Introduction

            The first day of class I had absolutely no idea what the word rhetoric meant and I was frightened by not understanding how I would be able to apply it to the class. The first week of class I read the Anteaters Guide to Writing and Rhetoric Chapter 1, “rhetoric is about seeing opportunities to build bridges between where you are and where your audience is by using the ideas, experiences, texts, that you share in order to persuade your audience to try on your own way of seeing these things” (Eason, 3), which helped me understand what I was expected to do yet I still was not sure how I would be able to perform such tasks. Today, after completing all my assignments in Writing 39B, I can safely say I have created a bridge from my ideas to my RA and RIP. Using the Classical Fairy Tales, CR Exercises, RIP Exercises, AGWR, and lessons from Professor Way, I have been able to express my personal ideas in the RA and RIP by understanding rhetorical situations such as audience, genre, purpose and message.

I have always struggled with writing classes because I struggle either analyzing the text or putting my own thoughts into a paper. I have always been a student who doesn’t speak in class, I rather listen to class and that’s my personality who I have always been. I know that participating can make me understand my thoughts better in class and that is what I am trying to work on myself to develop my verbal skills. The RIP Presentations was frightening to me but in the end I felt accomplished that I was able to present my ideas and get feedback. It allowed me to practice my speaking skills while trying to demonstrate my idea, and I my classmates helped me understand that my RIP needed to involve more genre conventions of Cinderella. 

I choose the assignments CR Exercise 1: Message and Audience, CR Exercise 2: The Fairy Tale Genre, CR Exercise 3: Rhetors in Context, Peer Review for R.A, and my Pre-Writing #2, RIP Exercise 1,2, Companion Essay Peer Review, to demonstrate my progress and how I have learned to better organize an essay, become more engaged, and understand the purpose of each tale using rhetorical analysis. The Critical Exercises were helpful in analyzing the text using rhetorical strategies for me and I improved in understanding how to identify the message through the genre and audience. Whether it was finding the message in the RA or creating a message in the RIP, I felt confident in collaborating it with other conventions. The RIP exercises guided me to find my own opinion and myself through my writing. I felt a strong preference towards Cinderella and throughout my RIP Exercise 1 and 2 I begin to develop the message of hard work through creating different stories. I continue through the path of Cinderella because of the persona connection of the message to remain humble through all situations. 

My idea of fairytales since the first day of class when Professor Way asked us has changed because I now understand that each tale reflects a cultural message to each tale. I am a fan of Disney and watching movies with a Princess and her Prince Charming. I remember saying all I knew about fairytales was that there was a Princess, a Prince, and a happy ending. I also wrote another thought in my First Day Reflection that I now do not agree after learning more about fairytales, “Fairytales are unrealistic and the setting is a whole new world unknown to humans”, after reading Darnton and the Classic Fairytales I can see that fairytales are realistic of the cultural setting which the authors write them in. Now after reading the Classic Fairytales I still believe that the tales strive for happy endings but its not as pretty and there involves real life struggles. Each tale reveals a deeper social issue that is characterized through each character. I was able to understand this concept in my CR Exercise #3 because I wrote about Beaumont’s tale Beauty and the Beast and the message for women in France. The RIP also helped me see that the modern movie of Cinderella contains the message to accept oneself, which fit more to today’s society. 

Writing, has always been a weakness for me but through the Critical Writing exercises and Pre-Writing assignments it did not feel so exhausting to write the Rhetorical Analysis Essay. My rough drafts did increase drastically each time because I understood better the text and was able to build an argument. In the beginning of the class, I was terrified to write any writing exercises because I felt that there had to be a correct answer but along the way with the exercises and the essay I realized that its not just about having an analysis but using that as a base to construct your own personal argument. I have develop a new way to start my writing process and that is by first writing about my points in an argument, find evidence, and lastly write a thesis. I feel that writing a thesis in the helps you clarify your sub points and make sure there is an order and connection throughout the essay. For the future I would like to use the technique we used in class, free write, because its always scary to start writing an essay but with the free write it was helpful to get a starter on basic thoughts. The process through the RIP was more observing the film itself and and taking notes of other models in Variety. Once I had the understanding of the film and its elements, I had to practice constructing a review.

In regards to the text itself, before my notes consisted of a summary of what the story was about. In my CR Exercise 1, my response is a pure summary of the tales LRRH and there was no clear answer to the prompt or analysis, which I believe, had to do with me not looking at the text rhetorically. Now my notes consist of a short summary, important quotes, character analysis, my own opinions, and the message or purpose from each passage that I read. Each time that I read a writing assignment, and write a preliminary message it helps in the end to compare all my messages to form one to fit the prompt. If I have my notes organized in such way, when it comes to writing an exercise I already have the analysis, my opinion, evidence, the message, all its left is for me to fit it in with the prompt. It saves more time and makes it easier and less hectic to write the essay. For a future writing assignment, I will first have my well-taken notes, an outline of my essay, a free write, and construct various drafts.

I remember waiting in the BC Cavern for my first office hours meeting with Professor Way and I had my first moment of illumination as I tried to think of what to prompt to choose for the R.A. I was nervous because I did not have a clear idea of what to write about but after looking over at the prompts and each tale I found a connection between Beauty and Donkeyskin. For a brief moment various thoughts and connections rumbled through my head and as I had my meeting with professor Way, she was delighted for me to research more on the topic. I felt accomplished because I felt like I understood the message I wanted to use for the tales and knew how to incorporate historical context, audience, and the author. Drafting the essay I experienced frustration because I felt that at times my ideas did not have enough support or they lacked deeper analysis. In order to overcome any frustrations, I read the text again, the prompt, and looked for connections that would fit into my arguments. For the second scheduled meeting I had with Professor Way in regards to the RIP, it was more of my ideas to create a project I enjoyed and she helped me understand how to remain on track with the specific Variety magazine genre by writing in the style of a film review. 

I used to think that a revision consisted to grammar mistakes and making sure there was a correct message, however I have learned that revision is focused on helping the person construct their own message by making sure there is a rhetorical significance to the an argument. Revising my drafts has helped me understand where I need help and realize my mistakes in time before the final draft. Professor Way has taught us that a paragraph needs to start with one idea, gradually explain the idea, and end with the purpose of that idea to the overall of an essay. Both my classmate Carla Mendez and I felt that paragraph formatting was an issue of mine that I’m still trying to do better because it is important to have a whole essay flow on the same focus and not on different aspects, she advised me to “Focus your paragraphs, they seem to start with one idea and develop more without giving evidence for the first”. Receiving feedback is a great way to make my own writing better because I can know where I went wrong, fix my points that don’t make sense, and receive new ideas that I can incorporate into my writing. Giving feedback is also a great way for me to improve my writing because I can see how my peers are doing well in their essay as well as where they went wrong so that I can either avoid making their mistakes or use their good example to see where I can fix my mistakes. When I peer review an essay, I focus on the thesis and topic sentences. I make sure each paragraph connects to an idea related to the thesis. The RIP consisted more of group feedback on how we would react to the project. My partners Lesly Lozano and Ashley Arellano helped me see how them as audience would respond to the project. They advised me to stay away from making a summary or an analysis of the film and look for more models. When I gave feedback the first thing that I look for is an argument along with the message and I have applied it to my writing as well to make my writing stronger.

When I first started working on the RIP, I switched from different ideas constantly but I was sure I wanted to write a review because I felt like it was a form to show my writing skills through a different writing process. After much consideration I choose to review the new Cinderella film released in 2015 because my RA was partly on Donkeyskin and I was familiar with the tale because we read various versions of Cinderella in class. It was interesting to see the transition from classic Cinderella tales to modern movies. The revision process through the RIP was more efficient and I received better feedback because it was my group we got to know each other better. I was able to contact my group peers faster and we helped each other throughout the RIP process. I made the choice to choose a film review of the movie through Variety magazine because I wanted to see how well I could critic.

In regards to the RIP, there was plenty of research that I needed to do in order to truly understand how to voice critic into the film industry. Sometimes we over look the little details that shape the purpose of a film. I wanted to focus on the costumes, set design, music, and direction. Without it, the movie would not have such an effect on the message. Looking at other modes helped me understand how to express the production because it was not easy trying to sound like an expert in the film industry.

The transition from the RA to the RIP was helpful because in the RA I was able to analyze rhetorical strategies and in through the project I was able to bring it to life. I did enjoy the RIP more because I got to play as if I was a critic and discover different ways to find how the movie portrays its message. My main struggle was trying to find the tone of the review because I was moving towards the analytical style but that did not fit into my project. During office hours Professor Way helped me understand the differences in both types of tones and how I should voice my own opinion in the RIP but remain consistent to my writing to fit in Variety. I was able to do both by showing my excitement and personality in my writing but strictly talking about movie elements. Although I tried my best, it was hard because I felt like the analyzing is supposed to be included but I needed to understand the difference of styles.

I remember watching Cinderella when I was young, going to Disneyland to see Cinderella, watching various versions of the film, and now reading the original tales as well as creating a project. Writing 39B has been a great experience for my writing skills because I’ve learned how to approach readings rhetorically and apply it to a certain situation with a specific genre. Besides Cinderella and other fairytales, I know the skills I have gained in the course will help me move on to a better career when I want to voice my opinion to a specific target. My major is Psychology and Social Behavior, specifically focused within Psychopathology and writing about case studies in patients needs to be particularly specific to an audience and purpose. I plan to take what I have learned into Writing 39C and beyond my other writing courses to continue to improve my writing.