Reading Response

Article attached

Submit a 2-page Reading Response that uses your academic article (from Lab 40 to interpret either the example of Carlos or Luis from A Better Life.

As before, this is a mini-essay that offers a reading of the work and supports that reading. Begin with your Sentence Summary instead of your Literary Analysis. Make sure to include the following:

1. Paragraph 1–A one-sentence summary of the work, following the Sentence Summary template below:

• Sentence Summary Template: In [title of work], [author’s first and last name], [author’s job title], argues that because [cause of trend], [main idea or problematic trend], leading to [effects of problematic trend], citing [author’s main source of evidence], such as [specific example from the author’s evidence].
• Sample Sentence Summary: In Kids for Cash, Robert May, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, reveals that because schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies in fear of school shootings, schools, police, and courts are criminalizing youth for minor offenses, leading to the mass incarceration of youth, their separation from their families, disenfranchisement from educational opportunities, mental and emotional health problems such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression, and even overdose and suicide, citing data on national incarceration rates of youth, such as 2.2 million youth are incarcerated every year, 95 percent of which are for non-violent offenses and 66 percent of whom will not graduate.

2. Paragraph 2–A body paragraph that interprets the example of Luis offered in A Better Life through the lens of “Cultural Misframing” or “Multiple Manhoods” by  going through the following moves:

• Quoting or paraphrasing scenes or examples from the film and the essay (specifying or detailing)
• Interpreting the scenes, examples, or passages you quote (interpreting)
• Analyzing the takeaway significance of the examples (generalizing or analyzing)

Sample Reading Response:

Victoria Valdovinos

Dr. Stevenson

English 1B

20 March, 2019

Reading Response #5 (“Alienable”)

In “Alienable” about a young woman in her 20s who has recently ended a two-year relationship and is trying to console with her friend, Jay, until she realizes people are shielding themselves from the sun like they do not know it is not raining, Yuko Sakata suggests that in relationships it, at times, can be difficult to connect with the other person since people often have differing desires and can change in ways that become incompatible with each other.

In any type of relationship, people will often times have trouble connecting with the other person for several reason, and one is having not only what you yearn for in the present, but what you will long for in the future. In a romantic relationship this can certainly be the make it or break it point. If the partners recognize that they have common goals and similar desires then the relationship could be nascent However, when the partners realize they have different aspirations and desires in life they may begin fighting, arguing, blaming each other that their life is not as they wish it was. They will not feel fulfilled in life, they regret decisions, and blame their partner for everything. All that is left is anger, disappointment, and frustration. Most likely, sooner or later, the partners will separate. In ” Alienable,” the young woman explains how she broke up with her boyfriend of two years when the conversation of marriage and family was brought up. The “conversation” ended being an argument where he accused her of “misleading him, claiming that early on [they] had confirmed [their] mutual disdain for the institution ofmarriage and for the idea of delivering any more children into this messed up world.” Yet her views of wanting children changed saying she is “pretty sure” she wants a child now because her parents are getting old. This passage helps show how contradicting desires can make it hard for people to connect and break up relationships.

In relationships people can often change in ways that become incompatible with one another, making it difficult to connect. While some changes can alter and improve the dynamics of a relationship, for example being considerably thoughtful and becoming a better communicator, other changes can be off-putting. In “Alienable,” Jay begins telling his heartbroken friend about a couple he knew that recently got divorced. The couple fell in love and got married. The husband was always protective of his timid wife, however, the wife soon began bodybuilding. The husband tried to understand and be supportive, but soon enough he “could no longer touch her. He could no longer sleep with her.” This shows how the wife changing her appearance made it hard for the husband to connect with her physically. Moreover, the wife’ s personality changed which was presumably the driving point of their divorce. After bodybuilding the wife was doubtlessly less timid and did not need protection, which protective is what the husband always was of her. The husband claimed that “he still loved the idea of her, but she was no longer there.” This shows that the change greatly impacted him as he could no longer be the defensive person he wanted to be for her; she could no longer provide this subconscious desire of his.

We seek different types of relationships for a variety of purposes—safety and security, love and intimacy, to satisfy physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, to name a few—and it is through our connection with others that we come to shape our view of the world around us.