Prof. Anzelone English
ORAL REPORT
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Text: Jazz Age Stories (1922)
Introduction (pp viii – xxiii)
(page xxv) – very good bibliography
· The Great Gatsby (1925) – “the great American novel” (vii)
· By 1929 F. Scott Fitzgerald made $4,000 per story (equivalent to $50,000 in today’s currency). (vii)
· Short Story – he used it to experiment with new styles, innovative narrative strategies, and emerging concepts (vii)
· Themes – courtship, marriage, fantasy and disillusion
· Jazz Age –flappers, frenetic dances and bathtub gin
· Prohibition
· Stock Market crash of 1929 – rich and poor
· Gertrude Stein – “lost generation” (loss of innocence after WWI)
· GG – “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”
· F. Scott – born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul
· Father was fired from his job in Buffalo – F. Scott forever after worried about $
· He went to school at the Newman school in NYC, a Catholic school
· Princeton U. – entered in 1913 but did NOT graduate
· 1917 – enlisted in US Army for WWI
· Met and married Zelda while stationed in Montgomery, Alabama
· 1919 – 1st novel published, This Side of Paradise
· Wrote for many magazines
· Short story themes – idealism of adolescence, disillusions of adulthood
· 1922 – 2nd novel, The Beautiful and the Damned
· 1922 – Tales of the Jazz Age
· Style – character clash of social versus ego
· 1940’s – goes to write screenplays in Hollywood
· 1945 death
· Reviews in the Intro. are good
· He showed in his writing the maturing of America also – young nation, uncertain, dreams, prosperity, and expansion
“Bernice Bobs Her Hair”
Setting– very important in this story since it tells of classes of people
The rich are depicted here as knowing all the social snob behavior of the times (1920’s)
Bernice – has $ but also has higher ethical standards; she is different from her cousin, Marjorie
Young men/young women
Notice language – p. 103 “She had trained the vines of her affection on such a wind-shaken poplar”
Marjorie talks to Mrs. Harvey about Bernice (p. 107)
p. 109 – “Bernice paused before she threw her hand-grenade.”
p. 112 – Marjorie teaches Bernice how to get young men
Dance – p.113
Men=”sad birds” (113)
p.115 – Bernice now has charm
p. 116 – Bernice and Warren
p. 122 – Bernice bobs (cuts) her hair; now she is not as attractive
p. 125 – B. cuts Marjorie’s hair while she is asleep and then leaves
Prof. Anzelone English 263
September 8, 2008 Sample Oral Report for the American Short Story class
Author: Louis Auchincloss
Title: “Pa’s Darling”
Key Questions:
1. What do we take from the story? (theme) How does it leave our heart, mind and soul?
2. Describe the relationship between Pa (the father-judge) and his daughter, Kate.
3. What was Kate’s father (Judge Lionel Hemenway) like?
4. What does the title mean?
5. What was Kate’s father’s attitude towards women in general?
6. What secret does Kate’s father seem to have?
7. What does Uncle Jack Sherman tell Kate about her father?
8. What was life like for the Hemenways?
9. What is the setting for this story?
10. Why does Kate describe her mom as ineluctable?
11. Why does Pa invite Sam Pemberton to the family summer camp in Maine?
12. And why does Pa make Sam part of the elite Patroons Club?
13. What was Kate’s first husband like (named Sumner Shepard)?
14. Describe Kate.
15. What kind of publication is The Atlantic Monthly?
16. What is Dicky Phelps like (Kate’s second husband)?
17. What is the purpose of all the literary references?
18. Describe the relationship between Kate and her mom.
Important Quotes:
1. Kate says “I even think I might have admired Pa more had he smothered Mother with a pillow, like Othello” (4).
2. Kate says “Peril blunts caution.” Why does she say this? To whom?
3. Why does Kate say that Sumner “idealizes her “(6)? Explain.
4. What does Kate mean when she says “Could anything have told me more clearly that I was not of the intellectual or spiritual stature to share those Olympian conferences?” (10)
5. Kate says that Dicky “wished to be crowned by the Muses without imbibing their products” (12). What does this mean?
6. Kate says that about her Pa taking Dicky from her “He is the second husband that my greedy parent has taken from me” (13). Why does she say this? What of the ending here?
English Prof. Anzelone
April 4, 2010
For English 203 and English 263:
Directions: Select option #1 or #2 here. Due dates can be found on your syllabus.
Directions for an analysis essay: do not write plot summary! You must use MLA style. Go to www.mla.org for more info.
Option #1: (Research essay)
Please look at the samples. They are online at www.ncc.edu. Go to faculty/staff homepages and click on my name. Then look at my homepage tabs.
Ok here goes:
1. Your essay has to be 3-5 typed pages with a separate "Works Cited" page (where you list your sources in MLA style -- see Handbook for more here)
2. You have to select a text from our book (Most people pick an essay or short story here that we have done in class) and apply a literary term such as: setting, point of view, symbol, theme, etc.
3. The rest of your essay is about showing support for your thesis using the critic and the story to support your main idea (thesis).
For example (Sample thesis):
Updike's "A&P" uses setting as a device to gain the interest of readers. Critic X says that Updike views setting as very important in this story since the author starts out by naming the story after the place (i.e. "A&P") where Sammy, the protagonist, works. Thus, as readers, we are immediately alerted to the significance of the title and how setting in this story is very critical to our reading of it.
Option #2: (Revised essay with added support)
Write a 3-5 page typed essay making your argument by using additional support either from the story or essay itself or from other primary sources.
For example, if you read an Orwell or Baldwin essay you may select another essay by these authors and add it to your analysis essay. This is use of another primary source. (For English 108 students)
For English 263 students:
You may select another story by Epstein or Kesey or any other author we have on our syllabus and read and use another story by these authors to write your 3-5 page typed argumentative essay.
Note: all of these authors have many other essays and stories that you may select to supplement your reading and writing for this assignment.
Reminder: if you use online sources make sure they are legitimate college-level, academically sound and reliable sources. The litmus test would be that you would find the same thing in the college library.
English 263 MA
Fall 2008
“BALTO”
by T.C. Boyle
An Essay by Roslyn Esan
This is an essay that has arisen because two scenarios have been presented with regard to the short story BALTO by T. C. Balto. I wish to state my case here for the scenario that the father in the story was the driver of the car and therefore culpable for the consequences stated below.
One scenario has been proposed that the father in the story was driving the car during an accident and the other scenario is that the daughter was driving the car during the said accident. The legal ramifications are qullite different if it is proven in court that one or the other was the driver.
In the story, as mentioned, an essential question needs to be resolved as to who was driving the car when a young boy is thrown from his bicycle when he is hit by the car. The boy is not seriously hurt except for a few bruises.
It is also necessary at the outset to make it known that the father is an alcoholic with one DWI citation against him already, and that he and his wife are separated. She has gone to live in France leaving the father to care for their two daughters. The older daughter is twelve and has been behind the wheel of a car once or twice when the father talked her into learning to drive during a summer vacation.
If the father was driving the car while intoxicated, he will plead no contest to the charge of DWI, his license will be revoked, and he will have to go for counseling. If the daughter was driving, it is a much more serious crime. The charges against the father would then be CHILD ENDANGERMENT, not for the boy on the bicycle, but for allowing the daughter to get behind the wheel and also her younger sister was in the car. He would get a long term imprisonment.
The reader is involved with the question of truth. Boyle writes "There are two kinds of truths, good truths and hurtful ones." Since the author decided to call his story BALTO, which is a children's story referred to within his story, the reference is clear that the daughter identifies with this brave dog. We are told that even when things were at their worst, Balto, with bleeding paws and sub zero weather brought the serum to the ailing children. During the court room scene in Boyle's story ".....her eyes jumped to her father's then, the look on his face of hopefulness and fear and confusion, she loved him in that moment more than she ever had." However, truth has trumped love, for her, and at that moment she made up her mind as to what she would say on the stand.
It is my opinion that the daughter WAS driving the car and even though she might lose her father because of her "hurtful truth" she had to use the words that would name what really happened. Boyle spoke about how some words "spoke their function" and some words do not. "Isn't it great that they have things like snifters so that you can stick your nose in it and sniff? It is named for what it is, unlike, say, a napkin or a fork. You don't nap napkins or fork forks, right?"
Also, the daughter was asked by the lawyer to dress like a very young girl; to look younger than her twelve years in order that the jury should not believe that her father would have allowed her to drive. She resented this very much. So in one way, this trial is a right of passage for her. She answered the questions put to her in the way an "adult" was expected to respond at a trial in court, with the truth.
Boyle began his story with the daughter's face "a crescent light" and ends the story with the windows in the court room "brilliant with light" - the light being a metaphor for truth.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Roslyn Esan
Senior Observer
American Short Stories
Professor Anzelone English 203BA
Phone: (516)572-7142 Room: Nassau Hall 211
Meets: M, W 8 am
American Literature I
Texts: The Heath Anthology of American Literature (vols. A, B) (6th edition)
Edited by Paul Lauter et al (most recent edition) (2 books in NCC bookstore)
Note: The NCC bookstore may order some Compact editions of the Heath (one book).
Note: Students should own a good College Handbook also.
Note: students should read on their own all Headnotes and Introductions to each section in the Heath.
Focus: the focus of the course will be on the social, political, economic, cultural and especially the literary evolution of literature in North America with a special emphasis on the changing visions of the American dream in American Literature.
Grading: See the NCC course catalogue for policy on plagiarism.
Class Participation/Reports: 10% (if you miss the class where your oral report is due you lose 10%)
Short in-class reports on authors/texts will be done by each student during the term. These reports should serve as the basis for the longer, more formal written essays. At a minimum, students will carefully read the text under study. I expect students to also bring some research (secondary sources) to their oral reports. It should be typed (1-2 pages) list sources and highlight key ideas and ask about 5-10 key questions. Furthermore, if students can make about 30 copies of this report, I would greatly appreciate it (for the class).
Attendance: 10% (Attendance counts)
Be in class and be on time. Note the W date on the NCC academic calendar.
Electronic Devices: Must be off while in class or put on vibrate mode for emergencies.
Professor Anzelone English 203 BA
NOTE:
We will read and have oral reports from students each class. The readings are listed below, and one or more students will report to the class on the readings. The readings will be assigned in class. Students should read the brief headings for each author and select an author to report on and tell me. The rule here is first come, first served.
Grading: 80% on written essays in and out of class
Readings for Fall 2009:
Introduction; syllabus; texts, classroom matters
Read pages 150-156
read Winthrop
read Bradford
read Bradstreet
read Wigglesworth
read The Bay Psalm Book
read The New England Primer
1st essay due (in class essay)
read Cotton Mather
read Edwards
read Toussaint L’Ouverture p. 1074
read Franklin
read Paine
read Jefferson
Midterm Exam – in class essay exam
read Wheatley
read Emerson
Emerson
2nd essay due (3-5 typed pages) read Fuller
read Thoreau
read Jacobs
read Truth
read Irving
read Hawthorne
3rd essay due (3-5 typed pages) read Hawthorne
read Hawthorne
read Poe
read Melville
read Whitman–
Final essay exam
Professor Anzelone English 203 BA
Dates: Students will take turns giving oral reports to the class on their readings – one person reporting per class on the reading he/she did.
September
9/7 – no class; Labor Day Holiday
9/9 – Introduction; syllabus; class policy and procedures
9/14 –
9/16 –
9/21 –
9/23 –
9/28 – Yom Kippur Holiday; no class
9/29 – day classes meet on a MONDAY schedule so we meet
9/30 – in class essay
October
10/5 –
10/7 –
10/12 –
10/14 –
10/19 –
10/21 –
10/26 –
10/28 –Midterm
November
11/2 –
11/4 –
11/9 –
11/11 – Veteran’s Day; no class
11/16 –
11/18 –
11/23 –
11/25 – outside paper due
11/30 –
December
12/2 –
12/7 –
12/9 –
12/14 –
12/16 –
12/21 – Final Exam
12/23 – Last Day
Prof. Anzelone English 101 CA
Fall 2009 Meets: T, Th. at 8:30 am
Room: South 113
Texts: Rereading America by Columbo (7th edition) in NCC bookstore
College Handbook (for your reference); must have MLA format.
Writing: essays will be written in and out of class (see me about these matters)
Both formal and informal essays will be done for this class.
Grading: This includes your attendance, class participation and your essays and all writing done for this class (to be kept in your writing folders).
Class Participation: includes student participation in class and the oral reports.
Plagiarism: read NCC course catalogue for policy here.
Attendance/Lateness: You have 4 allowed absences. Use them wisely.
See me for a W (See NCC calendar for W date) if you exceed this number. Two late times to class equals one absence.
Electronic Devices: must be off during class or put on vibrate mode for emergency reasons.
Readings are on the syllabus and announced in class. Students will do their oral reports on a reading, one student reporting on his/her reading per class. Students will be assigned readings in class for their oral reports. We will discuss the format of the oral reports.
September
9/3 – Introduction, syllabus, texts, classroom matters, etc.
9/8 – chapter 1 – read and discuss
9/10 – chapter 1
9/15 – chapter 1
9/17 – chapter 1
9/22 – chapter 1
9/24 – in-class writing
9/29 – Tuesday in the real world but Monday at NCC so we do NOT meet
October
10/1 – chapter 2
10/6 – chapter 2
10/8 – 3-5 page typed paper
10/13 – chapter 2
10/15 – chapter 2
10/20– chapter 2
10/22 – Midterm (in class essay)
10/27 – chapter 3
10/29 – chapter 3
Prof. Anzelone English 101 CA
November
11/3 – chapter 4
11/5 – 3-5- page typed paper
11/10 – chapter 4
11/12– chapter 4
11/17 – chapter 4
11/19 – chapter 5
11/24 – chapter 5
11/26 – Thanksgiving; no class
11/30 – chapter 5
December
12/1 – chapter 6
12/3 – chapter 6
12/8 – chapter 6
12/10– chapter 6
12/15 – chapter 6
12/17 – Final Exam
12/22 - Review
Note: some dates we meet will also be used to show films, out of class on campus events, etc. Dates given here do not specify all writing assignments. Other writing will include revised essays (at least two). Thus, we will have more than 7 writing assignments in all. Keep all writing in a folder which will be evaluated mid-semester and at the term’s end.
I will meet with students for writing conferences.
Professor Anzelone English 203CA
Phone: (516)572-7142 Room: North 208
Meets: 10 am
American Literature I
Texts: The Heath Anthology of American Literature (vols. A, B)
Edited by Paul Lauter et al. (most recent edition) (2 books in NCC bookstore)
Note: students should read on their own all Headnotes and Introductions to each section in the Heath.
Focus: the focus of the course will be on the social, political, economic, cultural and especially the literary evolution of literature in North America with a special emphasis on the changing visions of the American dream in American Literature.
Reports:
Short in-class oral reports on authors/texts will be done by each student during the term. These reports should serve as the basis for the longer, more formal written essays. At a minimum, students will carefully read the text under study. I expect students to also bring some research (secondary sources) to their oral reports. It should be typed (1-2 pages) list sources and highlight key ideas. Furthermore, if students can make about 30 copies of this report, I would greatly appreciate it (for the class). This counts 10% (not 10 pts.).
Attendance:
Be in class and be on time. You may miss four classes in total. See me for a “W” before the cutoff date if you need to. The last day for the “W” is June 23, 2010.
Writing Center: Go to Bradley Hall Writing Center for extra help with writing.
Phone: 516-572-7185
Prerequisites: students should have completed both English 101 and 102 before this class. In the basic Composition sequence, students should have learned how to write a formal essay using sources as well as documentation (Works Cited page). Furthermore, they should have learned how to write use interpretation (the work of English 102). If you feel you need to speak to me about these matters, please do so as soon as possible. Thanks!
Professor Anzelone English 203 CA
Room: N 208 Days:
Important Dates
NOTE:
We will read and have oral reports from students each class. The readings are listed below, and one student will report to the class on the readings. The readings will be assigned in class.
June
6/1 – Introduction; texts; assignments etc.
6/3 – read Whitman
6/2 – read Whitman
6/4 – in class essay
6/7 – Melville
6/8 – Hawthorne
6/9 – Hawthorne
6/10 – in class essay
6/14 – Thoreau
6/15 – Emerson
6/16 – Paine
6/17 – Midterm (in class essay)
6/21 – conferences
6/22 – Franklin
6/23 – Edwards; Wigglesworth
6/24 – outside essay due (3-5 typed pages); prepare for Final
6/28 – final exam
6/29 – conferences
6/30 – Last day
Prof. Anzelone English 204BA
Summer 2010 Meets: 8 am
Room: North 211
American Literature 2
Attendance: See me if you miss more than 2 classes for a grade of “W” before the cut-off date. Attendance is important here.
Lateness: if you are late (beyond the opening minutes of class) you will be marked absent. Be on time for each class and stay for entire class.
Oral Reports: students will present their ideas to the class concerning the literature under study. More will be discussed during class. This counts for 10% of your grade (not 10 pts.).
Essays: All formal academic essays (5 typed pages) and due on due dates.
Texts: (Go to NCC Bookstore)
Handbook
Heath Anthology of American Literature (Vol. 2) – most recent edition in C, D and E
June
6/1 - Introduction; syllabus; texts; requirements
6/2 – read Morisson’s Sula
6/3 – read Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”
6/4 – in class essay
6/7 – Hemingway
6/8 – Fitzgerald
6/9 – Fitzgerald
6/10 – in class essay
6/14 – Anderson
6/15 – Anderson
6/16 – Crane
6/17 – Midterm
6/21- conferences
6/22 –Chesnutt
6/23 – Twain
6/24 – outside of class essay due; prepare for final
6/28 – Final in class essay
6/29 – conferences
6/30 – Last Day