1. What should we read for the last 5 weeks? Decide on your top two choices and sent me an email at kbennett@nthurson.k12.wa.us with your reasons! I will be basing the decision on total votes as well as good reasoning. Choose what seems most interesting to you! They are all about the same amount of work.kbennett@nthurson.k12.wa.us

2. Frankenstein This is not the green guy with bolts in his neck. This is a novel in the Romantic (doesn’t necessarily have to do with romance) Gothic tradition. There are archetypal themes about man’s arrogance (hubris), the creation of man, and the universal concepts of revenge and connection in an isolated world.

3. It is a dark and emotional story… Victor Frankenstein, after an idyllic childhood with his best friends, becomes obsessed with science and reanimating dead tissue. (this all ties in with the author, Mary Shelley, and her lost baby). While he is away at college, his dreams come true, but at a terrible price. He becomes crazy and abandons his creation, a disfigured, ignorant giant of a man.

4. The monster (whose name is not Frankenstein) survives, but demands revenge for this life that Victor created and left. Terrible times, death, stalking and insanity prevail. We will read, analyze, write (a packet/file) and have a final paper. There is reading at home and there is emphasis on the Jungian and Greek themes present.

5. Nectar in a Sieve This is another one of those third world novels, like Things Fall Apart and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, yet it is much more of a narrative. It is an old Indian woman, telling the story of her life of joy and poverty in rural India. There is a British character involved, Kenny the doctor, revealing the contrasts between Western and Eastern thought and expectations.

6. It is steeped in Indian culture… We will be reading the novel and learning much about Indian culture – the religion, attitudes, politics and economics of the region that affect the main character’s life and family. A significant project we do with this book involves creating a Mandala for one of the characters. Of course, we will do reading logs, companion texts, and a final essay.

7. Oedipus Those crazy Greeks! This is a play about poor Oedipus. He tries so hard to avoid his fate(to kill his father and marry his mother) but never realizes that fate is FATE! The Gods decree it and as lowly humans, our job is to accept it. But what if your fate is so heinous you cannot do anything but rail against it?

8. We will… Read, analyze, act, write a paper and look at the universal ideas that are present and still applicable today. We will discuss the Oedipal complex that Freud postulated.

9. Poetry! We will look at several genres of poetry, reading and analyzing it in class. You will be required to memorize a poem of your own choosing. You will be required to do a poetry presentation where you analyze a poem, create a power point of it, and present it to the class. You will be required to participate in Poem in Your Pocket where you share poetry with people of your choosing, then share the poem and the reactions in class. You will be required to complete a few poetry writes, analyzing poetry from different genres. There is no writing of poetry involved, but you may use your own poems to memorize, analyze or use as Poem in Your Pocket.

10. So, your choices are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Oedipus by Sophocles Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Manchir Poetry by a selection of authors.

11. You need to… Email me by Wednesday May 1 st. No late entries will be considered. You must have your choice as well as your REASONS why this would be the best choice for seniors to do before they exit high school English forever. No more than a paragraph. It will apply to both 1 st and 6 th periods. Responses will be tallied, but also solid and well-written persuasion will work. Even though there may be more votes for poetry, if the only reason for doing it is less writing and someone writes an eloquent statement about the benefits of reading Frankenstein, I may have to agree with the Frankenstein vote. Use those fabulous grammar/writing/analysis/philosophical skills to convince me!