2020 American Literature

Today we will read "Civil Disobedience" and answer questions 1-4 and 8 on page 397.  If you left your book at school here is a link: https://my.hrw.com/la_2010/na_lit/student/ebook_gr11/osp/data/u2_walden_civil_se.pdf                                           Reading Schedule: 11/30 - Thoreau "Civil Disobedience" (page 379 and 390) 12/1 - Thoreau - From Walden ( page 380) 12/2 - Emerson - "Self-Reliance" and "Nature" (page 369)  12/3 - Margaret Fuller - "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" (page 402) 12/7 - 12/8 - Poe - "Fall of the House of Usher" (page 410) 12/9 - Fireside Poets - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes (page 342) 12/10 and 12/11 - Introduction to Huckleberry Finn and chapters 1-5   12/15 - Review 12/16 or 12/17 FINAL   Review for Test on Romanticism 1 – Be able to discuss with examples how Emerson (N...

 Today, instead of reading "Civil Disobedience", we will continue to work on your essays. Remember these are due MONDAY - no exceptions.  Please share with me whatever you did last night.  THEMES: 2010. Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching” experience. Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of...

 Outline for the week: Monday - discuss and work on essays. You will be required to remain on zoom as you work. Tuesday - read "Civil Disobedience" and answer questions 1-4 and 8 on page 397.  If you left your book at school here is a link: https://my.hrw.com/la_2010/na_lit/student/ebook_gr11/osp/data/u2_walden_civil_se.pdf Wednesday - work on essays or read Walden.  

Today, you will either work on finishing Dialectical Journals or beginning your essays on The Scarlet Letter . Essays will be due on Friday, but I will take them the day after Thanksgiving with no penalty. Note, this essays fall into the 25% category and will be your last essay of the semester.    Hester Prynne Hester: Hestier in Greek mythology, Zeus’s sister, a woman of beauty             hestier (hasty) Prynne: prurient              prune: purify her sin              pry: probe into the interior of one’s heart                                 Arthur Dimmesdale Arthur: Adam, adultery Dimmesdale: dim + dale:   dim interior ...

 Today we need to finish the Scarlet Letter.

 Today we will read chapter 21 and work on dialectical journals. HOMEWORK: Read chapter 22.

Today, we need to read chapter 20 of The Scarlet Letter and work on dialectical journals. Note, I'm changing next weeks schedule around slightly. 11/11 chapter 20 11/12 chapter 21-22 11/13 chapter 23-24 11/16 Finish Dialectical Journals (or begin Scarlet Letter Essay) 11/17 Work on Essay 11/18 Work on Essay 11/19 - 11/9 Work on Essay 11/20 Essay Due    - Review Game The Scarlet Letter Test will be part of the overall semester final.      

  11/10 chapter 18-19 11/11 chapter 20 11/12 chapter 21-22 11/13 chapter 23-24 11/16 Finish Dialectical Journals (or begin Scarlet Letter Essay) 11/17 Review for Test 11/18 Test 11/19 - 11/9 Work on Scarlet Letter Essay 11/20 Essay Due    

Today we need to look at chapters 16 and 17. Note, we will be finished with the book by Friday. Your journals, all of them, are due on Monday. Remember you need 35 for a C.  1 1/9 chapter 16-17 11/10 chapter 18-19 11/11 chapter 20 11/12 chapter 21-22 11/13 chapter 23-24 11/16 Finish Dialectical Journals (or begin Scarlet Letter Essay) 11/17 Review for Test 11/18 Test 11/19 - 11/9 Work on Scarlet Letter Essay 11/20 Essay Due      Notes on "Brooding Romantics" * Did not believe in the innate goodness of people * Explored the human capacity for evil * Probed the inner life of characters * Agreed with romantic emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual * Included elements of fantasy and the supernatural in works Notes on "The Trnscendentalists" * Emphasized living a simple life * Stressed a close relationship to nature * Celebrated emotions and the imagination * Stressed individualism and self-reliance * Believed intuition can lead to knowledge * Belie...

 Today we need to read chapter 15 - and afterwards we need to look at your textbooks and an overview of AMERICAN ROMANTICISM (on page 304). You need to begin thinking about thesis statements and evidence. Remember - thesis statement. Connect the symbol, character or literary element to a theme.  Then present an order of development or list of things you will cover in your essay. Thesis Statement Your thesis statement directs all of the ideas, quote selection, and commentary in your essay. Therefore, a muddled or imprecise thesis statement will lead to an unclear or meaningless essay.   In the Scarlet Letter, the theme of exile transforms the characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth.  In the Scarlet Letter, the "A" on Hester's chest represents Hester, herself, and reflect her transformation - from Adulterer to Able to Absolution.  The "A" is Hester's soul.  In the Scarlet Letter, Pearl represents the theme of forgi...