Week 13 - Wrapping up the Course

This Week

This is the end: the last week of classes and your last blog assignment.

For Monday's class, please read the stories you will find here, and come to class prepared to discuss them.

The link will lead you to a collection of six-word stories, inspired by a famous story supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's story is an example of the power of a master writer to make every word count. His story in its entirety follows:

For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

Some of the stories you will find after following the link are funny, others are sad, and some aren't very good. Which is your favourite?

For Wednesday, please read Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," as found on page 172-173 of your text book.

On Friday we'll have a review of the course, I'll answer your questions about the course and the exam, and I'll tell you how to get an A on the exam.

Remember that if you don't know or understand something about the class, chances are your classmates don't either, so please don't be afraid to ask.

Journal Activity

For this week, as you're thinking about the upcoming exam, put yourself in my place.

1. Write two exam questions, one on poetry, and one on short fiction.  Make sure that one of your questions has an identification passage from something we've read this year.

2. Write the first paragraph (or more if you like) of two essays, answering each of your own exam questions.

The End

That's it for this class, I hope you enjoyed it and you learned something. Feel free to come by my office if you have questions as you're preparing for our exam, which will be on Wednesday, April 10th, at 9am.

Week 12

This Week
On Monday and Wednesday this week we'll be looking at John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," as found on pages 214-220 of your text book. Friday is Good Friday and there is no class.


Journal Activity

The satirical news site The Onion is the source of some of the most predictably funny writing around.  And although the news articles themselves are funny, most of the humour of The Onion comes in the headlines.  A good Onion headline is a satire of news style, a parody of what the media is interested in and why, and often a commentary on (usually American) society.

For your journal activity this week, write five Onion-style news headlines.  Feel free to write more if you're on a roll, but five is all you need to complete this assignment.

Remember that news headlines have a very specific style.  Read The Onion, as well as any serious newspaper, to get a sense of that style.

Example

Here are five headlines I wrote to inspire you, and hopefully make you chuckle.

NATION'S CHILDREN AGREE: BEDTIME TOO EARLY
STEPHEN HARPER ADMITS HE "SOMETIMES" EATS BABIES
NOVA SCOTIA TO FOLLOW NEWFOUNDLAND'S LEAD, SET CLOCKS FORWARD 15 MINUTES
LOCAL CAT "ADORABLE"
QUIET PEOPLE EASY TO IGNORE - STUDY

Looking Ahead to Next Week

On Monday of next week we'll be talking about the Very Short Stories found here.  We'll have other things to say about those stories in class on Monday, but one question to ask is: what is the difference between a "story" and a "headline," like the ones I asked you to write this week?

On Wednesday we're reading Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" as found on pages 172-173 of your text book.

On Friday I will be telling you how to get an A on the exam, and we'll also have time for some course review and to answer your questions about the course and the exam.

Week 11

This Week

The week we'll be reading two stories by James Joyce: "Araby" (187-190) on Monday, and "Eveline" (191-193) on Wednesday. On Friday we will discuss both stories. Please read both stories closely, and come to class prepared to discuss them.

Journal Activity


In three or four paragraphs of informal writing answer this question: "How is James Joyce's 'Araby' like his 'Eveline'"?

"Informal writing" does not mean that you shouldn't use full sentences and correct punctuation and spelling, it only means that you should not worry about tone or about structuring your answer into a formal argument.

Looking Ahead to Next Week
For next Monday please come to class having read John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthmums", from page 214 of our text book. 

Week 10

This Week

On Monday we're reading Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" found on pages 278-288 of our textbook.

On Wednesday we're reading Nathanial Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" (163-171).

Please come to class on both days having read these stories closely, and ready to discuss them.

On Friday we'll spend the day on a peer review and essay workshop. Do not forget to bring a draft of your third essay to class.

 Journal Activity

Prose writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, often succeeds or fails on description.  The ability to accurately, evocatively, and memorably describe something is important to novelists, journalists, and office managers alike.  Your journal activity this week is to practice descriptive writing.  Choose a person, a place or a thing that you want to describe.  It can be anything.  If you're having trouble thinking of something to describe, describe the room you are in as you write.

1. Write a florid description.  In one paragraph, describe your subject in as much detail as you can.  Use every adjective or descriptive phrase you can think of.  Over-write.

2. Write a stark description.  In one paragraph, describe the same subject using as few adjective or descriptive phrases as you can while still getting across what the subject is and what it is like.  Under-write.

3. In as many paragraphs as you like, describe the subject a third time, being as florid or as stark as you like.

4. Think about how many details and how many adjectives work best and why.  Your answer says something personal about the kind of writer you are, but also gives you some insight into what makes a good writer good and what makes a bad writer bad.  You don't have to write your reflections down, but feel free to if you wish to do so.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

Next week we'll be reading two stories by James Joyce: "Araby"(187-190), and "Eveline" (191-193).

Week 9 - Theme

This Week

On Monday and Tuesday this week we will be discussing Flannery O'Connor's story "A Good Man is Hard to Find."  

On Friday we will discuss Achebe's "Dead Men's Path," found on pages 269-271 of your text book. Please note that this is a change from our syllabus. If you previously read "Dead Men's Path" when it was originally assigned, please re-read it so it will be fresh in your mind. 

Journal Activity (Edited for clarity)

We're focusing on theme this week and next week. For your journal assignment this week please write two simple outlines, one each for two different essays on theme that you might write.  Since I am asking for two outlines, I will credit this as two journal assignments--you will receive full credit for each outline, so that it is possible this week to make up for one missed assignment from the past.

Your imaginary essays can be an in-depth argument about theme or a comparison of two stories with a connected theme, or a comparison of a poem and story with a theme in common, but they must both include reference to at least one short story I assigned this term.

A simple outline for an essay looks like this:

1. Thesis
1. First main point
1. Evidence for main point
2. Evidence
2. Second main point
1. Evidence for main point
2. Evidence
3. Third main point
1. Evidence
2. Evidence

You must include at least three main points and at least two pieces of evidence per point.  Here is an example:

1. Timothy Findley's "Stones" is a story about the lasting destructive effects of war.
1. David Max's experiences in war damage him emotionally
1. "His torment and his grief were to lead my father all the way to the grave" (80).
2. Before the war he is happy and loving. After the war he isn't.
2. The war damages the Max family
1. David attacks the mother.
2. David alienates all of his children.
3. The war and its effects diminish the community in Toronto. The people there, even those not directly involved in the war, become less kind.
1. Oskar Schickel gets driven out because of his German name.
2. "If my father had appeared on the street with his military greatcoat worn over his civilian clothes, it would have been assumed he was a Zombie or a deserter and he would have been arrested instantly. Our neighbours would have turned him in, no matter who he was. Our patriotism had come to that" (75-76).

Note that "evidence" can be generalized facts about the story, quotations, or logic. If I was to turn this outline into a full essay I would need make sure my evidence was well chosen to make the point, and I would need to polish the language and phrasing quite a bit as well as expand and link the ideas to one another.


Looking Ahead to Next Week

Next week we will continue our discussion of theme, focusing on two stories from our textbook: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" on Monday, and "Young Goodman Brown" on Wednesday.

Next Friday the draft of your third essay is due and we will be doing another in-class peer review. Please be sure to have a draft of your third essay ready for Friday's class.

Announcement: Syllabus Change

Hi everyone.

After much thought, I've decided to make a change to our syllabus. On Friday, March 8 we are scheduled to spend a third day discussing Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard To Find." Although the story is complex and we could easily spend three days on it, I've decided to spend that Friday's class instead discussing Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path," which we missed reading due to a school closure on February 22nd.

I've altered the online version of the syllabus, as found on the link on the right, to reflect the change.

For Friday, March 8, please read Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path."

Week 8: Structure and Symbolism

This Week's Classes

Since class was cancelled last Friday we're going to skip Achebe's "Dead Men's Path." The syllabus won't change in any way.

Please come to class on Monday having read Timothy Findley's "Stones", as well as pages 68-88 from the McMahan text book.

On Wednesday, please come to class ready to discuss imagery in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants." You'll find the story on pages 210-213 of our text book and a discussion about imagery and symbolism on pages 89-91.

Come to class on Friday having read Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls," as well as pages 119-121 and 142-146 from the McMahan text book.

Assignment

For this week's blog assignment, please write a review.  You may review anything: a story, a novel, a movie, a song, a restaurant, a piece of electronics, etc.

In your review you should evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your subject.  You should tell us both what is good and what is bad about the thing you are reviewing, but you should also come to a solid conclusion so that your review is a useful representation of your opinion as a tool for making recommendations to others.

As you're writing your review, think about whether you liked the subject, whether it is good, and whether your reader should see/read/buy/whatever that subject.  Those are, in the end, three different questions, and a good review answers all of them.