On most days that your discussion section meets, you will be required to bring in a focused response (FR), which should be about one page long. FRs can be typed or written (legibly!) by hand. Your TA will use these focused responses as a resource during discussion--you may be called on during class to read or summarize what you have written. The focused responses will also help your TA know that you have done the assigned reading, thus minimizing the need for surprises quizzes--hooray!

Each week, questions for focused responses will be made available Monday morning on our class's website. Hard copies will then be available in lecture on Tuesdays. Focused responses will ask you to concentrate your analytic attention on one specific issue, question, problem, passage, or even phrase drawn from the assigned text. Although all of the FRs will involve your reading and rereading some portion of the week's assignment very closely, they will not involve any such thing as a "right" answer. Instead, the focused responses are a chance for you to meditate upon some specific aspect of the week's reading. An FR is not a formal essay. It should be coherent and readable, but you don't need to worry about constructing an "introduction" or "conclusion."

Your TA will tell you whether she or he wishes to use a check plus/check/check minus grading system, a satisfactory/unsatisfactory system, or letter grades. All TAs will allow you to miss or drop three FRs without penalty, but no late ones will be accepted without a documented excuse. Your cumulative grades on focused responses will comprise an important part of the 20% gestalt grade described on the syllabus.

For first discussion sections on Wednesday Sept. 1

Respond to one of the following two questions. Remember, about a page or so will suffice:

1. What are your personal definitions of "literature" and of "American"?

2. Pick one paragraph from any of the material assigned for Aug. 31 and explain why you find that paragraph revealing, surprising, or otherwise interesting.

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Other FR questions I have used

Focused response #2, due before class begins on Sept 22

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark," why does the mark on Georgiana's cheek disturb her husband so deeply? Focus on the paragraph in the middle of p. 978, which begins "Had she been less beautiful--" Remember to base your analysis on the actual words that Hawthorne wrote.

E316K FR #4 Due in class on Tuesday, October 18 Fall 2005

Please write about one page in response to one of the following two questions.

1. Walt Whitman is sometimes referred to as America's "bard of democracy." Bard means poet or singer. Analyze two specific aspects or portions of his "Song of Myself" that, in your view, promote democratic ideals. 2. Focusing on two or three specific examples, describe Walt Whitman's attitude towards the human body or specific parts of the body (whether his own body or that of others).

Focused response #3, due before class begins on October 6 (Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl)

Focusing on pp. 850-851, analyze the various factors and motives that led Linda Brent to have sex with Mr. Sands.

E316K FR #5 Due in class on Tuesday, November 8 Fall 2005
(Kate Chopin, The Awakening)

Please write about one page in response to one of the following two questions.

1. As discussed in class, Edna Pontellier is a woman in nineteenth-century America. As such, her personal freedom is restricted. She is expected to dedicate herself to certain roles--most notably, the roles of wife and mother--and to behave in accordance with the social conventions governing those roles at the time. But Edna is also white and upper-class. Although her gender restricts her freedom, her whiteness and upper-class status accord her certain privileges and luxuries. In what ways might we say that Edna's "awakening" (or, as we discussed in class, her various "awakenings") is facilitated--made easier--by her race and class status? Be sure to refer to specific details from the text.

OR

2. Why do you think that Kate Chopin ends her novel in the way that she does? Again, be sure to refer to specific details from the text.

E316K FR #6 Due in class on Thursday, November 17 Fall 2005

Briefly respond to one of the following three questions.

1. In class, we discussed Ernest Hemingway's "iceberg" theory of the short story, in which much of what really matters exists beneath a story's surface, visible only to the reader who studies that surface carefully. With the "iceberg" theory in mind, analyze a few sentences from "Hills Like White Elephants" that you think reveal some of the underlying emotional dynamics in the couple's relationship.

2. What operation is the couple discussing in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"? What specific evidence leads you to your conclusion?

3. After reading Faulkner's "Barn Burning," describe some of the feelings that Sarty has about his father. Refer to specific passages from the text as you discuss different aspects of his feelings.

E316K Focused response #1, due before class begins on Sept 15

Select any one page of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and analyze what some of that page's specific details reveal about his character. Make sure that you tell us what page you are analyzing.

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Announcement: New Grading System for Focused Responses

Instead of the check-plus, check, and check-minus system that we originally planned for your focused responses, the TAs and I have decided that a slightly more refined grading system would actually be more helpful to you and to us. Your focused responses will now be graded on a scale of 1-5.

5: Excellent. Your reading is thoughtful, perceptive, and thorough.

4: Very Good. Your reading is thoughtful and perceptive, but you may have missed a few pertinent details.

3: Good. You seem to get the general idea but your response does not contain enough careful, close analysis of specific details and language from the text. Your response may also include unnecessary or irrelevant generalizations.

2. Your response is overly general or you are misunderstanding key words or concepts in the passage.

1. You are not responding to the question or have not understood the assignment. (If you are not sure that you understand an assignment, ask beforehand!)

0: Your focused response was received late or not at all.