Archive | October, 2015

Schedule Change for Thursday, October 22–Writing workshop!

By on October 20, 2015 in Schedule changes

This is just a reminder that we are tabling our reading of FIRE!! until further notice.

 

Instead, come to class with one page of writing for your close reading assignment–a minimum of 250 words. It would be best, and probably most useful to you, if the writing is an introduction; even if that’s not normally how you write, it’s worth pushing yourself to articulate your argument earlier in the process sometimes. But any one-page writing sample will do, since everything in your paper will need to work toward an argument.

 

Come with your one page of writing and be prepared to share it with others in your discussion group, roundtable fashion.

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Reading for Tuesday, October 13

By on October 9, 2015 in Reading assignments

Just a reminder that Tuesday starts our unit on Yokohama, California by Toshio Mori.

We will be reading the whole collection over three class periods, so you should plan accordingly. But we will only discuss the first three for Tuesday: “Tomorrow Is Coming, Children,” “The Woman Who Makes Swell Donuts,” and “The Seventh Street Philosopher.”

 

For your reading journals: write a discussion question that draws from all three stories. It can be about a pattern which you trace among them, or a recurring theme, or something that contrasts them. Include specific examples in your question.

 

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Recap of “The Elephant Vanishes”

By on October 6, 2015 in Class recaps

What was the relevance of the woman in “The Elephant Vanishes”–(Note: this is a GREAT question and we didn’t get to it in class!)

There’s a large contrast between the behavior of the 2 elephants. What does each represent?

What does the elephant represent to the narrator (in “The Elephant Vanishes”)?

Why did the narrator find a connection between the disappearance of the elephant and the complete change in his life? (Note, this is a good question, because it asks us to look at a pattern in the story, and is more specific than a general question about representation.)

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Recap of “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”

By on October 6, 2015 in Class recaps

Note: This discussion was about asking good questions, more than getting to any particular answers. Below are the revised versions.

 

What does How can we interpret the division between what the man represents for the men of the village vs what does he represents for the women?

How does the dead man prompt positive or negative changes for the village? (after discussion: regarding its capacity for empathy? or does he?)

What is the significance of the name Esteban?

Note the parallels between children’s and women’s fantasties regarding the drowned man. Contrast these fantasies with those of the men.

Why is the village so inspired by Esteban?

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Information about the midterm exam

By on October 6, 2015 in Exam

The midterm has three parts: vocabulary, short answer, and passage identification/essay.

Vocabulary will come from the list below. You will be required to define the term and then provide an example of it.

Short answer questions will come directly from our class discussions. See the menu item above for discussion questions and recaps.

The passage identification questions will come from passages we have specifically discussed in class. You will have to identify the title and author of the story the passage came from. You will then write a short essay about why that passage is important for understanding the rest of the story. There will be two of these questions on the exam.

This is not an open book test. Be sure to bring a pencil and paper to write with/on.

 

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Vocabulary list:

Formalist close reading

Critical context

Print context

Cultural context

Realism

Postmodernism

Metafiction

Magical realism

Flash fiction

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