Thursday, September 19, 2013

Friday, September 20th, 2013

Dear Juniors,

If you missed class, we completed the following:

1. Each student received a copy of AW #5 entitled "Does the Constitution have a heart for Boobies?" Due on Thursday, September 26th.....all colors...3-5 first page, 2-3 second

2. We also discussed AW #4 about Dallas Weins.

3. Students were given a copy of the BOOK LIST for AP English, and asked to select a book from the list for their first book report. Students must have chosen the book by THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th, and have a copy with them in class on that day.

4. We also read a short story by Ernest Hemingway entitled "Hills Like White Elephants" (see below) and a poem by Margaret Atwood entitled "You fit into me" (see below).

Book Report

Works must come from the reading list but cannot include Turn of the Screw, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, The Glass Menagerie,  nor any work that was covered in your 10th grade English class.  It would be best, in fact, to pre-approve your choice with me.
1st Term Literature Report Requirements:
  • Pick a work by an American author (the reading list was given to you in class).
  • Book reports must be typed in MLA format with appropriate headings and sub-headings.  Your writing should be formal in quality and in academic voice.
  • Make sure you proofread your work.
  • Include the following under separate headings:
  1. Title and author of the book, a brief explanation of why this book was chosen, and the date (year) the book was written or first published.
  2. Genre (biography, history, action, romance, horror, crime, drama, etc.).
  3. One paragraph argument that the author is American.  Include evidence and support from your research of the author’s life, content, or style.
  4. A two-paragraph summary of the book, and what you learned from the reading
  5. A one sentence summary of the theme of the book (the main idea the author is trying to express).
  6. A list of at least five “golden passages” from your book.  Each quote should be accompanied by a paragraph explicating the quote, its context in the book, and its relationship to the theme that you summarized above.
  7. A complete Reading Record (see below) for this book.

    Reading Record


    (Your best bet is to copy the following text and paste it into Word.)

     NAME:___________________________________
    Name of Work________________________________________________________________________________
    Author______________________________________________ Genre_______________________________
    Author’s Time Period_____________________ Form (Poetry, Prose, Fiction, Non-Fiction, . . .)_______________
    Time Period of Work/Setting ____________________________________________________________________
    Key Characters (if applicable -- Include a brief description of their personality traits and function, e.g., protagonist,
    antagonist, foil, confidante, stereotype)
    _______________________ _______________________________________________________________
    _______________________ _______________________________________________________________
    _______________________ _______________________________________________________________
    _______________________ _______________________________________________________________
    _______________________ _______________________________________________________________
    One paragraph plot outline (keep it simple)
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    List possible symbols (approx. two major and support ideas)
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    Subject (topic): ________________________________________________________________________________
    Theme(s) (what do you think the text says about the subject? Include possible support ideas -- why do you think
    that? Justify your interpretation):
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    Other noteworthy elements, e.g., tone or mood (satirical, ironic), point of view, important quotation(s),
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________
    Other works by this author (one or two): _______________________________________________________

    This book report is due on OCTOBER  17th This assignment is “long term” and WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED LATE unless arrangements are made with me IN ADVANCE. I'm obviously SERIOUS about that. Can't you TELL by my OVERUSE of CAPITAL LETTERS?


    "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway


    The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and
    no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the
    station there
    was the warm shadow of the building and a
    curtain
    , made of strings of bamboo
    beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with
    him sat at a table in the shade, outsid
    e the building. It was very hot and the express from
    Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to
    Madrid.
    ‘What should we drink?’ the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
    ‘It’s pre
    tty hot,’ the man said.
    ‘Let’s drink beer.’
    ‘Dos cervezas,’ the man said into the curtain.
    ‘Big ones?’ a woman asked from the doorway.
    ‘Yes. Two big ones.’
    The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer
    glass on
    the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills.
    They were white in the sun and the country was
    brown
    and dry.
    ‘They look l
    ike white elephants,’ she said.
    ‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer.
    ‘No, you wouldn’t have.’
    ‘I might have,’ the man said. ‘Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.’
    The girl looked at the bead curtain. ‘They’ve painted somet
    hing on it,’ she said. ‘What does it
    say?’
    ‘Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.’
    ‘Could we try it?’
    The man called ‘Listen’ through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
    ‘Four reales.’ ‘We want two Anis del Toro.’
    ‘With water?’
    ‘Do you want it with water?
    ‘I don’t know,’ the girl said. ‘Is it good with water?’
    ‘It’s all right.’
    ‘You want them with water?’ asked the woman.
    ‘Yes, with water.’
    ‘It tastes like liquorice,’ the girl said and put the glass down.
    ‘That’s the way with everything.’
    ‘Yes,’ said the
    girl. ‘Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so
    long for, like absinthe.’
    ‘Oh, cut it out.’
    ‘You started it,’ the girl said. ‘I was being amused. I was having a fine time.’
    ‘Well, let’s try and have a fine time.’
    ‘All righ
    t. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?’
    ‘That was bright.’
    ‘I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it
    look at things and try new drinks?’
    ‘I guess so.’
    The girl looked across at the hills.

    ‘They’re lovely hills,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the
    colouring of their skin through the trees.’
    ‘Should we have another drink?’
    ‘All right.’
    The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
    ‘The beer’s nic
    e and cool,’ the man said.
    ‘It’s lovely,’ the girl said.
    ‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,’ the man said. ‘It’s not really an operation at all.’
    The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
    ‘I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s re
    ally not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’
    The girl did not say anything.
    ‘I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all
    perfectly natural.’
    ‘Then what will we do afterwards?’
    ‘We’ll be fine afterwar
    ds. Just like we were before.’
    ‘What makes you think so?’
    ‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’
    The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.
    ‘And you thin
    k then we’ll be all right and be happy.’
    ‘I know we will. Yon don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.’
    ‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterwards they were all so happy.’
    ‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t
    have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you
    didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.’
    ‘And you really want to?’
    ‘I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.’
    ‘And if I do it you’ll be happy and thing
    s will be like they were and you’ll love me?’
    ‘I love you now. You know I love you.’
    ‘I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll
    like it?’
    ‘I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think abou
    t it. You know how I get when I worry.’
    ‘If I do it you won’t ever worry?’
    ‘I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.’
    ‘Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I don’t care about me.’
    ‘Well, I care about you.’
    ‘O
    h, yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.’
    ‘I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.’
    The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of
    grain and trees along t
    he banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The
    shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.
    ‘And we could have all this,’ she said. ‘And we could have everything and every day we make it
    more impossible.’
    ‘What did you say?’
    ‘I said we could have everything.’
    ‘We can have everything.’


    You fit into me
    like a hook into an eye

    a fish hook
    an open eye
    Margaret Atwood


    HOMEWORK:
    1. Analyze two of the four works reviewed and discussed today("Hills Like White Elephants," "Metaphors," "Wife's Story," and "You fit Into Me").for Tuesday, September 24th.
    2. AW #5 is due on Thursday, the 26th
    3. Select and locate your chosen book for your first book report due Thursday, the 26th.

    The following topic sentences/body sentences were written in class to assist you with your analysis.


           Ursula K. LeGuinn effectively manipulates her audience in “The Wife’s Story,” by using the literary tool of situational irony to create an unexpected turn of events.

           Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Metaphors,” uses rich metaphorical riddles to thoroughly describe her state of pregnancy.

    Ernest Hemingway ‘s use of the Iceberg Theory in his short story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” assists the reader in making strong inferences regarding the text; consequently,  causing them to explore and interpret  Hemingway’s words with greater clarity.

           In the short poem, “You Fit Into Me,” Margaret Atwood effectively addresses the shift from love to contention through symbolic imagery.


Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Dear Juniors,

If you missed class, we completed the following:

1. Each student received a copy of the following song entitled "IRONIC," by Alanis Morriesett. Each student was asked to identify five points that ARE NOT IRONIC (no irony exists within the song), and then MAKE THEM IRONIC. For example, the first line, which I have underlined for you, IS NOT IRONIC; however, it  becomes ironic by doing the following:"

An old man turned ninety-eight
He cut himself on the lottery ticket and
ended up dying from an infection from the cut.

PRINT OFF THE SONG and record your changes on the song!

"Ironic"


An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out 
 
2. We then read and discussed "The Wife's Story" by Ursula K. LeGuinn. Each student made inferences about the piece and why they were so misled by LeGuinn's diction. We also discussed the Situational irony found within the short story, and the "ICEBERG PRINCIPLE" connected with the text. Please obtain this information from someone else in class.
 
3. We continued by looking at another piece of literature that represents a strong example regarding the ICEBERG THEORY. "Metaphors," by Silvia Plath, is such a clever piece regarding PREGNANCY. Please communicate with someone in class regarding the poem and the information we discussed about it.

Metaphors
I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

HOMEWORK
1. AW #4 is due on Friday regarding Dallas Weins .
2. Complete "IRONIC" by Alantis Morisette for FRIDAY!