Cliffdwellers (1913) 
by George Bellows

Blue and Green Music, 1919. 
Georgia O'Keeffe

The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2/       

Essay on Huck Finn due by 3:30 p.m.

The Transcendent City vs. The Modern City:

• The Transcendental Vision of the City: Walt Whitman's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (1856) (on-line annotated version); Voices and Visions video (14:20- 16:30) 
• Ric Burns, New York: A Documentary History, episode three, Sunshine and Shadow: Jacob Riis, then Bethesda Fountain, then Central Park, then the Five Points (2:03-10:43) then go to Jacob Riis (1:20:25 to 1:32:48)

Homework:

• What happened to Whitman's hopeful vision of the American city during the second half of the nineteenth century?

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The Transcendent City vs. The Modern City:

• Watch New York episode four Power and People: Emma Lazarus (1:24-5:51)
• From Realism to Naturalism  (Powerpoint)

New York City 1888:

• Ric Burns, New York: A Documentary History, episode three, Sunshine and Shadow: Jacob Riis (1:20:25 to 1:32:48)
• If time permits, watch  New York episode four Power and People: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911) (1:05:30- 1:40)
• Literary Perspective: Dickens, Riis, Howells and Crane
• Naturalism: Literary Definition

• Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1892):  Chapter 1: The Street Fight (3-6) (GoogleDocs Page)

Homework:

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

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

Daumier, Melodrama Show (1860)

Little Mother (1890) Jacob Riis

• Silent Film Melodrama: The Little Matchgirl (1902)
• Snidely Whiplash and Nell (Dudley Do-Right)
• Discuss the Reading: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (part one) (GoogleDocs Page) Study Guide (Lecture One)  (Quiz)
• Google docs Study Guide Part One

• Setting: Describe the situation of children who grow up in the Rum Alley ghetto.
• Plot: What can you predict will happen to the heroine in a melodrama? 
• Style: What is Crane's perspective on his characters? 
• Naturalism: Literary Definition Is Maggie's character determined by biology or economics or psychology? 

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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2        

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

Homework:

Review Maggie and choose which scene you consider to be the key moment which decides her fate.

• Study Guide Part One
• Study Guide Part 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?

Criticism on Maggie:

• Bloom's Literary Reference Online
  

2 

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Shinn, Eviction (1904)


Cliffdwellers (1913) 
by George Bellows

Daumier, Melodrama Show (1860)

Review Maggie and choose which scene you consider to be the key moment which decides her fate.

• Study Guide Part One
• Study Guide Part Two

• Creative Assignment on Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
• Maggie Movie Workspace
• Example of Silent Movie Melodrama: Damsel in Distress

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 culture she absorbs daily help 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 reach adulthood. How does the trauma Maggie experienced as a child manifest itself when she becomes a young adult? Can Maggie be treated? 
4. Nietzsche: Nietzsche argued that people should overcome their rational and religious qualms about taking the necessary action to assert 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? They are soft determinists who insist that even if environment influences a person's character, each individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own fate. ("You always have a choice.") To what degree is Maggie herself responsible for the terrible situation she finds herself in?

• Creative Assignment on Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

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Review Maggie and choose which scene you consider to be the key moment which decides her fate.

• Study Guide Part One
• Study Guide Part Two

• Maggie Leaves Home (Scarlett, Abby, Annie)
• Maggie Returns Home (Charlotte, Lucy, Serena)
• Pete Tells Maggie to Go to Hell (Jeremy, Mattheus, Will)
• Maggie Leaves Home (Ryan, Eva, MyCo, Amy)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Talbot, Matt)
  

• Maggie Leaves Home (Cece, Anna, Lillian, Karoline)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Ben, Blake, Ian, Nick)
• Maggie as a Child (Marina, Alex, Jessica)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Michelle, Sabira, Vasili, Adure)

• 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)

Review Maggie and choose which scene you consider to be the key moment which decides her fate.

• Study Guide Part One
• Study Guide Part Two

• Maggie Leaves Home (Scarlett, Abby, Annie)
• Maggie Returns Home (Charlotte, Lucy, Serena)
• Pete Tells Maggie to Go to Hell (Jeremy, Mattheus, Will)
• Maggie Leaves Home (Ryan, Eva, MyCo, Amy)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Talbot, Matt)
  

• Maggie Leaves Home (Cece, Anna, Lillian, Karoline)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Ben, Blake, Ian, Nick)
• Maggie as a Child (Marina, Alex, Jessica)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Michelle, Sabira, Vasili, Adure)

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Modernism Independent Projects:

• William Carlos Williams, The Great Figure; The Red Wheelbarrow (1923); This Is Just to Say (1934)
• From Realism to Naturalism to Modernism (Powerpoint)
• Imagism: poetry built through the combination of precise sense imagery
• The Zeitgeist of Modernism 

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

Homework:

• Choose Independent Projects on American Modernism  and carefully read the stories or poems.

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

Foghorns (1907) by Arthur Dove

Maggie Movies:

• Maggie Leaves Home (Scarlett, Abby, Annie)
• Maggie Returns Home (Charlotte, Lucy, Serena)
• Pete Tells Maggie to Go to Hell (Jeremy, Mattheus, Will)
• Maggie Leaves Home (Ryan, Eva, MyCo, Amy)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Talbot, Matt)
  

• Maggie as a Child (Marina, Alex, Jessica)
• Maggie Leaves Home (Cece, Anna, Lillian, Karoline)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Ben, Blake, Ian, Nick)
• Nellie Steals Pete (Michelle, Sabira, Vasili, Adure)

Modernism Independent Projects:

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

• The Zeitgeist of Modernism 

This Essay is Due on Thursday, March 13th at 3:30 pm

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

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Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

• The Zeitgeist of Modernism 

• Gale's Literary Resources Online
• Bloom's Literary Reference Online

• This Essay is Due on Thursday, March 13th at 3:30 pm

3/

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

The Zeitgeist of Modernism 

Langston Hughes (1925)

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

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:

• This Essay is Due on Thursday, March 13th at 3:30 pm

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Peer Review

Independent Projects on American Modernism

The Intellectual Backgrounds to Modern Consciousness:

• Marx 
• Darwin 
• Freud
• Nietzsche
• Study Guide

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:

• This Essay is Due on Thursday, March 13th at 3:30 pm

3/

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

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) (Fitzgerald begins at 17:20 and again at 40:00)
• 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.

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)
  

(Video clip from 2013 film)

Karen Black as Myrtle Wilson

Jason Clark as George Wilson

VIDEO: The Roaring Twenties: Dance Craze

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

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?
• Party #2: How does the sad, drunken binge at Myrtle's apartment on Manhattan finally end? 

• The Great Gatsby, Chapters Three and Four (43-85) (GoogleDocs Three) (GoogleDocs Four) Study Guide Three and 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)

4/   

Zelda at age 18

The Party Machine at Gatsby's Mansion

To Live in the 1920's

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

• 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?!
• Nick and Jordan 

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 

Homework:

• The Great Gatsby, Chapters Five and Six  (86-118) (GoogleDocs Five) (GoogleDocs Six) Study Guide Five and Six

Gatsby and Daisy

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

• Jordan's Story of Daisy Fay and Jay Gatsby  (Chapter 4)
• Party #4: Tea at Nick's 
• What happens to Gatsby moments after he has achieved his dream? Why is he so bewildered? 
• The Shower of Custom-Made Silk Shirts (Chapter 5)
  
• James Gatz: What version of American History is Fitzgerald teaching us when we finally learn the true biography of Jay Gatsby? (Chapter 6)
• Tom Buchanan's Horseback Visit (Chapter 6)
• 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 late 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)

4/

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

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

• 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?

• The Great Gatsby, Chapter Eight and Nine (154-189) (GoogleDocs Eight and Nine) 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 Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

4/  

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, newlyweds,  3 April 1920

Essay on The Great Gatsby due Friday, April 17th at 3:30 pm.

• I. 1 (1-4)
• Describe how Esch connects memories of her mother to the scene in the shack where China is giving birth to her pups. 
• How does Ward introduce us to the other members of her family? What do we find out about Skeetah, Randall, Junior and Daddy?
• I. 2 (4-7)
• What makes Daddy believe that a hurricane is on the way?
• As Esch cleans moonshine jugs, she thinks of the her Mama and the last time a hurricane hit. What does she remember?
• When Esch sees Manny, she imagines the moment Medea met Jason. What is that story?
• I. 3 (7-9)
• As China gives birth to her pups, esch says that she moves like she has 'caught the ghost'. What does she mean?
• How many puppies does China have? describe them.
• I. 4 (9-12)
• Describe Esch's feelings as she watches Manny and Randall play hoops.
• Describe Big Henry and Marquise, the other neighborhood boys who hang out at 'The Pit'. 
• What happens when Esch hears the boys mention Shaliyah, Manny's girl friend.
• I. 5 (12-13)
• Why is Skeetah breeding these puppies? Who was the father? 
• Esch says the black and white pup just born reminds her of a Mardi Gras Indian. What is that?
• What makes the white pup the real prize?
• I. 6 (13-17)
• How long has the Baptiste family lived on this property? 
• How did The Pit come into being?
• Describe Papa Joseph and Mother Lizbeth. When did they die? When did Esch's Mama die?
• When Manny appears near her in the woods, Esch thinks of all her role models in Greek Mythology, but how does she behave?
• Why has she let boys have her before? How is it different with Manny?
• I. 7 (17-19)
• Describe China's last puppy.

• II. 1 (20-24)
• When Esch awakens, she hears Skeetah pounding together a kennel. What does Skeetah tell Esch that he would not tell anyone else? 
• When did Esch first have sex? Why did she let it happen?
• II. 2 (24-26)
• Describe Esch's interest in words. (Is there a future writer in her?)
• What happens when Esch feeds China Junior's breakfast?
• II. 3 (26-27)
• When does Daddy start drinking beer each day?
• How does Big Henry treat Esch differently from all the other boys?
• II. 4 (27-30)
• Why do Skeetah and Esch go to the grocery store?
• What are all the other shoppers buying? What is Skketah only interested in?
• How does Skeetah get the money to pay?
• Esch says she feels like Eurydice in the store. What does she mean? 
• What does Esch steal form the store before they leave?
• II. 5 (30-35)
• How long has Esch know she is pregnant?
• On the drive home, Big Henry stops to help a couple in distress. What has happened? 
• What is Skeetah's response to the helpless man?
• How does Skeetah indicate to Esch that he knows her secret?
• II. 6 (35-36)
• What makes Big Henry so awkward around Esch?
• What does Esch discover while she is in the bath tub?

• III 1 (37-38)
• After throwing up when she wakes the next morning, Esch lays on the tile bathroom floor and thinks about Medea. How is Esch like Medea?
• What is Skeetah so upset about that morning?
• How does Esch explain to him what is happening?
• III 2 (38-41)
• Why is Junior upset? What is Randall's reaction?
• III 3 (41-45)
• When Skeetah and Esch go squirrel hunting in the woods, how is Esch feeling? 
• What does Skeetah tell Esch about her and Manny? (Does he have any idea how she feels?)
• What happens when Skeetah is skinning the squirrel?
• III 4 (45-48)
• Why does Esch name the dying puppy Nella?
• III 5 (48-52)
• How does Skeetah plan to put the puppy out of its misery?
• Where did he learn how to do that?
• III 6 (52-57)
• Why does Skeetah strip naked and burn all his clothes?
• What does Esch remember when Manny swims close to her?
• How does she know the baby is Manny's?

• IV 1 (58-64)
• What has Mother Lizbeth's and Papa Joseph's old house turned into?
• What is Skeetah trying to scavenge from the house?
• What is Daddy looking for when he comes by the house on his tractor?
• How are Skeetah and Daddy getting along these days?
• IV 2 (64-66)
• Where does Skeetah want to take Esch that morning?
• How do they dress?
• IV 3 (66-67)
• Describe Esch's thoughts as she and Skeetah run hand in hand through their woods.
• What scene from Medea's story does remember as she runs?
• Do you have memories of similar adventures in the woods near your home?
• IV 4 (67-68)
• Why has Skeetah brought Esch with him to this farm?
• IV 5 (68-71)
• What does Esch remember when Skeetah brushes away the blood on her legs from prickly vine scratches?
• What does Esch know of the white people who live just outside Bois Sauvage?
• IV 6 (71-74)
• Who shows up just before Skeetah is going to go into the barn?
• What pormise does Skeetah make to Randall to let him go through with the theft?
• IV 7 (74-75)
• What does Skeetah tell Junior to keep him quiet?
• IV 8 (75-82)
• What happens to Esch when Skeetah breaks the window and goes into the barn?
• Who arrives on the drive way just then?
• What happens when the white farmer realizes what is going on?
• How do they escape? Who rescues Skeetah and Esch?

• V 1 (83-87)
• What does Skeetah smell like to Esch as she bandages the cuts he suffered during his escape from the barn?
• What memories does that smell bring back to Esch?
• V 2 (87-88)
• Esch crawls on to the the bathroom sink so she can see her growing belly in the mirror. What does she remember as she looks at her body?
• What does she fear will happen when the truth is known to her brothers and father?
• V 3 (88-92)
• Why does Daddy want to get his dump truck fixed before the hurricane hits?
• Why does Esch think of Junior as a 'puppy weaned too soon'?
• Who took care of Junior when he was a baby and a toddler?
• Who took over when the kids went to school?
• The title of this chapter is 'Salvage the Bones'. What 'bones' does Esch salvage with her memories? Why is that so important?
• V 4 (92-98)
• As Skeetah checks China for wounds from the fight with Twist, she shimmies with pleasure. What memory does that bring back to Esch?
• What does Esch feel within her as Manny flips his lighter and smokes his cigarillo?
• Who will Rico's dog Kilo be matched against in the upcoming fight?
• Why does Manny think China should not participate? What is Skeetah's reply? (What does Esch think?)
• What are the directions that Manny gives Skeetah to worm China? What is the danger?
• V 5 (98-102)
• What do Skeetah and Esch mix the Ivomec with to give China?
• As China stands on her legs and leans on Skeetah's chest so that he can admininster the medicine, what does Esch remember?
• V 6 (102-107)
• What stories has Esch heard form the girls at school about inducing an abortion? (Will she pursue that path?)
• Does she really have no options?
• Daddy pulls into the driveway with his truck and confronts Skeetah. Why is he angry? What happens when he pushes Skeetah?

• VI 1 (108-09)
• Why is Daddy knocking down the chicken coop?
• What moment in Medea's story does Esch think of as she makes the decision to side with Skeetah in his conflict with Daddy?
• VI 2 (109-111)
• How does Skeetah know that something is wrong with China?
• What does Esch convince him to do?
• VI 3 (111-114)
• Why is Junior worried about the puppies? 
• Why does Esch dig her fingernails into Junior's arm?
• What does she remember before she apologizes to Junior?
• VI 4 (114-116)
• What memory of Mama come to Esch that morning?
• Why is Skeetah taking China to the park?
• Describe Junior's bike.
• VI 5 (116-123)
• Describe the Bois Sauvage neighborhood that Esch passes as she walks to the park with Skeetah, China and Junior.
• What does the park look like?
• Who is playing hoops at the park?
• What thoughts cross Esch's mind as she watches Shaliyah watch Manny play hoops?
• What does Shaliyah look like to Esch?
• What does Manny do when he sees Esch?
• After the game, Randall and Big Henry sit with Esch. What is Randall thinking about?
• What does Esch think of doing to herself when she sees Manny flirting with Shaliyah?
• VI 6 (123-130)
• When the kids return home, it is getting dark. Daddy is still working on knocling down the chicken coop. He tellls them that the storm has a name now: Katrina. How does Esch react?
• Why does Daddy want Randall to drive the tractor?
• Why is Skeetah still worried about China even after running her?
• How does Daddy get injured? What does China do at that same moment?
• What is Esch's response?

• VII 1 (131-133)
• How does Esch describe Daddy's bandaged hand when he is released from the hospital late that night?
• VII 2 (133-136)
• In Daddy's bedroom, Esch adjusts the antenna on the TV for him. What is the news about Katrina? Whaat does that make Esch think about?
• What memories come to Esch as she looks at the photos  Daddy has on his dresser?
• VII 3 (136-138)
• How does Esch get ready to go to the big game?
• What does she hear off in the woods?
• Why is Skeetah keeping China on a chain?
• VII 4 (138-140)
• Big Henry and Marquise have arrived to drive them all to the game. What happens when Esch sits on the hood to talk with them?
• How does Big Henry respond?
• VII 5 (140-143)
• What is the history of St Catherine Elementary, where the game will be played?
• Esch remembers the story Mama told her of how she and Daddy met. What happened?
• What happens when Esch and Junior pass the concession stand at the game?
• What does Big Henry give Junior?
• Has Esch figured out how Big Henry feels about her?
• VII 6 (143-144)
• As Randall pulls down a rebound, what does Esch think he looks like?
• How does Manny react when Esch passes him and Rico in the crowd?
• VII 7 (144-146)
• In the bathroom, Esch is upset when Manny bursts into the stall. Does he force her to have sex?
• What is Esch intent on forcing Manny to do as they make love? What happens instead?
• VII 8 (146-147)
• Why can't Esch leave the bathroom after Manny runs out?
• VII 9 (147-152)
• Who comes to find Esch? (Who sent him?)
• Who is sitting near the family in the stands?
• What does Skeetah understand when Esch returns to her seat?
• How does Skeetah respond when Rico demands the white pup?
• How does Skeetah provoke the fight? (Who is he really anrgry with?)
• Why is Randall thrown out of the game?
• How does Randall finally end the fight and resolve the situation?

• 
  VIII 1 (153-154)
• The next morning Junior peppers Esch with questions when she wakes up. What does he want?
• How does Esch feel that morning?
• VIII 2 (154)
• That morning Esch reads more of the story of Medea. Which episode? What is Esch afraid will happen at the dog fight? How is this like Medea's story?
• VIII 3 (154-155)
• What news about Katrina is on the TV in Daddy's room?
• Is anyone but Daddy taking the storm seriously?
• VIII 4 (155-158)
• What are Skeetah and Randall arguing about as Skeetah washes China with the hose?
• Why is Randall so upset with Skeetah?
• What happens when Randall finds out why Skeetah started the fight?
• How does Skeetah describe China once she is clean?
• VIII 5 (158-159)
• How do the Deep Woods where the dogfight will take place appear to Esch as she and Junior pass through them?
• What is Randall carrying? Why does Skeetah think that is funny?
• What does the approaching storm sound like in the woods? (QUOTE)
• Where is Medea in Esch's imagination as they arrive at the clearing? (QUOTE)
• VIII 6 (159-162)
• There are fifteen boys and ten dogs in the clearing. Who is the only girl?
• What do the boys look like in Esch's imagination?
• What match is everyoine looking forward to?
• What does Esch think when she sees Jerome's dog Kilo digging in the dirt?
• In Esch's imagination, what makes Skeetah and China different from everyone else?
• VIII 7 (162-163)
• When the boys meet up to clarify the rules, what does Esch imagine Medea is doing? (QUOTE)
• VIII 8 (163-165)
• What is China's fighting style?
• Which dog wins the first fight? How?
• VIII 9 (165-167)
• When Kilo and Boss fight, who wins? (What are the stakes for Skeetah?)
• Why does Jerome demand a rematch?
• VIII 10  (167-169)
• When Rico demands his pup from Skeetah, how do the Bois Sauvage boys respond?
• How does Skeetah suggest they resolve the dilemma?
• VIII 11 (169-171)
• When Randall objects to letting China fight, what is he most worried about?
• Why does Skeetah insist that she must fight?
• How does Esch feel when she looks at Manny? (Why is this moment so significant?) (QUOTE) (QUOTE)
• VIII 12 (171-174)
• What happens when China and Kilo meet in the first round of their fight?
• What does Manny tell Rico after this round?
• How is China injured in the second round?
• VIII 13 (174-176)
• In the third and final round, Skeetah cries out to China, "Make them know!" (That's the title of this chapter.) What does Skeetah mean? (QUOTE)
• How does China vanquish Kilo?

• IX 1 (177-181)
• What nightmare is Esch having when she awakes to find Daddy on the bathroom floor?
• What has made Daddy sick?
• What memories come to Esch as she watches Randall lift up Daddy to carry him back to bed?
• Esch marvels at Randall and how different he is from his parents. What kind of child does she think she will have with Manny?
• IX 2 (181-183)
• What must Randall and Esch do to get the house ready for the hurricane?
• Randall wants Skeetah to go to the store to get more canned food. What does Skeetah plan to buy?
• IX 3 (183-186)
• What memory comes to Esch as she looks at the hole in the bottom of the bathroom door?
• What is Junior doing in Daddy's room?
• What has Junior found and kept?
• Why did he do it?
• IX 4 (186-187)
• What is Skeetah's reaction when he hears what Junior has done?
• IX 5 (187-193)
• How successfully do the kids board up the windows?
• How does Esch describe 'a hurricane eclipse'?
• What does Esch remember as she and Randall and Junior drive to the gas station in Daddy's truck?
• What is left in the refrigerator to cook?
• What is Junior doing at the grill where Randall and Esch park the truck?
• What did Skeetah buy at the store? (Did he get any food for the family?)
• How does Big Henry help?
  

• X 1 (194)
• What kinds of food will the family have to make it through the hurricane?
• Why is Daddy not too worried about the food?
• What will Daddy do with his recovered wedding ring?
• What is Skeetah doing as the kids wait in the yard for the storm to arrive?
• What does China do?
• X 2 (194-197)
• While Esch and Randall hunt for eggs in the windy yard, Esch has another vision of Medea. What is it?
• How did Mama teach the kids to hunt for eggs?
• What did Mama teach Esch about motherhood while they hunted for eggs?
• Where do Randall and Junior find eggs? How many do they find?
• X 3 (197-199)
• What thoughts cross Esch's mind when Manny arrives, knowing what he knows?
• What news has Manny brought Randall? How does Randall respond?
• Randall accuses Manny of 'dogging my sister'. What does he make clear to Manny? 
• How does Manny respond when Esch confronts him about her pregnancy?
• What does Esch think of when Manny tells her that there is 'Nothing' for him here?
• How many fights has Esch been in? How good is she at fighting?
• What does Manny call her when they finish fighting?
• How does Esch respond when Manny insists the baby is not his?
• X 4 (199-205)
• What did Medea do when Jason betrayed her?
• What does Randall tell Esch when he finds her in tears?
• What did Daddy tell Esch when she would not stop crying after Mama's death? What did Esch have to learn to do?
• X 5 (205-210)
• Why are there no animals in the woods that Randall and Esch run through?
• Where are they going?
• How do Randall and Esch get into the main house?
• What do they find?
• X 6 (210-214)
• Where does Skeetah plan to keep China and the pups during the storm?
• When Daddy hears Skeetah's plan, what is his response?
• What does Skeetah threaten to do if China is put out?
• How does Daddy resolve the conflict?
• What does Skeetah tell Esch, insisting he is right?

• XI 1 (215-216)
• What does Esch imagine small animaals do to prepare for a big storm?
• What does Esch learn about Medea as she reads that night?
• XI 2 (216-219)
• When does the hurricane become real for Esch?
• What memory of Mama comes to Esch as the hurricane bears down?
• What stories did Mama tell of Hurricane Camille?
• What does Esch wish she could do for her baby?
• XI 3 (219-222)
• What form does Esch's baby take in her imagination as the storm rises in fury?
• What does Katrina sound like as it closes in?
• What has Skeetah forgotten about Mama?
• What are the last memories Esch has of her mother alive?
• What does Skeetah tell Esch about Mama?
• XI 4 (222-225)
• How does Skeetah respond when he hears a dog barking outside the house?
• What suddenly happens in Daddy's room?
• Where does the family hunker down?
• XI 5 (225-227)
• At what moment in Medea's story is Esch reading when  water starts to fill the house?
• What has happened to the Pit?
• How quickly is the water rising in the house?
• What has happened to Daddy's truck?
• XI 6 (227-229)
• What does the family take with them as they flee to the attic?
• XI 7 (229-230)
• What does the house start doing once they are all in the attic?
• How do Skeetah and Randall save the family from drowning in the attic?
• XI 8 (230-234)
• What scene appears to Esch as the family crawls out on to the roof?
• How does Skeetah tie China to him?
• What plan does Skeetah devise to rescue the family?
• What does Skeetah tell Daddy to make him agree to letting Esch and Skeetah jump first for the window in Mother Lizbeth's house?
• How does Daddy react?
• XI 9 (234-236)
• What happens to Esch and the puppies in the pail when she leaps for the window?
• What must Skeetah do with China if he is to rescue Esch?
• Who saves Daddy?
• What happens to China?

• XII 1 (237-240)
• How does Esch try to comfort Skeetah?
• Where does Skeetah head when he jumps out the window to search for China?
• What is Esch's last sight of Skeetah?
• XII 2 (240-242)
• After exploring the wreck of their home, where does Randall insist the family must go?
• What does the family see as they make their way towards Bois Sauvage?
• XII 3 (242-245)
• What sights does the family see as they make their way into town?
• What happened at Big Henry's house?
• How does Big Henry respond to the family's dilemma?
• How does Randall react when he sees Manny? What does Esch say?
• How does Ms. Bernadine comfort Daddy?
• Marquise tells everyone that he found Skeetah, but Skeetah is staying near the old wrecked house. Why?
• What does Randall say about Skeetah?
• XII 4 (245-248)
• What does Daddy first want to tell Esch when she confirms that she is pregnant?
• How does he reassure Esch about the baby?
• What vision of Daddy and Mama does Esch have at that moment? What does Esch decide to name her baby if it is a girl?
• What name does Esch decide upon if the baby is a boy?
• XII 5 (248-255)
• What do Esch, Randall, Junior and Big Henry see as they drive into St. Catherine's?
• What details indicate the historic fury of Hurricane Katrina?
• What do the people look like?
• What does Esch do for the old lady who comes to their car?
• Where has Junior been since the hurricane started?
• What happened to the gym where the fight happened?
• What do the kids find behind the bank?
• What does Big Henry tell Esch before they head back?
• How does Esch plan to commemorate Katrina?
• XII 6 (255-258)
• What does Ms. Bernardine do for Esch once they get back to Big Henry's house?
• What has Skeetah done to signal to China to come home?
• In the final passage of the novel, Esch imagines Skeetah's reaction when China finally comes home... what does Esch want to tell China?

• Home Holidays
• Spiritual Experience
• I am...
• Summer Vacation
• Stars!
• Magical Powers
• Home
• Friends
• I want to write about...
• I Don't Want to Write About...
• I am... (Character)
• Monologue
• Williams Writing Project
• Home 2
• Dickinson Poem
• First Kiss
• Whitman
• Whitman 2
• Poe

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• Natalie Goldberg's Rules

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One Act Playwriting Project:

• Day One 
• Wesley's Monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard

Homework:

• Monologue Assignment
• People Photos

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• Monologue Assignment
• The "Well Made Play" Engine: The Day the Thunderstorm Breaks

• Laura
• Amanda's Blue Mountain Monologue (5)

• Write a Scene for One-Act Play (Due Friday by 3:30 p.m.)
  

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