Unit Four -- Modernism

What is the American Dream?

Can you define it?

Is the American Dream a Reality for all Americans?

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OPENING: Discussion of Georgia Performance Standards

Take a moment to view the following five standards:

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

ELAALRL5 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing.

ELAALRC2 The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas.

ELAALRC3 The student acquires new vocabulary in each content area and uses it correctly.

1. Create a new post on your blog called "Unit Four", and then explain which of the above standards you have had the most difficulty mastering.  Make specific references to the work you have done in this class in your response.

Mini-Lesson

The Great War (World War One) lasted from 1914 until 1918, and The United States became involved in 1917. The war was fought to protect humanity around the world, but became a bloodbath before long at all. Nearly 1,000,000 soldiers were killed in the Battle of Verdun alone. This was one of the first times modern technology like airplanes, poison gas, tanks, and other machinery were used to kill large numbers of people. World War One was a turning point for America and the rest of the civilized world, and it had major effects on the literature of our country.

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One of the biggest themes of Moderist American Literature is disallusionment. Disillusionment is defined as freeing oneself, or getting away from an illusion, or getting away from ideas that have no logical basis. One of the most common targets of disillusionment was the American Dream -- the idea that the United States of America was a land of opportunity and that all its people were virtueous. Many writers were beginning to see that this wasn't all true, and they were not afraid to attack this ideal in their work.

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This idea of disillusionment set the stage nicely for the Harlem Renaissance, when African-American artists were beginning to enjoy some mainstream success. These artists expressed the illogical nature of the American Dream since they especially were not permitted to enjoy the lifestyle it seems to guarantee. Many black soldiers who came home after serving in Europe immediately recognized that they were not treated with the same respect in their own homeland as they were in Eurpe. Many of these artists were the children and grandchildren of former slaves, and they too were ready to show that the American Dream was not quite the reality people thought. In their writing, music, and painting Harlem Renaissance artists either focused on the inequities that black Americans faced or celebrating the black American culture many people had not seen in art until this time.

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Throughout the United States there was increased interest in the field of psychology, and this also showed up in the new literature. Look for instances where the author is inviting readers to look inside the minds of the charaters to figure out what may have contributed to their struggles.

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The United States government also decided that alcohol was central to the social evils in the country, so they made its distribution and manufacture illegal in 1919. This contributed to the prevalence of speakeasys (illegal bars) and gangsters who became good at distributing illegal booze. You have probably heard these people refered to as "bootleggers". This shows up in Modernist literature as well. Many people call this the Jazz Age, and you can see many examples of speakeasys, jazz music, and an illegal lifestyle that was pretty common amoung social Americans.

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Many American artists who had served in Europe during the war decided that Europe had more to offer than the United States. These people thought that the American Dream that they had heard about so much was not true, and they enjoyed the more lively and inexpensive lifestyle in Europe. This group, who chose to live mostly in France included writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemmingway, and Gertrude Stein came to be known as the Lost Generation.

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Please post the following to your blog:

2. Choose one of the Modernism themes named above that you are most interested in studying: Disillusionment, the Harlem Renaissnace, The Jazz Age, or Phychoanalysis. Write a paragraph that describes why you made this choice and how you expect to see the topic you chose represented in the literature you are about to read.

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3. Read the story that coresponds to the theme you chose. Chose a topic according to your interests, not the length of the story. Choosing a story because of its length is not the wisest way to approach this assignment.

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Disillusionment -- Soldier's Home by Earnest Hemmingway

The Harlem Renaissance -- Sweat or The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurston can be found here.

The Jazz Age -- Choose a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald here.

Psychoanalysis -- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

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When you are through reading, you should type a two-paragraph response to the story you read, and then provide another two paragraphs in which you analyze the theme you chose and how it is represented in the story. Take time to explain how the author features the theme you chose, and go deeper and explain what you believe he or she is saying about America.  This will require you to provide examples straight from the texts as well as some synthesis on your part (drawing your own conclusions).

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4. Read the following poems. When you study poetry, it is a good habit to read each selection MORE THAN ONCE.

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Richard Corey by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

Incident by Countee Cullen

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Write a paragraph response to each poem in which you explain your opinions about what is being written as well as identify one of the elements of Modernism in each. These paragraphs must contain direct evidence from the poetry to support whatever claims you make. Please be thorough enough in this section so not to have to go back and make adjustmetns after I read your work.

SELF-EVALUATE YOUR WORK!!

5. Review your response to number 1 in this unit.  Then explain how you have addressed the Georgia Performance Standard you said was a challenge for you.  You should support this claim with evidence from your own work.

Once you have completed all of the above, leave me a comment to remind me to check your work.

Another Example of Analytical Writing

This piece is a little long, but I think it is very captivating. Look at all the ways the author as well as the people in the story are analyzing the situation.

Trial by Fire:
Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

More Examples of Analytical Writing

Here are some more examples from past semesters that may be helpful to you.

Analytical Writing -- Kayla Fortson -- Rhythm and Blues
Analytical Writing -- Andrea Coleman -- Reggae
Analytical Writing -- Caleb Pope -- Emo Subculture
Analytical Writing -- Jeff Green -- The Magic of Athens

Analytical Writing Example from this Week:

http://onlineathens.com/stories/090809/foo_490723981.shtml

You may have already read it.

How is this writer breaking something into pieces to help form a greater understanding of what happened?

Unit Three -- Dark Romanticism and Realism

Opening: A discussion of a new Georgia Performance Standard:
ELAALRL4 The student employs a variety of writing genres to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of significant ideas in selected literary works. The student composes essays, narratives, poems, or technical documents.

Read the standard at least twice and begin thinking about what you may be asked to do before you are through with this unit. Once you are done thinking:

1. Create a post on your blog titled "Unit Three", and then explain what you believe the above standard means, and then go further by explaining what you think you will need to do to meet this particular standard.

Short Review:

1. What is original sin?

2. How did the Transcendentalists feel about it?

If you cannot explain these two questions, you probably need to call me over for a little conversation. It would not make much sense progressing without knowing these things and being able to explain them well.

Mini-Lesson:

Just like every other movement in American Literature you have studied (Puritanism, Rationalism, Romanticm, and Transcendentalism) Dark Romanticism is a reaction to the movement that came before it. Dark Romanticism is a little different because it coincides with Transcendentalism. Sometimes the Dark Romantics are known as Anti-Transcendentalists for this reason.

First, let's review the Transcendentalist philosophy:

a. They believed that everyone was absolutely pure and that each individual is a part of God.

b. They believed that people's thoughts and intuition were the voice of God.

c. They did not believe in institutions like government because they thought the individual human mind was the strongest power in the universe.

What would your argument to this philosophy be? Are all people good? Is the voice inside people's heads the pure voice of God?

Let's review the lives of some of the Dark Romantics to see if we can predict how they would answer these questions:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's great grandfather was one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials during Puritan times. During these trials, nineteen people and two dogs were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by stones all in the name of God. Nathaniel Hawthorne was embarrassed by this, so he changed the spelling of his to lessen the association with his relative, a minister and a judge who sentenced people to cruel deaths because other people accused them of being evil. Hawthorne would become famous for his novel The Scarlet Letter and short stories like "The Minister's Black Viel" and "The Birthmark" in which he criticises the Puritan culture. How would Hawthorne feel about the Transcendental philosophy? Reread thier beliefs if you need to.

Herman Melville was not a trained and educated writer like Emerson, Thoreau, or Hawthorne. He instead made his early living in the merchant marine as a sailor because of the fiancial breakdown in his family. Melville, who wanted to become a writer, was working on a ship as early as twelve years old. While sailing around the globe, Melville witnessed many things he would not have seen at his home in New York. One sight that reportedly effected him severely were the cannibals he saw in the South Pacific. Melville would write Moby Dick later in his life. Moby Dick was a novel about a ship captain, Ahab who was so obsessed with killing a white whale that ate his leg that he sacrifices his entire ship and all the men on it. Was Ahab pure of mind to sacrifice all the men he was charged with leading? Would a man who witnessed people eating human flesh agree that everyone was good and pure?

Edgar Allen Poe's mother died when he was very young, his stepfather disowned him when he went to college, and all three of his wives died from tuberculosis. Poe developed terrible addictions to opium and alcohol. By today's standards, he was probably insane. Poe's stories and poetry all feature characters who begin with a small grain of evil in their minds which eventually takes over. Many biographers argue that every one of Poe's stories represent something inside his mind.

In short, the Dark Romantics, after reviewing their life experiences thought that the Transcendental philosophy was severely flawed. They saw that people could be evil, insane, unpure, or generally not 100% good like the Transcendentalists thought. Unlike the Transcendentalists, they believed in original sin, and that it was responsible for the evil that existed inside of everyone.

Post the following responses to your blog:

2. Which side of the divide do you fall? Are you closer to being a Transcendentalist or a Dark Romantic? Explain your answer with a short paragraph.

Work Period:

3. Read either "The Black Cat" or "Hop-Frog", both by Edgar Allen Poe. As you read, keep the Dark Romantics' beliefs in mind because you will be asked to point out these beliefs in the story later. You can also choose to listen to "The Masque of Red Death" below; if you do, be sure to read the text as you listen:

4. Write a 2-3 paragraph response to the story you read. You should explain what you thought of the story as well as how well it illustrates how the Dark Romantics disagreed with the Transcendantalists. You need to provide at least a line or two of direct textual evidence from the story you chose to prove your claim.

You can also see the video a little larger here.

5. Once of Poe's most famous works was "The Raven", a poem he wrote while his second wife was literally dying in the next room. Read the poem (more than once), and then write a response (at least two paragraphs) that includes a few lines that stuck out to you. Add another paragraph or two that should explain how this poem represents an anti-Transcendental idea. As always, responses with direct evidence are always better than those that do not.

6. A symbol is something (usually an object) that stands for a much larger idea. Poe uses symbolism very weill in "The Raven". Can you identify it, and then support what you say with some evidence and analysis? I know you can.

7. Check these out. If you are doing what you should, you are addressing all three (and even more) in this unit. Using your word as DIRECT evidence (cut and paste from your own post) tell me how you are meeting these standards.

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

Self-Evaluate Your Work!!

Click Here to continue on to Realism