work for those who missed 10/27

1. Read Act 1 +2 of Crucible.
2. Study for vocab quiz (today's words: illicit, mendacious, perfidious, pretentious).  Quiz will also require you to know compound sentences.
3. Complete the character study in your comp book:
Depending on the first letter of your last name, read the assigned pages and study the corresponding character.

• last names a to c  read pages14-15 (putnam) 
• d to j  read 20-21 (proctor) 
• k to n read 25-26 (nurse) 
• o to s read 32-36 (hale) 
• t to z read 40-41 (corey) 

Write the following in comp book:

1. select a key quote from the assigned passage and explain its importance. 
2. Provide a quote from elsewhere in the play, said by your character and explain its importance.  
3. What motivates your character?

Scarlet Letter Essay topics

1. Choose one character and explain how Hawthorne develops that character by using the novel's setting to reflect that character's journey.
2. What is Hawthorne's message (about guilt or sin)?  Choose one or more symbols and explain how he uses them to convey his message.
3. Does Hawthorne condemn Hester for her adultery or the townspeople for their treatment of her?  Using a close examination of his style (which might include diction, symbolism, figurative language, etc) explain how he reveals his opinion.

You should be ready to write on all of these, but will only have to write on one.  You may bookmark pages and bring brief outlines (thesis, topic sentences, pg numbers).

Homework due Thursday: Research before we start The Crucible

Please answer the following questions on notebook paper.  Answers should be 2-4 sentences each, depending on the question.  The more you learn about the historical influences of the play, the more you will get out of it once we begin reading.  Please answer the questions about the witch trials by Thursday. The questions about context are due Monday, but as you will also be studying for the Scarlet Letter test and prepping for the in-class essay, you may want to get them done for Thurs as well.

Salem Witch Trial Research

1.      Look at who was accused of witch craft.  What commonalities do these people have?
2.      Look for commonalities in the accusers. What do you notice?
3.      What economic and political causes were behind the Salem witch trials?
4.      What kinds of evidence were used to convict individuals of witch craft?
5.      Who decided the verdict in these trials?
6.      Where is Danvers and why is it relevant?
7.      How did the witch trials come to an end in Salem and what were their consequences?
8.      As our founding fathers set out to create our judicial system, they were profoundly impacted by the events that took place in Salem Village.  Based on your observations and what you know about our current legal system, what elements of our current judicial system can you trace back to the mistakes made in Salem Village?

The following links might be helpful in answering your questions:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm

http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/home.html

http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/

 

The Context in Which The Crucible Was Written

1. What was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)?
2. Who was Joseph McCarthy? 
3.  Described what happened between Arthur Miller and HUAC. 
4. Though you have not begun reading Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, base on your research, how does the play relate to the events unfolding during the period when it was written.

The following sites may be helpful in your research:

http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/11/12/specials/miller-drink.html

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/huac.htm 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html

http://library.wustl.edu/units/westcampus/govdocs/onlinedisplay/miller.html

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000315

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/mccarthy/mccarthy.htm

Bonus question: A New Historicist would ask themselves three basic questions about a text.  By doing this research, you have addressed two of those three questions.  What is the third question?  Write a paragraph response to it.

Scarlet Letter Resources

1) A website that lets you search the ENTIRE text for specific words: search SL

2) Critical essays that explore the female characters of the novel- a variety of critical approaches, but mostly psychoanalytical and feminist lit. theory- female characters

3) 1850s review that focuses on the novel's connection to transcendentalism: transcendentalism

4) More info on theories as applied to SL: theories applied to SL, new hist in SL

There's lots online, but I'll let you find the rest if interested.

If you write a response to something you learned form one of these sites, post a question that arose as a result of reading the info from one of these sites, or find another good site (not sparknotes, wikipedia, etc), something good might happen to you....

Homework due Friday

Because of the PSAT, I suspect I won't see all of you tomorrow.  On Friday, you should come to class having finished reading Scarlet Letter, ready to turn in your setting work, and with a new SSR book.  This six weeks, I'm asking you to read a piece of historical fiction.  (As a basic, but not totally inflexible guideline, let's aim for a plot that takes place at least 75 years ago).  The same length requirements as last ime apply (250 pg minimum, one complete work historical fiction).  And I don't think I need to say it, but Johnny Tremain, while great, is not at an appropriate reading level...

Why historical fiction?  Well, because The Scarlet Letter is historical fiction.  And our next book is too...

There's a ton of great historical fiction out there.  Some are even on the list we chose from last time.  Here are a few suggestions off the top of my head.  Please feel free to add others in the comments.

All Quiet on the Western Front (German soldier during WWI)
Pope Joan
Watermark (albino paper maker)
Nefertiti
Year of Wonders (about plague and self sacrifice)
The Other Bolyn Girl  (English royalty..  beware though, there's lots of sex)
Katherine (in case you want more puritan stuff)
A Tale of Two Cities (french revolution- Dickens)
The Pillars of the Earth (ask Julia about it)
Girl With the Pearl Earring
The Vanishing Point
Gone With the Wind
Color of Purple
The Master of Verona

Hmm... I'm noticing that most of these are European.  If anyone comes across some good ones set in other continents, I'd love to know about them... there must be a great novel out there about the Mayans?  The Inca?  Africa?  Asia?  Also, most of these have female protagonists.  Any great historical fiction with males protagonists?  Please add to the suggestions if you know any.

Feminist Literary Theory

Assignment:

1) Take notes in your composition book based on the information contained in this post.  Title your notes "Feminist Literary Theory as applied to Scarlet Letter."  Notes can NOT be simply printed out and glued in.  Add underlines, highlighting, bullet points, etc to help organize your notes.

2) Look up/ infer from context the meaning of all of the italicized words that you find in the entire post.  Record them in your notes.

3) Answer the journal questions (found at the end of the post) in your composition book.

4) Make the notes your own by doing one of the following, in your composition book:

• Create a visual or graphic organizer that represents the information
• Generate some questions based on the notes (study questions or questions that you'd like to discuss)
• Apply the information to your SSR book by answering the journal questions a second time, this time related to the SSR book.
• Something else creative that you can think of :)

If you have any questions about what you're supposed to do, just post a comment here and I'll answer.

Notes to record in composition book: Feminist Literary Theory as applied to SL.

Basic terms:

•Female: determined by sex organs

•Feminine: adoption of gender attributes commonly and culturally associated with being female.

•Feminism: belief in the equality of men and women

Questions feminist literary theorists ask:

1)How have female authors been historically treated?

•Within the major cannon, to what extent have female authors conformed to patriarchal expectations or not?

•Within the minor cannon, what are the patriarchal influences on female authors?  Gynocentric literature?

•According to feminist literary theorists, there are three stages that female writers have historically gone through (not so much as individuals, but rather as a collective group):

•Imitate male authors

•Protest against patriarchy

•Provide alternative/ female perspectives.

2) How do female readers experience the text?

3) How are women portrayed in literature?

–Are characters independent/ submissive?

–Language is controlled by the patriarchy, so is it adequate to express the female experience? (for example: universal “he”) 

Concerns for feminist literary theorists:

•By focusing on the female experience, are we perpetuating the dichotomy between male and female?

•By looking at and for powerful heroines, are we misleading readers into thinking it is possible to not be conditioned by one’s cultural ideas about gender?

Important note:

•The same three core questions can be asked about any group of the population…

 Such as, African- Americans:

–How have African-American author’s historically been treated?

–How do African-American readers experience the text?

–How are African- Americans represented?

Feminist Literary Theory Journals (please respond in paragraph form in your composition book):

1) How does your gender influence the way you experience The Scarlet Letter?

2) How does the text portray women?  Men?

3)Choose another group represented in the book (Native Americans, doctors, ministers, children, etc).  How does the text portray them?  If you were a member of that group, how do you think it would influence your interpretation of the text?

Reader Response Theory

Interpret:

•Swift

•Brooks

•Bloom

•Wilde

•Wright?

Reader Response Theory

•Each reader experiences a text differently

•Analysis should focus on what the text does, not what it means.

•Meaning comes through the reader’s experience of it, not through the text alone.  Without a reader it has no meaning.

•Texts have gaps that readers have to fill in. 

Reader Response Journal

1)Is your response to a text the same as its meaning?

2)Can a text have an infinite number of meanings?

3)Are some responses to a text more valid than others?

4)Why do some readers have the same responses?

•How would a reader response theorist answer your journal questions?

1)Is your response to a text the same as its meaning?

–Yes, because process is meaning.

2)Can a text have an infinite number of meanings?

–There are two schools of thought within Reader Response Theorists:

•Most say that the reader is guided by the text and so while there are many possible meanings, some meanings simply can’t come from the text.

•Subjective Reader Response Theorists says that the reader is the absolute creator of meaning… thus there are an infinite number of meanings.

3)Are some responses to a text more valid than others?

–A reader who is fluent in the language of literature and educated in strategies for interpretation is more qualified to make meaning.

4)Why do some readers have the same responses?

–We share common interpretive strategies.

–We see our own identities and issues in a text.  Many people have common identities and issues.

•Reader Response Journal #3

•When there is an A in the sky, each character interprets it differently.  Choose two different characters and explain how their context, identity and issues influence their interpretation.

•Hawthorne doesn’t tell the reader how to interpret the A.  How do you interpret it?  How do your context, identity and issues influence your meaning?  Make a graphic.

•Hawthorne also doesn’t tell us how to interpret Pearl.  Make a graphic.

Archetypal Theory

•Archetypal Theory 

•As applied to the Scarlet Letter

•What is archetypal criticism?

•A sub- category of psychoanalytic theory

•Derived from the ideas of Carl Jung who claims…

•Collective unconscious: literature is the manifestation, not of an author’s individual desires, but of desires that were once held by all of humanity but are now repressed because of the advent of civilization.

•

•Evidence:

Flood stories.

Creation stories.

Hero’s journey.

•

•Collective unconscious is made of archetypes which are repeated characters that occur in all literature in all cultures.

•Archetypes

•Mother: all people are born seeking… mother earth

•Shadow/ snake/ devil; the evil we are capable of

•Personal: public image of self

•Father: authority figure

•Child: salvation, rebirth

•Hero: fights shadow

•Maiden: innocence, purity

•Animal: human relations to natural world

•Trickster: clown, magician, etc.  Makes playful trouble for hero

•What do archetypal critics do?

•They focus on the narrative patterns that can be found repeatedly in literature of all cultures (ex: hero’s journey in the Odyssey and Star Wars and Lord of the Rings…

•They look for archetypal characters.

•Journal

•What archetypal characters can you find in The Scarlet Letter?

Extra Credit Opportunity

Watch this video on youtube and then, if you'd like some extra credit, come up with a creative way to share the message.  video

Ideas:
Learn the lyrics and sing them to me, the class, etc.
Create a dance routine to the song.
Rewrite the lyrics of another song to convey the same message (reading rocks!)


Make your own video.

Goals:
Have fun, be creative, make the message our own. 

Psychoanalytic Theory Notes

•Psychoanalytic Theory

•As related to The Scarlet Letter

•

•Psychoanalytic theory opperates on the assumption:

•If dreams and literature are both creations of the mind, then it’s possible to use the same interpretive strategies when examining both.

•Of course, since this is psychoanalytical theory… those strategies would be psychoanalysis.

•Freud’s 3 parts of the mind

•Id= impulses and desires

•Ego= enables Id

•Superego= internalized values of society

•Theory of Repression

•Ego and Super ego repress the socially “wrong” thoughts of the Id.

  (Example: Oedipal complex)

Repressed thoughts are expressed by unconscious in dreams and literature

•How are repressed thoughts expressed?

•Condensation= several thoughts or people are condensed into one image

•

•

•

•

•Displacement= a desire/ anxiety is displaced onto another related image

•What do psychoanalytic critics ask the text?

•How does the author’s creative process reveal their unconscious? (We don’t know much about Hawthorne’s process as a writer so you’re off the hook here)

•

•How does the book impact the reader psychologically?  Please answer this in your journal… title the entry “Psychoanalytic Journal #1

•Cont.

•What does the text reveal about the author’s psychology?  (characters may be condensed, displaced, or even be projections of the author)  But before you can answer this… you need to know more about Hawthorne.

•

•Hawthorne: the beginning

•Born 7/4/1804 Salem, Mass.

•Mom: Elizabeth  

•Dad: Nathaniel  (captain. RIP 1808)

•Ancestors:

–William Hathorne

–Early puritan persecutor of Quakers.

–John Hathorne

–Son of William.  Famous witch hunter. 

–

•The Early Years

•1813: foot injury.  Home bound 2 yrs.  Lots of reading.

•1816:  Moved to rural Maine.  Enjoyed isolation.

•1819: Sent to Salem for school.  Missed Mommy.

•College

•Didn’t want to go.  Wanted to stay with mom.  Maternal family insisted that he go.

•Bowdoin College (Maine)

•Friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce

•Graduates 1825

•Returns home to live with…

 

•

•Early career

•Writes “Fanshaw” about time in college

•BAD so tries to purchase all copies and destroy them.

•“Children’s” stories

•Periodicals.  Makes no money, but becomes known in literary world.

•1830: changes last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne.

•1839-1841: works at Salem custom house weighing things.

•A new man

•Meet Ralph Waldo Emerson and the transcendentalists  who introduce him to Sophia Peabody (also from Salem.  Sickly.)

•1838: Secret engagement.  Worried about being a good husband.

•Transcendentalists

•Moves to Brook Farm to live with transcendentalists

•Leaves because farm chores take away from writing time.

•Married

•Moves to Concord with Sophia and rents a house from Emerson.  Live near Thoreau.  Lots of hanging out together.

•

•Family life

•1844: Una born

•Move in with mom.

•1846: Julian born…

•….and then Rose.

•Needs $.  Powerful friends get him job as Surveyor at Salem Custom house.

•Ups and Downs

•1849: lost job and… mom dies.

•1850: moves to Lennox Mass, where lots of literary folks were living.

–Met Herman Melville

–Discussed books all the time:

•Hawthorne influenced changes in Moby Dick

•Melville suggested topic of Scarlet Letter

–Romance?  Melville loved Hawthorne?

–

•

•Later years

•Several books

•Friendship with Melville ends.  Embarrassed that can’t get him a job via Pierce.

•Pierce campaigns for president.  Writes biography.

•Rewarded for biography with American consulate in England.

•Died in sleep 1864.  Pierce found body.

•Significant literary aspects

•Heavy symbolism and allegory

•Focus on guilt for sins, but not like Puritans.  Differences:

–Consequences of sins are often self inflicted because of pride.

–Love can provide atonement.

•Psychoanalytic Journal #2

•Now you have the information you need to really try your hand as a psychoanalytic critic.  So…what does the text tell you about Hawthorne’s psyche?

  (Remember: condensation, displacement, projection.)

•And just because it’s fun… what would you say to Chillingworth if you were his therapist?