Class 4: EWRT 1B

AGENDAPresentation: Terms Teams and PointsAuthor Lecture: Langston HughesQHQ Discussion: Racial Passing: "Passing" and "Passing”

Lecture: Writing a Summary and Paraphrasing Poetry

In-class writing: Summary; paraphrase

Terms Exam #1: Class 6 19. Characterization: the creation of the image of imaginary

persons in drama, narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot and is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters’ thoughts or words about him.

20. Dialogue: is a conversation, or a literary work in the form of a conversation, that is often used to reveal characters and to advance the plot. Also, it is the lines spoken by a character in a play, essay, story, or novel.

21. Epistle: a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication. Also (usually initial capital letter ) one of the apostolic letters in the new testament or ( often initial capital letter ) an extract, usually from one of the Epistles of the New Testament, forming part of the Eucharistic service in certain churches.

22. Irony: a dryly humorous or lightly sarcastic figure of speech in which the literal meaning of a word or statement is the opposite of that intended. In literature, it is the technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposed to what is actually stated. Often, only the context of the statement leads the reader to understand it is ironic. Irony makes use of hyperbole, sarcasm, satire, and understatement.

There are four types of irony:

• Verbal irony as defined by Cicero: “Irony is the saying of one thing and meaning another,” or Socrates: ”when one adopts another’s point of view in order to reveal that person’s weaknesses and eventually to ridicule him.”

• Situational irony, such as when a pickpocket gets his own pockets picked

• Dramatic irony, such as when Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father

• Rhetorical irony, such as that of the innocent narrator in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn

23. Literal: pertaining to a letter of the alphabet. More typically, it means “based on what is actually written or expressed.” A literal interpretation gives an exact rendering— word for word— taking words in their usual or primary sense. It is also used to describe thinking which is unimaginative or matter of fact.

24. Literature: writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas and concerns of universal and apparently permanent interest, are essential features. While applied to any kind of printed material, such as circulars, leaflets, and handbills, there are some who feel it is more correctly reserved for prose and verse of acknowledged excellence, such as George Eliot’s works. The term connotes superior qualities.

25. Paraphrase: (also called rewording) – the restatement of a passage giving the meaning in another form. This usually involves expanding the original text so as to make it clear.

2. The teams will remain the same through the discussion, reading, and workshops of one essay.

3. You must change at least 50% of your team after each essay is completed.

4. You may never be on a team with the same person more than twice.

5. You may never have a new team composed of more than 50% of any prior team.

1. We will often use teams to earn participation points. Your teams can be made up of 3 or 4 people.

Points will be earned for correct answers to questions, meaningful contributions to the discussion, and the willingness to share your work. Each team will track their own points, but cheating leads to death (or loss of 25 participation points).

Answers, comments, and questions must be posed in a manner that promotes learning. Those who speak out of turn or with maliciousness will not receive points for their teams.

At the end of each class, you will turn in a point sheet with the names of everyone in your group and your accumulated points for the day. It is your responsibility to make the sheet, track the points, and turn it in.

Sit near your team members in class to facilitate ease of group discussions

Essay #2Teams

Get into groups of three or four. (1-2 minutes)

If you can’t find a group, please raise your hand.

Once your group is established, choose one person to be the keeper of the points. Write down

members’ names Turn in your sheet at

the end of the class period.

In your groups: 5 minutesDiscuss the reading for today.

Review the QHQs that you wrote.

LANGSTON HUGHES 1902-1967One of the founders of the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.

What do you know about Langston Hughes?

Few authors of the twentieth century are more significant than Langston Hughes. He is assured his status by his many contributions to literature.

• The length of his career: 1921-1967• The variety of his output: articles, poems, short stories,

dramas, novels, and history texts.• His influence on three generations of African American

writers: from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights Movement

• His concern for the “ordinary” African American: The subject of his work

• His introduction of the jazz idiom: the quality of black colloquial speech and the rhythms of jazz and the blues.

During his long career Hughes was harshly criticized by blacks and whites. Because he left no single masterwork, such as Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) or Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940), and because he consciously wrote in the common idiom of the people, academic interest in him grew only slowly. The importance of his influence on several generations of African American authors is, however, indisputable and widely acknowledged.

QHQ Discussion: Racial Passing: "Passing" and "Passing”

“Passing” The Short Story Q: Why was Jack passing as a white man? Q. Why does the main character feel like a dog passing his ma?

Q: How did Jack choose between his family and passing? Q: Why did Jack’s mom urge him to pass as a white man? Q: How is Jack’s family affected by his passing? Q: Has Jack done anything else for his for family besides just writing a

letter to his mother? Q: Why is passing as white more important than being with people that

love and accept him for who he really is? Q: In the short story “Passing” by Langston Hughes, does the main character,

Jack, feel remorseful about passing as a white man? Q: Will Jack ever stop feeling awful for passing his mother or his family? Or

will he simply enjoy the privilege that comes from being white and become accustomed the ways he needs to act in order to obtain them?

Q: In the story he tells his mom that he “is free!’. But is he actually free?

Q: From the context we can assume that the main character has become really successful, but, was he really? Or would it be better to state that he was not strong enough and therefore succumbed against the unfairly established rules society played against itself? Would this be the reason of why he decided to pass as a white man and to deny his family as well?

Q: Why if “passing” is hard and frightening does Jack do it?

Q: Is Jack racist towards blacks?Q: When hearing about white folks’ animosity towards people of color, why doesn’t Jack speak up?

Q: Will Jack forget all about his black roots? Q) Hughes says “why think about race any more? I’m glad I don’t have to.”

What made him come to this conclusion and why is he not even thinking about the oppression of his own people?

Q) Jack says he does not think about race; nevertheless, is that truly accurate?

Q: Since Jack is trying so hard to pass as a white person, would it be wrong for him to hide his true ethnicity from his girlfriend? If they were to get married would it be morally wrong for him to lie to her and let her believe that he’s white?

Q: What will happen if Jacks partner figures out he isn’t white? Will they still be together?

Q: Does Jack ever plan on telling his white lady friend that he’s part black?

Q) Would he really deny his own child and claim it wasn’t his if it had anything but white characteristics? Would he really accuse his wife of cheating on him to cover up his genetics?

Jack’s Girlfriend

Consequences Q. What if the main character came out and stated that he really is a

mulatto? What if he starts talking to his mom on the streets whenever he sees her? What kind of repercussions might this have?

Q. Was the price he paid for his “freedom” actually worth it? In other words, was the need to deny his family and cut almost all contact with them actually worth it for the life/lie he is living?

Q: Would this man ever go back to the way he lived before? Could he ever accept his true identity at the cost of losing his newfound privilege?

Q: If his mother had not encouraged him to pass, how would his life have been different?

Q At what point is is acceptable to choose what is best for yourself over your family without causing tension?

Q: Why does identity matter? How can people stop “passing?”

Q. How much courage does it take for a person to deny his or her own family?

Q: How would life be if to this day segregation ,like what Hughes went through, was still acceptable?

Q: How would racism and prejudice have been like back then if there were technologies like Internet?

Q: Would you pass like Mr. Hughes’s character, Jack?

Broader Inquiries about social policy, perspective, and choice.

On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem

when the air is one interminable ball game

and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns

from the Saints of God in Christ

on account of the Dodgers on the radio,

on sunny Sunday afternoons

when the kids look all new

and far too clean to stay that way,

and Harlem has its

washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out,

the ones who’ve crossed the line

to live downtown

miss you,

Harlem of the bitter dream

since their dream has

come true.

“Passing” By Langston Hughes

Q. Who is the narrator? Q. Does [the poem] mirror Hughes’s own experience of

“passing”? How might critics respond to this poem and what social justice issues does this poem raise?

Q: Why does Hughes center his short poem on “sunny Sunday afternoons?”

Q: What did Hughes mean by “the air is one interminable ball game and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns”?

Q: What does Hughes mean at the end: “the ones who’ve crossed the line to live downtown”?

Q: What does Hughes mean when [he says,] “Harlem of the bitter dream since their dream has come true?” Could he possibly be mentioning his own dream? Or does he reference someone else’s?

“Passing”: The Poem

Paraphrase and SummaryWriting strategies that cannot be ignored

How to Paraphrase A paraphrase is a restatement of a passage giving the meaning in another

form. This usually involves expanding the original text so as to make it clear. A paraphrase will have none of the beauty or effectiveness of the original. It

merely aims, in its prosy way, to spell out the literal meaning. It will not substitute for the original, then, but will help us appreciate the compactness and complexity of many poems.

Write in prose, not verse (in prose the lines go all the way to right margin). The line breaks of the original are irrelevant in paraphrasing.

Write modern prose, rearranging word order and sentence structure as necessary. As far as possible, within the limits of commonsense, avoid using the words of the original. Finding new words to express the meaning is a test of what you are understanding.

Write coherent syntax, imitating that of the original if you can do so with ease, otherwise breaking it down into easier sentence forms.

Write in the same grammatical person and tense as the original. If the original is in the first person, as many poems are, so must the paraphrase be.

Expand what is condensed.

Spell out explicitly what the original implies or conveys by hints. It follows that a paraphrase will normally be longer than the original.

Spell out explicitly all the possible meanings if the original is ambiguous (saying two or more things at once), as many poems are.

Use square brackets to mark off any additional elements you find it necessary to insert for the coherence of the meaning. The brackets will show that these bits are editorial -- contributed by you for the sake of clarity but not strictly "said" in the original. An example might be some implied transitional phrase or even an implied thought that occurs to the speaker causing a change in tone or feeling.

I, Too, Sing America

by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

 

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

 

I, too, am America.

Paraphrased Text

I am an American.

Although the color of my skin may be different from yours, I am like the rest of my fellowmen. Now I am separated from whites, but I [and my people] are gaining strength.

Soon, I [we] will join the rest of America, and my [our] rights will assure us that we are not excluded from the fruits of the country.

My darker complexion makes me no less beautiful than everybody else, which should make whites feel sorry for treating me like less than the average individual.

I am like the rest of you.

On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem when the air is one interminable ball game and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns from the Saints of God in Christ on account of the Dodgers on the radio, on sunny Sunday afternoons when the kids look all new and far too clean to stay that way, and Harlem has its washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out, the ones who’ve crossed the line to live downtown miss you, Harlem of the bitter dream since their dream has come true.

“Passing” By Langston Hughes

Take a few minutes to paraphrase this poem

The SummaryA summary is condensed version of a larger reading.  A summary is not a rewrite of the original piece and does not have to be long nor should it be long.  To write a summary, use your own words to briefly express the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read.   Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the basic ideas of the original reading.  What was it about and what did the author want to communicate? 

While reading the original work, take note of what or who is the focus and ask the usual questions that reporters use: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?  Using these questions to examine what you are reading can help you to write the summary.

Always read the introductory paragraph thoughtfully and look for a thesis statement.  Finding the thesis statement is like finding a key to a locked door.  Frequently, however, the thesis, or central idea, is implied or suggested.  Thus, you will have to work harder to figure out what the author wants readers to understand. Use any hints that may shed light on the meaning of the piece: pay attention to the title and any headings and to the opening and closing lines of paragraphs.

In writing the summary, let your reader know the piece that you are summarizing. Identify the title, author and source of the piece. You may want to use this formula:

In "Title of the Piece" (source and date of piece), author shows/offers/suggests that: central idea of the piece. 

Remember:

• Do not rewrite the original piece.• Keep your summary short.• Use your own wording.• Refer to the central and main ideas of the original

piece.• Read with who, what, when, where, why and how

questions in mind.

In the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” author James Thurber humorously presents a character who fantasizes about himself as a hero enduring incredibly challenging circumstances. In his real life, Walter Mitty lives an ordinary, plain life; he is a husband under the control of an overbearing, critical wife.  Thurber uses lively dialogue to give readers an understanding of Mitty's character. The story takes place over a period of about twenty minutes; during this brief time, Mitty drives his wife to the hairdresser and runs errands that his wife has given him while he waits for her. In between his worrying that he is not doing what she wants him to do, he daydreams about himself as a great surgeon, brilliant repair technician, expert marksman, and brave military captain. This story shows that fantasy is often a good alternative to reality.

Here is a sample summary:

“Passing” the Short Story

By Langston Hughes

Start your summary of the story

1. Reading: Kennedy "Racial Passing" Posted under "Secondary Sources.”

2. Studying: Terms: Exam in Class 6

3. Post #5: Post summary of "Passing" and paraphrase of "Passing."

4. Post #6: Discuss one story from Kennedy's article that particularly spoke to you. How did it influence you in your thinking about passing?

HOMEWORK