Tuesday, March 13

Agenda: 

1. Journal for 5 - 7 minutes on personal dreams and goals, the attributes we assign to those who achieve their dreams.
2. We watched a short film from PBS about the American Dream.
3. We identified whether we identified with the American Dream and the pitfalls of it.
4. We began to analyze specific characters in OMAM, Candy, Curly's wife, Crooks and Lennie, and how having the American Dream contributed to their dissatisfaction and dejection.

Homework: 
1. Read Chapter 5 of our text.
2. Answer the question in the comments below in paragraph using the following format:

What aspect of the American Dream causes [insert character name] the most harm and why? 

     a. "The ____aspect of the American Dream causes <insert name> the most harm     
     because  ____."
     b. Give context for the textual evidence to follow.
     c. Quote the text.
     d. Explain how the prior quote directly correlates to your initial claim in a. Start with "author +
     verb".
     e. Refer to one of the quotes identified in the presentation to supplement the discord between what
     the American Dream speculates and what the character is expected to acheive.
     f. Wrap up your argument by drawing attention to the fundamental flaw of the American Dream
     that renders it a fallacy for many, a wisp of wind that leads the mislead-able into flights of fancy. 

Example paragraph:
With the blind optimism of the American Dream in hand, Candy is caused harm in that he experiences a great deal of disillusionment. Like his dog, Candy comes to understand that his livelihood is dependent upon his ability to be useful. As an aging cripple faced with his own futility, Candy clings to the opportunity to piggy back Lennie and George's dream of an autonomous lifestyle manning their own farm despite having seen a numerous number of vagabond workers before him fail at the same endeavor and acknowledge that he himself also has not been successful to raise the appropriate funds. He points out, "I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ‘em, it wasn’t none of my harvest" (Steinbeck 30). Steinbeck underscores the numerous years during which Candy worked without a handicap and was unable to raise funds enough to own a farm and then showcases Candy's unscathed sense of positivity, as Candy claims, "But we gonna do it now" (Steinbeck 30). Emboldened with a new zeal for possibility, Candy buys into the American Dream that according to Erica Jong, writer, entails having to only make a choice in order to "mak[e] yourself into a more successful, richer". Through Candy's misguided belief that he could be a homeowner and live on a farm with his friends in deliberate ignorance of a recent history that could not produce the same result points, Steinbeck is bringing to light the debilitating nature of the American Dream ideology in which characters seek after unrealistic and unlikely goals. Thus, Steinbeck's most plighted characters are culpable to their own sense of disillusionment because they voluntarily believe they can raise their own socio-economic status solely on the decision to do so despite the broad effect of a downcast economic climate, a symptom of the American Dream. 

Chapter 4 Quiz is here.

Monday, March 4th

Agenda: 

1. Students handed in their Found or Blackout poems with a printed copy of their explanations.

2. Free writing on any of the four topics on worksheet found here.

3. Student discussion on worksheet took place.

4. Students took a position on the Friendship board to evaluate whether their understanding of the modes of Friendship have changed.

Homework: 

1. Read Chapter 4. Remember you have the option to use the link here to listen to the story.

2. Section 3 - Turn in your OMAM Debate for Chapter 3 next class.