Cassie's Personal Essay Brainstorm

• Apologies and Forgiveness: how to forgive without one, how to give an apology, and what to do when forgiveness isn't deserved but still expected. (Parents, exes, abusers, and friends)
• What do with what you don't remember: if you can't remember something you did that negatively affected someone else, what does that do to your own identity. (cousin and self)
• Finding the feminine in the divine in the midst of feminine pain (periods, assault, and miscarriages).
• Shame and Blame: looking back on past mistakes as a different person who still has within you the same person who did terrible things
• When places become characters with personalities and memories and connotations, and when places lose the meaning that used to be special: my high school, the place I had that first kiss, the temple
• Dying my hair red on my mission and rethinking identity, individuality, community, homogeneity and Godliness
• Rewriting personal narratives: how we pick out a narrative that creates and navigates who we are depending on who we are currently
• No longer believing that everything happens for a reason, but still wanting to believe in miracles and what to do with that (trails, sister's mission call, etc.)
• What I learned about myself while crying in public bathrooms 
• She Used to Be Mine: rethinking the concept of a core self when trails changed me into someone I don't recognize and how that makes me think about my eternal soul

Siera's Personal Essay: Learning my Relationship with My Heavenly Father

• I spent a good portion of my mission severely depressed. I believed that what I was doing was never good enough. I finished my mission honorably, but was still broken inside. 
• The first year back was hard, I checked all the boxes, started working in the temple,  and prayed everyday for answer. One day while writing in my journal and complaining that God had never answered my prayers, I realized that he had and I started to heal. 
• The next year I lived with some really good friends who listened to me and encouraged me when I was feeling down. Slowly my perspective of God and myself began to change. 
• That summer I went to Jerusalem, and after some of the hardest days of my life, I believed that God loved me and had a complete change of perspective. 

Literary Analysis of the Welcoming Door

When I think about the audience that The Welcoming Door by Kenny Kemp appeases, though it is overtly Latter-day Saint, I think that a chord can be strummed in the hearts of anyone who is a parent. Riddled with symbolism, Kemp expounds on his fictional version of the story of the Prodigal Son from the Bible.  It is more than a Biblical story. Entering the realm of this genre that we call “scripture based,” Kemp takes such a short verse of scripture from the Bible and expands it to emphasize a timeless lesson that so many parents may face with the loss of a wayward child. That lesson, as Jeshua tells Eli, is that: “there is no justice, there is no mercy, there is only love” (Kemp 70).  The overarching theme I believe Kemp wants his audience to recognize is love and its association with Christ. But there are also other teachings throughout, though this list isn’t an exhaustive list, they include: faith, the father-like relationship people can have to a Heavenly Father, prayer, and the detrimental role of tradition. As a reader with an LDS background, one can identify that each of these teachings are based in Latter-day Saint theology, and as an LDS audience, can think about these concepts in a new light as we identify with the sorrow of the father of the prodigal son and rejoice in the father Eli's joy as he finds hope and meaning in the parable the Savior teaches. 

Julie's Extraordinary Experience

• During the summer of 2018, I faced a lot of doubt—doubt in regards to my career, marriage, and whether I should go on a mission. 
• My parents and friends, scared of the stereotype of the English major who can’t find a job, were reminding me that I needed to be more serious about my career decision. 
• After much thought and prayer, I decided that I was going to go to school for just one more year before leaving on a mission.
• However, I still felt unsettled about my choice of career. I thought I had settled on editing—but every time that I tried editing fiction, I was miserable.
• The aftermath: After months of frustration and praying about my career, I had a dream one night where a friend told me that understanding and revelation come one step at a time, not all at once. After that, the pieces slowly fit together. I soon started dating my future husband (who I wouldn’t have met if I had gone on my mission earlier). I was offered an internship where I was surprised to discover that my strengths lay in editing nonfiction. My view of revelation and God’s role in our individual lives was forever changed by that whole experience.

Ana's Life-Altering Experience

• Ø  I had been having problems with my heath from the time I was about 11 or 12 years old—I just couldn’t explain what was going on.*
• Ø  When I was 17 years old, I had an ATV accident during a camping trip with family, and ended up running into a tree.
• Ø  My aunt, who was with me at the time, realized something was wrong, and knew I needed to get checked out.
• Ø  I ended up having to go to the hospital after the camping trip, and had to see specialist after specialist, and got tested. Eventually, I came to the hospital in Murray, UT that specialized in the care that I needed.
• Ø  After several tests and surgeries, I realized I would never be “normal” again, but I could try to learn how to live with the changes.
• Ø  Through it all, I was able to recognize how the Lord was working in it, even though there were times I couldn’t always see it—sometimes, I had to look back to see it.
• Ø  I realized that if it weren’t for that accident, I wouldn’t be where I am—it needed to happen—and luckily it happened in the secluded mountains

*Due to the highly sensitive content contained in this post, and the nature of this blog, this has been revised from its original form

Elect of Elohim and My First View of a Western Prairie

Elect of Elohim by Orson F. Whitney

This poem is specific to an audience familiar with Mormon theology and scripture. The poem imagines the dialogue that happened during the "war in heaven." The use of dialogue really characterizes God, Lucifer, and Christ in ways that are familiar to LDS theology: Christ is humble in his approach, whereas Lucifer is boastful and arrogant with sharper phrases. The poem outlines much of what Christ will do from the perspective of Christ not even being born yet. It is written with rhythm similar to an epic poem, which is a format that tells Christ's heroic tale in an interesting way.

My First View of a Western Prairie by Eliza R. Snow

I really love Eliza Snow so I was excited to analyze this poem. She has lots of imagery that connotes male or femaleness, sometimes all at once, for example, "within my breast a princely feeling" is an interesting way to combine a feminine and masculine image. She has lots of different juxtapositions of youth and elderly, light and darkness, slow and fast, that shows the full range of her emotions as she experiences the prairie she is looking at. I liked a phrase near the end that says "And my imagination too, for once acknowledged its own imbecility." This whole time she is experiencing and imagining nature and its connection to her own spirituality, but here she acknowledges that nature and God and life are even more complex and profound than she can experience. 

Cassie's Questions About LDS Literature

• What kind of perspectives do I bring to studying Mormon Literature as a Mormon? What advantages or limitations do I have as a member of Mormon culture and theology?
• What does it mean that Mormons are an ethnic group as it regards to literature, culture, theology, and individuals?
• How does the prophecy or expectation of Mormon writers being great affect the way they write or are studied by other Mormons? 
• Does this same expectation for Mormon literary greatness extend to other texts such as movies, blogs, marketing, etc? 
• The call for distinct Mormon literature is interesting -- Which Mormon experiences are distinct, or is it a mindset? What about Mormonism is universal? What aspects of Mormonism are due to influences from others and what does that mean? 
• Do Mormon themes seep into writings of Mormon writers like Orson Scott Card who aren't writing books that are "Mormon"? 
• In what ways does an orthodox versus non-orthodox view of Mormonism matter in quantifying it as Mormon literature? Are non-orthodox writers ostracized by Mormonism? Should they be? Can you tell where they stand on Mormon theology/culture from the writing? Why does that matter?
• Do Mormons study or read other religious literature similarly? Do Mormons expect other religions to read Mormon literature? 

Poetry Shapes Me

Poetry has been one of my favorite mediums for a long time. I love reading it and writing it. There are many poems that have helped me through difficult times and shaped the way I've interacted with others, my world, and the divine. As a child, I owned a book of poetry by a boy dying of cancer, and it helped me when my grandpa died as a kid.

On my mission, I decided to write one stanza of poetry every other transfer (every three months). It is a terribly written poem, but it is still one of my favorite things I've created because writing it was such a powerful experience for me. Reflecting through poetry about how I was feeling spiritually and otherwise now provides this raw glimpse into who I was becoming as a missionary in Mexico. 


Mary Oliver's poem "When Death Comes" reminded me to live a life of wonder.
Keats has reminded me that beauty and truth can coexist.
Sylvia Plath has made me feel understood in darkness.
Mother's Milk by Rachel Hunt-Steenblik has made me feel more comfortable seeing God in the feminine, the everyday, and the familiar.

I am grateful for poetry.

 

Annotations

As I was annotating, I noticed specific patterns in how each writer introduces himself. They use similar words as they do that. I think that comes in with the abridgment Moroni did. They write with authority and ethos in that way.

With this pattern of the promises of the Lord when people are wicked and when they are righteous they have consequences. Something else that catches my eye is the reflection of each of the writers. How their mental patterns are. I think its interesting how one of the writers says he fought much to preserve his people but that he is a wicked man. This was curious to me because I think we think harshly of ourselves no matter how much good we do. I know I do that and I've had a problem with that lately. Seeings someone else doing that and recognizing that has really helped me see how that is evident within myself. I guess thats what literature helps us do. Notice patterns of thinking and refining them.

My Annotations

I read pages 305-309 in the Hardy edition, which is the part of the Book of Mormon where Ammon converts King Lamoni and his household. The edition made several things more elucidated to me, or at least helped me interpret them differently.

The formatting changed the way I perceived the length of time of this event. I had assumed the conversion conversation was just one day, but because of the way the titles of sections are formatted over the King's learning, and because of the phrase "after he had said all these things, and expounded them to the king," among other phrases, I now think that this event took place over weeks.

It also changed the subject of the story. Previously, I had thought this story was very much Ammon's story, with King Lamoni being a possible co-star for this section. But the sectioning off of titles casts a new light on the importance of the entire community, and other key players to this event. The titles are "The Queen Sends for Ammon," "The Queen, Ammon, and Servants Are Overcome," "Abish and the People," and "Recovery and Conversion." Just adding these titles and starting these sections with subjects that aren't Ammon really changed the way I viewed this story. I now perceive it as a whole communal affair, and not just a personal conversion of a powerful person. I see the way the community debated and struggled with the new info from lots of sources (the spirit, ABish, the queen, and also Ammon). 

Siera's Attempt to Annotate Isaiah

In my annotation of 2 Nephi 19-20 I focused on the poetic aspects of the text as well as trying to put it in into historical context. As far as poetic technics, Isaiah uses a ton of parallelism. He uses it in verses next to each other, verses that close to each other, and verses that are across the chapter. My favorite example of this is his use of shoulder twice in text. The first use is talking about how the staff is removed from the shoulder and that the burden is lifted. Then later it is talking about how Christ takes that government on his shoulder. Looking at it for its poetic value helped me understand what he was saying better.

Henry's Annotations of 4th Nephi

The book of 4th Nephi has been a long time favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon for me. It is filled with extreme happiness and extreme sorrow. It has always been fascinating to me to analyze why these two cases were so severe and what caused them. When I read this chapter in the Grant Hardy version, however, I noticed a few themes that I hadn't quite picked up on before, and now can see how important some of the themes presented in 4th Nephi are to the Book of Mormon as a whole.

The contrast between "new" and "old" within just a few short pages really stuck out to me. The passage repeatedly emphasizes what aspects of the Nephite life are new and the changes that are brought about because of what is new. Throughout the story new cities were built in old places, different laws were followed, new classes were made in order to get rid of the old ones, and so on. It is comparing the old and the new back and forth over and over again.

This book is also explicitly instructional. There are multiple times where it states that certain events came about "because" something happened before it. The passage makes very clear why whatever happened, happened so that the audience can clearly see what to do if they want similar results, good or bad. I like the instructional and straight forward aspect of reading this text as literature, and taking a step back and viewing the whole Book of Mormon in a different way.

Cameron's Annotations of Mosiah 11-12 in the Book of Mormon

When annotating Mosiah 11, in addition to character development, I decided to focus on what the text was trying to tell the audience. Who was the audience? And whose voice is dominating the conversation? As I looked for clues, I realized that the majority of the text is narrated by Mormon and written in the third person. The genre is a combination of the abridgment of Mormon, as he condenses a very long historical record with a didactic narrative approach in explaining what happened, but half way through, the text switches to a journal entry and then to the dialogue. "We and I" become the dominating voice as the people speak and as Abinadi relays the voice of the lord to the "wicked" people. As I looked at themes in describing the kingdom of king Noah, Mormon uses language such as "wicked, whoredomes, abominations, and iniquity" Abinadi uses words such as "repentance, deliverance, and prayer." I hadn't noticed before, but the language regarding a monarchy drastically changes when Mormon is speaking about King Noah in comparison to King Benjamin. Over and over again, Mormon mentions how the people become wicked because of King Noah's corrupt rule. It made me question: what is Mormon trying to teach his audience and to whom does he believe he's speaking to? Could Mormon be suggesting that a monarchy is not the way a people should be ruled, despite the fact that there can be righteous kings as well? And how do social classes form when the people become wicked? How does God view classes in this society? I feel like each element of the text suggested a deeper meaning as I stove to dig a little deeper to find meaning of why Mormon was writing this and to what audience. It feels as though there are innumerable avenues of meaning one can gleam from the literary text of the Book of Mormon.

Buckets' Literary Analysis of the Book of Mormon: Family Matters

There are multiples ways to examine Alma 56, or what Hardy defines as the first and second portion of Helaman's Letters to Moroni. If I could do this over again, I would highlight how the intent of Helaman's letter is transfored from Letter to historical document to scripture, but I decided to analyze Helaman's recollection of "the affairs of the people in that quarter of the land." While Helaman gives an honest, Moroni (and consequently us) learn much more about his "sons".


While many members the Church boast large families, only Helaman had two thousand children, and he was never lucky enough to get a daughter. Though not directly related, Helaman connects his bloodline and theirs together, going back to "our father Lehi." He then makes two different independent validations for calling them sons, first because of their "worthiness" and later on because of their youth. He also centers their purpose for battling around their doubtless maternal obeisance--they were mama's boys. Helaman successfully brings his "family" into battle.

Additionally, while the battle of Antiparah happens, the fallen are less remembered then the remaining. While the highest in command and others die, Helaman keeps the narrative subjective to his own army. It makes sense, but it takes away from the objective account that Mormon suggests Moroni was given when he introduces the letter. Not that Helaman's spin takes away from his accounting, but it does make a history an epic.

Ana's Literary Analysis of the Book of Mormon

For my literary analysis, I decided to focus on 2 Nephi 9. I paid particular attention to the perspective, as it's mostly Jacob bearing his testimony and prophesying (but there are brief moments where the POV shifts to God). I also noticed how different characters (such as Lucifer) were introduced, or different parts of the Plan, as it plays a critical role in 2 Nephi 9. I was taking note of major themes as I annotated as well: remembrance, ordinances/covenants, repentance, avoiding sin, perfection, etc. If I were to do this exercise again, I think I would focus more on the symbolism, and how it is being used in the chapter.

Julie's Literary Annotations of the Book of Mormon

In my annotated reading of 3 Nephi 9–10, I focused on the big contrasts that occurred throughout the chapters such as shifts in tone and Hardy’s choice of formatting (poetry vs. prose, as well as where to break lines). I noted how the theme of justice/God’s righteous anger was immediately superseded by Christ’s love and care. It was interesting to look at this in terms of a generic plot structure, in which Jesus Christ would have be the protagonist and the antagonists could only be all of humankind, since it is human nature to turn away from God (as we could see in the pride cycle leading up to these climactic chapters). Finally, I focused on recurring symbols within the chapters, such as Jesus’s request for the people to become as little children (who would represent humility and obedience) and come to Him.

Dorothy Smith Literary Analysis of The Book of Mormon

For my literary analysis I focused on the the narrator's authorial intent and credibility as well as the lack of women representation in the Book of Mormon. I noticed that Lehi takes a different approach when he is talking to his different sons and appreciated the variation in his parenting style with them. I also appreciated how he used previous scripture and history to build his credible. By discussing the fall of Adam and Eve and explaining the implications that this has for his family's life, it is clear that Lehi is speaking from a place of love as well as authority. While I did not originally intend to focus on the lack of women representation, it become more and more apparent to me every time the word "men" was used and women must write themselves into the narrative. 

Katy's Literary Annotations of the Book of Mormon

I chose to annotate 4th Nephi. In my annotations, I focused on the historical nature of the text and the different themes that arose throughout it. I noted main groups of people throughout the text, and the lack of specific characters beyond those keeping the records. I also noted the binaries of wickedness vs. goodness, prosperity vs. poverty, war vs. peace, and true belief vs. hypocrisy. I also noted the interesting gap between the period of prosperity and the period of wickedness. It is almost as if, while abridging this record, Mormon decided it was easier to show people what not to do than what to do.

If I were to do this exercise again, I would focus a bit more on how Mormon's perspective may have influenced the effect of his editing. I would also take more care to note the individual record-keepers.

Marcus' Literary Annotations of the Book of Mormon

My annotations focus primarily on the themes as well as the cultural aspects of governance. I found that the beginning of The Book of Alma, there is a shift in government, going from a King to Judges. The entire first chapter of this book regards the law of the land, its association with the church and the manner in which breaking the law is taken car of.

While annotating, this abridgment seemed more to document the how the people worked together and the culture of prosperity (secular history). There are constant foreshadows of the prosperity of the people throughout, and this chapter is a prime example. If I were to annotate this again, I would start to focus on the structure of the text and how self-consistency and headers play a role in this particular section.

Assignment: My Literary Annotations of the Book of Mormon

I'm asking my students to analyze the Book of Mormon as literature. For Wednesday, 9/16/19, I'd like each student to annotate the five pages he/she has selected, and then to take a photo of and post the image of one or more pages of that annotation, as I model below.

In preparation, they may wish to review my Primer on Formal Literary Analysis, but the goal is to demonstrate that they can do more than identify themes, or look at the book purely in personal religious ways.

Along with the image or images of their annotations, they should include a capsule explanation or reflection on their experience in doing this annotation, and they should respond to one another's posts, reviewing the other students' approaches to annotation and interpretation.

See my model post below:

BOM as Literature

As I consider looking at the Book of Mormon as literature, I think of a few elements that are details that go into it. First, I think of the story lines, plots, and character that influence the story. The writers also play a huge role in the telling of the story. Something to remember is that some of the writers hadn't been formally educated to write well. I think the gift of tongues played a huge role in its arrangement and writing. With those things being said and having read the book as an English major and putting on a literary lens, I can recall that metaphor, symbolism and chiasmus are in the Book of Mormon.

For all these reasons and more I think it will be very helpful to read the Hardy edition further. I have already noticed some of these things in the reading we did and it will be helpful to read further.

The Book of Mormon as Literature

The introduction to this edition of the Book of Mormon was incredibly compelling to me. I found myself pausing to annotate and think about how the Book of Mormon has been written and interpreted for the past couple hundred years. Reading the first couple of chapters of this edition was interesting, because I do what Hardy said I usually read the Book of Mormon to find "miracles in [my own life]" and to "sacrilize [my life]." Hardy mentions the historical anachronisms and some debates around the origin of the Book of Mormon and also says that the literary complexity and coherence of the Book is incredible. I found it very interesting to read some of the debates about the Book of Mormon that I am semi-familiar with illustrated in this book. The conciseness of this edit makes a lot of things stand out more clearly to me, mostly as far as plot goes. I think it will make seeing the themes that define Mormonism more clear, as well as some of the literary coherencies that Hardy mentioned (foreshadowing, managing timelines, etc.) more clear as well. It is definitely a mental shift to read this version of the Book of Mormon when I've become so familiar with reading and personalizing this story, but I am excited by the complexities already more clearly noted by this edition.

The Book of Mormon as Literature

I am intrigued by Hardy's approach to reading The Book of Mormon as a literary work. While I am familiar with The Book of Mormon, it was beneficial to have the headings and read it out of the context that I am used to. While I was reading, I remembered that the original publication of The Book of Mormon did not include any form of punctuation. Thinking about reading The Book of Mormon without any punctuation or clear chapters seems daunting, so I appreciate the opportunity to read it from a literary analysis perspective. Hardy's revision of the book gives it greater meaning historically not only as a spiritual book of scripture, but as a literary genre as well. It is easier to read and appreciate the plot and narrative of the book with further editing and revision that Hardy has included. There was a time on my mission where I took a red pencil and made grammatical corrections in my copy of The Book of Mormon so I am appreciative that others have noticed some of the same structural changes that make the book easier to follow.

Read as Literature: The Book of Mormon

Before I even opened the Grant Hardy edition of The Book of Mormon, I was expecting to read a very choppy text that didn’t flow particularly well. I thought it would eb too difficult to combine the verses with paragraphs and make it look and read like a normal book. After reading just a few pages, however, I was pliantly surprised with how much I enjoyed reading it this way.

The headings before certain events helped me better understand what was going on and the flow of events that were transpiring. The organization of this text seemed to help me grasp more the storyline, as opposed to The Book of Mormon we read today that is very separated and marked off verse by verse.

Reading this as literature and not scripture is challenging given my familiarity with the text, however it is interesting to see even in the first couple pages the themes that are frequently present. There is a lot of contrast between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. One paragraph will be about murmuring and choosing to disobey, then the following paragraph is all about choosing to do the right thing and follow God. I am curious to see how this theme carries on throughout the rest of the book.

Read as Literature: The Book of Mormon

I enjoy reading the Book of Mormon in the format of literary text because it gives me a different outlook on scripture. Before, I would read each verse and dissect versus to get the minute details of principles or doctrine. However, when scripture is placed in paragraph form, it helps me identify the topic of each section. For example, in the first chapter of 1 Nephi, we can see the distinction between Lehi’s calling and his prophesies to the Jews. Before, I read through this chapter as an understanding about the family, and less about the reason why they had to leave Jerusalem in the first place, including their journey across the desert. I completely agree that “this editing gives emphasis to the narrative and highlights literary qualities and complex internal structure of the text” (Hardy). The second example is identifying when scriptural, spiritual, or personal revelation occur; they are put into lines and stanzas that help structure the text in a manner that would have been intended. Instead of looking at scripture as individual versus, looking at scripture as literature brings new sense of origin – an origin intended to be deeply experienced by the reader.

The Book of Mormon as Literature

Grant Hardy mentions in the introduction that he uses headings to identify who is speaking and what about. This style is similar to different versions of the Bible (other than the KJV); I actually found this style helpful before actually getting into the book because of my experience with other versions of the Bible, so I was anxious to see how he used it with the Book of Mormon text. Why I find it helpful, for both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, is because the reader is able to identify the topic, the what, and the who. There are multiple places that may be difficult to understand in identifying who may be talking and when, due to how quickly the conversation is taking place.

A transition Hardy uses in 1 Nephi 2 that may not be one of the smoothest transitions is “Laman and Lemuel’s Murmurings” because the Book of Mormon was talking about Lehi before the transition, and it still is, however, the first line is “he” and it may make the reader question who “he” is.

One of my favorite things about the styles in this edition is the way Hardy uses the verbal phrasing. The way he puts into more of a poetic style, it helps the reader engage more with the text, as they can immediately look at the text and know when someone is speaking.

When it’s in the elongated format, I am able to naturally read it like a novel, which is something the older formats of the Book of Mormon are like, and it gives a different feel to the reader. Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the text, as I’m not looking for a specific thing, but then I end up stumbling on something anyways.