For Thursday: Barrie, Peter Pan, Chapters 7-13

Try to read through Chapter 13, "Do You Believe in Fairies?" for Thursday's class. And don't forget to think about your Art & Literature paper if you need to do it. The Sargent painting above, of The Pallieron Children, looks a lot like Peter and Wendy, don't you think?? The boy, especially, has that calculating, impressed-with-himself look of Peter Pan. 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: What do you find interesting in how Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys play at being mothers and children? How might this be Barrie's own parody of the conventions of the Victorian family? Is it meant to satirize the children's unquestioning belief in these values, or the very values themselves? 

Q2: Throughout the book, Barrie calls children "heartless," which might mean something different to him than to us. He says also that "Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is what children are, but so attractive" (Chapter 11, 97). Why does he think children are heartless, and is he praising or criticizing this quality in children? 

Q3: Why do you think all the women in the book--Wendy, Tiger Lily, Tinkerbell, the Mermaids--all fall in love with Peter Pan? What quality seems to attract them? Or is it merely that he's the only 'man' in the story, so they love him by default? (consider that he's the father to Wendy's mother, even though he's a child just like the other Lost Boys). 

Q4: What other dated or objectionable passages do you find in the novel? Do you think these are simply the biases/beliefs of the period, or is there something more sinister or inexcusable in these passages? Another way to think about this: what part would you want to skip or leave out for your own children? 

For Tuesday (after break): Barrie, Peter Pan, Chapters 1-6

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent 

No questions over Break, but do start reading Peter Pan and get to at least around Chapter 6 for next-next Tuesday's class. We'll do an easy in-class writing over some aspect of the book. Here are some small ideas to look out for:

* How does Barrie continue to long tradition of satirizing British society and its domestic rituals in this book? 

* Like Alice, how does he also take a few digs at the traditional manner of educating the young in this book? 

* How does Peter and Tinker Bell in particular differ from the many popular culture accounts of their character? Why might this be surprising to us?

* What passages or characters have not dated as well as others? Would any parts be seen as racist or unacceptable today? 

* Why is there more than a little touch of Alice in Wonderland in this book? How do we know that that Barrie definitely had Carroll's book in the back of his mind?

* Though a relativley light-hearted book, how could this book suggest a nightmare from an adult's perspective? In other words, how easily could this story become a horror novel (or movie)?

* Why might the Darling parents not conform to many of our 21st century notions of good parenting today? Do you think Barrie means to censure them, or is he good-naturedly mocking them? Remember, too, that the Darlings are based on the actual parents of the children he befriended (a group of boys), so they would have recognized their portrait in the novel.

* Wendy, alone, was Barrie's creation, though she is based on the daughter of another friend who called him "my friendly," (but couldn't pronounce her F's, which sounded more like W's). There was no "Wendy" in English literature before this. Why do you think he introduced an older daughter into this world of boys and boyish pranks? 

For Thursday & Almost, Maine announcement

Remember that we'll be watching a short excerpt of Alice in Wonderland in class on Thursday, so we can decide in what ways the modern myth of Alice is different than the original (we might look at a few other examples as well). 

Also, because I couldn't get the screen working today, here's the announcement for the play that two of your fellow students (and one professor, to remain nameless) will be starring in this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Remember that admission is free at the show starts at 7:30 in the Halley Brown Ford Arts Center--in the smaller black box theater, not on the mainstage (you'll see where it is when you get there). Here's the university's press release: https://www.ecok.edu/news/almost-maine-take-stage-ecu

See you on Thursday! 

For Tuesday: Finish Alice in Wonderland!

Magritte, The Portrait (1935)

Sorry for the delay--I forgot to post these yesterday! But go ahead and try to finish the book for Tuesday since it's pretty short, and we'll have one more set of questions to round it out. On Thursday, we'll watch an excerpt from a recent adaptation of Alice in Wonderland to discuss ideas associated with your Mid-Term Paper. 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: How subversive should we consider the book, especially as it consistently parodies monarchs (this is written under Queen Victoria, after all), moral poetry, social norms, education, and even the courts of law. Is this all just cheeky nonsense to amuse children? Or is it also aimed at getting a chuckle (or a gasp) from the adults reading it aloud to their sons and daughters? An example that might support this?

Q2: How does Alice's approach to Wonderland change throughout the novel? As she grows in size, does she also 'grow' in other ways as well? Is there a hidden moral lesson in the character of Alice, perhaps for the 'real' Alice to pick up on?

Q3: In Chapter IX, the Duchess tells Alice to "Be what you would seem to be--or, if you'd like it put more simply--'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." Though this sounds like nonsense, why might this support a certain view of British society we've seen in the other books in class?

Q4: Recently, the books of Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among others) has come under fire for offering damaging characters and stories to children, and many of his books have been slightly re-written so as not to offend young readers (substituting "ugly" for "unpleasant," for instance). As one of the first true classics of children's literature, how might Alice in Wonderland come under fire for offensive stereotypes, and triggering scenes and language? Would the 'mad' Hatter and March Hare pass muster today? Or the homicidal Queen? 

Mid-Term Paper: The Original vs. The Myth (due March 9)

English 2653

Mid-Term Paper: The Original vs. the Myth

INTRO: One of the most common statements a reader can make upon encountering Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes¸ or Alice in Wonderland in the original is, “I didn’t know it was like this!” Even though both are iconic works of literature that have spawned dozens of ‘sequels’ in books, films, comics, and elsewhere, relatively few people experience the original—or know how it differs from its modern-day mythology. And yet, the book is what remains, and what we ultimately have to return to so we can understand who these characters are and why their stories so captivated their audiences’ imaginations.

PROMPT: For this paper, I want you to explore the difference between the original and the myth with at least ONE of these works. To do this, consider what you knew, or thought you knew, about the work before you read it, and what surprised you, excited you, or confused (even annoyed) you about the real thing. Compare this to at least ONE of the modern-day adaptations so we can understand how they willfully (or ignorantly?) interpret the characters and give people a different twist on the iconic stories. You might consider films, shows, fan fiction, and other popular culture depictions that are today more visible than the books themselves.

ALSO: Also, find at least 2 articles that discuss some aspect of your novel: these could be critical articles about some aspect of the novel itself, or one of the characters, or the modern-day adaptations, or anything related to our understanding of the book. Bring this into your conversation, so we can understand some of the issues surrounding the original vs. the myth of your work.

AND: Be sure to CLOSE READ specific passages of the novel to show us important themes and ideas that might not make it into the myth, or that you feel are essential for understanding its importance. Quote too from your articles and from your other primary source, the film/show/comic, etc. The idea is to have a CONVERSATION about the myth vs. the work with several different ‘people,’ these being your primary and secondary sources.

 REQUIREMENTS

• Page limit up to you, but no one-pagers, please! Double space, too!
• At least 1 other primary source, and at least 2 secondary sources
• Close reading from the novel (enough to establish some important ideas/passages)
• In-text citations should loosely follow MLA format and include a Works Cited page
• You must have fun with this! This is exciting—you’re educating people on how popular culture changes literature, and whether or not this is for the greater good. Be a teacher…some of you might use these ideas in a future classroom.
• DUE THURSDAY, MARCH 9^th by 5pm [no class that day]

 

For Thursday: Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapters I-VI

For Thursday's class, read at least through the "Pig and Pepper" Chapter (VI), though read more if you like. However, we're going to break this into two parts, so we'll finish the rest for next week. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How might Alice in Wonderland be a satire of a Victorian childhood? From what we read here, what might have been expected of young girls or children in the 1860's? What is Carroll specifically making fun of or parodying through Alice's adventures?

Q2: When Carroll originally wrote the book for Alice Liddell (the daughter of a friend), he included his own illustrations throughout. When the book was properly published, the publisher insisted on more professional illustrations, and John Tenniel (a popular artist) was hired to provide illustrations throughout. Why are the illustrations as important as the text of the story? What do they add to the experience of reading Alice in Wonderland? 

Q3: Writing about Magritte's paintings, Marcel Pacquet said that "Things have a flip side, a reverse, which is even more curious and fascinating than their manifested form." How does Carroll show us the same thing through Alice's adventures through the rabbit hole? Why might the entire book be a surrealist adventure into the mundane? 

Q4: Why do you think the work is so obsessed with eating and drinking (but mostly eating)? Why does she need to consume things to grow bigger or smaller? Could this relate to a child's understanding of how the world works? Sort of like the train coming through the chimney in Magritte's painting? 

 

For Thursday: Doyle, "The Speckled Band" and "The Copper Beeches"

REMEMBER, no questions this time around, since we'll have an in-class writing response over the two stories. Below are some ideas to consider for Thursday...

* How do racial stereotypes and fears creep into these stories as well, esp. "The Speckled Band"?

* What taboos do these stories uncover about the "civilized world" of English high society? What horrors are being conducted behind closed doors? Or under respectable professions?

* Does Holmes follow a moral code like many superheroes in modern comics & film? Like Batman, does he refrain from killing his victims? Does he go too far?

* How does Holmes' egotism get in the way of his work? Does Watson notice this?

* Why does Holmes fear the country more than the city? What makes the country more dangerous and a greater nest of crime? 

* What role do women play in these stories? Are they still mute victims, like Elizabeth in Frankenstein? Or are they granted more agency (like Irene Adler)?