Class 20

EWRT 1B

Agenda Countdown Presentation: Terms Discussion:

Gentleman’s Agreement and “Leaves”

Why do people pass? What is identity? Is it real or constructed?

Essay #4: Questions

Class 18: Exam Make-up or Retake Test Class 19: Film Friday week 11:

○ Self assessment due before noon. Class 20: Wrapping up the course Class 21: Final

Final Exam Comprehensive Terms testResearch Paper: Essay #4 due before class

Exam 4: Final Terms

17. Scenario: an outline of the plot of a dramatic work, which provides particulars about characters, settings, and situation. The term is most often used for the detailed script of a film or a treatment setting forth the action in the sequence it is to follow with detailed descriptions of scenes and characters, and actual works. Sometimes the plot of a film or television show is loosely called a scenario.18. Simile: a figure of speech in which two things, essentially different but thought to be alike in one or more respects, are compared using “like,” “as,” “as if,” or “such” for the purpose of explanation, allusion, or ornament.

19. Style: a manner of putting thoughts into words or the characteristic mode of construction and expression in writing and speaking. The term is also used for the characteristics of a literary selection that concern the form of expression rather than the thought conveyed. Style is usually defined by the writer’s choice of words, figures of speech, devices, and the shaping of the sentences and paragraphs. Sometimes, styles are classified according to time period or individual writers.20. Theme : the central and dominating idea in a literary work. A theme may also be a short essay such as a composition. In addition, the term means a message or moral implicit in any work of art.

In this movie, the main character both reverse passes and refuses to pass. How is this possible?

How does his behavior affect his identity, his family, and his intimate relationship?

Sui Sin Far: “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian” And then the little fish

swims around and his fin is little and , and, and….. He goes is the fish tank and he is lost and…….NO!

How can we compare Phil to Sui Sin Far?

How does each resist passing?

What behaviors can you specifically identify?

Consider the time periods:Far wrote “Leaves” in

1890Hobson wrote

Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1946

Do their motivations differ?

Thinking about PassingWhat is it exactly?

What is Identity?

When is Identity “real” and when is it constructed”?

Consider the identity of Dr. Lieberman, the Jewish physicist in Gentleman’s Agreement, who says, “I have no religion so I am not Jewish by religion. Further, I am a scientist, so I must rely on science, which tells me I am not Jewish by race, since there is no such thing as a distinct Jewish race. There is not even such a thing as a Jewish type. Well, my crusade will have a certain charm. I will simply go forth and state that I am not a Jew. With my face, that becomes not an evasion but a new principle, a scientific principle“?

What is his fixed identity category?Would he be passing if he simply stated he was not a Jew based on his lack of religion and his scientific assertion that there is no Jewish race?

Are our identities on the inside or the outside?

Are transgender people passing? If so, what is the fixed identity

category? What is the passing category?

Can a bio male or female person have the identity of “trans” without being called a passer?

How, then, can we parallel this trans identity and trans passing scenario to racial identity and racial passing?

Is a person who looks white but is of African American lineage, also “trans”? When can this person be “white” without being called a passer? OR should he or she identify as trans (racial)?

Is Race “Real” or Constructed?

• If race is constructed, is Jack passing?

• Is Clare? Irene?• Can Sui Sin Far refuse to pass if

race is constructed?

Disruption or Stabilization?

Does this ability to identify as trans (sexual, gender, racial, ethnic) and pass or not pass disrupt identity categories or does it destroy them? How?

Does “Passing” disrupt or stabilize the status quo? Can it do both? How?

Questions about essay #4?

Read: Research Write: Essay #4 Study: Terms