More Practice

Today we began with a multiple choice practice section and then started our long-promised look at the "Blackberry-Picking" timed writing.

MC Practice

Today we did a bit of prose multiple choice practice. Bring study guides to the next class.

The Lower Frequencies

Today I collected discussion questions and study guides. Then we had the IM timed writing.

Discussion

Today groups presented about half of the IM discussion questions. More tomorrow.

Work Day

Today we looked at the calendar for the next few weeks and had some time to finish up the IM questions. 4-7 are below. Presentations begin tomorrow.

• 4) Consider the many scenes of "death" and resurrection in the novel. How is death paradoxically a condition for growth in this novel? Why?
• 5) What is the symbolic importance of Tod Clifton's doll? Why is he the only main character to die in the novel?
• 6) What is Ellison's message about the location and source of power? Consider the narrator's own power and motifs like electricity.
• 7) In the epilogue, IM says, "Now I know men are different and that all life is divided and that only in that division is there true health [...] so I denounce and I defend and I hate and I love" (576 & 580). Explain how these apparent contradictions help unlock the ultimate meaning of the novel.

Welcome Back

Today we had our last reading quiz of the year and then divided into groups to work on some IM discussion questions. Most groups got through about the first two. Here are the first three:

1. Reconsider the grandfather's deathbed advice from chapter 1. How does it resonate through the whole novel? In the end, what conclusion has IM come to regarding this advice?
2. What are some symbols and motifs associated with the burdens of the past in the novel? Explore some of these in depth.
3. IM says, "I'm invisible, not blind" (576). What does he mean? How are blindness and defective sight related to the failure of perception in this novel?

Presentations Continue

Today we began with an IM quiz on chapters 13 through 17 and then had a poetry presentation or two followed by some work time. More presentations tomorrow. Do your poetry HW.