Final Blog---Reflection

Overview of My Experience in English 214

I expected something a little different coming into English 214, I imagined that we would be assigned a book and write continuous essays about it. But no, we were assigned to read multiple articles and analyze them thoroughly. Some of the things we discussed in class were: what it meant to be in a “discourse,” the standard ways of writing in my discourse, what was the “correct” way to write so that others would understand the message I am trying to imply in my papers, how human behaviors/judgments are shaped by invisible narratives, how metaphors drives our assumptions, and etc. I thought invisible narratives were like subliminal messages, but as we broke down the articles and discussed in class, I learned that invisible narratives are almost similar to being a hidden message but it is not quite. These context we read is an invisible narrative. Digging the deeper meaning, and breaking it down the context helps us find the invisible narrative. 

 

At first, I didn’t even know how writings can impact the way we think. The subtext in our daily lives shapes up what we believe, and how we view the world. It actually shapes our reality. For example after reading The High Cost of Zero Cost by Ariely, I was enlightened by the fact that people would choose the item that is “free” but low quality over the item hat is higher quality but cost a little more. Being someone who’s worked in retail for a year now, I relate this back to how items are priced at my retail job. Prices often change every few days as being a strategy to make sales. I’ve notice customers returning to buy a particular item because they wanted to wait for it to go on sale. To illustrate this, one day a jacket may be full priced at $40, another day $25, then next it has been moved to “clearance section” but it is final priced at $29.99. Customers are often very vulnerable by the fact clearance items are considered to be really cheap, and are tricked by it. I saw more people buying the jacket when its “clearance with the orange tag” than when is marked down and placed by the regular priced items. The invisible narrative behind this is that my company place these orange tags often times for the reason of attracting customers to some of our popular items, such as the jacket and will not sell it for any less than $29.99 from that day on. Not to mention, discounts and coupons codes can never be combinable with clearance/orange tag items but it can be with regular sale items. My point here is that for many years, people and our society believe items with sale tags are typically a great deal. For someone like me whose been watching prices change frequently, I have to disagree. Most likely all retail stores use this same strategy and you are better off getting a better price before it is moved to clearance.

Now that I’ve learned what invisible narratives are, I kind of think about how it plays a role in my everyday life. I analyze actions, sayings, and anything else I read. I’m really glad we had the chance to really talk about this in class because I would have never realized. Another important thing that I took from this class and applied to my writing skills since, is reading the article STROL and Counter-Argument to STROL by Zorn. Throughout many of my English classes I often write in my own language and received an OK grade. I always wondered what would make my paper deserve an A. I understand that now it’s because the reader is unable to understand my writing completely, because it is not the “standard” way of writing. While grading my peers on their essays I thought about how these two articles are true and accurate. I couldn’t understand what some of my peers were writing about just because it’s not the typical readings on newspapers, magazines, and etc. It was their own language and I am not use to it. Ever since I was introduced to these two articles, I look back at my essay assignments for this class, and I think to myself “how I can make this piece of writing more clear and understandable?” This class has stimulate the way I think about how I write and I can only say I truly want to improve it.

Looking back at my previous assignments, my perspectives have changed for the better. I have definitely become more open-minded to different types of writings, and more aware of invisible narratives. I know how to break down IN's and understand them better. That way I’ll be able to lessen the impact it has on me in the future. 

This has been a great class and I enjoyed getting feedback from my peers. Good luck to all and thanks for reading my blog posts. Have a great break!!!! =)