dwalker

Usually when I begin “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” I am struck, sometimes literally I think, by the first three lines. “The evening is spread out against the sky” is beautiful, lyrical. In the next breath I am thunderstruck by the comparison to an etherized patient. Despite the rhythm of the line, the sky is numb, unconscious, grey and colorless, perhaps even opaque.  I am still reeling by the end of the stanza and miss quite a bit of the rest of it. When we read in class, however, I heard words and phrases that I had missed before. I was struck by “half-deserted streets”. Places that are deserted are places that are undesireable. People have cleared out if they had the chance. Only the destitute remain. It’s the kind of place you want to avoid, yet it is precisely where Prufrocl wants to take you. He has to to get you to where the visit will begin. I next noticed “muttering retreats”. A retreat is a safe place, a place of respite and rejuvenation. Here it mutters, disaffected, even unbalanced. It is a “one night cheap hotel”. There is no relief here; it is angry, maybe a little crazy (it is angry people and mad people mutter). Prufrock brings us into a “restless” night, agitated and overwhelmed. He is anxious, uneasy, perhaps because wants to tell you and at the same time keep secrets. One street after another is “tedious” with argument, perhaps malcontent, and, again, that disaffection is everywhere. This is how Prufrock sets the scene - restless, vulnerable, threatening. And, rather than telling us what this world is like, he must show us. He must use images because they are more emotional than language, perhaps more eloquent. It is as though he believes that he cannot adequately explain. But, ironically, it will be a visit rather than a tour.

 You may find that you read the first stanza of the poem quite differently. Very good! The trick in you explication is to explain how you are reading, what meaning you make with the words and phrases. Kat’s group had a very different take on “muttering retreats”. They interpretted retreat as leaving, as running away. Prufrock cannot face his life and so retreats, muttering. Does their take work? Does mine? You must find your answers in the poem.

When Marlow eases that rattrap of a steamboat out onto the river away from the central station, he has already ready begun to give the legend of Kurtz credence. Marlow wants answers to questions he can barely articulate, and he believes Kurtz will answer them. In short Marlow has expectations, no matter how practical he is. When he meets Kurtz, his initial impression is shock and disappointment because Kurtz has been decimated by his own corrution. But Kurtz speaks, and it is his voice that alarms, unnerves, enthralls Marlow. And Marlow learns, to let go of expectations and when to the truth and when to keep it hidden so that he does not participate in the destruction of another, which certainly would have happened if Kurtz’s intended had known the truth.

A quick note or two:

As you are writing, you must stick to one idea. You can make a general statement, but if you do not open it up, explore and explain it, it will lose its effect.

Many of you are summarizing what we heard in class rather than doing the leg work of uncovering meaning. Be careful!

Remember what Strunk and White say: it is not our job to comment on the excellence or talent of the writer. We must concentrate on our own observations of the reading.

So I have been reading your blogs, and I think I am changing my mind about Marlow’s experience. See what you think. I am not sure he descends. He never becomes evil, and he never goes mad. Some of you suggest a callousness or matter-of-factness, particularly in the face of his pilot’s death. Marlow has seen a lot of death, and he regrets the pilot’s death and knows there is nothing he can do. Marlow was always eminently practical, and perhaps his practicality has been his greatest defense. But then Marlow heads upriver, journeys deeper and deeper (rather than down) toward realization. The closer he gets to the Inner Station, the more his illusions and his practicality, about Kurtz, about the European presence here, about purpose itself, are stripped away. What he discovers in his discussions with Kurtz and through Kurtz’s own selfdiscovery is the meaningless that we have been discussing in class. And this discovery renders Marlow defenseless. He suffers a malaise (despair) that compromises him physically and spiritually. He does recover, but slowly, and only after his lie to Kurtz’s intended and his return to the bosom of his friends on the Nellie. So we must be careful to make the generalizations we are so tempted to make. The river does not take Marlow down, or even Kurtz, for that matter, but rather deep into what the abomination means for each.

We began by asking whether or not the rules that shape, govern, and maintain community can be broken. The answer we have landed on is yes, all the time. And so we refine our questions a little bit. What is the writer after in revealing the aftermath of the transgression? What is he/she looking to uncover about both the individual and the communities involved? It is not so much the breaking of the rule/law but its results which we are invited to explore and consider. And we discover some commonalities. Those characters whose personal identities are unclear to them or are in some sort of crisis often cross cultural boundaries, looking for answers. The community from which the character comes often has faltered or in some way failed to lead the character to a clear sense of self. The character’s own determination or conviction prevents him/her from seeing what is real. Are there other reasons for these “breaches”?

            The Turn of the Screw is a ostensibly ghost story. It is also the tale of a desperate search for identity and the transgressions that occur in that search. It is set in nineteenth century England, at a country estate called Bly. The protagonist is a young woman who has just secured employment as a governess to two orphaned children whose uncle owns the estate. Her determination to do right by the children, her rigid conviction about her purpose/place, and her absolute belief that two fiends are after her charges create powerful tension in the novel.

            As you read, please consider these questions:

• What does the prologue reveal?
• What are the connections between a repressive education and superstition?
• What are the class distinctions present in the novel?
• What part does a desire for love play in the governess’s perceptions and decision making?
• What part do ego and vanity play in the progression of the novel?
• What is real and what is imagined in this novel?
• What rule(s) does the governess break? Why? To what end? What are the results?

As you know, your assignment is to create a visual expression of your understanding the novel. Take a look.

1.      Return to the text and find a short passage (2-3 lines) that captures an essential tension in the novel. Keep your eye out for possibilities.

2.       Consider how you might depict the passage visually. Use your blog to explore at least two possibilities.
3.      Go about creating your vision.

4.      If you are feeling a little stuck, you might want to try one of these:

a.      a drawing or painting

b.      a surrealistic drawing or painting

c.       a “choreography”, a three dimensional piece that illustrates movement or tension

d.     a montage: bringing together in one composition a collection of different pictures and parts of pictures , blending or superimposing them so that, while distinct, they create a larger image. For example you might use pictures eyes to create an image of the governess. A variation of this idea might be to use words to create the image.

e.      a collage: an image composed of objects – newspaper, bits of cloth, pressed flowers, coins, letters – anything that helps you create an image of the tension in the story in which you are interested.

f.        Remember: The text you have chosen to illustrate must be included in the visual you create.

5.      A brief written explanation the process you used to create your piece – why you chose the text you did, what the image is, how and why you created it as you did, why you placed text where you did in the piece.

6.      Your piece is due Friday 10/27.

There’s a lot to talk about! First of all, about your blogs. Please be patient! Edublogs is, I gather, updating. presumably to handle the volume. It appears to be the best free server space out there, and I suspect they are a tad overwhelmed. If you can’t post immediately (or save on your blog), save what you have written in word and try again later. Do keep trying. I’ll keep you posted. Remember that the content of your blogs should be exploratory. Try to keep the summarizing of plot to a minimum and go more for analysis and interpretation. Some of you are really stretching the interpretation, which is great as long as the text will support what you think. Ask whether this new idea can be sustained by the reading. If not, try again. When you read and comment, one of your considerations should be the same, does the text bear witness to the idea? If not, gently remind the writer to consider the reading more closely. Among the benefits of blogging is its assistance in returning us to the text, to read ever more closely.

So, for your next piece of writing, please choose one of the blogs you wrote for A Passage to India and revise it. The focus of this short paper is an examination of text. For example, our discussion of Ralph Moore suggests that while is like his mother, he has surpassed her understanding of tolerance and acceptance. The question is how do we know. We must go back to the narrator’s descriptions of him and his convesations with Aziz. We use the text to show what we mean. Other possibilites might be that it is in celebration of God (and therefore in community) that cultural boundaries are transcended (The Hindus understand this best). Or you might examine the idea that the transcendence is temporary. Another consideration might be the voice of the setting. So, you make your observation, talk about how you see it in the text, and make your conclusion. Any questions? I hope so!!!

There is one more consideration. Your Twelfth Night papers went a long way toward engaging the text. Nice work. Remember to stay there; don’t stray. I found myself thinking about Strunk and White’s admonition that we not make judgements. “The author’s unique ability” or “the author’s incredible use of setting” or “the writer’s amazing insight into…” are not our purview here. It is not for us to evaluate, at least in our current context. Our job is to observe, consider, and explain. I’ve been wondering too if we are supposed to judge these characters as harshly as some of us are. Orsino the hypoccrite. Olivia the shallow flirt, Malvolio, who gets what he deserves. They all feel their feelings and behave remarkably foolishly because they are in love. But we must remember that they are, after all, human. Finally, remember that Macgruder is your friend. He has the answer to almost all your practical writing questions.

Russ McDonald suggests that “throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare makes his audience aware that words are unreliable images of reality.” We are in Illyria after all, and what we perceive and what is true are often at odds. The language of the play ranges from the ridiculous, as when Sir Toby praises Sir Andrew as “as tall as any man in Illyria”to the sublimely ironic, as when Cesario describes to travails of his “sister’s” love.  It is language that gets these characters into and out of trouble, not action, and clearly, each character’s use of language shapes who he/she is in the play. Your job is to explore how. Below are some suggestions for focus. Choose one and see where it takes you. You may write about a variation on one the ideas below, but you must focus on how character is shaped by his/her use of language. Take a look.
 

• What do Feste’s songs reveal about his character?
• Sir Toby linguistically browbeats and terrifies Sir Andrew and Cesario. Why? What is revealed of him and his purpose in the play?
• Viola seems to have a love affair with words. She is exhilarated and later trapped by them. How so?
• Malvolio depends on words, and he is stung, badly. How so?
• What do we learn about Orsino in his lovesick ramblings?
• Olivia is quite the flirt. How so?

Your essay should have three essential parts: a discussion of a character’s relationship with language, a detailed analysis of your favorite of his/her passages, and what you make of the character having done this exploration. It is most important that you engage with the text closely; pull it apart and examine it. How does your character use figurative language? What images are sharpest? What does the presence of rhythm or rhyme reveal? What is his/her use of irony? Ok? Any questions?
 

Here is what you need to include:

• a compelling idea, related to character and language, clearly stated and introduced
• focus on your character’s relationship with language, a detailed analysis of your favorite passage, and the meaning you make as a result.
• a conclusion which reminds the reader of content and suggests new thinking
• a compelling title
• careful diction and simple, direct syntax
• grammatical/mechanical correctness (Macgruder lives!!!)
• 2-3 pages please
• Writing group conferences on Weds. 10/4 (day H).
• Paper due Thurs. 10/5.

Congratulations! You have blogged wisely and well. I am glad to see that you are carrying on the conversation. In some cases you began new ones, as with those of you who set out to cast the play. I wanted to tell you some of what I saw in the hope that it might help to shape the short paper you will begin in the next day or so.

• Many of you were interested in love and attraction and whether they have much in common. Some of you argued that Elizabethans were not as interested in love, that marriage was a business arrangement. There were, however, hundreds of thousands of love sonnets written at that time, and Shakespeare wrote many romantic comedies.
• Many of you talked about gender confusion, how entertaining it is and how compelling. You wondered a good deal about women’s cleverness and their roles in the community. You suggested that it is the women who determine/direct the action of the play. Where Maria leads, for example, the men follow. Viola’s strength, you suggest, is never compromised.
• Viola and Maria have the best lines.
• Many of you were drawn to Feste and his insight. There were much said about his songs as well. We take him more seriously than the other men in the play.Some of you said that Maria serves much the same role as Feste in the play - the fools who sees human nature more clearly than the others in the play. What do you think?

Shakespeare is very intentional. Each event, quirk of character, and turn of phrase is there for a reason. We just have to figure out why.

As you think about the characters, go back and look at what they say; you’ll find everything you need to know about character there.

Please do not forget to comment on others’ blogs. It helps the writer, and it helps you to clarify your thinking.  

One of my roles as your teacher is to listen to your discussions without too much interjection. It’s a challenge because I want to respond to all the engaging ideas you present. One way to keep my mouth shut during discussion is to write to you about at least some of what I heard you say. The great thing about blogging is that you can read and comment on what I have said, either as response or correction! So, take a look below and post a comment if you like.

Block 2

You began by observing that Feste is the “wise” fool. He has great depth of character and brings a sense of reality to the play that none of the other characters does. We see him cleverly bring Olivia back to reality with “take the fool away”. You suggested as well that Feste is the audience’s true connection to the characters in the play; we see them as they really are when we look through his eyes.

You went on to observe the Orsino is simply in love with being in love. He would rather be miserable than to take action. He seems to be a giant ego. It is through him that we see men satirized.The great irony is that when he actually does take action, he is entirely changeable. Love matters, not the person whom he loves. Which leads to your observation that love appears to have no substance; it is just a word. The relationships seem to be dressed in  finery but have no real substance. They seem superficial, empty. We have to wonder whether love will be able to actually sustain the relationship.

One question that occurs to me is Does Viola make the “rules”?

Block 4

You began by suggesting that comedy has more voices, that the story seems to be told by more characters than appears to be true in tragedy. Othello seems to be “told” primarily by Iago and Othello whereas Viola, Orsina, Olivia, Maria, Feste, Malvolio, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew all have a hand in the story told in Twelfth Night. You went on to discuss the idea that comedy is more plot driven than tragedy. Not a great deal happens in Othello while Twelfth Night is full of activity. You explained that comedy remains on the surface; characters don’t appear to have the same depth as characters in tragedy. It is only after the fact that we reflect on motivation. Feste seems to be the only exception.

Many of you seemed to chafe a little at making a list of rules that govern comedy as a genre. You pointed a number of ways in which the plays we have read don’t really fit the rules. These criteria do provide a framework for considering these plays and others, and while there are always exceptions, the criteria do provide milestones along the way to check our progress.

We had an electrician in recently. He’s a real talker. He explains everything, which turns out to be a blessing because we have a lot of electrical problems in our house. The combination of the previous owner and a previous electrician created an extraordinary mess. This new guy, Sal, pulled out this tester and poked it all over the place, getting a read on where the problems and the solutions might lay. He clearly knows how to use that tester. I’d like to suggest that literature serves the same function as Sal’s tester. It gives a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the world and people it depicts. But you have to know how to use what you read. That’s where questions come in. Let’s continue our work by asking a collection of related questions. Then we can consider the literature we use to attempt some answers. There is also a list of work that I will ask you to do with some general due dates. Take a look.  

The Questions:  

1.   What are the rules by which people are supposed to conduct their lives?

2.    Who makes them? By what authority?

3.   What do the rules reveal about the people who make them?

4.   What happens when the rules are misunderstood or transgressed? 

5.   What made the rules breakable to begin with?  

The Literature:            

The reading is assigned by text. For the most part, there are no nightly assignments. You are expected to have the reading completed by a given date. Please plan accordingly.

Here are the texts:   Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Mona Lisa Smile a film set at Wellesley College in the mid 1950s

Selected poetry Independent Reading    

Expressing Your Understanding:             You not only have to read! You need to make sense of it. You do that in class and small group discussion, but you also do it in writing and in what teachers like to call visual texts. Here is what you can expect through the 1^st quarter:

1. the summer reading assignments
2. a 3-5 page discussion on language, character, and who makes the rules in Twelfth Night, due in late September
3. an ap exam style in class writing assignment in which a central character from A Passage to India reflects on the probability of East ever meeting West, done in early October
4. a conversation with independent reading – you reflect on your reading in several journal style entries, due in mid October
5. a “visual take” on what defines the world of Turn of the Screw and who defines it, done in late October
6. An culminating essay in which you use a choice of literature to help you consider what you have learned about the nature of rules, who makes them, and whether or not we should follow them, due in early November.

  ***The due dates are tentative because we need to wait and see where we are. As you are doing your planning and preparing, know that these are the assignment you can expect. If you have any questions, please ask.  

            Talking about what we have read is a really good way to get to know each other. We discuss in order to sort out what we really think. And then we write and bring what we have written to the group in order to further refine what we understand. We will use the reading we did this summer as our way into some new thinking, writing, and creating. Take a look.

The Task: Please be sure to bring your texts to class.

Art is the illumination of particular cultural assumptions. Characters live by both implicit and explicit rules and expectations. It is the rare person who slips these bonds and lives in accordance with a set personal rules and expectations. Most remain inextricably bound by gender, race, class, money, law, or religion, or they find ways to live within these boundaries, accepting them or even shaping them to personal advantage.
But there are those who try to step outside the law, to cross a cultural boundary, usually race or class, in pursuit of a personal goal or desire. Ishmael and Hatsue literally step outside the boundaries. Othello crosses the cultural divide as a soldier with great success. It is when he and Desdemona fall in love that he collides with a real barrier that neither he nor Desdemona understands. We, as audience, find the cultural breach most engaging.
The question is what happens to the individual’s understanding of himself and the world when he is caught in that inevitable collision of cultures? You can ask this question of many, if not all the characters in Othello and Snow Falling on Cedars. You are going to need to do some excavation in order to answer this question. Here is what we will do:
1.      We talk together about what constitutes “culture” in both pieces. What are the rules? What are the parameters? Why do they exist? For whose benefit? What does “cultural integrity” mean?
2.      We begin talking together about how each author uses characterization, plot, setting, narrative structure and voice, figurative language and symbolism to create a rich, vibrant “cultural context” that makes transgression possible.

3.      In your writing groups you choose characters from each piece who defy cultural laws of the story.

a.      Who are they?
b.      What are the most compelling rules or laws?
c.       What are their beliefs, the convictions that convince them that they can successfully transgress?

d.     What do they learn about themselves? About their world?

4.      So what does it all mean?

The Expression:

You will express your understanding of the reading in two ways, a written analysis and a character portrait. Write about one book and do a portrait from the other.

The Writing:

      In your essay please answer the question, “What happens to the individual’s understanding of himself and the world when he is caught in that inevitable collision of cultures?” Here are steps to follow:
1.      Choose a character from either Othello or Snow Falling on Cedars.
2.      Who is he/she as an individual and a member of a particularly community that shapes him/her.

3.      What are the essential rules, usually implicit, that sustain this community?

4.      What compels your character to cross the boundary? What is the early success that suggests that the transgression has worked?

5.      In the eventual catastrophe what does the character discover about him/herself and his/her world?

6.      What meaning do you make as a result?

7.      Here is what I am looking for in your essay:

a.      the clear, thoughtful development of 2-5 above. Make clear statements of your understanding, explain what you mean, and provide specific examples from the text to show what you mean. Be sure to quote from the text judiciously.
b.      An engaging and thorough introduction (write this last!)

c.       A clear, thoughtful exploration of 6, above (your conclusion).

d.     Meticulous attention to paragraph development, verb choice and tense, comma usage, and pronoun usage.

e.      1^st draft due 9/7 (bl. 4) and 9/8 (bl. 2); “final” due 9/12

The Portrait:
 

Othello and Snow Falling on Cedars are about character and relationships, as you have clearly shown in your discussions. The comprehensiveness of those discussions suggests that these characters are complex and complicated, and it is your job to represent the depth of a character of your choosing from either book as faithfully as you can. The question is how.

First and foremost, you want to create an image. I’ve been thinking about Othello, and the image that’s emerging is a dark silhouette in the shape of a Bedouin. The outline of his body is dark; the lines are distinct. Inside the outline are marshal images, soldiers, battles, weapons. There are also images of love and devotion. But there is blood too, maybe “soaking” one or two images of love that are a part of the overall picture. I would probably use magazine pictures, but I might do some colored shapes suggesting death and love. I want to use as much of a variety images as possible. However, the images I choose must represent or suggest Othello. There is nothing random here. I am creating an impression that is coherent and comprehensive.

Next, choose language from the text that will suggest to us what your image is trying to promote. Think about what the character says and what others say about him/her. Place this language in the image in ways that draw our attention to the image and the character. Be judicious, but be sharp.

                        Here is what I am looking for:

1.      a close interest and understanding of the character

2.      the multi-faceted nature of the character

3.      a clear consideration of the medium and materials used. Variety can be very engaging.

4.      an image that provides insight into character

5.      careful choice and placement of language from the play

6.      150 word explanation of your text

7.      due 9/6

****Remember to write about one book and do your portrait from the other.

            ,