“When we make a decision to accept others for who they are, not who we believe they should be, the gift we receive is more tolerance and understanding for ourselves as well. In the story, the brother’s epiphany comes when he acknowledges that he cannot be a part of a world that does not accept Sonny, in all he is, for this world cannot exist without Sonny.”
25 groups chose option 2. Here are the board game awards.
week 9
green/white 1 october 13, 14
Green order students will meet for this session; white order students will work asynchronously on Wednesday.
Green order students: Today we’ll look at the redacted version of the short fiction unit exam. We’ll then review what goes into a thesis statement, look at a few of my own samples, and then turn to yours from over the weekend.
White order students: Please remember to study for the short fiction unit exam at the end of the week.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Study for the short fiction unit exam.
green/white 2 october 15, 16
Today we’ll use Formative to complete the short fiction unit exam. You’ll have 75 minutes.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
None. Enjoy the weekend.
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week 8
Green/white 1 october 5, 6
ELEMENT OF FICTION 6: THEME
What is the difference between a story’s SUBJECT and a story’s THEME? Today we’ll attempt to answer that question, using some subjects from “Sonny’s Blues.” We’ll also continue our discussion of the story itself. I want to see what patterns you continued to identify in this last reading. Are there any new ones?
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Continue to read “Sonny’s Blues”. Pick up where you left off on page 89 and continue reading to page 96, stopping just AFTER the line, “It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”
flex wednesday october 7
(1) Read this document. It walks you through the writing process. We’ll use it during our last class this week, and you’ll complete steps 1, 2, and 3 over the weekend.
(2) Finish reading “Sonny’s Blues.”
green/white 2 october 8, 9
Today is a day for us to continue discussing “Sonny’s Blues”. I’ll also explain the first two steps of the essay assignment.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
More than anything your homework assignment this weekend is to THINK. You’ve just read a great short story, and now it’s time for you to show me you wrestled with its motifs to arrive at a rich understanding of one of its themes. Use steps 1 and 2 on the essay assignment to allow you to complete step 3—that is, choose one or two motifs and a big question, and then make an attempt at the writing of a thesis statement. Bring this thesis statement to our next class.
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week 7
green/white 1 september 28, 29
![Whiteboard[1]-01.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/51734e04e4b08db710716119/1601316731896-3R9X63PASX1LYVO9AZ6U/Whiteboard%5B1%5D-01.png)
ELEMENT OF FICTION 5: POINT OF VIEW
Today we’ll review what we discussed last time in relation to CHARACTER before jumping back into “A&P” to explore how Updike builds our understanding of Sammy.
I’ll then present a little about POINT OF VIEW and narrative voice. Why is it that the single most important decision a writer makes before writing his story is to decide from whose point of view he’ll tell it? Why do you think Updike decides to use first person in the context of this story? How might the story be different if it were written from a different perspective?
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
The story we’re moving to now will help us continue a discussion of how writers use POINT OF VIEW in narrative. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” is an excellent example of a story that relies on POINT OF VIEW to convey its message. It’ll take us a few classes to read it. To start, read the very beginning of “Sonny’s Blues” in Literature to Go. It begins on page 76. Stop in the middle of page 80 immediately AFTER the line “‘Be seeing you,’ he said. I went on down the steps.”
Please note that during the first class next week there will be a reading quiz on “Sonny’s Blues” that will include your knowledge of this vocabulary list.
flex wednesday september 30
Your homework assignment from our last class was to read the first section of James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues”, so if you’ve yet to do that, go back and do so before completing your Flex Wednesday, asynchronous assignment. If you’re done, continue reading below:
If there’s one thing I know about teaching literature to students, it’s that the first section of a story is always the most challenging for students because we’re entering a new fictional world in the middle of things with very little context—we don’t know, for instance, who the characters are, where we are in the world and when we are in history, and—more to the point—the context with which the writer fashions their story. The context surrounding James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” is very layered, and in many ways beyond what I am capable of relating to you in a meaningful and satisfying way. The story, of course, revolves around a fractured relationship between two brothers—something that can almost universally be understood—but also two brothers who come from a specific place, Harlem, during a specific time, the 1950s, with specific professions, an algebra teacher and a struggling artist who grapples with drug addiction—things that can not be universally understood without some context.
(1) To that end I’d like you to first watch this video, which gives a BRIEF background about James Baldwin’s life—where he grew up, how he was treated, and the way he viewed the world:
(2) The story is set in Harlem in the 1950s. Sonny is a musician by profession, who, in the end, teaches his brother through his music. To that end I give you the following video that discusses the importance of Jazz in Harlem from the 1920s into the early 1950s.
(3) James Baldwin’s writing is influenced by his own experiences and his fervent belief that systems exist to keep him distanced from his white brothers and sisters in America, in the exact same way Sonny is distanced from his brother, the narrator. Yes, we can read “Sonny’s Blues” as a story that has nothing to do with race in America and just as a story about reducing distance between two brothers, or we can challenge ourselves to see the story as a metaphor for and have a conversation about something greater—a story about reducing distance not just between two brothers but also between two races. This reading of the story is harder. This reading of the story requires critical thinking and a willingness to engage in tough conversation. This is going to be a reading of the story we won’t shy away from.
To that end I’d like you to watch the famous dialogue between James Baldwin and Paul Weiss from May 16, 1969 on The Dick Cavett Show. Find it below. THINK: What common ground do they find? On what points do they fundamentally disagree?
(4) Lastly, I’d like you to re-read, or maybe read for the first time, Genesis 4, which tells the story of Cain and Abel. Find it here. Why? I think the thematic connections will soon become clear.
green/white 2 october 1, 2
We begin today by discussing your work from Flex Wednesday and by taking any questions you may have. We will then dive right into the beginning of “Sonny’s Blues”. What type of a narrator do we have? From the title, the story is supposed to be about Sonny, so why not have him be the narrator? Anticipate what might be behind Baldwin’s decision.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Sign up for a time to present your project here.
This weekend you’ll continue to read “Sonny’s Blues”. Pick up where you left off on page 80 and continue reading to page 89, stopping just AFTER the line, “But the worry, the thoughtfulness, played on it still, the way shadows play on a face which is staring into the fire.”
what's due?
September 28 - Detective Fiction Project
Detective Fiction Project Selection
October 5/6 - “Sonny’s Blues” Vocabulary and Reading Quiz
October 13 - Roger Ackroyd Body Paragraph Revision
October 15 / 16 - Short Fiction Unit Exam
October 29/30 - “Sonny’s Blues” Thesis and Two Body Paragraphs
November 5/6 - “Sonny’s Blues” Final Draft
docs to have handy
A step-by-step guide to writing the essay (“Sonny’s Blues” Edition)
OUR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM CODE
Each time we’d have a regularly scheduled class, you’ll follow this link and enter code:
640-291-5956
current text to have daily
STUDYING short fiction
General questions for most short stories
"A Rose for Emily" Study Guide
What is a story of initiation? See Updike, "A&P"
Questions for Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades"
ONGOING Extra Credit
Required reading can at times feel like drudgery. And while it's important to do the reading I set for the class, I fully recognize that you'd rather have a say in what it is we read. Unfortunately the freshman curriculum has little student choice built in, so your ongoing extra credit gives you the opportunity to read an outside text in your own time at some point during the semester. I'm very happy to reward you with additional course credit if you take it upon yourself to read a text outside of class and meet with me to discuss it. A few things:
(1) This must be a text you've never read before.
(2) It should be imaginative and of recognized literary merit. The text must be approved beforehand.
(3) The amount of credit awarded is variable depending on the chosen text and how our follow up conversation goes.
(4) While you may read as much as you'd like, I will only award extra credit once per semester.
enjoying literature
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
