Andres Vazquez

A.P. Literature and Writing

27 May 2019

Ms. O’Keefe

High School in Review

Writing has been a roller coaster when going through high school. Finding consistency in

writing is a battle and things don't come easy at all times. Some days you will write an incredible

piece and everyone will love it. However, there are days when you fail to offer an amazing piece

because you struggle with the topic. A helpful and motivational quote that has spoken to me is by

Octavia E. Butler and she speaks on the growth of a writer and how it can be difficult. ​“You

don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then

gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”

Persistence a key in improving anything trait or skill. At the beginning of my freshman year, I

would have never picked up a book or start writing out of satisfaction. On the other hand, when

transferring to Chicago Academy High School in the 11th grade, writing and reading have both

become a passion of mine and I want to continue to become better in both of those areas. How

did the journey begin? How has the writing improved as time goes by? Writing is a war and

every war is bloody so knowing there are growing pains are more than okay and you learn from

those experiences.

Analyzing the text, overall theme, and connecting ideas to the real world was a struggle

of mine when first learning to write well. For instance, in 11th grade, the juniors wrote an essay

on the Brave New World and ​“The Tempest” ​and being able to conduct a common theme while
having a counter argument. I completely struggled to conduct a successful analysis and counter

argument: “All in all, in all three texts they wanted to show how the human condition is

portrayed. In counter argument, we can be shown that the human condition can have love

because Ferdinand and Miranda in the tempest. In total, from the course packs to and “The

Tempest”, we are shown that the human condition is evil.” This demonstrates the lack of analysis

and ability of expose the text and how the author brings a new idea about the human condition. If

I were able to re-write this part, I would explain the reasoning on why the human condition of

evilness relates to the world currently. I also did not use evidence to back my claim up. This

brings a lack of credibility that I would use now. For instance, this year the A.P. Literature class

wrote a perspective essay on the book “Beloved” and how slavery affected the mind, soul and

physical traits of a person: “This demonstrates that Morrison uses dialogue to show how much it

affect the slave at the time. Religion was a hope for many slaves and she makes the comparison

that people would rather take a bullet then and bringing it to Jesus. Slaves did not want to

experience the pain so they would rather lose their life. Slavery made slaves question their life

and corrupted the mind of morality to them.” This demonstrates the growth I was able to make

with my analysis. Beforehand, I did not even explain the evidence and was unable to express the

author's overall meaning. With enough practice and persistence, I was able to analysis the text at

a more successful rate. There are still concepts of analysis that I need to grow in, but I have

definitely seen the growth and grades of those writings.

Bringing attention the reader is not an easy task when writing a piece. Whether it is a

poem, novel, or essay, it is important to make sure your reader is grabbed and wants to read the

rest of your piece. In my Justification Paper about ethics of living, I did not do the best in having
a great hook: “Humanity has many different viewpoints when it comes to making rational

choices in life. Humanity has to lived by the law of ethics, which are the moral principles that

govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics is how culture defines a

person's decisions and how they commit certain actions. On the other hand, justice is the act of

your behavior or treatment on a person. Justice correlates with ethics because your actions are

always based on a certain ethical framework.” I feel that I could have done a slight better job in

bringing my audience engaged. Definition after definition was not the smartest choice, but I

could have brought a personal story in the mix about a certain dilma that connects to my peers.

However, I am not saying that definitions are a incorrect way to bring a piece to life but it needs

to be done correctly with words that are not as simple. On the other hand, when writing my novel

for 20Time, I wanted to bring my beginning to life. The novel is about a life a half ethic race

boy living in an area full of drugs, addictions, and deaths. The novel is about ethics and how

living can be difficult for a human being. I had many ideas on how the beginning could be

brought to life and I did the complete opposite and put a quote that questions living: “I see the

rain pouring down. The bells getting loud, ain't nowhere to hide. Got nowhere to go, put away

my pride. Tired of feeling low, even when I'm high. Ain't no way to live, do I wanna die? I don't

know.” This demonstrates that bringing a great hook in the beginning of your piece can really

drive the idea you are trying to get across. Any reader is going to remember the beginning of

your piece because that will be the concept that will strive them to read the rest. I am not saying

that the Justification Paper beginning was bad, but I have improved in creating interesting ways

to play with a beginning of a piece.

 Literary analysis was a big concern when starting my senior year. The previous year I did

not complete a successful literary analysis essay and to the credit of my teacher, I was able to

improve dramatically this year. For example, when writing “Representations of Patterns”, we

needed to compare two texts and make a common theme. Using “Ceremony” by Leslie Silko and

the T.V. show “Arrow” was a difficult task and I felt that if I rewrote that essay, I might have

been more successful. I tried to explain the pattern of rain and how rain can be a meaning of

rebirth: “ First of all, Rain is a constant pattern in both stories that affect the overall meaning. For

instance, Tayo is experiences rainfall and wishes the rain to go away… Following him wishing

the rain to go away, the rain does go away and he regrets his wish. The rain was being

represented as rebirth or a new start... the ending fight between Oliver Queen and his opponent

has all ended or had to have rain in it’s segments. Through those rain moments, Oliver and his

family all feel relieved because they feel like their mission or objective has been accomplished.

This demonstrates that the symbol or pattern of rain can mean rebirth.” This demonstrates that

my ability to analyze two texts was subpar and that I could have improved. I also felt that the

passion of writing was not there initially, so I did not submit my best work. However, in recent

time, I have been able to analyze text very well. For instance, the senior A.P. class had a “Time

Writing” from the novel ​All the Living ​by C.E. Morgan. In this passage, it explains a young

woman growing into adulthood and the difficulties of adulthood. I felt very proud in being able

analyze the definition of adulthood and relating to character herself: “Morgan tries to express the

ignorance of a child when living single handedly. She demonstrates this because later in the

passage, Aloma sees how dark it can be living alone and the danger of it. However, Morgan

shows that through ignorance there is learning and a human can learn through experiences.
Morgan also portrays that there is a process that occurs when adulthood hits. First is the

nervousness of moving away, the questioning of new things, and then the reality. Aloma is

nervous to leave her family, wonders about the living condition of being alone, and realizes the

dark reality of adulthood” This has been one of my proudest work of the year. I have struggled

with the consistency of time writing, but on this piece I was able to write a great literary analysis

paper. I brought the fears of adulthood to life with describing it with darkness and in personal

experience was able to connect with those concepts.

With all the improvements of analyzing text, grabbing the reader's attention, and literally

analysis, the most important quality of writing that I have enjoyed is being able to express myself

freely. In my first blog post, “Reflection of My Life”, I expressed how important my faith was

and reading things about my faith was important for me to keep expressing how I am as a person:

“I am open about my faith in God and how I feel about the topic of religion and the fact that the

book challenged my faith and just myself as a person. I believe that my most challenging

moments as a reader comes when I am tested or reconsidering different point of views. This

continues to be a challenge for me because it can become difficult to be open to certain topics.” I

was afraid to open about who I am as a person at the beginning of this year because I knew we

were going to write a lot. However, with this mindset in the beginning of the year, that has

changed. I was able to conduct a poem about my life and my doubts about God. Not only was I

able to write a great poem but I was able to perform it in front of my peers. I was absolutely

nervous to share it but because of writing, I wanted to express myself in the best way possible:

“I’m tired and I’m longing for the day that I can place my fingers in His nail-pierced hands

because honestly I’ve considered quitting but where will I go? Back? There’s no home for the
living in the land of the dead. So I keep pressing forward. Today I have faith but I can’t make

any promises about tomorrow. I’m surprised I held on this long. God, just make me feel like I’m

not crazy. God, let me know that I’m not just making friends with these walls when I pray. I’m

not questioning You, I just got questions. Don’t leave me here.” This has been one of my most

memorable moments as a writer and I thank my classmates and my teachers for allowing me to

write freely about the way I feel. Writing has always been about being yourself and that was one

of the biggest lessons and important lessons I learned this year.

Therefore, in the future I hope to find more ideas that will help me with my life. I hope

that when I attend Concordia University Chicago I am going to be one of the hardest workers.

There have been many difficult trails though high school, but I have been able to overcome them.

High School has taught that even through diversity, you can continue to work hard and achieve

your goals. In writing, there is in the same concept. You may have a hard time in conducting a

“perfect” piece. However, through persistence and grind, anyone can accomplish their goals as a

writer. At the beginning of this year, I was afraid to write and read. Now I see myself improving

as the days push on. Since 11th grade, I have improved in my analysis, attention grabbers,

literary analysis, and most importantly, learning how to express myself and love writing as a

whole.