Final, Optional Blog

If you choose to write the final, optional blog, please allow your general reactions and feelings about Bret Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp" to guide your composition. You should, of course, still adhere to the blogging guidelines (always using the text to support your ideas!), but the topic is up to you!

Happy (final) Blogging!!

The Yellow Wallpaper Prompt

In class we discussed the possibility that writers may create texts to affect change in a tumultuous society. In this week's posting, I'd like you to answer 2 main questions: how do we see Perkins Gilman writing to affect change? And what other writers may have been doing the same? In other words, can you think of other texts we've read this semester that also might work to change things?

You're welcome to think broadly (the treatment of children, the treatment of women, the way we consider fatherhood, or relations between the north and south), always using the text to support your ideas.

Happy Blogging!

Tom Sawyer Prompt

We had an excellent discussion today, and in light of that productive conversation, I'd like to invite you to continue it here. We addressed issues of boyhood, and city vs. country, and North vs. South. We also talked about national parenting, which can transcend just Twain's text to include others from this semester.

Please address one of these ideas (or another, if you wish) in this week's posting, always using the text as support for your thoughts.

Happy Blogging!

The Yares of Black Mountain Prompt

In an effort to allow your free responses to our last domestic novel of the semester, I will leave this week's prompt intentionally open-ended. Please select an aspect of the short story you found particularly interesting and make some meaning. You should approach this posting just like any other-- using the text as support, letting the text guide your interpretations, etc.-- only this time you will choose your own lens.

If you're looking for inspiration, you might go back and review the first two postings of the semester: theories of childhood and depictions of children in literature. Mac Leod and Sanchez-Eppler might help you form and focus your responses to the text.

Good luck and happy blogging!!

Ragged Dick Prompt

We ended class last Thursday with a discussion of the different roles young girls and young boys seem to play in American literature. In this week's blog posting, I'd like you to extend the discussion. What other comparisons can we make between young girls and young boys in American literature? And now that we're reading about Ragged Dick, what more can we infer about rhetorical functions of young boys in the text? In other words, what are you noticing about these fictional representations of young boys and what do you think these representations could mean? Thinking beyond gender relations, what kinds of comments could these fictionalized young boys make about a 19th century American society?

I've left this blog posting intentionally open-ended for free response, but I'd like to remind you to always use the text as support in your postings. Concrete examples and quoted textual material are two of the keys to a successful blog posting.

Happy blogging!

"A Whisper in the Dark" Prompt

If you haven't finished reading Alcott's "A Whisper in the Dark," stop reading here and go finish the text. My prompt will ruin the ending, and I would hate to rob you of the excitement.

Ok, if you have finished, please continue reading below.

Alcott's "A Whisper in the Dark" plays with the gothic tradition that "things are not what they seem." We see this in interpersonal relationships at the beginning of the text. We have an uncle and niece with an admittedly inappropriate relationship. Two cousins, Sybil and Guy, who seem to share a strange, unspoken connection. And, of course, there's Sybil: we're not quite sure what to make of Sybil.

The second half of the text, though, introduces the concept of insanity. At this point, not only are things "not what they seem," but we also learn that our narrator might be unreliable. She's is in an insane asylum, after all. How does the introduction of concepts of insanity (especially on the part of our narrator and her mother) change the text? How does the concept of insanity alter our reader reception of the message? How does it change our previous ideas about the all important mother/daughter relationship in nineteenth-century society/fiction?

Remember to use the text in your posting, always drawing on the narrative to draw your own conclusions.

Happy blogging!

The Hidden Hand Prompt

In an effort to allow your free responses to our last domestic novel of the semester, I will leave this week's prompt intentionally open-ended. Please select an aspect of the novel you found particularly interesting and make some meaning. You should approach this posting just like any other-- using the text as support, letting the text guide your interpretations, etc.-- only this time you will choose your own lens.

If you're looking for inspiration, you might go back and review the first two postings of the semester: theories of childhood and depictions of children in literature. Mac Leod and Sanchez-Eppler might help you form and focus your responses to the text.

Good luck and happy blogging!!

The Lamplighter Prompt

We discussed today the common "overplot" of domestic fiction: a young girl must overcome societal obstacles, conquer some personal struggle, and make her own way in the world. We saw the beginnings of this in The Wide, Wide World as Ellen struggled to master the domestic sphere and trust in God. And we see a revised version of this overplot in Cummins's The Lamplighter as Gerty struggles to be good (instead of a witch), find balance (rather than anger), and be useful (other than staying out of the way). Some scholars of Girl's Studies argue that this story, or overplot, hasn't changed much in the last 150 years and that young girls are still struggling with the same issues in different ways.

In this week's blog posting, I'd like to try something a little different. Please watch the video below, which narrates a contemporary 8 year old girl's struggle to find balance, and see what connections you can make. How have our depictions of girls changed? Stayed the same? Would have things been different if Gerty could have appeared on Amy Pholer's TV show? What would Gerty have said?

I know that this week's prompt is a little unconventional (in a good way, I hope), so I'd like to remind you to always use the text in your postings. When you make an argument about how things may be the same/different today, you should use Cummins's text as support for your opinions. And also, please try to reach beyond the "things are so different now" response to make meaning of the connections between these two texts. Societal expectations are, obviously, different today, so what meaning can we make of this contemporary "girl" when paired with our historical Gerty?



Happy Blogging!!

Stowe Prompt

Uncle Tom's Cabin works to challenge and complicate some of our basic assumptions about slavery, religion, and American ideals. In this week's blog posting, I'd like you to consider how the novel also complicates some of the assumptions we've made about children and childhood in American literature.

We've created a list of theories and ideas to inform our reading of children's literature. For example: we've talked about how children's literature is didactic or that children in literature usually stand as symbols of hope and potential. How does a text based on the institution of slavery complicate these theories and ideas? The horrors of slavery, both real and written, seem to go against all the "good" messages we received from a text like The Wide, Wide World. What do we make of this apparent disconnect?

In your blog posting, please answer and elaborate on the above questions. Remember to use the text, Uncle Tom's Cabin, as support in your answer. You may also use previous texts (like Irving, Warner, MacLeod, or Sanchez-Eppler) if you wish. And remember, you are always welcome to further complicate my questions: if you feel that Uncle Tom's Cabin does, in fact, carry out the objectives of traditional children's literature despite the violence of slavery, make your case (always using the text).

Please let me know if you have any questions. Happy Blogging!

The Wide, Wide World Prompt

Today we discussed the variety of ways Warner's The Wide, Wide World works to instruct its readers. In our excellent discussion, we glossed over the role of parents (Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, primarily) in the text to further discuss the children (poor little Ellen). I'd like to propose this week's blog posting as a time to more fully consider the parents in The Wide, Wide World.

In your blog posting, please consider the following questions, always using a close reading of textual evidence to support your ideas:
*How does the text encourage us to view the role of "parents"? You can consider this term loosely, including any character who may seem "parental."
*How does the text differentiate between the roles of mothers versus fathers? How do we know? Answering this question may involve reading "between the lines," for we rarely see Mr. Montgomery.
*Finally, how do you think Ellen perceives her parents? What kind of role does she expect each of them to play in her life? Again, make sure you read the text closely to support your answers/ideas.

Remember that your blog posting is due by 9 AM on Thursday, September 10. Your 3 comments on your peers' blogs are due by 5 PM on Friday, September 11.

Constructions of Childhood Prompt

We've spent much of the semester discussing constructions of childhood in American Literature. We're working on a critical framework of sorts, developing heuristics and methods for approaching literature including children and aspects of childhood. Our first formal blog posting, then, will help us further develop these theories and ideas.

In this week's blog posting, I'd like you to isolate 5 main theories for analyzing children and childhood literature. Please draw on both MacLeod's "Children's Literature for a New Nation" and Sanchez-Eppler's introduction to Dependent States: The Child's Part in Nineteenth-Century American Culture. As you develop these theories, please make sure you reference the MacLeod and Sanchez-Eppler, proving textual evidence for the theories you develop-- even if your ideas contest or contradict the authors' claims.

Please remember that your posting is due by 9 AM on Thursday, September 3. Remember, also, that your 3 comments on your peers' blogs are due by 5 PM on Friday, September 4.

Happy Blogging!!

Welcome and First Assignment

Your first assignment for this class is to create your own blog using Blogger and to write your first post. Here are the instructions:

[1] Set up your blog: To do so, go to www.blogger.com and follow the on-screen directions for setting up a free blog. Please take some time to personalize your blog. This is a way for your classmates and me to get to know you, so feel free to include a photo, links to other sites you enjoy, etc. Please make sure that your name (first/preferred name and last initial) is clear on your blog. I know that some/many of you already have a blog where you write posts; however, for the purposes of this class, you will need a separate blog that is focused on reflecting on your work in this course. Feel free to provide links to your other blog(s) if you would like to share them with us and with your classmates. Keep in mind, though, that we will post your blog address on the course website, so your class members will have access to your blog. You can restrict general public access to your blog, however, under “Settings” by marking “no” for the question “Add your blog to our listings?”

[2] Write your first entry: Write a letter of introduction about yourself. Start with the basics—where you are from, what year you are at TCU, what major, etc. Then, please include a few more specific things about you and your participation in the course.

*First, help us to get you know you. What brought you to TCU? If you were made Chancellor of TCU, what are the first things you would change? What do you feel makes a good teacher? Good students? If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would they be? What are three things we should know about you? What are three things you'd like to know about us?

* Next, think about your interest in this course. Why did you choose to take this course? If your answer is simply that it’s required, then what would you like to get out of it?

* Now please consider your academic and personal experiences as they relate to this course. What types of reading do you do, inside and outside the classroom? What types of texts do you enjoy? What types of writing do you primarily do (think beyond traditional school papers to other kinds of writing and technologies, like email, texting, etc.)? How do you feel about your writing? Why?

* Finally, throughout the semester, we’ll discuss the personal, political, and historical arguments/messages inherent in texts—messages that are some times not readily apparent, intended by the author, or easily understood by a contemporary audience. As a first step to uncovering, analyzing, and understanding these messages, take a few minutes to talk about what kind of message you think your blog is sending. Consider choices you made about colors, images, the way you introduce yourself, etc. What do these choices say about you as the blog author? About your participation in the course?

At the end of your letter to your blog audience, please write a final statement letting me know that you have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus, which I see as a contract for our course. Remember that all of your blog entries should be in paragraph form.

[3] Follow up: Add a comment to this post that includes your name, section, and blog address (http://____.blogspot.com), so that I can add it to the list on our course page. Also let me know if you have any questions regarding the syllabus or anything discussed in our first meeting of the course.