The Great Gatsby - Paragraph 1

This post is for JUNIORS only.

For this unit, we will be doing things a little differently. Instead of one long essay, we will be writing a series of paragraphs worth 30 points each. These paragraphs will be graded with the same rigor as a formal essay, and, in the end, will be worth about the same amount of points. In other words, work diligently, hand in your work on time, and be thoughtful and thorough in your responses. These grades most certainly count.

In a thoughtful, thorough paragraph, answer the following question:

In The Great Gatsby,

how does a character's economic/social class

dictate how he or she behaves?

1. Select one character from the novel.
2. Discuss into what economic/social class this character falls. 
3. Explain in detail how this character's economic/social class influences his or her behaviors.

Here are the criteria on which you should focus:

• include at least two quotations from two different pages
• correctly cite all quotations
• set up each quotation with insightful context
• use commas correctly
• use correct spelling
• avoid first and second person
• avoid contractions and informal language
• write in present tense
• take time to thoroughly explain your point of view

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to get help from the TLC or one of the class instructors.

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.

Your task: We've tackled several short stories that can be considered southern gothic - "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge," "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/film 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. Post your paragraphs in the comments below. Include you name and period.

Reserving Judgments

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Nick says he is "inclined to reserve all judgments" (Fitzgerald 1).  In other words, Nick does not make snap assumptions or judgments about people when he first meets them. Instead, he waits until he gets to know the person before he makes his judgments.

In a thoughtful, thorough paragraph, tell about a time when you did NOT reserve judgment about someone you just met but wish you had. What happened? How did things turn out? How do you wish things had turned out?

Turn in the paragraph by the end of class.

Weight and Darkness in Night of the Hunter

This entry if for freshmen only.

Here's an idea I'd like you to play with. It has to do with the balance of light and dark - about the balance of positive and negative shapes (positive being the dark spaces, the spaces where somethig IS; negative being the light spaces, the spaces where something ISN'T). There's something about them in this movie.

In this shot, the dark is the positive space - a bird, a cage, a window pane.  The light is the negative space - nothing. Okay. Negative and positive space. That's idea number one.

Idea number two: balance.  Balance is when the right side is given roughly the same 'wieght' as the left side, or the top and bottom. There are two kinds of aesthetic balance. First, there's symmetrical. That's when one side looks like the other - they are, to a large degree - mirror images of one another. Like this...

 

Then there's asymmetrical balance. This is when two sides are balanced, but by different sized shapes. Like this...

Idea three: contrast - the difference between the dark and the light. The lower the contrast, the more shades of gray there is. Like this shot from The Abominable Snowman...

The higher the contrast, the fewer shades of gray there are, and the more of sharp diference there is between the light and the dark. Like this shot from Bride of Frankenstein...

So there you have it. Three ideas:

1. negative and positive space
2. balance
3. contrast

So here's what I would like you to do. Just look at the following images. Take your time.

Now look at the following pairs of images. Most come one right after the other in the film. Again, take your time.

  

Now go back and look at them again, this time considering negative and positive space, balance, and contrast.

 

Finally, here's the question you need to answer. How do the filmmakers use negative and positive space, balance, and contrast to create meaning? In other words, what ideas are communicated in these frames using negative and positive space, balance, and contrast? Pick one example and explain. Post your response in the comments secion below. The rules of grammar, mechanics, and spelling apply. Be thoughtful and thorough in your response.

And good luck.

As always, feel free to go above and beyond by responding to your peers' comments. (Extra credit is available for thoughtful and insightful extra comments in which you discuss your peers' comments. Please post all of your additional comments under separate posts.)

Slam Poem

This post is for juniors only.

Your task for today is to complete a poem. By the end of the period, it should be written and printed out - triple spaced.

We've talked enough about subject matter that you probably already know what you want to write about. If you're still stuck, try one of the following:

• an "I Am" poem
• a "I Am From" poem
• try playing around with this website.

Just make sure all material is appropriate and safe for class, and don't write about anything you don't want to share.

This Boy's Life - the final essay

This post is for juniors only.

Now that you have written your three body paragraphs, your task is the following:

1. Compile your three body paragraphs into one document.
2. Insert transitions between body paragraphs 1 and 2 and between body paragraphs 2 and 3.
3. Write an introduction that includes a hook, a link, a thesis and a bridge.
4. Write a conclusion that briefly reflects on how Toby changes throughout the book and, more importantly, discusses the importance of individuals changing throughout their own lives.
5. Revise all spelling and grammar - paying special attention to the grammar we've covered in class (commas, etc.) as well as tense (present) and person (third only).
6. Print off and hand in.

Your introductory paragraph must include these elements:

• a hook that truly grabs the reader's attention (a quotation from another source, an interesting story, a specific rhetorical question)
• a link that ties the hook into the thesis and states the title and author of the book you are discussing
• a thesis along the lines of: "Toby has a life changing experience that changes him from one person to another."
• a bridge that states exactly what Toby is like at the start of the book, what the life changing event is, and what kind of person he becomes by the end.

Here are some note you might find helpful. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Toby Is...

This post is for juniors only.

So far, you've written two paragraphs about This Boy's Life. The first was...

What word or phrase best describes Toby in the first third of the book?

The second, of course, was...

What event or incident somewhere in the middle of the book most impacts Toby?

Here's the third...

In what way did that event or incident change Toby

from the person he was at the beginning of the book to the person he is at the end?

Include two correctly cited quotations in your paragraph. Make sure your paragraph has a clear topic sentence. Here are some of the required criteria for your paragraph:

• write in third person (not first or second)
• write in present tense
• avoid contractions
• set-up and explain both quotations

This Happened to Toby...

This post is for juniors only.

In a thoughtful, thorough paragraph, answer the following question:

What event or incident somewhere in the middle of the book most impacts Toby?

Consider things Toby says, things that are said to him, things he does, things that are done to or around him, etc. the event or statement does not have to be big or dramatic, necessarily. It just has to IMPACT him in an important, crucial way.

Include two correctly cited quotations in your paragraph. Make sure your paragraph has a clear topic sentence. Here are some of the required criteria for your paragraph:

• write in third person (not first or second)
• write in present tense
• avoid contractions
• set-up and explain both quotations

Hand Full of Nothin' Part 1

This entry is for freshmen only.

After "beating" Dragline in the fight (by getting pounded on),and after "winning" the poker game (with an inferior hand), Luke claims that "Sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."

In the comments bellow, give an example (from another film, a book, a short story, etc.) that proves Luke is right, that proves that sometimes "nothin' can be a real cool hand."

Be sure to read all of the responses before yours; remember, no repeats!