Adapting The Tempest to Modern America

For this assignment, instead of having you write one blog post and then comment on two others, I want you to write two separate posts (and you don't have to comment on any others, though you're welcome to). Your first post needs to be done by Saturday night, but you should try to write it as soon as possible while the film is still fresh in your mind. The second post is due by Tuesday night.

In your first post, I want you to respond to the film that we've just watched, Paul Mazursky's Tempest. Mazursky created the film only a few years before Gloria Naylor wrote Mama Day, but both adaptations reimagine The Tempest in very different ways. In what ways do you think Mazursky's film changes the focus of the original story (you may want to talk about Phillip, Aretha, and/or the love story between Freddy and Miranda). Did you find some of these changes particularly effective or ineffective? Why? And the most important question: How do you think the film reflects Mazursky's perspective on contemporary American life (which is very different from Naylor's, so you may find it helpful to contrast the two)?

For your second blog post (due Tuesday night), I want you to think about how someone with a different background and a different perspective on modern America might reimagine The Tempest. So for this blog post, I want you to explore what kind of adaptation you think that either a college-age American Indian or a college-age immigrant (you choose the country of origin) might come up with in response to Shakespeare's play. In other words, pick one of these personas and try to imagine how her perspective could affect her adaptation of the play. I don't expect you to craft a lengthy and in-depth narrative, but your thoughtful response should at least sketch out how such a story could rework some of the characters and their relationships with each other. You should also clarify how you think the adaptation would end.

How will you use They Say / I Say?

This week's assigned reading from They Say / I Say includes one chapter on "planting a naysayer in your text" and another one on "saying why it matters." For your blog post this week, instead of having you write on your own blogs, I simply want you to respond to this blog post with a comment that explains how you will use some of the concepts from the reading in your next essay. Describe how you will go about planting a naysayer in your essay. Work on crafting a persuasive argument for why your analysis matters.

Remember that your comment is due by Friday at midnight, and that you will then have only one week left to complete your Researched Analytical Argument.

Gloria Naylor's Shakespeare

Mama Day certainly seems to engage with Shakespeare on various levels and at various points throughout the narrative, yet if we think of the novel as an adaptation of The Tempest, it's clearly a kind of loose adaptation that doesn't try to closely follow the play. What then do we make of Naylor's use of Shakespeare in the novel? What are the consequences of reading the novel as a reimagining of The Tempest? What are some of the implications for the differences between the novel and the play? In other words, what is significant about the changes that Naylor made to Shakespeare's narrative? And, as a follow-up to that question, why do you think she bothered crafting a loose adaptation at all instead of writing something less engaged with a particular Shakespeare play (as is the case with her other novels)?

Your response to these questions should be thoughtful, and your blog post needs to show a deep engagement with the novel and with our course theme more generally.

Prospero's Plan(s)

The Tempest appears to be a play in which much of what happens is somehow orchestrated by Prospero. What do you think his plan is, and do you think that it changes at any point throughout the play (and if so, when and why)? What kind of impact do you think the plan is meant to have on the other characters in the play, and how effectively does Prospero achieve those goals?

As usual, these questions are intended to prompt an analytical response, and you'll need to point to specific passages in the text to support your interpretations. Please make sure that your response is at least 250 words long so that it offers the thoroughness that these questions require.

Character development thus far

Now that we have read nearly half of A Thousand Acres, we are starting to get a better sense of some of the characters, such as Caroline, Jess Clark, and Harold Clark. For the next blog post, everyone needs to choose one of these three characters to write about. Find a passage in the novel that seems to illustrate or reveal something about that character, and offer an interpretation of that passage and an explanation for why you chose it. Then, you should use that passage as a jumping-off point to say more about how you think the character is meant to come across to a reader, and to offer your own thoughtful response to what we have read about the character so far.

Remember that this assignment, like all of the blog posts for this class, should be a thoughtful response to what we have read. That means that each post needs to be interpretive, and can even be argumentative, but should not waste time summarizing the reading. It can be helpful to provide some context so that your reader can better understand your remarks, and you should definitely use quotations and/or paraphrases when they can help illustrate your point. However, the primary voice should be your own, and the blog post should be an analytical response rather than a simple plot summary. This post needs to be at least 250 words long, and also remember that you will be commenting on your classmates' posts and that they will be commenting on yours.

The Plot and Subplot of King Lear

As we briefly discussed in class today, King Lear seems to draw some important distinctions between the old characters and the younger generation. We are repeatedly reminded that Lear, Gloucester, and Kent are "old" (though Kent says that he is only 48). There are a number of other parallels between Lear and Gloucester, such as their preferential treatment toward their wicked children at the expense of their genuinely loyal children.

For your next blog post, I want you to write about how you think the subplot that focuses on Gloucester and his two sons reflects upon the main plot that revolves around Lear and his three daughters. You may want to consider the parallels between Gloucester's blindness and Lear's failing eyesight (perhaps he even suffers from a different kind of blindness throughout most of the play?), or between the ways in which each man is convinced to turn against one of his children at the beginning of the play, only to regret it by the end. You could also focus on any number of other parallels in addition to or instead of the two I've mentioned. The goal of this assignment is for you to think about how such parallels are significant for our overall understanding of the play. In other words, how do they help you make sense of story.

Remember that your post is due by Friday, 8/31, at 11:49 pm, and that you will be responding to some of your classmates' posts as well.

Lear's Fool

For your first reading response to Lear, I want you to write a thoughtful blog post about Lear's Fool. At what point do you notice that he has disappeared from the play? Why do you think he "disappears" like that? What is his function within the play? Please post your response to your blog by noon on Thursday, August 30. And, if your blog isn't listed in the Blog Roll on the right, please email me the URL for your blog.