Inquiry 4

Dear ENG 112 Students,

To give you an idea as to what you can expect from this class, I would like to tell you a little about my progress as a writer this year. Of course, everyone experiences a class differently; I only hope that my experiences may be in some way useful to you.

At the beginning of the year, I already considered myself a strong writer, and I felt pretty good about my first few blog posts, coming up with catchy titles that showed how “creative” I was. Rereading my first few blog posts has made me realize that I had yet to develop any passion for my writing. My writing was bland and frequently use lines like “the article stated” and “I feel like…” both of which are relatively unnecessary phrases that I repeatedly used in order to fill up the word count. Later in my blog posts I began to really take interest in what I was writing, frequently going over the word requirement. I think my favorite example of this would be in my blog post “Why I Never Want to Die” where I wrote about my grandfather and why he was my inspiration for not wanting to simply end my life when I turn 75. In the post I wrote “My grandpa is the toughest son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met, and that’s how I’ll remember him.” This line really shows that I had a significant interest in what I was saying, and that I was passionate about this writing.

Passion for writing is something I really feel like this course helped me develop. The freedom to write about a variety of topics, and to take different approaches to the assignments allowed me to write in a way that was not constricted like it was in high school. Even the large inquiry assignments were not so structured that I would lose interest. For example, even though inquiry two was a research paper, which in my opinion is the least fun genre to write, I was still able to choose my topic and how to relate it back to the source text. While my research integration wasn’t perfect, I really cared about what I was writing about because it affected how I read the book. In my “Inquiry 2A Brainstorm” blog post I wrote that my findings from inquiry 2 would either confirm my appreciation for the novel or that appreciation would “have been based on an errant assumption.” Either way, I once again had a reason to care about what I was writing.

Another area that I believe this class developed well was my diversity of writing. I had the opportunity to write a wide variety of genres about many topics. This opportunity strengthened my overall ability to write and gave me valuable experience in new genres. The primary example of this is that I had never written a blog post before this class. My first few posts, which read like mini-essays, are a testament to my lack of familiarity with the genre. However, by the end of the semester I was sounding just like any internet blogger, off-hand, awkward, and using ellipses…because I could. This is all present in my “Ronald Reaction” where I expressed my lack of surprise at the big reveal in the article by writing “With regards to the confession itself…I’m not that surprised.” I was also able to write a research paper, a poem, and this letter to you guys. The research paper was a nice introduction to the style that I later had to use a lot in my other classes. Evidently it worked, as I didn’t bomb any of my major writing assignments in other classes either. The poem, while less useful in a typical academic setting, was a fun and creative way for me to really immerse myself in a text. This letter even serves as a way for me to think about and to write about my writing, which is not something we are commonly asked to do.

Another big area of development for me was in my approach to the writing process. In high school my writing process was really simple, unless otherwise mandated. The process went a little something like, Step 1) Sit down at computer. Step 2) Write. Step 3) Turn in. Luckily my process for writing has become a little more complex. The change, however, was not immediate. The first few times we were asked to do free writes in class I almost exclusively wrote about anything but the topic we were asked to think about. My favorite topics were free writes being a waste of time, and whatever I did last weekend. However, as the semester progressed I realized the free writes were a good way to get some ideas down so that I wasn’t scrambling later. I even started doing free writes for some of my larger assignments in other classes. Beyond that I also began using outlines more, which was helpful in planning out my paper and developing concise and specific thesis statements. Again, this was particularly helpful in other classes where the writing process was not part of the in-class curriculum like in English class.

The last major development I noticed was in the area of audience awareness. I used to be lured into the trap of thinking I was always writing for an academic audience. Obviously this isn’t true all the time. My first break from this was in writing responses to the works of other authors. In my very first blog responding to posts on The Onion I was entirely too analytic, evaluating the worth of the website and summarizing articles as opposed to really responding. However, later in the response to an article on Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” I was responding like someone writing to a popular audience. I talked about how I was “shocked by how much I did not care what the article was saying at all” and I didn’t feel bound to writing an academic response. This change came with the realization that blog readers generally aren’t looking for in depth analysis, they just want someone else’s opinion on something.

All in all this class has been very helpful for my writing, and I really hope it can be helpful for you too. If I can offer one piece of advice, it would be to not stress about the big inquiries. They seem daunting at first, but in the end they can be informative, totally manageable, and sometimes fun. Best of luck with your ENG 112 studies!

Sincerely,

Patrick Schoeppner

Imitation Practice

This thing here, which looks like a metal box, is actually several pieces of metal put together in such a fashion that the whole thing functions as a well-oiled machine. It’s a laptop computer, and it can do just about anything. In the hands of a good technician, it can create massive programs and run complex computations, and all you have to do is press some buttons and watch it happen. A computer can take the abstract ideas of the mind and put them into something concrete so that they might just…exist.

Inquiry 3 Proposal

My idea for Inquiry 3 is inspired by Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. More specifically, my idea focuses on the character of Oskar, and his racing thoughts. I would like to write a song that represents a stream-of-consciousness from Oskar’s perspective. Oskar has many deep and wandering thoughts, and I would like to use themes from the book like “heavy boots” and “What about…?” combined with original material that I will come up with based on my interpretation of Oskar’s mindset.
The medium of this presentation will ideally be in song. I would really like to do something similar to the style of Twenty One Pilots, because they are one of my favorite bands, and also they have a style that is great for delivering these types of stream-of-consciousness messages. Their lyrics are often similar to a monologue, in which one person speaks to a mostly unidentified audience about some struggle, issue, or situation. Often there are digressions in the songs that resemble thought-like patterns. Oskar’s post-traumatic mentality can also be represented by imitating the style of Twenty One Pilots, because the lead singer suffers from schizophrenia, adding a mental complex into the lyrics that I can use to show Oskar’s stressed and often depressing mental voice.
I think an appropriate length for this song would be 2-3 minutes. This would allow for an intro, two verses, possibly a refrain (although many of Twenty One Pilots’ songs do not have refrains), a bridge, and an outro. I will likely submit the lyrics as a poem that I will later set to music.
That brings me to the main challenge I foresee with this project. While I don’t doubt I could write a beat, a chord progression, and a melody with which I can present my lyrics, I don’t know how I could record them without some equipment that I don’t have. I may present it with simply a keyboard for the exposition day and then submit a score with the other parts written in. To make it public, I could share the score on a music notation website I use. Any suggestions you have on this front would be greatly appreciated.
If, however, I am unable to compose a song in completion before the exposition day, I may present my lyrics as a Spoken Word piece, reciting the poem rhythmically in order to emphasize the stressed and mellower parts of the lyrics like music would.

Intertextuality

D’Angelo presents an interesting topic in his article on intertextuality. The idea of intertextuality basically has to do with connections between texts, and how texts are related to one another. My main difficulty in reading this article was the introduction where D’Angelo talked about the history of criticism and the differences between rhetorical and literary criticism. I pretty much had no idea what was going on in this part of the article because I didn’t understand a lot of the vocabulary, and if I did, I didn’t understand the context in which it was used. I was also unfamiliar with some of the theories and “-isms” he threw around at the beginning without much explanation.

The rest of the article, which focused on forms of intertextuality was more clear, and easier to understand. One very popular example of intertextuality is found in Marvel’s adaptations of their comic book series to the movie screen in movies such as The Avengers. My Inquiry 3 will also display forms of intertextuality. Specifically, my idea of a song about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in the style of Twenty One Pilots seems to fit D’Angelo’s description of the pastiche form of intertextuality. Pastiche borrows from other sources and patches them together in a new way. This is similar to parody, but is intended to be serious in nature. My project will take both from Foer’s work and the style of Twenty One Pilots to make a new work that reflects aspects of both of the sources. The new text will therefore be intertextually related to both sources.

Inquiry 2B Rough Draft

Patrick Schoeppner
ENG 112
Inquiry 2B
10/31/14

Feeling Fiction:
How the use of PTSD and child psychology brings a fictional character to life.

The attacks that took place on September 11th, 2001 left deep psychological wounds on many people affected by the event. This includes anyone who lost a family member, friend, or coworker as well as the first responders who rushed in to save those trapped in the buildings. The entirety of New York City was also shaken by the attacks, as many people lost their sense of security. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close explores some of these psychological wounds in Oskar’s reaction to losing his father in the World Trade Center collapse. By comparing Oskar’s reaction to those observed in real life, one can gain deeper insight into Foer’s writing and how he used certain aspects of post-traumatic stress and coping mechanisms to move the story along.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is something that many people deal with after experiences with death, or near-death. Many of Oskar’s “quirks” can be explained by looking at him as someone who suffers from PTSD, whether or nor he has been diagnosed. Some of these quirks include wearing nothing but white clothing and a fear of tall buildings, as exhibited by his unwillingness to go up to the eighty-sixth floor Empire State Building until Mr. Black passively convinces him to come along:

I told Mr. Black I was panicky, and he said it was OK to be panicky. I told him I felt like I couldn’t do it, and he said it was OK to feel like I couldn’t do it. I told him it was the thing I was most afraid of. He said he could understand why. I wanted him to disagree with me, but he wouldn’t, so I had no way to argue. I told him I would wait for him in the lobby, and he said, “Fine.” “OK, OK,” I said, “I’ll go.” (Foer 243-244)

This panicky feeling that Oskar feels about going in to the building, and describing it as his biggest fear is consistent with research on PTSD that suggests specific fears increase after traumatic experiences (Burnham). In this case, the fear of buildings comes from the traumatic experience of the 9/11 attacks.
Oskar’s reaction to the building is to be expected, but his clothing choice is a bit stranger. There is a section of the book where Oskar gives a presentation on the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan, specifically describing how the heat destroyed pieces of paper only where the ink was because the white reflected the heat. Oskar’s wearing white would make sense as a coping mechanism after learning about this tragedy, except that it took place no where near him, and before his time, so he should not necessarily feel an increased fear for nuclear attack. However, learning about the bombing in detail combined with a “psychology of terror” that may have increased his sensitivity in the post-9/11 world, his actions are perhaps abnormal, but not unreasonable (Pyszczynski).
One other comparison point that can be drawn between Oskar and studies done on real children is in the area of coping mechanisms. A popular theory that explains coping mechanisms in many people post-9/11 is terror management theory (TMT). TMT is the idea that people tend to think of themselves as part of a bigger picture that is less susceptible to scrutiny and attack (Osborn). Oskar attaches to the overarching idea of his father as a coping mechanism. The biggest manifestation of Oskar’s attachment to his father is the quest to find what the key found in the closet opens. As long as Oskar has this, he was something to be apart of, a “raison d’être” as he liked to call them:

That was my great plan. I would spend my Saturdays and Sundays finding all the people named Black and learning what they knew about the key in the vase in Dad’s closet. (Foer 51)

Attaching to something bigger than oneself is a major coping mechanism for many people who go through traumatic experiences. In the wake of 9/11, many people lost confidence in their security as American citizens, because that was no longer enough protection. People now tend to think that their ideals and positions are in the majority, because that means that no one will want to attack them for that belief. Being secure in one’s views is one way to cope with disease and threats of violence (Osborn). This aspect of TMT applies to Oskar in that he idealizes his father to become larger than life.
The idealization of a lost parent is something very common among children who lose parents at a young age. Oskar certainly shows signs of idealization by thinking constantly about his father, and although he outwardly rejects any direct comparison to his father (Foer 43), he sometimes imitates a father figure around the house. For example, he zips up his mother’s dress and also begins to make definitive statements around the house, like his father did (Foer 43). Many studies indicate that imitation and idealization of a lost parent are normal coping habits for bereaved children (Szymanowska).
Outside of the strict psychological aspect of dealing with traumatic experiences, Oskar’s emotional response can also be compared to many documented reactions. One striking aspect of Oskar’s emotional reaction is that he does not cry in public until the very end. He hints that he often cries himself to sleep, but never expresses it outwardly. This mirrors one reaction from an article in which a boy who lost his father instead of becoming sad, simply became his father. He imitated his father, using similar phrases and actions, and took over the few small fatherly roles a child could (Senior). Similarly, Oskar seems very mature for his age and often thinks and talks like an adult; making it easy to for get he’s only nine. The other side of the story, the side of Oskar crying himself to sleep can be seen in an interview with a child who lost his grandfather in the 9/11 attacks. The child reported being sad at night, and often imagining his grandfather’s presence beside his bed to help calm him to sleep (NPR). Oskar also has this emotional reaction, specifically in creating the game around the key; a way of keeping his father alive in his mind.
All in all, Oskar’s reactions can be said to be fairly consistent with real life experience. Although some of Oskar’s actions may be exaggerated to add symbolic meaning (i.e. white clothing) or to progress the plot (i.e. the key search), they are basically consistent with an understanding of child psychology, especially in the post-9/11 era. Foer masterfully worked in true reactions so that the plot could advance without seeming contrived. Had Oskar’s reactions been ludicrous, the book would have been significantly less entertaining, because it would be hard to sympathize with Oskar. However, the reality of his action makes the book captivating and relatable. Through the comparison of Oskar’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks and the loss of his father in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to observed reactions and psychological studies, one can see how Foer uses realistic reactions to fuel his narrative and immerse the reader. Both PTSD and TMT were evident within the text and served as a psychological basis for the action that took place in the novel, making it both interesting and believable. Without this basis in reality, the fiction would be utterly meaningless.

Ronald Reaction

What stuck me in Ronald’s essay was not so much the confession about grading on style, but the idea that writing evaluation has changed so much over time. Ronald wrote about how students have been being evaluated since the times of Plato on their ability to write. There have been so many shifts that I did not know about, like focusing first on invention, then the shift to style and voice, and then back to invention again. I never really gave much thought to how much went into the evaluation of writing. I have had assignments where I was asked to focus on voice, and also research papers where the content was of utmost importance. The idea that there are overarching shifts in English teaching is astounding to me!

With regards to the confession itself…I’m not that surprised. I feel like teachers will always have their personal preferences of style in writing. If a student’s essay makes you laugh or cry or moves you in some other significant way, it will be hard not to give that student a higher grade than a bland essay that may be just as technically correct. While there are some problems with this due to different tastes among teachers, it is something I fully understand, and it might even be good for students if their teachers encourage a development in style.

Inquiry 2B Titles

Forging Reality: How Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close portrays PTSD and child psychology.

Feeling Fiction: How the use of PTSD and child psychology bring a fictional character to life.

What about PTSD?: How PTSD and child psychology influence the plot in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Realities of Terror: How real reactions to terror play out in a fictional novel.

Inquiry 3 Thoughts

My first idea for my Inquiry 3 is to do something musical. Ideally I would like to write a song dealing with issues from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. There are a lot of powerful subjects brought up throughout the novel that I would enjoy writing lyrics about. However, I’m not sure how practical writing a full song would be, considering technological limitations in recording, time constraints, and my own limitations in musical ability. My song would likely be in a similar style to that of Twenty One Pilots, because they often write about serious subjects, and their musical style fits the type of delivery I want to use. (See the attached video for an example of a Twenty One Pilots song.)

If a full song doesn’t seem plausible, my next choice would be to do a Spoken Word piece. Spoken Word is like reciting poetry but in a more rhythmic, artistic form. Spoken Word is often used to convey specific messages because the delivery is effective at eliciting visceral reactions from the audience.

Both these ideas are pretty similar because Twenty One Pilots uses a lot of sing-speaking in their songs, which is very similar to spoken word. Both would be effective for the subject matter that I intend to use, likely something from an Oskar-like perspective lamenting the events of 9/11 and his following problems.

 

Last Weekend

My first collegiate concert was this past weekend. I sang with the Collegiate Chorale as a second Tenor, which was weird for me. I sang Baritone in high school, so I’m used to singing on the low end of the vocal spectrum. I was also standing on the very end of the top row so everyone in the audience could see me. They also didn’t turn off the house lights (who’s bright idea was that?) so I could see them too! If you want to talk about nerve-wracking just try to sing uncomfortably high while you’re the closest person to a bunch of people, who you can see, judging you. It didn’t help that the concert was completely sold out, my parents were there, and (just my luck) I was coming down with a cold. I knew all of this was working against me, and I knew I had to overcome it. So I focused very hard on one thing. Dr. Jones. Specifically, I watched his hands, steadily pulsing to give the tempo, cutoffs, crescendos, and cues. Focusing on something (which I needed to be watching anyway) really helped me to forget about all the factors that were working against me, to just be present in what I was doing, to make beautiful music for people who love me and for people I will never know. I was able to simply sing. And O, how I love to sing.

[I tried to imitate Strayed’s style here by injecting a lot of personal voice into my writing. I also played with her habit of describing her challenges in depth so that there is significant meaning in overcoming the problem.]

Inquiry 2B Zero Draft

The attacks that took place on September 11th, 2001 left deep psychological wounds on many people affected by the event. This includes anyone who lost a family member, friend, or coworker as well as the first responders who rushed in to save those trapped in the buildings. The entirety of New York City was also shaken by the attacks, as many people lost their sense of security. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close explores some of these psychological wounds in Oskar’s reaction to losing his father in the World Trade Center collapse. By comparing Oskar’s reaction to those observed in real life, one can gain deeper insight into Foer’s writing and how he used certain aspects of post-traumatic stress and coping mechanisms to move the story along.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is something that many people deal with after experiences with death, or near-death. Many of Oskar’s “quirks” can be explained by looking at him as someone who suffers from PTSD, whether or nor he has been diagnosed.

[support and expand argument primarily using source 4 and others]

One other comparison point that can be drawn between Oskar and studies done on real children is in the area of coping mechanisms. A popular theory that explains coping mechanisms in many people post-9/11 is terror management theory (TMT). TMT is the idea that people tend to think of themselves as part of a bigger picture that is less susceptible to scrutiny and attack.

[Primarily support this with sources 1 and 5 which deal with TMT]

Outside of the strict psychological aspect of dealing with traumatic experiences, Oskar’s emotional response can also be compared to many documented reactions.

[draw conclusions about the writing based on these comparisons]

[Interesting conclusion that subtly and tastefully reiterates my points, without bashing the reader over the head with it, and then wraps up the whole thing in a bow.]