German Writing
"An Hunger"
GER 317: Composition and Grammar Review
Fall 2015
This essay is from fall of my sophomore year and I was barely able to write an essay in German at that time. The topic of the paper focuses on a perceived problem in society, in this case hunger, and proposed solutions. I am choosing to include this essay in my portfolio to serve as a baseline or stepping-stone for my German writing skills because it is such an early piece.
“Psychologie und Pavel”
GER 383: German Literature from Poetic Realism through Naturalism
Fall 2016
This essay is a literary analysis on the psychological state of the protagonist in the novel Das Gemeindekind by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. I wrote this essay with a focus on the inner feelings and manifestations of feelings as described by Ebner-Eschenbach. One of the goals of this essay was to make connections between literature of the time period and newly emerging disciplines and scientific discoveries, so I used Freudian theory as supporting evidence along with the evidence from the novel.
This piece of writing shows my ability to perform critical literary analysis with appropriate argumentation, evidence, and jargon using the German language.
“Die Entwicklungen des Spätmittelalters” GER 320: German Culture & Civilization
Fall 2017
This essay is a reflection on how the cultural developments of the late middle ages in Germany led to the Enlightenment period and the German culture of the present. The structure of this essay is five paragraph-style in that there is an introduction, three main points, and a conclusion, but I think this format works well in this assignment because I was able to pick three points from the textbook chapter and analyze them. In this instance, three is a good number of topics for the length of the assignment, as the paper was supposed to be three pages or less. A skill that I have seen drastically improve in my writing is the ability to present my points with depth instead of breadth. Meaning, as I have developed as a writer, I have discovered the importance of really discussing and supporting points as opposed to trying to cover as much ground as possible in a single essay.
"Kunst und Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts"
GER 321: German Culture & Civilization II
Spring 2018
This essay analyzes the styles and focuses of art and literature in the early 20th century in Germany. Here, I discuss Expressionism and the impacts of the political and social environment of the early 20th century on themes in literature and art. This essay is a recent and more advanced example of my German writing.