Remember to finish the book for Friday's class, since we'll have our final Reading Exam (no questions otherwise). This will be our last 'business' class of the semester, though we will have class on Monday just to wrap things up.
Start thinking about your Final Project assignment, even though you still have until Finals week to complete it. Let me know if you have any questions or you simply get stuck!
See you tomorrow!
These are our LAST questions for the class! We'll just have a Reading Exam on Friday, so be sure to finish the book by then. Hopefully, these last readings will give you more ideas to help you approach the Final Project, which we'll talk a bit more about on Friday. Let me know if you have any questions...
Answer TWO of the following
Q1: To bring about a truce between the Khoush and the Meduse, Binti invokes "deep culture," something she claims "Never in a thousand years would I have believed it would move through me." What is deep culture in the story, and what might it represent outside of the story (esp. in terms of earlier works from the class--the Tao te Ching and the Prophet, for example)?
Q2: Why do the Himba elders decide to abandon Binti and sacrifice her to the two warring races? Don't they want peace, especially given the famous saying "When elephants fight, the grass suffers"? How does this confirm many of Binti's suspicions about the tribe (and the elders, especially)?
Q3: After Binti's death, Mywinyi remarks that "She's a master harmonizer, but what harmony did she bring? I couldn't understand her. She seemed broken." How might Binti have been broken prior to her death? Though she seemed to have finally found her identity, what conflict might have continued to unbalance her?
Q4: When Binti is resurrected by New Fish, she learns that she has become part of New Fish's biology; or, as the ship explains, "You are probably more microbes than human now." Does this suggest that 'Binti' is truly dead, and the new Binti is finally something else--something no longer tied to Himba or Meduse? Or can she be Binti in any body, even one that is scarcely a human being? (in the same way, if you could put someone's memories into a computer, would the computer be that person...or just a program?)
NOTE: This is our last week of reading, so just hang in there and finish the book and you'll be done! Remember the paper assignment is posted below, and if you get stumped on what to write about, the reading/questions should help you! I'm designing them with the Final Project in mind.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: How does the dream-vision of Kande (the Himba girl who first encountered the aliens) inform Binti's own situation in the present? Why is she almost another incarnation of Kande, in yet another cycle of "outsiders" forced inside?
Q2: There's a great passage early on in the book when Binti is told about the Icarus grasshoppers who jump into the flames, fly with burning wings until they fall off, recover, and then do it again. When she asks why they would do such a thing, Mwinyi responds, "It's how they were programmed by science, I guess," to which she responds, "But I'm sure they rationalize it somehow." How might this metaphor relate to certain habits of the Himba or even the Meduse? Or our own society?
Q3: Why does everyone on both sides of the conflict--Khoush and Himba--insist on seeing Binta as the partner, or mate, of Okwu? Do they have that kind of relationship? Or is that simply the only way to explain/rationalize what they do have?
Q4: When Binti is before the council of elders towards the end of the chapter, she explains that she never intended to run away from home, but instead, "I wanted to add to it all...I need it all, you, school, space." Why can't the Himba accept that leaving home is an addition rather than a subtraction? And why, too, did they assume she would never come home?
INTRO: In Binti,
Binti has her native hair replaced with the okuoko,
which are prehensile tentacles which allow her to not only speak with (and for)
the Meduse, but change how others see her and how she sees herself. Soon after,
she realizes that she is also Enyi Zinariya, a race with alien technology in
their blood. She now has to confront difficult questions of identity, rather
than accepting herself as a single, static being: I was Himba, a master
harmonizer. Then I was also Meduse, anger vibrating in my okuoko. Now I was
also Enyi Zinairya, of the Desert People gifted with alien technology. I was
worlds. But some only see the drawbacks of the complexity, as her brother
says, “You’re polluted…What man will marry you? What kind of children will you
have now?”
PROMPT: For your final project, I want to consider how parts
of you have been replaced and augmented (either consciously or unconsciously)
as you’ve gradually become the person you are today. What are the ‘okuoko’
which have been added to your intellectual, spiritual, emotional, or even
physical identity? In what way have you become a very different person from the
one you were ten years ago? Where did this ‘technology’ come from? Was it
entirely by choice? Did you choose to change your identity in subtle ways that
eventually led to a more drastic transformation? Or is this something that your
culture/education naturally replaced so that you could function more
efficiently in society? Do you feel that these are all improvements? Would you
ever want to have a reverse-operation?
EXAMPLES: getting a tattoo is a small but important way to transform your body and change its meaning (literally, by writing on the skin). Even a certain hair style or type of clothing can become an extension of your identity that changes how you see yourself (or how others do). But you could also say that devoting your life to a certain sport or activity can be an augmentation to your initial self that results in a change of life and ideas. Even books and fields of study can become okuoko!
REQUIREMENTS: This is a ‘project,’ so it can take various
forms: (a) a traditional paper that charts the ways that you augmented (or were
augmented); (b) a more creative approach—a story, a poem; (c) a presentation
either via Powerpoint, Prezi, etc., or something more creative; (d) a work of
art such as a drawing, painting, etc.
The only CATCH is that your project must somehow incorporate
Binti as part of your conversation: you should relate your experience with
hers, and use passages in the text to help explain your experience, even if it
seems radically different. Look at the metaphors—the way Okorafor translates a universal
experience into a particular story about a specific woman.
DUE: Not later than the last day of Final Exam
Week—Friday, May 6th by
REMEMBER that I had to cancel class on Wednesday, so try to finish Binti: Home for Friday's class. No questions, since we'll try to stay on schedule and do a Reading Exam for the second book (since we didn't do one for the first!). As long as you're more or less finished with it you should have no trouble responding.
I'll also be posting the Final Project assignment so stay tuned...
NOTE: Feel free to finish Binti: Home, for next time, though we'll only discuss the chapters above. We'll finish the book on the following class. The questions below are only for the next few chapters.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Though most of Khoush culture looks down upon the Himba as savage and uncivilized, how are the Himba guilty of their own cultural subjectification? How does their own ethnocentricity affect Binti and her own family--notably, her father?
Q2: When Binti returns home, her old friend, Dele, accuses her of being "too complex," and all of them find her dangerous. What do they most fear about her new identity? How might she upset the careful cultural balance of the Himba people, merely because she left the planet to go to Oomza Uni?
Q3: Why do you think Binti returned to go on a pilgrimage, which is what a traditional Himba woman does once she comes of age (and before marriage)? Especially since, as she reflects, "No man wanted a girl who ran away." What does she think such a pilgrimage will accomplish when most people already reject her?
Q4: In the desert at eight years old, Binti finds the edan buried in the sand, and is told that she has found a "god stone." What might the edan, and the manner in which she found it, remind you of (what other stories)? How might this chapter be Okorafor's way of setting this story in a very traditional, familiar setting?
If you missed class on Wednesday (or forgot), we won't have any questions for Friday, and you can take a break on reading, or simply keep reading Binti: Home. I'll give you more reading and questions for Monday's class.
We're a little ahead of schedule, so here's the new, updated schedule (below). On Friday, we're going to do some in-class writing and talk about some ideas that might lead to our Final Project for the class (don't worry--it's not a group assignment). See you then!
6 Okorafor, Binti: Home, Part 1
8 In-Class Writing/Discussion
11 Okorafor, Binti, Book 2, Part 2
13 Okorafor, Binti, Book 2, Part 3
15 Writing Exam #5
18 Okorafor, Binti, Book 3, Part 1
20 Okorafor, Binti, Book 3, Part 2
22 Okorafor, Binti, Book 3, Part 3
25 Okorafor, Binti, Book 3, Part 4 (if needed)
27 Writing Exam #6
29 Project Discussion/Wrap-Up
Final Project due TBA
REMEMBER: You can skip the story between "Binti" and "Binti:Home" since its not part of the original narrative. Read the first four chapters for next class, stopping at the chapter, "The Root."
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Though Binti is anxious to return home for the first time in a year, and though her parents seem to accept her back into the family, what if she most worried about? What complications might get in the way of her homecoming (and how might this relate to our own world, and our own trips back home after a long separation)?
Q2: After talking with the Khoush therapist, Dr. Nywanyi, Binti learns that "in matters of girlhood and womanhood and control, we were the same. What a surprise this was to me." Why might gender roles and expectations be almost universal across species? And how is this true of different races and cultures in our own world? In other words, why might women bond across cultures more easily than men?
Q3: The second chapter is called "Humans. Always Performing," after a comment an alien makes when observing Binti and her friend. Why might there be more than a grain of truth in this statement? How many of our social actions could be chalked up to 'performances' of one kind or another? What kind of performances are most important to these very interactions?
Q4: The great irony during her trip back home is that she is not only on the same ship that was attacked by the Meduse, but she's making the voyage with her best friend, who is also the cause of her PTSD nightmares. Why might this storyline evoke memories of The Ramayana and Hinduism in general? Why might your best friend also be your worst enemy?
Last time, I had you read the first 56 pages of the book, which was actually my book--not yours. The first 56 pages of your book is apparently the entire first book of Binti (it's three books). However, your edition includes the first book (which ends at page 56--smaller font?) and a new short story "Sacred Fire" sandwiched between the first book and the second ("Home"). Since we're not done talking about the first book yet, let's spend one more day discussing it, especially since we had low attendance on Wednesday due to various over-scheduled events.
So NO QUESTIONS...however, if you didn't turn in Wednesday's questions, you can still do so. Just make sure to read the first book ("Binti") which ends around page 56, before the story "Sacred Fire." If you want to read ahead, skip "Sacred Fire" and start reading "Home," which we'll discuss on Wednesday.
Take care!
“All fiction is metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor. What sets it apart from older forms of fiction seems to be its use of metaphors, drawn from certain great dominants of our contemporary life" (Ursula K. Le Guin)
Q1: Binti goes
the Oomza Uni against her parents’ wishes, as her mother tells her, “There is a
reason why our people do not go to that university…You go to that school and
you become its slave” (14). What do you think she means by that, and how might
it explain why she’s the first person of her tribe to study there?
Q2: Somewhat related to the above, Binti tells us that the Himba “prefer to explore the universe by traveling inward, as opposed to outward” (21). How might this explain her family’s occupation, and why she was chosen to study there in the first place? (also, what other book in class does this statement remind you of??)
Q3: What is the significance of the otjitze, and why is it such a precious commodity to Binti? And why, when the Meduse wants some of it, does she reflect, “I couldn’t give all my otjitze to this Meduse; this was my culture” (49)?
Q4: How might the humans vs. Meduse conflict in the book be a uniquely science-fiction metaphor for some aspect of our own world and its conflicts? Remember that, as we discussed in class on Monday, all science fiction is metaphor…the future, space, aliens, and technology, are all different perspectives of looking at our own world. Why do you think she chose to examine it like this?
NOTE: These will be our last set of Ramayana questions; we'll have our next writing exam on Friday, which will cover the last few chapters (they're pretty short).
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: There’s a famous passage from The Bhagavad Gita which reads, “work which is done with a confused mind, without considering what may follow, or one’s own powers, or the harm done to others, or one’s own loss, is a work of darkness.” How might this passage illustrate a specific passage in Chs.5-7? In other words, how might we read The Ramayana as a specifically religious text where the plot/characters are merely illustrating spiritual values?
Q2: When Rama attacks Vali from behind a bush, delivering a fatal blow, Vali asks, “When strong men commit crimes, they become heroic deeds?” (101). How does Rama defend himself against claims of injustice against Vali and a betrayal of his own code? Has he committed a selfish act, one based on “impure knowledge”? Or is Vali’s way of understanding this act limited?
Q3: How might the character of Hanuman—though a monkey—embody many key Hindu beliefs about individual identity and duty? ALSO, why might we look on him as the true hero (in the more Western sense) of the epic? Note, too, that in some versions of the poem, Hanuman is almost as important as Rama!
Q4: In Chapter 9, Ravana’s youngest brother urges Ravana to see through the illusion of men and monkeys, and so realize that the gods are tricking him. The best thing he can do is to “release the goddess you have imprisoned. And that will prove to be the most meritorious achievement of your career” (127). Why do you think releasing Sita would be seen as “meritorious” or even “good,” considering all the evil he’s already committed? Why does one good deed wash away all his previous sins—and even more, overshadow all of his previous achievements?
NOTE: The Critical Paper assignment is in the post below this one.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Narayan is not an academic writer, but a novelist who is
considered the “grandfather of the
Q2: In Chapter 3, Rama claims that “A word given is like an arrow, it goes forward. You cannot recall it midway” (54). What situation is he responding to here, and how does this underline the fundamental concept of dharma (which translates to “the essential order of things, an integrity and harmony in the universe and in the affairs of life that cannot be disturbed without courting chaos”)?
Q3: What role do women seem to play in The Ramayana? From Sita, to Kayeki, to the demon Soorpanaka, they all share certain characteristics and emerge as very distinct characters (maybe more so than the men). As Western readers, do we read these portrayals as somewhat misogynist (anti-women)? Or are they merely playing the roles required of them in this culture? Do they relate at all to other women in the myths of Western tradition (Circe, Penelope, Calypso, etc.)?
Q4: In Chapter 5, Narayan writes, “The fates were at work and this was to be a crucial moment in their lives. Normally, Rama would have questioned Sita’s fancy, but today he blindly accepted her demand” (82). How should we read this passage? Did the gods intervene and make Rama “weak,” or is this Rama’s humanity showing through? Can everything in the book be explained away by karma?
“There really
is no Western counterpart in either the Hellenic or Hebraic tradition to the
influence that this originally secular story, transmitted orally through many
centuries, has exerted over millions of people…The Ramayana continues to have a
profound emotional and psychological resonance for Indians” (Pankaj Mishra,
Introduction to Narayan’s The Ramayana)
INTRO: The stories in both Narayan’s version of The
Ramayana and Hearn’s Japanese Ghost Stories are relatively familiar
stories of heroes and monsters, which we can find in hundreds of movies and
comic books. And yet these stories have survived their historical moment and have
literally become myths: they are told and re-told in books, films, TV shows,
comic books, etc. The heroes of these tales, such as Rama and Hanuman, have
become cultural heroes and religious figures in their own right. And the
monsters, such as Jinniki and Yuki-Onna, have terrorized entire generations of
children too scared to go to sleep. They are like
PROMPT: For this paper, I want you to examine a work of art
that you feel is primed to make the jump from fiction to myth in our own
society. This work of art should be something MO
REMEMBER: Be sure to relate it to one or both of the works
in class, and discuss how your might follow in the example of Rama or another hero
in the epic; or, how your villain might be as horrific and uncanny as some of
the monsters in Hearn’s stories. If Hearn and Narayan offer the blueprint for
literary mythmaking, how might your work be following the prototype?
REQUIREMENTS
NOTE: In the event that class is cancelled for snow on Friday, we'll pick this up the week after Spring Break. But do try to read it sooner rather than later--and hopefully, for Friday's class!
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: What makes Rama a unique hero even within the context of superhuman heroes like Achilles or Hercules? While all are somewhat divine, how does Rama’s origin make him unique among Western heroes—and difficult to translate into our world/stories? Is it even fair to call him a hero given his unusual pedigree?
Q2: On page 16,
Q3: The Ramayana places a strong emphasis on duty or dharma, which can be translated as “the essential order of things, an integrity and harmony in the universe and in the affairs of life that cannot be disturbed without courting chaos. Thus it means rightness, justice, goodness, purpose” (Easwaran). Part of dharma is doing one’s duty and keeping’s one word at all costs. How does the story (so far) dramatize the struggle of doing one’s duty and obeying one’s station in life, even when to do so might otherwise seem ‘wrong’? Why is this notion of duty particularly tricky for Western readers?
Q4: Another often-translated Hindu concept is that of karma, which “can be translated as deed or action. The law of karma states that every event it both a cause and an effect. Every act has consequences…and every act, every karma, is also the consequence of some previous karma” (Easwaran). Related to question 3, how does the work dramatize the concept of karma in action? What characters are punished or rewarded according to their karma? Why might this, too, be a difficult concept for Western readers to grasp or appreciate?
For Monday's class, read the following stories and be sure there's one or two you feel comfortable using to answer Monday's exam response (oh, and bring your book, as always!).
The Stories:
* The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi (another story used in Kwaidan, one that we didn't watch in class; 139-148)
* Mujina (154-155)
* Rokuro-Kubi (156-166)
* Yuki-Onna (the "Woman of the Snows" from Kwaidan: 167-170)
* The Story of Aoyagi (171-179)
* The Dream of Akinosuke (180-185)
Enjoy! See you next week...
Remember, you don't have to read every last story in this section, but read as many as you can. If one doesn't seem to grab you, try the next one. But be sure to read several so you get enough variety in the stories, since each one gives insight into different aspects of Japanese culture.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Why do you think so many of these ghost stories are about love? We talked about this briefly in class on Wednesday, but it seems to be an unique and even obsessive quality of Japanese ghost stories. Why might love be a somewhat taboo subject for the culture (given what we see in these stories), and why might it also be a "fear" of the culture at large? Related to this, why does love seem to haunt so many people in these stories, notably the samurai in "The Reconciliation" (another story that was filmed for Kwaidan).
Q2: Why do so many of the stories break off before we get a proper conclusion or a sense of what "really happens"? Consider the story "The Corpse Rider," where even the narrator admits, "The conclusion of this story I do not think to be morally satisfying" (78). Why does Hearn write these endings, when he could have easily made them more "morally satisfying"?
Q3: Since the Japanese at this time don't believe in death as a final event or judgement, but merely one of many deaths, how does that change the "fear" of death? What makes the dead scarier (or scarier in a different way) than they would be for us? Or, to ask the question in another way, why might death be much more real for them that it is for us?
Q4: How does the story "In a Cup of Tea" (p.122) compare to the film version we watched in class (the second story from Kwaidan)? Did the story try to explain or give special insight into the characters and events from the story? Or are they both equally mysterious and uncanny?
NOTE: Read as many as you can between pages 3-68, and feel free to skip one or two if they don't grab you. But most of them are very addictive and fun--you'll want to read most of them. But if you don't finish, no big deal, since you can easily answer the questions below.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: How do any of these stories seem to relate to concepts we’ve read in
the Tao te Ching and Gibran’s poems? Do we still find
‘Eastern’ values expressed within the ghost stories and legends of the book? Are
people punished for their failure to follow something tantamount to the “Way”
or for being attached to selfish desires and passions?
Q2: What is unusual about the narrative style? Who seems to be telling these stories? Why aren't these stories more typically third-person omniscient narrators, and could this make the stories seem scarier or more unusual?
Q3: Throughout the stories, Hearn (an American by way of
Q4: Do you feel these stories were meant to be read literally, similar to our own horror movies, which are supposedly “based on a true story?” Or are these metaphorical stories, like The Prophet, which are meant to be enjoyed and then puzzled over to catch its true meaning? Which story best illustrates either approach?
Ugh--with all these snow days, we lost another week of classes, and still have 3 more presentations to finish! However, I have a potential solution so we don't lose more class time--but it is OPTIONAL.
For the three groups who haven't presented yet, you could e-mail me a short video of your presentation (5-10 minutes) going through all the slides with narration. This way, I could post the video on our blog for the class to watch, but we wouldn't necessarily have to do them in class. HOWEVER, this is just an alternative; if you would rather present in class and/or don't know how to make a video, don't worry about it. We can easily finish on Monday. But if everyone would prefer to do videos, I can post them on the blog and we can try to resume our missed classes.
Either way, here's our revised schedule until it gets back to the original:
21 Group
Presentations
23 Snow
Day
25 Snow
Day
28 Group
Presentations (or) Context: The Uncanny Tradition
MARCH
2 Hearn,
Japanese Ghost Stories
4 Hearn, Japanese Ghost
Stories
7 Hearn,
Japanese Ghost Stories/Writing Exam #3
9 Narayan,
The Ramayana
11 Narayan,
The Ramayana
14 Spring
Break
16 Spring
Break
18 Spring
Break
21 Narayan,
The Ramayana
23 Narayan,
The Ramayana
25 Writing
Exam #4
28 Critical
paper due by
30 Context:
The Futures of Science Fiction
APRIL
1 Scissortail
CW Festival (no class)
Because of the Snow Days, I decided to move things back a little, which includes your presentations, which will now be on the week of the 21st. Note the change of the schedule below for the next four weeks.
Also, on Monday we'll have our second Writing Exam over The Prophet. I won't make you match passages to art this time, but instead, I'll ask you to create a spontaneous performance art piece using dance and mime (ha, kidding). But seriously, I'll ask you to think about why The Prophet thinks laws and particularly, moral laws, can be dangerous in society, and why the Prophet cautions people not to get too attached to them. This ties into the nature of good and evil, and why people are so keen to weigh into this debate, always seeing the 'other' person as the evil one.
REVISED SCHEDULE
14 Writing Exam #2
16 Excerpt from Kwaidan (1965)
18 Context: Ghost Stories & The Uncanny
21 Group Presentations
23 Group Presentations
25 Group Presentations (if needed)
28 Hearn, Japanese Ghost Stories
MARCH
2 Hearn, Japanese Ghost Stories
4 Hearn, Japanese Ghost Stories
7 Writing Exam #3
9 Narayan, The Ramayana
11 Narayan, The Ramayana
14-18 Spring
Break
Read as much of the book as you can for Friday's class, finishing it if possible (if not, you can finish over the weekend). In many ways, this is a book that you don't need to finish to appreciate, since it's not about getting to the 'end,' since even at the end the Prophet predicts his return in the body of another woman. Yet like life itself, you never know where you're going to find a hidden treasure, so keep reading!
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Just as the Tao te Ching claims that "he who knows much knows nothing," so the Prophet claims that "You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts." But he seems to go a step further when he claims, "in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered." How can speech murder thought? Why might the very nature of speech/talking/writing be a threat to the very nature (or purpose) of thinking? Could this be another moon/finger scenario?
Q2: The book talks a lot about the nature of Good and Evil (or Justice and Injustice), and it claims, memorably, that "what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst? Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and why it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters." How does this relate to our earlier discussion about victims being guilty of their own crime? Why might evil not be the enemy of good, but its accomplice?
Q3: The Prophet seems to worry about people who are too keen to observe and enforce laws, whether laws of the state or of morality. Though he's clearly not against laws or morality, what might be wrong with blindly (or dogmatically) enforcing them? Or of using laws to define the nature of what is "good" or "just"?
Q4: The allegorical frame story comes full circle at the end when the Prophet finally leaves the city and boards his ship. But he makes a final prophecy: "A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me." This seems to more than hint that he is going to die, but that he will eventually return, reincarnated. How do you interpret this allegory? How might a "prophet" return among the people over and over again, especially once his voice fades in their ears, and his love vanishes from their memory?
I know your book has different page numbers than mine (or the one I tried to order for the class!), so try to read through the chapter on "Teaching." You can read a little more than this, or a little less, but get close to this, so you can finish for Friday's class. But again, it reads very quickly, and I often have to force myself to slow down because every sentence has a tricky meaning that can easily slip through your grasp if you read it too superficially!
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Why might the section on "Self-Knowledge" almost be a paraphrase or a free translation of one or more verses of the Tao te Ching? In what way is it echoing many of the key sentiments of that work, suggesting that either Gibran knew it intiamately (or simply really agreed with its ideas)?
Q2: When I was teaching English as a Second Language way back in 2001, a student from Oman once told me, "the problem with Americans is that they have too much freedom. When you have too much freedom, you are no longer free." I kind of brushed him off at the time, but I think he was paraphrasing Gibran here, who says in the section on "Freedom": "I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff." How can freedom be stifling and create its own fetters? What does he mean that "freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes?"
Q3: In one of the most controversial passages of the book, the Prophet suggests that "The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder. And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed." How can a victim be 'guilty' of the crime of their victimhood? Isn't this like blaming someone who gets raped for wearing the wrong clothing? Or is he striking at something deeper here?
Q4: In a passage that echoes what he earlier said about love, the Prophet suggests that "joy is your sorrow unmasked...The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." Why is sorrow necessary for joy? Why is pain necessary for pleasure? Ugliness for beauty? (and why might this start reminding you of the Tao?) :)
Sorry for the delay, but I've decided not to give you extra reading/questions for The Prophet. Instead, we'll just return to class on Monday and discuss the opening chapters as we were going to do on Wednesday. I'll simply sandwich the book into 3 days instead of 4, and lose one of our presentation days. The new schedule will look like this:
M 7 Gibran,
The Prophet
W 9 Gibran,
The Prophet
F 11 Gibran,
The Prophet
M 14 Writing
Exam #2
W 16 Group
Presentations
F 18 Group
Presentations
If we need another day for presentations, we'll take the following Monday. So start talking to your group members and planning the roles each member will take in the presentation. I'm always available with questions if you have them. To help you get started, below are some links to art which you might want to use for the Curators in each group. You can use ANY art you think helps complement the verses, from album covers to photographs to manga. It's up to you! But here are a few works of art you might consider:
* The paintings of Paul Klee, which we wrote about in class: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-klee-1417
And many more here: https://www.paul-klee.org/paintings/
* The paintings of Rene Magritte, the famous surrealist painter and creator of The Treachery of Images (the big pipe): https://www.renemagritte.org/rene-magritte-paintings.jsp
* The paintings of Khalil Gibran, author of The Prophet: many of these were creator to illustrate his books:
https://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/events/exhibitions/2010/kahlil_gibran/items/image_7.html
* The paintings of Hokusai, the 19th century Japanese painter: https://www.katsushikahokusai.org/
* The paintings of Nicholas Roerich, a Russian painter who traveled in China and Tibet and who was obsessed with the Himalayas and Buddhism: https://www.tallengestore.com/collections/nicholas-roerich
* The abstract paintings of Vasili Kandinsky: https://www.wassilykandinsky.net/painting1896-1944.php
* The illustrations of Moebius, a French comic & sci-fi artist: https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-moebius/
In case you didn't see the university's texts, the campus closes at noon today, so we can 't have class today (Wednesday). I assume it will be closed on Friday, too. I'll adjust the schedule to give us more time to read The Prophet, which means I'll move back the Group Presentations as well.
I'll post some new questions for The Prophet soon and you can turn both of those in on Friday, if we have class, or on Monday (more likely). You can e-mail me the questions for Wednesday today or simply keep them until we return to class.
Enjoy the snow and I'll post more soon!
Gibran's The Prophet is a strange work at first, as it seems to tell a story, but is really like the Tao te Ching, a series of meditations, or sermons, on various roles and relationships in life. Read through them slowly and don't worry about getting the overall story or even catching every metaphor. Just underline the ideas and sayings that grab you--and keep your ear open for phrases or ideas you might have heard before, some of which Gibran himself made popular.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: The Prophet is in part an allegory, which "is a narrative fiction in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived to make coherent sense on the “literal” or primary, level of signification, and at the same time to signify a second, correlated order of agents, concepts, and events” (Abrams). In other words, it's an extended metaphor that works on two levels--the surface level, and the deeper level. What do you think the metaphor of the man leaving the city he's spent 12 years in for the ship from the land of his birth represents? What was he doing in the city? And why don't they want him to leave?
Q2: In speaking of love, the Prophet says that you should follow love, though "the sword hidden among its pinions may wound you," and "his voice may shatter your dreams." Why do you think he makes love sound so forbidding and desperate? And how might this relate to his thoughts on Marriage: "Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup...eat not from the same loaf"?
Q3: His advice on Children and Giving seems to echo many sentiments that we read in the Tao te Ching: what specifically here reminds you of the earlier work? Why might Children not truly belong to us, and giving not done in the spirit of giving be worthless?
Q4: One of Gibran's most famous sayings is, "Work is love made visible." What do you think this means? How is all work sacred, and why is it important to do work as if to benefit "your beloved"?
For your first EQ2 assignment, I want you imagine that
your group has been commissioned to create an art exhibit called “The Art of
the Sages.” To do this, you have to pair several interconnected poems from both
the Tao te Ching and The Prophet with works of art that seem to
illustrate their principles and ideas. This short art exhibit will be
demonstrated before the class by each group on the week of February 14th
so we can discuss and compare approaches (and best of all, see a lot of great
new art!).
Each group will have 2-3 members and each member of
the group should be assigned to ONE of the following roles:
GROUPS: I have randomly arranged you into 5 groups of
3, with one group of 2 because of the 17 people in our class. However, the
group of 2 has the option of making me take the Lecturer role, since I’m giving
them a disadvantage.
GRADING: I will grade each group individually by role.
This way, even though it’s a group effort, and collaboration is necessary, the
success of the group rides on everyone doing their one task, rather than one
person shouldering the collective weight. Ideally, this shouldn’t be too
demanding for anyone, and a relatively enjoyable—if thoughtful—assignment.
However, if you hit a brick wall I’m here to help and can offer many
suggestions.
DUE the week of February 14th: We’ll spend
that week watching and discussing the presentations.
THE GROUPS:
Group 1: Luke, Elias, Deb
Group 2: Maverick, Luken, Andrew
Group 3: Saul, Cas, Ky
Group 4: Morgan, Abigail, Twan
Group 5: Lauren, Mady, Emily
Group 6: Hunter, Emma, (me?) * remember, this group has the option of making me the "Lecturer," or one of you can elect to do that role, too, and I'll give you both a 'bonus' advantage later in the class (your choice)
Remember to finish reading the Tao te Ching if you haven't yet, since we'll have our first Writing Exam in class. All that means is that I'll give you an in-class writing prompt and expect you to use the book to answer it. It's not an exam proper, but more a way to extend your ideas beyond the questions in class.
Wondering what we'll write about? Here's a hint...
A few last questions for the book before we move on to another work in another land. Answer TWO of the following, and be specific as often as possible: it will help you more on future papers/assignments if you can focus on short passages that illustrate your ideas.
Q1: Bruce Lee was a staunch advocate of the Tao te Ching, and claimed that it worked very harmoniously with the martial arts. Where do we see this in one or more of the poems? How can the Tao help someone defeat an opponent mentally as well as physically?
Q2: Though the Tao te Ching often advises against attachment and emotions such as anger and desire, Verse 67 claims that "I have three treasures that I cherish and hold dear/the first is love...With love one is fearless." How can love be one of the most important qualities in cultivating the Tao when selfish attachment/desire to the world brings confusion?
Q3: I always thought that every college should make incoming first-year students study the Tao te Ching, since it offers invaluable advice for the myriad activites and responsibilities of a college student. What poem do you think would function as the best College 101 advice for an incoming student (and why)?
Q4: One final paradox: the Tao te Ching often says that knowledge must begin with the self, and yet in Verse 72, it states, "The Sage knows himself, but not as himself/he loves himself, but not as himself/he honors himself, but not as himself." If you're not your self, who are you? What do you love/focus on? What else are you? Does this poem, or a related one, explain?
Just two more sets of questions to go as we read our way through the ancient wisdom of the Tao te Ching! But the next questions will be different a little easier...so enjoy these while you can!
Answer TWO of the following for class:
Q1: In class, I mentioned that fortune cookies often mine the wisdom of the Tao te Ching in an abbreviated form (and often mangle it, too). Find a line or phrase in one of the poems that you think would make great 'fortune cookie wisdom.' Why is this? And why might the line mean something quite different alone, without the context of the entire poem?
Q2: In Buddhism and Hinduism (which we'll look at soon), one of the greatest dangers in life is maya--the lustful attachment to life and the illusions of the flesh. Where do we see the same concern in some of these poems? Why might attachment be the greatest danger for one seeking "the Way"?
Q3: In Verse 47, the poet writes, "Without going outside/one can know the whole world/Without looking out the window/one can see the ways of Heaven/The father one goes/the less one knows." Why does the Tao te Ching seem to frown upon the very things you're supposed to be doing in college--learning and traveling and seeking knowledge? What's wrong with "going further" rather than "staying put"?
Q4: The Tao te Ching is constantly trying to redefine (or challenge) our notions of such key concepts as strength, weakness, good, bad, knowledge, and power. Which poem seems to most successfully challenge our common sense notions of one or more of these terms?
As before, answer TWO of the following in a short response--a very sentences at least, just enough to get yourself thinking (and so I can see you're thinking, too!).
Q1: Many of these poems are very repetitive, playing with the same ideas, images, and even metaphors. Discuss a poem from this section that seems like the mirror image of one of the earlier ones. What does the new poem add to the old one; or, which poem seems to express the idea most clearly?
Q2: One of the images the Tao te Ching likes to play with is that of the "Uncarved Block." Why is this a useful metaphor for understanding concepts such as Tao, the Way, Wu, etc.? And how does it relate to the idea of "Tao is empty/yet it fills every vessel with endless supply" (Verse 4)?
Q3: Many versions of the Tao te Ching say that "Book Two: The Book of Virtue" opens with Verse 38, and that the first 37 poems comprise "Book One: The Book of the Way." Do you see any difference in poems 38-41 that we didn't see in the previous ones? Anything to do with the concept of "virtue"?
Q4: Some critics have suggested that these poems, for all their poetic relevance, are actually quite practical: they were meant to be a guide to teach kings and governors how to rule their provinces. Are there any poems that seem to be geared for this purpose? Is this really a book like Sun Tzu's famous Art of War, but this one is more an Art of Governing? Or are those merely metaphors from the 'real world' to help us see abstract ideas?
(Answer TWO):
Q1: Jonathan Starr, the translator, leaves a few words untranslated, such as "Tao" and "Wu," among others. Why do you think he does this? Do the poems help us understand what these terms might mean? Or is there a reason he wants them to remain mysterious?
Q2: As we discussed on Friday, a poem often attempts to use new metaphors (rather than the ones we use every day) to help us see the world from a new perspective. Discuss a metaphor in one of the poems that did exactly that: helped you appreciate something in a new way, or made you think about something normal abnormally.
Q3: Many of the poems, notably Verse 14, writes that "Eyes look but cannot see it/Ears listen but cannot hear it/Hands grasp but cannot touch it/Beyond the senses lies the great Unity--/invisible, inaudible, intangible" (16). If "it" cannot be seen or touched or heard, then how can we find it? Or know it? Where are we supposed to find truth or enlightenment if we can't use our senses to grasp it? Do other poems shed more light on this dilemma?
Q4: Which poem did you find the hardest to understand? Why do you think this is? Discuss a line or an idea in the poem that seems to create a wall to your understanding.
This is the class site for EQ2: Global Perspectives with Dr.
Joshua Grasso. Consider this more of a virtual bulletin board, where I'll post
our daily reading assignments, reading responses, assignments, and other links
of importance. You don't have to post on this site, log-in, or submit papers.
But it will be a valuable resource as we
go through the semester, so be sure to bookmark
it.
Also, be sure to buy the five books for class as soon as
possible, all of which are available at the ECU bookstore (and all are pretty
cheap):
Required Books:
