1.Literary Analysis Discussion Topic- Due 9/29/21 Initial Post: First, read the assignment, which is presented in detail under the heading Essay 1: Literary Analysis in the Week 4 link. Choose which topic you wish to write about and submit your initial thoughts in a paragraph or two for the benefit of receiving some feedback before you begin your final draft. Be as specific as you can. What are your challenges in writing the essay? Peer Response: The best early response to a work in progress is to say what you like about what you've read and what you'd like to hear more of. When we tell a writer what we like, we're letting him or her know what works. When we tell a writer what we'd like to hear more of, we're giving him or her an idea of something to add to the next draft of the essay. Is there anything you can add to what your peer is writing about? Perhaps another example in a text to strengthen your classmate's proof that what he or she is saying is accurate? Due Sunday, but the sooner the better. Please write your response as soon as possible after submitting your own comments about the essay you are writing. The sooner you can respond to a classmate, the more time you will provide for him or her to think about what you wrote and write a better essay by Sunday. The more time you will have too if everyone submits as soon as possible. 2.Essay 1: Literary Analysis Assignment-Due 9/29/21 Write: Please choose one of the following prompts for your literary analysis essay on any length. Be sure to prove the accuracy of what you say with specific examples from the texts you've chosen to analyze. 1) Compare the character of Charlie in “Babylon Revisited” with the character of Emily in “A Rose for Emily.” Discuss the role the “past” plays in both of their lives. “Past” here could mean their individual “pasts,” but also the past of their communities. 2) Looking closely at the characters we’ve encountered so far, how have early twentieth-century ideas of gender roles contributed to the events of their lives? Think, for instance, of the way Emily’s gender shapes the town’s views of her; or how “the man” and “the girl” get along in “Hills Like White Elephants.” 3) Now that you’ve read three works of modernist fiction, write an essay that identifies a few central common points of modernist writing. What do these stories share in terms of the way they are told? Did they remind you of any other books you’ve read or films you’ve watched in terms of how the story is told? 3.Strange Fruit-Discussion Topic Initial Post, 1 paragraph, due Thursday: Reflect on the experience of reading the poem “Strange Fruit” and then listening to a recording of Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit.” How does the song effect your understanding of the poem? 4.Formal Response: The Gilded-Six Bits Assignment Write a 250-word essay in which you respond to ONE of the three questions listed below: 1. What do you think of Hurston’s use of dialect? Would you have preferred that she tell her story in a more conventional, more easily understood style? What difference does her choice make in how you feel about the story and the people in it? Cite an example. 2. How would you respond to Missie May’s adultery if you were Joe? What about if you were Missie May? What do their individual responses tell us about each character? Who do you think is the father of Missie May’s baby? Does it matter? 3. Do characters in the story believe in racial stereotypes? Where do you see this in the story, and what stereotypes are in use? 5.What Does the Speaker Know? Discussion -Initial post: At the end of McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer,” the speaker says s/he “knew” something. What does the speaker know by the end of the poem, and how do you think s/he knows it? Why might that knowledge conflict with the imagery and language of the rest of the poem? Peer Response: Reply to the comments made by one of your classmates. Respond to a student whose work you haven't yet commented on. 6.The Man Who Was Almost a Man Initial Post: Identify and respond to a particular sentence, phrase, paragraph, or moment from “The Man Who Was Almost a Man.” See week 1 for an example. Peer Response: Read through your classmates’ responses, choose the one that is most interesting to you, and write a few sentences in response. See week 1 for an example. 7.Where's Dave Heading? Initial Post: In a commentary of any length write what about what thoughts the following questions bring to your mind: Where is Dave headed at the end of the story? What do you think will happen to him? Is Dave a loose cannon or did his killing of the mule have deeper meaning in the text, in your view? Peer Response: Reply to the comments of another student in the course.