Self-Reliance Redux

There's an amusing article in the New York Times about the "Foul Reign" of Emersonian individualism. I posted a link in that section of the Blog. Check it out. Who knows? It might help you exam essay prep!

Final Exam Essay Sheet

The above is on the Blog, under Essential Documents. Read it carefully, and begin thinking about how you want to approach the prompt. We'll spend some class time in days to come in preparation.

Troy and WIllie

As we get farther in Death of a Salesman, you will understand the reason for this assignment. For now, know that you will be writing a "missing scene" from "between the plays" that will allow you to explore some of your own ideas about the texts. The assignment is listed in full under Essential Documents. As we begin watching the second play in class, and as you read it, be thinking about the prompt and what you will do with it.

Fences Reflections

These questions and (required) responses will serve as part of a continuing discussion when we move into our next play, Death of a Salesman. Pick ONE of these and post your response on the Blog. Be sure to indicate briefly at the onset which of the reflections you are doing so as to allow your classmates the opportunity to respond to you. If one of these seems to have been thoroughly covered during our Chalk Talk on Monday, then obviously you may want to choose another topic. The follow-up discussions will take place after Thanksgiving break. To that end, the more thought/detail you put into this now, the better record we'll have of our thinking now and the easier it will be to recall as we move forward.

1. What pattern repeats itself among generations? How are the sins and virtues of one generation played out in the next?

2. To what extent is Troy wrong about how American society has changed in his lifetime? To what extent is he right?

3. In what ways does Troy work towards the “American Dream”? What is Troy’s dream?

Can't Figure Out What to Do?

Hey, all. There are two things to write for tomorrow. The first is the required blog entry below (or wherever it is on your screen). About half of you are there already. The other is The Awakening essay prompt, asking for two pages of "audition drafting" on a topic of your choosing. There are three listed in the posting in Essential Documents, and if the Blog writing turned up something else for you, or if you simply have an original topic you'd like to pursue, then there are more options. For the original ones, please run your idea by me. I don't want you to waste your time on a direction that doesn't work with the goals of the assessment. Those, simply put, are that you write an analysis of the novel which features a close reading of text at key moments. No "I" this time. You are making a persuasive argument about some aspect of the novel which is born out in specific text.

Required Blog Entry Time!

Better late than never, I say. Here is a rather loose prompt, intentionally so because I'd like there to be a variety of facets available to comment on, so that there can not only be dialogue on one specific point, but other possible directions to go, so that later bloggers don't feel it's all been said already. Here it is:

Based the Miss Representation assembly, the COD event you all attended on the Islamic veil in France, and of course on The Awakening, what would you say is Edna's veil? What is it that has "covered her" throughout her life until now? How does she become aware of it? Who helps her perceive that she is in fact "veiled"? (We talked about WHEN—about moments her awakening unfolds. This is asking WHY and HOW does she awaken, and from what?) Comment, respond to each other's comments (by reading the whole blog) and offer any analysis or commentary on the discoveries and claims made during the conversation. By class on Tuesday, please.

Watch This Space

The reading for today, Desiree's Baby, will serve as a seque from Chopin into our next unit, and we'll talk about the story in class Tuesday. The homework for Tuesday, somewhat loose on the blog, will be loose just a little longer. I want to wait for the Conference on Democracy session we're about to see to land before I finalize two aspects of your work for next class. One, there will be a REQUIRED blog posting, the first in a while. Secondly, there will be a prompts, or a selection of prompts for your upcoming essay on The Awakening. My idea is that you will post to the blog, then take the time you have left to do an "audition draft"/vomit draft of ideas you have about one of the prompts offered. No structure necessary there: you're just gathering ideas. I should have the Blog and the Prompts up during lunch today. Have a great weekend.