Two more short stories in 2nd person

Two more short stories in 2nd person

http://42opus.com/shortstory/secondperson

And more:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/tag/second-person

and Italo Calvino:

http://www-control.eng.cam.ac.uk/hu/Calvino.html

Writing in 2nd person

AGENDA:

POETRY CYCLES DUE MONDAY!

Read short articles on writing in second person.

Group #1     Wikipedia on second person narrative:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-person_narrative

 

  Group #2    Why you should write in 2nd person:

http://thewritepractice.com/second-person/

Group #3      Writing in second person:

http://www.chuffedbuffbooks.com/writing-in-second-person-atwood-to-tolstoy/

 

READ:

UNTIL GWEN--Dennis Lehane 

 

Click on this link and read (saving paper) or read hard copy on front table.  Post a comment on one of the questions.

 

adlibris.com/se/images/UntilGwen.pdf

What does this picture say about the story?
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76576

An interview with Dennis Lehane

theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/hookers-guns-and-money/3125/


Until Gwen Response
1. 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.

or


2. "Until Gwen"
Use the title "Until Gwen" in a sentence about the main character of this story: "Until Gwen, he ______. During Gwen, he ______. After Gwen, he ______." Do the same with the main character's father: "Until Gwen, his father ______. During Gwen, his father ______. After Gwen, his father ______." 
Describe the lasting impact Gwen had on these two men. Are there similarities?

or 

3. At the story's end, the main character has all the means to completely re-invent himself. Financially he is secure. On paper he has no past. He is able to completely start somewhere new where no one knows him. If you could write an epilogue to this story, one year later, where would he be?


Post your comments!  

Poetry Cycles/A Prayer for the Dying

AGENDA:

WORK ON POETRY CYCLES
LAST DAY FOR SCHOLASTIC!


Writing in the Second Person

Go to library for A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan

HMWK for Wednesday:  Read Ch. 1 to pg. 26

Go over A Prayer for the Dying questions.

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? Begin working on second person short stories.

CONTESTS:  Sokol, Gannon, and of course, Scholastic!

Poetry Cycle

AGENDA:

Work on poetry cycle---First draft DUE Tuesday

TEST---Rita Dove--Thomas and Beulah

AGENDA:

Test on Thomas and Beulah:
OPEN BOOK
This is to allow you to cite the names of poems and specific lines to support your claims!
Identifications (10 points each) should be at least 3 sentences long. 
Indicate who or what the term is and relate it to the story of the poems as a whole.  Why is it important or significant in Thomas and Beulah?

ESSAY (30 points)---Be sure to have a strong CLAIM and provide EVIDENCE (examples).
Explore themes such as marriage, racism in the 20th century, family, etc. or motifs and symbols.

COFFEEHOUSE READINGS TONIGHT!  (Extra credit for attendance and participation)

WRITING:  Your first draft of poetry cycle is DUE on TUESDAY next week

Rita Dove "Canary in Bloom"

AGENDA:

VIDEO: "Canary in Bloom"

WRITING: Work on Poetry Cycles

Scholastic entries?

TEST on WEDNESDAY: Thomas and Beulah

FRIDAY: Continue working on poetry cycles, First draft DUE TUESDAY 11/26

Rita Dove/Coffeehouse/Scholastic

AGENDA:

Video: Thomas and Beulah

READ: Post comment on the blog
https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2017/01/04/reading-rita-doves-thomas-and-beulah/

WRITING:

Work on your POETRY CYCLE (see previous post for assignment)

Work on your Scholastic contest entries

REMINDER:  Coffeehouse--next Wed. 11/20  7 pm  Extra credit for attendance and reading