Western Literature May 18, 2015

In assigned groups, you will be creating a body biography to demonstrate high-level close reading and character analysis. Your group will receive a character and assigned “body parts” to analyze specific aspects of a character in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Each body part needs to have a written response using claim, evidence (with an in-text parenthetical citation), and commentary.  STEP ONE: Tape butcher paper to the floor. One group member should lie on the paper while others draw an outline of the body in pencil. After the group member gets up, trace the outline with a marker so it will show.  STEP TWO: Find quotations/passages to illustrate at least three of the following “body parts” for a post-reading “autopsy” of the character. You will include these as evidence in your responses to the questions for your “body parts” (see below). Remember to place these strategically on the body outline.  STEP THREE: Write a response using a claim to answer the question for your assigned “body part” using evidence and commentary. Write the citation in parentheses after each quotation or passage.  STEP FOUR: Illustrate the character in the body biography using colors and features that are symbolic of the character.  STEP FIVE: Group members should label the parts they worked on, and all members should sign the project on the poster. Individual will receive grades based on the work that they contributed. Though you should prepare your responses prior to your final exam. The actual body biography (for these steps) must be made in class with your team as a collaborative assessment.

 Head (Intellectual side of the character): What are his/her dreams? Visions? Philosophies he keeps inside?  Eyes (Seeing through the character’s eyes): What memorable sights affect him? How?  Ears (Hearing through the character’s ears): What does he notice and remember others saying to him? How is he affected?  Nose (Smelling through the character’s nose): What smells affect him? How?  Mouth (The character’s communication): What philosophy does the character share/espouse? What arguments and debates?  Arms (The character’s work): What is the character’s relationship with work in general? To specific work?  Hands (The practical side of the character): What conflicts does he or she deal with? How?  Heart (The emotional side of the character): What does he or she love? Whom? How?  Torso (The instinctive side of the character): What doesn’t he or she like about himself or herself? What does he or she hide? What brings the character pain? What does he or she fear? (Describe his or her dark side).  Legs (The playful side of the character): What does he or she do for fun? What are his or her avocations (hobbies)?  Feet (The character’s mobility): Where has he or she been (literally/figuratively)? How has he or she been affected by travel or setting?  “Wings” (The character’s future): What is he or she going in the future? What are his or her aspirations?

 Torso (The instinctive side of the character): What doesn’t he or she like about himself or herself? What does he or she hide? What brings the character pain? What does he or she fear? (Describe his or her dark side).  Though Biddy is not obsessed with class and expectation as Pip, she does seem to resent her “commonness” because Pip is not spellbound by her as he is with Estella. Her love for Pip is revealed when he tells her about his unreasonable lust for Estella and desire to be a gentleman. She asks him why he wants to be a gentleman and she replies, “If it is to spite her…that might be better and more independently done by caring nothing for her words. And if it is to gain her over…she was not worth gaining over” (Dickens 125). Though Pip incessantly calls Biddy “the wisest of girls” (Dickens 125), her reaction to Pip’s infatuation with another girl demonstrates her realization that she is different from Estella. She is not the enchanting temptress archetype but rather a plain virtuous maiden. Since she is pure and kind, she cannot reveal this side of herself but it escapes in some of her disappointment in conversations with Pip.

 Read over the questions for your assigned “body part” and start writing your claims and looking for evidence.  Before you leave today, you should have a piece of evidence for every body part.  When you come to our final exam period, you should have your responses entirely written and printed out.

 Finish the novel! (It is only 10 pages!)  PERIOD 5: Prepare for the final exam on Thursday by writing your responses. Tomorrow, we will be watching  PERIOD 7: Prepare for the final exam tomorrow by writing all of your responses. You must bring your three completed responses to class or you will lose points for your teamwork because you are letting down your group.