Author Archives: r.katugampala

Check-in Part 2: The Scarlet Letter

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Regarding the comment of what the contents will be about:

  • We have not come up with a solid page by page idea of what the contents will be but some ideas came up that it will include:
    • Problems in the marriage that made Hester go to Dimmesdale
    • Finding out she is pregnant with Pearl
    • Being shamed by the community
    • Feeling bad that Pearl has to also deal with the community
    • Husband and Dimmesdale’s death
    • This is not a confirmed idea, but we can include a page where Pearl had found the journal after Hester has died and her feelings after she had read all the journals from her mother
  • “Relatedly how do you plan to integrate the various aspects/information the assignment ask you to include within your book content (i.e. information about the history of the book and about the reception of the book over time)? See assignment page for all things that need to be included.” – Professor
    • We have decided to create a type of forward to talk about the history, why this book precedes to create a “great work”. This will book will be archived as an artifact to show its historical importance, and moreover implying that this story was, in fact, a “great work”.
      • To show that this journal/book was from the archives, we have decided to put it in some sort of sleeve or folder to preserve the work.
  • We have decided to use cardboard, finely designed, to show how old the book is and to bind the book together, the seams will  sewn in to put Hester’s expertise into the book itself.
    • “what kind of needle?” – Professor
      • Not sure, but a thick sewing needle would be fine.
    • “As a potential alternative to wood cover, have you considered a cloth cover?” – Professor
      • We might sew the cloth on top of cardboard to give a more clean look and the cardboard will help give sturdiness.
  • To divide the work:
    • two people will focus on creating the contents of the book
    • two people will focus on designing the book and putting the book together
      • However, everyone collectively will help with ideas and answer any question raised throughout the process.

A Poem for Reality

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William Wordsworth, an influential poet wrote “The World is too Much with Us,” which resonates with everyone today. I used the close-reading method of archeological digging to immerse myself into the overall meaning of the poem. Overall, what I had gathered from my close-reading was that Wordsworth was explaining to his readers that people lack the appreciation the things the world offers us. Through the use of imagery and the title, Wordsworth informs the reader of the overwhelming fact that beauty in the world is fading, and we (as humans) are destroying and not paying attention to it.

In line 5 he says, “This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon” and he uses personification to show that we have been shown the most intimate thing the world could give us. Bosom could mean either a chest of a woman or something that could be described as intimate. He continues on line 8, by saying “For this, for everything, we are out of tune” and it sheds light on the notion that since we are given the precious items since birth, we don’t allow us to appreciate what we have. Basically, he give a reason and continues on with an explanation.

The title of them poem, “The World is too Much with Us,” further proves the overall theme of this poem that people lack that appreciation the world offers us. He uses the words “too much with us” to show how we are given an overwhelming amount of ideas, beauty, and nature that we don’t focus on that, but rather focus on money and what it could buy for he says in line 2, “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”. We ‘get and spend’ materialistic items that could be bought, sold, and recieved, and not the things that are surrounding us everyday – the ocean, the sky, the stars, etc.

Overall, the poem does have a meaningful tone and does resonate with the fast-paced evolving world we live in today. Using the archaeological dig method, I was able to dissect the poem using literary elements and trace back to the overall theme Wordsworth was trying to depict.