Monday

What do you know about Henry David Thoreau?

Today we are going to start Walden

During the reading of this book we will also be reading "Civil Disobedience" "Self-Reliance" by Emerson, and a few other essays. You will also be keeping a dialectical journal. First we need to discuss "Self-Respect" by Joan Didion.
 

1st - Themes: 

Self-Reliance

Living Simply
Social Criticism
Technology 

Materialism

Life, Consciousness and Existence

The interconnection of all things

Society and class structure

Visions of America

Technology/Modernization

How to live one’s life

Work vs. Enjoying Life

Liberation from traditional economic systems
Solitude
Self-Improvement
Practical and Formal Education
Nature as Eternal Guide and Teacher

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

"To be awake is to be alive."

Live your life according to your convictions; have the courage to be different, regardless of what others say.

Living "simply" frees you of the worry about material possessions and rewards you with more time for what really counts.

Chapter 1 - ECONOMY

DEFINITION (from dictionary.com)
- thrifty management; frugality in expenditure or consumption of money materials
- the management of the resources of a community
- the prosperity or earnings of a place

Questions:
What is real wealth?
What are the necessities of life?
Do luxuries corrupt?  Humans work their entire lives for luxuries.
What does it mean to be philanthropic?

Discuss Thoreau's house?

Quotes: "Cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately, or in the long run."

Example - house that costs $800 and which takes ten to fifteen years to pay off

"But lo! men have become the tools of their tools."

"Those things for which the most money is demanded are never the things which the student most wants.  Tuition, for instance, is an important item in the term bill, while for the far more valuable education which he gets by associating with the most cultivated of his contemporaries no charge is made."

Transportation - "the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot."  The fare of a train is almost a day's wages.

"This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it."

 ESSAY QUESTION:

As describe in Walden what is Thoreau's assessment of American Culture (what is wrong with it)?  Using specific evidence from the text discuss and outline his argument.  Then respond to it.  Do you agree or disagree with his insights? 

This issue should cover the entire book - not just "Economy" - meaning you should trace his argument chapter - by - chapter also (think Structure), and use specific evidence from various section of the text.  Note, this essays needs to be at least five pages.  It can be longer.

NOTE- this is due of FRIDAY.  You will have most of the week to work on it in class. 

As far as structure goes, think about the following the cycle of a year (Summer - Spring), and find parallels (Pond in Summer vs Pond in Winter).  These parallels will have interrelated ideas or a return or expansion on an ideal.  Further think about the dialectical structure in which pairs of chapters present thematic counterpoints to each other (e.g. "Reading" vs. "Sounds," "Solitude" vs. "Visitors").


You should also look at the Thoreau's continue assessment of American or Human culture.  It is in all chapters - through, it is more subtle in most (examples will be shown below).

Bill McKibben's focus on Thoreau's practical advice for living, however, calls our attention to another structure in which the long opening chapter, "Economy," provides a diagnosis of what is wrong with American life: materialism. The body of the book then presents a cure for the disease of materialism: striving for purity and simplicity as exemplified by Thoreau's own experience and by the symbolic purity of Walden Pond. The final chapter presents Thoreau's optimistic prognosis that each individual reader has the potential to vastly improve his or her life by shifting priorities.

 

FINNEGAN'S WAKE

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend
of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to
Howth Castle and Environs.
Sir Tristram, violer d'amores, fr'over the short sea, had passen-
core rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy
isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor
had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse
to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper
all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to
tauftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a
kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all's fair in
vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a
peck of pa's malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory
end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.
The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur-
nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later
on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The great fall of the
offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan,
erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends
an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes:
and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park
where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev-
linsfirst loved livvy. DIALECTICAL JOURNALS/ANALYSIS ESSAYS  Effective students have a habit of taking notes as they read. This note-taking can several forms: annotation, post it notes, character lists, idea clusters, and many others. One of the most effective strategies is called a dialectical journal. The word “dialectical” has numerous meanings, but the one most pertinent is the “art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion” or reworded “The art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving question and answer.” As you read, you are forming an opinion about what you are reading (or at least you are SUPPOSED to be forming an opinion). That opinion, however, needs to be based on the text – not just a feeling. Therefore, all of your opinions need to be based on the text. The procedure is as follows: 1. Either in your textbook or in a notebook and draw a line down the center of each page of the notebook. NOTE: I expect you to publish these journal entries nightly and number them as you go. 2. As you read, pay close attention to the text. 3. Whenever you encounter something of interest (this could be anything from an interesting turn of phrase to a character note), write down the word/phrase in the LEFT HAND COLUMN making sure that you NOTE THE PAGE NUMBER. If the phrase is especially long just write the first few words, use an ellipsis, then write the last few words. 4. In the RIGHT HAND COLUMN, WRITE YOUR OBSEVRATIONS ABOUT THE TEXT you noted in the left-hand column. This is where you need to interact in detail with the text. Make sure that your observations are THOROUGH, INSIGHTFUL, and FOCUSED CLEARLY ON THE TEXT. Note, most of you will record these on google docs and list the quotation followed by your interpretation.  Your analysis essay will be on Walden - make sure you read closely and publish your dialectical journals daily. Examples of dialectical journals: Moby-Dick: Ch. 107 Chapter 107: The Carpenter "If he did not have a common soul in him, he had a subtle something that somehow anoalously did its duty." Most of Melville's novel has seemed dedicated to redefining religion and religious practices. Many allusions have been made to Jesus and many characters display characteristics that seem representative of Jesus- Pequod launching on his birthday, Moby-Dick's seeming rebirth and immortality, Ishmael's lack of parental information, Queequeg's 'miracles' and heroic saviors, and Ahab's sense of higher power. This chapter, in a sense, define's what Ishmael percieve's Jesus (the greatest carpenter) to be. A humble man who was 'no duplicate', and simply followed out his orders and purpose willingly and succesfully. Hey, perhaps every character in Moby-Dick corresponds to a character from the bible? Melville did call this a 'wicked text'...did he rewrite- maybe even mock- the holy book? “We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb.” Page 36 This relates to our current world: with the way we are using up our natural resources prices now are lowering (such as gas in the lower 48 reach below 2 dollars) however, the next generation will have to deal with outrageous prices and depleted oil fields. Also, global warming is another issue that the previous generation gave us and we will pass on to the next generation. “Who bolsters you? Are you one of the ninety-seven who fail? Or of the three who succeed?.......where there is no house and no houskeeper” page 37 Thoreau is again referring to the uselessness of extravagance. Do the expensive "baubles" or decorations come at the expense of the many poor? He says there is no beauty in things man made that don't fulfill the most basic needs. Thoreau questions whether anything in a home is beautiful if the foundation of the house is not made from honest labor and toil.