Caution: The Scarlet Letter movie - 1995

Last night I previewed the 1995 The Scarlet Letter movie to see if it would be a good film version to recommend after we finish the book.  I DO NOT recommend it! Graphic seduction and nudity aside, it is a radically different story with an overtly anti-Christian message.  While Hawthorn does find fault (perhaps unfairly) with what he perceives to be a graceless and hypocritical culture among the Puritans, he at least grapples with the destructive nature of un-repented sin and hypocrisy in a way that, in my opinion, points us toward truths worth contemplating.  He also provides his reader with a vivid depiction of the pain and suffering that accompanies a choice to "follow your heart" rather than to submit to the law of God.  The producers of the latest film adaptation however, try to convince viewers that the way to happiness and freedom lies in a commitment to the self and its passions, ignoring that the heart from which these impulses spring is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jeremiah 17:9

I ordered an earlier version of the film on Netflix.  I'll let you all know whether I think its worth watching.

Week 8

Reminder: We will not have class on November 13th.  I'll be in North Carolina for a CiRCE staff meeting.  We'll resume classes on November 20.

Reading assignment:
Continue to highlight as previously instructed

• De Amicitia - sections 14-17
• The Scarlet Letter - ch. 13-16 - for each chapter, write a should question (try to pick one that drives the action of the chapter in some way) and find one blue to share
• Aristotle for Everybody ch 15

Writing Assignment:

• Write your Pilgrims Progress essay.  Check off the items on your checklist (your check indicates that you have indeed checked your paper for the item) and staple it to the front of your essay.  Your essay is not eligible for submission until your checklist is complete, including the signature of a proof reader.

• Write a DELIBERATIVE issue for The Scarlet Letter.  A deliberative issue should be written as if the decision is yet to be made. 

ex: 

Judicial issue (we have been writing these all along) ==> Whether Pilgrim should have left his home

Deliberative issue ==> Whether Pilgrim should leave his home

Notice the change in verb tense: have left vs. leave

• Complete the Invention Review worksheet with your Scarlet Letter issue.  I sent the worksheet by email this evening.  If this is your first year, its likely that you will enounter unfamiliar concepts on the worksheet.  Just do the best you can.  I won't hold you accountable for lessons that you have not yet learned, but do try to fill in as much as you're able to help you think about your issue. 

Week 7

Reading Assignments
(Highlight all reading as you've been doing)

• The Scarlet Letter: chapters 9-12- After you read each chapter, write what you consider to be the most important "Should" question in the chapter on the first page of that chapter.  Find one blue in each chapter.  
• De Amicitia: sections 11-13, mark characteristics of friendship that you notice in the margins with "F"

Writing Assignments

• Catch up with corrections
• Add personification and apostrophe to your Pandora essay (you should already have alliteration and assonance underlined and labeled)
• Anaphora worksheet (pages 180 - 183)
• Episotrophe worksheet (pages 184-187)

Week 6

Reading Assignments:

• Aristotle for Everybody ch. 14 (read, make notes, and highlight)
• De Amicitia (review 1-6 and add 7-10.  make notes and highlight)
• The Scarlet Letter 5-8 (read and highlight as you did last week.  Find one blue per chapter.  After you read the chapter, write a should question above the title of the chapter that you think is central to the chapter)

Writing Assignments:

Arrangement

• Sort the A and the N columns of your Pilgrims Progress ANI chart.  Refer to pages 13-15 if you need to review.  Remember the first step is to see if you can move I points to A or N.
• Complete the Arrangement Worksheet (first year students, pgs 16-17 / returning students, pgs 117-120)
• Complete an outline (first year students, use template on page 18 / returning students, use template on page 121-22)

New Elocution Lesson

• Personification worksheet, pages 159-162
• Apostrophe worksheet, pages 163-167

Week 5

Remember to check your number for outstanding assignments and get those in next week!  All incomplete work should be submitted at the very next class.  Always.

Writing Assignments:

• Complete an ANI chart for your Pilgrim's Progress issue - 20 items per column
• Move at least 3 items from each relationship worksheet to your ANI chart and mark them with a circled letter R so I can find them.

Reading Assignments

• Read The Scarlet Letter chapters 1-4.  Use your yellow highlighter for flow of thought.  Use green to mark the structure of the story (setting changes/transitions).  Highlight the most interesting thing in each chapter in blue.

Week 4

I especially enjoyed our discussion of Aristotle today.  I appreciate your careful reading and the insights that you all were able to draw out this week because of it!

We tackled a double invention lesson on the topic of relation: antecedent and consequent, as well as cause and effect.  Next week we'll devote our entire class period to our discussion of Pilgrim's Progress.

Writing assignments:

• Create a new issue from Pilgrim's Progress & use your issue for the following worksheets.
• Student worksheet on page 137 (antecedent and consequent)
• Student worksheet on page 155 (cause and effect) - Be careful on this one!  Be sure you are considering the affirmative and negative thesis separately.  Remember, one will be a hypothetical situation in which you'll have to imagine how the story would have gone if the opposite decision had been made.  Review chapter 6 of Aristotle for Everybody to help you remember the 4 different kinds of causes that come into play.  This will help you generate information for your worksheet.

Reading assignments:

• Finish reading Pilgrim's Progress
• Survey The Scarlet Letter.   Write 10 things you notice about the book inside the cover.  Try to learn something about Nathaniel Hawthorn to include in your survey points.  Scan the entire book page by page.  Use your pink highlighter for proper nouns (names and places).  When you notice setting transitions, use your green highlighter to mark them.