Remember what ideas we discussed on Friday about the similarities between our lives and the lives of characters in literary works. With these thoughts in mind, explain (in one paragraph) what lessons literature can teach us? What do works like The Crucible reveal about the patterns of the human experience. 

This is due Wednesday, August 31. Thank you. 

Response of the Week 2

Due: August 24

This is a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. She is a famous, African-American poet. This poem is not a simple one, so don’t be frustrated if you have to read it a few times before understanding it, and even then, some of it may still not make perfect sense. We will also spend time discussing the poem in class.

Directions: Read the poem “do not be afraid of no” by Gwendolyn Brooks and complete the following activities. (1) Choose one word you do not know and try to guess its meaning based on the context of the line then (2) give its real definition. (3) Pick one line you either loved, hated, or were confused by and try to explain what you think it means. (4) Finally, pay close attention to the following lines “To say yes is to die /A lot or a little” and “It is brave to be involved, /

To be not fearful to be unresolved.” Decide how these lines relate to The Crucible and the idea of living a lie or standing up for the truth.

“do not be afraid of no”

By Gwendolyn Brooks

“Do not b e afraid of no,
Who has so far so very far to go”:

New caution to occur
To one whose inner scream set her to cede, for softer lapping and smooth fur!

Whose esoteric need
Was merely to avoid the nettle, to not-bleed.

Stupid, like a street
That beats into a dead end and dies there, with nothing left to reprimand or meet.

And like a candle fixed
Against dismay and countershine of mixed

Wild and sun. And like
A flying furniture, or bird with lattice wing; or gaunt thing, a-stammer down a nightmare neon people with condor, hawk and shrike.

To say yes is to die
A lot or a little. The dead wear capably their wry

Enameled emblems. They smell.
But that and that they do not altogether yell is all that we know well.

It is brave to be involved,
To be not fearful to be unresolved.

Her new wish was to smile
When answers took no airships, walked a while.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/opinion/you-are-a-suspect.html


Click on this link and read the article. This was published in The New York Times one year after the September 11 attacks. It discusses the Homeland Security Act and the Patriot Act. These acts, passed by the government, took away some liberties to protect safety. 

Decide if you agree with the author that this power is too much and that our government does not need to monitor us in order to protect us. In addition, decide how this relates to the theme of The Crucible. You may have to make a best guess depending on how far along in the play we are when you decide to post. And please respond/agree/disagree with those students who have posted before you.

Your comment (of appropriate size - based on guidelines given in class) is due by August 16.