Remember to read chapters 9 and 10 over the weekend and journal what you read.

Reminder: Essay on Friday. We will discuss the prompt in class tomorrow, and an outline for the essay will be due/graded on Friday along with your journals.

While going over your quizzes I have noticed that some of you are confused by what exactly constitutes the “tone” of a passage.  I have described tone as how a piece “feels” or what “mood” the author seems to be in when he or she writes a piece.  To help you discover the tone of future pieces, here is a list of tonal words (in no particular order):

How many do you already recognize from Lord of the Flies? Tone can be an important aspect of an analysis, and you can write an entire essay defending a thesis statement such as: “Although the island in Lord of the Flies seems to be a paradise at first, the author foreshadows later events through the oppressive tone used when he describes the boys’ surroundings.”

[This post was WinsomeWiki’d on 4 Jul. 2009.]

The Monday quiz has been moved to Tuesday 2nd. We will be reading chapters 3-5 for Wednesday, so don’t be thrown by the change in dates.

If you are having trouble with your reading journals, look over your symbolism notes from today. The conch, Piggy’s glasses, the scar, the fire, the main characters, and (later) the pigs are all very symbolic. Imagine what they could represent, then look for proof in the book. Copy these passages and write a comment for each. For example:

“[Jack’s] mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (Golding 63).

Jack is slowly becoming more savage. The island (mud) is slowly covering any sense of civility he has. By becoming “liberated,” he removes what he feels to be the shackles of civilization and reverts to a more primitive state, free of morality (“shame”) and responsibility (“self-consciousness”).

[Edit: Just in case you want to read ahead, the essay on Friday will be over chapters 1-8. Reading journals will also be due at that time.]

but a Newton is fruit and cake.

We have extra credit here, folks.

Take a look at this satirical essay from The Onion, everyone’s most trusted news source. In a 500 word essay, comment on a current commercial or ad campaign. Feel free to be as ironic as you like, but you must use the rhetorical language we discussed in the previous advertising unit. Include a copy of the ad in your essay and post your questions below.

This will be worth 20 points. That is two quizzes, two-thirds of an essay. Write well and your grade will thank you.

This will be due a week from today, no exceptions (even if you’re absent).

The long weekend is upon us. Enjoy yourselves. Take a road trip. Don’t play too much Halo. Read your books. Go to a concert (Spoon at Cain’s!). Take a walk. You will be graded on one of these activities when you get back.

Dive into the first two chapters of Lord of the Flies sometime this weekend. This is a thrilling book, but be sure to keep up with your reading journals as you go. As this is a very symbolic book, I asked you on Thursday to include an explanation of three symbols (something tangible representing something intangible) in your journal along with your basic responses, but don’t worry if you can’t find three this weekend; the journals are due on Friday and we will read further before then.

[Edit: I’ve just discovered that Barnes and Noble has run out of copies of because guess what? They lost my order once again. It’s probably something I am doing wrong, but calling the store, saying, “I need 45 copies of Lord of the Flies in a week” seems pretty straightforward. Please let me know soon if you can’t get a copy and I will make arrangements.]

[Edit Take Two: (It is now… 5:00 on Friday), but I just got back from Borders and they have several copies in stock. I haven’t received any email; does that mean we’re all stocked?]