The Hero's Journey

Here are some links that will give you the steps of The Hero's Journey, an idea developed by Joseph Campbell and presented to you by Mr. Gamgemi.

This link shows the journey in a picture form.

This link is quite creative. You can literary journey all over the site with your backpack, learning as you traverse link to link.

Mr. G and I discussed how even a lighthearted simple tale like Updike's A & P follows this journey. I don't know how much of a hero Sammy is by the end of the story, but at least he's out of the bow tie and starched white shirt, maybe looking for another Queenie to rescue.

Breaking Away

• After I ended the test review the other day with some comments on Life is Beautiful, one of your classmates remarked, "I love that movie. I love Italians. They're so happy." Trying to be a more "serious" English teacher (you know, like the ones who make it their mission to cure the incurable romantics of the world), I replied, "Have you ever seen the movie Breaking Away?" After her answer in the negative, I gave a capsule summary, focusing on the Hoosier teenager who idolizes the Cinzano Italian bicycle team and who assumes the personality of an Italian himself. He's emotional and romantic and speaks American with a cheesy Italian accente and eats linguini and serenades some Indiana University co-ed who is way out of his league, except she falls for his fake Italian exchange student line. Maybe that will get you incurable romantics to watch the film, even though it's much more than that.
  
  Made and set in 1979 rural Indiana, it's about four newly graduated high school seniors who have to make some serious decisions in their lives. College? Work? Marriage? Professional cyclist? Just the kinds of decisions you are making now (any aspiring cyclists out there?). It's provides realistic and intesting dialogue, fine acting, and a climactic scene that's both predictable and surprising.
  
  And, for all of you "serious" people out there, the Italians in the movie are unlike the lovable Benignis and Fiorellis of the world, the ones who really don't exist anywhere except in the movies, or in their own imaginary worlds. Despite its realism, I predict you'll still get caught up in the lives of four ordinary boys and carried away by the romantic music, which includes some some classical opera cuts from Flotaw, Mozart, Mendelsohn, and Rossini. Here's a line you're bound to like when you hear it, from the amusing character named Cyril, played by a young Daniel Stern (who'd go on to be the "other" Wet Bendit in Home Alone): "I was sure I was going to get that scholarship. My dad of course was sure I wasn't. When I didn't, he was real understanding, you know. He loves to do that. He loves to be understanding when I fail. " That's good old teenage cynicism spoken like an adult, not some fool.
• Rent this film and watch it with the family or friends over the holidays. This is a solid PG rated throwback flick. There may be a stray curse thrown in somewhere, but for the most part, the movie is as pure and simple as an old fashioned Indiana jumpshot. Swish.

Testivus For the Restivus

Sorry about the bad Seinfeld pun, but our celebration of the holidays will not begin until we complete our school duties.

Read the classic Christmas story, The Gift of the Magi, in preparation for your test next Monday. Click here to follow the link to the text. You might want to print it out.

Focus on the point of view, the author's writing style (diction, sentence structure, narrative "tricks"), and the religious symbolism. Though the story is simple, some words might require a trip to the dictionary (or a click on the hyperlinks).

Here is the rest of the test review. E-mail me at fiospartan@aol.com if you have any questions.

Know definitions, examples, advantages of these points of view:
Interior monologue
First person subjective
First person detached autobiography
Third person—single character omniscient
Third person—dual character omniscient
Third person—multi character omniscient
Third person—objective (no character POV)

The Stone Boy
Review notes on handout. Focus especially on description.
Description and setting notes from class
Handout from Usher and Of Mice and Men
The Portable Phonograph—examples of concrete details, sensory images, figures of speech, richly connotative words;
Restorative power of music—The Portable Phonograph (DeBussy), Shawshank (Mozart), Life is Beautiful (Offenbach)
Important author notes— Walter Van Tilburgh Clark, Katherine Anne Porter, Cynthia Ozich, Roberto Benigni, Dorothy Parker, Shirley Jackson, O. Henry
The Shawl— examples of concrete details, sensory images, figures of speech, richly connotative words
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall—third person, single character POV--some use of stream of consciousness
A Telephone Call—interior monologue by Dorothy Parker
A & P—first person subjective, verisimilitude of character (notes)
The Lottery—third person, objective (no character POV)
The Gift of the Magi—third person, (single character POV)
Storytelling "tricks", religious symbolism, point of view, diction

Life is Beautiful—look over handout for Benigni notes and be able to write about one of the following:

Linguistic (language) humor
Cleverly foreshadowed gags
Mockery of Aryan Supremacy
The Power of Imagination—Making Life a Game
Cheapening the Holocaust?

Winter Storm Activity

There are plenty of things that you will certainly hear when a snowstorm is predicted, but only one thing is for certain. No one knows exactly how much of the frosted flakes are going to fall. And that makes the pre-storm talk even more exciting.

At school, principals fret over cancellations and postponements, coaches over practices and games. Teachers give snow plans to their students in case school is cancelled; inevitably, students, so caught up in the snow spirit, don't bother to complete them. After all, a day off is a day OFF.

Watching the weather forecasts, you'll hear familiar language like the cold air is in place, rain/snow line, probability of precipitation, snow event, nor'easter, weather advisory, storm watch, storm warning, wind chill, black ice, etc. You'll witness metereologists performing elementary school science experiments like sticking rulers into the ground to measure snow depths or sliding in the street to show you the icy road conditions. Etc. You'll watch fascinating scenes at the local supermarket of people buying eggs, bread, milk, and toilet paper (these items are called storm staples, by the way). You'll learn about the jobs of the intrepid State D.O.T. Plow Kings--their use of brine, calcium chloride, their plowing methods, their long hours on the roads, their pride in their jobs, saying they'll do whatever it takes, their pleas for drivers to stay off the roads until they've cleared them, etc.

Etc. Does anyone find these storm reports remotely interesting? If you do, then you really NEED a vacation. Take a week.

If you don't . . . then . . . during the next major storm when the rest of the immediate world shuts down watching their TVs and finds ingenious ways to use up all of that milk, eggs, and bread (the toilet paper doesn't have an expiration date) . . . treat yourself to a long, aimless walk to nowhere. Only begin to return home when you sense you're enjoying yourself too much or getting just a tad too cold, whatever comes first. That will make the walk home easier, too, knowing that there awaits hot chocolate, a cozy living room, a good book, or some friendly conversation. If these items are in short supply, then treat yourself to a maximum of five minutes of Special Storm Coverage. Watching the wackos will provide proof that your walk in a winter wonderland, really, wasn't worthless at all.

Writing Your Short Story

Here are the sites that you should check out to help you with writing your short story. I'll provide some guidelines and deadlines soon, but for now, check out these sites that will get you started. Remember, do some thinking and planning BEFORE you begin to write. Whatever research or writing that you do to plan for your short story can be used for your second quarter journal assignments.

Click on these links.

Ten Tips for Novice Writers (Seton Hill University)

Write 101. com

Writing a Short Story