On to The Awakening!--Post to the Blog

Hi guys! I'm hurrying to type this before A4 finishes class today. We'll see if my typing speed can race past the time! :) I won't say my brain is working though, so there's nothing I can do about that.

Over the next weeks, we will be reading/studying Kate Chopin's famous novel The Awakening. Just to get you started, I wanted to give you some links to look at and consider.

• The Awakening is considered a novel that falls into the literary Realism period. Realism was supposed to be a "slice of life," and ask the reader to question how true a situation was to what real people might experience.
• Kate Chopin was a strong woman of her time. Her life led her down a path of seeming independence. See this VCU biography of her life.

Okay, so what are we going to talk about, you ask? Well, I'd like to get you talking about some ideas that are thrown around in the novel. Consider some of my meanderings below and post a response to "What do you think..." in a comment post. You don't have to respond to all of these meandering questions, but I'd like you respond in a good length paragraph or two (or longer) about one or more of these questions. Don't forget to come back and reply to one other student though! I'll be peeking in to join the conversation, or just to see what you're all talking about!

• Where is one's greater allegiance to the upholding of society or to the happiness of oneself? In other words, how important is society's approval on what you do in life?
• In this novel, women were seen as a direct reflection of the men they married or were associated with. In fact, the main character of The Awakening was, to some degree, considered the property of her husband. We know that things are different today, and yet have some things stayed the same? Honestly, I'm just curious! Do you think that a woman's role has changed a lot? How?
• Do you ever think we're just too emotional about life and need to just "get real," put our heads down, and get a job done? Do you ever think people should just "deal" and move on, or is there value in evaluating why people feel so strongly about certain situations?
  

Tess of the D'Urbervilles Viewing

Hi! For those of you who came to see the film on Friday night, I'd like to get some idea of what you thought.

Post a comment below by Friday, March 13th. Stop back by and respond to one other student for a full ten points extra credit!

• What did you think of the movie version of Tess
• How did it compare to the book? Where there differences in their characterization of any of the characters that really bothered you, or do you think they did a good job of connecting back to the book?
• What would you say to those who have not seen the film? Recommend it, or no?
• (Optional): Did anything stand out to you as poignant, or anything that you really liked?

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

We simply won't have enough time to really cover all the questions and ideas posted by Thomas Hardy's famous novel. To get us started though, I'd really like for you to read a bit more about the Victorian Era, as well about Thomas Hardy. Please check out the links below for more background reading on the novel!

Victorian Era

Thomas Hardy & Information

Good luck in your study of Thomas Hardy, and I'll be returning with a question for your consider! For now, feel free to post comments or questions to the group.

Welcome!

So the "sites" account won't allow you to post unless I enroll you all as administrators. That's okay, I've worked around it and will have you post comments through this blog account.

Here are the directions from the website:

It is obvious that Hamlet is under great duress in the play over many things. (You might consider what these situations are...) Looking back at Act III, Scene I we see Hamlet's famous soliloquy, which is one of the most famous speeches in all English literature. Re-read this speech and post a comment that 1) summarizes in a line or two what Hamlet is speaking about here, and 2) whether you think Hamlet has lost his sanity or not.

Please make your initial post by Wednesday, and return to comment on another student's idea by Friday, 1/16.

***Also, because you are posting as anonymous posters, please remember to put your name on your posts!