FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 (6)
Vocabulary Quiz, units 13-14; After the quiz I'll introduce you to Flannery O'Connor and her first novel, Wise Blood, its idiosyncrasies, its language, its terminology, its theme. Over the weekend, I'd like you to read the first chapter of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood. Respond to three of the following as you read, fully and thoughtfully. I'll be checking first thing.
(1) What’s the setting of the novel? What’s the time period? How do they matter?
(2) Sentence one: Our introduction to Hazel Motes. What impression of him do you get right away? How does the sentence convey that impression? What do you notice about the style of that sentence?
(3) What does Haze look like? What is he wearing? Note all the information we get about him. Notice the way Haze responds to the world. How would you characterize his responses? What kind of guy is he? What does he care about?
(4) What about Haze’s name, both of them? And pay attention to the names of other characters, too. They’re not chosen at random.
(5) Note the description of Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock (To say nothing about her name.). What is the mode of that description? How realistic is it? What does she care about? How does she react to Haze? You’ll see a motif of reactions for Haze.
(6) What are you noticing about the imagery?
(7) What do we learn about Haze's religious convictions?
monDAY, NOVEMBER 14 (1)
Wise Blood, chapter 1 in class today. Tonight I'd like you to read chapter 2. Respond to both of the following:
(1)How does the narrator characterize Taulkinham? List some details and note Haze’s reaction to the place. Why does he really go the Mrs. Watts? And what’s she like, anyway?
(2) What key details do we get about Haze in this chapter?
tuesDAY, NOVEMBER 15 (2)
Wise Blood, chapter 2 in class today. Tonight you're reading a heavy chapter 3. Keep in mind all and respond to three of the following:
(1) How is the contrast in paragraph one continued in paragraph two?
(2) Note the introduction of Enoch Emery and the blind man (Asa Hawks) and the girl (Sabbath Lily). All appear again. What are they doing when we first see them? What are their later actions?
(3) Consider the detail of the potato. (What’s the French name for it?)
(4) Why do people keep mistaking Haze for a preacher? Why is he so intently following the blind preacher and the girl?
(5) What do we learn about Enoch Emery and his past? How strange is this guy? In fact, all the characters seem very odd. What’s O’Connor got in mind?
(6) Why is Haze so intent that “Nothing matters but that Jesus don’t exist” (50)?
(7) Characterize Haze’s religious understanding.
wednesdAY, NOVEMBER 11 (3)
Today we'll look at some sample student introductions and conclusions from your Iliad essays submitted last Friday. What are they doing to engage the topic and the reader? Then we'll begin discussing the lens essay and the comparative analysis.
thursdAY, NOVEMBER 11 (4)
We'll take the rest of class to review lens essays and comparative analyses.
Set Wise Blood presentation assignment and schedule.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 (5)
We'll take half of the class today to look at comparative analyses and continue in chapter 3 of WB.
Priorities for impending perennial protracted pause:
(1) Be working on your fall final essay.
(2) Prepare your presentation of WB. We begin with Chapter 4.
Wise Blood, chapter 1 in class today. Tonight I'd like you to read chapter 2. Respond to both of the following:
(1)How does the narrator characterize Taulkinham? List some details and note Haze’s reaction to the place. Why does he really go the Mrs. Watts? And what’s she like, anyway?
(2) What key details do we get about Haze in this chapter?
MONDAY, DECEMBER 5 (5)
Wise Blood, Chapter 8 presentations
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6 (6)
Wise Blood, Chapters 9, 10, and 11 presentations
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7 (1)
Wise Blood, Chapter 12 presentations
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 (2)
Wise Blood, Chapter 13 presentations
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9 (3)
Wise Blood, Chapter 14 presentations
Alas, I'm assigning reading over the Christmas holidays. It's just a little so we can hit the ground running in January. While we'll be sticking with prose, we're moving from 20th-C Southern Gothic fiction to 18th-C French satire. Voltaire's Candide rails against the formal philosophy of Optimism that states everything happens for a reason. Candide's message, in the end, is that we must "cultivate our garden" rather than just accept that everything will just work itself out in the end. It's funny, unrealistic, outrageous, but profoundly serious at the same time; we'll be using it not only as a way to ask why we suffer but also to introduce to you how to do some literary research, which you'll start in February. To that end please read over the Christmas holiday in your critical edition:
(1) Robert M. Adams, "Summary: The Intellectual Backgrounds," pages 79-84.
(2) Voltaire, "Well, Everything is Well," pages 84-9.
(3) Chapter 1 of Candide, pages 1-3
What's Due?
ON DECK
We'll begin in the new year with Voltaire's Candide. Make sure you have the above edition ready to go on Day 1. Click the image to navigate to a helpful website about the novella.
Friday, November 11 - Iliad Essay
Monday, November 28 - Begin Wise Blood presentations
Monday, December 5 - Fall Final Essay
“That belief in Christ is to some a matter of life and death has been a stumbling block for some readers who would prefer to think it a matter of no great consequence. For them, Hazel Motes’s integrity lies in his trying with such vigor to get rid of the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of his mind. For the author, Hazel’s integrity lies in his not being able to do so. Does one’s integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen.”
Word of the day
wise blood STUDY LINKS
Nietzsche believed that the central task of philosophy was to teach us to 'become who we are'.
this week from the school of life
The key to finding fulfilling work is to think a lot, analyse one's fears, understand the market, reflect on capitalism.
POEM OF THE DAY
“Harold Ramis
Actor, Producer, and Writer:
”The great irony then is, the real, mature wisdom Candide comes to is wealth has not made him happy. [Nor has] success, finding love, getting the girl of his dreams. The only possibility he has of happiness is being in the real world, connecting himself to the earth represented by this small farm and doing real work, simple, real work on a daily basis.””
