King Lear

We are currently reading King Lear.  Please bring your book to class every day.

Here's a link to the entire play.  There aren't line numbers, but you can, of course, do a search.

Aristotle on tragedy.  It's always good to keep this in mind.

Here you can see Ian McKellen as Lear.

In School Field Trip on Monday

Monday, October 27th, is the day for our in school field trip to see Tim Hamilton, the creator of the Fahrenheit 451 graphic novel.

Here are your instructions:

If you are in my fourth period class, please report to the LGI instead of to 2425.

If you are in my seventh period class, please report to the LGI during fourth period.  Seventh period, we will have class in 2425 like we do every other day.

That's it for now.  Good luck with your Waiting for Godot scenes.

Waiting for Godot Assignment

We are finishing our common formative assessment today.

Additionally, here is your assignment for Waiting for Godot:

Write an additional scene for Waiting for Godot.  It should be between two and three pages long.  It must be "true to the spirit of the play," and it must be typed in the same format as the play.  Due October 28th.

Godot Article

Today we are reading and discussing "Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot: A Postmodernist Study," by Noorbakhsh Hooti.  I have hard copies available at school

Big Read Events

Fahrenheit 451 is the Big Read book this year.  There are many events planned.

Waiting for Godot Links

Here are some links related to Waiting for Godot and Samuel Beckett.

Ian Brown on Beckett

Enormous list of Samuel Beckett links.

Lucky's speech.

Esslin on the Theatre of the Absurd.

Waiting for Godot Discussion Questions

We will finish Act II of Waiting for Godot today.  After we are finished, please answer the following questions that will guide our discussion.  Also, please consider your responses to the Act I discussion questions.

1.    What do Vladimir and Estragon represent/symbolize?  Are they interchangeable, or are there important differences?

2.    What does Pozzo represent/symbolize?  (the pipe, the chicken, the bones, the vaporizer, his eventual blindness)

3.    What does Lucky represent/symbolize?  (the rope/leash, the picnic basket, the stool?)

4.    What does Godot represent/symbolize?  What are they waiting for?  Why do they continue to wait?

5.    Why do the boys appear?  What function do they serve?  (think about the things they say)

6.    What does the tree represent/symbolize?  What about the few leaves that appear in the second act?

7.    What do the hats represent/symbolize?

8.    What do the boots represent/symbolize?

9.    What does the play mean?  What is Beckett trying to say?

1.  Do you think this play would make more sense with subsequent readings?  What about a live viewing?

1.   Did you like it?  Did you hate it?  Why?  Think about your answer.

1.   Did you find it interesting?

1.   Like it or not, what did you gain from reading it?

1.   Imagine you had to write an essay about this play in which you had to address the theme.  What would you write?

Waiting for Godot Act I

We have finished reading Act I of Waiting for Godot.

Consider the following:
What could the characters symbolize?
The tree?
Objects?
The Setting?

What, exactly, is the plot?
How is the play structured?
What is the significance of Lucky's speech?

Reading Godot and an Independent Reading Reminder

We are currently reading Waiting for Godot in class.  I hope you will volunteer to perform--it's easier to understand the comedy that way.

Also, please make sure you are reading an independent reading book by one of the authors on the list I provided.