Class 4

EWRT 1B

AGENDAPresentation: Terms Teams and PointsAuthor Lecture: Langston HughesQHQ Discussion: Racial Passing: "Passing" and "Passing”

Lecture: Writing a Summary and Paraphrasing Poetry

In-class writing: Summary; paraphrase

Terms 19. Characterization: the creation of the image of imaginary

persons in drama, narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot and is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters’ thoughts or words about him.

20. Dialogue: is a conversation, or a literary work in the form of a conversation, that is often used to reveal characters and to advance the plot. Also, it is the lines spoken by a character in a play, essay, story, or novel.

21. Epistle: a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication. Also (usually initial capital letter ) one of the apostolic letters in the new testament or ( often initial capital letter ) an extract, usually from one of the Epistles of the New Testament, forming part of the Eucharistic service in certain churches.

22. Irony: a dryly humorous or lightly sarcastic figure of speech in which the literal meaning of a word or statement is the opposite of that intended. In literature, it is the technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposed to what is actually stated. Often, only the context of the statement leads the reader to understand it is ironic. Irony makes use of hyperbole, sarcasm, satire, and understatement.

There are four types of irony:

• Verbal irony as defined by Cicero: “Irony is the saying of one thing and meaning another,” or Socrates: ”when one adopts another’s point of view in order to reveal that person’s weaknesses and eventually to ridicule him.”

• Situational irony, such as when a pickpocket gets his own pockets picked

• Dramatic irony, such as when Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father

• Rhetorical irony, such as that of the innocent narrator in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn

23. Literal: pertaining to a letter of the alphabet. More typically, it means “based on what is actually written or expressed.” A literal interpretation gives an exact rendering— word for word— taking words in their usual or primary sense. It is also used to describe thinking which is unimaginative or matter of fact.

24. Literature: writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas and concerns of universal and apparently permanent interest, are essential features. While applied to any kind of printed material, such as circulars, leaflets, and handbills, there are some who feel it is more correctly reserved for prose and verse of acknowledged excellence, such as George Eliot’s works. The term connotes superior qualities.

25. Paraphrase: (also called rewording) – the restatement of a passage giving the meaning in another form. This usually involves expanding the original text so as to make it clear.

2. The teams will remain the same through the discussion, reading, and workshops of one essay.

3. You must change at least 50% of your team after each essay is completed.

4. You may never be on a team with the same person more than twice.

5. You may never have a new team comprised of more than 50% of any prior team.

1. We will often use teams to earn participation points. Your teams can be made up of 3 or 4 people.

Points will be earned for correct answers to questions, meaningful contributions to the discussion, and the willingness to share your work. Each team will track their own points, but cheating leads to death (or loss of 25 participation points).

Answers, comments, and questions must be posed in a manner that promotes learning. Those who speak out of turn or with maliciousness will not receive points for their teams.

At the end of each class, you will turn in a point sheet with the names of everyone in your group and your accumulated points for the day. It is your responsibility to make the sheet, track the points, and turn it in.

Sit near your team members in class to facilitate ease of group discussions

Essay #2Teams

Get into groups of three or four. (1-2 minutes)

If you can’t find a group, please raise your hand.

Once your group is established, choose one person to be the keeper of the points. Write down members’

names Turn in your sheet at

the end of the class period.

In your groups: 5 minutesDiscuss the reading for today. Review the QHQs that you wrote.

LANGSTON HUGHES 1902-1967One of the founders of the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Few authors of the twentieth century are more significant than Langston Hughes. He is assured his status by his many contributions to literature.

• The length of his career: 1921-1967• The variety of his output: articles, poems, short stories,

dramas, novels, and history texts.• His influence on three generations of African American

writers: from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights Movement

• His concern for the “ordinary” African American: The subject of his work

• His introduction of the jazz idiom: the quality of black colloquial speech and the rhythms of jazz and the blues.

During his long career Hughes was harshly criticized by blacks and whites. Because he left no single masterwork, such as Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) or Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940), and because he consciously wrote in the common idiom of the people, academic interest in him grew only slowly. The importance of his influence on several generations of African American authors is, however, indisputable and widely acknowledged.

QHQ Discussion: Racial Passing: "Passing" and "Passing”

“Passing” The Short Story

Q. Why doesn’t Jack mind being “white”? Q. Jack says he doesn’t mind being white. Does he mind being black? Q. Why do people who pass as white believe that the “white world” is a good

place to be? Q. Now that Jack has succeeded in life, having his German girlfriend and

having a job and moving up to a better pay, why doesn’t he stand up for himself and have pride of being half African American?

Q: “Does Jack like the way White people treat Blacks?” Q. Is living the passing life really worth giving up your customs and family? Q: Does Jack understand what his mother did for him by pushing him away

and does he understand how much pain she must be going through? Q. Would this mean Jack is ashamed of his mother and siblings? Q:Is Jack losing his identity by denying his African American side? Q. Is [Jack] really a free man? Q. Is jack unhappy or guilty about hidden his real identity?

Consequences Q. Does Jack regret passing as a white man? Q: What is going to happen when people (his girlfriend, work, etc.) actually find out

Jack’s true “identity”? Q. How could someone (Jack) not acknowledge his family and pretend to be

something he is not, and still be okay with himself? Q: How has being a privileged white man changed [Jack’s] viewpoint about his

siblings? Q. What kind of emotions do Jack’s siblings, Charlie and Gladys, most likely have for

Jack because they are not able to pass as “white”? Why? Q: How could Jack not understand his family’s dismay?

Q. How can jack claim he is free when he stated that he is going to deny his kids if they are born dark?

Would his mother continue to stand by him if he denied his own children? Q. Has passing as a white man made Jack just as bad as those he deceives? Q. How are people who pass able to stay sane and live a comfortable life knowing

it’s a lie? Q. Is losing part of your identity worth it?

Q. What is the purpose for Jack to write this letter to his mother? Q: Is there any regret in the way Jack wrote to his mother? Q: Despite receiving the privileges and “passing,” would Jack reconsider

changing his life for his mother Q: What would his mother have to say about this? Q. How would Jack’s mother would respond to this letter? Q: Did she avoid him because of the shame he would get or indifference

towards her son leaving the family? Q: How can Jack’s mother approve/encourage of him “passing” as a white

person? Q: Should the mother be mad for being stuck in Harlem?

Jack’s Poor Mother

What does this mean?

Q: What did his girl mean when she [said] “darkies are so graceful and gay?”

Q. Jack makes the comment that he is going to “live white” in comparison to live life as a white man. What does Jack mean by the phrase “live white”?

Q: What do you think Jack meant when he said “I’m free, Ma I’m free!”?

Q: Why does the author call his girlfriend “weakness” in the last paragraph?

Q. What must it feel like to deny one’s own family in order to succeed? Q :Does this happen today in 2013? Are people today willing to deny there

background to be treated as a part of the majority race? Q: The weight of playing race charades is heavy, is it really worth to lose ones

identity in the process? Q: In life, is family more important or getting ahead in society’?

Q. To what extent is it okay for people who were able to pass as white to ignore their own family and race?

Q. Do the perks of passing for white outweigh the emotional loss and destruction of Jack’s family ties?

Q. Why is passing for being white considered so great and not showing your true colors of who you really are can degrade you as a person?

Q. Q. Is it acceptable to be living life as a lie? Q. Is it right to take up a new identity in order to better our own lives? Do we

as humans have a right to disregard those that love us and supported us for some many years as we grew older only because we have grown tired of fighting for what is just? When is it okay to force the sacrifice of ones relationship, especially that of a mothers, in order to pursue our own aspirations?

Broader Inquiries about social policy, perspective, and choice.

On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem

when the air is one interminable ball game

and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns

from the Saints of God in Christ

on account of the Dodgers on the radio,

on sunny Sunday afternoons

when the kids look all new

and far too clean to stay that way,

and Harlem has its

washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out,

the ones who’ve crossed the line

to live downtown

miss you,

Harlem of the bitter dream

since their dream has

come true.

“Passing” By Langston Hughes

Q: What does the ballgame have to do with the Grandma? Q. Why the Dodgers if they are on the west coast and Harlem is on

the east coast? Q: What exactly makes the people who’ve passed miss Harlem when

their “dreams” have already come true? Q: Is it more that the people who have passed miss Harlem or the

comfort of their true identities in Harlem? Q. Why on a ‘Sunday sunny afternoon’ do they miss you? why not

relish in there forever lingering memories and bring fond memories of joy to yourself?

Q: Why not marry have a wonderful life and continue to provide for both your families?

Q: Why does he find such fond memories in the constant “Ball Game” of air and the rest of the “bitter dream” that seems to have such terrible vibes and habits.

Q. Is there a connection between the two writings?

“Passing”: The Poem

How to Paraphrase A Paraphrase is a restatement of a passage giving the meaning in another

form. This usually involves expanding the original text so as to make it clear. A paraphrase will have none of the beauty or effectiveness of the original. It

merely aims, in its prosy way, to spell out the literal meaning. It will not substitute for the original, then, but will help us appreciate the compactness and complexity of many poems.

Write in prose, not verse (in prose the lines go all the way to right margin). The line breaks of the original are irrelevant in paraphrasing.

Write modern prose, rearranging word order and sentence structure as necessary. As far as possible, within the limits of commonsense, avoid using the words of the original. Finding new words to express the meaning is a test of what you are understanding.

Write coherent syntax, imitating that of the original if you can do so with ease, otherwise breaking it down into easier sentence forms.

Write in the same grammatical person and tense as the original. If the original is in the first person, as many poems are, so must the paraphrase be.

Expand what is condensed.

Spell out explicitly what the original implies or conveys by hints. It follows that a paraphrase will normally be longer than the original.

Spell out explicitly all the possible meanings if the original is ambiguous (saying two or more things at once), as many poems are.

Use square brackets to mark off any additional elements you find it necessary to insert for the coherence of the meaning. The brackets will show that these bits are editorial -- contributed by you for the sake of clarity but not strictly "said" in the original. An example might be some implied transitional phrase or even an implied thought that occurs to the speaker causing a change in tone or feeling.

I, Too, Sing America

by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

 

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

 

I, too, am America.

Paraphrased Text

I am an American.

Although the color of my skin may be different from yours, I am like the rest of my fellowmen. Now I am separated from whites, but I [and my people] are gaining strength.

Soon, I [we] will join the rest of America, and my [our] rights will assure us that we are not excluded from the fruits of the country.

My darker complexion makes me no less beautiful than everybody else, which should make whites feel sorry for treating me like less than the average individual.

I am like the rest of you.

On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem when the air is one interminable ball game and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns from the Saints of God in Christ on account of the Dodgers on the radio, on sunny Sunday afternoons when the kids look all new and far too clean to stay that way, and Harlem has its washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out, the ones who’ve crossed the line to live downtown miss you, Harlem of the bitter dream since their dream has come true.

“Passing” By Langston Hughes

Take a few minutes to paraphrase this poem

The SummaryA summary is condensed version of a larger reading.  A summary is not a rewrite of the original piece and does not have to be long nor should it be long.  To write a summary, use your own words to briefly express the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read.   Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the basic ideas of the original reading.  What was it about and what did the author want to communicate? 

While reading the original work, take note of what or who is the focus and ask the usual questions that reporters use: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?  Using these questions to examine what you are reading can help you to write the summary.

Always read the introductory paragraph thoughtfully and look for a thesis statement.  Finding the thesis statement is like finding a key to a locked door.  Frequently, however, the thesis, or central idea, is implied or suggested.  Thus, you will have to work harder to figure out what the author wants readers to understand. Use any hints that may shed light on the meaning of the piece: pay attention to the title and any headings and to the opening and closing lines of paragraphs.

In writing the summary, let your reader know the piece that you are summarizing. Identify the title, author and source of the piece. You may want to use this formula:

In "Title of the Piece" (source and date of piece), author shows/offers/suggests that: central idea of the piece. 

Remember:

• Do not rewrite the original piece.• Keep your summary short.• Use your own wording.• Refer to the central and main ideas of the

original piece.• Read with who, what, when, where, why and

how questions in mind.

In the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” author James Thurber humorously presents a character who fantasizes about himself as a hero enduring incredibly challenging circumstances. In his real life, Walter Mitty lives an ordinary, plain life; he is a husband under the control of an overbearing, critical wife.  Thurber uses lively dialogue to give readers an understanding of Mitty's character. The story takes place over a period of about twenty minutes; during this brief time, Mitty drives his wife to the hairdresser and runs errands that his wife has given him while he waits for her. In between his worrying that he is not doing what she wants him to do, he daydreams about himself as a great surgeon, brilliant repair technician, expert marksman, and brave military captain. This story shows that fantasy is often a good alternative to reality.

Here is a sample summary:

“Passing” the Short Story

By Langston Hughes

Start your summary of the story

• Reading: Kennedy "Racial Passing" Posted under "Secondary Sources."

• Post #5: Post summary of "Passing" and paraphrase of "Passing."

• Studying: Terms• Post #6: Discuss one story from Kennedy's

article that particularly spoke to you. How did it influence you in your thinking about passing?

HOMEWORK