Week 3 - Analyzing Transcendental Arguments & Laughing at Satirical Realism

Those cray cray Transcendentalists. Always trying to live differently and get back to nature and stuff. What are they thinking?

Well, we're looking at that this week, and we will also look at how other types of minds--Realist minds, particularly those that use literature to make fun of their societies--see the world and interact with it in their writing. Is there only one way to be an individual? Which approach to life and lifestyle do you prefer as a way to live? Which literary era makes more sense to you and your understanding of the world?

Tuesday, we listened to Supertramp's favorite song, "King of the Road", and journaled our thoughts about what thie song suggests about his character

Wednesday: We will explore satire through video clips and Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary". (The Devil didn't write it, guys. It's a SATIRE.) The assignment will be to create a dictionary page defining the satire by first listing the definitions of 5 words, then illustrating the meaning of the satire (joke), then explaining that joke for us laymen. See the letter H entry model below.

Thursday: More Realist satire to explore: "The Invalid's Story" by Mark Twain is a goodie. A few groups will read one of Stephen King's satirical horror stories: either "Suffer the Little Children" or "Survivor". We will delineate the humor (or dark humor) and irony of the characters' situation to determine what societal problem Twain is satirizing. Why does he make fun of society this way? How is that different than the Transcendental approach to presenting societal ills?

Friday: We will read and analyze "Self-Reliance" and "Civil Disobedience" for argument, then synthesize that information with other content we have explored. Wewill also find out this week's blog post requirement: Find one group of people who live lives others would think are crazy. On your blog, paste a link to the video or article you find about them and write what you think about their lifestyle. Does it remind you at all of McCandless?

Next week: Novel assessment. Have your portion of the reaidng completed by Monday!

***This just in: If you want to watch the movie in class, please get this parent permission form signed by Tuesday of next week***