Honors American Literature Journals 11-20

Journal #11 The following is an excerpt from “Mountaineering: Tragedy at the Top of the World”: Beidleman and the 32 other climbers on the upper flanks of Everest that afternoon were unaware of the insidious and brutal storm that, as all the world now knows, was creeping up the mountain. It soon rendered the sky a roiling soup, produced minus-100-degree windchills, and left eight climbers dead, including world- renowned guides Scott Fischer of Seattle and Rob Hall of New Zealand. Eleven other climbers, several with little or no Himalayan experience, spent the night wandering like zombies at 26,000 feet, unable to find their tents. Using this passage, practice using BOTH a sentence lead in and a blended lead in. Write both in your journal.

Journal #12 COPY and respond the following quote:  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

Journal #13: Washington Irving: Read the information on Washington Irving on page 227. Write down 3 facts 2 connections (you make the connections) 1 important date and why it is important Read the BACKGROUND on page 229. What was going on during Irving’s era that he attempted to criticize in “The Devil and Tom Walker”?

Journal #14: Edgar Allan Poe Watch the video. Then write: 3 facts about his life 2 works of literature he wrote 1 connection to either Washington Irving or “The Devil and Tom Walker” http://www.biography.com/people/edgar- allan-poe-9443160/videos/edgar-allan-poe- mini-biography-569923805

Journal #15 Read and consider: “But though Hop Frog, through the distortion of his legs, could move only with great pain and difficulty along a road or floor, the prodigious muscular power which nature seemed to have bestowed upon his arms, by way of compensation for deficiency in the lower limbs, enabled him to perform many feats of wonderful dexterity, where trees or ropes were in question, or anything else to climb. At such exercises he certainly much more resembled a squirrel, or a small monkey, than a frog.” Answer: Define prodigious. Explain how the use of this word enhances the physical description of Hop Frog. Re-read the first sentence. In one word, how would you describe it? Explain how that might connect to Hop Frog as a character. Apply: Mimicking the first sentence, with all its dependent clauses, describe yourself.

Journal #16: Flannery O’Connor Take out the packet I gave you to read for homework. YES, it was challenging! Answer: Introduction: Where AND when was Flannery O’Connor born? Introduction: What TWO major factors in O’Connor’s life strongly influenced her writing? Elements of Faith: What kind of characters does O'Connor include in her stories AND why? Elements of Faith: Where are most of her stories set AND why? Elements of Style: What is significant about the names of the characters in O’Connor’s stories? Thematic Elements: What is the most prevalent and most discussed thematic element in O’Connor’s stories? Thematic Elements: Name another common theme in O’Connor’s short stories.

Journal #17: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Create a T chart. On one side, label POWER and on the other side CORRUPTION. Under each side, come up with 2 examples from Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man’s Hard to Find” that would support each. At the bottom, explain in your own words who the most corrupt character is in the story and why: the Grandmother or The Misfit. Power Corruption 1. 2. The most corrupt character is…because…

Take out your web-map to turn in first thing!!! Journal #18: Continued Take out your web-map to turn in first thing!!! What events, feelings, emotions are associated with someone who feels invisible? How/why can invisibility be applied to minorities (past and current)? How is the narrator in “Battle Royal” invisible?

Harlem Renaissance http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance “The Ascent of Ethiopia”: http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/mosaic-hurston/files/2011/07/ascent-of- ethiopia-large.jpg

Ralph Ellison “Battle Royal”

Biography Born March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Named after Ralph Waldo Emerson Father died when he was 3; mom raised him as a single mother for the rest of her life Attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; studied music (Trumpet) Relocated to New York in 1936 Enlisted as a Merchant Marine during World War II Married Fanny McConnell in 1946 Published Invisible Man in 1952 (National Book Award winner, 1953) Died of pancreatic cancer on April 16, 1994

Invisible Man and Ralph Ellison Speech Invisible Man ranges in tone from realism to extreme surrealism Invisible Man is an existential novel. Existentialism explored the question of individuality and the nature of meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe.  Ellison adapted the existentialists’ universal themes to the black experience of oppression and prejudice in America. The narrator of the novel is never named The narrator talks about his time in the South as a young man; his time at college and being expelled; his time in New York at the height of the Harlem renaissance and learning that his black mentor in college has betrayed him; his time being given electric shock therapy by white doctors; his time as a member of the Black Brotherhood and their betrayal, followed by his desire for vengeance; his setting an apartment building on fire after a white woman tries to seduce him; and, finally, his time underground when he accepts his invisibility. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance/speeches/ralph-ellison- origins-of-invisible-man

“Barn Burning” by William Faulkner Read the short story. You can fill out a 3 x 5 notecard (front and Back) of information about the author/characters/plot/major themes in the story for Thursday.

Journal #19 Read and consider ( this is page 2 of “Barn Burning;” the paragraph starts “It stood in a grove…): “His two hulking sisters in their Sunday dresses and his mother and her sister in calico and sunbonnets were already in [the wagon], sitting on and among the sorry residue of the dozen and more movings which even the boy could remember the battered stove, the broken bed and chairs, the clock inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which would not run, stopped at some fourteen minutes past two o’clock of a dead and forgotten day and time, which had been his mother’s dowry.” Answer: List as many details (individually) as you can. How do the details in this sentence enhance the picture Faulkner is trying to paint of this family? What does the line “which had been his mother’s dowry” modify? Apply: Rewrite the sentence. However, all the words that are hot pink replace with other words that would paint the family’s state in the opposite light, making them appear more like Major de Spain and his wife.

Journal #20: Serves as a journal but will also be checked for an individual 10 point writing grade. Choose one of the following to complete: Write a letter from the narrator in “Battle Royal” to Colonel Sartoris Snopes in “Barn Burning” (or vice versa). The letter needs to include details about their life, how they relate to the character they are writing to, and advice for how they should handle their current situation. Write a compare contrast paragraph arguing who is the more repugnant character: The Misfit or Abner Snopes. Cite several examples from each story to support your stance (does not have to be direct quotes. Write a narrative in which the Devil from “The Devil and Tom Walker” approaches another character from either “Hop Frog” or “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and presents them with a deal. What would the deal be and why, and what would the other character’s response be and why. Narratives are stories, so tell me a creative story.