This past weekend, I used the lens of existentialism (in particular, Sartre's view) to observe the relationship between Leah and Keisha, focusing mostly on the third section of the book.

After reading Mark's thoughts, I've decided that this weekend, I'd like to refocus the lens to contrast Satre with Kierkegaard (who is, after all, mentioned in NW) and observe the separation of Leah and Keisha (that is, where they are in the first and fourth sections of the book, both going through seperate crisis).

Because of this, the essay will focus more on the individual characters: Who Leah is when she goes through her pregnanacy scare, who Keisha/Natalie is when she is in her pregnancy v. who she is with Nathan v. who she is when she wants to turn Nathan in, and how she reconciles all of these different "selves" into one person.

For my last paper, my lens was the econimical cause in the depressed marriage relationship of Leah and Michel. I still want to use this lens but I want to relate some knowledge from the econ class I take in this semester.

Last time my lens are too broad and complex- the differences and similarities between Nat and Felix, and the reason for their difference- self respect.

This time I want to narrow lens to the similarities of Nat and Felix（sex with others，same opening narration of the chapter） to illuminate that no matter how hard they are trying to change, they are rooted in their fixed class and why Zadie smith wants to create these similar characters. Maybe because their similarities may reflect and apply more broadly- for the people try to change but can’t. The reason may be social class is solidified, they can’t move on. Maybe I want to relate this to the social solidarity by Émile Durkheim.

My first paper focused on Shar and the number 37 in Leah's life in terms of randomness. My initial idea was of 37 as a lens, but that kind of formed into randomness being the lens. In my rewrite I want my lens to be Randomness and how people prefer patterns over randomness and try to find patterns in randomness. My examples might be the number 37, Shar, the beginning of Leah and Keisha’s friendship, the general plot/lack of structure in the book, and a possible explanation of why some people in class did not like or were agitated by the book. 

When I looked over my essay again after class and even when I origially wote it, I felt that I was only really touching on the surface of the existentialist view of Natalie/Keisha's identity crisis. When I rewrite my essay this weekend, I plan to focus on deepening the ideas I have already presented in the essay and looking closer at her situation to develop the paper more. In parts of the essay I need to shift the focus of my writing back to the main points I was trying to make, this will not only keep my paper on track but also give me the pooprtunity to dig deeper into the true nature of her situation. Overall, I plan to develop my ideas more and organize them in a way that will make them more impactful. 

For this essay, Pia and I are thinking about using the lens of sexuality to analyze Felix and Natalie's characters, and how their sexual intimacy with others helps them find themselves. We had started going into this, but didn't go as deep as we could have. There is much more comparison to do with how alike their sexual experiences make them in how they identify themselves.

Natalie's section will focus more on her listings and why she chose to post them, while Felix's will look at how he is attached to Annie and what this does to his relationship with Grace.

Between the discussion we had in class and after re-reading my paper, I have decided that I would like to narrow in and shift my focus onto how Keisha/Natalie’s upbringing and socioeconomic background influenced her identity crisis, rather than just an accumulation of all the possible causes of her crisis. I plan on tightening my very long introduction and body paragraphs that relate to my new narrower lens. I then plan on finding more textual evidence as well as additional research to write new paragraphs that reflect my interest in Keisha/Natalie and her transformation, and how that relates to her socioeconomic status. 

I feel as if Natalie and I didn't get deep enough into what could potentially be a very meaningful paper. We may have only gone skin deep and were too involved in the length of the paper rather than the quality of the paper. Though we did bring up a good point like Frank demanding Natalie to identify herself (and her failure to do so), the lens of identity is too large to fully analyze. While we are trying to talk about Natalie and Felix, I don't feel as if we compared them enough. Instead, we may have talked too much about the identity issues and made the paper into a summary rather than an a strong analysis.

As a result, Natalie and I will next time focus more on the sexual intimacy aspect of the identity issues. This way, we can focus on one small part of the identity issue rather than such a large lens. For example, the reasons why Natalie chooses to post listings and how she thinks the sexual intimacy will help her find herself. In addition, we could also discuss Felix and his intimate attachment to Annie and how this is hindering his chances with Grace.

This past Sunday's paper, my lens focused on the acceptance of interracial marriage in Brittain. I took the issue of race and focused on how it's factor plays a role in relationship stability and function. I felt good about the paper and like I completed the task of using a lens, but I definitely could have deepen my argument by using the example of leah and michel's relationship and how it plays into importance with the novel. 

For this upcoming paper, I'm not quite sure what my new lens might focus on. I have two ideas, one focusing on the social economic status of the characters and how it affects their romantic relationships as well as how race does. This option would be a lens focusing on the marxism lens. I could also choose to write based on my second idea, which would be on the lens of free will and analyzing the characters social status and their economic status and tie it in with the idea of stagnation.