callahan

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Jason Callahan’s Portfolio Literacy Autobiography Group Project Best Works Lit-Lit Paper Lesson Plans Hypercritique Philosophy of Education

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Literacy Autobiography Overview Development Case Study

Best Works: 

Best Works I. “To Die, to Sleep—to Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Imagery of the Christian View of Death in Jacob’s Ladder” II. “Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder” III. A History of Teaching the English Language

Unit & Lesson Plans: 

Unit & Lesson Plans In categorizing my unit & lesson plans, I have separated the various modes of English Language Arts. The intention is solely organizational, for all the plans incorporate several of the different modes. Although there are less than ten plans included below, I plan on using this portfolio as an archive for future plans. Composition Language Literature Speaking & Listening Viewing/ Reading Visually Representing

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Philosophy of Education As a future English teacher, my two primary aims will be to help students control their language via written expression and to immerse them in the multifaceted world of literature. I believe the role of all teachers is to offer tools that will empower students to function in society, to achieve personal goals, and to develop their potential.

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Philosophy of Education In order to accomplish these goals, I have a moral imperative to continually expand my knowledge base. By this educational endeavor, I will serve as a good role model; simultaneously, I will have the confidence to explore and test multiple ways of teaching my content.

Philosophy of Education: 

Philosophy of Education Lastly, my philosophy of teaching involves the creation of an educational environment concerned with the affective domain of my students; an environment that never confuses adolescent human beings with cogs in a factory. All students have talents and dreams; it is my responsibility to discover them and empower the student to realize them.

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I am a Part of all that I have Met In order to understand my present and future place as a student, teacher and lover of literature, I must discuss my past. I learned early on the power of the Word. My mother began reading to me by the time I was two. As time passed, picture books gave way to Golden Books. My grandmother, a retired elementary teacher, was another influence upon my pre-literate years. I remember sitting upon her fragile lap, looking through National Geographic and consuming the vast and diverse world she powerfully opened before me. Her readings were to me what Virgil was to Dante: a guide into new worlds. During elementary school, I was an avid reader. Every opportunity, I brought books home from book sales and the library. I remember (and still feel) the passion for a new book: skimming through its pages, observing its cover, reading the overview

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And eventually ensconcing myself into the new world that each book, each chapter, each page, and each line held for me. Although I was not cognizant of it at the time, characters and their stories not only enabled me to free myself cognitively from my world; but paradoxically, they helped me to understand the world around me. This personal relationship with the written word would eventually become dormant over the course of my adolescence. During my secondary school years, my life as a reader of literature was disconnected from my life as a writer of literature. Language and composition components were sectioned off from literature. For the most part, composition was cornered off into one large assignment: the research paper. The culmination of the fragmented and limited curriculum disillusioned and eventually discouraged any literary pursuits. At this point in my life, the Word no longer held power.

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The vitality of the meaning sprang out of the beauty of the language. The alliterative lines leaped from his leaps, calling me to the professional field of language. Because of the earlier negative experiences, I struggled with the writing process. I would procrastinate working on the assignment until it had to be written. By doing this, I failed to proofread, edit and revise my papers. Inefficient feedback negatively reinforced this ineffective approach to writing. For a long time, I believed the final grade was the main purpose for writing. By maintaining A’s on writing assignments, I continued to take the same approach to writing. The first time I revised a paper was my junior year at Ball State. Even then I did it because I had received a B+ on the paper. After class I talked with the professor about her comments and she gave me further feedback, offering me a chance to revise my paper. By openly discussing her responses and my intentions, I was able to clarify my ideas.

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After this experience, I have learned to write more for my own purposes than for a grade. Writing about literature should not purely be used as a tool for assessment; instead, it should be used to help clarify the text for readers and enable them to publicly express their thoughts. In The Prelude, William Wordsworth writes, “What we have loved, others will love and we will teach them how….” I do not believe my past connections with literature are unique. We are all thrust into this arbitrary world with a slanted understanding of it and a limited amount of time to participate in it. Literature frees us from our fated slots by enhancing our experiences and expanding our understanding; whereas, writing is an affirmation of this freedom and a tool to free others. For as Toni Morrison has said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” This is why I will teach English.

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Development   When I entered my first English classroom in college, I soon realized years of grammar workbooks and diagramming sentences had done little to help prepare me as a writer. Every writing assignment caused unnecessary and unwanted anxieties. My previous inexperience in writing served as the impetus behind these anxieties. I had little or no prior knowledge of literary analysis, MLA style, or general literary jargon. Since I had written only one research paper, outlining, editing, revising, and research were vague and distant memories. I believe the first and most valuable lesson I had learned in English 101 was to narrow my analysis of a paper by dissecting the narrative. During my first two years at Pierce College, a junior college, I wrote basic reader-response papers over characters or themes.

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“Emma Undiscovered”, one of my earliest papers, shows a development from a summary to a reader-response approach. The paper is a character analysis of the title character Emma. My earlier papers were highly subjective: I had written in first person and had failed to support my arguments with the text or outside sources. At this stage of my writing, I had learned to abstain from using first person point of view while making my argument. In the paper, I argue that Jane Austen fails to develop the character Emma, thus subverting the “coming of age” motif. However, I fail to explicitly mention this motif. Several of the arguments crumble under lack of textual evidence. I fail to “unpack” a few of my ideas. The organization of the paper is sound, yet I did not construct any sort of outline while preparing it. My basic approach was to take notes while reading the text. The paper opens with a literary allusion to Shakespeare’s Polonius.

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The allusion, an exertion of my accruing literary knowledge, is both excessive and out of place. The conclusion, while connecting the opening allusion with the argument, fails to adequately summarize my argument. As for the syntactical constructions, I cram sentences full of information , I overuse conjunctive adverbs , and I show a lack of MLA knowledge. References are not correct. Also, my word choice is at times cliché and repetitive. The next paper, “One for All and All for One”, takes a quasi-New-Historicist approach to John Stuart Mill, Robert Browning, and Matthew Arnold. The paper relies too much on the writers’ texts to be considered a true New-Historicist paper. I like this paper because the discourse arises from my analysis, yet it has less subjectivity than the previous paper. The paper compares and contrasts the three writers’ ideologies within the context of the Victorian Age.

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For this paper, I constructed a rough outline, dividing the writers by their opposing ideologies toward the Victorian idea of progress. Although I do a better job constructing my analysis from the texts, there are still lapses. I fail to adequately support my analysis of Mill’s ideology by using insufficient support: I use only one text in my analysis on Mill; whereas, I use at least two for each Browning and Arnold. Also, the paragraph structures are not parallel: I devote nearly three times as much analysis to Browning as I do Mill. I believe this illustrates a problem with maintaining an objective analysis. During my analysis of Arnold, I use an allusion to his poem “The Scholar Gypsy” to explicate Arnold’s position, yet I fail to make the purpose of the reference explicit. Like the previous paper, my conclusion does not efficiently summarize the paper. I cram too many ideas in sentences. There are a few mistakes with MLA: I fail to make a few necessary citations.

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The last paper, “The Tie that Binds”, was written for an American Literature survey course at Ball State. It was my first true exposure to literary theory. The criterion for this assignment was to support the thesis of the paper with research from literary journals. The approach, while relying heavily upon others’ ideas, shows a clean break from the subjectivity found in the reader-response approach to Emma. I take a New Criticism approach with this paper, analyzing Hawthorne’s use of different literary devices in “Young Goodman Brown.” This illustrates a greater awareness to literary concepts and language. Although I have cited my references differently than the first paper, they do not follow MLA style. The organization is fairly clear, though the overuse of outside support bogs down the flow.

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Still, there are not any frivolous literary allusions. The one used is relevant and succinct. I exhibit better word choice: conjunctive adverbs are used more conservatively and cliché phrases are noticeably absent. Also, I do a better job of drawing clear ideas and giving adequate support from either the text or an outside source.

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Conclusion I view this section of my portfolio as a work in progress. Before I embarked on this project, my knowledge of the writing process and of my writing style were in an intangible format. All improvements made in my past writings occurred through a process of cognitive reinvention. However, this portfolio serves as a physical map; a concrete guide from the trials of the past to the challenges of the future. Through the process of accumulating my past works, I have a deeper understanding of the writing process.

The papers presented in this development illustrate growth in this understanding by highlighting improvements in word choice, sentence structure, the development of ideas, and use of references. The errors discovered in these past writings now survive in the present; thus, they should not be repeated in any future endeavor.: 

The papers presented in this development illustrate growth in this understanding by highlighting improvements in word choice, sentence structure, the development of ideas, and use of references. The errors discovered in these past writings now survive in the present; thus, they should not be repeated in any future endeavor.

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Emma Undiscovered In Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet, the character Polonius lent his son some advice which has become one of the most quoted lines in all of William Shakespeare’s writings: “[T]o thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, Thou canst be false to any man.” (Hamlet/1.3.84-86). Unfortunately, Polonius never had an inclination of following his own advice. Indeed, his death could be blamed directly on his dereliction of such good counsel. One cannot keep poor Polonius out of mind while reading the misadventures of Emma Woodhouse. Although, Emma, who like Polonius is constantly self-deluding herself from reality, she never meets anything remotely close to the same fateful doom as Shakespeare’s tragic character (at least not in this story). Furthermore, Emma neither truly discovers anything about herself, nor does she ever truly change herself.

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Admittedly, there are glimpses of discovery as well as insignificant flashes of change with Miss Woodhouse, yet neither occur without violently external forces shattering into her little glass house of conscientiousness. At the conclusion of the book, the reader will discover that throughout all of her vain follies, Emma Woodhouse has changed as much as a leopard can change its own spots. The reason for this is because she, quite like the aforementioned beast, does not discover that she truly has any spots. The proof of this can be found in examining Emma and her interactions with others, her dealings with her enclosed society, and lastly, the inner thoughts of the character after the three climatic events in Emma. “As a walking companion, Emma had very early foreseen how useful she might find her [Harriet].” (44). This is an excellent example of how Emma views other people, specifically those below her rank, which amounts to almost everyone of Highbury.

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Yet, the caste system cannot be a viable excuse for one human being to envision another as a mere utility. Unfortunately, Emma becomes friendly with the young, naïve Harriet for more or less the sake of utility. In the former quote, Emma’s abusing liberties are concentrated on Harriet for the purpose of someone to listen to her; however, later, Emma, without a tincture of guilt in her thought, confesses that on their initial meeting she thought Harriet might prove useful in her matchmaking endeavors with Mr. Elton. Miss Woodhouse is so bitterly ripe with conceit that her conscience never twitches as to give an inkling of thought to anyone else’s desires but her own, while she blindly continues with her underhanded enterprises. She literally assimilates this poor girl’s thinking facilities with her own wants and desires. Emma treats Harriet not unlike her own paintings. Harriet to Emma is merely a medium such as canvas to a painter or even more appropriately, as clay is to a sculptor. Moreover, to illustrate that Emma never makes a true discovery, she eventually displaces Harriet when she no longer has use for her, sending her away to London, in order to have Mr. Knightley all for herself.

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How different is this from the way she treats painting? In the end, the horribly cruel way that “Dr. Emma Frankenstein” treats her monster, becomes a blessing, although it merely was a blessing in chance not intention. This unintended blessing, which was Mr. Martin’s meeting with Harriet in London, gave Emma an improbable way out of her unthoughtful meddling. However, what if Mr. Martin, who always was Harriet’s true love, gave up and married someone else? Harriet, most likely, may have spent the rest of her meager life in dreadful solitude. Emma truly never understands what the consequence of her projects. Emma’s interactions with her father never vary. Throughout the story, she is fully aware of Mr. Woodhouse’s frivolous intricacies; such as his hypochondria, and more importantly, his one-sided thinking, that thrives through his own wants and desires.

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If he does not like cake, than cake is bad, thus no one should eat it. As said formerly, Emma is not blind to his collapsed paradigm; instead, the complete awareness of it dictates her life. This paragraph also can be used to dissect the interaction between Mr. Knightley. After her and Mr. Knightley conclude that they will be married, the question of her father quickly sprouts up. Emma’s reply to Mr. Knightley about this is, “While her dear father lived any change of condition must be impossible for her. She could never quit him.” (383). The evidence that she has not changed, at least in this regard, is that Mr. Knightley was prepared for this response from her. Furthermore, Emma manipulates her father’s silly faults when she approaches him on the subject of her and Mr. Knightley’ s marriage. Eventually, Mr. Woodhouse is persuaded to consent because there was news of a chicken thief in the area. Mr. Knightley could now justly serve an utility at Hartfield, so Emma’s egocentric father consents to the engagement.

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Lastly, at the end of the book, a point which should exhibit the new self-discovered, metamorphisized Emma, the reader witnesses an exchange between Frank and Emma that buffs a shine in this argumentative steel. Frank is apologizing to her for all of his misgivings and deceit. Emma retorts that it is quite all right, for in her own damning words, “I think it might have been some amusement to myself in the same situation.” (408). Emma has not really changed at all. Indeed, because of the new events, primarily her engagement to George, her malicious mischievousness is merely in hibernation. Throughout this story, Emma uses her societal system to her advantage. Her argument against Harriet’s involvement with Robert are grounded in the idea that his status in the world is beneath Harriets’; however, paradoxically, Emma wholeheartedly denies to herself as well as Harriet that Mr. Elton is above her friend’s status.

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Even though he truly is above her station in their society. Later on in the story, it is this same Emma, who upon falling in love with the same man that her arbitrarily dear friend Harriet has affections for coldly says, “Mr. Knightley and Harriet Smith! Such an elevation on her side! Such a debasement on his!/How Harriet could ever have had the presumption to raise her thoughts to Mr. Knightley!” (355/356). Her vial comment is of the same girl that she once equated to Mr. Elton’s rank The juxtaposition of Robert Martin and Frank Churchill is a prime example of Emma’s corrupted philosophical outlook on society. Since Robert is of low status in society, then he is ignorant. Emma cannot comprehend that he can read or write, yet he can do both, and both rather well. Still, Emma does not give his character any worth. However, take Frank, who is of high rank and he can do no wrong. Upon his first short visit to Highbury, he spends an entire day in London solely to get his haircut (at least that was what everyone thought).

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Yet this frivolous action is not condemned in the subjective eyes of Miss Emma. Indeed, she remarks, “I do not know whether it ought to be so, but certainly silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.” (194). In the last few pages, the reader learns of the future relationship between Harriet and Emma: “The intimacy between her and Emma must sink; their friendship must change into a calmer sort of goodwill; and fortunately, what ought to be, and must be, seemed already beginning, and in the most gradual, natural manner.” (411). It seems as if Emma has reached a conformity to her established rules of society. However, it is more likely that Emma would rather keep Harriet away from her once confessed love Mr. Knightley, who was now Emma’s husband. Although the book is not written entirely from Emma’s point of view, still, Miss Austen allots enough perspective from Emma’s inner thoughts for the reader to draw a definite conclusion on whether or not Emma Woodhouse actually has discovered anything about herself.

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In order to tightly seal this argument from losing any air, then one must diligently examine Emma’s inner-dialogue after the three climatic events surrounding the character. The first event which forced Emma to reevaluate her actions, was the disclosure of whom Mr. Elton truly was in love with. Once Emma has time for her “quiet reflection”, she plays Ping-Pong with her clouded emotions. (131). Yes, she does readily admit to the discovery of her erred ways; however, she diffuses some of the blame to Mr. Elton, who instantaneously had transformed from being a gentleman to becoming, “proud, assuming, conceited, very full of his own claims, and little concerned about the feeling of others.” (132). Ironically, Miss Woodhouse has described herself with precision, though it is labeled to the accompanied name of Mr. Elton. Furthermore, she swallows a dose of self-deluding, medicinal recollection that she at least had saved Harriet from Mr. Martin and the bowels of lower class hell. As in her thoughts on the matter, “There I was quite right.” (134).

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Is the reader to believe that Miss Woodhouse has discovered anything in the least? After all, does she not begin to think about William Cox or later on, Frank Churchill as possibly suitors for Harriet? The second possible awakening takes place after the infamous Box Hill incident. Because she lacks empathy, she at least with her own eyes, cannot witness how rude she is to Miss Bates. It takes an outside source, in this case George, to chase her out of her dark, forested mind and into a clearing of understanding. Upon reaching this point, she is emotionally shaken up. However, are her streams of tears rolling down her face because she hurt Miss Bates or, more likely, is it because George scolded her like no one had ever done before this night? The latter is the one which follows Emma the most consistently. One of the last thoughts she has in Chapter Seven is, “And how suffer him to leave her without saying one word of gratitude, of concurrence, of common kindness!” (325).

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Moreover, at the end of Emma’s “penitence” of visiting Miss Bates, her betraying reflections of her “unfair conjectures” towards Jane, “[were] so little pleasing that she soon allowed herself to believe her visit had been long enough.” (331,332). This is the conclusion of the chapter. The pain attributed to her ailing conscience of nighttime are over and Emma can wake to a refreshingly clean conscience of the dawning day! Finally, it is love that Austen wants the reader to believe that Emma has discovered. This pseudo-discovery above all the others may be the hardest to fathom. It is the unprecedented, as well as conceivable competition of Harriet Smith that seduces Emma into the idea of being in love with George Knightley. Additionally, it is the idea that someone in Emma’s superior family could be dragged down into the lower class by Harriet. For all intensive purposes, Mr. George Knightley is Emma’s relation.      

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Upon learning that George is in love with her versus the inferior Harriet, Emma condemningly thinks, “to see that Harriet’s hopes had been entirely groundless, a mistake, a delusion/that Harriet was nothing; that she was everything herself.” (368). Although Jane Austen’s book Emma was not intended to be an Elizabethan Tragedy like Shakespeare’s Hamlet; still, the fate of Emma Woodhouse is an extremely tragic one. As this paper incessantly argues, Miss Woodhouse never can have true self-discovery until she meets with some real consequence for her self-deluded actions.

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  One for All and All for One The Victorians believed social progress was determined by he effort of the individual. More specifically, Victorian John Stuart Mill thought it depended upon a society’s commitment to the freedom of the individual. If individuals are forced to conform to custom, tradition, or an established institution, then society will become stagnant. Also, Mill believed a progressive and hopeful future comes from the individual aspiring to transcend the past. Reliance on the past will retard society through inactivity of the individual. Mill hopes that if the individual has the will and ability to develop his or her talents, breaking away from institutions of the past, then society will progress. Robert Browning tempers Mill’s idealistic hopes of individual freedom: he concurred that social progress rests on allowing for individual liberties; however, he warned that social progress occurs only when the individual utilizes his or her energy for societal not personal gain.

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Furthermore, he opens the door to the idea that by relinquishing societal bonds, the individual will discover progress can be a lonely and miserable experience. Matthew Arnold walks right through Browning’s door, arguing that changes, caused by the belief solely in continual progress, separates the individual from the cultural bonds of the past. By eradicating long established societal bonds, such as Christianity, the individual will become disconnected from his or her society. Eventually, after discovering that one is alienated from everyone else, the individual will view the world as having, “neither joy, nor love, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;…a darkling plain….” In Mill’s critique On Liberty he argues there is a problem in England. The problem is, “individuals are lost in the crowd.” The individual has become a slave bound by chains to customary institutions of the past. Although Mill does acknowledge the past has given man a certain insight, he does not view the past as a necessary ingredient in future innovations.

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He reasons that everything new or original has no past. Something cannot exist before it is created. Thus, breeding with static practices will not conceive any new idea. Unfortunately, according to Mill, the English people will fall into a “collective mediocrity,” as long as they conform to the narrow and inadequate scope of these institutions. Therefore, Mill believes a custom-bound society is in direct conflict with progress. Mill’s ideology, characteristic of the Victorian Age, not only points out the problem, he offers a solution. He asserts that a society can remain progressive as long as it values individuality. For, as Mill said, “The initiation of all wise or noble things, comes and must come from individuals; generally at first from some one individual.” If the individual is allowed to progress into the future, then society shares its sons’ and daughters’ achievements. Robert Browning transitions between Mill’s hope for a prosperous future and Arnold’s lamentations over a lost past.

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In much of Browning’s poetry he agrees with Mill’s assertion that individual freedom can be credited with the genesis of social progress. Browning’s poem “Fra Lippo Lippi” epitomizes Mill’s contention that freeing the individual of social bonds enables progress to occur. Lippo draws his inspiration from his inner fountains, not societal waters. He has so much strength and talent he believes he can, “interpret God to all….” This is the social progress that Mill, Browning, and most Victorians believed would come of societal emphasis on the individual. Nevertheless, Lippo cannot fulfill his proclamation because he is bound to a static institution. Lippo has the will to transcend the past, yet he does not have the freedom. When the Prior of the monastery views Lippo’s work, he denounces it as the “devil’s game.” He encourages the artist to conform to the artists of the past: “Here’s Giotto, with his Saint a-praising God, that sets us praising—why not stop with him?”

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The Prior, a symbol for custom, forces Lippo to conform, severing the possibilities of progress. Browning explicitly agrees with Mill about the degenerative qualities of repressing the individual. Yet, where Mill fails to address the dangers of the excesses of individual liberties, Browning succeeds. In many of his dramatic monologues, the reader discovers individuals who have personal freedom. Contrariwise to Mill’s positive outlook, these men show no promise of contributing to society. In these poems, Browning is saying not only does society need to place an emphasis on the individual; the individual must place emphasis on society. Although one may have personal freedom, he or she must use that freedom for the sake of society, not the individual. If not, then anything the individual has to offer society will be used to serve solely the individual. Lastly, the true road between Mill’s hope and Arnold’s dejection can be found in Browning’s Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came.”

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Roland’s success through his self-reliance and self-will complements Mill’s hopeful proposition; however, Roland’s bleak environment and dejected psychology, brought on by his individual quest, echo the melancholy of Arnold. The rapidly changing landscape of this plain represents the continual changes of the Victorian Age. Soon after Roland has left the “safe road” and the cripple, he turns to discover both are gone. Roland cannot rely on the chaotic world around him; instead, he must rely only on himself. Also, Browning employs time to shift the imagery. The dawning of the new day unveils the tower from the darkness of night. This vehicle is further used to emphasize that in order to progress, the individual must leave the past. The one commonality Roland shares with his environment is misery.

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Roland’s quest is marred by alienation. He does not have the “safe road”, or past, to rely on. His inspiration to continue onward can be found solely within himself. However, his total self-reliance creates in him a sense of alienation. When he meets the miserable horse, he lacks all compassion for it. He cannot empathize with the creature with whom he shares a similar circumstance; instead, Roland can only feel abhorrence for the horse: “I never saw a brute I hated so….” In the end, Roland succeeds through his individuality, yet, his road to success was a miserable one. The fact that the poem ends with Roland continuing on indicates that Browning had believed the negative by-products of individual freedom are less consequential than the success of social progress.

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Matthew Arnold disagreed. Arnold did not wholeheartedly disagree with Mill’s criticism of a society inertly bound to customary institutions. In fact, Arnold vehemently attacked religious institutions for their narrow-minded scope. In Culture and Anarchy he denounces the Puritans for their rigid dissent of anything outside themselves. This may seem to unify Mill and Arnold, however, entwined in Arnold’s criticism of the Puritans, is his assail of Mill’s propagation of individualized progress. Arnold argues against the Puritans’ zealous strictness of conscience because they have created rules based on nothing. This compares to Mill and Browning’s idea of the individual developing without any type of foundation. Again, in the second chapter of Culture and Anarchy, Arnold clashes with Mill. Arnold agrees with Browning about the dangers of excessive individualism.

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He believed personal liberty might lead to anarchy because “[f]reedom…was one of those things which we worshipped in itself, without enough regarding the ends for which freedom is to be desired.” Having a society full of Browning’s proud dukes, greedy bishops, and controlling lovers would not exactly bring about progress. What really bothers Arnold is the feeling of insignificance brought on by social progress. Arnold argues that the social changes, brought on by the purposeless individualistic approach to progress, have left the individual alone and, “wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born.” The Christian cultural bond was beginning to break apart due to scientific advances. This bond had given and connected every man with the same purpose. Arnold did not lament over losing the specifics of the Christian religion; instead, he was dejected over losing a purpose that could be shared by all.

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The second world that he alludes to is the next purpose. Like the Scholar Gypsy’s purpose of unity, this purpose could retrieve the serenity of the past. Yet, he does not share Mill’s hope. Arnold describes Mill and Browning’s proposal of social progress through active and free individuals as, “this strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry [and] its divided aims….” John Stuart Mill believed that if the individual is fed and fertilized with freedom, then the individual, like an orchard, would flourish, branching out and bearing fruits to the society that has valued him or her. For him, social institutions only served as barriers to the universal human aspiration: progress. Robert Browning agreed with Mill’s assertion that the individual must be free of social constraints, so the Fra Lippi Lippo’s of the world can enlighten society; on the other hand, he agreed with Matthew Arnold’s bleak prognosis of excessive individualism. Arnold foresaw and lamented a chaotic world, wherein the removal of tradition and culture would leave the individual alienated from the rest of society.

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Works Cited Arnold, Matthew. “Culture and Anarchy.” & “Dover Beach” & “Scholar Gypsy” & “Stanzas From the Grande Chartreuse.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1993. 2: 1359-1372.   Browning, Robert. “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.” & “”Fra Lippo Lippi.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. 2: 1206-1219. Mill, John Stuart. “On Liberty.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. 2: 1003-1012.

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The Tie that Binds   Richard Fogle confesses that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Young Goodman Brown is a seemingly simple story leading the protagonist on a short journey, wherein he must face a crisis in the forest, when upon completion, he proceeds home “a changed man”. (Fogle/p.22). This skeletal framework of the story seems simple enough for the reader to comprehend. So, why are there so many different analysis’, many of which are violently conflictive, on this short, simple story? How can such a basic story inspire one critic to parade Young Goodman Brown as, “the achieve[ment]…[of the] highest art”, while it ignites another critic to set it aflame as a, “failure of the artist’s vital responsibility toward his material?” (Fogle/p.32: Humma/p.431).

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The answer to these questions can be found in the literary devices Hawthorne’s simple plot structure is cloaked in. While the stories’ skeleton is transparent, its flesh and spirit are opaque, hiding its simplistic plot and elevating its complex theme through moments of clear reality, broken allegory, and the darkness of dreams or shadowy aberrations. Hawthorne intentionally muddles the boundaries of the protagonists’ conscious reality, unconscious dreams, and the stories’ allegorical symbolism, so the reader feels, “a loathful brotherhood” of empathy with the protagonist’s eventual “stern” and “sad” state due to his failure to accept the evil ,with the good, in the nature of mankind. (Hawthorne/pg.944 & 945). That in fact, Brown’s absolute ideology, will mire humankind into the Slough of Despond.

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The weight of each literary device resides in, though are not limited to, a specific part of the plot structure: the majority of the allegory begins the story in the exposition; the dream-vision or apparitions occur through the complication to the climax. As Leo Lavy points out, the story starts out as an allegory, “creating the expectation that the characters will consistently exhibit the abstractions they symbolize.” (Lavy/p.376). He specifies this statement with references, such as; the early generality of the characters, Young Goodman Brown and Faith, the vagary of surrounding Brown’s journey, and the use of basic symbols of Brown’s companion’s staff and Faith’s pink ribbons. Lavy labels Brown as “Everyman”, and indeed, with the generality of his name it would seem this was Hawthorne’s intention.

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Moreover, it is Brown’s references to his wife, Faith, that leads even the most amateur eye to recognize her allegorical value. As soon as Brown has left his Faith on the path of his evil journey he thinks of his wife, “Poor little Faith!”; and turns to self deprecation, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” (Hawthorne/p937). In these lines, the duality of Faith’s allegorical substance is evident. It is Brown’s self-condemnation that buffs out the questionable dullness in the armored idea of Faith as an allegorical character. First of all, the reader must ask why Brown denounces himself as a “wretch”. He explains that he is a “wretch” because he “[left] her on such an errand”. Is the reader to assume that Brown feels like he should have taken his wife to a meeting with the devil? Of course not. Instead, he should have brought his faith with him on his evil journey.

Slide48: 

Reinforcing this explication is the exclamation prior to it, “Poor little Faith!” This simple three word sentence takes on duplicate meanings: Brown’s feeling of sorrow for leaving his wife, Faith; as well as, Brown’s self condemnation for not having enough of the abstract quality of faith. In another example, when the devil comments on Brown’s tardiness, Brown excuses himself by saying, “Faith kept me back a while”. (Hawthorne/p.937). In the literal sense, Faith, the wife, did plead with her husband not to go on his journey; on the other hand, it is faith, the abstraction, that intercedes between evil and mankind. Hawthorne never unveils the primordial cause effectuating Brown’s journey into the forest. By Hawthorne starting the reason behind the journey in medias ras, he opens the door to a general tale that Levy describes as a “man’s journey into the mystery of evil…in the broadest possible terms.” (Levy/p.376).

Slide49: 

The pink ribbons in Faith’s cap and the Brown’s forest companion’s staff are both introduced in symbolic terms: the pink ribbons represent faith in its purest form, child-like; while the staff represents evil in its earliest literary form, as a serpent. All of the aforementioned allegories dissipate, as if they are in the “gloom” of Brown’s forest, thus deflating Lavy’s “expectation[s].” The allegorical quality of the character Faith crumbles under Hawthorne’s building up of a literal person: “She talks of dreams, too.” (Hawthorne/p.937). By intermittently building Faith as a literal character in the exposition he allows the allegory to breathe air into its lungs; however, by the end of the story he has deprived it of almost any life at all, leaving the reader to see the use of Faith more as a pun than as an allegory.

Slide50: 

The broadness of the journey is given set parameters of a witches Sabbath. As for the symbols, they are given up to new literary devices as well. As the story progresses into the complication, the ability to recognize Hawthorne’s use of literary devices seems to digress. As Young Goodman Brown becomes lost in the dark forest he is immersed in, likewise, the reader becomes lost in the ambiguousness of the literary devices he or she is immersed in. It is at the complication that the reading becomes complicated and the reader becomes confused. Although their are many different interpretations of Brown’s experiences in the forest, here are two strong ones: first of all, the idea that his entire journey into the forest, the meeting with Satan, the witnessing of the entire town at a witches Sabbath, and the climax of his and his wife’s unholy communion was nothing more than a dream;

Slide51: 

secondly, there is the idea that only the meeting with Satan was literal, while everything up until he “found himself amid calm night and solitude”, were apparitions conjured by Satan. (Hawthorne/p.945). In Rita Gollins’ book Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Truth of Dreams she attempts to explain what she calls “the unsteady perceptions of young Goodman Brown”, by referring to the philosophy of a scholar whose ideas closely followed those of one of Hawthorne’s professors. (Gollin/p.26). Her explanation, based on the scholar’s opinion, says, “superstitious people ‘incorporate their fears with the objects they dimly perceive, till the whole, thus compounded, assumes the appearance of external reality.’” (Gollin/p.126).

Slide52: 

Furthermore, she continues with her loose speculations by discussing an idea out of a textbook written by Thomas C. Upham, one of Hawthorne’s professors, that had been published two years after Hawthorne had graduated. She cites a description of dreams from the book, which states, “Dreams can become wild and incoherent because they are not corrected by perceptions of reality or disciplined by the will….” (Gollin/p.26). If perchance Hawthorne had read this book, it does not sound like a description of a man whose will urges him to go against his entire world by breaking the unanimous consent into evil with a minority shout of, “Faith!…look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one.” (Hawthorne/p.945). Furthermore, if one is to consider the dream-vision analysis, then one must find an indication that points to Brown falling asleep.

Slide53: 

Unfortunately for those champions of this analysis, Hawthorne never opens that door. Yet, he does make enough allusions to dreams for one to earnestly consider this interpretation. Early in the story, when Faith pleads with her husband to stay home because of her nightmares, there is foreshadowing of the influence of dreams. Moreover, the greatest implication that it was all a dream is a question posed by the narrator; “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?” (Hawthorne/p.945). These inconsistencies wear the reader down into the shoes of Brown himself.David Levin relies on specter evidence to defend his argument, which says everything in the story, excluding the townspeople and the events witnessed by Brown in the forest, is to be taken literally.

Slide54: 

Levin explains that the former exclusions are “specters” created by the devil in order to fool Brown. (Levin/p.344). This interpretation, like the dream-vision, bears many strengths, though, as John Humma articulates, it too, has its weaknesses. Humma counters this position by arguing, like the argument against the dream-vision, Hawthorne never makes this intention evident in the text. (Humma/p. 426). Still, Levin’s argument has a good foundation, such as; when Brown is thinking of reasons to leave the devil’s side, the very reasons happen to appear before him. As Brown is deciding to abandon his evil purpose, he imagines how later on, how good he will feel when he meets such pious men as the minister and Deacon Gookin.

Slide55: 

At the very moment these warm thoughts are reinforcing his decision to return to Salem, he overhears a conversation between the aforementioned men, wherein they give testimony to their wicked connection with the devil. Once again, Hawthorne heaves evidence toward an interpretation onto the back of the reader; only to force him or her to forever carry that baggage by never allowing them to use it. In the end, young Goodman Brown’s journey changes him into “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man….” (Hawthorne/p.945). It was a journey into the ambiguous realm of good and evil; moreover, it was a journey into the heart of humankind, wherein the ambiguity of good and evil was explored.

Slide56: 

Brown ambiguously explored and measured the two and then denied what he had discovered: Although mankind outwardly makes distinction between “saint and sinner”, they all are innately joined in a “loathful brotherhood” of sin. Joan Winslow elaborates on this contradiction by pointing to The Scarlet Letter’s minister Dimmesdale: “…Dimmesdale…finds it necessary to split his identity: to outward eyes he is the perfect spiritual leader, but underneath his clerical garments the sign of sin is embedded on his breast.” (Winslow/p.263). Dimmesdale dies in peace because not only is he aware of his split, he eventually accepts it; on the contrary, Brown dies in “gloom” because he is aware of his split and he will not accept it. (Hawthorne/p.946).  

Slide57: 

In order to illustrate on the stories complex nature, Fogle in the same book he is referred from at the beginning of this paper, contradictorily states: “ ‘Young Goodman Brown’ is generally felt to be one of Hawthorne’s more difficult tales, from the ambiguity of the conclusions which may be drawn from it.” (Fogle/p.15). By beginning the story as an allegory; creating the central conflict out of allusions of dreams, apparitions, and reality; Hawthorne forces the reader to suffer the same feeling of disillusionment that the protagonist endures. Hawthorne intentionally fails to solidify any literary device throughout the story, so the reader can empathize with the failure of Goodman Brown.

Slide58: 

Works Cited   Fogle, Richard. Hawthorne’s Fiction: The Light & the Dark. Norman: University of Oklahoma Printing, 1975.   Gollin, Rita. Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Truth of Dreams. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.   Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Anthology of American Literature: Volume 1: Colonial Through Romantic. Ed. George McMichael. 6th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997. 936-946.   Humma, John. “‘Young Goodman Brown’ and the Failure of Hawthorne’s Ambiguity.” Colby Library Quarterly 9 (1971): 425-431.   Levin, David. “Shadows of Doubt: Specter Evidence in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown.’’’ American Literature 34 (1962): 350.   Levy, Leo. “The Problem of Faith in ‘Young Goodman Brown.’” Journal-of-English-and-German-Philology 74 (1975): 375-87.   Winslow, Joan. “The Stranger Within: Two Stories by Oates and Hawthorne.” Studies-in-Short-Fiction 17 (1980): 263-268.

Case Study: 

Case Study Case Study     For this paper I had to choose a text from any genre and write a paper from the perspective of at least one literary theory. I had recently written a summary of an article, which argued Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness functions as feminist discourse. Immediately, I connected the argument of this article with Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. So I submitted my proposal. The proposal was approved, yet the professor believed I would be taking more of a feminist/psychoanalytic approach than a feminist/deconstructivist approach. I read the book over again, making a rough outline of passages that pertained to patriarchal, archetypal, feminine, and psychoanalytic images. Along with this outline, I included the page numbers to crosscheck the references for contextual validity of my arguments.

Slide60: 

Afterward, I knew I had enough material. The next issue was organizing the argument. Basically, the paper is constructed chronologically with the book: the construction of the protagonist’s lost masculinity; the insertion of the quest to regain his masculinity; the conflict and the failure of the quest; and the final ironic epiphany. I had all but the last point thought out before I began writing. It took a few readings before I recognized the relationship between the old man dreaming of lions juxtaposed with the marlin mistaken as a shark. Another difficulty I faced while writing this paper was where and how to define or as my professor said “unpack” the literary terminology. Eventually I decided to explain the literary tools before I began the body of the paper. By defining the terms at the beginning, the analysis flowed with fewer interruptions.

Slide61: 

However, I failed to adequately connect the last definition with applicable text. Once Lacan’s Real Order is defined, it is never explicitly discussed again. After retracing my thoughts, I think the omission of the Real Order occurs because I had not discovered the reader’s epiphany until I had already written the first few paragraphs. Initially, I had planned to end my analysis with the old man’s epiphany discovered in the dissonance [the Real Order] between the Symbolic Order and the Semiotic language of the old man. Yet, well into the paper, I discovered that Hemingway seemed to want the reader to have the epiphany through Santiago’s ignorance of the fish’s fate. This revelation seemed to deflate the importance of the protagonist’s own epiphanies.

Slide62: 

However, Hemingway achieves a greater sense of irony by keeping his protagonist ignorant to the fate of his fish. In retrospect, I could have argued that this use of irony further subverts Santiago’s patriarchal sense of ownership. Overall, I was very pleased with the paper. Aside from my failure to recognize the full potential of my argument, I have a strong grasp on the theme. This strength derived from the culmination of prior knowledge, research time, and thorough planning. The end result is one of my best all around papers.

Slide63: 

The Old Woman and the Sea: The Old Man’s Realization in his Failure to Regain his Masculinity in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea   Although Ernest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and the Sea seems to purport the patriarchal ideals of a male-dominated world by weaving an archetypal quest for the male protagonist to fulfill, the discourse evolves into feminist writing. Even without a trace of a female character’s voice, and for that matter a female character, the quivering between masculine and feminine discourse of the old man’s voice, subverts the former and reveals the latter. The old man, Santiago, goes out “beyond all people in the world” (50) to regain his masculinity that society and time has stolen away from him and discovers, in brief epiphanies, that the quest and its sufferings are fruitless.

Slide64: 

The half-conscious discovery that man’s power, strength, and domination are arbitrarily enacted and all creatures are equalized and subjugated under adherence to rules set forth from an indiscernible source. The culmination of the former and the final ironic epiphany, which the author has chosen to unveil only to the reader, finally seals the book as feminist discourse. In arguing that The Old Man and the Sea is L’ecriture feminine, or woman’s writing, I have built my argument from the feminist theories of the French feminists, namely Julia Kristeva with the psychoanalytical tools of Jacques Lacan. The French feminists argue that by disrupting patriarchal archetypes in literature through the destruction of male generated binary opposites—strong/weak, superior/inferior, analytical/emotional—feminist discourse will arise from the ruins (Booker 91).

Slide65: 

Furthermore, Kristeva continues by diverging from the patriarchal Symbolic Order of thought (language as representation); instead, she attempts to identify feminist literature through Semiotic language, derived from Lacan’s Imaginary Order of thought, which is defined as “the area of the human psyche dominated by the preverbal infantile stage of joyful fusion with the mother’s body” (Booker 91). Kristeva’s semiotic language can be defined as language reliant “on the creation of emotional impressions and effects through sound, rhythm, and related techniques” (Booker 486). The conflict between Lacan’s Imaginary Order and Symbolic Order gives way for Lacan’s third order, the Real Order, bringing out the fleeting epiphanies into the old man’s consciousness.

Slide66: 

Lacan defines this last order as “…emotionally powerful experiences such as death and sexuality. It is…[the] most inaccessible of realms, available to consciousness only in extremely brief and fleeting moments of joy and terror….”(Booker 35). Hemingway sets the stage by characterizing Santiago as an old man who “has attained humility” (13) ostensibly through his position as an unlucky and destitute fisherman. The old man discovers himself being emasculated by his patronizing and ridiculing peers (11), who subjugate him as a broken down old man. The only friendship he has is with a young boy, Manolin. Because Santiago is seen as unfit, the boy, whom he fathered into the life of fishing (12), is taken from him. Although old age (and eventually death) is the great equalizer among the sexes, a father’s son can be viewed as an extension of his own masculinity.

Slide67: 

Hemingway illustrates this notion with the image of the helpful Manolin carrying the old man’s coiled lines, harpoon, and sail, which “looked like a flag of permanent defeat” (9). These objects—phallic symbols—convey the idea that the old man’s masculinity is being passed on to the young boy. Even more explicit than the former psychoanalytic images is the idea that Santiago lost his last grasp on masculinity when the only thing he had power over was taken from him. After his fishing progeny has been taken away, Santiago has been castrated. The only prosperous characteristic of the old man is his eyes: “His eyes…were the same color of the sea and were cheerful and undefeated” (10). However, this connection between his eyes and the sea effeminates him further, in that the sea is personified as a woman, or la mar (29).

Slide68: 

Santiago finds himself in this androgynous position because he has lost his authority and the only way of retrieving it will be to catch fish. This is what keeps Santiago going out alone in his little skiff everyday. This is what Santiago dreams about every night: “He only dreamed…of the lions on the beach” (25). The lion is the archetypal image of the king of the beasts. In the old man’s dreams he projects his desire to be the king, regaining the superior position that being a man holds. Despite the societal constraints against the old man, his age is beginning to take a toll on his physical prowess. Even the young pupil questioned the old man’s strength, yet the old man said that he knew many tricks (14). It would be on his quest when the truth of this would come out.

Slide69: 

As the old man is working the lines, his hand cramps up, clamping uselessly shut like “claw of an eagle” (63). This image represents the man’s impotence. It is the betrayal of his body. Once Hemingway sufficiently depicts the old man’s inadequacies and their subsequent solutions, he offers him the opportunity to regain his lost masculinity. Hemingway separates the man’s quest from the average day out fishing by describing the setting in absolute, glorified terms. The man rises earlier than everyone else in the month when “the great fish come”(18) to set out on his fishing expedition, where he will choose “to find him [the marlin] beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world” (50).

Slide70: 

He goes through this superior ritual for “it is what a man must do” (26). In order for Santiago to reclaim his manhood, he must follow the laws of men. For him, this means he must do what “he was born for”: to fish. If he can be successful in catching and thus subjugating the fish, then he will have regained his masculinity through fulfilling his duty as a man. Therefore, success must come at all costs, even his own life, for “man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (103). Santiago comes close to proving this theory in his obsessive struggle with the fish. As for the bounty itself, Hemingway casts it as “the biggest that he [Santiago] had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of….” (63). The man on his quest and the fish in his glory clash in an epic battle between man and nature.

Slide71: 

Once the struggle is on, Santiago makes it clear that he will succeed in either life or death: “Fish, I’ll stay with you until I am dead” (52). He makes good on his word by suffering through beatings, malnutrition, and even the hopelessness of the shark’s determination in order to kill the fish and come home. Once the skeletal backdrop of Santiago’s quest for masculinity has been identified, the conflict between his masculine and feminist discourse must be scrutinized. It is within this dichotomy that the subversion of the meaning behind Santiago’s quest occurs. Santiago has gone out to regain a sense of superiority over something, yet what he discovers through his suffering, is that the human man shares equally a condition of subjugation with all creatures.

Slide72: 

The male discourse can be found in Santiago’s unquestioned patriarchal axioms: “I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures” (66). Implicit in Santiago’s statement is the superiority of being a man. Throughout his quest, Santiago spits out these sorts of statements in defense of the assailing, antithetical semiotic language reverberating upward through his soul. The rhythms of Kristeva’s Semiotic language are found in the old man’s empathetic voice. This may seem like a contradiction for the old man generally speaks aloud, conveying his meaning in the Symbolic Order. Yet, underlying this vocalized empathy, somewhere deep in his unconsciousness, is the realization that there is a connection between every living thing; that all life is sacred and fleeting; and he need not follow the maxims of man.

Slide73: 

He attempts to simmer what is boiling over within him: “But I must think, he thought. Because it is all I have left. That and baseball” (103). He used the game of baseball to repress the thoughts he did not want to face. Like all heroes involved in great quests, Santiago looks to a higher power for inspiration. Since he is a man, superior to all living beasts, the higher power must be supernatural. Thus he invokes the immortals. The immortals begin with a great image of male strength: Joe DiMaggio. He articulates DiMaggio’s larger than life status in an earlier conversation with Manolin: “Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great Dimaggio” (17). Throughout the quest, Santiago looks to the supreme potency of Dimaggio as a measuring stick of his own masculinity.

Slide74: 

As he is considering how to measure the marlin, he measures himself against the prototypical male: “I think the great Dimaggio would be proud of me today” (97). Later, after he had bludgeoned a shark to death, he calls on Dimaggio for strength: “I wonder how the great Dimaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain?” (104). Yet, the duality of his thoughts is revealed in the text. He begins by unconsciously exposing himself: “The fish is my friend…. But I must kill him” (75). Then the next passage reflects an increasing consciousness of his feelings: “you are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who” (92).

Slide75: 

Not only do the two begin to share death, but also Santiago begins bonding with the fish in life: calling the fish brother. The last example best illustrates the Semiotic language flowing out of the Symbolic language: “I want to touch and feel him. He is my fortune…. But that is not why I wish to feel him. I think I felt his heart” (95). The latter revelation is a confirmation of Santiago’s use of Semiotic language. The marlin, whom he had begun to fall in love with, communicated with him through his heart. Later, as the fish is being desecrated by the sharks, the old man can no longer look at the fish, presumedly out of guilt for he apologizes to the fish for killing him (103). Even with the sharks he begins to see them less with “complete malignancy” (102) and more like himself (105).

Slide76: 

His connection with the frenzied sharks ripping and chewing aimlessly at the fish in spite of the consequences finally snaps something in the old man. After discussing his physical ailments with the boy, he adds, “In the night I spat something strange and felt something in my chest was broken” (125). This is as clear as the man’s realization appears to the reader. One can only assume from the last scene where the man is dreaming about the lions, that as the boy had suggested, he will get that well too” (125). Although Santiago may eventually forget his bond with the fish and his proclamation—“Man is not much beside the great birds and beasts” (68)—Hemingway ensures that the reader will not miss the point.

Slide77: 

As the man is lying in bed dreaming of the king of the beasts, his beautiful friend the marlin has been reduced to mere harbor trash:“That afternoon there was a party of tourists at the Terrace and looking down in the water among the empty beer cans and dead barracudas a woman saw a great long white spine with a huge tail at the end that lifted and swung with the tide….” (126). The tourists, upon inquiring about the remnants of the great fish, are erroneously, through the loss of translation, informed that it was a shark. Both the old man and the fish's existence remain anonymous to the outside world. Their great epic battle that nearly killed both of them left no impression on the world. It was just another example of man’s inability to control the world around him.

Slide78: 

Works Cited   Booker, M. Keith. “Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism & Feminist LiteraryCriticism.” A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism. (New York: Longman, 1996): 27-37 & 89-99, 486.   Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1995.

Composition: 

Composition Descriptive Writing: Paper Bag Descriptive Writing: Sensory

Language: 

Language Independent Clauses

Literature: 

Literature The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe The Chosen

Reading: 

Reading Thematic Unit: Source of Truth

Speaking & Listening: 

Speaking & Listening Declaration of Independence

Viewing/Visually Representing: 

Viewing/Visually Representing Autobiographical Timelines

“To Die, to Sleep—to Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Imagery of the Christian Death in Jacob’s Ladder”: 

“To Die, to Sleep—to Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Imagery of the Christian Death in Jacob’s Ladder” This paper was written in English 300: Literature and the Narrative Media. The paper analyzes the Christian vision of death in the Adrian Lyn film Jacob’s Ladder. For this paper, I employed another critical article written in response to the film as a framing device to argue against and reinforce my own ideas. This proved highly effective in developing my thesis: the movie’s theme follows the traditional Christian view of death. This paper was the most time-consuming paper I have ever written. In order to develop my thesis, I had to spend many hours rewinding and fast-fowarding through the video. Then I had to research the biblical allusions and allegories used in the film.

“To Die, to Sleep—to Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Imagery of the Christian Death in Jacob’s Ladder”: 

“To Die, to Sleep—to Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Imagery of the Christian Death in Jacob’s Ladder” After spending hours in the Bible, I cross referenced everything with secular religious literature: Milton, Bunyan, Eckhart, etc. All of this research culminated into one of the most sound papers I have written to this day.

“Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder”: 

“Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder” “Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder” This paper served as the culminating activity for English 280: British Literature 2. I had chosen to write on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness because of its profound mark on the Modern Period of literature. I have included this paper in this category because of the quality of the analysis. After reading the text (and even after the classroom discussion), I was confused by Kurtz’s “horror.”

So, I glossed over the text examining repetitions. References and examples of perspective, truth, and good and evil (emphasis being on the latter) were throughout the text. All of these concepts were connected with Marlowe, who was the second level narrator. Thus, I tracked the development of Marlowe’s notion of these concepts as the book progressed. This synthesis of the text led me to the construction of my paper; however, more importantly, I experienced and understood multiplicity of text. : 

“Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder” So, I glossed over the text examining repetitions. References and examples of perspective, truth, and good and evil (emphasis being on the latter) were throughout the text. All of these concepts were connected with Marlowe, who was the second level narrator. Thus, I tracked the development of Marlowe’s notion of these concepts as the book progressed. This synthesis of the text led me to the construction of my paper; however, more importantly, I experienced and understood multiplicity of text.

Slide89: 

Before this class, I had experienced intentional ambiguity in text with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Yet, I did not feel satisfied with the convention until I understood its function in Heart of Darkness. Since critical literary studies and the teaching of literature has placed a greater emphasis on the reader’s role, or response, to the text, this understanding has greatly increased my reading comprehension of text written from the Modern Period to the present. “Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder”

A History of Teaching the English Language: 

This paper was written as the culminating assignment for English 220: Language & Society. I have included it in this section for its content. Although it is in no way a compendium of the history of language arts instruction, it relates Classical language instruction to the modern classroom. The paper balances its focus between the emerging role of the English language as a world language with how it has been traditionally taught. The main pedagogical question addressed is whether language should be taught by prescriptive or descriptive rules. A History of Teaching the English Language

Slide91: 

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students Teacher Navigation on the Web Study Skills on the Web Student Publishing Our Vision

Our Vision: 

Our Vision As our society increasingly relies more and more on technology, we, as educators feel it is paramount for students to develop adequate skills to navigate and use the technology provided effectively. One of the most effective resources current technology provides us is the world-wide web. The purpose of this presentation is to inform educators how to incorporate the internet into their curriculum as well as to provide students with reliable resources they can access to enhance their English academic skills.

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students by Tara Garrett: 

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students by Tara Garrett

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students: 

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students : 

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students : 

Web Resources for English & Language Arts Students

Student Navigation on the Webby Amy Hensley: 

Student Navigation on the Web by Amy Hensley

Slide98: 

Technology users at the classroom level should consider themselves at the center of a vast network of accessible resources for classroom use. Access can provide lesson plans, pictures, film, current events, current practice, research and results, and other rich classroom resources. The computer in the hands of a teacher is a production device, an editor, and an engagement tool. In the hands of a student, the computer is an information and communication device, a data management tool, and a recording instrument.  

Questions Every Beginning Teacher should Consider: 

Questions Every Beginning Teacher should Consider What changes in the actual teaching practice are brought about by the ‘child-centeredness’ of classrooms? How would you approach a colleague about changing practice to reflect greater use of technology? How does technology affect the behaviors of children in one’s classroom? Consider for a moment your personal philosophy of teaching. How would that philosophy change in the absence of technology? How can technology assist in building “a good school”? What school function can the computer do in “a good school”?

Word ProcessingThe most basic use of technology in the Classroom: 

Perhaps the greatest myth about word processing is that it is typing, or at best, keyboarding. The truth is that word processing tools do a lot more for the classroom than the typewriter. There is good agreement that the word processor can 'clean up' the presentation of textual materials, serve as dividers and text enhancers, and manipulate large textual items. However, the word processor provides different kinds of support for engaging the student in the learning process.   Word Processing The most basic use of technology in the Classroom

Word Processing as a Media Production Tool for the Teacher: 

Word Processing as a Media Production Tool for the Teacher While the word processor can print twenty-five items with the same teacher effort of printing one, the tools of the word processor may also be used to create media for the classroom. Color printers can be used to create colored transparencies. These need not be limited to textual presentations, since the scanner, draw, and image import programs allow the word processor to output engaging media for the classroom teacher. Color handouts for maps and other applications are easily generated through the word processor programs.   Does "technology in the classroom" imply that the teacher utilizes technology?...or both? What will you do as a teacher?  

Helpful Links: 

Helpful Links http://www.siec.k12.us/~west/slides/integrate/index.html http://www.suite101.com/articles.ctm/interactive_classroom

Study Skills on the Web by Ginny Sedam: 

Study Skills on the Web by Ginny Sedam

So you don’t have any study skills?: 

So you don’t have any study skills?

Study Skills Websites: 

Study Skills Websites

Study Skills Websites: 

Study Skills Websites

Study Skills Websites: 

Study Skills Websites

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web

Student Publishing on the Web: 

Student Publishing on the Web