new books!!!

So we have these new novels to start! Yay!

As I said in class today, both of these novels are a challenge to the class reading them, but both contain rewards. The Grapes of Wrath is a long piece, but its faithful rendering of the struggles of the Great Depression (I hope that's not something we end up calling the old Great Depression...but given our current economy, who knows?) tell us of things that 21st Century students in Lake Forest cannot comprehend in any other way. And Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man, as challenging as its structures make it, shows a young man coming to terms with issues connected to growing up, issues that still concern young people today.

Besides, both of these books contain beautiful writing. :-)

So...let's get specific...

You need to annotate the book, so a note about annotations:

Annotate the book as you read by highlighting and writing notes in the margins or even adding post-its if need be. Annotations can be many things:

• Be Personal: How do you feel about a character or event? Has such and such a character or person ever reminded you of something that’s happened to you. How well do your relate to the novel. Does it ring true? Do you love or hate or empathize with a character.
• React: Be blunt. This is boring; this character is petty and I can’t stand him; nobody I know would do this under these circumstances. Be prepared to justify such comments in class discussion.
• Note wordplay: What “games” does the author play with language? When does the pure word choice, whole phrases and sentences, or figurative language call attention to itself? What ideas do you have about why this might be?
• Cross reference: If a certain word or concept or image comes up on a certain page and you see it come up again, note that recurrence by putting the page number in the margin. For instance, if the main character makes reference to a favorite character from a book and many pages later that same book comes up, go back and find the pages and make a marginal note where they occur. Why? Because tracing patterns will lead to an understanding of how the novel is structured and work like blazing a trail through a forest of words. Cross references help you find and remember patterns that lead to ideas about the novel. This will help for class and online discussion and writing papers.
• Circle unfamiliar words: This can save you interrupting your reading to look up words on-line or in the dictionary. You can ask about them later and note definitions in the margins so you can re-read those sections.
• Pose questions about things you don’t understand: If you do this, you will make a positive contribution to discussion when you ask them in class or online. Your questions will often be similar to other class members; besides, many who didn’t have a question about a certain passage will still have a lot to learn too.
• Make Outside Connections: If something from outside of the book strikes you as connecting to the book, discuss it. Or even (if it can be done) paste something about it into the book from the web. Your brain fires synaptic connections a million miles a minute: let them be a part of your annotations too!
  

E3H:

I'm going to ask you to begin reading the text this weekend. The first two pages contain Joyce/Stephen's earliest memories. As you read this section:

Imagine yourself a young child and write about a very early childhood memory (possibly even your absolute earliest memory), but write it as if you were the age you were then. For instance, if you were 3 and fell off a Big Wheel and skinned your knee, write the story the way a 3-year-old would tell it. Do this in the online "Childhood Memories" board.

Following this section, you will find the rugby match we mentioned in class (pages 4-7, ending in "All in! All in!"). After reading this section carefully, I want you to try to parse the stream of consciousness within it in a graphical illustration. Visualize it in any format you'd like, bonus points for creativity. Be specific, when you create it, about placing plot elements onto it.

Example: show Stephen's conversation with Nasty, show his reflection about Cantwell, etc.

Online, discuss this scene:

• What are some of the things on Stephen’s mind?
• Which of them are most important?
• How do we know?
• What is the importance of the “All in, All in” at the end?

The specific reading for Monday is through through page 39 (the Xmas dinner), but you should continue on as you can to page 61 (the pandybat incident), which is the end of the chapter. All of these will be fodder for in-class and then online discussion next week.

Next week: MT: Portrait W: Counselors Th: Readathon F: party

Don't forget the yellow-striped readathon pieces!

E2H:

Your specific assignment, as I noted in class, is to read through the fifth chapter of the book. Get through at least the first three chapters by Monday, but try to move through all five; it's not really all that much.


Start keeping track of characters in a notebook: there are a lot of them and it may become difficult if you do not.

Annotate the book as I note above, but also discuss online on the boards I am providing. Consider some fundamental questions as you read:

• Who is Tom Joad? Why was he in prison and what does that tell us about him?
• What do we learn about Jim Casy?
• What does the way Steinbeck describes things tell us?
• Do you sense a metaphor (or more than one) in the turtle chapter?
• What's the deal with Joe Davis's boy?
• What do we learn about the Joads from Chapter 5?

Don't forget the green-striped readathon pieces!

CW:

Ya'll know...

Don't forget the blue-striped readathon pieces!

j: it's freakin' cold
music: cold outisde--lowen and navarro
silly 70's: beach baby--first class