Learning Target: I can use literature as a means of reflecting on my own beliefs and values.

What do you think this song is about? Do you see any connections between this song and our discussion on Friday about Thoreau's possible attitudes towards spirituality/philosophy of life? 

Is there a line or two which you found especially interesting or appealing? Why?  
Which lines invite interpretive questions?
Write at least one interpretive question.
What connections can you make with Thoreau's writing in Civil Disobedience? Specific quotes?

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

How would you define "happiness"?  What is necessary for a person to be happy?

Evaluative Question: The idea that "[common men] cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences of disobedience to it to their properties and families" illustrates Thoreau's digression that it can be difficult to "live honestly and at the same time comfortably in outward respects" (11). Is it more important to defend your principles or protect your physical well-being and the well-being of your dependents? At what point do the two issues converge?

HW: Please read On Happiness by Aristotle.  Submit one inferential and one evaluative question to turnitin.com


Bellringer: Transcendentalism is a blanket term to describe an American literary, philosophical and spiritual movement.  What quotes in pages 16-18 (or elsewhere in the text) seem to hint at some of Thoreau's possible attitudes and beliefs concerning spirituality/religion?  Do you see any overlaps with the spirituality and philosophical beliefs of Romanticism?

Choose several stanzas, and try to make some connections to The Scarlet Letter and Civil Disobedience. 

Is government increasingly encroaching on our privacy, and if so, why?  A look at privacy in the 21st century.

I can

10th period....

Matt begins to disagree (and the bell rings immediately) with Michael's statement that Thoreau totally refutes religion and his mentions of God and the New Testaments are mere appeals to authorities in order to establish ethos with a widely religious audience.

Moments before, Audrey hesitatingly suggested that Thoreau might believe that God was inside of us.

Christian agreed with Michael, saying that Throreau was lying or sarcastically invoking God because he was mocking those who did.  I said that Thoreau clearly uses sarcasm at times, but he would have to closely examine and rhetorically analyze the text surrounding the spiritual statements which he thought were sarcastic, disingenuous.

We still have not discussed the following in a whole class discussion in either 9th or 10th:

• Evaluative Question: On page 18 Thoreau expresses his ideal “government” by saying “There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly”. Is it possible for a state of which Thoreau describes to exist in the modern world? If not, is this impractical world due to human nature or the nature of government. Furthermore, is a government truly a government if it recognizes the individual as a higher power? 

• Evaluative Question: The idea that "[common men] cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences of disobedience to it to their properties and families" illustrates Thoreau's digression that it can be difficult to "live honestly and at the same time comfortably in outward respects" (11). Is it more important to defend your principles or protect your physical well-being and the well-being of your dependents? At what point do the two issues converge?
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Choose several stanzas, and try to make some connections to The Scarlet Letter and Civil Disobedience. 

Thoreau's religious beliefs - What do the biographies tell us?

Emerson: Self-Reliance, The Transcendental Eye

Aristotle: Happiness

Is government increasingly encroaching on our privacy, and if so, why?  A look at privacy in the 21st century.