Clue “The Evil Looking Boatmen”

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Is Edward Prendick imagining everything that he sees or is it real?  When it comes to the story there is a combination of realistic details and just plain weird details. The way Prendick describe everything, it almost seems believable. “I looked steadily at them, and the impression did not pass, though I failed to see what had occasioned it. They seemed to me then to be brown men, but their limbs were oddly swathed in some thin dirty white stuff down even to the fingers and feet…I found afterwards that really none were taller than myself, but their bodies were abnormally long and the thigh-part of the leg short and curiously twisted… the face of the man whose eyes were luminous in the dark.” (24) just by this small section of the story we now start to get a better picture/idea on how the people of the island look like. And by the looks of it they don’t seem normal. Their legs are oddly shaped, their face and arms. We know that Edward has been stranded in a Didley for a long time which we can imagine that his mind might be making him sees things that are not there. Although the reader might think that, the way that Edward started to describe how the island looked like and the Islanders it makes it seem like its real. And that he is not making this up in his head. All the wired details start with how he describes how the islanders look like and how strange Montgomery and his companion is.

[Group 4] Create: The Black Faced Man

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I am known as the Black Faced Man.

I laid my eyes on Montgomery for the first time on one of his hunting voyages. He was in search for some animals in which, at the time, I didn’t know what it was for. The way he caught these animals you could tell he had done this plenty of times before. He was in the woods alone and I happened to see him on my way back home from a camping trip. He seemed like a dangerous man with all the tools he held, so I stayed behind a tree as I observed him. I accidentally  stepped on some branches and he looked directly at me. I was scared. He walked towards me while asking, “Who’s there?” I walked away from my hiding and told him my name, “Goldman, Sir.” He asked me what I was doing in the woods and told me that I shouldn’t be there. I explained to him that I was on my way back home from a trip and happened to see him. He looked at me from head to toe with his had on his chin as if he were to be thinking of something. He asked me if I had a wife or any family. I answered, “No, Sir.” He then offered me a job. He didn’t explain well but he told me that it would something extraordinary and it would be very important to the future or our lives. Blindly, I said yes since I had nothing to lose. Montgomery took me on his ship and off we went. I had no idea what I had coming for me. We arrived and was immediately greeted by some man named Moreau. Moreau told me he was a scientist and that he was going to change the world but he needed by help.

I was one of his experiments. I am half wolf and half man. I am werewolf.

Now I am forced to be part of this island because I am a monster. The only place I can be accepted in is the land of experiements.

My explanation: The question I wanted to explore was the question of animals. The animals that  Prendick witnessed on the ship were obviously going to be used for either experimentation or reproduction. When “The Black Faced Man” was introduced as something so peculiar I automatically thought he was an experiment. But of what? I wanted to know more about this black faced man so I created a story about him. The description given by Prendick automatically made me think of a werewolf or some type of dog like a fox or a wolf. These animals are forest animals and went with that story.

“The Dead” Create Blog Post (Group 3)

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“It is sad but true, that the new generation is over thinking and coming up with ideas that make the old way of living obsolete. This is serious because this new way of thinking will make that generation not have a good quality and it will somehow make it harder from them to function in some way. When I was listening to those great singers of the past I could tell that we were living in a less spacious age. Those days where without a doubt, very spacious and to think that it’s just going to get worse makes me depressed. That is why we must still cherish those who are “dead”, those who have wandered off the road and created a new path for themselves and hope that we can forgive them and treat them fairly or the same. To not ridicule and make fun of them based off of jumping to conclusions; fore it is this endless cycle that just makes things worse. The reason why is because the new generations are the ones who frame the world, generations change and if we can’t take responsibility for our mistakes, generations will suffer. We must not let them suffer more by willingly letting them be forgotten. We must not let our clouded judgement make decisions for us.” – Mr. Browne.

The way this monolog offers insight into Mr. Browne’s character is that it reveals that he is very brave for agreeing with Gabriel’s announcement because it seemed to me that Mr. Browne was the only one to acknowledge Gabriel’s speech by loudly saying “hear, hear” in the middle of it when no one else did. Mr. Browne is smart because it seems like he is the only one that made sense to what Gabriel was saying at the exact moment.

 

 

HW for October 24; Essay 2 description up now (updated 10/20)

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Dear class,

Thanks for your hard work today.  I’m excited to begin our Novel unit.  As mentioned in class, the Essay 2 assignment description will be up on Friday. [UPDATE 10/20: Essay 2 assignment description is now available under Handouts.]

In the meantime, please read the Introduction and chapters 1-7 of Moreau. Use the lessons we’ve been practicing over the last few weeks: formulate interpretation-based questions to guide your reading, about any of the Elements of fiction.

Blog group 4 is slated to post by 5 pm on Sunday, 10/23.  Group 4: 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 the first 7 chapters of Moreau, that seems to feature a mixture/combination of realistic details and surrealistic, supernaturalistic, or just plain weird details.  Explaining how the combination might offer a clue to answering one of your guiding questions.

–Compares/connects any “snapshot” from the first 7 chapters to any snapshot from our readings so far  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 the first 7 chapters of the novel. In a second paragraph, briefly explain how your monologue offers insight into answers to one of your guiding questions.

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

[UPDATE 10/20: A reminder that you need to obtain the right edition of Dr. Moreau – the same one available in the bookstore. I have updated the ISBN number in Course Policies to reflect this.  The bookstore only has 2 copies left.  

If you show up and there are no copies left, speak with a sales associate about filling out a pre-pay form and ordering the out-of-stock book. Provide your name and phone number, and the bookstore will call you when the book is available for purchase. When the book arrives, the bookstore will hold a copy behind the counter for you to purchase.] 

Have a great weekend!

 

HW for October 19

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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