photo by Marilyn Julius

Cliffdwellers (1913) 
by George Bellows

Blue and Green Music, 1919. 
Georgia O'Keeffe

 
Sargent, John Singer
Madame Gautreau c. 1884

The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Baltimore Presentations

Baltimore Links

Homework:

photos by Marilyn Julius

Baltimore Presentations

Homework:

More Baltimore Presentations

photos by Marilyn Julius

Baltimore Presentations

Homework:

Prepare Presentations:
Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud 
• Nietzsche 
• Study Guide

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Karl Marx 1818-1883

Charles Darwin 1809-1882

Psychology: The Mashmellow Test (Video) 

Jonathan Haidt on The Divided Self

Presentations on Marx and Darwin

Homework:

More Presentations:
Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness

• Marx  (Presentation)
• Darwin (Presentation) 
• Freud (Presentation)
• Nietzsche (Presentation)
• Study Guide

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Freiderich Nietzsche
(1844-1900)

Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

Presentations on Nietzsche and Freud

• Marx  (Presentation)
• Darwin (Presentation) 
• Freud (Presentation)
• Nietzsche (Presentation)
• Study Guide

Homework:

• The Mid-19th Century Vision of the City: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman (on-line annotated version)
• Prepare an answer to this question for discussion:    What happened to Whitman's hopeful vision of the American city during the second half of the nineteenth century?

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Cliffdwellers  (1913) George Bellows

Jacob Riis, Bandit's Roost

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Backgrounds to Modernism: Nietzsche, Darwin, Freud and Marx: Study Guide; Quiz:

New York City 1888:

• Watch video on Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1888) (Ric Burns, New York episode three Sunshine and Shadow: 1865-1898 (1:20) (9:44) (then 1:20:44); New York episode four Power and People: Emma Lazarus (1:14); Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 1:19:45
• Dickens,  from American Notes, chapter 6: the Five Points (1842) compare to Riis, Howells and Crane
• Naturalism: Literary Definition
• Silent Film Melodrama: The Little Matchgirl (1902) 
• Read the first chapter of the novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1892):  Chapter 1: The Street Fight (3-6) (GoogleDocs Page)
•  Essay on Maggie due Thursday 2/23 at 3:30 pm.

Homework:

• Read Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part one) (GoogleDocs Page) Chapters 1-10  Study Guide

•  Voices and Visions video (14:20) on Walt Whitman's Mid-19th Century Vision of the City: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (on-line annotated version) 
• Caleb Crain, The Red and the Scarlet: The hectic career of Stephen Crane.  The New Yorker 6-30-14 
• Jimmy Stamp, Pioneering Social Reformer Jacob Riis Revealed "How The Other Half Lives" in America Smithsonian.com  May 27, 2014
• Background to Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (Bloom)
• Crane's Journalism: "An Experiment in Misery"; "A Dark, Brown Dog" (1901)
• Realism and Naturalism: The Ashcan School in Painting (ppt)
• Crane Biography (Youtube)
• Crane's Naturalism (Youtube)
• Naturalism (The Stone)

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Typical Toughs (1890) Jacob Riis
How the Other Half Lives (1890)

Little Mother (1890) Jacob Riis

42 Kids (1907) George Bellows

Daumier, Melodrama Show (1860)

Shinn, Eviction (1904)

• Introduction to Stephen Crane (Spragins)
• Realism and Naturalism: The Ashcan School in Painting (ppt) 
• Setting: Describe the situation of children who grow up in the Rum Alley ghetto. (Does the arrival of adults make matters better or worse?)
• Who wins the pitched fisticuffs for the honor of Rum Alley?
• Who comes to Jimmie’s rescue? 
• How does Jimmie's Dad's react when he finds out his son has been brawling? 
• Plot: What can you predict will happen to the heroine in a melodrama? 
• melodrama- A dramatic form characterized by excessive sentiment, exaggerated emotion, sensational and thrilling action, and an artificially happy ending. 
• Will Crane confirm or surprise these expectations?
• Silent Film Melodrama: The Little Matchgirl (1902) 
• Style: What is Crane's perspective on his characters? 
• Read out loud the moment when the convulsed tenements metamorphose into voracious animals (6) 
• What are we to make of Crane's brutal ridicule of the poor? Is his stereotyping justifiable? What does he find most contemptible about Jimmie, Pete and Maggie?
• Naturalism: Literary Definition Is Maggie's character determined by biology or economics or psychology? 
• Is Crane obeying the rules of Naturalism?

Homework:

• Read Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part two) Study Guide

Key Questions:

• What prevents Maggie from achieving the insight necessary to understand her situation? What makes her unable to accomplish this goal? Do you hold her responsible?
• What could Maggie have learned from Nellie? Would that have saved her?
• What has Maggie realized when Pete throws her out of his bar? What options does Maggie have at this point?
• Could Maggie have done anything to interrupt this slide down the slippery slope?

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Essay on Maggie due Tuesday, February 23rd at 3:30 pm. 

Discuss Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part two) (Quiz 2) Study Guide; (Lecture Two)

• What is the primary obstacle to Maggie achieving the insight necessary to understand her situation? What makes her unable to accomplish this goal? Do you hold her responsible?
• What could Maggie have learned from Nellie? Would that have saved her?
• What has Maggie realized at the moment that she is dumped by Pete? What options does Maggie have at this point? 
• Could Maggie have done anything to interrupt this slide down the slippery slope?

Homework:

• Essay on Maggie due Tuesday, February 23rd at 3:30 p.m.

Criticism on Maggie:

• Bloom's Literary Reference Online
  

Stag at Sharkey's (1909) George Bellows

Daumier, Melodrama Show (1860)

Shinn, Eviction (1904)

• Dead End Kids, "They Made Me A Criminal" (1939)
• Humphrey Bogart in "Dead End" (1937)
• The Perilous Misadventures of Miss Destroyer (Student Made Movie)
• The Little Matchgirl (1902) a silent melodrama
• D.W. Griffith, Way Down East (1920) starring Lillian Gish
• D.W. Griffith, Birth of a Nation Clip 1 (1915)
• Alfred Hitchcock, Blackmail and Easy Virtue (1927)

1. Marx: Maggie belongs to a class which Marx called the lumpen proletariat: that layer of the working class which is unable to gain class consciousness; on her own, she is doomed. What would Maggie need to understand to achieve this consciousness? How does the Marxist believe that culture helps keep the working class in its place?
2. Darwin: Social Darwinist thinkers loosely combined Darwin's conception of  natural selection with classical liberal economic theory to argue that some races and ethnicities were losing out in the struggle for survival and therefore deserved to be allowed to die off. Other more radical Social Darwinists argued that poverty bred contagious social threats which needed to be medically removed. Is Crane a Social Darwinist?
3. Freud: Freudian theory held that children traumatized in their development would struggle to establish independence when they reached adulthood. Can Maggie be treated? 
4. Nietzsche: Nietzsche argued that people should overcome their rational and religious qualms about taking the necessary action to establish one's own power over others. Who would Maggie need to become to achieve such power?
5. Liberal: How would liberals respond to Maggie's dilemma?

• Bloom's Literary Reference Online

Homework:

Essay on Maggie due Tuesday at 3:30 pm.

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Modernism Independent Projects:

• William Carlos Williams, The Great Figure; The Red Wheelbarrow (1923)
  
• From Realism to Naturalism to Modernism (Powerpoint)
• The Zeitgeist of Modernism 
• Introduce Independent Projects on American Modernism

• Choose Independent Projects on American Modernism  and carefully read the stories or poems.
• Final Draft due Thursday, March 10th at 3:30 pm
  

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The Voice of the City of New York Interpreted: The Bridge, 1920-22. Joseph Stella

Modernism Independent Projects:

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Zeitgeist of Modernism  

Check out the Thomson Gale Literature Resources Center,  JSTOR , or Bloom's Literary Reference Online on the Gilman On-line Database Page.  

Homework:

• Research Independent Projects on American Modernism
• Final Draft due Thursday, March 10th at 3:30 pm

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Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Zeitgeist of Modernism

Homework:

• Research Independent Projects on American Modernism
• Final Draft due Thursday, March 10th at 3:30 pm

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Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Zeitgeist of Modernism

•  Powerpoint Outline
  

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Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Zeitgeist of Modernism

Langston Hughes (1925)

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Zeitgeist of Modernism

Remember that you MUST turn in a Works Cited Page with your essay. You MUST cite sources for ideas which are not your own using correct MLA form.

Internet Citation Machines:

Homework:

• Final Draft due Thursday, March 10th at 3:30 pm

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The Great Gatsby (1925) Dust Jacket Illustration by Francis Cugat

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, newlyweds,  3 April 1920

Final Draft of Modernism Project due at 3:30 pm

• Remember that you MUST turn in a Works Cited Page with your essay. You MUST cite sources for ideas which are not your own using correct MLA form.

Introduction to The Great Gatsby (1925)

• The Jazz Age (Notes)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Brief Life (U. of S. Carolina);
• Video: 'Cosmopolis' (from New York: A Documentary Life by Ric Burns (1998)) (Notes)
• Listen to "West End Blues" (Louis Armstrong) (1928); "The Charleston" (Paul Whiteman Orchestra) (1925) 

Homework:

Read The Great Gatsby, Chapter One (1-26) (Googledocs Version) Study Guide

For Further Reading (and listening): 

• Jazz Age Literature/Culture, Part I and Jazz Age, Part II and Jazz Age Writers.
  
• Jazz Poetry: 1920s-30s and Jazz/Blues: 1920s-30s and Jazz Film: 1920s-present.

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The map (1917) shows the locations of Fitzgerald's imaginary West Egg and East Egg, as well as of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

Estates on West Egg and East Egg

Homework:

The Great Gatsby, Chapter Two (27-42) (Googledocs Version) Study Guide

For further reading:

• Original Title: "Trimalchio" from  The Satyricon by Petronius (excerpt); parvenu (OED)
• Bruce Bliven, "Flapper Jane" New Republic, September 9, 1925.
  
• "A Flappers Appeal to Her Parents" by Ellen Welles Page in Outlook Magazine (1922)
• Jazz Age Culture (Nichols)
  

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(Video clip from 1974 film)

Zelda at age 18

The Flapper illustration by John Held from Life Magazine 1922

VIDEO: The Roaring Twenties: Dance Craze

Review: Chapter One

• Describe the narrative frame which Fitzgerald creates for Gatsby's story. Why tell this story from the point of view of Nick Carroway? 
• What is it about Gatsby which so fascinates Nick? Why is he telling us Gatsby's story?
• Party #1: How does Fitzgerald characterize East Egg society as represented by the Daisy, Tom and Jordan?
• Fitzgerald's Imagery vs The Real Character of These People
• East Egg and West Egg: "a pair of enormous eggs" 
• Tom Buchanon's Entrance 
• Daisy Buchanon's Entrance  
• Jay Gatsby's Entrance 

• Gatsby Quiz Chapter 2
• Fitzgerald's Imagery: The Billboard in the Valley of Ashes
• What makes Myrtle an appropriate match for Tom?
• How does the sad, drunken binge at Myrtle's apartment on Manhattan finally end? 

• The Great Gatsby, Chapters Three and Four (43-85) Study Guide Three and Four
• Googledocs Three and Googledocs Four
  
• MUSIC: Five Jazz Sides For the Age Of Prohibition

For further reading:

• The Great Gatsby and the American Dream (Guardian)
• The Lost Generation (Atlantic Monthly Dec. 1992)
• Jay McInerney: why Gatsby is so great  (Guardian)
• Rehabilitating Zelda Fitzgerald, the Original It Girl (Telegraph)

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Scott and Zelda

The Party Machine at Gatsby's Mansion

To Live in the 1920's

"A Flapper's Appeal to Her Parents" (1922)

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Wednesday April, 13th at 3:30 pm.

Paragraph: Chapter Three: Party #3: Describe the Gatsby party machine in action.

• Why has Gatsby invited Nick to the party? What does he talk about with Jordan? (She won't tell Nick.) Why has Gatsby been throwing all these parties?!

Paragraph: Chapter Four: Lunch In NYC: What picture of Gatsby's character is beginning to emerge for Nick and for you as we learn more and more about him?

• Gatsby and Nick Drive to New York 
• Lunch With Meyer Wolfsheim.  
• Jordan's Story of Daisy Fay and Jay Gatsby 

Paragraph: How about Nick? What is happening in his life? Where is his relationship with Jordan, Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby leading him?

Homework:

The Great Gatsby, Chapter Four (43-85) (Googledocs Four) Study Guide Four

Paragraph: Lunch In NYC: After hearing Gatsby's tale about his upbringing and then Jordan's story about how Gatsby met Daisy, what picture of Gatsby's character is beginning to emerge for Nick and for you? (Chapter 4)

• Gatsby and Nick Drive to New York 
• Lunch With Meyer Wolfsheim.  
• Jordan's Story of Daisy Fay and Jay Gatsby 

Homework:

Gatsby and Daisy

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Wednesday April, 13th at 3:30 pm.

• The Great Gatsby, Chapters Five and Six (Googledocs 5) (Googledocs 6) Study Guide Five and Six

Paragraph: Jordan's Story of Daisy Fay and Jay Gatsby  (Chapter 4)

Paragraph: Tom Buchanan's Horseback Visit (Chapter 5)

Paragraph: Party #4: Tea at Nick's What happens to Gatsby moments after he has achieved his dream? Why is he so bewildered? Shower of Custom-Made Silk Shirts (Chapter 5)

Paragraph: James Gatz: What version of American History is Fitzgerald teaching us when we finally learn the true biography of Jay Gatsby? (Chapter 6)

Paragraph: Party #5 Daisy and Tom at Gatsby's Mansion  What does Daisy find so offensive about Gatsby's party? Nick realizes that Daisy and Gatsby's relationship is finished, but Gatsby will never accept that fact. Where has Gatsby's dream gone awry? How, by the 1920's, had the American Dream gone awry? (Chapter 6)

Gatsby Quiz Five and Six

Music mentioned in the text:

• Fats Waller, "The Sheik of Araby"
• Van and Shenk, "Ain't We Got Fun?" 
• Paul Whiteman, "Three O'Clock in the Morning"

Homework:

• The Great Gatsby, Chapter Seven (119-153) Study Guide Seven  (Googledocs Chapter Seven)

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Karen Black as Myrtle

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Wednesday April, 13th at 3:30 pm.

• The Great Gatsby, Chapters Five and Six (Googledocs 5) (Googledocs 6) Study Guide Five and Six

Paragraph: James Gatz: What version of American History is Fitzgerald teaching us when we finally learn the true biography of Jay Gatsby? (Chapter 6)

• Lunch at Daisy and Tom's (120-127)
• The Drive to Town (127- 132)
• The Confrontation in the Suite at the Plaza Hotel  (133-142)
• The Death of Myrtle (143-153)

Paragraph: Unpack the meaning of the action's catastrophe. Consider the details: the heat, the reprise of details from earlier in the novel, Gatsby and Tom's confrontation, and the mistaken identities which lead to Myrtle's death. All the strands of the novel come together. How does the scene relate to Fitzgerald's overall intention?

Homework:

• The Great Gatsby, Chapter Eight and Nine (154-189) Study Guide Eight and Nine

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The Great Gatsby (1925) Dust Jacket Illustration by Francis Cugat

Homework:

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Wednesday April, 13th at 3:30 pm.

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Essay on The Great Gatsby due Wednesday April 13th at 3:30 pm.

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Essay on The Great Gatsby due at 3:30 pm.

Introduction to Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie (1944)

• Short takes from Gordan Edelstein's 2009 production starring Judith Ivey as Amanda Wingfield.
• I Remember Exercise 1 from The Glass Menagerie Toolkit   (ART)
• I Remember Exercise 2 from The Glass Menagerie Toolkit   (ART)

Homework:

• Read "The Genesis of The Glass Menagerie" (ART)
• Read Williams, The Glass Menagerie, Part One: "Preparation for a Gentleman Caller":  Scenes 1-2 (pp.1- 18) 

•  Mel Gussow's Tennessee Williams 1911-83
  
• "Tennessee Williams: An Appreciation" by Frank Rich (1983)
• Production Notes for The Glass Menagerie from The Glass Menagerie Toolkit (ART)
• Read "From Tom to Tennessee" from The Glass Menagerie Toolkit (16-19)  (ART)

Tennessee Williams 20th Century Gothic (slide show)

Short takes from Gordan Edelstein's 2009 production starring Judith Ivey as Amanda Wingfield.

Homework:

• Read Williams, The Glass Menagerie, Part One: "Preparation for a Gentleman Caller":  Scenes 1-2 (pp.1- 18) 
• Full Play on Video: w/ Katherine Hepburn, Sam Waterson and Joanna Miles (1973) 
• and another with Joanne Woodward, John Malkovitch and Karen Allen (1987)

Williams, The Glass Menagerie, Part One: "Preparation for a Gentleman Caller": Scenes 1-2  (pp.1-36)

Playwriting:

• The "Well Made Play" Engine: The Day the Thunderstorm Breaks
• Play Engine for The Glass Menagerie

• Laura from The Glass Menagerie
• Amanda's Blue Mountain Monologue (5)

• Catherine from Suddenly Last Summer
• Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire (2)
  
• Alma from Summer and Smoke
• Chance from Sweet Bird of Youth (2)
  
• Big Daddy from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Nonno from The Night of the Iguana
  
• Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Woman from Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen
  

• Monologue Exercise

Share Monologue Exercise.

Playwriting:

• The "Well Made Play" Engine: The Day the Thunderstorm Breaks
• Play Engine for The Glass Menagerie

Part One: Preparation for a Gentleman Caller

Scenes 1-2 (pp. 1-36)

• One  Ou sont les neiges d'antan? 
• Two  A swarm of typewriters

• Read Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944), Scenes 3-5 (pp.18-49)

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• Play Engine for The Glass Menagerie
• Monologue Exercise
• Day Two

• Three: "After the fiasco-"
• The Homemaker's Companion
• "You think I'm in love with Continental Shoemakers?"
• The Hogan Gang
  
• Four:  "Rise and Shine"
• Malvolio the Magician
• Plans and Provisions
• Five "Annunciation."
• Paradise Dance Hall
• Annunciation

• Read Williams, The Glass Menagerie, Scenes 6-7  (pp.50-115)

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• Six "The Gentleman Caller Arrives"
• The High School Hero
• Gay Decievers
• Not Jim!
• The Opening of a Door!
• Amanda's Vivacity 
• The Thunderstorm

• Seven "Catharsis" 
• The Lights Go Out
• Candles in the Moonlight
• Blue Roses
• The Yearbook
• Emily Meisenbach
• What have you done since high school?
• The Glass Menagerie
• Dancing
• Betty
• The Sky Falls
• And so goodbye...
  

• Final Draft Monologue and Scene due Friday at 3:30 p.m.

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• Six "The Gentleman Caller Arrives"
• The High School Hero
• Gay Decievers
• Not Jim!
• The Opening of a Door!
• Amanda's Vivacity 
• The Thunderstorm

• Seven "Catharsis" 
• The Lights Go Out
• Candles in the Moonlight
• Blue Roses
• The Yearbook
• Emily Meisenbach
• What have you done since high school?
• The Glass Menagerie
• Dancing
• Betty
• The Sky Falls
• And so goodbye...
  

• Final Draft Monologue and Scene due Friday at 3:30 p.m.

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The Intellectual Climate of Post WWII America:

• The Post-War Liberal Consensus
• The Ideal American Family: Leave It To Beaver: "Beaver Finds a Wallet" (1958)
• Lahr, "Making Willy Loman" New Yorker (1999): the Zeitgeist of Post-War America 

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy:

• “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude... in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions...." Aristotle's Poetics

• The Place:  New York City
• The Time: 1945, late on a weeknight for Act One, the following day and night for Act Two

Sample: Alex North Score for opening music

Act One (GoogleDocs Act One)

1. Willy and Linda (pp. 11-18)
2. Biff and Happy (pp. 19-27)
3. Willy, Biff and Happy (pp. 29-32)
4. Willy, Linda, the Woman, Bernard (pp. 37-40)
5. Willy, Charley, Ben (pp. 42-47)
6. Linda, Biff, Happy (pp. 52-61)
7. Willy, Biff, Linda, Happy (pp. 61-69)
   

Homework:

• Read Act One of Death of a Salesman (Study Guide) 

for further reading:

• Lahr, "Lives in Limbo: Illusions and Delusions in Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams" New Yorker March 26, 2012
• Teaching ‘Death of a Salesman’ with The New York Times
• Arthur Miller Obituary (Washington Post)
• Solve the Traveling Salesman Problem, get an A for the year, and win a million dollars!

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy:

• “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude... in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . ."

Death of A Salesman Play Engine

Act One

1. Willy and Linda (pp. 11-18) 
2. Biff and Happy (pp. 19-27) 
3. Willy, Biff and Happy (pp. 29-32) (VIDEO)
4. Willy, Linda, the Woman, Bernard (pp. 37-40)
5. Willy, Charley, Ben (pp. 42-47) (VIDEO)
6. Linda, Biff, Happy (pp. 52-61)
7. Willy, Biff, Linda, Happy (pp. 61-69)

• Read Act One of Death of a Salesman (Study Guide) (GoogleDocs Act One)

• Charles Isherwood, A Play That Resounds in the Heart and the Gut New York Times April 20, 2012

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy:

• “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude... in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . ."
• 'The Russian word Poshlust is difficult to translate: it means puffed up or blown up. Russians use it to criticize things they find to be fake,  not only the obviously trashy but also the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.... See Vladimir Nabokov; From Chapter 3: “Our Mr. Chichikov”

• Death of A Salesman Play Engine
• Willy Loman Chronology
  
• Notes on the American Dream and Tragedy
  

Act One of Death of a Salesman (Study Guide)

1. Willy and Linda (pp. 11-18) 
2. Biff and Happy (pp. 19-27) 
3. Willy, Biff and Happy (pp. 29-32) (VIDEO)
4. Willy, Linda, the Woman, Bernard (pp. 37-40)
5. Willy, Charley, Ben (pp. 42-47) (VIDEO)
6. Linda, Biff, Happy (pp. 52-61)
7. Willy, Biff, Linda, Happy (pp. 61-69)

• Read Act Two of Death of a Salesman (Study Guide)

For further reading:

• PBS Interview with Miller (1999)

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Death of a Salesman Quiz Act II, part one

Willy Loman Chronology

Notes on the American Dream and Tragedy

Act Two: (Study Guide)

1. Willy, Linda  (71-76)
2. Willy, Howard (76-84) (VIDEO)
3. Willy, Ben, Young Linda, Young Biff, Young Happy, Bernard, Young Charley (84-90)
4. Grown-Up Bernard, Jenny, Willy, Charley (90-98)
5. Frank's Chop House: Stanley, Happy, Miss Forsythe, Biff, Willy, Young Bernard, Young Linda, The Woman, Letta, Operator's Voice (98-116) (VIDEO) (Willy's Entrance)
6. Willy, The Woman, Young Biff (116-122)
7. Happy, Linda, Biff, Willy (122-136) (VIDEO)
8. Linda, Happy, Biff, Charley, Bernard (137-39)

• Read Act Two of Death of a Salesman (Study Guide)

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Act Two: (Study Guide)

1. Willy, Linda  (71-76)
2. Willy, Howard (76-84) (VIDEO)
3. Willy, Ben, Young Linda, Young Biff, Young Happy, Bernard, Young Charley (84-90)
4. Grown-Up Bernard, Jenny, Willy, Charley (90-98)
5. Frank's Chop House: Stanley, Happy, Miss Forsythe, Biff, Willy, Young Bernard, Young Linda, The Woman, Letta, Operator's Voice (98-116) (VIDEO) (Willy's Entrance)
6. Willy, The Woman, Young Biff (116-122)
7. Happy, Linda, Biff, Willy (122-136) (VIDEO)
8. Linda, Happy, Biff, Charley, Bernard (137-39)

Homework:

• Essay on Death of a Salesman (due Monday, May 16th at 3:30 pm)

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August Wilson (1945-2005)

Final Exam 2016

August Wilson Backgrounds

• Slide Show of the Plays of August Wilson
• An African American Century (NY Times)
• August Wilson on Broadway: A History (1-10-17)
•  August Wilson, Theater's Poet Of Black America, Is Dead at 60 By Charles Isherwood (NYT) October 3, 2005
• Ben Brantley and Wesley Morris, What August Wilson Means Now NY Times (1-11-17)
• From Nosebleed Seats to the Stage, Actors Discuss August Wilson NY Times (1-11-17)

Jitney (1977; 1997)

• The Time: 1977 ; The Situation of African-Americans in 1977
• The Place: Pittsburgh 
• Jitneys in Pittsburgh (Center Stage)

• Read Act One of Jitney  (Study Guide)

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Bearden, Rocket to the Moon (1971)

The Cast of Jitney

Village of Yo, ca. 1964

Final Exam 2016

Act One of Jitney (Study Guide)

• Today's the day that Becker will announce to his drivers that the Urban Renewal is moving in, he's moving out, and he's not sure that he wants to keep the business going.
• Today's the day that Fielding finally gets himself fired.
• Today's the day that the feud between Youngblood and Turnbo breaks wide open.
• Today's the day that Rena confronts Youngblood with her suspicions about his running around with Peaches.
• Today's the day that Becker's boy, Booster, is getting out of the penitentiary and coming home to meet his father.

Thesis: How are the strands of the action inter-related? (ie, is it just an accident that each of these thunderheads breaks simultaneously?)

• Act One Scene One
• The Hill District comes alive.
• Act One Scene Two
  
• What has pushed Turnbo over the edge today? (Look at his rant about respect. (30-31)) What does he tell Rena?
• Why has Rena run out of patience with Youngblood? What was the straw which broke the camel's back for her? (32-35)
• Why is Becker thinking about giving up after the city let him know that they were gonna board up the place the first of the month? (36)
• Who did Booster kill? Why? (39)
• Act One Scene Three
  
• How does the fight between Youngblood and Turnbo break out? (43)
• Describe the way Becker functions in this neighborhood: what makes his presence essential?
• How does Fielding get himself fired? (51) Who does he dream about twenty years later? (53)
• Becker and Booster: Booker vs. Malcom

• Read Act Two of Jitney (Study Guide)

Paul Butler, Michole Briana White and Russell Hornsby in "Jitney,"  Second Stage Theater 2000. 

Paul Butler and Philip Randolph Smith

Paul Butler as Becker

Carl Lumbly as Booster

Final Exam 2016

(Final Exam Schedule)

Act One of Jitney (Study Guide)

The Day the Thunderstorm Breaks:

• Today's the day that Becker will announce to his drivers that the Urban Renewal is moving in, he's moving out, and he's not sure that he wants to keep the business going.
• Today's the day that Fielding finally gets himself fired.
• Today's the day that the feud between Youngblood and Turnbo breaks wide open.
• Today's the day that Rena confronts Youngblood with her suspicions about his running around with Peaches.
• Today's the day that Becker's boy, Booster, is getting out of the penitentiary and coming home to meet his father.

• Act One Scene One
• The Hill District comes alive.
• Act One Scene Two
  
• What has pushed Turnbo over the edge today? (Look at his rant about respect. (30-31)) What does he tell Rena?
• Why has Rena run out of patience with Youngblood? What was the straw which broke the camel's back for her? (32-35)
• Why is Becker thinking about giving up after the city let him know that they were gonna board up the place the first of the month? (36)
• Who did Booster kill? Why? (39)
• Act One Scene Three
  
• How does the fight between Youngblood and Turnbo break out? (43)
• Describe the way Becker functions in this neighborhood: what makes his presence essential?
• How does Fielding get himself fired? (51) Who does he dream about twenty years later? (53)
• Becker and Booster: Booker vs. Malcom
• Act One Conclusion: Becker and Booster: Booker vs. Malcolm
  

Homework:

• Jitney Essay for Exam

Final Exam 2016

(Final Exam Schedule)

Act One Conclusion: Becker and Booster: Booker vs. Malcolm

Act Two of Jitney (Study Guide) (Quiz)

• Rena and Youngblood
• What advice does Becker give the young couple?
• Becker's plan :   his strategy
• Becker's death: Booster's response
• final moment

Connections to African American History:

• Notes on Booker Washington
• Notes on W.E.B. DuBois
• Notes on Malcom X

Rough Draft: Jitney Essay for Exam

Final Exam 2016

(Final Exam Schedule)

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