Unit+3+Homework+Archive

= MAJOR ESSAYS AND PROJECTS =

1. Timed Essay #3 -- Rhetorical Analysis

 * Due: To be completed in class on Monday, November 4 **

2. Reading Journal #3 -- "Reading the World"
See directions below.
 * Due: Monday, November 18 **

3. Timed Essay #4 -- Comparative Rhetorical Analysis
**Due: To be completed in class on Tuesday, November 19** to download a preview of the texts for analysis. This document is an exact copy of the handout you will receive in class on Tuesday, but the prompt is omitted.

4. Group Presentation on //The Scarlet Letter//
Click on the "Reading Journal #4" link below for more information.
 * Due: Rolling deadline based on group assignment **

5. [[file:Reading Journal.doc|Reading Journal #4]] -- //The Scarlet Letter//
Click the link above for the full assignment description.
 * Due: Thursday, December 19 **

6. Timed Essay #5 -- Literary Analysis
**Due: To be completed in class on Thursday, December 5** == 7. [|Final Essay on]//[|The Scarlet Letter]// -- Close Reading of a Selected Passage ==
 * Due: Friday, January 3 **

= HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS =

1. [|The Devil and Tom Walker]
**Due: Monday, November 4** Read the story (linked to the title above) and answer the following questions. The first six are from our course textbook; the seventh can only be found here on the wiki:

1. One way Irving suggests that his story is really a folk tale is by shifting back and forth between events that the narrator reports on his own account and those he attributes to hearsay by such signals as "it was asserted," "it was whispered," or "according to old stories." Examine this device in the opening paragraph. For what facts does the narrator take direct responsibility? What is attributed to hearsay?

2. Irving takes little apparent trouble to characterize Tom and his wife as individuals. In the second paragraph, they are presented as "so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other" of their common property. Yet there are some differences between them, if not in greed at least in temper. What characteristics of the wife suggest that she already belongs to the devil and that he will get her without having to bargain?

3. The place the devil frequents is always significant in fictional treatments of him. Here the swamp, with its "pits and quagmires" to trap the unwary traveler, seems a fit setting for an infernal being. Irving's devil occupies a special place within the swamp: the site of a former Indian fort. What does the history of this place tell you about the human activities that are of special interest and profit to the devil and that so "amuse" him?

4. In the literary tradition, the devil takes on many forms and disguises, since he has "business" all over the world. Here the fullest description of him occurs when Tom first meets him. What details of his physical appearance give him an "Everyman" quality? What details remind us that he is the devil in traditional terms? What details a few paragraphs later refer to his special dealings in the New World?

5. In a bargain with the devil, we are interested in the terms. We know that sooner or later the devil gets the sinner's soul, while the sinner is given something he or she desperately wants. Tom, we are told, settles for money. He has changed his condition but not, apparently, escaped his nature. What details about his mansion and the way he keeps his horses show you that, for all his wealth, he has not lost his anxiety about money?

6. Like most sophisticated New Yorkers, Irving had no admiration for Puritan Massachusetts. In his mind Massachusetts was associated with the Salem witch trials of 1692, only thirty-five years before the time of this story. Examine the paragraph on page 112 describing Tom as a "violent churchgoer." In what way is this paragraph a satirical comment on Puritans? What words and phrases in the paragraph link religion to "money matters"?

7. What is the archetypal significance of the forest, the trees, and the Devil's ax? What role do these symbols play in the story if we view it as a social commentary?

[[file:Reading Journal 3 (Goth-Trans).doc|2. Reading Journal #3 -- Reading the World]]
For detailed directions, click the link above and download the handout. All readings are listed below. Page numbers refer to the red //Adventures of American Literature// textbook. Readings highlighted in yellow are required.
 * Due: Monday, November 18 **
 * __19th Century Gothics__
 * [|"The Devil and Tom Walker"] by Washington Irving (p. 106)
 * [|"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"] by Washington Irving
 * [|"The Fall of the House of Usher"] by Edgar Allen Poe (p. 136)
 * [[file:Ligeia.doc|"Ligeia"]] by Edgar Allen Poe
 * [[file:YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN.doc|"Young Goodman Brown"]] by Nathaniel Hawthorne
 * [|"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"] by Nathaniel Hawthorne (p. 213)
 * [|"The Minister's Black Veil"] by Nathaniel Hawthorne (p. 220)
 * __Transcendentalists__
 * [|"The American Scholar"] by Ralph Waldo Emerson
 * [|Any essay] by Ralph Waldo Emerson
 * "Self-Reliance," "Nature," "The Poet," and "Fate" are all recommended
 * Shorter, but still useful excerpts of these essays are available in the textbook on pp. 186-198
 * //[|Walden]//by Henry David Thoreau
 * [|"Where I Lived, and What I Lived For"]
 * [|"Conclusion"]

3. Preparation for Small Group Discussion on "The American Scholar"
**Due:** **Monday, November 8** Prepare for Monday's student-led discussions of Emerson's [|"The American Scholar"] by
 * Completing a thorough reading and annotation of the text
 * Completing and submitting the survey below
 * Bringing your annotations to class on Monday
 * You may also want to review the [[file:Discussion Circles for Rhetorical Analysis.docx|guiding questions]] we will use on Monday, as they are different from the questions we used for practice on Friday. These questions are general and apply to the text as a whole. Because your discussions will focus on a specific sub-topic in the text, you will spend most of your time clarifying and extending question 3.

media type="custom" key="24359368"

4. Preparation for practice "Harkness" discussion
**Due: Thursday, November 14** [|Click here] to read a description of the basic guidelines and purpose behind the Harkness approach to class discussion. Come prepared to participate. **Our main topic for discussion will be the value of self-reliance**. Some questions to consider are:
 * How do the various authors in our current reading list define self-reliance?
 * Whose writing portrays self-reliance as a necessary feature of humanity?
 * Whose writing portrays self-reliance as a flaw or weakness?
 * In general, what are the strengths and weaknesses of self-reliance?
 * To what degree does American society still value self-reliance?

Only ten students will participate in this discussion. Those who do not participate will receive participation credit by 1) tracking the flow of the discussion as it unfolds and 2) writing a brief description of how the participants could have improved the overall quality of the conversation.

5. //The// //Scarlet Letter// -- Chapter 1 Annotation
**Due: Thursday, November 21** It's official! Our reading of //The Scarlet Letter// has begun!! (No need to curb your enthusiasm here!) to download a soft copy of Chapter 1. Create a thorough annotation by Thursday. We will use our annotated copies during class; annotations will be collected at the end of the class period. You can also check //The Scarlet Letter// wiki page for more resources, including a link to an e-text (for those of you who enjoy reading on a screen).