Inclass/Typed Questions
1/1404 - Folks, when need be, as I mentioned yesterday, this is where I'll put each FOCUS and each TOPIC for the In-class and Typed 1-page Essay-questions.
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And so, for our 1st QUESTION (for next Tuesday 1/27) - which will be, as I said in class today (1/22/04), a TYPED 1/2 page or so, NOT an in-class hand-written response - what I'd like you to present is a descriptive summary, based ONLY on pages 79-mid81 (so, a piece of cake), of Sarah Royce's encounters with the MEN in the California mining camp: What were the men she met like? = How did they regard her? behave toward her? What do we learn about their characters through Sarah's eyes? ... Anything surprise you?
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Hi, Folks - As I stated in class today - Thursday 2/5 - for your next brief written assignment (= TYPED 1/2 to 1 page), the topic is totally open in that I'd like you to compose your impressions as a reader of ROUGHING IT - that is, share your thoughts/reflections/reactions to Mark Twain's narrative from any point/s of view you wish, focussing on, say, his style = how he communicates to us the various experiences/situations, OR on his contents = what he tells us (tall tale as well as fact, sometimes intermingling both), OR on his humorous side (Does it work for you? = entertain you?), OR on whatever subject/aspect of the book so far strikes you as interesting/intriguing/informative/... . I hope that such an open-ended topic will encourage you to vocalize and conversate in class, letting your voices be heard more than mine. We will, of course, continue with our syllabus-pages (64-82); in fact, you MIGHT wish to use details from those pages to illustrate your ideas and opinions. In any case, I look forward to our general seminar-like conversation next class. Thank you. KCz
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Tuesday 2/24/04 - Folks, I am immensely grateful to Dr. Benjamin Smith for having visited our class today. We can talk about all that on Thursday. And, since you will be bringing back to class what you had written for today so that we can have a general discussion, we will be able to incorporate any reflections/thoughts that occurred to us as - and after - Dr. Smith talked to us. ... And for those of you who missed today's class, I WILL accept your typed response as described in the assignment below. Thanks. KCz
2/19/04 - Greeeeeetings!!!! Folks (But not everyone was there today!) - As I requested in class today, instead of an In-class Question next Tuesday 2/24, please READ (in addition to the assigned pages as in the Syllabus) the Appendix A on Mormon History (pages 545-549) + the account of the Massacre (pp.550-553). Then, compose a TYPED 1-pager in which you give your impressions of Mormons as if you were a reader living in 1870. And, of course, bring it to class. And you MUST attend class, needless to say. In particular, because Dr. Benjamin Smith of the Languages & Cultures department, who is a Mormon, will come to our class at 10 o'clock on Tuesday to present his faith's tradition/history/beliefs as a counterpoint to the "version" we were given in RIt, where MT mixes stereotypes with secondary sources and much else that is not, to say the least, objective. But your typed mini-essay should be the SUBJECTIVE composition of a 19th-century reader in that it will present your impressions based upon the earlier chapters = 13-16: esp. pp.90-115 PLUS what you read in the 2 Appendices (545-553). As I stated in class, you can expect to find in Appendix A statements of a POSITIVE emphasis (even of compassionate understanding) in contrast to the earlier deliberately comical chapters & the historical Appendix B. So, be an 1870s reader - compose your impressions, giving a few striking details in support of your ideas, and be willing to share it in class. My guest colleague, Prof. Smith, will enlighten us all, I'm sure. Thanks. KCz
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Greetings, Folks, on this snowy Friday 3/5/04. As I stated in class yesterday, here are my comments on the format of our HUM 211 MIDTERM EXAM @ 40 points [actually, 41 - 1 point is a bonus!]. I will provide the paper for the in-class components. No notes or books- "open mind" exam. The exam will be divided into 3 PARTS: PART I (= in-class, essay-style responses) will focus ONLY on SR's AFL; PART II (= in-class, essay-style responses) will focus ONLY on MT's RIt; PART III (= 2 take-home, typed essays) will focus on BOTH. And, as you know, everything will derive from/be based upon the pages listed on the Review-pages = the xeroxed sheet that I handed out. But, strictly speaking, nothing explicitly from the Introduction to AFL on pages vii-topxi; they're helpful for orientation; and page 57 in AFL is just a time-place reminder.
So, PART I on SR's AFL: choosing 3 out of 5 @ 5 points = 15 points
PART II on MT's RIt: choosing 2 out of 3 @ 5 points = 10 points
PART III on both, no choice: 2 typed, take-home Essays @ 8 = 16
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So, for PART I - I will formulate 5 questions, expecting you to respond with specific, significant narrative details as textual evidence supporting your ideas/statements. Generalities will not suffice. You will choose 3 out of the 5, all related to Sarah Royce's autobiographical account. As we examined in class yesterday, there are distinct themes that I would group as follows:
1. pages 3-top5 + bottom15-bottom17: Sarah's qualities of character revealed as she faces challenges - inner/psychological and outer/physical - within the first month-and-a-half (= end-April to mid-June) of "the grand pilgrimage."
2. pages 8-9 + 54-55: what Sarah's narrative - her observations - tells us about the 49ers = the emigrants, whether families, men alone, or merchants: their behavior, their challenges, etc.
3. pages 21-22: Sarah's unique experience - her reflections - as her group arrives at the place of the "Lone Tree" And what do we learn, indirectly, about other journeyers coming there?
4. pages 25-27 + 63-64 + 66-top67: Sarah's experiences - both spiritual and "earthly" - at Independence Rock, at the Continental Divide, and the final trek over the mountains
5. pages 72-75: Sarah's fulfillment and exultation - both spiritual and "earthly" - as the overland journey ends with their arrival in California
AND SO, I'll formulate 5 questions along those thematic lines; you'll choose 3, composing mini-essays in class - rich in narrative details! So, make the effort to remember well what you REread!
*** pages 43-bottom50 will be used exclusively for PART III - see below.
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So, for PART II - I will formulate 3 questions, expecting you to respond with specific significant, narrative details as textual evidence supporting your ideas/statements. Generalities will not suffice. You will choose 2 out of 3, all related to Mark Twain/Sam Clemens's autobiographical account. The Prefatory page is for helpful orientation. As I pointed out in class yesterday, there are distinct themes that I would group as follows:
1. pages 137-bottom138: MT's detailed description of - and vivid observations of people in - Carson City
2. pages 174-178 + 195-top197: MT's testimony, AND quoted newspaper accounts, about the whole mining experience in Nevada - from "fever" to "calculations"
3. pages 769-774: brother Orion's 2 letters - 1) an overview of their overland journey from Missouri to Nevada Territory; 2) a) the Civil War context (fighting "officially" began in April of 1861) and b) family concerns: daughter's condition & Mollie's anxious tasks & father's emotions
AND SO, I'll formulate 3 questions along those thematic lines; you'll choose 2, composing mini-essays in class - rich in narrative details! So, make the effort to remember well what you REread!
*** pages 88-93 will be used exclusively for PART III -see below.
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So, for PART III: Type your essay-responses to BOTH and hand them in - our class or my office - anytime next week, but no later than 4:30 p.m. next Friday 3/12.
1. Working with (which means attentively REreading) pages 43-bottom50 in Sarah Royce's A Frontier Lady, compose an Essay in which you highlight Sarah's experiences and reflections (these tell us a lot about impressive qualities of her character). You must offer specific, significant narrative details in support of your ideas. At least 1 solid page, double-spaced, standard margins, black ink, font #12, and a cover-page.
2. Working with (which means attentively REreading) pages 88-93 in Mark Twain's Roughing It, compose an Essay in which you highlight the aspects of urban and social life in Salt Lake City that obviously caught MT's attention - even impressing him, we might say. You must offer specific, significant narrative details in support of your ideas. At least 1 solid page, double-spaced, standard margins, black ink, font #12, and a cover-page.
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*** I will hand out to you next Tuesday, exam-day, a xeroxed page with Guidelines & Suggestions for your term Essay-paper. I will also indicate whose papers will be due when. The list will be alphabetical; the first 5 will be due on Tuesday, April 6th. ... And I'll return ALL your Mormon-topic mini-essays next Tuesday as well. ... I expect that some (all?!) of you have already begun your own review. If not, begin TODAY, dividing your REreading over these 4 days. :-)
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Wed 3/24/04 - Folks, since I was ill yesterday and absent, no Question tomorrow - we'll do it next week. KCz
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Tuesday 3/30/04 - Folks, as I said in class today, you have a TYPED 1-pager for this Thursday's class (4/1/04): the topic is to compose an essay in which, after having attentively read Chapters 48 & 49, you 1) explain whether or not you would like TO HAVE LIVED in Virginia City/Nevada Territory at the time described by MT as "the old days of desperadoism" (325) and 2) present what you consider to be PARALLELS/SIMILARITIES between American society "of that era and that land" (322) and our contemporary American society. ... (Let's save highlighting any striking differences/contrasts for our class-discussion as such.). ... In order adequately to respond, you must work in specific details derived from these two chapters in support of your ideas. It's not enough to be general or impressionistic. Thanks, and I look forward to our class-discussion on Thursday. KCz
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Tuesday 4/6/04 - Folks, as I said in class today, you have a TYPED 1-pager for this Thursday's class (4/8/04): the topic is to compose an essay in which, after having attentively read CHAPTER 54, you respond to this question: Would you like to have lived in Virginia City in particular - and on the Pacific coast in general - in the 1860s if you were a CHINESE IMMIGRANT who had come to the US to find work? (Would you have been welcomed into the arms of American society?) Justify your response with textual evidence from Chapter 54.
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