Reflective statement

[Chemstryandbio]

I have to hand in my English course work in a week or so and I still have not written my reflective statement. I finished my essay which explores Murakami's Elephant Vanishes' as a critic of married life, however I do not know how to write the reflection and therefore would appreciate your help.

[QuestionableWay]

The reflective statement is basically just a personal reflection on how the in class activity informed you about the book and its culture. For example, as I did mine on Antigone, I talked about how the in-class activity influenced my understanding through its discussion of Greek burial customs and background on the class divide of ancient Greece. If you didn't do an in-class activity, you can basically just make it up so long as you stick to answering the question of "how did it inform my understanding of the background of the novel?"

[Vioh]

I have to hand in my English course work in a week or so and I still have not written my reflective statement. I finished my essay which explores Murakami's Elephant Vanishes' as a critic of married life, however I do not know how to write the reflection and therefore would appreciate your help.

 

Wow such a coincidence. you're actually writing your essay on exactly the same book that I did, and almost the same topic as well.

Anyway, I have 1 or 2 advice for you. First, even though one of the goals of the reflective statement is to reflect on the in-class discussion, it's important that only mention how the in-class discussions help you understand the work better, rather than what you guys actually did in class. It's hard to articulate what I'm trying to say, but in general, try to make it sound less like just a descriptive essay. So for example, you don't need to tell us how the class discussion was carried out (like who talked about this, and who talked about that, ....), but you rather should write about what you have gained from the in-class discussion.

My second advice is that you should focus a lot on the cultural aspect of the book. This is because The Elephant Vanishes is part of the "Work in Translation" part, which means that students are supposed to not only learn about literary aspects, but also about the cultural aspects as well. So it would be great if you write a lot about how the class discussion broadens your understanding of Japanese culture in general, especially during the modernization period.

Good luck!