opening paragraph / thesis
In this paper, I will argue that
* it should be not overly general
* it should mention the texts you will examining
* ask the “so what?” question and push the thesis one step further

Purdue Owl
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/04/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/01/

Independent and dependent clauses

I went fishing on a boat. –> independent clause
When I went fishing on a boat –> dependent clause

When I went fishing on a boat, I caught a salmon.

DC, IC
IC DC
IC; IC

WW — wrong word
awk — awkward
fused sentence / run-on sentence – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/02/
referent unclear – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/600/01/

make sure that you use quotations in your papers

Never leave a quotation standing alone in a sentence; always introduce it with a short phrase. Ex.: Not “QUOTE.” but As Dekard says, “QUOTE” (56).

blockquote – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/

book titles always italicized/underlined
journal/newspaper articles — title in quotation marks

header – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

DISTRICT 9

for next week — first 130 pages (through ch 5) of Brown Girl in the Ring

[midterm exam]

back to Dawn

language – words say no, body yes
no doesn’t mean no
manipulation / consent / free will

weird sexual arousal
shared feelings – intensified

desire
manipulating desire

genetic info trading
mixing a better race
genetic engineering

how do humans come off in this book?

resistance
self-preservation?

oankali — cf. imperialism/colonialism
look how dangerous these native people are
oankali not as pure as hey would like to think

HAVE A GREAT BREAK!!!

In-class writing

1. What was your thesis sentence?

2. Reflect on your paper-writing process. What aspects of the writing process worked well for you? What was the most difficult aspect of the assignment and/or you chosen topic? What would you do differently next time?

3. Name one thing you learned while writing his paper

Blade Runner

Next week’s assignment on course calendar

intro paragraph
catch reader’s attention
introduce your argument/thesis

subject — what is the essay about?
thesis — what is your take on that subject?

persuasive essay

first paragraph – end –thesis sentence. clear statement of argument of the thesis
“In this paper, I will argue that ____”

Star Trek: Next Generation – “The Measure of a Man”

Approaching Criticism

— Emerson — we read to start our own teams

Do Androids Dream

— Human/Machine –

Human

living, organic, flesh and blood, feelings, irrational, conscience, compassionate, skilled, spontaneous, greedy, reproductive, self-healing/repairing

Machine

fabricated, artificial, cold, indifferent, mechanical, logical, rational, dispassionate, binary, slaves, predictable, calculated, man-made, assembled

compare moments when a robot “dies” in Androids

— these moments might show us something interesting about how the novel portrays robot sentience, human relationships to robots, and the blurred lines between humans and robots

choose a theme or repeated element to explore — ie., moments when a robot is shot in Androids — and we assemble the evidence — get all of those moments together in front of us, and then compare them

notice similarities and differences

— look at whole scene — person pulling trigger, too

speculate on why you think that is so and what the differences and similarities mean

cf. androids from CS to Androids

why in both books are there new, advanced robotic models —

as robots become more advanced they will effect our society’

1. Moments where androids are killed

2. Moments where the Voigt-Kampf test is administered 

3. Moments that involve animals

4. Moments involving Mercer/Mercerism

5. Moments where people question their own identity 

6. Moments of interaction (or discussions of interaction) between human males and android females

7. Moments in which the main character reflects and becomes merciful

8. Moments where we see physical structures crumbling (kipple)

9. Moments where we see the effects of dust

10. Moments where we see the importance of the TV show/radio

11. Moments where sleep/rest is discussed

Group 1

compared moments when robots die in Androids

as each android died — more graphic — new coming —

OpenLab introduction

Open Lab Help Documents

 Ways of analyzing a literary text

FORMAL ISSUES

Characters

• relationships they have with other characters
• character development

Genre

• what genre(s) is the text part of
• what generic conventions does the text employ or disrupt?

Language of the Text

• Figurative language of the text – beyond the actual meaning — symbolic language

Plot

Theme / Motif – a reoccurring set of issues/ideas in the text

TEXTUAL/AUTHOR HISTORIES

Textual History

versions of the text

manuscripts/drafts

editors

censorship

altered for mass-market appeal

translations

Author

• authorial intention — how do we know the author’s intention? should the author’s intention be privileged over other possible interpretations? —-> multiplicity of meaning. —> is interpretation of a text up for everyone to discuss or should the author have special privilege to adjudicate meanings?
• cf. movies –> director interpreting a book —-> adaptation
• is the author just another reader after the text is released? —>
• line between what is part of the text and what is interpretation?
• trying to assign motives to the author is problematic
• how do we know what an author intends? — ask him. What if author misleads? what if author is dead? —> read biographies. rea

• Author
• biographies
• introduction to an edition
• life/ideas
• interviews
• wikipedia???
• look at records related to life
• journals
• historical/socio-economic
• analyze whole collection of books
• newspaper articles
• letters
• read authors who inspired that authork
• other authors in genre

CONTEXTS

Political/Social/Historical Context

• what beliefs were generally held about the topic of book? ex. robots 150 years ago
• social/racial/class issues at time
• laws, constitutions – what type of government in country
• economic issues – ex. industrialization of country
• technological advances/issues/development
• intellectual climate — what were people talking about, etc.

PRIMARY SOURCES — related to original publication. contemporaneous with it.

• book itself
• interview
• writings by the author — journals, letters, manuscripts, published books
• recordings of author speaking
• autobiography
• political documents — ex. presidential speech. text of a law
• media recordings from that time

SECONDARY SOURCES — comes second/afterwards. provides analysis or intepretation

• biography
• critics writing about the book — newspapers, magazines, academic journals, academic books
• online interpretation — blogs, etc.
• documentary

ACTIVE READING

DISCUSSION OF CAVES OF STEEL

• List 4-5 specific themes/motifs you see in the book
• List 2-3 moments in the book — specific passages — that seem to you worthy of extended discussion (perhaps because they relate to the themes you listed, perhaps because they are really complicated). Look for especially rich/complicated/interesting moments that we can unpack together. Rich mineral deposits of textual meaning that we can break apart and examine.

THEMES/MOTIFS

• Spacer/Human relations
• Human survival —
• Biblical references/allegories
• Socialism/communal living
• artificial / natural
• efficiency – streamlining/regulating human behavior
• earthmen/women viewed as primitives by spacers
• classification — social stratification
• conformity vs. individual expression (architecture/art)
• human/robot tensions — fear that robots will take over jobs, or that robots will become as human as humans, will eradicate life on earth.
• innocence of robots — r. sammy’s stupid smile (friendship circuit)
• earthbound robots (r.sammy) vs. spacer robtots (olivaw)
• fall of society on earth – Lije looking back at when it used to be better
• tolerance/xenophobia — earthpeople afraid of spacers. tensions — cf. immigration stances in US
• relation of spacer planets to earth — issues of power
• spacer disgust at earthpeople — fear of disease

Prof. Gold’s

• Foreignness/disease infection
• line between human and robot
• colonization – earth to space, space to earth
• social class / privilege
• urban space
• biblical allusions
• privacy / sexual issues

p. 91 — blood prick
— being treated like an animal — his consent doesn’t matter – because he’s a diseased earthman

— spacers treating humans as human colonizers used to treat colonized people

— issues of power

— themes — spacers/humans —

— spacers as GMO — selected for height, etc.

— spacers view earth as wild and untamed as earthpeople view life outside city walls

— trust — fear

— transgressiveness of pin prick/blood test

— fear of contamination

— border crossings

Group 5 (Henry, Danny, Mohammad, Sergiy, Steven)

• Favorite Unit: space

Futures:
problems — weapons, decivilization (loss of civilized behavior), King’s Plaza riot – unconrolled. Shortage of resources/overpopulation –

• in 1000 years – no humans, just machines. cf drone warfare — machines do the fighting for humans (see movie Surrogates)
• weapons in short term, advancing rapidly from rifle/pistol. now weapons of mass destruction. maybe in 500 years, bombs to destroy planet

Group 3 (Martin, Daiane, Sasha, Rev, Jonathan)

• Favorite unit: human/machine
• Biggest problem facing humaniy: running out of natural resources
• 100 years: won’t change much
• 500 — tipping point, run out of food. mass hunger, only rich eat well
• 1000 years — anoher tipping point — make synthetic food

Group 4 (Yingweng, Ori, John, David, Pedro)

• future earth — depicts a real future — possible future, not just spitballing
• Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation
• 100 yrs: housing, food shortages
• 500 yrs:
• 1000 yrs: only getting worse – move to another planet

(corporations – media, financial crises, weapons — all tied to corporations – power, most money)

Group 6 (Chris, Edgar, Raymond, Carlos, Alex)

Favorite unit: Future Earth/Space

• Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation, waste, no space for waste
• 100 yrs – launch waste into space
• 500 yrs – exploring space more, maybe find something habitable
• 1000 yrs – take stuff we’ve launched into space and mine i for resources

Group 1 (Jenny, Mike, Tristan, Juan, Jamal)

Favorite Unit – Future earth — idea of unknown. no one knows what people on earth will actually do. most relatable

• Biggest problem facing humanity: depleting our resources
• 100 yrs — we will adapt as we’ve continued to adapt. will be expensive to use iron, oil in 100 years.
•  solar energy one day will be more profitable than oil
• 500 yrs – exxon will be all about solar energy in 500 years. africa — govts growing, will make own food — come up w/synthetic rsources. but maybe carcenegentic —
• 1000 yrs

Group 2 (Marina, Thomas, Aliana, Michael, Dani)

Favorite unit: future earth

Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation, pollution. humanity falling into cycles

100 yrs –

500 yrs

1000 yrs – maybe totally diff situation o similar to what life is like now

Frames of reference — how will we look in

100 years

500 years

1000 years

1000000000000000000000 years?

this semester, we’ll be reading authors who have given serious though to past, present, future, and imaginary time