Compassion and Sacrifice

Compassion and Sacrifice

Directions: Using literature from this unit, write a well-developed essay explaining its specific ideas concerning compassion and sacrifice. Discuss characters, events, literary devices, and/or genre-specific vernacular. Use specific textual evidence and edit your work carefully.

Guidelines:

Choose literature that best relates to your understanding of the theme of compassion and sacrifice.
Keep the following essential questions in mind:

1) How can perspective affect the reader’s understanding of compassion and/or sacrifice?

2) What motivates characters/individuals to be compassionate and/or to sacrifice?

3) When characters/individuals decide to be compassionate and/or to sacrifice, what internal and/or external conflicts might they face?

4) What are the outcomes of acts of compassion and/or sacrifice?

5) How are characters/individuals ultimately affected by compassion and/or sacrifice?

Oedipus

We have finished reading Oedipus Rex.  Here are is what we are working on today:

1.  Make a plot diagram for the events in Oedipus Rex.  Make sure you include elements such as rising action/complication, climax, and falling action.  Also be sure to include his interactions with other characters and things he learns about himself.
2.  Make a timeline of event in Oedipus’ life, from his birth to his final action in the play.

Questions on the End of The Metamorphosis

Provide evidence that Gregor is actually an insect.
Provide evidence that Gregor is still human.
In what ways might the metamorphosis be gradual?
What other changes take place during the novella?
Do any other characters go through changes?
What is the significance of the final paragraph (55)?

The Metamorphosis

Make two columns on a page in your notebook.  On the left side, write down events that happen in the book.  On the right side, write down how Gregor responds to those events and what his responses say about him.

Also, make sure you have your answers to the following questions:

1. What do we know about Gregor?  (Both before and after the metamorphosis)
2. What has happened in the plot?

Writing About Short Stories

Here is the essay topic we worked on today and yesterday:

For one of the short stories you already read, write a brief (about 350 words) response to the following prompt:
How is the story you chose an effective short story?
First, define what makes a “good” short story.
Then, explain how the story you chose meets those criteria.
Make sure you quote the text in order to support your argument.
Do not forget to mention the title and author of the story.

Creative Response to Short Stories

Come up with a creative response to one of the stories you have already read.

You might do something such as:

Write an alternate ending to the story.

Create found poems out of source text from the story.

Write a screenplay version of a scene.

Reading Habits Survey

Do you think reading is a valuable activity?  Why or why not?
What do you read (in general– for school, for work, for self-improvement, etc.)?
Do you like to read?
If you used to read regularly but stopped, when did you stop?  Why?
Do you make sure you have time to read for your own enjoyment?  Why or why not? 
If you do read for enjoyment, what do you usually read?  Books (If so, what genres?)? Online content?  Newspaper articles?
What was the last book you read that was not assigned for school?
Approximately how many books do you read in a year?
What are you reading now?