Today we will, in groups, complete the balance of the Hacker exercises. Post summaries ofThe Known World reviews here now or later.
Students brought in visual arguments. I want students to have an opportunity to share them.
I plan to show students a clip from the film: The Great Debaters. The film is based on the true story of a small black college in Wiley, Texas's debate against, in the film, Harvard, in reality, the University of Southern California in the 1930s.
It is a great cinematic moment (smile). There is no writing assignment attached to it, just a way to observe how powerful argument is in changing the world or at least making it a better place to live in.
If you'd like to respond fell free to do so.
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Dennis Foley
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
March 24th 2011
The Known World Review:
The Amazon review by Regina Marler stated that the book is a masterpiece. The time-shifts and subtle character connections can pay off for those readers that pay close attention. The fictional story makes connections with past and present issues. The review also gives a brief summary of the book which I feel is quite a spoiler.
Sandahl von Sydow
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
March 24, 2011
Kirkus Reviews describes The Known World as the life of Henry Townsend and the lives of those closest too him and even those loosly associated with him. Kircus Reviews praises Edward P. Jones’ writing technique. They do acknowledge that the first one hundred or so pages are a bit difficult to get through, but after that the story becomes more compelling as the support characters such as Elias and Caldonia become more known to the reader. Kirkus Reviews predicts that this book “will mean a great deal to a great many people.”
Kirkus Reviews Jones. 71m bi, 14 *15 July 2003): 928.
Dylan Young
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
March 24, 2011
Book Review Freewrite:
My book review was published by Katherine Clay Bassard. The review is started with an interview of Edward P. Jones that cites his inspiration for writing the book. He drew his inspiration from reading a book on WWII in which a Jew joined the Nazi’s, this ties into his concept of a black being a plantation owner. His book is based mainly on the contradictions of human property ownership transgressing all customary boundaries of race, class and gender. Bassard praises the way Jones captures the slippage between kin and property underwritten in the legal system of slavery in the 1800’s. I found it most interesting the ways in which Jones tied in realistic facts into each characters persona in the book, this gave the characters a deeper meaning once reading the review. Bassard also reviews the way in which Jones constructs a whole fiction world based on true characteristics and traits of the slavery times. The review digs into the traits of the book and Bassard discusses the historical importance of events that occur in the book and cross references these events to how they connect each character in the book.
Andrea Giang
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
24 March 2011
Freewrite- Summary of Book Review
Shane Graham writes in his review that Edward P. Jones did something unusual in writing his slave narrative. Jones wrote about free blacks who owned slaves. Graham states that there is a complex relationship between the masters and the slaves, that the characters in the book were not just blacks versus whites. William Robbins, a slave owner, had a complex relationship with his slaves. He was friendly with Henry Townsend and had an open relationship with the children he had with one of his slave.
According to Graham, maps are important to The Known World. Excerpts from the novel indicate that the U.S. territories are still being explored and discovered during that time period. Maps are important to some of the characters in the book. For instance, Alice, a slave who every thought was brain damaged actually pretended to be in order to explore the land and plan her escape from life as a slave.
In order to get through the novel, the readers have to be able to map out the book themselves. Graham states that since there are so many characters and events in the book tend to flash forward and then back, the readers have to be able to keep track of everything that happens.
Graham also believes that The Known World acknowledges that there is no way to fully describe the violence that occurred there. So Jones decided not to go into details about that aspect of the book.
Frena Zamudio
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
02 April 2011
Summary of The Known World book review
Lynne DeMichele a writer from UMCom gave an excellent review about E.Jones "The Known World". She gave a summary of the book, some important events that will make readers want to read it. She also said that Jones' storyline and characters weave in and out of time, salted with heart breaking details life under slavery. She is basically saying that Jones excellently described the life during this period of history, he educates the readers about how it was like living during slavery and being a slave, if not, owning slaves. The first few chapters need alot of concentration and memorization to know who the characters were, because there were alot. DeMichele also said that even the minor characters in this book have rich interior lives and histories, Jones described them so well, readers can easily differentiate which one is which because each and every single one has its own unique characteristics.
DeMichele, Lynne. "The Known World Book Review." Book Review. Harper Collins. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. .