Semester II Journal Assignments
Here is list of journal assignments for Semester 1. The purpose of the journal entries is to spark discussion in class and lead you to a deeper understanding of the material discussed in class. Journal entries will be submitted to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia with the filename: EN351YOURNAMES2J#.doc.
Journal entries should be at least 400 words and adequately address the question. A grade will be given based on the following criteria:
1. Does the entry adequately address the question?
2. Is the the entry understandable, using proper grammar, word choice, and spelling?
3. Are the entries properly organized, using thesis statements, paragraphs, and topic sentences
4. Do you use evidence to support your points?
Journal entries should be at least 400 words and adequately address the question. A grade will be given based on the following criteria:
1. Does the entry adequately address the question?
2. Is the the entry understandable, using proper grammar, word choice, and spelling?
3. Are the entries properly organized, using thesis statements, paragraphs, and topic sentences
4. Do you use evidence to support your points?
1. Happiness and the Ivy Leagues
Due Date: Monday, February 22, 2016.
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J1.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Did Caroline Sacks make the right choice to go to Brown University?
Issues and Questions to address:
Sources: Malcolm Gladwell, "Caroline Sacks"
TED Talk: Malcolm Gladwell, "Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce"
TED Talk: Dan Gilbert - The Surprising Science of Happiness
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J1.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Did Caroline Sacks make the right choice to go to Brown University?
Issues and Questions to address:
- Define and explain relative deprivation
- What benefits do people get from going to an Ivy League University?
- Do Ivy League make people better? How are the Ivies like Modeling Agencies?
- According to Dan Gilbert, how do we "synthesize happiness"?
- (Conclusion) How do our choices influence our happiness?
Sources: Malcolm Gladwell, "Caroline Sacks"
TED Talk: Malcolm Gladwell, "Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce"
TED Talk: Dan Gilbert - The Surprising Science of Happiness
2. Can we make ourselves happy by changing the way we think?
Due Date: Monday, March 7, 2016.
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J2.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Can we make ourselves happier by changing the way that we think? Could our lives be better if we'd just "look on the bright side" and think positively?
Consider the material we discussed and use evidence to support your points (Use at least 3):
TED Talk: Ron Gutman - The Hidden Power of Smiling
Article: The Science of Positive Thinking: How Positive Thoughts Build Your Skills, Boost Your Health, and Improve Your Work
Article: Does "Positive Thinking" Really Make our Lives Better?
Article: The Biology of Joy
Article: The Problem with Positive Thinking
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J2.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Can we make ourselves happier by changing the way that we think? Could our lives be better if we'd just "look on the bright side" and think positively?
Consider the material we discussed and use evidence to support your points (Use at least 3):
TED Talk: Ron Gutman - The Hidden Power of Smiling
Article: The Science of Positive Thinking: How Positive Thoughts Build Your Skills, Boost Your Health, and Improve Your Work
Article: Does "Positive Thinking" Really Make our Lives Better?
Article: The Biology of Joy
Article: The Problem with Positive Thinking
3. Can money buy happiness?
Due Date: Monday, March 28, 2016.
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J3.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Can money buy happiness? Can the stuff we buy ultimately make us happy? What are the consequences of a life spent in pursuit of material goods?
Consider the material we discussed and use evidence to support your points:
Choose at least 1 of these:
Poem: Richard Cory
Film: Citizen Kane
Short Story: A Rose for Emily
And make connections to at least two of these.
Article: Scientific American - Can Money Buy Happiness?
Article: The Daily Beast - Consumption Makes us Sad
Article: The Atlantic - For the Love of Stuff
Article: Lifehacker - How to Buy Happiness: The Purchases Most Likely to Bring You Joy
Video: The Story of Stuff
Filename:EN351YOURNAMES2J3.doc
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
Prompt: Can money buy happiness? Can the stuff we buy ultimately make us happy? What are the consequences of a life spent in pursuit of material goods?
Consider the material we discussed and use evidence to support your points:
Choose at least 1 of these:
Poem: Richard Cory
Film: Citizen Kane
Short Story: A Rose for Emily
And make connections to at least two of these.
Article: Scientific American - Can Money Buy Happiness?
Article: The Daily Beast - Consumption Makes us Sad
Article: The Atlantic - For the Love of Stuff
Article: Lifehacker - How to Buy Happiness: The Purchases Most Likely to Bring You Joy
Video: The Story of Stuff
4. What happens to the American Dream in times of hardship?
Why do Americans continue to believe strongly in the American Dream even in times of hardship, like a Recession, and faced with reality of inequality in America?
- Describe American attitudes about the American Dream during the Great Recession of 2009 compared to other times Describe the shift in the definition of the American Dream.
- How is wealth distributed in the United States?
- Explain the Gatsby Curve. What is the relationship between inequality and social mobility?
- Use evidence from "What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession" and "Hollywood Dreams of Wealth, Youth and Beauty to support your ideas.
5. Death of a Salesman: Willy Lowman and Ben
Due Date: April 18 (points will be deducted if you turn it in late)
File name: EN351YourNameS2J5
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
If Death of a Salesman is, in part, a story of the American dream, then...
1. Who does Ben represent?
2. Who does Willy represent?
3. What does Willy hope to teach his sons about life by introducing them to their Uncle Ben?
4. From the lines of Scene 2, what does Ben's behavior say about his character and the reality of the type of men he represents?
5. Willy asks Ben for advice before he leaves, "sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of—Ben, how should I teach them?"
What kind of ideas has Willy taught his boys? What kind of effect has that teaching had on their lives?
(USE EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXT BELOW)
Scene 1
Text pg 37
BERNARD (rushing in): The watchman’s chasing Biff!
WILLY (angrily): Shut up! He’s not stealing anything!
LINDA (alarmed, hurrying off left): Where is he? Biff, dear! (She
exits.)
WILLY (moving toward the left, away from Ben): There’s nothing wrong. What’s the matter with you?
BEN: Nervy boy. Good!
WILLY (laughing): Oh, nerves of iron, that Biff!
CHARLEY: Don’t know what it is. My New England man comes back and he’s bleeding, they murdered him up there.
WILLY: It’s contacts, Charley, I got important contacts!
CHARLEY (sarcastically): Glad to hear it, Willy. Come in later, we’ll shoot a little casino. I’ll take some of your Portland money. (He laughs at Willy and exits.)
WILLY (turning to Ben): Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course.
BEN: I’ll stop by on my way back to Africa.
WILLY (longingly): Can’t you stay a few days? You’re just what I need, Ben, because I — I have a fine position here, but I --
well, Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel — kind of temporary about myself.
BEN: I’ll be late for my train.
(They are at opposite ends of the stage.)
WILLY: Ben, my boys — can’t we talk? They’d go into the jaws of hell for me see, but I...
BEN: William, you’re being first-rate with your boys. Outstanding, manly chaps!
WILLY (hanging on to his words): Oh, Ben, that’s good to hear! Because sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of — Ben, how should I teach them?
BEN (giving great weight to each word, and with a certain vicious audacity): William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen.When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich! (He goes off into darkness around the right corner of the house.)
WILLY: ...was rich! That’s just the spirit I want to imbue them with! To walk into a jungle! I was right! I was right! I was right!
(Ben is gone, but Willy is still speaking to him as Linda, in nightgown and robe, enters the kitchen, glances around for Willy,
then goes to the door of the house, looks out and sees him. Comes down to his left. He looks at her.)
Scene 2
BEN: Father was a very great and a very wild-hearted man. We would start in Boston, and he’d toss the whole family into the
wagon, and then he’d drive the team right across the country; through Ohio, and Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and all the
Western states. And we’d stop in the towns and sell the flutes that he’d made on the way. Great inventor, Father. With one
gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.
WILLY: That’s just the way I’m bringing them up, Ben — rugged, well liked, all-around.
BEN: Yeah? (To Biff.) Hit that, boy — hard as you can. (He pounds his stomach.)
BIFF: Oh, no, sir!
BEN (taking boxing stance): Come on, get to me! (He laughs)
WILLY: Go to it, Biff! Go ahead, show him!
BIFF: Okay! (He cocks his fists and starts in.)
LINDA (to Willy): Why must he fight, dear?
BEN (sparring with Biff): Good boy! Good boy!
WILLY: How’s that, Ben, heh?
HAPPY: Give him the left, Biff!
LINDA: Why are you fighting?
BEN: Good boy! (Suddenly comes in, trips Biff, and stands over him, the point of his umbrella poised over Biffs eye.)
LINDA: Look out, Biff!
BIFF: Gee!
BEN (Patting Biffs knee): Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way. (Taking Linda’s hand and bowing.) It was an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Linda.
LINDA (withdrawing her hand coldly, frightened): Have a nice trip.
File name: EN351YourNameS2J5
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
If Death of a Salesman is, in part, a story of the American dream, then...
1. Who does Ben represent?
2. Who does Willy represent?
3. What does Willy hope to teach his sons about life by introducing them to their Uncle Ben?
4. From the lines of Scene 2, what does Ben's behavior say about his character and the reality of the type of men he represents?
5. Willy asks Ben for advice before he leaves, "sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of—Ben, how should I teach them?"
What kind of ideas has Willy taught his boys? What kind of effect has that teaching had on their lives?
(USE EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXT BELOW)
Scene 1
Text pg 37
BERNARD (rushing in): The watchman’s chasing Biff!
WILLY (angrily): Shut up! He’s not stealing anything!
LINDA (alarmed, hurrying off left): Where is he? Biff, dear! (She
exits.)
WILLY (moving toward the left, away from Ben): There’s nothing wrong. What’s the matter with you?
BEN: Nervy boy. Good!
WILLY (laughing): Oh, nerves of iron, that Biff!
CHARLEY: Don’t know what it is. My New England man comes back and he’s bleeding, they murdered him up there.
WILLY: It’s contacts, Charley, I got important contacts!
CHARLEY (sarcastically): Glad to hear it, Willy. Come in later, we’ll shoot a little casino. I’ll take some of your Portland money. (He laughs at Willy and exits.)
WILLY (turning to Ben): Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course.
BEN: I’ll stop by on my way back to Africa.
WILLY (longingly): Can’t you stay a few days? You’re just what I need, Ben, because I — I have a fine position here, but I --
well, Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel — kind of temporary about myself.
BEN: I’ll be late for my train.
(They are at opposite ends of the stage.)
WILLY: Ben, my boys — can’t we talk? They’d go into the jaws of hell for me see, but I...
BEN: William, you’re being first-rate with your boys. Outstanding, manly chaps!
WILLY (hanging on to his words): Oh, Ben, that’s good to hear! Because sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of — Ben, how should I teach them?
BEN (giving great weight to each word, and with a certain vicious audacity): William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen.When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich! (He goes off into darkness around the right corner of the house.)
WILLY: ...was rich! That’s just the spirit I want to imbue them with! To walk into a jungle! I was right! I was right! I was right!
(Ben is gone, but Willy is still speaking to him as Linda, in nightgown and robe, enters the kitchen, glances around for Willy,
then goes to the door of the house, looks out and sees him. Comes down to his left. He looks at her.)
Scene 2
BEN: Father was a very great and a very wild-hearted man. We would start in Boston, and he’d toss the whole family into the
wagon, and then he’d drive the team right across the country; through Ohio, and Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and all the
Western states. And we’d stop in the towns and sell the flutes that he’d made on the way. Great inventor, Father. With one
gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.
WILLY: That’s just the way I’m bringing them up, Ben — rugged, well liked, all-around.
BEN: Yeah? (To Biff.) Hit that, boy — hard as you can. (He pounds his stomach.)
BIFF: Oh, no, sir!
BEN (taking boxing stance): Come on, get to me! (He laughs)
WILLY: Go to it, Biff! Go ahead, show him!
BIFF: Okay! (He cocks his fists and starts in.)
LINDA (to Willy): Why must he fight, dear?
BEN (sparring with Biff): Good boy! Good boy!
WILLY: How’s that, Ben, heh?
HAPPY: Give him the left, Biff!
LINDA: Why are you fighting?
BEN: Good boy! (Suddenly comes in, trips Biff, and stands over him, the point of his umbrella poised over Biffs eye.)
LINDA: Look out, Biff!
BIFF: Gee!
BEN (Patting Biffs knee): Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way. (Taking Linda’s hand and bowing.) It was an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Linda.
LINDA (withdrawing her hand coldly, frightened): Have a nice trip.
6. A Raisin in the Sun: The Youngers and the American Dream
Due Date: 5-23
File name: EN351YourNameS2J6
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
"Harlem"
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
- Langston Hughes, 1951
The title of the play, A Raisin in the Sun, is taken from a line in Hughes poem. The theme of deferred dreams in "Harlem" parallels the different dreams of the members of the Younger family.
File name: EN351YourNameS2J6
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
"Harlem"
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
- Langston Hughes, 1951
The title of the play, A Raisin in the Sun, is taken from a line in Hughes poem. The theme of deferred dreams in "Harlem" parallels the different dreams of the members of the Younger family.
- Describe each member of the Younger family: Lena, Walter Lee, Ruth and Beneatha. What type of man was Mr. Younger? What type of man is Walter? What types of women are Lena, Ruth, and Beneatha?
- How is the American Dream expressed in each member of the Younger family: Walter, Ruth, Lena (Mama), and Beneatha?
- How are questions offered in the poem reflected in the play?
7. Of Mice & Men: The "fatta the land"
Due Date: TBD
File name: EN351YourNameS2J7
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
File name: EN351YourNameS2J7
Submit to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
- How does the dream of living off the "fatta the land" relate to the American Dream and how does it influence the characters in the novel: George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife? What groups do these characters represent?
- Are their dreams doomed to fail? What is the power of the dream, even if it is fruitless? Use direct quotations and specific examples to support your views.