Post your results here!

Writers:

Here is the place to post your paragraphs and any notes you care to include. Do it as soon as you can, so that your colleagues (myself included) have an opportunity to read your work and compare ideas. We can spend part of Monday in conference with others who've tackled similar themes if you do your part now.

JD

PS: This is no time to delay action until the last minute. If your work doesn't appear until after 7 p.m. Sunday it will do no one any good. Remember—you've had a head start on this. The idea is to put you in the best of shape possible for your essay. I don't want the assignment to cause misery for you during winter break.

Where's my assignment?

Dear fellow explorers of the Congo & the Heart,

If you want me to suffer as you have, several of you must e-mail me with a pair of related quotations. I'll take it from there and post the results this weekend so that everyone can have a good laugh.

But I can't make a move until I hear from you.

JD

Synthesis

This is not quite a blog posting. Instead we're beginning to ease into essays, starting with this little exercise. And we'll help each other understand and deal with this difficult work in a way that pays us all real dividends. Using the set of themes I compiled for Part 1 and to which you began to add in class today, select one theme that is relevant, interesting, and/or potentially fruitful to you, and two quotations that illuminate that theme—that seem to express in their different way a common idea. Then…

1. Examine and outline the thoughts that occur to you in contemplating the words you selected, both in context and in relation to each other.

2. Devise a "prompt" that relates to the quotes to the theme they hold in common. This can take the form of a thematic or "thesis" statement.

3. Write a body paragraph (probably an extended one) that uses the quotes in a thematic discussion.

Bring all this material with you to class on Thursday. We'll discuss Part 2 of Heart of Darkness and also look the paragraphs over & critique them.

If we do it right, Thursday's class will be a very productive session.

JD

Lying & dying

I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie. You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do.

What lie does Marlow tell for Kurtz, and why does he tell it? How does Marlow become entangled in a lie when he signs on as a steamboat captain in Leopold's Congo?

We came close to this question during Friday's discussion. We identified many of the flabby devils and what repels Marlow about them. Look in the Part 1 text to see where Kurtz's name comes up and in what context. There are reasons why Marlow would be attracted to him even without setting eyes on the man—and also reasons why he would be appalled.

Though we're inching up the Congo, we're getting somewhere!

I hope, I truly hope, our last two discussions have been helpful to you in developing a sense of what Heart of Darkness is all about. I think we've been doing pretty darned well. We've kept the whole work in sight and we've also delved into it and come up with some relevant and substantial passages.

I don't want to leave anyone behind in Matadi as we make our way to Kinshasa and Kisangani (some of the real names for the places along the river that Conrad avoids naming).

What I mean is, I want the whole class to feel they're getting it, or getting enough of it that we're all on the same boat and all of us can make out the main features of the landscape. I will spend time with anyone who wants clarification. If we can do this and stay together, we're set for the rest of the year.

This weekend's blog posting follows.

J.D.

Two kinds of devils

In Part 1 today we looked briefly at ¶ 38. For this blog, consider Marlow's curious statement about devils.

You know I am not particularly tender; I’ve had to strike and to fend off. I’ve had to resist and to attack sometimes—that’s only one way of resisting—without counting the exact cost, according to the demands of such sort of life as I had blundered into. I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. How insidious he could be, too, I was only to find out several months later and a thousand miles farther.

What sort of man or men fit this description of a "flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly"? Are there examples of them in Part 1? If so, who and why? Why does Marlow prefer the "strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men" over this breed? Are there any examples of the strong & lusty sort to be found in Part 1, or anywhere else for that matter? Who, if any—and why?

Sorry I didn't post this at 2:30. The Prowl got in the way, as I should have known it would. But I'll extend the deadline to 11 p.m. Thursday.

For discussion purposes Friday we'll use this topic as a starting point. Think also about these:

• Contrasts of dark & light
• Contrast between the representatives of "civilization" and the wilderness that surround them
• Atmosphere: a nebulous yet distinct product of diction, phrasing and description. In this work it is especially powerful
• Striking pairs. Examples—Marlow’s ¶13 with the 1^st narrator’s ¶ 6. The torch becomes the “idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea…” OR Two black hens, ¶21 and the two “Fates” ¶23 & 25
• Irony that borders on humor. Examples—The death of Fresleven, ¶21. “The supernatural being had not been touched after he fell.” OR The old doctor who measures heads ¶27 OR ¶51 The drunken officer “looking after the upkeep of the road…” though, Marlow says, “Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement.”

These and other issues will be our topics of discussion Friday. We'll gather in a circle and I'll be noting participation.

See you then.

The haze in the glow

From Part 1, ¶ 9:

The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

From Part 1, ¶ 14:

We looked on, waiting patiently—there was nothing else to do till the end of the flood; but it was only after a long silence, when he said, in a hesitating voice, “I suppose you fellows remember I did once turn fresh-water sailor for a bit,” that we knew we were fated, before the ebb began to run, to hear about one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences.

In the narrator’s indirect way (Marlow’s experiences are “inconclusive,” the meaning of his yarn is “not inside” but “outside”) he—with the author—is warning his audience about the tale Marlow will relate.

What do his warnings lead us to expect, and not to expect, from the tale Marlow tells? What do they hint about Marlow’s character compared, say, to that of the average seaman?

This post will remain open for comment over the Thanksgiving holiday, with a cut-off time of 5 pm Tuesday December first.

About Essays: Big AND Little

I've done some more thinking and amending to those thoughts on essays that I presented to you during Thursday's class. Here they are then, updated to include formal as well as in-class essays.

Big stuff

· In full-fledged essays, a weak or incompletely expressed thesis is the number one cause of failure. Compare yours with classmates and ask for feedback from teachers you respect (possibly including me) if you have any doubts about yours.

· I believe any thesis that looks beyond the immediate plot and world of the work of fiction you’re analyzing is at least on the right track. Everything we read in this class does that implicitly. If you don’t take that into account when you sit down to write, you’ve begun with a very limited scope that may have worked very well through your sophomore year. Now you must replace it with a more adult perspective that ranges farther and deeper than many of you are used to.

· In timed writes, students too often tend to re-state the prompt in a tedious way that merely delays your thesis, which too often is a lame construction based literally upon the prompt.

· Quotes (in timed writes only) aren’t required and not expected. If they come at the cost of your time and add to your writer’s stress, they aren’t worth it. Use only what is at your fingertips.

· Quotes (in “black tie” essays) are essential in literary analysis & criticism (“lit-crit” for short). Without them your essay often degenerates into an abstract discussion that circles the subject without hope of achieving resolution.

· Horrible sentences I have read:

“Conflict with the society they live in is something everyone goes through…

“In almost every work of literature there is a character who is greatly conflicted and dissatisfied with his or her world…”

“Being different can cause a lot of problems for a person…”

“Societies often have important beliefs and values…”

Inevitably followed by:

“…and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is no exception.”

“…and Bernard Marx/John Savage/[you name it] is no exception.”
“…for Bernard this is certainly the case.”

· Don’t analyze at the character’s level of vision. Your view must be more holistic. You are—or should be—as close to the author’s level as possible. It’s his or her purpose that most occupies you. The characters serve to illustrate & advance that purpose.

· What do people and things represent? This is a pointed social critique, not just a good yarn. Above everything else, consider the author’s purpose.

· Don’t cross out more than a sentence during a timed write. You don’t have time to second-guess yourself to that extent. It’s worth the risk to keep it in—you won’t be sentenced to walk the plank.

·Context, context, context! This isn’t a conversation with a friend about some other friends. A brief identifying phrase to introduce any character or important feature of the literary work that you choose to discuss.

· As long as we’re on the subject of context— no shorthand references: “…when Bernard and Henry take the elevator together.” or “It’s just like the rock/wax metaphor”

· Use present tense—this is fiction, not history.

Little stuff

· Don’t use “so” as a sentence opener. “And” can be okay if your previous sentence and/or line of argument builds to it properly.

· “seems to”— Almost always a mistake: see the “Forever Incomplete guide to Proofreading” and the tentative language section of “Stuff to Avoid.”

· Second person—the lazy man’s approach to persuasive writing. Avoid at all costs.

· Dreary phrases guaranteed to provoke or bore (depending on his mood) your reader. You should chuck these and their relatives down the memory hole:

“Throughout the novel…”
“Throughout history…”
“Man has always…”
“It is stated…”
“He is thought to be…”
“The fact that…”

If you think about it, a line like “Because of his being cast out of society” can easily be improved to “Because he is cast out of society” or “Since society has ostracized him” or “Because he is an outcast” or…

· “…as the book marches on”—Use this exciting phrase sparingly, or it might just blow the lid off your essay!

· Get rid of the “ing” thing, as in: “Being John’s mother, Linda…”
I don’t like to see this sort of participle noun/adjective structure kicking off a sentence. It’s a hallmark of weak & unconvincing writing. If you notice you are using sentences like “Having my baby is a wonderful way to say you love me!” (not much chance of that yet, I hope, but it was the title of an monumentally stupid 70s pop song), start cutting back.

And now I'm going to cut out. See you Monday morning.

J.D.

In-class essay prompt for Great Expectations

Here is the prompt, from the 2000 AP Lit exam:

Many works of literature not readily identified with the mystery of detective story genre nonetheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the solution to the mystery may be less important than the knowledge gained in the process of its investigation. Choose a novel or play in which one or more of the characters confront a mystery. Then write an essay in which you identify the mystery and explain how the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

I was going to give you some notes on writing beforehand, but I don't think that's a good idea. There's no reason to complicate the task by making you self-conscious about what you're doing. Just write naturally and to the point. Provide a little context for each character and incident you name or allude to. Examples:

"…Pip goes to play at the house of the wealthy but eccentric Miss Havisham…"

"…Estella, a haughty and beautiful girl who appears to Miss Havisham's adopted daughter."

"Among the Finches is one Bentley Drummle, a lout who also happens to be a highborn 'gentleman'."

The escaped convict that Pip helped years before turns out now, to his astonishment, to be a wealthy sheep farmer from Australia named Magwitch—and Pip's true benefactor."

The old AP line that in this version runs "explain how the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole" is a standard feature. Don't let it bother you. The intent is to keep you mindful that the writer's purpose in employing (in this case) the features of a mystery novel have a greater and more profound purpose than "whodunnit."

That's all, folks. See you tomorrow!

Let's get pretentious!—bring your favorite symbols & other assorted metaphors to class Tuesday

My idea for Tuesday is to make like a real college lit class and get ourselves waist-deep or perhaps even up to our necks in metaphoric language. After all, the class is called Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition even if we affectionately know it as good ol' AP Lit.

So let's be advanced, shall we?

The assignment is to come to class with some passages—say four or five—identified and noted down (page number with a brief summary for each) on paper. That should give us a good basis for discussion.

Possible symbols or metaphors:

decay & rot

stars & spiders

fire

names (Estella, Pip, Satis House

Satis House itself

mist & fog

We can have a great discussion if we all do our part. Of course we have the class distinctions & plot issues to sort through also. All in all, could be a very stimulating class. Be sure to wear your tweeds and bring along pipes & tobacco. A goatee to stroke thoughtfully also might be a nice touch for the proceedings. Just make it tasteful.

Apologies to all—but here's the post!

I had to do quite a bit of thinking about this blog post. Trabb's boy would have been fun, but I'm afraid of getting a lot of obvious observations along the lines of "The Emperor's New Clothes." That seemed a dreary prospect.

Then I considered our little discussion Friday, but I couldn't—just couldn't!—think of a really suitable question or remark that would stimulate the right sort of conversation.

("Can't you get to the point?" you're thinking about now. Well…I'm afraid not. But I'll try.)

Then reading along merrily in the old G.E. text I thought about the scene we watched of Pip passing by the Havisham relatives on his way to view that cobwebbed bridal chamber that the filmmakers so marvelously portrayed, complete with a superlatively moldy, rat-infested cake.

That's the sort of thing that film can do fantastically well. What it does less well is catch the nuances of setting, tone, character and author's purpose that Dickens wove so well into his narrative.

With that in mind (my God this is long-winded!), re-read the chapter passage that begins:

“Since this house strikes you old and grave, boy,” said Miss Havisham, impatiently, “and you are unwilling to play, are you willing to work?”

and ends:

It was quite a wilderness, and there were old melon-frames and cucumber-frames in it, which seemed in their decline to have produced a spontaneous growth of weak attempts at pieces of old hats and boots, with now and then a weedy offshoot into the likeness of a battered saucepan.

In your comments, consider the characterization of the relatives, the appearance and atmosphere of the bridal chamber, and the narrative tone that Pip adopts as he relates this incident. Some of it is funny, some of it is mordant (look that word up—it's a good one), some of it is foreboding.

The film is wonderful, but this is also a masterly bit of writing that deserves a closer look.

Magwitch materializes

Look over chapter 39 once more, with special attention to the atmospheric way Dickens sets the scene for the dramatic re-entry of the convict and the revelation of the source of Pip's expectations. Like a theatrical director he orchestrates sights, sounds and lighting to create the utmost tension and foreboding in the reader as well as his protagonist.

For this blog, consider Dickens the writer as much as you do his story. This is the last chapter of part two, and most certainly comprised an installment of the serialized novel. The stakes were high, therefore, and he rose to the occasion. Don't indulge in an orgy of flattery, but comment on what most strikes you about the opening 30 paragraphs or so of the chapter leading up to Pip's realization: diction, tone, pacing, etc.

October 22nd post: The two Christmas dinners

Re-read the passage in Chapter III that describes the convict eating his dinner from the paragraph that begins “I was soon at the battery…” through the paragraph that begins “I had often watched a large dog of ours eating his food…”.

Contrast this picture of the convict’s repast to the Chapter IV account of the Gargery family’s Christmas dinner with Uncle Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle, and the Hubbles—from the paragraph that begins “We were to have a superb dinner…” to the end of the chapter, when the anticipation builds for Pumblechook’s pork pie (and Pip's dread builds with it). What ironies—among other things—can you find?

Essay Prompts for Friday, October 16th

Here are a pair of prompts for Friday. You may take your choice of either:

According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning. Show how Oedipus, as a tragic hero, functions as an instrument of the suffering of others as well as himself and how this suffering contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

Over the entrance to the temple at Delphi are inscribed these words: “Know thyself.” Defend the statement that Oedipus is a classic example of the man whose central problem is that he does not know himself.

The ground rules are these: you may use as resources the text any notes you've made, and any or all of the critical essays we've studied. If you wish to use the time before Friday to outline an essay, by all means do so.

A word of warning: use only the resources you need—don't clutter your mind with too much stuff. The play itself is the one essential source.

Response to essays

By now you should have read the two essays on Oedipus Tyrannus by S.M. Adams and Robert Cohen. They do not align with each other in many respects: Cohen has a point to make about the relevancy of Sophocles's work to the 20th century concept of absurdism. His reference to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot makes clear his familiarity with what came to be known as the Theatre of the Absurd, a post WWII phenomenon of plays written by (says Encyclopedia Britannica)…

"…certain European and American dramatists of the 1950s and early ‘60s who agreed with the Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus’s assessment, in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942), that the human situation is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose."

I hope this explanation clears up any confusion you might feel about Cohen's use of the word "absurd." His is a different view on the nature of Oedipus's role as tragic hero than the one that Adams presents. How you react to them very much depends on your own perspective. Which of the two writers expressed for you the most stimulating and revealing ideas and insights. Were any of your own ideas overturned? Did you learn anything about Oedipus, or about interpreting Oedipus, that might affect your own future writing?

That's the blog post for Monday and Wednesday. It will remain open until Tuesday night.

Details and a due date for your essay.

Some of you may be scratching your heads and asking, "Has he laid an essay on me? What sort of length is he looking for? When is the thing due?"

Well, I don't necessarily look for length, but I've found that an essay of fewer than four pages rarely has enough substance to pass muster, so over the years I've settled on a range of 4-6 pages.

The essay is due October 7th.

More information and some tips will be forthcoming (probably in class).

Sayonara for now!

Try on some thesis ideas and see if any fit…then use the blog as a forum to improve your focus

Below are some potential essay topics for Brave New World, but please keep this in mind: these are topics, not statements. It's up to you to craft your thesis whether you make use of these ideas or something completely your own. I'd like to see you develop an independent thesis, but you might find your ideas are already going down one of these paths. I say, use whatever helps.

With that thought in mind, please feel free to use this space to post ideas, questions thesis proposals, and whatever else your creative brains have to offer. Read what others have to say--borrow ideas that help--express your insights & inspirations. Visit more than once with follow-up thoughts. Your essays will benefit from this free exchange of ideas.

1. Discuss Huxley’s intimation that the only life worth living is a "self-actualized" one.
2. Examine the implications of Mustapha Mond’s assertion: “Every discovery in pure science is potentially subversive.”
3. The best utopian—or anti-utopian—fiction is not really about the future: it is an indirect view of the present. To what extent is that true for Brave New World and our own contemporary society?
4. Discuss the necessity of adversity in order to experience true happiness.
5. Compare Huxley’s utopia with Orwell’s dystopia of 1984. Which do you find to be more sinister?
6. What does Huxley’s ending for his novel, what imply about the ability of an individual—the self—to survive in a world such as the “Brave New” one?
7. One critic wrote the following: “It is as sparkling, as provocative, as brilliant…as the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art.”
   Do you agree. If so, explain how Brave New World succeeds not only as a novel of ideas but as a work of art.
8. Explore the idea that “civilization is sterilization”—particularly in regard to intellectual freedom and opportunity.

September 21st post: the compass to nowhere

Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north- east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east…

Interpret this final paragraph of the book—not just as John Savage’s end, but also in light of the simile that Huxley uses. What was John seeking, and how did he fare in his quest? Does he represent anyone besides himself? What do you think the author was getting at here with this final fade-out?

I think we'll leave this post up for two class periods and discuss our findings on Friday.

Lit terms at Bedford

Just in case you didn't write down that long web address for the Bedford/St. Martins literary terms glossary, here it is:

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_a.htm

And here's another one from McGraw-Hill:

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/complete_glossary.html#

Between the two of them, you should be able to get a sense for just about all the terms provided you. If you're in doubt, raise your hand in class.

And don't forget the 1946 introduction and the last three chapters of BNW.

See you tomorrow!

J.D.

Take a hard and honest look

Here are the words I placed on the screen today. I'm sure they came from somebody specific once, but some of us others have tampered with the original language, so I'm attributing them to nobody…and to me:

The most provocative aspect of Brave New World might just be the suspicion that many, perhaps most—perhaps you—would like to live in such a society.

And I'll add something to it: we're already living, at least in some aspects of our lives, in such a society, and we're enjoying it, too!

For this blog, consider the little diagram in the upper corner of this post. Today we discussed the feelies and I suggested that Huxley described something eerily like a computer-generated effect designed to titillate the senses. Cast your net over some of the features he included in his Brave New World and find their specific parallels in popular culture today. In other words, identify the green area of intersection between what he observed and foresaw and what we, for better or for worse, are.

Please be specific: if it's "consumerism" you wish to discuss, find its point of origin in the text before you cite the parallel.

Shakespeare as a guide to living life

John's beat-up copy of the complete works of Shakespeare (a gift of sorts from his mother's lover Popé) becomes his means of understanding life and people. For example, during his big "love scene" with Lenina, in chapter 13 of the novel, John expresses his desire for a pure kind of love that can only be consummated in marriage. He stammers fragments from The Tempest—words that the young prince Ferdinand speaks to Prospero's innocent and lovely daughter Miranda:

O you,

So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best!

But Lenina doesn't speak anything like that highflown language. Instead, she responds this way:

‘Put your arms round me,’ she commanded. ‘Hug me till you drug me, honey.’ She too had poetry at her command, knew words that sang and were spells and beat drums. ‘Kiss me’; she closed her eyes, she let her voice sink to a sleepy murmur, ‘kiss me till I’m in a coma. Hug me, honey, snuggly…’

As John becomes violent, he searches his store of Shakespeare for words that express his anger and disappointment at finding his Juliet is a mere "strumpet." From the love-smitten Ferdinand he turns to the the insanely jealous Othello: ‘O thou weed, who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet that the sense aches at thee. Was this most goodly book made to write “whore” upon? Heaven stops the nose at it…’

Why, do you suppose, does Aldous Huxley give his near-hero John Shakespeare and only Shakespeare as a handbook for life? What are the strengths and limitations of such a guide? What's noble and what's ridiculous about John's approach to romance?

Hold off on the blog for the moment

Dear AP Literatis,
Technical difficulties prevented me from getting the invitations sent until this morning (it's Monday). I've had a few e-mails from some of you asking how to get in (that's been my problem, too). Under the circumstances, I think it's best to wait on the first post. I'll put it up soon but won't expect comments until Tuesday eve or Wednesday.
Yrs trly,
JD