Shani Mungai

Dr. Blaine Prescott

ENGW 105-42

04/22/2024
Final Portfolio Reflection Paper

So, for the first essay that I choose to use for the final portfolio reflection paper was

originally written as an analysis paper primarily focused on the topic of silence and how it can be

dangerous, as that is what we were studying in my English 104 class last semester. We also read

some pieces that had to deal with silence and had to pick one that we would use to guide our

analysis paper and support our argument. The piece of writing that I had chosen to use for the

analysis paper was the short story “Sweat” by the American author, anthropologist, and

documentary filmmaker Zora Neale Hurston. I choose this story because it had perfectly depicted

silence and how dangerous it could be. The short story was based on a character named “Delia”

who was abused by her husband “Sykes” and there were many themes that were portrayed

throughout the story especially silence which is why I thought it was perfect to use for the paper.

Moving onto what the final portfolio was about which was re-writing the essay. I

struggled for a while trying to decide how I was going to re-write my essay. I didn’t know the

style of what my re-write was going to look like but choose to do a short story for my re-write. I

was thrilled on the idea of writing a short story and soon began brainstorming ideas on what I

wanted my short story to be like. I wasn’t sure how I would start or what genre I was going to

use when creating my short story but finally decided upon the “Murder Mystery” genre. I

thought that it was the perfect choice to go with and fit perfectly with my original analysis paper

of silence. Now having my genre, I just needed characters that I came up with: Diane, James

(Diane’s abusive husband) and Nicole (Diane’s Best Friend). This short story was going to be

dark and mysterious, have a murder and other new plot twists that were included to make the

story full of unexpected surprises and so much more that readers were not expecting to see

happen. This now all leads me to dive into my finding a plot that I would use for the short story.
 It wasn’t all that hard to find a plot that would be perfect for the short story having my

three main characters: Diane, James and Nicole. I just needed to find one that worked with my

short story, so I landed on “A woman named Diane who is being abused by her husband, James

leading to her murder and an investigation, that is conducted by her best friend Nicole who is

also private investigator at the local police station.” With my plot selected I had to come up with

a new personal narrative, tone, structure, bias, voice and humor. Which is what I did to be able to

piece the story together and come up with my short story. Next thing that I did after having my

characters and plot was coming up with a title, so I landed on: “The Deafening Silence”, I

thought this title fit perfectly with the short story as well as how it aligned with the original story

and the idea of silence. The next thing that I did after having now my characters, plot and title

was create an outline to piece everything all together and get a start on what I wanted my short

story to look like, as well as the flow and how the sequence of events would develop all

throughout the story to my particular liking, but also what I thought the audience would enjoy.

After creating my outline, I finally had everything and started writing my short story. By

conducting the process that I did it made everything much easier to write out everything. I would

also say out of re-writing both of my essays this was by far by favorite one to write it was so fun

and enjoyable to write I felt free, and all my thoughts and ideas pieced well together to create the

short story. The short story started off pretty strong with Diane’s murder first happening and her

best friend Claire who was a private investigator on a mission to find out what happened to her

best friend and who also did it. The story embarks on this investigation journey with searching

for facts, evidence and clues to help solve the murder. Throughout the story it gets dark and eerie

with each turn and twist taken in the investigation, a lot of it is unexpected and wasn’t seen

coming by anyone. An investigation that turned out to be so much bigger than Nicole had

thought pulling her into quite the hole and her journey to get out of it. The experience of putting

everything together was so fascinating for me and fun to do. So, this was how my re-write

process was for my analysis essay for “The Danger of Silence” went about as well as the creative

thought, ideas and process that I had went through to be able to bring the short story together.
 So, for the second essay that I choose to use for the final portfolio reflection paper was

originally written as an argumentative paper primarily focused on the “The Star-Spangled

Banner” when we were studying it in my English 104 Class last semester. We had focused on the

national anthem when we were learning about tone, structure and different aspects hence why we

had looked into “The Star -Spangled Banner.” After that we had to write an argumentative paper

based on whether we think that the National Anthem is Good and if we think it should be kept or

changed as the national anthem. We had to use resources and facts to be able to support our

paper. I went on the route of keeping the national anthem based on my thesis “Looking back in

history “The Star- Spangled Banner” holds significant importance to the people of the United

States, which leads me to the other point that the song should not be changed due to its history

when history needs to be preserved and not changed.” So that is what the essay was based on

when I first wrote it last year, it and that was the argument and side that I choose to take opposed

to the national anthem being changed as that is what I choose to use for my counterargument.

Now moving into what the final portfolio about was re-writing the essay. When it now

came to the re-write of the essay that we had to do for the final portfolio, I debated long and hard

on what I was planning to do when it came to re-writing this essay. I did not know if I wanted to

a video essay or a poem or a short story but eventually, I ended up settling on the short story

again when I wanted to re-write my argumentative essay. I was quite excited on the fact of

getting to write a short story again as I would say that happens to be one of my favorite things to

write amongst any writing pieces like essays etc. The genre that I picked for the short story that I

decided to go with was “Time Travel Fiction” about a week ago I was quite stuck on what genre

I would want to do but as I was brainstorming different ideas that I could use for rewriting my

short story I somehow landed on time travel and thought it fit perfectly with the original essay

that I first wrote. I thought that it would be a good idea to pair together the idea of someone from

the future who time traveled back in time to the 1800’s which was the time “The Star-Spangled

Banner” was first created. As well as how that was what my essay “The Star- Spangled Banner”

was written on, it just made sense and pieced together perfectly to start writing my short story.
 So now that I had my genre, and how I was going to start writing my short story. I just

had to start piecing everything together. I had to find a way to write a new personal narrative as

well add in a new tone, structure, bias, voice and humor. So, that is exactly what I did, I decided

to go on the route using of a high school junior to be the main character in my short story. Next I

had to give her a name so I settled on Emily and now had to think of a plot on what my short

story would be based on “ A 17- year-old girl named Emily who was a junior from a small town

named Olney Maryland, who needed to learn about the history of “The Star- Spangled Banner”

for her history class who had time traveled from present day going back in time after opening an

old textbook she found in the library while doing her research for her presentation.” With this in

mind I was able to create an outline which definitely helped significantly by being able to piece

the story together piece by piece to make it flow efficiently. The words just flew onto the paper

and made everything feel so easy, the short story felt so natural and made sense aligning

perfectly with my original essay and worked out well when it came to re-writing the essay.

With having my main character and the plot I had everything all set together and titled

the short story: “Back to the 1800’s: Emily’s Gone Back in Time” which I just felt made the

most perfect sense to use as that is what the story was about. I also found the title to be creative

and just gave the impression that the story was some kind of Sci-Fi, time travel genre which is

exactly the vibe that I was going for when deciding on a title. As well as what I hoped the

audience would think when first reading the title and before reading the short story and what it

was about. Throughout the story I talked about Emily’s embark on this remarkable journey that

she took back to the past unexpectedly getting to go back in time and view history before her

eyes, the same history that she had always been taught and learned about from her friends,

teachers and family. The story is specifically carted to the time period of 1800’s specifically

around the war of 1814 that Francis Scott Key had witnessed and what had inspired him to write

the well-known famously national anthem “The Star- Spangled Banner.” So, this is how my re-

write process was for my original argumentative essay “The Star- Spangled Banner” went about

and all the creative thought and process that I went through to now bring the short story together.