The Wheel

Read the short story, The Wheel, and answer the multiple choice questions that follow. The story is in your Facebook class group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/586867731398991/

The Great Gatsby

Here is your second writing assignment - this will be two separate paragraphs in response to a single prompt - be prepared to rewrite the idea as an introductory paragraph to a longer response in class early next week!

 

 

Novel Study: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 

The Thesis Statement: an exploration of theme 

Great stories, like the one you are reading are often great because they convey themes. Theme is defined as a message that the writer wishes you to get from his story. 

The central idea may be expressed as a singular encompassing theme, while at the same time there are often lesser themes within the story. 

A thesis is expressed as a complete thought:  

§  The American Dream is a topic, not a thesis

§  The bonds of blood are often stronger than those forged by friendship. Is a statement that hardly requires expository writing

§  Because Gatsby’s quest for wealth is to gain entry into an elite society into which he was not born, he is destined to fail.

 

Write a thesis statement that you feel best encompasses one of the author’s central ideas in the novel that you are reading. 

Two Paragraphs:

 

1. Write your thesis statement at the beginning of a single paragraph wherein you will explain the thesis

2. Write your thesis as a thesis embedded in the introductory paragraph of an essay  

Example thesis of a paragraph vs. the thesis for an essay:

 

Single Paragraph:

 

            Because Gatsby’s quest for wealth, in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is to help him gain entry into a society into which he is not born, he is destined to fail. Jay Gatsby’s singular reason to gain entry into this elite society is to win back the love of Daisy, a woman with whom he shared a mutual affection five years before the action of the story begins. What Gatsby begins to understand, though, is that it is not merely money that buys someone’s entry into this elite society, but rather breeding, and education. He attempts to create a false past wherein he is an “Oxford man.” It is, though, a past that he cannot sustain; it is plainly evident to the real members of the elite society, like Tom Buchanan (Daisy’s husband), that Gatsby is phoney and his past is merely another charade to buy his membership into the upper crust of American society. Tom exposes Gatsby’s lack of upbringing with his observation that Gatsby is “Nobody from Nowhere” (p. 106) and that the only way he might have been seeing Daisy is if he’d “brought the grocieries to the back door” (p. 107). Even the way that Gatsby makes his money, through organized crime and bootlegging, indicates his lack of sophistication. Whatever Gatsby does and however much money he makes he will always fail to fit into the elite society into which he seeks admission, because it is a society into which the members are born, not made. 

Introductory Paragraph 

 

The American Dream entails that everyone has the opportunity to share in the wealth of the nation and that one’s advancement is limited only by how much work one is willing to do. Unfortunately, though, there are some strata within the nation to which we may only aspire, but never really gain entry. Jay Gatsby, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, aspires to gain entry into this elite society. What Gatsby does not realize, though, is that people do not work their way into this elite society, but rather, they are bred into it. Gatsby’s quest for wealth to help him gain entry into a society into which he is not born, is destined to fail, because he does not have the pedigree, the culture, nor the education necessary for entry into that society. 

 

After this introduction an essay will follow!

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

While reading the novel select one quotation which “strikes” you and write it down. Include a proper reference to the quotation you select. 

Example: “One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized.” (Orwell, p. 56) 

The reason for selecting a specific quotation should be because it… 

Annoys you…

Angers you…

Inspires you…

Frustrates you…

Makes you think…

Confuses you…

Reminds you…

Etc.

1. State which of the above apply to the selected quotation.
2. Tie the quotation to the story in such a way as to give a bit of background to it.
3. In a clearly structured paragraph respond to the quotation with an explanation about why the quotation addresses one of the above concerns. (topic sentence, developing sentences and concluding sentence) 

Example: “One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized.” (Orwell, p. 56) It angers me to think that Winston lives in a society where he is able to consider that his friends or even his coworkers might just disappear one day. That they would disappear for having committed a thought-crime makes the realization of the absolute control of the totalitarian government even more repugnant. Winston, through the voice of the narrator, muses on the myriad ways that people in his society can merely disappear, and then even disappear from all references - as if they had never existed. I would like to think that if I lived in such a society that I, too, would be a rebel. I’d like to think that I would join forces with others to overthrow such an authoritarian regime. But what chance would I have. If I had grown up in such a regime, how would I know what political system would better afford the freedom that I so desperately craved?

Cultural Cliques

"The Evolution of Hipster" is a student essay that relies on research to explain a particular aspect of popular culture. Choose a topic that focuses on some aspect of culture. Research the topic and provide both quotations and a bibliography of sources in your explanation of the cultural phenomenon you have chosen to explore.

Who might be the subject of your research essay?

George Orwell

In two essays George Orwell chronicles colonialism in Burma. In the 1920s Britain was still a world power at the head of a vast commonwealth - an empire over which the sun never set. Read the two essays, "Shooting an Elephant" and "A Hanging", that explore the author's experiences as a policeman in Burma (now Myanmar).

George Orwell, often considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, is the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He coined such memorable phrases as big brother, cold war, thoughtcrime, thoughtpolice and doublethink.
When you are finished reading the two essays, "Shooting an Elephant" and "A Hanging", write a multi-paragraph post that compares and contrasts the views of colonialism - the colonists and the colonized - expressed by Orwell in the essays. Is there consitency? Are there discrepancies in Orwell's perceptions of the colonial experience?

Theme of Place

Write a multi paragraph composition that focuses on the theme of place. See the FaceBook page for sample essays.

Using the thread of continuity as your model - come back to the beginning in the end - compose an essay on a place that is significant to you.Utilize the names of surrounding buildings, founders or other associated things.
In your writing attempt to include examples of literary device and parallel structure.

 

 

Post your completed essay on your blog (Feb. 21)

Chris and James are huge beauties :)