Discussion Prompts

Mark Twain Day

Prompt 1:

What is the narrator's attitude towards the speech he reports hearing" the 2nd paragraph? Why would the narrator likely feel the way that you surmise? In what way does this story defeat our expectations of a story about "the war"?

Twain is confused. The speech made many feel that they were not a member of either side.. To the young soldiers it was a reestablishment of original confidence and aspirations. Once the Colonel (Brown) made his side clear they knew who and what they were fighting for. The soldiers did not know who they were fighting for to begin with, you would think as a soldier you would know who you were fighting for.

a.) Inspiring

b.) It reestablished original inclinations of what war would be like.

c.) You would think that you would already know who you were fighting for.

Prompt 2:

Relate the pivotal event that unfolds in the latter part of the story. How has this affected the narrator? As an exploration of patriotism, what thoughts are invoked by the "Private History of a Campaign that Failed!"

  • Hears someone coming (the enemy?), grabs a gun, is told to fire; realizes his actions, murder weighs on him, starts to spiral, distorts what actually happens; thinking about the stranger's family

  • Unsure of what they were fighting for. Young, inexperienced soldiers.

Prompt 3:

What is the thesis of Twain's "The War Prayer? How do you respond to it? Is it particular to Twain's time and place? In other words, is this thoughts unique to when Twain was writing this, or is it prevalent across generations?

  • War is futile. There are no real winners

  • The emotions I thoughts of winning a war makes you forget that it involves killing. An idea not just pertaining to war, can say you for something without thinking of the reality I the consequences, who you are affecting.

Prompt 4:

Why do you suppose the congregants are so uncomfortable with the War Prayer?

  • Shows the reality of what they are praying for; one- sided thoughts/prayers, puts it into perspective, not 'considering putting wrath on your enemies, using religion as justification. They don't want to acknowledge there were flaws in what they were praying for/what they believed in.

Chesnutt & Gilman Day

Prompt 1:

What might the encounter between Julius McAdoo and the couple reveal about the position of emancipated African Americans after the war? Does Julius succeed or fail in trying to manipulate the northern visitors? What is the relationship between freedom and power?

  • Former slaves stayed put. Needed to figure out how to self-sustain. Reluctant to trust Northerners.

  • Slow and gradual occupation of freedom. Granted the human right. Power in the eye of the beholder. (Economic status power)

  • Power of choice. Chose to stay when they could've left.

Prompt 2:

How is “The Yellow Wallpaper” a horror story? How could it be described as realist literature? If we read this story as a political allegory, what might it be saying? Are there any potential significant symbols in the story?

  • Fixates on the wallpaper. Obsessing over something tangible to not think about her current mental state and the way she's being treated (she's not truly free.)

  • Brain is degrading; spiraling

  • Psychological realism; shows relationship of men to women

  • Doctors did not treat patients fairly

  • She claims to feel like a burden

  • Yellow: cheerful or sickly

  • Wallpaper is old, floor has gashes/not in good shape.

  • She is in a child's room; they view her as a helpless child.

  • Bed nailed down, bars in the walls. The woman behind the wallpaper. She feels trapped.

Prompt 3:

Does any individual bear responsibility for the narrator’s ultimate madness? If so, who? If not, who else or what other factor or combination of factors causes this?

  • Don't believe one individual is at fault. They were doing what they thought was best.

  • Outside factors: a lack of understanding of medicine, current role of a woman (less of a voice), role of John being husband and doctor, questioning authority was frowned upon

  • John has his own pride issues, refusing to hear his wife's troubles; being trapped in your own pride can harm those you love.

  • Deep down, he knew this was wrong, but reflecting that out loud would damage his own pride and his status as a physician.

Crane & Dunbar Day

Prompt One:

Read "An Ante-bellum Sermon." What is the sermon obsetensible about? What might it be also be saying? What does "We Wear the Mask" seem to suggest? What may it suggest about what W.E.B. DuBois called double-consciousness.

  • Antebellum sermon (Pre-Civil War) about African american priest wanting to let his people go and be free. Don't be discouraged. It encourages people to be patient and wait for Moses. Slavery will end.

  • An analogy of the Biblical Tale of Exodus and Moses Leading them out of Egypt

  • "We Wear the Mask" is a short little poem describing African Americans as having a double personality to assimilate into White America and still hold their own traditions.

  • Double-consciousness: the struggle African American faced to uphold Black culture but also conform to dominant white society.

  • Escape negative effects of being yourself as a person of color and be conscious of how you act around white america.

Prompt Two:

Read "Sympathy." What does this poem suggest about human nature? What does it suggest about appearances?

  • Birds in western culture represent spirit.

  • There was a song called "A Bird in a Gilded Cage", most likely inspiration

  • Human Nature is to head towards freedom'

  • The appearances are represented by the bird crying out for help by causing harm to itself.

Prompt Three:

When the 3rd section of "The Open Boat" begins, Crane writes about "the subtle brotherhood." What might this be? Why is it subtle? How might it be a critique of his time and place?

  • Had to help each other because they would not survive

    • friendship was subtle but a necessity

  • Purpose of their friendship was to stay alive at sea

  • Critique of the time because men were not supposed to talk about friendship and emotion during this time

  • Empathy for one another four against the ocean.

  • Extreme Circumstance: Bootcamp experience - suffering together and bonds you together

  • All different ranking that without the circumstances would not have ever become friends

  • Critiquing class division of the time; they are unnecessary for the time.

    • It is unfortunate that it takes such an experience to become friends across social class lines.

Prompt Four:

Share the 3rd paragraph of part VI. What are the cultural implications of this passage? For instance, in terms of religion, society, or any other category you think might apply?

  • When things go wrong humans inkling is to find someone or something to blame

  • Since humans don’t like to be out of control they try to find it.

  • Epiphany in the boat

  • Religion gives people a way to coupe in problems

  • The temple in the story represents religion; he is angry because he feels that there should be a reason what is happening is happening.

    • But he realizes that he can't blame God because he comes to believe that there is not God.

  • You can lose faith in society when society can be come to blame

  • All humans have a need to have something that believes that there is a reason they exist.

  • Nature does not care about human existence though.

  • It showed that if the human race died out, the universe and the world will still go on.

Prompt Five:

A hypothetical question about drowning is asked. Introduce the class of the word teleology and explain what it has to do with this question and this story?

  • Hypothetical question: Why was I allowed to come this far if I am just going to die.

  • Teleology - study of the end and purposes

  • The story looked at through teleology shows the human experience and why should I do this if there is not purpose. WHY?

    • Determining forces that you have no control over.

    • The people's fight with nature and show that they are miniscule between nature and the world

    • Getting people to think about the reason for life

  • Most religions are teleological in purpose

    • Revelations

    • (Heaven or Hell)

  • Economy is also Teleological

    • Capitalism

  • Most large systems of thought are Teleological

    • Crane's book is to show that the universe may not be teleological

Henry Adams Day

Prompt One:

How does Adams see the Virgin Mary and the Electric dynamo as analogous forces? Why do you think Adams so closely associates European art and history with the Virgin and American art and history with the dynamo?

  • Virgin Mary represents Nature and traditional ideals (European Culture)

    • Culture Power through Religion

  • Dynamo shows technology and the new found scientific justification. (American Culture)

    • Cultural Power through Science

  • Shift from tradition to new age

  • Western European countries led the way through Industrial Revolution

  • Not making it a contest between Religion and Science

    • Showing that in America there is an outsized presence for science because hundreds of years of religious culture have not been formed

Prompt Two:

Find passages in "the Dynamo and the Virgin" that indicate something about Adams' mood, that is his attitude about himself, his time, or his country. What is there about his place and time that might account for his attitude? How is Adams reacting to the scientific advances of the nineteenth century and why is he reacting this way?

  • Making connections between religion and technology because with new technology it is hard to understand but with religion he can understand it.

  • Adams believes that we should find a fact and then explore it to understand it more.

    • ie. Virgin Mary and a Cathedral & electricity and a Light switch

  • He has an analogy that explains that Adams is making his way through the new technology with skepticality

    • He is intimidated by the change from the ideals of his ancestors and this new age that he has to live through

    • He is trying to find a place for the new era of technology in the way that he understands the world.

Prompt Three:

What is Adams saying about the force of woman? Why would he think that american art and literature had been largely sexless so far?

  • He was saying that it was fervent and polarizing

    • Ignored by society instead of a catalyst for the events of man

    • Woman was ignored in culture

  • Saw woman as a reproductive force

  • Science and technology is a sexless force

    • If american art is technology then their art is sexless

  • America has its roots in puritan tradition, where women do not have as big of a place in society.

  • When America is starting to colonize, it occured for many reasons

    • But one was that they view European society to be in decline

    • Their answer for the decline was that European culture was too feminine.

  • America believed that they need a more robust and manly art.

Prompt Four:

"... the historian's business is to follow the track of the energy to find where it came from and where it went to ..." In passages like this in the next to the last paragraph, and elsewhere such as the sixth paragraph, what is Adams saying about the writing and the study of history?

  • Look to the forces that shape historical events

    • Social

    • Political

    • Economical

  • Analogy where we recognize the other forces discovered by philosophers and scientist like Karl Marx

  • The quote is saying that we have to look to more ideas than just the basic principles

  • Prior to this generation they have to look at history as dates and names

    • kings and queens

    • battles

  • In the sixth paragraph Adams describes how he has a thirst for knowledge. He believes other historians do not.

    • His thirst makes him feel overwhelmed by the new technology and ideals

    • Not Repeating History

    • Progressive historians: Look a the more complex and indirect picture of history

Prompt Five:

How do you think Adams would want to reform education?

  • Adams good feeling of new age technology

  • He believed that the education system was not teaching children why things exist but just random sets of facts

  • The dynamo represented a way to look at the world as how it works, in a fragile state

  • Teach how people act a certain way and understand differences, the WHY

    • Lessen the likelihood of failure

  • Reform the way we think about history and social forces.

  • At this point in American history there is a lot of Education reform

  • Before 1900 most people did not get an education

    • Only the wealthy did

  • Karl Marx and Friedrich England brought about the idea of Public Education

  • You got a better education for men in the 1800s

  • Most education was apprenticeships for 1800s

    • Turn of century caused this to shift, more money

    • In the 19th century you would learn greek and latin

    • End of 19th century you were learning in English

  • Next Big Revolution was in the 1950s with the G.I. Bill

Sin Far & Winnemucca Day

Prompt One:

In Sui Sin Far’s story, how does Mrs. Spring Fragrance manage to negotiate between the expectations of Chinese and American traditionalists? In what ways specifically does her story critique both cultures?
Caught between these two traditionally patriarchal cultures, how does Mrs. Spring Fragrance exercise any power or influence?

Mrs. Spring Fragrance managed to negotiate by dealing with specific character that represented each type of culture in a different manner, appealing to their view. By appealing to the views of the character, Sui SIn Far appealed to the traditionalist from each culture. The story critiques Chinese culture by showcasing the rigidity being too demanding, and it critiqued American culture by showing the more lax approach to relationships and showing the stark difference between Chinese views on success and American views on success. American culture focus business, and Chinese culture focused on scholarship. Mrs. Spring Fragrance acted as a bridge between the cultures by alleviating the stresses of traditional chinese culture on Laura and showcasing the positive aspects of the American way of life to her husband, Mr. Spring Fragrance. She negotiated with her husband through a formal, representing the traditional Chinese custom of asking permission; however, in reality exercising her American right to choice by doing it before a response.

  • Marriage in china was very rigid,

    • almost like a business transaction

  • American Culture too laissez-faire

  • Chineses culture too rigid

  • Mrs. Spring Fragrance believes in the American way of love.

    • goes to San Francisco and stops Laura's arranged marriage.

  • Hesitancy in the middle of the story

    • Mr. Spring Fragrance is worried about losing his wife

Prompt Two:

Analyze the rhetorical situation of Winnemucca’s narrative. Who seems to be her primary intended audience and what things specifically does she choose to share with this audience? What effect would she seem to want her choices to have on her readers?

  • Her audience was a wide net

    • Generally people who were uninformed about American Indians Situation

    • Getting the message to white Christian men

  • She shares this by coming at the President and Congress as a whole

    • The repercussions of expanding west-ward into Indian land

  • Heavily influenced by Manifest Destiny

  • The rhetorical of telling her story allowed her to balance pathos and logos

    • Personal experience and stories of others causes a balanced opinion to be formed

    • Kept the stereotyping from occuring by including other peoples stories

  • Read like Adam and Eve at the beginning

    • Conflict between White & Dark Children

    • White descendants were supposed to mend the situation

    • White men did not

Prompt Three:

What does Winnemucca say about the role of women in Piute culture? What historical context might be influencing her decision to talk about this?

  • 2nd section shows American Indian small group government versus the American Government

    • Women's advice was valued in American Indian Culture

  • She talks about this because her audience is mostly White Males

  • The last sentence where she says the if women were in Congress the American Indians would not be in this situation

    • Since white people had only certain people in power, limited their scope on the repercussions of actions

    • The community government of the American Indians allowed them to think more about repercussions, but this also brought about their downfall

    • This section plays on the Women's suffrage movement in the US at the time.

  • American Indian women still absolutely respect their husbands, in addition to being respected likewise.

Lowell, SandBurg, & McKay Day

Mckay's "If We Must Die"

  • Likes:

    • rhymes

    • sort of optimistic/hopeful view of death

    • straight forward / to the point

    • strong sense of nationalism,

    • patriotism,

    • reject an average death

  • Dislikes:

    • old english

    • demonizing the enemy, bias

  • Mood:

    • long game/ambitious

    • optimistic

    • patriotic

  • Meaning(s):

    • make death/suffering mean/be worth something

    • death can bring honor

McKay's "The Harlem Dancer"

  • Likes:

    • imagery

    • one's perspective

    • rhyme scheme

    • Not much hidden meaning

  • Dislikes:

    • kinda uncomfortable to read

      • exposes harsh realities of the world; people desires and worldly desires causing exploitation

  • Mood:

    • Broadly Romantic

    • underlying Darkness

    • critical of situation

  • Meaning(s):

    • things are not always what they appear

    • consider others in their situation

Sandburg’s "Chicago"

  • Likes:

    • Passion for home

    • Counter Perspective

      • acknowledges harsher and darker things of Chicago

      • paradoxical

  • Dislikes:

    • Imagery

    • negative descriptions of blue collar workers to some

      • Backhanded compliments to workers of Chicago

  • Mood:

    • patriotic

    • inspiring

  • Meaning(s):

    • hard work and take pride in what you do

      • about Chicago but also America

    • very defensive and passionate about his city despite its critiques

SandBurg's "Grass"

  • Likes:

    • simplicity

    • use of grass as a metaphor for time

    • returns back to nature

  • Dislikes:

    • promotes idea for forgetting soldiers sacrifices

    • eerie switch from war time to peace

      • erasing unpleasant memories

  • Mood:

    • Somber

    • Serious

    • Melancholy

    • Introspective

  • Meaning(s):

    • Time causes people to forget pain and meaning of war

    • War is ultimately short-term and pointless when contrasted with nature

Lowell's "September 1918"

  • Likes:

    • The use of colors to create images

    • use of five senses

    • descriptive imagery

    • positive

    • personal perspective

      • childlike

  • Dislikes:

    • many meanings

    • very broad, explains many situations

    • simplistic

  • Mood:

    • bittersweet

    • hope, perhaps

    • underlying fear that people will not remember the negatives of the war (WW1)

  • Meaning(s):

    • Enjoy what you have while you have it

    • Experience the world, while you have it

    • War affects everyone, not just the soldiers

Robert Frost Day

"The Wood Pile"

  • Likes:

    • Told in a Story-like fashion

    • 1st person

      • can see how the narrator feels

  • Dislikes:

    • dreary and uninviting setting

    • seems choppy, disconnected

    • too long

  • Mood:

    • feeling/mood of loneliness and isolation

      • The narrator feels alone and lost in the unwelcoming swamp

    • thoughtful

  • Meaning(s):

    • symbolizes the cycle of life and death through the narrators views on Nature throughout his exploration

  • Thought(s):

    • Could be about poets writing about writing poems

      • lines in trees

      • 3x4 wood pile to represent poem structure

"The Road Not Taken"

  • Likes:

    • imagery

    • straight forward

    • rhymes

    • makes reader form an opinion

    • realistic & relatable

  • Dislikes:

    • None

  • Mood:

    • reflective

    • conflicted

  • Meaning(s):

    • the choices you make in life

    • Don't dwell on what-ifs

    • Life is just a series of choices

    • not doing the normal thing can be good or bad

      • you never know where life will take you

    • not taking the conventional path is not always the right

  • Thought(s):

    • images of leaves is the most important imagery

    • the poem does not directly have a positive or negative reflection on life

      • the path he chose made a difference (Not good or bad)

    • You make choices and the choices reflect how your life goes

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

  • Likes:

    • It rhymes

    • direct

    • length

    • symbolism

      • gold flowers and leaves

  • Dislikes:

    • The tone

      • sad by the end

  • Mood:

    • Depressing

    • Melancholy

  • Meaning(s):

    • all good things come to an end

    • beauty and youth, all fade in time

      • nature does not concern us

  • Thought(s):

    • green leaves are a representative of spring

    • suggestive of the fact that bad things also come to an end

"Design"

  • Likes:

    • imagery & descriptive

    • makes you think

    • rhymes

  • Dislikes:

    • some confusing words

    • what was the point of the poem

  • Mood:

    • somber

    • confused

    • inspired

    • curious

  • Meaning(s):

    • To make sense of the world

    • Don't always know why things happen

    • everything has a purpose

  • Thought(s):

    • Key is the last line

      • "IF"

      • Not a poem telling us that evolution or God designed the world, but instead as the question if there is

    • About the question of the design of the world

      • Who/what did it?

"Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening"

  • Likes:

    • rhythm

    • rhyme scheme

    • imagery

    • repetition

  • Dislikes:

    • hard to interpret, not direct

    • confusing who he is talking about

  • Mood:

    • peaceful

    • tired

    • wistful/melancholy

    • courageous

  • Meaning(s):

    • The journey/life is long and exhausting

    • attraction to the nothingness of death

    • keeping a promise

  • Thought(s):

    • Most language is indirect

      • speculation

    • The horse is used to following a pattern, but man is able to alter his pattern

      • altering his perspective of death

T.S. Eliot Day

“The Death of J. Alfred Prufrock”

  • Likes

    • "I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled."

    • "and from time for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions, before the taking of a toast and tea"

    • Personification of fog

    • walks through love life

    • tells a story

    • ability to describe the imagery such as the lingering smoke, the women talking about Michelangelo, and chambers of the sea.

  • Dislikes

    • Difficult to follow

    • inconsistent - talks about smoke, then the Bible

    • "I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

  • Mood

    • Longing

    • Eerie

    • Resentful

    • Regret

  • Meaning

    • existentialism

      • failed love life

    • crisis in masculinity

      • "if one, settling a pillow by her head; Should say: "That is not what I meant at all, That is not it at all

    • Isolation

      • self-imposed

    • urban decay

      • post-war society, becoming less sophisticated

“Waste Land, The Burial of the Dead”

  • Likes:

    • His post war feeling of emptiness is clear

    • he describes this because of all the death and destruction we can grow together to build something beautiful

    • we cover up the past and put something beautiful on top, in a way to forget

    • he describes flowers and plants growing out of the dead land

      • nature goes on

  • Dislikes

    • confusion

    • disjointed timeline

    • another language included

    • breaks up the flows of the poem

  • Mood

    • melancholy

    • naturalism

    • he sounds depressed the poem is kind of dark/seems sad

    • "April is the cruelest month breaking lilacs out of the dead land"

      • Sad, depressed, coping with death by mumbling themselves

  • Meaning

    • The amount of death is numbing. Even the good reminds them of death

    • depression and emptiness post-war

“Hollow Men”

  • Likes

    • Broken up: sections itself well

    • Leads from one section to another (flows well) story like

    • Indired storytelling through describing what he sees/feels

    • Imagery upon Imagery

    • "This is cactus land"

      • deserted land, most likely a cemetary

    • As the poem goes on the thoughts seem to get shorter and shorter

    • Allusion to Dante's Inferno

      • whole poem is him walking through stages of hell

  • Dislikes

    • The speaker describes himself wearing a "rats' coat" and a "crowskin".

      • these represent death and decay

      • rotting

    • every poet is lonely

    • Imagery upon imagery- highly level energy

    • the songs he includes

    • hard to follow train of thought - inconclusive

    • can seem slightly off in the head- trying too hard

  • Mood

    • somber

    • melancholy

    • bleak

    • waiting despair

  • Meaning

    • describes the process of being alone

    • wants others to understand what people are going through

    • Straw paradox

      • straw fills a man without sustenance

      • religious sustenance

Zitkala Sa & Washington Day

Prompt One:

On the board list the cultural changes that Zitkala-Sa describes being forced to make at the missionary school. Why do you suppose her school wanted these changes to be made?

  • Cutting her hair

    • Especially Cutting Hair: Cutting hair was a big deal because from a young age she was taught only coward & weak people cut their hair in her culture

    • She lost her spirit when she lost hair

  • Beliefs/Religion

    • They wanted to change her to become White American instead of Native American (White Washing)

  • Language

  • Clothing

Prompt Two:

What causes difficulties between Zitkala-Sa and her mother? Why should these difficulties occur? Is there any irony in these circumstances?

  • Want to go east and be educated but her mother does not want her to

    • Mother is angry at White people for killing her husband and first child

  • Ironic that when little she found safety with her mother, but as older she wanted to leave thinking it would be more safe

    • Zitkala-Sa is angry that her mother doesn't think the education would be good for her

    • But Zitkala-Sa later found that it was not good for her

  • Wedge in teenage years drove between mother and daughter

Prompt Three:

What is the role of language in this memoir? In what way is language acquisition the proverbial double edged sword?

  • Inability to use her language really affected her

    • Not being able to use her own language made her hate White Americans

  • Double Edged Sword

    • Extinguishing her Native culture

    • Able to use English to tell English speakers about what the Quakers did to her

    • Use the master's tools to take apart the master's house

Prompt Four:

What set of ideas is washington introducing on page 704? Why was it controversial?

  • Ship asks to cast down bucket

    • End up getting sparkling water

  • Compares to situation after the Civil War

    • Place more trust in the other race

    • More to gain from working interracially

  • Directly talking to South

    • Telling African Americans who felt trapped in the South to stay in the South and work for their freedom in economic opportunity

  • Controversial part is that he was asking to make relationships with White Americans, and they did not want to do so.

    • Children and grandchildren of former slaves still showed resentment to white

    • Lots of new immigrants in the US

    • Washington argues that White people should first give opportunity to African Americans and not Immigrants

    • White press loved the Address

    • Black press did not love address, because instead of reaching for the stars with philosophy and educated jobs and instead just become blue collar workers

    • DuBois did not like the address because they were not allowed to utilize their full rights because of the segregation of the South

  • This address reach a huge audience

    • Irish Immigrants

    • Catholics

    • Jews Immigrants

    • Whites

    • African Americans

Prompt Five:

What does Washington mean when he uses the metaphor of separate fingers on page 705?

  • Race

    • People still did not want to interact with other race

    • Different jobs

  • We can be separate at the moment but we need to become one at some point

  • Washington will not fight back against Jim Crow/Segregation

    • His attempt at being a pacifist

  • If different industries can work together then both White and Black Americans can find their place in society

Hughes & Glaspell Day

Prompt One:

Hughes' poetry is meant to suggest the more improvisational aspects of jazz. His themes are similar to those of McKay ("If We Must Die"), but do you find the different forms affect their message?

  • Hughes took a more individualized approach versus McKay took a more unified approach

  • Hughes accepted his fate versus McKay wanted to fight for every inch.

  • Hughes was more happy to be able to write freely but McKay wanted more.

  • Hughes used blues to represent how anyone could be happy with their own

  • Hughes writing is more depressing.

    • The Weary blues player falls asleep like he was dead.

  • Hughes took a more solemn approach

  • More militancy to McKay but Hughes

  • Hughes most similar poem is Harlem to McKay

  • Hughes took improvisational aspects of jazz to relate to his group in the Harlem Renaissance

    • Cultural association to African American society

Prompt Two:

What are the implications of the river theme developed in Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers?"

  • Major societies built by the rivers

    • Built up off of the backs of slave labor

  • In the history he is correlating deep ancient history of rivers to slavery as a whole

    • Ancient practice

    • Dusky and Dirty

  • Dusk correlates to Darkness

    • Hughes uses this to allude darker skin colored people who would be slaves

  • Mississippi River

    • America

  • Euphrates River

    • Sumerian Empire

  • Nile River

    • Egyptian Empire

  • Congo River

    • Central African Empire

  • "My soul is deep as rivers"

    • lasting, timeless

    • Erosion, meaning that souls grow deep by the effect of slavery on Human Beings making them go through trials

    • The later in life that you deal with trials, the less prepared you will be when they finally arrive.

Prompt Three:

In Glaspell's play, list the clues that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discover as they investigate the crime scene. Why are they quicker to both find these and form a likely theory of the crime than their husbands? Given the bird cage as a crucial metaphor in the play, draw parallels in this story to Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Dunbar's "Sympathy."

  • clues present:

    • Jar: busted in winter

    • Quilt: stressfully mis-woven

    • Bird Cage: door ripped off

    • Dead Bird: in sewing kit

  • Husbands could not find clues

    • trifling details found by women (insignificant clues)

  • Both husbands and wives look for clues

    • Husbands look for Mrs. Wright’s guilt

    • Wives look for the why

  • They identified with the bird and how they are trapped like the bird.

    • The bird song is silenced much like the women in the play with their husbands

    • The women in the Yellow Wallpaper is trapped by her husband not allowed to express herself

    • They are a cage of themselves; physiological damage

    • Oppression

Prompt Four:

"Oh, I wish I'd come over here one in a while! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that?" (p. 271) - Mrs. Hale to Mrs. Peters. What are the Implications of Mrs. Hale's remark here? What merit is there in the remark?

  • implications are that Mrs. Hale is remorseful

    • sorry that she did not want to come and help

    • Mr. Wright just sucked the joy out of the room, so she did not want to come over

  • Subconsciously felt guilt/remorse even if it was not her responsibility

    • Over stating case

  • Glaspell wants us to think about:

    • Do we all have some responsibility to look out for each other?

    • Since Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters knew some of the culture of Mrs. Wright, leading to more responsibility for her.

    • Women should be responsible for other women

    • The culture of women in the 19th century was to be subordinate to husbands.

  • Today, try to make a society that is more supportive of each other

Prompt Five:

One of the debates in AMerican Literature in the 1920s and 1930s was about the nature of art and literature. Should art avoid politics? Can art avoid politics? Is politics irrelevant to art? Does politics lessen the aesthetic quality of art?

  • Depends on artist or authors goal

    • If artist wants to implement views, let them do so

    • Possible to subconsciously included

  • Can only control art, cannot control opinions

  • Art helps develop cultures and societies

  • Politics lessing art's value is subjective

    • Could possibly add more meaning and purpose

  • Politics is a very emotional subject; Art is also emotional

  • A good artist will interweave art and politics; a bad artist will not

  • Language is up for interpretation

  • The argument occurs at the time because of events like the Russian Revolution.

    • To spread Communism across the world

  • The US had a group called the "New Critics" who looked at art and viewed art in isolation

    • 1960s decided to look at art without the artistic intent or original context

Ellison and O’Connor Day

Prompt One:

 Ellison suggests that the battle royal that he describes in Invisible Man be read allegorically. What might this scene say allegorically to us in that case? What do the actions represent?

  • Represents social and political power struggle

  • "Social equality" allusion to W.E.B. DuBois

    • Don't accommodate for social equality

    • Narrator almost condescends Booker T. Washington "Social Responsibility"

    • Due to grandfather's words - to be a "traitor," to rebel

  • The giving of the scholarship can be seen as a participation trophy.

    • the leftovers,

    • going to a Black university with less resources to allow him to flourish

  • The dream and the final note of the "Keep the Black Boy Running":

    • represented that the gift was meant to halt his progress

  • The woman could represent the American Dream

    • The tattoo

    • People fighting over her, but in reality all could enjoy the spectacle if they just cooperated.

    • Only the sober elite ended up getting to enjoy (the reality of society at the time)

  • The Boxing Match represented the constant power struggle of african americans fighting tooth and nail for every cent that they could gain.

    • Tadlock was the pure representation of this

    • If they just worked together then they all could make progress

  • Symbols from "Battle Royal"

  • All were fighting for the American Dream

    • Idea of the elite whites being the only ones able of living out the American Dream

    • Pursuit of your dreams, acquiring wealth/prosperity, the "ideal life"

  • Blindfolds

    • Restirction; physical vision restricted to what was happening

    • Blind to oppression; fighting certain aspects of life

  • End of story: "keep the black boy running"

    • Receiving a scholarship was not a gift necessarily

    • Education was still restricted

Prompt Two:

In many ways the grandmother and the Misfit in O'Connor's story are also allegorical figures, and as often happens in literature, we also see a contrast between myth and reality. Assuming that to be the case, then, what might these characters represent and how would that affect our reading of the story’s outcome?

  • People can have different upbringings, which affects how they end up

  • Sense of both characters being one-dimensional

  • Both characters are quite complex

    • Neither are completely good/evil. Both characters possess elements of both.

  • In a religious sense, Catholics believe there are different paths to Heaven.

    • You could be ignorant of faith,m have a different upbringing, and still reach God.

    • Directly objecting Him --

    • The grandmother is narrow-minded, thinks she is "good" and holy.

Prompt Three:

In spite of the difference in their ages and social positions, both the Invisible Man and the grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” seem to lack self-awareness, at least initially. They both have a limited view of reality. Discuss the reasons why this might be so and then discuss why this could be a problem.

  • Grandmother refuses to see the evil in people; wants to see the good

    • Is she genuinely believing he is a good person? Or is just trying to save herself?

  • Invisible Man

    • Unsure if being blind to the cruelness of the white peple is just his attempt to get to the end goal (to give his speech), or if it was inherent to him, to listen to the "white man" and be obedient, regardless of being subjected to humiliation

    • Believed that being in the Battle Royal was a badge of honor.

  • Self awareness ends up coming about in the stories end.

Arthur Miller Day One

Prompt One:

In conversations such as the one between Happy and Biff regarding their ranch plans, we see one of the themes developed in this play. Discuss what it is and how it affects the lives of each member of the Loman family.

  • American dream is a fad

    • it is hard and difficult

  • The American dream is subjective to each person's dream

  • The Americna dream is almost impossible to define

  • No matter how hard you work, something could happen and completely derail his goals

  • Happiness does not pay the bills

    • but bills don't provide happines either

  • Biff to be happy occurs only if he finds something he likes

    • Willy relationship with Biff was great at a young age but became stressed as he got older

  • Willy does not want Biff to just be happy.

    • He wants him to follow his American dream to make a lot of money

Prompt Two:

Miller weaves Willy's hallucinations into the course of the play. How do they affect the play's action and how might they represent the mythic past interfering with the reality of current events?

  • The hallucinations act as a flashback/reflection

    • A look into his mind and does not know how to determine an incorrect event

  • The hallucinations occur after a high tension situation like an argument

  • Hallucinations with Biff

    • Reminiscing on better times with a stronger relationship.

  • Hallucinations of Ben (Brother)

    • His brother fulfilling the American Dream

    • He did not

  • Reminiscing on the past

  • Mythic conception causes the occurence to function with their family

    • Willy also lacked self-awareness

Prompt Three:

What is the allegorical significance of Ben's story about going to the jungle at 17 and coming out with diamonds and rich at 21?

  • Ben is a hyperbolic subset of the american dream

    • anyone can be successful if they try hard enough

  • Ben represents the positive aspirational version of the american dream

  • Willy represents the harsh reality of the american dream.

  • Willy defines the american dream as to be rich

Prompt Four:

Discuss the character of Linda with special regard for her speech at the bottom of page 1198 when she speaks of the attention owed to Willy.

  • Linda is telling her children that they need to respect their father

    • does not want Willy to feel like a failure

  • Linda did describe Willy's flaws

    • Also acknowledged the fact that he had sacrificed a massive amount for his Family

  • Linda is trying to show all of the good that Willy did for their family

    • Trying to convince Willy, that even though he will commit suicide, that he was not a failure

  • Linda is Willy's champion

    • seen him work hard when he was successful

    • She loves him so much that she is even willing to forgive all of the lies (even the affair)

  • Linda is the only reason that the family is still together

    • Linda was most likely culturally influenced to be the glue for the family

    • Linda also feels that she owes her husband and children the memory of the family as a positive one

  • Willy is also culturally influenced

    • The reason he feels that he has to be the breadwinner.

Prompt Five:

Discuss how Willy's own faults and the voice of his culture combine to bring Willy to his tragic end.

  • Willy had a skewed view of the American Dream

    • causing societal pressure to be successful

  • Downfall of his family was caused by this skewed view and stress

  • Willy want to achieve what he believes to be success in the american culture

    • By doing this his image is number one in his mind and family second.

Arthur Miller Day Two

Prompt One:

Compare Henry James' "The Real Thing" with Miller's Death of the Salesman. What does these stories tell us about the relative importance about reality and our perceptions of reality?

  • Both received financial hardship

  • Society causes our view of success

  • Perception of reality is skewed by our expectations

    • Willy -> financially

    • Monarchs -> Wealthy Clothes

  • Willy's perception of reality is skewed by

    • media (radio, tv)

    • parents

    • coworkers

  • Our perception of reality effects reality

    • Either wrong or right perception

Prompt Two:

Compare Henry Adams' "The Dynamo and the Virgin" with Miller's Death of a Salesman. What insight do they give us into the interaction of individuals and the interaction of individuals and the systems that surround them, whether those systems or mechanical, economic, political, or otherwise institutional.

  • In Dynamo and the Virgin main concern was how the new technology would change the American Dream

    • Times of the Virgin: Art and Literature

    • Dynamo: Effects of Industrial Revolution on Economy

  • In Miller's Death of a Salesman

    • Willy was only worried about his material success

    • Now how much money you have is the main driver of society's expectation

    • Willy was stuck into the drive for success and was not worried about happiness. This caused him to miss a large amount of life.

    • Biff and his view of success is similar to Henry Adams

Prompt Three:

Compare Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" with Miller's Death of a Salesman. When should we dismiss the damage to individual lives if, in part because of their own weaknesses, they are sacrified to promote the social or economic order? In utilitarian terms, perhaps some individuals will suffer so that a greater number can succeed.

  • People glorified terrible working conditions but decided that it was societal norms

    • Voice in Chicago are content with situation of Chicago

    • Willy is content with his situation as the result of the pursuit of the American Dream

  • Chicago is about being proud of Chicago in what it is

    • The good industry

    • The bad

  • Willy is responsible for his outcome but he accepts the views of society as to the victor goes the spoil

    • His actions go to effect his family

  • Utilitarianism - Doing the most for society at large to result in success for yourself thereafter.

Prompt Four:

Compare Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Exposition Address" with Miller's Death of a Salesman. What level of material success might indicate the worth of individuals to merit a full recognition of their civil liberties and a right to participate in their own government. Likewise, what evidence of civic responsibility is needed?

  • Compare

    • Washington argues that even simple hard working jobs holds value regardless of societal positioning

    • Willy is instead a believer in the fact that societal positioning is everything

  • When Willy tells Biff to not tell Oliver of his jobs out west.

    • Emphasizes his view of civil liberties

  • Civic Responsibility

    • Duty to be an informed voter

    • Washington argues for a need for civic responsibility, regardless of material status. (Your job does not derive your worth)

    • i.e. Voting, being informed

    • Willy argues that material success is the primary driver of civic responsibility.

  • How much Material Success is needed to achieve full civil liberties?

    • None; you should have the same level of responsibility with no money or a lot of money

    • In practice this is not the case.

  • On paper material success is not the basis of cultural responsibility

    • Inpractice not the case

Prompt Five:

Compare T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" with Miller's Death of a Salesman. Expound on the similarities and the differences of Prufrock and Willy Loman and discuss their responsibility for the circumstances of their lives.

  • Differences

    • Willy has external pressures

    • money, family, responsibility

    • Focus on being a salesman

    • Prufrock has more internal pressure

    • the why for existence

  • Similarities

    • lack self awareness (especially Willy)

    • self doubt (Prufrock is more aware)

  • Responsibility

    • Both are responsibility for their situation at hand.

Steinbeck and Hurston

Prompt One:

In “The Chrysanthemums,” what do Elisa Allen’s interactions with her husband and the tinker suggest about her life and her situation? Pay attention to her dialogue with the tinker on pages 959 to 962.

  • Loves to do the tasks of a husband, like digging in the garden.

    • Respects the position of the husband in the family (traditional roles)

  • The Chrysanthemum flowers represented her motherhood

    • A little bit upset that her husband does not fully appreciate on the same level as her.

    • Thus making her more easily taken advantage of by the tinker, who used the love against her judgement.

  • Elisa is also more independent than the typical housewife.

    • In the interaction with the tinker, she takes charge and deals with the tinker/salesman instead of doing the typical reaction of an American housewife

    • Which would be to go and get the husband to deal with the salesman

  • Husband is open minded and respects decisions of wife,

  • He understands that women's views have a place in society

Prompt Two:

On page 544 of “Sweat,” Joe Clarke says, “ ‘Taint no law on earth dat kin make a man be decent if it ain’t in ‘im.’ “ Keeping in mind Delia’s marriage to Sykes, what does this story say to us about the relationship between law and morality?

  • Law: a system of rules that people follow to regulate actions of people

  • Morality: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong

  • Sykes cheated on Delia-- while this can be a cause for divorce, it's not "unlawful," though it is immoral

  • Delia represents morality in a better sense. While his action sare technically "lawful," they're not right.

  • Sykes was initially a "good" guy, has gotten worse over time (behavior-wise)

Prompt Three:

Specifically, what is toxic about Sykes’ view of his own masculinity?

  • Masculinity: being the protector, provider & being powerful and having humility

  • His power that society has given him-- in theory, he could be physically abusive.

  • Abuses power; trying to prove his masculinity (really a coward!)

  • He wants to exert control and power. He wants her to be afraid, to know his capabilities

  • He's not the provider, not the protector. Taking those positive connotations of being a "masculine" husband and abusing them.

Prompt Four:

Why do you think Elisa asks her husband, Henry, about the prize fights near the end of the story? What might she be crying about at the end of the story?

  • Elisa was crying because she was taken advantage of by the tinker

    • Questioning if it’s acceptable for her to deal with financial situations of their household

  • Elisa could also be crying because she realizes the level of respect that her husband has for her.

  • Since she felt she was taken advantage of she asked her husband about the prize fights

    • This question was an indirect response to the tinkers actions

    • She was trying justify if it was in her place to deal with the tinker'

    • By juxtaposing the fact that if women have a place at the fight, then they have a place to deal with salesman.

    • Allowing her to accept that she was taken advantage of

Fitzgerald and Faulkner Day

Prompt One:

In "Babylon Revisited," Paris is identified with Babylon. Why? Contrast Charlie Wales on his first stay in Paris, with the Charlie on his return there. How convinced are you by the changes in the protagonist? Explain your answer

  • Babylon was a city of prosperity and so was Paris in the 1920s

  • Babylon was a biblical reference to evil and corruption

  • Charlie on his first visit was a city of opportunity giving him lots of money for little work

    • Spending his time partying and drinking

  • On his second trip he has learned and suffered. Thus making him change his habits

  • Charlie believes he has changed but we are sceptical.

    • he says he has given up booze, but has one drink a day

    • he says he has learn his lesson about wealth, but brags about how much he makes to Lincoln.

Prompt Two:

Paul the bartender tells Charlie that he heard about his losses on the Crash, and Charlie responds, "but I lost everything I wanted in the boom." What things do you think he means, and how did the financial boom of the 1920s cause him to lose them?

  • Pretty straightforward

    • gains financial wealth from the boom

    • consequences of his actions cause him to loose what he truly cares about; his wife and daughter

  • Had most of the stereotypical American Dream

    • he had friends

    • wealth

    • parties

    • early success

  • Very well could have been a representation of Fitzgerald's own life.

    • Him realizing in his later years that he was wasting his money for the expense of his true loves

Prompt Three:

Discuss the relationship between Abner and Sarty Snopes using examples from the text. To what extent do you think Sarty may be like his father given that they share genes and circumstances? In what ways are they different and why so?

  • Dad was morally bankrupt and corrupt

  • Son was for change with a strong sense of moral justice

  • Both are poor and disadvantaged

    • Victims of Capitalism

  • "Got to learn to stick to your own blood" said by Abner

    • Dad says loyalty is everything

    • Sarty wants to believe this but morals hold back his judgement

  • Sarty's full defiance of his family

    • Even though he loves his family

    • He refused his father’s values and turned his back on the family for moral truth

Prompt Four:

Discuss the role of Major de Spain and the system of Sharecropping. In what way might Major de Spain be complicit in the events of this story?

  • Major represented the class system of the time

    • Benefited sharecropping system

    • Feudalistic esk

  • Feels superior to all workers economic standing because of his wealth

  • Sharecropping -taking crops from land workers, usually a large share of crop

  • Showcased the economic gap between sharecropper and land owner

  • Southern Agriculture after the civil war used two principles.

    • Sharecropping

    • Prisoner Farming

Prompt Five:

Is there justice in this story? Are the characters all free to pursue happiness?

  • No judicial justice

    • no payment needed, but kicked out of country

  • Moral justice exist though

    • Karma

  • Each character views justice differently

    • Sarty feels a need for judicial justice and does not agree with burning of the barn

    • Abner feels a need for moral justice and feels justified in burning the barn

  • Sarty feels a sense of freedom at the end of the story

    • Relief that his father is gone

    • Still saddened though because it was his father

  • The family with the passing of Abner has a new chance for success in society

    • still bear the name of the family though and the reputation intertwined with it

  • Sense of economic injustice

    • lots up in the air

    • much more progress has to be made for true economic equality.

Ginsberg and Kerouac Day

Prompt One:

Consider T. S. Eliot's idea of the objective correlative. With that in mind, what may Ginsberg be communicating to his readers through his long howl? List the possibilities and be prepared to illustrate your speculations with passages from the poem.

  • Trying to communicate how great minds of generation have been oppressed

    • How?: The minds are so different from what society is so their views are outside of conventional normality

    • Why?: Since they don't conform they are pushed out

  • Talking about specific people in specific communities in the United States

  • Collection that evokes emotion

    • passionately angry

  • The howl was the pain that he felt from being oppressed

    • The poem was this howl

Prompt Two:

Having watched the trailer for the 2010 movie Howl, did it reinforce or challenge your idea about this poem? What do you learn about Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" from this short clip? What gets your attention? What do you want to know more about? What in the clip seems relevant to today? Why?

  • reinforce opinion of poem as a critic of societal pressures and oppression of their opinions

  • Ironic how the poem had the poem to change people's minds, yet they had a trial about that the poem could not change people's minds

  • Individualism came into fruition after these authors first began to express their opinions.

  • America is a society that puts out a mixed message. We encourage individualism but also push back against it.

Prompt Three:

Describe Kerouac's Style of writing in your own words and discuss how you respond to his style as readers. Choose an example to share.

  • Overwhelmed at first by different topics

  • Beat movement known for Jazz

    • Would write in short simplicity like jazz music

    • Then write in lengthy paragraphs with great detail, like the complexity of jazz rhythms

  • Gives a piece and then elaborates

    • Similar to structure of jazz with verse then chorus

Prompt Four:

The great Depression and WWII were over. What parts of the sudden prosperity that followed in the 1950s may have disturbed the Beats like Ginsberg and Kerouac?

  • After WWII America had a lot of manufacturing power

    • Lots of clothing, houses and cars

    • Prosperity created standard of consumerism

    • Easy to conform to society

  • Hard for Ginsberg to push against the consumerist culture

  • Beats rejected consumerism

    • Conformity breeds mediocrity

  • In the 1950s

    • Civil Rights movement picks up again

    • Brown v. Board of Education

    • Intense Patriotism; causing nationalism

    • Fear of Nuclear Weapons

    • Feminism Movement gains traction

Prompt Five:

Does studying "once radical texts," like those by Beat writers, tame them? Are they still radical? If so, why and, if not, why not?

  • Studying radical texts does not tame them but makes them more understood.

    • It makes the reader more accustomed to the text

  • It is still radical because of the time it was made, if the text was made today the opinion would not be radical.

    • Since the opinion in the past was radical society today views the author as a radical writer

  • We view the radical texts through the lens of the author. SInce the author is viewed today as being previously a radical writer, we view by association their texts as radical even if their opinion isn’t so.

    • More about intention of the author than the content of the text

  • Beat writers are similar to muckrakers, they stir up issues intended to provoke the public.

Baldwin Day

Prompt One:

How should we feel about Jesse, the Deputy Sheriff, in this story? Be prepared to entertain possible conflicting opinions about the character. Why do you react to the character as you do? How might Baldwin have wanted us to see him?

  • Jesse is a product of the situation

    • As a child he had friends that were African American

    • As he became older his parents prompted him to embrace a WHITE AMERICA

  • Baldwin wants us to think of him as pathetic

    • Willing to have sex with other women but cannot with his wife

  • Baldwin also want us to view Jesse as a lesser man, someone who does not understand the equality of human life.

    • Napoleon Complex

    • Feeling disgusted.

  • As a sheriff, Jesse abused his power

    • Raped African American Women

    • Beat African American Men

  • Jesse has a superiority complex towards African Americans

    • Aroused by beating African American men and women.

  • The reason I feel the way I do is the action of Jesse in todays society are view as absolute egregious, even without racial bias.

  • Racist are not born; they are made

Prompt Two:

Baldwin’s characters, particularly Jesse, and to an extent, his parents in the flashback, have a seemingly erotic response to the violence they take part in. What seems to be the message about violence in that case?

  • Romanticizing the pleasure the parents and Jesse received form violence

    • Viewed African Americans as lesser humans and viewed it as entertainment

  • Heard his parents "doing it" in the bedroom after the lynching and tied it to how to deal with troubled thoughts with his wife

  • SImilar to "Invisible Man" in normalizing violence to or among African Americans for the entertainment of White People

  • Associates the end of the lynching where the Black male was castrated and hears his parents at night

    • Causing him to associate love like this with violence

Prompt Three:

What does Jesse’s reaction to the protestors seem to reveal about himself?

  • Proud of what he did to the protestors.

  • Beating the ringleader of the protest for his own pleasure

  • Jesse sees the protestors as an adversary.

    • He is slightly fearful; representing the white people feeling threatened by African American protestors

  • Make the ring leader stop the singing because Jesse himself could not.

    • The Singing represents acts of protests

Wright Day

Prompt One

Wright's story discusses Dave and power. In what ways as a youth and as an African American does the idea of power resonate in Dave's mind? What is there about his personal life and his place in the larger culture that affects his reasoning?

  • Dave is at the near bottom of the totem pole in society

    • Young and African American

    • So, the idea of power, that he would gain from the gun appealed greatly to him.

    • Intersectionality of both naivety of

  • Mr. Hawkins having the power over Dave's financial status creates a power struggle

    • He feels like he is underappreciated and underpaid.

    • Thus he feels a need to show that he is a man, by owning something that men do.

  • The public humiliation that he received from the crowd at the mule's burial.

    • This made him feel insignificant and powerless

    • Making him want to use the gun even more.

    • Also probably the reason he decided to run from home.

  • Having the gun is illusion to him having power

    • Assuming he had some power in society with its possession; however, he has no control over his parents, his boss, and other field workers

  • Social power, physical owner (his excuse for purchasing the gun), financial power (mother and Mr. Hawkins in control of his finances)

Prompt Two

 What does Wright’s story suggest about how masculinity is viewed by many in the culture of his time and place? To what extent have our perceptions of masculinity changed, if at all? 

  • In Wright's time and place --- the view of masculinity entails a specific "list" of things, items, and actions that equate to masculinity

    • Common Traits of Masculinity: violence, independence (unwilling to accept help), breadwinner, sole provider/protector, unwilling to show emotion

  • Idea of masculinity: maintain this "outward viewpoint" at all time

  • Hierarchy of needs (Dave has fundamentals, but he cannot progress higher up in social status/power.) He has a job (under threat, with limitations). He cannot expand his masculinity

  • Dave --> Gun Ownership/mental influence of others./violence --> Power --> Identity as a "man"

  • Modern Day perception of masculinity:

    • Original: boy --> adapting power --> manhood

    • Modern: boy --> advancing into status as a man --> obtain confidence and power

    • More acceptable for men to show emotion, no longer the norm to suppress emotions, more of a cross-section of masculinity and femininity

Prompt Three

Dave in “Almos’ a Man” is yet another character who seems to lack self-awareness. Discuss the reasons why this might be so and then discuss why this could be a problem for him.

  • Lack of self-awareness: yearns for financial power, feels controlled and oppressed in society; inability to handle emotions and responsibilities

  • By wanting the gun, he WANTS to be a man, but is not handling his responsibilities

  • Unable to portray positive traits/immaturity

  • Desire to run away from his responsibilities

  • Dave's belief in violence and being that sort of man will haunt him, where he never will truly be a man.

Brooks & Komunyakaa Day

Brooks' "Kitchenette Building"

  • Likes

    • Short & Direct

    • Imagery of cooking (objective correlative)

    • Metaphors being made (ex. dreams being sent up through onion fumes)

  • Dislikes

    • difficult syntax; hard to get message on first read

    • choppy, doesn't have rhythm

  • Mood

    • tired, sad, exhausted, resigned

    • destitute, discouraged

    • pining after a dream

  • Meaning

    • hard to achieve dreams, especially for women only because they could only achieve dreams that stayed in the house

    • dreams on back burner for priorities of daily living

    • Cycle of Poor: Poor to no extra money to sad to no dreams

    • Importance of having dreams contrasted with the reality of life

Brooks' "the mothers"

  • Likes

    • honest

    • appreciate her consideration of lost life and what could have been

    • narrative

    • flow; smooth and easy to understand

  • Dislikes

    • difficult topic

  • Mood

    • grief

    • remorse (personally doesn't really regret)

    • mourning

    • thoughtful

    • grieving, but okay with decision

    • self loathing

  • Meaning

    • abortion is a loaded decision regardless of moral belief

    • takes considerations

    • just because someone makes this hard decision does not mean they don't care or haven't thought deeply about the decision

Brooks' "a song in the first yard"

  • Likes

    • Relatability

    • Straight forward; easy to comprehend

    • Hope fule; not complacent

    • Still applicable today

  • Dislikes

    • Rhyme structure

    • naive

  • Mood

    • aspiring

    • frustrated

    • amidst maturing

    • anticipation

    • short sighted

    • breakface

  • Meaning

    • Girl tired of having to "Do the right thing"

    • see more of the world; to go beyond her neighborhood

    • Jealous of the "freedom" afforded to some even when she has more opportunities

Komunyakaa's "Facing It"

  • Likes

    • Shows a lot of emotion

    • Good imagery; described what he was seeing (ghosts)

    • Specifics used (ex. 58,022 names)

    • Author reflects on memorial of a war he served in

  • Dislikes

    • dark & depressing

    • end is confusing

  • Mood

    • sad, gloomy, traumatic, reflective

    • disoriented

    • hopeless

  • Meaning

    • accepting the PTSD of war

    • Survivor's guilt

    • Daing difficult emotions

    • Toughest people are still human

    • He is consumed by his memories, while the world moves on

Komunyakaa's "My Father’s Love Letters"

  • Likes

    • He doesn't villainize his mom for leaving

    • Enjambment: cut off phrases (add to emphasis)

    • "redeemed by what he tried to say"

  • Dislikes

    • Abuse

    • Gruesome

  • Mood

    • Somber

    • Depressing

    • Happy for her mom

  • Meaning

    • Meant to be relatable

    • Family relationships and how they define us

    • Telling someone how they feel after its too late

    • Men not knowing how to express their emotions

Spiegelman Day

Prompt One

How does the combination of drawing and text affect your response to reading Maus? Does this hybrid narrative form affect you differently than reading text alone?

  • The drawing being different animals for different ethnicities allowed for the reader to more clear understand the dynamic between characters

  • By making the characters into animals the story makes the character dehumanized, allowing for the reader to put themselves more easily into the position of the narrator.

  • By having the split structure where the narrator is both explaining the story and talking to his father, the reader more easily recognizes the graphic novel as a true account

    • Graphic Novels are typically a fictional story but with the cut in the story the reality is more clear

  • The flashbacks during conversation periods helped to tie the double timeline together.

  • Yes the hybrid narrative makes the story more easy to read and with the emotion that can be displayed in images allows for the reader to "feel" the story more

Prompt Two

Describe Vladek and Ala’s relationship in this chapter. How is it affected by their circumstances?

  • Vladek is doing everything he can in his situation--finding food, risking his life/putting himself in danger to provide for his wife

  • Vladek gives Anja candy when they hadn't eaten in a while

  • Lying about the rats in the cellar to ease her mind. SHowing his caring and protective side.

  • His circumstances--and how he acts under these--reflects how he would act outside of them.

  • Demonstrates patience and kindness; assume it would be this same way outside their circumstances

Prompt Three

What do you make of the animal characterizations of the nationalities and ethnicities? What is the purpose of the mice wearing pig masks?

  • Ironic that the Jews are portrayed as mice -- depicting the dehumanizing aspect

    • People fear Jewish people or have strong opinions against them--like mice, they must hide in basements, attics, walls, etc.

  • Nationality: the heart of identity at this time; people formed opinions on others from a superficial level

  • The Jewish people wear pig masks to hide their true identities and prevent themselves from being caught

  • Ethnicity - cultural identity

  • Nationality - nation state identity

  • Wearing the pig masks also represents "taking off the star of David" and stripping themselves of their Jewish religion or identity

Alice Walker Day

Prompt One:

"I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table," Dee says. In Walker's story, why is Dee making a distinction between the everyday use of things and the way she sees them? Describe the cultural divide between Dee and her family. Where may it have come from and what does it say about the way culture shifts.

  • She is coming from a place of trying to own her own heritage in a higher regard than her family previously did

    • Separate the items from the everyday use case

    • Trying to be enlightened about her heritage

  • Dee is trying to be an educated woman instead of country folk like her family.

    • She views America's past as a negative of her heritage in America

  • Dee and her family have a cultural divide because of the education she has received has made her "enlightened" versus her family.

  • Family sees the butter churn and quilts as valuable because of the everyday uses of it.

  • Dee sees the butter churn and quilts as a piece of heritage, meant to be preserved.

    • Antiques become valuable

Prompt Two:

Think about the photo-taking scene near the end of the story. What may be on the minds of the photographer and her subjects? What do the scenes imply about the people involved in them.

  • Takes place where Dee takes pictures of her mom and sister, Maggie

    • Takes pictures immediately before greeting

    • Takes pictures for an unusual reason

  • The photography should be sweet, and sentimental

    • However, Dee is trying to make the pictures for the artificial aspect of it

  • Dee is trying to make a scene of everything

    • Extravagant dress in contrast with families' simple clothing

  • Dee is not aware of her detachment to her family

    • She is trying to collect things, not taking the time to make meaningful memories

  • Dee even waited for a cow to come into frame for her picture.

    • Finding the ideal scene of the moment instead of just enjoying it.

  • Dee is using these photographs perhaps as a marker for a past life that she has succeeded in overcoming.

Prompt Three:

The narrator says, speaking of Maggie, "When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet." What did she understand that she had not understood before?

  • The mother was looking at her two daughters in a very objective way.

    • Maggie was looking at Dee and surrendering of the quilts to her

  • The mother saw the perversity in Dee wanting the items

    • Dee wanted the items for a way to illustration a climbing in status not as a tool for remembrance

  • Mother saw this and decided that Maggie deserves them more because Maggie wants them to remember the family traditions and not just to showcase status

  • Maggie from being burned in the house fire had lost most of what she had in life.

    • Her mother saw the quilts as one of the last items to hold on to.

Prompt Four:

Walker's story asks us to think about material culture and the value(s) we assign to things. What role does this valuation play in a consumer society? Does capitalism affect the way that we value things? Ideas? People?

  • Capitalism thrives on the goods and use of those items

  • Capitalism does cause us how to value items

    • Social status

  • People in capitalism can be view not as people but how hard they work

  • Conspicuous Consumption: A lot of people buy things because they want something to signal their social status to their community.

  • Ideas that lead to innovation and profitability are priorities over other ideas

  • With this innovation things like the butter churn in the story become a scarcity complex where their value becomes connected to the time period as an antique.

Prompt Five:

We are told this story from Mama's point of view. How might the story be different if told from Maggie's point of view? From Dee's point of view?

  • From Maggie’s point of view

    • Self-conscious and Jealous of Dee getting out of the Fire and going to college, directed at both her mother and sister, Dee.

  • From Dee's point of view

    • May be subconsciously looking at her family in a condescending way

    • Her idea of how to look at the items with the heritage that they hold as better than the practical use that her family views the items as.

Alexie and Anzaldua Day

Prompt One:

If we think of Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire as allegorical figures in Alexie's story, then what might they represent and what does the nature of their ongoing relationship say about the future of tribal peoples in the United States?

  • When they grew up as kids they loved Thomas's stories

    • As they grow up they grow apart

  • Thomas kept his last name representing the old indian culture

    • Traditional Native American Culture holding on through time

  • Victor gave up his indian last name representing the new indian culture

    • Moving on from indian culture to American Culture

  • Indians try to leadve their traditions behind

  • Tribal people like Thomas through the future will probably decline

  • But the indians will probably try to hold on to their culture (heritage) while moving on.

  • The theme is to understand the importance of cultural heritage

Prompt Two:

How does Thomas's story at the top of page 1065 tie into older Native American traditions? How might this tradition be seen outside of the confines of the culture of the First Nations?

  • In older native american traditions

    • Tribes stole other tribes horse, specifically the young men as an act into manhood

  • The walk back was like the trail of tears

  • The act of defiance was their ascension to tribal warriors

  • The police will take the car back to the owner

    • Showing that their intention was not to keep the car but to show an act of cultural ascension

  • Outside of tradition it may seem redundant to steal a car and give it back

Prompt Three:

Anzaldúa, we are told, grew up "between two cultures." This hybridity, cultural, ethnic, or linguistic, adds another dimension to the human experience generally and the American experience specifically. How might this situation affect our views of assimilation and our definition of American?

  • Assimilation

    • Trying to fit in to a culture that she does not want to assimilate

    • Conflict or flexibility between cultures

  • Sometimes in between the two cultures where they belong to no one.

  • 100% assimilation for immigrants is usually impossible or seen as a bad thing

  • She understands American culture but does not agree with or accept American values

Prompt Four:

What does Anzaldúa's narrative poem, "el sonavabithce" say about the situation of migrant farm labor in the United States? What are the metaphorical implications of living in a "borderland?"

  • Negotiations are a part of Farm Labor

    • negotiate pay

    • negotiate freedom

    • Negotiating not to be turned in to immigration authorities

  • Metaphorical implications

    • Cultures were coexisting

    • In America there is a set price for something

    • In Mexico/other cultures negotiating is acceptable

  • Because cultures are coexisting there is tension and animosity between the cultures

    • A lack of respect from the American farm owners and the laborers

  • If you are in the country illegally you are a highly vulnerable member of the community.

Prompt Five:

As a critique of capitalism and of the law, what does Anzaldúa's poem have to say? Who is entitled to the pursuit of happiness? When? Under what circumstances?

  • Pursuit of happiness is only for those with full power in Capitalist society

    • The advantage and means is given to them

  • Immigrants are not able to pursue happiness because they do not have the means to do so.

    • Specifically illegal immigrants do not have the power or money to do so

  • The immigrants are entitled to pursue happiness but they are unable to.

  • The phrase, "Pursuit of Happiness" comes from Declaration of Independence

    • When Jefferson wrote this he wrote about three rights which are inalienable rights.

  • Inalienable: "Cannot be separated from it"

    • Restriction is allowed but not separated

    • Ex. Prison or lack of funds

  • Restricting others pursuit of happiness is the result of the ranch owner pursuing his own version of happiness.

  • Capitalism to no restraint is about getting all of the advantage.

Cisnero Day

Prompt One:

In what ways has Cleófilas's life been circumscribed by the patriarchy? In what ways is she particularly ill equipped to alter the course of her life?

  • Her upbringing had a huge impact

    • Surrounded by brothers

    • The only daughter, princess of the household

    • Treated as such

    • Her parents relationship was good, not abusive at all.; "I am your father'I will never abandon you."

    • "... already did he divine the morning his daughter would raise her hand over her eyes, look south, and dream of returning to the chores that never ended, six good-for-nothing brothers, and on old man's complaints."

  • Her marriage shows the power structure

    • Immediately she is the submissive figure in a power structured relationships

    • Abused at the beginning, resulting in a structure of dominant and submissive behavior.

  • Childbirth and the prenatal periods

    • She was forced to remain in side for the good of the child

    • Treated almost as an animal

  • She is ill equipped because she is an immigrant.

  • She is woman with children

    • She has personal responsibility for their well-being, meaning she cannot pursue something out of the blue

  • She cannot speak English

    • In a society like America where the primary language is English, she would be at a severe disadvantage.

  • Sometimes, in order to pursue happiness, one needs resources. But, not everyone has equal access to resources.

  • She is financially challenged and physically confined to this town.

  • She was completely ignorant about how marriage is supposed to operate and as an extension the freedom women should have in society

    • Had never experienced physical abuse in her household.

    • She didn't have the thought in her mind that marriage could be this way.

Prompt Two:

Compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” with "Woman Hollering Creek" and explain why the outcome for Cleófilas is more promising than that of Gilman's narrator.

  • How might Gilaman's narrator and Cleófilas be similar in their initial perceptions of their husband?

    • They both enetered marraige with lofty ideals which did not live up---crashed

    • Handles this situation very differently. Gilman's narrator gave in, fell into depravity and insanity.

    • Cleófilas kept her mental acuity, maintained her desire for a happy marriage, did end up leaving. Spoke about fighting back but didn't.

    • Gilman's narrator: Initially describes her husband as very "careful and loving", saying, "He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick," but then "he hates to have me write a word." She astarts to fear him.

    • Similarly, Cleófilas's long-awaited desire for marriage -- to find the love of her life, like the telenovelas had promised her-- dictated her perceptions of juan Pedro, even though her father could see right through him and anticipate the mistreatment.

    • Though both women are confined by patriarchal norms, Cleófilas has an ally in Felice.

  • Who is Felice? Beyond helping Cleófilas escape physically, how else might she be changing her circumstances for the better?

    • Drove Cleófilas to San Antonio. She had someone to go to---an ally. Gilman's narrator had not one to confide in. She was entirely on her own.

    • She defies traditional gender roles and fiercely defends women who are trapped in restricted, traditional lives.

Prompt Three:

How does poverty exacerbate the circumstances of the story?

  • Already has an idea in her head about what marriage should be like.

  • Leaving that threatens her preconceived notion about marriage and what culture tells her

  • She doesn't have the financial independence and stability to make the decision to leave

  • Unsure if she can take care of her children on her own.

  • She doesn't have a mode of transportation.

  • She is disappointed in how she didn't live up to her expectatiosn of waht marriage would be.

  • Poverty is not a product of laziness; it is a series of misfortunes/circumstance that cause one to fall into a hole--- and some don't have the resources to build the ladder needed to climb out.

O’Brien Day

Prompt One:

In what ways does O'Brien's style of writing reinforce the mood or message he might wish to convey in this story?

  • disjointed

    • returning to topics and adding details

    • irrelevant details

  • Mood -> Absurdism

    • Relates to the terrible things people experience in war and how their brain tries to process it

  • Non-schalant, unprofessional story-telling

    • Crude and real description

  • The way he decribes the writing makes it seem that it is the truth

    • Not glorified or glamourized

  • The events are violent and cruel, but by telling it in a nonchalant way makes the topic more intense and showcases the effect of the event.

Prompt Two:

On E-875 and 876, O'Brien, the narrator, says that "a true war story is never moral." Why does he say this and what do you think he means?

  • A personal perspective is going to say the things that effected the person the most.

  • The more personal a story the less over arching the message.

  • Lemon's death has no emotional response because there is no larger moral to connect the careless death to.

Prompt Three:

How might Mitchell Sanders' story about the LP (listening post) on pages E-877 to E-879 be a story about listening? If, as Mitchell claims at first, it has a moral, is it a true war story?

  • How paranoid the soliders are

    • Long periods of times the soliders start to hear things

    • Going Mad

  • To stop the noise that they heard at the LP an airstrike is called

  • The point where they say that they don't listen to us

    • An allusion to the fact that most civilians did not want to hear an actual true war story, instead the ideas that civilians think war is.

  • No not a true war story has to be believable.

    • The teller of the story was frustrated that he was not actually be believed.

  • A war story is to make the listener relate to the soldiers in the war.

Prompt Four:

On page E880, we hear the story of the baby water buffalo. How might it be related to the death of the soldier Curt Lemon? Are these "true war stories" by O'Brien's definition?

  • A true war story credibility must always be questioned.

    • A soliders is going to tell it how it seems.

  • The actions against the buffalo is direct

    • Could be true because there is not much moral value to them.

    • Was a way for Rat Kiley to cope with loosing his friend.

  • Curt Lemon and the Water Buffalo is a illustration of the naive and innocent

  • This event showed the psychological torment of the soliders because of the war.

Prompt Five:

Compare O'Brien's story with Twain's "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed." What similar points do they make and what might be implied by these similarities?

  • Similar in the contrast of what you think war will be like and the reality

  • Both viewed the loss of life in a different way.

    • O'Brien sees the appreciation of what it means to be alive with their dead comrade

    • Twain's story shows the grief and remorse for the death

Harjo Day

Poem One:

"Call It Fear"

Likes:

  • Format gives specific words more meaning

    • ie "Backwards" -> Repetition of it

  • Message

  • Parinorma

Dislikes:

  • Wordy

  • Sounds Possessed

  • Gore

  • Imasry

Mood:

  • Eerie

  • Paranoia

  • Anxiety Ridden

Meanings:

  • Fear can be paralyzing (Fight or FLight)

  • Important to Confront Fears

Poem Two:

"White Bear"

Likes:

  • the relatability of her indecision

  • Imagery relating to her memories of her daughter

Dislikes:

  • Slightly unclear on what the volcano refers to

Mood:

  • Uncertain

  • Reflective

  • Somber & Bittersweet

  • Vulnerable

Meanings:

  • Contrast between life & death and darkness & light

  • Balancing her Native American roots with her desire to live an “American” style of life

  • Violence births life

Poem Three:

"Summer Night"

Likes:

  • Descriptive

  • Short

  • Imagery

Dislikes:

  • Format (hard to follow)

  • No rhyme scheme

Mood:

  • Light & summery

  • Nostalgic

  • Lonely

  • Anticipation

Meanings:

  • She is the exception

Poem Four:

"When the World as We Knew It Ended"

Likes:

  • incorporates culuture into her poetry

  • format added to the mood (tension)

    • "it was coming" (line 8)

    • described the average day as 9-11 happened

Dislikes:

  • Can be hard to undersatand the reference

Mood:

  • aspirational

  • suspenseful

Meanings:

  • 9-11

  • Draw parrallel between 9-11 and how people felt on that day and how the world as they knew ended. To the Indian Culture loosing their world in Colonial America

  • Moving on & persevering through

Poem Five:

"Tobacco Origin Story"

Likes:

  • Interesting Read

  • Personification

Dislikes:

  • Hard to decipher meaning

Mood:

  • Going from happy, reminiscent, & nostalgic to down trodden, & pessimistic

Meanings:

  • Disconnect from Nature

  • No Place for people to congregate without money or alcohol

  • Miss Mary Mack represents transition from childhood to adulthood.

Tan Day

Prompt One:

What kind of American narrative is the mother in the story hearing? How is she hearing it and how does it affect her daughter?

  • Extreme version of the American Dream

    • Highly successful (hardworking) people who pursued fame

  • The American dream in contrast should be about what you want for your dream to be.

  • She only hears the successful versions

    • Determining that only success can come with enough effort

    • Pushing this notion on her daughter to do things that she may not want to do.

  • Examples like Shirley Temple and Ripley's Believe It or Not.

    • Causing a "peter pan" haircut

    • Concept of achieving perfection; JIng-mei believes in this at first

  • News sources like magazines and TV Shows

    • Tests on culture; required to memorize facts, Biblical knowledge

    • She is disgusted with her reflection in the mirror initially; believes she will never live up to her mother's expectations

  • Especially the Ed Sullivan Show

  • As an immigrant, she hears the "rags to riches" and social mobility stories, believing as long as you are sensible and intelligent-and you work hard for it-- you could pave your own path in life.

    • "America was where all my mother's hope lay."

  • Lamented her mother; damaged their relationship

  • Initially, she felt a need to make her mother proud. Then, she lost confidence, felt defeated.

  • After the recital fiasco, her mother returned to their normal routine, reminding Jing-mei of her piano lessons. But her daughter felt stronger, "as if (her) true self had finally emerged." She discovered what was inside her all along.

Prompt Two:

Tan’s story concerns mother and daughter relationships, generational divides, and assimilation issues. In what way does the American narrative affect these points? Where else have we seen similar stories played out? 

  • What is Cultural assimilation?

    • Process by which a minority group/culture come to resemble a society's "majority group" by assimilating the values of another group.

  • How has cultural assimilation affected the mother/daughter relationship? How may it have exacerbated the generational divide?

    • American Dream and narrative pushes pressures onto people to be more individualized and have free will -- but this conflicts with the mother's Chinese traditions/values.

    • Concept of striving to be the best, to be a "prodigy" -- she forces this upon her daughter which causes the rift.

    • At 9 years old, Jing-mei's mother told her, "Of course you can be prodigy, too."

    • Strict , enforcing rules (from her Chinese traditions/values), but pushing her daughter to conform to these American ideals.

    • So Jing-mei began to picture this prodigy as a part of herself . She was filled with a sense that she would soon become perfect.

    • But, sometimes the prodigy in herself would become impatient, threatening to disappear for good. "And then you'll always be nothing."

    • She promises herself she won't let her mother change her. She won't be what she is not.

  • What cultural circumstances inform the mother/daughter relationship?

  • How do we see their mother/daughter relationship transform toward the end of the story?

  • In what other stories have we seen these points of cultural assimilation and generational divides play out?

    • "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" --- Tradition vs, modernity

    • Zitkala Sa"s writings: "impression of an Indian Childhood" and "The School Days of an Indian Girl" -- shows how assimilation can cause issues between family members but also internally

    • "Everyday Use"

    • "Battle Royale:" -- some cultural assimilation during the speech-- to attract the white audience (intentions of his speech)

Prompt Three:

 Discuss the role of obedience in raising children, and please use Tan’s story as one point of reference. When is obedience appropriate? When not? What is the relationship between obedience and conformity?

  • Obedience vs. Conformity

    • Obedience: following a set of rules, right vs, wrong, morality and teachings

    • Conformity: matching the social norms, taking on qualities/desires of parental influences

    • Obedience relies on social power; conformity relies on the need to be socially accepted

    • Obedience is necessary to learn/grow but there should be a healthy balance, room to express individuality without conforming.

    • Parents should have the best intentions, while maintaining individuality

    • As an adult, Jing-mei realizes she could have been both kind of daughters

    • Her mother believed in her abilities when she did not

    • This childhood experience could have taught her to be her own person; being the "pleading child" gave her the chance to stick up for herself.

Trethewey Day

Poem One:

"Vignette"

Likes:

  • Analogy of contortionist and how it makes you understand her feelings

  • Cool dual point of view

    • She writes about woman in photographs potential thoughts

Dislikes:

  • No rhyme or bars?

  • No pictures

  • Hard to break into sections

Mood:

  • reflective

  • tense

  • empathetic

Meaning(s):

  • Author believes the woman in picture who's prostitute they feel similar to a contortionist

    • the pressure of entertaining the "audience" leg contorting oneself into unnatural or uncomfy states of being

Poem Two:

"Graveyard Blues"

Likes:

  • impactful message

  • simple language

  • personification of the sun "glared"

  • Imagery

    • easy to picture

  • Italicized line

    • "Death stops the body’s work, the should a journeyman"

  • Rhymes/bars

Dislikes:

  • Dark

Mood:

  • Somber

  • Reflective

  • Relief

  • Angry

Meaning(s):

  • Tragedy happen, grief continues to the present

  • Comfort in death

    • "my mothers name, stone pillow for my head"

  • Grief = the road

  • Time continues despite circumstances

  • Human body is mortal but soul is not

  • Soul keeps moving

Poem Three:

"Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971"

Likes:

  • Straight forward

  • short

  • good imagery of snowy and icy scene

  • resemblance

    • ice to cold stepfather

Dislikes:

  • abusive step-father

  • traumatic

Mood:

  • somber

  • sad

  • nostalgic

  • traumatic

  • reflective

Meaning(s):

  • photograph resembles not knowing what's actually going on in people's lives, only seeing the pretty outside

  • TIme prompts nostalgia for the past

  • The weather represents the family

    • beautiful outside but food is rotting on the inside

Poem Four:

"Native Guard"

Likes:

  • How he compare the freedom in the military to his experience with his master

  • Anonymous narrator

  • Linear timeline

    • reflects his changes over time

    • easy to understand

Dislikes:

  • long

  • slavery

  • somewhat confusing in the beginning

Mood:

  • reminiscent

  • neutral narrator

  • sad

Meaning(s):

  • It is important to remember history

  • "death makes us all equal"

Poem Five:

"Miracle of the Black Leg"

Likes:

  • Snake imagery & metaphor of the shedding (identity)

  • Doctor as metaphor for control

    • maybe bad?

Dislikes:

  • the ending feels cut short and odd but could have meaning of open endedness

Mood:

  • Dark & grim

  • Existential

  • Depressing

Meaning(s):

  • Who society thinks is worthy of sacrifice

    • being saved

    • despite who it comes at the lost of

  • Victory (saving) of one means the damning of another

  • death

  • racism

  • Unequal symbiotic relationship between Black and White People

Saunders Day

Prompt One:

Many bizarre and morally questionable things go on in "CivilWarLand in Decline." In what ways does traditional capitalism either cause or enable these things and why do you thing they persist?

  • exploitation of labor

    • Interest of business owners over workers

    • Manager has huge influence over income of park

    • low wages and poor living quarters

  • Dehumanization of workers

    • Fear of being laid off

  • Theme park is a poor representation of capitalism

    • Terrible war and using it for exploitation for monetary gain

  • Capitalism results in lower level workers being expendable

    • Henry Ford model of manufacturing

    • one simple tasks that you can easily be replaced to do

Prompt Two:

  • Historical Reconstruction Associate

  • Verisimilitude Inspector

  • Hatred Abatement Breathing

  • Revenue-Impacting Event

What do the phrases in this list from the story suggest about the way language is being used? What may we infer about the values of the culture that produces these phrases?

  • Historical Reconstruction Associate and Verisimilitude Inspector

    • Satire to how people glorify past events

    • using the phrases makes satire about the Southern pride about the civil war

  • Hatred Abatement Breathing

    • satirical of how some people try to make the past politically correct

    • Somethings in the past can not be made into a positive thing

    • History is not a pretty thing

  • Revenue-Impacting Event

    • Boiled down the deaths of gang members to a revenue-impacting event

    • Belittling the lives of other humans

    • Revenue gets valued higher than people

Prompt Three:

What do we make of the presence of the McKinnons in this story? For instance, what is the contrast between actual nineteenth-century history and the world in which CivilWarLand exists? How does learning the backstory of the McKInnons on affect our interpretation of their presence?

  • Presence emphasizes themes of memory, trauma and themes of past

  • Represent those that were left behind

  • CivilWarLand was an exaggerated example of the time period

  • The ghost represent social decay

  • The horrors of the actual war and the misrepresentation of the period by the theme park

Prompt Four:

Mr. A says, "All I wanted to do was to give the public a meaningful perspective on a historical niche I've always found personally fascinating." What insight does referring to the American Civil War as a historical niche gies us into Mr. A and his culture?

  • Mr. A and his culture is out of touch and insensitive

    • Looked at Civil War as a niche

  • Lacks self awareness

  • Believed that the civil war as not widely believed to be significant

    • But the people who experienced it look a the war as a horrific thing

Prompt Five:

What does the story's end leave us to think about regarding Sam the security, the unnamed narrator, human nature, or the extremes of capitalism

  • Normalized things we saw as brutal.

  • Sam is insane

  • A desire for money drove them to this point

  • Capitalism altered their view of the value of human life.

    • In a capitalist society anything can be turned into a commodity

    • By devaluing people by commodifying them, you also devalue yourself

  • Commodity - anything that can be bought or sold

  • The American Civil War has been commodified by Mr. A and the narrator

Lahiri Day

Prompt One:

What might we already discern about Dev from Miranda’s first encounter with him at the makeup counter in the discount store?

  • Wealthy, or distinguished

    • Has a high paying job

  • Could tell he was most likely in a relationship

    • Buying cosmetic products

  • First impression makes you think he was not married

    • Not wearing a wedding band

  • Do you think the interaction was by circumstance?

    • Sent to do errands

  • Smoking Three Cigarettes only

    • Habitual

    • Stress reliever

    • Follows a routine (Sunday meeting)

  • What can we infer about dev based on his outer appearance?

    • "The man was tanned, with black hair that was visible on his knuckles. He wore a flamingo pink shirt, a navy blue suit, a camel overcoat with gleaming leather buttons. In order to pay he had to take off his pigskin gloves. Crisp bills emerged from a burgundy wallet. He didn't wear a wedding ring."

    • He is rather forward and confident, sophisticated perhaps.

  • What other textual evidence can we draw from?

    • "He seemed to be lingering, waiting... for her to say something."

    • "While the saleswoman dabbed the cream on Miranda's face, the man stood and watched."

    • "Miranda's hand was unsteady as she signed the receipt. The man hadn't budged."

    • "... pacing his steps with hers."

  • Do you think this encounter was by happenstance? Was Dev stalking her? Was this one of his "fishing spots"? How should we trust his motives?

    • Just by circumstance, was sent there for a purpose, to buy cosmetic products for his wife. Then, opportunity struck.

    • Potentially had affairs before (a man of habit), saw Miranda and was interested.

    • Perhaps it was calculated, not somewhere he "routinely" goes but he has mannerism and saying that would imply he's done this before

    • Maybe prepared but not planned

Prompt Two:

Discuss the symbolic significance of Miranda’s and Dev’s visit to the Mapparium in Boston.

  • Discuss the imagery of the Mapparium.

    • This is the only type of trip he can take her on. He shows her the world by being inside a replica of the world, because be can't physically bring her into the public -- "The outside world"

  • What larger idea(s) might Lahiri be trying to communicate through this imagery? (Think back to her nature of writing.)

    • It is representative of how he should be treating his wife. The physical distance between Miranda and Dev on the bridge while maintaining intimacy is how he should feel with his wife

    • Transnationalism: the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding social and economic significance of boundaries across nation states; a social process, where by migrants operate in social fields that cross geographic, political, and cultural borders

    • It suggest a weakening of the control a nation-state has over its borders, inhabitants, and territory.

    • It speaks to the metaphorical smallness of the world now, largely due to technological advancements

  • Dev tells Miranda to stand at the opposite end of the bridge. Even though they're 30 feet apart, he says they'll be able to hear each other whisper (a "whispering gallery.") What do we gather from this moment? How do Dev's words on the bridge impact Miranda later on?

    • The curved glass walls do not absorb the sound waves, but reflect them back.

    • When they whisper top one another, Lahiri could also be highlighting the secretive, dishonest nature of their relationship.

Prompt Three:

Discuss the motives for Miranda’s visit to the Indian restaurant and to the video store.

  • Likely driven by her fascination and romanticized view of India, infatuation with Dev, wants to understand his culture more.

  • When you meet someone new, you want to know everything about his life, but she doesn't know anything about his culture.

  • Video store: want to know what his wife looks like, want to know what Dev sees in her, an obsession with wanting to know about her. Perhaps triggered by jealousy.

  • Miranda, younger and less experienced in many things than Dev, feels an urgency to know and understand him better.

  • She feels that visiting Indian restaurants and renting Bollywood movies will be a shortcut to knowing his culture.

  • Do you think her past shame drives her to learn more about his culture?

    • Potentially, another side the author wants you to see?

    • More so impacted by the infatuation she felt for Dev

  • What might people from other cultures learn, or assume, about U.S. citizens if their primary resources were American cuisine and American cinema?

    • Materialistic, quantity over quality, fast-paced culture, superficiality, self-absorbed

Wilson Day One

Prompt One:

Not to suggest that the prominence of the fence must have a single interpretation, what are the possible suggested meanings of the symbol that gives this play its name?

  • Represents different things for different people

  • Troy:

    • Boxes him in and limits his dreams

    • He has a family to feed

    • Protect him from death

    • Cut himself off emotionally

  • Cory:

    • Feels trapped by his father

    • Trapped in Troy's idea for what his life should be

  • Rose:

    • Keep her loved ones in

  • Baseball

    • When you hit the ball over the fence for a home run

    • Shows Troys love of the game

Prompt Two:

Compare Troy Maxson's sons Lyons and Cory and describe their relationship with their father. What is the significant about their dreams for the future, particularly in the context of 1950s America?

  • Lyons

    • Grew up without Troy

    • Built his own identity

  • Cory:

    • Grew up with Troy

    • Respects the authority of him

  • Both:

    • Don't have an emotional relationship

    • Have a different idea of dreams, want to pursue their dreams over a stable income and surrounding

  • In the 1950s, African Americans only really had two career outcomes other than trade like a garbage collector.

    • Sports

    • Music

    • Military

Prompt Three:

Lyons speaks about his passion for music with his father. He says, "I know I got to eat. But I got to live too." Rereading this passage, what point is Lyons trying to make? How does this apply to the lives and fates of the Maxson family members?

  • Doing something you want to do, while still being able to provide for your family

  • Parents want to provide the next generation with the knowledge to live a successful life

  • Another part of the American Dream is the idea that the next generation will try to increase their social status

    • Plateau is possible

  • Should we focus on trying to climb or trying to live a happy life where the are at.

Prompt Four:

What are Troy Maxson's responsibilities to his sons, his wife, and his community? What are their responsibilities to him? Considering these points, compare and discuss Troy Maxson and Willy Loman

  • To family

    • Be the provider

    • Try to be a loving father (has shortcomings)

  • To community

    • Be a good garbage worker, keep the community clean

    • Be a aspirational individual, first black garbage truck driver

  • Community and Family to Troy

    • Son’s responsibility is to grow up to be responsible adults

    • Rose is supposed to be a faithful wife

    • Community should try to allow for opportunities and a chance to climb the social ladder

  • We as individuals have a responsibility for others and our community, but at the same time the others and the community have a responsibility to the individual.

  • Both Willie and Troy

    • relish in the past and push preconceived notions onto their children.

    • Inability to recognize change

Prompt Five:

Troy describes buying on an installment plan as a deal with the devil. Discussing a desire for a television, Cory suggests that his father buy it on installment. In the context of this play and this family, how accurate would you say Troy's playful description of buying on installment is?

  • Tells an allegorical story

    • Pays ten dollars a month for his life to the devil

    • An installment plan is like a deal with the devil

  • Tells his son Cory about the TV

    • Prioritizing the necessity over the luxuries

    • Spend the money on practical items not impractical pleasures.

  • Buying on an installment plan is becoming owned by a master

  • Being in debt to somebody makes you almost like a slave to you

Wilson Day Two

Prompt One:

Troy Maxson is the Lastest of a series of parents trying to control their families that we have met. Discuss why he and the other may have been this way.

  • Troy faced many hardships growing up and fell hard

    • Tried to humble his sons before the world does

  • Troy is kinda doing the right thing

    • Has the best intentions at heart

    • Going about it the wrong way, by limiting his sons completely

    • He does not understand how the world has changed

  • Cory feels that his father is only holding him back

    • Cory does not understand that his father is trying to protect him.

  • Troy could also be jealous of his sons supposide athletic opportunity

  • This story draws correlation to Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, "Barn Burning", "Two Kinds", the works of Zitkala Sa, and "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

Prompt Two:

If we take Troy at his word regarding his love for Rose, how de we explain his affair with Alberta?

  • Affair doesn't show lack of love for Rose, but his character flaw

    • He never feels satisfied with his life

    • He is selfish and only want to better himself.

    • Neglected the best interest of Rose

  • Troy is never satisfied with his life overall

    • Jumping between tasks (Fence)

    • Got bored of the fence and got bored of Rose

  • Troy takes up with Alberta because of the newness and excitement that he gets from it

    • Similarly, Willie from Death of a Salesman does the same the; acting as a way to fill the lack of fulfillment in themselves.

    • To fill the lack of confidence that they fill in themselves.

  • Troy took to Rose because originally he did not want ot marry but Rose said that he would have to marry to be with her.

  • Society makes it seem that women are more stable and less likely to stray in marriage, making the moments when a woman does stray much more "unnatural" than a man.

Prompt Three:

At the end of Scene II, Act II, Troy apostrophizes Death. He says, "Ain't nobody else got nothin' to do with this. THis is between you and me. Man to Man." It isn't the first time that he has directly challenged Death. What may be happening in this scene?

  • Not the first time he mocks death.

  • Challenging him man to man is to show the case of death taking Alberta.

    • To remind death that the confrontation of Death and Troy is between himself and death not his family

  • Troy finishing the fence is to protect his family

  • Troy walks trhough life by fighting against everything.

    • Confrontation is his means of operation, thus dealing with Death is going to be in the same way.

Prompt Four:

Rose has her say in Act II. She, Delia from "Sweat," Linda from Death of a Salesman, and Mrs. Wright from Trifles all should have been good Allie’s to their husbands against the vicissitudes and injustices of society. Why do these partnerships fall short?

  • Delia and her husband are in financial hardship

    • Her husband does not help, instead spends all her money

  • Mrs. Wright killing her husband is a mystery to men

    • The wives understand that society failed her and thus her only option was killing her husband

  • Linda's situation is very similar.

    • Rose did everything right in their marriage and the outburst in Act II is a representation of the failure of her husband.

    • The same happened to Linda

  • The husbands just wanted to sustain their egos and thus did cruel things to their wives either financially or emotionally

  • Wives want to be full partners (allies)

    • Unintentionally making themselves targets

  • Its a lot easier to attack your allies than your enemy.

    • Enemies are waiting and attacking you

    • Your allies are not worried about you attacking them

Prompt Five:

How likely are you to think Cory and Lyons are to repeat their fathers mistakes? Explain your answers

  • Each child could go either way.

  • Cory is athletic, similar to his father, and could very well fall into the same path.

    • Cory though makes himself something

    • Entering the military and making a career

  • Lyons is a musician yet falls into criminality

    • Goes to jail like Troy

    • Did not grow up around Troy

  • Cory despises his father because of years of living with him.

    • Taking to heart the lessons he learned not to do from Troy.

  • Lyons did not grow up with his dad, so her had less emotional baggage.

    • Making him less likely to have learned from the mistakes of Troy.

Machado Day

Prompt One:

The plague of female incorporality in "Real Women Have Bodies" asks to be read allegorically. What meanings does it suggest to you?

  • Women's identity correlates to material posessions

  • Author critiques society

    • Society makes women believe that they have to conform to set standards

    • Like dresses and feminity

  • Petra wears combat boots

    • Cares about her appearance not societal norms of appearance though

    • Petra calls the narrator her stone.

  • Women feel that they must bend to societal pressure to have a place in society

Prompt Two:

How does the women's clothing store Glam critique contemporary culture? What do we make of the idea of incorporeal women being sewn into the dresses they sell at Glam?

  • dresses serve as ultimate symbol of feminity

  • women that dont dress as women still fade

  • Fading into the dress, shows that the womens spirit is in the dress and only the women in the dress is seen, not the women's true identity.

Prompt Three:

Natalie complains that even with a photography degree, she can't get a job at the photography studio in the mall, though the young men Chris and Casey do. What bearing does this situation have on the story?

  • Patriarchy in society

  • Overqualified to work in mall photography studio

  • Not recognizeed for talents adn becoming more susceptable to fading

  • Women have a higher standard to reach to gain the same job as a man

    • Constantly chasing a standard they cannot reach

  • Conciousness raising: bringing up something that may not be widely known

    • Done in the case of women's position

Prompt Four:

On page E-1141, Petra speculates about where the incorporeal women have gone, getting "into electrical systems," ATMs and "voting machines." She thinks they're protesting. If correct, what might Petra's reading of the situation suggest? One of the male newcasters later says, "we can't trust faded women." What is he implying?

  • First part

    • Women don't care until after it happens to them

    • Pay attention to me

  • Male newscaster

    • Claim that it is not man's fault for the situation of women

    • Scared there are not typical feminine sterotypes left

  • The faded women are protesters perhaps because they now feel that they can prevent negative aspects of society for women without being frowned on by society since they are faded and invisible.

Prompt Five:

At the end of the story, the narrator returns to Glam after hours to try to free the women captured in the clothes. What story does this remind of us of and can considering teh two stories together offer us further insight?

  • Reminds of the Yellow Wallpaper

    • Explore topics of women identity and their lives.

    • Both cases show how women are invisible to society

  • Invisibility of Women in "Yellow Wallpaper"

    • Narrator's identity

  • Invisibility of Women in "Real Women Have Bodies"

    • Women's identity as a whole

  • Both stories end in scenes of destruction

    • tearing down wallpaper

    • tearing apart dress with pinking shears

    • tearing apart stereotypes

  • Women in the Story refuse to leave the Dresses. Why?

    • Women reconcil with the identity of them in the dress

    • Conditioned to believe they can only live in the patriarchal society

Li-Young Lee Day

Poem One:

"The Gift"

Likes:

  • He addresses the audience - "Had you entered"

  • Told Chronologically

  • Full circle

    • Him as a boy to as a man

  • "Two Measures of tenderness... the flames of discipline"

    • Juxtaposing how love can be tough and gentle simultaneously

  • Personal pronouns... makes you feel more connect to the narrator

Dislikes:

Mood:

  • nostalgic

  • nurturing

  • cyclical

Meaning(s):

  • capitalization? "Little Assasin"

    • does it represent the splinter?

  • Love that's given to us, we then pay forward

  • Love between father & son being nurturing & kind rather than all "tough" love

  • The greatest "gift" we can receive from a parent is the ability to love

  • Brought comfort from his fear

  • memories are often entertwined with other memories & experiences

Poem Two:

"Persimmons"

Likes:

  • Imagery

    • description of persimmons

  • Connections between words

    • Fight & fright

    • wren & yarn

  • He was "wrong" with his words/ understanding contrasted with him knowing persimmons were not ripe

  • Cyclical

    • always comes back to persimmons

Dislikes:

  • kind of long

  • what is a persimmon?

    • Not relatable

Mood:

  • reflective

  • nostalgic

  • righteous

    • With teacher

  • Remores & Pity for father

Meaning(s):

  • language barriers

    • cultural identity

  • Family relationships, looking back on family memories

Poem Three:

"Eating Alone"

Likes:

  • Imagery

    • Shovel looks like father

  • Short and easy

  • Mixing of lonliness into ingredients of food

  • Talks about food

  • How many of his stories revolve around connection between food & memory

  • "cold, brown, & old"

    • How those words sound (assonance)

Dislikes:

  • depressing

  • death is the main focus

  • loneliness

  • makes me hungry

Mood:

  • sad

  • lonely

  • grieving

  • rememberance of father

Meaning(s):

  • the loneliness that comes with the death of a loved one

  • Going through the motions of life after losing someone

  • Coping with death

  • About his father's death

Poem Four:

"Eating Together"

Likes:

  • Short and to the point

  • Details of setting and food as metaphors for life and death

  • Sense of family and food for dinner

    • Tradition and Cultural

  • "To sleep like a snow covered road"

  • Relating to death

    • A peaceful passing

Dislikes:

  • Depressing

  • Death

Mood:

  • Greif even in togetherness

  • Dismal

  • Eating with others in teh midst of tradegy

  • Reflecting on father's death, not as painful

Meaning(s):

  • Inevitable death of father

  • Life can still be "sweet" like the food the food they're eating together; still, the end is inevitable

  • Everything around us stays longer than us (imagery of pines)

  • time heals all wounds

  • his father is with him in memory

Poem Five:

"This Room and Everything In It"

Likes:

  • Spacing

    • Mostly 4 line stanzas

    • Gives a good flow

    • Longer stanzas have more emphasis

  • Explores memory very sensually

  • Connects feath and love through memory

    • Pretty figurative language

    • Stream of conciousness

Dislikes:

  • The ....

  • Confusing

    • Contradics a lot

    • "your body is milk"

Mood:

  • Kinda weird

  • Sexual & intimate

  • profound

  • overwhelming

  • self-conflicting & reflective

  • Information Palace - a visualization of a house with every item in the house associating to a item that the individual must remember

  • Sublime - When taken outside of the five senses, entering a state of extasy

Meaning(s):

  • connecting love, grief, & intimacy and a lot of other big experiences through memory

  • Love is all around you if you only look for it; so is the meaning of love and death

  • We don't have the aucusers can be overwhelming

The American Narrative Day

Personal Reflection?

What does the American Narrative mean to you?

  • Based on the founding of the nation.

  • Deals with the rebukes of liberty

    • Freedom

    • Free Speech

    • Freedom of Religion

  • The beauty in the freedom that people have the ability to express.

  • The ability to dream and pursue what happiness means to you.

    • The push against the status quo

    • Or the highlighting of it.

  • The American Narrative is a mix of the positive and negative of what the nation was based upon.

  • Following are Class Mate Responses

  • Freedom with footnotes.

    • Freedom for everyone but the exceptions exist

  • Righting the wrongs of the past.

  • The idea of making America a better place

  • The idea of making America its own place.

Prompt One:

Can you identify points of agreement among the many texts we’ve read so far as to what principles should go into the American narrative? Which texts bring these to our attention?

  • Freedom with Asterisks

    • Freedom was supposed to be the right of all but was the right of the few.

    • "School Days of an Indian Girl"

    • Forced Assimilation

    • "Mrs. Spring Fragrance"

    • Assimilation, blending of cultures, representing the bridge between Chinese and American Culture

    • "Two Kinds"

    • Forcing 'freedom' and opportunity upon her child

  • Dreams are the reality for some, but imagination for most

    • American Dream is a Pipe dream

    • Text: Death of the Salesman

    • “Fences”

    • Stripping away/killing his child’s dream since his did not come true

    • Zitkala-Sa’s “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

  • False sense of equality

    • Suppose to be a melting pot but in reality every demographic has false equality.

    • Text: "Battle Royal"

    • Supposed to get an opportunity to succeed but really is a cage

  • The 27 amendments to the Constitution

    • First Amendment: Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

    • 13th Amendment: Abolition of Slavery

    • 14th Amendment: Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt

    • All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

    • 15th Amendment: Right to Vote Not Denied by Race

    • 19th Amendment: Women’s Right to Vote

Prompt Two:

Which texts, apart from those in our syllabus, would you put forward as taking part in shaping the American narrative? Explain your choices.

  • Of Mice and Men

    • In a capitalistic society the attempts of man to pursue their dreams, more often than not, result in false hops and tragic outcomes. For some groups this reality is further amplified by both circumstance and mental acuity.

    • Such as Lennie, leading to more often than not death, imprisonment, or the reality of being a burden to those who try to support them.

  • The Scarlet Letter

    • Prejudice against women

    • Men and Women are treated differently for the same crime

    • Hester Pren is publicly shamed

    • Priest is privately shamed

  • Crucible

    • McCarthyism

    • Land of the Freedom, Home of the Skeptical

  • “To Kill a Mockingbird”

    • Fighting for justice

  • “Great Gatsby”

    • Portraying social status, old vs. new money

    • Showing the pursuit of wealth/status (and the consequences)

  • “The Outsiders”

    • Poverty vs. wealth

  • “Things Fall Apart”

    • Keeping your identity/culture vs. assimilating to the new culture

  • “The Help”

Prompt Three:

What American movies, of any era, would you say also participate in shaping the American narrative?

  • Rocky

    • Underdog narrative,

    • Rocky worked hard and suceeds becasue of his hard work

    • Even the poorest can achieve success

    • Reality of chasing the American Dream

  • Full Metal Jacket

    • American narrative of the Vietnam War

    • Not everything happens for a reason

    • Also a great movie

  • Breaking Bad

    • Walter White wanted to be successful and support his family

    • That pursuit led to his own destruction

  • Top Gun

    • Very patriotic,

    • makes being patriotic and the idea of being in the military cool

  • One Upon a Time in Hollywood

    • Contrast betwee n Leonardo Dicaprio's character and Brad Pitt's character,

    • Also focuses on events that occured in the 70's

  • Forrest Gump

  • "The Pursuit of Happiness"

  • "Little Women"

  • "The Hunger Games

Nguyen Day

Prompt One:

The narrator's mother comments early in the story that the communists "don't believe in God and they don't believe in money." Do you think she may conflating these two concepts to any degree? How well do religious and economics systems work together?

  • Definition of Communism

    • Eliminate the wide margin between classes typically seen in a capitalistic society

    • Elimination of Worker exploitation

  • Carl Marx did not believe in religion but more in the idea of religion as a dream for the poor

  • The mother is conflating the concept because of the desecration of her son's grave.

  • There is a conflict between architecture of Banks and Churches

  • How compatible should religion and capitalism be?

    • Should not be able to mix very well

    • Human beings compartmentalize very well

  • In the story the family goes to catholic services.

Prompt Two:

How is the young narrator rebelling against his parents', and in particular, his mother's ways?? How does his rebelliousness compare to that of the children in Tan's "Two Kinds," Faulkner's "Barn Burning," Miller's Death of a Salesman, or Wilson's Fences?

  • Mostly at the beginning

    • Does not care to be kindly

    • Reads comic books

    • Loves school

    • Speaks in English

    • Rejects Cultural Noramlities

    • Assimilate to American Culture

    • He is 13, trying to find his own way.

  • "Two Kinds"

    • More similar to boy

    • Being herself

  • "Barn Burning"

    • Direct defiance

    • More at stake--- property and lives

  • Death of the Salesman

    • Defiance to Father's Wishes

  • Fences

    • Identity Defiance

Prompt Three:

Why does the narrator's mother change her mind about giving Mrs. Hoa money for the anti-communist guerillas in Indochina?

  • Narrator felt sympathy for Mrs. Hoa

  • Mother Felt sorry for Mrs. Hoa

    • Saw Mrs. Hoa as a crook at first

    • After Mrs. Hoa's explanation felt bad

    • Mrs. Hoa was misled in her beliefs of her family returning home and as a result gave her money to help her feel better

  • Mother's empathy was a gateway for guilt.

Prompt Four:

Although they seem to be having some commercial success, what signs do we get that the narrator's parents do not feel secure in their new country? Why do you suppose they feel this way?

  • Both parents few strongly against communist party, don't want to give money to Mrs. Hoa

  • Parents don't trust American Banks

    • Came to country not having a lot after loosing it in communist invasion

    • Worried that it could happen again, so they brought money home to keep out of the bank

  • Allowance request

    • Father gives a list of bills for the son from birth

  • Strong sense of what money can buy

    • Freeing the father from Vietnam draft

  • Put out decoy targets for thieves

  • Put gold bars in the rice

Prompt Five:

When we use terms like immigrants, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, what distinctions, if any, are we making between these terms? Would you regard the narrator's parents as immigrants, or refugees, or both.

  • Immigrants

    • Come to settle in the new country

  • Emigrant

    • Leaving a country for a new one

  • Refugee

    • Fled country due to rights violation

  • Asylum Seeker

    • Fleeing due to persecution

    • Sometimes become refugees or immigrants

  • Migrants

    • person on the move

  • Parents were both refugees and immigrants

    • Fled due to rights violation

    • Settled in California