Final Reflective Portfolio
This paper is a reflection of the skills I have gained in this class. It focuses on four texts and analyses them as indicators of my development as a reader and creator of literary and cultural texts. Three of the analyzed texts were created for this class while the fourth was written for a math class.
Part 1: Texts
The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts
Fay Goodman's book entitled The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts is already an entertaining read by itself. However, different parts of the book contain paratextual elements that give it a new meaning and make it a more enriching reading experience that it would have been if it had only contained text. Some people firstly like cover of this book, and then to read the text. Some people like to read intruding of writing (it have introduction of writer in all Chinese book). Some people like to read footnotes if you don’t know some concepts. These belong to paratexture. These may be seen in such sections as the short martial artist Biographies and the Introduction.
For example, the author herself is one of the martial artists featured in the Biographies section. There is a small photo of her dressed in her traditional iaido uniform striking a dramatic pose. The accompanying blurb/essay mentions that she is also a highly qualified safety consultant" as well as "a journalist and TV personality" besides being a veteran martial artist (Goodman 253; Goodman, "Fay Goodman"). In fact, if I were to reformat the text from that blurb into a bullet point list of Goodman's accomplishments, it would still have an engaging effect on readers. For example, it may look somewhat like this:
Fay Goodman
8th Dan Shinto Ryu
6th Dan Iaido
safety consultant
journalist and TV personality
For instance, Goodman includes biographies of various martial artists who specialize in the arts described in the book (one master per art). Considering that the book is a collage of text and pictures of various martial arts disciplines, it helps to have at least some knowledge of the people whose pictures grace the pages of the book. While the main text itself already provides a wealth of information on the nuances, history and philosophy of the various martial arts, the fact that the book features real people helps to demystify the arts, grounds them and shows readers that even so-called "ordinary" people may become extraordinary through mastery of any art. This helps to shape the meaning that the book generates and the kind of understanding that readers may receive from it.
This leads me to my point: If there is one form of meaning or understanding that readers may receive from this, it is the idea that these are authentic, modern people who are promoting these arts. It also suggests that anyone, with enough dedication and training, may become like them if they wish to.
Other interesting paratextual elements that enrich the reading experience of The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts may be found in the Introduction section of the book. While the meat and bones of the content is found in the pages that follow Introduction, this section nevertheless provides a bird's-eye view of the purpose of the book and the essence of the disciplines that it discusses. As with the main sections of the book, the Introduction features photos of everyday people practicing martial arts and performing seemingly unrelated, mundane tasks such as cleaning dojo floors with rags (Goodman 6-9). This further emphasizes the idea that anyone can get into martial arts and that there is an art that resonates most with any potential practitioner—all they have to do is find it.
Cover letter:
First, allow me to thank you for giving me the freedom to choose which book I wanted to feature for this case. I went straight for one book, which I found particularly fascinating. Choosing something that I knew I was interested in made the writing process easier on so many levels. It was a big help, considering that the process of composing this essay felt somewhat different compared to the others essays I have worked on.
Looking back, it was the essay's multimodal requirement that served as the major challenge. It was also the element that made the essay feel quite different from what I have normally been accustomed to. For most essays, I simply focus on the meat and bones of the content; I do not really think of reformatting any content from the original text, nor do I think of parts of the book other than its main text. This assignment required me to do these things that I do not normally do. Admittedly, I had to adjust somewhat and feel my way around. Still, I would like to think that the essay came out well, in spite of the challenges involved.
Fortunately, I did a number of things that made the writing process easier. First, the topic of the book was so interesting that I did not think twice about selecting it. There is something fascinating about the general field of martial arts in the sense that it contains so many individual art forms that are all beautiful in their own right. Some emphasize power and force (so-called "hard arts") while others focus more on acceptance, redirection and power generated through other means (so-called "soft arts") (Hom, "Internal and External"). If I could liken the martial arts to food, it would be similar to ice cream—all flavors are tasty yet some flavors are more palatable with certain people than with others. Pardon the strange analogy yet it is the best I can think of at this time.
Second, the writing process became easier when I actually looked for other interesting parts of the book that I normally skipped over before. I had a lot of choices in this regard—just about every aspect of Goodman's book enhances the main text in some way. I finally narrowed it down to the Introduction and Biographies sections because they contained the most interesting side content for me. This was an eye-opening experience, in a way. In the past, I normally ignored the Introduction and Biographies and dove straight into the main text because I thought that it contained the most meaningful content. After doing this exercise, I realized that I had been wrong. The meaningful content was already there in the other parts of the book. It's just that I had not noticed them before.
Finally, the last thing that made the writing process easier was the prospect of learning something new and getting better at it. I may not be the most skilled writer in terms of reformatting and paratextual element searching yet I know I can get better with enough practice. Considering this assignment as a practice session took away most of the tension and turned it into something more enjoyable.
Text 2
Cover letter: After a lengthy discussion with the some of my campus mates on the issue of the slave trade and whether it was beneficial to America, a friend recommended the book ‘Beloved’ to me. I have loved the book and held it in high value since going through the pages for the first time. My composition of this essay was informed a rate deal with the mastery of the literary appreciation of the works of Toni Morrison.
Once I picked the book after a fierce debate with my friend, I embarked on going through the pages to widen my understanding. This led to the creation of the essay which informed my argument on the atrocities faced by the African-Americans when they were being brought into the United States. The use of overstatement in when the author pointed out that sixty million and more’ was intended to pass a message that a lot of Africans lost their lives in the process of slavery.
The research has enhanced my understanding and interpretations of literary work as seen in the case different literary critics depict a different kind of understanding of their knowledge. My use and evaluation of written resources were also changed by the research. This is regarding the ideas gathered from the book and understanding that there are two sides of a coin, but some critics see the third side often not seen, it needs a quick reading and evaluation. The similarity of the essay with the ones I have pinned down in the past is that this just like the contemporary look at both sides of the idea to provoke debate and the difference is that this introduced a neutral point of view which I have not taken during an argument.
Cultural and Historical Analysis
For this paper, I have chosen the book ‘Beloved’ by the American novelist Toni Morrison. ‘Beloved’ is a 1987 novel, which is set after the American Civil War. The book was originally published in September 1989, and it has 324 pages. The genre of the book is magic realism and was originally published in English. The book is inspired by the story of an African-American slave known as Margaret Garner. Margaret escapes slavery in Kentucky 1850 and moves to Ohio a state which was considered fee at the time. The principal characters in the book include Baggy Suggs, Pal Garner, Denver and Beloved. The book is rated at 3.5 out of 7.
After the publication of the book, at the time when slavery was still a thorny issue in the United States, the reception of the book was different as compared to today. At the period when the civil rights activists were seen as the main heroes, majority of the African Americans related to the book. The sale of the copies was high in the year beating several other books due to the feelings of enslavement among the blacks in the country (Khawaja, Jon-Christian, and Berger 115).
Currently, I think the book does not enjoy much of fame that it did when it was published. This is because the gains that have been made in the integration of both the races. Most of the people in the USA currently do not relate to slavery first hand unlike in the 1980s. This informs the different reception and interpretation of the book among these different generations. Toni Morrison won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, which is attributed to the boldness in the novel on the lives of black Americans. She was called “a literary artist of the first rank” by the Academy (Khawaja, Jon-Christian, and Berger 116). The prize she won and the description she gets proves how well the book was received during the period.
The targeted audiences by Toni Morrison in the book ‘Beloved’ are black Americans who she tries to remind of the history that they underwent. The second targeted audience was the whites for the atrocities caused on the blacks through slavery, and lastly, she targeted the authority. The government was also an object of the book since they had the moral power to stop any element of slavery in the country. With its high purchase and the rating that the book had and still continue to enjoy, I think the book reached its audience.
‘Beloved’ is a book that is based on a modern literature; that was slavery at the time. Miss Toni explores the subject of slavery, which was a topical issue during the time since just a few decades the government passed equal rights laws for everyone in the country (Travis 238). Going with the plot and character in the book, one can conclude that ‘Beloved’ is a modern fiction. The character and the plot for the book formed the basis of the judgment of the book.
The book by Toni Morrison was affordable to everyone in the USA since the price tag was not much. The majority of the readers were black people who felt how dark the book message from the book dug on their souls. Going by the success of ‘Beloved’ one can induce that with the great work in it, the book was readily available to the readers through the low price or good marketing strategy (Travis 244). The book was available to everyone in the country who was in living with the work of fiction. The majority of the audience that read the book were the blacks since they related well with the plot and slavery.
When ‘Beloved’ was published in 1987, the reaction towards the book was the greatest yet to be acclaimed by Miss Morrison. Although the book was nominated for the National Book Award in the following year after publication, it did not win any award. This made the 48 African American writers and critics to sign a letter of protest. The only prize the book achieved in 1988 was the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award in the same year the other awards overlooked it (Roberson 37).
Despite the popularity of the book, it did not receive international success. Some literary critics and book reviewers attribute this to the fact that the book for what they consider as the excessive sentimentality and dramatic depiction of the horror of slavery. One critic of the book pointed out to the fact that Toni Morrison characterized imagination by likening slave trade to the Holocaust-like genocide.
Marketing and review of the book have appeared in different platforms, and the most common one is in The New York Times dated September 13, 1987. Margaret Atwood did the review at the same time it entailed marketing of the book for the price of $18.95 was part of the review (Khawaja, Suggs and Berger 116). The commercial success o the book has never been publicly displayed by the publishing company but going by the number of copies sold so far in the world, one can predict that the book has been a success.
Other critics while concurring, that the book is overwritten have supported the novel as a profound and extraordinary act of imagination. These critics have noted the works mythical dimension and political focus as a point to disapprove of the book. The commentator in this category has treated the novel as an exploration of the family trauma and repression and as well as an attempt to restore the historical record so as to give voice to the collective memory of African American. The book has met a lot of criticism on the epitaph, “sixty million and more” that Morrison has come out to defend that the figure was based on scientific studies on African slave trade. This estimated that approximately half of each of the cargo in the ship perished when was transported to America (Roberson 72-3).
Many scholars have brought up debates on whether the character Beloved, arguing whether she is a ghost or a real person. A bunch of reviewers assumes that the Beloved played as a supernatural incarnation of Seth’s daughter and have characterized her as unconvincing a confusing ghost story. Other critics like Elizabeth E. House, on the contrary, has argued that Beloved is not a ghost, and the novel is a story as she puts it off two possible instances of mistaken identity (House 24). The critic points out that Beloved are haunted by the loss of her African parents and that come to believe that Seth is her mother. This instance happens when Seth longs for her dead daughter, which makes her easily convinced that Beloved is the reincarnation of her real girl. The criticism of the ‘Beloved’ was not the action of the government in an attempt to censor it, but an attempt by point out the truth on the slave trade (Travis 243).
The book has maintained the originality throughout the subsequent editions. The feel and the touch to the psychology of a reader remain as high as or even better than the original book. The psychological criticism of the book by the readers is displayed when going through the book. In the book, some characters exhibit behaviors that may seem barbaric to every reader. However, when going deeper in understanding the book, one appreciates the severity of the character’s actions is built the psychological repression of their past (Roberson 56). The past is filled with the trauma of slavery, and each character has suffered in one way or the other.
My understanding of the book which might not be popular among literary scholars and critic is that Seth’s daughter reincarnated in the form of Beloved. I am strongly of this idea since the author wanted to depict a culture that believes in the tradition of resurrection in the shape of an entirely different human being. Just when Seth was missing the late daughter, Blessed came and extended his life.
My further understanding of the book is based on the title and the ‘Blessed’ and the adoption of the central character by Seth. This proves that the adopting father is the United States, and Blessed is African, who is welcomed and loved dearly like a lost daughter who reunites with the parent.
Text 3
Why the comic book in the future would be different
Firstly, I want to talk about the market of the future comic book. If we want to talk about the market of the future comic book, the most important factor is the target audience. And also the target audience in the future I think it would also be the children from 2 to 14 years old. After we consider the target audience I want to talk about why I think the comic book in the future would become different by explaining with the market. In my opinion, if the comic books do not change something like the design, cover, and so on. They would lose some market in the world. With the development with cartoon, children from 2 to 14 years old begin to watch cartoon rather than the book. Every family would have at least one television and one Ipad. Whatever, in China or in America, children prefer to watch TV rather than reading comic books, because Cartoon is more interesting than the comic book. The cartoon collects many advantages that comic books do not have. These advantages include the music, scene transition and the most important it is action rather than static. So because of the losing of market, comic book should develop in the future to avoid falling into disuse. And at the following paragraph, we would describe the how the comic book be looked like in the future by saying something about the design, cover, and the function. Also we would say something about how these three things would change to satisfy the advantages that cartoon has.
Design of the Future Comic Book
For the design of the comic book in the future, we think they will be shown as some newspaper, poster, notebook, rather than the normal comic book we read nowadays. It is more like the building stories that we read a month ago. We think if we create a book like a notebook, it is convenient for children to bring it. Also for the medium, we can also think about the content of the comic book in the future. I think in the future, the comic book would become shorter, capable and vigorous. This means in the future the comic book would become serial. Every page represents an independent story of the book. And because of this situation, the design that represents as a notebook would become more convenient for children. Talking about this I want to share a very interesting story about myself. When I was a child, like most of the children, I also like reading comic. For every comic book, there would be some chapters that I cannot forget and also want to reread again. However, sometimes I cannot find the chapter that I want to reread. Also I can say, I cannot find the book that contains this chapter. At that time, when I read some chapters that I am really interested in, I would want to tear it off because I am afraid that I would forget where it is. However, I would also think about whether this behavior would destroy the whole design of the book. So when I read a chapter that I am really interested in, I would become conflicted. That is to say, I have to choose whether I need to tear it off. And whether this behavior would damage the design of the book.
At the previous paragraph, I say something about my experience. And this experience would make me think about what the comic book would change in the future. At this paragraph, I would talks about some details about the medium of the book. I think the comic book in the future would become like a newspaper, because I find the most important thing for a newspaper is they separate the whole newspaper into many parts. That is to say, when I read a newspaper I can choose the place that I am interested in to read rather than read the whole things and then choose. Also talking about the comic, I say we think a content of a future comic would be capable and vigorous which means that one page talks one stories. And the whole design of the comic book would become the wire-bound edition. Also we can say it is more like notebook and we can put one page off anytime anywhere. Like this picture :
After talking about the whole design of the book, I want to talk about the design of one page. In my opinion, in the future, design the comic book would become more and more mass like the building stories. We would never know the reading order when we first read this book. Not for the whole book, also for an independent story, we would also have different understanding when we read one picture first or read another picture firstly. However, this kind of book gives us a very large space to imagine what we should do to feel about this book. Also different reading order sometimes would give this kind of book a new meaning. For most time, when we have a different understanding of the book we would give this book a different meaning, also the comic book is the same. I also want to say the only thing would not change for the comic book is the target audience. I think the target audience for the comic book is always the children. So the design of the book not only would attract children to read the book, but it also should be used to let the children love this book. That is to say, this kind of book should let children would have an interest to reread this book. To achieve this goal, this kind of book should give children a room to imagine. If we just give their a very obviously clue, children would not like it. On the contrary, if we just give some fantasy picture to him, it means the author encourage children to create their own story. Maybe there would be a same ending. However, there would be a different process.
So to sum up, in the future we think the design of the whole comic should more like the notebook and become convenience for people to take one page out. And for the design about one story, it should be a little bit messy and make children have room to imagine and have the interest to reread.
Cover for the Future Comic book
At the previous paragraph, I mention that we think the target audience for the comic book, so the change of the cover of the comic book would satisfy for the change of the awareness of the children nowadays. Because of the development of science, children become more and more nitpick. Because of the advent of the television, children would not just focus on picture, they want the voice and the action. For this background, I think the cover for the future would not just a picture, they would become action rather than static. I think in the future, a book cannot satisfy people by just using some nice pictures. In the future books should satisfy many feeling from people like auditory and visual sense. So I think it is time to create a cover that we think would show up in the future. Also no matter the period, the cover always should be related with the content. So the cover of the comic book we think should be some a little bit cute and contains some views about cartoon. At the same time, we want to say this picture should attract children to read so it has to own some perfect characters that are important in children’s life. Like this picture:
At the following content of this paragraph, I want to talk about why I think this kind of picture can be used to make a cover. Firstly I want to share a phenomenon that I find after I do a research and interviews a few people who are in china they are all university students and some of them are my middle school and high school classmates. For all of the people I just ask one question “Which thing is the most unforgettable for you during the childhood.” After doing a survey, I find there is about 75% of the people that I interview says the food they eat during the childhood is the most unforgettable thing. And about 18% of interviewees say they cannot forget the song that they listen during the childhood. And then I do another research for the same people. Also I just ask one question “Which food you look forward during the childhood.” And I get a almost standard answer “ Cake”. And most of the book says that they desire it is because they always look the people in cartoon eat the cake and feel it is splendid. So according to the survey, I find the food and the song act important role during the childhood. So I decide to put these two things together. So because of this background, a cover want to attract some children should include these kinds of characters. In this picture, we can see it is kind of cartoon and also like a chef who can sing a splendid song. This picture we make combines the factors that I sum up by doing the research.
So to sum up, the cover for the future book should be action, and also should contains the factor that children always desire like music and cake.
Function of the Future Comic Book
After talking about the design and the cover of the book, I decide to talk about the function of the comic book in the future. In our opinion, the comic book in the future would not only make people laugh and feel happy but it also would teach children something. Nowadays, the comic book always gives children a platform to appreciate the esthetics, to help children nurture a normal aesthetic idea of things that exists in the world. However, it limits in the area of visual. However, in the future I think the comic would influence people in sound and teach children to think, to create and learn to remain some beautiful things.
At the previous paragraph, I mention that the cover would become action and full of voice. So we can say in the future, when children look at this beautiful picture, they would listen to the voice at the same time. That is to say, they not only can use eyes to feel about this kind of beautiful things, they also can use ears to feel about some pretty things in this book, and then use heart to feel about this kind of things. I think it is a very necessary for children nurture an ability to figure out the good and evil. And influencing children by voice and visual is a fantasy way.
At this paragraph, I want to talk about the creating by saying the design again. I mentioned that in the future the design would become messy and author would give children room to imagine. In fact, it is not only a way to make children imagine, it is also an opportunity for children to recreate the comic book that they read. Imagination is a very important character in our society. And the best period for people nurture a habit of imagining and then creating is childhood. They do not have much pressure from studying, from working. They have enough time to think about how to recreate this kind of art. So it is very curious for the author to build a platform for children. This platform cannot limit in letting children appreciate the art, it also should give a platform to children to let their create, to let them imagine, the most important is to let them nurture a habit that is when they look at something, they would think about how to recreate something rather than just think this thing is stable, and I just follow.
In this paragraph, I want to talk about how the comic book would teach children to remain some beautiful things. Some people would feel a little bit strange because they never think about how the comic book would teach such this thing. They always think that when children finish reading the comic book, they just put their away, or tear something out. For this kind of situation, I want to say, they do not remain the comic book, and always put them away is not because they do not want to remain it. The main reason is that they do not know how to remain it. For me, when I was a child, I feel that I should remain some chapter that I am interested in. But I do not know where I can put this chapter in, and how can I put the chapter away without destroying the whole design of the book. So if I find that I cannot find the way to remain the page and avoid damaging the whole design of the book, I would choose to give up, However, if in the future the design of the whole book changes, I would know and have a way to remain the page that I am interested. If they design like a notebook that I say in the previous paragraph, I would put one page off without thinking about anything, if I do know where I can put the page in, I would have the interested to remain the page that I like. Also, if I can know how to manage the comic books that I like, I would know how to manage the other things. Can you imagine if a comic book can teach a child who is just 4 years old to remain something they want? This is an extremely fantasy.
So to sum up, the future comic book would not just influence children about the ability to evaluate what is good and what is evil. However, it would also help children to nurture the ability to recreate something and manage something they like.
Text 4
According to what I learned in the class, I found various methods to solve convergence test. It has alternating series test, geometric series, limit comparison test, P-series convergence, root series, ratio series and so on. There are many methods I can use, but I would like to talk about the divergent test and integral test.
There are two methods of definition. For divergence test, if ak converges, then limk→∞ak =0. The text need more consider. Equivalently, if limk→∞ak 0, then the series diverges. For integral test, suppose f is continuous positive, decreasing function for x1. And let ak= f (k), for k=1,2,3 Then k=1∞ak and 1∞fxdx.
The first example is: n=1∞nn+1, the first method we can use divergence test to solve this problem. It uses L'Hôpital's rule limn→∞nn+1 equals to 1, because it belongs to the type of ∞∞. As we know the denominator and numerator of the derivative is 1, the equation equals, it is diverge. The second method we can use is integral test. This equation is continuous positive and decreasing. We can rewrite 1∞xx+1dx. It is related infinite integral if f is continuous on [a,∞], then a∞fxdx equals limb→∞abfxdx. It is also divergent by using differential of this equation. The second example is: k=1∞kk2+4, we can also use L'Hôpital's rule to rewrite limn→∞k4+k2 equals to 1, because denominator and numerator are equal of exponent by using theorem of limit of polynomial. It’s not equals 0, and then this series diverges. We can use integral test, so that we can rewrite 1∞x4+x2dx by using infinite integrals to solve this problem. It is continuous on [a, ∞], then limb→∞1bf (x)dx=limb→∞x2+4|b1. Therefore, it is also diverge. The third example is: n=1∞1n, we use divergence test to rewrite the limn→∞1n,. It is more and more close to infinite, so that this series is divergent. Another method that we can use is integral test. We can rewrite 1∞1xdx, and limb→∞x-1/2 equals 2x∞1. It is more and more close to infinite, so the series is divergent.
There are another two examples. Firstly, k=1∞kek, we can use divergence test limk→∞kek, and use L'Hôpital's rule, it does not equal to 0, so it is inconclusive. Secondly, k=2∞klnk, we can definitely use divergence series to solve. As we all know that we need to use L’Hôpital’s rule to write limk→∞a k =limk→∞11/k, this step means derivative of denominator and numerator. It is more and more close to infinite, so the series diverge.
Part 2: Reflection
Paratextual elements in a literary piece are significant to both the reader as well as the author. These items are enriching to a reading experience making it fun and enjoyable. Reading and analyzing The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts was a transformative experience for me. Initially, I used to focus on the main text of a book giving little regard to sections such as the introduction, biographies, and footnotes. After critically reviewing the book, I have to the realization that reading every part of a book can be interesting. Reading the introduction to this book prepared me and built my expectations of the book while the footnotes increased my knowledge on the things I did not know about martial arts.
Goodman uses short biographies liberally throughout her book. For each type of martial art, she incorporates an artist who specializes in that particular art. For instance, a picture in which she has adorned a traditional iaido uniform and a dramatic pose graces her bibliography. Similarly, all the other biographies contain photos and information about various artists. This combination makes the book a collage of texts and pictures of a variety of martial arts. As such the book not only gives insights into the history and philosophy of martial arts but it also demystifies them by showing the reader that it is possible for ordinary people to learn and master extraordinary skills in martial arts. This demystification improved my understanding of martial arts and increased my interest in the book.
As a reader, the evaluation process has assisted me in developing a keen interest on parts of a book that are not part of the main text. I have learned that every part of a book enhances the main document. I have stopped skipping certain parts of a book that I previously considered uninteresting. As a text creator. this experience has taught me the essence of using various paratextual elements that are complementary to the main text and idea.
Text 2
The analysis of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, alongside some critical reviews on the book has been instrumental in enhancing my evaluation and interpretation of written and cultural works. The research process improved my understanding of Toni Morrison’s work as well as my research skills in using and evaluating written sources. The ideas I got from the novel were aligned the two opposing sides that form the slavery theme. However, my critical evaluation of various opinions fronted by different readers and critics revealed that unlike the proverbial coin, an idea or theme in a text has more than two standpoints. Therefore, it is crucial for me as a writer to be open to the different and many facets of understanding and perception that the target audience will have towards my text.
Additionally, while reviewing the separate comments given by critics of Morrison’s work, I grasped an important lesson in studying literary works. The experience emphasized on the need to have a broad mindset and perspective when reviewing or critiquing a literal or cultural text. It is important to consider all sides of the topic and the various opinions that a target audience may have towards the passage in question. It is also important to have an in-depth understanding of the underlying factors that led to the creation of a particular text. In this case, for instance, Morrison writes her novel in a period when slavery was a significant issue among Americans especially those with African roots. Such understanding helps a critic to look at the work while factoring the intentions of the author.
Text 3
This essay focuses on several characteristics of comic books and the effects they have on the target audience. It also concentrates on the future changes that comic book developers need to adapt to maintain the interest of the intended audience. While researching and writing this essay, the importance of considering the target market while creating a literal work hit me. Although I knew that it is necessary to appeal to the intended reader of a text, I never put much thought to it until I researched this essay.
How a creator designs and presents a text to the user plays a significant role in determining how much interest it creates. For instance, comic book developers need to keep changing the cover, design, and presentation of their works if they are to remain relevant in the future given the competition they are getting from televised cartoon programs. This means that the visual elements employed in comic books need to match the interest that is created by audio-visual elements used in cartoon programs.
This essay assignment required me to us a multimodal rhetoric to convey my opinion of the transformations that comic books should take in the future. I used two pictures, one as an example of the design that comic books should adopt in the future and the other as an example illustrating the kind of visual elements that comic book creators need to use in their text. In the end, I learned that using visual elements such as pictures and photos in my texts triggers and maintains the interest of the targeted reader. It is, therefore, necessary for a text developer to take into account the interests of the target audience as well as the changes in these interests over time.
Text 4
In one of my math class this semester, I was required to write a short paper indicating the mathematical skills that I had learned during the course. As I wrote this assignment, I realized that I had to not only use some of the writing skills I had learned in my writing course, but I also developed more skills along the way. To convey my message conveniently, I had to use technical mathematical symbols. However, this did not worry me because I knew my lecturer would understand every single symbol.
This experience taught me that when addressing a technical subject, I will often make use of technical language and text that a layman may not understand. However, I should not be worried since the intended target will have no problem understanding my work. Ultimately, I should be considerate of the target audience when using technical languages and text.
