-the opening line of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A discussion of Greek mythology led us into Homer's The Odyssey, and we discussed adaptation, remember? Then we thought about Joseph Campbell's idea of THE HERO JOURNEY, and applied it both to Odysseus and to the more modern heroes you know from books and movies. We're all on that hero journey, right?
We questioned whether Odysseus seems a hero to us at all, and made websites about genuine role models, and then delivered speeches about heroism. When we read Of Mice and Men, we put George on trial for murder, but mostly agreed that what he did was admirable, even if he turned out guilty in the eyes of the law.
Then we met Jody in The Red Pony, and watched him growing up, developing empathy. That's certainly an important value, isn't it?
After that we read and wrote books of poetry, and developed a vocabulary of literary analysis while we also expanded our on poetic voices.
Finally, we would have spent time in the world of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, considering how argument works, and learning rhetorical analysis. We would have noticed that there were intense, life-threatening disagreements about values. What's honorable? What's admirable? Is Brutus a hero, after all? Marc Antony pays tribute to him at the end of the play: "This was the noblest Roman of them all," he says. "He only in general honest thought and common good to all" was one of the conspirators.
"His life was gentle, and the elements / So mixed in him that Nature might stand up / And say to all the world, 'This was a man!'"
Instead, we started this speech! Did you know that? Looking at the specifics of people you admire, characters you admire, decisions you have made, all of that has been pre-writing for THIS SPEECH!
*If you can't film it, for whatever reason, you may deliver it to us on Google Meet.