Gender and Relationships

Midterm exam for Prose class

Do men and women have different style of communication? Many would say "yes." Deborah Tannen's You Just Don't Understand proved the case. If it is so, is it also reflected in literature?

Read John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" by following this link:
http://amb.cult.bg/american/4/steinbeck/chrysanthemums.htm

To get more understanding of gender communication style, go to:
http://raysweb.net/poems/articles/tannen.html

Write a short essay of 3-4 pages on the above issue. Use these questions as the guidelines:
1. How does Eliza communicate with her husband, Henry?
2. How is Eliza's conversation with the tinker different from her conversation with Henry?
3. Do you notice any changes in the way the tinker converses with Eliza? If so, do the changes bring any effects on his purpose?
4. How does the story employ non-verbal language (facial expressions, body language) to reflect the issue of gender and relationships?

Have your essay typewritten, 1.5 spaced, in Times New Roman-12. The essay is due on Wednesday, November 26, 2008. Submit the print-out version to Pak Khoiri (class A) and Pak Fahri (class B).

Poetry and the Poet

While it's important to be aware that the voice of a narrator in prose or poetry should not be considered representing the author, we also notice that many poems were actually written to reflect the author's life and thoughts. Take the case of Emily Dickinson and try to see whether "Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church" reflects the poet's idea of religiousity and the kind of life she lived. Relate the poem to the other two poems we discussed earlier in class, "I'm Nobody, Who are You?" and "Success is Counted Sweetest." Also, find some references on Emily Dickinson's biography on the internet to help you justify your answer.

P.S. This entry is for my Poetry class, English Education 2005.

What Kind of Love Do I Believe In?

One of the various ways to feel emotionally involved in literature is by putting ourselves in the character's situation. In the case of an adultery, for instance, if we're asked to give our personal response to the case, most would either condemn the adulterer or judging him/her by our standard. However, when we pretend to be the one involved in the case, many of us would shift our perspectives and become more imaginative (if not crazy in imagination).

Take a look at Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" and choose to be either Mel, Terry, Laura, and Nick. Write a diary entry or a letter addressed to someone, and express what kind of love you believe in. Remember, you are taking the character's position, not talking about the kind of love "you yourself" intend to find in your life.

Note: This post is for Prose class, 2006. However, anybody other than the members of the class would be welcome to give comments.

Jungian Criticism in Practice

Archetypal images and patterns are some of the key points in applying Jungian criticism. Follow this link to get an excellent example of Jungian criticism in literature.

http://www.ljhammond.com/phlit/burke.htm

The application of psychoanalysis on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

You have seen briefly how psychoanalysis works with literature through Freud's own analysis on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Now it's your turn to show how another literary work, in this case, Jane Eyre, is approached by means of psychoanalytic criticism.

Discuss the article I uploaded in the previous post with your group, and place your summary as the result of your discussion. Your work is due on Saturday, October 18, 2008.

Research Questions

Research questions are made to help you direct your research. On the basis of your topic, write the research questions you would like to answer in your thesis. The questions should be operational and answerable. Do not write questions which you yourself cannot answer, or don't know how to answer. For instance, a topic on Depression in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina could be specified into the following questions:
1. How is depression depicted in Anna Karenina?
2. What are the causes of depression in Anna Karenina?
3. What are the effects of depression in Anna Karenina?

The above questions are operational because they are more specific than the statement of the topic. They are also answerable because there are some psychological concepts that can be used as the theoretical framework to answer the questions.

Click comment to submit your revised title(s) and research questions!

seminar on language and literature

Hello everybody,

As agreed, this week you will submit your topic for your thesis proposal. If you have a couple of topics in mind, but are not sure which one is the most interesting and workable, you may submit 2-3 topics. To do this, just click comment !

Theory of Literature II

Hello everybody,

The first theory we're going to discuss would be Psychoanalytic criticism. A number of materials on this theory are available online. The following is just one of the many. Follow this link to get to know more about Freudian concept and how it is applied in literature.

/http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/what_is_psychoanalytic_criticism.pdf/

The following link is also very useful in providing a brief overview of various literary theories. It also gives you a number of links for further references.

http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm