Curriculum Highlights English 10, 6.0

Curriculum HighlightsEnglish 10, 6.0 It was a year filled with memorable characters!

We broke our literary units down by THEME:Faith • Life of Pi • The Epic of Gilgamesh • The Ramayana • The Bible • “What Men Live By” • Inferno

Life of Pi • I don’t know what your worst nightmare is, but I can’t imagine anything scarier than being stuck in a boat with a tiger. • In Life of Pi we met Piscine Molitar Patel (named for a swimming pool!), whose parents decide to move continents, bringing their zoo along with them.

Life of Pi continued… • Pi and Richard Parker develop a mutual respect for one another, and Pi relies on a combination of 3 faiths and practical wisdom to navigate rough waters (both in and out of the boat). • However, his story is so unbelievable that he re-interprets his experience into a more practical, realistic shipwreck tale. • Which do you prefer? • BTW: Maybe it wasn’t a tiger; maybe it was Pi’s internal conflict with his faith journey!

Dante’s The Inferno • If you are ever kicked out of the country for political reasons, the best way to get revenge is to write a long poem about Hell and put all of your enemies there! • Dante was also a romantic; he fell in love with a woman he only met twice and wrote her into his work as his guide through Heaven, though our studies focused on Virgil as his guide through Hell.

The Inferno continued . . . • In The Inferno, a medieval scholar travels into Hell, where the sinners are divided up and sentenced to suffer according to their gravest sin. For example, the lustful, swept away by their passions in life, are caught in a perpetual roaring whirlwind. • Dante’s character learns about the punishment for sin and the price one pays for earthly pleasures.

Honor • “Old Milon” • A Tale of Two Cities • “Federigo’s Falcon” • A Doll’s House • Cyrano de Bergerac

“Old Milon” • Remember him? The feisty old French farmer killed 16 Prussian soldiers in retaliation for his father and son’s deaths. • His pride, wit, determination, and cunning nature sends him to the firing squad with no regrets.

A Tale of Two Cities • Vive la France! We learned about the French Revolution! • Juxtaposition of the Manettes’ quiet English home to France’s blood-thirsty mobs. • Violence, love, resurrection, revenge – Dickens would have been a great writer of a soap opera!

A Tale of Two Cities continued… • You met Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. They represent the two sides of one personality, one city, one historical moment; this is a novel that is aptly titled. • Sydney Carton is one of Dickens’ most complex and interesting characters.

Cyrano de Bergerac • The man can improvise verse and fence at the same time. What more could a person want? • Romanticism at its finest – Cyrano’s pride and assumption that his spirit will never trump his gigantic nose leads to a humorous yet tragic love triangle.

Cyrano de Bergerac continued… • In spite of Cyrano’s daring swordfights, impromptu ballads, and romantic balcony scenes, Christian seems to win out, but his idiocy fails to impress Roxane, who ultimately realizes she desires a poetic soul over a rockin’ body. • Romanticism and romantic hero

A Doll’s House • Victorian Era bliss… • Nora’s decision to leave her husband and family was controversial in its day, and it still has a powerful impact. The characters are incredibly real and complex. • As a former student once said of Torvald (from the movie), “No wonder he went on to become Hannibal Lecter and eat people.” • Realism & Allegory

Self-Discovery • All Quiet on the Western Front • The Catcher in the Rye • “Dead Men’s Path” • “Half A Day” • “Counting in Sevens” • Oedipus the King

All Quiet on the Western Front • Summer Reading! What joy! • In this novel, you explored the grisly, realistic portrayal of World War I written by a guy who’d been there, done that. • Remarque’s main character, Paul Baumer, and his comrades touched upon the themes of instinct, loss, and identity that soldiers from all wars during all time periods have struggled with.

AQWF continued… • The trench warfare tactics, along with the vivid descriptions of the struggles of the soldier cemented this novel as “The Greatest War Novel of All Time.” • Though the characters are German, this book is not about nationality but humanity.

The Catcher in the Rye • Oh, Holden, why so angry? Through this character study, we explored the teenage angst and extreme emotions a young man went through as he tried to navigate that perilous adolescent time that bridges childhood and adulthood. It doesn’t help that his kid brother Allie died.

The Choices We Make • Oedipus The King (yes, it fits into 2 of our units) • “Perceval: The Grail” • “A Problem” • “The Guest”

Oedipus the King • If you thought the Greeks were boring, think again! (But don’t defy the gods!) • Oedipus is a tragic hero. He murders his father and marries his mother…without realizing it until it is far too late. • Oedipus’s hubris is realized, but not until after his wife/mother has committed suicide, and his brother-in-law agrees to banish him. • Tragic Hero, Hamartia, and Hubris

“A Problem” • Sasha, what is your deal? • Ethos, Pathos, Logos – how to win an argument! • Sasha chooses to live the life of a profligate – “I am not a crook.” • His uncles choose to help him out and salvage the family name. • Sasha asks for a party to celebrate – “Oops, I guess I am a crook.”

“The Guest” • No one wants to be handed the keys to a criminal’s handcuffs and put in charge of his future. • What would you do, if you truly felt pity for the man? What would you do if you knew the country’s turmoil would put you in danger if you delivered him to his prison? • And yet – if you do the right thing, they threaten you anyway. Oh, the irony.

What a year! Our studies have taken us from the ancient past… to imaginary realms we can only dream of!

Overall, • Your learning this year focused on: • The theme of UNIVERSALITY • Authors’ TONE • Literary ANALYSIS • CRITICAL WRITING skills Ihope you had as much fun exploring these concepts as I did!

Curriculum Highlights English 10, 6.0