Stephanie Williams

American Literature II
Prof. McGriff
April 22, 2015

My appreciation for American Literature

When I enrolled in this American Literature II course I was apprehensive, but knew it was
necessary in order to obtain my Associates in Arts degree. I was familiar with Professor McGriff since I
took her Comp 1 class online so knew a little of what to expect. During this course I have learned many
ways to critically approach literature, my writing and analyzing literature has grown, and after
completion of this course I plan to use many of the technics I have learned in this
class, in my future classes to analysis, evaluate and write about different readings.
During this American Literature course I have learned many different critical approaches when
reading literature. One being New Criticism, when looking at a reading through new criticism you have to
ignore what the author has been through, politics in that era and history. You look only at the text and find
all your criticism there. The Post Colonialism approach, like the New Criticism examines the literature
but also looks at politics and history of the former European colonies in relation to the rest of the world.
One term regarding the Post Colonialism is alterity which is the lack of identifying with some parts of
ones personality or community; another term is Eurocentrism which is the practice of placing emphasis
on European concerns, cultures and values at the expense of other cultures. These are just two examples
of critical approaches I have learned during this course.
Secondly during this class my writing and analyzing literature has grown. For example, when
writing my Annotated Bibliography, which I had never done until this course, was finding resources that
helped to shape my argument regarding my novel The Grapes of Wrath. After finding four

resources including my novel I had to summarize the sources and ask, What are
the main arguments in this source?, What is the point of this source? and What
topics are covered. After summarizing the source, then came evaluating the
sources, Is it useful in my research?, How informational is the source? and Is
the source biased or objective? After summarizing and evaluating my sources I was
then able to reflect on that information to show how my sources are able to shape
my argument and how I will be able to use the sources in my research.
Finally, after completion of this course I plan to use many of the technics I
have learned in this class, in my future classes to analysis, evaluate and write about
different readings. After this class I will be able to successfully recognize metaphors,
allusions, poetical metrical systems and rhyme schemes if necessary, and structural
devices found in novels and short stories in my future courses. Not only will I be
able to analysis sources properly, but I will also be able to successfully evaluate the
source to see how valuable the source is to my future research. After this course if
asked to write an essay I am now able to analyze and synthesis information from
multiple sources and cite those sources in the necessary documentation style.
In closing, I came into this class not knowing what I would get out of and
leaving with an appreciation for American Literature and the authors. I am happy
that I have made improvement in my comprehension of literature but saddened that
this will be my last class in completing my Associates degree. I knew Professor
McGriff in composition I course and am so happy I got to enjoy her again in finishing
my English credit in this American Literature II course.