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When signing up for English 2 I was nervous at first. I am not a very efficient reader and sometimes struggle to understand the messages being portrayed. Unlike English 1, English 2 involved a lot more reading. Turns out that although we did a fair amount of reading, they were all smaller works making them easy reads, or available in a visual form. There isn't one piece of work I can say I didn't like. In this padlet, you will find my explanations of how six works we read this semester were either a mirror of my own life, or a window into another. As a bonus, I share a piece of work from my personal life that offers a mirror into my life as well as my overall favorite piece of work from this semester.

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One story that I related to this semester is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I believe that almost everyone could relate to this story in some way since we have all been young adults trying to find our way in the world. It related to me personally because I grew up in a low-income household with five kids and felt embarrassed at times because of it. I too moved away from home like Esperanza seeking a better life and running away from the one I left behind. Then one day realizing where home really is and always will be. This book is also an easy read which made it one of my favorites.

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Another piece of literature that I related to is "My Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke. I highlighted this poem before in a discussion board and picked this author for my research paper. When researching more into Theodore Roethke’s work I did not find much more correlations between our life stories. My Papa’s Waltz really caught my attention though. I could relate to the feeling of being a young child still seeking love from a father after the wrath of his drinking.

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During our American Dream chapter, I best related to the article “Sizing up the American Dream” by NPR. I feel I have been guilty of believing that material items are what measure one’s success. This appears to be the beliefs of many Americans according to the article. I also am part of the majority that believes the American Dream entails the bettering of generations over time, both financially and intellectually. It is astounding how we have grown to value money above most other things.

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The poem "Those Winter Days" by Robert Hayden also gave me some insight into a life with a father who loved unconditionally. I unfortunately do not know what that feels like from either of my parents. Reading this poem almost makes one yearn to have those moments to look back on. I hope to one day give my own children that feeling of comfort. We should all be able to look back one day and be utterly grateful for the sacrifices and support our parents gave us.

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The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was a window into the lives of an African American family during a time that their race was not fully accepted into society yet. Instead of reading this selected piece, I opted to watch the entire play. I believe this made it more evocative with being able to see the emotions behind their struggles. I am aware that these things existed in our past, and sometimes still today, but it never gets better seeing people discriminated against just because of their skin color.

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If I had to choose a piece of work that mirrored by life it would be "The Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi. This song came out when I was in high school and has still stuck with me almost a decade later. When I heard it I felt like I could relate because at the time I was beginning to overcome a lot of issues from my childhood. For a long time, I thought I would never know happiness. Listening to this song today makes me go back to that feeling of overcoming and moving on to find happiness.

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My overall favorite work of this semester was the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. As I had mentioned before, I found this book to be an easy read. I am not much of a reader and sometimes feel like I have a hard time understanding some styles of writing like poetry. This book was quite simple and written in short chapters and sections. I also enjoyed Esperanza’s stories and related a lot to it with growing up low income and being embarrassed for it. It is sometimes relieving to know you are not alone in those thoughts and experiences.

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Fences by August Wilson is another play highlighting the challenges that African Americans have faced in our history. It gave insight into the long-term repercussions of the segregation of African Americans. The father in this story cannot let go of his lost dream as a baseball player when he was denied playing in the major league due to his race. This causes him to belittle his own son and make him believe he would not make it in the big league. I also found his wife’s decision to raise his mistress’ baby without him quite interesting. I wish we were given more insight to her thoughts and feelings behind that.