Great Expectations, Chapters 18-19

1. What evidence do we have that Miss Havisham is Pip’s benefactor? Do we have any evidence that she is not likely to be?
2. Do you feel optimistic about Pip’s future prospects here at the end of this “first stage of his expectations”? Why and/or why not?

Textual details on criminality and guilt

In-Class Writing

1. Compare Estella to Biddy. How are they different, in their outlook, habits, and character? Find a quotation that you think offers particular insight into each of them. Compare Joe and Pip in a similar way. Find a quotation for each of them
2. Why do you think Joe addresses Pip instead of Miss Havisham when he and Pip go for their interview with her in Ch. 13? What effects does this create in this scene?

Jane Eyre, chapters 34-35

Continue working in your groups from last Thursday and Friday. One person in the group should open the googledoc with today's group work questions, then copy and past the whole document into a new googledoc, which they can share with me (emajerus07 at gmail dot com) and the other members of the group. Then, discuss the questions and work together on some answers. Make them detailed, rich with textual evidence, insightful, witty, and (if at all possible) fun to read. As the directions indicate, everyone should take a turn at recording an answer for at least one question. 

Early-stage historical research project topic brainstorming

Today, I’d like you to do some thinking not to choose a topic for your historical research project, but just to get your brain loosened up and open to possible topics. We’ll also be starting Great Expectations by Charles Dickens soon, and that book may also inspire some ideas. For today, we’re just thinking and generating possible ideas.

First, in your notebook:

·      Write down a list of any questions about history, nineteenth-century British culture, or daily life in nineteenth-century England that have occurred to you so far this semester

·      Mentally scan each of the two books we’ve read so far (Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre) with everything you know about history in mind. Take notes as you think through the basic plot/story of each book, and note down anything related to history, culture, or daily life that seems interesting or important to you. Then make a list of rough ideas for researching historical information related to Pride and Prejudice and/or Jane Eyre

Then, get into your groups from yesterday. Share your lists of questions and your list of rough ideas. Once everyone in your group has shared both, spend about eight minutes coming up with three ideas for possible historical project. Share and discuss your ideas with your group (including whether they make more sense as essay ideas or creative project ideas), taking notes on other group members’ ideas as you go.

Jane Eyre chapters 30-33

1.    Characterize St. John Rivers. What is admirable about him? What is off-putting, unsettling, or strange about him? (As you discuss this, think about ways in which St. John and Jane are alike and different.)

2.    Compare St. John to other male characters in this book whom Jane has come into contact with, especially in their relationships to Jane. Does he have anything in common with any of them?

3.    If I were giving an award for Creepiest Dude in a Nineteenth-Century Novel, who would be more likely to win: Rochester or St. John? Make a detailed case with quotations from the book for the candidate you find most deserving.