Week of 5/2-5/6

Frankenstein

1. Discuss how the episolary style (letters) of the novel affect your understanding/enjoyment of it.
2. Discuss the following quotes:

a. " None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder."

b. "I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?"

April 11-15

Atwood's "February" 1. What are the strong images in the poem? Which of the senses are appealed to by these images? Did you like or dislike this poem? Explain/Discuss. Plath's "Mirror" 2. Discuss the imagery Plath uses in "Mirror." Can you relate to this poem? Explain/Discuss. O'Brien "How to Tell a True War Story" 3. Discuss how (according to O'Brien) a true war story can never by abstract; it is about details. Marquez's "One of These Days" 4. Discuss how the effects of violence and civil repression are handled in the story.

April 4-8

Flannery O'Connor 1. Does "A Good Man is Hard to Find" seem like a genuine story, or is the plot too coincidental? Are the characters and events believable? 2. If this story is an allegory, what do the Misfit and the grandmother (for whom other, more specific names are never specified) represent? 3. At the end of "Good Country People," Hulga appears to be a likely candidate to "cherish the world at the same time that [she struggles] to endure it." Explain how and why this change comes about.

March 28-April 1

A Doll's House 1. How would you define a good marriage? 2. Discuss what you believe to be a theme of the play. 3. Does A Doll's House challenge or affirm the social order it describes? 4. Ibsen believed that a "dramatist's business is not to answer questions, but only to ask them. What questions are raised in the play? Does Ibsen provide any specific answers?

Week of March 21-25

Hamlet
Agree or disagree on the following and discuss:
1. Revenge is sweet.
2. It is wrong to kill another human being for any reason.
3. Hatred is a useless emotion.
4. There is no such thing as pure evil.

Week of 3/7-3/11

Wuthering Heights

Okay, class, write me chapter 9 1/2! Have fun, be creative, and stay true to the gothic style of literature!

Week of February 7-11

Wuthering Heights
1. The gothic style of literature was popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is characterized by gloomy settings and an atmosphere of terror or mystery. Do you think this is a popular style today? Does the gothic style of literature appeal to you as a reader? Discuss.
2. What is a "soulmate?" Do you believe in the concept of soulmates? Do you think everyone has one? Discuss.