Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Arming Herself In Leaden Stupor: Janet's Repentance And The Role Of Female Alcoholism, Leah Kind

Faculty Publications & Research

George Eliot's fiction contains a wealth of figures who are touched by intoxication: both through their own imbibing, and (sometimes literally) because of others' drinking. As Kathleen McCormack1 has noted, the instances of drink are closely tied to the "manifestoes of realism in the early fiction" and that "...despite George Eliot's reputation for earnestness, responsibility, and even ponderousness, a remarkable number of her characters stagger through the novels with their perceptions blurred and reason distorted by unwise consumption of brandy, wine, beer, ale, patent medicines, and opium" (2, 40). In drawing freely upon this trait and using it frequently within …

The Conflict Between Materialism And Idealism, Tina Zhang '16

2013 Fall Semester

In The Sea Wolf by Jack London, Humphrey Van Weyden is an American upper class gentleman on a ferry-steamer, but a collision almost drowns him in the sea. He is rescued by Wolf Larsen, the captain of a seal-hunting schooner named the Ghost. Forced to serve Wolf, Humphrey witnesses how Wolf treats his crew carelessly, for the Captain believes in Materialism, where life is only matter and has no value to others. Humphrey, on the other hand, argues for Idealism, the belief in spiritual values that transcend life such as love and honor. Although Wolf initially dominates the weak …

Why ‘Dead White Guys’ Help Advance The Human Condition, August Nagro '15

2013 Fall Semester

Enlightenment often comes from unexpected sources. What English student, for example, could expect to be influenced by the works of a dead, blind author who yelled, “milk me! Milk me!” (Elfer), when calling his daughter to jot down his thoughts? While outlandish, John Milton (the author mentioned above) wrote persuasive literature that formed a snapshot of historical controversies of the time. English class should provide students with the critical thinking and writing skills necessary for their future, introduce students to philosophical controversy encouraging analytical analysis, and provide a historical basis for literature. These goals are only enhanced through the exploration …

For King And Country: The Hobbit And The Great War, Ryan Chiu '14

2013 Fall Semester

British professor and author J.R.R. Tolkien is widely distinguished for his literary works that reshaped the fantasy genre, including The Hobbit, which serves as the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. While writing The Hobbit, Tolkien frequently attempted to incorporate aspects of his personal life, particularly the experiences he encountered in his service during the First World War. He represents these events vicariously through the eyes of the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, and his quest through Middle Earth. According to fantasy literature scholar Michael N. Stanton in his book Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards, “[readers] can go back and see …

Thou Cannot Create Perfection, Alyda Huerta '15

2013 Fall Semester

Listen! I entreat you to hear me, before you give vent to your opinion, for there are children and creatures alike brought forth into life each day. Some of them are born into the arms of happiness, and some, shunned by their creator at the moment of their first breath, are deemed unworthy and thrown savagely into the pits of unforgiving hell. And now, thou can listen to me and grant me thy agreement. One day, tormented ages thereafter still by the unforgiving murder of my creator, I happened across a piece of paper lying on the ground that possessed …

To Be A Friend: An Analysis Of Phineas’ Character, Joy Qiu '16

2013 Fall Semester

19^th century poet Ralph Waldo Emerson famously observed that "the only way to have a friend is to be one." His statement suggests that friendship is a two-way street, requiring contributions and sacrifices from all members to qualify as a genuine bond. However, in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the relationship between Gene and Phineas demonstrates that Emerson’s definition does not always hold true. As each boy struggles with his own inner turmoil and sense of identity on the brink of World War II, their friendship becomes unstable and incredibly one-sided – Gene constantly questions Phineas’ motives, …

Deconstructed Gender Norms In Princess Mononoke, Karen Olowu '14

2013 Fall Semester

I’ve loved anime ever since I was a little kid. I remember staying up late every Friday night to watch Toonami with my older brother. However as I’ve grown up, I’ve begun to resent the one sided femininity displayed by the majority of female anime characters. Anime is notorious for its stereotypical portrayal of female characters. Girls are usually naive and wide eyed, rushing stupidly into trouble only for the brave hero to pull them out of it. My frustration with carbon copy female heroines had gotten to the point that I considered putting my love for anime to rest. …

A Search For Symbolism In The Great Gatsby, Nicole Trackman

The Great Gatsby Unit

Students will work in small groups to trace the context and implications for assigned symbols or colors in The Great Gatsby. This activity is best done after the class has completed a reading of the book. This activity allows the students to look more closely at Fitzgerald’s language and make connections across the use of symbols/ colors in the text. This lesson can be a nice lead up to a final paper or assessment. Teachers can facilitate this lesson as a part of a blended classroom, or completely in class. Either way, students will have a catalog of the …

Acting Out The Old Sport, Leah Kind

The Great Gatsby Unit

The purpose of this exercise is twofold: one, to have students make text-based interpretations in their discussion, planning, and eventual performance of scenes from The Great Gatsby; two, to have students see the crucial (albeit sometimes frustrating) role of Nick Carraway as the narrator of the novel. In their performance groups, one student will fill the role of “performing” (verbally) Carraway’s interior monologue as conceived by the group, so it will be necessary for students to make informed decisions on his mental commentary. In being tasked with bringing Fitzgerald’s text to life for their peers, students will also gain …

Nick Carraway—Narrator Extraordinaire!, Leah Kind

The Great Gatsby Unit

This exercise gives students further practice with both the skills of close reading and character analysis. In The Great Gatsby, readers are introduced to Nick Carraway by Nick Carraway, and many take his words as law. Yet there are also constant inklings that Nick may not be the most neutral of narrators after all. This exercise allows students to look closely at characters in the novel as they are introduced by Nick, and examine the divide between Carraway’s version of the character and the reader’s own impression. Students will only have the text, and their analysis, to guide them. …

Dialogue In Fiction, Tracy A. Townsend

The Short Story

This close-reading and discussion-oriented lesson, which takes between sixty and seventy minutes, uses Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” as a model of how dialogue advances plot and develops character in fiction. It is useful in literature classrooms for its emphasis on drawing inferences from text and in creative writing contexts for teaching effective dialogue writing. This lesson is suitable for grades 9-12.

Setting As Character, Tracy A. Townsend

The Short Story

This lesson uses Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” to explore tone and characterization in short fiction. It requires students to demonstrate an understanding of the role character plays in fiction and to use specific textual evidence to support a claim. The lesson can be completed in a single class period of fifty to seventy minutes and is suitable for grades 9-12.

Exploring Metaphor In The Great Gatsby, Dan Gleason

The Great Gatsby Unit

In this lesson, students engage with one approach to metaphor and then apply that learning to metaphors in Great Gatsby. To start, students learn about I. A. Richards’s definition of metaphor as the link between tenor (topic) and vehicle (way of thinking about it). They then generate some metaphors by randomly combining tenors and vehicles in order to understand how the parts interrelate. Finally, the class interacts with the messier, more beautiful face of metaphor by working through, in groups, some key metaphors from the novel. Students identify the components of each metaphor (tenor, vehicle) and also consider what subtle …

“My Life With My Cell Phone”: Creating A Magical Realist Story, Dan Gleason

The Short Story

In this lesson students are introduced to the basic elements of magical realism, a genre that combines fantastical events with the mundane normalcy of life. Students examine Octavio Paz’s short story “My Life with the Wave” as an example of the genre. In the story, the narrator travels to the ocean and falls in love with a wave, whom he bottles and takes home with him; the two go on to both cherish each other and fight terribly. After discussing the story, students create, in groups, plot sketches for their own adaptations. Students might imagine relationships with cell phones, the …

Visual Rhetoric Through The Years, Leah Kind

Rhetoric Unit

This exercise gives students an introduction to some of the language and terminology of visual rhetoric in a brief teacher-guided discussion. Following the discussion, students, in small groups, will find both a vintage print advertisement and a current print ad within the same general category and examine how different forms of appeals have evolved through time, how ads now target their specific audiences, and, in general, how ads have changed, and why. Groups will present their findings to the class. Having the opportunity to see what in advertising has changed (as well as what has not changed) will allow students …

19th Century American Rhetoric: Figures, Techniques, And Informational Texts, Adam Kotlarczyk

Rhetoric Unit

Ward Farnsworth writes in his 2011Classical English Rhetoric “figures sound splendid when used to say things worth saying,” and nineteenth century Americans, it seems, had many things worth saying. The nineteenth century was a high-water mark for oral and written rhetoric in English; this was especially true in America. Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison wrote eloquently and passionately on abolition, even as the nation plunged into Civil War. Abraham Lincoln articulated his vision for the reunification of a country shattered by that war, while Henry David Thoreau explained the ethical need for the occasional disobedience to civil law …

Connecting Literature And History: Fitzgerald’S The Great Gatsby Museum Project, Adam Kotlarczyk

The Great Gatsby Unit

Despite mixed reviews at the time of its 1925 publication, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has come to be one of the most widely taught American books and has become a popular candidate for the title of the “Great American Novel.” Uniquely intertwining social history, biography, and literature, the text challenges readers to understand the culture and history of the Jazz Age and to see its interrelationship with the lives and motivations of the characters, as well as with the author himself. This project encourages students to engage and work closely with one of the historical elements that influenced …

Fishing For A Hero, Simona Stancov '15

2013 Spring Semester

On national holidays like Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day, people all over the United States honor heroes who have protected their country and its residents. While some people receive public recognition for their deeds, others serve as heroes for just a few people. Regardless of their popularity, all heroes possess certain qualities that make them esteemed and respected. The coinage of the term “Hemingway code hero” supports this idea. The expression represents a character in one of Ernest Hemingway’s works that personifies values like bravery, honor, and perseverance and maintains poise in the face of overwhelming …

The Mask Of The 'American Dream', Saraswathi Nookala '15

2013 Spring Semester

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology are heralded as some of the greatest insights into human nature in American literature. Both authors ask the reader to scrutinize the actions and emotions of the characters in their books to understand the true meaning behind their double-sided statements. From analyzing the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Lambert Hutchins, the reader can conclude that although they have the inordinate amount of wealth everybody in America works toward, they are dissatisfied, and use their money and aristocratic position to project the exterior of contentment. Fitzgerald …

No Equality. No Social Justice. Why Not Equity?, Anthony John Marquez '14

2013 Spring Semester

In regards to most current and past social discrepancies, such as between races and sexes, people tend to protest in favor of all individuals being treated equally. However, as demonstrated in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, striving for utter equal treatment in hope of achieving social justice is not necessarily conducive to an uncontestable, utopian society. Social justice, as thoroughly defined by the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, categorizes social justice as a process that “empowers all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full potential…and builds social …

The Marriage Of Science And Religion, Saurabh Kumar '14

2013 Spring Semester

At the end of A Canticle for Leibowitz, written by Walter M. Miller, Jr., the dropping of Lucifer and the resulting repetition of past destruction displays that there is an inherent flaw in the book’s futuristic society. The technological and scientific revival of a world that once repudiated knowledge is remarkable. However, the divergence of science and religion has caused humanity to use the power that comes with knowledge as irresponsibly as it did in the Flame Deluge. Mendelsohn states that, in speculative fiction, “religion is repeatedly depicted as dangerous, diverging humans from the path of reason and …

A Telescope In The Smog, Sam Walder '13

2013 Spring Semester

Clostridium acetobutylicum is a tricky little bacterium which can eat almost anything with carbohydrates and produce a fuel similar to ethanol. Recently, a researcher inserted its ability to make fuel into E. coli, a much more celebrated bacterium. Imagine how little Clostridium must have felt, having its only unique trait copied by the popular kid.

Hawthorne’S “The Minister’S Black Veil”: Group Activities And Interpretations, Adam Kotlarczyk

The Short Story

Although the better-known The Scarlet Letter (1850) still draws more attention from many high school English teachers, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s darkly enigmatic short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” (1836) touches on similar themes and provides readers with diverse avenues for exploration, discussion, and analysis. Containing dramatic, psychological, and moral elements, in addition to its literary ones, it is a complex text that can confound teachers and students alike with its range of interpretations and ambiguity. This lesson allows students in small groups to choose and focus on one interpretive element. It also accommodates different learning styles, offering both creative and analytical …

Session A-4: National Archives Resources And The Common Core, Kris Maldre Jarosik

Professional Learning Day

Discover the online resources of the National Archives and learn how they can support Common Core standards and help build the literacy skills of your students. We will explore sample U.S. history activities relating to the Civil War, American Indians, and World War II during this session.

Change One Thing, Change Everything: Understanding The Rhetorical Triangle, Tracy A. Townsend

Rhetoric Unit

This lesson exposes students to the most fundamental rhetorical concept, that of the “rhetorical triangle,” a device for understanding and articulating audience awareness in persuasion. Provided here are suggestions for a brief and engaging mini-lecture, followed by an exercise using two classic pieces of American rhetoric, speeches by the suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Students will be challenged to learn the principles of the rhetorical triangle, close-read a text for rhetorical clues and cues, and make sound judgments about the speaker’s rhetorical process based on evidence. This lesson and activity are suitable for students in grades 9-12, …

Uncovering Fallacies In Documentary Film, Nicole Trackman

Rhetoric Unit

This is an introductory activity that will familiarize students with eight essential fallacies. Students will be given a specific fallacy and its definition along with examples. Student will search for their fallacy in a twenty minute screening of a documentary film. Through small group and whole class discussion, students will leave class with an expert understanding of their own fallacy as well as a solid foundation of understanding for the other seven fallacies presented.

Putting It Together: Layout Exercise, Michael W. Hancock

Comics and Graphic Novels

This hands-on short activity (~20 minutes, or longer with optional writing, reading, and discussion components) introduces students who are studying comics to layout, a key component of comics’ graphic language. Students begin thinking about the arrangement of panels on a page or over the course of several pages in comics. Students reassemble a wordless page of comics that has been cut up into separate panels and then explain how their new page constitutes a coherent, meaningful page.

Practicing Ethos, Pathos And Logos, Margaret T. Cain

Rhetoric Unit

This is a light-hearted follow-up activity to an introduction to the three rhetorical modes, ethos, pathos and logos. Designed for sophomore, though adaptable, this activity asks students to find creative ways to use the three modes to make an absurd case.

Storytelling In Comics: Who, When, And Where In “Here”, Michael W. Hancock

Comics and Graphic Novels

Richard McGuire’s groundbreaking short comic “Here” (1989) revolutionized storytelling possibilities in comics. It may be used within a short story unit to demonstrate familiar elements of fiction, including setting, plot, and character. Moreover, its inventive use of panels within panels to juxtapose past, present, and future can serve as a model for students’ visual rendering of multiple points in time within a single location.

Philosophers Of War: The Evolution Of History's Greatest Military Thinkers, Daniel Coetzee, Lee Eysturlid

Faculty Publications & Research

The philosophy of war is usually treated in the context of philosophy as a discipline in the same way military justice is compared to justice, and military music to music. That is to say, it is presented as a red-headed stepchild at best or, more likely, as an illegitimate offspring, Carl von Clausewitz, the West's defining military philosopher and its most familiar figure, barely rates a footnote and an index entry in general histories of philosophy—even those with a German emphasis.

The same point can be made about military thought. Theoretical analysis of war is commonly understood in practical contexts: …