Friday, October 30, 2015

Kate Chopin




From "American Passages: A Literary Survey"
Kate Chopin introduced American readers to a new fictional setting with her evocations of the diverse culture of Cajun and Creole Louisiana. But while much of Chopin's work falls into the category of regionalism, her stories and especially her novel, The Awakening, are also notable for their introduction of controversial subjects like women's sexuality, divorce, extramarital sex, and miscegenation.

Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a socially prominent, financially secure family...At the age of nineteen she married Oscar Chopin, a French Creole from a Louisiana planter family. After a glamorous European honeymoon, the couple settled in New Orleans, where Oscar went into business as a cotton broker and Kate became active in the city's social life. Her fluency in French and southern sympathies ensured that she fit easily into New Orleans society.

When the cotton brokerage business failed in 1879, the Chopins relocated to Natchitoches Parish in rural Louisiana, where they intended to operate one of Oscar's father's cotton plantations. But by 1883 Oscar Chopin had died of swamp fever, leaving Kate Chopin a thirty-two-year-old widow with six children to support and limited financial resources. After running the plantation on her own for a year, Chopin returned to St. Louis, where she moved into her mother's house and began writing poetry and short stories. Drawing on her experiences in New Orleans and Natchitoches, Chopin created realistic depictions of the distinctive customs of the region and captured the cadences and diction of Louisiana speech in her dialogue. By 1893, she had published her first novel, At Fault, and placed stories in such prestigious venues as the Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, and Century. In 1894 she published an extremely successful collection of short stories, Bayou Folk, and followed it up with another volume of stories about Louisiana entitled A Night in Acadie.

We will read three short stories by Chopin, and do some ground work for an eventual literary analysis. Here are some choice quotes and notes from the stories.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Gilded Age


Literary Developments of the 1870s-1915

Regionalism, Realism, and Naturalism
Huck Finn

Friday, October 23, 2015

Native American Experience Assessment

Your assessment of understanding the Native American Experience is a thesis-driven essay. We have explored what it means to be a Native American through excerpts, videos, short stories, articles, and primary texts. Using these sources, compose an essay of at least five paragraphs that essentially answers this question:
  • What is the Native American experience and how has it been shaped and defined (given their history and authors’ exploration of the topic)?
Reminders:
  • Thesis: Specific, provable
  • Voice/Word Choice: Formal, academic
  • Fluency: Smooth transitions and natural integration of quotes
  • Variety of Sources: You have many resources at your disposal...Use them and be specific!
  • Citation: MLA with a Works Cited page
In addition, Ms. Hopkins has put together a libguide with some additional resources: articles about the topic, websites, etc. Please look through this guide and scan some articles to aid in your essay.

Monday and Tuesday we will have technology...immediately share a Google Doc with BOTH Mrs. Mireault and Mr. Bujold. We will be providing constant feedback as you write.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Critical Views on History


Who is Howard Zinn?


Here is a quote from him, from his bestselling book A People's History of the United States:
I don’t want to invent victories for people’s movements. But to think that history-writing must aim simply to recapitulate the failures that dominate the past is to make historians collaborators in an endless cycle of defeat. If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past, when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, occasionally to win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare. That, being as blunt as I can, is my approach to the history of the United States. The reader may as well know the before going on.



  • What does he seem to value and why? 
  • What does he seem to think the purpose and function of history is? 
  • How does this approach seem similar to and different from how you have studied history in school?
To supplement our reading of Sherman Alexie, we are going to look at a chapter from Zinn's famous book: "As Long As Grass Grows Or Water Runs." There are also some questions that go along with the reading.

Also, in keeping in-line with critically looking at history, here is a great article about how Lincoln ordered the mass execution of 38 Sioux. Sherman Alexie even wrote a poem about it.

Don't forget to keep reading...

Monday, October 19, 2015

Native American Experience



The goal for this unit is to explore what it means to be a Native American through excerpts, videos, short stories, articles, and primary texts. Using these sources, we will essentially answer this question:
  • What is the Native American experience and how has it been shaped and defined (given their history and authors’ exploration of the topic)?

Some themes and guided topics we will explore:

  • The Traditional vs. The Contemporary: How do contemporary Native Americans wrestle with their pasts, both personal and in a larger historical context?
  • Spirituality: What is spirituality? What role does it play?
  • Pride: How important is pride? How has the concept changed over time?
  • Warrior: What does it mean to be a warrior? Why is it important?
  • Storytelling: What role does storytelling have in the Native American culture?
  • Resistance: How have Native Americans and their leaders resisted assimilation? How have they been assimilated?
  • Migration: How were Native Americans forcibly relocated? How did this affect their existence?
  • Reservation Life-Alcoholism, poverty, and poor health: Why have so many Native Americans fallen victims to alcoholism, live in poverty, and have poor health?

After our initial discussion, we will watch the fantastic 20/20 special "Children of the Plains," and take notes. From there we will dive into some of Sherman Alexie's work, namely his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. This book is a series of connected short stories that explore contemporary reservation life. We will read four short stories: "Every Little Hurricane," "A Drug Called Tradition," "The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore," and "Indian Education."

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Gettysburg


The bloodiest battle in American history-Let's dissect it, specifically the Gettysburg Address.




Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Some Writing Issues...




As we give back your essays on Pre-Civil War America, let's have a quick breakdown of what worked and what didn't. Some broad problems:

  • Specific Thesis
  • Organization
  • Citations
  • Context
  • Word Choice/Voice

As we move forward, let's try to hone our skills!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Civil War Research/Letter Writing


To immerse ourselves in learning about the Civil War, you are to write two letters based on the viewpoint of a character which you have researched thoroughly. Steps to achieving this goal: