Narrative Writing

Winter Holiday Narrative

Complete draft due Tuesday, December 18. 500-1000 words.

Final draft due Thursday, December 20.

• Tell a story (with characters, events, at least one significant object) in first person.
• Include vivid and suggestive details about character, setting, and events.
• Reflect on the meaning of the story. Explain along the way how the story reveals your understanding of “the true meaning” of the winter holiday season to you.
• Narrate with a lively, intimate voice.
• Create a title that suggests focus and/or meaning (literal or symbolic).

Special issues:

• Choose present or past tense. Stick with it! Don’t shift from one to the other.
• When you shift time, place, or focus, start a new paragraph.

Expository Essay on the Significance of Choices Made by the Director of the Film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

You will write an essay on this prompt in-class on Tuesday (December 4).

Choose from the following choices made by Kenneth Branagh, the direct of the film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and in a well-developed essay explain its thematic significance.

Thematic significance is the significance to the meaning of the film (or the ideas in the film or the purpose of the film), as opposed to dramatic significance which is the significance to the characters experiencing the film’s drama. So you’ll have to decide something about the meaning, ideas, and/or purpose of the film and then explain how the specific choice contributes that meaning, those ideas, and/or that purpose.

Here are some choices Branagh made in the film…

• the use of red, white, and dark colors
• the use of ice and fire
• the choice of how to depict Victor creating the monster (it’s symbolic, remember!)
• the choice to expand Waldman’s role
• the choice to change Henry Clerval’s character
• the choice to change the way Caroline dies
• the choice to change what happens after Victor promises to make the monster a companion
• the choice to include the sources of the bodies and brains for Victor’s creations
• the choice to alter the depiction of the De Lacey family
• [a choice you come up with on your own]

Here are some possible themes of the film…

• the power of extreme passionate emotion
• the dangers of pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration
• the perversion of nature by science and technology
• the struggle between competing passions (passion for a person versus scientific passion)
• the search for true companionship
• the struggle between living to be happy and living to be great
• the responsibilities of a nurturer (parent, creator, teacher)
• the sacrifices of a nurturer (parent, creator, teacher)
• the difficulty of overcoming prejudice
• [something else you come up with on your own]

Lord of the Flies Text

Lord of the Flies

Student Handbook (Compass) Argument

This Week: Argument Essay Writing
Monday 9/10 (in class)
Student Handbook Prewriting
Use the handout to plan your argument essay

Compass SAT-style Argument Essay Pre-writing

Type 2 Writing Assignment: Unit Work (Formative) Assessment

Complete this work by the beginning of class _________________________________

[] Choose a policy in the Student Handbook that you would like to respond to.

Quote the policy here:

[] Decide if you will argue in support of the policy, in opposition to the policy, or for a particular revision of the policy that you state clearly. In other words take a position; make a claim.

Write your position as a claim (or thesis) here:

[] Prepare supporting reasoning and examples for your position.

What reasoning and examples will you use to support your argument?

State four (4) reasons and examples.

1. State a reason that supports your claim.

State an example that supports that reasoning.

2. State a reason that supports your claim.

State an example that supports that reasoning.

3. State a reason that supports your claim.

State an example that supports that reasoning.

4. State a reason that supports your claim.

State an example that supports that reasoning.

[] Now consider the reasoning that someone arguing against your position and for a different position might use.

Give at least two examples of reasoning that someone arguing against your position and for a different position might use.

How could you respond to the reasoning stated above in a way that would help support your position?

[] What are your strongest two reasons and examples?

[] What order for those two reasons and examples would be most effective?

Monday (at home)
Finish pre-writing

Tuesday 9/11 (in class)
Bring your completed prewriting handout to class.
Take a look at the grading rubric and SAT-argument examples.
Write a draft of your essay (introduction presenting your position, at least two body paragraphs each with a supporting reason and well-developed example, conclusion driving home your position)

Tuesday (at home)
Finish your draft.

Wednesday 9/12 (in class)
Self-assessment and peer-assessment of student handbook policy argument essays

Persuasive argument essay

(using rhetoric)

What do you do after you’ve written a complete draft?

Self-Assess

• Go back through the directions to make sure you’ve done everything.
• Reread with the directions and rubric in mind.
• First paragraph
• Do you have a sentence at the beginning that grabs the reader's attention? Mark this with a "g".
•  Do you have a sentence in the first paragraph that clearly states and/or explains the policy that you are responding to? Mark this with a "p".
• Do you have a sentence in the first paragraph that clearly states your position on the policy (this is your claim and/or your thesis)? Mark this with a "t"
• Body paragraphs
• Does each body paragraph clearly state a reason that supports your position? Mark this with an "r" in each body paragraph.
• Does each body paragraph develop an example that supports the reason? Mark this with an "e" in each body paragraph.
• Conclusion
• In a final paragraph do you clearly state your position (your claim, your thesis)? Mark this with another "t".
• In the final paragraph do you remind the reader of key reasons and examples? Mark these reminders with other "r"s.
• Proofread…again. How?
• Reread aloud slowly using a one-foot voice.
• Reread in reverse (sentence-by-sentence, paragraph by paragraph)
• Reflect.
• What are you proud of? What have you done well?
• What would you do differently? What would you work on if you had more time?

Peer-Assess

• Ask someone else to read & make comments in the margin about  elements from the rubric that you'd like them to comment on. 
• At the end of the argument essay your peer assessor must also answer the question, is the essay convincing? Explain.
• The peer editor must sign your draft. 

Wednesday (at home)
Work on final draft of your student handbook policy argument essay.

Thursday 9/13 (in class)
Begin independent reading.

Thursday (at home)
Finish final draft of your student handbook policy argument essay.

Friday 9/14 (in class)
Turn in your final draft with first draft, self/peer assessment, and prewriting.

Resources for Week 1 Homework

 Compass Student Handbook
 Annotate with underlining/highlighting and comments (ideas, feelings, questions) in the margin
or, take double-entry notes: information (quotations, paraphrase on the left; ideas, feelings, questions on the right).
Be prepared to use your annotations or notes in a Socratic Seminar on Friday, September 7.

Summer Reading Assignment
Due on Tuesday, September 11 in your F-block class.

Hamlet Review

For Hamlet review click here.

Hamlet Soliloquy 4.4

How all occasions do inform against me, (35)
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not (40)
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom (45)
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge (50)
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare, (55)
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, (60)
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot (65)
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

NOTES

[Source: http://shakespeare.about.com/od/studentresources/a/allinform.htm  Amanda Mabillard, B.A. (Honors) is a freelance writer specializing in Shakespeare, Renaissance political theory, theatre history, comparative literary history, and linguistic topics in Renaissance literature.]

inform against ] Accuse me.

market ] Employment.

discourse ] The power of reason. God gave human beings the ability to reflect on life's events.

Looking before and after ] Our intelligence allows us to analyze past experiences and make rational judgments about the future.

fust ] Grow mouldy. Hamlet is saying that God did not give us the power of reason for it to go unused.

Bestial oblivion ] The forgetfulness of an animal. Our capability to remember separates mankind from other animals or "beasts". But Hamlet forgetting Claudius's deeds is clearly not why he delays the murder.

craven scruple ] Cowardly feelings.

of ] From.

event ] Outcome.

quarter'd ] Meticulously analyzed (literally, divided into four).

Sith ] Since.

gross ] Obvious.

mass and charge ] Size and cost. Hamlet is referring to the army led by Fortinbras, prince of Norway. Hamlet wishes he had Fortinbras's courage.

puff'd ] Inflated.

Makes mouths at the invisible event ] Shows contempt for (or cares not about) the uncertain outcome of battle.

Rightly to be great...stake ] Truly great men refrain from fighting over insignificant things, but they will fight without hesitation over something trivial when their honour is at risk. "True nobility of soul is to restrain one's self unless there is a great cause for resentment, but nobly to recognize even a trifle as such as cause when honour is involved" (Kittredge 121). Ironically, "Hamlet never learns from the Captain or attempts to clarify what the specific issue of honor is that motivates the Prince of Norway. In fact, there is none, for the play has made it clear that Fortinbras's uncle, after discovering and stopping his nephew's secret and illegal revenge campaign against Claudius, encouraged him to use newly levied forces to fight in Poland...Since no issue of honor is to be found in Fortinbras's cause, Hamlet, through his excessive desire to emulate the Norwegian leader, ironically calls into question whether there is any honour in his own cause" (Newell 143). [Mr. Cook adds: or, perhaps, Hamlet’s mind has once again moved from the particular (Fortinbras and his army) to the abstract (consideration of what defines greatness). It seems Fortinbras and his army are not important in and of themselves but in how they “inform against” (indict, critique, etc.) Hamlet’s inaction.]

twenty thousand men ] In line 25, it was 20000 ducats and only 2000 men. It is undecided whether this confusion is Hamlet's or Shakespeare's.

blood ] Passions.

trick of fame ] Trifle of reputation. But is not Hamlet jealous of Fortinbras and his ability to fight in defense of his honour? "Fortinbras is enticed by a dream, and thousands must die for it. Hamlet's common sense about the absurdity of Fortinbras's venture shows the pointlessness of his envy" (Edwards 193).

Whereon...slain ] The cause is not significant enough to consume the thousands of men fighting over it, and the tombs and coffins are not plentiful enough to hold those who are killed (continent = container).

1.        (Make connections!) In a paragraph compare what Hamlet says in lines 36-49 of this soliloquy to what he says in lines 91-96 of his “To be or not to be” soliloquy (below).

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry, (95)
And lose the name of action.—

2.        (Make connections!) In a paragraph explain how this soliloquy is similar to the “O What a rogue and peasant slave” (2.2.576) soliloquy. (Think about the role that Fortinbras plays in this speech and that the First Player plays in the earlier speech: “What would he do,  / Had he the motive and the cue for passion / That I have?”)

3.        (What’s your opinion?) Hamlet contrasts his own cowardly thought with the actions of Fortinbras. Do you think Fortinbras is a good role model for Hamlet? In other words, should Hamlet be more like Fortinbras or not? Explain your answer in a paragraph. Use evidence from the play and this soliloquy to develop your answer. (Like Hamlet, you might be able to argue both “yes” and “no”.)

Hamlet 3.1 Speech & 3.2 Mouse Trap Performances

Click here then scroll down to see the Branagh, Gibson, and Hawke performances of Hamlet's famous 3.1 speech. Below those performances you'll find the three versions of the Mouse Trap.

[Here are the choices of Mouse Trap argument prompts:

Which “Mousetrap” is most dramatically powerful for you as a viewer? Explain and support with evidence.

Which “Mousetrap” is most effective for Hamlet’s purposes? Explain and support with evidence.

Which “Mousetrap” best expresses the themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Explain and support with evidence.

Hamlet over Vacation

Analyze the 2.2 soliloquy over vacation. (Due Monday, April 23.)

Here are the questions:

1.        In lines 556-576 Hamlet thinks/talks about the player (actor). In your own words, what does he say about the actor? How does Hamlet contrast the actor with himself?

2.        What do the questions that Hamlet asks in lines 576-580 mean? How might you answer the questions?

3.        Write down a quotation from lines 581-594 that tells what Hamlet thinks he should do. Then, explain.

4.        Write down a quotation from lines 581-594 that tells what Hamlet thinks about himself and his inaction. Then, explain.

5.        Write down a quotation from lines 581-594 that tells what Hamlet thinks about Claudius. Then, explain.

6.        In lines 595-610 Hamlet explains an idea he has to “catch the conscience of the king”. In a few sentences explain Hamlet’s idea in your own words.

Here's the soliloquy:

Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (555)
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, (560)
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do, (565)
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed (570)
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life (575)
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? (580)
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites (585)
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, (590)
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard (595)
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak (600)
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen (605)
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds (610)
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

 
Here are the notes: 

rogue ] Useless vagrant.

peasant ] A person of little integrity (see The Taming of the Shrew 4.1.113).

player...Hecuba ] This passage is often very difficult for students, and standard annotations leave them wanting. So it is best paraphrased:

Is it not horribly unfair that this actor, pretending to feel great passion, could, based on what he has conceived in his own mind, force his own soul to believe the part that he is playing, so much so that all the powers of his body adapt themselves to suit his acting needs, so that he grows agitated ("distraction in's aspect"), weeps, and turns pale ("wann'd")? And why does he carry on so? Why does he pretend until he truly makes himself weep? For Hecuba! But why? What are they to each other?

Hamlet wishes he could arouse his passions so.

Hecuba ] Trojan queen and heroine of classical mythology. Earlier in 2.2 Hamlet asks the First Player to recite a monologue retelling Hecuba's response to the death of her husband, King Priam. The Player tells us that Hecuba's grief was profound and "Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven/And passion in the gods" (505-6). The contrast between Gertrude and Hecuba should be noted. To Hamlet, Hecuba has responded appropriately to her husband's death, while Gertrude has not.

cue for passion ] The reason for strong feelings.

Make mad the guilty ] "By his description of the crime he would drive those spectators mad who had any such sin on their conscience, and would horrify even the innocent" (Kittredge 68),

amaze ] Plunge into confusion.

muddy-mettled ] Dull-spirited.

peak ] Moping about; languishing, unable to act.

John-a-dreams ] A nickname for a dreamer.

unpregnant ] "Pregnant" here does not mean "with child", but rather, quick or ready. Thus to be "unpregnant" is to be unable to act quickly.

pate ] Head.

swounds ] God's wounds.

pigeon-liver'd ] In the Renaissance, the gentle disposition of the Dove was explained by the argument that it had no gall and thus no capacity to feel resentment or to seek revenge. The liver also was seen as the body's storehouse for courage.

region kites ] The birds of prey in the region, circling in the sky, waiting to feed. If Hamlet were not "pigeon-liver'd" (583) he would have long ago fed Claudius to the hawks.

kindless ] Unnatural.

drab ] A whore.

scullion ] A kitchen helper, either man or woman but usually a woman. It was a term used to show contempt. One should note that in the second quarto, scullion was actually "stallyon", which means a male whore. Scholars are still undecided on the matter, but scullion is the more generally accepted of the two.

proclaim'd their malefactions ] Announced their evil deeds.

blench ] Flinch.

Source: http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa061500b.htm

Here are filmed performances of the soliloquy:

 Click here to watch Branagh, Gibson, Hawke, and other perform the soliloquy.
(Scroll down a bit to see the videos.)


Here is the whole text of Hamlet with notes:


Click here for the Hamlet eText. (Look to the left margin for the acts. Click on the one you want.)

Understanding Mond's Argument

1. Today in class you created a couple versions of Mond’s thesis.

In order to maintain stability people need to be happy and cannot undermine others’ happiness; people don’t need emotional, religious, artistic, or scientific truth.

Artistic truth, scientific truth, strong emotions, and religion are irrelevant to happiness, which is the most important thing to master in order to maintain community, identity, and stability in the World State.

Perhaps you have created your own version including the important concepts.

2. Tonight choose a long passage from chapter 16 or 17 (other than the one on 227-228) in which Mond develops and supports a part of this thesis.

In an open response explain how Mond develops and supports the thesis in the passage. Use specific quotations in your explanation.

We’ll share these responses tomorrow.

Brave New World Chapters 10-15

Roles:

Choose from these perspectives: John the Savage, Helmholtz Watson, Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, the Director (also called the DHC and Tomakin), a Delta  (Khaki-wearing) child in Linda’s room in the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying, a Delta adult waiting for soma at hospital, a policeman who helped subdue the crowd at the soma riot, or another perspective that you think would yield interesting perceptions of John.

Chapter 10 narrating character: ____________________________________

Chapter 11 narrating character: ____________________________________

Chapter 12 narrating character: ____________________________________

Chapter 13 narrating character: ____________________________________

Chapter 14 narrating character: ____________________________________

Chatper 15 narrating character: ____________________________________

Audience:

Mustapha Mond who wants to know what happened after John got to London and wants to understand why it all happened that way.

Format:

The format will be a paragraph (5 to 7 sentences) on the events (and interpretation of the events) in each of the six chapters (chapters 10-15). (When you pass it in on Monday you’ll have six paragraphs and 30+ sentences.) You can write the paragraph as if the character is speaking to Mond or is submitting a report to Mond. (See above.) Each report should include information from the chapter that the narrating character would know and should also include the narrating character’s interpretation of (or reaction to) what happens.   

Topic:

What happened after John got to London and why? (What does John do? Why does he do it? How does it affect others, especially the narrating characters?) Show that you’ve read and that you’ve understood the significance of what you’ve read.

Brave New World Discussion 99-145

What do you learn about the Savage Reservation, John, and Linda? How is all of this significant in relation to the World State? How do feel about the characters and place? What questions do you still have?

Brave New World Discussion 56-99

What new information do you learn about life in the World State? How is the information significant? How do you feel about the new information? What questions do you have?
What do you learn about Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne? How is it significant? How do you feel about the new information? What questions do you have?

Brave New World Chapters 1-3

Chapters 1-3

 #1

Role: Imagine that you (as an Alpha teenager in the World State) spent yesterday touring the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre in the year 632 A.F.

Audience: Dear Diary

Format: Write a diary entry describing your day. (Use BNW vocabulary words.)

Topic: What did you learn about “hatching” and “conditioning” yesterday? Record details about the Centre and your feelings about the Centre. Use many details. Be thoughtful.

#2

Role: Imagine that you (as who you are now) spent yesterday touring the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre in the year 632 A.F.

Audience: Dear Diary

Format: Write a diary entry describing your day. (Use BNW vocabulary words.)

Topic: What did you learn about “hatching” and “conditioning” yesterday. Record details about the Centre and your feelings about the Centre. Use many details. Be thoughtful.

Lord of the Flies Text Online

Lord of the Flies text online

Resources for Mid-Year Exams

Click here for all the vocabulary words and for literature quizzes.