Response to "Sources"

In her set of poems Rich's seems to be trying to come to terms with who she is and where she came from. The first poem seems to be about her childhood home and memoirs of things that are there. Her secound poem seems to her battling herself about becoming what she wants to be. The third poem is a battle over where she is from and who she is. The fourth poem seems to be giving a reason for a common thread in all her poems. The fifth poem is her struggle with being a Jew, but not having to suffer as other Jews have. The sixth poem is about her roots. The seventh poem is about her relationship with her father and her stuggle to be who she is. The next peom is about history and how it defines us. The next is about womens power to make a change. The last one is about her struggle to write to those that have passed on. It is about her struggle to write freely and openly to those she loves.

Response to "When We Dead Awaken: Writign as Re-Vision"

When I began to read Rich's essay thought it would just be a rant on feminism. Yet, as I continued to read I was interested in her views on revision. She says of revision, "Re-vision-the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entertain an old text from a new critical direction." This was the best definition of revision I had ever read. Overall he essay was directed to women writes.
As she talks about womens roles in writing she discuss the changes that have taken place over time in regards to women writers. As she discusses the changes she uses her own writing as an example. I think that this works because it shows the writer how as Rich's perception changed her writing changed.
Overall I think that Rich did a good job getting her point across. I think that including different writing styles within her essay helped to get her point across.

Response to "The Achievement of Desire"

As you read Rodriguez's essay you get the feeling that he feels guilty for getting an education while his parents had none. As he starts the essay he is talking to a group of students, all of which besides one are not listining to him. He goes on to discuss how this one person who is listening reminds him of himself in his education. He then goes on to write an essay that seems to be more for him then for anyone else. It seems that his essay is written so that him can come to terms with the question that people ask him "How did you manage your success?"
As you read the first section of the essay Rodriguez seems to feel guilty for gaining an education while his mother isn't able to. Rodriguez says, "With a good education she (his mother) could have done anything." He says this as he discuss how his mother would always tell him that with an education he could be anything. He discuss how his mother and father had to settle in a job so that they could give to their kids a chance at education.
In the second section of the essay Rodriguez seems to struggle with the difference between the person that he is becoming and the person that his parents are. Talking about how his mother feels about him reading all the time Rodriguez says, "I would hear my mother wondering, 'What do you see in your books?'" He also goes on to show his obsession with becoming like his teachers by reading books. He discusses how me reads everything that he is told to.
In the third section Rodriguez disuses the advantages and disadvantages of being a "scholarship boy". He talks about all those willing to help, all those that "lavish praise and encouragement." On the other hand his classmates that give him a hardtime for being a "kiss ass". As the section goes on to discuss some of the false ideas of scholarships boys.
In the last section he seems to come to terms with what he has become and how to interact with his parents. He talks about the first time that he is able to be comfortable with his parents. He comes to terms with being a scholarship boy. He also is glad that his education is over and that he can move on from his title of scholarship boy.

Response to "Deep Play: Notes on teh Balinese Cockfight"

When you start reading Geertz essay you start off thinking that you he is an arrogant man. He starts by talking how "eager to please" he is and how "everyone ignored" him. This starts out by making the reader feel like he is an out sider. He says, of the Balinese people's coldness to him, "The indifference, of course, was studied". This makes you feel like he is standing on a pedestal in the village watching all the people going around judging and watching them. You feel, as the reader, that he doesn't know anything about these people because he is an outsider.
As the essay goes on he talks about an experince he has during a raided cockfight. Speaking of how the village emprassed him afterwords Geertz says, "wewere suddenly the cneter of all attention". He goes on to talk about how he interacted with the people by saying, " I must have told the story, small detail by small detail, fifty times bye the end of the day." To me this makes him sound like the friend everyone has that tells the story of his huge fish that he catches again and again, even if no one asks about it. To me this farther discredits Geertz study of the people, because it seems that he just cares about how he fits into the picture.
Geertz continues to talk about cockfights and their importance in the Balinese culture and society. Speaking of the relationship of cocks and their owners he says, "identification of Balinese men with their cocks is unmistakable." He stresses the importance of the fights and discusses in depth the social edict of them. He discuss the different bets that can be made on a game and the implications they have. He goes on to list what he thinks as the 17 basic rules of the cock fights. As you read you begin to feel that cock fighting is a major aspect of the Balinese culture and that it defines culture status. At one point he says, "You must be on cocks of your own group... if you do not people generally will say, 'What! Is he too proud for the likes of us?...'". Then as the essay is coming to an end he says how cockfights have no social impact. He says, "You cannot ascend the status ladder by winning cockfights." He completely turns on what he has been saying. You feel like he has just gone and said that everything said to that point doesn't matter at all. It is like he says that he was just kidding about what he has said. At this point as a ready you loose all trust you had in Geertz, if you had any. He goes on to talk about poetry and texts and how a culture is a cumulation of texts that you can't read as an outsider.
Over all I think that Geertz's essay was a failure because he looses the readers trust throughout the essay so that the reader won't believe anything that he says. Since he is trying to make a statement about a society, by loosing the readers trust he is unable to get his point across because no one is listening.