Dos Passos Extra Credit Due Wednesday

Please pick up a copy of the text from me before or after school. Then read the information below, read the text, and then answer the questions thoughtfully and submit on Turnitin. Your responses must be individual; those bearing a strong resemblance to other student responses will be placed under review and may not receive extra credit.

John Dos Passos was an influential Modern writer at the same time as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. Like Hemingway, his experiences in World War I contributed greatly to his writing. One of his most famous works, the U.S.A. trilogy, traces the lives of several characters in the years preceding, during, and following World War I. In addition to telling the stories of these characters’ lives, he includes several “biography” sections in this work, in most cases of famous Americans. The biography he presents in this section is of a different sort. Read this section carefully and answer the following questions in detail using specific quotations from the text. The excerpt is challenging, so you may find that you need to read it more than once.

1. Identify several instances in which Dos Passos uses language/structure in a unique way.
What overall effects does this use of language have on the piece?
2. What insight does this piece give into society of this time period in regards to racial relations?
3. How is war depicted in this passage?
4. What are some ironies that this excerpt addresses?
5. What role does repetition play in this passage?
6. How does this passage’s style and content compare to the writings of Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald? (Be sure to address all three.)
7. What is your personal opinion of this passage? (Reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.)

Faulkner Reading

The next story we will be reading is "Wash" by William Faulkner who is the last of the four major Modern American authors we will be studying before the final. We are short on copies, so you may want to print out the PDF available here.

We will be discussing this story in class on Friday. So, this means that if you are not done SBACing on Friday, you will need to get those discussion notes from someone who is present. If you are in class on Thursday, we will be having some reading time for reading Wash, and if this reading is not complete after class on Thursday, it becomes homework to finish reading for Friday's discussion. If you have already read "Wash", you will use Thursday's

The next story we will be reading is excerpts from Faulkner's "The Bear" which is available in your red book. You will need to use the version in your red book, because any version that you find online with be 50 times longer, because it will be the full text. This story will be due on Monday.

Also, semester 2 final information is available on the left, including reading lists from first and second semester.

Due Tomorrow

Please use your "QUOTES" revision sheet to rewrite this paragraph in need of help.

Due Monday

Please read Steinbeck's short story, "The Snake". If you were absent, you may need to borrow a copy from someone who was here, or search out a copy of the text online.

Assignment from 5/12

The Old Man and the Sea Review

Due Tuesday

Many of you need to catch up on your reading and read Hemingway's "In Another Country". If you don't have your book, the story is available online.

You will also need to finish writing down ideas for the questions below.

1. What observations can you make about the point of view of this story? What effect does this have on the reader?

2. What possible symbolism is present in the occupations of the narrator’s three main companions?

3. How is the war described on multiple occasions and what effect does this have on the story?

4. What different elements of the story contribute to a sense of isolation and alienation (or a sense of barriers prohibiting a sense of connection)?

5. What is the importance of the machines? (Hint: It’s not just ‘false hopes and promises of the modern age.’) How do the machines help to illustrate an important irony?

6. What is the importance of the major’s wife dying from pneumonia unexpectedly? What does he counsel the narrator against marriage?

For Friday

Please print the document regarding transitional elements.