What does it mean to be a "good parent"?
What power does art have to challenge injustice?
What can one person do in the face of systemic oppression?
What responsibility do we have to each other?
How do we maintain our empathy in a society that seeks to divide us?
What does it mean to be "patriotic" or a "good American"?
How is language used to shape our beliefs about others and ourselves?
Who decides our "identity"? How?
Friday, 9/20: Read pages 1-28
Mon, 9/23: Read pages 29-59
Tues, 9/24: Read pages 60-85
Wed, 9/25: No reading tonight
Thurs, 9/26: Read pages 92-117
Fri, 9/27: Read pages 117-142
Mon, 9/30: Read pages 143-171 by Wednesday (stop at mid-pg break)
Tues, 10/1: ACT DAY
Wed, 10/2: Read pages 171- 197 (stop at "long ago Eden")
Thurs, 10/3: Read pages 197- 230 (stop at mid-pg break)
Fri, 10/4: Read pages 230-271
Mon, 10/7: Read pages 275-302
Tues, 10/8: Read pages 302-325 (The End!)
Your Turn!
Using Celeste Ng's talk as a model, choose a passage and write a word choice analysis of your own in your journal. Identify at least 3 unique examples in the passage and provide commentary on how they enhance the passage. You might consider tone, theme, characterization, imagery, foreshadowing, sound device, etc. Heading: Passage Analysis (Date) page number(s), beginning word/phrase and ending word/phrase.
On your journal page, make a set of notes about the opening reading. Look closely at language choices in the model of the video we watched. What words/phrases stood out to you as choices that warrant additional attention? Why?
Create a journal entry with a visual image(s) to represent PACT and then write a response on your post it summarizing what PACT is and what your response to PACT is.
From pages 6-28, identify an image, simile, etc that provides a range of associations that gives us insight into the author's purpose.
In today's journal entry, write the "quote" + (pg #) and then make a set of notes analyzing the comparison and what purpose it serves. Why might Ng have chosen this particular image/idea for comparison? What does it suggest about the thing it is describing/compared to?
Consider the model analysis from the Celeste Ng video. If you were doing a talk like that on this example, what would you say?
You may also add your own visual representation of the image.
Mei: beauty Lan: blue, orchid Ni: you
Melanie meaning: Greek origin meaning "dark skinned" (makes sense! MELANIN). There are two 5th century Roman saints named Melanie and it is the name of the main character, Melanie Daniels (played by Tippi Hedren) in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds. This is where MY mom got the name. It was most popular in the 70s (when I was born- 1972). I kind of love being named after a horror movie heroine. <3
While listening to the folktale, color your cats! Afterward, add your cats to your journal and make notes about the connections between Bird and the boy in the story.
Bird's Journey Journal Page: Along with our poster interactions, choose a passage from pages 92-117 and create a journal page of notes/sketches analyzing the word choice, fairytale allusions, the thematic connections, characterization, etc.
Watch the TED Ed video and tape in your Hero's Journal Visual Cycle. How does Bird's story meet the requirements of the cycle thus far?
Create a Hero's Journey graphic for Bird. Find a quote/commentary to represent each of the stages Bird has passed through. You must also include some kind of visual element: color coding, sketches, shapes, etc. When a theme or EQ aligns with your quote, include it.
Leave space for a title and thesis. We will add these at the end of the project.
In your journals, brainstorm physical spaces that you think would work well to express liminality. What about 'life spaces' or activities that suggest begin in-between? If you were a writer wishing to symbolize this transitional quality, how might you do that?
Liminal is from the Latin word ‘limen’, which means threshold. A liminal space is the time between ‘what was’ and ‘next.’ It is a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing the future.
Richard Rohr describes this space as, “where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. There alone is our old world left behind, while we are not yet sure of the new existence. That’s a good space where genuine newness can begin.”
Liminality is often unsettling and disorienting. Look up images of Liminal Space Aesthetic and you'll see what I mean.
FRQ Foldable: Fold your prompt into swinging doors and affix the back in your journal. Sketch (optional) a house on the front. Re-read/skim through pages 140-172 and make notes for evidence of the brownstone's symbolic value. Consider how it serves as a liminal space for Bird and his mother. Analyze setting description, allusions, narration, character interactions, etc and record quotes that could be used in an FRQ3 essay.
2021 AP LIT FRQ3 PROMPT
In many works of fiction, houses take on symbolic importance. Such houses may be literal houses or unconventional ones (e.g., hotels, hospitals, monasteries, or boats). Either from your own reading or from the list below, choose a work of fiction in which a literal or unconventional house serves as a significant symbol. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how this house contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole.
Do not merely summarize the plot. In your response, you should do the following:
• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
• Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
Hero's Journey Entry-Revelations: Starting with her "aspirational name", details of Margaret's evolving self are revealed in Part II. Skim through and find images that tell us something important about who Margaret Miu IS now.
MRS & Mother- What new information about who Margaret WAS do we get in this reading? How has THIS Margaret evolved from THAT Margaret?
Margaret's titular poem "Our Missing Hearts" uses pomegranate seeds as a metaphor for children- seeds scattered to the winds- growing separate from their parents. The pomegranate is also a prominent symbol for parent/child loss in the mythology of Persephone and Demeter/Ceres.
Revisit this section and find another image in which you see "poetic potential". What could that image represent in the human experience?
'I’ve always loved reading poetry, but I find myself particularly drawn to it in times of turmoil—whether that turmoil is within me, or in the larger world. The past few years have been full of both, so it’s no surprise that one of the main characters in my new novel is a poet. Below are some of the volumes I read for comfort and inspiration while I was writing Our Missing Hearts.'
Celeste Ng
https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/poetry-that-inspired-celeste-ng-while-writing-our-missing-hearts
Where do you see evidence that supports the EQs?
What is Bird's lowest point and why?
The last part of the novel follows Margaret's final act in the plan- setting off her "bomb"- and the aftermath. Skim back through Part III and choose a quote that you thinks captures some essential truth of the novel; it can be about resistance, or beauty, or relationships, or change, or love... it is entirely up to you. What Essential Question is this truth connected to? Write the question and the quote out in full at the top of your entry, then write a response explaining why you chose it. You may use color or sketches to enhance your entry if you like.
Using the riddle provided, find the correct area/teacher. Locate the magic envelope and retrieve ONE copy of the secret clue inside.
Return to Castle 367 with your clues to our next unit: Gothic Literature!