English 2: Creation Stories

We will be reading from Fantastic Worlds for the next week or so. There are a variety of creation stories in the world and we cannot hit them all. It is important to remember that all of these stories were (or are) the basis for people's religious or non-religious belief systems. We read these stories to as literature, respecting the faiths that created them, but focusing on language, symbolism, and what was important to each group via their stories.

• Terms that came up:
• firmament: basically, the sky or the atmosphere
• day: a measurement of time; there is no indication this reflects our modern definition of a day as 24 hours
• meat: food, not the flesh of an animal
• Opening Paragraph—What does the book seem like it will be like based on the cover? The table of contents? What stories do you think you’ll be reading?
• Paragraph 1: What do the following stories have in common: northern tribal creation story, southern tribal creation story, the flood/Noah’s ark, the Tower of Babel, the Blackfoot Genesis—use only the stories you are familiar with or discuss why you haven’t ever heard of these stories.
• Paragraph 2: Based on the first creation story (pgs. 41-43), what was the most important day of creation? What was created on that day? Back it up and explain.
• Paragraph 3: Why did Adam and Eve really get kicked out of Eden? What was this supposed to teach people? Back it up and explain.
• Paragraph 4: Summary of "The Blackfoot Genesis (pgs. 47-50)
• Paragraph 5: How does Old Man from "The Blackfoot Genesis" compare to God from "Genesis"? What are their flaws? What makes them interesting? Why do both sets of people feel as though they were punished? What brought on those punishments? Back it up and explain.

WR121: In Class Essay Prompts ATPH

Please remember, the essay must be written in class. If I don't see you write it, I can't be absolutely sure it's your work. These prompts stem from past AP tests. Please make sure to connect both prompts to All The Pretty Horses.

Option 1: “You can leave home all you want, but home will hover leave you.” [Sonsyrea Tate] Sonsrea Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind. It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have a considerable influence on an individual. Choose a novel or play (preferably All The Pretty Horses) in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this character and the reasons for its continuing influence. Explain how the character’s idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work.

Option 2: Works of the literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and, even, family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values. How do those characters and situations show the importance of loyalty and being true to oneself? Select a novel or play (preferably All The Pretty Horses) that includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

WR121: ATPH More Discussion Questions

Answer each question, support each answer (preferably from the book), and explain the support.

What is “family of choice”? How does it play into All The Pretty Horses? Back it up and explain.

• How does “family of choice” play into other pieces of literature? Into modern life? Back it up and explain.
• Why does John Grady go to Mexico? Why does Rawilins go to Mexico? How do those reasons represent their differences and beliefs? Back it up and explain.
• What is more important in old-school cowboy culture—loyalty or the law? Back it up and explain.
• Why is it so important for John Grady to reclaim some piece of himself from before prison (gear, the horse, the Captain)? Back it up and explain.
• What’s the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law? How does it play out in All The Pretty Horses? Back it up and explain.
• Why is it so important in life and in All The Pretty Horses to be loyal to “the people you ride with” (friends/partners)? Back it up and explain.
• Why do you think John Grady leaves his home a second time? Back it up and explain.
• Why does McCarthy bookend the narrative with burials (grandfather/beloved housekeeper)? What tone does this set? What ideas does it encourage? Back it up and explain.

WW: Writing Exercises

Try to get as much as you can out of each prompt. If there's one you just can't use, skip it.

• Day 1 Paragraphs
• 10 potential titles for your autobiography/memoir
• Create a character with the personality of someone you adore and the physicality of someone you can't stand
• Write about the most beautiful place you've ever been
• Convince someone to hire you (sell yourself)
• Write about the most important moment in your life so far
• Choose any book in the room and use the first sentence as the beginning of your own one-page story
• Day 2 Paragraphs
• What phrase do other people use that confuses you? Explain.
• What do you want today? Explain.
• Who is your favorite person? Why?
• Pick an event or topic that makes you angry and write about why.
• What event or topic that makes other people angry is totally unimportant? Why?
• Write about your least favorite person without using a name or any identifying terms.
• Day 3 Paragraphs
• Pick an event or topic that makes you angry and write about why.
• What event or topic that makes other people angry is totally unimportant? Why?
• Write about your least favorite person without using a name or any identifying terms
• What song is the perfect theme for your life? Explain.

WR121: ATPH Discussion Questions

Answer the questions using examples from All The Pretty Horses and your lives, explain the examples, and make a connection.

• Scenario 1: Your friend kills someone—do you call the cops, convince them to turn themselves in, or help them hide the body?
• What are group norms? 
• What are the norms of your social group? How do you know?
• Scenario 2: Your friend breaks up with their on again/off again, attractive partner—do you offer them a safe place, start dating the partner, or roll your eyes and pass them off?
• What is the core of true friendship? 
• Do any two people need to have the same definition for their friendship to work?
• How are patronage and friendship similar? Different?

WR115: Vocabulary #1

Remember to give an example and explain why it's a good example in the sentence for each term.

• Allusion: a historical or cultural reference to something outside the piece of literature 
• Analogy: a comparison of two things
• Anti-hero: Never overcomes inner demons and is, instead, destroyed by them; can be an outlaw or villain to society, but is sympathetic to the audience; cynical or wounded
• Archetypes: (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
• Breath: the center of being alive; its rhythm indicates mood
• Canon of Literature: a list of works, compiled by experts that represent an author, time period, or society
• Characterization: creating and establishing specific individuals (characters) in a story, poem, or film
• Comedy: meant to amuse; all problems work out perfectly in the end
• Connotation: secondary or associated meanings for a word
• Criticism: term for works concerned with defining, analyzing, classifying, and evaluating words of literature.

E2: Vocabulary #1

Remember to give an example and explain why it's a good example in the sentence for each term.

• Allegory: symbolic narrative (appears to tell one story while telling another one at the same time)
• Alliteration: two or more words in a grouping with the same opening sound
• Allusion: a historical or cultural reference to something outside the piece of literature 
• Ambiguity: uncertainty of intended meaning
• Analogy: a comparison of two things
• Antagonist: the opponent of the protagonist
• Anti-hero: Never overcomes inner demons and is, instead, destroyed by them; can be an outlaw or villain to society, but is sympathetic to the audience; cynical or wounded
• Archetypes: (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
• Atmosphere: mood, ambience, or emotional tone of a text
• Autobiography: the facts of the author’s life