2014 CH 10 (Due Tue 6/3)

1In order to help you make sure you are on top of the reading, class discussion, and class notes, BE PREPARED FOR A QUIZ on Thursday 6/5 on Chapters 1-10.  If you're a good listener and have been engaged in class for all of those days, you shouldn't really have to study for it. If you'd like, study by reading over your class notes, study guids, getting notes you've missed, and re-reading the best points of the blog for each of those chapters.

           SoS Chapter 10 Homework:

Choose one of the following to respond to. OR, whatever you find to be better or more interesting:

            1) What’s the point of the Hansel and Gretel allusion at the start of chapter 10?  Why would Morrison use it as a metaphor or starting point for Milkman’s journey to recover his family’s past/their gold?
    
2) Analyze Guitar’s speech that “everybody wants the life of a black man” (222-223). Repercussions of this speech for the friendship between Guitar and Milkman?
    

       3) How has Guitar’s past shaped who he is? (speech re mother’s eyes on 224)
   

       4) Milkman’s character development.  Where is he on his journey to find “a clear-lined self”?  To what extent is he making progress in discovering himself and becoming a better person?  Where is he still sort of a brat?

5)    Review the pieces of the family puzzle that Milkman I now setting into place.  What does he learn about: the life and death and name of his grandfather?  Circe’s role in Macon and Pilate’s lives?  The Lincoln’s Heaven farm?

6)    The story of Milkman’s encounter with Circe at first seems almost too fantastic to be real.  What detail in the story or phrases seem intentionally set to make the reader thing it is all a dream?  What details root the story in reality?  Either way, what’s the point of Milkman’s journey to see Circe?  Why is it significant?

2014 CH 9 HW (Due Fri E or Mon A)

Chapter 9 Homework Assignment 

This might be my favorite chapter in the whole book. We haven’t seen much of either of Milkman’s sisters until this chapter, but boy, do they take over this chapter in a powerful way.  We also learn more about Pilate, and her ability to both play into stereotypical gender roles and transcend them. 

Please take notes on your assigned character/questions.  List at least 2 quotations (short, proper citation format) with analysis in full sentences.  You MAY NOT REPEAT.  Read what everyone else assigned to your group wrote first, then try to add to what they wrote (with new evidence) or respond to a different question (with new evidence) for your character.  DO NOT try to answer all of the questions.

A Block: You've already been assigned to a character.

E Block: 

Girls: Corinthians     

Guys: Lena        

Anyone (guys or girls) who fits any of the following criteria: Pilate

• Is left-handed
• Has naturally curly hair
• Is double-jointed
• Listens to Country 102.5 on a regular basis (at least 3 or more x a week)
• Has visited Kansas (at least one night)
• Has NEVER seen any of the Star Wars movies

1) Corinthians: 

• What were her/her parents’ expectations for her life?  Why aren’t they working out?  Why isn’t she married?  What are black, moving-into-middle-class men looking for in a wife?  Any of this remind you of Death of a Salesman?
• How does Corinthians change, first, by working for Michael-Mary, and second, by taking up with Porter?  
• Who is Henry Porter (what do we know about him from previous chapters)?  
• How did you react to the scene of Corinthians throwing herself across Porter’s car?  Is this the act of a “doll-baby” or “grown up woman”?  Explain.
• Significance /symbolism of the rose petals for Corinthians?  
• What are Morrison’s overall messages in Corinthians’s story about love, about the life of women, about individuality?

2) Pilate: 

• How does Pilate transform herself in order to get Milkman and Guitar out of jail? Be specific.  What story does she tell?  How does this act demonstrate her understanding of her society?  Is she being weak or strong here?  Why?
• Milkman says that this whole incident makes him feel “shame…stuck to his skin” (209-210).  Why?  Is this “shame” a step forward or a step back in his character development? (To what extent is he ashamed of himself, to what extent is he ashamed of his aunt?)

3) Magdalene called Lena: 

• How does Milkman dismiss/disrespect Lena in earlier chapters and/or leading into their conversation at the end of chapter 9?  
• Why is Lena angry with Milkman (one specific action, and then more generally)? What does she mean by “there are all kinds of ways to pee on people?” (214) 
• How has sexism and stereotypical gender roles played out in this family, according to Lena?  How does Milkman’s statement that “I don’t carry no stick; I live and let live” (214) reveal his fundamental misunderstanding of how these gender roles function?
• How is Lena’s attitude toward the roses significant? 
• What are Morrison’s overall messages about the life of women and the life of men that she is communicating through Lena’s story? 

Free Write on a Name (Due tomorrow)

As promised, here's a more fomal version of the assignment. Don't post here; write/type to have in class tomorrow.  (E Block, we probably won't get to it till Friday)

Write at least one page (1 page handwritten or 1 page typed, double spaced) about a NAME or NAMING. This could be your name, first, middle, last, a family name, the name of someone in your family, or a naming tradition in your family.

Questions to consider:

-How did you get this name? Tell the story.
-What are the meanings/connotations of the name?  How well does your personality fit those attributes? Why?
-Do you like/dislike your name?  Why? Tell a story that illustrates this point.
-If you could re-name yourself, what would you choose and why? How would this go down in your family?
-Does anyone else in your family have your name?  Do you like/dislike that comparison?  Are you alike? Why?
-Are there any interesting stories, histories, traditions around naming in your family or culture?

Treat yourself like a character from the book that you're analyzing.

**Also, if you are sitting there totally stumped and have a different topic you're burning to craft into an award winning college essay, do that instead. **

2014 CH 8 HW (Due Thurs 5/29)

Song of Solomon

Chapter 8 Homework Assignment 

Choose 1.  Write a paragraph. Use at least ONE quotation.

1)    To what extent do you see Milkman’s character evolving throughout the gold-stealing episode in chapters 7&8?  Does he take any steps forward in self-actualization (knowing who he is and what he wants)?  Does he take steps backward in his personal growth?  How so?

2)    How can we read the white peacock and both Milkman and Guitar’s reactions to it (178-179) as a larger metaphor or message on Morrison’s part?  How does the peacock add to the theme of flying? What is significant about this encounter?

3)    What is revealed about each character in the conversation directly following the peacock (179-180), in which each fantasizes about how to spend the gold?

As always, feel free to suggest your own questions/comments/observations as a substitute for the above.

2014 CH 7 Due Wed 5/28

Song of Solomon Chapter 7 Homework

Ok, let's do something a little different; I'm giving you a bunch of options. #1 is the same as what was on the hard copy of the assignment sheet. The others are based on some of what we discussed in both classes today.

1) Macon's advice to Milkman in Chapter 7 (and the belief underlying his whole story in ch. 7): "Money is freedom. The only real freedom there is" (163). How's that for parental advice? How would this advice have changed Willy Loman's life? To what extent do you think this is true? Can you provide examples from your own life?

2) Evaluate the likelihood and validity of Macon's story in Chapter 7.

3) Is this a novel about love? If so, which kind of love? What is Morrison trying to say about love? (which forms of love are good? which are destructive? or which forms are both?)

4) Even though Guitar seems to be quite radical in his actions, can we find any moment (s) where his motivation or thinking seems sympathetic, understandable, or rational?  How and why?

5) The 7 Days : Biblical significance? Why would Morrison choose for this group of men?

6) Anything else you deem worthy of interest, notice, befuddlement, or exasperation? Tell us about it.

Out sick today - Contingency Plans

Hi folks,

I've finally bowed to the inevitable and taken a sick day. I'm sorry to miss your presentations and to rob you of the opportunity to mock my inaudible rasp.

In class today, I'd like you to work on the Hagar creative free write or work with your partner(s) to start putting together your presentations and study guides.

So, our schedule will now have to change, since you can't teach class without me there, unless I figure out how to pull a Michael Jackson hollogram appearance, which is unlikely.  That leaves us with 2 options. Read them carefully then post or email to tell me which you prefer. I will post again by 5 pm today with the results. We will abide by popular opinion.

Plan #1: EVERYONE is pushed back a day. That means (for A Block) ch 6 will be monday, ch 7 will be Tuesday, ch 8 Wednesday, and so on. (For E block, Ch 5 on Friday, Ch 6 on Tuesday, Ch 7 on Wednesday...)

Plan #2: EVERYONE stays on the SAME day, EXCEPT for CH 6 & CH 7 groups which we will combine onto one day. So, only a few people are inconvenienced, but they are REALLY inconvenienced.

Let me know what you think please!
Ms. W.

Update: We'll be going with plan #1. That means, CH 5 group for E Block is going tomorrow. Ch 6 for A Block should be ready for tomorrow. Ch. 6 for E Block should be ready for Tuesday. For both groups, the Hagar free write is due the first class after the weekend.

2014 CH 6 HW

In Chapter 6, what’s going on with Guitar and the seven days?  Do you “buy” or sympathize with all or any of Guitar’s explanation/defense of what the seven days are doing and why it is necessary?  Why or why not?  If not, what would be justice for white-on black slayings?   

What do we know or suspect of what Guitar's character will develop into? How will this impact his friendship with Milkman?

Please respond with at least one quotation.  Be sure to properly analyze.  Please also consider 1) group mentality/peer pressure and 2) the fact that many juries, judges, policemen and lawyers at this time would have been all-white and often racially biased, as Guitar says.

As always, feel free to substitute any interesting, confusing, or intriguing quotations or moments that you notice instead of my questions.  Do you notice any important themes (like naming) in these chapters?  Anything that seems significant about character development or building tension in character relationships?  Any questions you have?

I really encourage you to branch off on your own (or off of someone else's post) it you find it more interesting!

2014 CH 5 HW Due Wed 5/21 (A blk) Due Thurs 5/22 (E blk)

Song of Solomon Chapter 5 Homework Assignment

Fair warning, Chapter 5 is long—start reading early.

For your assigned character (Hagar, Pilate, Ruth), please answer the following question. Take note of AT LEAST one significant quotation.  You may refer to evidence in ch. 4 that relates to this question, if you wish.

Hagar: Jan-April Birthdays

Pilate: May-August birthdays

Ruth: Sept. - Dec. Birthdays

If you already started on a different character before you saw this, no worries. Just post on whatever you started. 

·      What issues and themes does Morrison want to explore through the women of Song of Solomon?  What recurring motifs and images (concerning women) do you see?  How are they significant?  Do the stories/significant events of chapter 5 make you sympathize with your assigned character? Why or why not?

2014 Ch 4 HW Due Tues. 5/20 (A) or Wed. 5/21 (E)

Song of Solomon Chapter 4 Homework Assignment

Up until this chapter (and again, after this chapter) Milkman remains a passive character who is hard to pin down, in terms of personality and values.  We get some insight during this chapter here.  As you read, think about Milkman as a character, especially considering his relationship with Hagar and his conversation with Guitar (102-106) in this chapter:

To what extent is Milkman himself responsible for feeling that his life is “boring” and “pointless” (107)?  To what extent is his family, his circumstances, his community to blame?

As always, you are very welcome to ditch my question and pose your own instead. To you, what was odd, interesting, upsetting, confusing about this chapter?

2014 CH 3 HW (Due Mon 5/19 A) (Due Tue 5/20 E)

Song of Solomon – Chapter 3 Homework

Please read Chapter 3 (pages 56-89) and post a comment in response to one of the following questions.  Your response should include AT LEAST ONE significant quotation, though you will help yourself if you take notes in your notebook on more than one quotation.

Remember: The below really are OPTIONS. If you have something interesting that you want to say or someone else you want to respond to instead, DO IT! Be a Transcendentalist!

The Options (choose at least 1):

1)    To what extent is the scene where Milkman hits his father a turning point?  Why?

2)    Though Milkman wants to believe that he is being “wide-spirited and generous” and “defending his mother” (69) by hitting his father, there is evidence to suggest that deep down, Milkman has other motives and his actions has unanticipated ripple effects on his family.  Why do his sisters give him a look of hatred, for instance?

3)    What does Macon tell Milkman about his mother (Ruth)?  Do you believe this story? Why?  (Keep in mind that what Macon claims is “the whole truth” is later modified by Ruth’s version of the same events).  How does Milkman react to these revelations?

4)    Why is Milkman obsessed with his physical appearance (his limp, lack of mustache, reflection in mirror p.69)?  What’s the deeper significance/anxiety there?

5)    How is Guitar affected by his past/family history?  What does he associate with the smell of candy?  Why does he tell the hunting story?  What do these moments reveal about his character?

6)    Other moments and/or themes you find interesting, puzzling, confusing, fascinating, or otherwise worth noting?

Character Groups In Class Thurs. 5/15

In your character group...

1) Everyone share out what you wrote for HW.
2) Read everything from the blog on your character.
3) Divide up to complete the following tasks:
A. Post on the blog everything you can find about the character's name. From the chapter and from everything you can find online in the next 20 min.
B. Post on the blog 1-2 questions, comments, sig. passages about this character. What is worthy of discussion and notetaking? What do you want to find out from your classmates?
C. Fun picture!!  (nothing crazy :)

Good luck! Work well! Have fun!

2014 CH 2 HW (Due 5/14)

Song of Solomon

Chapter 2 Homework Assignment

Please read chapter 2 (pages 31-55), and respond to any of the following:

At the end of the chapter, Macon Dead tells his son, “Pilate can’t teach you a thing you can use in this world.  Maybe the next, but not this one.  Let me tell you right now the one important thing you’ll ever need to know: Own things.  And let the things you own own other things.  Then you’ll own yourself and other people too” (55).

1) What do you make of Macon’s advice for Milkman?  Is it good advice?  Why?  Do you trust what Macon has to say about Pilate?  How is this idea of “owning things” potentially problematic?

2) To answer these questions, I’d like you to consider the contrast between Macon Dead’s personality, values, and relationship with the community (and family) and Pilate’s personality, values, and relationship with community.  What “lessons” do they each teach Milkman?  Has Milkman already learned something important from his first mature interaction with Pilate?

3) Finally, please continue to take note of significant references to naming and any questions that occur to you.  Talking about what you find interesting, confusing, misleading, strange, or complex is the most important thing you can do!  This text wants you to question, to interrogate. 

How to "Post"

1) Find the appropriate blog post.  For example, for tonight's homework, you need to find the post "Chapter 1 Homework Assignment."

2) Click on "0 comments" (or however many comments there are) at the bottom of this post.

3) Either create a new comment or click "reply" to a comment someone else already made on my original post.

4) To ensure you don't accidentally lose any work, write your paragraph in a word doc and then copy and paste into the blog.  SAVE YOUR WORK!

5) In the drop down menu next to "comment as" select "google account."  (You can select "aim" and then enter your aol email username and password too).  Also twitter, flickr and supposively yahoo accounts work, but I haven't tested these out.

6) Click "publish."

7) It will take you to a new screen that will prompt you for your gmail username and password.  Either enter one that you have already, OR enter the information from the dummy account I just set up.

username: bhssongofsolomon@gmail.com
password: ihatesats

If you enter your own username and password, don't worry; you're not giving away any access to your email.  The blog just needs some kind of legitimate (or semi-legitimate) way to recognize you online to allow you to publish.

Background Info 2014

Toni Morrison Biography

• Born in 1931 in Lorain, OH
• Given name is Chloe Anthony Wofford (Toni is from Anthony and Morrison is her ex-husband's name)
• Influenced by the spirituality, storytelling, and African American folklore prevalent in her childhood home
• Attended Howard and then Cornell Universities
• Married and divorced (1958-1963) and has 2 sons
• Taught at a variety of universities (Howard, Yale, Princeton) 
• Worked as a publisher at Random House for 20 years
• 1970-Publishes her first novel The Bluest Eye
• 1973-Publishes Song of Solomon; wins the National Book Critics Circle Award
• 1987- Publishes Beloved; wins the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• 1993- Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African American woman to ever be selected for this award

Background on Song of Solomon


Song of Solomon is a departure from the 2 novels Morrison wrote before it in that it focuses on men.  In her foreword to SoS, Morrison says that she wanted to explore "what was for me a radical shift in imagination from a female locus* to a male one.  To get out of the house, to de-domesticate the landscape that had so far been the site of my work.  To travel.  To fly" (xii).  Pay attention to threads or themes of travelling and flying throughout the novel.  Also note that Morrison is setting out to write about men--is she successful?

When she was asked by a journalist why the protagonist of SoS had to be a man, Morrison argued that "men have more to learn in certain areas than women do.  I want him to learn to surrender, and to dominate--dominion and surrender [something women already know]...what I wanted was a character who had everything to learn." (interview with Anne Koenen, 1980)  Another distinction between men and women, according to Morrison--True?

Morrison's writing process during this book is now as famous as the book itself: she wrote the entire ending of this novel first, in a fit of "artistic inspiration," and then painstakingly wrote the rest of the novel from the beginning to match the ending.  She credits her father's death for this inspiration:

I had no access to what I planned to write about until my father died...He had a flattering view of me as someone interesting, capable, witty, smart, high-spirited.  I did not share that view of myself, and wondered why he held it.  but it was the death of that girl--the one that lived in his head--that I mourned when he died.  Even more than I mourned him, I suffered the loss of the person he thought I was.   I think it was because I felt closer to him than to myself that, after his death, I deliberately sought his advice for writing the novel that continued to elude me.  "What are the men you know really like?"


He answered. (xi-xii)


Pay attention to the idea that this novel starts out of a familial/parental relationship.

Like Huck Finn, SoS has been banned repeatedly, despite its enduring reputation among critics and the folks who write AP exams.  It is, as I said before, controversial, provocative, explicit, and explosive, in addition to being a masterpiece of narrative voice and structure.  Try to enjoy the compelling plot, wrestle with the powerful themes and complex characters, and overlook the parts that seem odd or unsettling. 

*sphere, center, or place of being

2014 CH 1 HW (Due Tue 5/13)

Chapter 1: Homework Assignment

Finish reading Chapter One. 

For your assigned character, please take notes and POST on some combo of the following:

·     * What seems significant about their personality and values?

·     * How would you describe their relationship with other family members?  Does anything seem odd or surprising about these relationships?

·      *Names: What do you know about how they got their name/nickname?  Symbolism or connotations of their name?  What are the traditions about naming that seem significant?

·      *Family history: Significant myths/stories/memories about this character?

I

Your Post should include AT LEAST one significant quotation.  You will help yourself enormously if you take note of a couple more quotations that seem important in your notebook.  As always, feel free to also post on anything else that seems weird/strange/surprising/confusing in this chapter.

If you are the first person to post on your assigned character, comment on my post. If someone has already commented on your assigned character, add yours as a comment on THEIR post. 

Your Character is (circle one):

Jan - March Bday: Macon Dead (Milkman’s father)

April –June Bday: Macon Dead III/Milkman (the son/baby)

July – Sept. Bday: Ruth/The Doctor’s Daughter (Milkman’s mother)

Oct - Dec Bday: Pilate and Family (Milkman’s aunt/Macon Dead II’s sister) (Reba & Hagar)