SINDBAD THE SAILOR'S voyage seems to be about issues of class: wealth, poverty, luxury, toil. His voyage also seems to be about God: providence, punishment, the blessings bestowed upon the chosen, the punishment and trials enacted by God. We will explore the duality of experience this week as we read The Seven Voyages of Sindbad. We will also write a Jungian examination of Samir from the film Today's Special.

Monday

Discussion of voyages one and two. We will look for similarities and dissimilarities. We will begin to discuss what Sindbad the Porter's lament is about, and the issues of class and the judgement of God.
HW: Write a personal response journal for both voyage one and voyage two. Each entry should be 1 to 1.5 pages in length, handwritten. You should explain a connection between your life/experience/views and a specific moment/detail in the reading. Due tomorrow.

Tuesday

Looking at the eight beatitudes of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Discussion of journal entries. We will then move on to an analysis of voyage three. For what is the Mountain of the Apes a metaphor? We will compare the black creature to Polypheomos, the great cyclops in Homer's Odyssey. In class journal writing of the third part.
HW: Read journey four of Sindbad the Sailor and write your journal response.

Wednesday

Shortened day (thank you state legislators for your obesiance to PARCC testing and NCLB). We will discuss journey four, the gluttonous Magians, the making of saddles, and the caves of the dead. (If time permits, we may watch a scene from Desperaux).
HW: Read journey five of Sindbad the Sailor and write a journal response.

Thursday

The folly of man, a return to paradise lost, the drunken old man, and Sindbad the Beast of Burden. For what is the gathering of pebbles a metaphor?
HW: Read journey six of Sindbad the Sailor and write a journal response.

Friday

Today we will discuss journey number six, perhaps the journey of greatest wealth, and most obvious symbolism of rebirth via an underground stream.
HW: Complete the Sindbad the Sailor stories, reading up through and including page 61. We will have an in-class essay on Monday. Next week we will read "The Story of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."