This paper reflects Daniel Alarcon’s Absence, a work that concerns the topic of immigration and how immigrants feel while settling down in a new country. Given that the book, which is reflected upon, examines an artist’s life, writing this paper helped me better understand one of the essential aspects of being a writer: the ability to contrast. While summarizing and writing about the main character’s struggles, I could not help but draw comparisons to my hardships as a creatively involved human being. It has taught me that being a good writer means appealing to the readers’ points of view and making them relate to the character. The absence of a definitive conclusion correlates with the theme of absence that runs through the entire work. As a result, while writing this reflection, I had the chance to gain a better understanding of the thematic relations and how to compose them. If I were to write this reflection again, I would link the themes of absence to the main character’s relationships with other people. For example, I would use the way he suffers without his wife as a case for the absence of meaningful human connection affecting his life.
This paper shows Daniel Alarcon’s Absence from the perspective of feminist criticism. According to the sources in this paper, feminist criticism has gained momentum in recent years. Therefore, it makes sense that the story, in which a man experiences a socio-political change in women’s status, has been analyzed in this way of criticism.
Writing this paper involved deeply researching the concept of feminism and how to apply them in analyzing a narrative. Personally speaking, carrying out this research and finding evidence that would support my statements helped me become more focused on my writing and to be able to identify important information quickly. In addition, writing more in-depth about how women are portrayed and treated in this story improved my understanding of tacit knowledge and how to express it. While reading this story, I was aware of a particular underlying message that could be drawn from it. However, only having considered it for a while and having done extensive research, I was able to grasp what I was inclined to say. If I had a chance to write this reflection anew, I would consider comparing the portrayal of women in this story to the portrayal of women in different feminist pieces of literate.
In this article, one can view a reflection on Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 movie Parasite. Creating this reflection allowed me to critically evaluate the ideas presented in this movie and clarify their meaning. Critical analysis is one of the most valuable abilities a writer can possess, so analyzing this movie from the standpoint of social inequality provided me with an opportunity to develop this skill. There is no denying that this movie is creatively abounding and flawlessly represents both of its genres: thriller and comedy. Trying to approach such a pinnacle of entertainment critically helped me understand why staying impartial during reflection is vital.
The arguments in this paper are supported not only by evidence that was gathered by myself but also by professional movie critics. Inspecting and interpreting others’ media perceptions was highly beneficial to my progress as a writer. It allowed me to express my opinions more openly. After juxtaposing them with others’ views, I understood where I agreed and disagreed with them and saw my perspective more clearly. If I had to make changes to this paper, I would add a reflection on how the comedic tone of the movie supplies social commentary.
This paper reflects on a comic book by David Mazzucchelli called Asterios Polyp. Analyzing this story, I found particular details that could be useful for writers, for example, how the author expresses his ideas: not through the main character, but his dead brother. To reflect on this work, I had to take into consideration not only the content of the story but also its structure and visual means used to depict it. Realizing how colors and lack of backgrounds emphasize the author’s intent provided me with knowledge on creating a better emphasis. To analyze characters’ inner worlds, I had to apply color theory, which in turn made me consider how it could be used in other areas of creative writing. An example that I found was illustrations in children’s books and how they let children know which characters are good or bad. However, in this work, color is not used as a supplement to storytelling, but rather as the primary source of the narrative. Submerging myself in this unique perspective on writing helped me comprehend the concept of alternative storytelling and how it can be as effective as the usual type of narrative. If I had to change this reflection in any way, I would provide more plot points and how they coincide with the use of various colors.
Works Cited
Absence. Major Paper. 2021.
Absence. Major Paper. 2021.
Critical Analysis of Parasite. Major Paper. 2021.
Critical Writing on “Asterios Polyp”. Major Paper. 2021.