Today we met for the first time in A-232. We will meet here on Thursdays for the entire semester.
1. The cyber-assignment has to do with the premise that good reading is necessary to good writing (smile).
Write a 250 word response (3 paragraphs) to Writing about Literature:Introduction The Role of Good Reading (1-15). Please include a citation per paragraph (3).
One citation should be a paraphrase, another a short quote, the third or last a block quote (4 or more lines). See Hacker 424-425).
Don't forget to include a works cited page, that your MLA is perfect for the page set up, that is heading and header, margins, and in-text references (page numbers).
2. Students will email themselves a copy of the post. Make sure you paste and attach it and copy me: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com
3. Analyzing fiction (Chapter 4 pages 57-60; 77-81). Literary Criticism and Literay Theory (143-)
4. "3 Seasons" --Discussion.
5 Homework: Write a response to the story (250). Use three citations, one per paragraph.
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21 comments:
Jacob Stabler
Professor Sabir
English 1B
1 September 2011
Response to Writing about Literature
While I love to write about literature and other interesting writings, the same sentiment is not always shared in a class that is required for transfer to a state university. Students often dread classes like this because they have actual reading assignments that must be completed and reflected upon. For some reason the thirst for knowledge has been lost in this generation. It seems like the magic piece of paper at the end of the tunnel has outweighed the quest for knowledge.
“An important thing to remember about reading is that the best reading is also rereading.” This quote emphasizes the importance of thorough reading and self reflection. There are sources available online and in bookstores that will give you a basic summary of a story, but the deeper meaning is often missed. Reading and rereading will give you a deeper understating of the material as well as insight to dispel the myth of the “hidden meaning” (3).
Another important set of skills required for being a great reader and writer is the abilities to actively read and critically think. Active reading involves taking notes, underlining or circling important information and asking yourself what the meaning of the text is. Critical thinking is important, not because we are trying to find faults in the author’s work(3), but because we want to be able to formulate our own opinion on the subject at hand. Few things will ruin a great story like not being able to remove your own personal bias and think with an open mind:
Your previous experiences are a big help here, including both your experience in reading literature and your experience in everyday life. You know from your personal experience how you expect people to think and act in certain situations, and you can compare these expectations to the literature. What might motivate the characters or persons to act the way they do? Your previous reading has likewise set up expectations for you (10).
The information covered in the first fifteen pages of Writing about Literature is informative and interesting. Not only is this information important to reading and writing, but they are useful skills to have and use in everyday life. This book will be a useful tool in future writings and I look forward to getting deeper into the material.
Works cited
Janet E gardener Writing about Literature (2009) 2nd Edition
Joe Quattrocchi
Professor Sabir
Eng 1B Fall 2011
Reflection on the Role of Good Reading
In Writing About Literature, Janet Gardner portrays analyzing literature as an engaging activity that is broken into “four categories; the text, the author, the reader, as well as the cultural contexts of the work” (10). As some audiences may be dulled by simply reading a story, the author challenges readers to read deeply into the text to form a more expansive understanding of the author’s intent.
Questions about literature fall into one of four categories---those
about the text, the author, the reader; and the cultural context of the
work. Queries regarding the text can sometimes, though not always, be
answered with a deeper examination of the story, poem, or play at hand.
By analyzing the text and asking critical questions, the audience is able to take on a perspective beyond the plot of a story, which is the goal of critical reading. Gardner goes on to suggest that “questions will provoke you and your classmates to think critically […] and even if you never form a satisfactory answer to these questions, they will have served their purpose if they’ve made you think” (10). From this quote it is possible to imply that the purpose of reading is not to find finite answers, but to ask critical questions relating to the text, context, author, and the audience.
Gardner reinforces that writers have purpose in their works, and part of the enjoyment of reading is finding meaning within the text. One may find meaning through understanding the context of the work. An interesting example the author used was a 16th century poet, writing about the loss of his son at the early age of seven. As a “contemporary reader we must keep both the past and present audiences in mind to understand what life may have been like in their position, but at the same time we must be cognizant of how things may affect us presently” (14). We may respond to the death of a seven year old with complete shock now, but in the 16th century it was not very uncommon to lose children and therefore families were larger. It is important to know the era a text was written in.
Nick Malecek
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-9:50am
1 September 2011
Writing About Literature – “The Role of Good Reading”
The first chapter in Writing About Literature took issue with the importance of good reading. I have always considered myself a decent reader, but after reading this chapter I am not so sure. There are many strategies I was simply unaware of that can augment the reading experience.
What I found particularly interesting while reading this chapter was the myth of the “hidden meaning”. For as long as I’ve had English classes, my English teachers have made us scour the contents of our literature to find any hidden messages. I’ve always thought this was somewhat ridiculous, because I don’t believe that all authors embed secret content that requires special consideration to be understood. Sometimes the teacher seemed like they were desperately grasping for something hidden that was not there and felt forced in a way. It is of my opinion that writing is intended to communicate a message to an audience, and if it is too difficult for the audience to extract that message, then the author has failed in a way. Annotation will be difficult for me because I do not do this on a regular basis. However, I do see the numerous benefits this practice can have. The section on annotations is an excellent reference to begin annotating my readings. Similarly, asking questions about the text is something that is not natural for me. When I read I tend to follow the literature fluidly. Another very important issue is cultural context. This is a fact that I was previously aware of, but not something I think about in great detail. There are countless questions that need to be answered in order to achieve an acceptable understanding of the setting. Writing About Literature gives several examples of the questions needed to achieve this:
What was going on in history at the time a piece of literature was written? Were there wars or other forms of social disruption? What was the standard of living for most people in the author’s society? What was day-to-day life like?Qhat were the typical religious beliefs and traditions? How was society organized in terms of power relations, work expectations, and educational possibilities? (page 12)
I learned a great deal from this reading in spite of the fact that I considered myself a decent reader before reading it.
Works Cited
E., Janet. Writing about literature: a portable guide. Bedfordst Martins, 2003. Print.
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
1 September 2011
Comprehending Literature
Reading, writing, and understanding literature is very important in today’s society not only to learn the past but also to improve the future. In the Introduction to the book “Writing about Literature,” by Janet E. Gardner, Gardner explains that literature not only effects our emotions but can also effect our actions (1). Literature describes how people communicate with each other on an everyday basis.
While reading literature, one must realize it is their job to figure out the authors meaning. The author does not intend to have a “hidden meaning” in their writings, although some make it very difficult to understand. Gardner states:
"In truth, the meanings in literary texts are not hidden, and your job as a reader is not to root around for them. Rather, if a text is not immediately accessible to you, it is because you need to read more actively, and meaning will then emerge in a collaborative effort as you work with the text to create a consistent interpretation" (3).
Reading actively by annotating the writing helps the reader to slow down and even reread a misinterpreted passage. These reading tools will become very useful in comprehending the literature.
In order to fully grasp an entire concept of a piece of writing is to ask questions about the author. It is important to understand the author’s background and history so the reader can better comprehend the meaning of the writing. Since many authors tend to write about previous experiences, Gardner states, “An Author’s age, gender, religious beliefs, family structure, and many other factors have an impact on everything from topic choice to word choice” (11). The author’s background is very crucial to what they write about.
Work Cited
Gardner, Janet E. “Writing about Literature A Portable Guide.” Bedford. St. Martin’s: 2009. Print
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9-10:50 AM
1 September 2011
Writing About Literature Analysis
Janet E. Gardner’s Writing about Literature is a guide on how to read, interpret, enjoy and write about literature. The second edition begins with an introduction which resonated with me. I enjoy reading literature and I find writing to be an entertaining pastime that gives me the opportunity to reflect both on what I’ve read and its effect on my thoughts, experience and opinions. I wholeheartedly agree with Gardner that by writing about literature, we can organize the chaotic mess of ideas and impressions we receive from a piece of literary work because while reading literature may make us worldly, it is writing that often leads to self-discovery (Gardner 1). With this introduction, the guide begins.
The first chapter in the guide is dedicated to teaching about how to read well and the role good reading plays in the writing process. Gardner gives us a lot of tips, much of what I was already aware of, such as the importance of reading slowly and critically, and rereading as often as possible because with every reading comes more understanding about the literature. Similarly, Garner emphasizes the importance of annotating as a method of active reading. Whenever I read, I’ve been taught and trained to have a highlighter and pencil in my hand. I take notes on the margin, highlight, underline and circle key themes, introductions of characters, interesting writing methods, and reoccurring ideas. Interestingly enough, Gardner also gives a great deal of importance to asking critical questions about literature:
If you are reading well, your textual annotations and notes will probably be full of questions. Some of these might be simple inquires of fact, the sort of thing that can be answered by asking your instructor or by doing some quick research. But ideally, many of your questions will be more complex and meaty than that, the sort of probing queries that may have multiple, complex, or even contradictory answers. These are the questions that will provoke you and your classmates to think still more critically about the literature you read. . . Questions about literature fall into one of four categories—those about the text, the author, the reader, and the cultural contexts of the work. (Gardner 9-10)
Gardner emphasizes the methods necessary for writing well, methods that I consider myself fairly familiar with. I practice these methods in my own reading and writing.
Gardner’s emphasis on reading well is expressed through his detailed advice about asking questions. Gardner advises us to ask questions about the text, analyzing genre, style, structure, language, and the purpose and effect of the methods used. He adds that “your previous experiences are a big help here, including both your experiences of reading literature and your experiences in everyday life” (Gardner 10). Our experiences provide a backdrop to compare the literature to and determine whether or not the text fulfills the expectations we have based on our past experiences. Gardner’s examples are very useful in understanding his advice. I found the guide very useful and I look forward to continue using it as I read and write about literature.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.
Ade Adewale
Professor Sabir
English 1B
02 September 2011
Today I will discuss the subject matter of good reading when it comes to writing about literature. In addition, I shall also give you three different kinds of quoting styles to compare and examine for your enjoyment. Lastly, I will critically analyze as well as immensely scrutinize the chapter three sections in the book known as common writing assignments.
Well this article talks about how some students really appreciate the art of writing and others prefer not to write at all because the whole process seem just too much for them. As well, this article also stated that for the writers that really do not enjoy writing they should put all of their former fears aside and go about writing from a positive standpoint only. Nevertheless, this article says to me that most importantly writing does something to our way of thinking and to our emotions because literature can have a huge impact on the way we behave as well. The author remark’s that, “writing an essay helps us to clarify what we know and believe.”
As you may know this essay has presented three diverse kinds of quotations that are commonly utilized in college level as well as professional style writing, such as paraphrasing, short quotes, and block quotes. In the first body paragraph I chose to use a paraphrasing quote and a short quote. But in the paragraphs that followed I chose to use a long block quote in one of them to support my ideas.
A summary can be longer or shorter than this example, depending on your purpose. Notice that interpretation is kept to a minimum (his faith has been corrupted”) and the summary is recounted in the present tense (“he returns to town,” ”he remains a bitter and untrusting man”). Moreover, this specific block quote directly above in particular is very interesting to me because is literally focus on the topic of brevity when writing a summary. I would like to end this paper off by saying that proper summarization is critically important because when writing a summary you never want to give away the juiciest section of the story.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet. Writing about Literature :A Portable Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford/ St Martin's, 2009. Print.
Tien Hardin
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday 9-10:50 AM
2 September 2011
Writing about Literature A Portable Guide
Introduction to The Role of Good Reading:
Free Write on Pages 1 -15
When I read the sentence, “Writing about literature begins, of course, with reading, so it stands to reason that good reading is the first step toward successful writing” (2), I asked myself, “This concept is so obvious. How did I not realize this myself?” I have spent much time struggling with my own writing because of rushing through readings and fumbling through pages to find a point I knew was somewhere in there. I was not practicing “good reading”, and simply assumed that any reading was good reading. Clear to me now, this is not the case when writing about literature.
Some of the tools for “active reading” include slowing down, effective note taking and often, rereading. By developing my own techniques with shorthand, jotting down points that strike out to me, and asking myself why these instances stand out to me will improve my writing.(Paraphrase p. 4)
The myth of “hidden meaning” surprised me. “There is a persistent myth in literature classes that the purpose of reading is to scour a text for ‘hidden meaning’. Do not be taken in by this myth. In fact, many instructors dislike the phrase hidden meaning, which has unpleasant and inaccurate connotations. First, it suggests a sort of willful subterfuge on the part of the author, a deliberate attempt to make his or her work difficult to understand or to exclude the reader. Second, it makes the process of reading sound like digging for buried treasure rather than a systematic intellectual process. Finally, the phrase implies that there is a single, true meaning. . .” (3). In a Critical Thinking course I was taught to be suspicious about the author’s intent, and as a result I read as though the author was trying to trick me, often leaving me confused and frustrated. A burden has been lifted off my writer self, now knowing that there is literature that reads simply as it was written.
Jiwon “June” Yee
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday, 9:00-10:50 A.M.
September 5, 2011
Janet E. Gardner's “Writing About Literature, A Portable Guide” is about the different ways to successfully read literature and in turn write about literature. Gardner talks about how rereading is actually very useful because these multiple readings can allow the reader to really absorb the text and even catch things they did not the first few times and have more clarity on what to look for. Critical reading is basically “not fault-finding but rather thoughtful consideration” (2) according to Gardner. It is about actively finding and looking for the meaning in the text and questioning and analyzing the choices the author made. Gardner also talks about the myth of hidden meaning in literature and how the phrase itself has unfortunate implications as it implies that is the only purpose of reading and analyzing literature. When actually, there is no “one answer” in literature as it can be open to interpretation which is one of the best things about literature and other forms of art for that matter.
Gardner then talks about the different strategies for active reading. Annotating is about actively engaging with the text while one is reading. It is when the reader is advised to mark certain passages that stands out and to make note of why it does (4). Another form of annotating is when the reader questions the choices as well as writing down their own thoughts about certain parts of the text.
Some of the important things to also keep in mind while questioning the texts that prove to be very useful are being aware of all the background information with the author and even the time period of when that particular work of literature was written. The thing about analyzing and looking critically at literature is that it is a form of art, and art is basically a reflection of society. So that is essentially why so many people are interested in interpreting it. And that is also why looking at the author's background is important. “We cannot deny, however, that a writer's life does affect that writer's expression. An author's age, gender, religious beliefs, family structure, and many other factors have an impact on everything from topic choice to word choice. It is, therefore, appropriate sometimes to ask questions about an author as we try to come to a better understanding of a piece of literature. It is crucial, however, that we remember that not everything an author writes is to be taken at surface value.” (11) is something to take into complete consideration as sometimes there can be many problematics in an author's writing and being aware of the author's background in that regard is helpful because then the reader would be aware of that and especially in the cases where it is clear that the author's privilege is a factor in why there are problematic factors in it.
Gardner, Janet E. Writing About Literature: A Portable Guide. 2nd Ed. New York: Bedford/ St Martin's, 2009. Print.
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
English 1 B
2 September 2011
Chapter 1: The Role of Good Reading Analysis
There is no right or wrong when it comes to literature. In order to understand literature, one must analyze the text. The best way to analyze a piece of literature is by actively reading which involves annotating the text that is read. As Janet Gardner, in Writing about Literature,says that annotating the text requires highlighting passages, writing notes, and asking questions (4-5).
A text includes “genre, structure, language, and style” (10). Together, these give us an idea on the author's intentions, tone, themes of the story, and setting. Gardner states, "An author's age, gender, religious beliefs, family structure, and many other factors have an impact on everything from topic choice to word choice" (11).
Reading sounds boring and a lot of work to some people. My teacher in high school taught us that the reading speed is more important than actually understanding the text but according to Gardener:
Good reading is, generally speaking, not fast reading. In fact, often the best advice a student can receive about reading is to slow down. Reading well is all about paying attention, and you can't pay attention if you're racing to get through an assignment and move on to “more important” things. If you make a point of giving yourself plenty of time and minimizing your distractions, you'll get more out of your reading and probably enjoy it more as well” (2)
Not only it is a good idea to read slow, but it is better to reread the text as much as one can (1). This idea has been reinforced many times in the English classes I have taken. Not only rereading can help finding words or mistakes that one didn't pay attention to before, but rereading can also help understand the text better.
Work Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2009. Print.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9:00-10:50 am
5 September 5, 2011
Response on Writing about Literature: The Role of Good Reading
Throughout the course of history literature has been an important aspect in the many civilizations and societies around the world. From works of art, “Romeo and Juliet,” to children’s nursery rhymes, “Tinkle Tinkle Little Star,” literature continues to grow and is approached various ways. In “Writing about Literature,” by Janet E. Gardner, Gardner states that writing can be taken as a free leisure type activity but also as a way of learning about others and understanding how certain feelings influence certain actions. (Gardner 1) Throughout Gardner’s book, she explains important concepts that can help improve someone into becoming a better reader and writer.
One of the most important points that Gardner mentions early one in her book is the value of rereading. From time to time we realize that we have to reread something over again multiple times. As a student, I find it tedious to reread a long paragraph over again but the reasoning behind why we have to reread something again makes sense. It is because we did not get it the first time. But even though this is the case, Gardner states in her book that “it is not uncommon for professional literary critics-who are, after all, some of the most skilled readers- to read a particular poem, story, or play literally dozens of times before they feel equipped to write about it.” (Gardner 2) One can now see that even the most talented readers and writers have to reread literary works multiple times before gasping the behind the work.
Another important point that Gardner mentions is to ask questions. While reading and rereading a story one might need to ask questions in order to think in more depth and to also understand the story more. Gardner says that asking questions is part of critical reading and follows up by saying,
“If you are reading well, your textual annotations and notes will probably be full of questions. Some of these might be simple inquires of fact, the sort of thing that can be answered by asking your instructor or by doing some quick research. But ideally, many of your questions will be more complex and meaty than that, the sort of probing queries that may have multiple, complex, or even contradictory answers. These are questions that will provoke you and your classmates to think still more critically about the literature you read. You need not worry-at least not at first-about finding answers to all of your questions. As you work more with the text, discussing it with your instructor and classmates, writing about it, and reading other related stories, poems, and plays, you will being to respond to the most important of the issues you’ve raised.” (Gardner 9-10)
In order to get an understanding of the story and why the author might write about a certain topic in particular one has to ask questions about the author and the text. Once the reader asks questions, the reader can then look for those answers through various means and eventually get a better understanding of the story and author.
The aspects of rereading and asking questions that Gardner points out can help one can become a better reader and writer. Using these techniques will help anyone, whether it’s a short story or a literary masterpiece. By following what Gardner says, even people who do not like literature might get a better understanding why one would enjoy reading literature.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet. Writing about Literature :A Portable Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford/ St Martin's, 2009. Print.
Ade Adewale
Professor Sabir
English 1B
05 September 2011
In this short response essay to the three season’s story I would like to discuss a least three different main ideas that I discovered in my readings, such as the repeated theme of characters in the stories endeavoring to flee their not so good situations, people going away to school to become well mannered and more mature, and last but not least the notion that somebody needs to take care of you when you are really old or when you are really young.
The first incident in the story that involved fleeing was done by the character Maggie and her two sons Biik and Giizis as they fled Maggie’s husband Andre’s house and headed for Duluth. They left because her husband Andre liked to practice a domestic violence a.k.a he was a drunk and a wife beater. But this particular day Maggie had decided that she had most definitely had enough and she work out an escape plan her head long before she decided to flee. The author exclaims that, “he grabbed her around the waist and spun her”, this tells me that Andre was most certainly a drinker and he liked to get violent with women. The second fleeing scenario that occurred in the story was when Mickey and Sonny attempted to evade McGoun the officer at the Harrod School. When Mickey and Sonny left the Harrod School they immediately left for Duluth. Moreover, these two young men were being verbally as well as physically abused by their school’s official on campus authority, so they were fairly determined to flee.
The kids all had to attend the Harrod School eventually to prepare for adulthood and to learn proper social etiquette. Sonny and Mickey attended the Harrod School during the spring and sometimes they spoke their native tongues even though they were not supposed to. As the author remarks,” Hey are you boys talking Sioux”? In my opinion this quote specifically stood out to me because it signifies the transformation that the Indian children were supposed to experience.
The last important theme of this story to me was the focus on taking care of people whenever they are in need for example the author states that, “now so fragile and needing Maggie as Maggie had needed her when they were girls,” for me this says that people in this family are tremendously giving and generous. Until the kid’s grandma became too ill to take care of them she would always be there when ever the children needed her. Furthermore, Maggie was always very willing to help anyone that was in need and she died poor as well.
Works Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: University of Georgia, 2010. Print.
Tien Hardin
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday 9-10:50 AM
2 September 2011
Three Seasons
Response
This story spans over winter, spring and summer of a year when Maggie’s five children were growing up, four of whom were boys and one a girl. Three Seasons is narrated in the first person by Sonny (p29), George (p33), and Girlie (p37), Maggie’s three eldest children, as each recount their own memories of those seasons they shared. While it is difficult to determine who is narrating in the third person Maggie’s depiction of the same seasons, it appears that it is not any of the characters in this story leading me to believe it may be Artense, protagonist and narrator from The Dance Boots.
Humiliation, abuse and the practice of not complaining about life’s injustices are themes throughout Three Seasons. At the Herrod School Maggie and Henen suffered humiliation, the same as Maggie’s son, Sonny and nephew Mickey, a generation later at the same school. Henen became with child. The doctor probed and examined her with two unwashed fingers. “In the humiliation of her exposure on an oilcloth covered pantry work table, she watched patterns of light dance through tree branches…” (26). She never complained. In fact Henen, “didn’t say anything; that was her way” (29).
A generation later, Mickey endured similar humiliation along with physical abuse. Mickey was a skinny boy. As he and Sonny struggled to carry a washtub heavy with clean wet cloths, the perfect shoved Mickey who fell to the ground and the cloths into the mud. “Mickey had bruises on his upper arm . . . and a couple of welts on his hind end.” (30) and “. . . McGoun gave him a beating with that doubled leather strap, took away his quarters, then put him in the lockup room in the basement for three days. ‘It was nothin’ he said, McGoun would get his one day. He smiled . . .” (39). Mickey didn’t complain. Yet, one could tell revenge was on his mind.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9-10:50 AM
5 September 2011
Three Seasons Analysis
Linda Legarde Grover’s The Dance Boots includes a short story, “Three Seasons” which is split into seven narrations. It begins with a third person narrator describing Maggie hitting her husband unconscious and leaving him, taking her two children with her. The narrator calls attention to Maggie’s wedding quilt and the fact that when Maggie left her husband, Andre, the quilt held “what she needed now instead of the hopes and dreams she’d been silly enough to fill it with when she’d married that bastard” (Grover 23). Her hands do the movements that she had practiced so many times without any thought necessary. This sets the mood for the rest of the sub-stories and introduces the reoccurring theme of loss.
The next sub-story introduces Maggie’s older sister, Henen, who is described as a “truly good person who would do anything for you, and one of those people everybody liked” (Grover 23). Her impeccable character as a student at the mission school is tarnished by her pregnancy. She is sent home but she suffers a miscarriage and slowly as the baby disappears, Henen becomes more and more depressed. Because Henen had taken such good care of Maggie as a child, Henen is who Maggie turns to in her time of need after leaving her husband. Again, the idea of loss and mourning is put into play. When Sonny’s narration comes, he describes Mickey’s and his sufferings at the boarding school: the physical and mental abuse they received for minor misbehavior such as speaking in their native language.
George narrates the story of Girlie and him and describes his mother, Maggie. He describes her as “very generous with people; she had that reputation. She’d give you the shirt off her back, people said. They always talked that way, like they admired her, but I saw people take advantage of her, too, and she died poor, like a lot of other generous people. Not everybody is like Ma, but she didn’t care about that” (Grover 34). With each new sub-story, and each new introduction or perspective on each character, comes an idea of shattered dreams, buried hope, and re-occurring loss. It’s not simply that Maggie was generous but that she was taken advantage of. In the narrator’s account of Maggie, Andre shows up again and disappoints his children yet again. In the next sub-story, Girlie describes how Mama was doing everything in her power to not send her two youngest boys to Indian school but she had few options left and would eventually have to send them no matter what she did. Finally, Maggie’s story concludes the short story. She is forced to send her children to the school and send her youngest, Biik, to her brother Earl’s house. Her hands and feet again go about the motions without any thought. No matter how much pain she endured, no matter how much loss she suffered, she keeps her face composed and simply dreams of her children’s return. The short story ends with the same feeling of loss that each of the seven narrations portrayed.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
5 September 2011
Family Ties
The short story “Three Seasons,” by Linda Legarde Grover, demonstrates the love and devotion each member of the family has to each other. Henen, the older sister to Maggie, the main character in the story, is a nurturing older sister. Throughout Maggie’s life, Henen took care of Maggie, always looking out for Maggie at the boarding school when they were younger, and at home as they grew older. When Maggie left her husband, Andre, she went to stay with Henen, who took in Maggie and her two sons without asking a single question (27-28).
As Maggie grew older, Henen’s selfless deeds rubbed off on Maggie. In the summer time, Maggie would let friends, relatives, and anyone in need of shelter, stay at her home for the night.
Here they were staying at Ma’s, and she made them welcome, and with her good manners offering them whatever she had- and that wasn’t much. Before everybody went to bed, they’d finished up the coffee she had on hand and ate more tan their share of potatoes, so that they weren’t going to be enough for everybody for the next day, but Ma didn’t say anything because that wouldn’t have been polite (34).
Although Maggie knew these people were taking advantage of her, she took them in and sheltered them regardless.
Maggi’s children inherited her loving nature, especially Maggie’s daughter, Girlie. Although Girlie was young, she showed many of the same characteristics as her mother and her Aunt Henen. Girlie did anything and everything to help Maggie around the house, even helped take care of her two younger brothers, Biik and Giizis. One night when Biik and Giizis were too scared to sleep, Girlie took the role of her mother to comfort them. “I sat up on the floor cross-legged and sat one on each knee to lean back against me while I rocked them side to side (38). This nurturing love was instilled in the family, being passed down from generation to generation.
Throughout the entire story, each character showed exceptional love and generosity towards others. Even though the family did not have much to give, they were still willing to help others with what they had.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots: Three Seasons. Athens: Georgia, 2010. Print.
HsiaoLin Chen
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday 9-10:50 AM
2 September 2011
Writing about Literature A Portable Guide Introduction to The Role of Good Reading:
Free Write on Pages 1 -15
Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide in the Second Edition by Janet E. Gardner. The author said that if someone “[enjoys] reading” (p.1) than that person most likely would not have too much difficulty in writing. The idea being that one learns from watching. So in this case the teaching has been done through the countless pages that the reader has already experienced. I never thought about learning to write in this way but it makes perfect sense. Just like one learns to dance by watching the teacher.
Gardner suggest in Chapter One that if one only tries hard enough and is open enough it would seem that all reading could be understood.
Be prepared to go back and reread key sections, or even a whole work, if doing so could help with your understanding. [p.2]
Rather, if a text is not immediately accessible to you, it is because you need to read more actively, and meaning will then emerge in a collaborative effort as you work with the text to create a consistent interpretation. [p.3]
I talked with my husband about this, and he suggests that Ms. Gardner try to read some Faulkner or Stein. I didn’t really understand because I’ve not read either of those but the idea that if the reader only tries hard enough to understand that text by “actively” reading seems a little strange. It would mean that if the writer isn’t clear enough to begin with than the reader will have to create an interpretation of what the writer is trying to say. And not having the ability to talk to the writer directly, the interpretation could be anything, which in a sense is pointless. Why create an analysis about something is one doesn’t truly understand what that thing is? More so, just think about how we communicate and speak to each other. Sometimes, even if we speak the same language, we still radically miss understand what the other person has said. Well reading is worse, because we don’t have the ability to ask the author to clarify what they mean. We can only guess, and interpret. But that is pointless because we don’t truly understand the ideas.
Otherwise I agree, and already use, some of the suggested methods of active listening and I think the suggested methods are helpful.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print
Three Seasons is told from the perspective of Maggie, an Indian woman, Native American Indian, and the story focus on her life cycle “in fall had been blown from home by winds of seasonal change.” (p.24) That story mainly focuses around her children need to leave from home to boarding school because of “federal Indian Policy” (p.24) and “ Andre,[her husband], that bastard”(p.24) “ ruin it for [they children]” (p.36)
The setting of the story is in the four seasons of Maggie’s life. Most of the story so far takes place in either Maggie’s home or school. Interesting how the four seasons’ stories play on three seasons’ title. I suppose this story is focused on Maggie’s life in winter, summer, and autumn
The actual main human characters, Maggie and Henen, both have strong and tired sisterhood just like Maggie said “now so fragile and needing [she] as [she] had needed [Henen] whey they were girls” (p29), and also five children of Maggie: George, Mickey, and Girlie are “three oldest children” (p.20), and “two small boys” (p.20) are “Giizis and Biikawaastigwaan” (p.21).
Besides the three major themes at the beginning of the story, marriage life, sisterhood, education, a fourth theme on family is separated in near the end of the chapter. Even though it isn’t spelled out, one can easily understand that “the season of hibernation and dreams of [Maggie] children’s return.” (p.41) This is because “[children] in the fall had been blown from home by the winds of seasonal change and the federal Indian policy to boarding school.” (p.20)
Style wise the author speaks under the heading of language and it can be difficult to understand what exactly is going on. It can be hard to know who a certain character is talking to at that certain moment like, for example, the author uses me and I not George, “Girlie and me could come home” and “I saw people take advantage of her.” (p.34) So it can be a bit difficult to follow along at times.
In plot, the author is not presenting things in realistic ways. The time has been shifting back and forward, for instead, “ after Henen was sent home after disgracing herself,…[she] never did get back to school, Henen….Sister Rokck notice her belly…” (p.24) “ Sister Rock …Henen and told her to help Magige…”(p.25). So it can be easy to get lost all the time.
Nick Malecek
Professor Sabir
English 1B 9:00-10:50am T/Th
2 September 2011
Three Seasons Response
“Three Seasons” was another sobering story from The Dance Boots about the struggles of a Native-American family. The narrative centers on Maggie, a mother of four boys and one girl, but the setting jumps around a little bit. At first the narration focuses on Maggie and somewhat on her sister Henen, but then we get to see certain circumstances that pertain specifically to her children. Maggie’s story starts off with a bang as the narrator describes a scene where Maggie leaves her husband, “that bastard she hit over the head with the frying pan after he had passed out” (Page 20). Maggie apparently lives with her sister Henen from this point on.
I found this story to be somewhat more difficult to follow than “The Dance Boots”, mainly because of how the story jumps around, but also because the character names were so unfamiliar to me. Giizis and Biik are not names I can easily remember. I also noticed that while the younger children had traditional Native-American names, the older children who went to the “Indian school” had English names. This was one of the many unfortunate practices that were harming Native-American culture during this time period in American history. What I can ascertain so far in this book is that the “Indian schools” these individuals were being sent to destroyed their culture and family integrity. It was an inevitable fact that they would be shipped off to these schools, an issue displayed by the situation with Maggie and her two youngest children:
[Uncle] Noel was saying how they needed somebody to watch them with Mama having to be at work and he didn’t see how anybody else could take them; once Indian school started the older children would be gone; Giizis really had to go to school and who could watch Biik? She couldn’t count on Henen to do it; Henen had her own troubles and needed watching herself; maybe Maggie should go home. Grandma was too sick even to leave the allotment for Duluth; she wouldn’t be able to take care of them even if Maggie sent them up to Mozhay and stayed in Duluth to work. “Who else would watch them, my girl?” he asked. Mama’s voice was so quiet I had to hold my breath to hear her. “I don’t know, I just don’t know,” she said. (Page 37)
Native-American families found that they had little choice in the matter of sending their children off to school.
After reading the first two short stories in this book, I look forward to reading the rest. At this point I am very curious to discover how the stories are intertwined between the individual narratives. I am enjoying this book very much so far despite the depressing circumstances portrayed, such as the ending when Maggie’s fourth child out of five is taken away to school (page 40).
Works Cited
LeGarde, Linda. The Dance Boots. Univ of Georgia Pr, 2010. Print.
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
English 1 B
5 September 2011
Three Seasons Analysis
“Three Seasons” was a pretty interesting chapter. The story was told from different perspectives which included Maggie's and her children's. The different perspectives gave us a deeper understanding of the situation that the characters in the story went through.
Maggie played an important role in the story since she was the mother of six children who were also the narrators in this story at different points. When she was first introduced, she seemed like a strong woman who didn't like to take abuse and who cared for her children. “She knew everybody could see that but nobody said anything, and she was as big as he was anyway and should be able to take care of herself” (21). She was described as a generous, and a polite woman by her son George. “Ma was always very generous with people; she had that reputation” (34). “Before everyone went to bed, they'd finished up the coffee she had on hand and ate more than their share of the potatoes, so that there weren't going to be enough for everybody for the next day, but Ma didn't say anything because that wouldn't have been polite” (30). George also described what Maggie liked. “I bought her things I knew she would like, pretty things, a bowl with red and blue stripes painted on the outside, a statue of a little girl holding a flower, a blue powder box with a music box inside – when she opened the lid she could listen to it play while she powdered her face” (35). She seemed to spend more money as well. “I always worked hard, almost as hard as Ma, but I was somehow able to hang on to more of my money” (35).
Henen, Maggie's sister, was an important person to Maggie. Maggie stated that she had always needed Henen (29). Even though Maggie cared for her children and even helped one of her sons get out of trouble, her children still had to experience difficult times. She wanted to protect all of them but since she had a lot going on, she couldn't do that which made her terribly sad. “Her composure slipped for just a moment, exposing ravages of grief that made her look like Aunt Helen's twin, but then she pressed the crook of one arm to her eyes to absorb her tears, which darkened the print of her cotton work dress sleeve, dried, ad disappeared” (40). Even though she was a strong woman who was able to hide sorrow well, her love for her children was strong and she was not able to hide the sorrow.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print
Joe Quattrocchi
Three Seasons Response
The Three Seasons is especially significant to the poignancy of the Ojibwe tribe. In a life where nothing is easy, Maggie endures an abusive husband, an unwelcoming society off the reservation, giving her children up to boarding schools, and on top of all else, she is surrounded by alcoholism. Although, she too is tempted by alcohol herself, “[she] would just sip, very delicately; but [Maggie] never guzzles”(LeGarde Grover, 38). In the face of such difficulties, Maggie also tends to the needs of her family, placing everyone else’s well-being before her own, a symbol of her perseverance. Maggie constantly thinks about the difficult decisions she has to make in life, and this is reflected in the story.
Maggie has the strength to endure Andre and his beatings for many years, yet we are unsure of the reasons why she waited so long to leave Mozhay Point, but can speculate her intentions were to keep the family together. What is clear is that Maggie had been visualizing her escape from Andre for quite some time.
Ready. She has practiced this so many times in her head that her body moved and her hands did the work without thought. She watched herself do this. First the frying pan, to keep him out for a while. Then the twine. It was under the bed with Andre’s broken traps and the lard can.
This goes to show that Maggie’s actions have been in the making for a long while. She carries out the motions without thought. Her need to be free of Andre’s abuse finally out-weighs the need to keep the family together. Knowing exactly the place to go, Maggie bundles up Giizis and Biik for the trek to Henen’s home in Duluth. The second, and only other time that Maggie acts without thinking is when Biik is being picked-up by Andre at the end of the story. Without instruction from feelings or thoughts, Maggie cleans dinner plates, cleans the kitchen, baths Biik, and runs her hands through his hair as they waits for Andre to arrive (LeGarde Grover, 41).
These two moments were clearly the most painful for Maggie, and she ponders the events in her life that she dreads most; separating her family members, and giving up her children to Andre and boarding school. These are the only two times that she acts without feelings and it is because she has been preparing for them her entire life.
Work Cited Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50
7 September 2011
Three Seasons Write up
“Three Seasons” is a story that depicts the life of a Native American family during the changes of the seasons. This story introduces a different family than the first story and has a different tone and approach to how the story is presented. Unlike the first story we read, this one shows a sadder side to the life of Native Americans. The seasons in this story each has significance and an effect on the characters.
The story first opens with Maggie taking her two youngest children and leaving her husband to move to Duluth. She decides to leave her husband because he was a cruel person when he was drunk and she did not want to deal with him anymore. The season that this part of the story took place in was during the winter which in my eyes represent a new beginning. The author of the story states that after knocking out her husband, she takes her two children and purchases a train ticket heading towards Duluth. (Grover 23) For Maggie and her two children this is the start of a new life for them. They are saying goodbye to their old lives and welcoming their new ones by heading to Duluth.
The next part of the story that takes place in a different season is with Sonny, Maggie’s eldest Son. In this part of the story, Sonny and his cousin Mickey decide to escape from the school that they go to. Once everyone fell asleep at the school they made their escape and headed back to Duluth where Sonny lived. Both of them make it to Duluth but Mickey is forced back to the school by McGoun while Maggie convinces McGoun to let sunny stay at home. The season spring represents also a new beginning. During the conversation between Maggie and McGoun, Maggie says “You can’t keep him anymore.” (Grover 33) This was the statement that allowed Sonny to stay at home which gave him a new life at home instead of his old life at school.
After the story in the springtime it moves on into the summer. During this period of time the kids are able to come home and enjoy their time away from school. The children were able to have family time together with Maggie and also Andre, who decided to go to Maggie’s house one day just for the heck of it. The time of summer in this story represents fun and relaxation for pain. In the winter time Maggie was in pain because of Andre and in the spring time the kids despised being at school so they decided to run away.
The last part of the story takes place during the fall. This represents the end of the cycle and the beginning of the whole process again. All of the children are required to go and that brings pain to Maggie’s heart. Once the children leave, the author points out how Maggie feels when saying
“Her feet, at their even greater distance than her hands from head and heart walked. Walked to the mattress factory, up the stairs, to the time clock, to her sewing station, where she worked without thought, eyes down, face composed, heart heavy and still as her face and as unreadable, as with the rhythm of the earth she prepared for winter, the season of hibernation and dreams of her children’s return.” (Grover 41)
Maggie knows that life is returning to the way it was before and is bracing herself for the whole cycle to start all over. She is waiting for the time where her children can come back to her.
Work Cited Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print
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