Happy Holidays

Wishing you the very best---Happy Holidays and New Year!!!
Today---work on your short stories, read, and prepare entries for contests...

How to Talk to a Hunter
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZaBr2XUCa5wC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=how+to+talk+to+a+hunter&source=web&ots=0Vd46M-GOP&sig=0xv4obs0jIYBlxjq8iASth2wcMs&hl=en#v=onepage&q=how%20to%20talk%20to%20a%20hunter&f=false


Homework over the two week break:


Finish Stewart O'Nan's A Prayer for the Dying
Continue to work on and think about your 2nd person short story

More 2nd person stories

Read Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Haunted Mind"
http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/hmind.html


Read Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler...""


http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/00/pwillen1/lit/winter.htm


Another example:


They are coming for you, to take you to the firing squad, the gallows, the stake, the electric chair, the gas chamber. You have to stand up; but you can't. Your body, gorged with fear, is too heavy$to move. You'd like to be able to rise and walk between them out the open door of your cell with dignity; but you can't. So they have to drag you away.

Or, it is coming, it is upon you and the others; bells or sirens have gone off (air raid, hurricane, rising flood), and you've taken shelter in this cell-like space, as out of harm's way as you can be, and out of the way of those trained to cope with the emergency. But you don't feel safer; you feel trapped. There's no place to run, and even if there were, fear has made your limbs too heavy, you can barely move. It's an alien weight that you shift from the bed to the chair, the chair to the floor. And you are shivering with fear or cold; and there is absolutely nothing you can do except try not to be any more terrified than you already are. If you remain very still, you pretend that this is what you have decided to do.
(Susan Sontag, The Volcano Lover 2.4.217; original emphasis(1))

Homework:
Continue to work on your 2nd person narrative and read Ch. 5 in Prayer for the Dying for Friday

UNTIL GWEN--Dennis Lehane

Until Gwen Response
What about "Until Gwen" sticks out the most to you? You could focus on a scene, an image, a character, the style, the point of view, a theme--anything really. Write a perfect paragraph of 5-7 sentences in response.

Post your comments!

Continue reading A Prayer for the Dying, Ch. 3 and 4 to pg. 94 for Wednesday.

Current Contests: Sokol--a poem and/or story
Gannon--1-3 poems
Lelia Tupper Scholarship---essay, and creative writing variety, (up to 12 pages total--4 essay and 8 creative writing)

What does this picture say about the story?

Last Day

I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone for being so helpful throughout the past four weeks. You were great and made my student teaching experience so worthwhile! The projects and short stories turned out better than I could have imagined! I would love for everyone to take the time to email me a copy of your cartoon write ups so I can put them in my portfolio.

Please keep in touch! I will miss you all!

Ms. Snyder

My Email: NatashaKSnyder@gmail.com

Dead Father's Club Cartoons

Click on the following links to view the cartoons that were made for The Dead Father's Club project!

Cartoon 1

Cartoon 2

Cartoon 3

Cartoon 4

Cartoon 5

Cartoon 6

Cartoon 7

Cartoon 8

Cartoon 9

Prayer for the Dying

Discuss the following questions in a small group. We will come back as a class and share what was discussed.

Questions to Consider for Chapter One


The town of Friendship will be going through a lot of changes throughout the book. Describe the town of Friendship and what we have learned about it so far. This will allow us to look at the changes the town goes through as we read.

How does the second person narrative add to the reading experience of the book? How does it take away from the book?

Jacob was called to claim the body of a dead solider, who is dressed in his uniform, the same uniform Jacob wore in the War. The solider can function as a type of metaphor for Jacob. What can it be?

Jacob’s character plays a large role in Friendship. He is the constable, preacher and undertaker. What types of characteristics can describe Jacob? Compare Jacob’s characteristics in relation to the town. Does Jacob have a positive or negative effect?

Horror Genre

We will be reading a short story written by Stewart O'Nan called "Summer of 77". Keep the following characteristics of horror stories in mind while reading it:

Horror fiction has these common elements:
Highly improbable and unexpected sequences of events that usually begin in ordinary situations and involve supernatural elements

Contrast the oddness of these events with the minutiae of daily life so readers identify with the characters

Explores the dark, malevolent side of humanity
Main characters are people we can understand and perhaps identify with although often these are haunted, estranged individuals

Lives depends on the success of the protagonist

Mood is dark, foreboding, menacing, bleak and creates an immediate response by the reader

Setting may be described in some detail if much of the story takes place in one location

Plot contains frightening and unexpected incidents
Violence, often graphic, occurs and may be accompanied by explicit sexuality
Most stories are told in the third person
The style is plain

The key ingredient in horror fiction is its ability to provoke fear or terror in readers, usually via something demonic.. There should be a sense of dread, unease, anxiety, or foreboding. Some critics have noted that experiencing horror fiction is like reading about your worst nightmares.
There is some debate as to whether "horror" is a genre or, like "adventure" an aspect that may be found in several genres. Horror is a certain mood or atmosphere that might be found in a variety of places.

Traditionally, horror was associated with certain archtypes such as demons, witches, ghosts, vampires and the like. However, this can be found in other genres, especially fantasy. If horror is a genre, then it deals with a protagonist dealing with overwhelming dark and evil forces.

What is the Second Person

An example
from
www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1200131-That-Second-Person


Let us talk about writing, just me and you. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. Pour a cup of joe, or whatever your favorite poison is. Settle in and we'll get down to the nitty gritty. I can go on for hours about this writing business, but I won't take up too much of your time today. Writing is one my favorite subjects. I'm thinking it might be yours too. Why do I think it might be yours? Well, you're here aren't you? That's a pretty good indication. I could be wrong though, and I'm more than willing to admit that. But let's talk a bit if you don't mind.

See this paragraph above? That's one way to use the second person properly, when directly addressing someone. I'm addressing you, the reader and possible writer, directly. The paragraph is written with a specific audience in mind, not a general one. I blame my first college professor for my pet peeve about the misuse of the second person. He pounded it into my freshmen skull many years ago that "you" had no place in any essay except for extraordinary circumstances. When I had him again for nearly every other English class, that lesson was simply emphasized in other writings. Other professors touched on it in literature, but he really sent it home.

I mostly blame advertisement for the misuse of the second person in new writing. I don't know how many times I have driven my family to distraction because I've absentmindedly disagreed with an advertisement. Listen to those things sometime - advertisements. Most of them are trying to target a specific market, but the way the commercials are written is so broad. The net thrown tries to catch as many people as possible. The public at large is included in the message. "You" is inclusive. The message is worded so everyone hearing it is led to believe they need that product or service by the simple use of that one little word. It's no wonder beginning writers use it in their writing; they're exposed to it constantly.

Another reason some beginning writers use the second person incorrectly is because they are "telling the tale." Most people learn to talk before they learn to write, and more people are better at telling stories than writing them. When beginning writers start to write the stories in their heads, often things become lost in the translation. Oral telling is different than the written word, and some writers don't make the distinction between what's said and what's written. When storytellers have an audience in front of them, they can say "It's so black that you can't see your hand in front of your face..." or "...the wind's so cold it'll cut right through ya." Storytellers talk directly to their audience. Even if the audience doesn't "feel" the cold, the use of the second person can bring them deeper into the story.

It can be done; Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tim Robbins is a fictional novel written in second person, and there are several short stories which use the second person well, but they are rare. Also, the "choose your own adventure" genre of fiction has often been written in second person. Now that the Internet is so well established, interactive stories and many role playing forums are perfect homes for fictional stories that incorporate the second person.

In non-fiction writing, the use of the second person is commonplace. As in this opening sentence from Take Control of Your Sales by Sonya Carmichael Jones, "Regardless of your writing genre, marketing is the primary means by which your book sales are generated." This article addresses a specific audience, the book writer who wants to sell books. By inserting "you" into the article, the author attempts to draw the writer in and make the article personal. Such casual writing is routine nowadays. However, the above sentence could just have easily been written, "Regardless of genre, marketing is the primary means by which book sales are generated." Both are correct, it's simply a matter of preference.

If used properly, use of the second person can draw the reader into a piece like no other word. Such as this statement: "If you're one of the millions of people in the United States who has ever..." It is written directly to a specific audience. It attempts to hook that audience immediately. Hopefully, anyone who falls into the category of the article will read the rest of article with interest. Those who do not fall under the umbrella of whatever the article covers will most likely not read it. However, since they are not the intended audience, the use of the second person has fulfilled a purpose as well.

Using the second person is the easy way, but it can alienate half the readers in the blink of an eye. Consider an article written about some extreme sport where the author has written "... and you feel the rush of wind screaming through your hair. This is why you dig freefall, the rush..." Well, there went all of his sensitive bald readers and anyone who's never felt freefall, or those who don't "dig" it.

Using the second person can be a very powerful tool in an author's toolkit. But if it's used incorrectly it can gum up the works good and proper. Generally, try not to use the second person in an essay or a fictional story that is not aimed at a specific audience. There are always exceptions of course. What would this wonderful language be without exceptions? In my opinion, there are ways to get around using the second person - notice how I have not used it since the first paragraph except in quotations? A writer simply has to be creative. It's more fun that way. Is there a better way to enhance writing skills than finding more creative ways to say things? I can't think of one.

Well, I enjoyed this time with you. I hope you did too. Thanks for coming by and listening to me voice my opinion. It was a blast. I've got to get on to other things, but I hope you'll stop by again soon.

Take care.
from
www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1200131-That-Second-Person

A Prayer for the Dying

A Prayer for the Dying Discussion questions

READING GROUP GUIDE
A Prayer for the Dying
A Novel
by Stewart O’Nan
ISBN-10: 0-312-42891-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42891-4
About this Guide
The following author biography and list of questions about A Prayer for the Dying are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach A Prayer for the Dying.
About the Book
Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town's residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.
About the Author
Stewart O’Nan’s novels include Last Night at the Lobster, The Night Country, and A Prayer for the Dying. He is also the author of the nonfiction books The Circus Fire and, with Stephen King, the bestselling Faithful. Granta named him one of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists. He lives in Connecticut.

Discussion Questions
1. The book is narrated in the second person, addressing the main character, Jacob, as “you.” Who is speaking? Why do you think the author chose this mode to tell the story?
2. When Jacob is called to take care of Clytie, he has a very hard time pulling the trigger. Look at the passage (p. 49) in which he has to convince himself to kill her. Why does he agonize when he knows it’s the right thing? What does it mean that he’s “still clinging to some dream of innocence, blamelessness”? Does he continue to cling to that dream later in the story?
3. Why does Jacob elect to bleed and treat the bodies of some victims, even after Doc has told him not to, and even though he knows he’s putting himself in danger? Why is precision and diligence so important to him even when everyone around him is worried only about survival?
4. What role does religious faith play in the story? How does it influence Jacob, Chase, and other citizens of Friendship? Is their faith rewarded?
5. Jacob is a veteran of the Civil War. How does his experience there affect the way he behaves in the crisis in Friendship? How did the war change him?
6. How would you describe the relationship between Jacob and Doc? How do their different ideas about the world lead to different strategies for handling the outbreak in Friendship?
7. How does Jacob’s relationship with Marta affect his behavior in the outbreak? How do his priorities as a father and husband conflict with his responsibility to the town?
8. How do you interpret the book’s ending? What is Jacob choosing when he returns to Friendship? What do you imagine happening to him next?
9. Is Jacob sane at the end of the book? How does the author demonstrate the changes in his mind as conditions worsen?
10. “You’ve stopped believing in evil,” the narrator says of Jacob early in the story (p. 6). “Is that a sin?” Is there evil in this story? Does Jacob come to see it by the end?
11. How do the book’s two epigraphs relate to each other? Why do you think the author chose them?
12. Jacob is committed throughout the book to saving Friendship, and willing to sacrifice himself if necessary. Is he naïve? Does his commitment to principle do more harm than good in the end?

Group 1

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE TEST FRIDAY!

The WeddingWhat was Philip’s reasoning behind the Registry Office being made out of only red bricks?
The Land of Nod
How did Philip try to kill Uncle Alan? Who died instead?
The Voice Out of the Wall
“I put my duvet over my head and the voices went away but other things started so I put my head over the duvet and heard Mum say Your whisky” (pg.273). What do you think Philip meant by “other things”
Why does Philip think the town makes noises at night? (pg. 274)

Group 2

This Bastard Town
What were some realizations Philip had during his visit to the brick wall? (regarding his father’s ghost, his father while he was alive, his father’s death. Pgs 277-278)
Spitting to the Grass
Read the last paragraph of this chapter. “I knew from then that there was no one in the world who is who they say they are. You can’t trust anyone. . .” (pg 281). Why is this significant to Philip’s character, especially regarding his father’s ghost?
Ghost Words
Write a quick summary of what happened in this chapter

Group 3

Dead and Gone Dead and Gone
“But I was thinking that the terrors might just be another lie and maybe Dads Ghost wasn’t Dads Ghost at all it might just be the Devil trying to make me do bad things like kill Mr. Fairview because he liked God not the Devil” (pg. 285). Analyze this quote
Mr. Fairview Makes Me Tell the Truth
Who is the newest ghost that Philip sees?
Who did Philip confess about the fire to? What was his reaction?
Someone to See Me
Why was Dane at Philips house?
“And I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know what was true and what was not true” (pg. 292). Analyze this quote in relation to Philip questioning his sanity and Philip questioning his father’s ghost.

Group 4

The Paper Bird
Where did Philip find Leah
What did Leah cut into her arms?
Philip was yelling at his dad but Leah thought he was yelling at her. What did Philip yell?
Analyze the last paragraph of the chapter (on page 300).
In the White Water
What was the purpose of ending the chapter the way Haig did?

Group 5

Lying on the Mud
Who were the fisherman who found Leah and Philip?
The Second Time I Woke Up
What did his mother show him in the paper?
What are the 6 things Philip defiantly knows? (pg. 316-317)
What did Philip realize about Mrs. Fells father? (pg. 318)
What do you think happened to Uncle Alan?
Why do you think the author ended the book the way he did?

Group 1

All groups please post your answers as a comment to your groups blog. When you're posting answers please specify what question you are answering so it is easier to study from for your test!

The Umbrella Made of StarsWhat does Sleepy Eye Terry take classes for?

Uncle Alan told Philip and his mother a story about Sleepy Eye Terry that made Philip assume he was the one that smashed the pub. What was the story?

The Time Machine
Where did Philip want to go in the time machine?

What did Philip say made his brain heavy? What were some examples Philip gave?

Group 2

The Real Uncle Alan
What was Philips plan to kill Uncle Alan? What happened instead?

Philip describes himself and Uncle Alan by saying, “The Read Uncle Alan inside the pretend Uncle Alan” and “The real Philip inside the pretend Philip” (pg 211-212). What do you think that means?

Pocket Money

“Mrs. Fell always says things like this. She is nice but she doesn’t understand some things. She doesn’t know that time is not like pocket money that you can spend because time is the person spending the pocket money and the pocket money is you” (pg. 215). Analyze this quote

Mrs. Fell asked Philip where he would go if he was able to go anywhere. Where did he say he wanted to go?


We learn a little more about Mrs. Fell’s character. What do we learn?

Why do you think Philip wants to “believe in” Mrs. Fell so badly? (pg. 218)

Group 3

GROUP 3
Emperor Nero and Empero Neros Mum

Describe the story of Nero. What is Nero’s story is similar to Hamlet and to Philip. How are they similar?

When telling the story of Nero Philip said, “Killing is not a stone you throw away it is a boomerang that comes back and gets you in the head” (pg. 221). What do you think Philip meant by this? Is there any irony in Philip saying this?

How does Philip seem to hint that his fate is inevitable? (pg. 222)
The Condom Machine

“It is a bit like kingdom which is a land ruled by kings so a condom must be a land ruled by cons.

A con is a lie” (pg 224). What do you think Philip means when he says this?

Group 4

GROUP 4

Tick Tock Tick Tock
What does this chapter tell us about Philip?


What happened to Philip in this chapter?

Going Home
“And I thought we could right now we could crash into the barriers and be in a Pile Up and I liked that thought” (pg. 232). Why do you think Philip likes the idea of dying?
Diazepam
What did Dr. Crawford diagnose Philip with?

What do you think the purpose of page 239 is?

Group 5

GROUP 5
Watching TV with Mum
What did Philip tell his mother?

Why do you think Philip didn’t react to the news the wedding being pushed up early? (pg 242)

The Ticking Days
What was Philip’s father trying to convince him to do?

What did Philip lie to his mother about?

The Drips and the Drops and the Windsor Knot

“Nan hates him and Uncle Alan hates Nan but human beings always hate each other and pretend they don’t. That is what being a human being is about” (pg. 250). Why do you think Philip says this?

What does Philip see floating in the air? Why do you think he sees this? What do you think this means?

Thanksgiving Break

Do not forget to read through page 252 in The Dead Father's Club for next class. We will be finishing the book the week we get back from break so read ahead if you know you will not have time the week we get back. Also, work on your cartoons and write-ups or your short stories over break. Those will be due the Friday we get back from break. I will not be able to accept late work because that is the last day of the marking period.

Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving!
Ms. Snyder

11/18/10- Final Assessment Criteria, Study Guide

Today you will have a quiz on what we have read so far from The Dead Father's Club.

Final Assessment Criteria for Dead Father’s Club

Choose ONE of the following options:

Create a Cartoon: Using either comic life or goanimate.com, create a cartoon based off the book The Dead Father’s Club. Choose a scene or scenes that you think are significant in some way. Provide a 2-3 page analysis to go along with your cartoon. Here are some key questions for your analysis. REMEMBER you are not limited to just the following questions, they are just meant to get you started thinking of your analysis.

• Why did you choose the scene?

• Why did you want the characters to look a certain way?

• What is the scene significant to the book?
• What does the scene tell us about the character?

Write a Modern Shakespeare Story: Choose a Shakespeare story to re-write in a modern way. You do not have to choose Hamlet like Matt Haig did for The Dead Father’s Club. You can choose ANY Shakespeare story to re-write. The short story should be a minimum of 5 pages.

I will continue to post the study guide questions so you are able to review from them. We will not be answering them in groups today. You can answer them on your own time to stay caught up on the study guide for your test.

The Hungry School


What was Uncle Alan’s way of saying he was the new King of the Castle?

What was Uncle Alan talking to Philip about in the car ride to school?

100 Miles

What did Philip ask Leah to do? What was her answer?

Rugby

Philip begins the chapter by talking about two different types of schools. What are the two schools and who went to each?

Who was chosen last for Rugby teams? What was Philip’s reasoning behind it?

“It’s like how in War soldiers are told to kill other men and then they are Heroes but if they killed the same men when they were not in War they are Murderers. But they are still killing the same men who have the same dreams and who chew the same food and hum the same songs when they are happy but if it is called War it is all right because that is the rules of War” (pg. 113)

Why does Philip think Mr. Rosen isn’t angry about stealing the mini bus anymore?

Halloween and the Ra Ra Ghosts and Sleepy Eye Terry

What did Gary and Ross dress up as for Halloween?

What happened after Ross and Gary put the stink bomb in the house?

Who chased Philip? What happened when he was caught?

PrayStation

What did Uncle Alan buy Philip?

Why did Philip like the game he and Alan played?

Philip began making a list of ways to kill Uncle Alan. What was on Philip’s list? (HINT pg. 126)

What did Mr. Fairview come over and get from Uncle Alan?

Saturday in Boots

What was the reason Philip gave for loving Leah? (HINT pg. 134)

What did Leah convince Philip to do?

The Golden House

What did Uncle Alan change in the pub?

What did Philip’s dad tell Philip about Uncle Alan and his men?

What did Uncle Alan announce in the pub?

What was Philip’s reaction to the announcement?

Dancing Queen

What does Uncle Alan convince Philip’s mother to do?

The Ghost Wind

Who does Philip’s father think is getting in the way of Philip killing Uncle Alan? What does Philip’s dad tell Philip to do about it?



Haig's- One sentence stories

This writing exercise is from Matt Haig's website. I thought I'd give you a break from beginning the next writing assignment. Each person should write their own one sentence story and post it as a comment to this blog.  Below are a few examples of one sentence short stories written by Haig

ONE SENTENCE STORIES

 She shrank, like Alice, and only love could make her full-sized, the doctor said, but the doctor didn't know.

He looked at his hands, trembling, the blood still on them, and he told him I am sorry, brother, and he tried to mean it.

The alarm clock was off and so was the light, when he tried the switch, the last thing he ever did.

"I love you so much I cannot breathe," she said, so he breathed for her and they lived on his breath until the morning came to dissolve their flesh.



Group 1

The Men Who Smashed the Pub

What does Philip’s dad tell him to do when he heard the noises coming from downstairs?

What did the men breaking into the pub prove to Philip?

Barbarism

“For the Roman soldier Hadrian’s Wall was more than just a defense against the Caledonaian tribes- it also represented the dividing line between the known world of order and civilization, and the unknown world of chaos and barbarism” (pg. 68-69). Analyze this quote

Who does Philip’s father say broke into the pub? Who paid them? What did Philip’s father say was the reason?

Group 2

Sin

What was Uncle Alan convincing Philip’s mother to allow?

What did Philip throw at the kitchen table? Why?

What do you think happens to Phillip at the end of the chapter?

Group 3

Mr. Fairview and the Trout

What does Mrs. Fell suggest Philip do?

“She said that writing is sometimes easier than speaking even though is takes longer and she said it is easier because you can do it on your own and say things that you are scared to speak unless it was by yourself and if you speak to yourself people think you are mad, but if you write the same things they think you are clever” (pg. 76-77).  Analyze this quote

Describe Mr. Fairview’s character

Who is Leah?

What does Leah teach Philip?

What does Leah promise Philip now that he is her boyfriend?

Group 4

The Four Layers of the Earth


How does Philip describe “going out” with someone?

Who are Carla the Barmaids sons?

Who is Dane?

Why does Philip question Uncle Alan killing his dad?

Group 5

Group 5



The Good Shepherd

Describe the Fairview’s house?

Mr. Fairview is very religious; describe Leah’s views of religion

What happened to Leah’s mother?

What did Leah and Philip do in Leah’s room?

The Dog Noises

What did Philip mistake for dog noises?

What did Philip do to have ideas on how to kill Uncle Alan?

Group 1

Each group will answer the study guide questions. Post your answers as a comment to this blog

Group 1



The First Time I saw Dad After He Died

What does Philip’s Nan tell him at the funeral? Why might this be significant to Philip’s character?

What were Big Vic and Les smoking at the pub?

What was suggested about why Carla got a divorce?

Where did Philip first see his father’s ghost?

King of the CASTLE

What is the pubs name?

What was Philip’s dad’s ghost wearing?

Do you find Philip’s reaction to seeing his father’s ghost realistic? Why or why not?

The Bad News

How did Philip’s dad die?

Philip took time to describe the Policeman. How did Philip describe him and why do you think that’s significant?

Why might the author have certain words in all capitals, like WOLF? What else do you notice about the way the book is written? (Does it sound like an 11 year old boy speaking? What about the spacing and placement of the words in certain chapters?)

Group 2

Each group will answer the follwing study guide questions. Post your answers as a comment to this blog

Group 2



The Terrors

What does Philip’s dad show him when he looked out the window by the Bottle Banks?

What is The Dead Father’s club?

Philips father only began to describe what the terrors are. What do you think they are?

Guppy Number Six

Philip takes time to describe the fish tank and the fish inside. What can the fish symbolize for Philip?

Who called from Philip’s school?

Who told Philip’s Father the truth about ghosts?

List The Truth About Ghosts

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Group 3

Each group will answer the study guide questions. Post your answers as a comment to this blog

Group 3



Uncle Alan Is Dangerous

Why did Philip’s father crash his car?

Philip tried to think of solutions to getting rid of Uncle Alan. His father only left him with one option. What was it?

The Hole in the Wall

What’s the name of the book Philip took off the bookshelf?

What is the No time?

When does Philips dad run out of time?

How does Philip describe Uncle Alan?

Hadrians Wall

In what ways does Philip connect to the Romans?

Haig’s writing style is original. How do you think his writing affects the readers?

What does Philip get made fun of for at the end of the chapter?

The Disco

How does Philip describe Mr. Rosen?

Philip said his heart wasn’t beating like normal which made him think he was going to die. Then it stopped so he didn’t tell anyone. What do you think this says about Philip?

Philip said, “Sometimes being nice is as bad as being horrible” (pg. 38). Do you agree/disagree? Why?

Group 4

Each group will answer the study guide questions below. Post your answers as a comment to this blog

Group 4



After The Disco

What important information does Philip’s dad’s ghost tell him?

The Mini Bus

Who does Philip compare his dad’s face to?

Philip’s father’s ghost said, “Sometimes you have to do something that is wrong to do something bigger that is right” (pg. 45). How does this apply to the book so far?

Why is Philips father so scared for Philips mother at the pub?

Beatbeatbeat

Who chased after Philip when he took the mini bus? What did they think Philip was doing in the bus?

Who did Philip see over in the fields behind Mrs. Fell?

Dad dy

What does Philip say “Dada” sounds like?

In your opinion, what is the significance of this chapter?

Group 5

Each group will answer the study guide questions below. Post your answers as a comment to the post.

Group 5


Mrs. Palefort

Who is Mrs. Palefort?

Philip couldn’t get to his mother at the pub in time, what happened to her?

What were the special conditions for Philip to stay in school?

Rudyard Kipling

Who did Philip tell about his dad’s ghost?

Philip said Mrs. Fell smiled when he gave her the right answer. Why do you think Philip thought that? What does it say about his character?

Angelfish

What is the name of Philips Angelfish?

What do you think the purpose of the Angelfish chapter is?

The Men Who Smashed the Pub

What does Philip’s dad tell him to do when he heard the noises coming from downstairs?

What did the men breaking into the pub prove to Philip?

Short Bio on Matt Haig

Matt Haig is a novelist and writer, born in 1975 in Sheffield, UK. He has written for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Face.


His novels are often dark and quirky takes on family life. The Last Family in England tells the story of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 with the protagonists as dogs. It was a bestseller in the UK and the film rights have been sold to Brad Pitt's Plan B production company. His second novel Dead Fathers Club is based on Hamlet, telling the story of an introspective 11-year old dealing with the recent death of his father and the subsequent appearance of his father's ghost. His third adult novel, The Possession of Mr Cave, deals with an obsessive father desperately trying to keep his teenage daughter safe. His children's novel, Shadow Forest, is a fantasy that begins with the horrific death of the protagonists' parents. It won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize in 2007.



In 2009, it was announced that Haig's latest novel The Radleys would be published by Canongate Books in the summer of 2010[1] and it was later revealed that The Radleys would also be published as a Young Adult edition with Walker Books, under the Walker Canongate imprint[2]. A film adaptation of The Radleys has been announced, with Alfonso Cuarón attached to produce.


 Novels

The Last Family in England/The Labrador Pact (2005)

Dead Fathers Club (2007)

Shadow Forest (2007)

Brand Failures

The Possession of Mr Cave (2008)

Runaway Troll (2008)

The Radleys (2010 forthcoming)

Wait a minute, Hamlet can be funny?!

While reading The Dead Father's Club it's important to remember that it's also supposed to be funny. Here are a few cartoons based off of Hamlet. Enjoy!

Matt Haig

Hello Everyone!

For Tuesday's class, 11/9 we are going to the library to get your next book, The Dead Father's Club by Matt Haig. Click HERE for a link to his website for you to look around on, there's a lot of interesting stuff! 

Here's a interview of Matt Haig, discussing The Dead Father's Club. There are many other video's of  Haig on youtube if you are interested.



Rita Dove Thomas and Beulah

Read and discuss Beulah's section
Read about Thomas and Beulah:
www.suite101.com/article.cfm/african_american_lit_retired/62567
www.answers.com/topic/thomas-and-beulah-1

Test on Friday.

Work on poetry cycle.

NEXT BOOK: DEAD FATHERS CLUB

Rita Dove

Reminder:
Nancy Thorpe Poetry deadline November 15

www.hollins.edu/undergrad/english/thorp/thorp.htm


Check out Rita Dove videos:
www.youtube.com/profile?user=forsicht#g/u



Discuss Mandolin:
 
www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=6719 

Literary term:

motif [moh‐teef], a situation, incident, idea, image, or character‐type that is found in many different literary works, folktales, or myths; or any element of a work that is elaborated into a more general theme. The fever that purges away a character's false identity is a recurrent motif in Victorian fiction; and in European lyric poetry the ubi sunt motif and the carpe diem motif are commonly found. Where an image, incident, or other element is repeated significantly within a single work, it is more commonly referred to as a leitmotif. See also archetype, stock character, topos.

What are some of the motifs in "Mandolin"?

Image in Poetry

Summary: This section covers images as they appear in poetry and covers related terminology, definitions and origins of images, uses of images, and several exercises.
Contributors:Purdue OWL
Last Edited: 2010-04-21 08:28:17

Introduction

What is an image? This is a question that philosophers and poets have asked themselves for thousands of years and have yet to definitively answer. The most widely used definition of an image these days is:"...an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." (Ezra Pound)
But this definition from Pound has a history to it. Before Pound outlined his definition, the image was seen very differently by most people. Therefore, the question "what is an image?" immediately breaks down into three fundamental parts:

1) Where do images come from?
2) Once an image is created, what is it?
3) How can an image function in a poem?

Before we answer these questions, we'll want to discuss some terms related to image so that we can use them in our answers.

Related Terms

Imagery
The category of which all images, as varied and lively as they are, fall into. "Imagery is best defined as the total sensory suggestion of poetry" (John Ciardi, World Book Dictionary def. of "Imagery.")
Imagination

1) The mental laboratory used for the creation of images and new ideas.
2) "n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership." (Ambrose Bierce, 60)
3) "Imagination is not, as its etymology would suggest, the faculty of forming images of reality; it is rather the faculty of forming images which go beyond reality, which sing reality." (Gaston Bachelard ,"On Poetic Imagination and Revery," 15)

Imagism
A school of poetry and poetics made popular by Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) in the early 20th century that focused on "direct treatment of the thing, whether subjective or objective." H.D.'s "Sea Garden" is often seen as a good example of this style.
Concrete detail
A detail in a poem that has a basis in something "real" or tangible, not abstract or intellectual, based more in things than in thought.
Sensory detail
A detail that draws on any of the five senses. This is very often also a concrete detail.

Where do images come from?

The first question is one best left to psychologists and philosophers of language. Perhaps one of the most complete philosophical inquiries (and the one that seemed to create a dramatic break from classical philosophy), was that of Gaston Bachelard. Bachelard believed that the image originated straight out of human consciousness, from the very heart of being. Whereas before the image was seen merely as a representation of an object in the world, Bachelard believed that the image was its own object and that it could be experienced by a reader who allowed him or herself the opportunity to "dream" the image (the "revery" of reading poetry). The image then could not be intellectualized so much as experienced.
He even went so far as to claim that "Intellectual criticism of poetry will never lead to the center of where poetic images are formed." ("Poetic Imagination" 7) He believed that the image erupts from the mind of the poet, that the poet is not entirely in control of the image and therefore is not seen as "causing" the image to come into being. Since the image has no "cause," the image has no past, and, subsequently, is an object in and of itself, separate from its maker and separate from the object it describes. He claims "[The image] becomes a new being in our language, expressing us by making us what it expresses; in other words, it is at once a becoming of expression, and a becoming of our being."
Bachelard is, of course, just one person's opinion on the matter, but his philosphy does hold true to the somewhat enigmatic and difficult-to-pin-down nature of the image. Where the image comes from is an issue that will probably never be solved, but suffice to say that if you approach its making as a mystery (and allow it to simply happen without too much intellectualizing) you will at least keep in line with one major aspect of its origin, that of the unknown.

Rita Dove/Queen of the Mist

Reader Response to a Poem:
Select one of the poems in "Thomas and Beulah". How does the poem make you feel? In what ways can you relate to the poem? What has Rita Dove done with imagery, form, theme, rhythm, language, etc. to make this poem work? Any lines that particularly strike you as interesting or powerful? Think about poetic technique: enjambment, caesura, metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, consonance, linebreaking, stanzaic form, apostrophe, onomatopeaia, etc.


Begin working on Poetry Cycle assignment:
Similar to Thomas and Beulah, consider some characters in your own life, imagined characters, or actual historical characters. Imagine the significant chronological dates in their lilves--high points and low points. consider how to construct a series of 8-10 (preferably more) poems that tell a story (narrative poetry) and explore these key moments and occasions.

• a. Your poetry cycle should consist of 8-10 poems
• b. Your poetry cycle should be accompanied by a chronology to support the key dates and occasions you chose to write about.
• c. At least two of the poems should explore the same event from two different perspectives or viewpoints (like "Courtship" in Thomas and Beulah). These poems can have the same title.
• d. Place one poem per page, single-spaced, 12 point type in a clean font and be sure to title each poem. you may want to title the entire cycle as well. Use italics for dialogue, songs, memories, etc as you observe in Rita Dove's work. Experiment with different stanzaic forms and poetic styles.
• e. Poems can, of course, be narrative or lyric, but remember that the overall cycle is a narrative and must tell a story of a life or lives although we only see "fragments" or moments/snapshots of those lives.
•  

Interesting critical article link:

Moving Through Color
personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~jpellegr/articles/dovearticle.html
 

Thursday, 10/21 Agenda

Postmodernism discussion---Fugitive Pieces, Bloodsucking Fiends, The Things They Carried, etc.

http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#postmodern

Get Rita Dove books


http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/
 www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/rita-dove
Begin reading "Thomas and Beulah"

Go to Rita Dove websites.  Post a comment about Rita dove's poetry.

Workshop Stories and Discuss Bloodsucking Fiends

ENTER BENNINGTON CONTEST, HOLLINS, AND BLUE PENCIL ONLINE:
www.bennington.edu/go/news/young-writers-competition
www.hollins.edu/undergrad/english/thorp/thorp.htm
www.thebluepencil.net/the-bishop-prizes/path-to-the-prize/

CREATIVE WRITING MAJORS WRITING RETREAT--Sunday, Nov. 14, Ellison Park
For you and your parents.  Guest workshop leader, Wendy Low, Writers and Books
Get registration form.  It's free!

Break into groups to read and discuss your Bloodsucking fiends stories and the discussion questions posted on the blog.

Finish Reading Bloodsucking Fiends and story

Today work on your Bloodsucking Fiends story and finish reading the novel.

Why?  Next Wednesday, you will be taking the PSAT and next Friday is the end of the marking period!
So, get to work today and you can enjoy the long weekend.  See you in a week!

Encounter with an "Imaginary Being"

Fugitive Pieces short stories are due by the end of the period in FINISHED form.  Be sure to spell check and revise.

NEW ASSIGNMENT a/la Bloodsucking Fiends (it's that time of year!)
Write a short piece that involves an encounter with an "imaginary being" --a little touch of magic realism, here.  Your short fiction piece can be funny, sarcastic, spooky, or "deadly serious."  What would it be like
to talk to or perform an action  with a ghost, a werewolf, an angel, a zombie, or yes, a vampire?

Give it a try.  Consider it a writing prompt for you to experiment with.

Other things:  Writing contests--Check out Bennington's writing contest and The Blue Pencil online.

Christopher Moore on writing and Vampires

http://watchmojo.com/index.php?id=8330

http://watchmojo.com/index.php?id=8357 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bhb744dw18

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/the-new-vampires-9-possib_n_620202.html#s103541

Read interview handout

Completed fugitive Pieces short stories are due on Wednesday!

HMWK: Read to page 117

Discussion Questions for Bloodsucking Fiends

Reading Group Guide

Questions for Discussion

1. Everyone has been exposed to Vampire lore, either through books, movies, or television. How does Jody's transformation into a vampire differ from how you always thought someone became a vampire? In what ways is it similar?

2. Jody and Tommy's relationship moves at a rather alarming pace, and within a week of meeting each other, they are in love. Is love at first sight possible? Or in their case, at first bite? Why do they connect so instantly?

3. The book is filled with religious connotations, whether intentional or not — from the mention of "the pyramid" (The TransAmerica Tower), to the use of crosses to ward off vampires, to the Animals being referred to as "Crusaders." How intentional do you think this was on the part of the author? What do these add to the story?

4. The book touches upon the idea of euthanasia — the practice of ending the life of a terminally ill person in a painless or minimally painful way in order to limit suffering — in that Elijah Ben Sapir, the vampire who creates Jody, only kills those who are about to die or whose lives are limited in some way. What are your feelings about "mercy killings"? Do vampires have an ethical standard?

5. When Simon threatens Jody after she refuses to turn him into a vampire, she ends up killing him in the front of his truck. Jody then blames the killing on Elijah, however, and never confesses it to Tommy. Why not admit to it when Elijah has been restrained?

6. Why are Jody and Tommy "set up" as the culprits in the recent crimes? What would it mean if they were caught? Why do these crimes need to be pinned on anyone? Couldn't the criminals cover up thecrimes in another way?

7. By the end of the novel, both detectives — Cavuto and Rivera — begin to believe in the supernatural and that vampires could exist. To what extent do you believe in the supernatural, either vampires, ghosts, or even just that some people may or may not have psychic ability?

8. Tommy uses Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat, which of course is fiction, as his "Owner's Manual" for learning about Jody and her new powers. Discuss the author's use of fiction within fiction in order to tell a story. Have any members of your group read The Vampire Lestat? How do the two books compare?

9. Once Jody becomes a vampire, she finds that she has many new and different abilities, including superstrength, heightened senses, and superspeed. Which do you think is her most needed new superability?

10. Though Jody finds herself immortal, she also retains many of her normal human characteristics and failings, including vanity, fear, anger, and disgust. Discuss how even though she has become immortal, and can protect herself from many of the regular dangers of everyday life, she is still unable to disassociate herself from normal human emotion.

11. At the end of the book, the reader is left with the impression that Jody is about to turn Tommy into a vampire. If she does change him into a vampire, how do you imagine their story continues? How would it continue if she does not?

Enhancing Your Bookclub

1. Would you be willing to give up your normal life — being able to go out in the daylight, not being immortal — in order to become a vampire? You'd be able to live forever, have superstrength and -speed, among many other different gifts. Would it be worth it? Why? Why not?

2. To read more about vampires, take a look at the following titles: The Society of S by Susan Hubbard, Vamped by David Sosnowski, The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula by Tim Lucas, and Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Costa.

3. Learn more about vampires: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampires.

Christopher Moore is the bestselling author of You Suck, A Dirty Job, The Stupidest Angel, Fluke, Lamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Bloodsucking Fiends, and Practical Demonkeeping. Visit the

official Christopher Moore website at www.chrismoore.com.

Week of 9/28 and 9/30

View the end of Fugitive Pieces (Tuesday).

Continue to work on short stories. Due next week--Oct. 6.

Check out Christopher Moore's website (see link). Pick up Bloodsucking Fiends.

Amadeus on Thursday: Research vampire lore. Go to vampires.com. Post a comment reflecting what you learned about vampires!

HMWK: For Monday, read through Ch. 8 (pg. 60) or further

Catch Up Time

Work on short stories and reading. If you did not finish the response from Monday's class, you may work on that, too.

Check out link to 2 minute video interview with Anne Michaels.

Handout: Interview with Anne Michaels



After reading the handout, write a response to one of the following questions, using examples from the text.

8. "History is amoral: events occurred. But memory is moral" [138]. "Every moment is two moments" [161]. How does Jakob define and differentiate history and memory? Can you see Fugitive Pieces as a comparison of history and memory?

OR

Discuss the role of relationships in the novel. Why are human relationships so vital
to the sense of belonging and "home"?




WORK ON SHORT STORIES!

HMWK: Finish Part 1 and continue into Part II (to page 230).

Agenda 9/16

View more of Fugitive Pieces, the film.

Finish marking passages and post your group's discussion for credit.

Continue work on your short story.

HMWK: Please read to pg. 170 in Fugitive Pieces. THERE WILL BE A QUIZ ON THE READING SO FAR.

Agenda--

Continue reading "Vertical Time" (to pg. 86) and "The Way Station" (to pg. 121. Mark 3 passages that strike you as particularly strong writing with a post it note. Save these passages for discussion later.

With a partner, discuss your reading of Fugitive Pieces through pg. 121. What is happening to Jakob? How does the death of Athos affect him? What is it like in Toronto? Please share your favorite passages ( passages that you admire as a writer) with your partner (be sure to indicate the page number when you post your comments). When you have finished your conversation with your partner, please post a comment/reader response to your readings.

Work on your short stories!

AGENDA:


Discuss with a partner questions 1, 2, and 3. Look up the Scott expedition to Anarctica. Get additional information. Then post a comment to answer the first 3 questions of this reading guide. Be sure that you indicate both partners' names for credit.

Continue working on your "Fugitive Pieces" story.

For next Tuesday, read to page 101

Fugitive Pieces Reading Guide
Reading Group Guide
Fugitive Pieces
by Anne Michaels

About This Book


The questions, discussion topics, and reading list that follow are intended to enhance your group's reading of Anne Michaels's Fugitive Pieces. We hope they will aid your understanding of the many rich themes that make up this radiant and lyrical first novel by one of Canada's foremost poets.

In Poland during World War II, seven-year-old Jakob Beer's parents are murdered by Nazi soldiers and his adored elder sister, Bella, is abducted. The mourning child flees and is miraculously rescued by Athos Roussos, a Greek geologist. Athos smuggles Jakob to his native island of Zakynthos, where he successfully hides him from the Nazi authorities and introduces him to a new world of geology, poetry, botany, and art. After the war the two move to Toronto, and Jakob embarks on marriage and a career as a poet. Through the experience of profound love, Jakob eventually transcends the tragedies of his youth; but his spirit remains forever linked with that of his lost sister. As Jakob gets older, his life and work provide inspiration and, eventually, spiritual regeneration, for Ben, a younger man whose own family has been blighted by the Holocaust.

Fugitive Pieces is an incandescent novel, heartbreaking and finally joyful. Its vivid images, its poetry and its wisdom will prove unforgettable.

1. Why is the first section of the novel entitled "The Drowned City?" Why is the title repeated for a later section?

2. Jakob says that Athos's fascination with Antarctica "was to become our azimuth. It was to direct the course of our lives" [33]. Why do you think Antarctica obsessed Athos? How does the story of the Scott expedition relate to that of Athos and Jakob? Do you agree with Jakob that Athos's fascination directed their lives?

3. "When the prisoners were forced to dig up the mass graves, the dead entered them through their pores and were carried through their bloodstreams to their brains and hearts. And through their blood into another generation" [52], Jakob writes, and later, "It's no metaphor to feel the influence of the dead in the world" [53]. How does the theme of the dead's influence on the living work itself out in the course of the novel?

4. The communist partisans in Greece, who had valiantly resisted the occupying Nazis, themselves committed terrible atrocities after the war, as Kostas and Daphne relate. Do you agree with their theory that violence is like an illness that can be caught, and that the Greeks caught it from the Germans [72]? What other explanations can be offered?

5. "I already knew the power of language to destroy, to omit, to obliterate," says Jakob. "But poetry, the power of language to restore: this was what both Athos and Kostas were trying to teach me" [79]. What instances does the novel give of the destructive power of language? In what ways does writing--both the writing of poetry and of translations--help to heal and restore Jakob? Does silence--the cessation of language--have its own function, and if so, what might it be?

6. "We were a vine and a fence. But who was the vine? We would both have answered differently" [108]. Here Jakob is speaking of his relationship with Athos; of what other relationships in the novel might this metaphor be used? Does Michaels imply that dependence is an integral part of love?

7. What is it about Alex's character that attracts Jakob and makes him fall in love with her? Why does he eventually find life with her impossible? Do you find Alex a sympathetic character, or an unpleasant one?

8. "History is amoral: events occurred. But memory is moral" [138]. "Every moment is two moments" [161]. How does Jakob define and differentiate history and memory? Can you see Fugitive Pieces as a comparison of history and memory?

9. Music is an important element of Fugitive Pieces, and it is central to the lives of at least three of the characters, Bella, Alex, and Naomi. What does music mean to each of these characters? Why has Michaels given music such a prominent metaphoric role in the novel?

10. What does Fugitive Pieces say about the condition of being an immigrant? Jakob never feels truly at home anywhere, even in Greece. Ben's parents feel that their toehold in their new home is infinitely precarious, an emotion that communicates itself to Ben. Does Michaels imply that real integration is impossible?

11. Can you explain the very different reactions Ben's parents have had to their experience in the Holocaust? What in their characters has determined the differing ways they respond to grief and loss?

12. The relationship between Ben and Naomi is a troubled one. Why is he angry at her for her closeness to his parents and her attention to their graves? Why does he reject her by leaving for Greece without her? How can you explain his intense desire for Petra--is his need purely physical? How do Petra and Naomi differ? What is the significance of their names?

13. Science has as important a role in the novel as poetry and music. Why is geology so important to Athos, meteorology to Ben? Does science represent a standard of disinterested truth, or does it merely symbolize the world's terrifying contingency?

14. Why might Jakob have named his collection of poems Groundwork, and in what way does that title relate to his life? Jakob calls his young self a "bog-boy" [5]. Why does Ben take such an interest in the preserved bog people he reads about [221]?

15. The last line of the novel is Ben's: "I see that I must give what I most need." What does he mean by this? What does he most need, what will he give, and to whom?

16. What is the significance of the novel's title? What do "pieces," or "fragments," mean within Michaels's scheme? Where in the novel can you find references to fragments?

Sept. 8 Fugitive Pieces

1. Read opening pages of Fugitive Pieces aloud to pg. 14

2. View opening of film and discuss

3. Work on Test 2 Natalie Goldberg

HMWK: Read to page 54 End of "The Stone Carriers"

4. Fugitive Pieces Writing Assignment
A major writing assignment for this Marking Period is a short story utilizing some of the techniques you are exploring while reading Anne Michael's Fugitive Pieces.

Let's call this assignment "The Story in Fragments":

1. Your short story should be at least 5 pages long, double spaced, 12 point standard font.
2. Traditionally, it should have a central character (protagonist) dealing with some sort of conflict (self vs. self, self vs. other, self vs. society, self vs. nature, etc.).
3. Nontraditionally, the story should exhibit some of the storytelling devices we have been exploring: stream-of-consciousness, memory, poetic prose, flashback, flash forwards, nonlinear structure, excerpts from history, descriptive verbal photographs of people and places, songs, poems, etc.
4. Along the way, be prepared to share drafts and discuss your story with members of the class.

Due date: Week of Oct. 6 (for peer review)

September 3 agenda

Welcome to Contemporary Writers 2010-2011

1. Go over course criteria sheet and overview of course

2. Introduction to Anne Michaels--go to website, read poems. We'll be getting the novel.


3. Look at Fugitive Pieces trailer--video bar




4. Writing Exercise: The Role of Memory
from Natalie Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away Test #1
I Remember/I Don't Remember exercise

Author Book Talks

We need to start scheduling actual book talks for June. Plan on 5-8 minutes to tell the class about your writer, the book and something about the writer's style and significance.

James Botsford Larry Watson
Spencer Pleninger Cormac McCarthy
Molly Snell-Larch Stieg Larsson
Kadisha Phillips Kurt Vonnegut
Nahoma Presberg Gregory Maguire
Rachel Tobin Jonathon Safron Foer
Lauren McGuire Alice Sebold
Meredith Jeffers Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran)
Mary Rice Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things)
Jonathan Madison Anthony Burgess
Savannah Goole Elizabeth Gilbert
Nautica Lawrence Bebe Moore Campbell
Jack Scardino Nell Degrasse Tyson
Alicia Green Tina Zahn w/ Wanda Dyson
Amane Amireh Khaled Hosseini
Jamilah Barker Pam Houston
Amanda Ghysel E. Annie Proulx
Jahmal Blair-Golden

Sherman Alexie

Pick up Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Visit Sherman Alexie's website:
www.fallsapart.com/

continue to work on your independent projects. Put work in your folders.

May 10--View Cunningham A Home at the End of the World

Watch film based on Michael Cunningham's book "A Home at the End of the World"

Cunningham wrote the adapted screenplay

Next project: The Independent Project---more to come

Welcome Back!

Please continue to work on your projects for The Hours.

Also, as a reading assessment for the novel, please answer one of the discussion questions for the book thoroughly in a 1-2 page essay. Be sure to cite support for
your claims with text from the book!

Why are we doing this? You all need practice writing a literary analysis essay that cites text for support. MLA style, folks!--
That means: "quote" (# -page).

PENFIELD POEMS! Due Thursday.

The Hours Writing Assignment-Themes, Motifs, Symbols

It's time to finish reading The Hours and begin a new writing assignment for this marking period.

Assignment: Your choice of genre (fiction, poetry, play)

Use some of the themes, motifs or symbols of The Hours in your writing assignment.


Themes, Motifs & Symbols (courtesy Spark notes)
Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Human Fascination With Mortality

The three main characters in The Hours search for meaning in their lives and evaluate suicide as a way of escaping the problems they face. Virginia, Clarissa, and Laura are incredibly sensitive and perceptive to the world around them. Each moment causes them to critically evaluate how they feel about living, so they constantly consider suicide as a way of evading the oppressive aspects of their lives. On the day explored by The Hours, Virginia Woolf tries to decide whether to have her character, Clarissa Dalloway, kill herself at the end of her book. We know that Virginia eventually ends her own life, so her deliberations about Clarissa partly reflect her own personal struggle with the idea of suicide.

Clarissa Vaughn dwells on the difference between her current life and the summer she spent in Wellfleet with her lover, Richard, at age eighteen. Richard’s illness causes her to ponder the way that time acts on people and changes them. Though she herself does not commit suicide, she witnesses her friend’s death and often evaluates whether the best days of her life are gone. Small slights, such as the absence of an invitation to lunch with Oliver St. Ives, make her feel insignificant, and she thinks about this sense of insignificance seems like death. The perceived immortality of movie stars and great writers, particularly the way their memory will outlast the memories of those that have lived less public lives, fascinates her.

Laura Brown feels trapped by the constraints of her role as a suburban housewife and sees suicide as a possible escape. The idea of shutting off the chatter and clamor of life in an instant seduces Laura. Because she is an intellectual, she thinks at first that her fascination with suicide is an objective, academic interest. She thinks that she would never actually be able to go through with killing herself. But as she feels the constraints of her own life closing in around her, she starts to seriously evaluate the idea of suicide. When she stands at the mirror staring at the bottle of sleeping pills, her interest is no longer purely hypothetical.
The Constraint of Societal Roles

The women of The Hours try to define their lives within the roles that society has set out for them but without sacrificing their own identities. They have varying degrees of comfort with their respective roles, ranging from Clarissa, who thinks occasionally that she’s too domestic, to Laura, who feels trapped by the life that she’s found herself living.

Clarissa lives with her female lover, a domestic situation that some might consider extraordinary. Despite her outsider societal status, she has established a stable and familiar routine. Mary Krull considers her to be “bourgeois to the bone,” while Richard comments that she has become the quintessential “society wife.” She has a lovely, well-appointed apartment, but she sometimes feel alienated from the domesticity of her surroundings. When she stands in her kitchen, she barely recognizes the plates that she herself bought and feels dislocated from the environment that should theoretically bring her satisfaction and comfort. She questions whether she has made the right decision by making such safe choices for herself. Virginia understands that she is an eccentric and, to an extent, embraces the role of the “mad writer.” She questions why she didn’t turn out more like her mother or her sister Vanessa. Both of these women could act as authoritative heads of the household who manage their lives perfectly. Meanwhile Virginia cannot even manage her servant Nelly—and she knows that she falls short in this respect. She wonders why she knows exactly how a person would manage servants but cannot put this idea into practice. Ultimately Virginia decides to make her character Clarissa into the English society wife that she never could be.

Laura has the severest case of conflict between her true self and the role that she has been handed. She married Dan out of a sense of obligation toward him and toward the world. She believes that the world has been saved by the soldiers that fought in World War II and that it is her role as a woman to serve as a wife and mother to the men returning from battle. Her needs have been subordinated to sense of duty and obligation to her family. As a result, she constantly looks around her and wonders whether her house, her child, and even her cake fulfill her personal desires. By the last chapter, she feels as if she is floating detached through her life, so disconnected that her life has become something she reads, much as she would read a story in a book.
Ordinary Life As More Interesting Than Art

The main characters try to find meaning and significance in every aspect of the world around them. In choosing to draw out the events of one day throughout a whole novel, Cunningham reveals the thoughts, attitudes, and perceptions of his three main characters through their small encounters with recognizable, everyday experiences. The women of The Hours, Clarissa in particular, cannot walk down the street without having a profound experience or revelation: the sight of a woman singing in the park makes her think about the history of the city she loves, while a glimpse of a movie star in her trailer causes her to pause and consider the ways that fame can make people immortal.

The perception of the world as meaningful is not a purely passive experience. Laura channels her restricted creativity into the domestic act of baking, treating the cake she makes for her husband as if it were a work of art. When the cake fails to live up to expectations, Laura feels not only the frustration of failing at the task but also her failure at finding satisfying outlets for her creative impulses.

As a writer, Virginia Woolf has a thoughtful, evaluative eye that gives her an acute understanding of the world around her. Even small moments can bring on great revelations. While sitting with her sister Vanessa at tea, chatting informally about a coat for Angelica, Virginia has a profound appreciation for the simple intimacy of the moment and wells up with tears. While each woman’s intense sensitivity allows her to feel deeply attuned to life, they also experience more acutely the heartaches and frustrations that come with minor setbacks. Though they cope with these setbacks with differing degrees of stoicism, each woman often feels overwhelmed by her life and the choices she has made.
Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Water

Water poses a threat to the characters in The Hours, beginning with Virginia Woolf’s drowning in the prologue, but it also creates a boundary space in which the characters can observe their lives from a distance and understand their situations with greater clarity. The Hours starts with Virginia Woolf’s suicide in a river, as she is simultaneously pulled away by the current with a rock in her pocket but still somehow able to perceive the world above the water. Though Virginia ends her life in the river, at the moment of drowning she transcends her body and sees the world with profound lucidity. Soon after this scene, Clarissa Dalloway steps out of her house into the New York morning, echoing the first scene of Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. She compares going out into the day to entering a swimming pool. Her everyday life comforts and preserves her as if she were underwater, but the darker ramifications of the prologue imply that Clarissa is drowning in her own existence. Though buoyed by the events of normal life, she runs the risk of being sucked down and consumed like Virginia.
Domestic Objects

Domestic objects in The Hours ground each scene in tangible, imaginable reality. Each object’s precise, simple description vividly depicts the various locations of the novel, conveying a sense of place vital to our imaginings of the three characters’ worlds The domestic life of each character carries significance: Virginia feels frustrated by her life in the suburbs and wants to return to the city, and she has trouble with the tasks of managing a household. Clarissa loves her apartment and her life, but she feels ambivalent about the choices she has made and sometimes feels alienated from the domestic trappings of her home. Laura feels confined by her role as a housewife, and though she has a cookie-cutter life, she questions the value of the simple pleasures of domesticity.

In the novel, domestic objects are often introduced as being of one principal color. Examples include Clarissa’s white plates, Laura’s blue bowl, the turquoise bedspread in the hotel Laura visits, Richie’s blue pajamas, Laura’s yellow kitchen, the white night-table in the attic bedroom at Wellfleet where Clarissa places her book, and the blue shirt that Walter Hardy buys for Evan. These colors correspond to the moods and tones of the scenes, and they emphasize the specificity of the objects.
Flowers

Flowers are the subject of the famous opening line of Mrs. Dalloway and appear throughout the The Hours as tools to brighten moments of charged emotional intensity. In Mrs. Dalloway, the story begins with the eponymous character leaving her house to buy flowers for the party that evening. Clarissa Vaughn leaves her apartment with the same intention. Flowers, particularly roses, have different connotations for each of the major characters: for Virginia, the roses around the bed of the dead bird signify rest and funereal blankness. Clarissa takes great pleasure in the flowers she buys. She brings Richard flowers to brighten his dark apartment, and she brings some home to spruce up her own apartment. When Mary Krull notices the flowers, Clarissa feels defensive, because they signify a conventional domesticity that Mary wouldn’t approve of. For Sally, a perfect cluster of roses is a present that she can knows Clarissa will appreciate. Laura sees the roses that she puts on the birthday table for Dan as a way to make up for the mental distance she puts between herself and her family.
Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Laura’s Cake

Laura wants the cake she makes for Dan to fulfill her desire for meaning in her role as a mother, cook, and housewife. Though she knows a cake cannot provide the baker with the same satisfaction that a work of art would provide an artist, she can’t help but crave some creative outlet. Although she tries to convince herself that the first cake she bakes has turned out well, she decides to throw it out and make a second cake. She becomes furious when this second cake is ruined after Dan spits on it as he blows out the candles. No matter what she does, Dan and Richie will be there to “ruin” whatever cake she produces by reminding her of the restricted nature of her role. The cake forces Laura to consider the idea that just having a family will not be enough for her.
Richard’s Chair

Richard’s decaying armchair represents his declining health and mental prowess. Clarissa tries to maintain her optimism when confronted with Richard’s decline, but the chair is a sign she cannot ignore. With her scrupulous attention to domestic detail, Clarissa is bothered by the chair, which she calls “ostentatiously broken and worthless.” Though it smells like it’s rotting, Richard refuses to throw it out. The chair, which Clarissa has pointed out is so far gone as to be almost not worth holding on to, represents Richard’s body. Clarissa marvels at the idea that the human will to live is so strong that even when the body has decayed completely, human beings still have a powerful will to live. She describes the chair as being sick, and Richard clings to it stubbornly. Perhaps if he can hold onto the chair, he can hold onto hope.
The Dead Bird

Virginia sees the dead bird as a symbol of death and becomes fascinated with the way the thrush’s body becomes smaller and seems less important after it dies. Virginia first notices the dead bird when Vanessa’s children construct a grave for it in her garden. She takes notice of how small and insignificant the bird looks after being placed in the nest of flowers. Later that evening, she creeps out to the garden and looks at the bird again. Although earlier she expressed that she would like the peace and quiet of laying on the bird’s bed of roses, she realizes that she is not yet ready to become that small and insignificant. The bird represents death and demonstrates the way the vitality of day-to-day life is pulled from the physical form, leaving only a small body. At that moment, Virginia decides she is not ready to choose death, but ultimately she does decide to take her own life.

The Hours Discussion Questions

In this remarkable book, Cunningham draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, life and death, creation and destruction. The novel moves along three separate but parallel stories, each focusing on the experiences of a particular woman during the course of one apparently unremarkable but in fact pivotal day.

Clarissa Vaughan, a book editor in present-day Greenwich Village, is organizing a party for her oldest friend, Richard, an AIDS-stricken poet who has just won a major literary prize. Laura Brown, a young wife and mother in 1949 Los Angeles, cares for her toddler and prepares a birthday cake for her husband as she tries to resist increasing waves of panic and feelings of alienation from her humdrum yet demanding life. And Virginia Woolf herself, the third woman, works on her new novel, Mrs. Dalloway, chats with her husband and sister, bickers with her cook, and attempts to come to terms with her deep, ungovernable longings for escape and even for death. As the novel jump-cuts through the century, the lives and stories of the three women converge, stunningly and unexpectedly, the night of Clarissa’s party for Richard.



1. Clarissa Vaughan is described several times as an "ordinary" woman. Do you accept this valuation? If so, what does it imply about the ordinary, about being ordinary? What makes someone, by contrast, extraordinary?

2. Flowers and floral imagery play a significant part in The Hours. When and where are flowers described? What significance do they have, and with what events and moods are they associated? How do flowers affect Virginia? Clarissa?

3. Cunningham plays with the notions of sanity and insanity, recognizing that there might be only a very fine line between the two states. What does the novel imply about the nature of insanity? Might it in fact be a heightened sanity, or at least a heightened sense of awareness? Would you classify Richard as insane? How does his mental state compare with that of Virginia? Of Laura as a young wife? Of Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway? Does insanity (or the received idea of insanity) appear to be connected with creative gifts?

4. Virginia and Laura are both, in a sense, prisoners of their eras and societies, and both long for freedom from this imprisonment. Clarissa Vaughan, on the other hand, apparently enjoys every liberty: freedom to be a lesbian, to come and go and live as she likes. Yet she has ended up, in spite of her unusual way of life, as a fairly conventional wife and mother. What might this fact indicate about the nature of society and the restrictions it imposes? Does the author imply that character, to a certain extent, is destiny?

5. Each of the novel’s three principal women, even the relatively prosaic and down-to-earth Clarissa, occasionally feels a sense of detachment, of playing a role. Laura feels as if she is "about to go onstage and perform in a play for which she is not appropriately dressed, and for which she has not adequately rehearsed" [p. 43]. Clarissa is filled with "a sense of dislocation. This is not her kitchen at all. This is the kitchen of an acquaintance, pretty enough but not her taste, full of foreign smells" [p. 91]. Is this feeling in fact a universal one? Is role-playing an essential part of living in the world, and of behaving "sanely"? Which of the characters refuses to act a role, and what price does he/she pay for this refusal?

6. Who kisses whom in The Hours, and what is the significance of each kiss?

7. The Hours is very much concerned with creativity and the nature of the creative act, and each of its protagonists is absorbed in a particular act of creation. For Virginia and Richard, the object is their writing; for Clarissa Vaughan (and Clarissa Dalloway), it is a party; for Laura Brown, it is another party, or, more generally, "This kitchen, this birthday cake, this conversation. This revived world" [p. 106]. What does the novel tell us about the creative process? How does each character revise and improve his or her creation during the course of the story?

8. How might Richard’s childhood experiences have made him the adult he eventually becomes? In what ways has he been wounded, disturbed?

9. Each of the three principal women is acutely conscious of her inner self or soul, slightly separate from the "self" seen by the world. Clarissa’s "determined, abiding fascination is what she thinks of as her soul" [p. 12]; Virginia "can feel it inside her, an all but indescribable second self, or rather a parallel, purer self. If she were religious, she would call it the soul . . . It is an inner faculty that recognizes the animating mysteries of the world because it is made of the same substance" [pp. 34-35]. Which characters keep these inner selves ruthlessly separate from their outer ones? Why?

10. Each of the novel’s characters sees himself or herself, most of the time, as a failure. Virginia Woolf, as she walks to her death, reflects that "She herself has failed. She is not a writer at all, really; she is merely a gifted eccentric" [p. 4]. Richard, disgustedly, admits to Clarissa, "I thought I was a genius. I actually used that word, privately, to myself" [p. 65]. Are the novel’s characters unusual, or are such feelings of failure an essential and inevitable part of the human condition?

11. Toward the end of Clarissa’s day, she realizes that kissing Richard beside the pond in Wellfleet was the high point, the culmination, of her life. Richard, apparently, feels the same. Are we meant to think, though, that their lives would have been better, more heightened, had they stayed together? Or does Cunningham imply that as we age we inevitably feel regret for some lost chance, and that what we in fact regret is youth itself?

12. The Hours could on one level be said to be a novel about middle age, the final relinquishment of youth and the youthful self. What does middle age mean to these characters? In what essential ways do these middle-aged people--Clarissa, Richard, Louis, Virginia --differ from their youthful selves? Which of them resists the change most strenuously?

13. What does the possibility of death represent to the various characters? Which of them loves the idea of death, as others love life? What makes some of the characters decide to die, others to live? What personality traits separate the "survivors" from the suicides?

14. If you have read Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, would you describe The Hours as a modern version of it? A commentary upon it? A dialogue with it? Which characters in The Hours correspond with those of Woolf’s novel? In what ways are they similar, and at what point do the similarities cease and the characters become freestanding individuals in their own right?

15. For the most part, the characters in The Hours have either a different gender or a different sexual orientation from their prototypes in Mrs. Dalloway. How much has all this gender-bending affected or changed the situations, the relationships, and the people?

16. Why has Cunningham chosen The Hours for the title of his novel (aside from the fact that it was Woolf’s working title for Mrs. Dalloway)? In what ways is the title appropriate, descriptive? What do hours mean to Richard? To Laura? To Clarissa?