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Tom Sawyer

The adventures of Tom Sawyer is more like Tom Sawyer, the troublemaker. In the beginning of the book, the reader can already see how much of a trouble maker he is. He easily persuades his friends to do his punishment. I feel as though Tom Sawyer is a mischievous kid who simply likes adventure and doing his own thing. This can relate to many children who read this story since many children like the idea of going on an adventure and being a rebel at one point in their childhood.

Something that struck me as interesting is the fact that Tom grew up with this Aunt Polly, so it makes me think that if he grew up with both his mother and father, would his actions and behavior be different. Is it because he has no father figure that he is the way he is? How would things be different if he had both parents?

Although Tom is a mischievous kid who doesn’t like following the rule, it seems as though he gets away with a lot of things simply because of the saying, “boys will be boys.” This means that boys are allowed to do such things because that’s just what boys do. What if a girl is mischievous, then why is it not allowed for her to be this way. I feel like back in the day, girls are seem to be proper and to just stay home to play with dolls so if a girl acts the way that Tom did, then it would be a bigger problem.

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Anti-Slavery Alphabet

At first glance, the Anti-Slavery Alphabet is definitely aesthetically pleasing and can intrigued children. The simplistic look to the Alphabet is what can draw children to the reading. For me, just by looking at it, I liked the way it looked. Children can be exposed to serious political topics in such a way that they can relate in a bit. The alphabet aspect to it brings it to entice the younger audience but the topic itself is a very strong serious topic.

As I was reading each line, I can tell this alphabet was intended for white children instead of all children. For the part of letter B, it states:

B is a Brother with a skin of somewhat darker hue, But in our Heavenly Father’s sight, He is as dear as you.

This is saying how that black slaves are just like the white in the eyes of God, which is showing equality to the younger audience. As the letters go on by, it gets a bit dark; for the letter D, it’s showing how a whip is used to punish the slaves who disobey or rest. While reading the letter H, I felt a bit uncomfortable because if this is meant for children, then this letter is definitely really dark:

H is the Hound his master trained, and called to scent the track of the unhappy Fugitive, and bring him trembling back.

The thing that struck me was “unhappy Fugitive,” because what fugitive would be happy. I feel like the use of the adjective was quite strange and really dark. As I kept reading more and more, it felt like the letters kept getting darker and darker.

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The Truant Boy

In both Truant Boy stories, Abbott main message that came across was that every actions has a consequences in which you cannot escape. In the case of Henry, he faced the ultimate price for such a simple action that could have been avoided if he just did what he was supposed to do. In a way, I feel as though that these stories were a tad bit over the top since Henry’s ultimate fate was dying from his actions. This story was probably written in a way to scare children to do the right thing straight from the beginning so they do not follow the same path as Henry.

Abbott was probably trying to catch the children’s attention by making sure they do not use a little lie because the consequences of that little lie will only have a bad ending. Abbott wants to show a great moral but it felt a bit over the top. Since Henry lied and played truancy, he ended up skipping school, lying to his teacher, hanging out with the wrong type of friends, and even disappointing his parents. One sign of disobedience can lead to a lifetime of sadness and regret.

The one thing in the story that stuck out most to me, was the fact that Henry knew deep down that he wanted to change and he wanted to do something better, but in the end, he never truly fell through with his mind. Even though he knew he was wrong, he kept repeating the same problem. It seemed as though Henry thought he was too far gone to make any change. Henry didn’t seem to understand that he did in fact had many chances to come clean and to step up to make a change in his life. His life could’ve been a better life if only he didn’t live life fearing his regrets and simply make a change in his actions.

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Alice in WONDERland

In Lewis Carroll’s story of Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, Alice seems to always have her mind wondering about everything. When Alice wonders about everything, her thoughts tend to come out very bluntly or simplistic. Alice talks to other characters in such a deeming way in which she believes she knows everything. Although Alice is quick to judge other characters, her intentions are not malicious; I believe it is because of her simple mind. With a simple mind, it may be hard for Alice to understand her own words that come out of her mouth.

Alice would like to be an adult but her actions simply do not convey that notion. She is easily persuaded to do as told or do things out of rash decisions. When it came down to eating or drinking those “new” foods, she gladly just took them without thinking about the consequences. Her road to adulthood will be a long one because throughout the book, Alice gave off “typical high school teenager” vibe to her.

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Little Annie’s Ramble

Little Annie’s Ramble, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story to me that seems one way yet as you continue to read it, it shed light on such a darker tone. In a way, this story can give off two different vibes, an innocent on as well as a darker one. With the darker version, the reader can get a perverse feeling towards that man who is so infatuated with Annie. While going through the streets, the man mentions that “there are a few grown ladies that could entice me from the side of little Annie,” which in a way sounds extremely creepy due to the fact that it seems as though the man in more interested in a little girl. The man is too infatuated with the little girl that even grown women seems to show no interest for him. Does this man know what he is doing and is he doing this on purpose?

For a more innocent approach, one can read this story as a man simply enjoying the company of a young child just so he can enjoy his childhood once again or perhaps the feeling of having a daughter. He takes her off to an adventure just like how any dad would take his daughter out to spoil her. But then again, why didn’t he tell her mother of the adventure?

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Book Project: Due Dates, Write-Ups/Bibliography/ Assessment and Notes

Book Projects are Due 9:30 on Wednesday, December 17th (with a rather larger grace period of 8pm-ish a.k.a. before I go to bed)

–All work (including blog posts) from this class must be submitted by end of the day on Wednesday, December 17th, unless you have met with me and worked out a different date.—

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Book Project Write-Up and Bibliography:  What it says about the Book Project in the the assignment section:

“You may choose the form you wish to present your project. You may write a paper, which would likely need to be around 10 pages.  However you may also decide to make a web page, do a PowerPoint, or a video.  Unless you do a paper, you will be required to submit a one paged double spaced page articulating your overall claim and main project objectives and why you chose your medium.  You must submit a bibliography, which will have at least three sources (the text you are working on, a piece of relevant literary criticism, and relevant historical source).”

1) All Book Projects require a bibliography (with at least 3 sources, see above) and must properly cite any quotations in the project.

2) If you are not writing a paper, you must also submit a 1 paged double spaced evaluation.  In this evaluation you should A) tell me your overall claim (think your thesis or argument);  B) tell me why you chose to use the form you chose (i.e. painting or powerpoint) to present your project; and  C) explain what you were trying to convey and why you made the choices you made.

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Book Project Assessment:  I will assess the presentation based on the following:

1) Project Presentation– (not related to your in-class presentation) -Does it look well put together?  Does it stand on its own?  Is it complete?  Does the form make sense given the project’s overall aim?

2) Argument – Does this project express a central claim?  What is that claim?  Is it arguable? Is it based in the text?  Is it within the realm of what is arguable in a literature course?  Is it well supported with the materials provided in the presentation?

3) Engaging Scholarship – Does this project engage at least one peer-reviewed scholarly source in a clear and thoughtful way?

4) Engaging History- Does this project accurately contextualize the text(s) within appropriate historical moments?  Does this project illuminate how a particular aspect or aspects of history might change the way we  read this particular text?

5) Engaging the Literary Text- Does this project offer analysis of the literature’s text and/or visuals?  Does this project put interpretive readings of the literature in conversation with scholarship and history?
I will provide a grade for each of those five sections, and the total grade will be an average of those 5 assessment categories.

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NOTE: For those of you making a power point and wondering whether or not the presentation stands alone (without aid of a presenter), you should consider showing the presentation to a friend. Have them go through the presentation without telling them anything about what you’re doing, and then asking them (in your own words) a version of the question I have in the assessment.   I don’t recommend asking all the question or even asking it exactly in my language (though you could); I recommend asking one of the questions from each category but worded in your own language.  If your friend can answer the questions satisfactorily, you should be fine. If not, then you know where you want to do a little more work.

 

 

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Book Project Proposal Questionnaire

 

Name:

  1. In 2-4 sentences, please describe your proposed book project, its central aim, medium of presentation, and its relevance to the course material and potential relevance to your future goals:
  1. Please list the literary text(s) to which your project will attend:
  2. Please describe the specific detail or idea and/or chapter/scene/section your project will focus on in the text(s) you’ve chosen:
  3. Please list the peer-reviewed scholarly articles you have consulted in this project (provide name of author and title, and star the article you plan to engage the most):
  4. In regards to your starred article, why are you focusing on this article?
  5. Please detail how your project will engage the historical context around your literary text(s):
  6. Please explain what your central argument or claim is and how your project plans to convey that claim:

 

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Curious George Analysis

According to June Cummins’ article, The Resisting Monkey: “Curious George,” Slave Captivity Narratives, and the Postcolonial Condition, I realized many things that I didn’t when I was younger about Curious George, I always just recalled the story about a monkey who always got into situations he shouldn’t be in, and always getting into mischief that got him into trouble. What struck me the most is how the story is related to slavery, because George is supposed to be connected to the slaves and the Man in the Yellow Hat is connected to the slaves masters. This story connects to different things if you think about it more closely after reading Cummins views on the entire story through the article. Like my peers found out that also struck me is how George is related to kids and masters to parents. In a way, maybe perhaps she sees things this way because kids are often curious themselves, and obviously George is a curious monkey and parents need to discipline the kids from trouble like a master would. It is also reasonable that she argues that it is related to slavers and their masters too, since slaves act out to escape as much as possible to become free and live how they want much how George acts out to get away from his master.

I do believe that although there is a back story behind these adventures of Curious George,  that there is always going to to be a moral for kids to understand in their own innocent ways too. In this case, I think it teaches them to be disciplined in control or get punished for their actions. Even though, it relates back to slavery I still think its a great comparison and argument that Cummins  teaches us in a whole new light as to what the story is truly about.

 

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Why use an inanimate object as the narrator?

In class, while discussing Arna Bontempts and Langston, Hughes, The Paste Board Bandit (1935), Professor Curseen purposed this question: “Why would Hughes use an inanimate object as the narrator for this book”? I don’t believe we ever answered this in class,

Curious about this idea, I did some research. I found that whenever giving an inanimate object human qualities, that is personification. But I believe Hughes wanted more then just to personify the Paste Board Bandit, Tito. Hughes uses Tito as a way for children to visualize fantasy, and help think beyond what they are taught to be right and wrong when it comes to matters of race, and stereotypical friendships.

During my research, I came across the term “anthropomorphism”. Anthropomorphism means: the attribution of human characteristics of behavior to a god, animal or object. I found that anthropomorphism occurs in children’s literature a lot (think: Mickey Mouse, all of Toy Story, and Magic Carpet from Aladdin). Anthropomorphism makes the unfamiliar more familiar to children. It makes children more comfortable with the topic and makes a hard topic less threatening. Hughes uses a cut out character to help tell the story of an American child befriending a Mexican child. I believe this is done quite successfully in The Paste Board Bandit. 

 

 

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Curiosity and Names

Curiosity killed the cat or in this case the monkey. Curious George brings me back to my childhood. I think when I used to read it I felt like mischief could be pulled off… It seems to me that no matter what George does he is not in trouble by the end of the story. Whether this is because he is a monkey from a foreign land and therefore doesn’t know any better is questionable. After we defined the word curious in class to have a negative connotation, the story can be viewed in a different light. George becomes pretty destructive and all his actions aren’t that good. Pretty much everything that he does hurts others and even himself. Thus George’s whole being is called into question. If his antics put people in danger what makes him so worth saving time and time again by the man with the yellow hat?

I also find it particularly interesting that the man in the yellow hat is just that. He isn’t really given a name throughout the career of the curious George series. His whole suit honestly reminds me of a banana and I wonder if that was the inspiration… Even more curious, in the first curious George book George is constantly referred to as George and even responds to that name however the man in the yellow hat doesn’t name him that until several pages into the story. I believe that, in total, there are only three times throughout the story where a character calls him George. I’m pretty sure giving an animal a name three times does not make that name stick.