Reflection on "Sentence Structure Usage in "Geraldo No Last Name"'
This essay is an example of my mastery of the Productive Individual ESLR because it shows my thoughts on Sandra Cisneros’ use of diction and syntax to evaluate the tone of her story “Geraldo No Last Name.” In writing this, I was able to describe the author’s usage of words in specific quotes to reveal the different tones leading up to the main attitude of the writing. As a bonus, I was effectively able to write smoothly and use quotes without just having to abruptly insert them as I usually did in the past; the paragraphs actually effectively flowed from one idea to another.
The big mistake I committed in this paper was a lack of explanation on the topic of the main theme of the story, which brought me down a few points. I did identify what it was and even gave a quote to go along with it, but I did not elaborate enough on my thoughts; the end result was a body paragraph the same length as the others, instead of a longer, drawn out idea.
Since this topic was originally a timed write, my teacher pointed out my areas of weakness so I was able to fix those up before handing it in as a portfolio essay. The main changes were identifying the final shift in tone and an improvement of my thesis statement, leaving me with a stronger essay. This essay has made me think more often about what the tone and other literary elements are in my readings.