'A Day in the Life of an English Literature Student I'
Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8UOMGQfuLk

In the second video . . .

'A Day in the Life of an English Literature Student II'
Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tD4O2-bBac

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Sometimes I wish I could go back and repeat the entire experience!

Thanks to the folks at the University of Wales for putting this together. It has the potential of being a great recruitment tool for their English department.

Please keep reading and have a great summer-you've earned it!

Kind regards,

Lee Hobbs

Students . . .

All the best, as ever,

Dr. Hobbs

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

----------

Image Source: http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/Trifles/images/trifles1.jpg

If you are interested in reading earlier English-Blog student discussions of Susan Glaspell's Trifles, please see the post HERE.

Students. . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

----------------------

Image Source: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0374516812.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

*FROM 6 February 2008* I''ve gotten a few replies to this week's assignment, but it seems that many of you are missing the point. I would like you to discuss a similarity of conflict in TWO of the short stories (you choose) listed below. This doesn't mean discussing anything that you find similar. I want you to focus on a particular "conflict" within two of the stories.

Mark Flanagan, defines "conflict" as: "the struggle between the opposing forces on which the action in a work of literature depends. There are five basic forms of conflict: person versus person, person versus self, person versus nature, person versus society, and person versus God." For example, "If the protagonist is a sea captain, one conflict that might arise would be with nature, the sea itself" (About.com).

We discussed conflict in our last class meeting; there are all kinds. For example, a narrative can have literal conflicts, such as easy "War," or a child wanting something that his or her parent won't allow. More importantly, however, is that narratives can have underlying conflicts (beneath the surface), or even symbolic ones. For example, there can be psychological conflicts within a character (or, between two characters). A character, for example, might be struggling with addiction, or a desire to "kill" anyone he feels is more powerful (or, a threat) to him.

There can also be conflicts (or, struggles) between gender, ethnicity, and class. The conflicts on these levels tell the reader "more" than just the conflict. For illustration, let's use Eudora Welty's A Worn Path. For example, when a character who is walking down a road (who may be, for example, African-American, meets a character who is driving a vehicle (who may be, for example, European-American), a reader might "read" such a scene as thus: perhaps the walking character is on a poorer economic standing than the person driving a vehicle. How would that make their two respective lives different? For example, could one person carry more groceries home from the store? Could one person have more time in their day to do other things than walk 10 miles to every store? Also, of what importance is it that the two characters are represented as two different ethnicities (and genders)? Would the story have less "conflict" if the story indicated two European-Americans (or, two African-Americans), or if both characters were of the same gender? How do we know this (what proof from the text indicates this)? These only scratch the surface!

Don't forget other symbolic struggles, or "conflicts" such as the ever ready standby: "man against nature," better understood as humanity against nature. There is a dog in "A Worn Path," remember? Is there a conflict between the dog and Phoenix? If so, what is it, "really"? Why does one upset the other? What is it that both "characters" desire? Other symbolic conflicts might be found in a character's name. Take Phoenix's name for example. If you don't know what a "phoenix" is, look it up straightaway. Is Phoenix somehow like a "phoenix"? If so, how? If not, then is there irony in her choice of name? If you find that Phoenix is "un-phoenix-like," is there a struggle/conflict between what the reader is expecting and what the reader gets? What about man/humanity vs. God (a conflict with God ornature can be interpreted sometimes as a religious or an environmental conflict)? Man/humanity vs. himself (can be understood sometimes as a mental/psychological conflict)?

Here's at least one links that might help you get a better grasp of conflict:

http://www.dowlingcentral.com/MrsD/area/literature/Terms/conflict.html

You might find more if you take the time to research (Google the web a little), which I encourage you to do.

Ok, I hope this helps you along. (Some of you are experiencing a "conflict" with the assignment). Remember, discuss a connection between a conflict in two stories of your choice (below) in at least two or more paragraphs:

1929 - Glaspell, Susan - "A Jury of Her Peers"
1940 - Welty, Eudora - "A Worn Path"
1948 - Jackson, Shirley - "The Lottery"
1952 - Hughes, Langston - "On The Road"
1973 - Walker, Alice - "Everyday Use"

These stories are, of course, also available on our class J-Web space as printable, adobe reader files (which you should print out to bring to our class meetings).

Your response should be AT LEAST two full paragraphs. However, your response can be longer than this if you want. Write your response in a word document and save it FIRST. Then, submit your response to our turnitin.com class space. Then, copy and paste your response in the comment box below.

In your response, you should be sure to use the tools of plot, setting, imagery, figurative language, and how reality is represented, for example, to bolster your argument. In order to get credit for the assignment, please be sure you use your first name and last initial. If you want to see what other literature students have done for me in my classes in the past, look at the comments on the posts for the blog entries HERE:

http://www.english-blog.com/archives/english_teaching/literature/

Of course, those are all "freshman" level courses. Since this is a 200 level course, I'll be expecting sophomore level work for our class. Your level of argumentation should be remarkably more sophisticated than the freshmen responses you see at that link.

NOTE: After you hit "submit" comment, your comment will now show up until I approve it. I must do this to minimize the spam that hits the blog. So, please be patient.

This assignment is due EVERYWHERE (turnitin.com and here) by class time next Wednesday. No late submissions accepted. If you want to get credit for it, you need to get it in on time!

ALSO: For next class meeting: Read Langston Hughes's short story “On the Road” AND the three analyses of the story by our next class (available on J-Web). Print and bring with you since we will discuss these.

See you next Wednesday,

Lee

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

Students . . .

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

-----------------------------

Image Source: http://ftp.ccccd.edu/mtolleson/American%20images/LangstonHughes.JPG

From 13 February 2008: f you missed class tonight, or didn't take notes, a short recap:

We started with a freewrite. The instructions were:

"Without consulting your texts, freewrite in your journal on the following subject (freewrite means to keep writing until I say stop). If we have time before the end of our meeting tonight, I will ask you to share your responses with the class."

The setup was this: One of the tools for understanding, exploring, and discussing literature is something called external parallelism, or “allusion.” An allusion is “a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events.” For example, in Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries (2002), recently made into a film, an umbrella alludes to an earlier series of literature, Mary Poppins (1934) by P. L. Travers. Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys (1987), a film about young vampires, alludes to J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (1904).

Your prompt was this: What allusions did you discover in any of the five short stories we have read thus far for this course (in particular, the most recently assigned one)? Take a minute and then write about where you may have seen or heard similar details in other narratives, whether they were cinematic (film), lyrical (song), or literary. Remember, myths, parables, fables, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, children’s stories, and religious stories are all fair game.

We then had a quiz which asked the following questions:

Question 1: Who authored the short story titled “On the Road”?

Question 2: Who is the protagonist of “On the Road”? The Reverend Mr. Dorsett, Sargeant, Christ, or “the cop”?

Question 3: True or False: Once Christ and Sargeant met, they remained traveling companions until the end of the story.

Question 4: In “On the Road,” a church falls down. Briefly, explain how this happened.

After our freewrite and quiz, I lectured on some of the "tools" used in the field of literature to help interpret text. These included:

(1) Formalism/New Criticism

(2) Historicism/New Historicism

(3) Psychological theory

(4) Structuralism/Mythology

(5) Theories of Inequity: Gender, Ethnicity

(6) Class/Postcolonialism; Poststructuralism/Deconstruction

If you didn't get the notes on these, I suggest you do a little googling to get this terminology squared away. We will be referring to it again and again throughout the course.

After an exercise with theory and the last five short stories we read, we discussed as a class, the concepts of “irony,” “dualisms,” “symbolism,” “(external parallelism) allusion,” and “internal parallel imagery.”

Irony: when a word or concept is really the opposite of what it says it is supposed to be. For example, when an ambulance runs over someone. Or, when a famous musical composer, like Beethoven, is deaf. Can you think of any more?

Dualism: concepts broken down into contrasting opposites. Polarizations. Hot and Cold; Good and Evil; Right and Wrong; and Masculine and Feminine, Mind and Body, etc. Can you think of any more?

Symbolism: For example, if you read a story and a grim reaper appears, what does “it” symbolize. The concept could be adapted to a person wearing all black. Can you think of any more?

Allusion (External Parallelism): When one concept is familiar to or reminiscent of another. For example, in the film A.I., there are many allusions to Pinocchio; in the film E.T., there are many allusions to Jesus Christ; in the film Pretty Woman, there are many allusions to Cinderella and other fairy tales. If you know the story of Superman, there are allusions to the story of Moses. Can you think of any more?

Internal Parallel Imagery (within the story): Internal parallelism involves structural congruity between two or more linguistic, narrative, or other complexes in a work. For example, chaos in society may be parallel to a storm in nature; an individual’s mental conflict might be parallel to civil strife in society; the separation of a family may be parallel to the division of the land (e.g., by a river). One might foreshadow the other.

After our break, we listed to some Jazz music (Oscar Peterson) while we polished off a great activity in pair work that looked at these concepts (in a series of questions) regarding Langston Hughes's "On the Road."

The activity assignments were to investigate:

1. Ironies in “On the Road”

2. Dualisms/Polarities in “On the Road”

3. Symbolism of Doors in “On the Road”

4. Symbolism of the color White in “On the Road”

5. Symbolism of Stone in “On the Road”

6. Symbolism of imprisonment in “On the Road.” What are the functions of prisons? Is Sargeant a prisoner before he goes to jail? What about Jesus?

7. Allusions (External Parallelism): Do you know the story of “the good Samaritan” as revealed in the New Testament? How is this relevant to Hughes’s “On the Road”?

8. Allusions (External Parallelism): Do you know the story of “Samson” as revealed in the Old Testament? How is that story similar to the scene when Sargeant collapses the building by pulling on the pillars? How are the stories different or reversed?

9. (Internal) Parallel Imagery: How are the actions of Sargeant similar to the actions of Christ? How are they different?

10. Should a Christian experience some sort of satisfaction from his association with Jesus Christ? For a while, Sargeant and Christ are “fellows” on the same path to the railroad. What happens? Do Sargeant and Christ have joy from each other’s company?

11. (Internal) Parallel Imagery: In the beginning of the story, Sargeant goes up to various buildings, hoping for something and gets another. At the end of the story, in his fantasy, he repeats this situation on the train car. Discuss how the situation at the end is similar to the situations at the beginning of the story.

Please note that the following announcements were made:

No class meeting on February 20th. We will resume meeting on the 27th. You will need to have the entire novel read by then. Expect a longer quiz. Not only should you know the author, title, and year of publication, but also the major characters, the plot, and any subplots.

HOMEWORK:

Read entire novel by the 27th. We would normally discuss the middle on the the 20th but we won’t be meeting that night. For your homework, I want you to discuss on the English-Blog, Langston Hughes’s “On the Road” and the idea of journey as a metaphor. There is a literal journey that Sargeant makes in the story, from point A to point B. He has a goal, or some destination in mind. But, there are also metaphorical or symbolic journeys. I don’t want to say that there is just one. Depending on interpretation, different people might find different ones.

This assignment will be similar to that last one where I asked you find conflict, as a theme. This time, I want you to think about the word "journey" (look it up in several dictionaries if that helps) and think about the theme of journey as a metaphor in “On the Road.” If you find similarities in Sargeant’s symbolic journey and other literary journeys you know about, you are free to bring those in to your discussion. Since this homework will cover two lessons, I’ll expect a longer response, more like four paragraphs. Think of it as a short essay. It will be due when we meet again. This will practice our skills in identifying allusion, parallelism and will prepare our thoughts for the journey aspect of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, a story that takes place during the great Jazz Age but in Europe.

I put a few optional readings on J-Web, under web links, that might help you get started with this. I will provide feedback for those who get their responses in early (not the day of class), or for those who did not follow instructions. If you didn't get feedback, it doesn't mean your response isn't acceptable--it just means you probably submitted it too close to class time to get feedback from me.

Good luck!

~Lee

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

-------------------------

Image Source: http://www.adolescentmind.com/images/HJ%20Images/HJ-Wkshp-Graphic.gif

*From April 2nd* Proceed as directed in class tonight:

Using Jerzy Kosinki's The Painted Bird as your text, discuss in more detail (a few paragraphs) the journey stage your group discussed tonight in class. I am looking for BOTH literal and symbolic interpretations of the stage you will be dealing with, e.g. Trumbo's protagonist may have left California as his "literal" departure point, but he may have left a "state of physical and mental health" as his symbolic departure place. Likewise, his entry threshold would be represented differently in the literal sense and in the symbolic/psychological sense.

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit nor will late submissions, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

----------------------

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

------------------

*FROM April 23rd*

Image Source: http://k.b5z.net/i/u/2183976/i/calvin-writing.gif

First, your paper proposals were due here for an earlier assignment.

Now, I want a statement of your thesis and your primary arguments as discussed in tonight's class. Enter them in the comment box (see more instructions below):

Per the final exam: Based on the class election we held Wednesday night, there will be a take-home examination with ten questions (two-points each), similar to the mid-term but based on Jerzy Kosinski, August Wilson, and Jonathan Safran Foer. It will be due on turnitin.com by Friday May 2nd at 8:00am (no later). You will get the take-home exam in our next class meeting. I will enter grades the morning of May 2nd so I can’t accept it any later than that---you snooze, you lose!

Next week will still be a regular class meeting so expect a quiz as usual. You should finish reading the rest ofEverything is Illuminated. We will still do a regular homework assignment so also expect that. In the next meeting, a stapled, hardcopy of your revision of the term paper is due. You should do a new, revised version of the draft you have brought tonight based on the corrections you will received tonight in the peer-review. Your homework tonight will be to go to the same page on the blog where you previously submitted your proposal (show on overhead) and enter a new comment that states clearly your thesis in one sentence and your chief three arguments for proving that thesis.

If you were absent or late to class, here are the questions from the quiz covered. Again, you are responsible for this material.

1.Who is the protagonist of Foer’s Everything?
2.Circle the correct answer: A “shtetl” is (a) the Ukrainian word for “Jew” (b) a small Jewish village (c) none of the above
3.Why does Alex/Sasha speak in a strange/funny way?
4.State the country that most of the action in Foer’s Everything take place.
5. Circle the correct answer: Who narrates the parts of the story about the twentieth-century? (a) Jonathan (b) Alex/Sasha’s Grandfather (c) Alex/Sasha (d) Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr. (e) Yankel
6.What does Jonathan find ironic about Grandfather’s bigotry and the name of Grandfather’s dog?
7.Who wrote Everything Is Illuminated?
8.Circle the correct answer: Alex/Sasha and his family are (a) Polish Immigrants (b) Ukrainian Orthodox (c) Ukrainian Jews.
9.What is “Trachimbrod”?
10. What does “Sasha” mean and why do Alex’s family call him that? (If you don’t know the answer to that you may tell me what “Shapka” means).
11.Circle the correct answer. Everything concerns, primarily, (a) the story of Jonathan’s trip to the Ukraine (b) the history of Jonathan’s distant relatives (c) none of the above (d) both a and b.
12.The author and one of the chief protagonists of Everything have the same name. Circle the correct answer: Is this narrative (a) fiction or (b) non-fiction?

We then watched a film clip from the beginning half of the cinematic adaptation of Everything is Illuminated by Liev Schreiber (2005) and answered the following questions (see below). If you missed class and don't have a copy of the film, a lot of various clips can be found on Google Video HERE.

How is the story being told in the film as opposed to how it is being told in the book.
So far, you have read the first half of the book. As you watch the first part of the film version, what is missing?
What has been added?

Also, some of you wanted to know about the "free" knock-off version of Microsoft Office called OpenOffice.org. I often use it; it is very similar and has a version of powerpoint, excel, access, and word, etc. It's a free download and the address is: http://www.openoffice.org/

Just a reminder that anyone who has NOT submitted the FIRST DRAFT of your final paper to turnitin.com will automatically fail the term paper assignment. Please note that submitting your FIRST DRAFT to turnitin.com was a REQUIRED component of the term paper. I am looking at the record now and see that only about 2/3 of the class submitted the FIRST DRAFT of their papers to turnitin.com. For those of you who did submit their FIRST DRAFTS, you can ignore this warning. For those of you who did not submit your FIRST DRAFTS, I will open the folder up for ONE more day. The folder will be closed after Tuesday so BEWARE your final grade!

See you in our final meeting next week. It's been a pleasure!

Dr. Hobbs

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

----------------------

How are these people *in the cave*?

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

------------------------------

*FROM March 26th*

Proceed as directed in class tonight. . .

Using the text you chose from the sign-up sheet in class tonight (do NOT make up one if you missed class--always consult me the day you miss class to find out what you needed to sign up for), please identify, outline, and explain the following concepts from Joseph Campbell's monomyth:

1. Identify the hero whose adventure YOU are addressing.

2. Identify the two "regions" applicable to the hero: the ordinary world and the special world. You should find both the literal and the symbolic "versions."

3. Identify the three "phases" of the monomyth your hero must go through: the departure phase, the initiation phase, and the return phase. What, how, when, why, where, how come, etc.?

4. Discuss one test or trial your hero must encounter along her or his road of trials.

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit nor will late submissions, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

----------------------

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats

---------------------------

*FROM April 17th*

"The Great Wall of the Southern U. S. Border"
Image Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/bruggers/uploaded_images/fence-792491.jpg

Some have thought that the great wall of China was built with the intention of keeping invaders out of the empire's borders. However, some scholars note that the wall's purpose was to keep the invaders "in" or "trapped" with their backs against the wall once those same invading armies had surmounted the obstacle and found themselves in retreat. This situation made it easier to for the defending armies to eliminate their "invaders" as they scrambled to find a fast way out. Using the idea that fences are meant to keep things in, such as an animal, a young child, or perhaps a prisoner, as much as they are meant to keep things out, let's approach the fence of Troy Maxon in August Wilson's Fences.

BTW, I just found this and thought it was interesting (and timely). This is Professor Crowley from Hudson College discussing the end of his class's discussion of August Wilson's Fences. The summaries of all of his classes are online (course is called "Approaches to Literature") and I think he's doing something really innovative. What would you think if I tried something like this for my future literature courses? Anyway, if you want to see how his class discussed Wilson, see his clip below. You can ignore the comments about Greek literature as the only Greek we read was Plato.

*NOTE*: TILT was due tonight. Next week will be the peer-review session for your final paper. You should bring a printed hardcopy of the paper—this is not optional, this is a requirement: you can’t do the activity without it. See the syllabus for paper formatting details. Visit the Seton Hill writing center if you don’t understand MLA or need help with it. Remember, this will be your only chance to get any feedback before the paper is due on the last day of class.

Your homework is to answer your question from activity one in paragraph form on the English-blog and turnitin.com. You should re-type the question and then take as many paragraphs as you need to answer the question adequately. If anyone wants to change their proposal in any way, tomorrow night (Thursday) will be the deadline for accepting new proposals. Remember, unless you’ve e-mailed me your new proposal and I’ve approved it, you should be writing on the proposal you’ve submitted to turnitin.com and the English-blog.

In our next class meeting, I will discuss the terms of the final exam in more detail. Begin reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Note: While I encourage you to see the film, understand that it is quite different from the book so any questions I will ask on the class quizzes or exams will come from the novel: you’ve been warned.

In case you were absent or tardy, here are the class activity questions that were covered in this meeting:

Activity 1 (*NOTE*: Several of these particular questions are liberally adapted from ones found at Sparknotes, Cliff's Notes, Barron's BookNotes, PinkMonkey Notes, and other resource material found online. This does not mean that the "answers" to the questions should also come from these places. Remember, reading published summaries is NOT a substitute for reading the text. You will see that the answers offered by these services are often faulty and not the consensus we often come up with in class. However, the questions themselves are honest, open-ended ones that deserve honest answers from you that can be explained, demonstrated, or proved from the actual text and your own understanding of it.)

1.SETTING: Where and when is the play set? According to the stage directions, does the set look realistic or fantasy-like?
2.CLASS STRUGGLE: What can you tell about the characters’ standard of living based only on the “set”? Explain.
3.SETTING: How is music used by Wilson in the play – both sound design and by the actors?
4.TIME/HISTORY (1 of 5): What is the significance of the play being set in 1957? How does Wilson create the time period of the play with his language?
5.TIME/HISTORY (2 of 5): What is the significance of the play being set in 1957? Could the play take place in a different decade? Why or why not?
6.TIME/HISTORY (3 of 5): What elements does Wilson employ to give the audience a sense that time has passed and characters have changed during the course of the play?
7.TIME/HISTORY (4 of 5): How are historical events and subjects referenced in the play without them actually taking place around the characters? For example, racial integration – in baseball and in the workplace; urban renewal/redevelopment; World War II.
8.TIME/HISTORY (5 of 5): How does Troy Maxson set up the direction of the play’s plot; i.e., what events does he reference or allude to that will create a struggle for him throughout the course of the play?
9.TRANSFORMATION (1 of 2): How do the characters change throughout the play? Who changes the most; the least? Explain.
10.TRANSFORMATION (2 of 2): Does Troy cause changes in the other characters? Do their reactions to him in turn change Troy? Explain.
11.FATE VS. FREE WILL: Are Troy’s problems self-created or out of his control? Explain.
12.ARCHETYPE: Is Troy a tragic figure, a hero, a villain or a combination of these types? Is he a sympathetic character?
13.PROTAGONIST’S CONFLICT: If Troy is the protagonist of the narrative, then who or what is the antagonist? Remember that there can be more than one and the antagonist can sometimes be a concept or something symbolic. Identity and explain.
14.SYMBOLISM/ALLEGORY: Towards the end of the play, what is the significance of Cory singing the song “Old Blue” that Troy sang earlier in the play? Explain.
15.What happens to Gabe at the end of the play? Explain.
16.RACE STRUGGLE (Part 1 of 4): What themes or issues might be raised in a play about blacks in the 1950s that Wilson does not address?
17.RACE STRUGGLE (Part 2 of 4): In many American plays, blacks play only minor roles or are only mentioned in passing by the main characters. Wilson reverses this by only referring to white characters but never having them appear on stage. *What effect does this have on the play? Explain.
18.RACE STRUGGLE (Part 3 of 4): In many American plays, blacks play only minor roles or are only mentioned in passing by the main characters. Wilson reverses this by only referring to white characters but never having them appear on stage. **How does their absence and presence inform the characters’ world? Explain.
19.RACE STRUGGLE (Part 4 of 4): In many American plays, blacks play only minor roles or are only mentioned in passing by the main characters. Wilson reverses this by only referring to white characters but never having them appear on stage. ***Would the play be more effective or less effective if the white characters mentioned in the play were more present? Explain.
20.GENDER STRUGGLE (1 of 2): What is the play’s attitude towards women? *How might a female playwright tell the story of Fences differently than August Wilson?
21.GENDER STRUGGLE (2 of 2): What is the play’s attitude towards women? **Do Rose and the women mentioned in the play typify roles of the 1950s or defy them? What attributes or actions of the female characters support your interpretation?
22.Some critics of August Wilson complain that “nothing happens” in this plays meaning the plot is too subtle to be dramatic. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
23.What is the significance of the play’s title?
24.What is the purpose of a fence?
25.Discuss the significance of the title, “Fences,” as it relates to characters and themes of the play.
26.How do “fences” (real and metaphorical) create conflict between characters? Who builds these emotional “fences”? Are “fences” taken down?

Activity 2

1.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
2.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
3.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
4.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”?
5.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Langston Hughes’s “On the Road”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
6.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
7.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
8.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Jerzy Kosinksi’s The Painted Bird? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
9.Discuss the symbolism of “fences” in a work other than August Wilson’s. What literal and symbolic “fences” are in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”? What do they “keep in” and what do they “keep out”? Find as many examples as you can.
10.Remember Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and its symbolic meanings (see your old handouts)? How is the allegory of the cave metaphor revealed in August Wilson’s Fences? Find as many examples as you can.
11.Remember Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey”/Monomyth and its structure (see your charts)? How is the monomyth revealed in August Wilson’s Fences? Remember to identify your hero, the ordinary/special worlds, and the literal and symbolic phases of departure, initiation, and return. If you have time, also tell us about any of the “stages” you recognize (see charts) in Fences.

See you next week!

Dr. Hobbs

*NOTE: As with all reading responses submitted to the English-Blog for EL 267, you must first submit the response to the proper space on www.turnitin.com (the date for which it was assigned). To get credit, the response must be present in both places by the deadline. Submissions to only one will not receive credit nor will late submissions, so beware!

Students . . .

Good luck,

Dr. Hobbs