Week Four Assignment

9/24-26/2007

1. Read and Respond:

Tuesday: Read Chapters 19-Conclusion. Summarize each chapter.

Thursday: Write a one page (two or three paragraph) summary of the whole book.

2. Vocabulary:

Learn the definitions and spelling of the following words. Use three of them somewhere in your writing this week (italicize or underline them). Quiz Tuesday, 10/2.

1. Gauche: Lacking grace or social polish; awkward or tactless.

2. Gerrymander: To divide a geographic area into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections. [The word was "invented" in 1812 when the political party of Elbridge Gerry, then governor of Massachusetts, crafted a political district shaped like a salamander.]

3. Hegemony: The predominant influence of a state, region, or group over others: The hegemony of communism in Eastern Europe crumbled in the late 1980s.

4. Hemoglobin: The iron-containing pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

5. Homogeneous: Uniform in structure or composition; of the same or similar kind.

6. Hubris: Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

7. Hypotenuse: The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle (the longest side).

8. Impeach: To make an accusation against; to charge a public official with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit.

9. Incognito: With one’s identity disguised or concealed.

10. Incontrovertible: Impossible to dispute; unquestionable.

3. Write:

Think about the chain of events that brings Silas from despair to hope, and from isolation to community. Write an essay in which you discuss Marner’s transformation. Consider how the light (gold) imagery provides a ribbon that links it all together. Begin by articulating the central issue of his development as you see it: How is he different at the end of the story? Then, in a simple declarative sentence, state the means of his change. The sections of your paper should each consider and discuss one influence and how it worked on him. Link them together with the symbols of light and gold (750 words; due Thursday, October 11).

In the text of your paper include the following elements: two colons; two appositives; two nominative absolutes.

4. Finger Exercise:

Write five sentences about characters in the book: in the sentences, use three colons and two dashes.

5. The Final Word: For our next book, we will read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Please bring a copy to class next week!