Week 9

Let's consider your reaction to ending of The Awakening. It is ambiguous in a sense that it is subject to multiple interpretations. We must understand that even as a child Edna instinctivley apprehened the DUAL life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. Thematically Edna's awakening is a self-discovery, an escape from tradition and authority. Her awakening is clear only when we understand the motives, attitudes, and beliefs of the people who knew, loved, or respected her.

The sea is a significant metaphor...let's try to make sense of its importance!

Important Assignments:

11/2: IR in class assessment.
11/5: Timed writing on The Awakening.

Improvisers don’t look at change as an obstacle; we look at it as fuel. We know that the next great idea lies just on the other side of the change. We are constantly asking ourselves, “What can I do to incite change?” Well?
-- John SweeneySpeaker, trainer and author of Innovation at the Speed of Laughter.

Have a good week...SMILE too!

Here are your assignments/Agenda for Week 9:

Week 9 MS Word

Week 9 pdf

If you have questions about these assignments, please leave a comment or email me directly. Remember, I will check the blog until 9:59 pm. You know I need my Seinfeld fix.

Week 8

Edna's need for an awakening is clear only when the reader understands the motives, attitudes, and beliefs of the people who knew, loved, and respected her. During this era those with the most profound effect on her life are the men, whose conventional roles were those of possessors. Perhaps this is a reason for Edna's rebellion.

Continue to work diligently and always smile....I always notice. Have a good week!

Here are your assignments/Agenda for Week 8:

Week 8 MS Word

Week 8 pdf

If you have questions about these assignments, please leave a comment or email me directly. Remember, I will check the blog until 9:59 pm. You know I need my Seinfeld fix.

Week 7

Our focus this week is to trace the progress of Edna's awakening which essentially begins and ends with the sea. Kate Chopin drew heavily on Walt Whitman's poetry as a source of many of the images and symbols used in her book.

Continue to work diligently and always smile....I always notice. Have a good week!

Here are your assignments/Agenda for Week 7:

Week 7 MS Word

Week 7 pdf

If you have questions about these assignments, please leave a comment or email me directly. Remember, I will check the blog until 9:59 pm. You know I need my Seinfeld fix.

Week 6

The Awakening Kate Chopin

The French were not alone in their restrictions on women's lives in the 19th century, but fortunately, one courageous woman uses French New Orleans as the setting to daringly show the effects of the French social strictures on a young matron who discovers the limitations of her world.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1851-1904) was considered by some critics to be scandalous, yet others decided that the work is a fascinating character study of a woman far ahead of her time, who struggles against invisible barriers and reject the rigid role expected of her by their social system. Perhaps the novel transcends feminism to reveal society, its weaknesses, and the tragedy of people trying "to fly with clipped wings."

We, as readers, need to go beyond simple definitions of morality to a consideration of the psychology of the characters, the mores of the society, and the effects of time amd place. Along the way, you may discover that determining guilt is a complex process and that sinners are not obvious. Also because a person errs in actions does not necessarily mean that society is infallible.

Continue to work diligently and always smile....I always notice. Have a good week!

Here are your assignments/Agenda for Week 6:

Week 6 MS Word

Week 6 pdf

If you have questions about these assignments, please leave a comment or email me directly. Remember, I will check the blog until 9:59 pm. You know I need my Seinfeld fix.