Wednesday--papers due, read and discuss Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels to be Colored Me"
Thursday--discussion in groups of "Autumn" in The Bluest Eye. Show video clips of productions of The Bluest Eye
HMWK: In The Bedford Reader, read Brent Staples "Black Men in Public Spaces" (181)
and Maya Angelou's "Champion of the World" (88). Bring books to class for Friday.
Friday--Discuss essays. HMWK: For Tuesday, read "Winter" section in The Bluest Eye.
Our goal is to finish the novel by Friday (so read ahead into "Spring" as far as you can).
Have a nice weekend!
Aireanna Small, Whitney White, Tatianna Williams, Kennethea Wilson, Shayla Sanders, Erin Gresko, Nadia Pierre-Louis, Maggie Easton, and Emma Doeblin
ReplyDeleteWe discussed basically all of the discussion questions and talked about how we would handle situations that these girls went through. We also talked about how creepy and eerie Mr. Henry is.
16. The boy becomes hateful and angry against his father and even suggests that his mother kill his dad. He falls into his mothers trap of wanting everything that is wrong in their life to be the fathers fault, when in fact she too is responsible for the children’s poor upbringing. Pecola wills herself to go back to sleep trying to ignore the events around her.
ReplyDelete17. Pecola is neglected and invisible at school.
18. Pecola is angry, but quickly more embarrassed and insecure about her race.
19. They accept her into their group and tell her what it feels like to be loved.
20. Poland is a singer, but often silent otherwise. Ms. China is outgoing and very sarcastic. She seems to want to preserve some sense of pride and self-image, as conveyed by her constant preening and fixing of her hair. China doesn’t seem to care about how rude she is to the other prostitutes even in front of Pecola. Ms. Marie is a storyteller, if not just liar, but also acts more kindly to Pecola. She seems to be the one who reaches out most to the girl. However, years of food self-destruction and angst have aged her. As indicated by her not willing to fix herself up shows she just doesn’t care anymore. She has established a sense of dictatorship within the group by not letting the other girls rude comments get to her, she often fights right back by returning insults. They probably had the same background as Pecola where they felt like society had no place for them and therefore they revert to methods of self-destruction.
21. The women were ignorant, self-destructive and had no respect left for themselves, each other, or society (56).
Emma M., Kiera, Sarah, Tom Enders, Zach G-M, Rosie, Bolan, Statt, and Khari
ReplyDeleteAP English Language and Composition
Ms. Gamzon
6 October 2010
1. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need the speaker would border between “love” and “esteem”. She is a child growing up in an environment where it’s already clear that her insecurity about her social status and race will challenge her principles and perspective on life. However, her loving mother and secure home life will allow her to … the fact that she is the narrator also indicates that she can not be entirely defeated. As a child she offers innocence, time and the potential of growing up, and she has a clearer and less bitter outlook on life than the people around her.
2. Mr. Henry is a new tenant who is coming to live with Claudia’s family. He immediately wins the girls over by showing them a magic trick with a penny. This can be a metaphoric in that it displays how the girls’ youth makes them vulnerable. Their young age allows them to be entertained by illusions.
3. The “outdoors” refers to having nowhere to go, whereas “out” just means you “go some place else.”
4. Pecola is a new girl who is in county custody and is briefly living with their family. They took pity on Pecola and her situation, “trying hard to keep her from feeling outdoors.”
5. She hated the Shirley Temple dolls. She did not understand why the grownups and those around her adored them. She even searched for the hidden beauty and deeper meaning in the doll by dismantling it.
6. An ideal Christmas for Claudia wasn’t in the material gifts people were exchanging, it was in that feeling Christmas is suppose to have, a feeling she is still seeking.
7. Claudia, feeling pressured by society, begins to compromise and alter her view on the Shirley Temple dolls and the beauty of white girls. The last line reveals that the black community is willing to give into white superiority. This hatered for whites is compromised or hidden by love and worshipping them(22). They can not progress for they overlook their true feelings with the belief that whites are beautiful.
8. Claudia’s mother was extremely furious at the situation. Claudia suggests that she believes that her mother has some idea of where the missing milk went, for Claudia and her sister don’t drink milk. But her mother doesn’t want to directly point out that person, Pecola, so that she doesn’t get her pride shattered. The girls are use to the way their mother scolds them as indicated by the way they describe this scolding lecture just a part of a series of ones they’ve gotten in the past.
9. They tried to get her a pad but the mother mistakes it for sexual behaviors and took to beating the girls. However, after she learned what had happened she becomes much more sympathetic, apologizes, and helps Pecola wash and tidy up.
10. They respected and even admired her for maturing.
11. It was originally a series of different stores for different immigrant groups, such as a Hungarian bakery.
12. The couch is split down the middle, like the divided storefront, and now nobody wants it back.
13. They have chosen this lifestyle, they feel it well suites their stereotype of being black, poor, and ugly.
14. They are not in a secure environment and therefore are not able to function in the same way that a secure and loving family is able to.
15. They depend on each other. They express their hate by hating and beating one another. The father’s dark past comes out through his excessive drinking and beating of his wife, whereas the mother uses those beatings as blame to justify her current state of living.
Our group in the beginning had a little trouble focusing our ideas. However, we were able to answer all of the questions.
ReplyDeleteWe began to have quite the profound discussion about what causes people to allow sterotypes to define them, as well as compared and contrasted Pecola and Claudia, and talk about why Claudia is the chosen narrator.
>>Valerie, Michelle, Danielle<<
ReplyDeleteOur group had a more in depth discussion about questions three and seven. With question three we stated that being "out" consists of having absolutely nothing left. You don't have nothing to fall back on to bring yourself back up. However, when being "outside" you do. You are able to bounce back from any downfall and restart your life over again.
With question seven, we talked about how one of color had to conform to the white society. As if they were a nail being hammered down into a board, sticking to the status quo.