Dear class,

As we pass the halfway point of this novel, I encourage you to continue looking back to notes you’ve taken over the past 3 sessions about important scenes or literary terms (e.g., focalization, fantastic hesitation, science vs religion).  This will ensure that your appreciation of the novel deepens as you reach the end.

For homework:

1. Read Chapters 15-18.  As you’re reading, keep referring to your guiding questions, and look for moments or passages that seem to directly address them (and/or complicate your understanding of them).  For further guidance, continue to refer to our notes on setting, point of view, and fantastic hesitation.  You might pay particular attention to the descriptions of the Beast People’s society: how does it resemble human society?  What is Prendick’s attitude toward the Beast People? How/when might we see the gap between present-Prendick’s and past-Prendick’s view of the beasts?

2.  Blog by Sunday at 5 (if in Blog group 6) or comment by beginning of class (if not).

Blog group 6, as usual, you have a choice of Clue, Connect, or Create posts, with the expectation that you should do a different category than you did in the first round of blogging.  Using notes from class + our own guiding questions, write a post that does any of the following:

–Clue: focuses on one “snapshot” from ch. 15-18 of Moreau, that addresses any of your guiding questions, or seems to offer insight to any of the themes we’ve touched on in class.  (You might focus on Wells’ depiction of science and religion, for example – but this is up to you).  Referring to specific elements of fiction, explain how the scene might offer a clue to answering one of your guiding questions.

–Compares/connects any “snapshot” from ch. 15-18 to any snapshot we discussed from ch. 1-14.  Try to make one claim about why comparing those snapshots help you answer your guiding question.

–Create a paragraph-long monologue from the perspective of one minor character from ch. 15-18. In a second paragraph, briefly explain how your monologue offers insight into answers to one of your guiding questions.

3. Begin making a list of candidate “snapshots” to write about for Essay 2. We will discuss on Monday’s class. I highly recommend beginning writing as well, if you  can settle on one.