The Awakening--Part 4

The following are two open-ended response questions from past AP Literature Exams. Choose ONE of the responses and write an extended response addressing the prompt. This should be about two paragraphs in length. Be sure to have a thesis statement.

A. Choose a distinguished novel (The Awakening) in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.

B. Select a moment or scene in a novel (The Awakening) that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness to the work as a whole.

The Awakening--Part 3

Please read through the reviews of The Awakening from 1899--when the book was published--on this site:

http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam854/summer/awcritf.html

1. Choose an excerpt that resonates with you and copy and paste it in your response. Be sure to cite it.

2. Respond to the criticism--do you agree, do you disagree--why? What has made you respond to this particular excerpt?

3. Comment on another classmate's response.

Example:
From:  St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 20 May 1899--C. L. Deyo
  "The Awakening" is not for the young person; not because the young person would be harmed by reading it, but because the young person wouldn't understand it, and everybody knows that the young person's understanding should be scrupulously respected. It is for seasoned souls, for those who have lived, who have ripened under the gracious or ungracious sun of experience and learned that realities do not show themselves on the outside of things where they can be seen and heard, weighed, measured and valued like the sugar of commerce, but treasured within the heart, hidden away, never to be known perhaps save when exposed by temptation or called out by occasions of great pith and moment. No, the book is not for the young person, nor, indeed, for the old person who has no relish for unpleasant truths.

Response: I completely disagree that a young person "wouldn't understand" this novel. Although it may have been written from a "middle-aged" woman's perspective, she touches on themes that resonate for all readers, regardless of age...why hide "unpleasant truths" from youth? (etc..so on and do forth..) 

The Awakening--Part 2

Read and share your thinking about the following poem entitled "The Angel in the House" by Coventry Patmore (1854). Complete this assignment using these steps:

1. Identify words and phrases within the poem that speak to you or stand out to you the most and indicate why you felt this way.

2. Ask specific question(s) about the poem. Do NOT ask: What does it mean?

3. Relate a part of the poem to the novel The Awakening. Be specific.

4. Attempt to respond to a classmates' question from #2 OR respond to or extend a thought one of your classmates has had about the poem from #1.

The Angel in the House

Man must be pleased; but him to please
     Is woman's pleasure; down the gulf
Of his condoled necessities
     She casts her best, she flings herself.
How often flings for nought, and yokes
     Her heart to an icicle or whim,
Whose each impatient word provokes
     Another, not from her, but him;
While she, too gentle even to force
     His penitence by kind replies,
Waits by, expecting his remorse,
     With pardon in her pitying eyes;
And if he once, by shame oppress'd,
     A comfortable word confers,
She leans and weeps against his breast,
     And seems to think the sin was hers;
Or any eye to see her charms,
     At any time, she's still his wife,
Dearly devoted to his arms;
     She loves with love that cannot tire;
And when, ah woe, she loves alone,
     Through passionate duty love springs higher,
As grass grows taller round a stone.

The Awakening--Part 1

Please choose one of the following questions to answer. Then respond to one of your classmates' responses.

1. Give examples from the novel that exemplifies this quote: "it is the outward life that conforms, and the inward life that questions." Be sure to argue your point with specific references from The Awakening.

2. Edna struggles to establish an identity outside of her husband and children. Discuss how she is trapped by the confines of her gender and culture. Use specific examples from The Awakening.

Happy Valentine's Day. Do you love me?

We will be blogging about our reading then having academic conversations about the text that we read. Everyone is expected to participate and respond to the prompts and to each other! We will be learning and responding together to enhance our classroom experience and discussions. Welcome to the blog, I can't wait to see what you have to say!!

Hercules Technical Difficulties

Sorry--the PowerPoint didn't post. We'll review in class tomorrow. I suggest (but don't require) that you read it so you can contribute to discussion!

Poem and Short Story Parallels

 Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" connects to Marilyn Nelson Waniek's "The Century Quilt."  

Find the parallels between "The Century Quilt" and "Everyday Use." 

How does Alice Walker's interpretation of the family heirloom lead to a stronger understanding of meaning in"The Century Quilt?"