How to Do Quotations

How to Do Quotations:

You must use at least three quotations from THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. One of the quotations must be embedded; the other one must be a block quotation.

Example of embedded quotation:

Tim O’Brien believes that the men were not operating from courage but rather from a deep-seated fear of shame. He states,”They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide….” This fear of losing face in front of their soldier-brothers was perhaps the “heaviest burden of all…” for it was a burden that one could never put down and that required “perfect balance and posture.”

How to use quotations within quotations:

O’Brien’s character Rat Kiley “listened for a time, then shook his head.’Man, you must be deaf. She’s already gone.’”
To show a quotation within a quotation, you use a single quotation mark to set off the quotation within the quotation. Then when you are finished with the larger quotation, you use the regular two quotation marks.

David Lee quotes from Shakespeare when he writes in his daily column that “everyone should abide by their own inner law and ‘to thy own self be true.’”

Block quotation:

O’Brien writes:

They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die.
Grief, terror, love, longing – these
were intangibles, but the intangibles
had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.
(page 21)

From this powerful quotation we learn that this is where O’Brien gets the title of his book.

If the quotation is longer than three lines, you must use block quotations.

For block quotations, you must skip a line from the paragraph, indent 12 spaces and use single space. Do not use quotations marks in a block quotation.

To cite the quotation simply put the page number in parentheses. (page 429)

Weekly Agenda for Contemporary Composition

June 7, 2010 – June 11, 2010

Wednesday, June 9th:
EVERYONE MUST DO THIS:
Work on the essay for THE THINGS THEY CARRY by Tim O’Brien. This essay, which must include quotations from the book, will be due on Friday, June 11th. There are six prompts to choose from and are listed on the blog for this class, 11th grade English.

Also due on Friday, June 11th are all your books for this class, including THE THINGS THEY CARRY. The books are Vocabulary Workshop, Level F; the grammar book, WRITERS CHOICE; the text book INTEGRATED STUDIES.



FOR YOUR FINAL (which is Thursday, June 17th):

You will write an essay based on the readings from DEAR AMERICA: LETTERS HOME FROM VIETNAM and from LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram. This will be a compare and contrast essay comparing the war experiences of the American G.I. and the young female Viet Cong doctor. How are they alike? How are they different? Compare their attitudes about what they are fighting for. Is it always clear to the American G.I. what he is fighting for? How are they culturally different?

Or:

You may do a presentation on the two readings we did. This may include:
A power point presentation (minimum of five slides); the power point should include some photos. You should also have note cards.
A short (no more than 20% of your total presentation) video or dvd documentary on the war.
Music from the period.
An aspect of the war not covered in the readings:
“Fragging”
Drug use among the American G.I.’s in Vietnam compared with the VietCong.

The presentation must be typed out neatly and presented to me on the day of the presentation.

Students who are doing power point presentations for their finals:

Pablo
Libby
Ellada (maybe)
Dominique
Jessica
Malaysia
Jesus (maybe)
Cesi
Heady
Maryori (maybe)
Mihran (maybe)
Iggy (maybe)

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT

Welcome to AP Literature and Composition. Completion of the summer assignment given below is required for participation in the course during the 2010 - 2011 school year. The novels are widely available and may be checked out from your local library or purchased on your own. Students will be required to read two of the following novels and prepare two short analysis papers. There are four novels; you must choose two (any two) of the following four novels. In addition, students should be ready to discuss, write about and/or take an objective exam during the first week of school on the two books you have read.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

CATCH-22

BRAVE NEW WORLD

1984

WRITTEN ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT: After reading each novel, complete a short analysis paper. Please note that an analysis must be completed for the two novels you have read. These papers should reflect your own, original thought. The analysis papers are due on the first day of school.

ANALYSIS INSTRUCTION: Choose a two to five page excerpt from the novel that illustrates a key literary element that is essential to an understanding of the text as a whole. This literary element might be the speaker or author's voice, an instance of character development, the novel's symbolism, dialogue, diction, imager or some other literary focus that plays a significant role in developing the novel's theme or message. Photocopy or type the excerpt you have chosen and include it with your analysis.

Write a two-page, typed, double-spaced essay identifying and analyzing the literary element you have chosen, and how it supports the novel's theme. Use short quotations or examples from the excerpt to support your argument.

Essay Topics for The Things They Carried

Essay topics for THE THINGS THEY CARRIED:

1. "The Man I Killed" is the only story that focuses primarily on a Vietnamese character. Why does this shift in focus occur in this particular story? Why are Vietnamese characters largely absent from the rest of the text?

2. Although the work is supposedly about the Vietnam conflict, the final story focuses not on the war but on an episode from O'Brien's childhood. Discuss how this story relates to the stories of the war. What is O'Brien's purpose in ending his collection of stories this way?

3. What do the terms "story-truth" and "happening-truth" mean in the context of the book? How do they differ?

4. Although THE THINGS THEY CARRIED contains a story called "The Man I Killed", it is unclear whether O'Brien actually killed anyone in Viet Nam. What purpose does this ambiguity serve?

5. How does shame fit into O'Brien's portrayal of the war experience?

6. Discuss the structure of the work. Do the stories progress in a linear manner? How does the work's fragmented style contribute to the themes that run through the stories?

7. Compare and contrast Tim O'Brien's and Dang Thuy Tram's attitude towards the war. Dang Thuy Tram was the North Vietnamese doctor who died, along with her patients, in a remote medical camp in a firefight with the Americans. Her journal, which chronicled Dang Thuy Tram's daily struggles of trying to heal the sick and wounded while under constant bombardments, with constant traveling, and inadequate medical supplies, was recovered after the firefight, and after many years of great effort by many people both in the U.S. and Vietnam, was translated and published under the title of Last Night I Dreamed of Peace.