In Cold Blood Socratic Seminar

Wow! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to your Friday reading discussions. Thanks so much for sharing! It tends to take classes a few seminars to start being so open, but this class was eager to share. I loved it!

Some hints about Monday's essay:
If you're checking this blog, I think you deserve a reward! As stated in class, your "summer" (eh, winter break) reading analysis will center on the ways Capote uses rhetoric in In Cold Blood. More specifically, expect your prompt to come from one of the three below:

Prompt #1:
Using evidence from the book to support your point of view, explain how Truman Capote uses rhetoric to create sympathy for Perry and/or Dick.

Prompt #2
Using evidence from the book to support your point of view, analyze the effectiveness of Truman Capote’s writing style in telling the story of the murders (think parallelism, etc.)

Prompt #3
Using evidence from the book to support your point of view, analyze the appropriateness of the title, In Cold Blood.

There will be ONE prompt given in class Monday. If we don't have class Monday due to inclement weather, the essay will be Tuesday.

We discussed one of the best rhetorical strategies in the history of the world, no the universe today: hyperbole.

The assigned work for Zippy today is due Tuesday, regardless of a "snow Monday" or not. You need to read and analyze rhetoric in the first three chapters and be prepared to discuss the motifs of the memoir Tuesday.

As you read, use either post-it notes or the margins and take thorough annotations on the following motifs of the memoir:

1. Reoccurring rhetorical strategies
2. Zippy’s relationship with family and friends
3. Zippy’s views of small town life
4. Zippy’s view of religion

All work should be typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point font.

The following assignment is due the day after reading that chapter. You will select TWO rhetorical strategies per chapter, including the chapters read and discussed in class. So, if we read two chapters in class and you read two for homework, you would turn in eight rhetorical strategies.
For each chapter, note rhetorical strategies Kimmel uses to develop her theme/purpose.

For each strategy include the following:
a. The name and definition of the strategy.
b. The example of the strategy from the book, include the page number.
c. A sentence or two evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy.

Example:
a. IMAGERY: Use of language to convey sensory experience, most often through the creation of pictorial images through figurative language.
b. page 24 -25. “I have never in my life seen kinder or more sparkly eyes than hers, and every time she gave me the silencing look I realized how much she knew that I would never know. The arc of that piglet through the air into the dog pen contained more comedy than I will ever see again in my life, but my heart still ached.”

c. Kimmel’s use of diction in this paragraph: “sparkly,” “silencing,” and “the arc of the piglet” are effective in that the reader is able to identify the emotion Zippy felt when the pig died. Specifically, the use of “silencing look” to describe Julie’s reaction lets the reader know that, in Julie’s opinion, there was no choice but to feed the piglet to the dogs and that Zippy should have no averse opinion in the matter.

Please note: You may only use a specific rhetorical strategy ONCE per homework assignment (not ONCE per chapter).