Thankful for a Classmate

             

            Honestly I am thankful for all my classmates. Each person has their own personality that makes the class unique. There are some people that educate us, some that make us think, and even some that make us laugh. The mix of people in the classroom makes the class better.

            But if I had to choose individuals that contribute to this, it would have to be Kirkland and Sohrob. I am thankful for these two people specifically because they make the class and our discussions, more interesting. Both classmates aren’t afraid to express what is on their mind or knowledge they have about the world. The information that both Kirkland and Sohrob have is important in our class because they continue to share it with us. They extend whatever we are learning by educating us with what they know. Sohrob is a classmate that makes the class better because not only does he know something about most topics, but he is also extremely funny and can make whatever we are talking about more enjoyable.

            I think that everyone in the class make it better in their own ways. Kirkland and Sohrob make our discussions fascinating, but there are also other people who help the class and I learn. I am definitely grateful for everyone in the classroom.

Directions for our class

             I look forward to my American Lit class everyday. I really appreciate the things we do and learn in the classroom. I love reading and writing, especially in our journals, and enjoy our in class discussions. We watch movies and films that connect to our readings and talk/debate about almost anything.

However, I think that we should enhance our writings. Writing in our journal daily and discussing it is a way for us to not only get better at writing, but also a way to tell what is on our mind. Writing about different topics and sharing is a way that we can enhance our writing skills and learn more about our classmates and ourselves. I also think that we should do more activities in smaller groups or in pairs. Working with smaller groups is an easier way to get more information across to our classmates. I think that working in groups help us to learn more about the topic.

Writing our journal entries and working more in small groups are the only things that I think should be enhanced in this class. I don’t think that our class needs much more direction. We learn in an environment where we can express our ideas and learn from others.

A Theme in The Road

There are many themes presented throughout The Road. Not only the themes of devastation and isolation that is shown by the world they now live in, but also the theme of going far in the world if they remain the “good guys”. These themes illustrate the society they live in and how they are responding to it. However Cormac McCarthy shows a major theme of the book both in his writings and in some of his interviews. He shows the theme of gratitude, being grateful for what we have. As he states in his interview, “Life is pretty good, even when it looks bad. We should be grateful.” The world we live in is not like the world in the book The Road. We need to be grateful for that. We have access to everything we need to survive and with new technology we have so many more luxuries. This theme is also shown in the book. In a world where they have almost nothing, the man and his boy are grateful for the findings and items that they do have. They are grateful for each other and for their life. McCarthy might be telling us that we need to be grateful for the life and the things we have now. Even though death, survival, and loneliness are major themes in the book, the idea of gratitude shows a major theme both in the book and in the real world. Not many people are grateful for what they have and Cormac McCarthy uses this theme to illustrate the consequences in the future. We have to be thankful for the life we have now and live each day as if it were our last.