ELIT 48C Class 30 ELIT 48C Class 30

Important Dates!Week 8 Friday at noon : Essay #1 Due

500-750 words

Important Dates!Week 8 Friday at noon : Essay #1 Due

500-750 words

Chair Poet?

Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.

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Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.

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AGENDA

Invisible ManThemes“Prologue”“Battle Royal”

Author Introduction:Arthur Miller

Invisible ManThemes“Prologue”“Battle Royal”

Author Introduction:Arthur Miller

Selections from Invisible Man

ProloguePrologue1. What does the narrator tell us about himself in the very beginning of the prologue?

2. To what does the narrator attribute his invisibility?

3. Why does the narrator attack a man in the street?

4. What is the name of the company with which the narrator claims to be “having a fight”?

5. What reason does the narrator give for his fight with this company?

6. Whose music does the narrator enjoy?

7. What is described in the first part of the narrator’s fantasy?

8. When the narrator talks to the old woman in his fantasy, what reason does she give for loving her old master?

9. Why does one of the old woman’s sons attack the narrator in the fantasy?

10. What has the narrator done to make his dwelling-place more livable?

The Prologue

• What does the reader know about the narrator solely on the basis of the Prologue? Explain both what he reveals about himself explicitly and what inferences can be drawn, justifying your findings as you go along.

Invisible Man 1952By Ralph Ellison

QHQ: PrologueQHQ: Prologue

1. Q: What is the invisible man? What could he represent?

2. Q: Why is the ‘invisibility’ of the narrator the most emphasized, as if the narrator isn’t a particular person?

3. Q: Could Ellison’s “Invisible Man” serve as a third-eye view to the injustice that blacks went through at the time it was written?

4. Q: What does it mean when the narrator’s grandfather says “Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome’em with yeses, undermine’em with grins, agree’em to death and destruction”?

1. Q: What is the invisible man? What could he represent?

2. Q: Why is the ‘invisibility’ of the narrator the most emphasized, as if the narrator isn’t a particular person?

3. Q: Could Ellison’s “Invisible Man” serve as a third-eye view to the injustice that blacks went through at the time it was written?

4. Q: What does it mean when the narrator’s grandfather says “Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome’em with yeses, undermine’em with grins, agree’em to death and destruction”?

Themes and MeaningsThemes and Meanings

The battle royal episode introduces many of the themes of the novel: Social Darwinism, which metaphorically encourages individuals to fight to the finish in order to receive rewards; the ways in which the black community's strongest and wiliest members take advantage of their fellows, refusing to cooperate against the common white enemy just as Tatlock refuses to fake defeat; the corrupting influence of prizes and praise on the narrator himself; and the need for the white establishment to maintain symbolic as well as literal power over the black community. “Battle Royal” provides insight into thematic crux of the larger work: how to respond to the cruelty of racism while retaining one's decency and humanity.

“Battle Royal”“Battle Royal”

“Battle Royal” was first published as a short story in Horizon in 1947 under the title “Invisible Man.” It later became the first chapter of Ralph Ellison's only novel, Invisible Man (1952). “Battle Royal” provides a fascinating window into the creative forces that produced Invisible Man.

Grandfather episodes provide the thematic motor that drives much of the novel: a study of a naïve young man who is wounded by racism but unsure how to respond. He wants to be a good member of his family and community but fails to understand the poisonous effect that southern race relations have on even such simple acts as delivering a harmless graduation speech. The story makes clear just what the narrator will face in his maturity.

Battle Royal

1. How do the adults respond to the grandfather’s deathbed speech?

2. Where does the battle royal take place?

3. What kinds of men does the narrator see in the audience?

4. What does the blond woman have tattooed on her belly?

5. How is the boxing match made more entertaining for the audience?

6. How does the narrator try to appease Tatlock when the two are boxing?

7. How do the whites first try to pay the young men for their boxing?

8. Are the coins real?

9. What happens when the narrator accepts the briefcase presented to him?

10. Who is in the dream the narrator has at the end of the chapter?

Why would the audience listening to the narrator’s speech have reacted so strongly to the narrator’s mistake? Discuss the implications of his slip of the tongue.

“Battle Royal”

QHQ: “Battle Royal”QHQ: “Battle Royal”

1. Q: What was the meaning of the whole scene that took place at the “Battle Royal?”

2. Q: What does the naked woman represent?

3. Q: Why is the narrator attracted to the naked woman, but simultaneously repulsed and driven to violent thoughts by her?

1. Q: What was the meaning of the whole scene that took place at the “Battle Royal?”

2. Q: What does the naked woman represent?

3. Q: Why is the narrator attracted to the naked woman, but simultaneously repulsed and driven to violent thoughts by her?

QHQ: GeneralQHQ: General

1.Would Ellison’s idea of invisibility be accepted by a modernist minority critic?

2.Can the metaphor of being “invisible” be attached to more than just African Americans?

1.Would Ellison’s idea of invisibility be accepted by a modernist minority critic?

2.Can the metaphor of being “invisible” be attached to more than just African Americans?

Arthur Miller

Author Introduction

Miller was born in Manhattan, New York, on October 17, 1915. His parents were Jewish immigrants who had come to America in search of prosperity. His father, Isadore, ran a successful garment business for a number of years, while his mother, Augusta, was a schoolteacher. Following the failure of his father's business in 1928, Miller's family moved to Brooklyn, which would serve as the setting for a number of his plays, including Death of a Salesman (1949). His father's failure and subsequent withdrawal from the world of business had a profound effect on the young Miller, one that has direct roots in the character of Willy Loman. By the time Miller reached young adulthood, America was in the midst of the Great Depression. He saw firsthand how once-wealthy neighbors were reduced to poverty and the humiliation of menial labor or outright panhandling. Much of the playwright's cynicism regarding wealth and conspicuous consumption can be attributed to his experiences during these years.

HOMEWORKRead Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman Act 1: 238-303Post #30: Choose 1Discuss how Miller communicates Willy’s outlook and emotions to the reader. Note Willy’s words, his appearance, Linda’s reactions, the set design, and other means.Examine how Biff and Hap’s adult lives show the influence of their childhood as seen in the flashback.Describe how Willy has taken Ben’s life and his philosophy of the “jungle” as models for success. How has Willy shaped that philosophy to encompass life as a salesman?Linda says that “attention must be paid” to Willy despite his faults. Do you support Linda’s claim or disagree with it? If Willy is a “fake,” as Biff calls him, then does he deserve respect?QHQ