Monday, November 4 The Bluest Eye...deeper analysis

We are beginning a new vocabulary program, which involves learning words contextually. You will have two units a week; and every other week there will be a cumulative assessment. Today we will review the process of determining the meaning of the word.

Let's see who reads the blog: before taking your seat in class today, answer the following and write your name underneath. This is worth 25 points. What holiday is celebrated on November 11?

Today you are receiving Week 1, Day 1 in class. I have scanned in the handout below.  THIS IS DUE WEDNESDAY, November 6.  You are responsible for checking the blog, if you are absent. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. If you are absent on the day the assignment is due, please e-mail the responses. THESE COUNT AS A HOMEWORK GRADE.

Note the new words: voracious
                                     indiscriminate
                                     eminent
                                     steeped
                                     replete 

I will return the corrected / graded assignment, so as you may study for the cumulative assessment.

At this point, everyone should have finished Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye. The next couple days we are exploring sections of the novel in depth. Let's start out by reading about the controversy around this book.

The Department of Education's controversial set of education standards being mandated by the state, also known as Common Core, is taking harsh criticism for its 11th grade suggested reading list. The book that has parents particularly fired up is Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, a popular selection of Oprah's Book Club. The curriculum describes the novel as: An Eleven-Year-Old African-American Girl In Ohio, In The Early 1940s, Prays For Her Eyes To Turn Blue So That She Will Be Beautiful, and in response, one town in Colorado has had parents petition to have the book removed from public schools suggested reading lists. 

Although the book has extremely explicit sex scenes describing incest, rape, and pedophilia, it is a key thought-provoking literary work that students should have the opportunity to properly analyze and digest. Rather than say that the novel is inappropriate, it's more accurate to say that it's not appropriate for the younger generation. That being said, the actual demographic of students reading this book, right around age 16 and 17, are no strangers to the public world of sex. In reality, many of them are beginning to have their own sexual experience right around ages 16-18.

Undoubtedly, these students should have the opportunity to understand the countless poetic books discussing sex in a real-life and visceral way, especially in a historic context for their understanding of bygone perspectives. To deny them intellectual and challenging literature because the traditional community is too uncomfortable with taboo subjects like pedophilia and incest only deprives that student of understanding the deeper emotional and psychological complexities behind the taboo.

It is however, understandable that parents take issue with the author herself. In her research on the The Bluest Eye, Macey France exposes some shocking discussion by the author.

"Morrison, says that she wanted the reader to feel as though they are a 'co-conspirator' with the rapist. She took pains to make sure she never portrayed the actions as wrong in order to show how everyone has their own problems. She even goes as far as to describe the pedophilia, rape, and incest 'friendly,' 'innocent,' and 'tender.' It's no wonder that this book is in the top 10 list of most contested books in the country."

Nonetheless, this is one of the greatest benefits of these contended works. It is consciously designed to provoke a response, and that only emphasizes that a student is best served by discussing such responses and issues in a safe, academic setting like a classroom, where they can debate and fully appreciate the information Morrison was trying to impart.

Ultimately, this is the goal of education itself. So rather than hide their youth from frightening topics and reacting by sho'shoving them under the rug,' all parties- — students, parents, and the educational system- — be better served by recognizing and appreciating the value of such truthfully harsh works like Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye."

ACCOMPANYING WORKSHEET

The Bluest Eye accompanying worksheet for the article review

DUE AT THE CLOSE OF CLASS TODAY.

If you are absent, just write out the sentences.  You may e-mail them to me directly.

dmpalond@frontiernet.net

For each of the underlined sentences in the article, write a paraphrase, making sure to define the bolded word. 

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