Today we read and discussed Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” Remember that Chopin really explored the role of women and even questioned society’s view of women. She also questioned the idea of marriage.
The film below is a student created film of the short story.
Below is also a link to the actual text found online.
And below is the question doctument that you are supposed to answer for the story. Make sure that you print and answer one of the handouts for a grade if you have not already done so.
Hey guys! Thursday and Friday’s post was erased! Sorry!
For Novemeber 16, we read “Life on the Mississippi” and came up with deep, tought provoking questions. You were to do the same thing with homework tonight with “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Come prepared to discuss.
Tomorrow we will be discussing the basics of MLA format for this analytical paper. Come prepared to take notes!
Today we went over the vocabulary for the week. Make sure that you are studying for these quizzes because many of you are failing them…and it pulls your grade WAY down!
Here is the power point for the root words if you would like to view it again!
As well, we also examined the importance of education in the life of Frederick Douglass. Remember, it was through education and learning that he discovered the importance of freedom!
If you would like to know more about Frederick Douglass, take a look at the videos that were posted on November 9!
Today we discussed the major issues that took place in The Scarlett Letter. In the novel, Hester Pryne is greatly punished for having a baby with a man other than her husband. How did the Puritan society view this act, and what was the punishment? How does our own society view this act? Should the government or the church be responsible for this punishment? As well, how does the culture react to unwed or extramarital pregnancies. Think about the shows you have watched in the past…”16 and Pregnant,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and “Juno.” Are these Biblical standards? Is there room for punishment, and who should administer punishment? These are all things you should consider as we read through the rest of the novel.
You have a quiz over chapters 1-4 tomorrow. You must read chapters 5-7 by Friday!
We also covered the life of Frederick Douglas. Think about the contributions that he made to the abolition of slavery! If you did not finish his autobiography within your textbook today, read it for tonight, and come prepared to discuss it tomorrow!
Below are some videos about his life and accomplishments. Take a look at them! Each video is only a couple of minutes long.
Today we covered the “Spirituals” of the American Slaves around the time of the Civil War. Below are the clips that we showed in class, and they are excellent examples of spirituals. Remember, these songs were showing the hardships of slavery as well as a cry out to the Lord for deliverance. Many of these compare the slaves to the Israelite slaves.
This one is “Go Down Moses” performed by Louis Armstrong
This one is “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” performed by Johnny Cash
For the weekend, remember that chapters 1-4 of The Scarlet Letter are due on Monday!!!
Below are some short films that detail a little of what it may have been like to experience the Civil War. Take the time to view these videos.
We viewed these videos in class. As well, for your assignment, you were given a picture of an individual soldier that fought during the Civil War. For the picture that you were given, you are to write a letter home to the families. Put yourself in that soldier’s position. Think about what they would have been missing out on, who they left behind, what the war was like, etc. Really take time on this letter…don’t just do it to get it out of the way…remember that these people risked or even gave their lives for your country.
Today I am away with the British Literature classes on a field trip. Don’t forget that your vocabulary sentences are due tomorrow!
In class, you were to read “An Episode of War” by Stephen Crane (page 486) and “Willie has Gone to the War” by George Cooper and Stephen Foster (page 491). Answer all questions on page 492 and #6-10 on page 493.
When you finished, don’t forget to Journal on both pieces!
You also need to journal on 3 of the Emily Dickinson poems from yesterday. Those can be found between pages 426 and 432.
As well, you need to finish your vocabulary sentences!!!
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ’tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.
1) What does Dickinson mean by saying that she could not stop for death? Why does she then say that Death “kindly” stopped for her? What is Dickinson’s attitude toward death?
2) Dickinson mentions that she, Death, and Immortality are taken in the carriage. Later on, she says that as the coach approached the “House” that seemed “a Swelling of the Ground” (her grave), she saw that the horses were going to “Eternity.” What are Immortality and Eternity to Dickinson? I heard a fly buzz—when I died
I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable,-and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.
1) In this poem, the narrator speaks of their death. At the very last moment, as she is taking her last dying breaths and anticipating climactic arrival of “the King” (probably God) to take her away, a fly enters the room. Amidst all of the dramatic silence, its insignificant buzzing is heard. What do you think is the meaning of this event? What does the trivial presence of the fly at this person’s death signify?
2) Look at the last line of the poem. In light of the rest of the poem, what do you think the narrator means by saying that she “could not see to see”?
There’s a certain slant of light
There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.
None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘t is like the distance
On the look of death.
1) What is the “Heavenly Hurt” that Dickinson describes feeling from this particular slant of light? Is this a good feeling, or a bad one?
2) Dickinson describes this “affliction” as being sent to people from the Air. What does she think is the ultimate source of this experience?
My life closed twice before its close
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
1) What does the title of this poem mean? Read over the poem. What does the narrator mean in saying that her life “closed” (i.e. she died) twice?
2) What does Dickinson mean in saying that Parting Is “all we know of heaven” and “all we need of hell”?
The Soul selects her own Society
The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.
Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.
I’ve known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.
1) In this poem, Dickinson displays a particular “soul” who chooses “one” person “from an ample nation” to be her society. Why, then, does she describe everything that she shuts outside her door in such desirable terms? “Divine Majority,” “Chariots,” “an Emperor”: all of these things are romantic and attractive—yet, she makes it clear that she shuts them all out. What is Dickinson trying to portray by this imagery?
2) Why do you think the “soul” of this poem closes out all of these good things? Why does it keep itself in isolation with just “one” person?
The Brain is wider than the Sky
THE BRAIN is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside.
The brain is deeper than the sea,
For, hold them, blue to blue,
The one the other will absorb,
As sponges, buckets do.
The brain is just the weight of God,
For, lift them, pound for pound,
And they will differ, if they do,
As syllable from sound.
1) What does Dickinson mean in saying that the brain is “wider” than the Sky and “deeper” than the sea?
2) Dickinson says that the Brain is the “weight of God,” and that if the Brain compares the Sky and Sea, it will find that they only differ from one another as “Syllable” differs from “Sound.” What do you think these things mean?
Mrs. Foster's American Literature Class 