No class meeting Thursday. Book Clubs on Friday, so no class meeting then either.

You DO NOT need to read "The Custom House" material. But if you want to get a sense of how Hawthorne was feeling about himself and his life at the time, give it a read.

Literature Review Draft will be due next Wednesday, in class, for response by your classmates. Formal assignment can be found by clicking on "syllabus" link in the upper right

Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings/stories are built around various tensions, such as the tension created by people struggling with the need to trust themselves versus their need to accommodate authority, the tension between free will and predestination, the tension created by the conflicts of obsessiveness versus open-mindedness, hypocrisy versus candor, and the conflict between forms of nurturance and destructiveness. Find at least three instances in the first six chapters where you see some sort of thematic conflict taking place. Tell us what that conflict is, what it does within the story (to the characters, to you as a reader, to the telling of the story, maybe something else)and what it means. You need not limit yourself to the suggestions provided here. Provide a brief passage from the text to show how this conflict is playing out, describe what it is doing and then what it means. ) In short, what is the passage, what does it do, and why does it matter/what does it mean? Respond to at least three journals. Provide some of the passage to illustrate the point you are discussing/describing. As usual, write three responses to the journals, at least one of which responds to a response to your journal.

We will read the whole novel before the end of next week, so you may want to read beyond chapter six if you have time.

And now for something completely different, at least in relation to Rowlandson: With Knight's journal we venture from religious to secular writings. For your journal write about three things you see in Knight's writing that express views clearly at odds with the religious and Puritan views we've previously encountered. Be sure to provide some of the passage you are referring to (enough so your reader need not refer back to the text); also provide a passage from an earlier reading to illustrate the change/contrast. When explaining the relationship between Knight and her predecessors, be sure it's clear why it is of interest, concern or importance to us today. Once you've posted your journals, respond to at least two others and to at least one response to your journal.

Because I forgot to post this in time to get journals before class for most of you, you will receive credit above and beyond for doing this journal. Not doing so won't count against your 60 percent. The message: If you are short on journals, it would be wise to do these.

Having read the assigned material by Cotton Mather, provide at least three examples to show how his thoughts/ideas are (not) still relevant today, how we are (not) "Mather's America" today? For each, provide an example passage from his writing to illustrate the point and then explain how you see America as having lived up to or fallen short of his expectations. Make it clear why any or all of this matters. Once you've posted your journals, respond to at least two others and to a response to your journal. Be sure to make it clear why we should think of these things as being important today--why it might/could/should matter to us.

Ecumenicism: worldwide Christian unity not (for Mather in particular) limited to Puritans.

No class today due to some personal concerns I have to address. Read Mather for tomorrow as assigned but expect to discuss Rowlandson in class on Tuesday.

As Mary Rowlandson narrates her ordeal, she provides a considerable amount of insightful detail that presents her captors less as stereotypes and more as human beings. Why might this matter in how we understand the time in which they lived and what she underwent? Provide at least three examples that shed some light on her and the time in which she lives, and perhaps on the way we view that time all these years later. What do these examples do, then and now? Explain why we should care about this today, all these years later. Keep in mind that Rowlandson wrote this narrative after being freed, so the progression she seems to make in her perspective may be the result more of her writing than the actual experience itself, but I'll leave that to you to consider for now. Once you have posted your entries, respond to at least three from your classmates, doing what you can to extend the conversation and to engage them in some discussion about their points. One response should be to a response to your journal.

For your first meeting, I suggest you exchange contact information and develop a reading schedule. At the midterm presentation, it's pretty much a "stand up in front and tell us what you know" about the first half of the book. The final presentation will need to be more creative and you will have a full class period. That presentation is to be staged as a pitch to make your book into a movie, tv series, something of that sort. You need to remain true to the text in developing this pitch, but you can do that in pretty much anyway you like.

Today's journal is essentially a repeat of Tuesday's and Wednesday's journal, but with different poems. Respond to each of Taylor's poems. Again, here are two notions of analysis it's good to keep in mind: "Analysis is the method we commonly use in thinking about complex matters and in attempting to account for our responses” (57) and "Critical thinking [like analysis] is a matter of separating the whole into parts, in order to see relationships” (Literature for Analysis 179). The question is, how do we do this? One way is listed here, the DROP method:

Details: Look for exact details in the text—identical or nearly identical words or details and list them.
Repetitions: Locate and list repetition of the same kind of detail or word (for example, war, struggle, conflict and strife are similar words). Similarities in style or structure can also be important, such as the author using four lines per stanza or beginning each paragraph with a question. Noting repetitions reveals emphasis.
Oppositions: Locate and list details or words or forms that suggest binary oppositions or things that contrast with one another. Look for the same sorts of things you looked at/for with the use of repetition.
Patterns of Significance: Choose what you think to be significant patterns of repetitions and/or binary oppositions and rank them in order of importance.

Having completed these steps, write a paragraph that explains your choice of one repetition or opposition for each of the poems and explain why it is worth examination. Be sure that each paragraph contains a particular example from the reading and some explanation as to why it matters that we pay attention to it. As always, respond to at least two journals from your classmates and one response to your journal.

Today's journal is essentially a repeat of Tuesday's journal, but with different poems. Respond to Wigglesworth's diary and poem and to three of the psalms and passages from the Primer.

Again, here are two notions of analysis it's good to keep in mind: "Analysis is the method we commonly use in thinking about complex matters and in attempting to account for our responses” (57) and "Critical thinking [like analysis] is a matter of separating the whole into parts, in order to see relationships” (Literature for Analysis 179). The question is, how do we do this? One way is listed here, the DROP method:

Details: Look for exact details in the text—identical or nearly identical words or details and list them.
Repetitions: Locate and list repetition of the same kind of detail or word (for example, war, struggle, conflict and strife are similar words). Similarities in style or structure can also be important, such as the author using four lines per stanza or beginning each paragraph with a question. Noting repetitions reveals emphasis.
Oppositions: Locate and list details or words or forms that suggest binary oppositions or things that contrast with one another. Look for the same sorts of things you looked at/for with the use of repetition.
Patters of Significance: Choose what you think to be significant patterns of repetitions and/or binary oppositions and rank them in order of importance.

Having completed these steps, write a paragraph that explains your choice of one repetition or opposition for each of the assigned readings (five in all) and explain why it is worth examination. Be sure that each paragraph contains a particular example from the reading and some explanation as to why it matters that we pay attention to it. As always, respond to at least two journals from your classmates and one response to your jouranl.

This is an interesting interview with a biblical scholar on how the Bible has evolved over time. Some evolution for good; some, maybe not. I think it sheds some light on the thinking of the Puritans and people today, at least highlighting and/or examining the evolution of Christianity over time.

Here are two notions of analysis it's good to keep in mind: "Analysis is the method we commonly use in thinking about complex matters and in attempting to account for our responses” (57) and "Critical thinking [like analysis] is a matter of separating the whole into parts, in order to see relationships” (Literature for Analysis 179). The question is, how do we do this? One way, for poems in particular, is the DROP method:

Details: Look for exact details in the text—identical or nearly identical words or details-and list them.
Repetitions:Locate and list repetitions of the same kind of detail or word (for example, war, struggle, conflict and strife are similar words). Similarities in style or structure can also be important, such as the author using four lines per stanza or beginning each paragraph with a question. Noting repetitions reveals emphasis.
Oppositions: Locate and list details or words or forms that suggest binary oppositions or things that contrast with one another. Look for the same sorts of things you looked at/for with the use of repetition.
Patters of Significance: Choose what you think to be significant patterns of repetitions and/or binary oppositions and rank them in order of importance.

As you move from the collection of details to the analysis of Bradstreet's writings, you might focus your attention on such things as Puritanism in general, the place of women in Puritan society (the good, the bad, the ugly), or the various insights we gain into Puritan domestic life. These, of course, are just suggestions.

Having completed these steps, write a paragraph that examines each her writings (poems and prose) and explain why it is worth examination. Respond to at least two journals from your classmates, one of which should be a response to your journals.