Southern Gothic Lit Review

This post if for freshmen only.

Southern Gothic

Literary Tradition

Gothic literature is fiction in which strange, gloomy settings and mysterious, violent, often supernatural events create suspense and terror. Southern gothic literature uses gothic motifs to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

Following are a few characteristics of gothic and southern gothic literature:

1. The gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror. Gothic is about haunting and possession.  We are supposed to feel a chill at some point in the story, and this emotional response is in part the point of the gothic experience. Paradoxically, this fear is a source of pleasure.  "Tis so appalling--it exhilarates," Emily Dickinson says in a poem.
2. In a Gothic work, there is usually confusion about good and evil. What does ‘good’ actually mean? What about ‘evil’? And how can we tell the difference?
3. Gothic reveals a fear of institutions, such as religion, education, or marriage.
4. Gothic shows the dark and hidden side of things. It rips open the lies and shows a world of cruelty, lust, perversion, and crime hidden beneath society’s rules and customs.
5. Gothic tears through censorship and explodes hypocrisies. It exposes the world as a corrupt, reeking place.
6. Gothic is a reaction to the conventional, common sense, and enlightened world. If society is supposed to be orderly and sensible, gothic shows how it really isn’t.
7. Southern gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Sweet Southern belles are crafty and greedy, chivalrous gentlemen are sneaky and perverse, and righteous preachers are manipulative and evil.

Our Prezi presentation on Southern Gothic Literature can be found HERE.

Your task: We've tackled two short stories that can be considered Southern Gothic - "Good Country People" and "A Rose for Emily." We also viewed Night of the Hunter - again, classic Southern Gothic. Select one of the stories, and in a paragraph explain how one aspect of the story meets one of the criteria listed above.

Be sure that your response is thoughtful and thorough and includes a cited quotation. Keep in mind all of the elements of a good paragraph: topic sentence, set-up, cited quotation, explanation (claim - evidence - warrant). Write in formal third person. Follow all of the Road to Formal Essay Writing criteria (which can be found HERE.) Post your paragraphs in the comments below. Include you name. you may comment on your peers' entries for extra credit.

The text for "A Rose for Emily" can be found HERE.  The text for "Good Country People" can be found HERE.

Morning Announcements

Morning Announcements Oct. 25, 2013 from Glenbrook South Television on Vimeo.

Flintstones FYI

Intro to Gatsby - The Roaring 20s

This post is for JUNIORS only.

There is a pretty good page of 1920s culture at http://roaringtwenties.tumblr.com/archive.

Here are some more images/video clips of 1920s culture.

More Banksy

One of My Favorite Cartoons

One of Tex Avery's best. (And Tex Avery himself was one of the best.)

Thursday Morning Announcements

Here you go...


Morning HC Announcements 10.10.13 from Glenbrook South Television on Vimeo.

Spare Change

This post if for JUNIORS only.

In a thoughtful, thorough, one-page essay, answer the following question. Be sure to use the One Page Essay Rubric when drafting and revising.

Does Toby successfully change himself
throughout the course of the book?

You can answer this question one of two ways:

1. While it appears that Toby changes himself throughout the course of the book, he actually fails to do so.
2. Even though Toby does not appear to change throughout the course of the book, he actually succeeds at doing so.

Essay - Cool Hand Luke and Of Mice and Men

This post is for FRESHMEN only.

Now that we're wrapping up Of Mice and Men, and now that we've watched Cool Hand Luke, it's time to start thinking about our essay. 

Luke and George have many similarities:

• They both live in a male-centric environment.
• They are both friends with man who is larger and more powerful yet who is less intelligent.
• They are both concerned with authority and fitting in.
• They both want something more than what they have.
• They are both dissatisfied with where they are.
• They both, in some way, are forced to deal with the notion of being a leader.

However, these similarities are shadowed at times by their differences:

• Different obstacles holding each back.
• George is haunted by his responsibility, Luke works hard to escape his.
• Luke holds himself back, whereas George is held back by his circumstances.
• Luke is drawn to the spotlight, but George fears it.
• They have different goals.
• They have different attitudes regarding fate.
• Luke is focused on God’s compassion – or lack there of, while George is focused on man’s compassion.

For your essay, answer the following question:

Are Luke and George more alike than they are different

or are they more different than they are alike?

  

Your thesis statement should look something close to one of these models:

• While most people might say that Luke and George are quite similar, they are in fact quite different from one another.
• While most people might say that Luke and George are quite different from one another, they are in fact quite similar.

For each of these thesis statements, use one body paragraph to support the first aspect of your thesis statement and two body paragraphs to support the second aspect of your thesis statement.

Remember the two tools you have at your disposal:

• The Wonderful World of the Five Paragraph Essay contains all of the details relating to the content of your essay.
• The Road to Formal Essay Editing contains all of the details relating to the mechanics and formatting of your essay.

If you have any questions throughout the writing process, ask your teacher.

Morning Video Announcements

Here are the video announcements from the past two mornings.  Enjoy.


Morning HC Announcements Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 from Glenbrook South Television on Vimeo.




Morning HC Announcements Tuesday Oct. 8, 2013 from Glenbrook South Television on Vimeo.

One-Page Emerson Essay

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Instead of writing in your study guide today, you are going to complete the study guide question as a three paragraph, one-page essay. Write your essay as a GoogleDoc. Title it "Emerson." Place it in your share folder. Have your rubric and/or samurai sheet out and follow the one-page essay criteria you have been given. (For example, present tense, no contractions, incorporated and cited quotations, etc.)

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:  "Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies."

In your first paragraph, explain what this quotation means. (If you use the quotation, you do not need a page number in your citation.)

In your second paragraph, use scenes from anywhere throughout the book to answer this question:  What is a 'beautiful truth' Toby has discovered? (This paragraph needs at least one incorporated and cited quotation.)

In your third paragraph, use scenes from anywhere throughout the book to answer this question: What is a 'beautiful lie' Toby has used? (This paragraph also needs at least one incorporated and cited quotation.)