Part 1: Zoom Out
Being a Business major with an emphasis in real estate, the extent of my academic writing is limited and could certainly be improved. After high school papers and college essays, the timeframe I want to focus on for my writing includes my time at Los Angeles City College. From high school, I had been accepted to a few universities that were not very prestigious compared to USC. In my eyes, and especially my parents’, these institutions were average and not suited for the potential and intellect that I had to offer. I had been given the opportunity of being in the Trojan Transfer program; this is a program at USC that revolves around legacy students, whose family members had attended or worked with the institution. Because my mom graduated from USC, I was blessed with the opportunity to transfer to USC contingent on one year of good grades at LACC. If I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, and not get the grades, I would surely be lost. I would have had to work at a job I hated while taking classes at a community college I didn’t want to attend, all during the full force of the pandemic. It was truly frustrating for me as well as a motivating factor. Almost all of my friends who had gone to university straight after high school posted on their social media the new friends they made and the new city they were living in and exploring. All the while this was happening, I was always in my room either studying or relaxing, with no friends to spend time with in my hometown. The pandemic made social interaction even more difficult to do so. It was depressing. It really was. I thought I didn’t have it in me to complete my goals and had moments of giving up. But I knew, deep in my heart that if I did not get accepted to USC, my path would be greatly altered and I would be lost, desperately trying to find my way in life. This motivated me. I realized I had only one option; to ace all of my classes at LACC and get into the school of my dreams.
This backstory is important regarding the mindset of my writing during my first year of college. It was highly scrutinized and stress-induced. Going into my classes, there were all types of students ranging from different backgrounds and different ages. Only from attending a few classes I quickly noticed the writing skillset and knowledge of the students were extremely rudimentary. I knew I had to differentiate myself from the other students and prove to the professor that I didn’t “belong” in a community college, ensuring I would receive an A grade.
The process of my writing at LACC was solely involuntary. The typical writing assignments from the professor followed specific rules and structures to follow. This, however, was to my benefit. Having involuntary writing assignments with a specific structure required me to follow the professor’s instructions and preferences for the paper, allowing the opportunity for easy points to be earned. The class concepts were somewhat fundamental during the beginning, accommodating the students and not often engaging in high-level conversations. Rarely did I participate in conversations about how to write a thesis and the typical structure of an essay. This was the part of the class where I allowed other students to jump in and have the opportunity to participate. It wasn’t until the class delved into more theoretical and philosophical conversations about articulate pieces that I expressed my knowledge to the professor. This allowed me to separate myself from the other students and allow the professor to acknowledge me as something different than a typical community college student. From this, I knew he would be more open to answering the questions I had and the writing style I presented. Most of our writing assignments were based on novels, plays, and short pieces that required analyzing and were open to different points of view and interpretations. I knew this was a test from the professor to allow students to express what they learned or took from the pieces, giving the professor an idea of the students with little writing experience and the ones who are more advanced. Most of the pieces required for us to write in the class were mainly analytical writing. The assignments were an indication to the professor of how well the students are grasping the concepts that are being portrayed and emphasized by the author. One example of a writing assignment for the class was an intricate and high-level overview of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. This composition assignment tested our knowledge of logically interpreting ideas of how the author anticipated them to be interpreted, with few instances of open-endedness and ambiguity. The composition consisted of answering questions through summaries that lead to main points and interpretations.
Similar to what I had stated previously, the involuntary structure of the writing assignment includes some questions that only have one correct answer; not up for interpretation. I viewed these questions almost as multiple-choice. There is only one idea to be displayed from the reading and that was the correct answer. It wasn’t until the questions that were not so simple to answer that I had the opportunity to present my writing skills and thought processes that allowed me to differentiate myself from the other students.
I remember for each major writing assignment, the professor presented to the class examples of students with perfect papers. He highlighted the aspects of the paper that were executed well as well as parts they could have improved to earn an even higher score. Writing, especially when writing for an instructor, is subjective. The same assignment turned in to two different writing professors will not receive the same grade. Each professor has a different outlook as to what is notable and worthy of emphasis in a paper and what isn’t. This is why it was crucial for me to understand the writing professor I had and what he was looking for in these writing assignments. I diligently took notes on the example papers he showed us and made a list of what he appreciated in the writing and what he could have done without. I did my best to transition his desired format to my own essays: and not to my surprise it was successful. I received great scores on my essays and was praised for my ability to go above and beyond the assignment, adding notions of my perspective in appropriate segments which elevated the professor's requested questions and my overall points made.
Now here is why I want to highlight the writing during this specific part of my overall writing experience. There was a lot going on in the background, in terms of motivations and goals. The environment in my household, although, quiet when studying, was stressful. My parents always wanted updates on my grades and how I was performing. Any slip-ups in my academics would not be ignored. I had a crowded and stressful mindset when writing my pieces. Something I feel is uncommon among scholars but very common in academies. The beauty and creativity that come from writing are derived from a stress-free mind that has all the potential to think new thoughts and interpret ideas differently. That is what elevates a person’s writing skills and even enhances current academic pieces. Although I believe involuntary writing certainly has a place in academics and the writing world as a whole, it is hard to argue against its limitations and rigid structure, complexifying a young writer's urge to express creative outlooks and outside-of-the-box thinking.
Part 2: Zoom In
One particular piece that I want to highlight during this time of writing regards a somewhat argumentative and more analytical piece about the novel Moby Dick. The instructions for the assignment were to identify a metaphor used within the novel, whether it was imagery, characters, or a particular part of the story, and hyper analyze its meaning, how it was implemented within the text, its relevance, why it was implemented, and how it relates with influences outside of the novel. I would describe the language used in my piece as a “scholarly-type” piece, which requires a somewhat deep understanding of the novel as well as an appreciation for different understandings regarding one idea. Most of the language used in my piece is language I would not use in my everyday life. It required me to write and think from the perspective of an avid writer, utilizing many different scholarly articles as references and tools such as the Thesaurus to help elevate my language. The main topic that I presented in the essay was my interpretation of the meaning of the whiteness of the whale. The author of the novel made it distinctly clear the color of the whale and pinpoints its importance throughout each encounter Captain Ahab has. Although there are various interpretations and there is no correct answer, per se, my interpretation of the author describing the whiteness of the whale was to instill the idea of fear; something out of the ordinary; a freak of nature, if you will. In a concise explanation, my paper exclaimed the idea that the extraordinary whiteness described by the author relates to ideas of ominousness and the fear of the unknown.
As mentioned earlier, the target intended audience would be avid readers and writers who want to delve deeper into the meaning of the novel; and go from a high-level overview to scrutinizing the author’s intent and real-world metaphors. The intended audience would be admirers of the novel who are interested in searching for different perspectives and ideas that differ from the ones they had when reading the novel. For the audience that my paper isn’t intended for, would regard an audience that solely enjoys the novel as a fiction piece and understanding at a high level with no real interest to delve any deeper than that.
The reason I wrote the paper the way I did was to go above what the professor was asking for and impress him with my writing ability. As mentioned before, utilizing the notes I took on the papers that received good grades, I made sure to write in a way that mimicked the language used so that it matched or even went beyond in terms of complexity and high-skilled writing. In terms of a strictly argumentative piece, I would be more prone to dialing back the complexity of my writing; what would be the point of arguing for something a reader is unable to understand and interpret? However, this piece, although had some instances of argumentation, swayed more towards analytical. From this, I meticulously used word choice that supported my complex ideas and theories as to what the ideas in the novel portrayed, in my opinion.
The occasion for the text was our final paper for the end of the semester. This is why it was especially important for me to scrutinize my writing and ensure no mistakes, all the while maintaining cohesion and ease of interpretation. The text mainly responds to the countless different theories as to what certain metaphors in the text mean. Metaphors, especially in the case of Moby Dick, I believe to be up for interpretation. This is what brings enjoyment to scholars and writers when reading different pieces pertaining to this topic. It allows them to understand and view different perspectives other than their own, spring new ideas, new trains of thought, and altered modes of thinking that can allow them to engage in deep conversations or partake in different objectives of writing. My piece on the topic did not really challenge or discount other points of view but rather brought to light my opinion and my own interpretation, which is not a particularly unpopular one. Many writers and scholars have agreed that the whiteness of the whale depicts what I described in my paper, and many believe the meaning to be something completely different.
My paper certainly is not a call to action and leans more towards a reflection. As mentioned before, it is not a persuasive essay. The goal of the paper is not to convince the reader of anything. But rather, to think about my opinions of the metaphor and make their own educated decision whether they agree with it or not. This is where new modes of writing and thinking derive from. If a reader strongly disagrees with my interpretation and believes theirs to be more sound, they may write a similarly structured analytical essay as to why they believe the metaphor to be something else.