Unit 5:

Europe II –

Unit Overview

ENG10A

Download the Unit Test Study Guide

from the Class Website

What you need to know

Unit Objectives

– You will continue to read selections

that express some of the hopes,

disappointments, and fears of the

writers and of the citizens of the

European states.

– You will read a fable, short stories,

one short story adapted from a play,

and poetry from European writers.

Texts and Authors– "The Black Sheep” by Italo Calvino

– "The Balek Scales“ by Heinrich Böll

– "A Contribution to Statistics“by WislawaSzymborska

– “And Yet the Books” by Czeslaw Milosz

– "Alone“by Tomas Tranströmer

– "The Nobel Prize““ by Boris Pasternak

– "The First Frost“ by Andrei Voznesensky

– "Forbidden Fruit“by Fazil Iskander

Unit Assignments

– For this unit please focus on the readings and activities within the lessons.

– There will be Quick Checks for vocabulary and grammar and a quiz based upon

the readings.

– The unit test is heavy with serval questions regarding the readings and its

elements.

– Portfolio (U5L4 & L11) – DROPPED

– It will still show up in your lessons, but know that you are NOT doing the portfolio.

Instead, focus on redoing any portfolios from U2 or U3.

The Literature of Italy

– “The Black Sheep” by Italo Calvino, pages 203–205

– An honest man moves into a town of thieves. Before his arrival, “nobody was rich and nobody was poor” because everyone stole from everyone else. However, the honest man’s refusal to steal disrupts this equitable social system. The thieves become divided into rich and poor classes, while the honest man dies of hunger.

– The story uses allegory, hyperbole, and satire as literary techniques to emphasize the author’s point of view and to give the reader an opportunity to think about deeper meanings in the tale.

– Be able to identify the narrator

– Be able to identify the type of conflict portrayed

– Man vs. Man; Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Self

The Literature of Germany

– “The Balek Scales” by Heinrich Böll, pages 207–215

– The narrator’s grandfather lived in a feudal village, where the accuracy of the scale the Baleks—the overlords—used to weigh their purchases from the villagers went unquestioned for generations. When young Franz Brücher proves the scale weighs short, the village revolts. Armed men put down their attempt to get justice, and the Brüchershave to leave the village.

– Heinrich Böll points out economic injustice and the toll it takes on hearts and minds.

– As a young man, Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) was conscripted as a German soldier during World War II. He was later taken as a POW by the Americans. Horrified both by war and Nazism, Böll faced the “frightful fate of being a soldier and having to wish that the war might be lost.”

– Be able to identify the speaker

The Literature of Poland

– “A Contribution to Statistics” by Wislawa Szymborska, pages 224–226

– The poet catalogs several ways that people are different. After providing several statistics about how many people out of a hundred will be self-assured, helpful, or cruel, she contrasts these varying numbers with one final statistic: one hundred out of one hundred are mortal.

– “There are two types of people—those who divide people into types and those who don’t.”

– The poet provides several statistics about how many people out of a hundred will be self-assured, helpful, or cruel. In which categories do you fall?

– Quiz – Short Response U5L3 - What does the author achieve by mixing exact and approximate numbers in "A Contribution to Statistics?“

– Examples of exact numbers include “fifty-two” and “seventy-seven.” Examples of approximate numbers include “four, well maybe five” and “sixty, give or take a few.” Perhaps the poet is mocking professional statisticians who present hard numbers to represent things that can’t really be defined, like emotions. The exact numbers give the poem an authoritarian tone while the approximate numbers give the impression that nothing can really be too certain.

The Literature of Poland, cont’d.

– “And Yet the Books” by Czeslaw Milosz, pages 227–228

– The speaker reflects that books will survive in spite of barbaric “tribes on the march”

that try to destroy them. Even if they are burned, the ideas on their pages are more

durable than the people who create them. Do you agree?

– What is a key theme in this poem?

– One key theme is that books are timeless.

The Literature of SWEDEN

– "Alone“ by Tomas Tranströmer, pages 248–249

– The first section of the poem describes a near-fatal auto accident. The second section

recounts the speaker’s thoughts during a long solitary walk. The two are united by

the speaker’s sense of being one individual among many and his realization that

solitude is a necessary condition for him.

– Tomas Tranströmer (1931– ) is both a poet and a psychologist. As a psychologist, he

has worked with young offenders, the disabled, convicts, and drug addicts. He is

known for his experimental verse forms and unusual images.

The Literature of RUSSIA

– "The Nobel Prize“ by Boris Pasternak, pages 251–252

– Lyric Poetry - the author speaks directly to the audience about his feelings,

thoughts, and perceptions on a subject.

– After the speaker’s work gains international recognition, he feels hunted by those

who brand him a wrongdoer for the way he writes about his country. But even as he

recognizes their malice, he hopes that good will triumph.

The Literature of RUSSIA

– "First Frost“ by Andrei Voznesensky, page 253

– The poet compares the “first frost” of a young girl’s disappointment to the first frost

of winter.

– Author uses imagery to express the theme. The reader is quickly drawn in because

of Voznesensky’s use of alliteration and imagery.

The Literature of RUSSIA

– ”Forbidden Fruit” by Fazil Iskander, pages, 254–263

– A young Muslim finds that the ban on eating pork makes it seem intensely

desirable, yet he refuses to indulge his longing for this “forbidden fruit.” When his

sister eats pork at a neighbor’s, he uses his knowledge of her transgression to

torment her. But when, overcome by a sense of injustice, he reveals her offense, he

learns that treachery is a worse sin than breaking the taboo.

– Be able to identify the speaker's tone

– Be able to identify the type of conflict portrayed

– Man vs. Man; Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Self

Looking ahead…

– Next LiveLesson

– October 31st @ 11:00am – U5 Test Review

– November 7th @ 11:00am – U6 Overview

– November 14th @ 11:00am – U6 Test Review

– Lesson Completion - 61% overall

– Alarms - Make sure you are staying out of alarm

– Contacts: call a teacher (me!)

– Attendance: get 28 hours a week and enter daily

– Participation: go do a lesson!