The Content of Our Characters
Choose a character from each of your first two books to form a pair. These can be characters who contrast or have some similarities, or who are placed in similar situations but react differently, or...you might think up a variation, as long as you pick two characters who can stimulate discussion.
Give me a three-paragraph answer that...
1. Tells about the differences(s) or similarity/ies of these characters, and how these qualities lead them to different choices in behavior.
2. Quotes at least one line or passage from each book to support the information you've just given.
3. Explains how the passages illustrate your point.
As always I will comment first.
Nature and the Mind
Please answer this question by Wednesday morning, July 8 at 8:00 a.m. to receive full credit.
I recently ran across this article on a study of the effect of a
natural setting on the human mind and on learning (cognitive ability). Take a look and see what you think.
Given our recent discussion of Emerson's concept of Oneness and the "wise silence" of a mind that perceives itself as being part of its surroundings, our question this week concerns the link between nature and how we understand our world.
Please use specific examples from the 19th-century book you are reading--
The Deerslayer,
The Scarlet Letter,
Walden, Huckleberry Finn, or
Summer--to comment briefly and completely here on the role that nature plays in affirming, shaping, or opposing the character's world view. Use a quote or two to support your observation. See my comment to this post as a model for how you should respond.
You have until Wednesday at 8 a.m. to make your initial comment for credit, and you may comment as many times as you wish. Please also read the comments of others. If your comment indicates that you have also been reading and can respond to the observations of others (including myself), that will count in your favor.
"The Wise Silence"
This question is worth
10 extra credit points for those of you who answered the last post on time, and 10 make-up points for those who did not answer the post.Please respond (on this blog, with your name in the comment) to this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Answer to two aspects in your response: (1) how does this quote strike you personally? Does it relate to your own feelings or view on life? (2) how do you believe this idea of Emerson's might play itself out in the book you have now begun to read?
Here's the quote:
"We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul."
Well...?
Please post a comment telling us about the three books you have chosen (see the list and update, below). If there is a theme or there are other reasons for your choices, please share those with us. The more complete your answer, the more valuable it will be.
This comment counts as homework, with 0 points for no answer, and 4 points for the best and most complete answer. This is the first of five weekly comment sessions, for a total of 20 out of 100 points of your total homework grade.
The American Experience: Update
Students, please note: you may choose to read either of
two of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's books for your third selection:
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (which was not originally listed) or
100 Years of Solitude.
The American Experience: Summer 2009
Welcome to
The American Experience, a class that takes a book-circle approach to great works from the 19th Century to the 21st.
NEW: Click here for this class's grading policy. The aim of this course is to provide each participant (myself included) with a broad experience with the American novel. Each of us will choose our own trio of readings from a list that is broken out chronologically. Through group discussions, journal writing, papers/projects, and lively participation in this blog, we will educate each other about the books we have chosen.
Our focus is the individual's experience with key American values as they fulfill or disappoint: freedom, equality, "the pursuit of happiness," and fair governance, to name a few. We will meet men and woman who are native-born Americans and recent immigrants; black, white, red, and brown; and we will encounter voices from
all of America, not only the United States.
The first week of the class will be taught by Mr. Shickler, and Ms. Schamess thereafter.
Supplies & Expectations1. Please have a spiral-bound or marble composition book for journal entries and freewriting in class
2. It is helpful to have a folder or notebook for handouts
3. In addition to discussion participation and in-class or out-of-class journal entries, you will be expected to log into this blog
once each week to comment on the question that I will post on Sunday nights. The earlier you comment, the more credit you will receive.
Our Book ListPlease order the following books before June 23:
1.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines (Paperback)
by Thomas C. Foster
# ISBN-13: 978-0060009427
2.
One 19th century book chosen from the following list:
T
he Deerslayer James Fenimore Cooper
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
Walden, Or, Life in the Woods Henry David Thoreau
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Summer, Edith Wharton
3.
One early-to-mid 20th century book chosen from the following list:
A Death in the Family James Agee
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
Sweet Thursday John Steinbeck
Native Son Richard Wright
4.
One late-20th-early 21st century book chosen from the following list
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Marquez
Sula, Toni Morrison
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
When the Emperor Was Divine, Julie Otsuka
Grass Roof, Tin Roof, Dao Strom
Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut
The Color Midnight Made, Andrew Wine
Please research the plots and themes of your books (Amazon is a good source). You may wish to choose books along a theme (examples are on the next page). We will also examine poetry, essays, and other fiction excerpts along the way (for example: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allen Poe; Whitman, Leaves of Grass; Emily Dickinson; Langston Hughes; Dorothy Parker, Derek Walcott, Jamaica Kincaid, etc).
Theme Examples:
What is it to be “native” and what is it to be “other”? How does this affect a character’s quest?
The DeerslayerNative SonThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianWomen’s experience of being American:
SummerTheir Eyes Were Watching GodCat’s Eye, Sula, or any number of other titles by women on the list
African American experience of being American:
Huckleberry FinnNative SonSula or The Color Midnight MadeImmigrant experience of America:
Scarlet LetterThe Great Gatsby or Sweet ThursdayGrass Roof, Tin Roof or The Woman WarriorPeace and War:
WaldenA Farewell to ArmsSlaughterhouse 5, The Things They Carried, or When the Emperor Was DivineAmericans, Work, and Technology
WaldenSweet ThursdayDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Boundaries and Expansion
Huckleberry FinnSweet ThursdayCat’s Eye or 100 Years of SolitudeA Boy’s Life
Huckleberry FinnA Death in the FamilyThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Or The Color Midnight MadeA Girl’s Life
SummerTheir Eyes Were Watching GodHow the Garcia Girls… or
Woman Warrior, or
SulaThere are many more possible themes. Have fun creating them!
The American Experience: Grading Policy
It’s naturally difficult to break quality responses into quantitative measures, but I will try. Let me explain my philosophy in brief: I value (1) discussion over “correct” answers, (2) probing and questioning that reveals the heart of the matter and creates progress in discussion rather than repetition of learned/received ideas (although I expect the received ideas to be acknowledged and absorbed too), and (3) writing over tests.
Therefore…
25% of your grade is based on participation in class, which includes presence, promptness, and discussion.
25% is homework, which for this class mainly means the blog.
25% is your midterm paper and/or a combination of paper and test.
25% is your final paper and/or a combination of paper and test.
If you have written educational accommodations (need more time on tests, have a learning issue that’s been documented) just let me know and we can work together to make sure you are able to do your best.
That’s it!
