RITS Day 1

Character Map

After you copy the character map:
1. Choose parts for the play (****you can add on to your character map as we read--same as Caesar--any info you add is fair for the test and quizzes)
2. Begin reading starting on page 24 (middle of the page--"At Rise")
3. Answer the first few questions in the study guide on the pages we have read
*4. Watch the movie if we have time--if not we will watch it tomorrow

Setting analysis

RITS: Visualize the Younger Apartment

The Younger Apartment

Time: Sometime between 1945 and 1958

Place: Southside Chicago

A Raisin in the Sun takes place entirely in the Younger home. Although people come and go,
the audience only sees what goes on inside the apartment.

Directions: Read the introduction, and use the description to draw a layout of the Younger apartment.

• You must include: living room, kitchen area (include the one small window), bedroom on the left,

bedroom on the right, and the shared bathroom.

Additional details (such as the furnishings and who is in what room, etc.) should also be included.

Writing assignment #1 RITS:
What might the size, layout, and number of people living in this household tell us
about the family or the situation of the play?
*Make a claim about the setting of the story as described in the set design.
*Support your claims with a textual examples and explain. (1-2 paragraphs minimum).
*Make sure you use rhetorical analysis and be INSIGHTFUL


My masterpiece!!

A Raisin in the Sun Day 1

1. First, we will read pages 5-9 as a class:
As you read make note of any vocabulary words you do not know and the page that it falls on the top of your sheet of paper (see below if you are confused).

On a sheet of lined paper answer the following text-based questions using THE RACE STRATEGY (RESTATE ANSWER CITE EXPLAIN) when possible for full-credit:
questions for pages 5-9:
1) Describe the importance of the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry to American culture.
2) Explain the need to cut several scenes from the play.
3) Describe how these cuts affected the overall meaning of the play.
4) What did James Baldwin mean when he wrote that "Americans suffer from an ignorance that is not only colossal, but sacred" (8)? How does this relate to the play?

2. Now, I want you to read pages 10-14 on your own and complete the questions below:

questions for pages 10-14
5). Why does the author say that the end of the play is not a "happy ending" (10)?
6). Describe the 2 scenes that were cut and restored on pages 11 and 12 (Travis and Mrs. Johnson) and their effect on the play.
7) Why does it seem to some that the play is "a sad commentary on America"(13)?
8) Why does the author say that the play will be relevant even when we get past racism "as we must" (13)?

Assignment Example:

Vocabulary:
consciousness
presaged
ineradicably

Questions:
1. 

2. 

Video Introduction to A Raisin in the Sun

Answers from today's class:

1) Describe the importance of the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry to American culture.

It is important to American culture because it “presaged the revolution in black and women’s consciousness” (5) and also because it “speaks to the issues that are now inescapable: value systems of the black family…the ongoing struggle it portends” (6). It was the first commercially successful black drama.

2) Explain the need to cut several scenes from the play.

Several scenes were cut because of “happenstance,” (6) the unpredictable happenings that occur in any play, but more importantly because the running time of 3-4 hours was too long for a “first play” by an unknown African-American, female playwright (7).

Today's Agenda:

For Today:
1. Finish yesterday's discussion of "insightful" commentary of "Richard Cory"
2. Work on the following 2 worksheets: The colon/semicolon and paraphrasing

Turn in all three papers by the end of class today.

Examples:The Colon--first read the "key information" 
1. The ingredients for s'mores are as follows one box of graham crackers, ten milk chocolate bars, and a bag of marshmallows.
2. I still need to buy Christmas presents for Susan, Tricia, Sarie and Katie.
3. To perform this experiment, you need these things a thin piece of cork, red dye, a slide with cover, and a microscope.
4. Smoking has been shown to cause heart disease, emphysema, lung cancer, and complications during pregnancy.

Semicolon:
1. I really enjoy reading the poetry of John Donne; Gerard Manley Hopkins; and W.B. Yeats.

2. Last year Paul visited New York City and saw the Empire State Building, which didn't impress him, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which he spent one whole day, and Rockefeller Center, where he tried to ice-skate but sprained his ankle right away.

close-reading of "Richard Cory"

Richard Cory

Please take notes on how to write an effective rhetorical analysis essay

Powerpoint Presentation

Following the notes, please write a paragraphed rhetorical analysis of either:
1. "Eveline" by Joyce
2. "Duty" by Clough
3. Both "Eveline" and "Duty"

*Please use the hints you learned in your notes to guide your writing
*Please complete today in class or at home for HOMEWORK--and turn in (either on paper or emailed) with your multiple-choice answers tomorrow in class.

Mid-term essay/multiple-choice

"Eveline" by James Joyce
"Duty" by Clough

Today we are going to start the multiple choice session.