Literary Analysis Web

Literary Analysis Web

Making meaning by relating the parts to the whole and the whole to the parts

The Process and the Question
Over the summer we have kept a few essential questions in mind when discussing all of the reading material: What could each of you do to show that you understand how the parts contribute to a whole? How can you show that a writer’s choices -- choices of individual events, of the order of events, of the (sometimes strange) descriptions and details, of the repeated images, of the characters and characterization, etc. -- fit together to suggest something the significance of the work as a whole?

You will answer these questions by creating a literary analysis web in response to Invisible Cities, Invisible Man, or Wide Sargasso Sea.

The Web, part one: the center
Each student will make a web. At the center of the web will be a robust paragraph (100 words to 300 words or so), explaining in your own words, your understanding of what the novel you’ve chosen is fundamentally all about. What exactly do you think the novel suggests?

(Hint: To begin thinking about the essential themes in the novels review your passage responses and the summaries of summer session discussions written by Mr. Telles.)

The "introductory" paragraph will explain your "big idea," your "bold, insightful assertion" about the novel's meaning. Spend some time with this. The GHS schoolwide rubric says that in order for such paragraphs to be considered proficient they must be clear, supportable, debatable, and insightful; the ones that are advanced will also be sophisticated and/or original . (Warning: Do not turn to the internet looking for an answer. Rely on your own interpretive skills, your own heart and mind. Each year several students ignore this warning and end up receiving no credit (0) for one or more summer reading assignment.)

The Web, part two: the threads
Then you will connect the central paragraph to interpretations of how at least four passages in the novel support your "big idea," your "bold assertion," your "central insight". Choose passages that show development over the course of the novel (beginning, middle, and end) as well as a range of choices made by the author that contribute to the novel’s development.  (Let me make it clear that four is a minimum and to create a thoroughly convincing web you might need to refer to more passages.)

These "interpretations" need to show two things: an understanding of the passage itself and an understanding of how the passage supports your "big idea," your central insight about the significance of the whole. How you show your understanding of the passage and your understanding of its connection with the "big idea" is up to you.

To show your understanding of a passage what will you do? Will you write a paragraph (in the manner of a standard essay) explaining how the passage supports the central paragraph? Will you quote the passage in one font and offer an explication (an unfolding of meaning) in relation to your big idea by using another font? Will you create a picture that shows an understanding of the passage (and its relationship with the central paragraph)? Will this picture show symbolic understanding as well as literal understanding of the passage?

To show the connections what will you do? Will you draw lines? Will each connecting line include a sentence linking the passage with the big idea? Will you use a "footnote" or "endnote" system in which you put numbers in your central paragraph that will lead to numbers which offer explanations of how passages support the central paragraph? Will you create Powerpoint slides to show connections?

And, finally, will you go beyond? Will you show not only how the big idea is connected with passages but also how the passages are connected with each other? What else might you do to show the relationship between the parts of the novel and your understanding of the whole?

Note:

I know some of you are thinking, just tell me what to do! This is too vague.

Part of AP English Lit & Comp is learning how to be a critical, creative, resourceful, and independent reader and writer. I want you to show me that you don't need to be led by the hand but can come up with appropriate, innovative solutions to challenges. In this case I've given you a few parameters (write a central assertion, connect that central assertion to an understanding of at least four passages). I've given you some examples of how you might complete the assignment. I've left the rest up to you.

The Web, part three: teaching your peersYou will be creating a physical object -- a web -- and you will be called upon to explain the web at some point during the second or third week of class.

Due DatesThe physical "web" in whatever form you create is due September 9th, 2014.
The "teaching your peers" part of the assignment will take place during the week of Monday, September 14 through Friday, September 18.

Grading

Advanced webs will offer an insightful, sophisticated, perhaps original understanding of the novel as a whole. This overall understanding will be linked to persuasive, nuanced understanding and interpretation of how at least four passages drawn from key moments throughout the novel support your understanding of the whole. These webs may go "beyond" the parameters of the assignment in some significant, meaningful way.

Proficient webs will offer a clear, thoughtful, plausible, understanding of the novel as a whole. This overall understanding will be linked to a reasonable understanding and interpretation of how at least four passages from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel contribute to the whole. The webs are generally considered to have succeeded in fulfilling the assignment but not to have exceeded expectations for a student entering an introductory college-level course at a competitive college or university.

Webs that need improvement may not offer a clear or plausible understanding of the novel as a whole. The central paragraph may point out themes but may not offer interpretation or insight as to the meaning of the themes in the novel. These webs refer to at least four passages but may not adequately show an understanding of the passage or of how the passage contributes to the work as a whole. The understanding and connection of some passages may be effective The passages may not be drawn from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. In general these webs do not meet the expectations for a student entering an introductory college-level course at a competitive college or university.

Webs that receive warning status may include the weaknesses cited above but also fail to adhere to the basic parameters of the assignment. They may show little to no understanding of the novel or of the passages.

Any web that includes language or material taken directly from another source will receive a zero.

August 23rd Meeting Recap

Hi Everyone:

The turnout was a little lower than usual yesterday, partly due to sports “impact training” (I must find out what this is -- sounds serious), but things went very well nevertheless.  It was immediately apparent that students responded very positively to Wide Sargasso Sea, which I wasn’t entirely expecting.  I had expected that the reserved tone of the narrative and the foggy, ambiguous nature of some of the novel’s central scenes would have frustrated some students, but in fact many appreciated this.  The novel’s tone, in particular, came up several times and was described in varied ways, some of them contradictory: intimate, cold, reserved, intense, disturbing, indirect, unreliable, and personal.  The speaks, I think, of the amazing control that Rhys has over her language, for these many registers of tone point to essential themes in the book.  

Particular scenes really stood out for students.  The intense ambiguity of the scene in which Rochester has an intimate moment with Amelie seemed like a vortex that pulled in most of the novel’s concerns: issues of race, class, control, gender roles, nature and the supernatural, and coming of age.  Other scenes cast their shadows of mystery as well, e.g. what was happening between Antoinette’s mom and her “caretakers,” why did Tia reappear in Antoinette’s mind at the very end of the novel, who was the woman that Antoinette (now Bertha) would see in Mr. Rochester’s house when she was walking around (Jane Eyre?  Herself in a mirror?), and why does Antoinette feel drawn to her natural surroundings when she associates them with pain (“better than people,” she says)?  

I pointed out that issues such as class, race, control, gender roles, nature and maturation are not themes in themselves.  If one were to ask “what about class is this book dramatizing?” then this may be a step to a solid thesis and theme.  I asked the students to choose one of these issues and try to make a statement about it in relation to the book, keeping in mind the question “what about this issue is essential to the novel.”  This exercise did not go over too well, which may be attributed to early morning exhaustion, but I sense that this skill in general (making bold assertions about the reading) should be a focus for our class.  Maybe we should call this “impact training.”

Lastly, I went over the final project attached to our summer work, which is a literary web project.  I will post the full instructions on the blog in just a moment.  Essentially, this is a creative piece which asks you to present the skeletal elements of an essay in the form of a web (thesis, evidence and interpretation).  Students will informally present these during the 2nd - 3rd weeks of school.

If you were not able to attend, please remember to attach comments in the comment section.  We will kicking off the year with Jane Eyre, which is an enormous but amazing book, so if you want to begin early then power up the forklift and pick up a copy somewhere soon, although brand new copies should be arriving for the beginning of school.

Thanks, and email me with any questions, Mr. Telles.

August 8th Meeting Recap.

Hi Everyone:

Let me start again by noting that our next meeting is currently scheduled for Friday, August 22^nd, 8-10 am in room 2209.  The book we will be discussing this time is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and the assignment is the same as it was for the previous two books (see earlier posts).  This time, in your responses, see if you can connect Rhys’ style to the meaning that you are getting from the book.  Another way of putting this is to ask yourself: why is it significant that Rhys is writing this particular way for this particular novel? You don't have to do this in every response, but try focusing on her style for one or two responses.

Last Friday, in spite of sleep deprivation and fumbled breakfast orders, we practiced the very thing that I mention above: tying technique to meaning.  In groups, students chose short passages that they felt were indicative of Ellison’s style and pointed out the hallmarks of the style.  This lead to some interesting provisional ideas. Ellison’s use of italics and repetition do not just indicate high emotion but also drives home the possibility of multiple meanings (as one student noted).  Another student felt that the repeated use of conjunctions and a lack of punctuation added a rhythmic element to the language which connects with The Invisible Man’s thoughts about rhythm and culture at the beginning of the novel – the language takes on a musical nature, in other words.  Someone added to this by claiming that this rhythmic language is also part of the novel’s preoccupation with “dream states” or states of half-consciousness, which allow culturally prohibited thoughts to be expressed.  We ran short on time for this exercise, but it brought forward some very interesting ideas which may not have been on the table if we hadn’t looked closely at the language.

We started our meeting with a recap of the last meeting, which included a reminder of what is on the test and a general discussion of critical theory.  I noted again the College Board’s propensity toward the New Critical style of criticism, and along with that I introduced a few terms related to New Criticism: Affective Fallacy and Intentional Fallacy (worth looking up for those who weren’t there).  From there we got into our impressions of the second half of the book.  Some students found the second half to have more momentum to it: the events were more bizarre and grotesque than the beginning, the characters were more vivid, and the tone was very different.  One student noted the bold and sarcastic tone of the narrator in the second half, as compared to the naïve and trusting tone of the first half.  We then talked about the problem of women in the book (why did the Invisible Man leave Mary for the Brotherhood?  Why do all the women in book only appear in the most intimate and vulnerable scenes?).   This discussion was very detailed and interesting, with students making connections between scenes in the book (the Trueblood dream and the “rape” scene at the end of the book, for instance).  I then asked the students what they thought of the book as a whole, or what they would take away from it.  Some said that it was such a huge book (conceptually) that it was very difficult to say.  One student said that she felt the book was able to take a massive social moment (the struggle for civil rights, political upheaval) and bring it down to a very personal level, which ties in with the novel’s central tension between one’s private inner life and social expectations.  Another mentioned that the book is so epic in scope that it transcends its setting: it goes beyond race and social struggle and becomes just a human story.  Another student said that the insistent questioning of identity was what will stick with her: what constitutes a person’s consciousness, how does one protect one’s identity and live in the world?  This final thought lead us to think about the ambiguous ending: on the one hand, The Invisible Man has found a way to escape the push and pull of life and won’t be used by people again, since he is literally in a hole and separated from humanity.  On the other hand, is he really “free” if he’s chosen to simply hide away?  Is the problem really that we must either give up culture for our selves, or give up our selves for culture?  Even the Invisible Man worries over this.

Thank you again for those who came, and I hope to see the others at the last meeting.  Mr. Telles.