The words that Shelley uses to describe Frankenstein's process of creation suggest that it is analogous to pregnancy and childbirth. Just as pregnant women in the 18th century were confined to a room before going into labor, Frankenstein describes himself as "emaciated with confinement" and beset by a "slow fever" (Shelly 55, 57). He repeatedly refers to his "midnight labors" and anticipates the day when his "labors would [...] end" (Shelley 55, 57). Why might Shelley compare the male protagonist's process of creation with a woman's biological process of giving birth? What is the purpose of the comparison?

Primary Blog Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 100-150 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name you were assigned in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm tonight 2-24-2025! 

Secondary Blog Response Expectations (read everyone's primary responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name you were assigned in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm Thursday night 2-28-2025!

Conduct a brief search on your chosen 19th century female scientist. Acting in her persona, compose a brief 1st person POV paragraph to introduce yourself. In your introduction, include your background information, your specialization, and any awards or distinctions you have earned. If you can find a interesting fact to add that is non-science related, incorporate that here. Your tone can be conversational, serious, comedic, or any that you feel best fits your persona. Include an image, if you can.

Remember, only use your Pen Name. I will know who you are. Have fun creating your fictionalized character of a real person, but do try to be faithful to your scientist's reality.
Expectations:

• 5-8 sentences written in the "voice" of your fictionalized scientist.
  
• 1st person POV.
• Details listed in the blog prompt above.

In Part 1 of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Nana says the following to her daughter, Mariam: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” Select three distinct passages from Part 1 (add page #) that show how this sentiment informs Mariam’s life and how it relates to themes you believe will be intrinsic to the larger meaning of the novel. 

Primary Blog Expectations (respond to the prompt above):
--200-250 words
--minimal errors in grammar and usage
--thoughtful and thorough writing
--Use the name that you were assigned in class as your nom de plume.
--Be sure to add word count. 
--Due by 11:59 PM on Sunday night!
--REMEMBER, this is a Practice Assessment and, therefore,  will not be accepted late.

Each student has been assigned a topic (you will find your name in the list at the bottom of the page).


1. After reading As I Lay Dying, you will respond to your assigned prompt in a 400-550 word informal response.

2. Once you have posted your informal response as a blog entry (I suggest typing on a word document and then copy/pasting into the blog entry box - ADD WORD COUNT AT END OF RESPONSE), you will then read all of your colleagues' entries.

3. You will then respond to 2 colleagues' entries (each in a different topic from yours and from each other) in 100-150 word informal responses. This is similar to the usual blog entries that we have completed, except that you will discussing and responding to different topics.

This is an important activity and, done correctly, will expose you to at least three different lens analyses of As I Lay Dying. In light of the importance of this activity,  I will be counting this assignment as a 200 point Summative Assessment (100 points for Primary Responses and 50 points each for Secondary Responses). 

The Due Dates are:
     -Primary Responses must be completed by Sunday, May 4th at midnight. 
     -Secondary Responses must be completed by Tuesday, May 6th at midnight.

Topics:
1. Family and Honor - Samantha, Abigail, Edgar, Jahnai
 As I Lay Dying could be read as a metaphor for any family; the Bundrens are stuck together on a long journey, to help or hurt each other. The conflicts between feelings of desire, love, honor, and a longing for identity outside the family eventually lead to disaster.

How do the Bundrens exemplify "family values?" 
How do they fail to?
Does Faulkner see the Bundrens as a typical American family?
(Are most people like this?)
Do you?

2. Religion - Nathaniel, Cynthia, Akwasi
The religious characters in the book (Whitfield, Cora) have very little positive impact on the Bundrens. Addie explicitly rejects religion after her affair with Whitfield. Cora uses her religious outlook chiefly as a way to judge and criticize the impoverished and low-class Bundrens. Anse often quotes scripture to justify his own selfish actions.

Do you agree with Faulkner’s depiction of religion in modern life? 
If so, build upon it. If not, create a counter-argument.
        
3. Mortality and Ritual - Brittani, Thomas, Arvinda
To the ancient Greeks, burial ritual was an extremely important religious task, representative of the loyalty a person has engendered in his family in life. Agamemnon speaks from hell to Odysseus: "As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades." He is referring to his wife Clytemnestra, whom conspired to murder him.   
Do the Bundrens betray Addie, or do they honor her? Does Addie betray them by asking Anse to make the journey to Jefferson?
Does it matter what happens to our bodies after we die? 
                                   
4. Sanity - Elizabeth, Nicole, Denean
“Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane,” says Cash. He then decides that if a person acts without thinking about how his actions affect other people, he is crazy.

Do you agree with Cash? Are we all a little crazy?
How does society use the word “crazy”—or  even “mental illness”— to define people? 
Does Darl deserve his fate? How are Darl's "special powers" of narration related to what happens to him?

5. Perspective - Maricarmen, Stephanie, Patricia
Comment on the multiple perspectives of the novel. What do we learn cumulatively about the characters through their various voices?
 
What is the effect of these shifts in view?
Which is the truer perspective of ourselves: the one from our eyes or from the eyes of others?
You may analyze in depth one voice, or contrast two opposing voices (Darl and Jewel, for example).                            
6. Desire - Shayna, Kayla, Abril
All of the family members use their mother’s burial as an excuse to go to town in order to acquire something.  

Which desires are more sympathetic, and which are less so?
Is this a betrayal of Addie?
Do our modern desires for material goods come between us and those we love?                        

 7. Symbolism - Julie, Thalia, Adam
Faulkner's shifting voices often finds commonality in elemental natural symbols: water, fire, horse, earth, sky, eye, wood, bird, etc. 

Choose one or more of these and make a unified comment on the symbol's ties to an allusion, perspective, insight, comment, or traditional generic convention. 

Jane refuses to go live with Rochester in the south of France as his mistress, choosing instead to lose him forever. Do her reasons have to do with her Christian morality, or with the lack of equality and respect she foresees in such an arrangement? He is older than she, and a member of the landed aristocracy, while she is young, penniless, and has no friends or family in the world. Discuss the complicated chapter in which he tries to explain himself for attempting to lure her into a bigamous marriage, and the scene in which she takes leave of him (Ch.  XXVII).

In your Primary Blog Entry, you should respond to the questions above in a single entry. Your Secondary Blog Entry should respond to two of your colleagues' entries that are especially interesting to you.

Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, 2 quotes from the novel, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class PLEASE FINISH BY FRIDAY NIGHT!

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class. FINISH BY SUNDAY NIGHT!

At a critical moment in the novel, Jane proclaims herself Rochester’s equal: “It is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both of us had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal—as we are!” Rochester responds, “As we are!” 

Why is Jane so passionately outspoken? Is her self-valuation exceptional and true? Is she more noble and impressive here than Rochester is? Why is this long scene (Chapter 23) so important for the novel as a whole? 

Please respond to the questions above in your Primary Blog Entry. While you are composing this response, please consider the following questions in your blog entry.


1. React to the differences between Jane and the women who visit Rochester at Thornfield Hall. Comment on all aspects of these women’s lives. 
2. What impact would marriage to Rochester have on the life of Miss Ingram? Jane? What could each of them bring to Rochester in a marriage? 
3. How is marriage a political issue for these women?

In your Primary Blog Entry, you should respond to the two questions above in a single entry. Your Secondary Blog Entry should respond to two of your colleagues' entries that are especially interesting to you.

Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, 2 quotes from the novel, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class PLEASE FINISH BY FRIDAY NIGHT!

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class. FINISH BY SUNDAY NIGHT!

Now that you have been introduced to Jane, please respond to any or all of the questions below. You need to use textual evidence (quotes) from both Bronte's novel and from the chapters selected from Foster's book. After you have posted your Primary Blog Entry, please take some time to read ALL of your colleague's entries and then compose a thoughtful response (your Secondary Blog Entry) to TWO selected Primary Entries.

1.  If you had to infer (guess) based on these chapters what type of woman society thought of as acceptable, what type of woman would that be?. 
2.  Reread the descriptions of fire in this segment. This is an important image that becomes more important as the novel progresses. What do you think it might mean? 
3. What type of relationships does Jane have with her cousins? Her aunt? The servants at Gateshead? (not just the biological relationship, but also the emotional 
relationship). 
4. What’s with the red room? What was your reaction to this section?

Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, 2 quotes from the short story, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

Below, you will find a selection of AP Literature Essay # 3 Prompts that listed "A Doll's House"  among its suggested titles. 

Part One Expectations (please select one of the prompts and respond to the following):

(1) Why does this prompt attract you in particular?
(2) How does "A Doll's House" answer the question?
(3) Write a single sentence thesis statement that you might use if you were writing to this essay prompt.
200-250 words, 2 quotes from the play, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

AP Prompts:
1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view

1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

1987. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader's or audience's views. Avoid plot summary.

1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

2005. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary. 

Please listen to the audio recording of Ani DiFranco’s cover of the song, “Wishin’ and Hopin’.” Here is one excerpt of the lyrical content:

Show him that you care, just for him
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him,‘cause
You won’t get him, thinkin’ and a prayin’
Wishin’ and hopin’.

In your Primary Post, you should:
(1) argue that such gender roles of  dominance and submission still exist in today’s society; OR

(2) argue that today our society no longer desires such gender specific behaviors, and that true love and 
marriage is based on mutual respect. 

Your Secondary Response Post can:
(1) challenge your colleague's points, OR
(2) make connections to your own lives, OR
(3) support and defend a shared view, OR
(4) somehow create a dialogue about the characters' actions and choices


***To add depth to your discussion, you may wish to discuss the irony of Ani DiFranco singing this song.


Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, quotes from Act 2 AND "Wishin' and Hopin,'" minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

"You abuse me for objectivity, calling it indifference to good and evil, lack of ideals and ideas, and so on. You would have me, when I describe horse-thieves, say: "Stealing horses is an evil." But that has been known for ages without my saying so. Let the jury judge them; it's my job simply to show what sort of people they are. I write: You are dealing with horse-thieves, so let me tell you that they are not beggars but well-fed people, that they are people of a special cult, and that horse-stealing is not simply theft but a passion. Of course it would be pleasant to combine art with a sermon, but for me personally it is extremely difficult and almost impossible, owing to the condition of the technique. You see, to depict horse-thieves in seven  hundred lines I must all the time speak and think in their tone and feel in their spirit, otherwise, if I introduce subjectivity, the image becomes blurred and the story will not be as compact as all short stories ought to be. When I write, I reckon entirely upon the reader to add for himself the subjective elements that are lacking in the story."
 
From a letter to Alekseys S. Suvorin in Letters on the Short Story, the Drama, and Other Literary Topics by Anton Chekhov

After reading the excerpt above, please respond to the following prompt:

Why does Chekhov reject sermonizing in his fiction? How does his "objectivity" affect your reading of "The Lady with the Little Dog"?

Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, 2 quotes from the short story, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.