“And don’t speak to me of second generation! One generation! Indivisible! Eternal!”
Somewhere in the midst of this argument, Irie slipped out of the kitchen and headed for the front door. She caught an unfortunate glimpse of herself in the scratch and stain of the hall mirror. She looked like the love child of Diana Ross and Engelbert Humperdinck.
“You have to let them make their own mistakes…”came Alsana’s voice from the heat of battle, traveling through the cheap wood of the kitchen door and into the hallyway, where Irie stood, facing her own reflection, busy tearing out somebody else’s hair with her bare hands.
Let’s begin today by talking about the final paper for this course:
It is due on the day of the final exam.
Long Research Paper: Here is the old post, we have adjusted the description slightly to account for your presentations.
- This paper will build on your short research paper. It will propose a mature literary argument capable of sustaining the intense critical scrutiny of your peers. The length will be 6-7 pages, and you will need to use 8-10 peer-reviewed secondary sources.
General Discussion:
Where are we with it?
I’d like to meet with you all at some point later this week to go over what you have and discuss the direction of the paper.
White Teeth:
Time is running out for us with this text, so I am going to set you free on it. Thursday is our last lecture, and it would not be fair for me to assign the rest of the book for that day. So I’ll say this: Proceed at the pace you can, and any question that may relate to it on the final exam will assume only that you have read up to page 300. If there is interest in finishing the book as a class, I can see if I can get money for a Pizza party for the class at the end of finals week. Let me know if you are interested.
Here is how we will start today:
Journal
1) Think about your high school. How many students were in it? What where the major cliques? What were their primary characteristics? Why did they form? What kept them together?
2) Then, answer two questions: Which clique(s) were you in? And were there students who were “hybrids,” (i.e., they were in two or more cliques)?
3) Also – where did your hometown come from? Do you know? How much do you know?
Groups: Share findings
Class Discussion:
Three Major Concerns to lead us to “the end” of our time together in this course
- Assimilation:
Examples:
- Local
- State
- National
- Worldwide
- Diversity:
If you’re in the majority, it’s “diversity.” If you’re not, it’s simple “freedom.”
Examples:
- Local
- State
- National
- Worldwide
- Hybrids:
Examples
- Local
- State
- National
- Worldwide
British Literature, now bumping up against the present, is still dealing with some of the fundamental issues with which our our 18th century poets were dealing.
Let’s perform an experiment: Let’s apply the “Urn’s standard” to our categories.
‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’—that is all. Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know!
What can we make of it? How might we make something of it?
Bring all your course texts next time.
