Wednesday and Block Day, 10/15-10/17

* Open
  • Roots
    •  gest--carry, bear
    • gloss, glot--tongue
    • glu, glo--lump, bond, glue
  • Grammar (agreement): Copy the sentence and choose a verb:
    • The Joker and Batman (play or plays) a brutal game. 
    • The Joker or Batman (is or are) going to walk away from the game in one piece. 
    • Neither the sabre nor the throwing knives (kill or kills) courteously without proper technique.
    • More Practice: ChompChomp!
     
* Do you know your point of view? If you don't, now you do:
  • First-person point of view
  • Why don't we talk about second person?
  • Third-person point of view
    • limited
    • objective or dramatic
    • omniscient
  • Unreliable
* Review "By The Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét 

Journal 9: In new pairs, discuss and note answers:


  • 1. To understand what is really happening in this story, you have to draw conclusions based on the writer’s clues and your own experience and knowledge. What do you think John is really seeing (and how are you able to tell) when he describes each of the items below? (You might want to work with a group to solve these puzzles.) 
• the Great Burning
• Ou-dis-sun
• the statue of a man named ASHING
• the temple in mid-city with a roof painted like the sky at night
• the caves and tunnels where John thinks the gods kept their slaves
  • 2. Find a place in the story where John achieves a breakthrough, and explain what he discovers. How does the first-person point of view help you appreciate his breakthrough? 
  • 3. Explain how the words of Psalm 137, verses 1-6, connect with Benét’s story. 
    • "Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land"
      1 By the rivers of Babylon,
      There we sat down, yea, we wept
      When we remembered Zion.
      We hung our harps
      Upon the willows in the midst of it.
      For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
      And those who plundered us requested mirth,
      Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
      How shall we sing the Lord’s song
      In a foreign land?
      If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
      Let my right hand forget its skill!
      If I do not remember you,
      Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
      If I do not exalt Jerusalem
      Above my chief joy.
       
  • 4. Near the end of the story, John says, “Perhaps in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast.” What do you think he means? Are we “eating knowledge too fast” today? Explain. 
  • 5. Benét wrote this story in 1937, before the first atom bomb was invented. World War II and the Cold War are over now. Do Benét’s warnings about the complete destruction of a civilization still have relevance today? Why? 
  • 6. Do you think Benét made the secret of the Place of the Gods too easy to guess, or too hard, or were the clues just difficult enough? Explain. 
  • 7. What is the narrative perspective of this story?  How does this perspective play a role in the reader's experience and theme of the work?
* Discuss in Class

HW: Now read "Through the Tunnel" (or here as a .doc) by Doris Lessing


Journal 10 Due Tuesday:
  • 1. Check the text to see what you learn about the thoughts and feelings of Jerry’s mother. How would the story be different if she, rather than the omniscient narrator, were telling it? 
  • 2. What details about Jerry’s swim through the tunnel were most vivid and terrifying to you? 
  • 3. Have you ever taken great risks to prove yourself?  Do you find it convincing that Jerry takes such a risk and survives? Explain.

 

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