Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Alice Walker "Beauty: when the Other Dancer is the Self"

Read and discuss essay.

Test Friday on vocabulary and literary terms.

Continue work on The Bluest Eye.

Finish reading your book by Friday.There will be a quiz on Friday about the vocabulary words and literary terms.


Vocabulary for this week: Literary Terms


generic conventions
genre
prose
poetry: lyric dramatic epic narrative
drama: tragedy comedy farce melodrama
hyperbole
homily
imagery: visual auditory tactile gustatory olfactory
inference/infer
invective
irony: verbal irony, situational irony, dramatic irony

Readings in The Bedford Reader


Gloria Naylor The Meanings of a Word pg. 406


Check online for quizzes on books.

5 comments:

  1. Emma, Erin, Aireanna, Maggie, Shayla, Kennethea, Tatiana, Whitney, Brianna, in response to today's discussion, 10/14

    When discussing this section, we learned a lot more about how Pecola is alienated, rejected by her classmates, and really ridiculed by most. When we first see Maureen Peel being nice to her, trouble seems to be brewing. Maureen asks Pecola is she has ever seen a naked man before- Pecola replies "I have never seen my daddy naked before." This initiates questions from Maureen, who becomes cruel and a little too inquisitive. Naturally, Frieda and Claudia jump to the defense of Pecola. Not only does this story tell us about Pecola, but also the incident with Junior and his mother, Geraldine. When first being described, Geraldine seems a nice woman. But when we meet her, she is harsh and pretty awful. What Junior did to Pecola, and how his mother reacted, were two things that must have really hurt Pecola, but she wasn't described as being too hurt by it. This is yet another thing that can tell us how tough Pecola's life must be.
    We also learn in this section about Mr. Henry and how he spends his free time. Frieda and Claudia see him having relations with two prostitutes, despite the fact their mother has told him not too, especially in her house. The whole vibe from Mr. Henry is one of exploitation. It is all very creepy. All in all, his relationship with the girls seems a little too close for comfort.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Today we (Danielle, Michelle, Alex, and myself) discussed the diversity this chapter expresses with regard to the black community, and how the wealth of new characters serve to distinguish different mindsets, and class-differences within it. Maureen is treated with great respect and almost reverence by her peers because she has a lighter skin close, and is closer to the communal concept of beauty in the novel's setting. Geraldine separates herself from the poorer, lower-class black people, buy building a nest around herself and cementing in her status with her domestic tranquility. This contrasts Pecola's background, and upon seeing her Geraldine hates her immediately, causing her to make assumptions based upon how she perceives Pecola. She assumes it is Pecola who killed her cat because of years of ingrained hatred and compound images, of stereotypical blacks less financially and socially secure than herself. Pecola is profiled the minute Geraldine sees her.
    We also discussed that despite the web of domestic bliss that Geraldine has spun herself into, she is not happy. While this conflicts with Pecola's home life, unhappiness bred by poverty and a poor situation stemming from the relationships in the house, Geraldine, who has everything she has striven for in life and she is not happy. This expresses the idea that unhappiness is something that transcends socio-economic classes and can strike at anyone, no no matter their situation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emma M., Kiera G., Sarah W, Tom Enders, Zach G-M, Rosie, Bolan, Statt, and Khari

    In the year twenty thousand ten (Thursday October 14) at exactly 2:10 our group began to discuss the twisted perceptions of beauty in society, as well as the insecurities teenagers have as they begin to mature both in the book and in modern society today.
    Maureen Peel's character uses her almost perfect reputation to her advantage. Maureen certainly knows the power that her beauty has over her peers. This advantage gives her the extra confidence she needs to be both kind and empathetic, as well as malevolent towards the girls. She questions Pecola about very private and personal matters, which makes Peel out to be a more interegating and hostile child than the image she is seen by society.
    Many facades and reputations people are given at school by their peers are for the most fake. Its interesting how people allow those sterotypes and rumours control their actions and define them as people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our group, Sam, Leah, Aubrey, Chastity, Gaelynn, discussing how in the time period of the Bluest Eye, there was a weird perceptive of what was seen as beautiful, and what was seen as not. Maureen Peel was one of those weird cases. She was paler, and richer than the standards were, so in turn everyone seems to "love" her, and want to be around her. That was true for most everyone, the one exception to that would be Frieda and Claudia. The two really did not enjoy her presence, and even try to find faults in her "perfection" to bring her down to a lower level. What started out as a more or less harmless talk, turned bad when Pecola replies "I have never seen my daddy naked before". This set off the argument between Frieda, Claudia, and Maureen, as Maureen keep trying to dig deeper into Pecola private life. When the two got home, Mr. Henry was anxious to get the two to leave because he was having two hookers, China, and Miss Marie over. The girl later did not tell on him because Mr. Henry was always nice to them and talked to them, and they really didn’t want their mom to one again get angry. Geraldine’s background was described extensively, this was to show that she lived a different life than most of the other people mention in the book so far. She was of a colored person, but she didn’t act in the same manner thought to be of a colored person in that time. To see that she thought of herself as someone different was something that was important to get across. Pecola has a very low self esteem, and was not a leader person, that easily bend to do what other people says for her to do, even if she really does not want to do that at all. This is how Junior was able to get Pecola into his house so easily, she could not stand up for herself and just say no and walk away from it. When Geraldine assumes when she took one look at Pecola was a ragged, dirty, little “black” girl.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm posting this regarding the winter questions for Darnell and I (Zach) and i apologize for the late post.

    1. Maureen Peel is this allegedly adorable girl that has brightened up everyone's winter with her looks and popularity.
    2. They envied her immensely.
    3. It started as an inquiry into male anatomy, turned into an awkward moment that was then exploited into an argument that ended in Maureen calling the girls black and ugly as she ran away.
    4. He was enjoy suggestive company.
    5. He gave them money for ice cream and stuff.
    6. It was important to give a background to inform you who she was below her skin color and to establish the conflict between Junior and the cat merit.
    7. She is insecure. A type B personality I think its called. She follows instructions, is pretty gullible, and (despite the redundancy) trusts too easily.
    8.That she killed her cat, and beyond that, that she was a corrupt little black child.

    ReplyDelete