THE GRAPES OF WRATH—Chapters 21-22 Discussion Questions
CHAPTER 21
1. What are the causes that contribute to the changes in the character of the migrant people?
2. As a result of the growing numbers of migrant people, what changes take place in the locals?
3. How are the “little people” of California similar to the “Okies”?
4. Explain this quote: “The great landowners were glad . . . And pretty soon now we’ll have serfs again.”
CHAPTER 22
5. What are the major differences between Weedpatch and the Hoovervilles?
6. Is Weedpatch Steinbeck’s version of Paradise? Is there a serpent? Explain your answers.
7. Timothy invites Tom to join Wilkie and him at work, even though it means fewer hours for the Wallaces. How does this action contribution to the “we” theme of the novel?
8. What is the connection between the Bank of the West and the Farmer’s Association? How does the landowner explain this to the men?
9. Why does the Association dislike the government camps?
10. What does Ma mean when she says, “We come home to our own people . . . Why, I feel like people again,”?
11. Describe the atmosphere at Ma’s tent. What contributes to that atmosphere?
12. What does the “sin-woman” represent? How does Rose of Sharon react? How does Ma deal with her when she appears again?
13. The members of the “committee” have a sense of self-importance. Is self-importance of value? Explain.
14. How do the children handle adapting to their new environment?
15. What do Pa, Al, and John discover about the availability of work?
16. After their emotionally torturous ordeal, what are Ma and Pa finally realizing?
17. The family is temporarily happy. What events foreshadow the problems to come?
English 11: The Death of the American Dream
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Monday 11 April 2011
Grapes of Wrath
THEMES:
1) The importance of the land to the people
2) The Strength of Women
3) The Importance of family (even the definition of WHAT IS FAMILY)
4) We vs. I
5) People vs. “Moloch”
6) Anger
Characters:
Tom Joad
Jim Casey
Muley Graves
Herb Turnbull
Willy Feeley
Old Tom Joad
Ma Joad
Al Joad
Grandpa Joad
Gramma Joad
Noah Joad
Uncle John
Rosasharn
Connie Rivers
Allusions to the Bible:
“The Angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s Wrath.”
1) The importance of the land to the people
2) The Strength of Women
3) The Importance of family (even the definition of WHAT IS FAMILY)
4) We vs. I
5) People vs. “Moloch”
6) Anger
Characters:
Tom Joad
Jim Casey
Muley Graves
Herb Turnbull
Willy Feeley
Old Tom Joad
Ma Joad
Al Joad
Grandpa Joad
Gramma Joad
Noah Joad
Uncle John
Rosasharn
Connie Rivers
Allusions to the Bible:
“The Angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s Wrath.”
Thursday 31 March 2011
Vocabulary for THE GRAPES OF WRATH
1) Pique
2) Imperturbability
3) Rivulet
4) Germinate
5) Zenith
6) Scuttle
7) Declivity
8) Bemuse
9) Petulant
10) Dissipate
Friday 18 February 2011
Essay Prompts
Evaluate the role of Nick Carraway as the narrator of this novel. What about Nick makes
him singularly appropriate for this particular story? How does Fitzgerald's choice of this narrator contribute to characterization and theme development within the story?
Evaluate the social critique advanced through the novel. What aspects of American society does the novel criticize and how? (Consider why Nick claims that Gatsby "turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby...")
Evaluate the presentation of dreams and illusions in the novel. Does Fitzgerald make a distinction between them? What statement does the author make about the human tendency to dream and the role of dreaming in the American ethos?
Evaluate the role of minor characters in the novel -- Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Meyer Wolfsheim, Owl Eyes, Jordan Baker. Why did Fitzgerald include them and in what ways are they important to the story?
Evaluate how this novel is about the concepts of emptiness and fulfillment in human experience. What does the novel seem to say are
the forces that create these concepts in a human life and how are these concepts related?
Evaluate Fitzgerald's use of a particular literary device within the novel. How does this device contribute to the meaning of the work as
a whole?
Evaluate the role of setting in this novel. In what ways are the settings of the novel instrumental to the larger thematic meanings?
him singularly appropriate for this particular story? How does Fitzgerald's choice of this narrator contribute to characterization and theme development within the story?
Evaluate the social critique advanced through the novel. What aspects of American society does the novel criticize and how? (Consider why Nick claims that Gatsby "turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby...")
Evaluate the presentation of dreams and illusions in the novel. Does Fitzgerald make a distinction between them? What statement does the author make about the human tendency to dream and the role of dreaming in the American ethos?
Evaluate the role of minor characters in the novel -- Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Meyer Wolfsheim, Owl Eyes, Jordan Baker. Why did Fitzgerald include them and in what ways are they important to the story?
Evaluate how this novel is about the concepts of emptiness and fulfillment in human experience. What does the novel seem to say are
the forces that create these concepts in a human life and how are these concepts related?
Evaluate Fitzgerald's use of a particular literary device within the novel. How does this device contribute to the meaning of the work as
a whole?
Evaluate the role of setting in this novel. In what ways are the settings of the novel instrumental to the larger thematic meanings?
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Fitzgerald website and new vocabulary
Here is a good website on Fitzgerald, his life, and The Great Gatsby.
Vocabulary List # 2
mesmerize
sardonic
decadent
pastoral
rendezvous
indulgence
prestigious
prominent
expatriate
exasperate
affable
aspirations
Vocabulary List # 2
mesmerize
sardonic
decadent
pastoral
rendezvous
indulgence
prestigious
prominent
expatriate
exasperate
affable
aspirations
Monday 10 January 2011
Vocabulary Words
1) Wan
2) Prodigality
3) Feigned
4) Languidly
5) Colossal
6) Complacency
7) Levity
8) Extemporizing
9) Supercilious
10) Infinitesimal
11) Fractiousness
2) Prodigality
3) Feigned
4) Languidly
5) Colossal
6) Complacency
7) Levity
8) Extemporizing
9) Supercilious
10) Infinitesimal
11) Fractiousness
Tuesday 4 January 2011
The Great Gatsby: Themes
The Themes:
1.This novel is filled with multiple themes but the predominate one focuses on the death of the American Dream. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime he didn't adhere to the American Dream guidelines. Nick also suggests this with the manner in which he talks about all the rich characters in the story. The immoral people have all the money. Of course looking over all this like the eyes of God are those of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg on the billboard.
2.The second theme that needs to be acknowledged is the thought of repeating the past. Gatsby's whole being since going off to war is devoted to getting back together with Daisy and have things be the way they were before he left. That's why Gatsby got a house like the one Daisy used to live in right across the bay from where she lives. He expresses this desire by reaching towards the green light on her porch early in the book. The last paragraph, So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past reinforces this theme.
3.Fitzgerald was in his twenty's when he wrote this novel and since he went to Princeton he was considered a spokesman for his generation. He wrote about the third theme which is the immorality that was besieging the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, people were partying all the time, and affairs were common play. The last of which Fitzgerald portrays well in this novel.
4.The eyes of T. J. Eckleburg convey a fourth theme in this novel. George Wilson compares them to the eyes of God looking over the valley of Ashes. The unmoving eyes on the billboard look down on the Valley of Ashes and see all the immorality and garbage of the times. By the end of the novel you will realize that this symbolizes that God is dead.
1.This novel is filled with multiple themes but the predominate one focuses on the death of the American Dream. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime he didn't adhere to the American Dream guidelines. Nick also suggests this with the manner in which he talks about all the rich characters in the story. The immoral people have all the money. Of course looking over all this like the eyes of God are those of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg on the billboard.
2.The second theme that needs to be acknowledged is the thought of repeating the past. Gatsby's whole being since going off to war is devoted to getting back together with Daisy and have things be the way they were before he left. That's why Gatsby got a house like the one Daisy used to live in right across the bay from where she lives. He expresses this desire by reaching towards the green light on her porch early in the book. The last paragraph, So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past reinforces this theme.
3.Fitzgerald was in his twenty's when he wrote this novel and since he went to Princeton he was considered a spokesman for his generation. He wrote about the third theme which is the immorality that was besieging the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, people were partying all the time, and affairs were common play. The last of which Fitzgerald portrays well in this novel.
4.The eyes of T. J. Eckleburg convey a fourth theme in this novel. George Wilson compares them to the eyes of God looking over the valley of Ashes. The unmoving eyes on the billboard look down on the Valley of Ashes and see all the immorality and garbage of the times. By the end of the novel you will realize that this symbolizes that God is dead.
Monday 3 January 2011
The Great Gatsby
NOVEL UNIT: The Great Gatsby
“In leaving something unsaid the beholder is given a chance to complete the idea and thus a great masterpiece irresistibly rivets your attention until you seem to become actually a part of it.” –on the value of art and suggestion, Kakuzo Okakura--
The novel unit is designed to give students the chance to expand the fundamentals learned during the short story unit at a much larger scope. Students will learn how to break a novel down by applying basic prose elements such as themes, plots, subplots, characters (and character development), while learning about symbols, metaphors, imagery, and word choice. Students reading The Great Gatsby will learn about social issues of America during the Roaring Twenties and the failure of the American Dream. In the novel we will look at characters and characterization, and see how they prove to be harsh, lively, compelling and most of all—human.
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the unit students will be able to
1) Define character development, irony, metaphor, personification, subplot, atmosphere and allusion and symbol
2) List all the characters that appear in the novel and describe their physical appearance, motivations, social class.
3) List various allusions and foreshadows and discuss what they mean in relation to plot.
4) List the various types of conflict that occur throughout the novel and discuss who the conflicts are between.
5) Keep a journal that outlines each chapter by listing setting (if applicable), characters, conflicts, and summaries.
6) List three themes and in a paragraph or more discuss how these themes work in the novel.
7) In an essay of a page or more discuss how Fitzgerald uses particular images or characters as symbols and discuss how these symbols reflect larger themes or ideas in the novel.
8) Outline the character development (inward change) of various characters (to be mentioned later).
9) List and outline four subplots in either novel.
10) List and outline the central plot.
11) In a paragraph or more discuss how social class or social problems fit in the novel and relate them to conflict and theme.
12) Pick out two or three examples of similes and/or metaphors and in a paragraph discuss how they are used.
13) Given a quotation identify the speaker.
14) Write various journal entries from different characters’ points of view, which demonstrates an understanding of the character and the character’s attitude towards life.
ACTIVITIES TO BE INCLUDED:
1) Quizzes
2) Reading (inside and outside of class)
3) Viewing Documentaries and Movies that relate to the novel
4) Listening to CDs that relate to the novel
5) Journals
6) Group questions and group work
7) Drawings
8) Unit Final
Possible memorization and acting of characters
“In leaving something unsaid the beholder is given a chance to complete the idea and thus a great masterpiece irresistibly rivets your attention until you seem to become actually a part of it.” –on the value of art and suggestion, Kakuzo Okakura--
The novel unit is designed to give students the chance to expand the fundamentals learned during the short story unit at a much larger scope. Students will learn how to break a novel down by applying basic prose elements such as themes, plots, subplots, characters (and character development), while learning about symbols, metaphors, imagery, and word choice. Students reading The Great Gatsby will learn about social issues of America during the Roaring Twenties and the failure of the American Dream. In the novel we will look at characters and characterization, and see how they prove to be harsh, lively, compelling and most of all—human.
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the unit students will be able to
1) Define character development, irony, metaphor, personification, subplot, atmosphere and allusion and symbol
2) List all the characters that appear in the novel and describe their physical appearance, motivations, social class.
3) List various allusions and foreshadows and discuss what they mean in relation to plot.
4) List the various types of conflict that occur throughout the novel and discuss who the conflicts are between.
5) Keep a journal that outlines each chapter by listing setting (if applicable), characters, conflicts, and summaries.
6) List three themes and in a paragraph or more discuss how these themes work in the novel.
7) In an essay of a page or more discuss how Fitzgerald uses particular images or characters as symbols and discuss how these symbols reflect larger themes or ideas in the novel.
8) Outline the character development (inward change) of various characters (to be mentioned later).
9) List and outline four subplots in either novel.
10) List and outline the central plot.
11) In a paragraph or more discuss how social class or social problems fit in the novel and relate them to conflict and theme.
12) Pick out two or three examples of similes and/or metaphors and in a paragraph discuss how they are used.
13) Given a quotation identify the speaker.
14) Write various journal entries from different characters’ points of view, which demonstrates an understanding of the character and the character’s attitude towards life.
ACTIVITIES TO BE INCLUDED:
1) Quizzes
2) Reading (inside and outside of class)
3) Viewing Documentaries and Movies that relate to the novel
4) Listening to CDs that relate to the novel
5) Journals
6) Group questions and group work
7) Drawings
8) Unit Final
Possible memorization and acting of characters
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