One more little survey before you go . . .

Before we get into the Midsummer Night's Dream scene workshops today, please take a few minutes to offer some feedback on the fourth-quarter writing assignments for this class--the Sonnet and Sonnet Explication. As you know, this is still a new, experimental approach to the poetry explication, and I am very interested in your feedback as both sonneteers and explicators.

Spring 2026 LL2 Survey

Thank you!

Notebook Prompt: Midsummer Night's Dreaming

The title of the Shakespeare play we've been enjoying in class identifies itself as a "dream," and indeed, characters throughout this play are repeatedly falling asleep and waking up on stage, and the main action takes place overnight in a magical, pastoral forest setting that is in many ways "dreamlike."

For your final Notebook prompt this year, take 5 minutes now to ponder all of the ways that you can see Shakespeare making use of this trope of dreams, dreamers, and dreaming in this play. How many "dreamers" are there in this play? Is a "dream" generally a good or bad thing in this play? What does dreaming entail, and does it represent an aspect of "reality," an alternate reality, an escape from reality, or some kind of nightmarish distortion of reality? In what ways is the play itself "like a dream"?

Iambic Pentameter Pool

Please click the following link and enter TWO LINES of iambic pentameter verse that you are willing to share with anyone who might want to use them (and sign your name):

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15qz7T_qfigY3Xe65Z2xdnbj3gibXZYho1iCSmfe8Va8/edit?usp=sharing

Dorian Gray Destroys the Picture of Dorian Gray: "What did it mean?"

We've discussed a range of overlapping symbolic or metaphorical "meanings" that Basil's painting of Dorian Gray takes on in this novel--it represents his conscience, or the corruption of his soul, or the toll of his sins, or his dark secret, or the dark underside to his perennial good looks. So then what does it "mean" when, at the conclusion of Wilde's tale, Dorian Gray attempts to destroy the painting by stabbing it with the same knife he used to murder Basil Hallward? What is he trying to achieve, as far as you can tell? How do we interpret the outcome? And how might this outcome offer a moral resolution to the story? Is this the moment when Dorian finally faces consequences for his amoral and hedonistic lifestyle? Or has he already faced these consequences? Or does he ever face any significant consequences at all?

The dramatic conclusion of the story appears on the final two pages of chapter 20 (pp. 212-13 in the Penguin edition). Please take five minutes now to contemplate in your notebook the significance of this beguiling ending to the story. What kind of "moral lesson" does Oscar Wilde seem to be drawing from the story of Dorian Gray? Can we read this "moral" as a commentary on the philosophy of aestheticism and hedonism, as promoted by Lord Henry throughout the novel?

The Picture of Dorian Gray: "What did it mean?"

In chapter VII of The Picture of Dorian Gray, soon after Dorian has returned at dawn from the theater where Sibyl Vane has just bombed as Juliet, and where Dorian has broken off all relations with her in a particularly harsh and cruel manner ("You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity" [85]), he suddenly notices that the portrait has changed: "his eye fell upon the portrait Basil Hallward had painted of him. He started back as if in surprise. The he went on into his own room, looking somewhat puzzled. After he had taken the buttonhole out of his coat, he seemed to hesitate. Finally he came back, went over to the picture, and examined it. In the dim arrested light that struggled through the cream-coloured silk blinds, the face appeared to him to be a little changed. The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. It was certainly strange" (87). He opens the blinds, and in the early-morning light, "the strange expression that he had noticed in the face of the portrait seemed to linger there, to be more intensified even. The quivering, ardent sunlight showed him the lines of cruelty round the mouth as clearly as if he had been looking into a mirror after he had done some dreadful thing" (87-88). He then compares the portrait to his actual reflection in a mirror: "No line like that warped his red lips. What did it mean?" (88).

Indeed, this supernatural morphing of Basil's "masterpiece" seems to "mean something" to the reader of this novel, and Dorian immediately makes the connection to the "mad wish" he had spoken when the painting was first finished, "that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grow old; that his own beauty might be untarnished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins" (88). Wilde is clearly using the painting--and its mysterious transformation--as a means of symbolizing or signifying something about Dorian Gray's character. So, What does it mean? At this point in your reading of the novel, how do you interpret its central symbol? What does the painting seem to represent? What analogies in the "real world" does its transformation suggest to you? How do you see Dorian as affected by the transformation of the portrait in subsequent chapters?

Please take five minutes now and reflect on the possible meanings of this central symbol in your notebook, and be prepared to share your ideas with the class. 

Manifesto!

For your first writing exercise of the second semester, you're going to have the opportunity to create your own manifesto, either as a solo composition or in collaboration as a group of two or three. Use Wilde's "Preface" to The Picture of Dorian Gray as one model: Wilde's provocative and paradoxical aphorisms can be seen as a "manifesto of aestheticism," and this model was taken up and pursued with a passion by a number of modern artists and writers (see Marinetti, Pound, Loy, and Lewis). You or your group should identify yourselves as the vanguard of a "movement," although it doesn't have to be built upon an especially serious or dire set of issues. For authenticity, you might add an "-ist" to your group's name: if you want to hail the superiority of the cashew over every other variety of nut, for example, you might confront readers with "The Cashewist Manifesto." 

Your manifesto should draw directly on the examples of modernist manifestos we've read for today's class (and Wilde's "Preface") as models of the form. Imitate the style of their sentences, the format of their assertions, and even the typeface and arrangement of words (see Lewis's Vorticist Manifesto or the reproduction of Loy's Feminist Manifesto). It should include a minimum of 10 distinct assertions or aphorisms or statements of provocation. Note how all of these manifestos share a desire to break decisively with the past--they are all "revolutionary" in some form, and the affirmation of the movement is always framed in terms of a rejection of a stilted or outdated or obsolete past. There is usually a generational aspect to a manifesto: you are declaring a new set of views and ideas to replace the old, outdated ones. All manifestos in this sense could be described as "futurist": they all share the posture of hailing an imminent future at the expense of the exhausted past. Think of what issue or set of issues you would like to sound off on, in such a forceful and decisive voice.

If you collaborate, all members of the group should sign the manifesto, and all members should contribute assertions and aphorisms. You can edit the final draft together, to produce the strongest, most uncompromising, authoritative assertions you can create. Please have fun with this assignment. The final draft is due (via Canvas) by the end of the day Friday, January 16, and you will have the opportunity to share your work with the class. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Midyear Feedback

Please take a few minutes at the start of our exam period today to give me some useful feedback on the class-discussion dynamics in this section: 

Midyear Feedback Form

Notebook prompt: Kambili's Coming-of-Age

Consider the portrait of Kambili as the novel draws to a close in the final section, "A Different Silence: The Present." Do you see Purple Hibiscus as a coming-of-age narrative? How does Adichie depict Kambili at the end of her story? What significant coming-of-age developments do you see in her character? How does her coming-of-age compare to Jaja's, as we see him in this final scene?

Please take 5 minutes to contemplate these questions in your notebook before our class discussion on Tuesday, November 18.

Highlife Music in 1980s Nigeria

Just as music plays a significant role in Gansworth's characterization of Lewis and his complicated friendship with George, which is largely grounded in a shared love of the Beatles and Wings and Queen, music is a part of Adichie's characterization of Kambili and her ambivalent relationship to 1980s Nigerian secular culture. Singing is as much a defining characteristic of Aunty Ifeoma's house as laughter, but in Kambili's house, there is very little song or music. They never play the fancy stereo they have, and when Ifeoma's kids insist that they put something on, the best thing Obiora can find is "an Irish church choir singing 'O Come All Ye Faithful." In the car, we're told that they listen to cassettes of "Ave Maria," a well-known piece of sacred music composed by Franz Schubert in 1825. Both of these selections, not surprisingly, place Papa Eugene's musical tastes squarely in the British-colonial camp--and Papa's musical tastes set the standard for what is acceptable listening in their household.

When Kambili and Jaja start to interact more with Ifeoma's family, they are introduced to a new kind of music. The first time they go driving in Ifeoma's car, Kambili refers in passing to the "high life music from the car radio" (83). "High life" (or "highlife") refers to the most popular form of music in Nigeria in the 1980s: the genre originated in the early twentieth century in Ghana and became hugely popular in Nigeria in the 1960s. Highlife music combines African melodies and rhythms with European instrumentation, driven by rhythmic guitar and horns. By the early 1980s, when the novel is set, it has become a proudly African form of music, often reflecting the influence of Black American funk music and American Black Power pan-African consciousness. As Amaka says to Kambili, "I listen mostly to indigenous musicians. They're culturally conscious; they have something real to say. Fela and Osadebe and Onyeka are my favorites" (118).

All three of these musicians--Onyeka Onwenu, Fela Kuti, and Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe--have had long and productive careers that are worth digging into in their own right. There are a number of highlife mixes available on YouTube, put together by devoted fans of the genre. Fela Kuti is the most widely known and internationally influential of the group, and there are a number of clips of his band Africa 70 performing live all over the world: for a high-quality recording of a live performance by Fela Kuti and Africa 70 on German television in 1978 (less than a year after the Nigerian army raided Fela's "Kalakuta Republic" compound and killed his mother, in response to his inflammatory single "Zombie" [1977]), see here.

Notebook prompt: Kambili's Dream

After spending the day with Aunty Ifeoma, Papa-Nnukwu, and her cousins, Kambili has a dream: “I dreamed that I was laughing, but it did not sound like my laughter, although I was not sure what my laughter sounded like. It was cackling and throaty and enthusiastic, like Aunty Ifeoma’s” (88). 

How do you interpret this dream? How does it reflect Kambili’s recent experiences? What does laughter represent, and why is it important?

Take five minutes now to contemplate this passage in your notebook.

Notebook Prompt: First Impressions of Kambili

Part 1 ("Breaking Gods: Palm Sunday") of Purple Hibiscus introduces us to the fraught family dynamics that the narrator is a part of: she describes this scene at home on Palm Sunday as the moment when "everything" has come "tumbling down" in her family, when "things started to fall apart." As we start to unpack this densely layered opening scene, take a few minutes to record your initial impressions of Kambili (who has not yet shared her name with us) as both a character and a narrator in this opening section. How would you describe her narrative voice? How does this voice seem to reflect her character, her role within this family?

Take 5 minutes in your notebook to record your initial observations and impressions of Kambili as a character and as the narrator of this story.

Allusions in Adichie

The first line of Kambili's narrative ("Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion . . .") alludes to two well-known literary works: the novel Things Fall Apart (1958) by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, and the poem "The Second Coming" (1919) by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, to which Achebe alludes in his title. Things Fall Apart is the most well-known of Achebe's works, and it depicts a traditional Igbo man struggling to come to grips with the encroachment of British colonialism in his community. Achebe essentially initiated modern Nigerian fiction in English, and Adichie cites him as a profound influence on her own writing. As we'll see, Purple Hibiscus addresses the intersection of British-colonial and traditional Igbo culture in the 1980s from a more modern, domestic perspective than in Achebe's novel (reflected in her specification of things falling apart at home).

Notebook Prompt: A Coming-of-Age Novel?

If I Ever Get Out of Here might be categorized as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel (literally: "novel of education or growth"). These narratives often depict a young protagonist and their experiences in schools and with "education" more generally, as they struggle to define themselves and find their place in the world. As we've discussed, school and the education system have been a rather fraught issue for Lewis and for the history of Native American people. As the novel concludes, what significant growth or development do you see in Lewis's character? Is he different in significant ways by the end of this nearly two-year story? Do you see evidence of Lewis "coming of age" over the course of this narrative? How can a reader measure something so abstract? What "threads" do you see in the novel that reflect or trace this development?

Take 5 minutes in your notebook to contemplate any coming-of-age threads you see in this novel.

Notebook prompt: "A Chat in the Language of Violence"

Part 2 of If I Ever Get Out of Here ends on an ominous note: after boycotting school for a few days, to protest the lack of support that he is receiving as he endures Evan Reiniger's bullying and abuse, Lewis has come up with a new plan. He has gone to a spot in the woods where some baseball bats have been stowed "close to the border . . . in case of territorial invasion" (233). Lewis unwraps one of the bats and says that he has "decided to go back to school. It was time for a new lesson, a chat in the language of violence" (233).

In your notebook, please contemplate the significance of this apparent turning point in Lewis's efforts to deal with Evan. What do you think about where this story appears to be headed? Lewis has been encouraged by a number of people to "fight back" or to "stick up for himself" against Evan, but he always points out that Evan is a lot bigger and stronger than he is. How do you feel about Lewis, as he stands there with the baseball bat in hand, planning to return to school for a "new lesson"? Does this seem like a good idea? Are you happy to see him rising in resistance, or are you concerned about this apparent escalation of hostilities? If you could speak with Lewis at this point, what would you say to him?

Small-Group Discussion: Wings Over America and Fireball

1. In chapter 11 of If I Ever Get Out of Here, Lewis recounts his experiences going to Toronto to see Wings in concert with George and his father. This is his first time in Toronto, the biggest city he's ever been to, and it's his first ever rock concert. Look back over Lewis's account of his experience at this concert (pages 156-57), and discuss this chapter in table groups. Take notes to record the perspectives and insights your group comes up with. If shared music fandom can serve as the "rez rocket" between Venus and Mars, does this concert experience represent an example of connection or disconnection--or a little of both? Be specific about the passages and moments throughout this chapter that support either interpretation: look for evidence of Lewis feeling connected to George and his father, and evidence of him feeling separate and apart. Is this concert, on balance, a good experience for him? Does it represent significant progress in his effort to bridge the "worlds" of the reservation and Red Tail Manor?

Please take about ten minutes to analyze and discuss this chapter, recording notes and insights in your notebook.

2. At the end of chapter 11, contemplating the tour program that Mr. Haddonfield has purchased for him, Lewis contemplates how he can "bridge the gap" between him and George. In chapter 13, Lewis has invited George and his father to the annual reservation Picnic, which entails introducing them to the local custom of "Fireball." What does reservation culture look like in this chapter? What do George and his dad seem to make of it? How does this depiction fit with the other ways you've seen Lewis depict his home on the reservation throughout the novel? What moments in this introduction to reservation culture for George and his father stand out to you? On balance, does this seem more like a scene of connection or disconnection? How does this chapter function as Lewis's attempt to show his gratitude to the Haddonfields and to return the favor of their generosity and hospitality? Do these developments represent significant progress in the effort to bridge the two "worlds"?

Please take about ten minutes to analyze and discuss this chapter, recording notes and insights in your notebook.

FOR BOTH SETS OF PROMPTS, YOUR NOTES SHOULD BE SUBSTANTIAL AND SPECIFIC: CITE PAGE NUMBERS AND KEY PASSAGES OR PHRASES AS NEEDED.

Notebook Prompt: Boarding Schools and Lewis's Story

What does the historical legacy of the Native American boarding schools have to do with Lewis and George and their story in the 1970s? Do you understand why this history is such an important issue for Lewis’s family? Should this history affect Lewis and George’s ability to be friends in the 1970s, if it all happened two generations ago? What do the actions of their grandparents have to do with them?

Take 5 minutes to contemplate the relevance of this history to Lewis's story in your notebook, and be prepared to share your thoughts and observations with the class.

This Novel Has a Soundtrack

Before we even start reading If I Ever Get Out of Here, it is evident that music--specifically, the rock music of the 1970s--is very important to Eric Gansworth. The title of the novel alludes to a lyric in the song "Band on the Run," by Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings, and the cover art features the outline of a head encased in giant headphones, as if the self, the "I" of the title, were surrounded by and defined by the music he listens to. Gansworth's original artwork--interspersed throughout on the title pages for each part--uses Wings and Beatles album art as its inspiration, with iconography featuring an electric guitar on the main title page. (Check out the author's web page--ericgansworth.com--for more examples of his original artwork, all of which reflects a heavy influence from 1970s rock album graphics.) The title of every chapter alludes to a Beatles or Wings song.

It is clear from the first chapter of the novel that music is likewise a vitally important aspect of Lewis's life (Lewis is a highly autobiographical character, reflecting Gansworth's own experiences growing up on the Tuscarora Reservation in the 1970s). In the midst of his DIY haircut at Carson's place, Lewis spots an acoustic guitar in the mirror. He immediately wants to touch it, but he knows Carson won't let him; he asks if Carson knows any Beatles songs, and Carson makes fun of him for still carrying a torch for a band that has broken up and "ain't never getting back together" (5). Later, he will taunt Lewis by playing "Yesterday" by the Beatles, and then "showing him how" by playing it again, too fast for Lewis to make any sense of it (82). By Christmas, Carson has worked his way up to an electric guitar, while Lewis isn't even sure what an amplifier is or what it has to do with producing the sounds he hears when he listens to the Beatles or Queen. An actual real-life guitar, for Lewis, seems like some kind of magical portal, and like all other potentially life-changing things, he believes it's forever out of his reach. Carson won't even let him touch the "piece of crap" acoustic his father has secured "on hock" from a guy on the reservation.

But listening to recorded music is a huge part of Lewis's life: he and Albert listen to the Beatles together, and Lewis keeps a running list of the albums they both like. His brother has taken most of their LPs with them when he left home, but Albert has a stereo, and he has "taught [Lewis] how to use it respectfully a couple years ago, when I started to pay attention to what was on the radio" (95). The most meaningful Christmas gift he receives is from Albert--a copy of the newest Wings album, Venus and Mars. Music is a key part of his blooming friendship with George: they are both avowed Beatles fans (and George's dad is a bigger fan than either of them), and their friendship is built in part on sharing new music with each other. Lewis even wants to play "You're My Best Friend" by Queen for George as a way of communicating what it would be "way too lame" (99) to actually say out loud. They listen to Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings the first time Lewis visits George at home, and Mr. Haddonfield even lends his copy of the LP to Lewis that night--a pretty rare sign of affection and trust, according to George.

The story this novel tells is inseparable from the music Gansworth weaves into the text. The novel literally has a soundtrack, and it's hard to keep track of all the song and album titles it alludes to. The book features a comprehensive "Playlist and Discography" in the back, which specifies the Beatles, Wings, and other songs being referenced throughout the book. His webpage also features a "complete discography" with links to all of the songs--although Gansworth warns that, the internet being what it is, most of the links will likely no linger be active. And it's true--most of the YouTube clips are no longer accessible. (But you can watch the full "Wings Over America" concert that Lewis and George attend.)

Happily, a reader of the novel has put together very comprehensive playlist, which features every song or album mentioned or alluded to throughout the novel: 103 songs and more than 6 hours of music! We will be listening to some of the most important songs in class, but feel free to explore this playlist on your own--put yourself in Lewis's position by listening to the stuff that he's listening to. And if you don't have access to Spotify, maybe a friend's dad can lend you the LP!

Notebook prompt: Uncle Albert

What is your sense of Uncle Albert as a character? How would you describe the role he plays in Lewis's life, based on what you've observed so far? What do you make of his personality, his general style, his way of being in the world? Do you see him as a positive influence on Lewis?

Identify relevant passages in the text that illustrate or support your observations.

Take 5 minutes now to reflect on this prompt in your notebook.

Notebook prompt: First Impressions of Lewis

What are your first impressions of Lewis Blake, as a narrator and as a character? How would you describe his narrative voice/style? How does he orient us to his world through his narration? How does he depict himself as a character in his own story?

Take 5 minutes now to contemplate these questions in your notebook, in preparation for today's discussion.

DALN Questions: Brainstorming for the Reader's Autobiography

To help you start thinking about your own life experiences in terms of a story that might make a good reflective essay, the prompts provided for participants in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives can be helpful to jump-start the brainstorming process. For your first prompted entry in your class notebook, please select three or four of the DALN questions and write a paragraph or two in response to each before our class meeting on Thursday, August 21.