READ THIS: PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATIONS: please take these seriously: they are an important part of your participation in the class. Your job when you present is to lead the discussion on the reading for that day. You may bring in some research, but most of all, you should be very well-prepared with insights, interpretations, and questions about the reading at hand. You may want to begin by summarizing the progress of the plot represented by the excerpt assigned on that day. Then you should have passages picked out for the class to discuss. You may want to be ready, also, with the posts for the day (you can copy and paste them and print them out). The purpose of the presentation is to give more responsibility to the classmembers and de-center the discussion a little bit (although I will still chime in). Here are your assignments, mostly random. 1. Wed. 3/30 Small Things, 84-147, Eidia. 2. 4/4 Small Things, 148-225, Hannah. 3. 4/6 Small Things, ending, Anna. 4. 4/11 Ondaatje, Dan. 5. 4/13 Mukherjee, Michael. 6. 4/18 Poppies, 3-87, Karol. 7. 4/20 Poppies, 88-156, Jason. 8. 4/25 Poppies, 157-226, Joe. 9. 4/27, Poppies, 227-342, Will. 10. 5/2 Poppies, 343-446, Rachel. 11. 5/4 Poppies, finish, Jane.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Dan -1/31/11 - Naipaul.


The first 20 pages or so really serve as an intro into this very detailed world that VSN brings the reader into. He opens with Salim’s first person narration introducing characters he has met as he opens up shop in a country in Africa. The way VSN brings the reader in with these first few pages is swift throwing the reader straight into this uneasy place.
             VSN uses Salim at first as somewhat of an onlooker or a guide into the world of the story. Salim goes into his background and various people and situations he has been in over the years. This is a useful tactic with a story that has a setting as dense as this. What really struck my attention was how some of these slaves (Salim’s family’s) were used more as servants than actual slaves. Sometimes even "preferring" the stability of slavery to freedom.  VSN uses Salim as a window or a vehicle into the world of the story.
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