ALLUSIONS ABOUND IN NOVEL

“RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER” PAGE 21: “I AM GOING TO UNEXPLORED REGIONS TO `THE LAND OF MIST AND SNOW’; BUT I SHALL KILL NO ALBATROSS.”

ALLUSIONS ABOUND IN COURSE  Therefore…cultural literacy presentations

CULTURAL LITERACY ASSIGNMENT (30 POINTS)  Partners*  Report will include both a written component (PPT) and an oral presentation (approximately 10 minutes).  Note: Your written component will be a copy of your slides.  Reminders about PPT: (1) primarily key words; few sentences and (2) light background, dark print

HEADS UP  Will be required to weave at least one of the presentations (other than your own) into a document essay due at end of semester, so take notes.

 On a sheet of paper, list at least four people (in order of preference) you would be willing to work with  Notes:  If you wish to work alone, write your name in the #1 spot. Then ID three people you would be willing to work with if needed.  If you provide just one name, I will determine all other pairings before looking at your request. Finally, submit your request to me. REQUESTING A PARTNER

CONTENT OF PRESENTATION

MEANING OF TERM OR PHRASE  What does your term or phrase refer to or what is it generally understood to mean?  If the source of the term is a myth or other literary piece, summarize it (highlighting pertinent parts) before extracting a moral or meaning from it.  Note: Be careful not to provide too much of the backstory as it might confuse your audience.  If term is an historical fact, event, or invention, then explain the facts and significance surrounding it (i.e., who, what, where, why, etc.).

CONTEXTUAL OR BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1. To whom or to which cultural group is your cultural literacy term or phrase generally credited (if applicable)? 2. Under what circumstance was the term or phrase originally used (if applicable)? 3. Is the term or phrase traceable to a known date or approximate time period? If so, when?

VIDEO CLIP  If possible, include a video clip that illustrates or explains term.  Before showing a few minutes (4 max) of the clip, identify parts that you wish the class to watch for and note.  Do not use clips that show profanity or vulgarity.  If your clip is on youtube, please me the link so I can use aTube Catcher to save the video in a format free from ads, etc.

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD  Explain how your cultural literacy reference demonstrates the concept of a double-edged sword (i.e., how it could or does yield both benefits AND ill effects—intentional or unintentional).

APPLICATION TO TECHNOLOGY  Apply at least two specific current technology examples to term or phrase.  If not possible, explain how term or phrase is relevant in terms of people’s experiences with a specific current technology.

SOURCES  Provide a Works Cited page that identifies all sources (including online websites)  Use MLA format

EXAMPLE

IT WAS AN ALBATROSS AROUND MY* NECK

MEANING  Albatross: something one has done or is connected with that  keeps causing him/her problems and  stops him/her from being successful or living in peace  Example: The company that he founded in 1983 is now an albatross a round his neck, making losses of several hundreds of thousands a year.

CONTEXTUAL OR BACKGROUND INFORMATION  Poem  Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a leading poet of the Romantic era  1798 (& 1817)

SUMMARY OF POEM  Setting: Wedding reception  An old sailor (mariner) stops wedding guest to tell the story of a horrific sea voyage that changed his life.

THE MARINER’S STORY  Sailing in stormy seas near the South Pole  Nature’s challenges: ice and fog and mist

THE MARINER’S STORY  Albatross to the rescue  Speaks to mariner: “'God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus!’”

THE MARINER’S STORY  Bird speaking = omen  Mariner kills albatross.

THE MARINER’S STORY  Men’s initial reaction: okay (Albatross brought fog and mist)  But without fog and mist…

THE MARINER’S STORY  Ship and her men: cursed.

THE MARINER’S STORY  Driven north, ship becomes stranded in a hot, windless sea.

THE MARINER’S STORY  Men’s changed attitude: Hang albatross around mariner’s neck.  Eventually, all men die but mariner.

VIDEO CLIP Watch & listen for… 1.How albatross aided men 2.The men’s initial ignorance 3.The men’s eventual realization

THE MARINER’S STORY  Cautionary tale  Purpose: to teach others to revere God’s creatures and to think before acting

HOW ALLUSION TO “RIME” IS FITTING:  Frame story: Walton draws contrast between mariner and himself: “Will not kill an albatross”  Victor’s story:  Wedding guest = Walton  Ancient mariner = Victor  Setting  Purpose for telling story: Learn from my mistakes

THEMES  Crime and punishment  Unintended consequences  The stranglehold of regret  Man’s relationship with nature

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD  Mariner’s actions brought…  benefits (no more fog or mist)  but also ill effects (no fog and mist leads to intense heat; no movement of birds’ wings means no wind.)

APPLICATION TO TECHNOLOGY #1  J. Robert Oppenheimer  Headed the Manhattan Project; inventor of atomic bomb  Double-edged sword:  Benefit: hoped it would end all war  He “hoped that the very destructiveness of the new “gadget,” as the bomb makers called their invention, might make war obsolete.”  Ill effect: devastating destruction; war continued

OPPENHEIMER’S ALBATROSS  People’s initial reaction to results of hydrogen bomb: Oppenheimer was a hero  Later, he was despised.  He and his team were “reviled as the evil geniuses who made life more perilous than it ever was before.”  His albatross: Knowledge that his invention caused such great destruction haunted him the rest of his life.  He “agonized about the devastation his brilliance had helped to unleash.”

APPLICATION TO TECHNOLOGY #2  Development of pesticides to protect crops  Double-edged sword  Good: Crops more tolerant  Bad: Kill honey bees  "Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion."

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE  Impact on highest levels on our food chain  Nothing plays more significant role in producing the fruits and vegetables than honey bees  Albert Einstein once prophetically remarked, `Mankind will not survive the honeybees’ disappearance for more than five years.’”

SOURCES