Reading and Homework Assignments

Contemporary Literature

Instructor: Tim Bascom

Assigned work is due on the day when it is listed. Please type all homework assignments and keep them in your journal folder (pocket folder). Put all graded homework in the left-side pocket, and put all ungraded homework in the right-side pocket. Be sure to title each response by the name of the story that is being interpreted (e.g., Response to “Cathedral”). Also, be sure to include your name under the title. I will sometimes ask for you to share from these journal entries as conversation starters in class. I will also collect all folders at several points in the semester, to grade the work you are doing. Keep up with the assigned work.

Date Due Assignment

Th, Jan 11	Read the story “Cathedral” and use the following questions to respond in a typed journal entry: 1. What did you learn about yourself as a result of this selection? In other words, what did you bring to the reading? What memories from your life experiences made you think about yourself and what the author is conveying in the selection? I expect this response to be a good, solid paragraph, not just a few sentences. Make sure that you make a reference to the author and title of the selection. Remember to place the title within quotation marks. 2. What one quotation had the greatest impact on you? Don’t just write the quotation down. Also, write a sentence or two that explains why the quotation was important to you. 3. What question(s) do you have for the author? What don’t you understand about the selection? 4. If you were to lead an in-class discussion on the selection, how would you begin? What question(s) would you ask your classmates to stimulate discussion?
Tues, Jan 16	Read “One Holy Night” and answer the questions above, but this time replace number 4 with a reflection on some biographical fact that you have learned about the author through research. How does that fact help you to understand the story more fully and more confidently? Explain how it connects to some aspect of the story.
Th, Jan 18	Read “St. Marie” and also read the handout on Erikson’s eight stages of human development. What stage is Marie experiencing in the story, and do you think she is succeeding at this stage? Do you see ways that she might have been impacted by past stages, or ways that she will be shaped as she moves on into further stages? Offer your interpretation of her human development.
Tues, Jan 23	Read the photocopied essay by Kincaid (“On Seeing England for the First Time”). Type a journal entry that does two things: 1. Explain in just 2-5 sentences, how England shaped Kincaid as a child and adult. Keep it brief but specific. 2. Then describe how your own sense of culture (American or Iowan or Small Town or rural) has shaped you so far as a person. Do you see any parallels in your own experience, or do you feel quite different in the way you have been shaped by culture?
Thurs, Jan 25	Titles are always important. Type a journal entry showing how the title “Rules of the Game” helps to understand the story. Consider how the rules of chess may relate to the rules of life. What are the differences in rules between Chinese people and Americans? What does the author, Amy Tan, seem to be saying about those differences, particularly for a girl at this particular age? You might refer to Erikson’s life-development stages to help you think about the narrator’s development.
Tues, Jan 30	Read “The Things They Carried” and the handout on shame from J. Brooks Bouson’s (Quiet As It’s Kept: Shame, Trauma, and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison). One of the fun things about literary criticism is that our exploration of a specific theme in one story can lead to discovering a similar vein of meaning in other stories. I’d like each of you to explore this theme of shame in relation to “The Things They Carried,” but also to describe parallels or contrasts that you see in another story we have read. You can pick any one of the following stories for your comparison: “One Holy Night,” “On Seeing England for the First Time,” “Cathedral,” or “St. Marie.” I’d like you to type 1-2 pages of response. Be sure to show evidence of shame in both stories, and be sure to describe any evidence that the character in question is using one of the coping techniques described in Bouson’s book. Use several direct quotes to support your analysis. We will use your work to start our discussion.
Thurs, Feb. 1	Please read the essay handout titled “Under the Influence” and come prepared to discuss it. There is no journal assignment, since you are expected to bring all your journal entries on this day. Bring them in a pocket folder and label each one by the story that you have analyzed. The journal entries should include a response to these six stories: “Cathedral” “One Holy Night” “St. Marie” “On Seeing England for the First Time” “Rules of the Game” “The Things They Carried”
Tues, Feb. 3
Thurs, Feb. 8	Review for Exam over first unit of course.
Tues, Feb. 13	Take Exam over first unit of course.
Thurs, Feb. 15	Read the first two chapters of An American Requiem by James Carroll. Type up a journal entry: what would you guess this whole book is about, based on just those first two chapters? What are the clues?
Tues, Feb. 20	Read through chapter 5 in An American Requiem (page 92).
Thurs, Feb. 22	Read through chapter 6 of An American Requiem (pages 93-123). Then type a journal entry to put in your journal. Please describe the faith that the author is discovering during his years as a seminarian. Be sure to show how it has changed, explaining what he used to believe as a child or youth, and how that has changed.
Tues, Feb. 27	Read through Chapters 7 and 8 (pp. 124-200). Look up additional info on at least one historical person or event mentioned in the text. Then type a journal entry describing several things you are discovering about U.S. culture and politics during the 1960’s. Finally, explain whether you think U.S. culture during this current decade is similar or different to U.S. culture during that time.
Thurs, Feb. 29	Read through Chapter 9 of American Requiem (pages 201-222).
Tues, March 6	NO new assignment, due to snow day.
Thurs, March 8	Finish reading American Requiem. Write a final response to the book, simply describing the things you have learned that you did not know. Choose things that have surprised you or made you think in new ways. Put this into your journal.
Tues, March 13	Read through chapter 5 (page 47) of The Kite Runner. Create a family tree for the narrator and for the servant family. Also, look up two unfamiliar terms and bring definitions or explanations.
Thurs, March 15	Read through chapter 9 (page 100).
T-Th March 20-24	SPRING BREAK
Tues, March 27	Read through chapter 14 (page 194). Type a journal entry about any parallels or pairings that you see in the book (either in characters or events). Example: Amir and Hassan are a pair and they have parallel experiences because they both have missing mothers. After you list several of these pairings, write an analysis of what this may reveal about the author’s view of life, or his purpose in the book. What do you discover through looking at these pairings?
Thurs, March 29	Read through chapter 19 (page 242).
Tues, April 3	Keep reading The Kite Runner, and come to class prepared to watch the Afghan film Osama. Be sure to write notes on the film, particularly about the ways that it confirms or clarifies things you have read about in The Kite Runner.
Thurs, April 5	Finish The Kite Runner. Type a journal entry in which you describe how the plot is brought to a place of closure and resolution. First, explain what has been the central conflict for the narrator, Amir. How is that conflict brought to a climax and resolved? What aspects of Amir’s childhood experience are dealt with through his adult return to Afghanistan? Then explain what the author seems to be suggesting through the very last chapter of the book.
Tues, April 10	Read chapters 1 and 2 of The Liar’s Club.
Thurs, April 12	Read chapters 3 and 4 of The Liar’s Club.
Tues, April 17	Read chapters 5-8 (through page 174) of The Liar’s Club. Also, come to class with all journal entries from the second half of the semester. Place them in your folder with old, graded entries on the left side pocket, new ones on the right. Please label each journal entry, using these terms: Subject of American Requiem. What would you guess this whole book is about, based on just those first two chapters? What are the clues? Changing Faith. Show how the author’s faith has changed, explaining what he used to believe as a child or youth, and what he now believes. U.S. Culture and Politics. Describe several things you are discovering about U.S. culture and politics during the 1960’s. Is our own current U.S. culture similar or different? Family Tree and Terms. Create a family tree for the narrator and for the servant family in The Kite Runner. Also, look up two unfamiliar terms and bring definitions or explanations. Pairing in The Kite Runner. Type a journal entry about any parallels or pairings that you see in the book. What does this reveal about the author’s view of life or his purpose? Resolution in The Kite Runner. Describe how the plot is brought to a place of closure and resolution. First, explain what has been the central conflict for the narrator, Amir. How is that conflict brought to a climax and resolved?
Thurs, April 19	Read through chapter 9 of The Liar’s Club (page 197). Also, bring your reflective essay comparing coming of age in your own experience and in one of the three books we have read.