Mon 4/27 Heart of Darkness pp. 238-end. Vocab: inexorable (238), infernal (239), abject, fidelity (243); Why do you think Marlow sees himself as having entered into an “unforeseen partnership” with Kurtz? In what sense has he “remained loyal to Kurtz to the last”? What does Marlow seem to think Kurtz means by his exclamation “The horror! The horror!”? What do you think Kurtz is referring to? What lie(s) does Marlow tell Kurtz’s “intended,” and why?
Tue 4/28 Introduce and view Apocalypse Now (1979; dir. Coppola) in class. Bring your notebook, and take good notes during the film.Working Thesis and Annotated Bibliography due (5 sources)
Wed 4/29 Apocalypse Now
Thur 4/30 Apocalypse Now / all Freshmen and Sophomores to KCPA 9:20-11:30
Fri 5/1 Book talks and independent reading.
Mon 5/4 Finish and discuss Apocalypse Now
Bring Heart of Darkness to class
Tue 5/5 Position paper rough draft due in class / peer editing
Wed 5/6 Read Chinua Achebe, “An Image of Africa: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (Story and Its Writer 779-84). Vocab: ponderous (779), felicity (780), vignette (781), epitomize (783). Prepare for short, in-class writing discussing Achebe’s essay, considering his arguments in light of your reading of Heart of Darkness. Does Achebe have some valid points? Is he misreading Conrad? Some of both? Explain your perspective, and be prepared to support your argument with examples and/or quotes from Conrad’s novel.
Thur 5/7 Introduction to Things Fall Apart and student teacher assignment / Time to read and prep lessons
Fri 5/8 Book talks and independent reading.
Mon 5/11 Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, chaps. 1-4. Vocabulary: harmattan (3), plaintive (6), incipient (13), oracle (16), brusqueness (26), valediction (32), arduous (34). Pay attention to the proverbs Achebe uses in his story. How are they used? Do they seem important? Pay attention to the narrator. What kind of narrator is he, and what seems to be his attitude toward the Ibo (does he seem like an insider or an outsider?) Toward Okonkwo and other characters?
Tue 5/12 Things Fall Apart, chaps. 5-7. Vocab: harbinger (56), elusive (59). What is the difference between men’s and women’s stories in this community? How are men’s and women’s roles different in Umuofia? Are these roles any different in other villages? Position paper final draft due
Wed 5/13 Things Fall Apart, chaps. 8-10. Vocab: specious (80), esoteric (88), raffia (89). What kind of names does Ekwefi give her children, and why? Why does everyone in the village assume that Ezinma is an ogbanje child, and why is this significant?
Thur 5/14 Read Things Fall Apart, chaps. 11-13. Vocab: sinister (104), incipient (106), tremulous (121). Why do you think the priestess Chielo takes Ezinma to the cave? After Ezeudu’s son is shot, the narrator tells us “violent deaths were frequent, but nothing like this had ever happened” (124). What do you think he means by this? How is this incident exceptional? What effect does it have on Okonkwo’s life?
Fri 5/15 Book talks and independent reading.
Mon 5/18 Things Fall Apart, chaps. 14-19. Vocab: evangelist (143), callow (147), miscreant (152), abomination (153), emanation (157). Think about the questions Uchendu asks Okonkwo after he and his family arrive in Mbanta. Why is Okonkwo unable to answer these questions, and what do you think this says about him? What answers does Uchendu offer? Does his explanation complicate the very patriarchal culture and the hierarchal gender roles we’ve seen so far in Things Fall Apart, or not? What effects do the Missionaries have on this village? Who among the Ibo is attracted to Christianity, and who is not, and why?
Tue 5/19 Things Fall Apart, chaps. 20-25. Vocab: dispensation (178), zeal (178),
desecrate (186). Why do you think Okonkwo constantly regrets that Ezinma is a girl? How has Umuofia changed since Okonkwo and his family have been gone? How are Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith different, and how do these differences affect the Ibo? After you finish the book, consider it in relation to Heart of Darkness – do you see any parallels? In what sense might this book be a response to a book like Heart of Darkness?
Wed 5/20 Wrap up discussion of Things Fall Apart.
Thu 5/21 Review for final exam
Fri 5/22 Book talks / last day of class celebration.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Class Projects Page for Position Essay
The wonderful folks in the Uni Library have put together a class projects page for you to use as you begin doing your research for the Position Essay. You can view the page here.
Frances and Natalie will be available the two days we are in the computer lab next week to help you navigate these resources. You will need to have five sources on your annotated bibliography; 2 of those sources may be the articles provided on the assignment sheet but you will need to find 3 additional sources.
Frances and Natalie will be available the two days we are in the computer lab next week to help you navigate these resources. You will need to have five sources on your annotated bibliography; 2 of those sources may be the articles provided on the assignment sheet but you will need to find 3 additional sources.
Position Essay
If you’ve been watching or listening to the news lately, you’re aware of how serious the “economic downturn,” “financial crisis,” or “recession” has become. Every hour of every day we hear about the rising joblessness rate, the increasing levels of foreclosure, and the trouble on Wall Street and in the banks. Everyone is worried, indications haven’t been getting any better since the crisis set in last fall, and very few people seem to think things will be improving significantly in the near future. But although no one seems to have a definite solution to the complex and deeply rooted problems plaguing our economy, many commentators have theories about how we got into this situation, which groups and institutions are most responsible, and what the government should do to help restore the health of the economy. In this essay, you will research the current economic crisis and take an informed position on one of the central issues relating to it.
You do not need to be an economic expert to complete this assignment, but it will help you develop your position to have a general understanding of the key players and issues involved in our current economic situation. To aid you in understanding these issues, we will be listening in class to a March 2008 episode of This American Life entitled “The Giant Pool of Money.” This episode on the “housing crisis” that has been widely blamed for starting this downturn, strives to answer the questions, “What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street?” and “Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income?”
You will have two primary objectives for this assignment: To take a nuanced and clearly articulated position on a debatable issue, and to use research to build a case supporting your position. The position you take can support a particular theory or proposition, oppose that theory or proposition, or present a more nuanced combination of support and opposition. For example, a combination thesis on the topic of the bailout of AIG might look something like this: Given X and Y facts about AIG’s role in the economy, the Obama administration was smart to offer massive financial support to the insurance giant. But given Z fact about AIG’s history [or about corporate executive culture, or…], the government should have attached A or B provisions to the bailout money.
To get you thinking about possible directions to take in your position paper, here are some propositions you could take a pro, con, or mixed position on:
1) The US government should let the Detroit automakers fail. They should not provide any more money to them in the form of government assistance, but rather should let the automakers go into bankruptcy and restructuring. [You would want to add an additional clause or sentence summarizing the main reason why this course of action – or inaction – makes sense in economic terms.]
Here are a couple articles arguing this position:
Detroit Must Fail
$73 An Hour: Adding it Up
Here is an article by a member of the UAW arguing against this position and for “The Right Way to Bailout the Auto Industry.”
2) The AIG employees who received large bonuses after the company accepted government bailout money should return that money. Alternately, the congress should pass the pending legislation that taxes those bonuses at 90%. [Again, you’d briefly suggest why this is a good course of action.]
Here is an article that summarizes congressional and popular outcry about the AIG bonuses.
3) When congress and the Bush administration passed the TARP legislation to bail out failing banks, they did not require any CEOs to resign and included provisions for executive bonuses to be paid. Conversely, when Congress and the Obama administration announced their plans to bail out the auto industry, they required Rick Wagoner (CEO of GM) to resign and called for restructuring that will require union workers to accept lower wages. This inconsistency in the two bailouts suggests a double standard in the way the two industries are handled. The Obama administration should require the banks to restructure and make sacrifices the way the auto industry has been asked to do.
Here is an article comparing the two bailouts.
4) The current economic downturn is an indication of larger and more fundamental problem with the way American capitalism is structured. The answer to the problem is something other than what our government is currently doing. [And then you’d need to offer a specific suggestion for a different way to structure the economy, to prioritize financial and social goals, and/or to define economic health.]
Here is an article from The Nation arguing for a different kind of bank bailout.
Here is an article arguing that the bank bailout is really a smokescreen to consolidate finances in America.
5) Take a position on another aspect of the recent economic news. If you choose this option, you will need to share your idea with me for approval by Wednesday, April 22.
Your thesis for this paper will need to take a clear, nuanced, and debatable position on one of these issues. The questions offered for you to write about are given as guidelines and idea generators and should not be reproduced in your opening paragraph; rather, you should articulate an original wording of your position that reflects the argument you will be making in your essay.
Assignment timeline:
Computer lab research time: Tuesday, April 21 and Wednesday, April 22
Topic sign up: Wednesday, April 22
Working thesis and annotated bibliography (5 sources): Tuesday, April 28
Rough Draft for peer editing: Tuesday, May 5
Final Draft due: Monday, May 11
You do not need to be an economic expert to complete this assignment, but it will help you develop your position to have a general understanding of the key players and issues involved in our current economic situation. To aid you in understanding these issues, we will be listening in class to a March 2008 episode of This American Life entitled “The Giant Pool of Money.” This episode on the “housing crisis” that has been widely blamed for starting this downturn, strives to answer the questions, “What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street?” and “Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income?”
You will have two primary objectives for this assignment: To take a nuanced and clearly articulated position on a debatable issue, and to use research to build a case supporting your position. The position you take can support a particular theory or proposition, oppose that theory or proposition, or present a more nuanced combination of support and opposition. For example, a combination thesis on the topic of the bailout of AIG might look something like this: Given X and Y facts about AIG’s role in the economy, the Obama administration was smart to offer massive financial support to the insurance giant. But given Z fact about AIG’s history [or about corporate executive culture, or…], the government should have attached A or B provisions to the bailout money.
To get you thinking about possible directions to take in your position paper, here are some propositions you could take a pro, con, or mixed position on:
1) The US government should let the Detroit automakers fail. They should not provide any more money to them in the form of government assistance, but rather should let the automakers go into bankruptcy and restructuring. [You would want to add an additional clause or sentence summarizing the main reason why this course of action – or inaction – makes sense in economic terms.]
Here are a couple articles arguing this position:
Detroit Must Fail
$73 An Hour: Adding it Up
Here is an article by a member of the UAW arguing against this position and for “The Right Way to Bailout the Auto Industry.”
2) The AIG employees who received large bonuses after the company accepted government bailout money should return that money. Alternately, the congress should pass the pending legislation that taxes those bonuses at 90%. [Again, you’d briefly suggest why this is a good course of action.]
Here is an article that summarizes congressional and popular outcry about the AIG bonuses.
3) When congress and the Bush administration passed the TARP legislation to bail out failing banks, they did not require any CEOs to resign and included provisions for executive bonuses to be paid. Conversely, when Congress and the Obama administration announced their plans to bail out the auto industry, they required Rick Wagoner (CEO of GM) to resign and called for restructuring that will require union workers to accept lower wages. This inconsistency in the two bailouts suggests a double standard in the way the two industries are handled. The Obama administration should require the banks to restructure and make sacrifices the way the auto industry has been asked to do.
Here is an article comparing the two bailouts.
4) The current economic downturn is an indication of larger and more fundamental problem with the way American capitalism is structured. The answer to the problem is something other than what our government is currently doing. [And then you’d need to offer a specific suggestion for a different way to structure the economy, to prioritize financial and social goals, and/or to define economic health.]
Here is an article from The Nation arguing for a different kind of bank bailout.
Here is an article arguing that the bank bailout is really a smokescreen to consolidate finances in America.
5) Take a position on another aspect of the recent economic news. If you choose this option, you will need to share your idea with me for approval by Wednesday, April 22.
Your thesis for this paper will need to take a clear, nuanced, and debatable position on one of these issues. The questions offered for you to write about are given as guidelines and idea generators and should not be reproduced in your opening paragraph; rather, you should articulate an original wording of your position that reflects the argument you will be making in your essay.
Assignment timeline:
Computer lab research time: Tuesday, April 21 and Wednesday, April 22
Topic sign up: Wednesday, April 22
Working thesis and annotated bibliography (5 sources): Tuesday, April 28
Rough Draft for peer editing: Tuesday, May 5
Final Draft due: Monday, May 11
Monday, April 13, 2009
Heart of Darkness Syllabus Pt. 1
Tue 4/14 Introduction to Heart of Darkness
Things to watch for and think about as you read Heart of Darkness:
• How does Marlow portray Africans, African culture, and Africa?
• How does he portray Europeans, European culture, and colonialism?
• What euphemisms does he use for colonialist enterprises?
• What do we learn about Kurtz as the book progresses? About Marlow? Does Marlow seem like a reliable narrator?
• What different meanings does the idea of the “heart of darkness” take on in the course of the novel?
• How are images of darkness, whiteness, and light used?
Time in class to read for Thursday
Wed 4/15 Listen to Podcast in class / assign position essay
Thur 4/16 Heart of Darkness, pp. 185-98 (“. . . one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences”). Vocab: ascetic (185), diaphanous, august (186), lurid (187), lugubrious, drollery, catacomb (194).. How does the anonymous frame narrator describe Marlow in relation to other seamen? What images does he use to describe Marlow’s conception of meaning? What do these suggest about the story we’re about to read? Consider Marlow’s descriptions of Africa and African people in this opening section of his narrative: what seems to be his attitude? Is it simple? Complicated? Conflicted? What reasons does Marlow give for mentioning the company’s chief accountant? Why does he call him a “miracle”? (“I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned that he was the company’s chief accountant” [197]).
Fri 4/17 Book talks and independent reading.
Mon 4/20 Heart of Darkness pp. 198-208. Vocab: inscrutable (200), entrails (201), rapacity (202), prevaricator, supercilious (203). Why is Marlow forced to stay on at the mouth of the river, instead of going “up country”? What is his opinion of the Europeans running the operation in the place he’s stranded? How does he view the Eldorado Exploring Expedition?
Tue 4/21 Heart of Darkness pp. 208-22 (“He was silent for a long time.”) Vocab: pate (213), incontinent (215), pensive, precarious, recondite (216), shoal (218). Why is “the worst of it” Marlow’s “suspicion of [the Africans] not being inhuman” (212)? Why does Marlow think his listeners won’t be able to understand his story? Topic sign-up in class / Meet in Siebel 0218
Wed 4/22 Heart of Darkness pp. 222-27. Vocab: prodigious, wraith (223), peroration (224, if you can’t find “peroration,” check “perorate”). What does Marlow mean when he says “All England contributed to the making of Kurtz” (223)? (Consider his specific meaning and more general possible meanings). Why is it ironic that Kurtz has been assigned to write a report for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs? What does Marlow find “ominous” about the report? Meet in Siebel 0218
Thur 4/23 Heart of Darkness pp. 227-38 (to page break). Vocab: fatalism (228), jocose (230), hovel (231), tenebrous (233), aspiration (237). Marlow tells us that “the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the district” (230). What are some of Kurtz’s highly unorthodox “methods”? What are some of the reasons Marlow considers to explain why Kurtz’s “unlawful soul” has gone “beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations” (237)?
Fri 4/24 No School—spring holiday
Things to watch for and think about as you read Heart of Darkness:
• How does Marlow portray Africans, African culture, and Africa?
• How does he portray Europeans, European culture, and colonialism?
• What euphemisms does he use for colonialist enterprises?
• What do we learn about Kurtz as the book progresses? About Marlow? Does Marlow seem like a reliable narrator?
• What different meanings does the idea of the “heart of darkness” take on in the course of the novel?
• How are images of darkness, whiteness, and light used?
Time in class to read for Thursday
Wed 4/15 Listen to Podcast in class / assign position essay
Thur 4/16 Heart of Darkness, pp. 185-98 (“. . . one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences”). Vocab: ascetic (185), diaphanous, august (186), lurid (187), lugubrious, drollery, catacomb (194).. How does the anonymous frame narrator describe Marlow in relation to other seamen? What images does he use to describe Marlow’s conception of meaning? What do these suggest about the story we’re about to read? Consider Marlow’s descriptions of Africa and African people in this opening section of his narrative: what seems to be his attitude? Is it simple? Complicated? Conflicted? What reasons does Marlow give for mentioning the company’s chief accountant? Why does he call him a “miracle”? (“I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned that he was the company’s chief accountant” [197]).
Fri 4/17 Book talks and independent reading.
Mon 4/20 Heart of Darkness pp. 198-208. Vocab: inscrutable (200), entrails (201), rapacity (202), prevaricator, supercilious (203). Why is Marlow forced to stay on at the mouth of the river, instead of going “up country”? What is his opinion of the Europeans running the operation in the place he’s stranded? How does he view the Eldorado Exploring Expedition?
Tue 4/21 Heart of Darkness pp. 208-22 (“He was silent for a long time.”) Vocab: pate (213), incontinent (215), pensive, precarious, recondite (216), shoal (218). Why is “the worst of it” Marlow’s “suspicion of [the Africans] not being inhuman” (212)? Why does Marlow think his listeners won’t be able to understand his story? Topic sign-up in class / Meet in Siebel 0218
Wed 4/22 Heart of Darkness pp. 222-27. Vocab: prodigious, wraith (223), peroration (224, if you can’t find “peroration,” check “perorate”). What does Marlow mean when he says “All England contributed to the making of Kurtz” (223)? (Consider his specific meaning and more general possible meanings). Why is it ironic that Kurtz has been assigned to write a report for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs? What does Marlow find “ominous” about the report? Meet in Siebel 0218
Thur 4/23 Heart of Darkness pp. 227-38 (to page break). Vocab: fatalism (228), jocose (230), hovel (231), tenebrous (233), aspiration (237). Marlow tells us that “the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the district” (230). What are some of Kurtz’s highly unorthodox “methods”? What are some of the reasons Marlow considers to explain why Kurtz’s “unlawful soul” has gone “beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations” (237)?
Fri 4/24 No School—spring holiday
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