Guest Blogger: Braedon W.

Acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize winner Edith Wharton obviously knows what it takes to write a good novel. Several times this week I have heard my fellow classmates talking about how good the book was or how they were looking forward to reading more. I also found this to be true for myself when I was reading this weekend. After reading through chapter 8 on Sunday, I stopped to think about why this book is able to capture everyone’s attention so easily. It is not the main character, as the story is told through the perspective of a very boring, unanimated Ethan Frome who scarcely communicates in more than a two word grunt. I found that Edith Wharton uses the settings around the characters and unusual details to keep capturing our attention throughout the novel.

When the narrator introduces a character in Ethan Frome, she describes the lighting and its effect on unique details in their appearance to shape the reader’s attitude toward them. She portrays Zeena as a sick, constantly complaining character that Ethan is stuck with and obliged to take care of. When Zeena is first described standing in the doorway, she is put up against a dark background being “tall and angular” while the light “drew out of the darkness her puckered throat and the projecting wrist of the hand that clutched the quilt, and deepened fantastically the hollows and prominences of her high-boned face under its ring of crimping-pins.” These descriptions of Zeena along with several others throughout the story make the reader feel negatively towards Zeena.

The descriptions of Mattie often put her in the softer light of a lamp or fireplace, introduce us to the color red in a landscape otherwise described in grayscale, and use comparable passages to shape our attitude about her. When Zeena is gone and Ethan finds the door locked Mattie answers “She stood just as Zeena had stood, a lifted lamp in her hand, against the black background of the kitchen. She held the light at the same level, and it drew out with the same distinctness her slim young throat and the brown wrist no bigger than a child’s. Then, striking upwards, it threw a lustrous fleck on her lips, edged her eyes with velvet shade, and laid a milky whiteness above the black curve of her brows.” This description through Ethan’s view point uses very positive diction to portray Mattie as embodying youth and innocence.

This stark contrast and definition in the way the characters are described helps create a good vs. evil scenario in our minds throughout the novel. It also makes what would be a very boring book about nineteenth-century New England into a novel that keeps you interested in reading more.

Guest Blogger: Ramon B.

During the middle of last week we have started on our unit of Alienation and Modern Life. Although we have only been given the basic facts of the unit and the novel such as “The Metamorphosis” written by Franz Kafka that goes along with the unit, we have gained the basic knowledge of the content we are going to cover in the weeks ahead of us. The unit discusses about the type of literature that informs readers on the relationship of people with different beliefs, appearance, and culture vs. the new ideas, beliefs, and culture that the Industrial Revolution has brought to the world. It talks about the continuing the trend of the cultivation new ideas and beliefs throughout modern society and the effects it has to the people with different ideas and belief living outside of the “modern life.”

I know that many of the people in our class including myself has not and will not start the novel of “The Metamorphosis” until late Monday night and that we have not been thoroughly exposed to the idea of “Alienation and Modern Life.” So in that case I will discuss examples from our previous unit and provide modern examples that I think will highly fit and discuss the unit of “Alienation and Modern Life.” In William Faulkner’s novel “As I Lay Dying,” Anse and his family were most likely considered “Aliens” in the scene when they passed through the town of Jefferson that had modernized townsmen, modern businesses and buildings. They were considered different from the rest of the town through their attire, actions, Jewel’s improper reaction to the pedestrians they encountered, and the fact that they were people who lived out in the country. The scene from AILD shows how people tend to “Alienate” or consider other people different even from a smaller scale. A more modern novel such as “The Glass Castle” written by Jeanette Walls is a perfect example of “Alienation” because she talks about she was always treated differently in every school she attended because of the fact that she never had time to adjust to the culture of the multiple places she lived in. Another perfect example of the alienation of other people happens in a place in what we like to call high school. Many of us tend to separate certain people that do not fit the criteria of a typical “normal” student. Many of us believe that a typical high school student these days is someone who participates one way or another in school related clubs, teams, events, and etc. wears “normal” clothes either gangster, preppy, or casual clothing, and someone who shows school spirit. We tend to separate ourselves and think differently of the people who don’t fit one or more of those criteria. They are usually left out and thought of as “outsiders.” These examples that I have provided show how alienation not only occurs in a large scale but it also occurs in a smaller scale. With my ideas being said I am ready to learn about the unit on “Alienation and Modern Life” and learn how literature is used to express the ideas of it.

Guest Blogger: Aaron B.

I think we’ve kind of exhausted the topic of point of view and I’m glad that were moving onto a different topic. From reading “Turn of the Screw” all the way to our latest novel “As I Lay Dying” this unit has been a long one, even more so because of the four to five page paper due on Monday. We’ve taken a look at every possible type of point of view and I really found the latest short story very interesting. “A Dill Pickle” when I read that the first time I thought it was a limited omniscient story since Mansfield seems to only let the reader into the girl’s mind. Except for in the last lines, “She had gone. He sat there, thunder-struck, astounded beyond words…. And then he asked the waitress for his bill. ‘But the cream has not been touched,’ he said. ‘Please do not charge me for it.’” When the reader gets a peek into what the man is thinking. I was shocked to see that the story could be viewed in a totally different point of view, from an imagination in the man’s mind. Once Edmonds threw that curve ball it actually seemed possible but I still found myself saying, “No way!”
I’m dreading this paper because I’ve had so much going on that I haven’t had much time to work on it and plus I’m a major procrastinator. I have started writing about how the authors use verisimilitude as a style to propel their story lines, but I keep thinking that there would be an easier technique to cover. Another technique I was examining was that of point of view, but I fear that a lot of other people are using that as theirs and I want Mr. Decker to have a variety. On the other hand it has to be done by Monday and we have plenty of information to use to write four or more pages. After this paper is done I have a feeling that the year is going to fly by and it will be graduation day in no time.
Enough of this point of view stuff, let’s move on to alienation. This new unit is like a breath of fresh air; plus it already seems pretty interesting. Estrangement or alienation as we learned today is a separation from the outside world, from all people and nature itself. Franz Kafka, a master of this topic seems to be an amazing writer, I found his parable that we read in class very interesting and I’m looking forward to his novella “Metamorphosis”. Although alienation uses a lot of negative imagery I’m ready to move on and experience something completely different. Now I wonder what we’re going to have to with this unit, but I’m not going to worry about that. Since Mr. Edmonds hyped up Kafka so much he has me wondering more about this great author and how he creates alienation in his writing.

Guest Blogger: Josh P.

OK seriously, I'm going to do my best to keep TVTropes out of this post. For your sake and mine too if certain unnamed haters get a hold of me.

Regardless, we're studying novels. Great American Novels, specifically. But what makes them so great? We've talked about point of view, romance vs. verisimilitude, and other fun things like that. But aren't we forgetting something? When you pick up a novel, either fresh off the shelf at your local B&N, or a nice-smelling old book in the JM bookroom, you don't read it for "teh lulz", or for the point of view, or even for the romance vs. verisimilitude debate (unless you're Mr. Decker, of course). No, you read it for the plot.

Yes, I know what you're gonna say. Plot is low on Bloom's Taxonomy! That's only comprehension level! Go beyond the plot!

But plot is perhaps the most important part of any novel ever written. Plot is the glue that binds together the book - quite literally. Without a plot, James couldn't present his verisimilitude to readers without them dozing off in the middle of the lack-of-story. Wharton couldn't make us read Ethan Frome for a million dollars if it had no story, only Ethan's dull narration of daily life. Faulkner would have no reason to tell us about the Bundrens' journey to Jefferson to bury their dead mother. None of it would work!

So it turns out plot is a little more important than you thought. More examples: How does Shelley develop the character of Viktor Frankenstein? Through plot events. Homer and Odysseus? Through Odysseus's actions and his ultimate fate. Hester Prynne? Her wearing the scarlet letter and her introspection into why she does. Jay Gatsby? He certainly wouldn't be the "Great Gatsby" if the plot didn't develop him and his motives for the reader. Dialogue and introspection, as well as actions and events, are all parts of plot that can in turn allow the deeper levels of comprehension and analysis that lead us to things like romance vs. verisimilitude or point of view.

Ok I'll give you this. In these "Great American Novels", plot takes a backseat. So often we focus on the literary elements of the stories while ignoring their plot, and that's a shame. Reading books with a good twisted plot and lots of revelations about the characters we know and trust can be fun - if we don't analyze it to death.

So what I'm trying to say is this - we read a book for the plot specifically the first time through. Then we look at the deeper literary elements and try to tie them to the plot events and dialogue. Once you start to look at the plot of books, they suddenly don't seem as scary. We can look at Turn of the Screw, As I Lay Dying, Homer's Odyssey, and yes, even perhaps The Scarlet Letter, as perhaps more engaging books where we don't focus totally on the "boring" elements of literature, and maybe even make reading these books for plot enjoyable.

Process Paper Details

2nd Semester Process Paper
We have just finished reading and analyzing three pieces of literature, Turn of the Screw, Ethan Frome and As I Lay Dying. For this process essay, please choose a literary technique or element and discuss said element using each of the three novels.
Guidelines:
o Text support with citations is required, along with a Works Cited page
o Length should be between 4-5 pages typed, double spaced
o All three pieces need to be discussed in relation to your chosen technique/element
o Essay should focus on analysis, not plot summary
o Paper is due on Monday, April 19th and needs to be submitted to SafeAssign by midnight on the 19th

Guest Blogger: Mark J.

Over the weekend, I toured FermiLab with the AP Physics group. While it was fun, the most useful accomplishment I did was adding “Big Bang Theory” to my list of least favorite tv shows ever, right down there with the star wars holiday special and anything that plays on the disney channel.
It was the Chicago trip, however, that gave me a solid grip on an idea that’s been bouncing around my head for a while; specifically, it was triggered by our dear physics teacher expressing his amazement at the fact that Chicago exists. He was talking about how, having grown up in place very unlike Chicago, he was always dumbstruck by the sheer scale of larger cities. (in Psych, we recently learned about how our past experiences affect our current perceptions – pure tangent there). I thought it strange that, while so many people are awed by places like Chicago, most Chicago-landers hardly ever give it a second thought. Now, to start making connections to in-class stuff. Faulkner, from what I understand, never saw anything like modern Chicago in his life. Indeed, I can’t imagine him even imagining what today’s Chicago would be like. For that matter, he probably never saw anything like Rochester, either. Logically then, if Faulkner had no idea what life was like for ‘ordinary’ people living in Rochester (us), it would follow that ‘ordinary’ people who have lived in Rochester for most of our lives (we) have little to no idea of what life was like for him (or his characters). Now, that’s not entirely true, but it does help to illustrate the difficulty we have with seeing things from Faulkner’s (or his characters’) perspective; more so than when we read, well, pretty much anything else. Unfortunately, his ability to reduce narrative distance to zero (which makes for very uncooperative reading) seems to be one of his strong points.
More simply stated: he wrote the parts well, but we have zero exposure to anything like it, so it’s hard for us to comprehend; it would likewise be hard for him to understand much of what we write about (that is, if we wrote stream of consciousness accounts of our daily lives). So don’t beat yourself up because Faulkner makes no sense.

Now, about point of view…
Let’s say you have lunch fourth hour, and you actually care about being on time to AP Lang. However, you left your copy of AILD in your locker, down the hallway in front of the offices. Not wanting to be late, you hurry very quickly along the catwalk towards senior corner; Mr. Banks is standing there, watching people get from class to class with ‘zero standing’ as usual. Trying to save time, you take the corner from the catwalk hallway to the office hallway very sharply and quickly and right as you round the corner – BAM, you walk right into Mr. Limberg.
So What?
Mr. Banks had been watching down both hallways at the same time, and easily perceived that you and the principal were going to collide; whether he would do anything is beyond the scope of this blog – the important piece is that he knew what would happen because of his Point Of View – and that’s what the American Novel is all about, right? The story above is from your point of view, but another author might have chosen Mr. Limberg’s point of view, or Mr. Banks, or all three of you, or maybe just two, or none of you; it could have been the PoV of a custodian, or a fly, or a bee, or a freshman. That’s the idea behind the point of view consideration.

Sorry if this seems rather ramshackle and random – life moves very quickly.

Addie Obituary

Write an Obituary for Addie that is about 1 page long.

Be Creative and Funny!

You may write from Darl’s, Jewel’s, or Addie’s perspective.

Guest Blogger: Hilary B.

As I was reading this book, I became continually more frustrated. It was a dumb book, with bad grammar, extremely hard to follow diction, and no apparent plot. Even though it was a short book, I struggled to make myself read it. When I finally finished I was more confused than ever and I was ready to come back to class and have things like “my mother is a fish” explained to me.

This made me consider why a book like this was ever written, or why the publishers would ever let it be published. But this book is ranked among the best novels of the 20th century literature. And it has “directly influenced a number of other critically acclaimed books, including British author Graham Swift's 1996 Booker Prize-winning novel Last Orders[12] and Suzan-Lori Parks's Getting Mother's Body: A Novel” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying_(novel) . So there must be something about this book that makes it worth reading. Maybe it is the horrible grammar, or could it be that confusing use of diction? There must be something more to this than it just being confusing. I think it is revered for William Faulkner’s originality, while he does use stream of consciousness like James Joyce, he is unique because he uses many different characters and points of view to tell the same story. Many people liked Louis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland even though he was high when he wrote it, so maybe Faulkner has the same effect when he’s drunk.

Guest Blogger: Thomas D.

During the last week with Ethan Frome, as well as Turn of the Screw, Point of View has been greatly emphasized. Without the governess's limited and sometimes incorrect view. Turn of the Screw would hardly be as mysterious as it is. And without the engineer to insert ideas such as a "metallic dome sky", Ethan Frome would be... hmm. What would happen if Ethan Frome was narrarated by Ethan himself? What if it was a nearly stream-of-consciousness view inside of Ethan's limited, dull head? Would the story be just as engaging as before? Would it have the eloquence of James Joyce? We'll never know for sure, but I think I've got a pretty good idea of what it would be like...

Because you're all lazy and on spring break, I have created an audio-visual presentation in case you can't bear to read any more text.



My name is Ethan Frome. I live in Starkfield. I run a sawmill but don't make any money from it. My wife is Zeena. She is sick and wastes my money. She is also not fun in bed. I have to go pick Mattie up from the dance. I should go now.

I see Matt through the window. I am good at looking through windows. I remember how she is so pretty. I think she would be more fun in bed than Zeena. I need to bring her home now. I tell her to come along. She does.

Zeena needs to visit a new doctor. I hate new doctors. They waste my money. But I don't have any money. I get a good idea. I lie to Zeena. I say I need to get money from Hale. I can stay with Mattie. And her bed. So I go to get the money. But he has no money. He is late with the payment. I don't take the payment. I have pride. I do not want to be a poor beggar. So I go home without money.

I have dinner with Matt. The cat breaks the pickle plate. I can fix it. But first I want to touch her. I tell her about the weather. She seems happy. We do not go to her bed. I am dissapointed. I think her bed would be more fun than Zeena's.

Zeena comes back. She wants a new maid. I am sad. She sees the broken plate. She is angry. I leave with Matt. We find Hale's sled. Matt says we should run into the elm. I hit the elm. I think I die. But I don't. I bleed. Mattie's back is broken. Now she is no fun in bed. Zeena takes care of her.

The end.