Piece 1 Intro: Critical Thinking

Critical thinking breaks down into two parts: analysis and synthesis. At least, that is my interpretation of it. When it comes to synthesis, I feel that I do pretty well. Analysis is where I have trouble. Analyzing is breaking something down into its parts and examining each part. My problem is that so often my approach is to step back and view the whole picture, looking at it from every angle. To me, the parts themselves don't matter, but rather the meaning behind how those parts are linked. Instead of analyzing, I constantly synthesis information. One example of this is in my third paragraph:

“I felt safe and secure in that office, but I also felt lonely, and for the first time I definitively identified the source of my unhappiness as being ugly” (70). Grealy was not only hiding away from the boys that were teasing her, but from her own self. Due to others, many people like Grealy are unable to embrace their appearance as part of their identity, and instead do their best to hide who they truly are. 

This is just one example of how I am always looking at the bigger picture. In many ways I would rather spend my time looking at the bigger picture rather than bother with analyzing the details. Its not that I don't understand how to analyze, but that my brain just isn't built that way. I don't know if I can grow as an analytical writer or even be one when all I do is synthesize, and that is something I just have to accept.