"Between the Pages" -- Period 4

Results of "Stump the Chump!"

If you get time, take a look at the answers to the "Stump the Chump!" questions that were submitted in each of the 3 Hon Eng II classes.  Thanks for your patience as Mr. Long's brain tried to look at a wide range of angles for each question, especially when there was 'bias' embedded in the Q to begin with.

I'm pretty impressed by the quality of the Q's sent my way even though it only accounted for about 30% of of the students in each class.  See for yourself.

• Take a look at Period 2
• Check out Period 3
• Consider reading Period 4

BTW: Feel free to challenge any of Mr. Long's answers. Comments/Challenges will be published if they arrive.

They are not meant to be perfect, nor irrefutable.  Instead, they are a matter of his 'thinking out loud' with the idea that students will add new ideas, challenge assumptions, ask clarifying questions, etc.

Look forward to your feedback.   Or perhaps just hearing the rumors that students may eventually take a 2nd look before the 2nd Semester Exam in the coming weeks (grin placed appropriately right about here).

W11, #6: Let's Play: "Stump the Chump!"

Note: 

Complete 4 other Week 11 entries to get credit for this entry.

***

Let's reverse our seats at the student/teacher discussion table.

Challenge:  Think of (1) question based on A Tale of Two Cities that you believe will "stump the chump".

In other words, ask something that you think will really force me (Mr. Long) to struggle to come up with an answer.

Pull no punches.  Dig below surfaces.  Find unexpected connections.  Push metaphors hard.  Sharpen knitting needles!

If you're really on-the-ball, ask more than one question.  The more the merrier, citizen!

The only catch?

The question and answer can only be found 'in' the book. 

No outside history, biographical Q's about Dickens, obscure facts about the type of paper used to print your copy of the novel, etc. 

Stay 'in' the book to find your question.

Final results:

• If I (Mr. Long) can answer it -- or come close -- he'll post his answer as a response, claiming victory from the intellectual jaws of Lady Guillotine.
• If I (Mr. Long) can't (in good faith) answer it sufficiently, I'll simply say, "You stumped the chump!" with a "You're awesome!" thrown in for good measure.

Disclaimer: 

I (Mr. Long) will NOT look up any outside sources to help with an answer.  Likewise, I will not ask Renshaw or any other expert to help.  I'm going solo on this one.

I will ONLY use my copy of the novel -- with all the spilled red "wine" stains from those silly teacher pens of mine -- to find evidence or ideas.

Good luck. My brain is definitely ready for your challenge!

W11, #5: Of All The Unexpected Surprises...

As we near the end of -- and complete -- "A Tale of Two Cities", we are being given surprise after surprise after surprise.  Some make complete sense (and almost feel 'predictable' in hind-sight); others were very cleverly hidden by Dickens along the way.

This includes relationships, hidden identities, unexpected plot twists, etc.

I'm curious:  What was the biggest -- and most interesting -- surprise to you in terms of something that really made you respect Dickens as an author and the story as a classic piece of literature?

Challenge:

• Identify the thing that surprised you the most.
• Explain why it had such an impact on you.
• 7+ sentences.  Yup.  A longer one (but I don't think this will be hard for you).

Image:  "The Wine-shop" (aka, Barsad's attempt to fool the Defarges doesn't work so well after all).

Image:  "The Knock at the Door" (aka, Darnay's unexpected 'second' arrest after the 1st trial in Paris thanks to the discovery of Dr. Manette's letter from the Bastille).

W11, #4: Did Hollywood Get It Right?

Of the following film & television posters of "A Tale of Two Cities", which one best demonstrates the underlying themes and ideas of the novel?

Challenge:

• Pick one of the posters.
• Explain why it 'works' best in your opinion.
• 5+ sentences.

1935 film version:

1958 film version:

1980 television version:

1989 television mini-series version:

W11, #3: Giving Voice to the Revolution

Along with several film adaptations over the years, Broadway has also given new life -- as a musical -- to the classic novel, "A Tale of Two Cities". Note: you can go to this link to see all of the Broadway musical's songs, read the lyrics, and listen to each song on the soundtrack.

Below are videos of 2 of the musical's songs taken from performer 'workshops' as the production prepared for its stage debut on Broadway. 

Challenge:

• Which song/lyrics best fits the 'character' -- Madame Defarge or Sydney Carton -- you read about and the overall themes each character represented? 
• 5+ sentences would be great.
• Note:  forgive the 'quality' of the videos.  Just listen; no need to watch.

The first clip -- showing performer Michelle Dawson as Madame Defarge -- is of a song entitled, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind":

The second clip -- showing performer James Barbour as Sydney Carton -- is of a song entitled, "Let Her Be a Child":

W11, #2: Considering Carton on a Big Screen

Below are 2 scenes from the 1935 film version of "A Tale of Two Cities".  In both clips, the character of Sydney Carton (played by actor Ronald Coleman) takes center stage.

Challenge:

Part 1: Which scene -- in your opinion -- best showcases the 'personality' of Carton based on how you read the book. Explain why in 5+ sentences.

Part 2: You may -- if you'd like -- add an 'opinion' about the accuracy of this film version to the way you think the film should have been made, but please do Part 1 (5+ sentences) first.

Film clip 1 -- Carton and Darnay in a tavern, after Darnay's trial in England:

Film clip 2 -- Carton and Lorry; Carton and Barsad in the streets of Paris; Carton and Darnay in the cell:

W10, #4: Ask and Answer

Let's make this one pretty simple:

Challenge:

1. Ask an interesting question about A Tale of Two Cities that requires a bit of thinking. In other words, the question ought to inspire a "Wow, that's actually pretty cool now that I think about it..." sort of response in your reader's mind.

2. Answer that question. Don't worry so much about being technically right. Instead, trust your instincts and write with a bit of passion. In other words, make the answer 'matter'. 5+ sentences is great.

3. Make sure that both the question and the answer are something that YOU are interested in.

W10, #3: Exploring the Trials @ Old Bailey

As I briefly mentioned in class, there is a truly remarkable on-line database on the history of Old Bailey (mentioned many times over in A Tale of Two Cities).

Here is the link to the procedings (i.e. court cases and verdicts/punishments that occured in Old Bailey (London's Central Court, 1674 to 1913).

What is particularly amazing is that the descriptive language used by the courts to describe the defendants, the crimes, and the verdicts/punishments.  It almost reads like literature.  Hardly, in other words, the 'dry' and objective language of modern court documents. 

Example: this case involving a 50-year old woman who stabs her husband to death is partially described in a very Charles Dickens sort of way:

"...she insisted upon with seeming earnestness for some time; but this appeared to the Court to be but a mad kind of Artifice, designed out of her feigned passionate Zeal to her Murthered Husband to take off the suspicion of her being instrumental to his death, but this would not serve the turn, for upon her Tryal the Fact was evidently proved against her by several witnesses, the people of the house where they were when the Murther was done, did attest how that a little time before the Murther, the party murthered, (having got a dried mackerel for his supper, went out to a Cobler that kept a Stall next adjoyning to the house, and borrowed his knife of him to dress his Fish; that while the Fish was a broyling, the people of the house being gon out of the Room, at their return, they found poor Lylliman with the aforesaid knife in his body, and the blood streaming out after it in this condition, nevertheless..."

Needless to say, our modern courts would probably choose different language/phrases to say the very same thing, although I suspect Dickens would have found a 'friend' in the court's documents!

Your challenge:

1. Go to the Old Bailey on-line data base link (at top of page).
2. Look for the "Search" box in the upper right side of the home page.
3. Put in a word or words -- of your choice --to help you find interesting court cases from the 300+ year history of the Old Bailey.  Suggestions:  type in a specific type of crime (treason, murder), a specific type of punishment (hanging, quartering, etc), a year, or anything else that comes to mind so that you can find a range of trials and verdicts/punishments.
4. Read at least 1 court document, although I would recommend at least skimming a small handful so that you find one you really like.  Note, the further back you go (1600's or 1700's), the more 'interesting' the language will be.
5. Offer a reaction of 5+ sentences.  Ideally, focus on the language and 'way' the crime/punishment was described by the court document.  A 'plot' summary of the document you read will not be enough (hint, hint).

W10, #2: Yup, Everything is Connected!

Note:  Original link (see below) has been fixed (if you tried earlier) but some people are having trouble getting onto the New York Times article without registering.  If that is the case, please go to the very bottom of the entry and you'll see a "continue reading" type of link that gives you the article.  Sorry for the confusion.

***

You'll all recall the personification of the concept of "hunger" found in the first book of A Tale of Two Cities when we came across Chapter 5.

It goes a little something like this:

The mill which had worked them down, was the mill that grinds young people old; the children had ancient faces and grave voices; and upon them, and upon the grown faces, and ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sigh, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off; Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves, written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale. Hunger rattled its dry bones among the roasting chestnuts in the turned cylinder; Hunger was shred into atomics in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.

Familiar, right?   OK, hang on.  Here comes the leap-o-faith:

Well, a funny thing happened to your Hon Eng II teacher while he was standing in line at a local Starbucks waiting for his oft-ordered "Venti, whatever-is-darkest, no room".  Because they had to brew a new pot -- and offered to give it to him for free (cha-ching) if he wouldn't mind waiting -- he began looking around for something to do. 

Because he didn't want to buy a bowl of granola or stare at holiday coffee mugs on the sale rack, he picked up the morning's New York Times.

To his amazement, he saw the following article on the front page of that paper.  In addition to it being a fascinating topic globally -- and a bit heartbreaking/frightening in its implications, too -- it also made his English Teacher Dork radar go off as if a Cold War missile was coming in from the early 1980's.  That was before you were born.  I was in high school.  Wore parachute pants and a beret.  In school.  By choice.  I'm not proud. 

"OK, Mr. English Teacher, where exactly are you headed with this ('cause I'm running out of patience...and I'm wondering how I can get credit for this)!"

Your challenge:

1. Read the article.  Click this link to find it.  If you can't get to the article, skim to the very bottom of this entry and you'll see that I copied the entire article in a link for you to read on this blog.
2. Write an "oh, my, I see what you mean" reaction.  Trust me.  It won't be hard.  Unless you don't read it.  Of course.
3. Length?  Be thoughtful and detailed.  Pick the length.  If you're invested, you'll get real credit.  If not, you won't.  Pretty reasonable transaction.

W10, #1: What? Is Everything Connected?

If you get a few minutes, watch the following 'album' release promo of a band called The Brakes.  Notice the name of their collection.  Oh, my.

"On one level, Mr. English Teacher, this is just a literal title.  You can't fool us."

NYC.  Philadelphia.  Living and performing in 2 cities at the same time. 

What else do you need to know?

Oh, really? 

Obviously the title is also "Dickensonian" (if you like such a turn-o-phrase), which suggests one very obvious thing about the band's own literary references.   And their assumption about what their fans know, too. 

For what it's worth: 

'React' to the following video.  The title.  The music.  The video production value.  Or whatever comes to mind as you watch it.  Open forum.  Truly.  You decide how much to write.  And what to write about (related to the video, of course -- he smiles, knowingly).

W9, #6: Was Dickens Writing About You?

Leave it to some goofy English teacher (writing in the guise of a college admissions officer) to make this connection.  Prepare to take a giant leap of intellectual faith on this one [insert one well-timed Cheshire Cat grin here].

By this point in time, you've already sat back in your proverbial chair with an ah-gosh-sucks look upon your face. 

Why?

Well, because you've waited your entire life to finally figure out WHY Dickens wrote the following at the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the eopoch of incrediulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." (opening lines of Tale of Two Cities' "Book the First: Recalled to Life", page 5 in Mr. Long's copy)

Your challenge: 

• Compare this quotation -- one of the great quotations in all of literature -- to your experience as a teenager and high school student. 
• 7+ sentences would be great, although many of you will write much, much more than this, I suspect.

Is it an intellecutal leap of faith?  Sure.  And yet, not at all. 

Take a look at the quotation more than once.  You'll see what I mean.  Now all you have to do is take Dickens' ideas -- about the era of the French Revolution specifically -- and see how they universally tie to the very act of being a 10th grader in the year 2008.

Bon chance, as one of Dicken's French characters might say.

W9, #5: First Reaction to Dickens' Novel?

This is a wide open question for all of you who manage to read the first 50-ish pages of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities (as you are supposed to do -- he smiles) ahead of Monday's class (so you can do this entry -- he smiles, once again).

I'm curious what stood out FOR YOU on the "it grabbed my attention/interest" level with regards to the way the novel started:

The famous -- oh, so famous, actually -- opening lines of the novel?

History?

Writing Style?

Plot?

Characters?

Something else entirely?

Response: 7+ sentences. If you get stuck, start with a quotation and then explain why it caught your eye (even if you aren't entirely sure where it'll lead story-wise in the 350 pages to come).