The Last Peer Review Day

The peer review day made me look at my paper with a critical eye. I caught several grammatical and sentence structures mistakes when I revised the paper in class than I did when I revised it at home. As I was sat fixing my paper, I also realized that I had introduced two topics in one paragraph. To fix this error, I simply started a new paragraph; furthermore, I also added additional information and quotes from the novel. As for the other paragraphs, I was happy to see that I had not repeated that mistake. My main topic in each paragraphs were not only clearly stated but were also easy to identify. Other mistake that I failed to notice was using passive voice instead of active. However, I now know that to achieve an active voice, the main idea should be introduced first in a sentence. When my peers read my paper, they all marked the “yes” column, which meant that I did not have any mistakes. It also meant that my paper was not only fully constructed, but it also had a hook, transitional words, a smooth flow, and an effective hook. Their comments also stated that I had a well-written paper. This was highly comforting because it meant that my hard work and endless drafting had finally paid off. 

Learning, Learning, Learned

The literature we studied this semester was interesting. The book that I enjoyed the most was Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and the novel that I enjoyed the least and the one that failed to make it on my “Best Books Ever!” list was In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck. In addition, the papers that we had to write after finishing the novels helped me expand my knowledge on how to write properly. Another thing that I also learned was that one cannot have two topics in one paragraph. Before this course, I would sometimes introduce two topics in one paragraph instead of separating them. However, now I know that if I have two or more topics in one paragraph, I should start a new paragraph by introducing a new topic sentence. I also learned about new theories, such as the reader-response criticism, formalist criticism, gender criticism, biographical criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, and new historicism.   I had never heard of them before I took this class. I found these theories extremely helpful when constructing a paper because it kept my thoughts organized. In addition, these theories will also help me in my future classes because I will be able to read novels and write papers while applying these theories. I also learned about the struggles of the laborers and the workers. Before I read In Dubious Battle, I did not know what they had  faced and are still facing. I also did not know that UFW are working day and night towards stopping the government from adding pesticides in various kinds of fruits.  

Paritcipation: Jim and the Growers

Jim went from a man who did not know the purpose of his life to someone who wanted to fight for the laborers and the workers’ right. The strikers were united in a way that they all suffered from similar things and had some issues. Furthermore, they not only worked under the unfair bosses, but they also worked together. When Jim came, he also became part of their community. He worked under the unfair growers all day and came back tired. He felt the pain that the strikers were feeling and was angered. He helped the strikers by joining them to beat up the “scabs.” I believe that that event brought him closer to them and their  fight against the growers. At the end of the novel, he became just as greedy as them; however, in different way. The growers kept decreasing the wages to increase their profit. Jim became greedy and frantic because he wanted the strike to succeed and wanted the strikers to get their rights.