Sunday, February 28, 2010
Paper 1due
Thursday, February 25, 2010
A few LiterActive documents relevant to the theme of enslavement
1. Increase Mather's text on witchcraft (listed under Hawthorne)
2. Ted Hughes' text listed under Sylvia Plath
3. Sylvia Plath's journal text
4. Mother text listed under Amy Tan
5. Maud Gonne, From A Servant of the Queen (1938)
6. T.S. Eliot, From "Tradition and the Individual Talent" The Egoist, 1919.
7. Excerpt from "Playwrights Notes" from Josefina Lopez's "Real Women have Curves" (listed under John Leguizamo)
8. Henrik Ibsen's "Doll's House" (audio clip from audio library)
9. Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Mother" (audio clip)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Posting your comments on the blog is required for this class.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Check out this video!
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY
Drafts for Paper 1 due on Wednesday, Feb 24th.
Thesis topics for your paper are posted below (the same questions I had handed out in class sometime back).
Thanks much.
Please Read This!
A good body paragraph should provide relevant information to support the main idea of the paper. The opening sentence of a paragraph usually states the main point of discussion to be and the following sentences elaborate and support the argument. I think it would work even if the paragraph starts off with an argument or explanation of facts and then states the main point at the end of the paragraph so long as the reader is not at sea as to where the discussion is headed.
As Instructor DeMerell says “A good body paragraph starts out letting the reader know what the paragraph will be about and then supports that with more thought and information. I think it's a difficult question to answer blanket-ly: but a decent paragraph in a lit paper should have about 7-8 sentences and it should stick to a topic and then lead into the next paragraph without straying from its original "theme." In other words, the paragraphs should make their own statements, but somehow all flow together.
Ms. Botelho, one of the instructors, reiterates that “A paragraph follows an established theme that reiterates points to support the thesis. Many writers don't seem to struggle with the content of the paragraph as much as they struggle with the transitioning between paragraphs. A good writer will provide a seamless switch from one paragraph, and point, to the next.
Dr. Pruss adds “Transitions lets writers know if a paragraph even belongs in the essay at all. Also, transitions force students to think about the order of magnitude of each major point they are making. Which points should take more priority and which should take less priority and why? These are important things to think about, and not always easy to decide”.
Instructor Farrell opines that “A good body paragraph has to have three components: Topic Sentence, Primary Support, Secondary Support. The topic sentence is like a mini-thesis. It will relate back to the thesis of the paper and make a specific argument toward defending that thesis. The Primary Support basically explains that topic sentence and argues why the proposition is true, in fairly general terms. The Secondary Support is more specific, usually quoting directly from the source or research material to further prove the point. It’s important, here, that writers remember not to use dangling quotations”.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Sample write up for defending an argument or thesis.
The girl in Hemingway’s short story Hills like White Elephants is unable to safeguard her integrity as an individual because she ‘s enslaved by her feelings of inadequacy and her credulous disinclination for self preservation puts her in the man’s power more than is healthy to foster a loving relationship.
Her inability to heed her better judgment regarding her relationship is reason enough to suppose that she is bound by her feelings for her manipulative lover at the risk of her own well being in the long run. She discounts her intuitive recognition that something is definitely more than amiss which is evident in the scene where she looks into the distance at the hills as she tries one drink after another to ignore the true nature of her relationship with this man who says everything will be just fine after the abortion. She sees his inability to understand that her issue is not just terminating her pregnancy but also the implications of his detached attitude. She doubts the sincerity of his affection and she asks him “Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along” (543) Her newfound knowledge that she probably doesn’t mean very much to him is disconcerting to her. Even so, she seems careful not to vex him with a sincere conversation about their relationship and is unable to break free because she’s dependent on him, more emotionally and habitually than in any other way. She ignores her inner voice and compromises her integrity in a bid to satisfy a peripheral need thereby plunging further into an abyss of selflessness
Monday, 2/22/10, Class Info.
Important information regarding Paper 1:Thesis Topics
Due Date: February 26th, Friday
Some thesis topic questions to help you find your thesis statements. You can either choose directly from the following topics or come up with your own. Please make sure it is related to the course theme and short stories we've read so far.
Make sure to use examples from the story and to cite them with parenthetical citations. Also use one LiterActive document source and cite it please. Thank you.
1. Jamaica Kincaid’s story, “Girl,” consists of a mother’s monologue telling her daughter how to become a successful Antiguan woman, with a couple lines of the daughter’s denying some of the mother’s assumptions about her character interspersed in the lecture. Mother is full of good intentions but difficult and rigid expectations from her daughter. Examine the types of expectations Mother has to determine their source. Who is the Mother teaching the daughter to please? Why? What does this say about Antiguan society? Who is really in control? Women? Mothers? How do you know? Is it the same today in twenty-first century America? Are women still taught to please the same people as Mother teaches Girl to please? How do you see that happening today? Why is this the case?
2. Xingjian’s “The Accident” asks us to understand the difference between story and plot. Briefly explain how Xingjian does this and define these terms, so that you can focus your essay on why understanding this distinction is important for us today when we consider the knowledge we have about everyday events that occur. How often do we really have story? If we are reading plots more often than story, what does this say about truth in the twenty-first century? What do you think about this? Are there truths and not truth, or what?
3. Select one or two stories and write on the topic of a person’s invisibility. Think about Girl and whether her mother really knows who she is. Consider the man killed in the accident, and think about how many people really care about him at all. Think about the street being cleaned up; check the text and re-read what it says after that. Consider the girl in “Hills like White Elephants”; does her boyfriend really hear what she is feeling and saying? Consider the man in “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat;” does the girl care about what he thinks? What about Emily and her relationship with her father and Homer in Faulkner’s story? Do either of them know her? Pick one character and one story, or two stories (your choice), and think about how people can be in the same family or part of a relationship and not ever see, hear, or understand the other person. What does this say about human relationships? Can you relate to this? Does this happen today? Can you think of some good examples of this you can explain in detail? Are there people in America today that are productive members of our society that we treat as invisible?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Posting comments on the blog.
1. Click on the "comments" section of the post (you will find this under each post).
2. Type in “testing” in the comments window so that you don’t lose your writing. Choose "Google" profile and click on post.
3. You will be asked to sign in. If you haven’t already created a blogger account, you can do so by clicking on “create an account now” at the bottom of the Blogger “sign in” window.
Once you're signed in go back and post your comments.
I hope everybody begins posting without fail as this will affect your grade. If you still have problems posting, you can call or e-mail me. Thanks much.
Rephrasing question. Please respond by Tuesday night.
Let me re-phrase my previous question for those who don't understand what a form of control is. Please make sure to write a well thought out analysis with proper punctuation and grammer. No points for sloppy writing :)
Here's the rephrased version:
Connect the theme of enslavement to Hemingway's Hills like White Elephants.
Or
Dr. Pruss's question "How does Hemingway's short story Hills like White Elephants exemplify the course theme of enslavement"?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Respond to this question by the end of Tuesday.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
The Accident - some points to aid your understanding in reading the text critically.
The Accident
What’s this short story about? A completely unavoidable accident where a man is crushed under the wheels of a bus and his little child is flung into the gutter?
The bus driver is driving in accordance with traffic rules, “fast but not too fast” (1378). He obviously sees the cyclist trying to cross the road but does he assume responsibility for his safety? The bus driver probably knows he has right of way since the cyclist is the one crossing the road and he’s supposed to be more careful when doing so. If the cyclist doesn’t worry about his own safety on the road, why should the bus driver care when he has right of way? Is that why he doesn’t brake earlier when he sees the cyclist crossing the road with a baby carriage?
After the accident, the bus driver justifies “I clearly honked the horn and braked! Everyone saw it – he was trying to kill himself by riding into the bus! How can you say it’s my fault?” (1379). But why doesn’t he slow down sooner instead of honking and continuing at the same speed till it’s too late?
Is the bus driver misusing rules and regulations to the extent of not caring about the possible dire consequences of his “right of way” attitude? Misusing? Yes, misusing regulations to shift human responsibility onto one who’s clearly being careless or irresponsible (the cyclist). Why doesn’t he assume responsibility for the safety of the careless cyclist? Does he take comfort in the fact that he was not the one in the wrong and therefore expects the cyclist to take total responsibility for his own life? Is he enslaved to “form”, to road regulations to the extent of not “seeing”, nor caring enough for the fate of his fellowmen? Is it farfetched for him to be humane and “care” even though the cyclist seems foolhardy in his attempt to cross the road?
Have those very “rules” that are in place for the general safety of people desensitized the bus driver to the consequences of his own reluctance to stop and think, and just be humane? Is it so difficult for him to let a fellowman trespass upon his “right of way” on the road? What if we go around the world with a “You better get out of my way unless you want to die” attitude? What does that make us? And why and how do we become that way? Are we inherently so “cold” towards strangers or are we conditioned to become like that?
An example of another similar kind of enslavement is our blind reliance on traffic signals. For instance, the traffic light turns green and you zoom off without even a glance to look about for any danger. The signal says green, so it must be safe you assume. Is it because you implicitly trust the security and safety ensured by the traffic signal? Does that mean you turn off our inner sense of awareness and become automatons? What about the possibility of human error on the part of another who could be absent minded enough to pass a red light and crash into you? Should you not consider that possibility?
Then again, with the heavy reliance on calculators and cash registers. For instance, the cash register or computer suddenly goes kaput and the cashier is flustered for he/she cannot figure out basic math because of his/her heavy reliance on a machine. Yet another example is my own dependency on GPS technology to the point that I often turn off my own internal sense of direction and blindly follow what the GPS tells me. And when I was headed to NYC the third time my GPS device couldn’t catch the signal and at that point I wished I had been “aware” of the directions the last time I’d driven to the city. The point is that we let some of our faculties lie dormant for want of exercising them.
The above examples show that eventually our dependency on technology could become more of a hindrance to our own personal growth.
Now back to the cyclist – Apparently, lack of assuming responsibility plagues the cyclist as well and more so because he’s putting his little child in danger along with himself.
Did he presume that the bus driver would stop or slow down for him?
Does he expect the bus driver to exercise more caution since he’s got a baby carriage with him? What does that say about the cyclist himself?
Does he not care for the safety of his child? Does he not value life as he should? He obviously seems to care for his child for he pushes the carriage away from being crushed at the last minute, but he didn’t care enough?
A curious crowd gathers around the body and everybody reacts in varied ways to the scene of death. Some are angry at the driver, some try to defend him. The accident triggers the protective instinct in a parent rebuking a child not to run across the road without looking. Some are just curious onlookers. The fat cook in his apron quickly berates the son for the death of the father without knowing the full facts. Is he fabricating a new plot to the tragic incident? He also takes the opportunity to blame the new generation. What are the general views of people about sons and daughters? Why? Are they stereotypical?
What does the narrator imply when he says “And yet he was the one picking up the child, so he was both a good father and a good husband because he loved his child, presumably he also loved his wife, but did his wife love him? If she loved him why didn’t she fulfill her responsibilities as a mother and pick up the child herself?” (1383).What is the narrator trying to portray here? What do you “see” in this short story? People who are metaphorically enslaved to define and categorize everything? What is the general view of these people on the role of men and women? Why?
One of the bystanders says "Every family has only one son these days”. What does that imply? Does it have something to do with communist China imposing several restrictions on the personal lives and choices of its citizens? Is that acceptable?
So at the end of the story, what do you think is the point of this story? Is the narrator simply recounting the details of an accident? It is important to know that Xingjian was a writer in China during the Chinese Cultural Revolution when the government controlled all the major aspects of people’s lives.
Is he also showing us the underlying conflict of life in a particular society? Is the narrator portraying the common failings of a “herded” (as in herding cattle or sheep, for example- getting them all to comply and to control them) society where people cannot think and analyze for themselves and are dependent on an external system that regulates and controls even their thought processes? Have these people lost touch with their instinctive human spirit through living in a restricted society? What happens to a person who is aware that his will is secondary and that he has to comply and conform to a higher man made authority? Is it de-motivating and demoralizing to be controlled and to not have the basic freedom of expression?
Is he revealing the problems and tremendous hindrance of existing in a communist society? Is it a culture of dependency? The communist society was one that promised security and equal opportunity to all citizens. The good of the collective whole was more important than the individual. It was a time when people felt like they were provided with a sense of security by the government yet they felt trapped for they could not speak their minds freely and realize their own individuality. The government regulated everything and people went about their lives without having to make major decisions for their future and that can be immensely de-motivating.
Why does the narrator specify in the last paragraph that he has simply related an accident in his story? Is it to mask the fact that he has given much insight into a society that hinders people from being free thinking individuals who assume personal responsibility for their actions? Do we sometimes just go through the motion of things and not be really present with all our faculties? Think of why that happens? Is it a lack of motivation? Think about the forms of enslavement that you see in this short story?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Here's how to post your comments on this blog.
Click on "comments" at the end of a post. Scroll down to "Post a Comment" window and type in your comments or just type "testing" until you're completely signed in. Select a profile (choose Google Account) and click on preview. A new window will open to sign you in to blogger. If you don’t have a Google Account, scroll down to “create an account” and follow instructions. It is fairly simple. Once you are signed in, type your comments and post. Please make sure you post by Tuesday evening every week. Thank you.
Please Read This!
The students who were absent on Friday, February 5th, need to make sure they get a copy of Dr. Pruss’s Paper Topics that I handed out in class today. You could e-mail me and I will send you an electronic copy or you could collect them from me when we meet for Dr. Pruss's class on Monday.
Guidelines for Paper 1 (due on February 26th):
What is a thesis statement?
A thesis statement is just one sentence that states the main idea on the entire paper. The most important thing is that it should be debatable. Your thesis statement must include a topic plus an assertion. An assertion is something that you can declare, develop or defend.
I suggest you all do a free write about the short story of your choice from the text. This will help you gain insight into what aspects of the story you feel passionate about or want to write about. Please support your ideas with the text and use at least one LiterActive document in your paper. Please do not use any other outside sources in your paper.
Writing about literature or literary text using literary terms is imperative when writing a paper. These are literary tools we use to examine a story. It will not suffice to say “he said” or “she said” when writing about or analyzing a literary text for your paper.
Literary terms you need to understand:
Plot: Simple & Complex
Protagonist
Antagonist
Conflict
Characterization: Static or Round Characters
Setting
Point of View
Style
Theme
You will find literary definitions of these terms in your text book starting on page 1806.
If you have any questions, please e-mail me or meet me during office hours on Mondays and Fridays:10:00-11:00 at the Tutoring Resource Center BR 104. I will be happy to help you get started on your thesis ideas. We will also go over it briefly in our next class.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Accident
Girl
- Discuss the impact of culture on the mother in the Girl. How do cultural constructs encourage people to engage in a certain behavior, sometimes against their integrity as individuals? Support your ideas and thoughts with the text and discussions in class.