For third and fourth hours, your essay will be similar to the Dracula one mentioned below. Use the link included in that post for a copy of the outline worksheet, and remember to always back your ideas with evidence from the text.

Prompt:
Using at least two outside sources to back your argument, explain how Wells (or Welles) creates realism in his work. Use examples of diction, detail, and imagery to support your argument.

If you need to go over the radio broadcasts we listened to in class, please refer to the previous post and the links therein.
For the good of the community, post any questions you may have.

Ahem. We will be having an essay in class on Friday 30^th over the first three chapters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For your preparative pleasure, here is the prompt:

How does Stoker use diction, detail, and imagery to create a suspenseful narrative?

An outline will be due with your essay tomorrow. If you would like to get a head start, here is a copy of the outline sheet.

You should use quotations from Stoker’s book to support any argument you make (note the “Evidence” sections of the outline).

Also, six days until MGRP Presentations.

Also also, Disney shoes.

If you missed class today, please answer the following questions and bring them tomorrow.

We will be writing an essay in class on Friday 30^th over the author’s use of imagery, diction, and detail to create a realistic and (possibly) frightening novel.

 

1. “Transylvania” means “the land beyond the forest.” ln what ways does Stoker create the impression that Jonathan is travelling to a part of the world beyond the reach of an ordinary Victorian reader?

2. What do we learn about Jonathan from the observations he makes about his exotic surroundings?

3. How does Stoker create an atmosphere of suspense in the opening sections of the first two chapters?

4. How does Jonathan react when faced with sights for which he can find no rational explanation?

5. How do the descriptions of Castle Dracula fit in with Gothic Literature conventions?

6. How does Stoker describe the Count? What are the effects of this description?

7. “l think strange things which l dare not confess to my own soul.” What is the significance of this statement?

8. What two strange things happen when Jonathan is shaving?

9. How does Jonathan respond to the realization that he is a prisoner? What does it mean that he considers his crucifix to be “a comfort and a strength”?

We will be using at least two of the above vocabulary terms in our article analyses tomorrow. Remember to take into consideration the connection between rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and devices. Devices (listed above) are used to create logical, pathetic or ethical appeal in a piece.

[This post was WinsomeWiki’d on 5 Jul. 2009.]

If you were absent, or would like to review the programs we listened to in class, check out these links:

Here, from You Tube (originally NPR) is the history of Welles’s radio broadcast.

From MercuryTheatre.info, the original CBS production by Orson Welles.

The essay on Friday will focus on the realism employed by both the novel and the radio broadcast. As you read/listen, look for diction, imagery, and details that make the novel/broadcast seem believable. How did Wells and Welles’s use of realism create dramatic tension in their pieces?