Jane Austen (Copy)

Professor Belinda Jack (Copy)

Money in Austen's Novels (Copy)

Dialogue (Copy)

Proposals and Marriage (Copy)

Austen's Style (Copy)

The wit of Austen (Copy)

<— Previous assignments Back to this week’s assignments —>

persuasion 1 2/27, 3/3

Today I’ll lead off with my favorite passage from the opening 4 chapters of Austen’s novel. In what ways does it sum up the key themes you think the novel will engage?

What’s our narrator like? And what about Anne, our heroine? Her father? How can you pick up on the narrator’s attitude toward each of the characters so far?

I’ll introduce some guidelines for reading Jane Austen. And then I’ll walk you through the Roger Ackroyd project.

persuasion 2 3/4, 3/5

What is free indirect style? What is its effect? We’ll look at a few moments in Chapter 7 when Austen’s narrator morphs so much into the consciousness of Anne that it’s nearly impossible to tell one from the other. Again, what effect does that create?

Does the narrative indicate at this point that Anne was right to refuse Wentworth when she was 19?

persuasion 3 3/5, 3/9

Today is the final chance to observe how I lead discussions before a number of you take over for a while. The four passages I plan to look at are as follows:

Page 89 —> Just a touch

Pages 85-7 —> Eavesdropping

Pages 77-9 —> Another encounter

Pages 70-1 —> A stolen seat

persuasion 4 3/9, 3/10

I imagine the focus in both classes today will be the contrast between Louisa and Anne. In what ways is Louisa a foil to Anne, or does that diminish Louisa’s function in the novel?

The novel sets up this metaphor in chapter 12 of jumping before one’s totally prepared. Do you find it satisfying? Is it contrived?

Overall what does this section tell us about the characteristics of Anne that Wentworth finds most attractive?

Key passages: 107-8 —> The fall

99 —> Anne and Benwick

roger ackroyd 1 2/25, 2/26

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Quiz

The Art of the Detective Novel

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Discussion Day 1

roger ackroyd 2 2/27, 2/28

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Discussion Day 2

Today I’ll set your group project based on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

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new rules

Gentlemen: I’m instituting new policies in my courses, amending last semester’s syllabus. Please pay close attention to the following four changes. Know I’ve been thinking about these for years and thinking about them in earnest over the past few months. Also know that I truly believe these rules are for your benefit as fledgling adults.

(1) No more rewrites. I know, I know. This is what allows you to succeed the most in this class. Well, it became a crutch for far too many of you, and I no longer think it demonstrates the mastery of content I assumed it would demonstrate when I implemented the policy. Rather, I see students submitting mediocre work, intending to rewrite after the fact, which puts an unbelievable burden on my time. What I thought would be an effective way for students to learn has morphed into what education has really become about: grades, grades, grades rather than learning, learning, learning.

(2) No more extra credit. See above. Also, students aren’t actually doing the reading required to earn the extra credit. You’ll still have bonuses on quizzes, but nothing major. Do the course work; that’s credit enough.

(3) No more questions during assessments. You need to learn to struggle; you need to learn to figure things out and use a little bit of common sense. Students ask too many obvious questions during assessments. My dear students, you’re unnecessarily nervous about everything because you’re not asked to struggle enough and to be okay with that struggle. I wrote you instructions on the assessment or the assignment. I was thoughtful about those instructions. That’s what you get, and it’s enough. Have a question? Figure it out. Don’t understand a word? Intuit it. Don’t know where your response should go? Use your ingenuity. You don’t need help with everything. Be a person. Be logical. My dear boy, figure it out.

(4) No more e-mails.What?! This is an outrage! Well, no actually, it’s not. My students have lost their e-mail privileges for the remainder of the year after the barrage of unaddressed, unsigned e-mails to me at the end of the semester as though I were not an adult in your life to be treated with respect. More than that, as I consistently said all semester, you need not send me an e-mail to request a meeting or to tell me you’re going to be absent or to ask me a last-minute question about an assignment or to request an extension. I said these things can and should be done in person. You are always welcome to come into my office to make up a quiz, to discuss a paper, to go over a quiz. You need not schedule. And if you are going to be out due to sickness, it’s your responsibility to find out what you missed from a classmate. It’s on you, young man, not me. It’s your responsibility. It’s for you to handle. So handle it.

You may, however, send me an e-mail only if you are going to be out for an extended absence and need written clarification on assignments. Beyond that, for any other reason, come talk to me in person. That has always been and will continue to be enough time between student and teacher.

On a related note, if you are trying to see me and have been waiting outside my office, unfortunately there’s not much I can do about that. You’ll just have to sit on the couch or in a chair in the department offices, do some work, and wait until I’m free. It’s a no-schedule, first come-first served system.