Reading Response: "Big Boy Leaves Home"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Richard Wright's "Big Boy Leaves Home," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post. 

"Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid--Full Text

"Girl"

by Jamaica Kincaid

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions; don't eat fruits on the street--flies will follow you; but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease; this is how you grow okrbafar from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marblebsyou are not a boy, you know; don't pick people's flowerbsyou might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?

Reading Response: "Girl"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: The Road

If you choose to submit a reading response for Cormac McCarthy's The Road, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Course Blog! Description and Pre-Semester Advice

Hello Everyone, and welcome to the course blog. This is the first time I have tried using a blog as a means of mass communication with a class, but I think it is going to work nicely. The first thing all of you should do is add this blog to your RSS feed. It exists exclusively for our class, and by adding it to your feed, you will be automatically notified whenever something new is posted. The "comments" section is open to anyone, so posting replies or comments should be easy for each of you, and I strongly encourage you to post whenever you have something to say. Blog participation will count the same as class participation, so for those of you who are hesitant to talk in class, this could be a great place for you to make up for slow days when you didn't have much to say.

What kinds of posts should you expect? I plan on using this blog to post and disseminate the following things: course information (including the syllabus and the schedule of dates and assignments), essay prompts, and useful background material on our texts. I also might add other things as the semester goes on, like discussion questions or external links and information. Generally, I plan to use this blog to communicate with all of you between class periods; I don't plan on posting too frequently, but I want to use this tool to engage each of you on a daily or bi-daily basis.

For now, I want to encourage all of you to GO AHEAD AND START READING OUR BOOKS FOR THIS SEMESTER! We have seven novels to get through, and if you begin now, it will help you keep up as the semester goes on. I imagine a lot of you are going to be with family for the holidays, and I don't know about you, but for me, that's a great time to get reading done.

If you're going to start reading, start with Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. It will be the first novel we discuss, and it's also a pretty easy read. For those of you who are already considering the "watch the movie instead of read the book" move, I would caution you against it: although I imagine the movie (which should be here around Christmas) is pretty faithful to the book, I think you are much more likely to "get" the movie if you have already finished reading McCarthy's text. As always, the novel offers an author a more transparent canvas for introducing themes than a film offers its director, and although I am personally crazy about movies, I think (at least in this case), you should do the reading first. So, go ahead and get started, and if you have any questions, you can either email me directly (kennycamacho@hotmail.com) or post them here. I'll check this site at least once each day.

Take care, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in January.

Course Description

TRUTH IN FICTION

This course will focus on the relationship between “truth” and written “fiction.” Obviously, the word “fiction” suggests that a subject is not factual—that it is not “non-fiction” or “true.” However, the history of literature is in many senses a history of what we as a culture perceive and have perceived “Truth” to be. In the past, literature has been used to tell us who we are, where we come from, what we believe and how we should act. In more recent years, it has challenged the way we imagine ourselves, the way we imagine our world, the way we envision the future and, in some cases, the way we imagine our own histories. This class will investigate the kinds of “truth” available in the “untrue” art of fiction while also challenging us to reconsider the category of “fiction” itself. Students will complete two written essays, eight one-page, single-spaced journal entries, and a mid-term exam.




REQUIRED TEXTS (This list is subject to change)

WHITE NOISE, by Don DeLillo
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, by Jonathan Safran Foer
THE COLLECTOR, by John Fowles
THE ROAD, by Cormac McCarthy
LIFE OF PI, by Yan Martel
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
UNCLE TOM'S CHILDREN, by Richard Wright

* A course packet will also be available at Universal Copies before the beginning of the Spring semester