Sabrina Butler

Mr. Pace

C Block

June 8th, 2023

Narrative Reflection

Over this semester, I have developed my skills of analysis, synthesis, and creating

complex theses. Some skills I still struggle with are doing citations correctly, providing ample

context prior to a quote or introduction of a character, reducing redundancy and being concise

with my analysis.

In regards to my improvement upon analysis, synthesis, and thesis crafting, I believe that

the Comparative Analysis Essay exemplifies these skills. For this essay, I was graded in the

advanced section for the thesis. I crafted a complex thesis that underlined a common theme

between the two writing pieces, and then I pointed out how each writer differed in the way they

portrayed the shared theme. This complex, two-sentenced thesis set my essay up for deep,

articulate, and insightful thoughts and comparisons. Furthermore, I effectively analyzed and

compared the ways each story portrayed psychological damage and trauma from war. For

example, I quoted the short story “The Thing They Carried” to capture the tumultuous, damaged

state protagonist Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was constantly in during the war, “His mind

wandered…he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the

Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing” (Obrien, 5). When analyzing this quote, I

highlighted how escapism is prevalent in the description of Cross’s war experience. I inferred

how his thoughts of his lover Martha were because she was a place of comfort and happiness, so

in his desperate state, his mind naturally gravitated towards those peaceful memories and people.
In my analysis, I effectively unpacked the significance of his experience and how it portrayed

psychological damage and the coping mechanism of escapism during the war. After this piece of

evidence, I quoted Slaughterhouse-Five when Billy Pilgrim experienced a time warp and escaped

war, “Billy Pilgrim had stopped in the forest. He was leaning against a tree with his eyes

closed…His attention began to swirl grandly through the full arc of his life passing into death

which was violet light” (Vonnegut, 43). I investigated the meaning and weight behind Billy’s

experience of physical transportation of his mind and body to different periods throughout his

life. I highlighted the two main points of significance that illustrate the severity of psychological

damage Billy suffered: first, he created a false narrative of reality to justify time traveling;

second, he used this mental ability to process and cope with the traumatic experiences he faced

in the war. Finally, my connections between these two pieces of evidence highlights my

developed synthesis skills. I recognized how both of the characters use escapism to cope with the

mental hardships and trauma from war. I deepened my analysis by pointing out the key

differences between their psychological damage: Lieutenant Jimmy from “The Things They

Carried” was physically IN the war and escaping reality through memories of his life prior to

being drafted, whereas in Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy was no longer in war and was instead

experiencing it through PTSD - which explains why he is time-traveling throughout his war

recollections. Overall, my Comparative Analysis essay demonstrates my refined skills in thesis

crafting, analysis, and synthesis.

In regard to my areas of improvement such as doing citations correctly, providing ample

context prior to a quote or introduction of a character, reducing redundancy, and being concise

with my analysis; I believe that the writing assignment Civil Disobedience and Man vs. Society

highlights these struggles. In this essay, I had several conventional errors, for example, doing
citations incorrectly. I also had issues with italicizing quotes that didn’t need to be italicized and

not italicizing the novel The Crucible when I referenced it. Lastly, there were a couple times

where I wrote the phrase “on the other hand” which made my essay a bit redundant. My writing

goals moving forward into senior year are learning how to write with more of a variety in

sentence structure, use stronger vocabulary, and be more concise. I can achieve my goal of

alternating sentence structure by reading more complex works of literature that will show me a

variety of sentences and styles. Reading higher level works of literature will also expose me to

new sophisticated vocabulary that I can apply to my own writing. Lastly, I can learn to be more

concise just by writing and proofreading more. When I see my mistakes and fix them, I’m

learning to think more succinctly.