THIS WEEK YOU WILL FINISH YOUR FIRST DRAFT of your junior theme. A 7-10 page draft is due on Monday, May 2. The paper itself isn't much different from the nature/wilderness paper. What argument about America does your novelist make via the book? What do other writers and artists say about that same theme? Start by writing about your novel. When you have that done, you can consider how your research thematically connects with the sub-topics (or reasons) you develop. Write about your novel by Wednesday. Then, you can add additional source material--a minimum of one poem, one short-story, and one visual art work--as they connect, inserting the material where it topically fits. On the weekend, you can work on cohesion, or how the ideas connect throughout the paper.

MONDAY

Quiz on chapters 13 and 14. Lecture on racist symbols in Mary's apartment, the baptism of the Reverend, the Provos' eviction, and Marcus Garvey.
Take a break from reading to hammer our a first draft of your theme, esp. as it relates to your novel.

TUESDAY

Today we will be listening to chapter 15. As you are reading along, you will want to pay careful attention to dual meaning. For example, the banging on the pipes as a way of "waking up" the people of Harlem, and so on.
HW: Read chapter 16 for tomorrow. Here, the IM speaks out for the third time in the novel, speaking publiclly for equality to an increasingly receptive audience. That the hall has a history of holding boxing events is no accident.

WEDNESDAY

Listening to chapter 17. Brother Hambro is distinctly different from some of the IM's other "teachers." How so? Where does Brother Clifton fit into the world Ellison's crafted for the IM?
HW: Finish reading chapter 17 for homework. Where does Ras fit into that same world? What does he represent?

THURSDAY

Reading chapter 18 together in class. The IM receives ANOTHER letter, deus ex machina. Why does Brother Wrestrum and the others want to remove the IM from the Brotherhood? Once again, the IM is expelled.
HW: Read chapter 19. How is this chapter filled with sexual tension and innuendo?

FRIDAY

Working on your first, final draft. I will also answer any outstanding questions about the essay.
HW: 7-10 page essay due Monday.