Homework Assignments
All questions refer to the text A Little LIterature unless otherwise indicated:
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Week 2: Due Feb. 17
1. Answer questions 1-3 on pages 11 and 17 (six questions total.)
"The Lesson of the Master" by Emily Wu
1. Discuss question 1 on page 19.
2. Who is the narrator? (Who is telling you the story?)
3. What do you know about the merchant? Provide evidence that supports your response.
"Powder" by Tobias Wolf
1. Who does the father call from the diner? Use evidence as support .
2. List the conflicts created.
3. Was there a resolution?
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Week 3: Due Feb. 24
"The Cat in the Rain" by Ernest Hemingway
1. After reading all there is to read about ,"The Cat in the Rain" (student papers, notes, analysis in the text) write down YOUR general impression of what YOU think Hemingway's intention is. For example, what is the point of the story? What is your impression of the characters?
2. Continue your discussion of the story by answering number 6 on page 89.
"Misery" by Anting Chekhov
1. Make a list of all the aspects of the story that add to Iona's character. For example, consider the setting, the other character's responses to Iona, including the horse. What about Iona's responses to the other characters?
2. What do you think about the ending?
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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
1. What conflicts do you notice?
2. What does the "white space," found between paragraphs 2 and 3 on page 103 indicate? What shift occurs at the next "white space," found between paragraphs 6 and 7 on page 104?
3. Briefly compare and contrast the character differences between Mama, Maggie, and Dee.
4. How might the character contrasts create a theme?
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Week 4: Due Mar. 3
"Who's Irish" by Gish Jen and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner
1. Compare and contrast the two grandmothers. Use similarities as well as differences.
2. Name some of the conflicts of both stories.
3. What are some similarities or differences of the families in each story?
4. How do the titles of each story relate to its theme?
5. What narrative differences (how is the story told?) do you notice? How do the differences in narration influence the tone and style of the story?___________________________________________________________________________________________
Week 5: Due Mar. 10
1. Delete the reading "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne - add Peer Review Paper 1 - Bring 2 typed drafts (at least 3 pages for peer review and conferences.) Also Paper 1's due has been extended to Tu., Mar. 17th.
"A&P" by John Updike, "A Rose for Emily" by the one and only William Faulkner, "The Chrysnathemums" by John Steinbeck:
1. Create four questions per story lto discuss with your group. Please be prepared with an answer to your questions. Please create questions that require critical thinking . . . . whose grey hair was on the pilow next to Homer Baron???????? And what does that mean? Yikes!
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Due: Mar. 17:
1. Prepare for Exam 1 on “A&P”, “Rose”, and “Chrysanthemums”
2. Read as stated in syllabus on poetry.
3. Paper 1 Due
Due: Mar. 24:
1. "The Mother" - q. 1 p. 426
2. "Not Waving but Drowning" - q.'s 2, 3 p. 427
3. "The Terroist, He Watches" - q. 1 p. 429
4. "Icarus" - q.'s 1, 3 p. 430
5. "My Last Duchess" q. 1 p 433
6. "The Man He Killed" q. 1, 3 p.'s 436-437
7. "Barbie Doll" q. 's 1-2 p 440
Due: Apr. 14
1. Bring two drafts of your poetry paper to class for peer review.
2. Print out the poety peer review sheets (under handouts.)
3. Come to class prepared to discuss the poems listed on syllabus and with an understanding - or questions - of the elements of poetry .that Ch. 15 focuses on - listed in the syllabus.
Due: Apr. 21
"I Saw in Louisiana . . . "
1. What does the tree represent? Explain.
" TheTropics in New York"
1. What is the main point the speaker is making?
"Diving into The Wreck"
1. What is the wreck the speaker is exploring?
"To the Lady"
1. Goggle or otherwise research Japanese Interment camps. Explain what they were.
2. Who is the lady? Who is the "you."
"Facing It"
1. What is the speaker facing - literally and physically?
"On the Amtrack . . . "
1. Who is Don Henely?
2. What is Walden Pond?
Due Apr. 28
Prepare for Poety Exam.
Welcome to Drama! Read as stated and answer the following questions:
Answer questions 1-5 and 9-11 on pages 642-643.
Due May 5
Doll's House Act 1
1. What is the significance of the play's title?
2. Nora lies several times during the play. What kinds of lies are they? Do her lies indicate that she can't be trusted or do they show us something else about her?
3. What kindof wife does Helmer want Nora to be? He affectionately calls her name such as "lark' and "squirrel." what does this reveal about his attitude toward her?
4. Why is Nora pale with terror at the end of Act 1? What is the significance of the description of the Christmas tree now "stripped of ornaments, with burned-down candle stubs on its ragged branches?"
Acts II-III
1. What is Dr. Rank's purpose in the play?
2. How does the relationship between Krogstad and Linde serve to emphasize certain qualities in the Helmer's marriage?
3. Why does Nora reject Helmer's efforts to smooth things over betweent hem and start again?
Due May 12
1. Answer questions 1, 2 , 3, 4 p 822.
4. Is the ending happy or unhappy?
Due May 19
1. Complete the novel Love in the Time of Cholera - come to class prepared to discuss the novel.
2 . Peer Reveiw for the Drama Paper
Due May 26
1. Final discussion on Love in the Time of Cholera
2. Paper 3 due
3. Drama Reading Response Questions due
