Friday, September 15, 2017

"The Free, Exploring Mind of the Individual Human": September 15, 2017

Focus: What does Steinbeck want us to understand about the movement from Part 1 to Part 2?

1. Warming up with a Socratic ticket walk
  • While the song plays: Identify something on each ticket that you'd like to talk about in depth.
  • When the song is over: Return to your ticket and write down a pattern you noticed in the reading tickets. In other words, what is one specific topic that many people wish to discuss today?
  • Transitioning to Socratic: Find one passage from the reading that relates directly to that topic. Consider reading it aloud during discussion today.

2. Enjoying a Socratic seminar on East of Eden, Chapters 10-15

3. Wrapping up (I will leave ten minutes today to ensure we get all the way around the circle)

HW:
1. For Monday: Read through Chapter 22. No reading ticket necessary; we will save Socratic for Wednesday.

2. For Monday: Work on your college essays and stop by for a conference. They are due on September 18 by 3:00 in www.turnitin.com. Sign up for our class Turnitin account by following these directions (they include the class ID and enrollment key).

3. Use the Sunday Night Checklist to make sure your essay is ready to turn in.

3 comments:

  1. Opening Question: Transition of the way Steinbeck writes, what the purpose of the way Steinbeck changes the way he writes
    Reference in chapter 15, nostalgia, seeing thing not as they were
    Overwhelming darkness that is about to approach, chapter 15 things are starting to transition to a big point in the story telling
    Structure, coming from the author’s perspective. Not telling the story, description of the valley.
    When Steinbeck started his transition in the beginning of chapter 13, talked a lot about glory and there is one specified glory in one’s life
    Why does Adam glorify Cathy so much and why he’s so blinded by her cruelty
    Adam and Cathy, Cathy is a monster. Steinbeck is planting that idea in our heads
    Adam didn’t really feel like he had a purpose on the farm. When he saw Cathy he felt like he had a purpose and live the life that he wanted to. Thinks that he’s doing things for Cathy but really is doing things for himself
    Why do you think Adam is so oblivious when Cathy says she is going to leave?
    Wondering if he is blinded by his innocence
    Cathy does want something but she just doesn’t want to be clear, doesn’t know what she wants
    There are two different versions of Cathy, the cathy that said no and the other that took him by the arm and asked him to stay
    Suspicion never once landed on Cathy about the house, you see what you expect to see. A fault that most humans are guilty of.
    Do you think that it’s why he speaks two different ways so he can relate it back to cathy?
    Perception vs. expectation. In the good old days; longing for those. Or looking to the future and wanting it. Not living in the future
    Using the word blindness, the notion of tragedy. Oedipus didn’t have control over his fate; starting to see that with Cathy. Empathetic towards Cathy because he was beat up by Charles. Adam is becoming a less likeable character
    Adam changing, transition after he came back from the war he started standing up to Charles
    Are Adam and Charles changing roles?
    Adam appears to be not in control of his fate anymore. The woman knew she was going to sell Adam the land
    Adam is becoming a little bit more like his father, think things are the way he wants them to be and they will become that way
    Money affected Adam and changed him
    Charles has a separation anxiety with the farm, it gives him peace. Charles never has to think about what’s going on in the farm
    Do the brothers have more of a hatred towards each other?
    Relationship is convoluted
    No emotion, “How are you” is a way to say i’m glad your back
    Significance of Charles sleeping with Cathy
    Two of them are monsters, Cathy was expected. Charles was shocking because he was disregarding his brother
    Letting charles marry Cathy was the worst thing that he would have let Adam do

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lost sight of Cathy’s manipulative qualities, from that moment on she began to become devious again.
    That scene is almost meant to remind you who they really are
    Reminding the reader that there is still a monster inside the both of them, doesn’t go away no matter how hard you work
    Alcohol has a play in Charles acting the way that he did
    The baby, don’t know if it's Charles’ or Adam’s; time bomb.
    Cathy and Charles, steinbeck makes it clear that they both have a significant mark on their foreheads. Symbolic of anything?
    Illusion to the mark of Cain. Different ways they got the scars. Charles; psychopathic ways that got him the scar. Cathy; inflicted by someone else
    Both names start with C
    Not a coincidence that Cathy’s name starts with C and A
    When Charles is fighting Adam, see the sparkle in his eyes. Cold eyes before he gets a rage. Cathy is known for praising the cold
    Lee’s eyes switch between his two personas
    Eyes are the window to the soul, representing who the characters really are
    Cathy said he was uneasy around Lee, because she couldn’t reach into his eyes.
    Cathy is the worst; not a lot of people are aware of that. People think that she is this dainty girl, eyes are cold and stoney
    Significance of Cathy getting her scar, one time she feels fear
    Scar is a reminder of her not letting herself get into that situation again
    Why does Charles rub his scar
    Mark of Cain, God marked Cain so that he couldn’t be killed.
    Both Cathy and Charles get a mark through forces that could’ve killed them
    Cyphysis: Had to roll the rock up the hill, and the end of the day he watched the rock roll back down
    Maybe it has to do with Charles's biggest enemy is himself
    Rubbed his scar and remembered this is what happened when he let his rage blow over. Cathy touches her scar to remind herself to never put herself in that position again
    “He had something in her eyes that made him feel guilty” Shows that they recognize who they are and are the same evil
    Interesting gets his scar that he does a lot and Cathy gets hers in a one time thing
    The way Cathy behaves is just so much more worse for her, the way she treats people and the way she acts. A warning to others more than it is a warning to herself. People see the scar and think they need to steer clear
    “Cathy felt a kinship to Charles” Contrary
    Interesting element when Samuel is trying to break the silence between Cathy and Adam. You like Samuel, and wonders why can’t Adam notice this, the reader trusts Samuel
    Cathy’s smile was crooked, just like a snake has a crooked smile
    The serpent convinced eve to eat the apple. God cursed the apple. Mark that you lead people into traps. Parallels of Cathy to the snake

    ReplyDelete
  3. Samuel watching cathy eat, “she chewed with her front teeth and when she swallowed she flipped her tongue” Snake
    Where is Adam’s fall
    Eve is the snake and herself, Cathy is a combination of the two
    Page 169, when Samuel and Adam “ I want to make Eden, I want Cathy to be my eve” “It’s my duty to take this thing of yours and kick it in the face. Show you its dirt and danger..” Samuel states he had an experience like this and a friend saved him
    Samuel is criticizing blind love
    Samuel’s relationship with Liza, not a whole lotta love there
    Drawing from that experience in Ireland, caution Adam of love
    Serpent: “And the lord god said on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat for the rest of you life”
    Why Cathy has a broken arm and two black eyes. Significant, nothing more human.
    Serpent was originally an angel and wanted to be more powerful

    Take Aways
    I shall put in entity between you and the women. Interesting they are supposed to be enemies, but Samuel draws connections to Cathy and the Serpent
    Significance of water being associated with Samuel and fire with Cathy
    Sam’s wife and how she is going to fit into this, so against evil. How she’s going to feel
    Steinbecks quote, “the individual mind is the most powerful thing in the world”
    Cathy crawling up the door, role of fate in our lives
    Role of olive that was brought up in Chapter 14, why did steinbeck choose that narrator
    Sets up the setting before the story, what is he setting up?
    Samuel in the end of the Chapter: Passive aggressive vent towards his wife.
    How Cathy tried to kill her unborn baby. Why? Family is a good security so why did she do that?
    Genesis: The serpent was previously classified of as a beast on the field. A mark is not changing anything just classifying it
    Most of profit was through exploitation. Bad exploitation turns a profit. But samuel is a good person but can't make anything
    Weird that he threw the story in it, used her first name even though it was his mom
    Interesting that it had been an accident, Cathy controls everything but this is out of her control
    Lee faked an accent in a way to appear different. When he goes back home he doesn’t feel at home
    Warning that Samuel didn’t give, kind of does anyway.
    Two theories: Old historicism, time period, 1900, Industrial revolution happening, first world fair. New historicism, time period when it was actually written and published, 1950- WWII

    ReplyDelete

Onwards and Upwards! May 17, 2018

HW: 1. Three good things 2. Timshel 3. Stay in touch (for real!).