We first reviewed my comments on Joshua's essay comparing Thoreau's essay with the essays of Rachel Carson in "Silent Spring." Joshua's writing has matured in tone and in content. I suggested the need for a thesis in the first paragraph which we worked on and noted where textual examples would strengthen the essay. We then explored Hawthorne's short story"The Minister's Black Veil",noting the contrast between the Transcendentalist view of human nature and Hawthorne's contrasting bleak view. Joshua did very well discussing the symbolism of the black veil and I addressed the connection between Hawthorne's ambiguous symbols and the Romantic genre's emphasis on the "imagination" and subjective interpretation.

We completed our in depth analysis of Thoreau's Walden by exploring Thoreau's definition and perception of wealth and poverty and further parsing the metaphors that Thoreau employs to argue his principles. I again noted Thoreau's influence on protagonists in American literature. After reviewing Joshua's homework on Walden , I distributed a number of quotations from Walden and as a writing exercise Joshua chose a quotation and ,with my assistance, began drafting a paragraph explaining how the selected quote exemplifies an aspect of the Transcendentalist philosophy.

We continued our study of Emerson and Thoreau noting their influence not only on the American novel but also on American culture's emphasis on individuality. In concluding our analysis of Emerson, we discussed Man's relationship with Nature as demonstrated by Emerson's use of synecdoche . We then perused portions of Thoreau's Walden focusing on his definition of the "essential" , the need for simplicity, and Thoreau's condemnation of commercialism and "frivolous" acquisition and activity. Joshua examined Thoreau's use of metaphor( including the now iconic "march to a different drummer " quote)r and drafted sentences analyzing the metaphorical language.

Joshua was absent today.

Joshua evidenced impressive initiative this summer .From the recommended summer reading list he read Jane Eyre,a lengthy 1847 novel, a passage from Thoreau's Walden, as well as Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." We briefly discussed the novel and addressed Carson's technique of argumentation By contrast, we noted Thoreau's reliance on pathos and personal observation. I then reviewed the proposed syllabus which this year will focus on American authors. Further, we looked at the 11th grade textbook , and I pointed out the readings of Melville, and Hawthorne that we will be studying in the first quarter as well as the location of some additional material on Thoreau.

: This afternoon, Nina read a few chapters in the book, ‘Night,' by Elie Wiesel, which chronicles his experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust. Nina explained that she was originally to have read the book as part of her summer reading list from Oxbridge. She has a study guide to follow and independently read several pages/chapters today. We discussed some of the symbols in the book. Nina explained that the title of the book, ‘Night' is used to symbolize death, loss of hope and faith, and it will likely come up repeatedly. Nina is still in the early stages of reading the book but has already seen how Wiesel uses symbolism, imagery, and literary devices to give his readers a more vivid image of his situation.

Nina began reading "Night" and worked on the study guide questions provided during class.

For our final session on Shakespeare's ,"Julius Caesar", we examined the role of harmartia in Brutus' tragic fall. We noted Brutus' blind idealism as an atypical character flaw and then measured to what extent outside forces or fate controlled Brutus' destiny. In that regard, we parsed the speech wherein Brutus proclaims ,"There is a tide in the affairs of men/...that leads to Fortune. "We discussed the analogy of mankind afloat on a ship controlled by tides as not truly descriptive of Brutus' tragic outcome as he has exercised free will and made numerous misjudgments . We noted how Shakespeare's tragedies often end in a carnival of suicides , here , Cassius, then Titinius,, and last, Brutus. Nina did well in class discussion commenting on how the text reveals that both Cassius and Brutus at the end of the play feel remorse for the assassination of Caesar as Brutus concedes that Caesar was the only man who was ever"true" to him .Others merely used him. Last, we discussed Antony's famous quote that Brutus was the "noblest Roman of them all." HW- Test on play Monday.Read distributed handout- introduction to of Mice and Men.

As a further introduction to the Southern Gothic , we discussed the meaning of William Faulkner's oft-cited quote" The past is never dead. It's not even past." I noted the genre's focus on inherited sin ,such as murder,rape, and slavery, and discussed how Harper Lee's novel is not quite as bleak as Faulkner's and other Southern Gothic authors. We then turned to the opening pages of the novel, and Nina pointed out the pervasive elements of the Southern Gothic even in the opening pages noting references to slaves and the Civil War. I provided some historical background to clarify some of the author's references to The Battle of Hastings(1066) and Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. During the second segment of the session, we worked on revising Nina's draft of her essay on Poe and the Gothic. I demonstrated within the draft how to reorganize a paragraph , to combine sentences, and to connect ideas with connecting words and phrases. Nina then worked on additional revisions .

Nina did outstanding work during our first session in analyzing Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily". She identified excellent specific examples of the Gothic genre, as well as examples of the modern permutations of the genre within the Southern Gothic. We discussed the issues of race and slavery as underlying the use of the gothic elements. We further examined the story as a personal story of Emily and her frustrated search for love and her resulting loneliness . Nina then discussed the symbolism of the "rose" within the title as an actual rose appears nowhere within the text. Last, I outlined on the board the conflict between the Old South. and the New South and again Nina contributed excellent examples of these elements within the story. During our second session, I continued instruction on subject-verb agreement and antecedent-pronoun agreement focusing on the more difficult aspects of agreement such as the collective singular noun(chorus ,team, committee) ,and the variations of the compound subject that can alter pronoun use in the "either/or " construction . We then completed exercises on both topics. Last, we addressed Nina's work on her Poe essay and identified specific symbols to incorporate in her essay . HW due Tuesday- write the body of the essay,2 more paragraphs , r. ch 1 and 2 "To Kill a Mockingbird".