The Value of Life

1. The Value of Life Required Module 2: 12A

2. Reading Selections for this Module: • Jobs, Steve. Commencement Address. Stanford University Commencement Weekend. Stanford, CA. 12 June 2005. • Ripley, Amanda. “What is a Life Worth?” Time 11 Feb. 2002. • Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Act III, Sc. 1: Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy. • Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Part I – My Father Bleeds History.1986. Print

3. Remember* • Be sure to write down the heading (“Activity 1, 2, 3, etc”) and Title of Activities we do, so you will be easily able to find them when it is time to turn these in.

4. Module’s Key Objective: • Inquire into different ways writers have explored and represented the value of human life • Make connections among various texts, notice the rhetorical conventions used by specific genres to explore similar questions • Use similar rhetorical devices while writing an essay about your own perceptions of how life should be valued

5. Activity 1: Quickwrite • Getting ready to read: Quickwrite (5 min) • What does being alive mean to you? • What makes life challenging? • What makes it worth living? • Why do you think it’s important to understand what your value of life is? • Why do you think it’s important to understand other people’s values of life?

6. “Hamlet’s Soliloquy”Activity 3: Surveying the Text • (we’re skipping activity 2) • Our first text is the famous “To be or not to be” speech from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The speech is a soliloquy—a long speech that allows the audience to hear the thoughts of a character when he or she is alone on stage. • Take a moment to look over the text and answer the following questions in your notes, under the heading “Activity 3:” • What prior experience have you had reading plays? • What did you notice about the page format and annotations? • What did you notice about the text’s structure (the way it’s formatted on the page)?

7. Activity 4: Predictions & Questions When approaching a new text, you should always try to draw on your prior experiences to help you predict what the text might be about. To help you, answer the following to the best of your ability: • What is a tragedy? What themes and outcomes would you expect to find in a tragedy? • What do you know about the language in plays written by Shakespeare? • The soliloquy here begins with a famous quotation: “To be, or not to be—that is the question.” What do you think is “the question” Hamlet is asking? How do you think he might answer it?

8. Pre-Reading Info BACKGROUND William Shakespeare (1564-1616) who wrote at least 38 plays and 158 sonnets, is widely regarded as the greatest English writer of all time. His insight into the human mind still influences literature today, as does his creation of over 1,700 words (drugged, lowered, torture, and swagger are just a few). Keep in mind that Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is not only considered by most scholars to be Shakespeare’s greatest play, but it is also thought by many to be the greatest work of literature ever written. Period. In addition to its thrilling storyline, the twisted inner thoughts of the hero, Hamlet, draw us in with familiarity. At this point in the play, Hamlet feels that he is in a crisis. His father died a few months earlier under mysterious circumstances. Afterward, his father’s ghost appears and tells him that he was secretly murdered—by Hamlet’s uncle (the king’s own brother), Claudius. Making things even worse, Claudius then marries Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet does not know what to do about this knowledge. He wonders whether he can trust anyone or if perhaps he really is going crazy.

9. Video Background(Royal Shakespeare Co., 2010) • Act I, Scene 2 (watch 3:25 – 5:06): Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle) calls him “our son,” a term that Hamlet doesn’t care for just yet. He is still grieving the loss of his father, and is upset that his mother and uncle/stepfather seem to have gotten over it so quickly. • Act I, Scene 4 (watch 2:15 – 3:45; 5 – 5:30): Hamlet and the night watchmen see the king’s ghost. When Hamlet is alone with his ghostly father, the spirit reveals that he has been murdered, and Hamlet (a man who isn’t normally a big fan of violence) has been ordered to avenge his father’s death. • Act II, Scene 2 (0:00 – 1:48) Hamlet pretends he’s going crazy, to throw off any suspicion as he investigates whether the new king (his uncle) really did kill his father. Note: the steward speaks into the camera because he knows that the king is studying the security cameras to see if Hamlet is a threat. • Act II, Scene 2 (0:00 – 1:15) Hamlet grows frustrated that he is pretending to be crazy and passionate, yet he himself feels numb and empty inside, unable to love or be loved with his life in such a miserable state. He speaks about himself as “he” because he is referring to the man he is acting as.

10. Activity 5: Surveying Vocabulary • Read through the text once silently. This time, though, it is just for vocabulary. Circle any words you do not know (that don’t already have a definition on the right-hand side) • When you’re finished, I’ll help you define these words. • For the next two modules, you’ll be responsible for doing this on your own.

11. Activity 6: First Readthrough • As you first read the text, focus on what you see as the “big picture” Hamlet describes. • When you get stuck, try to connect what Hamlet is saying to what he says before/after; if you’re still stuck, use your annotations (“?”) to indicate this • Hamlet speaks in METAPHORS. He often says one thing to describe something else. • Based on this first reading, respond to the following question in your notebooks: • What does the question “to be, or not to be” refer to? • Would you say that Hamlet is an optimist or a pessimist? What are your reasons for thinking so?

12. Activity 7: DECODING • Still lost? That’s okay – it takes a while with Shakespeare. To help “crack the code,” we’ll split up to try to unravel what he is saying by putting it into everyday speech. • All group members should help, but have one member of your group write down your lines’ modern version on a separate sheet of paper, with your names and group #. Remember: put this into your OWN words! You should not be using phrases from the original text. Try to stay away from metaphors. • Group ONE: lines 1-5 (beginning – “end them”) • Hint: “outrageous fortune” – the pain that comes with bad luck/a bad life or fate • Group TWO: lines 5 – 9 (“To die...” – “to be wished”) • “Flesh is heir to” (line 8): the physical body, according to fate, must experience • Group THREE: lines 9 – 14 (“To die…” – “long life”) • Sleep here is a metaphor for death. So what are dreams, then ? • Group FOUR: lines 15 – 21 (“For who…” – “bodkin”) • Whips and scorns of time (line 15): pains of life • Group FIVE: lines 21 – 27 (“Who would…” – “know not of?”) • Undiscovered country (line 24): life after death • The will (line 25): willpoweror desire • Group SIX: line 28 – end (“Thus conscience…” – end) • Sicklied (line 30) – made pale (a pale color is associated with cowards) • Name of action (line 33): decision to act

13. Activity 8: 2ndReadthrough • REVIEW the combined modern update that your class has made for Hamlet’s speech. • Use it to reread the text with fresh eyes, and glean further information from the text and its beautiful metaphors. • Then, watch the performance of Hamlet’s speech. There are many different versions available on Youtube – Ethan Hawke, Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson…Each with his own interpretation. Check them out when you’ve got time! • Still have questions about specific lines? Now’s the chance to ask them!

14. Activity 9: Annotating and Questioning the Text • Because this series of texts focuses on the way people value life, you will now need to take a look at the text in those terms. • Using a highlighter or colored pencil, mark the places in the text where Hamlet describes what it means to be alive. • Example: In lines 2-3, Hamlet describes life as “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” so you could highlight that phrase as an example of what Hamlet thinks it means “to be” alive.

15. Activity 9: Annotating and Questioning the Text • Take a look at the parts you’ve highlighted, and compare them with your table. • Find some you have in common, and, together, mark them • With a “+” if you believe it indicates a positive outlook of life • With a “-” if you believe it indicates a negative outlook of life • Example “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” you would mark a “-” because it compares being alive to being under attack.

16. Activity 10: Summarizing Use your annotations, and the class summary, to answer the following in your notebooks: • What is the big issue in Hamlet’s soliloquy? • What claim or argument about the value of life does Hamlet make? • What do you think about Hamlet’s claim? At this point, you may jot down answers here. Later, you’ll transfer your answers to a multiple texts graphic organizer.

17. Activity 11: Thinking Critically – Ethos, Pathos, Logos • Does Hamlet’s soliloquy use emotion (pathos) to create a specific effect on the reader? If so, describe how emotion is used. • Does Hamlet’s soliloquy use logic (logos) to create specific effects on the reader? If so, describe how the logic is used. • Which do you think he relies on more - pathos or logos? Explain. • When Hamlet speaks, he is in a crisis. Does Hamlet seem to be speaking about his life in particular or about the quality of life in general? • KEEP IN MIND! Hamlet is not really speaking, because he is a character created by Shakespeare. Does Shakespeare seem like someone whose opinions and attitudes are worth considering? Why? This is examining the authority (ethos) of our source.

18. Activity 12: Charting Multiple Texts Take a look at the chart constructed for this assignment. It’s a graphic organizer to help you keep track of our four texts for this module, and will be extremely useful during your writing assignment. When you look at the categories along the left, “genre” means “type” of writing. (Hamlet would be “play” or “drama”) Across the top, you will be tracking categories similar to a SOAPSTone: • What is the text’s big issue? (“main idea” of text) • What claim does the text make (writer’s perspective on the main idea)? • What are examples or quotes from the text • Focus on quotes that would help the reader understand the speaker’s claims • Include page, paragraph, and/or line number, and put quotation marks around if if you did not paraphrase. – YOU WILL USE THESE IN YOUR FINAL ESSAY • What do YOU think about the text’s claim? (agree/disagree and why)? • What are your examples (from your own experiences/observations)? • How does this text connect to the other texts? Connections can be made between texts even when they have very different claims (this will be left blank for Hamlet until we read more texts)

19. Text 2: Steve Jobs Commencement Address: “You’ve got to find what you love.”

20. Activity 13: Survey the Text Answer the following in your notebooks: • What do you know about Steve Jobs? If you don’t know anything, use your phone to do a quick internet search and write down a fact or two here. • What kind of writing—what genre—do you think this text is? • Do you think Jobs will be more of an optimist (positive about life), or a pessimist (negative)? Explain.

21. Activity 14: Key Vocabulary Jobs does an excellent job of defining words within his text, but here are a few you may also not know. On your article, write a quick definition where you see these words appear. Keep in mind, in future modules, YOU will be finding words that you don’t know, and YOU will be looking up their definitions on your own.

22. Activity 15: Read for Understanding As we hear Jobs speak, pay attention to the way Jobs talks about the value of life. As you did with Hamlet, try to determine whether Jobs appears to be generally pessimistic or optimistic in this interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asFUhS-eHfA

23. Activity 14: Considering Text’s Structure When making an argument orally (like Jobs), you must have a very clear structure, so that your audience can keep track of what you have to say. Analyze Jobs’s structure, as outlined below. • “Chunk” the text by drawing a line on your article where one chunk or main idea ends, and the next one begins. Think of it like an essay: Jobs moves from introduction, to 1st argument, 2nd, argument…conclusion. • Discuss in groups why you drew the lines where you did.

24. Activity 14: Considering Text’s Structure • Now, in your notes, answer the following questions. Be as specific as possible. • What kind of “transition” words does Jobs use to indicate to his audience when he is moving on to a new section of his argument? Write a few of these words here. • What is the purpose of the opening section of the speech? • What is the purpose of the first story? • What is the purpose of his second story? • What is the purpose of his third story? • What is the purpose of the concluding section?

25. Activity 15: Annotating the Text • Now, just as we did with Hamlet’s soliloquy, get out a highlighter. • Reread the article silently to yourself, and as you do, highlight sentences, words, or phrases that Jobs uses to describe what he thinks it means to be alive. • Then, working with your group, put a “+” next to quotes that show a positive outlook on life, and a “-” next to quotes that show a negative outlook on life.

26. Activity 15: Annotating the Text • Now get out a colored pen or pencil. • Review what you’ve highlighted, and respond to each phrase/word/sentence by writing in the margins: • Do you agree () or disagree (×) and explain why. • Example: in paragraph 6, I highlighted “my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on” –  b/c these are useful traits for survival and happiness, in my experience

27. Activity 15: Annotating the Text • Now comes the tricky part. Get out a different colored pen. This time, read the passages as if you were Hamlet. • For any passages that you feel Hamlet would find particularly interesting or compelling, annotate the text again, in your different pen color, in the margins • Do you (Hamlet) agree () or disagree (×) and explain why. • Make a “key” for yourself somewhere on your paper, so you can remember which color stands for what.

28. Activity 16: Thinking Critically Considering our reading and your annotations, answer the following questions in your notes. • What do you think is Jobs’s main claim in his speech? • What do you think about this claim? Explain. • What do you think he means by “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish (¶ 25 – 26)? • What might Hamlet have to say in response to Jobs’s argument? What points would they agree on? What points would they disagree about? • Explain how Jobs’s experiences have shaped his value of life (you should have a long answer for this one). • Do you find Jobs’s claim convincing? Explain.

29. Activity 17: Ethos, Pathos, Logos Answer the following questions regarding the effectiveness of Jobs’s argument. • Does Jobs use pathos (our emotions) to convince us? Explain. • Does Jobs ever use logic (facts, truths, etc.) in his argument? Explain. • (Ethos). Do the stories about his life that Jobs tells the audience strengthen his argument? Explain.

30. Activity 18: Summarizing To practice writing a RHETORICAL PRÉCIS, complete one for Jobs’s commencement speech. You may use the handout I gave you, or there are more templates in the “class supplies” area. When you have finished writing a rhetorical précis, fill out the next row on your “CHARTING MULTIPLE TEXTS” graphic organizer. Don’t forget to go back and show how Hamlet and Jobs speak to each other in the last column.

31. Text 3: Maus By Art Spiegelman http://prezi.com/z0q5hq8b3a6y/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

32. Text 4: “What is a Life Worth?” By Amanda Ripley http://prezi.com/us5mob_nf0hu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

33. Final Writing Assignment Refer to handout