Dr. Alex E. Blazer Course Site Syllabus
In Class Activities Scholarly Criticism Selected Reading
Informal Writing Peer Response Group Project
Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3

Assignments

Loving Awry

English 205D: Literatures in English

Winter 2007, MW 3:00-4:15PM, 2338 Mackinac Hall

In Class Group Activities

1. Josie: Character, Tone, Setting, Conflict

We've discussed the general literary element of confict, character, and setting. We've done conflict and character analyses of Salinger's narrator and protagonist and Homes's narrator. Now, we'll bring all of these elements together as we work on an in class group activity that applies our general discussion to the particular character of Josie from Joyce Carol Oates' First Love . Form four groups of four or five members. Each group is responsible for analyzing Josie's character through a series of four interrelated questions listed below. Be sure to write down your group's response.

  1. character: Do a brief character sketch of Josie listing no more than three primary traits. What is the best passage that illustrates her character?
  2. tone: What is the tone of the novella? the author's attitude toward the subject-matter? What is the best passage that illustrates tone?
  3. setting: Where does the novella take place? Despite its locale, in what ways does the story feel like Southern Gothic? How does this affect Josie's character and core conflicts? What is the best passage that illustrates the setting's effect on Josie?
  4. conflict: What is the primary conflict of the novella, either internal to Josie or key to the novella entire? What is the best passage that illustrates either Josie's core conflict and/or the main conflict of the novel?

2. Othello: Conflict, Symbolism

In this in class group activity, you'll practice determining the core conflict as well as discussing key symbols. Break into groups of three or four and complete the following two tasks. Be sure to write down your group's response.

 

Tasks

  1. Core Conflict: Discuss what your group thinks is your assigned character's core conflict. Find the monologue that best illustrates that character's central issue.
  2. Symbol: Does the play have any symbols—contextual or cultural objects, descriptions, actions that represent levels of meaning beyond themselves? How do the symbols fit into the core conflicts of the characters and convey the overall theme of the play?

Characters

3. Reading Scholarly Criticism

In order to extend our discussion of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof beyond the bounds of loving awry as well as to introduce us to the research process, we read a work of scholarly criticism on Williams's play. For the last fifteen minutes of class, divide into groups based on the assigned article (Bak, Bibler, Crandell, Davis) and discuss the article. Be sure to take notes, for we will finish our discussion of the articles and the play on Monday.

  1. What is the topic of the article? What is the thesis statement of the article?
  2. What does the article explain about the play? What is the article's most important passage?
  3. What, if anything, is confusing or about the article's interpretation? What, if anything, is the most confusing passage?

4. Annotating Scholarly Criticism

In the fourth informal writing, individuals summarized the article in 100-200 words. This in class activity is designed to further prepare you for research process of the group project and final research paper by giving more specific guidelines. In a 75-100 word paragraph, written in no more than 15 minutes,

  1. identify the issue or question that the source is investigating,
  2. define the source’s thesis or main idea relevant to your work of literature, and
  3. explain how the source helps your understanding of the work.

5. Composing Theses

An effective literary interpretation commences with an effective introduction; and a strong thesis, which analyzes the meaningful issues of a literary work, lies at the center of a good introduction. In this activity, you will practice writing a thesis that you may choose to use for your second paper.

 

Part 1: Composition

 

Individually, write the answer to the following questions.

  1. What is the work of literature that you're examining?
  2. What is one way to analyze the work in terms of conflict, character, setting, theme, and so forth?
  3. What is another, antithetical and opposing, way to analyze the work?
  4. Compose a thesis statement that frames the two competing interpretations in dialogical debate.
    • You may suggest your own side of the debate in the thesis, or you may choose to reveal your choice later in the paper.

Part 2: Evaluation

 

Next, pair off with a fellow student or two and review each other's work based on the following questions:

  1. What is the topic?
  2. What are the two competing interpretations of the text?
  3. Is the thesis focused enough to engender a rigorous set of interpretations of the text in the coming paper?
  4. Is the thesis broad enough to afford a four-five page analysis?

If they like the results, writers may save their work (upload to the In Class Activity group file exchange or email it) for using in the upcoming paper.

Point of View

in the First Hundred Pages of

Bret Easton Ellis's

The Rules of Attraction

Narrator Time Period Pages
unnamed (probably Lauren, see p276) Friday in September Freshman Year 13-16
Sean Thirsty Thursday, part one 17-19
Paul Thirsty Thursday, part one 19-21
Lauren Thirsty Thursday, part one 21-24
Victor first month (?) of semester abroad 24-27
Paul Thirsty Thursday, part two 28-30
Sean Thirsty Thursday, part two 30-33
Paul morning after in dining hall, part one (early October) 34-39
Lauren morning after in dining hall, part one 40-43
Sean morning after in dining hall, part one 44-48
Mary morning after in dining hall, part one 49-50
Paul Friday night party at the End of the World, part one 51-52
Sean Friday night party at the End of the World, part one 53-55
Lauren Friday night party at the End of the World, part one 55-58
Paul Friday night party at the End of the World, part two 58-61
Sean Friday night party at the End of the World, part two 61
Lauren Saturday morning 62
Sean Saturday morning 62-63
Mary Saturday morning 63-64
Paul Saturday night, part one 64-71
Sean Saturday night, part one 72-74
Paul Saturday night, part two 75-78
Lauren Saturday night, part two 78-79
Paul Saturday night, part three 80-83
Sean Saturday night, part three 83-84
Lauren Saturday night, part three 84-87
Bertrand   87-88
Paul montage of October 88-92
Stuart October 92-93
Sean hippie flashback during class 93-98
Sean dating Sean 98-100

Selected Reading

Anne Sexton's The Complete Poems and Ai's Vice are available as in Literature Online via links in Blackboard > Course Documents.

 

Anne Sexton, Love Poems (1969), from The Complete Poems (1981)

Read all of Love Poems, and be prepared to discuss the following poems:

"The Touch"

"The Kiss"

"The Breast"

"The Interrogation of the Man of Many Hearts"

"That Day"

"Loving the Killer"

"For My Lover, Returning to His Wife"

"You All Know the Story of the Other Woman"

"The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator"

"Barefoot"

"Us"

"Knee Song"

Ai, Vice

Read as much of Vice as you can, and be prepared to discuss the following poems:

"Twenty-Year Marriage"

"Cruelty"

"Why Can't I Leave You?"

"I Have Got to Stop Loving You So I Killed My Black Goat"

"Everything: Eloy, Arizona, 1956"

"Nothing But Color"

"The Good Shepherd: Atlanta, 1981"

"The Mother's Tale"

"The Priest's Confession"

"Reunions with a Ghost"

"Penis Envy"

"False Witness"

Ai, Dread

"True Love"

Reading Scholarly Criticism

As you'll find out in class discussion, I have a particular psychoanalytic-existentialist approach to literature. However, there are more approaches to literature than you can learn in any one class or any one degree. In order to introduce you to the various ways of reading (not to mention to prepare for the group project and third paper), we'll read and discuss scholarly articles, which exemplify different critical approaches, on many of the texts we're reading in class. While I encourage you to read all of the criticism, you are only responsible for reading the articles that you're assigned on this sheet. All articles are available online in the Course Documents section of Blackboard.

 

Text Article

Lynch,

Lost Highway

Kelly Bulkeley, "Dreaming and the Cinema of David Lynch"

Bernd Herzongrath, "On the Lost Highway: Lynch, Lacan, Cinema and Cultural Pathology"

Todd McGowan, "Finding Ourselves on a Lost Highway: David Lynch's Lesson in Fantasy"
David Roche, "The Death of the Subject in David Lynch's Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive"

Whedon,

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

 Vivien Burr, "Ambiguity and Sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Sartrean Analysis"

Carolyn Cocca, "First Word 'Jail,' Second Word 'Bait'": Adolescent Sexuality, Feminist Theories, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Chris Richards, "Who Are We? Adolescence, Sex and Intimacy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Gwyn Symonds, "'Solving Problems with Sharp Objects': Female Empowerment, Sex and Violence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

Ai,

Vice

Claudia Ingram, "Writing the Crisis: The Deployment of Abjection in Ai's Dramatic Monologues"

Rob Wilson, "The Will to Transcendence in Contemporary American Poet, Ai"

Informal Writing

The goal of informal writing assignments is to get you to think actively and write critically about literature. These short assignments of 1-2 double-spaced, typed pages will also prepare you to write the longer, formal papers. Approximately once per week, you will be asked to respond to or practice analyzing some element of fiction (conflict, character, setting, imagery, figure of speech, etc.) or respond to a thematic issue.

Responses will be due by the start of class on the due date, either as a typed hard copy or word-processing file in Blackboard > Assignments > Informal Writing #. To retrieve your graded paper, go to Blackboard > My Grades > Informal Writing #. Click the green checkmark link to open up your grade. Your graded paper is the attached file in section 3 Feedback to Student. Click here for grading rationale and calculation of informal writing assignments.

  1. William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
    • Do a character sketch of Emily Grierson. What do we know about her (her core fears, her profound desires) and how do we know it? Next, do a character sketch of the narrator. What do we know about "him" and how do we know it?
    • Due: Wednesday, January 17
  2. Joyce Carol Oates, First Love
  3. Bret Easton Ellis, The Rules of Attraction
  4. Anne Sexton, Poetry
    • We discussed a few of Sexton's Love Poems on Monday using imagery and metaphor to inaugurate our reading. Respond to one of Sexton's Love Poems that was not discussed in class (it does not have to be on the selected reading list) by first analyzing key imagery or metaphor, then interpreting what the theme of the particular poem is, and finally contemplating what Sexton's poems in general, her book of poetry, Love Poems, conveys about love.
    • Due: Wednesday, February 28
  5. Lost Highway, Criticism
    • This assignment will be collaboratively written with others in class; come to class with notes on the article but do not write a response on your own. In preparation for the group research project, which includes an annotated bibliography, collectively write a 100-200 word summary of your assigned article on David Lynch's Lost Highway. Identify the issue or question that the article is investigating, defining the essay's thesis or main idea, and explain how the source helps your understanding of the film.
    • Due: Monday, March 19

Group Project

1. Sign-Up

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a website that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly websites on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The website and presentation must be uploaded to Blackboard on the day your presentation is due. The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

The purpose of this sheet is merely to form groups.  Sign up for two slots, placing a #1 by your first choice and a #2 by your second choice.  Once groups are assigned, those groups are responsible for meeting with me outside of class to determine a work of literature to read, research, and teach to the class via both a website and an oral presentation.

 

John Steinbeck,

Of Mice and Men

Dren Briggs

Ryan Jennings

DJ Marsh

Tiffani Thomas

Tennessee Williams,

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Briana Peterman

Margaret Plaskey

Lauren Righettini

Beth Simoni

Walt Whitman

Lacey Boyle

Ashley Galas

Molly Gavin

Emily Nault

Nicole Wagner

Stanley Kubrick,

A Clockwork Orange

Chris Bronson

Ben Brothers

Lauren Depuydt

Katie Shinkle

2. General Goals

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a paper of sorts that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly websites on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The written and presentation components must be uploaded to Blackboard on the day your presentation is due. Note that Blackboard Group Pages affords group discussion board, collaboration (chat), email, and file exchange. The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

Plan of Action: Approximately four weeks before the presentation, groups must create, post in their Blackboard Group File Exchange, and give me a plan of action that provides a timeline of meetings, individual group member responsibilities, and due dates. Individual group members must participate in the group (attend meetings, keep up with email) and complete their individual assignments in a timely manner.

3. Written Component

4. Presentation Component

The presentation should accomplish two objectives:

  1. Summarize the ways critics read the story as well as what issues they debate.
  2. Teach the work of literature to the class according to your group's reading of it.

As long as you meet these two objectives, the format of the presentation is completely up to you. Audiovisual aides such as Microsoft Powerpoint will help to guide your presentation. You may choose to focus on various elements of literature (conflict, character, setting, symbol, point of view, structure, tone) as ways into the work of literature as we have done in previous classes. You have all the technology of our lab at your disposal: computer with internet, projector, dvd/vcr, cd players, and Microsoft Powerpoint; let me know if you need other equipment. Presentations will be 20 minutes long and followed by a five to ten minute question and answer period.

5. Group Project Timeline

Week 7

Groups assigned.
Week 8

Choose text for group project.

Week 9

Read and analyze text individually.

Week 10

Discuss text as group.
Week 11

Research Methods Tutorial.

Research text both individually and as group.

Week 12

Begin planning presentation and written components.
Week 13

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 14

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 15

Group Presentations

Written component due on day of presentation.

Peer Response

1. Peer Response Goals

The dual goals of this course are for you to read and write about literature in a variety of manners. Informal writing and formal papers allows you to analyze the texts; reading scholarly criticism and participating in class discussion exposes you to a variety of other interpretations. Peer response sessions extend the reading and writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of interpretation, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your first two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and myself. You will provide constructive criticism to 2 or 3 other members of the class as will they to you.

2. Peer Response Groups

Paper 1 Peer Response Groups

3. Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

4. Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

Note: While Groups 2 and 4 are waiting 10 minutes for me to start the peer response, they should brainstorm a set of six questions regarding Lost Highway, three of which should be related to basic plot and narrative (what happened) and three of which should be thematic (what does it mean). Groups 1 and 2 should do the same after they have finished peer response. Turn in the questions to me before leaving.

Paper 1

We have discussed Atwood, Rachel, Graham, Salinger, Faulkner, Homes, Oates, and Ellis works at length in class. You have written on three of these works, but only informally and tentatively. Now is your opportunity to rigorously analyze a work of literature. For the first formal paper, write an essay built around the most important passage in one of the works of literature that we have read so far. In your studied interpretation, what is the most significant passage? Why is it central to the core conflicts, character, and meaning of the story? What issues does it embody? In other words, using this key passage, you should write a paper that 1) interprets the meaning of the work via 2) explicating the fundamental conflicts and basic concerns of the text.

 

Note: You will write two drafts of this paper. The first draft will be ungraded (though still subject to length and late penalties) and reviewed by both your peers and myself in order to give you constructive criticism for revising the second, graded draft.

Paper 2

We have discussed Atwood, Rachel, Browning, Salinger, Homes, Oates, and Ellis, Shakespeare, and Sexton at length in class. For the first formal paper, you analyzed the core conflicts and meaning of a work by looking at a significant passage. For the second formal paper, enter into the critical debate; write an essay that analyzes a difference of interpretion on a key point in a work of literature. Present the different interpretations, then argue for your side, your reading. Some issues that we have debated include but are not limited to: Is Homes' narrator a deviant aberration or typical representative of the culture? Is Josie in love with Jared or repulsed by him? Is Desdemona a powerful woman trapped in a situation beyond her control or is she simply submissive? Is Othello rational or irrational? Did he always love Desdomona unconditionally and transcendentally, or was there always an obsessively jealousy that gnawed at the back of his psyche? Does Salinger's narrator believe in love or the impossibility of love? Is Sean's relationship with Paul real and how does that change our reading of the characters? You may, of course, use an interpretive question not listed here. You may use any work we've read in class, but it must not be the same work on which you wrote your first formal paper.

 

Note: You will write two drafts of this paper. The first draft will be ungraded (though still subject to length, late, and MLA style penalties) and reviewed by your peers and instructor in order to give you constructive criticism for revising the second, graded draft.

Paper 3

In the first formal paper, you analyzed a particular passage, and in the second paper you debated the oppositing meanings of a work that we have read in class. For the third and final paper, select a work of literature not discussed in class (it may, however, be the work your group project worked on), and, after clearing it with me, write an in depth analysis and interpretation of the work using 3-5 works of scholarly criticism (journal articles, books, and book chapters) to provide support or counterargument. The primary emphasis of this paper is your thoughtful, rigorous analysis of a work of literature; use the secondary sources only inasmuch as they aid your interpretation.

 

Thesis and Sources: When we meet individually to discuss your third paper, bring your working thesis, a bibliography of 10 works of scholarly criticism (approximately half books and half journal articles). Here is the sign-up sheet for our individual conference, to be held during class time in 2338 Mackinac Hall.

 

Individual Conference Sign-Up Sheet

 

M, 4-9
Beth Simoni Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Chris Bronson E.T. or A Clockwork Orange
Lacey Boyle Camus, The Stranger
Lauren Depuydt Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Tiffany Thomas Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Nicole Wagner McCourt, Angela's Ashes
Katie Shinkle Salinder, The Catcher in the Rye
Molly Gavin Dickinson, poetry
W, 4-11
Margaret Plaskey Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Briana Peterman Williams, Cat ona Hot Tin Roof
Ryan Jennings Pulp Fiction or Platoon
DJ Marsh The Shawshank Redemption
Emily Nault Donnie Darko
Ashley Galas Memento
Dren Briggs Annie Hall
Ben Brothers A Clockwork Orange
Lauren Righettini Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

 

Note: You will only turn in one draft of this paper to me; however, I encourage you to share drafts with peers you've learned to trust in class and peer response sessions.