Thursday, March 13, 2014

More In the Lake of the Woods

Agenda:

-We will discuss your creative writing assignment for the In the Lake of the Woods unit (see blog post below)

-Next, you will break into small groups and track some of the most compelling clues you have come across thus far. What do we know about Wade that helps support the idea that he murdered his wife? What do we know about Kathy that supports that she may have secretly left?

-You will share your clues with the rest of the class

Group Discussion Questions:


  • What does O'Brien accomplish in the sections titled "Evidence"? 
  • What information do these passages impart that is absent from the straightforward narrative? 
  • How do they alter or deepen our understanding of John as a magician, a politician, a husband, and a soldier who committed atrocities in wartime? 
  • What connections do they forge between his private tragedy and the pathologies of our public life and history? 
  • Does the testimony of (or about) such "real" people as Richard Nixon, William Calley, or George Custer lend greater verisimilitude (the appearance of truth) to John's story or remind us that it--and John himself--are artifices?

-One of the few things that we know for certain about John is that he loves Kathy. But what does John mean by love? How do John's feelings for his wife resemble his hopeless yearning for his father, who had a similar habit of vanishing? In what circumstances does John say "I love you"? Why might Kathy have fallen in love with John? 


-The rest of the class period will be devoted to FINISHING your magical realism stories and brainstorming for your new assignment.



Homework for Tuesday next week:
Read up to pg. 110 

Student viewpoint link:

www.studentvp.com/rcsd

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