Discussion: Essay 1, Short Fiction
What is the question your essay will answer?
In a 3-4 page essay answer the question posed. See previous posts for areas of discussion. If you have trouble articulating the question, let me know. Post 3-4 essay questions here for critique.
The essay needs to include no more than one citation per page. Exceptions are allowed, especially for students who plan to do a close reading of the text and do an analytical treatment of the work.
Find a book review or scholarly article about the book. Include this in your bibliography. Post a summary of the article here.
Homework: Bring in the completed essay to class Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, electronically.
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12 comments:
Brittney Brunner
Professor Sabir
21 February 2012
English 1B
Honestly I'm quite confused on the assignment and the question.
Marie Heide
22 February 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
Three questions for critiquing:
1. In what ways were the Indian schools designed to hurt the Indian children more than help them?
2. As the children grew older, how did they deal or were allowed to deal with their lost identity?
3. Did the parents of the Indian children in some way loose their identity as well(as a parent)?
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1A 8-8:50
23 February 2012
Questions for The Dance Boots
1. What prompted the cause and perpetual use of alcohol amongst the residents of Mozhay Point Reservation?
2. How did being institutionalized at mission and boarding schools have on the Indians that attended them and how did they passed these effects down generationally?
3. What keeps the family in The Dance Boots together through the external factors that try to force them apart and how do they maintain their culture and distinctive identity?
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1A 8-8:50
24 February 2012
Summary of a Review of Dance Boots
“The powerful Ojibwe women in Linda LeGarde Grover’s Dance Boots tell stories in 'the rhythm and pattern of repeating and echoing, re-echoing and returning,' the pattern that keeps them strong. They need to be strong in the face of a terrible monster, one no less ferocious than those in Ojibwe traditional tales, one that steals children and returns them altered, alien, broken: the boarding schools. These are stories of survival as well, and as we follow the rhythm of her narrative we find ourselves joining the dance of a culture resurgent, a dance that returns lost children, that begins to heal a world.”
—Heid E. Erdrich, author of National Monuments
I noticed in The Dance Boots there were mostly woman speakers, although male narratives such as George and Sam spoke sometimes. I think that the women and men were both strong to live through the abuse of boarding schools and the traumatic removal from their homes. The “echoing and re-echoing to me is a poetic lullaby that the author uses to in trance you into the Ojibwe’s pains and pleasures, forcing what is being spoken to resonates and stay with you. It also stretches the profoundness of it. Like when Girlie held her brothers as they overheard their mother and uncle speaking about the boys being shipped off to boarding school. She recounted how she rocked them in her lap, repeating over “little bothers” to the audience in an attempt to ease herself while telling the story and express the love she feels and sorrow of the boy’s separation from home. Erdich speaks of the children returning altered. I observed multiple characters converting to the Catholic religion, which was different from their indigenous practices. The last sentence really summarizes the book to me, because Linda takes you on a journey. At first it is really foreign, but by the end you see the world through the Ojibwe’s oblique gaze and understand why they have it.
Sherrlyne Apostol
Professor Sabir
February 26, 2012
English 1b
1. What obsticales did the native americans in the story aid in the search of their own identity?
2. Alcohol abuse was shown in many parts of the book. What lead characters to resort to alcoholism?
3. How were the women in the book abused ? How did this affect their identity?
Billy Russell
Professor Sabir
28 February 2012
English 1B
In what ways did alcoholism affect the lives of the Ojibwe people?
Is Artense really the last hope for the Ojibwe culture to survive?
Was it even possible for a Native American to achieve any kind of goal in the early part of the 20th century?
The book review I read was very enlightening. The review starts off by praising Grover's ability to wind and interweave such a diverse group of stories while at the same time providing closure for each one. The review then talks about the theme of the book which is, according to the review, for the older Ojibwe children to keep their people's culture alive in today's society. Also brought up in the review is Grover's amazing knowledge of history, which is most present when she references the boarding schools. The review concludes by making an analogy between Maggie's wedding quilt and the way the stories are woven together in, The Dance Boots.
-Jessica Hankle
Henkle, Jessica. "The Dance Boots." Foreword Reviews. 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. .
Ryan Gozinsky-Irwin
28th February 2012
Professor Sabir
English 1B
1. What does sewing represent for the American Indians?
2. How did the experiences that Henen and Maggie suffer through effect Artense?
3. How did the abuse translate into the relationships that the women of The Dance Boots had?
Wanda Sabir
English 1B
The assignment was kind of confusing.
Maribel Arrizon
Professor Sabir
English 1B
29 February 2012
1) What are some common Native American customs and how Legarde Grover include them in the stories?
2) Does the pain that is portrayed throughout the stories of the older family members differs from the pain that Artense experiences?
3) Have the Ojibwe succeeded in keeping their culture and beliefs intact even though the white men tried to take it away from them or have the two cultures mixed together through time?
Stephanie Kallens
29 February 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
1. How did the Ojibwe community overcome their struggles, such as oppression, alcoholism, and abuse?
2. What examples of love can be found within the characters relationships?
3. In what ways does The Dance Boots show the importance of family?
Demetria Owens
March 7,2010
English 1B
Prof. Sabir
1. in What way does the Book show the importance of Family
2. What are some of the ways Alcholism affected the lives of the Ojibwe People.
3. How did the Ojibwe community over come their struggles. (alcholism, oppression & abuse)
Demetria Owens
March 7,2010
English 1B
Prof. Sabir
1. in What way does the Book show the importance of Family
2. What are some of the ways Alcholism affected the lives of the Ojibwe People.
3. How did the Ojibwe community over come their struggles. (alcholism, oppression & abuse)
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