Where Are You Going...Day 2

How, if at all, has your understanding of the meaning of the story changed upon reading the critical material?

Where Are You Going...

We will be spending a full week on this short story, discussing it from many different angles and using critical material about the text as an aid to understanding. Our work will culminate in an in-class essay about the short story. The essay will be open book, but you will not know the question before hand. In order to write an extensive and reasoned interpretation of the story, you should begin by making extensive annotations for the story and by writing out such things as character traits, plot outlines, symbols, setting, and meditations on style and tone.

For this Monday's class, lets begin by talking about what themes we see Oates developing in the story.

Preparing for Next week's in-class essay

Read Writing about Literature pp19-33 (see especially p33 checklist).

This section of your book explains some of the conventions in writing about literature as well as a review for writing using sources. I will expect that your essay on Joyce Carol Oates will conform to these conventions.

The Fireman

Theme involves finding out the central idea. Another point to consider is that theme needs to be a general idea that extends beyond the story and applies to the world outside fiction. So, what is/are the themes of "The Fireman"?

Mid-term exam

You might find it helpful to read "Writing Essay Exams about Literature" pp1590-98 before we take our mid-term.

Cathedral

Ok, just what does the Cathedral symbolize?

first post

work dang it

Araby and A Clean Well-Lighted Place

Discuss the tone and style of these two pieces. They are obviously very different in style, but do these stylistic differences create differences in tone?

Barn Burning 2

Read question #10 on p236. Is the story about class conflict or a coming of age story or something else? Explain how the story's point of view supports your statement.

Barn Burning

Compare this story with "A Rose for Emily," also by William Faulkner. What differences do you see in the point of view (beyond the fact that one is from 1st person perspective and one is from third),

What it means to say Phoenix, AZ

What questions should I ask about Sherman Alexie's short story?

Gryphon II

Why does the narrator defend Miss Ferenczi, and how does that define his character?

Gryphon I

Which characters are round and flat in Baxter's "Gryphon"? Explain why.

A Rose for Emily Part 2

Why do you suppose the narrator uses "We" instead of "I"? Just who is the narrator? What do you know about the narrator as a part of the story?

A Rose for Emily

Why do you think the chronological order of the story is out of order? What effect does it have on the meaning?

hello