Streetcar Scene One and Two

On Monday 26 March, bring to class:

five quotes per scene

that clearly express one of the following themes and/or motifs:

 - The decline of the American South
- Women’s dependence on men
- (homo)sexuality
- Mental instability
- Southern Gothic imagery
- Fantasy vs. reality
- Light and dark

NB: you don't have to find a quote to match every theme!

The requirements for Portfolio 2

Deadline: Friday 9 March

Contents:
1) your logbook/notes about Heart of Darkness
2) your types of text notes (a link to the wikipage will count as such)
3) your practice comparative commentaries
4) your written assignment about Afro-American English
5) your written assignment about Sherlock Holmes

Both digital and paper copies are excepted - in case of the latter: keep it neat.

NB: keep your notes on Macbeth, of course, but no need to include anything from Portfolio 1 into this one.

To Sherlock Holmes she is always The Woman

Read the Sherlock Holmes-story "A Scandal in Bohemia".

Watch the "Sherlock" episode "A Scandal in Belgravia" (BBC 2012) Part 1  Part 2
 
Decide for yourself how the 'relationship' between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler is different in both stories (apart from the obvious difference in time period!) in both stories.

Then read this commentary article from the Guardian. Do you agree with the author's viewpoint or not?

Write a response to the article (type of text: opinion column or letter to the editor) in which you refer to both the story and the tv-film and in which you explain your opinion of Sherlock Holmes's use of the words "The Woman."

This assignment will be part of your portfolio but will first be discussed in class on Friday 2 March. 

Black, white, light and dark in Heart of Darkness

The results of the excellent brainstorm about the first part of the book:

The Sherlock Holmes word spider

Something to keep in mind when starting on the assignment, perhaps.

Written Task assignment Afro-American English

Topic The use of Afro-American English in music and how it may be stereotyping.

Choose one of these types of text: - cd review - opinion column - email of rapstar to his producer

Length: 200 words Add a short explanation of your choice of text and what you wrote about the topic.

This task should end up in your portfolio!

Some help to get into the heart of darkness...

...the book, that is. Sparknotes is a website started by a group of Harvard students in 1999 and it is a trustworthy, valuable source of information (much better than Wikipedia when it comes to literature).

The last thing you should do is literally copy parts of the site into your essays or analyses, but it is a very useful reference guide. Having trouble with all those motifs and metaphors in Heart of Darkness? Perhaps this can help.