with him but in nowhere it was considered as a sexual assault because she was the one who initiated not Robert, for the story to be considered as sexual assault it would’ve been that maybe at the moment she would’ve actually told him to and he would’ve not listened and kept going but it wasn’t in the case of Margot she just kept all her thoughts inside but completed ghosted him afterward. unlike is the opposite of what happened in Munro’s “Wild Swans” because the minster was the who persued rose and took advantage of her without her permission. In a way, I could see similar events from both stories, in both of the stories Margort and Rose stated to feel disgusted after there encounters but they are two completely different scenarios.

    2. Please read the MLA Citation Guide (link above) and give Essay 2 feedback to two (2) classmates. In your feedback, please indicate where and how the writer could improve either their in-text citations (when they quote) or their Works Cited page (at the end of their essay)

    3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found.  In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to). 

    The text that I’ve found is called “Don’t trust him” by… The main text I would compare to is to “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian’s. I mainly want to connect this article because the idea of the main character of imagining other scenarios about the type of person the guy she met at the bar was just because he was allegedly accused of raping a girl at a party which this story made me think of Margot story when she went on the date with Robert the way to the movie theatre she was imagining the whole about whether if it was a trap he was trying to kill her. these both have the same idea of sexual assault but again they are two different scenarios of both stories. 

    3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways.  At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

    When I read the text I found I didn’t quite found similarities to my essay because both articles I connected were about sexual assault.

  9. 2) Feedback Given To: Brittny, Jesse Abarro

    3)
    I chose to research an article related to the topic of body language. The official scientific term is Kinesics. Kinesics is the science of behavioral patterns of non-verbal communication. The article says that body language can actually contradict verbal communications. Body language can communicate a message completely opposite from the words that were exchanged between people because the movement is coming from the unconscious part of the mind that is sometimes involuntary. Body language is usually communicated through emotion and strategy. It also depends on cultural differences and environmental conditions. It also brought up an interesting point that the standard of a woman’s sexual body language is actually considered natural rather than the expected societal standard of a rigid posture. Women are naturally attractive through their body language. Body language plays an essential role in nature through animal behavior and acts as a symbolic battle between animals.

    Both “The Money” and “Purloined Letter” include the theme of thievery. In both texts, a valuable item is taken from the original owner’s possession, but then is retrieved in a fairly simple way. The difference between “The Purloined Letter” and “The Money” is that one has actual professional detective work , and the other is obvious. In ‘’The Money”, Diaz quickly finds out that one of his friends stole his mother’s money just by their body language and reaction to hearing the news. In “The Purloined Letter”, Minister G, the owner of the Hotel, uses logic and strategy to find the missing letter due to the failed investigation from the Prefect. The main text, “The Money” is unique because it shows how thievery tempts good and bad people when the opportunity is easy to take with little consequence of anyone finding out.

  10. 2) Feedback Given To: Brittny, Jesse Abarro

    3)
    I chose to research an article related to the topic of body language. The official scientific term is Kinesics. Kinesics is the science of behavioral patterns of non-verbal communication. The article says that body language can actually contradict verbal communications. Body language can communicate a message completely opposite from the words that were exchanged between people because the movement is coming from the unconscious part of the mind that is sometimes involuntary. Body language is usually communicated through emotion and strategy. It also depends on cultural differences and environmental conditions. It also brought up an interesting point that the standard of a woman’s sexual body language is actually considered natural rather than the expected societal standard of a rigid posture. Women are naturally attractive through their body language. Body language plays an essential role in nature through animal behavior and acts as a symbolic battle between animals.

    Both “The Money” and “Purloined Letter” include the theme of thievery. In both texts, a valuable item is taken from the original owner’s possession, but then is retrieved in a fairly simple way. The difference between “The Purloined Letter” and “The Money” is that one has actual professional detective work , and the other is obvious. In ‘’The Money”, Diaz quickly finds out that one of his friends stole his mother’s money just by their body language and reaction to hearing the news. In “The Purloined Letter”, Minister G, the owner of the Hotel, uses logic and strategy to find the missing letter due to the failed investigation from the Prefect. The main text, “The Money” is unique because it shows how thievery tempts good and bad people when the opportunity is easy to take with little consequence of anyone finding out.

  11. 3a) The research article “Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death” by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Derrick Bryson Taylor is about fury over the wrongful killing of Ms. Taylor by the police fueled tense demonstrations. This article connects to the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz because I feel that both story and article speak about the character and the people who seek justice and the connection of break ins/stealing. This article explained how Louisville police officers used a battering ram to enter the apartment of Breonna Taylor shortly after midnight. She had been in bed sleeping. According to the Louisville Police Department; they were investigating two men believed to be selling drugs, but accidentally entered the wrong house. The connection to this article and Diaz’ short story is how in “The Money” there had also been a break in by Diaz’ who entered the thieves house to steal back his mothers money.

    3b) The similarities with “The Money” and article “Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death” by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Derrick Bryson Taylor are the driving factors for seeking justice and entering/breaking into apartments. In “The Money” Diaz’ motive was to steal back his belongings for his mother who was saving that money for her parents in Dominican Republic, he felt as though it was owed back to him because it was his mother’s money and no one should be allowed to get away with taking it. In “Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death” the article is trying to bring awareness to injustice in breaking into peoples homes and getting away with murder. The article wants readers to be aware of how the officers committed a crime and that they should be charged and there should be justice for Breonna Taylor. The article discusses how Breonna’s family felt, “Ms. Taylor’s family also said it was outrageous that the police felt it necessary to conduct the raid in the middle of the night. There was no body camera footage from the raid.” The difference I found with both article and story is the different driving factors and situations, the characters, and point of views that the people might have had for what they considered to be justice.

  12. 2- – You can find I gave feedback to Ctys and Indeevari for their essays.

    3a. For my research I chose an article called “Draw the line” by Cynthia Tobar. https://thenewinquiry.com/draw-the-line/ The article is about seeking justice for Latino working class tenants in Bushwick who are being displaced and in brooklyn. Over the past years Bushwick has not been moving in the right direction. There is absolutely no funding for this community and it directly impacts lations and blacks. With rent crazy high, poor education and local governments not funding makes living there hard.The author wants to get past these occurring issues with the community. Many new developers and big names are moving into the neighborhood and slowly getting rid of what the people of color need. It’s a social and economic problem that needs to be fixed in this article. This connects to “The Money” because the neighborhood in the story and his family is described as poor. And I can assume that their are real economic problems in the neighborhood

    3b. Some of the big similarities between “The Money” and “Draw The Line” are the economic status of the people described in both stories. The language in terms of fighting for what’s yours is the same in both stories. In my research article it’s a constant back and forth battle for colored people to get what they want. In the money it’s the same thing with the stolen money, even though the son knows his mother needs that two hundred dollars, due to circumstances around him he thinks about keeping it. What’s different is the main idea of both . “The Money” was focused on getting back at someone to do the right thing. However in “Draw The line”, it’s about fighting for blacks/ lations lives. Even though that’s another simsimilaris .

  13. Kwame Manuh
    due 6/29
    prof Monroe

    1 The two stories are different in contrasting ways. For starters the Alice Munro act is considered totally as sexual assault in modern days. For the “cat person” story that was an activity between two consenting adults. Although there was a part where Margot felt the need to stop Robert from advancing on her she didn’t. To point out also she was never forced to participate in such activity nor was she afraid for her life. Margot was also drinking which makes it a sexual abuse because she wasn’t in her right mind to make an informed decision.Moreover she never said she was raped she pointed out the fact that she was into the guy and their relationship lead to a sexual encounter. The similarities compared to Munro’s story is that Rose didn’t like what the man on the train was doing to her but she stayed quiet during the train ride; somehow the same logic applies here where Margot was thinking about telling Robert that she wasn’t all in on Robert forcing himself on her. Roupenian is different in a sense that he uses more sexual words like breast, Dick and other inappropriate words throughout the story “Cat Person”. Munro describes the story more in an eventful way and tries her best not to include sexual words like Roupenian does.

    2. I commented on Marcus Robinson and Kelly Pinedo

    3 https://www.mtas.tennessee.edu/knowledgebase/there-empirical-evidence-surveillance-cameras-reduce-crime

    3a With regards to the family situation that Diaz and his family were living, that was unfortunate. But the crime to which Diaz and his friend go back and forth burglarizing each other is wrong. In the main idea of my second essay, I made it noteworthy that cameras deter crime. In this article “Is there an Empirical evidence that surveillance Cameras stop crime” I think there is a direct correlation between them. “But then state that most citizens in study areas report feeling safer with cameras installed.” This is a quote directly from the article. It confronts the notion that if only there were cameras in the neighbourhood that Diaz and his family lived in, there will be less crime. Originally Diaz said that “ everybody got hit” I think that if there cameras available in their neighbourhoods the chances of that happening wasn’t likely.

    3b The similarities is that overall crime rate is prevalent in societies which are less fortunate. By less fortunate I mean a place where poverty is prevalent. In the case of Diaz’s family, If there cameras installed in the area there wouldn’t be a normal society where Diaz says “ sooner or later it was going to be your turn.” By this he meant that everybody expected to get burglarised sometime. Although people may find ways around the surveillance like wearing a mask while burglarizing at least there is a sense of fear that you can get caught by the camera. My main text is unique in the sense that most people will agree with my analysis of the problem. Camera isn’t going to cut the crime rate to zero but it will reduce the crime rate by a significant percentage.

  14. Upon researching resources that connect to my main topic in my Essay which is Namawali Serpell’s Triptych: Texas Pool Party, I found many articles simply talking about the incident that occurred. However, I wanted to know why throughout her retelling of that 2015 day, why does Serpell humanize the police officer? Serpell allows the audience to live through the incident through the officer’s eyes. She doesn’t completely make the officer seem innocent but she does allow the reader to see the aftermath of his life and the regret he must have. Finding an article that relates to why Serpell decides to humanize the officer and exactly what went through Officer Casebolt’s head that day. An article from Wiley’s Online Library helped me come to the conclusion that memory and negative emotions influence police decisions. The article states “Results suggest that when negatively aroused via threat, limited working memory capacity increases the risk of shooting error” (onlinelibrary.wiley.com). Meanwhile another article states “In addition, the authors predicted that emotional dissonance would be (negatively) related to in-role performance through its relationship with burnout” (psycnet.apa.org). After analyzing both of these articles I was able to connect it to Officer’s Casebolt’s defense “who tried to explain the officer’s actions by saying that he was under stress after responding to two earlier calls involving a suicide and a suicide attempt” (nytimes) which is why he acted the way he did. I am able to connect the first two articles that discuss emotional distress and memory affects working performance.

    Throughout Essay 2, I compared Triptych: Texas Pool Party and Queneau’s Exercises in Style. Both articles use different interpretations and perspectives of the same story. Texas Pool Party has 3 points of views, while Exercises in Style uses about 100 different versions. While both Texas Pool Party and Exercises in Style retells the same story but from different perspectives, Queanue decided to use different word choices and literary devices to do so while Serpell uses three point of views from three main characters from the incident. Each story is unique by the way each author decides to retell their stories. In Serpells, we see three different points of views allowing us to have three different sides of one story while Exercises in Style Queue tells the same story in a different way each time.

  15. 1.) “Cat person” by Kristin Roupenian and “Wild Swans” by Alice Munro are written different yet both share similar themes about sexual assault and obsecurity. “Cat Person” is written in third person narration while “Wild Swans” is written in first person. These stories share the theme of sexual assault and in both perpetrators are much older men than the protagonists. Both protagonists, whether it is Margot from “Cat Person” or Rose from “Wild Swans”, are portrayed as young naive women (both wanting sex but not “entirely” into the idea). Both are too ashamed, and/or are too scared to say no. I enjoyed the language used in both stories. “Wild Swans” had more imaginative language and imagery and was very detailed while “Cat Person” is written with more modern language and written in a more humorous tone. Both are written with different time periods in mind as well but both had mostly internal dialogue. Both are written where the story is borderline fanfiction and peril, a constant shifting of dynamics. Especially since both protect the men during the assault and somewhat after by not reporting or speaking about the assaults. Both also feature animals in the title and mentioned in the story pertaining to swans purity/virginity and femininity and cats being sensual and provocative. But essentially both being lies, as Robert did not have cats as he told Margot and “Wild Swans” was a euphemism for climaxing both beautiful and revolting as it was assault..

    2. I commented on both Cthys’s and Jamal’s works.

    3.https://thenewinquiry.com/hate-on-me/
    3A. The article “ Hate on Me” by Kate Redburn speaks on the disenfranchised and marginalized voices of people under the LGBTQ umbrella, especially in terms of seeking justice. It goes into details of intersectionality and respectability politics especially with BIPOC. The article speaks to how one must be vigilant and must have their own backs as they are unprotected on the streets and within the law many times especially when thought of as being “deceptive” by not reflecting a certain genders and norms. Also how anti–hate crime legislation does nothing to truly support the community as it lacks accountability to those who are most vulnerable. In addition, the U.S. accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but we have 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. One out of every 15 black men is incarcerated, as is one out of every 36 Hispanic men. This also relates to all of the stories that we have read except styles,with themes of personhood and the intersectionality between that and identity.

    3B. There are many similarities in both “Hate on Me’ by Kate Redburn and “The Money” by Junot Diaz. Ideally Junot did not come from a privileged background as a immigrant and neither do queer people. All are marginalized and disadvantaged. Then, when we look at the judicial system there is none implemented. No Justice. One must make their own justice which Junot does by “stealing” his own money back. Thankfully there was no retribution,where he got caught by cops or his “friend”. Versus an example in the article of queer people defending themselves from preptrators and attackers and being treated as the perpetrators themselves just for fighting back and when asking for police help after the crime is commitied. Either way cops have let down the community first by not being of any support to the community, explicitly stated in Diaz’s story and the fact that there was a double crime where he was able to break in and steal. Then again, with the queer community and not protecting them once they are victims of hate based crimes. The whole reason we have pride, Stonewall Inn 1969 , protesting the abuseof LGBTQ identified people. Even though cops continue to kill and allow the queer/lgbtq commuity to be brutalized and murdered, unfortunately. Differences being that Junot Diaz does not identify as queer at least publically. But essentially both face lack of police accountability/enforcement and a lack of community resources.

  16. 1. Please read Kristin Roupenian’s “Cat Person” and consider as you read the ways in which this short story is similar to and different from Alice Munro’s “Wild Swans.” For starters, both stories are about ambiguously unpleasant sexual encounters that could be considered sexual assault, depending on how you interpret/define this term (sexual assault). This is one broad similarity, but I want you to see if you can notice other, more specific similarities. I also want you to take note of the differences between these two stories: how are the two sexual encounters described in each text different? How are the styles of these two writers—Roupenian and Munro—different? You don’t need to write anything (although you can), but this is what I want you thinking about as you read.

    The similarities in “Wild Swans” and “Cat Person” are that both characters were touch weirdly in public. They were both sexually assaulted by men. Sexual Assault is the action having unwanted sexual contact with someone you don’t like. In “Wild Swans”, the narrator was on the bus to go home and then a guy came up from behind and touch her weirdly. The styles of Roupenian and Munro are different because they use different types of writing in their stories.
    2. I commented on Galina and Stephanie essays.
    2a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found. In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).
    I found an article named “How Black Lives Matter Reached Every Corner In America”. It was about how the killing of George Floyd affecting the entire United States and citizens trying to protest to stop police killing innocent people. The killing of George Floyd happened in Minnesota, where a white police officer named Derek Chauvin had his kneel his knee on George’s neck. George became unresponsive and was sent to the hospital. Before he reached the hospital, he was pronounced dead. Derek Chauvin was convicted of second degree manslaughter.
    2b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways. At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.
    The differences between my essay and the article is that in the outbreak of Black Lives Matter there are other people trying to loot stores and restaurants. They also damage property and other stores. The thieves used the protest as an excuse to commit crimes. In “The Money”, the thieves also stole money and other expensive items during a robbery. Later the narrator stole the money back by breaking inside the thieves’ house and took back the money and items that was stolen. He then returned everything back to his parents.

  17. 3a. A paragraph summarizing the research article you’ve found. In this paragraph please also explain how this article’s content connects to the main text you’re analyzing (and, if possible, the text you’re comparing your main text to).

    The article titled “the devious art of lying by telling the truth” by Melissa Hogenboom is about the simple art of avoiding the truth with more truth Ms.Hogenboom writes more about this, relating it to polticians they’re the perfect example of liars who can be telling the truth but however by avoiding the bigger questions. An example the author uses is you can tell your mom, after she just finsihed asking “did you finish your homework” that you finsihed “the shakesphere essay but this essay is one you wrote months ago but you didn’t lie just deterred the question, this tiny example is what the whole article is based on.

    3b. A paragraph that gives an overview of the major similarities and differences between your main Essay 2 text (the one you are close reading and analyzing) and the other text you’ve found that is similar to it in some ways. At the end of your paragraph, include a new statement about what makes your main text unique (i.e., different from the text it’s similar to.

    Similarties between this and the second essay is the way the truth tellers are being exposed, in essay 2 the essay is written from the story “ The Money” by Mr.Diaz who has had his moms money stolen from someone who he thought were his friends. He ends up stealing back the money but contemplates whether or he not he should give it back to his mom eventually he does. He tells the truth and while not expecting a huge praise he didn’t recieve one. The article “the devious art of telling a lie” this article is based mainy on how most humans act and how others lie by telling the truth

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