An Existential Weekend Plan

No plans for the weekend?  Feeling like society is bearing down on you?  Nurse your existential soul by sitting alone and completing the following:

1. Post Blog response #3 - Based on your reading from last night, go back to the 10 existential introductory statements for which you wrote responses used in class discussion. Pull from your reflections any connection between the statement/class discussion and what you see in the novel. For example, you may consider the statement "We are alone,” then discuss which aspects of this section of the novel connect to it.
2. Read and annotate http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/camus-translation.html in preparation for your in-class essay next Tuesday.  You will be responding to the following prompt: 

This blog post by Ryan Bloom explores the significance of a single quote in The Stranger.  After reading and analyzing Bloom’s approach, select a different Meursault quote from anywhere in the novel.  Then write an essay in which you explain 1) the quote’s importance to the novel; 2) how its tone helps readers better understand the character of Meursault; and 3) how this quote affects your understanding of the novel as a whole.

Homework for Friday

For Friday:

1) Finish reading The Stranger

2) Post Blog Response #2 on the following:

For blog response #2, I want you to consider how gaps in the text (what’s NOT there) prompt you to unravel author truth/ the novel/its characters. Identify what is missing (note the page number in your blog response)/what information you are not given enough of, then comment on what this lack of information makes you consider. 

Readings and postings for Wednesday

For Wednesday:

The Stranger

Read Chapters 5 and 6 from Part 1
Read Chapters 1 and 2 from Part 2

Blog Response #1

For Blog Response 1, In your blog, record your reflections on the existentialism in Chapters 1-4 of Part 1 by examining two quotes. For example, you may speculate on your ideas as to how the narrator's reaction to Maman's death fleshes out existential concepts. Then you may ponder what connection his encounter with Marie has to do with the loss of Maman, if any. The whole idea behind your blog response is to force you to examine the existential concepts in the initial pages of the novel. Please examine at least two quotes.

We have begun our existential journey!

On Thursday, we read the opening pages of The Stranger and attempted to create a literary blueprint for where the novel might lead us. 

For next Monday, you will need to have read Chapters 1-4 of Part 1 of the novel.

If you are new to the class, welcome to the class blog where you'll find up-to-date information on our course.  If you haven't done so, you need a copy of the book - click here for a posting that will lead you to two different e-book versions.

Online Writer's Workshop

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend.

For Thursday:

1) Reread your Gatsby essay.  Consider what you might have changed had you had more time.
2) Review the essay feedback you received in class and the feedback on your Google Doc Writer's Workshop History
3) On your Google Doc, write a "Dear Mr. Ferrebee"reflection below the feedback I've given.

Color Symbolism in Gatsby

For our next class, you'll need to post an explicit or implicit color quote from Gatsby on your blog.  Next, write a one paragraph analysis where you infer Fitzgerald's symbolic intent for the color.  Use your understanding of the color and evidence from the text to support your conclusions.

Also, we will begin The Stranger by Albert Camus next week.  The EVL has limited copies of the text, so please purchase a copy of the book or download an ebook version for free in .pdf here or .epub here.

Welcome to AP Literature

This week you need to begin a blog here and then, once signed in comment on this post.  In your blogger profile be sure to use your full name.

For our second class, we'll be assessing your understanding of The Great Gatsby with an in-class essay.  You'll have an opportunity to choose between two prompts.  The first is related to character development and the second is related to questions raised in the novel.

After your assessment on Thursday, we will begin our first discussion of symbolism.