Week of 1/22/14

During our in-class close reading of Second Avenue, I learned very quickly that it is difficult to do a close reading of Second Avenue. Without the help of a group reading, I’m not sure I would have been able to make any progress in the close reading without much pain, confusion, and giving up. Luckily, with combined knowledge and attention to detail, I actually learned a lot from our group reading. We focused primarily on the beginning of the third section. We came up with the idea that the introductory lines of section three was primarily referencing the commonplace, everyday working force that was sweeping the nation at the time. People were beginning to lose their soul to the monotony of work and to the integration of all cultures that became the appropriation of their culture into the collective “American” culture. We also found the argument that the focus on working at all times took the natural beauty from our eyes, leaving us too busy paying attention to the small details to appreciate the big picture of the beautiful collection of culture that America was supposed to be.