How to Write a Great Critical Lens Essay

• 1   Read, Think, Plan

Understand the critical lens quote. This quote is an assigned sentence from a literary reference that causes controversy and division of opinion. Read and reread the quote to get the full meaning or any hidden implication. Try to be as original as possible in your analysis when you form an opinion about the quote. Decide whether you agree or disagree.

•  2  Write the INTRODUCTORY SENTENCE/S (HOOK)

Rewrite the critical lens quote in YOUR OWN WORDS. This is usually required after writing the quote word-for-word in the first paragraph of the essay, but it also provides a clear understanding and breakdown of what the quote is trying to communicate, according to your perspective.  Express the meaning of the quote and your thesis first!  Then refer to the actual quote.

•   Add two works to the intro and tell why they support or refute the quote.

Pick two works of classic literature that will build a strong foundation and support your opinion. These should be works that you have read and are extremely familiar with. Essentially, these books will make your point valid by extracting relevant quotes and scenarios.  By choosing the two works of literature, you are essentially supporting or disagreeing with the quote and do not have to spell it out (remember: quotes are not "agreeable"; people can be at times). 

Be sure to show how these works support or refute the quote by making a concise statement about how they specifically relate to the quote.

• 3  BODY PARAGRAPHS

Write each paragraph with the "point + support" formula. Give your opinion or point followed by quotes from one of the two works of literature. Each paragraph should be written to persuade the reader to agreeing with your point of view; to accomplish this, readers will have to have concrete evidence the two works of literature will provide.  DO NOT RELY ON PLOT SUMMARY. USE LITERARY TERMS TO SUPPORT YOUR DISCUSSION OF THE CRITICAL LENS, NOT AS THE MAIN FOCUS!

• 4  CONCLUSION

End by summarizing your argument and restating the critical lens quote. Giving the most substantial evidence in the last paragraph will leave the reader with something to think about.

T. S. Eliot The Waste Land

Good Afternoon Class,

The Agenda for today is as follows:

1. Discussion of Critical Lens 

2. An Introduction to one of Fitzgerald's contemporaries, T. S. Eliot and his famous poem, "The Waste Land"

-->T. S. Eliot's reading of Section I: "Burial of the Dead"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7kpAxJD7Wc

-->Background information
 *Life between the wars
 *T. S. Eliot's history
 *Some background to Modernism and the poem itself

-->Group Discussions
You will be put into groups and assigned one of the following sections:
1. A Game of Chess
2. The Fire Sermon (the first three pages)
3. The Fire Sermon (the last two pages) and Death by Water
4. What the Thunder Said

-->Questions to Answer:
1.  What happens in your assigned section?
2.  Which characters are present?
3.  What is the tone of your section?  Defend this with examples of literary elements.
4.  What elements of modernism do you see in your section?
5.  Does this section depict disillusionment or destruction and rebirth?  How?
6. One of the themes that the whole poem explores is the loss of a unifying mythic consciousness and a loss of cultural vigor.  How does your section deal with this?

T. S. Eliot THE WASTELAND

The video of "The Burial":


www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7kpAxJD7Wc

Gatsby FINAL PROJECT

The Great Gatsby                                                                                                       Ms. Hoffmann

The Great Gatsby Unit Project

            F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby clearly has become a mainstay of the American canon.  One way in which this is evident is how widely it is read—particularly in high schools across America.  The reason why the novel has become such an important part of the American tradition—as with any other classic—is because of the history that it portrays as well as the timeless human emotions into which it taps.  Nonetheless, The Great Gatsby is one of the novels to which people have the hardest time relating.  They have a hard time understanding the characters’ actions or the motivation behind them. 

Task:  For this assignment your job will be explicate the meaning in The Great Gatsby.  In order to do this, you are being asked to adapt The Great Gatsby to another setting or time period and to depict this adaptation through a video that is approximately five minutes in length. 

Some adaptations you might consider include the following:

Acting out a short skit that depicts the characters of The Great Gatsby and where they

would be positioned in relation to

1.     Occupy Wall Street

2.     A reality show (such as The Real Housewives, Joe Millionaire, etc.)

3.     Post-Great-Depression America (something that the video clips showed us that Fitzgerald tended to overlook even in his later novels).

4.     A topic of your choosing

This is a group project.  Groups should be of no more than 5 students.  Each student will be expected to contribute something (thus, groups with more students will be expected to complete more refined projects).  You can choose to work alone, but you will still be expected to complete all of the components of the project. 

Due Date Timeline: 

*Friday, December 2^nd—Groups and Topics Due

*Monday, December 5^th—Sources (two per group member that will inform your adaptation)

*Monday, December 12^th—Completed Script and/or Storyboard

*Thursday, December 15^th—Final, Completed Project Due

(Includes: Video, Paper Describing what your group was trying to   accomplish with the video, and individual contribution paper)

Requirements:

*Timely Submission of all Materials listed above

*Groups and Topics

            -A short paragraph explaining who is in your group and what you plan on doing for the

project

            -If doing a topic of choice, ready to get approval for that topic no later than Dec. 2^nd

*Sources

-You are expected to create an informed adaptation.  This means that you will need to do some research in order to help your group.  Each person should submit no less than two sources and a half-page report of their argument to their group and to me for a grade by the deadline.

-These sources should be scholarly, so you are being asked to look beyond Wikipedia.  You can use other websites, but it should be evident that these articles come from a reliable source. 

*Completed Script and/or Storyboard

            -As with any other media, films go through drafts.  Thus, you will be expected to create a

draft for this project.

-You can choose to create either a script or a storyboard.  Use whichever will be most helpful for you, but make sure that you put some thought into your product. You can find examples of each through a quick Google search:

http://www.printablepaper.net/category/storyboard

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/screenplay-TC001018636.aspx

            -Plan things such as (but not limited to) the following: Plot pacing, dialogue, setting,

props, shot types, lighting, etc.

If you are unfamiliar with these film terms you should refer to the following source:

http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms.html

*Final Project Submission

            -The final video

                        At least five minutes in length

                        Accomplishes the aforementioned task

A refined work that obviously has been edited and shows effort that reflects the number of people in the group           

Should be uploaded to YouTube so they can be presented in class.  (These can be set to private so that not just anyone on the Internet can see them). 

            -Video Explanation Paper (only 1 required per group)

                        A formal paper formatted as follows: 2-3pp. in length, double spaced, Times New

Roman 12 pt. font

This paper should explain how you interpret The Great Gatsby and how you show

that interpretation in your re-appropriation of its characters

It should also explain any cinematic techniques that you attempted to portray. 

            -Contribution Paper (1 required per group member)

                        A paper explaining what you personally contributed to your group’s efforts

                         This should be formatted as follows: 1-2pp. in length, double spaced, Times New

Roman 12 pt. font

Gatsby Vocabulary List

The Great Gatsby                                                                                                            Ms. Hoffmann

Vocab List #1

1. Fractiousness— noun

1.     Unruliness

2.     Stubborn nature, difficultness

3.     Petulance

Use in Gatsby: “His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed.”

2. Incredulously—adverb

            1. skeptically; unbelievingly

Use in Gatsby: “Her host looked at her incredulously” (10).

3.  Wan— adjective

1. of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color: His wan face suddenly flushed.

2. showing or suggesting ill health, fatigue, unhappiness, etc.: a wan look; a wan smile.

3. lacking in forcefulness, competence, or effectiveness: their wan attempts to organize the alumni.

4. Archaic .

a. dark or gloomy.

b. pale in color or hue.

verb (used without object), verb (used with object)

5. to become or make wan.

Use in Gatsby: “Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face” (11).

4. Unobtrusively—adverb

1.     Not obtrusively

2.     Inconspicuously

Use in Gatsby: “Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter…” (12).

5. Rotogravure-- noun

1. a photomechanical process by which pictures, typeset matter, etc., are printed from an intaglio copper cylinder.

2. a print made by this process.

3. a section of a newspaper consisting of pages printed by the rotogravure process; magazine section.

Use in Gatsby: “I knew now why her face was familiar—its pleasing contemptuous expression had looked out at me from many rotogravure pictures of sporting life” (18).

6. Supercilious—adjective

haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.

Use in Gatsby: The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do (24). 

7.  Pastoral-- adjective

1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas: pastoral scenery; the pastoral life.

2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic.

3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music: pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.

4. of, pertaining to, or consisting of shepherds.

5. of or pertaining to a pastor or the duties of a pastor: pastoral visits to a hospital.

Use in Gatsby: “We drove over to Fifth Avenue, so warm and soft, almost pastoral, on the summer Sunday afternoon” (28).

8. Hauteur—noun

haughty manner or spirit; arrogance.

Use in Gatsby: “The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (30).

9. Prodigality—noun, plural -ties for 2, 3.

1. the quality or fact of being prodigal; wasteful extravagance in spending.

2. an instance of it.

3. lavish abundance.

Use in Gatsby: “Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, ripped out at a cheerful word” (40).

10. florid—adjective

1. reddish; ruddy; rosy: a florid complexion.

2. flowery; excessively ornate; showy: florid writing.

3. Obsolete . abounding in or consisting of flowers.

Use in Gatsby: “I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years” (48). 

11. Corpulent— adjective

large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat.

Use in Gatsby: “I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years” (48). 

12. echolalia—noun

1. Psychiatry . the uncontrollable and immediate repetition of words spoken by another person.

2. the imitation by a baby of the vocal sounds produced by others, occurring as a natural phase of childhood development.

Use in Gatsby:  “There was a boom of a bass drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader ran out suddenly above the echolalia of the garden” (49).

13. Vinous—adjective

1. of, resembling, or containing wine.

2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of wine: a vinous fragrance.

3. produced by, indicative of, or given to indulgence in wine.

4. wine red; wine-colored: a vinous hue.

Use in Gatsby: “A humorous suggestion was made that she sing the notes on her face, whereupon she threw up her hands, sank into a chair, and went off into a deep vinous sleep” (51). 

14. caterwauling-- noun Also, cat·er·waul·ing.

4. the cry of a cat in rutting time.

5. any similar sound.

Use in Gatsby: “The caterwauling horns had reached a crescendo…” (55). 

15. subterfuge—noun

an artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.

Use in Gatsby: “I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world” (58).

16. insolent-- adjective

1. boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent; insulting: an insolent reply.

Use in Gatsby: “I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world” (58).

The Great Gatsby Introduction Con't.

Good Afternoon,

Today, you all will be practicing leading small group discussions in your small groups.  You will present your group's question and your group's answer to the question.  Then, you will lead the rest of the class in a conversation about it.  You will take their questions as well as field their comments.  This should take your group a little more than 5 minutes.

For the rest of the period, we will discuss upcoming assignments.  We will go any questions regarding the journals that are due on Tuesday and briefly discuss what everyone wrote about.  We will also discuss the end-of-unit assignment on The Great Gatsby. 

The Great Gatsby: Examining the Introduction

Agenda:

1. Work in small groups on the following discussion questions about The Great Gatsby. Post your answers in a comment for credit (include the names of the people in your group).

2. Review the journal assignment that is for homework (due the Tuesday after you get back)

Gatsby Discussion Questions

1. In the beginning of Chapter I, the narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, reflects on the concept of judgment while providing the reader with information about his personal history. As Nick writes, "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had'" (Fitzgerald 1). Is Nick consistent on this point? Would you consider him a reliable narrator?

2. As Nick reflects on the concept of judgment in the early portion of the first chapter, he provides some information about his family history and personal background. Ironically--even though Nick is the narrator--this is some of the most in-depth information that the reader will get about Nick's history. Why do you think Nick provides so little information about himself? What does he focus on instead of himself? What effect does this have on the reader?

3. How does the novel characterize the idea of East v. West? Discuss this both in terms of East and West Egg (if you are not sure what these are, you may want to search for them) as well as in terms of the East and West of the United States. For what does each become a symbol?

4. Discuss the imagery that you see in the first chapter of the novel. Discuss both the imagery used to describe the mansions (that of Gatsby and that of the Buchanans) and the imagery used to introduce the various characters. When it comes to the characters, how does this imagery shape the reader's opinion of them?

5. Specifically consider the introduction of Daisy. What is Daisy like? Do her actions and words deserve the praise with which Nick showers her? Why or why not?

West Egg versus East Egg