The link above provides a copy of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." This text will provide foundation for this year's English 11R course. In the very least, it is to tempt you to find your own way out, to question, and to understand that it is often difficult but necessary to reexamine your own perspective. These are Kant’s philosophical questions that also connect to "Allegory of the Cave" and what Plato is examining in the allegory. I invite you to question, refute, or discuss these questions with me or your classmates throughout the year.
As a human being, what am I allowed to know (What does human knowledge entail?)
As a human being, what am I allowed to hope (What does hope mean? Can I believe in something?)
As a human being, how should I act (Does a moral world exist)?
What does it mean to be human? (Physically, spiritually, mentally)
"Lord and Bondsman"
Hegel (1770 - 1831), was facinated by consciousness. Part of his thinking is encapsulated by the lord and bondsman relationship he detailed. The texts in the course examine the facets of this relationship. Therefore, you will be searching the texts for evidence of Hegel's "Lord and Bondsman" paradigm.
Process of Lord and Bondsman
Two people meet and size each other up.
A struggle ensues for control. Death struggle (risk life and not submit)
One becomes master/ the other bondsman. (Subordination)
Yet, this is constantly being challenged in what Hegel called the death struggle. (nobody wants to be the bondsman)
Both roles, though, are essential to self-consciousness. WHY?
Characterization of each role
The role of lord is punctuated by fear. The lord’s self-consciousness depends on the slave. (Fear, for the lord, is the beginning of wisdom)
The role of bondsman is punctuated by service and a release of freedom.
"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" - Ursula Le Guin - This story has haunted me since I first read it as an undergrad in the philosophy department of Eckerd College. I still am searching for answers. Click on thelink to read an interview with Ursula Le Guin.
Close reading CLOSE READING: We reason toward our own ideas. DEFINITION: Close reading interacts, in detail, with some type of text—a painting, a movie, an event—and usually with that of a written text.
STEP ONE – Choose a way in.
When you close read, you observe facts and details about the text. You may focus on a particular passage, or on the text as a whole. Your aim may be to notice all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, structural elements, cultural references; or, your aim may be to notice only selected features of the text—for instance, oppositions and correspondences (as we did in The Great Gatsby), or particular historical references.
STEP TWO- Interpretation Use inductive reasoning: move from the observation of particular facts and details to a conclusion, or interpretation, based on those observations. And, as with inductive reasoning, close reading requires careful gathering of data (your observations) and careful thinking about what these data add up to. STEP THREE - Annotate the text.
"Annotating" means having a conversation with the text by taking notes in the margins. Remember your way in. Mark Anything that strikes you (YOU ARE THE READER) as surprising or significant, or that raises questions. Underline or highlight key words and
EX - FOCUS ON VERBS: “No. Each one fled at once—the moment the house committed what was for him the one insult not to be borne or witnessed a second time” (3). Circle verbs. Think connotation and denotation:
Fled- to leave for safety.
Commit- to make a pledge to, yet negative in this sense, the house (interesting, why flee a house? ) commits a crime
Borne – super strong verb with ambiguous meaning. To birth or to suffer
Witness- like Gatsby. T.J Eckleburg. To see with ability to affect.
STEP FOUR: Look for patterns Repetitions, contradictions, similarities.
Details of language convey purpose.
Look for anything that does no “fit” with the whole story
Notice repetition through symbols
STEP FIVE: ASK QUESTIONS Why does Morrison start with such a confusing first line, in which we have no idea what 124 represents?
Why the contrasting image of a baby’s venom?
Why does the narrator switch several times through time periods?
We need more evidence, so we go back to the text—the whole essay now, not just this one passage—and look for additional clues.
CHECK RUBRIC
Check +: exceeds assignment requirements in mechanics, style, development, evidence.
Check/Check +: exceeds assignment requirements in three of the four aspects of writing: mechanics, style, development, evidence.
Check: meets requirements in three of the four aspects of writing
Check/Check-: needs revision to meet the requirements in mechanics, style, development and evidence.
Check-: fails to meet requirements in mechanics, style, development and evidence.
Independent Reading Suggestions Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
*Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostevsky
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostevsky
Tao Te Ching - Lao- Tzu
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morisson
Paradise – Toni Morisson
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Native Son – Richard Wright
Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Parade’s End – Ford Maddox Ford
The Good Soldier - Ford Maddox Ford
The Inferno – Dante
Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Faust - John Wolfgang Goethe
Lolita – Vladimir Nabakov
Ask the Dust - John Fante
Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernet Hemingway
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
Nine Stories J.D. Salinger
The Beautiful and the Damned F Scott Fitzgerald
The Awakening Kate Chopin
*ANY OF THE GREEK STORIES (Sophocles Electra / Euripides Medea / AeschylusThe Oresteia Trilogy)
Paradise Lost John Milton
"And rest can never dwell, hope never comes"
In order to place order in the world, human beings search for connections, ways in, ways to understand, ways to see. Only consider the Chain of Being to envision a schema of order that gives definition and purpose to a world in which there may be none.
In reading parts of Paradise Lost, it is my hope that you will find ways in, ways to understand, ways to see justice, truth and beauty in your own life. Perhaps you will go on to read the poem in its entirety. I encourage you to do so.
For class, however, I want you to use the excerpts and find Shakespeare's Macbeth in them. You must be able to identify him in Milton's lines, for he, like Satan: "He trusted to have equal'd the most High" (40).
In the first excerpt from Book One, you will be responsible for finding at least five connections between Macbeth and Satan. Use the article, "The Tragedy of Evil;" it will help you greatly.
You must support these connections. In other words, find a line in Paradise Lost and use it to illuminate the character of Macbeth. He is in there, embedded, and Shakespeare, I suspect, created him as a way to understand Milton and Milton's Satan. For how could one who was so high fall so very far?
A great place to check out stuff about Paradise Lost
Oh me! Oh life!
Walt Whitman
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Works Cited (this needs to be centered at the top of the page) *Alphabetical order, last name first for authors. You need to format the page with a hanging indent. Double space the works cited.
Ames, Christopher. "Carnivalesque Comedy in Between the Acts." Twentieth Century Literature. 44.4 (Winter 1998): 394- 408. JSTOR. Hofstra University. Web. 15 August 2012. Last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Journal. Vol. Number ( date of pub.): pages. Database. Publishing house. Web. Date you accessed article. Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925. Print.
Last name, first name. Title. American city of publication: Publishing house, copyright. Print. College Essay Instructions: The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)
• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family."
College Essay Rubric
Category
10
5
1
Topic Selection
(Desirable trait)
Topic provides important insights into author’s personality beyond the scope of school transcript
Topic is interesting but author needs to better connect topic to important personal insight
Topic is either inappropriate or connection to author is not established
Introduction
(First line – hook)
The introduction grabs the reader’s attention, and is engaging / uses imagery
The introduction is formulaic
The introduction is incomplete or confused
Substantiation
(Body Paragraphs)
Author “shows rather than tells”
Plot supports author’s personal observations
Occasionally provides supporting information / relies on declarative statements to convey meaning
The link above provides a copy of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." This text will provide foundation for this year's English 11R course. In the very least, it is to tempt you to find your own way out, to question, and to understand that it is often difficult but necessary to reexamine your own perspective.
These are Kant’s philosophical questions that also connect to "Allegory of the Cave" and what Plato is examining in the allegory. I invite you to question, refute, or discuss these questions with me or your classmates throughout the year.
"Lord and Bondsman"
Hegel (1770 - 1831), was facinated by consciousness. Part of his thinking is encapsulated by the lord and bondsman relationship he detailed. The texts in the course examine the facets of this relationship. Therefore, you will be searching the texts for evidence of Hegel's "Lord and Bondsman" paradigm.
Process of Lord and Bondsman
- Two people meet and size each other up.
- A struggle ensues for control. Death struggle (risk life and not submit)
- One becomes master/ the other bondsman. (Subordination)
- Yet, this is constantly being challenged in what Hegel called the death struggle. (nobody wants to be the bondsman)
- Both roles, though, are essential to self-consciousness. WHY?
Characterization of each role"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" - Ursula Le Guin - This story has haunted me since I first read it as an undergrad in the philosophy department of Eckerd College. I still am searching for answers. Click on the link to read an interview with Ursula Le Guin.
Close reading
CLOSE READING: We reason toward our own ideas.
DEFINITION: Close reading interacts, in detail, with some type of text—a painting, a movie, an event—and usually with that of a written text.
STEP ONE – Choose a way in.
When you close read, you observe facts and details about the text. You may focus on a particular passage, or on the text as a whole. Your aim may be to notice all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, structural elements, cultural references; or, your aim may be to notice only selected features of the text—for instance, oppositions and correspondences (as we did in The Great Gatsby), or particular historical references.
STEP TWO- Interpretation
Use inductive reasoning: move from the observation of particular facts and details to a conclusion, or interpretation, based on those observations. And, as with inductive reasoning, close reading requires careful gathering of data (your observations) and careful thinking about what these data add up to.
STEP THREE - Annotate the text.
- "Annotating" means having a conversation with the text by taking notes in the margins. Remember your way in. Mark Anything that strikes you (YOU ARE THE READER) as surprising or significant, or that raises questions. Underline or highlight key words and
EX - FOCUS ON VERBS: “No. Each one fled at once—the moment the house committed what was for him the one insult not to be borne or witnessed a second time” (3). Circle verbs. Think connotation and denotation:- Fled- to leave for safety.
- Commit- to make a pledge to, yet negative in this sense, the house (interesting, why flee a house? ) commits a crime
- Borne – super strong verb with ambiguous meaning. To birth or to suffer
- Witness- like Gatsby. T.J Eckleburg. To see with ability to affect.
STEP FOUR: Look for patternsRepetitions, contradictions, similarities.
STEP FIVE: ASK QUESTIONS
Why does Morrison start with such a confusing first line, in which we have no idea what 124 represents?
CHECK RUBRIC
Check +: exceeds assignment requirements in mechanics, style, development, evidence.
Check/Check +: exceeds assignment requirements in three of the four aspects of writing: mechanics, style, development, evidence.
Check: meets requirements in three of the four aspects of writing
Check/Check-: needs revision to meet the requirements in mechanics, style, development and evidence.
Check-: fails to meet requirements in mechanics, style, development and evidence.
Independent Reading Suggestions
Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
*Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostevsky
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostevsky
Tao Te Ching - Lao- Tzu
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morisson
Paradise – Toni Morisson
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Native Son – Richard Wright
Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Parade’s End – Ford Maddox Ford
The Good Soldier - Ford Maddox Ford
The Inferno – Dante
Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Faust - John Wolfgang Goethe
Lolita – Vladimir Nabakov
Ask the Dust - John Fante
Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernet Hemingway
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
Nine Stories J.D. Salinger
The Beautiful and the Damned F Scott Fitzgerald
The Awakening Kate Chopin
*ANY OF THE GREEK STORIES (Sophocles Electra / Euripides Medea / Aeschylus The Oresteia Trilogy)
Paradise Lost
John Milton
"And rest can never dwell, hope never comes"
In order to place order in the world, human beings search for connections, ways in, ways to understand, ways to see. Only consider the Chain of Being to envision a schema of order that gives definition and purpose to a world in which there may be none.
In reading parts of Paradise Lost, it is my hope that you will find ways in, ways to understand, ways to see justice, truth and beauty in your own life. Perhaps you will go on to read the poem in its entirety. I encourage you to do so.
For class, however, I want you to use the excerpts and find Shakespeare's Macbeth in them. You must be able to identify him in Milton's lines, for he, like Satan: "He trusted to have equal'd the most High" (40).
In the first excerpt from Book One, you will be responsible for finding at least five connections between Macbeth and Satan. Use the article, "The Tragedy of Evil;" it will help you greatly.
You must support these connections. In other words, find a line in Paradise Lost and use it to illuminate the character of Macbeth. He is in there, embedded, and Shakespeare, I suspect, created him as a way to understand Milton and Milton's Satan. For how could one who was so high fall so very far?
A great place to check out stuff about Paradise Lost
Oh me! Oh life!
Walt WhitmanOh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Paradise Lost John Milton
Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view
Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause
Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,
Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his Will
For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?
Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ]
The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ]
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ]
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.
Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night [ 50 ]
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe
Confounded though immortal: But his doom
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [ 55 ]
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:
At once as far as Angels kenn he views
The dismal Situation waste and wilde, [ 60 ]
A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Serv'd onely to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace [ 65 ]
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd:
Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd [ 70 ]
For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'd
In utter darkness, and thir portion set
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
Works Cited (this needs to be centered at the top of the page)
*Alphabetical order, last name first for authors. You need to format the page with a hanging indent. Double space the works cited.
Ames, Christopher. "Carnivalesque Comedy in Between the Acts." Twentieth Century Literature. 44.4 (Winter 1998): 394-
408. JSTOR. Hofstra University. Web. 15 August 2012.
Last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Journal. Vol. Number ( date of pub.): pages. Database. Publishing house.
Web. Date you accessed article.
Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925. Print.
Last name, first name. Title. American city of publication: Publishing house, copyright. Print.
College Essay Instructions:
The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)
• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family."
College Essay Rubric
(Desirable trait)
(First line – hook)
(Body Paragraphs)
Plot supports author’s personal observations
Total Points: _ Dr. Kowgios / Mr. Popken / Mr. Cassidy 2010
Modified by Ms. McCarron-Trivelli