Crash - Ghost Narratives

"In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass," Graham muses after a car crash. "It's the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just so we can feel something."


The film shows several intense conflicts among strangers within a 24 hour period in the city of LA; the individuals are ghosts to each other within a shared urban space. How does the urban landscape contribute the creation of "ghosts" within a shared environment? How might that space or frequency of experiences affect a person’s view of the world and others?  Be sure to cite  characters, their roles, and specific scenes from the movie to develop and support your claims and warrants.

The Woman Warrior: Narration and Style

America has a complex history, as it is a nation that has been made up of immigrants. The Woman Warrior as a record of immigrant experience. How does Homsher and Ya-jie believe the narrative structure and style of the novel contribute to understanding an American experience? How does Kingston's story compare with the stories of other immigrants you may be familiar with, for instance your own, or those of your family, or those you have read about in other books? Be sure to use textual support from both articles. 

Postmodernism and Social Justice

Postmodernist literature is often associated with the era of civil rights that have transformed American society. Although important problems remain to be resolved, these movements achieved major advances in social justice and economic opportunity during the twentieth century. What themes, ideas, and conflicts are present in the postmodernist poetry presented in class? 

Remember post and respond. 

Dreams, Goals, and Plans: Postmodernism and Songs of Protest

The United States is being (re)shaped by profound political and social changes, watershed technological innovation, increasing ethnic diversity, and a complex mixture of cultures. As in the past, contemporary American writers have responded to these historical and cultural forces, both by adapting traditional literary forms and finding new ones.

The song is another literary form that is used to document personal experiences of people in their environments. These songs mostly address concerns of the past but end with hopes of shaping the future. How do the artists use language to combat the social barriers of their reality, while also defining the role of a socially conscious individual in the United States? How does the structure and language of the song contribute to its purpose?

Same format: post a response and respond to someone else. 

Dreams and Gender in The Great Gatsby

This is a two part assignment 1) write your own response answering the question above and 2) respond to one of your peers. Your responses should be written in clear, concise paragraphs that are purposeful to understanding the complexities of the texts.

One of the concluding images of The Great Gatsby is Nick’s description of “the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world.”  (180). This imagery reflects the predominance in the novel of fantasies insistently associated with men. This was also presented in the post show discussion of Moby Dick. Be sure to follow conventional rules for grammar and mechanics.

 What is the place for the novel’s female characters—Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan—in such fantasies?  Are the dreams of the women in the novel consistent with those fantasies, or do these dreams encounter any points of resistance? How does this relate to the role of women as presented in the play?