Weeks 2/3 Blog

The work:
In class we discussed the themes of rebellion and authoritative female characters while reading some short stories such as "Everyday Use," "Miss Brill," "The Lesson," "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," "Paul's Case," and "The Lottery." Some important ideas included not allowing yourself to become tunneled by rebellion, and that everyone has their own faulty human traits...(NR) We learned that fiction can expose the flaws in tradition and how people view the world...(AH) We talked about characterization, theme, point of view, symbol, allegory, and fantasy...(JC) We were awakened with an inquisitive pop quiz which exercised our interpretation of characters' morality...(BB)

The workers:
Graham gave us his view on Mrs. Hutchinson's death not being because of a rebellion, but instead because of a complete lack of an effective rebellion. (NR)
We learned Mr. McGonegal's childhood passion for underlining vulgar language. However this skill seems to be the key to deciphering a character's true identity. (BB)
Andrew thinks technology is "cold and calculated." Brendan thinks that the moral to [the movie] Wedding Crashers is to be true to yourself. Noel suggested that Granny Weatherall was ignorant to her medical and emotional needs. (RH)
David brought up the aspect of technology of war [in the Destructors]. (VC)
Steve's realistic statement of how humans are curious of observations and the temptations humans have for things they can't obtain. (SC)
Silverio added that the adulterous affair [in "The Interpreter of Maladies"] was more about not understanding yourself. (BF)


Quotes to live by:

"It's not the way it used to be. People ain't the way they used to be." ~Shirley Jackson

"Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it?" ~Toni Cade Bambara

"Don't let good things rot for want of using." ~Katharine Anne Porter

"He had a feeling that he'd made the best of it, that he had lived the sort of life he was meant to live." ~Willa Cather

"Time sure goes fast." ~Shirley Jackson

Other late greats.

So I see you're reading blog entries in your spare time. Good. You should be. Read as much as you can this year! And read some of the following stories while you're at it. They're some of my other old favorite short stories that we didn't have time to read during this unit. (Feel free to cite one of these stories in your test essay for unit 1 if you find them more appropriate.)

"The School" by Donald Barthelme

"Harvey's Dream" by Stephen King

"Long Walk to Forever" by Kurt Vonnegut

"The Kugelmass Episode" by Woody Allen


And if you haven't yet discovered the Common Application, time's ticking. Click here.

Week 1

The work: Francis Macomber, The Destructors, How I Met My Husband, The Interpreter of Maladies, and summer reading exam. In the short story unit this week, we talked about what makes good stories, what makes good movies, and whether or not these writers hit "good" on the scale. We started to read the "late greats"--so many good award winning authors in this textbook. It will be interesting to find out what makes them so supposedly "great."

The workers: Conte finds violence mildly entertaining in a story. David liked something about the destruction. Michael and Brendan offered insight on authors who twist the notions of what an antagonist is. Graham is a close reader. Others contributed, indeed, but I'm still getting to know their names.

Words from this week's reading to live by: "Art is a lie that leads to the truth." (51)

"Main thing a man had. Made him into a man. Women knew it too. No bloody fear." (102)

"Destruction after all is a form of creation." (122)

"There were women just waiting and waiting by mailboxes for one letter or another...I was never made to go on like that." (146)

Welcome to the English 12H Blog.

Welcome to the English 12H Blog. Stay tuned for important readings, info, links, et cetera!