Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Big Read Literature Groups--Great Gatsby/Their Eyes Were Watching God

AGENDA:  (Dec. 9-17  Two week project--In study groups, work on Big Read lessons throughout the weeks for presentations to the class)

In your literature groups, work on Lessons 1 and 2,  Be sure to look over background essays on the Big Read Reader's Guide.

Go over vocabulary for each book.  Vocabulary quiz Friday, Ch. 1-5 for individual book.

Discuss readings from last night. 
Their Eyes:  What does the opening paragraph mean?  3rd person narrator, lyrical, poetic language.
                     What about the language of the porch sitters gossiping?  Does Hurston capture their  essence?  How do they feel about Janey?

Gatsby:  What does Nick say about Gatsby?  How does he introduce you to the character of Gatsby?

Both books begin with a character looking back on what has already happened.  The character is older and wiser.  The rest of the novel is a flashback.



Group leader take attendance (sign in) and mark off with a check mark that everyone has participated.
Assign group leader for tomorrow's class.

Monday, December 8, 2014

The Great Gatsby/TheirEyes Were Watching God

AGENDA:

EQ: What societal conditions create a background and setting for each novel?

Vocabulary quiz on Steinbeck vocab

Go to padlet.com.
Working in groups, create a padlet of the 20s and 30s that provide background for each novel.

Look over study guides for each novel.. Go to The Big Read links.


The Great Gatsby:

http://www.huffenglish.com/gatsby/gatsbystudy.pdf 

The Big Read:
http://www.neabigread.org/teachers_guides/lesson_plans/greatgatsby/Fitzgerald_TG2014.pdf

Their Eyes Were Watching God:
http://vpope.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245993/teachers_pet_unit_-_141_pages.pdf

The Big Read:

http://www.neabigread.org/books/theireyes/

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The American Dream Synthesis Essay Practice

AGENDA:

Read and discuss Synthesis Essay Packet on the American Dream

“American Dream” AP Synthesis Essay Writing
 
EQ: Is it still possible in our country for everyone to achieve the American Dream?
 
While reading the sources, document the claim and warrants through annotation

Formulate your own claim and at least 3 warrants based on the given arguments in the text

Group together sources which have similar claims and warrants and find text quotes that stand out

Use a minimum of 6 quotes from 3 different articles to either substantiate, refute, or qualify a portion of your argument. Reference sources after quotes (Source A)

Bring in outside concrete references in your commentary. Are there additional examples from
current events, history, pop culture, literature?

HMWK: Spend 40 minutes to write practice essay for Friday's class

Monday, December 1, 2014

The American Dream

AGENDA:

Go to library for either The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald or Their Eyes Were Watching god


THE AMERICAN DREAM 

"Essentially the American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives. Many people have expanded upon or refined the definition of the American Dream, and this concept has also been subject to a fair amount of criticism. Many people believe that the structure of American society belies the idealistic goal of the American Dream, pointing to examples of inequality rooted in class, race, and ethnic origin which suggest that the American Dream is not attainable for all."

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-american-dream.htm

This expansion and redefining of the American Dream spans from Crevoceur's time (and way before!) to now.


What IS Crevecoeur's vision of the American Dream?
How would you defend, challenge, or qualify his vision? Use textual examples and personal experience examples to back up your your persuasion. You want to make me believe that your defense, challenge, or qualification is absolutely right!

Make sure you refer back to De Crevecour's letter to further support your thesis.


The Origins of the American Dream
Defining the Dream:


From dictionary.com


Link: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/american+dream
American Dream  noun
1. the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American.
2. a life of personal
happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.
— n
the American Dream the notion that the American social, economic, and political system makes success possible for every individual



American dreamcoined 1931 by J.T. Adams (1878-1949), U.S. writer and historian, in "Epic of America."
[The American Dream is] "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." [Adams] Others have used the term as they will.







From the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of "dream" (Make the OED your friend, especially if you become an English major in college. It has great explanations of etymology, how words have transformed, and slang uses of words).


Link: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/57600?rskey=JB3CsK&result=1#eid6270443





  • c. An ideal or aspiration; spec. a national aspiration or ambition; a way of life considered to be ideal by a particular nation or group of people. Freq. with defining adj. prefixed, as the American dream (see American adj. 1a).
    1931 N. & Q. CLX. 107/1 If, in the course of centuries, the Russian dream comes true the history of Australia‥may seem, to students belonging to a Communist society, just as primitive, curious and exciting as to us appear the struggles within the Heptarchy.
    1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xi. 214 He was still a young girl's dream of the Perfect Knight.
    1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came Ded., For all my Indian friends‥but for whom I should never have‥understood the Indian Dream.
    1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. xxxiii. 144 A ruler who would cherish the dream and carry it a little way farther along the way to fulfilment.
    1937 R. Kipling Something of Myself vi. 149 Rhodes‥said to me apropos of nothing in particular: ‘What's your dream?’ I answered that he was part of it.


From the OED's definition of "American"


Link: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/6342?rskey=2P7CJH&result=1&isAdvanced=true#eid5337887




  • American dream n. (also American Dream) (with the) the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.[a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xxiii. 439 The fashion and home magazines‥have prepared thousands of Americans‥for the possible rise of fortune that is the universal American dream and hope.]
    1916 Chicago Daily Tribune 7 Feb. 6 If the American idea, the American hope, the American dream, and the structures which Americans have erected are not worth fighting for to maintain and protect, they were not worth fighting for to establish.
    1931 J. T. Adams Epic of Amer. 410 If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us, it will, at bottom, depend on the people themselves.
    2002 N.Y. Times 28 Apr. 12/2 Many claim‥rights to housing, education, health care and welfare checks, yet they are denied the up-by-the-bootstraps right to work that‥has always underpinned the immigrant's hope for access to the American dream.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Essays on As I Lay Dying

AGENDA:

Read and discuss essays

http://www.semo.edu/cfs/teaching/index.html


Jstor---articles in journals, etc.
http://www.jstor.org/

Noodle tools:
http://www.noodletools.com/

See essay regarding journey and characters:
http://www.semo.edu/cfs/teaching/20735.html

Friday, November 21, 2014

Faulkner/O'Connor

AGENDA:

Quiz on vocabulary from "A Rose for emily"
Grade, go over and hand in AP Multiple Choice packets
Continue discussion of "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

HMWK: FINISH reading As I Lay Dying for discussions Monday and Tuesday
Papers are due when we return on Dec. 1

Shmoop Discussion questions:


Good vs. Evil Theme

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a confrontation of between a grandmother with a rather superficial sense of goodness, and a criminal who embodies real evil. The grandmother seems to treat goodness mostly as a function of being decent, having good manners, and coming from a family of "the right people." What a contrast, when the grandmother encounters The Misfit, who seems straightforwardly evil, with little to no sense of guilt, and a genuine desire to do cruel or destructive things for their own sake. Understanding the motivations of The Misfit, and what "goodness" means by contrast, is one of the central puzzles of the story.

Questions About Good vs. Evil

1.       According to the grandmother, what is a "good man"? Is she sincere when she calls Red Sammy a good man? How about The Misfit?

2.       What motivates The Misfit – why does he do what he does? Is he a wholly evil character? Why or why not?

3.       Why would The Misfit say he never thinks the punishment fits the crime? Is he genuinely innocent, or does he believe himself to be? Has he forgotten his crimes? Does he have no sense of right and wrong?

4.       What does it mean when The Misfit says the grandmother would have been a good woman if he had been there to shoot her every minute of her life? What kind of "goodness" does he have in mind? Is this the beginning of a transformation in The Misfit?

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The Misfit has no sense of right and wrong, and for this reason doesn't feel any punishment can ever "fit" the crime.

The Misfit recognizes the grandmother's final gesture as good, and understands "goodness" to be the unconditional love given by divine grace

Religion Theme

·          

The central confrontation between the grandmother and The Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" revolves around Jesus. The grandmother brings up praying to Jesus in the hope that she can induce The Misfit to spare her life by appealing to his religious sense. It turns out, however, that The Misfit has probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. The Misfit's doubt in Jesus leads him to think that there is no real right or wrong, and no ultimate point to life. At the story's climax, the grandmother appears to receive a moment of divine grace, which might transform her and The Misfit. How this ending is understood is the major question of the story.

Questions About Religion

1.       Is the grandmother a real religious believer? Does she have genuine faith? What evidence can you find either way?

2.       Does The Misfit believe in Jesus? If he does, to what degree? If not, why not?

3.       Between The Misfit and the grandmother, who seems to have a more solid foundation in faith?

4.       Why would The Misfit attach so much importance to the question of whether Jesus did what he's supposed to have done? Why is this an all-or-nothing question for him?

5.       Is the grandmother's "moment of grace" a genuine moment of grace? What evidence do you see either way?

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The grandmother never took her religious faith seriously.

The grandmother's final gesture is a genuine moment of grace.

Manipulation Theme

Flannery O'Connor understood her story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" as a tale of good, evil, and divine grace. Other critics, however, have seen in it something more cynical. Many see it as the story of a selfish woman who uses manipulation to get what she wants, but is ultimately unable to save herself by her acts. There are several moments in the story when the grandmother manipulates others, including her family members and the criminal. An interesting question is whether she ever stops manipulating, and, if so, when.

Questions About Manipulation

1.       Is the grandmother an unusually manipulative person, or is her behavior fairly understandable? Why?

2.       In her confrontation with The Misfit, does the grandmother use purposeful, calculating manipulation, or is her attempt to save her own life desperate and not thought-out?

3.       Does the grandmother ever stop trying to manipulate The Misfit? At what point? How can you tell?

4.       Is the grandmother's moment of grace actually just another manipulation? Is The Misfit fooled by it?

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The grandmother never stops trying to manipulate The Misfit, and is stopped only when he kills her.

The grandmother's attempts to save her life are desperate from the beginning, and can hardly be considered deliberate manipulation.

 

Family Theme


Besides its more serious themes, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" contains some mercilessly funny comedy about a dysfunctional family, and the ways they get on each other's nerves. You know, the kind of family that could be in a National Lampoon movie? There's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother, who's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them one by one. Whether this family members attract any genuine sympathy from the reader, or from each other, or whether they death presents little more than a black comedy is an issue up for debate.

Questions About Family


  1. Is the family in the story a caricature of a family, or are they realistic in certain aspects? Why?
  2. Are there any points in the story at which one of the family members comes across as sympathetic? If so, where are they? If not, why?
  3. Do any of the family members care for each other? If yes, then what evidence can you find in support?
  4. Does the grandmother really care about the rest of her family, or is she purely self-interested?

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The family in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is pure caricature.

The grandmother is purely self-interested, and shows little concern for the rest of her family.



Society and Class Theme

The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" gives great importance to being "a lady," and her ideas about what that means reflect an old-fashioned, somewhat upper-crust Southern mindset. She uses the n-word and longs for the good old days when kids were polite, people were trustworthy, and there were pretty plantations to visit. All of this leads her to associate being "good" with coming from a respectable family and behaving like a member of her social class; those who don't are outsiders. Her sensibilities are in for quite a shock when she meets The Misfit.

Questions About Society and Class

1.       In what ways does the grandmother reflect a particular Southern social class? To what extent is this conscious on her part?

2.       How does the grandmother's social class play a role in her confrontation with the Misfit, and in the story's larger contrast between good and evil?

3.       Do any characters besides the grandmother display an awareness of class or social status?

4.       Does the story adopt a negative view towards the kind of southern culture the grandmother represents? Is it instead positive, or neutral? How can you tell?

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The grandmother's values are only concerned with appearances, and are therefore criticized and mocked by the story.

 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Discussion of "A Rose for Emily"/"A Good Man is Hard to Find"/Southern Gothic

AGENDA:

Discuss "A Rose for Emily"

HMWK: Read Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Fiind"

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/flannery-oconnors-good-man-hard-find-whos-real-misfit 

  • How does Flannery O'Connor describe the cultural and physical landscape of the South? What are the characteristics of the literary genre known as "Southern Gothic"?
  • What are the key themes Flannery O'Connor explores in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"?

  • The following questions can be given to students in advance or used to guide discussion during class:
    1. What qualities of the grandmother do you like? What qualities do you dislike? How did you feel when The Misfit killed her? Why?
    2. How would you characterize the other members of the family? What is the function of images like the following: the mother's "face was as broad and innocent as a cabbage and was tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two points on the top like a rabbit's ears" and the grandmother's "big black valise looked like the head of a hippopotamus"?
    3. How does O'Connor foreshadow the encounter with The Misfit?
    4. What does the grandmother mean by a "good man"? Whom does she consider good people? What are other possible meanings of "good"? Why does she tell The Misfit that he's a good man? Is there any sense in which he is?
    5. What is the significance of the discussion of Jesus? Was he a good man?
    6. What is the significance of the grandmother's saying, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children"?
    7. What is the significance of The Misfit's saying, "She would of been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life"?
    There are, of course, no absolute answers to these questions; the story resists easy solutions, violates the reader's expectations.
     

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Faulkner "A Rose for Emily"

AGENDA:

Read and discuss "A Rose for Emily"

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=a+rose+for+emily+lesson+plan&FORM=HDRSC3&adlt=strict#view=detail&mid=F58350F91DF2C11873C5F58350F91DF2C11873C5

HMWK:
Go over questions about the short story for tomorrow
Read essay on "As I Lay Dying" journey
Quiz on vocab on Friday


Vocabulary--"A Rose for Emily"

cupola
noun- small structure built on top of a roof

encroach

verb- to advance beyond proper limits

obliterate

verb- to remove all traces of

august

adj- marked by majestic dignity

coquettish

adj- flirtatious

bemuse

verb- to make confused

anonymous

adj- not named or identified

edict

noun- formal command or decree

remit

verb- to release from guilt

dispensation

noun- an exemption from a law

perpetuity

noun- lasting indefinitely

archaic

adj- relating to a more primitive time

alderman

noun- member of a legislative body

disuse

noun- cessation of use or practice

dank

adj- unpleasantly moist or wet

mote

noun- speck

gilt

adj- covered with gold

spare

adj- lean

pallid

adj- dull

vanquish

verb- to overcome in battle

temerity

noun- nerve

diffident

adj- hesitant through lack of self-confidence

deprecation

noun- expressed disapproval

slunk

verb- to move stealthily

torso

noun- human or animal body apart from the head and appendages

tableau

noun- silent motionless play

spraddle

verb- sprawl

vindicate

verb- to free from blame

pauper

noun- a very poor person

livery

noun- stable where horses and vehicles are kept for hire

kin

noun- one's relatives

acrid

adj- bitter

pall

noun- something that covers

mute

adj- unable to speak

Monday, November 17, 2014

As I Lay Dying Study guides and Reading Questions

AGENDA:

As I Lay Dying Study Guide (with timelines for each character):

http://englishbusselman.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/8/2/13827069/great_study_guide_for_as_i_lay_dying.pdf

Oprah's website:

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Faulkner-101-How-to-Read-William-Faulkner

Toni Morrison and William Faulkner:

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Faulkner-101-Toni-Morrison-and-William-Faulkner


Part 1:
1. Discuss the different kind of relationships the Bundren siblings have with each other. Is Cora right about Darl being Addie's favorite son?

2. What type of marriage do you think Anse and Addie have? How do you feel about Anse as a father and a husband? How do Addie's children feel about her?

3. Discuss what the involvement of Doctor Peabody and Cora and Vernon Tull in the Bundrens' saga says about the importance of community in country life.

4. What does Cash's list of the 13 reasons for beveling the edges of the coffin tell us about him?

5. As far as we know, Dewey Dell hasn't told anyone about her pregnancy. Do you think she's incapable of articulating her condition in words, or do you think Faulkner meant her to be representative of the times?

6. How does Vardaman come to the conclusion that "My mother is a fish" (p. 84)? As you continue reading, look for other ways Vardaman attempts to keep his mother alive.

PART 2:
1. Anse Bundren may be one of the most feckless characters in literature, but why do you think his neighbors repeatedly come to his aid? Is it out of pity, respect, guilt, charity, community...or is Anse that good at manipulation?

2. Faulkner allows Darl and Vardaman to express themselves in language that would be impossible given their lack of education and experience in the world. Why does Faulkner break with the realistic representation of character in this way?

3. Which are the most sympathetic voices in the novel? Discuss which characters you most and least identify with.

4. What does Darl's tale of how Jewel bought his first horse reveal about Jewel's personality and his relationship with his family?

5. What does the novel reveal about the ways in which human beings deal with death, grieving, and letting go of loved ones?

6. Is Tull and Jewel's search in the river for Cash's tools an act of love or obligation?

Part 3:
1. Why do you think Addie's chapter is placed where it is? How does her chapter change your earlier perceptions of the Bundren family? For example, how well did Cora really know Addie?

2. On pages 173–174, Addie meditates on the distance between words and actions. Is Faulkner saying that words—his own chosen medium—are inadequate? What do Addie's definitions say about her as a woman?

3. Anse Bundren alone thrives in the midst of disaster. What was his real reason for wanting to go to Jefferson? Who else gets what they came for?

4. Humor and the grotesque are often interdependent in this novel, such as Vardaman's accidental drilling of holes in his dead mother's face so she can breathe, the family setting Cash's broken leg in cement and the family's apparent imperviousness to the stench of Addie's rotting corpse. What are other examples? What was your reaction to such moments?

5. Darl is able to describe Addie's death when he is not present and intuit Dewey Dell's pregnancy. What does this uncanny visionary power mean, particularly in the context of what happens to Darl at the end of the novel?

6. The Bundrens must endure a number of obstacles on their way to Jefferson. To what extent are the elements against them, and to what extent do they sabotage themselves?

7. What compels loyalty in this family? What are the ways in which that loyalty is betrayed? Who do you feel makes the ultimate sacrifice for the family? Overall, do you find this novel to be hopeful or pessimistic? Share your comments.

Think you know As I Lay Dying? Take our quiz!

Friday, November 14, 2014

As I Lay Dying/Intro to Paper/Character Tracking--The Journey

AGENDA:

View Franco's movie (10 minutes)/Franco interview

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/10/12/james-franco-as-i-lay-dying-2/

Continue to work in groups to track character journey

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Modernism and Faulkner

AGENDA:

EQ: What is American Modernism?

What is Modernism?

Modernism in Literature The following are characteristics of Modernism:
  • Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views.
  • Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.
  • There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.
  • No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.
  • Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength.
  • Life is unordered.
  • Concerned with the sub-conscious.

American Modernism

Known as "The Lost Generation" American writers of the 1920s Brought Modernism to the United States. For writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good. Like their British contemporaries, American Modernists rejected traditional institutions and forms. American Modernists include:
  • Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises chronicles the meaningless lives of the Lost Generation. Farewell to Arms narrates the tale of an ambulance driver searching for meaning in WWI.
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby shows through its protagonist, Jay Gatsby, the corruption of the American Dream.
  • John Dos Passos, Hart Crane, and Sherwood Anderson are other prominent writers of the period.
Mini Lesson: Make a chart to identify aspects of modernism. In the left column list the characteristics of modernism; in the middle column find specific passages; in the right column write an analysis of the passage.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Essays/Quiz Bluest Eye Week of 11/3-11/7

AGENDA:

Quiz on The Bluest Eye

READ AND DISCUSS: Essays from last week

Tuesday: Read, annotate and discuss Gloria Naylor's "The Meanings of a Word" and Dick Gregory's "Shame"

Wednesday: Read, annotate and discuss Toni Morrison's "Nobel Lecture" and Faulkner's "Nobel Speech"
EQ: What do these speeches argue is the role of language and writing?
HMWK: Read to pg. 40 in As I Lay Dying
Link to Toni Morrison's speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ticXzFEpN9o 

Faulkner's speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENIj5oNtapw


Thursday: Finish discussion of Morrison's speech
Review the characters and action in As I Lay Dying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZMy7TOf6XA

Friday, October 31, 2014

Gloria Naylor/Maya Angelou

AGENDA:

READING and DISCUSSION: Read and discuss Gloria Naylor's "The Meaning of a Word"  and Maya Angelou in The Bedford Reader

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Zora Neale Hurston/Alice Walker/Dick Gregory

AGENDA:

Read and discuss "How It Feels to be Colored Me,"  "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self"
and "Shame"

Monday, October 27, 2014

Bluest Eye Presentations

AGENDA:

Classes present Bluest Eye projects Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Bluest Eye/Cholly and Soaphead Church Discussion

AGENDA:

EQ: How do these sections of the book contribute to Morrison's overall themes of race and identity?  

CLOSE READING: Using the study guide questions and the conversational roundtable organizer, examine the following sections of the novel in small group discussions for 15 minutes.

CHOLLY AND FATHERHOOD--searching for his father  155-158

CHOLLY AND FREEDOM/THE RAPE--159-163

SOAPHEAD CHURCH AND PECOLA AND THE DOG--172-176

SOAPHEAD CHURCH'S LETTER TO GOD/GRANTING PECOLA BLUE EYES  176-183

Find key passages that illustrate Morrison's themes of race and identity.

Share out to the class.

HMWK: Quiz tomorrow on vocabulary.  Practice tests on quizlet.

Finish reading the book, Projects due on Monday

Monday, October 20, 2014

The Bluest Eye Vocabulary/Reading Schedule Week 10/20-10/24

Week of 10/20-10/24
10/20 Discuss Bluest Eye  Winter/Spring sections  Maureen Peel, Geraldine
10/21 Discuss Pauline section, Read Cholly section (see handouts)
10/22 Discuss Pauline section cont.; Begin discussing Cholly section; Read Soaphead Church section
10/23 Discuss Cholly section and Soaphead Church; Read ending of novel
10/24 Quiz on The Bluest Eye vocabulary (see below--31 words);  Read aloud the "Pecola has blue eyes" section

The Bluest Eye projects are due Monday for presentation!


 
  1. swaddle
    wrap in swaddling clothes

    "Swaddling clothes" are for babies. Velvet, fur, and pleats are not babyish, but the image of Maureen Peal being swaddled in her clothes emphasizes a wealth that allows parents to pamper their children. It also brings up the image of baby dolls and reminds readers of what Claudia did to them.

    She was rich, at least by our standards, as rich as the richest of the white girls, swaddled in comfort and care.
  2. genuflect
    bend the knees and bow in a servile manner

    Although the Latin "genu" means "knee" and "flectere" means "to bend", a person does not have to bend a knee to show a respectful or servile attitude. Like the girls in the example sentence, she can use her eyes to genuflect.

    Black boys didn’t trip her in the halls; white boys didn’t stone her, white girls didn’t suck their teeth when she was assigned to be their work partners; black girls stepped aside when she wanted to use the sink in the girls’ toilet, and their eyes genuflected under sliding lids.
  3. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness

    She never had to search for anybody to eat with in the cafeteria—they flocked to the table of her choice, where she opened fastidious lunches, shaming our jelly-stained bread with egg-salad sandwiches cut into four dainty squares, pink-frosted cupcakes, stocks of celery and carrots, proud, dark apples.
  4. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment

    Frieda and I were bemused, irritated, and fascinated by her.
  5. equilibrium
    a sensory system located in structures of the inner ear that registers the orientation of the head

    The given definition focuses on physical balance but equilibrium can also refer to emotional or mental balance. Because of the lack of "equality of distribution" (another definition of "equilibrium") in wealth and attention, Maureen Peal's presence throws Claudia and Frieda off balance.

    We looked hard for flaws to restore our equilibrium, but had to be content at first with uglying up her name, changing Maureen Peal to Meringue Pie.
  6. epiphany
    a divine manifestation

    Later a minor epiphany was ours when we discovered that she had a dog tooth—a charming one to be sure—but a dog tooth nonetheless.
  7. hostility
    violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked

    But we had to do it alone, for none of the other girls would cooperate with our hostility.
  8. haughtiness
    overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors

    And when I thought of the unearned haughtiness in her eyes, I plotted accidental slammings of locker doors on her hand.
  9. extemporize
    perform without preparation

    They had extemporized a verse made up of two insults about matters over which the victim had no control: the color of her skin and speculations on the sleeping habits of an adult, wildly fitting in its incoherence.
  10. scorn
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

    They seemed to have taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-hatred, their elaborately designed hopelessness and sucked it all up into a fiery cone of scorn that had burned for ages in the hollows of their minds—cooled—and spilled over lips of outrage, consuming whatever was in its path.
  11. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

    They danced a macabre ballet around the victim, whom, for their own sake, they were prepared to sacrifice to the flaming pit.
  12. animated
    having life or vigor or spirit

    While Frieda and I clucked on about the near fight, Maureen, suddenly animated, put her velvet-sleeved arm through Pecola’s and began to behave as though they were the closest of friends.
  13. placidly
    in a quiet and tranquil manner

    Maureen disappeared into the store with Pecola. Frieda looked placidly down the street; I opened my mouth, but quickly closed it.
  14. arsenal
    all the weapons and equipment that a country has

    We chanted this most powerful of our arsenal of insults as long as we could see the green stems and rabbit fur.
  15. antagonize
    provoke the hostility of

    Her pain antagonized me.
  16. relevance
    the relation of something to the matter at hand

    To the nine and ten year old Claudia and Frieda, "wisdom, accuracy, and relevance" are heavy words that they believe in. To the author (and possibly Claudia as the older narrator), the triad of words carries a mocking tone, because it is being used to describe a white girl's angry claims that she is cute and that Claudia and Frieda are black and ugly.

    We were sinking under the wisdom, accuracy, and relevance of Maureen’s last words. If she was cute—and if anything could be believed, she was—then we were not.
  17. guileless
    free of deceit

    Guileless and without vanity, we were still in love with ourselves then.
  18. gainful
    yielding a fair profit

    Such girls live in quiet black neighborhoods where everybody is gainfully employed.
  19. shrill
    being sharply insistent on being heard

    They are not fretful, nervous, or shrill; they do not have lovely black necks that stretch as though against an invisible collar; their eyes do not bite.
  20. thrift
    extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money unnecessarily

    Here they learn the rest of the lesson begun in those soft houses with porch swings and pots of bleeding heart: how to behave. The careful development of thrift, patience, high morals, and good manners.
  21. dissolve
    become or cause to become soft or liquid

    Wherever it erupts, this Funk, they wipe it away; where it crusts, they dissolve it; wherever it drips, flowers, or clings, they find it and fight it until it dies.
  22. enunciation
    the articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience

    The laugh that is a little too loud; the enunciation a little too round; the gesture a little too generous.
  23. inviolable
    immune to attack; incapable of being tampered with

    What they do not know is that this plain brown girl will build her nest stick by stick, make it her owninviolable world, and stand guard over its every plant, weed, and doily, even against him.
  24. surreptitious
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed

    He must enter her surreptitiously, lifting the hem of her nightgown only to her navel.
  25. ostensibly
    from appearances alone

    He must rest his weight on his elbows when they make love, ostensibly to avoid hurting her breasts but actually to keep her from having to touch or feel too much of him.
  26. constancy
    faithfulness and dependability in personal attachments (especially sexual fidelity)

    Another definition of "constancy" is "the quality of being enduring and free from change"--this would also fit the example sentence, although it would change the tone of the triad. With the first definition, "order, precision, and constancy" would be three positive qualities. With the second definition, they would be three qualities that the author is mocking. Both tones apply and depend on the perspective of the colored woman, her cat, or the author.

    A cat, perhaps, who will love her order, precision, and constancy; who will be as clean and quiet as she is.
  27. satiety
    the state of being satisfactorily full and unable to take on more

    As long as his needs were physical, she could meet them—comfort and satiety.
  28. erode
    become ground down or deteriorate

    The line between colored and nigger was not always clear; subtle and telltale signs threatened toerode it, and the watch had to be constant.
  29. unabashed
    not embarrassed

    Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed, they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between.
  30. idle
    be idle; exist in a changeless situation

    In the long, hot days, they idled away, picking plaster from the walls and digging into the earth with sticks. They sat in little rows on street curbs, crowded into pews at church, taking space from the nice, neat, colored children;