ALWG FINAL blog post - due posted by Wednesday

Looking at one main element of the writing, (structure, style, tone, texture, theme) create a blog post. This post should highlight one writerly technique, and make a statement about the function it has in the novel.

You should incorporate three quotes from ALWG to back up your ideas about this writerly technique. Use the quotes as proof for your argument, and remember to analyze extensively. How does this element in the book strengthen it? Why do you think Ishmael Beah presents his thoughts in this way?

Also, in you blog post's thesis identify one meaningful discovery you have made while reading the book, or identify one meaning realization that Ishmael has in the novel.

Example of thesis:

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, Beah uses the theme of memory, or rather suppressed memory, to highlight how fear can force a boy to act contrary to his nature.

Analysis of an MCA art piece

After your visit to the MCA and experience with the Paul Sietsema exhibition and the Theaster Gates: 13^th Ballad installation, and the Alexander Calder, think about your favorite piece. How does a work change when you spend more time with it? What else do you notice? How do you change?

Select a work – any work in the Museum – and spend a full 20 minutes just looking at the work. Why did it capture your attention? Why do you suppose it is being presented in a Chicago museum – or why do you think it shouldn’t be here? What is the deeper meaning? (i.e. thesis) What bigger picture does it connect to?  Analyze and try to formulate your ideas in a thesis that you will use to direct your blog post. 

Please write a review of the work. Consider it in context of the artist’s other work – which means you’ll have to do some research, in the museum (read the plaques), handouts? Consider it in context of the rest of the work in the exhibition.

Joyas Voladoras Analysis

Take a look at "Joyas Voladoras", by Brian Doyle.  What do you notice about Doyle's writing?  What happens when you reach the final paragraph? In what ways does an essay that at first appeared to be about creatures great and small suddenly turn into an essay about human nature? What has happened to the word heart? Do you thing "Joyas Voladoras" could be considered a personal essay, even and private one? How would you account for all the specific details that the author introduces in the concluding paragraph apparently to support a generalization about the human heart?

Use a quote from the essay to make your point.

Analysis of Beautiful Losers

Analysis of Beautiful Losers

Pick an artist from the movie to use as a character to analyze. In this post take a close look at her/his perception of art production, and write about it. Your post should be at least three paragraphs in length. It should deal with only one artist’s perspective, as well as your own.  

Questions to ask yourself while choosing an artists and a moment that stands out in the movie to write about: 

• How does her/his and your culture, provoke the creation of art?
• Does the artist/you feel like an insider or an outsider within a culture? Does this feeling lead to the creation of art.
• How does collaboration, mimicking, and/or inspiration by other artists lead to the creation of art? Is this a good/bad thing, why.
• How does the phenomenon of success change or strengthens ones perception of art creation? Does the artist create for her/himself alone? 

******Textual Analysis Post on Beah's Transformation

Textual Analysis Blog Response #2

Due: post to your blog before class on Wednesday, October 9th

Prompt:

As we continue to discuss A Long Way Gone and the themes of Hunger, Escape, or Family, it is important to write on each of the themes more in-depth.  In this response, you are asked to go back within the first 10 chapters of the memoir and reflect upon how Beah has transformed so far, and also discuss what factors play a role in his transformation.

In the blog response, do the following:

1.) Enter in the title of the blog post: The Transformation of Beah’s _______ (of course, in this part enter your theme: Hunger, Escape, or Family, or, do you have another theme you would like to analyze?)

2.) Within the actual post, respond to the topic by going back into the first ten chapters and picking out AT LEAST THREE (3) PASSAGES that speak to your theme.

Compare and contrast Beah’s transformation by discussing each passage focusing on:

a.)    What is happening at the time/where is he in his journey, and

b.)    What Beah’s mental state of mind is in each moment, and explain how he changes—mentally and/or physically.

Hunger -- by Meg Reilly

Hello Class,

It's Meg. I have decided to take this opportunity to set an example of what your post should look like.
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"On our way through the quiet and almost barren town, which now seemed unfamiliar, we saw rotten pots of food that had been left behind" (27). Here, in Chapter 4, Beah is describing his experience returning to Mattru Jong, his hometown, after the rebels have attacked, killing its citizens, disseminating its buildings, and setting fires. At this point, Ishmael is unclear if his family is alive or travels in hiding through the jungle. Ishmael and his friends return to Mattru Jong to find the money they had left behind to buy food. At this point they are starving.

This line describes the boys' hometown of Mattru Jong, which "now seemed unfamiliar" to them. The wording of this strikes me as unnerving, scary, and ironic for many reasons. The boys are returning to a home which, for them, should mean safety and security, but at this moment represents death and danger. The wording of the "quiet and almost barren town" and the "rotten pots of food" show the effect that the rebels have had on the town. The image of rotting food is also ironic, because this is the item that the boys are searching for. The citizens of the town had to run from their homes, leaving their food on the table. They were provoked to flee, and now these boys see the aftermath. There is a great deal of unfamiliarity with this place which they had known so well. The boys are fearful, confused and hungry.

It must be hard for someone who is starving to see abandoned and spoiled food, and even harder to know the reason why the food was abandoned. I wonder, did Ismael walk around pondering the fate of everyone in the town at this moment? Was he still hopeful that his family was alive?

Also, I can't help but think back to my original idea about home symbolizing safety and security, when in reality there are many people in the world, and in our own country, who live in an unsafe home. Before the rebels came to Ishmael's town, his description of his everyday life was positive, supportive and happy.

*******************First Textual Analysis Post

Hello Class,

 

Below you will again find your prompt, on which you should comment. I cannot wait to hear your opinions on the first five chapters.

It is okay to type your "quoted" sentence at the beginning of your post. I want also see what page your quote is from. You can format it by putting the page number in the parenthesis after the quote like this (40).

 Once you post, we will gather in the classroom and present them to one another. 

 Meg

FIRST RESPONSE to A Long Way Gone:

Pick one line (sentence) from Chapters 3 or 4 of A Long Way Gone that really stands out to you and makes you think about ONE of the following topics: hunger, escape, or family.

In a blog response, do the following:

1) Enter in the title of the post, Hunger, Escape, or Family – depending on which topic you have chosen.

2) Within the actual post, respond to the topic by re-stating your quoted line, and giving a detailed explanation of how you understand this line represents the general topic.

In this response, you must also spend only one brief paragraph summarizing the story to provide context for the quoted line (4 sentences), and the interpret the line in terms of what it says about hunger (or escape, or family)? (This should be another couple of paragraphs, at least 7-10 sentences. This is the bulk of your blog post. Make connections to yourself, and share your opinions. Always ask why you feel the way you do about the lines.) What do you learn from and/or feel about the line in our book?  How does this connect to yourself, what we've seen in the gallery, or what you've talked about in your essays?