Dear Class,

Thanks for your hard work today.  As mentioned in class, on Wednesday, we will be spending an hour writing an open book essay assignment.  The prompt will ask you to compare a snapshot from Mukherjee with a snapshot from Joyce.   The essay should 1) analyze the interplay between Elements in each Snapshot, and 2) offer a thesis about how comparing the snapshots helps us understand the authors’ approaches to common themes.

As you’re reviewing your notes, then, remember that the point of this essay is not just to point out similarities and differences between the snapshots (and certainly not to summarize).  The point is to make a claim about the significance of those similarities and differences.  How does paying attention to the snapshots’ similarities, OR differences, give you insight into Joyce’s and Mukherjee’s thematic concerns?  Perhaps they arrange their Elements differently, but arrive at similar insights.  Or, perhaps they seem to arrange their Elements similarly, but arrive at different conclusions about the same subject.

Finally, please bring your copy of The Island of Dr. Moreau, as we will end the class with a brief introduction to that novel.

I look forward to beginning our novel unit, and hope you do too!

best,

Professor Kwong

Dear class,

Thanks for your work today.  Next week we have no class (hurrah!), so we’ll reconvene on October 17th. For that date, you should prepare the following:

-Finish reading and annotating “The Dead” (45 mins-1 hr)

-Pick one snapshot from Joyce’s story and one from Mukherjee’s story that you think deserve close comparison.  Perhaps they feature a common setting, or a similar relationship dynamic between characters, or a similar symbolic act/object.  Come prepared to discuss why those snapshots might merit comparison. (15 mins)

-Blog (if you’re in Group 3) or comment (if you’re not). (20-30 mins)

-Review class notes (remainder of prep time)

-Bring your in-class writing exercise AND the Mukherjee story to class, as we will do some work with both

Blog group 3 is slated to post by 5 pm on Sunday, 10/16.  Group 3: 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:

-focuses on one “snapshot” from pp.70-85 of “The Dead,” explaining how it offers a clue to addressing any of our guiding questions (remember, these aren’t just questions about information but questions seeking interpretation!)

–Compares/connects any “snapshot” from pp. 70-85 of “The Dead” to any snapshot from our American Literature selections (NOT Mukherjee).  Try to make one claim about why these snapshots deserve close comparison.

–Create a paragraph-long monologue from the perspective of one minor character from “The Dead.”  In a second paragraph, briefly explain how your monologue offers insight into that character, based on your reading of pp.70-85 of “The Dead.”

As usual, commenters should take care to post by the beginning of class Monday.

Have a great holiday!

best,

Professor Kwong

Dear class,

Thank you for your hard work today.  I’m confident that, over the next few classes, your hard work will train you to ask good guiding questions, which in turn will enable you to take better snapshots for richer analysis.  This will make the experience of reading our 3 novels (Wells, Lovecraft, Achebe) a little less intimidating!

For homework, please focus on pp.55-59 of “The Dead.”  As usual, take notes in the margins, either on questions you have, or clarifying definitions of words/phrases.  Take a picture of one annotated page and upload it (either as .jpeg or PDF) to the appropriate dropbox (under Assignments + Essays Dropbox) by 11 am tomorrow.  We will spend tomorrow’s class wading further into “The Dead” together.

Note that there is no blog or comment due tomorrow.  However, I am expecting you to keep track of how many comments you have completed!  Remember that you should have 12 comments – approximately one per week – by the end of the semester, and you can’t make up comments if more than a week has passed.

Happy annotating!

sincerely,

Professor Kwong

Hi class,

A note regarding your homework for next week:

1. There’s no class on Monday, but the electronic copy of Essay 1 is due online by 4 pm.  Please note that late papers will either suffer grade penalties or will not be read at all.
2. For class on Wednesday, we are beginning a new unit, comparing and contrasting two stories from different time periods and traditions, addressing similar topics.  Please read “The Management of Grief,” formulating questions, to guide your reading, based on the first few paragraphs of the story. We have done this a couple times now in class, and cannot afford to keep spending time going over what we have already covered.  Come prepared to share these questions with the class on Wednesday. (30-45 mins)
3. You should also have your physical copy of Essay 1 ready to turn in at the beginning of class on Wednesday.  This copy should be identical to the one you turn in on Monday.  In other words, please finish the essay on schedule, so that you can devote Monday and Tuesday night to reading and responding to “The Management of Grief” (a 10 page story, for the record).
4. Group 2 is scheduled to post about “The Management of Grief” on Wednesday.  Using your chosen questions, write a Connect, Create, or Clue blog that comments on the interplay between any two Elements in the story.  This can be a passage that offers a clue to understanding how the plot shapes your understanding of the characters; or a passage that reminds you of another story where the style shapes your experience of the plot; or maybe a passage that inspires you to write the same moment from another character’s point of view (say, Judith Templeton).  As usual, blog entries are due by 5 pm Tuesday and comments by 10 am Wednesday.

This is a long weekend, but if you have been already writing the essay and preparing for it, it should not be onerous.  We are reaching the 6 week mark in this class, and my hope is that our classes will continue to be productive and lively.

I have noticed a drop in preparation, which has affected how much ground we’re able to cover.  (Today, for example, we weren’t able to talk about the interplay between elements – because we took so long talking about questions raised by the introduction, and because our discussion of Flannery O’Connor’s non-fiction essay was much more prolonged than it needed to be).  Your decisions have consequences, good and bad, for the whole class!  Please keep this in mind.

I look forward to reading the essays and to discussing Mukherjee’s story on Wednesday’s class.