Formulate a written reaction to "Blood-Burning Moon." You may do any or all of the following: consider characterization, consider what the central conflict of the story is, consider who the protagonist and antagonist are, relate the text to the themes of the course, use elements of close reading, quote reputable outside sources, draw connections between the text and your first-person experiences, and/or react to a post that someone else made.
Your post should bring up something unique about the text that adds to what has already been posted. Please post at least 150-200 words.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Essay Assignment--DUE MARCH 31st
Please select one topic from the ones listed below. Turn in all your rough work, and put your final draft on top; make sure your final draft is stapled on the top left side. Your paper must include citations (at least 2) from the LiterActive document library and the short stories you use, and you must provide a Works Cited List using the MLA documentation style provided on your LiterActive Disk. You may also use any of the YouTube videos shown during class or any of the articles on the syllabus instead of one of the LiterActive documents as a source. Failure to cite your sources correctly, and place commas and periods where they belong, will cost you points on your paper grade (since it just takes patience and time; not taking that time shows that you do not care about your work). Please remember to explain the word choice in the quotations you use and demonstrate the connections you see between the passages you choose and the idea you are proving. Write simply and straightforwardly.
1. Use one of the following stories to prove that the character who appears most normal and follows mainstream cultural constructs is the one in greatest need of human compassion and transformation. Make sure you provide sufficient evidence for your viewpoint and that you explain your evidence clearly. This essay topic asks you to construct a convincing and persuasive argument that proves something. You may choose to write this on either “Sonny’s Blues” or “Everyday Use.”
2. What do you believe Jean Toomer is trying to teach you through her story “Blood-Burning Moon”? What do you make of Tom Burwell and his choice of action? What do you make of Louisa? Is she really oblivious to what is happening at the end of the story?
3. Discuss the use of music in Baldwin and Toomer. How are jazz and vocal music used in these stories. Please note the different time periods in which these stories were written. The contexts are different, so make sure you differentiate the historical background’s impact upon the use of music in the story.
4. Discuss the similarities between Mrs. Dutta and Sonny’s brother. Why are these similarities significant thematically?
5. What is Walker’s commentary on the value of education in the story “Everyday Use”? What is your evidence. Why would she want to convey that message?
6. Discuss the first sentence of “Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter” and the amount of information it carries. Show how this one sentence foreshadows so much. Think carefully about the simile. Discuss the importance of the title, particularly the verb. What is so amazing about the result of the writing that it appears in the title? What does this teach you about writing-to-learn as opposed to having your thesis statement before you begin to write?
1. Use one of the following stories to prove that the character who appears most normal and follows mainstream cultural constructs is the one in greatest need of human compassion and transformation. Make sure you provide sufficient evidence for your viewpoint and that you explain your evidence clearly. This essay topic asks you to construct a convincing and persuasive argument that proves something. You may choose to write this on either “Sonny’s Blues” or “Everyday Use.”
2. What do you believe Jean Toomer is trying to teach you through her story “Blood-Burning Moon”? What do you make of Tom Burwell and his choice of action? What do you make of Louisa? Is she really oblivious to what is happening at the end of the story?
3. Discuss the use of music in Baldwin and Toomer. How are jazz and vocal music used in these stories. Please note the different time periods in which these stories were written. The contexts are different, so make sure you differentiate the historical background’s impact upon the use of music in the story.
4. Discuss the similarities between Mrs. Dutta and Sonny’s brother. Why are these similarities significant thematically?
5. What is Walker’s commentary on the value of education in the story “Everyday Use”? What is your evidence. Why would she want to convey that message?
6. Discuss the first sentence of “Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter” and the amount of information it carries. Show how this one sentence foreshadows so much. Think carefully about the simile. Discuss the importance of the title, particularly the verb. What is so amazing about the result of the writing that it appears in the title? What does this teach you about writing-to-learn as opposed to having your thesis statement before you begin to write?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
We're still singing those Baldwin blues...
Please read the following article on how to do a close reading of a text. Then provide your best close reading of the following passage from "Sonny's Blues."
http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/closeread.htm
"We live in a housing project. It hasn't been up long. A few days after it was up it seemed uninhabitably new, now, of course, it's already rundown. It looks like a parody of the good, clean, faceless life-God knows the people who live in it do their best to make it a parody. The beat-looking grass lying around isn't enough to make their lives green, the hedges will never hold out the streets, and they know it. The big windows fool no one, they aren't big enough to make space out of no space. They don't bother with the windows, they watch the TV screen instead. The playground is most popular with the children who don't play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark. We moved in partly because it's not too far from where I teach, and partly for the kids; but it's really just like the houses in which Sonny and I grew up. The same things happen, they'll have the same things to remember. The moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape."
http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/closeread.htm
"We live in a housing project. It hasn't been up long. A few days after it was up it seemed uninhabitably new, now, of course, it's already rundown. It looks like a parody of the good, clean, faceless life-God knows the people who live in it do their best to make it a parody. The beat-looking grass lying around isn't enough to make their lives green, the hedges will never hold out the streets, and they know it. The big windows fool no one, they aren't big enough to make space out of no space. They don't bother with the windows, they watch the TV screen instead. The playground is most popular with the children who don't play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark. We moved in partly because it's not too far from where I teach, and partly for the kids; but it's really just like the houses in which Sonny and I grew up. The same things happen, they'll have the same things to remember. The moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape."
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sonny's Blues
As always, you don't have to answer all of these questions in your post, but please make an honest effort to explore the story through your blog post.
Music is an important force in "Sonny's Blues." What role does music play in the story? What is the relationship between Sonny and music? What about between the narrator and music (specifically, jazz and the blues)? What does music have to do with the greater meanings of the story, whatever those may be? How do you relate to music--what role does it play in your life? (If you are a person who creates music or plays an instrument, comment on that.)
Music is an important force in "Sonny's Blues." What role does music play in the story? What is the relationship between Sonny and music? What about between the narrator and music (specifically, jazz and the blues)? What does music have to do with the greater meanings of the story, whatever those may be? How do you relate to music--what role does it play in your life? (If you are a person who creates music or plays an instrument, comment on that.)
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