In order to post on our course blog, you will need to log into (or create a new) google or blogger account. If you have a gmail, blogger, or other google account, you can use your login. If you do not, or want to create one just for this class, follow the instructions given by blogger. Click on the "comment" button below to leave your blog post. Be sure to post a TEST blog post here before your first for-credit post is due. I handed around the sign up sheets for blog posts at the end of class today. You can access the filled in sign up sheet HERE and on the left hand side of the blog under "Course Documents."
What to Write About
Please see the Blog Assignment for details about this assignment. You may write about anything you want that relates to the primary text we are reading for the week, so long as you engage critically with the work and pose a discussion question. A great starting point would be to choose something from the "Blog Post Possibilities" section of the Reading Guide OR from the "Reading Strategies Handout" to explore (such as a theme, conflict, character, material considerations/context, narration, story, setting, or tone). DO NOT try to talk about all of these ideas or topics; choose one or two at the most. You can feel free to discuss other things beyond these literary elements, including pedagogical uses of and critical debates about the book you are writing about. You should use direct quotes to cite passages in the text as evidence of what you are arguing/discussing/noticing. Feel free to point us the additional critical or interesting online sources. See my sample post in the comments, and see the sample post with my notes on what to include linked in this post and on the left hand side of the blog under "Blog Assignment."Instructions for Posting
In order to receive full credit, your discussion leader blog post should be at least 500 words of original prose (do not duplicate anything other bloggers have already said here) in which you engage with the text for the week critically AND pose an original discussion question. Your response posts should be at least 250 words of original prose that responds to a discussion leader's question or comment. When using book titles in your post you should set the title off with the underscore key (hold shift and strike the key between the 0 and the = keys): _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ (as the comment box does not recognize italics). Pay attention to correct MLA guidelines when citing dialogue in your post. Be sure to write your full name and word count at the bottom of your post.
Before you post your first for-credit post, please post a test post in the comment section below. This will show me that you know how to use the blog properly, and if you do run into an issue, you will still have time to come see me in office hours or after class to walk you through the process. Your test post should simply include the words "test" and your name. (See my second post.) The cut-off time for this blog post is Friday, January 15 at midnight.
Discussion Leaders: Prof. Howard
Sample Discussion Leader Post:
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I found most interesting in Neil Gaiman’s _Coraline_ was the constant focus on naming and identity throughout the text. Like most texts written for preadolescents, _Coraline_ explores the formation of identity and the inner struggles encountered by young characters as they try to assert their personhood. From the opening pages of the text it is made clear that Coraline’s identity is not yet solidified, and her identity and name are something that she finds quite important. Coraline’s first interaction with other characters in the text brings this to the forefront: “‘You see, Caroline,’ Miss Spink said, getting Coraline’s name wrong, ‘both myself and Miss Forcible were famous actresses, in our time.’… ‘It’s Coraline. Not Caroline. Coraline,’ said Coraline” (4). In this passage, the elderly woman, Miss Spink, is interested in explaining her former identity to Coraline, but Coraline is more interested in the woman getting her name right. Coraline continues to be frustrated by the adults in her life who don’t seem to be listening to her or acknowledging her presence. Not until Coraline meets the cat that can talk after going through the portal is her idea of naming and identity challenged:
“Please. What’s your name?” Coraline asked the cat. “Look, I’m Coraline. Okay?”
The cat yawned slowly, carefully, revealing a mouth and tongue of astounding pinkness. “Cats don’t have names,” it said.
“No?” said Coraline.
“No,” said the cat. “Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names” (43).
In this passage, the cat (who is arguably representative of Coraline’s mirror of her inner self, as well as her companion, protector, and guide in the strange other world) asserts his ideas about the formation of human identity. This assertion confirms some of Coraline’s fears: not being an individual, not being recognized as someone special, and not knowing herself who she really is. These fears are addressed when Coraline wakes up in her other room after becoming trapped in the other world with the other mother: “Coraline was woken by the midmorning sun, full on her face. For a moment she felt utterly dislocated. She did not know where she was; she was not entirely sure who she was…. Sometimes Coraline would forget who she was while she was daydreaming… and all in a fraction of a second have to remember who she was, and what her name was, and that she was even there at all” (81). Not only does this passage highlight Coraline’s struggles to pin down her identity, it also demonstrates the ever-present dichotomy in _Coraline_ between dreaming/daydreaming vs. waking and reality vs. illusion.
David Rudd is a scholar who looks closely at questions of identity in _Coraline_ his article entitled “An Eye for an I: Neil Giaman’s _Coraline_ and Questions of Identity” (in _Children’s Literature in Education_ 39 [2008]: 159 – 168). He notes that _Coraline_ is centrally concerned with negotiating one’s identity and place in the world without be ignored or stifled by others, especially those in authority. Rudd also argues that the other mother wishes to destroy Coraline’s sense of self, to take away her “I” and her eyes and replace them with her desires and button eyes.
Questions for Discussion: How is identity approached in this text? What other passages reveal something about identity or naming? How is or isn’t identity settled at the end of the text?
I also found links to two other sites which may be of interest to other students: Neil Gaiman’s Author Website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/ and Neil Gaiman’s Website for Young Readers: http://www.mousecircus.com/coralinefilm.aspx. It might be interesting to compare the sites in terms of their different audiences.
Sample Discussion Leader Blog Post
Krystal Howard
Word Count: 616
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