Final Project Idea

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For my final essay, I plan to close read Eric Paul Roorda’s introduction to The Ocean Reader: Theory, Culture, Politics which is an expand of my discovery 2. I will focus on how Roorda challenges human centered and land based thinking by defining humans as a “terrestrial species” and by capitalizing the word “Ocean.” My analysis will examine how these language choices work to shift the ocean from an object humans describe to a subject with its own history and agency. I will also explore more on how Roorda’s diction reveals the limits of human perception and the ways people have tried to name and control the sea. Through this close reading, I aim to show the important role of language that Roorda uses to reimagine the relationship between humans and the Ocean.

Final project idea

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For my final essay, I am planning to close read Helen Rozwadowski’s Vast Expanses: Introduction: People and Oceans. I will explore how Rozwadowski redefines the ocean as a space shaped by human knowledge, power, and imagination rather than a neutral part of nature. My essay will focus on how she describes the ocean’s “vastness” not just as a physical quality but as an idea built through exploration, science, and stories, turning something wild and limitless into something they can name and own. I plan to analyze how Rozwadowski connects human curiosity about the sea to the desire for control, how people have tried to measure, name, and own something that resists boundaries. 

Final Essay Idea

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For my final essay, I am considering mainly focusing on The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen; more specifically on the recurring theme of the mermaid longing to be a part of another world, and how that ties into our class theme of literature and the environment. I am hoping to be able to close read and analyze text deeply as well as incorporate scholarly articles and information that can help aid in me crafting a strong argument for my final essay.

Final Project Idea(s) ?

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Truthfully, I am still in the brainstorming process for our final project. I’m torn between focusing on “The Deep” and exploring more of the history and themes of the book, as I’ve really enjoyed what we’ve learned before. It’s quite immersive with its aquatic world building, seeing the world through an Oceanic lens. There’s also the idea of religion being used to thicken a boundary with nature, asserting their superiority over it instead of connection (I’m thinking Undine). Then there’s a creative project which I’ve always leaned towards since I am passionate about creative writing. Decisions, decisions, I hope to come to a conclusion soon.

Final Proposal: Continuation on The Sea is History

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My final essay is still a work in progress but it will expand on my discovery #2 argument by examining the sea as a non-traditional archive of colonial trauma. I would like to revisit the passages from Walcott’s “The Sea is History” in addition to supplementing it with John Gillis “The Blue Humanities” to contextualize Walcott’s vision within a scholarly framework that understands the ocean as a historical agent rather than just a mere set piece. Both these readings challenge the readers to recognize that history does not always appear in the typical western forms we’ve come to expect and learn to interpret environmental memories.

Thesis: In “The Sea is History”, Derek Walcott reimagines the ocean as a fluid unstable archive that preserves the many dark histories that colonial narratives attempt to erase. By positioning the sea as both a grave and record, Walcott exposes the limitations of Western historiography and compels readers to interpret history through silence, submersion, and environmental memory. When read alongside John Gillis’s concept of the Blue Memories, which also argues that oceans hold “deep histories” beyond conventional documentation, Walcott’s poem reveals how the natural world itself functions as a corrective to colonial erasure.

Wk 14

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I wanted to make a creative and immersive project by creating a twine story/game, which I saw an example of in the sample project tab. I thought I might use sirenomelia to develop a type of sci-fi, futuristic mermaid’s day-in-the-life. It would culminate with her exploration of the base, and perhaps a discovery of her/and humanity’s past. Because we know so little about the mermaid, I thought I would create a storyboard that you could follow, exploring who she (you) might be and her process that leads her to explore the abandoned NATO base. I want to incorporate sound in this experience, as I was really drawn to the video’s entrancing use of sound and the exploration of space through sound.

I want to incorporate the little mermaid’s fascination with humanity, and what it might mean to the mermaid to view such a different landscape and environment. I also wanted to explore some of the prompts from Helen M Rodzadowski’s Vast Expanses: A History of the Ocean’s

“The opacity of the ocean
guarantees that we see reflected back from its surface our fears and
desires.”

“The connection forged between people
and oceans has changed both and tied their fates together. Our future
may depend on acknowledging the ocean as part of – not outside of – history”

I want to focus the mermaid’s story on these passages, as well as Rodzadowski acknowledging scientific advancement as a way that humans explored and used the ocean, thus interacting and becoming a part of the ocean’s history. The mermaid in Sirenomelia is our future, calling out to our past selves, telling us that we’ve gone about it all wrong, and that there is a wealth in acknowledging that our relationship with the ocean is not one-sided

Final paper idea

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For my final project, I’d like to focus on the short film The Water Will Carry Us Home and how it greatly supports the claim that water holds history, in particular the history of the transatlantic slave trade acknowledging the often silenced side of history which is the victims side. I just know that I want to focus on that general idea, I need to fine tune it a bit more but I will certainly include film stills to help my argument. 

Week 14

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As of right now, I’m still unsure what to write about for my final essay. Compared to Moby-Dick, which was a slog to get through even with a whole class, being able to close read The Deep by Rivers Solomon et al. after all of that felt like a reward. It being a much shorter story should make it easier to close read since at least it doesn’t have much going on compared to that other whale. Plus, there shouldn’t be any convoluting themes; the first few chapters seem to revolve around History and intergenerational trauma.

As I’ve said in 522, I still need to work on my writing/analysis skills since my mind defaults back to just summary instead of explication. I still think there’s room for improvement since a couple of the essay assignments I wrote for this class and the Moby-Dick class got mediocre grades because I wasn’t able to do the So What (relevance) portion of these essays that well.

I envy people who are able to make convincing arguments/interpretations/insights/whatever about a particular passage and turn them into a 750-1000+ word essay. If only I had the skills…

Thesis statement(final paper)

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In much of the literature that we have read including recently The Deep many of the merfolk/mermaids deal with alot of traumatic life changing events.Many of the characters either reflect their stories outcomes by tragic consequences that have happened to them or life changing things such as evolving into higher beings.I would like to do research of ptsd and use of mermaids to argue the benefits of acknowledging grief and processing it.

Final Essay: Preparation and Research

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After reading new pieces of literature and analyzing short films that focused on untold history and multicultural spirits (which we went over in class as well), this made me want to revisit my second discovery, and incorporate more historical information and credible sources to back up my claims and arguments. Considering my second discovery consisted of Mesoamerican water spirit Tlanchana, I would like to showcase more of the parallels between ancient societies in regards to folklore and specifically as it relates to water deities and these connections will be made by accessing the Penguins Book of Mermaids, as well as Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid by Philip Hayward which speaks of this phenomenon. I am still at the part where I am trying to conceptualize the “So What?” part of my thesis but I intend for it to demonstrate the influence the environment has on humanity and how altering ones perception of the environment (introducing new theologies and forbidding previous beliefs) can result in a form of desensitization where one may slowly start losing the connection they once had with nature.