This past week has been much too busy for me to write and post anything substantial or particularly captivating.  Thoughts on upcoming assignments, projects, and essays have been weighing heavily on my mind, and to be completely honest, these thoughts have been negatively impacting my mental focus and positively impacting my tendencies to procrastinate.

Throughout this next week, I will be writing my first literary analysis draft for Intro to English Studies.  I will be focusing on the themes and symbolism of “The Lottery”, and the most difficult thing will be to disengage myself from the many connections I can make to the real world as well as the philosophy I have been studying in other classes, particularly in Honors.  On the more positive side, I am interested in explaining and expounding on the themes of dangerous traditions and the repercussions of blind obedience.  What I would like to do instead of the sort of isolated study I am assigned to do is to look at how the themes of “The Lottery” connect with other broader themes such as the danger of ignorance.  While it is not explicitly stated, the townspeople are indeed an ignorant bunch.  In this context, I define ignorance as the choice to refute knowledge.  This theme ties in so well with the Honors readings and discussions we will have this next week about Plato’s stance on knowledge and his cave analogy.  Sadly, I will have to enjoy these connections and inferences on my own.

As for the symbolism part of my literary analysis essay, I plan to explain the meanings of the stool, the black box, and the cheery tonal structure and how these things relate back to the themes I mentioned earlier.  I find it incredibly intriguing how writers apply meaning to “normal” objects and scenarios and dialogue in such a way that their stories altogether make something multi-layered and intuitive.  When it comes to literary analysis papers, I like to think of my own writings also.  To hold this conversation between myself, the author, and my audience is an excellent way to better my writing by causing me to look for ways I might employ or avoid certain things other writers do for their stories.