Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Count of Monte Cristo Reading Schedule

The Count of Monte Cristo Reading Schedule:

1. Up to Chapter XIV (p. 104) by Monday May 4th.
2. Up to Chapter XXVII (p. 203) by Monday May 11
3. Up to Chapter XL (p. 310) by Monday May 18th
4. Up to Chapter LII (p.431) by Tuesday May 26th
5. Up to Chapter LXVII (p. 541) by Monday June 1st
6. Finish text on Wednesday June 3rd, Chapter LXXI (p. 582)

The portion of the reading schedule that is set in stone is that you need to be up to page 203 by Monday May 11th. We will begin working on the text as a class on May 14th. That Thursday and Friday we will review the first 200 pages and we’ll start with the 310th page on Monday the 18th.

Enjoy, this is a fast paced text. Make sure to keep track of characters and these major themes in your highlighting and annotating:
• Pay close attention to elements of the background that will later justify Dantes’ villainy. Does the pain caused justify his retribution?
• Divine Justice vs. Human Justice (With Dantes as the chief figure)
• Envy vs. Satisfaction (which characters appreciate their lives and which envy others)
• Dantes as being set-apart from society, and the effects that has on him (post jail)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Count of Monte Cristo


Here is the cover of the text you guys need to get. Make sure it is this cover. It's the one that is just like the Pride and Prejudice text we just read in class.
Enjoy Break!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Writing Tips from Huck Finn

Writing Samples:

General Problems:
• He= who, Him= whom.
• Stop using seen. Makes your writing sound subjective and opinion based.
Intros:
• Take a concept, a metaphor, or an idea that is from outside of the text and apply it to the material. For example, a magnet.
• Make sure the connection is clear.
• It also gives you a metaphor to work with in your conclusion.
Ever heard of the idea that opposites attract? When using magnets, in order to attract them “you have to place opposite ends of two magnets near each other” (Madison). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, protagonist Huckleberry Finn and friend Tom Sawyer are, in this case, the opposite ends of two magnets. What’s so different about them? Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer differ from each other in their upbringings, their outlook on life, and in the manner that they treat others.

Theses:
• Make it specific. Use descriptive adjectives that you can come back to. It makes the writing of your paper easier.
• It’s harder to test whether you’ve proven that Huck and Tom are different, than it is to prove that they are different in their interpretations of right and wrong.
The journey Huck embarked on, the people he encountered, and the events he witnessed taught him more about the corrupted society he lived in than all the books and teachers in the world could.

Huck’s journey is a fabricated tale used to enumerate the iniquities of the deep south which range from racial prejudice all the way to a drastic misunderstanding of religious obligation.

The mid-1800s was an era of immorality, ignorance, and sin by those who followed societal standards, resulting in the dehumanization of blacks.

Conclusions:
• Take the reader back out from the narrow scope of your body paragraphs.
• Reincorporate themes from your introduction or earlier in your paper.
All men are equal under the eyes of God: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Therefore, slavery is a sinful combination of inequality, discrimination, and hatred. It violates the sacred integrity of a human being and the God-given right for one to pursuit the happiness of life. Mark Twain criticized the society of the mid-1800’s south though Huck Finn’s adventures along the Mississippi River. The issue of slavery was not a phenomenon that accidentally happened; it was, indeed, caused by the whites’ privilege and superiority, the negative influences of society on people, and the ignorance and unconsciousness of men. Without the lighthouse of justice, people would get lost in the sea of prejudice, and fail to find their way to freedom.

_Fortunately, there is hope for us on the shore of freedom as Huck said in the end with a delightful spirit, “I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before” (307). Everyone has been there before – the entire human race was once lost in the dark region of slavery and discrimination. However, it is never too late to light the torch of hope, since God will always give us a second chance. Huck and Jim are already heading to the ultimate Territory where no prejudice and injustice exist. So when shall we be setting out for our journey to the kingdom of equality and freedom?






Integrating Quotes:
• Make sure to select quotes that directly support what you are saying.
• Use descriptive adjectives that jibe with the content of your paragraph. Don’t say Huck doesn’t care, say he is indifferent. Don’t say Tom is strange, say he is eccentric in his fastidious adherence to societal dictums.
Huck was constantly being told his father had a bad influence on him. Though this was true, it would not have a strong impact on Huck if he did not experience any abuse or neglect himself. It is rather clear to Huck that he lives in a corrupted society based on his father’s insolent actions: “He chased me round and round the place, with a clasp-knife, calling me the Angel of Death and saying he would kill me and then I could come for him no more” (Twain 39). Even though Huck’s father had a negative effect on him, he taught him a valuable lesson. Pap was the perfect example of how not to live by. Pap’s unwillingness to be honest encouraged Huck to be: “don’t ask me nothing- then I won’t have to tell no lies” (25). Pap’s death showed that nothing good comes out of telling lies, being intoxicated, or being abusive.

The superiority of whites was one of the causes of slavery. White men were born with the privilege and superiority, whereas blacks are doomed to be slaves. Mark Twain revealed in the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, that pride can lead to the unnecessary insecurity of one’s inherent privilege: “You're educated, too, they say; can read and write. You think you're better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t? I’ll take it out of you” (28-29). There was a sense of insecurity in Pap’s voice. He was intimidated by the fact that his son, being civilized, is going to become a better person than he is: “I’ll learn people to bring up a boy to put on airs over his own father and let on to be better’n what he is” (29). Therefore, from a historical perspective, this insecurity has a symbolic meaning – the whites’ fear of losing their dominance over black people. In Pap’s mind, he “was Huck Finn's boss” (33) and his son was his “property” (36). It may be strange for us to hear, and hard for us to understand, why Pap would view a person as his own property; but back in those days, when slavery still existed, it was very common to own someone's freedom and make full use of it. On one hand, Huck's dad uses him as a cash cow to get money for alcohol, which implicates the Old South Tradition of whites forcing slaves to work on cotton fields in order to make a fortune. On the other hand, Pap saved his brittle pride by dominating his son, which symbolizes the evil privilege of whites dominating black slaves in the old days.

Tom claims to have an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, yet sadly, his misunderstanding is not his own fault, but instead a condemnation of the miseducation of southern youth. When Tom and Huck are deliberating about the proper utensil to use to dig Jim out, Tom claims that, “right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better” (260). Tom’s attempt at righteousness rings false to the reader, because we know that ironically, Huck is the one who knows right from wrong. This leaves us with the lingering question: How has Tom been so brutally misled? The iniquitous society Tom has been brought up in never demanded that Tom question anything. Because Tom was taught to follow rules, and not to question his surroundings, he has swallowed the bitter pill of racism that he was handed, and through his upbringing that slimy poison has disseminated to the outer reaches of his being. He has never had a true understanding of right and wrong, and therefore, we do not find him morally culpable even when we find his actions despicable.

Short and to the point:
• Don’t be afraid to have a short paragraph that serves a singular purpose.
• It allows you to know whether you proved your point.
• Have a focused scope in your paragraph. Know what you want to say, don’t dilly dally, and support your idea.
When Huck found a home at the Grangerfords, he was enveloped by a guerrilla war between two families that had no idea why they were fighting. When Huck confronted Buck and asked if the Shepherdsons ever did anything wrong against him, Buck did not know why the families started feuding: “Laws, how do I know? It was so long ago” (120). Fighting for something without a cause is meaningless and amounts to nothing. If this feud and all the death it created were acceptable to Southern society, how was it that blacks were forced into slavery? The logic here is nonsensical.

Vague Language:
• Do not use bland language like: different, strange, odd, nice, interesting etc.
• Use descriptive adjectives. It allows you to check whether you proved your point or not.
He sees life differently than others, and there are many times where he says things that show how he feels about situations that many people would feel differently about.

Misinterpretations of the text:
Jim sacrificed himself for Tom, and Tom used Jim. Shows the humanity of blacks in comparison to whites. Jim is more moral than Tom.
Miss Watson owns Jim. She obviously reinforces the fact that slavery is ok. She DOES NOT help to teach Huck that slavery is wrong! Huck forms his own morality, he doesn’t choose between Watson and Pap. Those two opposing views force him to re-evaluate his life, and he decides to think for himself. Key.

Pride and Prejudice Essay

Pride and Prejudice Essay Topics:
100 Points
Due April 17, 2009 (Happy Bday Gen)

Directions: Students are to compose an essay of between 3 and 7 pages. Argue one of the four essay questions using specific evidence from the text. Focus on incorporating a captivating introduction and conclusion that unify the essay. The essay should have minimal errors, a works cited, and should be in MLA Format.

1.) After completing the novel, what do you consider to be the most appropriate title: First Impressions, or Pride and Prejudice?
2.) Give the novel a new title and argue why that should be the novel’s title instead of Pride and Prejudice.
3.) Contemplate the three marital motives we see expressed in the novel, and clearly describe what you consider to be the most favorable basis for a marriage, both in the characters dispositions, and the motives behind the match. Use explicit examples from the text to support your assertion.
4.) How can this novel be read as a critique of the classist structuring of society?

Easter Homework

Students are to write two one-page descriptions of a character. Due Tuesday April 13. Thesis is a one sentence description of the character. 1st body paragraph is blatant description and support (think body paragraph of an essay). 2nd paragraph needs to be an extended metaphor about the character. Conclusion is a one-sentence analogy to a person in the world today. (30 points each).

Potential Characters.
• Mr. Phillips
• Lydia
• Lizzy
• Darcy
• Jane
• Caroline
• Mrs. Bennet
• Mr. Bennet
• Bingley
• Wickham
• Colonel Fitzwilliam
• Mary