Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Chapters 25-27

Chapter 25 -- Don’t Read with Your Eyes
After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or epic written before the twentieth century. Contrast how it could be viewed by a reader from the twenty-first century with how it might be viewed by a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes, assumptions that would not make it in this century.

In, On Being brought from Africa to America, Wheatley says that if she had never been brought to America then she would not know who God is. This was quite common back then because African Americans where still thought of as heathens and were not introduced to Christianity or allowed to go to church because of their color. In this day and age, this poem would be found quite heart-breaking and moving because having to think about what African Americans dealt with is sad. A contemporary reader, would view this poem as sincere and moving because it is the harsh truth that African Americans where treated badly and where fortunate to luck upon a nice owner.

Chapter 26 -- Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Select an ironic literary work and explain the multivocal nature of the irony in the work.

The Bible itself is an ironic literary work, One of the ten commandments is though shalt not kill. In the Bible when God parts the Red Sea to let his people pass, he brings the sea down on the Pharaohs' army killing all of them. It is ironic that he wants us to follow his commandment about not killing anyone yet he himself kills many people through out the Bible.

Chapter 27 -- A Test Case
Read “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, the short story starting on page 245. Complete the exercise on pages 265-266, following the directions exactly. Then compare your writing with the three examples. How did you do? What does the essay that follows comparing Laura with Persephone add to your appreciation of Mansfield’s story?

I understood that the story signifies the significant difference between the upper and lower class. I did not really understand how it does it.

It makes me appreciate Mansfield's story more because it shows the drastic difference between the upper and lower class. Persephone lived on Olympus with her mother but when she married Hades she had to live in the under world. That was a drastic change in life style and scenery. It was the same for Laura, she was used to garden parties and fancy hats but when she descended into the world of lower class people she noticed the big differences in scenery and gloominess.

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