Images for Final Project

Veteran in a New Field, Winslow Homer (1865)

Hoe Culture, Dorothea Lange (1936)

The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Three Days of Rain: Week One

About Three Days of Rain, Richard Greenberg states: "no gun is taken out; nobody ends up dead in the street." What, then, does Act 1 suggest is at stake? What problems are unresolved? What questions are left for Act 2 -- or the readers -- to resolve?

Word Work So Far: April 27

aesthetic (adj) alacrity (n) anecdote (n) annotate (v) antidote (n) apathy (n) ascetic (n) or (adj) conjecture (n) or (v) deviate (v) devious (adj) discreet (adj) discrete (adj) disparage (v) eccentric (adj) enigma (n) epiphany (n) expedite (v) extricate (v) fortuitous (adj) hyperbole (n)

infer (v) imply (v) jovial (adj) kindle (v) obscure (adj) paradigm (n) paradox (n) recrimination (n) repudiate (v) reticent (adj) resilient (adj) sanguine (adj) scrutinize (v) squander (v) succinct (adj) terse (adj) unique (adj)

You are responsible for being able to demonstrate the meanings of the words in above by writing sentences:

-- using a semicolon to separate two dependent clauses

-- beginning with a prepositional phrase

-- beginning with a dependent clause

-- beginning with a sequence of dependent clauses

-- including an interrupting modifier set off by dashes between the subject and verb

-- using a colon to introduce items in a list

-- using a colon in which the latter part amplifies or specifies the first part

-- phrased as questions

Half Hour Writing Hour: The Language of Inference

Here is the handout on good moves to make when handling quotations.

Death of a Salesman, Week 2

One definition of "tragedy" describes it as "a form of literature that depicts the downfall of the leading character whose life, its disastrous end notwithstanding, represents something significant" (from Edward Quinn's Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Checkmark 1999).

Does the story of Willy Loman fit this definition? What's so significant about him or his life? Is Willy's failure to achieve the American Dream his tragedy?

Consider any and all of these questions in your entries. The posting period will end at class time on Monday, April 5.

Death of a Salesman, Week 1

This week, as we read Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, consider the role of societal pressure in the play and in your life. What effect does living in mid-twentieth century society have on Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy? How does each one of them respond to those pressures? Without revealing too many personal details - this blog is not meant to be like a group therapy session - discuss how the pressures the Lomans feel are similar to or different from pressures you face (as a student, as an artist).

Please comment before class time on Monday, March 29.

Timeline for Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman makes frequent references and leaps to the past. In order to keep track of the lives of the characters, each class will collaborate on a timeline documenting significant life events of the play's main characters, the Lomans in particular. Please strive to produce clear and accurate entries following the example given. I have entered information for 1949 (the present). Please only make entries for other years.

A Block Timeline | B Block Timeline | C Block Timeline