The topic for this blog is relations of power. Both Cuckoo's Nest and Streetcar deal with dominating figures, Big Nurse and Stanley, who force their own will on others through the use of both physical and psychological intimidation. And in both cases, there are some, like Billy Bibbit and Blanche, who crack under the pressure, while others, like McMurphy and Stella, refuse to simply accept oppressive treatment. Your goal is choose two characters to compare and contrast in terms of their approach to the struggle for power that defines both the Hospital and the Kowalski apartment. Include a quotation from each character, explained in depth and linked to your thesis about how (and WHY) the two characters differ. Your response should be a paragraph long, following the guidelines for paragraph structure in the initial summer reading post.. We'll talk about how to approach this assignment (and the reaction paper due the first day of class) at the August Workshops.
Speaking of which... The workshops were supposed to be NEXT week, August 10, 11, 12 and 13, but there was a mistake on the website saying they were THIS week. So, Mr. Canning will be running a workshop tomorrow for anyone who can only make it those days, and I will be at the school Wednesday and Thursday in case anyone is unavailable next week. However, if you are free both weeks, Mr. Canning and I will both be there on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th as well, assuming people still show up. Any questions, email [email protected].
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"(Bradbury) says the culprit in Fahrenheit 451 is not the State — it is the people...He was far more concerned with the dulling effects of TV on people than he was on the silencing effect of a heavy-handed government." This quotation comes from a profile of Ray Bradbury shortly before his death. He was frustrated with what he called persistent "misinterpretations" of his most famous novel as a book about censorship rather than . Your task for this post is first to find, explain and analyze a quote from the novel that demonstrates the theme Bradbury calls our attention to above. Then, connect the quote to an example in the present which you think confirms or disproves Bradbury's fears. Yes, this means having and stating an opinion, so don't be afraid to suggest Bradbury was totally or partially wrong if that's what you think. Just support your viewpoint with another quotation, which can come from the novel, from the article about Bradbury, or from a news source that provides you with an example. You can also use a quotation from an analysis of the novel, but you cannot simply agree with the analysis without questioning or developing it. When you complete your paragraph-length post, click "comments" and submit it with your FULL NAME. If you have questions, I highly recommend attending this week's workshops. We will discuss the book as well as writing techniques, and on Friday we will have a writing session where you can complete the blog assignment with the help of experienced upperclassmen. If you cannot attend the workshops, you can email [email protected] as long as you put Fahrenheit 451 somewhere in the subject line and have something specific to ask (i.e., not, "what should I write about?," but, "How can I develop this idea/quotation/sentence?" Grading Factors: -Strength of Format -Properly Integration of Quotations -Originality of Analysis Note: See the previous post for expanded discussion of these factors. Both of the blog post paragraphs you must complete this summer should follow this general format, which will prepare you for writing body paragraphs in Honors-level essays. Each of the posts will have specific requirements for its topical content, but this is how you should structure a response:
1. TOPIC SENTENCE: The first sentence of a body paragraph should state a thesis point that you're going to defend with argument and evidence from the primary text (the main work you're writing about). 2. INTRODUCE EVIDENCE: In a sentence or two, lay out what the reader needs to know to understand the first example you're going to discuss. Always assume your audience knows the plot of the novel, so don't go overboard here. 3. TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: Provide a quotation from the primary text which supports your viewpoint. It must be part of a sentence and have a proper MLA citation, like this - Bradbury presents Mildred as devoid of ambition, as evidenced by her statement, "XXXXXXXX" (Bradbury #). 4. REPEAT STEPS TWO AND THREE FOR ANOTHER PIECE OF TEXTUAL EVIDENCE. 5. CLOSING COMMENTARY ON HOW THE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE PROVES YOUR POINT: The most important part of the paragraph. Now that you're laid out an idea and connected it to two quotations from the text, what do you want readers to take away from that connection? What have you shown us within the words that we might not otherwise have seen, thereby increasing our comprehension of the novel's themes or potential interpretations? The final line in particular should, if possible, echo the opening line. NOTE: A body paragraph of this sort is no less than 8 sentences! Hello, soon-to-be-sophomores! This is the online location for your summer assignments.
First, you have three books: 1. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (read this first) 2. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 3. Tennessee Williams's Streetcar Named Desire Then you have three assignments: 1. A blog post on FAHRENHEIT, due the last day of July. 2. A blog post on CUCKOO'S or STREETCAR, due August 28th. 3. A two-page reaction paper or 10-entry reading journal on any/all of the books, due day 1. There will be two workshops during which we will go over these tasks in depth: -July 20-24 -August 3-7 (NOTE: This is a mistake - workshops were supposed to be August 10-13. However, I will be at the school during both sets of days, excluding both Fridays because RBR is closed.) Workshops are from 2-4 PM each day (meet at Room 208. I encourage you to attend, as they have been very helpful to students in the past. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
"Literary criticism" refers to analyses written by English professors ("literary critics") about famous works. It doesn't criticize in a negative sense like a review, but THINKS CRITICALLY about the work to produce a particular interpretation or "unpacking" of its style and content. Often this is done using a thematic lens - there are feminist literary critics, Freudian critics, historicist critics, and so on.
Your task is to read this critical excerpt on The Great Gatsby from Novels for Students, a series that introduces high schoolers to this kind of academic literary analysis. It covers characters, themes, and stylistic elements. Read and textmark anything you find interesting, with at least one highlight and comment on each of the eight pages. I will check this for a quiz grade, and you'll be using it for an in-class assignment too, so make sure you print it out. All papers must:
-Be 3 pages minimum (Double spaced, 12 pt font, regular margins) -Contain 4 quotations from 1-3 poems, plus 1-2 from Poetry for Students secondary source -Proceed from a lens-based thesis or thematic focus Lenses: Aesthetic, Psychoanalytic Sociological, Feminist Historical, Religious Topic Options: A. Pure Prose - Write a three-page essay based on an original thesis related to Whitman and/or Dickinson's poetry. The thesis can focus on a single poem, or as many as three, but should defend a particular interpretation of the poet's work by analzyng their thematic content and expressive style B. Poetry and Prose - Write an original piece of poetry, approximately a page, borrowing thematically or stylistically from Whitman and or Dickinson. Supplement it with a roughly two page analysis of features of their poetry you developed on your piece, showing your understanding of their work through quote analysis. Grading: Content - 50 pts: How well do support your idea by analyzing diction/syntax to unpack key quotations? Expression - 50 pts: How clearly, succinctly and actively do you present your ideas? Your assignment for this long weekend is to engage with Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric," which is much shorter than "Song of Myself" but even more dense. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but you can skip section 2 if you want, and most people will lack the attention span for the huge catalog of body parts that is section 9, but at least read the last three lines which conclude the massive list like a P.S.
I'd like you to post a reaction to some aspect of the poem. Choose one: DICTION and CONNOTATION: what kind of words, and what kind of tone do they establish? IMAGERY: what are some of the most striking body-based images Whitman offers here? what's their impact? SOCIAL COMMENTARY: how does Whitman continue to fight the "Other-ing" of oppressed groups here? Here is the poem: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174740 If you're totally lost, it may help to read this brief commentary and then give the poem another shot: http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/whitman/section9.rhtml You can comment on classmates' posts for extra credit, but only if you add something substantive, helping them develop a point or pointing out a possible connection. Plato Video
Nietzsche Video Plato and Nietzsche represent opposites on the philosophy spectrum. Plato believed in a higher realm of "Eternal Forms" which provide the changing things of this world with their truth and purpose (similar to the Christian concept of Heaven). Nietzsche denied there could be a higher realm and urged us to find meaning in ourselves without looking for some kind of higher truth to justify existence. How would each of these thinkers interpret Ahab's quest? How would you? Write a two-paragraph response, first describing Ahab's views on truth, then connecting it to the philosophers. Now that we've been introduced to the Enlightenment and its huge impact on American thought, culture and politics, it's time to step back and consider it from a more critical angle. "Criticism" is actually the term Kant used for the new Enlightenment approach to philosophy: instead of just accepting ideas, critical philosophy be skeptical and question everything it was told. Only ideas that could withstand criticism deserved to be treated as true. So, we need to give the Enlightenment idea the same treatment. Remember that Kant declared Aude Sapere, "Dare to Know," the motto of the Enlightenment, asking us to "have the courage to use (our) own reason" instead of remaining in the self-incurred state of tutelage. (In "Redemption Song," Bob Marley famously expresses this same sentiment in modern terms: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds!) It should be obvious that we have not reached the state of "full enlightenment of all humankind" that Kant dreamed of - the question is, why not? Was there something wrong with the Enlightenment idea, or could people just not live up to it? (Or, if people can't live up to it, does that mean it's a bad idea because it's impractical and impossible?) To begin approaching this question, first read "The Legacy of the Enlightenment" for some context: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/section7.rhtml Now that you have some facts, I'm also going to ask you to read an opinion on this question, from French philosopher Michel Foucault. Foucault was famous for his criticisms of the Enlightenment's social effects. A lot of his work focused on the relationship between what we say and what we do, and in the case of the Enlightenment, he felt there was a lot of talk of freedom, but little real respect for it. Because of their obsession with rationality, Enlightenment thinkers were more concerned with keeping things orderly than making people free. After all, this was the period that produced asylums and prisons, as well as the forced schooling that you're a part of today, all devoted to molding people into the Enlightenment idea of "normality". (His most famous example is one we discussed during V for Vendetta, the idea of the Panopticon, which was seen as the "most rational" way to deal with lawbreakers.) Foucault felt that the big failure of the Enlightenment was that it still relied on the notion of the Other to define itself: creative artists were deemed "insane" and put in mental homes, radical political thinkers were excluded from "democracy," slavery was still tolerated, and people from "less Enlightened" cultures were seen as subhuman. (Foucault's most famous example of Enlightenment unfreedom) But Foucault didn't hate the Enlightenment, even if it had these negative effects. He still felt the ideas were good ones and needed to be interpreted anew. Writing in the 1980s, he reviewed Kant's essay "What is Enlightenment?" and declared the Enlightenment a kind of unfinished project which still had potential if it could be renewed. Check out some excerpts from his review here before you answer the question:
This is deep stuff, so take your time with reading and thinking before you start writing. You should post a 1-paragraph response in the comments section including a quote from the SparkNotes or Foucault articles. Reply to others for extra credit.
In class we learned about the MBTI psychological classifications, which divide human personalities into sixteen "types" based on the following four concerns: For extra credit, you can take the full Myers-Briggs test here and post your results in the comments section, along with a self-analysis and an example of a character from anything we've read (Crucible, F451, Cuckoo's Nest, BNW, etc.) Below is a more detailed discussion of all the types to help you out!
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August 2016
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