As a freshman in college I was required to take a FIQWS Class. Out of all my options I chose Fairy Tales and Retellings due to my love of fiction and writing. I love reading fantasy books and have grown up captivated by different forms of myths and folklore like Greek/Roman mythologies, Hindu mythology, and even some Chinese and Japanese ones. Throughout the semester we did three major writing assignments; a narrative essay, a research analysis, and a self-assessment essay. During this class I wanted to improve on my grammar and formatting skills. I also wanted to improve on my narrative writing skills as that was my weakest writing style in high school.

Over the semester we explored and analyzed, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations. We read fairytales of many different genres and media. We listened to songs, watched videos, and read poems alongside the usual reading. This class taught me how to analyze the stories by looking into what the author is trying to convey and what common themes pop-up. An example of this was when we were given an assignment that required us to summarize and analyze any singular version of Sleeping Beauty we had read thus far. I chose Anne Sexton’s ‘Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty).’ In my essay I analyzed numerous word choices that implied Briar Rose was being sexually abused by the King or that the story had a much darker theme than expected.

I also examined Anne Sexton and what she intended to portray with this poem alongside who her audience might be. Anne Sexton has a history of writing very dark poems and liked to intertwine her own experiences into it. Sexual abuse and incest are common themes in her writing as she was sexually abused by her own family members and went on to sexually abuse her own daughter. Her poems were written in the 1950s-60s and she offered solace for people who went through similar things as Briar Rose.

I developed numerous strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing. I learned different helpful methods to gather data before writing a research paper. Different ways to annotate using symbol coding and highlighting. Revising by doing reverse outlining and rhetorical précis and collaborating by doing peer reviews. An illustration of this when we color-coded our narrative essays based on description, characterization, action, quotes/dialogue, transitions, reflections. Previous to the activity I did not think this method would provide me any insight into what I can improve on, however, this activity was very helpful. My narrative essay had a lot of summarization of things happening and almost no characterization. I also realized that I needed to add more descriptions, actual action and dialogue as they were important to the story I was trying to tell but I often end up picking the easier option of just summarizing. For my final draft I used all the advice I was given by my classmates and various activities to improve my essay.

I now know how to recognize and practice key rhetorical terms –like author, context, genre, purpose, etc– when engaged in writing situations. To practice this concept we were given a rhetorical worksheet activity and a rhetorical analysis assignment based on two articles discussing the live-action Little Mermaid. In this assignment we looked into the deeper context of the article; what they were trying to convey and why; what the discourse they were participating in was; and who their audience was. The two articles had similar opinions but were expressed very differently. Throughout this assignment the main thing I struggled with was figuring out if the authors were using Pathos, Logos, or Ethos most as there is often a lot of overlap between the three and authors like using a little from all of them. 

I continued using my newfounded knowledge of rhetorical terms in my writing during my research critical analysis and Sleeping Beauty summary and response. 

During the end of the semester, we were all tasked with creating a digital portfolio. To achieve this I had to make my own website on CUNY Academic Commons and publish my work there. This helped me understand and use print and digital technologies to address a wide range of audiences. I also learned how to use the CCNY library which I previously didn’t know existed and it was a great source to find academic articles for my research paper.

Through our numerous writing essays, especially our research analysis, I have learned to take a clear stance in my writing while appropriately citing my sources, analyze the material to come up with my own thesis, and summarize the fairytales. In my research paper I took the stance that “heroines must be ‘The Perfect Victim’ for them to gain sympathy from the narrative and a happily ever after as illustrated in Perrault’s versions of Little Red Riding Hood.” To find research that correlates to my thesis I examined numerous academic articles discussing Little Red Riding Hood to both provide credibility to my claim and offer counter arguments that can be refuted. My professors taught me how to properly cite my sources in MLA citation after I collected my sources. 

Throughout this semester I was able to get better at formatting and grammar by writing multiple drafts, getting help from my peers and trying different writing styles and strategies. This class taught me valuable knowledge on the understanding and composition of writing that I will continue to expand upon. I find reading and writing to be an enjoyable outlet from my more stressful classes. I greatly enjoyed this class and all the new versions of fairy tales I discovered from it. I believe I have left this class as a stronger writer than I started.