KPU Class of 2009

Only the few, the brave, the proud, the determined can be accepted to KPU "Where Excellence is a Way of Life". Don't forget that, KPU scholars. I am very proud of you.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I read somewhere once that "Christmas is the time of year when people come to act as they should have all year." I don't know if you celebrate any specific tradition or belief this time of year, but, hopefully, you have been a little kinder, a little more patient, and a litte more understanding to someone lately. As the new year approaches and you become busy with all you have to do, stop and remember the magic of this season. Be the kind of person you should be and can be. Love to all of you. KP

The End of an Era

Well, my fine young scholars, this is end of our in class journey. The blog spot is now closed for all fall semester posting. I really hope that some piece of literature touched you, that some piece of literature inspired you to see others in a different light, that some piece of literature made you want to keep reading. I hope to see you every other Wednesday afternoon or around campus next semester. Remember he who doesn't read as no advantage over he who can't read.

The Glass Menagerie

Families are often more than just those who survive. To what extent and in what ways is the Wingfield family "haunted" and controlled by the absent Mr.Wingfield?

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is filled with symbols. Which symbol in the play did you find most reflective of a character or theme? Comment on its symbolism and what you saw through its use.

Research Proposal

Double space everything and use one inch margins. Make sure that you indent second line of sources. This blog-spot does't allow me to keep perfect margins. But, you should get the idea.

Suzy Q. Student
AP English IV—Palombo
First Block
8 December 2008

Literary Research Paper Proposal

Work: The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Research question: Is Hester Prynne a feminist?

I. Hester’s unique personality
A. View of marriage
B. View of woman’s purpose and place in society

II. Hester in Puritan society
A. Views of society’s rules
B. Methods of parenting
C. Hester’s role in society

III. Hester as social rebel
A. Independence from community
B. Refusal to confess and repent
C. Modern apostle and thinker

Thesis: Through her actions and philosophy, Hester Prynne, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s heroine in
The Scarlet Letter, reveals herself as a 16th century feminist.

References:
Bonida, Gerald. “The Women of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Exploring Early Females Stereotypes.” Southern Literary Review. Vol. 24. Fall 1987: 123-138.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Penguin Books, 1999.

Kingston, Nancy, ed. “Sewing-up Hester Prynne.” Nathaniel Hawthorne: Studies in Early American Literature. New York: Dennis Press, 1986.

Tomas, Geneva. “The Farthingale Uplifted: Where Hester Prynne Led Women.” English Journal of Letters. Vol. 37. December 2005: 67-73.

THE NEVERENDING STORY

John Steinbeck once said: "I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. … There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?” What in your group novel supports this ascertation? Explain. Who/what is the evil in the novel? Is the evil defeated or victorious? Explain.

NOVELS***NOVELS****NOVELS!!!!!!!!

Each of you is reading a different group novel. Take a moment to comment on something ( a scene, a quote, a theme) you have found significant to your novel.

FIRE AND ICE

Read the following poem and comment on its theme and imagery. How does the imagery and juxtapositioning of images help create the poem's theme. Enjoy SONNET 30 by Edmund Spenser.

My love is like to ice, and I to fire;

How comes it then that this her cold so great

Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,

But harder grows the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

Is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,

But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,

And feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be told

That fire which all thing melts, should harden ice,

And ice, which is congealed with senseless cold,

Should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the power of love in gentle mind,

That it can alter all the course of kind.

Butterflies for the Holocaust Museum

Remember 1.5 million

children were killed during the Holocaust. We are making 2009 butterflies to remember some of the souls of those lost children. Elie Wiesel reminds us when there is been atrocity, we must never forget.

TIME---LOVE---DEATH

As we explore poetry in this unit, we are focusing on three themes: time, love and death. Here is a poem, written by Thomas Hardy, a British poet. Entitled "The Man He Killed," this poem presents death through war. Read it and share what feeling it arouses in you about war and its consequences.

"Had he and I but met

By some old ancient inn,

We should have sat us down to wet

Right many a nipperkin!

"But ranged as infantry,

And staring face to face,

I shot at him and he at me,

And killed him in his place.

"I shot him dead because –

Because he was my foe,

Just so – my foe of course he was;

That's clear enough; although

"He thought he'd 'list perhaps,

Off-hand like – just as I –

Was out of work – had sold his traps –

No other reason why.

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!

You shoot a fellow down

You'd treat if met where any bar is,

Or help to half-a-crown."

ELIE WIESEL

As you know NIGHT is the memoir of Elie Wiesel; he lived this horror. If you could meet Elie, what line/passage would you ask him to expand upon? Why?

BE TRUE! BE TRUE! BE TRUE!

Hawthorne directly writes that among the many morals in the story of Hester and Dimmesdale, there is a moral of “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!" Be true here: what did you like/enjoy most about the novel? least? learn?

Pearl in The Scarlet Letter

Pearl is often seen as simply "an imp or devilish child." Is she? Is she a flat character and allegorical symbol or is she something more and faceted? What lines fully flesh-out her characterization?

PUNISHMENT IN THE SCARLET LETTER

In the first eight chapters Hester faces various forms of punishment. Which punishment is most affectual on her character? Explain.

Theme of the Island

What theme, of the many Golding presents, had the greatest affect on you as you read? What line or passage helped you to see this theme? Explain how you come to feel about this theme as you read this novel?

Shadows and Tall Trees

In chapter 7, Golding describes Jack as a “stain in the darkness;” when Jack leaves, “The stain vanished. Another took its place.” Why? What is Golding saying about darkness and Jack, the type of people Jack represents?

Exploring the Allegorical Nature on the Island

In Chapter 5, the meeting breaks down in confusion and fear. Jack defies the rules and starts talking without having the conch. When Ralph shouts to Jack, "You're breaking the rules,"Jack responds, "Who cares?" What is Ralph's response? Is he right or wrong? How so? How does this relate to society? Why do we have rules and how important are they?

LORD OF THE FLIES

With its benign climate, fresh water and abundant fruit, the island setting could be seen as a modern Garden of Eden until...on page 35...the little boy comes forward. What element does he introduce to the island? How does he describe it? How does the descriptive phrase, "the small boy twisted further into himself" hint at a theme? Which theme? How is this theme reflective of society today?

VOICES FROM BEYOND

We are reading and discussing The Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. This series of epitaphs contains many themes; the most common of which is life and death. Read the epitaph of Edith Conant, which is on page 140 of our books. What do you feel in Conant's message as to the relationship between the living and the dead? Which lines of her epitaph best convey this theme?

A LESSON BEFORE DYING

Jefferson's final spoken words to Grant,
at the end of Chapter 28, are "I'm all right, Mr. Wiggins." What is the full
impact of that statement?

Point of View and Narrator

Why do you think Mark Twain selected Huck, a naive and illiterate young man, as the narrator of this book?

HUCK FINN

Mark Twain's HUCK FINN is noted for its wisdom through wit. Share with us a passage that you found humorous but prophetic. Tell why.

"We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft." -Ch. 18