12/2: Please pair up to discuss Tillie Olsen’s story. First, talk about the story, your reaction to it, revisit places where you were confused. Then, go back into the story to explore the following – for these, talk first, then one person in each pair take notes as you go back into the text to find specific supports for your ideas (make sure that you get to at least 4 of these):
1. What do you know about the mother’s character? What has her life been like? What choices has she made that she regrets? Why do these matter? Make sure to “read between the lines” – look for implication.
2. What do you know about Emily’s character? What was she like as a child? What do you know about her now? How has the mother-daughter relationship shaped her?
3. Talk some about the narrative structure – why first person in conversation with an unseen, unidentified person? What does Olsen gain by structuring the story like this?
4. Talk about the title of the story and the ways in which ironing is used in the story.
5. Make connections between this story and others we have read and/or to the poems you worked with on Monday
6. What does this story have to say about some of the issues we’ve been discussing (choose one of these)– beauty standards, equal opportunity, woman as caregiver?
Turn your notes in (make sure both names are on them) at the end of the period.
Make sure to upload your interview with the keyword “Wachusett” to the StoryCorps site.
11/30: Women's voices poetry. HOMEWORK: Upload interview and read "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen. You can find a copy of the story here.
11/24: OV Women's Voices Critique handout attached below.
11/23: For homework, read Alice Walker's "Roselily" ( you can find a link to the story here). Pay careful attention to the way that Walker uses the literary tools available to her (especially form, characterization and setting) to shape what we know and understand about this woman. her family, her world, and the choices that she has.
11/20: HOMEWORK: This weekend, go to https://storycorps.me/interviews/ (or to the “Oral History Project” page on the website, where these is a link) and listen to at least two of the interviews. The purpose here is to familiarize yourself with StoryCorps, to hear a variety of American Voices, and to listen for interview techniques. On a piece of paper, for each interview, write down the title, make notes of what interests you. and of particularly good questions asked. Then, react to each interview – tell me what pulled you in and why, what you gained in terms of seeing the world through another’s eyes, what you picked up about interviewing techniques, etc. (a meaty paragraph for each). Finally, identify your interview subject and draft some questions that might help get you started in the process (write these on a different sheet of paper).
11/16:IN CLASS: “Women are so used to worrying about trifles.” (Glaspell 91) Trifles was the name of the stage version of this story. Write about your trifle - the red box (99, 100), First – describe the object and its role as an object in the story (reread those pages and describe what they find, what they say, etc.). Then THINK about how it matters as a whole in the story. What does it reveal to the women? How does it help them to construct a much fuller understanding of what happened in that house than the men will ever know? Fill the front of the card. I’ll be looking for evidence that you read and a DEEP THINKING understanding of the story. On the back of the card, respond to this quote from the story: “Loyal to your sex, I see” (91). In what ways are these women (Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, M. Cassatt, M Fuller, L.M. Alcott) loyal to their sex?
For Wednesday, please read “The Trial of Susan B. Anthony” and “American Women Who Were Anti-Suffragettes" (both are attached below). The purpose for reading both of these pieces is to provide you with some background knowledge about the people, the issues and the historical context of the fight for women’s suffrage. As you read both, underline arguments and background that will be helpful to you as we move forward in the discussion. On a piece of notebook paper: make a list of the most important information you pulled from each piece (10-15 from “The Trial…” and 6-10 from the “American Women…”). Important information is information that gives you insight into the arguments raised, the way each side portrays women and women’s issues and historical context that helps you understand these issues. Then. write either about how you see Susan B. Anthony as a person – what traits she possessed and how they helped to shed light on thinking, what impresses or surprises you about her, what you think her place is in the American narrative OR reflect on the issues raised by the anti-suffrage women and think about whose interests those issues served, why women would argue against their own rights and who benefitted from those arguments and what does that tell you about the nature of power in our society (it might be worth making connections to “A Jury of Her Peers.”) Either choice should result in a meaty paragraph.
11/13: Revisiting Alcott (strengthening close reading skills). Please see the " revisiting Alcott" attachment below. This weekend, read "A Jury of Her Peers" with an eye to what we talked about in class. Pay careful, close attention to characterization to relationship, to whose point of view you can trust and why, to tone, etc. As you are "inside" the story: THINK about whose voices are being heard, whose are not, and WHY that matters. Looking from the outside, that's our question too (why does this "voice" matter as we strive to understand what every person's experience is important? What does this "voice" tell us about women's world, about gender roles, about power and who has it, who doesn't, about how those out of power can exert their own power, etc.) Take notes and come prepared to talk and write on Monday.
11/12: In class, we looked at an excerpt form an introduction to a book about Mary Cassatt in an effort to better understand her art. After reading the excerpt, apply its view of Cassatt's feminism to her art piece.
11/10: Homework: Read Louisa May Alcott’s “How I Went Out To Service.” Alcott is writing at about the same time (mid-1800s) as Fuller and as the Women’s Rights Conventions. As you read, pay attention to the narrator’s voice – she is playful in places and ironic. Try to pick up on that. When you’ve finished, react in on the notecard. On the front: react to Alcott’s story. Look for the humor in it, the characterizations of men and women, their roles, etc. On the back: THINK about what Alcott is saying about the relationship between women and men, what she’s saying about women’s work and her place in society. Make connections between her story and what you read in Fuller’s piece.
11/9: In class we worked on rhetorical devices and how Truth and Stone use these to strengthen their central argument. Homework: Tonight (do this on a piece of white lined paper – one that you can turn in): Choose ONE of Fuller’s ideas from Women in the Nineteenth Century to grapple with here. Paraphrase the passage (summarize her ideas), THINK about what this passage says about women and their roles in the 19th century, and finally, add your carefully considered (that means reflective, well explained) thoughts on what it means to us today.
2. Examine your Cassatt painting (there are three attached below)– FIRST: describe what you see. Make sure to look at elements of art - line, color, hue, perspective, composition, movement, rhythm, etc. USE your description to analyze what you think Cassatt is trying to convey about women in the late 19th century. Finally, compare Cassatt’s view of women (as you see it in the painting) and their roles with Fuller’s. THINK about this - don’t give into knee-jerk reactions, but try to find areas of commonality between their works. Look for specific line(s) in Fuller’s writing that might work as a way into Cassatt’s work.
11/6: Read Lucy Stone's speech and the excerpt from Margaret Fuller's writings. Mark each of them up, look for rhetorical devices and how and why they are used, look for signs of audience and purpose and for connections between these and the other pieces we have been reading and discussing.
11/3: Homework: In addition to the reflective work on the home page, read the Declaration of Sentiments and the chapter from Ecstatic Nation called “Deep Water.” We are reading these to give us some context/background (including the tensions between the movement for racial equality and gender equality) and to examine the outgrowth of Abigail Adams’ warnings and the country’s lack of consideration for those warnings. As you read, mark up the text. Identify the Sentiments that you find the most interesting and surprising (look at the footnotes to get some context). As you read the chapter excerpt, take notes. You need to know who Stanton and Anthony are and what bars are in their way. You also need to understand the deals that were made and why they were made. When you are finished, on the back page of the excerpt, reflect on what you have read (both packets) and make connections between some of the issues we identified as unresolved in our day. What do these earlier compromises have to do with what we see in our 21st century world? Can you trace back obstacles that women have faced to the compromises made in the mid-19th century? Why or why not? What ideas in the excerpt particularly stick out to you as important? Why? Which of the conflicts, the women, the groups aligned for and against interest you most and why? Strive to fill at least 2/3 of the last page.
11/2: First - THANK YOU for the good discussions today. You have almost made up for the dicey doings last week:). Tonight, please read and mark up "Why I am A Black Male Feminist" (that link will take you to the essay if you did not pick one up or lost it). Your purpose in reading that is to THINK MORE about our discussion today (about issues facing women, about whether or not there is still work to do, of feminism's interaction with men, etc.) Make notes on the essay, so we can talk tomorrow. Then, read the letter from Abigail Adams to her husband (I scanned it and attached below in case you forgot). This is a letter, so some of it will not make sense to you (some of it carries on conversations from earlier communications). Here's what I want you to pay attention to (make lists of what you know on the blank half of the 2nd page): her daily life, its responsibilities and her relationships, her involvement in the community and the larger political world, her ideas about the revolution and about how this new country should be forged (check the date), and her ideas about gender and gender roles. I also attached the women's issues we had on the board. Let's use those to help guide discussion and let's keep an eye out to add to them.
10/28: Take a look at this article (read the graphs too). Then, listen to this NPR piece about the way women and aging is represented in folklore. Here's a blog by Gloria Steinem (one of the leaders of second wave feminists and the founder and editor of Ms.) She wrote this on the occasion of her 80th birthday last year. As you listen and read, make a list of ideas that particularly strike you, that you find important and/or that you want to take up in discussion. Your list should have a minimum of 10-15 points and should be taken from all three sources. Finally, choose one of the pieces to react to: write about what you think, why what you read matters, how it connects to the other articles/essays/discussion in class, etc. OPTIONAL: As a bonus, you can watch AMY SCHUMER's feminist ad that went viral last spring.
10/27: You can find "Say No" here. Your task tonight is to read the article or essay about an issue relevant in women’s lives today (click here or here.). After you’ve read this, on the front of the notecard: reflect on what you have read. What was your main takeaway from the article or essay? Why? What did you agree with? What surprised you? What are you skeptical of? What more information do you want? WHY? Why/how is this relevant to you? What does it tell you about women’s lives today, etc. Fill the front of the card.