Genre #3 (Your Choice): Reflection

Part One
For this reflection in addition to addressing the spirit of the questions below I'd like you to consider the importance of genre. Each genre has its own conventions, and these conventions affect how the writer creates the work and how the reader experiences and derives meaning from the work. I'd like for you to think about how the genre--especially its conventions--affected your process, affected your treatment of the topic, and affects the meaning of the work you have created. If that's too abstract answer these questions: how are the genre conventions different from the other genres (annotated bibliography and research essay)? And how did these difference affect the work you produced?

Part Two
What have you learned? what have you done well? what are you proud of? what do you hope I notice?; on the other hand, what bothers you about the paper?what would you do if you had more time? what do you still feel you haven't figured out or mastered? what would you like to learn more about or have more practice with?; and, finally, what was your process (the order and time in which you did things)? what worked? what didn't work? what have you learned about the research process? what will you do differently next time?

Write a thoughtful metacognitive, introspective reflection (200 words or so) addressing the two sections above. Label your reflections "part one" and "part two." Complete this by B-block on Monday. Don't forget to follow the poetry directions below.

Poetry Assignment

Creative Writing Genres (On Friday, May 30, you will pass in four annotated poems. Thanks Kathryn for that great phrase "annotated poems," which means that after each poem you should include a note that tells about the form--the rules, the ten words for the spontaneous poem, the work of art you're responding to, the sources of the five found lines...anything, including personal reflection on the form, you think might be helpful to your teacher. A field trip or absence is no excuse for not passing in your work.)

1. Spontaneous Poem (begin in class on Monday, May 19)

To activate your sub-conscious mind, do the following:

• free write about your topic for five minutes (stream of consciousness);
• pick the ten most vivid, interesting, revealing words from your stream of consciousness free-write;
• in just five minutes write a ten line poem in which each line contains at least one of the ten words and in which each of the ten words is used at least once;
• Make a title using a phrase from your stream of consciousness free-write;
• The point of this poem is to emphasize spontaneity, whimsy, seeming randomness, linguistic daring, absurdity, surreality, etc.

2. Visual-Found poem using your research (begin in class on Thursday, May 22)

• Take five sentences from your research.
• Make the sentences into a poem by using a title, arrangement, line breaks, spacing, and font size and type. The purpose of this activity is to emphasize the visual aspect of poetry.
• Create a title.

3. Ekphrastic-Formal Poem (begin in class on Friday, May 23)

• Choose a work of art (song, film, poem, story, painting, etc.) related to your topic.
• Choose a form (tanka, acrostic, sonnet, etc.) and revise the rules (at least three rules) or invent a form of your own (with at least three rules).
• Write a poem in response to this work of art. You might take a different point of view than the original art takes. You might attempt to describe sounds or sights in words. Your poem might attempt to capture your feelings or thoughts about the work of art.
• In the poem, in the title, or in a note, let the reader know to what work of art you are responding.
• In a note, write down the three rules which you have followed.

4. Someone Else’s Form (begin in class on Tuesday, May 27)

• See above. Check comments box below for forms invented by other students.

5. Extended Metaphor (begin in class on Wednesday, May 28)

• Start with your topic. Brainstorm aspects of the topic (Fitz Henry Lane = name change, schooners, house on Harbor Loop, paint, statue, sandals, apple-peru, etc.) as well as feelings and concepts associated with the topic (Fitz Henry Lane = disability, luminism, realism, embarrassment hidden beneath pompousness (of the scholars who got his name wrong), etc.)
• Then create metaphors for the aspects of your brainstorm. (Name change = The painter became a new person. Luminism = The paintings have a light bulb inside them. Embarrassment = A boy wearing the dunce cap proudly at the podium telling everyone who can hear him, “This dunce cap is not mine.”)
• String the metaphors together. Edit them. Revise them. Expand them. Contract them. Use your ear, your mind’s eye, and your sense of the language of images to guide your choices.

Genre #3 (Choose One)

Due Tuesday, May 27

Write a personal essay about an experience related to your topic. These will be evaluated for development (narration, description, reflection) and writing (style and use of standard English and personal essay conventions).
OR
Create and/or revise a Wikipedia page (or pages) related to your topic. Make a proposal and get approval from Mr. Cook first. Then using the Wikipedia conventions create and/or revise. These will be evaluated for information and use of conventions in comparison with model Wikipedia pages.
OR
Explicate a work of art (painting, poem, etc.) related to your topic. Explain what you notice, how it works, and what it seems to mean. You have done this sort of close reading of a passage before, most recently when studying the soliloquies in Hamlet. For guidance about explicating art check out Mr. Gallagher's step four here.
OR
Write a work of short fiction dramatizing some aspect of your topic. The short fiction will be evaluate for how well the narration, description (imagery), characterization, events (plot), and command of language add up to the development of insights (a theme or themes) related to your topic.

Thesis-Driven Research Paper: Reflection

Although I vary the metacognitive reflection questions from time to time, I'm sure you could predict the basic pattern: what have you learned? what have you done well? what are you proud of? what do you hope I notice?; on the other hand, what bothers you about the paper?what would you do if you had more time? what do you still feel you haven't figured out or mastered? what would you like to learn more about or have more practice with?; and, finally, what was your process (the order and time in which you did things)? what worked? what didn't work? what have you learned about the research process? what will you do differently next time?

Write a thoughtful metacognitive, introspective reflection (200 words or so) addressing the three groups of questions above.

TOPIC

1. Explain how your topic has evolved from the beginning of the project to today. Has it changed? Has it expanded? Has it narrowed? Why? If it stayed the same explain why you picked it. If you had more time would you change, narrow, or expand?

2. What have you learned about your topic? (What have you learned that is interesting or important to you? What have you learned that is worth telling others?)

3. What would you still like to know more about? Why?

RESEARCH (THE PROCESS)

1. Narrate and evaluate your research process. (Where did you look for your sources? Internet? Databases? Personal interviews with people? Print sources at the GHS library? at the Sawyer Free library? in the city archives? at the Cape Ann Museum? How did finding one source lead to others? Where and when did you run into dead ends with research? How did you find a way out of the dead end? What went well? What didn't?

2. Where would you look if you had more time? What would you look for if you had more time? Why? What did you find but were unable to read because you ran out of time?

3. Offer some advise to future students researching your topic.

SOURCES

1. Assess the quality and types of the particular sources you found. Best sources? Worst sources? Most interesting? Least interesting? Most in-depth? Most general? Most reliable? Most suspect? What types? Primary sources? Secondary sources? Anecdotal? Journalistic? Scholarly? Institutional?

2. Evaluate the sources and information available on the topic. Overall were there many good sources? Were they easy or hard to find? Where there any gaps in information? Any sources of information you expected would exist but didn't?

3. Explain how your sources offer a diverse range of perspectives and information about your topic.

Annotated Works Cited

Honors 11 Cape Ann Project
annotated bibliography, or

Annotated works cited

Annotated Bibliography Partial Draft (three annotated citations) due Friday, May 2

Annotated Bibliography Final Draft (all ten annotated citations) due Friday, May 9

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WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (OR ANNOTATED WORKS CITED)?

• A bibliography (or works cited page) is a list of citations of books, articles, and documents.
• An annotation is a brief (usually about 100 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Annotations are descriptive and critical. They summarize the information provided by the source, and they analyze the author's point of view, clarity and appropriateness of expression, and authority.

• An annotated bibliography is, essentially, a works cited page in which each citation is followed by an annotation.

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WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• You will write an annotated bibliography that includes ten reliable and informative sources that represent a diverse range of perspectives on your topic. A draft of three will be due Friday, May 2. A final draft will be due Friday, May 9.

· You will cite your sources—books, articles, documents, web pages, etc.—using MLA format.

o The Landmark Project Citation Machine (http://www.citationmachine.net) will help with this step.

o The Compass and the handout available in the library may also help.

o Finally, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (a copy of which can be found in the high school library).

· You will write a concise annotation (of about 100 words) beneath each citation. Each annotation will:

o (1) summarize the content of the source. (In other works, what is the book, article, web page, etc. about, what particular information related to your topic did you find there, and what conclusions does the source come to with regard to your topic?),

o (2) analyze and evaluate the content of the source:

§ (a) evaluate the reliability of the source, which have to do with authority or background of the author and/or organization or with a bias or lack of professionalism you perceive in the source (Does the source seem reliable? Why? Why not?),

§ (b) comment on the intended audience (Is the source intended for a general reader? An expert only?),

§ (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited,

§ (d) discuss any limitations or difficulties the source may have (Is it written clearly?, Is it written with jargon?, Is it up-to-date?, etc.),

§ (e) explain how this work relates to your topic (How does it provide useful information or insights about your topic?).

[Notice that there are essentially two steps to the annotation: summarizing the source (1) and analyzing the source (2: b-e). Also, [a] and [e] are most important.; [a-d] can often be covered in a sentence or two.]

· You will arrange the annotated citations into alphabetical order based on the first word in the citation.

· Your citations should use a “hanging” indentation. (See Hamlet example.)

· Your annotations should be indented. (See Hamlet example.)

· For this project, citations and annotations should be double spaced.

[Note: MLA format for citations is the same throughout the U.S. However, format for annotations varies from college to college.]

· You will create a title for your annotated bibliography that reflects your topic.

(Flawed) Example

Views of Hamlet: Annotated Bibliography

Bloom, Harold. “Introduction.” Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. By Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 1-10.

Bloom deals with Hamlet as the hero; Horatio, the source of the play, and introduces the other works in his anthology. He discusses the changed Hamlet at the end of the play, claims he uses “wise passivity” in waiting for Claudius to act. He also talks about Hamlet’s disinterestedness, which he calls a positive characteristic. Bloom also claims Shakespeare himself is great because he is so original; we can trace influences but not his genius back to precursors. Horatio is our surrogate in the play. Bloom has a command of the play but does not always support his claims with convincing supporting detail.

Bowers, Fredson. Hamlet as Minister and Scourge and Other Studies in Shakespeare and Milton. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1989.

This book more than any other helped me to understand Hamlet. Bowers explains the difference between a minister—an agent of God—and a scourge—someone so evil he is already condemned to Hell, and suggests that Hamlet wants to be a public minister, bringing evidence against Claudius to an open court, but fears he has been chosen by the ghost to “revenge [his] foul and most unnatural murder” because he is already so sinful that he is past redemption. He argues for the Closet scene as the climax of the play (rather than the Mousetrap scene) and especially the killing of Polonius, since that act alone brings Laertes back from France, and it is only Laertes’ plot of the poison on the tip of the foil that actually kills Hamlet at the end of the play. He discusses how Hamlet has changed by the end of the play.

Goddard, Harold C. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Vol. 1. Chicago: Phoenix Books. 1970.

The chapter on Hamlet discusses the play-within-a-play, the Christian view, revenge, Hamlet as ultimate Shakespearean hero, anti-Freudian views, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Ophelia, the players, the Mousetrap scene, Prayer scene, Ophelia’s death, the duel scene. Goddard’s displays a comprehensive, masterful understanding of the text itself. His ideas are also accessible to non-scholars (in other words, the general reader).

Holland, Norman. The Shakespearean Imagination. Bloomington, IN: Indiana, 1964.

This article is one of the best works on Hamlet so far. Holland discusses Hamlet’s delay, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, parallels, Horatio and Fortinbras, the Players, Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude, disease, food, nunnery speech, Pyrrhus speech, nationalities, revenge.

Wilson, J. Dover. What Happens in Hamlet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1935.

Wilson gives a good explanation about the ghost and about Hamlet’s madness. He also analyzes Gertrude, the Mousetrap scene, the turning point of the climax of Hamlet, the funeral of Ophelia, and the source for the players.

This annotated bibliography is adapted from the following source:

Barkley, Chris. "Hamlet Annotated Bibliography." English 250. 25 January 2006. Palomar College`. 1 Jun 2006 .

Cape Ann Arts & Culture Multi-genre Writing Project: First Steps

Step One:

Understand what is meant by "Cape Ann Art and Culture"

Cape Ann: Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex
Art: (examples) poetry, fiction, music, painting, photography, sculpture, dance, theatre, film, etc.
Culture: behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought (examples: religious practices and traditions (like St. Peter’s Fiesta and the Portuguese Crowning Ceremony), civic traditions (like Lanesville’s infamous parade, the Horribles Parade), public art and architecture (City Hall, the carved rocks in Dogtown, the Man at the Wheel statue, the Fisherman’s Wife statue, various memorials throughout the city, the murals in City Hall), civic institutions (the schools, the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, Fisherman’s Wives Association, St. Peter’s Club, etc.), cultural figures (Hannah Jumper, Roger Babson, Ebenezeer Babson, Howard Blackburn)

Step Two:
Research a topic within the boundaries of "Cape Ann Art and Culture."
For the preliminary research you may use the internet and Sawyer Free.

Here are some ideas:

VISUAL ARTISTS

For visual artists I consulted my friend, Greg Cook (no relation), who lived in Gloucester for ten years and now writes art reviews for the Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix. Greg is also one of the major figures on the independent comics scene.

Here’s what Greg had to say in response to a query about Gloucester artists:

The easiest reference for Cape Ann artists is a 2001 book by Kristian Davies Artists of Cape Ann. He lists the key locals.

Here's a starter list:

Painters
Milton Avery, Cecilia Beaux, Nell Blaine, Bernard Chaet [living!], Stuart Davis, Adolph Gottlieb, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, William Morris Hunt, Fitz Henry Lane, Maruice Prendergast, Aaron Siskind, John Sloan, John Henry Twatchman, Stow Wengroth

Mark Rothko was in Gloucester at least part of one summer.
John Singer Sargent has ties to the Sargent House (which owns some of his paintings), but I don't believe he was active at all in Glou.

Allan Freelon, African American painter who summered some in Gloucester, show at CAHA a few years back

Sculptors

George Demetrios, George Aarons, Paul Manship, Walker Hancock

Other
Virginia Lee Burton, the great children's book illustrator and Folly Cove Designer ringleader
Folly Cove Designers
Henry Sleeper's Beauport
Charles Lowe, GDT photog

Living Artists
Charles Movalli of Gloucester, painter who wrote several how to books, I believe
Nubar Alexanian, photog with books on musicians, southern americas, gloucester
Lynn Swigart's photo book "Olson's Gloucester"
Ernest Morin, photos in Peter Anastas book "Broken Trip"?
Robert Stephenson, small catalogue published of his dreamy paintings
Anne Rearick, book of her pix in Basque France and Spain
Josh Reynolds, gloucester pix book
Dana Salvo, book on his Mexico altar pix
Peter Prybot's books?
Paul Cary Goldberg, I think his gallery published some small catalogue (s)
Les Bartlett, Rockport photographer
Ken Hruby, sculptor, there must be some catalogue somewhere on his work
Jon Sarkin, painter/drawer, included in catalogue for 2006 DeCordova Annual exhibition, etc.
Anna Vojtech has illustrated kids books
Clara Wainwright, quilter, founder (I think) of First Night Boston and Boston Kite Fest.
Susan Erony included in come catalogues -- I don't know if there was a catalogue for "Witness and Legacy: Contemporary ARt about the Holocaust" at the DeCordova Museum in 2000, but she's included (and so is her husband Jay Jaroslav) in the catalogue "Searching the Criminal Body: Art/Science/Prejudice" for 2000 show at SUNY Albany.
Jay Jaroslav -- there's supposed to be a cool catalogue from the 70s/ 80s? of his work. Supposedly very rare.
Gap Lafata et al's Photo History of Gloucester books
St. Peter's Fiesta pix book
Nancy Marculewicz of Essex pub how to book "Making Monotypes Using a Gelatin Plate"
Dorothy Kerper Monnelly of Ipswich pub book of her photos "Great Marsh: Between Land and Sea" in 2006.
I think there's some book on politico-conceptual art that mentions Lara Lepionka of Gloucester, though it may not be out yet.
and, uh, maybe
Greg Cook, "Catch As Catch Can"

Tony Million

Also you could consult SeArts.org for a more comprehensive list of living artists on Cape Ann.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Poets

Hiram Rich, Clarence Manning Falt, Percy McKaye, Lora Clark, Kitty Parson, T.S. Eliot, Marsden Hartley, Jeremy Ingalls (Mildred Dodge), Vincent Ferrini, Charles Olson, Gerrit Lansing, Linda (Crane) Parker, Schuyler Hoffman, Patrick Doud, Michael County, Kevin Gallagher, Anne Babson Carter, Charlotte Gordon, John Ronan, Peter Tuttle, Ray Bentley (Folly Cove Press)

Poems (about Gloucester written by non-residents)

“The Wreck of the Hesperus” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Gloucester Moors” William Vaughn Moody

“From Gloucester Out” Ed Dorn

“Cape Ann and Ourselves” Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Reading in Bed” John Wieners

Prose

At the Cut (memoir) and Broken Trip (fiction) by Peter Anastas; Prologos, Gloucesterbook, Gloucestertide (fiction) by Jonathan Bayliss; Captains Courageous (fiction) by Rudyard Kipling; Finest Kind (nonfiction) by Kim Bartlett; The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger; Gone Boy (nonfiction) by Gregor Gibson; The Siege of Salt Cove (fiction) by Anthony Weller; biographies of Hemingway, Hawthorne, etc. by James R. Mellow; Good Harbor and The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Playwrights

Israel Horowitz, J.J. Coyle, John Ronan, Schuyler Hoffman

See also: Gloucester Stage Company, West End Theatre

D-Block Motifs

Write your name
Write your motif
Write all the references to your motif that you have found in acts one and two (act.scene.lines)
Copy a passage that includes your motif and that seems to deal with an essential theme of the play

The above is due by the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 19.

Be prepared to discuss your motif in class on Wednesday, the specific references, the context for those references, and the relationship between your motif and the play's themes.

I will use the discussion rubric to evaluate your understanding of the motif on Wednesday.

E-block Motifs

Write your name
Write your motif
Write all the references to your motif that you have found in acts one and two (act.scene.lines)
Copy a passage that includes your motif and that seems to deal with an essential theme of the play

The above is due by the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 19.

Be prepared to discuss your motif in class on Wednesday, the specific references, the context for those references, and the relationship between your motif and the play's themes.

I will use the discussion rubric to evaluate your understanding of the motif on Wednesday.

We

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.


SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

Player Piano

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.

SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

Fahrenheit 451

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.

SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

1984

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.

SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

The Handmaid's Tale

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.

SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

Oryx and Crake

Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.

SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."

These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.

While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?

Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?

Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)

CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"

How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?

Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)

Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.

Hamlet Act One, Scenes One and Two

Post responses to these two prompts before class on Wednesday.

Act 1, Scene 1

1. How does this first scene (in Shakespeare's text and in director Kenneth Branagh's depiction of it in the film) help create an atmosphere of unease, a sense that something is wrong in the world? (The best answers will go beyond the Ghost's appearance and into the characters' responses to this appearance.)

2. Shakespeare does more than create atmosphere and hint at the theme of a fallen world in this scene. He also begins two plot lines. First he uses Horatio to introduce an important subplot involving concerning Fortinbras. Explain. Second, at the end of the scene he uses Horatio to advance the main plot (concerning the titular Hamlet). What does Horatio suggest that they do next?

Choose another dystopian novel to read on your own

Hamlet’s Dilemma & Dystopian Fiction
"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of [these] world[s]"

(Books followed by an asterisk* are books that are in the GHS English department book room. Books followed by # are in the GHS Library. Books followed by ^ can be found at Sawyer Free Library.)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood#^
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury#^
1984 by George Orwell*
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut*
We by Yevgeny Zemyatin (spelling of his name varies)^

{Addition #1: for the past few years I've wanted to add Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood to the list, because I wanted a reason to have to read it myself. It deals with a lot of contemporary issues: commercialization, organ transplants, genetic engineering, online sexuality, online games, etc. I steered clear because a friend said it might be too racy for high schoolers, but then today I found that Mrs. Saunders bought the book for the GHS library. So if it's good enough for her it's good enough for me.}

{Addition #2: Thinking about it a bit I also thought I might include Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road which is more post-apocalyptic than dystopian but is still relevant to question we will explore: when one discovers the world is corrupted (deeply flawed, "fallen," etc.) how should one respond? How should one act?}

The GHS library and the Sawyer Free Library have both of these books.

Brave New World: Two Papers

Brave New World Final Assessments

As we’ve been reading on Brave New World, we’ve focused our discussions and commentaries on addressing three questions:

• What is the world in Aldous Huxley’s novel like? Why is it that way?
• How do characters respond to living in this world? Why?
• How is Huxley's novel relevant to our world? How does Huxley use the world he creates and the character’s responses to satirize aspects of modern civilization?

The final assessments for the novel will give you an opportunity to address each of these three essential questions: analytically and creatively.

1. EXPOSITORY ESSAY (1000ish words)

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory, first proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, which states that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. How might Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World be viewed as a satire of paternalistic technological utilitarianism*? In other words, how does Huxley use literary techniques—tone (achieved especially through diction and word play, selection of detail (description of setting, characterization, and dialogue for example), plot (especially how characters respond to the World State’s paternalistic technological utilitarianism and what happens to them)— to critique and mock the World State in which technology has made it possible for the vast majority of people to be happy nearly all of the time? How does he show the horrors of such a world? How does he show its limitations?)

* I’m defining technological utilitarianism as a form of nearly universal happiness that is achieved through various technological advances in industrial reproduction, pharmaceutical biochemistry, industrial production, transportation, even entertainment. The "technological utilitarianism" that Huxley satirizes is also paternalistic in that the technology is used by parent-like controllers who direct the citizens toward infantile contentment and pleasure, that constitute a kind of debased happiness. {For more on "paternalistic technological utilitarianism" check out the comment box.}

2. DYSTOPIAN SATIRE (1000ish words)

Choose an aspect of modern American civilization to mock in a short piece of satirical dystopian fiction. Your tone (diction and word play), selection of details (setting, characterization, dialogue), and plot should be appropriate for satire. In the satire you should create a world, show characters responding to living in that world. Also, make sure that the aspect of our civilization that you satirize is worth critiquing. (In other words, choose to satirize something about which you feel strongly.)

You will turn in one of these assignments on Friday (2/15) and the other assignment on the Tuesday after we return from vacation (2/25). You are expected to meet these due dates even if you are not in school and even if you do not have English on these days.

The Ad & The Ego

In the comment box below write...

3 (three) ideas or facts that you heard in The Ad and the Ego
2 (two) ideas or opinions that you have in response to The Ad and the Ego
1 (one) ideas or opinion you have in response to a peer's comment about The Ad and the Ego

This is due by class time on Tuesday (1/29), which is when we will discuss the comments.

Brave New World

Read Brave New World through Chapter 2 (p. 29) by Wed. (1/30). (You will finish reading the book by Monday February 15 but along the way we'll have other deadlines so we can discuss aspects of the book in class and on the blog.)

Take notes:

What is the civilization (the culture, the society) like? For what purpose is the world set up this day? (Think both about the general set-up of the civilization and about specific features of it? Think about why the author has constructed the civilization this way: to promote or critique? Think about why those in charge of the civilization have constructed the civilization this way. Think for yourself: how do you feel and what do you think about the way the civilization depicted in the novel is constructed?)

How do the characters respond to the world? (Think about the ways they're influenced by their environment. Think about whether they go along with the way things are or whether they resist. Think about whether they belong or are alienated. Think about how different characters respond similarly or differently.

In the comment box write two post-it note length responses (one response for each question).

Exam

* Study vocabulary from Beowulf, Grendel, and Lord of the Flies. (I can print extra copies for those who need them.)
* Study important characters, events, motifs, and themes in Beowulf, Grendel, and Lord of the Flies by listing them out for yourself. We will review your lists & comments on Monday. If we do not have school on Monday you may share & comment on each other's lists here.
* Study your notes on the Lord of the Flies lenses: anthropological, psychological, biographical, & poetic.

* Finally respond to the prompt I gave you on Friday. These responses will be due THURSDAY by NOON. (That's not a misprint.) If you have questions & ideas you may share them here or email me directly. I encourage you to ask questions, check in to see if you're on the right track, etc.

Poems & Lord of the Flies

The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Sick Rose
by William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

~
In the comments box write a post-it note length comment about the relationship you see between the poem {lines, images, events, themes, etc.} and Lord of the Flies {characters, events, motifs, etc.} . (Quoting parts of the poem for commentary is a good technique.)

Lord of the Flies Test on Monday (Jan. 7)

Study:
* Study the LotF Vocabulary Words (definitions only)
* Write sentences with underlined context clues for the LotF Vocab. words

* Study the quiz on the second half of LotF that we reviewed on Wednesday and Thursday.
* Study the comments that you all have made on the blog. (Read the D-block and E-block comments.)
* Make a list of the characters, motifs, and major events. Be able to explain how each relates to the overall purpose and the overall themes of the novel (the danger of ignorance about human nature, the reality of the beast within, the power of fear to unleash the inner beast, the danger of ignoring the structures and values of one's civilization, etc.)
* Read the Epstein essay at the end of the book. It will help with your understanding of Simon's encounter with the pig's head and with your understanding of the title.
* E-block only: Study the anthropological model and think about how it applies to the novel. (Don't worry D-block you'll get those notes eventually...)

Final Response to Character & Motif: D-block & E-block ch. 9-12

1. Choose a passage from chapters 9-12 that shows a significant development or change in one of the novel's characters. (I would prefer that you write about the character you were assigned earlier, but if compelled--or if your character has died--you may write about someone else. Try to pick a passage other classmates have not covered.)

2. In the comment box below write your name, the character, the page number of the passage, and explain how the allegorical significance of the passage and how the passage is important to the novel as a whole.

3. Choose a passage from ch. 9-12 that shows a significant development or change in one of the novel's motifs. (I would prefer that you write about the motif you were assigned earlier, but if compelled you may write about a different object/concept. Try to pick a passage other classmates have not covered.)

4. In the comment box below write your name the motif, the page number of the passage, and explain the allegorical significance of the passage and how the passage is important to the novel as a whole.

5. Respond thoughtfully to someone else's character and/or motif comment. Write your name, the name of the classmate to whom your responding, the name of the character/motif, and a comment.

Post by class on Wednesday, January 9.