Matthew began the class with a critical comment on the reading i.e. Tolstoy begins the novel with the announcement of the death of the protagonist , Ivan Ilych . The chronology of his life is ignored. We then discussed the structural and literary purpose of beginning the novel this way by placing on the board all of the characters chapter 1 introduces. We see their reactions to the death, , and I explained how Tolstoy wants the reader to focus on the society that Ilych "swam " with. The upper classes are cold, selfish, and can't accept that death is something that can happen to them. We see, by contrast, that Ivan's young son and Ivan's peasant servant have pity, feel pain ,and accept death as the fate shared by everyone.. Referencing the text, we analyzed the difference between the values of the upper class with its emphasis on propriety with the values of the lower class. During the second half of the session, we ,in detail, discussed proposed revisions to Matthew's essay on Thoreau and Jack London. I addressed run-ons, capitalization, parallel structure, and most importantly reordering the sentences within paragraphs to create a more cohesive essay. For homework read chapter. 3 for Tues./rewrite essay for Weds.