Essential questions for this unit

Question 1 

How are the Romantics' beliefs of optimism and individualism reflected their writing?

Answer

Their beliefs are put in to the writing that they writing. It makes they characters independent and defendant. The stories have a sence in of independence and individuality. It gives the stories a uniqueness to them. 

Question 2

What is Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism and Southern Gothic Romanticism? How are they similar? How are they different?

Answer

Romanticism is an expression of free feeling in writing. Gothic Romanticism is a combination of fiction, horror, and romanticism. Southern Gothic Romanticism is a sub genre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place in the American south.  They all have an expression of feelings and they have detailed settings. Gothic romanticism is different than Romanticism because gothic adds horror. Southern gothic romanticism is different from romanticism because it takes place in the American south and adds horror.

Question 3

How is the Southern Gothic movement a response to literary movements that have proceeded it as well as manipulation of literary conventions?  

Answer

The southern gothic movement started in the 19th century and during this century was the American Civil War(1861-1865). Since the Civil War was about slavery then that is why southern gothic novels had racial, social, and class differences causing tension and eventually resulting in violence. It's almost like the civil war and the 19th century. 

Question 4

How did the American culture prompt the Darkside of romanticism (think Gothic and Southern Gothic)?

Answer 

American culture prompt the dark side because of the darkness in itself. The wars and the strict laws of the Puritans. The darkness was in the shodows of every American. Between the hatred towards african Americans and the law of Puritans. 

Question 5

How do the writings of these time periods influence writings of today?

Answer

The influence of then has a great influence of now. This is because people take others ideas and bend twist them around, making them darker or not having dark at all. Things were different then and things are different now. Life is still difficult. There is still hate. There will always be those dark shodows. 

Romanticism: What is it? "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot"

Question 1
 How does this story capture the imagination of readers today?

Answer

Readers often catch themselves wonder what really did happen to Ichabod Crane. It makes you wonder if the story was about Brom Bones or Katrina Van Tassel not Ichabod Crane. Readers ask questions that never have been asked before, they ask what if's and they come up with the craziest possibilities. They imaginations take them to whole new worlds and realities that they have never seen before. What kind of readers and writes will we have in the future?  

Question 2
How is this song about escaping the physical conditions of slavery? How is this song about religious hope and faith? How is this song reflective of its time period? How does it relate to today?

Answer 
The song is about carrying someone home. It could mean going home after slavery or it could mean going home like to heaven. During the time period the song was written was the Civil War, which was about slavery, so the writer of the song, Wallace Willis, was a slave. He would create "plantation songs" while he worked in the fields. The song relates to us today because we all want to go home to our Father in heaven. All we know is that we are not home yet.      

Gothic romanticism: Hawthorne, Poe, and Baudelaire

Question 1

There are many interpretations of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. One interpretation suggests that Usher’s nervousness and weakness are the results of Madeline Usher’s being a vampire. Using details from the story, write an analysis of the story that supports this interpretation.                                                                                         

       Answer

       Usher's knowledge of his sister being a vampire does make usher nervous and the unknown narrator realized Usher's nervous throughout the story. Usher told the narrator that he had "a mere nervous affection....[usher]added which undoubtedly pass." 

Q.  Question 2

      How do gothic fiction writers express-either indirectly or directly-a criticism of human nature? Explain what the writers criticize about human nature and how they communicate this criticism to the reader. Do the writers have a similar towards human nature? Explain. 

     Answer 

     The authors of gothic fiction express the criticism of human nature in their writing in various ways. Hawthorne criticized human nature in Dr. Heidegger's Experiment like our elders wanted to be young again. The four friends wanted to be young and feel the passion of the youth. Poe criticized human nature in The Masque of the Red Death. He does by making the prince selfish and self centered. 

     

Southern Gothic Romanticism: "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and "A Rose for Emily"

Question 1
What is Southern Gothic Romanticism? How do the two stories and their authors exhibit Southern Gothic traits? How do these stories and their literature compare to Romanticism and Gothic or Dark Romanticism?

Answer
Southern Gothic Romanticism is a type of american literature that is based in the south and it is a subgenre of gothic fiction. The authors used more details on where the characters are. They also showed the good and bad side of the main character. Romanticism is a expression of feelings of the writer. Gothic Romanticism has the expression but it has horror mix into the writing. Gothic Romanticism is a combination of fiction, horror and Romanticism. Gothic romanticism writing has more fluff than Romanticism.

Question 2
 In “A Rose from Emily”, why do you think Miss Emily’s crime goes undetected until her death? Identify at least three contributing factors and support them with reference to the story.

Answer
The towns people felt sorry for Miss Emily because the only thing she had was the house. "At last they could pity her." And she had "no taxes in Jefferson".  That fact that she was just a lonely women probably made it harder a her. 

Question 3
Flannery O'Connor the author of "The life you save may be your own" said that the hitchhiker Shiftlet picks up at the end 'makes the story work'. How do you think episode with the hitchhiker does this?

Answer 
Shiftlet picks up the hitchhiker because he preferred not to being alone. Then he starts talking to the boy about his mother but then he started about Lucynell. "He took her from heaven and giver to me and I left her." It's like the saying " you don't know what you had until you lost it."  It makes the story work because Shiftlet realize what he did. So in a way the hitchhiker helped him see that. 

Choose your own short story: "Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

Pre-Socratic Seminar Question-Writing 

Close-Ended Question

When did Connie first meet or see Arnold Friend?

Answer 

Connie first saw Arnold when she was hanging with Eddie. Later she actually talks to him.

Open-Ended Question

Why does Connie finally go with Arnold Friend in the end?

 Answer

Connie finally saw something that she had never seen before: Where she is going

.

World Connection Question

Would teens today take a car ride with someone the don't know?

Answer

Probably, it would depend on the person getting in the car and the person driving the car.

Universal Theme/ Core Question

How is the concept of threatening in Connie's world different from someone else's? 

Answer

Arnold Friend threatened to hurt Connie's family if she didn't come out and take a ride. This concept of threatening for someone else would to kill their family or kill them but its just the society works now-a-days.

Literary Analysis Question

Is Connie the appropriate choice to be the main character?

Answer

Connie is a good choice on being the main character because she is different from her sister and she likes it that way. Connie knows she is beautiful and there are a lot of girls in the world who are but they say they are ugly because they are not prefect. Connie is no prefect, no one is.