HW for October 31; Blog group 6 instructions

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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.

Dr. Moreau’s view of Prendick visit

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            This uninvited visitor, Edward Prendick, has caused me and my projects nothing but trouble. Montgomery has informed me that he has heard of my name before and was familiar with what I was experimenting on. He also seen the ears of Montgomery’s servant along with the other “special” animals on this island. At first I thought that Prendick was not going to a big deal to be worrying about, but now he might discover everything I have been doing all these years. All my life’s work will be gone to waste for nothing by just this one guy. If he finds out too much, I have to get rid of him. Then again he could prove to be very useful in my experiments. I need Montgomery to keep a close eye on our guest and to make sure that he doesn’t wander off where he is most definitely unwanted.

 

            I wrote this monologue in the view of Dr. Moreau would have with Prendick arriving on the secluded island. I figure that the reason Dr. Moreau was on this island with no other human interactions, other than Montgomery, is that he is doing something illegal. When Prendick goes out on his own and discover the strange beast-like man on the island, I realized that those beast-like men are the experiments that Dr. Moreau has been working on. Along with the painful screams of the puma is an indication that he is working with animals. Dr. Moreau is trying to create something with some aspects of both animals and humans.

Clue

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Why must Edward Prendick be so judgmental towards the people of the island?

In the Island of Dr.Mareau, the protagonist Edward Prendick is very judgmental towards everyone he encounters on the island. He does not view them as humans but rather as creatures of some kind. As it states on pg 48, ” The apparition of this grotesque half-bestial creature had suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me. I looked around me rather nervously and regretted that I was unarmed. Then I thought that the man I had just seen clothed in bluish cloth, had not been naked as a savage would have been, and I tried to persuade myself from the fact that he was after all probably a peaceful character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance belied him”. He judges by looks.  Edward is rather scared of the people of the island because of the fact that he has never seen humans with the same complexion of them. It is rather intriguing to him. The enviorment is also very different from what he is acostomed to. Where he is from the people us clothes and cover themselves up but in this society in the island people are naked. The people of the island have diffrent ways of living and it oddly scares him somehow. The way Edward is treating these people is an normal instinct reaction to such drastic change from what he grew up being taught.

HW for October 26; Blog 5 instructions

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Dear class,

Thanks for those of you who contributed to the discussion today.  I hope that the reasons for coming prepared, with hard copies of the text, are clear.  It is unfair to your fellow students (as well as to me!), if class discussion slows down because people have to read over other people’s shoulders.  It also means that only a few students are doing the hard work of contributing to class discussion, while the majority sits back passively.  I expect this to change next class.

For homework, you should:

-read Ch.8-14. As you’re reading, I encourage you keep looking for passages or quotes that directly answer your own guiding questions, as well as questions we’ve discussed in class. I also encourage you to pay particular attention to the setting of the island.  At what parts of the island do specific events take place?  What details does Wells include when describing the island? Why do you think Wells chose to set this story on an island?

Heads up: there will be a basic reading quiz.

-upload a .jpeg of an annotated page from Ch. 9-11 to the appropriate dropbox (see Assignments Dropboxes) by 11 am on Wednesday.

–read the Essay #2 assignment carefully.  Be on the lookout for snapshots that might be relevant to the assignment description, as well as snapshots that help answer your guiding questions.

-either blog by 5 pm Tuesday (if in Group #5) or comment by 11:30 am Wednesday (if not).  Blog group 5, 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. 8-14 of Moreau, that features the physical environment in some important way; features an instance of fantastic hesitation; and/or seems to address one of your guiding questions.  (If it does all 3, all the better!) 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. 8-14 to any snapshot we discussed from ch. 1-7.  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. 8-14. In a second paragraph, briefly explain how your monologue offers insight into answers to one of your guiding questions.

 

Am I Dead? (Clue for The Island of Doctor Moreau)

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Did Edward Prendick actually die when Lady Vain collided?

The story provides realistic details about events that took place along with things that can be deemed as supernatural and unrealistic. The physical traits that Edward describes of his encounter of the “black-faced man” shows there is something more to what meets the eye. The description of his physical traits of “..and the huge half-open mouth showed as big white teeth as I had ever seen in a human mouth. His eyes were blood-shot at the edges, with scarcely a rim of white round the hazel pupils.” (13) show that he is something Edward has never seen and possibly the supernatural. Perhaps he is in purgatory and is simply being transported to another place with people such who have an reason to being here like perhaps, the drunk captain who had lost his license due to putting people in danger or the doctor who has possibly done something with evil intent with his medical knowledge in London. The description of the “black faced man” and the constant barks from the animals being caged possibly display a bigger role in which Edward is in and a strong possibility of him dying on the boat and letting his mind wander before he finally dies.