Multiple Choice - Poetry

Overview:  With just two classes before vacation we will begin looking at multiple choice and engaging in a close analysis of poetry.  If you would like to peruse the work closer and/or you were absent, please see the link below.  There will be no homework over the break.

https://moellerlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/2/4/10248653/poetry_--__mc_practice_using_poetry.pdf

Tuesday, December 18th - "Beloved" by Toni Morrison: In-class Q3 Essay

Directions: Please compose an essay using one of the following Q3 prompts and the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison as your work of choice. You may use your book, notes, blogs, etc. The essay should be typed and sent to Turnitin.com when completed. It is due by the end of the block.

Good luck!!


Prompts:


1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play 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. Do not merely summarize the plot.

1977. In some novels and plays certain parallel or recurring events prove to be significant. In an essay, describe the major similarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring events in a novel or play and discuss the significance of such events on the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

2008. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.



A.P. Rubric:


9-8

A score of 9 is the top score, but there is very little difference between a 9 and 8, both being scores for excellent papers which combine adherence to the topic with excellent organization, content, and insight facile use of language, and mastery of mechanics. 9 essays demonstrate uncommon skill and sometimes put a cultural/historical frame around the subject. Descriptors that come to mind while reading include mastery, sophisticated, complex, specific, consistent, and well supported.

7

The 7 is a thinner version of the excellent paper, still impressive, cogent, convincing, but less well handled in terms of organization, insight or vocabulary. Descriptors that come to mind while reading include clear understanding, less precise, less well supported, and maturing; this writer has potential, but hasn't quite got to it all.

6

The 6 is an above average paper, but it may be deficient in one of the essentials mentioned above. It may be less mature in thought or less well handled in terms of organization, syntax, or mechanics. Descriptors might include less mature, some difficulties, but just above average.

5

The 5 paper is the thinner version of the 6. Readers prefer to separate essays into top half or bottom half. The five defies that process. Descriptors might include superficial, meager, irrelevant, and insufficient.

4-3

The 4 is an average to below average paper which maintains the general idea of the writing assignment, shows some sense of organization, but is weak in content, maturity of thought, language facility, and/or mechanics. It may distort the topic or fail to deal adequately with the one important aspect of the topic. The 3 essay compounds the weaknesses of the 4. Some descriptors that come to mind include incomplete, oversimplified, meager, irrelevant, and insufficient.

2

The 2 is a score assigned to a paper that makes an attempt to deal with the topic but demonstrates serious weaknesses in content and coherence and/or syntax and mechanics. It is an unacceptable grade. Descriptors include serious misreading, unacceptably brief, and/or poorly written.

1

The 1 is a score given to any on-topic response that has very little redeeming quality. It may be brief or very long, but will scarcely coherent, usually full of mechanical errors or completely missed the focus of the prompt. Descriptors include vacuous, inexact, and mechanically unsound.

0

The 0 is given to a response with no more than a reference to the task.

Due Friday, December 14th - Finish "Beloved"

Directions:  Please finish reading Beloved, pages 257-324.  In this blog space, post a question and a comment for our class discussion.

Artwork by Joe Morse

http://joemorse.com/

Due Wednesday, December 12th - Beloved Three Narratives Essay

Overview: Toni Morrison has created a duality in Beloved, as at once the daughter Sethe murdered out of love, and as a former slave who lost her mother on a slave ship and endured life with vicious slave owner. Why did she do this? How does it create meaning? Before we move onto the last section of the novel, I would like you to explore this further.

Directions: Using the two narratives of Beloved (as well as any textural evidence you find helpful), compose a 2-3 page literary analysis using the following questions as a guiding outline for your essay: How does Morrison create a duality with the character Beloved? What evidence do you see in the two narratives that create this meaning? What would be the point of creating this duality? What will it mean for the rest of the novel? Please use the following prompt. Post your essay to this blog space AND on Turnitin.com.

Inequality for All

Overview: In his documentary, Inequality for All Robert Reich addresses the issue of inequality from the economic viewpoint and explains how it impacts all Americans, whose collective view of the class system is heavily influenced by our shared history. Remember that slavery also impacted the nation's economy. Further, Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 saw an alliance between indentured servants and Africans (most enslaved until death or freed), united by their bond-servitude, which disturbed the ruling class, who responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705.  Through this documentary, you will see connections among the work of Baldwin, Morrison, as well as the documentaries I Am Not Your Negro and The 13th.

Directions:  Today, we will begin watching Inequality for All.  While you watch, please take notes.  Be aware that you will be held accountable for this material later in the writing process.

Visit the webiste:

http://inequalityforall.com/

View this brief explanation about the economic structure in America, which is similar to Reich's. 

Due Wednesday, November 28th - "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, Pages 181-235

Overview: As we discussed, Toni Morrison employs stream of consciousness in her novel to show how our memories trigger emotions that impact our present and, consequentially, our future.

Directions: In past blog responses, I provided you with a bullet point list of moments, tracing the stream of conscious of the characters from the third person narrator. For your post, please provide your own list of moments with page numbers, as I have done in the past. You may use my past lists as a guide for formatting. Also, provide a brief paragraph at the bottom to describe your analysis, reasoning, and any questions you have for our class discussion.

Angela Davis and Toni Morrison

"If Beale Street Could Talk" by James Baldwin

Overview:  Browsing at the local bookstore in Reading, Whitelam Books, I stumbled across a short novel by James Baldwin with a movie promo cover called If Beale Street Could Talk. I cannot put it down.  It is a beautiful book, and there is something serendipitous about my finding and experiencing this book with what we have been reading, viewing, and discussing in class.  I feel like the book found me.  Below is a link to purchase the book and get information, along with the theatrical trailer for the film, directed by Barry Jenkins, the Oscar winning director of Moonlight.  I opens in December.  Please see me if you would like more information.  I will be holding a book club during H-block.

Book information:

https://www.amazon.com/If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk/dp/0307275930


Theatrical Trailer: