Stypula 1

Harrison Stypula

Dr. Dennis Jerz

SEL 266 75

1/13/23

Participation Portfolio 4

It’s crazy to think that the end of the course is here already, though it has been a long

road to go down up until this point. I believe despite the difficulties and struggles with time

management that I’ve faced over the course of adjusting to a J-Term schedule, that I can

confidently say I’ve met all the course goals. I’m already well acquainted with literary

techniques and being able to interpret and make original claims about texts, though this has still

been good practice. I’ve grown very much in terms of interacting with my peers in an all-digital

setting, which I’m quite proud of as well. As far as learning the historical context of this branch

of literature, I’m much more aware of new pieces of American literature I was not familiar with,

as well as growing more acquainted with the history our country has. Lastly, though I’ve yet to

finish with revising my final term paper, I have gained lots of feedback and insight from the

process so far and I am eager to use that knowledge in the future.

Depth

The first example I have for depth is from the fourth A Wrinkle in Time discussion in

which I went farther than just doing the usual amount of discussion for it. Throughout the post I

was able to go into two different points, the first being on the symbolism the act of tessering has

for playing God through science, and how this remined me of the similar themes in

Frankenstein. Besides this I examined how the irony in the treatment of Meg is presented near

the end of the story. I looked at how it seemed to fall in line with the traditional diminishment of
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a woman’s intelligence and capability, right up until the point she becomes the one who must

save her younger brother, despite just previously being treated as if she were weaker.

Following this I also believe I was able to show good examples of depth in the rough

draft for my term paper. I’m pleased that for one example of depth here I was able to go beyond

the draft length requirement to write a full length draft over the minimum for revision. Being

able to write above the draft length I feel will help me greatly in the long run for revising, as I

already have laid the groundwork for a lot of the revision. For depth in the content, I’m pleased

with how much I was able to draw from the text, though I acknowledge that it will need some

fine tuning to make it perfect for the revision.

Riskiness

Both examples I have for risk come from discussion on A Wrinkle in Time, the first of

which is from the second discussion. I’m considering this as a good example for riskiness as I

was able to go beyond just basic interaction with the text and made a bold comparison between

the Mrs. W’s to the idea of the Triple Goddess or Maiden, Mother, Crone trichotomy common in

some pagan beliefs. I feel that this was a good example of riskiness as it goes beyond the

standard thoughts about the Christian symbolism and allegory which is clearly present in the

story, by making a bolder connection.

The next example is from the A Wrinkle in Time fourth discussion once again, as I feel

my analysis of the treatment of Meg went far enough beyond the usual kind of response. In my

response in which I discussed the treatment of Meg as a lesser by the male characters being

significant to the gender norms of the time, and the irony in how she is still the one expected to

look after her younger brother, who previously to that was treated as if he was superior himself.

Intertextuality
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When trying to tie back texts to other pieces of literature or concepts outside of this class,

the first example that comes to mind is once again A Wrinkle in Time discussion two. I first

brought to the table to concept of the Maiden, Mother, Crone concept, a similar belief to the

Holy Trinity in Christianity. I also briefly brought up how the traveling through the multiple

dimensions, and the talk of going beyond the fourth dimension in general, reminded me of the

Victorian era novel Flatland, as the concept of being stuck on a second dimension reminded me

of this.

Another example of intertextuality between course material is from the first Radio Golf

discussion where I was able to make comparisons between the symbolism of golf in Radio Golf

with success and being acclimated to white culture, to the scenes with the country club in

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair.” My thoughts on this were how the descriptions of the people there as

being the predominantly rich, white crowd, can be applied to the kind of lifestyle that Roosevelt

is pursing in Radio Golf.

Discussion

For the third A Wrinkle in Time discussion I believe I was able to spur some great

discussion among my peers, gathering a number of comments on my original post, in which my

peers were able to interact with each other on. I also believe that I’ve done well with responding

to others comments on my own posts rather than just using my responses elsewhere. In this case

I was able to interact both with Emma’s response to me as well as a comment that Alani left on

Haley’s comment. Likewise in the first A Wrinkle in Time discussion I was also able to gather a

number of comments which I was able to interact with too. Here I was able to give responses

back to Madilyn and Alani, and I’m quite pleased for this last section of class that I got into the

habit of interacting more with my peers.

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Timeliness

Unfortunately, as we’ve entered into this much busier last section of the class, I slipped

behind slightly on some assignments more than I would like to. The Research Practice peer

review slipped under my radar until the day it was due, and due to my work schedule I was

unable to complete it until after the deadline. I sadly fell behind on the swiftness of getting my

responses done too during this period, but thankfully I can say this is the only time that I’ve

slipped up in getting this in on time, and I’ve otherwise kept up with getting assignments in

early.

Coverage

Lastly I want to say that I am very pleased with how good of a rhythm I’ve been able to

get into while taking this course. What at first looked like an overpowering mountain worth of

assignments has passed quickly and with relative ease as I managed to find a good rhythm in my

work. I’m pleased especially that I was able to make some riskier points in the content of my

discussion posts, as riskiness is somewhere I’ve fallen behind in in the past. Additionally, I’ve

been able to reply to more comments on my own posts as well, something I’ve been aiming to

accomplish throughout the semester. Coming to the end of the class I can say it hasn’t been

especially easy, but it feels good seeing all the work that I’ve put into it now that we’re nearly

finished.