Homework for Thursday Feb 11--"A&P"

Read John Updike's "A&P" (220)

Note:  "Green" that I asked you to read is missing a page so don't bother!

Blog on any of the following topics for Updike for extra credit or to make up for missing blog:

1. Sammy's "objectification" of the girls: how does Updike get us "inside" adolescent mind?

2.  How are other customers in the store described? What does Sammy's view of them tell us about how he sees ordinary life in this New England town?

3.  How is this a coming of age story?

4.  Sammy's decision: why does he do what he does?  What is the mood at the end of the story?

5.  Updike is famous for writing "detail-sticky prose", for "threading observational beauty atop a loose plot"; for "chronicling moments of the heart's self-awareness"  (John Freeman, "Truth Skillfully Arranged: John Updike's Uninhibited Fiction,"): find examples of any of these things.

Homework for Feb. 9-11 and End of Semester Schedule; Final Essay Topic

For February 9, read "Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates

IMPORTANT-LAST PAGE OF STORY MISSING FROM COURSEPAK: HERE IS LINK TO ONLINE VERSION OF STORY:

https://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/PDF%20files/oates_going.pdf


SPECIAL NOTE: I HAVE DRAFTED FINAL ESSAY TOPIC AT BOTTOM OF POST BELOW--PLEASE DO BRIEF BLOG ON THIS TOPIC SO WE CAN DISCUSS IN CLASS NEXT WEEK (THIS WILL BE YOUR FINAL BLOG).

WEEK OF FEB 9-11:

Bring to class your ideas and images for Visual Essay (Essay #2).  Please include a summary of main traits of your female character.  We will do some peer critique of your ideas.

We will also continue screening of Moolaade.

Here is end of semester schedule:

Thurs. Feb. 11: Peer critique of Essay #2

Tues. Feb. 16: Submit Revision of Essay #2 (THIS IS OUR LAST CLASS)

Friday, Feb. 19: submit final essay-reflection

Monday Feb. 22: conferences, return of essays, grades to be submitted

Final Essay Topic:

In the majority of texts we have studied, two themes have been surfaced in our discussion:

1. ways in which women experience male control, domination (cultural effects of patriarchy)
2. ways in which they respond to this experience by creating their own space, discovering their own voice, and, sometimes, outsmart their "colonizers."

Choose TWO texts we have read (NOT ones you have already written about) and trace the female characters' movement from recognition of a problem to confrontation and response.  How are the recognitions similar/different?  How are the responses similar/different? Whose response seems most creative and/or effective?

Homework for February 4: "Boys and Girls" and "The Youngest Doll"

Please read both of these stories and be sure to read additional essay on The Youngest Doll.  Do brief focused blog on any one story and any one or two questions below.  Try to include a juicy quotation that we can use for discussion:

"Boys and Girls"

This is a story about how gender (not sex) is constructed.  Gender is a prescribed set of behaviors that we learn. A note about the calendars: they depict colonization of Canadian territory, overcoming of natives, of animals.  They may also be pornographic--connection between subjection of nature and women?

1.  How are different "spaces" in the story "assigned" to males or females?

2.  How does the daughter initially seek to align herself with father and male identity?  What specific things does she do that support her assumed masculine identity?

3.  Men have the power/capacity to "enclose" nature (animals and women).  How do foxes and horses participate in this metaphor of enclosure, control?

4.  Discuss the role of the mother--her movement within and across "spaces" and her desire to enclose daughter?  How do others in story also seek to repress girl?

5.  Why is Flora important--symbolically and literally for the girl?  Why does she do what she does?

6. Story's ending: do you think she gives in, succumbs, to being a "girl" or is there another way to read the ending?

"The Youngest Doll"

Be sure to read the article about Puerto Rico and "Operation Bootstrap" so you understand the social context of this story--the demise of the sugar plantation aristocracy, the rise of sweatshops by American businesses.  As you read the story think about what the various characters and events might represent.  My questions below lead you to a "mapping" of the various historical events onto the story.

1.  The story is an example of "magical realism"--look up and think about what elements in the story seem magical but at the same time real--why is this an effective literary device?  For example, the early scene in which the young woman goes for a swim and is bitten by a prawn--how is this literally true but also symbolic?  What is she bitten by?

2.  How might the various dolls and women in the story also be the "body" of Puerto Rico under change?

3.  What do the doctor and the doctor's son represent?  Why is the key scene in which the doctor admits he deliberately did not cure the woman of the prawn bite important?

4. The aunt eventually has created 126 dolls of all ages.  How might they be connected to the economic events discussed in article?

5.  The youngest girl decides to marry the doctor but there is evidence she does not like him--what is the evidence?  What is wrong with the doctor?

6.  How do you read what has happened at end of story? What has happened to the girl?  What is the significance of the prawns?  Do the women, the aunt and the niece, have a kind of revenge?

Homework for Tuesday, February 2: Read "1937" and "Life" in Coursepak

  Two stories of cultural collision.  Consider the following questions for each story.  Blog on at least one story (any question(s) due Monday midnight

Bessie Head, “Life”

• Tragic structure of the story—why does Head give you ending at beginning?  How does story unfold as something fated or destined?  Why is Life’s destiny so determined?  How is her fate a consequence of her circumstances and choices?
  
  
• Describe Life's special qualities, strengths and liabilities. What details reveal inner conflicts, tensions?
  
• Explain the values of the Village: examine different groups—how does Head give us a layered picture of the ethical norms of this community?
  
  
• Why do you think Life submits to Lesego?  And why does Lesego choose her?  How do they embody a larger cultural collision?
  
  
• The ending: why does Life do what she does in the end?  What is your opinion of the trial, the sentence, the song: “That’s What Happens When Two Worlds Collide”

Edwidge Danticat, "1937" (Look up the 1937 Massacre in DR; also called the "Parsley Massacre")

• Discuss the importance of the Madonna to the mother, the child, to others in the community. Is she a symbol?
  
• Examine the role of superstition and its effect on community: what beliefs disrupt community, allow betrayal, abuse?
  
• Why do you think those who are most oppressed are also most feared?  How does this story deepen your understanding of female strength?
  
• How does Danticat depict connection among women and the value of their community?  Note images that describe connection, community between generations.
  
• How does the daughter honor, commemorate and keep her mother close in this story?

Homework for Thursday, Jan. 21 (NO class Tuesday--Friday schedule :)

Read: "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker and "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jumpa Lahiri

For "Everyday Use" consider the following questions and respond to any that speak to you:

1.  Mother's attitude toward daughters--especially the one she is waiting for

2.  Setting and its importance--care mother takes in describing home and land; mother's character

3.  Dee's arrival and the staging of the main conflict between Dee/Wangaroo and her mother and sister:  how are their ideas of tradition/heritage different?


For "Interpreter of Maladies" consider these ideas:

1.  Second generation Indian family returning to homeland:  how would you characterize their attitudes?  Why are they here?

2.  Note Mr. Kapasi establishes point of view--we see family through his eyes--why is this important?  How does he judge them and why?

3.  What are Mr. Kapasi's own set of issues?  What are the various maladies being surfaced in the story?

4.  What brings Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das "together"?  What does she want?  What does he want?

5.  How are the monkeys a symbol, or at least an important agent in the story?  Why is piece of paper at end important?  What does it represent?

NOTE: RESPONDING TO THIS BLOG IS OPTIONAL THIS WEEK AND A QUIZ IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE.

The Yellow Wallpaper--link to text and questions for reflection

Your assignments for Thursday:

1.  Read The Yellow Wallpaper.  There is a page missing (653) in our coursepak.  You can access online copy here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm

2.  Read letter written by Gilman, "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper"

3.  Read Victorian Women: The Gender of Oppression--and think about how a number of our texts are connected to themes discussed.

Pay attention to the following themes/questions when reading The Yellow Wallpaper:

1. the narrator's relationship with her husband, how she characterizes him.

2.  the narrator's efforts to assert herself, or claim space for herself, her thoughts: "I must say what I feel and think in some way..." (651)

3.  the narrator's imagination, especially as she begins to contemplate the wallpaper--how is the wallpaper personified and why does she do this?

4.  setting: why is setting important: note details about room and garden--how does she explore it, give it life?

5.  What does the yellow wallpaper symbolize?  Who is the woman inside it?

YOU MAY RESPOND TO ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS IF YOU WISH--OPTIONAL BLOG CREDIT :)

Assignments for Thursday Jan. 14 and Tuesday Jan. 19: draft of essay!

Greetings Excellent Images of Women in Literature Students--

REVISE YOUR THESIS/CLAIM HERE AND BRING FIRST DRAFT OF ESSAY TO CLASS TUESDAY (TYPED)

STRUCTURE:

1. OPENING PARAGRAPH WITH PRECISE CLAIM INCLUDING SUMMARY OF EXAMPLES
2. AT LEAST 3 BODY PARAGRAPHS, EACH PROVIDING ONE EXAMPLE OF EVIDENCE (WITH APPROPRIATE QUOTES FOR SUPPORT)
3.  A THOUGHTFUL CONCLUSION THAT REFLECTS ON WHAT THE WRITER IS SUGGESTING ABOUT WOMEN

600 WORDS, DOUBLE SPACED


ALSO READ "THE NECKLACE"  BY GUY DE MAUPASSANT FOR TUESDAY--QUIZ!

_____________________________________________________________________________
For Thursday, January 14, please write a very short blog making a claim (thesis) about one of the texts read so far.

Your claim or thesis may be structured around any of the following:

1. symbolism
2. setting
3. character
4. Irony

So just do what we did in class Tuesday: think of one text and develop a one sentence claim or argument, something that goes beyond summary (tells why or how).  Make sure your claim is something you can support through examples in the text.

Examples:

In Susan Glaspell's Trifles, symbols function as clues, leading to the secrets of the "crime."

In Susan Glaspell's Trifles, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale gain power in a patriarchal world through observation, empathy and secrecy.

Setting in Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" foreshadows the darkness in Armand's soul.

In Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" Mrs. Mallard gains control of her story (life) through withdrawal, communion with herself, and, finally, death.
_________________________________________________________________________
 THINK ABOUT INSIGHTS THAT FIT MORE THAN ONE TEXT:
EXAMPLE:
In texts that seem to be grounded in male privilege, women triumph through deception and secret insight  into their situations.  These acts are risky but show women's strength and the strategies they use to gain power.