HW for September 14

Leave a reply

Hi class,

Thanks for the illuminating class discussion.  Wish we could have talked more about the treatment of Rip’s wife – look out for depictions of female characters in future stories!

Before doing the HW, here’s an interesting exercise: listen to at least 30 seconds of these two different rap songs.  Beastie Boys, “Intergalactic” and MF Doom, “Vomitspit.”  How would you characterize the difference between each artist’s “flow”?  (E.g., how would you describe the rhythm of each rapper – do they overwhelm you with words, or favor short, snappy lines?)  Then, as you’re reading, ask yourself: does Hawthorne have a “flow” to his writing style?

 

HW

-Read “Young Goodman Brown” using reading questions (below) and taking notes (1.5-2 hrs).  Warning: this story is probably the most difficult of the stories we’ve read so far.  The good news is that you’ve already had it broken down, sort of, via the Charters reading.  It will take time, and effort, and a dictionary, and a pen for note-taking in the margins.  Use all four!

-Blog (if you’re in Group 3 – see prompts below) or comment (if you’re not) and use the remaining time to review your notes. (1-1.5 hrs).

Remember: blogging/comments aren’t summary, or just a record of your personal emotional reaction; also, both have to involve quotation.  Practicing quotes now means you have a better shot at the paper (take the A train).

-A lot of you haven’t done comments yet.  A reminder that, if you want your comments to count for any given week, you have to do them, by 10 am the morning of Wednesday’s class. Furthermore, doing comments, and staying engaged, is part of being on the A train.  Of course, if you do more than required, it will help you!

Reading questions:

  1. Charters defines “style” as “the characteristic way an author uses language.”  In musical terms, you might think of it as the difference between two rapper’s “flows.”  Look for phrases or sentences that you think showcase Hawthorne’s signature style.  How does his style affect your experience of the plot and narration?  Blog prompt: clue.  Pick one passage that helps you understand the author’s style better.  Describe his sentence structures (simple or complex?), descriptive patterns (lots of adjectives? Few adjectives), tone (emotional? unemotional?) DO NOT simply repeat what Ann Charters says about this story in “The Elements of Fiction.”  Your post must be your own content.

2. What connections do you see between “Young Goodman Brown” and “Rip Van Winkle”?  Think of common character types, setting choices, plot twists. Are there trends you can identify as characteristically “American” literature? In what ways might either of these stories be “about” America, either its history or its symbolic importance?  Blog Prompt: Create. Imagine that you are Young Goodman Brown.  Write a first person narrative in which you encounter Rip Van Winkle.  What would the two of you have to talk about?  As you create this narrative, refer to at least one quote from “Young Goodman Brown.

 

3. Pay attention to different places where Hawthorne mentions evil.  How does Hawthorne use references to “evil” to create suspense?  Do you think Hawthorne wants the reader to agree with the definition of “evil” given at the story’s climax?  (Hint: identify the climax first!)  Blog Prompt: Connect.  Think of another story that prompts you to think about the nature of evil.  It could be a novel, film, or even real-life event.  Compare that story to “Young Goodman Brown.”  Does the stories lead you to similar, or different, conclusions about the nature of evil?  Refer to at least one quote in the story as you connect it to other stories

best,

Professor Kwong

 

“Rip Van Winkle” Blog Clue

6 Replies

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker are two unique stories with different point of narration. In “ Every Use.” The narrator of the story, Mrs. Johnson (Mama) gives information about her life and the difference between their daughters. The narrator used first person narration to provide a unique experience about this story, reading and understating the story from the prospective of the narrator (Mama). “Rip Van Winkle” The story was written in the third person narration (omniscient). The narrator is not a character in the story. However, he provides and comments information of all the characters thought and actions. This story has layered narrators, the omniscient voice of the narrator present us with the first person report of the fictional historian Diedrich Knickerbocker, who has explore and recorded the events of Rip Van Winkle’s stories. The difference between third person and first person narration makes “ Rip Van Winkle” a different kind of reading experience form “Everyday Use” as a result of how the narrator from each story tries to portrait their work to the reader. For example, in “Everyday Use” as a reader you can only experience the story through the main character eyes, from one point of view in this case from Mrs. Johnson (Mama). Indeed, you won’t know anything about the other people or events that this character has not personally experience. However, in the story “Rip Van Winkle” the reader has a wide image of every character in the story. In other words, as a reader you will see and experience the events and conflicts from each character’s point of view, thoughts and feelings of that moment. As an example, “Snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open “ Take one or two of the other “ I said to Dee. But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber. “ You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.” (7) Clearly you can see the first person narration limits the narrator to one perspective. However if these quotes were told in the third person narration the reader will portrait a complete image of all the thoughts and feelings of each character (Dee, Maggie, Mama). Writing from a third person point of view, the narrator provides the reader a better understanding of the story.

 

Rip Van Winkle Blog Connect

2 Replies

Rip Van Winkle details a man’s escape through the wilderness, encountering mysterious presences as he wakes up 20 years to find a new world and many changes to his own life. There have been many stories in which the wilderness acts a figurative and sometimes literal portal to the supernatural that changes the characters in a unusual and at times scary way. One story that comes to mind, is the “Young Goodman Brown:” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It details good matured and well loved man just like Rip Van Winkle, who descents into the woods as a escort to a mysterious old man. As his journey goes the character Goodman Brown sees things that questions his very faith and love in humanity. He emerges out of the woods a changed man with a darker view of life that also affected his relationship with his loved ones. The concept of the wilderness hold supernatural ideals, said to be where all forces come to roam. Rip Van Winkle finds out that the old men in the woods were ghosts of Henry Hudson’s crew who vanished. Similarly in Young Goodman Brown, the main character encounters many anomalies that tricked his mind, such as seeing his wife and townspeople in a satanic ritual, without the idea of whether it was real or not. After their journeys through the wilderness, their own personal perception on life changed because of what they experience and the way it affected their loved ones interact with them. Rip emerged embracing life and its shortcomings, though Goodman Brown emerged with the darkness and lack of faith consuming him that he isolates himself and abuse the love of wife and townspeople. “He assured the company that it was a fact, handed down from his ancestors the historian that the Catskills Mountains had always been haunted by strange beings”

Rip Van Winkle Diary Entry ( Create )

2 Replies

Dear Diary,

Today was a different day for Rip Van Winkle. When I say different it was one many would describe as unbelievable. Rip Van Winkle entered his old, but now new village after 20 years. He told the new people of the village, that he had fell asleep on the mountain last night and woken up to a change. The people of the village stared at him for sometime when he entered the new village, because of his appearance including a foot long beard. Rip woke up during a time where he was at a happy age and could nothing with impunity. This new village was much better than the one he knew before he fell asleep on the mountains. Rip himself no longer had to hear his nagging wife, nor did he have to work for anyone. Now he could be free or stress and enjoy his days. Now that barely anyone knew his past, he could tell stories to the youth and make new friends. His children were grown now, and he had a decent place to stay while living with his daughter. He now could vote and choose his own side whether he wanted to be a Federal or Democrat, he would have to learn about the Bill of Rights, election times, liberty, Bunker’s Hill, and the wars that occurred that took away his old friends away. He had learned now that he was a free citizen of the United States, he was no longer under the petticoat government, and no more yoke of matrimony. Rip Van Winkle seemed to be very happy with his new life and new village because now he could go in and out as he pleased with no restrictions. The younger generation of the village seem to draw to Rip’s stories and every stranger he encountered at Dr.Doolittle’s hotel would encounter all of the events that Rip said occurred as the night before.

My dialogue is directly grounded in the story because Washington Irving allowed me as the reader to pick up a few literary elements which to me helped me understand the short story better. Washington Irving style during “RIP Van Winkle” kept me wanting to know more about what would happen once he woke up, and then once he entered what is now a new village. Washington Irving voice within RIP Van Winkle helped bring the story to life so that I could grasp what was going on in each scene.

Rip Van Winkle HW Diary Entry

Leave a reply

1819

 

Dear People,

I still can’t believe that Rip Van Winkle actually slept for 20 years and then returned to his village after twenty years thinking he had only left for a day. He left the village because of his wife who never appreciated him he was a good man everybody loved him even the animals (dogs) but his wife . He got tired of the nitpickings of his wife and his only escape was to go to the outdoors which he did with his dog wolf and his gun. On one trip to the woods, Van Winkle wanders to one of the highest points in the Catskills. Fatigued from the climb, he rests, and soon the sun has started to set. He knows he will not be able to get home before dark. As he gets up, he hears a voice call his name. A shadowy figure seems to be in need of assistance, so he approaches the man, who looks very strange. He is short and square, with thick bushy hair and a grizzled beard, dressed in the antique Dutch fashion. He asks Van Winkle for help climbing higher with a keg. They reach an amphitheatre in the woods, where a lot of same looking men are bowling, which makes the environs sound like it is thundering. Although they are involved in pleasurable pursuits, they are silent and grim. The man starts to serve drinks from the keg and gestures to Van Winkle to help. He eventually takes a drink for himself. It tastes delicious, and he goes back for more and more until he is quite drunk and lies down to pass out. When he wakes up in the morning, he is anxious about what Dame Van Winkle will say about his late return. He reaches for his gun but finds that it is now rusty. Wolf also is gone and does not respond to Van Winkle’s calls. He gets up and feels quite stiff. When he tries to retrace his steps, the amphitheatre appears to have become an wall of rock, and some of the natural features of the area have changed. As he returns to his village everything is changed nothing is the same everybody is different nobody recognizes him. His wife and children are not their places he use to spend time with his friends is not their it is a complete change. He come across a familiar woman who he found out to be his daughter and he goes to live with her and her husband . Dame Van winkle has passed away recently. There is nobody to annoy him and nitpick him anymore he has reached the age where he is socially excusable for not able to do anything he has got his freedom to do whatever he wants without anybody pressuring him to provide. So what I would say is that the village  he has returned to is far more better then he was in before because now he is is free there is nobody to pressure him nobody to insult him and he is a free bird . “Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative, to escape from the labor of the farm and clamor of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. ‘Poor Wolf,’ he would say, ‘thy mistress leads thee a dog’s life of it; but never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee! (Rip Van Winkle,” Paragraph 16) This quote is directly grounded in the story because Rip van Winkle was tired of all that insults and nitpicking his wife was doing. Rip’s only escape was to go away for a while which he did and actually ended up in a life he finds to be far more happier then it was before.