Students: watch this special that is linked below and take notes. You will be responsible for this information when we take exam for book one of the The Fellowship (March 4th).
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Heroes and their journeys...
Dear parents/guardians,
It seems that every culture, or at least most that we speak of in literature courses, have some sort of heroic tale that is lauded by its people. The tale typically enforces or challenges the very beliefs that comprise the culture and helps the audience, in a sense, to better understand the nature of the world and their place in it. "Beowulf" did this for the Norse, "Hercules" for the Greeks, and "Moses" for the Jews. As this course surveys world literature with the intention of critically engaging the texts and the world around it, it then seems appropriate to rest upon the hero's tale for a bit as it is certainly widespread and obviously connotative. The tale of the hero begs the audience to analyze the existence and origins of good and evil, as well as general perceptions of honor, justice, and morality; additionally, it often brings hope and it motivates everyday people to live lives that are heroic in nature.
To this point in the unit we have read "Beowulf" and have taken notes on archetype, the hero's journey, allegory, and a theory about the consistency of certain aspects of human nature across cultural boundaries. We will now be focusing our energy on understanding all of these things when applied to the process of analyzing a particular work of literature: The Fellowship of the Rings. As with all that we do in this course, the focus will not be on convincing the students that the book is any one thing that is to be pigeon holed into only that one thing. But, instead, our focus is to take all of the information that we have ammassed and then make educated decisions about the works and topics we are discussing by applying all of that information.
I look forward to hearing any questions or comments that you may have while we read this unit. If you would ever like any copies of anything that we are working on, or if you have any input at all, please feel free to contact me. The students will also be working on their blogs so be sure to follow along.
Thank you,
Mr. Kain
It seems that every culture, or at least most that we speak of in literature courses, have some sort of heroic tale that is lauded by its people. The tale typically enforces or challenges the very beliefs that comprise the culture and helps the audience, in a sense, to better understand the nature of the world and their place in it. "Beowulf" did this for the Norse, "Hercules" for the Greeks, and "Moses" for the Jews. As this course surveys world literature with the intention of critically engaging the texts and the world around it, it then seems appropriate to rest upon the hero's tale for a bit as it is certainly widespread and obviously connotative. The tale of the hero begs the audience to analyze the existence and origins of good and evil, as well as general perceptions of honor, justice, and morality; additionally, it often brings hope and it motivates everyday people to live lives that are heroic in nature.
To this point in the unit we have read "Beowulf" and have taken notes on archetype, the hero's journey, allegory, and a theory about the consistency of certain aspects of human nature across cultural boundaries. We will now be focusing our energy on understanding all of these things when applied to the process of analyzing a particular work of literature: The Fellowship of the Rings. As with all that we do in this course, the focus will not be on convincing the students that the book is any one thing that is to be pigeon holed into only that one thing. But, instead, our focus is to take all of the information that we have ammassed and then make educated decisions about the works and topics we are discussing by applying all of that information.
I look forward to hearing any questions or comments that you may have while we read this unit. If you would ever like any copies of anything that we are working on, or if you have any input at all, please feel free to contact me. The students will also be working on their blogs so be sure to follow along.
Thank you,
Mr. Kain
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