Your job for this post is to identify two opposing forces in one of the summer reading books that is NOT Fahrenheit 451, and explain how the contradiction between the forces is resolved. To give an example, you might see a conflict between Lenina's happiness with the Brave New World versus Bernard's misery. How does that conflict play out in the novel, and how does it ? You need two quotations for this. One should show the conflict, and the other the "synthesis," meaning resolution or outcome - in other words, what changes?
This is inspired by something called the Dialectic, which is a method of argument. One person puts forth a thesis, and the person arguing against them responds with the anti-thesis, i.e. the opposite of that thesis. So if I said, "Cuckoo's Nest is between than Brave New World," and someone said, "No, it's the other way around," we'd be engaged in the Dialectic. However, since there is no "right answer" here, the only way to resolve the argument is with a synthesis that integrates elements of both views: "Ok, let's agree that both are great novels." But if one person argued better, the final synthesis might be more like, "Ok, fine, Cuckoo's Nest is better in a lot of ways, but BNW has a lot of value as well."
77 Comments
Hey Honors English Sophomores,
There are going to be more writing workshops from August 11th to 15th, again in room 208 from 2-4 pm. (Note that there are NO writing workshops next week, August 4-8. I have gotten emails asking about this.) If you didn't attend the first set of workshops, it's strongly encouraged that you come to at least a few of these sessions. Not only will it help you get used to the more rigorous requirements of Honors English, it will provide an opportunity to work on your final blog post and summer reading essays with guidance from me and experienced juniors who excelled in the course last year. While these sessions are not mandatory, I consistently notice that students who attend do better in the first marking period. It would be a good idea to have a sense of what you book(s) you plan to use for your essay before you come to the workshop. You only need to write about one book, and the essay only needs to be two pages, but you are free to compare/contrast elements in two different works. Fahrenheit 451 + Brave New World is a great combination, as is Cuckoo's Nest + Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. Finally, the next blog post will go up on Friday, August 8th, and must be completed by August 22nd. You need to have read not only F451 but one other book in order to answer this post, so please use the coming week to read if you haven't already. Or, if you're finished with the reading and you want some things to read that will help you get used to Honors-level reading, you can email me and I'll send you some articles. Don't worry, I don't expect you to do that! I just like to offer enrichment to anyone who's interested. You can post any questions in the comments below and I will answer them within a day. |
Categories
AuthorMr. Justin Biggs Archives
August 2016
|