Today in class you will watch the Oprah Winfrey with Elie Wisel. Yes, Oprah is slightly annoying in this interview, but I think she just wanted to fill the silence. Let me know what you think of the film when I see you again (March 2nd!)
HW: Read and analyze "No News From Auschwitz."
“No News from Auschwitz” by A. M. Rosenthal
written for The New York Times
Brzezinka, Poland—The most terrible thing of all, somehow, was that at Brzezinka the sun was bright and warm, the rows of graceful poplars were lovely to look upon, and on the grass near the gates children played.
It all seemed frighteningly wrong, as in a nightmare, that at Brzezinka the sun should ever shine or that there should be light and greenness and the sound of young laughter. It would be fitting if at Brzezinka the sun never shone and the grass withered, because this is a place of unutterable terror.
And yet every day, from all over the world, people come to Brzezinka, quite possibly the most grisly tourist center on earth. They come for a variety of reasons—to see if it could really have been true, to remind themselves not to forget, to pay homage to the dead by the simple act of looking upon their place of suffering.
Brzezinka is a couple of miles from the better-known southern Polish town of Oświęcim. Oświęcim has about 12,000 inhabitants, is situated about 171 miles from Warsaw, and lies in a damp, marshy area at the eastern end of the pass called the Moravian Gate. Brzezinka and Oświęcim together formed part of that minutely organized factory of torture and death that the Nazis called Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.
By now, fourteen years after the last batch of prisoners was herded naked into the gas chambers by dogs and guards, the story of Auschwitz has been told a great many times. Some of the inmates have written of those memories of which sane men cannot conceive. Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoess, the superintendent of the camp, before he was executed wrote his detailed memoirs of mass exterminations and the experiments on living bodies. Four million people died here, the Poles say.
And so there is no news to report about Auschwitz. There is merely the compulsion to write something about it, a compulsion that grows out of a restless feeling that to have visited Auschwitz and then turned away without having said or written anything would somehow be a most grievous act of discourtesy to those who died here.
Brzezinka and Oświęcim are very quiet places now; the screams can no longer be heard. The tourist walks silently, quickly at first to get it over with and then, as his mind peoples the barracks and the chambers and the dungeons and flogging posts, he walks draggingly. The guide does not say much either, because there is nothing much for him to say after he has pointed
For every visitor there is one particular bit of horror that he knows he will never forget. For some it is seeing the rebuilt gas chamber at Oświęcim and being told that this is the “small one.”
For others it is the fact that at Brzezinka, in the ruins of the gas chambers and the crematoria the Germans blew up when they retreated, there are daisies growing.
There are visitors who gaze blankly at the gas chambers and the furnaces because their minds simply cannot encompass them, but stand shivering before the great mounds of human hair behind the plate-glass window or the piles of babies’ shoes or the brick cells where men sentenced to death by suffocation were walled up.
One visitor opened his mouth in a silent scream simply at the sight of boxes—great stretches of three-tiered wooden boxes in the women’s barracks. They were about six feet wide, about three feet high, and into them from five to ten prisoners were shoved for the night. The guide walks quickly through the barracks. Nothing more to see here.
A brick building where sterilization experiments were carried out on women prisoners. The guide tries the door—it’s locked. The visitor is grateful that he does not have to go in, and then flushes with shame.
A long corridor where rows of faces stare from the walls. Thousands of pictures, the photographs of prisoners. They are all dead now, the men and women who stood before the cameras, and they all knew they were to die.
They all stare blank-faced, but one picture, in the middle of a row, seizes the eye and wrenches the mind. A girl, twenty-two years old, plumply pretty, blond. She is smiling gently, as at a sweet, treasured thought. What was the thought that passed through her young mind and is now her memorial on the wall of the dead at Auschwitz?
Into the suffocation dungeons the visitor is taken for a moment and feels himself strangling. Another visitor goes in, stumbles out, and crosses herself. There is no place to pray in Auschwitz.
The visitors look pleadingly at each other and say to the guide, “Enough.”
And so, there is nothing new to report about Auschwitz. It was a sunny day and the trees were green and at the gates the children played.
1. TAP this essay.
2. Explain why the title of the essay is ironic. What “news” does Rosenthal want his readers to know?
4. Identify, define, and evaluate the effectiveness of three rhetorical strategies.
5. Identify, define and evaluate the effectiveness of an appeal to ehthos, pathos OR logos.
5. List three examples of meaningful quotations used in this essay. After you write each quotation, explain how that quote helps convey Rosenthal’s purpose.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Remaining Chapters of Night
Due Thursday, February 17th:
Study Questions: Chapters SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, and NINE
1. Throughout the memoir, what various things have Elie and Chlomo “pretended” to believe? Explain these situations and the various motivations both Elie and his father had for their actions.
2. Why and how does Wiesel portray “Death” as a character?
3. What terrible thought does Elie have about Rabbi Elizahou’s son? What do the actions of Rabbi Elizahou’s son demonstrate about how these conditions changed people in the camps?
4. Think about the following questions: Why did the two men try to throw Elie’s father from the carriage? Why did the living "rejoice" when the order came to throw out the corpses? How did the prisoners in the wagon act like animals? What incident many years later reminds Elie of this event? After thinking about your answers to these questions, contrast the actions of those involved in both incidents.
5. Citing evidence from the memoir, describe the transition between the parent/child relationship. Your analysis should examine the changes that occur.
6. In your opinion, what does Elie mean when he says “free at last” at the end of chapter eight? Why, many years later, might he feel guilty for this?
7. Analyze the Wiesel’s last line.
8. Going back to the preface of the memoir, Wiesel wrote that “the witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future.” In your opinion, does Wiesel achieve the purpose for his testimony?
Study Questions: Chapters SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, and NINE
1. Throughout the memoir, what various things have Elie and Chlomo “pretended” to believe? Explain these situations and the various motivations both Elie and his father had for their actions.
2. Why and how does Wiesel portray “Death” as a character?
3. What terrible thought does Elie have about Rabbi Elizahou’s son? What do the actions of Rabbi Elizahou’s son demonstrate about how these conditions changed people in the camps?
4. Think about the following questions: Why did the two men try to throw Elie’s father from the carriage? Why did the living "rejoice" when the order came to throw out the corpses? How did the prisoners in the wagon act like animals? What incident many years later reminds Elie of this event? After thinking about your answers to these questions, contrast the actions of those involved in both incidents.
5. Citing evidence from the memoir, describe the transition between the parent/child relationship. Your analysis should examine the changes that occur.
6. In your opinion, what does Elie mean when he says “free at last” at the end of chapter eight? Why, many years later, might he feel guilty for this?
7. Analyze the Wiesel’s last line.
8. Going back to the preface of the memoir, Wiesel wrote that “the witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future.” In your opinion, does Wiesel achieve the purpose for his testimony?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Symbolism in Night
Today in class we:
1. In class essay: Analysis of how Walls used rhetoric and appeals to ethos, pathos and logos to describe the influence of her parents on her life.
2. Discussed Wiesel's style of writing in the first three chapters.
3. Read and analyze chapters four and five by the start of class tomorrow.
Study Questions: Chapter FOUR and FIVE
1. Analyze the significance of the hanging of the young boy (the one Elie is forced to witness). Your analysis should explain why this particular hanging bother him so much, when this is not the first hanging he has borne witness to. Your analysis should also evaluate Elie’s response to the man who asks “Where is God now?” at the end of chapter four.
2. What does Akiba Drumer say God is going to them? Contrast Akiba Drumer’s faith with Elie’s faith at this point.
3. What is Elie’s attitude toward God during Rosh Hashanah? Why does Elie refuse to recite “Blessed be the Name of the Eternal” during the Rosh Hashanah services?
4. What is the significance of Elie’s “inheritance”?
As always, continue to take annotations on the father/son relationship, Wiesel's method of presentation and the parallels and juxtapositions Wiesel uses to convey his ideas and emotions to the audience.
1. In class essay: Analysis of how Walls used rhetoric and appeals to ethos, pathos and logos to describe the influence of her parents on her life.
2. Discussed Wiesel's style of writing in the first three chapters.
3. Read and analyze chapters four and five by the start of class tomorrow.
Study Questions: Chapter FOUR and FIVE
1. Analyze the significance of the hanging of the young boy (the one Elie is forced to witness). Your analysis should explain why this particular hanging bother him so much, when this is not the first hanging he has borne witness to. Your analysis should also evaluate Elie’s response to the man who asks “Where is God now?” at the end of chapter four.
2. What does Akiba Drumer say God is going to them? Contrast Akiba Drumer’s faith with Elie’s faith at this point.
3. What is Elie’s attitude toward God during Rosh Hashanah? Why does Elie refuse to recite “Blessed be the Name of the Eternal” during the Rosh Hashanah services?
4. What is the significance of Elie’s “inheritance”?
As always, continue to take annotations on the father/son relationship, Wiesel's method of presentation and the parallels and juxtapositions Wiesel uses to convey his ideas and emotions to the audience.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Elie Wiesel's Night
Today we began our study of Elie Wiesel's haunting memoir, Night. which the New York Times called "a slim volume of terror.
Please read through chapter three for Monday's class. These questions will help you analyze Wiesel's writing style as well as the symbolism in his writing.
As you read, please take annotations on the following:
1. The parallels between Wiesel's relationship with his heavenly and earthy father. Specifically, look to chapter one for the ways he describes the vast differences in these relationships and to later chapters as those same relationships interest, and then transform.
2. Wiesel's "sparse" style of writing. Though I personally disagree with this description, there is a distinct, telling difference between Wiesel's writing style and that of Kimmel and Walls from the previous memoirs. Think about what Wiesel is trying to achieve through his careful use of diction, appeals to ethos, pathos and logos, as well as the way he uses symbolism.
3. Finally, look for the ways Wiesel uses night, both literally and figuratively, to tell his story.
Please read through chapter three for Monday's class. These questions will help you analyze Wiesel's writing style as well as the symbolism in his writing.
As you read, please take annotations on the following:
1. The parallels between Wiesel's relationship with his heavenly and earthy father. Specifically, look to chapter one for the ways he describes the vast differences in these relationships and to later chapters as those same relationships interest, and then transform.
2. Wiesel's "sparse" style of writing. Though I personally disagree with this description, there is a distinct, telling difference between Wiesel's writing style and that of Kimmel and Walls from the previous memoirs. Think about what Wiesel is trying to achieve through his careful use of diction, appeals to ethos, pathos and logos, as well as the way he uses symbolism.
3. Finally, look for the ways Wiesel uses night, both literally and figuratively, to tell his story.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Glass Castle Socratic Seminar
One of the best socratic seminars yet class!
Pay careful attention to the appeals to ethos, pathos and logos Walls uses to describe the effect each parent had on the way she viewed life.
In class analysis Monday!
Pay careful attention to the appeals to ethos, pathos and logos Walls uses to describe the effect each parent had on the way she viewed life.
In class analysis Monday!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Analyzing Editorial Cartoons
Today in class we analyzed the various editorial cartoons included in this document.
Rules for Editorial Cartoon Friday Reading:
1. Identification of the speaker. This is more than simply a name. I want you to identify where you believe the speaker’s beliefs are. So, “Sarah Wheatley” would be a speaker, but if I were writing an opinion piece on the joys of parenting, then my identification would also be “mother” or “parent.”
2. Identification of the tone of the article. You need to explain how the cartoon conveys a specific tone.
3. Identification of the intended audience. You need to explain how the cartoon appeals to this specific audience.
4. A short summary of the purpose of the editorial cartoon (One to two well developed sentences).
5. A short reaction to the editorial cartoon (two to three well developed sentences)
6. A list of three rhetorical strategies used in the article. For each, identify the type of rhetorical strategy and list the specific example. YOU DO NOT NEED TO INCLUDE THE DEFINITION.(Thanks Austin!)
***Remember to include a copy of the editorial cartoon!
The Glass Castle Final Questions:
1. On page 230, Rex tells Jeannette: “The family is falling apart.” Analyze the hidden meaning of Jeannette’s reply.
2. Why is it important that, just before leaving for New York, Jeannette tells her father that she doesn't believe he'll ever build the glass castle, and that even if he does, she’s not going to be there to see it? (p. 238).
3. The first flashback Walls shares from her childhood is that of her burning herself severely at age three, and her father dramatically “rescuing” her from the hospital, telling her: "You're safe now" (p. 14). Why does the author open with this anecdote and how did it set the stage for the rest of the memoir?
4. Rex Walls often asked his children, "Have I ever let you down?" Why was this question (and the required "No, Dad" response) so important for him -- and for his kids? On what occasions did he actually come through for them?
5. Refute or defend the following statement: Though it portrays an incredibly hard life, the tone of the memoir is rarely overtly sad or depressing. (Your analysis should discuss the overall tone of the memoir and how you think Walls achieved her intended effect).
6. Analyze how the author uses rhetoric to portray her arrival in NYC and compare her arrival here to the other arrivals she describes in the book.
7. What is the overall purpose and tone of the concluding segment of the memoir, “Thanksgiving”?
Rules for Editorial Cartoon Friday Reading:
1. Identification of the speaker. This is more than simply a name. I want you to identify where you believe the speaker’s beliefs are. So, “Sarah Wheatley” would be a speaker, but if I were writing an opinion piece on the joys of parenting, then my identification would also be “mother” or “parent.”
2. Identification of the tone of the article. You need to explain how the cartoon conveys a specific tone.
3. Identification of the intended audience. You need to explain how the cartoon appeals to this specific audience.
4. A short summary of the purpose of the editorial cartoon (One to two well developed sentences).
5. A short reaction to the editorial cartoon (two to three well developed sentences)
6. A list of three rhetorical strategies used in the article. For each, identify the type of rhetorical strategy and list the specific example. YOU DO NOT NEED TO INCLUDE THE DEFINITION.(Thanks Austin!)
***Remember to include a copy of the editorial cartoon!
The Glass Castle Final Questions:
1. On page 230, Rex tells Jeannette: “The family is falling apart.” Analyze the hidden meaning of Jeannette’s reply.
2. Why is it important that, just before leaving for New York, Jeannette tells her father that she doesn't believe he'll ever build the glass castle, and that even if he does, she’s not going to be there to see it? (p. 238).
3. The first flashback Walls shares from her childhood is that of her burning herself severely at age three, and her father dramatically “rescuing” her from the hospital, telling her: "You're safe now" (p. 14). Why does the author open with this anecdote and how did it set the stage for the rest of the memoir?
4. Rex Walls often asked his children, "Have I ever let you down?" Why was this question (and the required "No, Dad" response) so important for him -- and for his kids? On what occasions did he actually come through for them?
5. Refute or defend the following statement: Though it portrays an incredibly hard life, the tone of the memoir is rarely overtly sad or depressing. (Your analysis should discuss the overall tone of the memoir and how you think Walls achieved her intended effect).
6. Analyze how the author uses rhetoric to portray her arrival in NYC and compare her arrival here to the other arrivals she describes in the book.
7. What is the overall purpose and tone of the concluding segment of the memoir, “Thanksgiving”?
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Pesky Pink Flamingo
I realize that today's in class essay (Jennifer Price's "The Plastic Pink Flamingo) was extremely challenging, but no one (especially not your dear teacher) ever said the AP exam wouldn't be. Remember, writing takes practice! Also, you should never give up just because you don't think you understand. When in doubt, analyze the style of the writing and the strategies you do notice--even if you're unsure of what the purpose is.
Tomorrow we will read examples of actual AP responses to Price's essay and then complete peer evaluations of what you wrote. Do not be alarmed...your grade will come from my analysis, not of your classmates.
Later in class we began our study of editorial cartoons. Don't forget to analyze an editorial cartoon for this week's Friday Reading!
Tomorrow we will read examples of actual AP responses to Price's essay and then complete peer evaluations of what you wrote. Do not be alarmed...your grade will come from my analysis, not of your classmates.
Later in class we began our study of editorial cartoons. Don't forget to analyze an editorial cartoon for this week's Friday Reading!
Friday, February 4, 2011
The Glass Castle, Part III (and Yoda)
Great discussion in class today, as usual. Well done everyone!
Our rhetorical strategy focus today was: anastrophe.
Anastrophe is only effective when the syntax changes the audience's focus and therefore, the meaning of the phrase!
I think most of you would agree that today's multiple choice question passage was easier than the work from Wednesday! Remember to think things through and TRUST your instincts. The majority of mistakes are made when you decide to choose an answer other than your original idea because you "thought" the latter answer "looked better!"
Monday's assignment:
Read through page 202 and answer the following questions:
1. Why does the author develop Dinitia Hewitt’s role in her life? Why do you think Dinitia was so cruel to Jeannette when the Walls family first moved to Welch?
2. Briefly reflect on Mary’s defense of Erma and Hitler.
3. List three examples from the book that note a reversal of roles in the parent/child relationship.
4. Erma’s actions lead the Walls children to make excuses for their father. Refute or defend the author’s forgiveness for her father due to his upbringing.
5. Have Jeannette’s parents become worse since moving to Welch or has the author developed a different perspective? Justify your answer.
6. How are Jeannette and her siblings changing in the way they react to their parents’ flights of fancy?
7. What does Miss Bivens give Jeannette that her own parents cannot (or will not)?
8. Identify and analyze the effect of an appeal to ethos, an appeal to pathos, and an appeal to logos.
Additonally, continue your annotations on:
1. The differences between the way Rex and Rose Mary (the author’s parents) view the world and the way the author views the world, based on the rhetoric she uses to convey the differences between these viewpoints.
2. The contrast in the way the author views her life as she grows older
3. The reversal of roles in the parent/child relationship
4. Appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos
5. The symbolism of events, places, people and things. Specifically, how do the parents and children in the memoir view these events, places, people and things differently?
Our rhetorical strategy focus today was: anastrophe.
Anastrophe is only effective when the syntax changes the audience's focus and therefore, the meaning of the phrase!
I think most of you would agree that today's multiple choice question passage was easier than the work from Wednesday! Remember to think things through and TRUST your instincts. The majority of mistakes are made when you decide to choose an answer other than your original idea because you "thought" the latter answer "looked better!"
Monday's assignment:
Read through page 202 and answer the following questions:
1. Why does the author develop Dinitia Hewitt’s role in her life? Why do you think Dinitia was so cruel to Jeannette when the Walls family first moved to Welch?
2. Briefly reflect on Mary’s defense of Erma and Hitler.
3. List three examples from the book that note a reversal of roles in the parent/child relationship.
4. Erma’s actions lead the Walls children to make excuses for their father. Refute or defend the author’s forgiveness for her father due to his upbringing.
5. Have Jeannette’s parents become worse since moving to Welch or has the author developed a different perspective? Justify your answer.
6. How are Jeannette and her siblings changing in the way they react to their parents’ flights of fancy?
7. What does Miss Bivens give Jeannette that her own parents cannot (or will not)?
8. Identify and analyze the effect of an appeal to ethos, an appeal to pathos, and an appeal to logos.
Additonally, continue your annotations on:
1. The differences between the way Rex and Rose Mary (the author’s parents) view the world and the way the author views the world, based on the rhetoric she uses to convey the differences between these viewpoints.
2. The contrast in the way the author views her life as she grows older
3. The reversal of roles in the parent/child relationship
4. Appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos
5. The symbolism of events, places, people and things. Specifically, how do the parents and children in the memoir view these events, places, people and things differently?
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Glass Castle, Part II
Today, we focused on the rhetorical strategy of allegory:
Allegory is a device used in literature, rhetoric and art to signify a meaning that is not literal.
Other characteristics:
1. A device, a character or a symbol is considered allegory when it is symbolic of a concept, like reason or fortune.
2. An allegory can also be used to symbolize a type of person
3. An allegory can also symbolize a commonly held view of a large group of people (religious, political, etc)
4. In the modern novel, an allegory comes down to interpretation in the developing novel and the modern novel. Literary critics often argue as to whether characters are meant to be allegorical, real or stereotypical. Often literary characters can be read in multiple ways.
Modern Examples: Spiderman and Batman, for example, are all allegorical representations of the “everyman.” The evils they fight are the temptations to greed, to violence and to behavior that will in other ways disrupt society. Superheroes stand as both the everyman and the guardian against evil. One of the most interesting workings of allegory in modern television was the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each week Buffy would face a new demon or vampire that was also allegorical to whatever issues Buffy faced as a high school and later college student.
Aesop's Fables: Stories like The Fox and the Grapes, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper that became a source of moral messages. Aesop used animals and their actions to allegorically represent human beings and our way of living.
The Bible: The "apple" that Adam receives from Eve is symbolic of the “knowledge of God and Evil” and is thus allegorical. The serpent is often read as an allegory signifying the tempter, or true evil. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ makes frequent use of the parable to make statements about “people” in general.
From Plato’s The Republic Allegory of the Cave: "And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold! human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. . . .
"And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision."
The Allegory of the Cave is a representation of how man accepts conventions and refuses to question them. Plato conveys this message by using a group of prisoners trapped in a cave.
Divine Comedy: This epic poem is one of the best examples of allegory in literature. It depicts Dante's journey through Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory to represent the journey of one's soul to God.
The Faerie Queen: One of the longest poems in English literature, it is an allegory in praise of the life and rule of Queen Elizabeth I.
Animal Farm: George Orwell's Animal Farm is probably one of the best known examples of allegory in literature in which a farm governed by animals stands to represent the communist regime of Stalin in Russia before the Second World War.
Lord of the Flies: William Golding represented his idea of human nature and a need to put self above the rest. Featuring a group of schoolboys stuck on an island, this novel had allegorical representations of the rational mind, democracy, order and civility, and many other such abstract terms.
The following Glass Castle questions (as well as your Friday reading!) are due tomorrow:
1. How does the author’s mom use the death of Mary Charlene to make excuses for her husband? How does the author’s portrayal of the event convey her perspective to the audience?
2. How does the author use tone, diction and syntax at the end of page 31 convey her attitude toward her parents?
3. Read through p. 34 and then, at this point in the memoir, explain the symbolism of fire.
4. How does the Joshua Tree symbolizes the author’s own life?
5. Contrast the way the author views her father with the way her “friend,” Billy Deel views his. Which child’s view is more accurate?
6. How effectively does the author portray the dangers of alcoholism to the audience? (Think back to the Scott Russell Sanders essay “Under the Influence” and draw comparisons if you like).
7. Identify and analyze the effect of an appeal to ethos, an appeal to pathos, and an appeal to logos.
Allegory is a device used in literature, rhetoric and art to signify a meaning that is not literal.
Other characteristics:
1. A device, a character or a symbol is considered allegory when it is symbolic of a concept, like reason or fortune.
2. An allegory can also be used to symbolize a type of person
3. An allegory can also symbolize a commonly held view of a large group of people (religious, political, etc)
4. In the modern novel, an allegory comes down to interpretation in the developing novel and the modern novel. Literary critics often argue as to whether characters are meant to be allegorical, real or stereotypical. Often literary characters can be read in multiple ways.
Modern Examples: Spiderman and Batman, for example, are all allegorical representations of the “everyman.” The evils they fight are the temptations to greed, to violence and to behavior that will in other ways disrupt society. Superheroes stand as both the everyman and the guardian against evil. One of the most interesting workings of allegory in modern television was the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each week Buffy would face a new demon or vampire that was also allegorical to whatever issues Buffy faced as a high school and later college student.
Aesop's Fables: Stories like The Fox and the Grapes, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper that became a source of moral messages. Aesop used animals and their actions to allegorically represent human beings and our way of living.
The Bible: The "apple" that Adam receives from Eve is symbolic of the “knowledge of God and Evil” and is thus allegorical. The serpent is often read as an allegory signifying the tempter, or true evil. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ makes frequent use of the parable to make statements about “people” in general.
From Plato’s The Republic Allegory of the Cave: "And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold! human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. . . .
"And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision."
The Allegory of the Cave is a representation of how man accepts conventions and refuses to question them. Plato conveys this message by using a group of prisoners trapped in a cave.
Divine Comedy: This epic poem is one of the best examples of allegory in literature. It depicts Dante's journey through Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory to represent the journey of one's soul to God.
The Faerie Queen: One of the longest poems in English literature, it is an allegory in praise of the life and rule of Queen Elizabeth I.
Animal Farm: George Orwell's Animal Farm is probably one of the best known examples of allegory in literature in which a farm governed by animals stands to represent the communist regime of Stalin in Russia before the Second World War.
Lord of the Flies: William Golding represented his idea of human nature and a need to put self above the rest. Featuring a group of schoolboys stuck on an island, this novel had allegorical representations of the rational mind, democracy, order and civility, and many other such abstract terms.
The following Glass Castle questions (as well as your Friday reading!) are due tomorrow:
1. How does the author’s mom use the death of Mary Charlene to make excuses for her husband? How does the author’s portrayal of the event convey her perspective to the audience?
2. How does the author use tone, diction and syntax at the end of page 31 convey her attitude toward her parents?
3. Read through p. 34 and then, at this point in the memoir, explain the symbolism of fire.
4. How does the Joshua Tree symbolizes the author’s own life?
5. Contrast the way the author views her father with the way her “friend,” Billy Deel views his. Which child’s view is more accurate?
6. How effectively does the author portray the dangers of alcoholism to the audience? (Think back to the Scott Russell Sanders essay “Under the Influence” and draw comparisons if you like).
7. Identify and analyze the effect of an appeal to ethos, an appeal to pathos, and an appeal to logos.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Dahir In Class Essay Results
Dahir’s NPR Commentary Analysis:
Class Results:
Class Average: 6
Grade breakdown:
8: 4 (High fives to Richie, Xander, Megan and Tali!)
7.5: 3
7: 1
6.5: 3
6: 4
5.5: 2
5: 5
4: 4
Common Problems
1. Misunderstanding Dahir’s purpose and/or point of view.
2. Eliminating aspects of the prompt.
3. Weak or overly wordy introductions.
4. Limited or completely absent identification of rhetorical strategies
5. Summarizing the commentary rather than analyzing the author’s method of presentation.
6. Lack of connection between the examples of rhetoric and how they help convey the author’s purpose to the audience.
High scorers…
1. Wrote introductions that covered all elements of the prompt.
For example:
“‘One nation under God’” are the words every U.S. student recites each morning during the Pledge of Allegiance, but what if a student does not believe in the same God referenced in the pledge? This question mirrors the issue Mubarak Dahir addresses in his commentary about his first grade year at Sharpe Elementary. Dahir effectively utilizes repetition, polysyndeton and hyperbole to argue against those who believe religion should prioritize education. Illustrating his contempt with a tone of child-like hopefulness, Dahir successfully illuminates the complications that arise from putting religion in the classroom, and shows his audience why religion and schools should not mix.” (Richie Eboka)
2. Demonstrated originality in their writing.
For example:
“Dahir’s message is still extremely relavant; teachers are sometimes preachers, and in public schools, that is isllegal…Dahir’s commentary was a spectacular reminder of the need to enforce the laws set in place to prevent occurrences like this. Everyone who reads this piece would feel inclined to side with the author, which demonstrates exactly how effective the commentary is. Dahir’s story exemplifies what public education in America should not be about.” (Tali Schroeder)
3. Showed the connection between the rhetoric and its intended effect on the audience.
For example:
“The commentary also features heavy use of repetition. Dahir focuses this strategy in places where he was exposed to Christianity: ‘a man in a black robe made us stand up and kneel and stand up and kneel and stand up and kneel.’ He employs the strategy again, discussing Sunday school: ‘And afterwards…there was lemonade and cookies and a nice woman…’ Dahir includes this repetition to great effect: the reader feels that he is almost overwhelmed by all the new stimuli, as if church happens in the fast click-click-click of a stop motion film.” (Megan Robertson)
4. Captured the overall point of view in their conclusion:
For example:
“The second to last paragraph may be the most noteworthy of the entire commentary. By using narrative, Dahir effectively recounts the events and shows that often times, when an established institution like a public school lacks diversity, it will begin to consider ethnocentrism acceptable instead of condemning it. The world is not a homogenous place, and we as a society must learn to accept that.” (Xander Miller)
Class Results:
Class Average: 6
Grade breakdown:
8: 4 (High fives to Richie, Xander, Megan and Tali!)
7.5: 3
7: 1
6.5: 3
6: 4
5.5: 2
5: 5
4: 4
Common Problems
1. Misunderstanding Dahir’s purpose and/or point of view.
2. Eliminating aspects of the prompt.
3. Weak or overly wordy introductions.
4. Limited or completely absent identification of rhetorical strategies
5. Summarizing the commentary rather than analyzing the author’s method of presentation.
6. Lack of connection between the examples of rhetoric and how they help convey the author’s purpose to the audience.
High scorers…
1. Wrote introductions that covered all elements of the prompt.
For example:
“‘One nation under God’” are the words every U.S. student recites each morning during the Pledge of Allegiance, but what if a student does not believe in the same God referenced in the pledge? This question mirrors the issue Mubarak Dahir addresses in his commentary about his first grade year at Sharpe Elementary. Dahir effectively utilizes repetition, polysyndeton and hyperbole to argue against those who believe religion should prioritize education. Illustrating his contempt with a tone of child-like hopefulness, Dahir successfully illuminates the complications that arise from putting religion in the classroom, and shows his audience why religion and schools should not mix.” (Richie Eboka)
2. Demonstrated originality in their writing.
For example:
“Dahir’s message is still extremely relavant; teachers are sometimes preachers, and in public schools, that is isllegal…Dahir’s commentary was a spectacular reminder of the need to enforce the laws set in place to prevent occurrences like this. Everyone who reads this piece would feel inclined to side with the author, which demonstrates exactly how effective the commentary is. Dahir’s story exemplifies what public education in America should not be about.” (Tali Schroeder)
3. Showed the connection between the rhetoric and its intended effect on the audience.
For example:
“The commentary also features heavy use of repetition. Dahir focuses this strategy in places where he was exposed to Christianity: ‘a man in a black robe made us stand up and kneel and stand up and kneel and stand up and kneel.’ He employs the strategy again, discussing Sunday school: ‘And afterwards…there was lemonade and cookies and a nice woman…’ Dahir includes this repetition to great effect: the reader feels that he is almost overwhelmed by all the new stimuli, as if church happens in the fast click-click-click of a stop motion film.” (Megan Robertson)
4. Captured the overall point of view in their conclusion:
For example:
“The second to last paragraph may be the most noteworthy of the entire commentary. By using narrative, Dahir effectively recounts the events and shows that often times, when an established institution like a public school lacks diversity, it will begin to consider ethnocentrism acceptable instead of condemning it. The world is not a homogenous place, and we as a society must learn to accept that.” (Xander Miller)
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