After taking attendance, please have them work on
the following:
AP
Style In-class Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline
(Individually)
Paying close attention to tone, purpose, diction, syntax, and selection of details (whew…what
a list!)
reread the passage that begins with "I lay down in the rear of the old
truck...."(154) and ending with "And I loved to tell my tale"
(155).
(10 minutes)
(With one or two
partners) Discuss your annotations and the prompt below (5
minutes) and then get started…refer to the list of tone words on pp 32-34 (you
should be able to find one or two which work quite well). You’ll want to get
this done today because there is a lot of reading tonight (see Homework below)
(Individually) Write the following journal entry: October
29, 2014, Into the Wild: Tone and
Purpose in pages 154-155 (due
tomorrow at the beginning of class): Reread the passage
beginning with "I lay down in the rear of the old truck...."(154) and
ending with "And I loved to tell my tale" (155). Then write a short
rhetorical analysis essay in which you describe Karakauer's narrative
tone/attitude in te passage and how particular rhetorical choices contribute to
this tone. Also address whether or not the tone seems appropriately suited to
Krakauer's subject matter and purpose(s) in this passage. You might wish
to consider diction, syntax, organization, structure, pacing, and selection of
details. The short essay should be
approximately 11-15 sentences, and focus entirely on analysis; no need for an
artful opening. Make sure to embed short quotes and well-chosen tone
words and analytical verbs into your response. This is another candidate for
later expansion into a full AP-style in-class essay.
Reminder about the difference between tone and mood: The tone of a piece of literature is
the speaker's or narrator's attitude towards the subject, rather than what the
reader feels, as in mood. Mood is
the general feeling or atmosphere that a piece of writing creates within the
reader.
Homework:
·Read and annotate pp 172-203 (Finish the book).
·I hope to be back tomorrow and to hand back the remainder of the essays;
if I already gave you a hard copy or sent you a digital copy of your essay,
please print it and bring it Thursday and Friday, as we will do some review of
common problems/struggles I observed in the essays and talk about
rewrite/partial rewrite options. Oh, and if you received a graded digital copy
from me, please underline or circle my highlighted portions if they do not show
up when you print them.
Learning Target: I can make connections between my own life and literature. In your double-columned journal copy two passages which somehow remind you of significant moments, realizations, themes in your life. Then, write a paragraph about each, exploring how the passages you quoted relate to you. Discuss with a partner... HW: Read 144-156
Wesley's Thoughts on the
Art of Rhetoric...notes from October 22, 2014
Rhetoric is, in part, the art of choosing and highlighting content to
achieve a specific purpose
Question: So, what do you think
"content" is in a written piece?
How about in a TV political ad?
How about in a TV documentary about
illegal whaling in the North Atlantic?
Some
example of written content: examples, anecdotes, people, ideas, theories,
facts, events, people, places, things, bunnies, cotton candy, rainbows,
unicorns, hand grenades, etc.
Another question: So, assuming most things are an argument, how do
authors influence the way readers receive and perceive their
content?
In other words what rhetorical strategies might they employ to influence how
their readers interpret and react to certain content?
Possible answers: selection of detail - their choice to include certain content
(and leave out other content); the order and arrangement of that content in the
text (e.g., juxtaposition, chronological, comparison contrast, etc.); the way
they describe the content (e.g. diction, figurative language); their attitude
towards the content (tone); the mood or atmosphere of the larger portion of the
text in which the content appears.
Rhetorical Awareness: Imagine that you were given the following
assignment: Write a mini-essay describing Krakauer's primary purpose(s) in Chptrs 8
& 9 and what you see as the most important rhetorical strategies he employs
to achieve his purpose(s).
Okay, I'm not going to have you write the essay (not now, anyway), but I do
want you to write the thesis. Please take the time to write, review, and
then revise it so that you can make it sharp and focused. Choose your
words carefully and make sure it says exactly what you want it to say.
Due at the end of class: As you leave class, hand the paper in which contains
your initial draft thesis, edits or additional draft theses, and than your
final thesis (underline the final thesis). Also, write a brief paragraph
describing which resources below you found to be most helpful and why.
My
notes about rhetoric as the art of featuring content
Read
Bullet Points 1, 2 and 4 in Essential Questions in the Acts of
Reading.
Also,
review pp 3- 4 (How To Do a Close Reading) in the green
AP Writing Sourcebook.
Pay
particular attention to those items (like perhaps #6, textual context,
which might directly address questions of the purpose of smaller chunks
(e.g., details, content, illustrative examples, chapters) in relation to
the text as a whole.
Also
refer to the green AP Writing Source Book for reminders about detailed
thesis statements.
HW: Read and annotate 117-144
Time permitting
Find two passages in Chapter 11 that
really caught your attention.
On the left-hand side of the two-column
notebook, write the page and paragraph of the quote. On the right-hand side write your reaction,
comment, insight, coneection.
Bellringer: Discuss your three words and your passages in a small group. Explain why you chose each passage as an example of that trait. Also, as each person begins to share their three adjectives and the corresponding example passage from the text, allow the other members of your group time to find and annotate those passages in their book. Activity 1: Large group sharing of the bellringer activity. Activity 2: Notetaking on Wesley's Thoughts on the Art of Rhetoric...
Rhetoric is, in part, the art of choosing and highlighting content to achieve a specific purpose
Question: So, what do you think "content" is in a written piece?
How about in a TV political ad?
How about in a TV documentary about illegal whaling in the North Atlantic?
Some example of written content: examples, anecdotes, people, ideas, theories, facts, events, people, places, things, bunnies, cotton candy, rainbows, unicorns, hand grenades, etc.
Another question: So, assuming most things are an argument, how do authors influence the way readers receive and perceive their content? In other words what rhetorical strategies might they employ to influence how their readers interpret and react to certain content? Possible answers: selection of detail - their choice to include certain content (and leave out other content); the order and arrangement of that content in the text (e.g., juxtaposition, chronological, comparison contrast, etc.); the way they describe the content (e.g. diction, figurative language); their attitude towards the content (tone); the mood or atmosphere of the larger portion of the text in which the content appears. Activity 2: Rhetorical Awareness: Imagine that you were given the following assignment: Write a mini-essay describing Krakauer's primary purpose(s) in Chptrs 8 & 9 and what you see as the most important rhetorical strategies he employs to achieve his purpose(s). Okay, I'm not going to have you write the essay (not now, anyway), but I do want you to write the thesis. Please take the time to write, review, and then revise it so that you can make it sharp and focused. Choose your words carefully and make sure it says exactly what you want it to say. Due at the end of class: As you leave class, hand the paper in which contains your initial draft thesis, edits or additional draft theses, and than your final thesis (underline the final thesis). Also, write a brief paragraph describing which resources below you found to be most helpful and why. Some tips/resources:
My notes about rhetoric as the art of featuring content
Read Bullet Points 1, 2 and 4 in Essential Questions in the Acts of Reading.
Also, review pp 3- 4 (How To Do a Close Reading) in the green AP Writing Sourcebook.
Pay particular attention to those items (like perhaps #6, textual context, which might directly address questions of the purpose of smaller chunks (e.g., details, content, illustrative examples, chapters) in relation to the text as a whole.
Also refer to the green AP Writing Source Book for reminders about detailed thesis statements.
HW: Read and annotate 98-116 Yesterday's work Double entry journal: Choose three words to describe McCandless, and find one passage from last night's reading which conveys or illustates that trait.
Bellringer #1: If you had three months to wander North America by foot, canoe, and car, where would you go? Assume that you only have $20 a day to spend (which seems to be much more than McCandless spent on a typical day). How would you spend your money? What would you eat? Where would you stay? Draw a rough map of your travels, estimating the time you would spend in various areas.
Minutes to Memories Double entry journal: Choose three words to describe McCandless, and find one passage from last night's reading which conveys or illustates that trait. HW: Read and annotate 70-97.
Bellringer #1: Locate a passage which struck you as especially significant or interesting in some way. Write a portion of it down (with page #) on the left hand side of a piece a paper. On the right hand side of the paper, describe why it caught your attention. Could you relate to it in some way? Did it make you think? Did it make you angry? etc....Did it reveal something significant or interesting about McCandless, his travels, the people he met, America? Explain why this passage was significant for you? Bellringer #2: If you had three months to wander North America by foot, canoe, and car,where would you go? Assume that you only have $20 a day to spend (which seems to be much more than McCandless had). How would you spend your money? What would you eat? Where would you stay? Draw a rough map of your travels, estimating the time you would spend in various areas.
HW: Read and annotate 45-69. Activity 1: Share your weekend journal entry with another person. Exchange the actual entries and have the other person read yours and you read theirs. Annotate their paper, providing positive feedback and any suggestions for improvement. Also, fill out the quick rubric to provide additional feedback.
Rhetorical Analysis
Quick Rubric
AP Language and
Composition
Developing
Capable
Exceptional
Focus
on prompt
The writer does not adequately understand and/or respond to the prompt.
The writer addresses the prompt at times, but may lose focus at others,
or demonstrate only a partial understanding/response to the prompt.
The writer clearly understands and
responds in full to the prompt.
Analysis
Writing may reveal misinterpretation or, at best, a basic
understanding of the ideas in the text. The analysis also reflects limited
rhetorical understanding of the text. The analysis may contain limited or
poorly chosen textual evidence.
Writing reveals a generally strong understanding of the ideas in the
text, and reflects a solid rhetorical awareness of the text. Although the analysis is good, it is less
sophisticated and nuanced than the analysis found in the strongest papers.
Insights are adequately supported with textual evidence.
Writing reveals a sophisticated understanding of both the text’s ideas/themes
and a sophisticated rhetorical understanding of the text. Insights are well
supported with textual evidence.
Clarity
of Writing
Problems with word choices, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure,
and organization/coherence are significant or frequent enough to be a
distraction to the reader.
While not as polished as the writing of the best reflections, the
author’s word choices, sentence
structure, grammar, punctuation and organization/coherence were sufficient to
convey their ideas clearly and without undue distraction to the reader.
The diction, syntax, grammar,
punctuation, and organization/coherence demonstrate a strong control of
language and stylistically mature prose. The quality of the prose helps the
writer articulately and persuasively presents their analysis.
10.17.14: Into The Wild (page 22) Rhetorical Analysis Diction & Connotation Journal
•The first full paragraph on page 22 begins with “During that final year in Atlanta…”
•The paragraph contains two especially interesting word pairings: “monkish room” and “military barracks”.
•What are all of the possible connotations of each word pair, respectively?
•What does Krakauer’sdiction in this paragraph help convey about Chris’s personality? Type and print a well-developed paragraph response for Monday.
Page 22--- “monkish room” and “military
barracks”: Analyzing the Connotations of Key Diction
Krakauer’s
diction when describing McCandless’s college apartment conveysthe
author’s respect and sympathy for Chris.
Because monks are known for withdrawing from the material world and
focusing on living a contemplative spiritual life, Krakauer’s
characterization of Chris’s room as “monkish” paints Chris as a deep thinker—an enlightened
intellectual who values his spirituality rather than popularity or symbols of
wealth and worldly success. Moreover, by comparing his room to one that could
be found in “a military barracks,” Krakauerimplies that he views Chris as a respectable
and highly disciplined young man and not as an obsessive-compulsive neat-freak.
His wording, therefore, nudges the reader to associate Chris’s lifestyle with
the credibility, order, honor, and sacrifice of a determined, young military
cadet. Thus, Krakauker’s diction choices when describing some
of the things that made McCandless
peculiar or unique underscore his compassion for Chris and his
admiration for Chris’s lifestyle. Activity 2: Annotation Review
An idealistic
philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in
reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, it taught that divinity
pervades all nature and humanity progressive views on feminism, slavery,
conformity and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
were central figures.The
transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They
were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity, and
urged that each person find, in Emerson's words, “an original relation to the
universe” (O, 3). Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst
nature, and in their writing. By the 1840s they, along with other
transcendentalists, were engaged in the social experiments of Brook Farm,
Fruitlands, and Walden; and, by the 1850s in an increasingly urgent critique of
American slavery.
Below are some quotes by Transcendentalist writer, Ralph Walsdo
Emerson. Which one resonates most with
you and why? Do you think that any of
these may have influenced Chris McCandless, who was a big fan of Emerson’s
writing? Why?
All life is an
experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
To be yourself in a world
that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest
accomplishment.
Enthusiasm is the mother
of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.
Never lose an opportunity
of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.
Homework:
Read and annotate pp 15-46 10.17.14: Into The Wild (page 22) Rhetorical Analysis
Diction & Connotation Journal
•The first full paragraph on page 22 begins with “During
that final year in Atlanta…”
•The paragraph contains two especially interesting word
pairings: “monkish room” and “military barracks”.
•What are all of the possible connotations of each word
pair, respectively?
•What does Krakauer’sdiction in this paragraph help convey about Chris’s
personality?
Type and print a well-developed paragraph response for Monday.
Learning Target: I can make connections between literature and the world, assessing how themes from a particular work may be relevant to my life and world? Bellringer: October 16, 2014 Journal The Tragic Hero vs. Society in Arthur Miller’s work
Arthur Miller once argued that modern tragedy stems from a protagonist’s struggle against a stifling, strangling environment that has robbed him of his sense of dignity (Steinberg 84-85). The protagonist, Miller said, is any man willing to throw himself into the battle to regain his lost pride and self-respect. And thus is much of Miller’s work patterned; he evokes tragedy by setting the man against the system. What varies is the degree to which the protagonist is a hero, and the degree to which the work is a condemnation of societal flaws. Prompt: How and why does John Proctor embody the tragic hero ,as defined above by Miller? Reference specific parts of the play as support for your position. First discuss this with your partner for 3 minutes. Then begin drafting your response to the prompt.
Homework:
Tonight, please type, print, three-hole punch.and then place The Tragic Hero vs. Society journal response in your binder. Remember that this quarter I will collect journal entries unannounced and I will use a rubric to grade them. (3/4 to 1 page double-spaced). Please make sure you address the elements of a tragic hero as Miller described them.
Read the author's note and chapters 1 & 2 of Into The Wild
Rubric
for Journal Entries
Needs improvement
Satisfactory
Great
Focus
on prompt
What you are writing about
The entries do not talk about the prompts at all.
The entries address the prompts at times but lose focus at others.
The entries stay
focused on the promptthroughout.
Length/detail
Writing enough so the reader fully
understands your perspective on the prompt
The entries are too brief to meaningfully answer prompts; little to
no details or examples are present.
The entries are long enough to sufficiently answer the prompts, but
could use more details or examples.
The entries fully answer the prompts with numerous details or
examples.
Thoughtfulness
of Response
Writing from the heart that shows you
truly thought about and have given personal insight about the prompt
The entries are too simplistic, basic or vague; they reveal no
personal feelings or thoughts.
The entries show some feeling and thought. Could make more meaningful
connections to prompts or provide more personal insight at times.
The entries show honest feeling and complex thought throughout. Personal connections and insight are
evident throughout.
Activity 1 : The Crucible and society’s fragility
Considering the myriad productions and cross-cultural power of “The Crucible,” Miller wrote:
I have wondered if one of the reasons the play continues like this is its symbolic unleashing of the specter of order’s fragility. When certainties evaporate with each dawn, the unknowable is always around the corner. We know how much depends on mere trust and good faith and a certain respect for the human person, and how easily breached these are. And we know as well how close to the edge we live and how weak we really are and how quickly swept by fear the mass of us can become when our panic button is pushed. It is also, I suppose, that the play reaffirms the ultimate power of courage and clarity of mind whose ultimate fruit is liberty.
Briefly write about (10 minutes) and discuss (10 mins)
1.Could the Ebola outbreak, terrorism, or some other current issue lead to modern witch hunts which provoke false accusations and attacks on certain groups of people? Describe what how such hysteria and persecution might arise and who/what might be targets of it? What might that persecution look like in practice, and how likely do you think it is to happen?.
2.Why is doing the right thing so often the hardest thing? What is the true meaning of integrity?
Activity 2: Put one of the following into your own words. Then write about and discuss 1) How might it apply to any of the characters we ave encountered in either The Scarlet Letter or The Crucible Whenever a man separates from the world, and goes his own way...His solitary path acrross-lots will turn out the higher way of the two. (He) who would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. What do you think this means? Put it into your own words.
Activity 1:
Questions about the last scene and a one about the play as a whole
1.How have Elizabeth and John Proctor come to
terms? Explain the irony in their reconcilement. Why won’t Elizabeth be hanged?
2.Why do you think Arthur Miller has the condemned
say the Our Father/The Lord’s Prayer as they are about to be lynched? What effect might it have on the audience?
3.Arthur Miller has been quoted as saying “The
tragedy of The Crucible is the everlasting conflict between people so
fanatically wedded to this orthodoxy that they could not cope with the evidence
of their senses.” What does he mean by “this orthodoxy”? What is “the evidence
of their senses”? Do you agree that this is the basic conflict?
Activity 2: Read
the following, and then discuss the questions that follow:
McCarthyism
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with
concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China.
Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a
public accusation that more than two hundred "card-carrying"
communists had infiltrated the United States government. Though eventually his
accusations were proven to be untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for
unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most
repressive times in 20th-century American politics.
While the House Un-American Activities Committee had been
formed in 1938 as an anti-Communist organ, McCarthy’s accusations heightened
the political tensions of the times. Known as McCarthyism, the paranoid hunt
for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of
whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working.
Some had their passports taken away, while others were jailed for refusing to
give the names of other communists. The trials, which were well publicized,
could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation. Among
those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the
committee were Dashiell Hammett, Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman, Lena Horne, Paul
Robeson, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie
Chaplin and Group Theatre members Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, and Stella Adler.
In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted, and for many of them
this meant the end of exceptional and promising careers.
During this time there were few in the press willing to
stand up against McCarthy and the anti-Communist machine. Among those few were
comedian Mort Sahl, and journalist Edward R. Murrow, whose strong criticisms of
McCarthy are often cited as playing an important role in his eventual removal
from power. By 1954, the fervor had died down and many actors and writers were
able to return to work. Though relatively short, these proceedings remain one
of the most shameful moments in modern U.S. history.
The Army-McCarthy hearings dominated national television
from April to June 1954. A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government
Operations was seeking to learn whether Senator Joseph R. McCarthy had used
improper influence to win preferential treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a
former member of the senator’s staff who had been drafted. McCarthy
countercharged that the army was trying to derail his embarrassing
investigations of army security practices through blackmail and intimidation.
Overwhelmed by post-war paranoia and intolerance, Miller
began work on the third of his major plays. Though it was clearly an indictment
of the McCarthyism of the early 1950s, “The Crucible” was set in Salem during
the witch-hunts of the late 17th century. The play, which deals with
extraordinary tragedy in ordinary lives, expanded Miller’s voice and his
concern for the physical and psychological wellbeing of the working class.
Within three years, Miller was called before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities, and convicted of contempt of Congress for not cooperating.
1.As a socially conscious writer, Miller intended
this play as a comment on McCarthyism. What are the parallels between the
incidents Miller dramatizes and the acts of Senator McCarthy in the 1950s?
Activity 3: The Crucible and society’s fragility
Considering the myriad productions and cross-cultural power
of “The Crucible,” Miller wrote:
I have wondered if one of the reasons the play continues like this is
its symbolic unleashing of the specter of order’s fragility. When certainties
evaporate with each dawn, the unknowable is always around the corner. We know
how much depends on mere trust and good faith and a certain respect for the
human person, and how easily breached these are. And we know as well how close
to the edge we live and how weak we really are and how quickly swept by fear
the mass of us can become when our panic button is pushed. It is also, I
suppose, that the play reaffirms the ultimate power of courage and clarity of
mind whose ultimate fruit is liberty.
Choose three of the four questions
to briefly write about and/or discuss
1.What is “The Crucible” telling audiences in 2014?
What warnings might it hold?
2.Have fears about terrorism created modern-day
“witches”?
3.Could the Ebola outbreak lead to accusations and
attacks on “witches” of a different kind?
4.Why is doing the right thing so often the
hardest thing? What is the true meaning of integrity?
Activity 4: Individual
vs. Society in Arthur Miller’s work
Arthur Miller once
argued that modern tragedy stems from a protagonist’s struggle against a
stifling, strangling environment that has robbed him of his sense of dignity
(Steinberg 84-85). The protagonist, Miller said, is any man willing to throw
himself into the battle to regain his lost pride and self-respect. And thus is
much of Miller’s work patterned; he evokes tragedy by setting the man against
the system. What varies is the degree to which the protagonist is a hero, and
the degree to which the work is a condemnation of societal flaws.
How and why does John
Proctor embody the tragic hero as defined above by Miller?
Parris: A minister in Salem who is more
worried about his reputation than the life of his daughter or the lives of his
parishioners Betty: Parris's young daughter; stricken at the beginning of the
play; one of the girls who "cry out" during the trial Abigail: Orphan; niece of Parris; tauntress; mistress of Proctor;
leads "crying out" during the trial Tituba: Parris's slave from Barbados; first accused witch Putnam: Vindictive, bitter villager who believes he has been
wronged and cheated; leading village voice against the witches Mrs. Putnam: Wife of (Thomas) Putnam; first plants the idea that Betty
has been bewitched Ruth: Daughter of the Putnams; one of the girls who "cry
out" at trials Mercy Lewis: Putnams' servant; also involved in accusation of
witches; one of the girls who "cry out" during the trial Proctor: Good man with human frailties and a hidden secret; often
the voice of reason in the play; accused of witchcraft Elizabeth: Wife of (John) Proctor; a cold, childless but upright
woman who at first cannot forgive her husband's frailties; an accused witch Mary Warren: Proctor's servant; an easily swayed young girl who
plants the evidence of witchcraft on Elizabeth; one of the girls who "cry
out" during the trial Hale: A minister who is a recognized authority on witchcraft; at
the play's end tries to save the accused Danforth: Deputy Governor of Massachusetts who is taken in by the
testimony; attempts to get confessions of accused witches Hathorne: One of the judges for the trials Rebecca: Wife of the respected Francis Nurse; midwife; exemplary
Christian; accused witch Francis: Husband of Rebecca; had land dispute with the Putnams
Giles Corey Old, garrulous villager; inadvertently causes his wife to be
accused Sarah Good: Accused witch who cracks under the strain of
imprisonment Susanna: Doctor's messenger; one of the girls who "cry
out" during the trial Martha: Giles Corey's wife who likes to read; accused witch Goody Osburn: Midwife at birth of three Putnam babies who were born
dead; accused witch
Learning Target: I can provide a careful and thoughtful review of a peer's essay. I can receive feedback on my writing and use it to consider revisions to my current draft. Activities: Two peer reviews At the top of your essays, write one or two things that you would like your peer reviewer to look for and comment on. These areas of focus could range from big picture issues like "Is my thesis specific enough?" to issues of mechanics, such as overuse of "be" or correct use of commas. Activity Two: Hand in your journal entries. Activity Three: (time permitting) The Crucible Turnitin.com HW: Sign up for turnitin.com tonight. You must submit a hard paper of your essay to me and electronic copy to turnitin.com. 9th
ongratulations! You have just created the new class: 3AP prd 9 Sem 1 201415
If you would like students to enroll themselves in this class, they will need both the enrollment password you have chosen and the unique class ID generated by Turnitin:
8832312
Class ID
wesley
Enrollment password
10th period
Congratulations! You have just created the new class: 3AP Prd 10 201415
If you would like students to enroll themselves in this class, they will need both the enrollment password you have chosen and the unique class ID generated by Turnitin:
Learning Targets: I can carefully review and provide thoughtful feedback on another person's writing. I can discuss a crazy scene in a movie and then watch the less crazy parts of the movie. HW: Nothing due on Monday, but your next-to-final draft is due Tuesday, October 7. Activity 1: Peer Reviews...Let's focus on big picture for this first peer review. Activity 2: Talk about the opening scene - see commentary by Ebert. Finish writing yesterday's journal, particularly the last part - Do you think it would be possible for this to happen in modern society? - which I suspect you had little time to reflect on or write about yesterday. The prompt in it's entirety can be found below:
Why do you think the Salem witch trials have not been forgotten? What makes them interesting to people today? Do you think it would be possible for this to happen in modern society? Explain your answers.
Beloved: Exploring Independence and Love
In the literary narration of American history, Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved stands out. The book is an intimate look at the emotional scars left behind by slavery, and Morrison evokes and closely examines the myriad of emotions—strong, basic, and natural—that her characters experience. In one poignant passage from Beloved, Morrison explores the definition of freedom and slavery in terms of independence and love.
Early in the passage, Sethe explains to Paul D the wonder of independence that she found in her escape from slavery. Before she speaks of the “miracle” of her escape, Sethe “cover[s] the lower half of her face with her palms” in a gesture of wonder and reverence. That same reverential tone carries into her actual narrative. Speaking in short, cut-off sentences, Sethe ponders the wonder of her escape and her own self-sufficiency in lines five through ten. She marvels that the escape “came off right, like it was supposed to,” all through “Me using my own head.” The entire passage is in an active voice, further highlighting Sethe’s newfound independence. Also, many of the sentences begin with “I,” reinforcing the passage’s focus on independence and self-sufficiency. Morrison emphasizes Sethe’s realization of self-sufficiency in order to underscore the most basic importance of that aspect of humanity. Independence and free will is the defining element of the individual. Without that independence to make decisions, the individual loses his or her identity to whatever or whoever else is making those decisions instead. Sethe’s wonder at having achieved such a basic right draws the reader into an exploration of self-reliance and humanity, which ultimately serves to support the theme of dehumanization central to Beloved.
Another powerful theme of the passage is the exploration of how independence relates to love. Both Sethe and Paul D agree that slavery denied them the right to love others through the denial of independence. Freedom was “to get to a place where you could love anything you chose—not to need permission for desire.” Sethe says that she could never “love [her children] proper in Kentucky because they wasn’t mine to love.” As a slave, denied the right even to her own body, Sethe would not be allowed even the slightest stake of ownership that love implies. Morrison has Sethe describe this freedom to love as “a kind of selfishness,” which would under other circumstances have a negative connotation. “Selfishness” implies the exclusion of the consideration of others from a person’s mind. In Sethe’s case, selfishness takes on a new, positive meaning; it means “ownership of oneself.” A second reason that Sethe could not afford to love her children was the danger of becoming too emotionally invested in them. She had no control over their futures, and the horrors of having them sold, abused, or killed, would be too great to bear. As Paul D says: “So you protected yourself and loved small. [. . .] Grass blades, salamanders, spiders, woodpeckers, beetles, a kingdom of ants. Anything bigger wouldn’t do. A woman, a child, a brother—a big love like that would split you wide open.” Morrison chooses grass blades and insects, the smallest, most insignificant things, to demonstrate the level to which the slaves were reduced. More interesting, however, is to note Paul’s negative use of the word “wide.” Earlier in the passage, Sethe rejoiced in the wideness of her love: “I was big [. . .] and deep and wide and when I stretched out my arms all my children could get in between. I was that wide.” While Sethe rejoices in the new world opened up to her in freedom, Paul is still trapped by fear of opening himself to such deep emotions and the potential loss of that which he loves. Morrison’s use of “wide” is a subtle way to highlight these conflicting views, which reinforce the novel’s main purpose by demonstrating the emotional scars of slavery.
Morrison’s exploration of the intertwining of love, independence, and freedom is central to the seminal work that is Beloved. She takes on these complex, abstract concepts and wrestles with them within the framework of the African American experience, with dramatic and touching results.
All your high school English class memories of Arthur Miller's The Crucible won't prepare you for the scene that opens Nicholas Hytner's joltingly powerful new movie version. In 1692, a group of teenage girls gather in the woods of Salem, Mass., to conduct an unholy ritual. In the predawn twilight, they writhe, dance, and bare their breasts in the dusky mist. One of them, Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder), goes further still — she lets down her flowing dark hair and drinks animal blood, a witchcraft charm to destroy the wife of the man she loves. In The Crucible, which was first performed in 1953, Arthur Miller applies the torch of melodrama to the history of the Salem witch trials, a case of ''justice'' gone hysterical, and the hysteria of this Black Mass prologue is all too real. The reason you won't remember it is that it's not in the original play: Miller, who has retooled his work for the screen, added the sequence to make visible what was left to our imaginations before. Such literal-mindedness usually takes away more than it adds. In this case, however, it sets a mood of eroticized fear and delirium that reverberates throughout the movie.
Hytner, who directed 1994's The Madness of King George (also adapted from the stage), has done something startling with Miller's stately popular classic: He has made it pulsate with dramatic energy. And what a play it is — the definition of rock-solid middlebrow excitement. The devil may not be alive in Salem, but, as the movie makes clear, he lives — zestfully — in the minds of these young girls. They want to conjure the forbidden, to experience the sensuality and madness driven underground by a frigid, repressed society,
The first scene in “The Crucible” strikes the first wrong note. We are in Salem, Mass., in 1692. By the light of a full moon, a minister happens upon a group of adolescent girls, naked, dancing in the forest around a boiling pot of witches' brew. In all the troubled history of Salem, was there ever an event like this? How did the young girls, so carefully protected, slip from their homes? How did they come to be so uninhibited, in a Puritan society, that they could dance naked together? In a movie that will be about false accusations of witchcraft, this is an ominous beginning; if it looks like witchcraft, sounds like witchcraft and smells like witchcraft, then can it possibly be an innocent frolic of high-spirited young teenagers? This scene was offstage, wisely, in the original 1952 stage production of Arthur Miller's “The Crucible.” To show it in this new film version is a mistake, because the play is not about literal misbehavior but about imagined transgressions; what one imagines a witch does is infinitely more stimulating and troubling than this child's play.
