After reading the selected essays by George Orwell I learned about what he endured and experienced and his insight on those experiences. I was not exactly excited to read these essays but I learned a lot about Orwell as a person and his take and opinions on the matters he talked about. It widened my knowledge on the different topics that were discussed and raised many questions regarding the content. I especially liked reading The Spike and thought it was interesting and easiest to analyze. By doing the daily reading journals after reading the selected essays it helped me analyze and pick apart the excerpt, observing the content, diction, register, structure, organization and tone. By writing these DRJ’s I also had a chance to reflect on the works I had read. I was able to ask myself what I learned and I was able to see how the writer was able to convey or express a certain emotion or tone using different writing techniques. A key takeaway from writing the DRJ’s was to question what the effect of x did to make me feel a certain way and observe those details. By doing the DRJ’s it kept me reading throughout the summer and then also kept me writing.
After handing in my DRJ’s and getting feedback on them I knew what I needed to improve next time to deepen and further my analysis. I was also able to get clarification for what was supposed to be put down in the different columns. Another thing that helped was that the feedback had pointers for what I should think about and look out for.
When reading Why Orwell Endures by Geoffrey Wheatcroft there was a quote Wheatcroft said that caught my attention. “He was a great something — but a great what?” This was interesting to me because it raised many questions in my head as well. Orwell had endured and experienced so much. His whole reputation and name was never for one thing but rather numerous things. He definitely was a great something, but a great what? That quote in Wheatcrofts essay had me thinking about Orwell and how much he had endured his lifetime. Why Orwell Endures reminded me of the essay Politics and the English Language by George Orwell when Orwell described how things should be put simply. This essay by Wheatcroft was not simply put. The language used in his essay was complex and not straightforward which made it more difficult to comprehend.
Good job Chantal! I agree with your opinion about “Why Orwell Endures”. I didn’t pay much attention to that quote. And now that you mention about it, it gave me a clearer image of Orwell and his popularity among societies.
Good job Chantal. I really liked how you talked about the way Orwell’s essays were relatively easy to analyze, and in turn, were great books to read and make DRJ’s on. I also couldn’t agree more on how the feedback we gained from our DRJs was extremely helpful.