- In Hengel’s method, you make your observations of your text while developing a claim or argument. In this class, we did exhaustive documentation before taking time to reflect on our text and develop a claim. How could this help with creating a claim or argument? How could it make doing so harder?
Hengel treats the thesis as a question that needs to be answered. For example, the thesis is the “macro-question,” the “micro-questions” are all the questions that answer the macro-question. This way, he makes sure every body paragraph supports his thesis. In class, we wrote about our initial observations before developing our claim. This is helpful because you’ll get into the small details more and the bigger picture as you begin talking about your initial observation. This is also a way to write about everything you know about the text, making it easier to create a claim because you’ll see all the details and which parts are important to develop the claim. However, it could get a little frustrating especially if you value organization. I did get a little overwhelmed because there was really no limit to how much I could analyze. Hengel’s method can be excellent for organizing, but I think it should be used after the exhaustive documentation. That way, you can check if you included everything. However, treating the thesis as a question that you need to answer while you analyze your text limits your ability to analyze correctly, and you won’t be able to write down all your thoughts or form new questions.
- How would Abdurraqib answer Hengel’s questions about his subjects (Carly Rae Jepsen and Future)? “What do you see? What do you make of it? Why does it matter?” Cite evidence from the text. 4-5 sentences each.
Abdurraqib answers “what do you see?” when he says “drinks are spilled on pants, elbows are pressed into the soft spaces of other bodies” (24). Then he answers “what do you make of it” by saying “EMOTION, an album obsessed with the physical space we take up when we’re forced next to each other” (24). At this point, he talked about the people being crowded and how it relates to the album. Then he answers “why does it matter?” when he says “even in a city that makes you feel small, there is someone waiting to fall in love with you” (25). This is when he explained why it matters that these people are so close to each other and what is the message behind this album. The purpose is to remind people that they are not alone. Abdurraqib also talks about future’s albums about heartbreak. He talks about how “future, in a year watched a woman he loved leave him with their child” (272). This answers the question “what do you see?” Then he answers “what do you make of it?” when he says “he seems to be reaching towards an inevitable collapse” (273). Then he answers why it matters when he says “what often doesn’t get talked about with real and deep heartbreak is that it isn’t always a single moment. It’s an accumulation of moments, sometimes spread out over years” (273). Abdurraqid talks about the album, explains that it seems like future is reaching towards a collapse, and this matters because it shows that heartbreak is not a single moment and it could completely take over someone’s life and connects that to his personal experience.