Cheongna Dalton School
English Language Arts Department
Literature and Composition III Honors, Term 1 Assignment
Important Due Dates and Assessment Dates (In Bold)
 Class #1: Summer Homework Due (2 printed copies)
 Class #3: Vocabulary Quiz #1/Socratic Seminar #1
 Class #6: Vocabulary Quiz #2
 Class #9: Vocabulary Quiz #3/Socratic Seminar #2
 Class #11: Vocabulary Quiz #4
 Class #13: Vocabulary Quiz #5
 Class #15: Socratic Seminar #3 / Vocabulary Unit Quiz
 Class #16: Essay Draft Due
 Class #17: In Class Writing on Your Independent Reading Book
 Class #18: Essay Due (2 copies, 1 with all drafts attached)
Notes: We have two fewer classes than
originally planned, so please note that
the assignment has changed slightly. I
have removed the lesson about leisure
time (old Lesson #9). I have also
combined the lessons about Pride and
Prejudice as a classic and the third
Socratic Seminar. I have also changed
the due date for the Final Essay to Class
#18 (October 18) so you have another
week to work on it 
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English 11: Literature and Composition III
Term 1: Fiction and Society
Teacher name and email: olipsett@daltonschool.kr
Interest Packet
Outcome: Through reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and completing a
number of analytical writing assignments, you will learn how to critically analyze a
novel. You will also learn to assess how a novel comments on the society it describes.
By reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter over the summer break and
completing analytical questions related to it, you will also learn how to compare the
ways in which two novels explore a particular theme.
Term Introduction: Originally published in 1813, Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice is one of the foundational works of literature in English. It tells the story of
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s attempts to find husbands for their five daughters and thereby
offers an incisive analysis of gender and financial issues in Regency England.
Austen’s finely drawn characters also provide an opportunity for readers to explore
characterization.
As we read Pride and Prejudice, we will seek to understand upper-middle class
Regency English society Austen writes about. In addition, we will explore the ways
that Austen develops characters both directly and indirectlyWe will also compare
these techniques with those used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. We
will also seek to understand the novel’s enduring popularity.
This term we will begin our integrated vocabulary program using Advanced Word
Power. We will have vocabulary quizzes weekly. You will also be expected to do daily
independent reading and to complete a thematic in-class essay based on the book you
read at the end of term.
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Topic Overview
 The Scarlet Letter
 Social Norms in Regency England (and Puritan New England)
 Understanding Characterization and Relationships
 Understanding How An Author Presents A Society
 Narrative Techniques
Essential Questions
 How do we compare a single element in multiple novels?
 How can we infer social norms from reading a work of literature?
 How does an author use characterization to comment upon characters and a
society generally?
 How do people deal with the situation when there is a conflict between their
desires and society’s expectations?
 What makes a work of literature “classic” or relevant?
Skills List
All skills are identified according to their number within the Cheongna Dalton School
English Language Arts Standards. Please note that certain skills are not listed as
goals for specific lessons as they are not the primary aim of the lesson. While not
mentioned specifically, respect for others, following directions, punctuality,
preparedness and behaving with integrity are also essential skills.
Reading Literature
Key Ideas and Details
RL.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RL.11-12.2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the course of the text, including how they interact
and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an
objective summary of the text.
RL.11-12.3. Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to
develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set,
how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and
developed).
Craft and Structure
RL.11-12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the
text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple
meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
RL.11-12.5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure
specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the
choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall
structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
RL.11-12.6. Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires
distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant
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(e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.11-12.7. Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and earlytwentieth-century foundational works of literature in English, including how
two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
Reading Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
RI.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RI.11-12.2. Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and
build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective
summary of the text.
RI.11-12.3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain
how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the
course of the text.
Craft and Structure
RI.11-12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how
an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the
course of a text.
RI.11-12.5. Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author
uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure
makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
RI.11-12.6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the
rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute
to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RI.11-12.7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in
different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words
in order to address a question or solve a problem.
RI.11-12.8. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal historical texts,
including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal
reasoning.
Writing
Text Types and Purposes
W.11-12.1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive
topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance
of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or
opposing claims, and create an organization that logically
sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying
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the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the
strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the
audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible
biases.
Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the
major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the
relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and
evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while
attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which
they are writing.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and
supports the argument presented.
W.11-12.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex
ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective
selection, organization, and analysis of content.
Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information
so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to
create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings),
graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to
aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and
relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations,
or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s
knowledge of the topic.
Use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major
sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships
among complex ideas and concepts.
Use precise language, domain-specific vocabulary, and techniques
such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity
of the topic.
Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while
attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which
they are writing.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and
supports the information or explanation presented (e.g.,
articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
W.11-12.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event
sequences.
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or
observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple
point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters;
create a smooth progression of experiences or events.
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Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description,
reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events,
and/or characters.
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on
one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a
particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense,
growth, or resolution).
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to
convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or
characters.
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is
experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the
narrative.
Production and Distribution of Writing
W.11-12.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.11-12.5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is
most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
W.11-12.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and
update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing
feedback, including new arguments or information.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
W.11-12.7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer
a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow
or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the
subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
W.11-12.8. Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and
digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths
and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience;
integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas,
avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a
standard format for citation.
W.11-12.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research.
Range of Writing
W.11-12.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,
reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or
two) for a range of tasks, purposes
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
SL.11-12.1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners
on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
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Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material
under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to
evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to
stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas.
Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and
decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish
individual roles as needed.
Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe
reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of
positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and
conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.
Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments,
claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve
contradictions when possible; and determine what additional
information or research is required to deepen the investigation or
complete the task.
SL.11-12.2. Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse
formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make
informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and
accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
SL.11-12.3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence
and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word
choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL.11-12.4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a
clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of
reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the
organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose,
audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
SL.11-12.5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio,
visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding
of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL.11-12.6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a
command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
Language
Conventions of Standard American English
L.11-12.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard American
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Apply the understanding that usage is a matter of convention, can
change over time, and is sometimes contested.
Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references as
needed.
L.11-12.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard American
English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
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Observe hyphenation conventions.
Spell correctly.
Knowledge of Language
L.11-12.3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions
in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
Vary syntax for effect, consulting references for guidance as needed;
apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts
when reading.
L.11-12.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning
words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing
flexibly from a range of strategies.
Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text;
a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the
meaning of a word or phrase.
Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate
different meanings or parts of speech (e.g., conceive, conception,
conceivable).
Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries,
glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the
pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise
meaning, its part of speech, its etymology, or its standard usage.
Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or
phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a
dictionary).
L.11-12.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in context and
analyze their role in the text.
Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
L.11-12.6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific
words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at
the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in
gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
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Day by Day
Please note that vocabulary goals and standards are not specifically included in these
classes. However, the daily vocabulary program using Advanced Word Power is
intended to help students develop their vocabularies through a program based on
learning vocabulary via context. This satisfies standard L. 11-12.6. Likewise, all
classes except for the Final Exam will involve discussions that satisfy standard SL.1112.1. The term as a whole satisfies standard RL 11-12.7.
Please note that for all classes you must bring the following four (4) items:
 Handout Packet
 Course book
o The Scarlet Letter in Classes 1-3
o Pride and Prejudice in Classes 4-19
o Your independent reading book in Class 20
 Notebook for taking notes and doing in-class writing
 Pen or pencil
Failure to bring any of these items will result in your receiving no more than
three (3) points out of five (5) for citizenship.
1. Summer Reading Review
Goal: Understanding important themes in The Scarlet Letter
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.2, RL.11-12.3
Introduction to class – expectations, assignments, etc.
Review of summer homework
 Question 1: Hawthorne’s narrative choices
 Question 2: Norms of Puritan Society
 Question 3: Scarlet Letter and Hester Prynne’s identity
 Question 4: Who is at fault in the novel?
Close reading and discussion of page 1
Reading and discussion of “The Necessaries of Life” (pages 7-10)
Fill out chart on Transcendentalism based on today’s reading
Discussion of Thoreau’s connection with nature
Connect Thoreau’s view on nature with contemporary news article
Homework: Please write one paragraph explaining how someone else’s
point from today’s discussion changed your view on The Scarlet Letter.
Be sure to identify (1) what your view was (2) the point and (3) how the
point changed your view
2. Review of The Scarlet Letter and Characterization
Due: Paragraph about how someone’s point changed your view.
Goal: Understanding characterization
Standards: RL.11-12.3
Review and discuss homework assignment
Review and discuss characterization (direct and indirect – with examples)
Group work on characterization in The Scarlet Letter (Hester, Dimmesdale,
Chillingworth)
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Introduce concept of Socratic Seminar
Homework: Prepare three questions for the Socratic Seminar (2 copies)
and study for Vocabulary Quiz #1
3. Socratic Seminar on The Scarlet Letter
Due: Three questions for the Socratic Seminar (2 copies)
Goal: Demonstrating an understanding of the text by participating in a Socratic
Seminar
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.2
Vocabulary Quiz #1
Socratic Seminar on The Scarlet Letter
Introduce Pride and Prejudice
Homework: Read Chapters 1-5 in Pride and Prejudice (3-19) and article
“So Quickly Was That Way of Life to Vanish” by Tony Tanner
4. Austen’s Use of Setting and Characterization in Pride and Prejudice
Due: Reading Chapters 1-5 in Pride and Prejudice (3-19) and article “So
Quickly Was That Way of Life to Vanish” by Tony Tanner
Goal 1: Understanding how an author establishes the social context of a novel
Goal 2: Understanding how an author employs direct and indirect
characterization.
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.5
Writing exercise: complete the phrase “It is a truth universally acknowledged
that…”
Discussion of “universal truths” in Modern Korea… and Regency England
Review of characterization and complete handout
Chapter 1: Reader’s Theater (students complete characterization handout)
Review Chapters 1-2 (The Bennets at Home)
Review Chapters 3-5 (The Meryton Assembly)
Homework: Read Chapters 6-8 in Pride and Prejudice (19-38) and article
“What Pride and Prejudice Can Teach US About Inequality” by Branko
Milanovic,
5. Romantic Relationships in Regency England
Due: Reading Chapters 6-8 in Pride and Prejudice (19-38) and article “What
Pride and Prejudice Can Teach US About Inequality” by Branko Milanovic,
Goal: Understanding what factors influenced romantic relationships in Regency
England (1811-1820).
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3
Writing: List issues Milanovic raises in his article.
Discuss Milanovic article and issues raised
Discuss themes and techniques Austen uses
Teacher introduces economics in Austen’s era and entailment (Handout)
Close reading of the beginning of Chapter 7 (p. 26)
Discuss the Bennets’ financial situation and that of other characters
Discuss the attitudes to love of Charlotte (p. 20)/Caroline (p. 37)
Discuss: What factors influenced Romantic relationships in Regency England?
Homework: Read Chapters 9-12 in Pride and Prejudice (38-55). You will
be assigned a chapter on which you will serve as an expert. For this
chapter:
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
Write one paragraph about social rules that Austen presents in your
assigned chapter; if you’re stuck, look at the list under Class 6
Study for Vocabulary Quiz #2
6. Proper Social Behavior in Pride and Prejudice
Due: Paragraph about social rules in your chapter. Reading Chapters 9-12
(38-55) in Volume 1 of Pride and Prejudice
Goal: Understanding what Austen presents as proper social behavior in Regency
England.
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3
Vocabulary Quiz #2
Experts on each chapter meet
Chapter 9: Portrayal of Elizabeth and Jane
Chapter 10: Fights involving Elizabeth
Chapter 11: Interactions in the Drawing Room
Chapter 12: Relations between Elizabeth, Darcy, and Mrs. Bennet
Combined discussion of Chapters 9-12
In remaining time, begin to read Chapter 13 (and 14)
Introduce Pride and Prejudice
Homework: Read up to the end of Chapter 18 (p. 99). Please write one
paragraph describing your assigned character: Wickham, Collins, or
Darcy
7. Masculinity in Austen’s World: Wickham, Collins, and Darcy
Due: Three questions for the Socratic Seminar (2 copies)
Goal: Understanding how Austen characterizes Wickham, Collins, and Darcy and
thereby comments upon them
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3
Groups meet to discuss their assigned characters
Darcy group presents
Collins group presents
Teacher introduces direct characterization of Collins (Chapter 15)
Wickham group presents
Complete chart comparing characters
Discuss how characters relate to one another
Group sharing: when have you wanted one thing but society expected
something else?
Homework: Read Chapters 19-23 (99-126). Please write one paragraph
discussing a situation in which an individual’s motivations and society’s
expectations clash in Pride and Prejudice.
8. Personal Motivations vs. Society’s Expectations in Pride and Prejudice
Due: Reading Chapters 19-23 of Volume 1. Paragraph on motivations.
Goal: Understanding how individuals’ personal motivations and society’s
expectations clash with one another in Pride and Prejudice
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3
Discuss homework assignment
Review events between Elizabeth, Collins, and Charlotte
Close reading of selections from Chapters 19 and 20
Class debate: Who made the right choice, Elizabeth or Charlotte?
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Opportunity to discuss Volume 1 as a whole
Homework: Read Chapters 1-9 of Volume 2 (129-174)
 Study for Vocabulary Quiz #3/Prepare three questions for Socratic
Seminar
9. Socratic Seminar on Pride and Prejudice
Due: Three questions for the Socratic Seminar (2 copies); Reading up to
Chapter 9 of Volume 2 (page 174) of Pride and Prejudice
Goal: Demonstrating an understanding of the text by participating in a Socratic
Seminar
Standards: RL.11-12.2
Vocabulary Quiz #3
Socratic Seminar on Pride and Prejudice (to Chapter 9 of Volume 2)
Homework: Read Chapters 10-13 in Volume 2 of Pride and Prejudice.
(174-200) Write a short (one paragraph) summary of the events in these
chapters.
10. First Impressions and Character Development
Due: Reading Chapters 10-13 in Volume 2 of Pride and Prejudice (174-200).
Short summary of events in these chapters. Study for Vocabulary Quiz #4.
Goal: Understanding how an author develops characters in a novel
Standards: RL.11-12.3
Discussion:What are first impressions of someone usually based on?
Discuss Elizabeth and Darcy’s first impressions of one another
Review events of Chapters 10-13
Discuss: How may Darcy’s opinion of Elizabeth have changed?
Class closely reads Chapter 14 together
Discussion: How has Elizabeth’s opinion of Darcy changed?
Homework: Study for Vocabulary Quiz #4, (Homework due in class 12):
Finish Volume 2 of Pride and Prejudice and read Chapters 1-3 of Book 3
(Reading up to Page 259).
11. In-Class Essay
Due: None.
Goal: Demonstrating understanding of The Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice or
your independent reading book by writing an in-class essay
Standards:
Vocabulary Quiz #4
Introduce in-class essay
In-class essay (60 minutes: 20 thinking/ 40 writing)
Homework: Reading up to Chapter 3 of Book 3 (to page 259)
12. Domestic Life in Pride and Prejudice
Due: Reading up to Chapter 3 of Volume 3 of Pride and Prejudice (259)
Goal: Understanding how Austen presents domestic life in Pride and Prejudice.
Standards: RL.11-12.3
Writing How do people with whom you live (at home or in the dorm)
relate to
each other?
Discuss writing
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Discuss Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s marriage
List relationships in Pride and Prejudice
Discuss relationships
Closely read p. 224 (First paragraph of Chapter 19)
Closely read p. 219 (Elizabeth’s conversation with Mr. Bennet)
Closely read p. 236-237 (Mr. Reynolds’s impression of Darcy)
Discuss and write: How do characters’ domestic behavior affect our
understanding of them
Go over in-class essays
Homework: Read Chapters 4-7 of Book III (259-292)
13. Letters as a Narrative Strategy
Due: Reading Chapters 4-7 of Book III
Goal: Understanding who and why an author uses letters as a narrative strategy
Standards: RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.5
Vocabulary #5
Writing How do we communicate in the modern world?
Discuss use of written vs. spoken word
Introduce letters and how they differ from email
Explain what to look for in letters:
 Direct information stated
 Opinions
 Indirect information stated
Look at Jane’s letter to Elizabeth (p. 259)
Look at Lydia’s letter to Harriet (p. 277)
Letter writing exercise
Discuss: How effective are letters as a narrative strategy?
Begin reading Chapter 8
Homework: Read up to Chapter 12 of Book III (page 327). Study for
vocabulary Quiz #5.
14. Jane Austen… And Game Theory
Due: Reading up to Chapter 12 of Book 3. Study for Vocabulary Quiz #5.
Goal: Understanding how a novelist presents psychological insights in her work
Standards: RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.5
Writing in response to this statement: “Anyone interested in human behavior
Should read Jane Austen, because her research program has results.”
Discuss writing and explain source of quotation
Explain concepts of “game theory” and “cluelessness”
Discuss example of Elizabeth, Darcy, and Lady de Bourgh in this context
Writing: How can authors provide us with psychological insights
Continue reading Pride and Prejudice in remaining time.
Homework: Finish reading Pride and Prejudice. Prepare 3 questions for
Socratic Seminar (2 copies). Study for Vocabulary Unit Quiz.
15. Socratic Seminar 3
Due: Finish book and prepare 3 questions for Socratic Seminar (2 copies)
Goal: Demonstrating an understanding of the text by participating in a Socratic
Seminar
Standards: RL.11-12.2
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Vocabulary Unit Quiz
Socratic Seminar on Pride and Prejudice
If you have not done so, choose essay topic
Homework: Essay Draft.
16. Essay Day 1
Due: Essay Draft
Goal: Understanding how to write critically about literature.
Standards: W.11-12.1, W.11-12.5, W.11-12.10
Writing: What are the most important parts of a good essay
Work on revising essay with partner
Review rubric for in-class essay
Discuss strategies for in-class essay
Practice theses/conclusions
Homework: Prepare for In-Class Writing
17. In-Class Writing on Your Independent Reading Book
Goal: Demonstrating an understanding of an independent reading book by
writing an analytic essay on it in a time-limited situation
Standards: W.11-12.10
15 minutes reading/thinking time
60 minutes writing time
Homework: Essay due (2 copies, 1 clean with coversheet attached and 1
with prior drafts attached)
18. Essay Due
Due: Essay (2 copies, 1 clean with coversheet attached and 1 with prior drafts
attached)
Goal: Understanding how to prepare for writing in a time-limited situation
Standards: W.11-12.1
Return and discuss in-class writing
Opportunity to share final thoughts about the term
Complete evaluation of the term/unit
Homework: Enjoy your weekend! 
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Literature and Composition III (Honors) Information Sheet
Welcome to Honors English! I’m delighted that we’re beginning this journey
together. A number of you have asked me questions about the class, which is
great, so I’d like to take this opportunity to answer them here.
This class is NOT a competition. There is no limit on the number of “A”s
members of our class can earn. I would like everyone to earn a good grade and I
would like to be able to write recommendations to help each of you get into the
college of your choice. So let me repeat, everyone can earn an “A.”
Here’s how you do that:
Final Project (30%): This will vary slightly each term. In the 1st and 2nd terms
it will be an essay. In the 3rd term you’ll get to choose between several different
creative assignments. In the 4th term you’ll participate in the trial of a character
and write about it. In the 5th term you’ll make a presentation about a short story
with a partner.
In-Class Essay on Independent Reading (20%): At the end of each term, we’ll
have one class in which you write an essay about your independent reading book
for that term. The questions will be taken from old AP exams, but I’ll be making
them easier in two ways. First, you can bring the book itself. Second, you will
have more time to write it than students taking the AP exams do. We’ll also do a
practice essay in Term 1 (that won’t count in your final grade) to help you out.
Vocabulary Quizzes (20%): These are exactly the same as in 10th grade, just in
a different book (Advanced Vocabulary Skills). You’ll do all the preparation work
on your own. We’ll just do the quizzes in class. As in 10th grade, the Unit Quiz
will count double and will consist of sentence completion.
Homework (20%): Most nights you will have a relatively short (1-2 paragraph)
writing assignment in addition to any reading assignment. The format will vary,
but it will usually have to do with what we did in class or what you’ve read that
evening. I’ll grade it in the same way as in 10th grade. That means that to earn
5/5 you’ll need to go beyond just literally answering the question posed. It also
means that your grammar and spelling don’t have to be 100% perfect.
Citizenship (10%): You can earn full citizenship credit each day by doing three
things.
(1)
Showing up on time and starting the daily writing prompt by
the time the bell rings. (Printing is not an excuse for tardiness.)
(2)
Bringing all your materials every day and staying focused.
(3)
Making sure you make a meaningful contribution to the class
discussion. For a contribution to be meaningful, it should be an
analytical point (that is having an opinion based on evidence,
rather than just stating a fact or an opinion).
You can only earn citizenship credit if you speak in class. If you contribute
to class discussion in any way you’ll earn 4/5 and if you make a meaningful
contribution (or multiple factual ones) you’ll earn 5/5.
16
Okay, I’m glad to get that grade talk out of the way! Now let’s talk about
how our class will run. That’s right, “our class” or “Honors English” (not
“my class” or “Mr. Lipsett’s class!”)
Our class is discussion based. Basically we’ll read or write things and talk
about them. I won’t do a lot of direct instruction – instead I’ll usually be
providing information interspersed with the class discussion/activities.
Since our class is discussion based, it’s more important for you to
participate than to take notes. Therefore, each class one person (the scribe)
will be responsible for taking notes for the class (and will receive an automatic
5/5 for citizenship). You’ll have this opportunity about once per term. I will
serve as the scribe during Socratic Seminars (we’ll have 2 or 3 of these per term).
Our class will generally have three parts:
 Five minutes of silent writing about a prompt on the board (and in the
Handout Packet) which we’ll then discuss or the Vocabulary Quiz
 A brief amount of direct instruction (usually 10 minutes at most)
 The day’s discussion either in small groups, as a class, or both
o Note: Unless it’s an emergency, you can only use the bathroom
during this part of class. One person can go at a time.
What We’ll Be Studying
1. Fiction and Society: We’ll read and discuss The Scarlet Letter (over the
summer and during Week 1 of Term respectively) and Pride and
Prejudice (the rest of Term 1). We’ll try to answer three questions:
(1) How does an author use a novel to comment on her/his society? (2)
How does an author use characters to drive plot? (3) What lessons do
works of classic literature have for us today?
2. Essays: Don’t worry, these are much easier than the essays you read in
10th grade (let alone Walden!). We’ll alternate between weeks in which
we study a type of essay (personal, expository, argumentative) and weeks
where we write an essay of that type. At the end of term you’ll further
polish one of the essays and put together a portfolio (like in 10th grade).
3. The Clash of Cultures: We’ll read and discuss a number of works of
fiction and how they present the interaction between different cultures.
Over the winter break you’ll read The Inheritance of Loss, which we’ll
discuss on your return. We’ll then read Heart of Darkness, Joseph
Conrad’s classic (or racist? or both?) novel about the European
colonization of Africa as well as some essays about it. Finally, we’ll look at
the clash of cultures during the Vietnam War by watching the film
“Apocalypse Now” and reading stories from The Things They Carried.
4. Literature and Dreams: This term we’ll study a number of works of
literature that discuss the rise (and fall) of dreams as a result of economic
challenges. Our main text will be the play “Death of a Salesman.”
5. The American Short Story: We’ll spend the first part of this term
learning about American short stories and you’ll spend the second part of
the term taking turns presenting one each with a partner.
17
Literature and Composition III (Honors) Policies
General
1. Please treat all members of our class and whatever material we
are studying with respect. That is our one and only rule.
2. Our class begins and ends with the bell.
3. If you are late because you were at the nurse, please enter
silently, hand me your note and follow what the rest of the
class is doing.
4. You may use the bathroom under the following two conditions:
a. No one else is already there
b. It is during discussion time and not in the last 5 minutes
of class.
5. You are welcome to eat and/or drink in class provided that
doing so is not messy or disruptive. You may not leave class to
get food/water. Please bring them in advance.
6. It is your responsibility to print any work that needs to be
printed (generally, this will just be essays and drafts.)
7. All school rules, especially the language policy, apply in class.
Communication
1. Please check the class website daily for all assignments. This,
not the handout packet, is the most up-to-date information.
2. You may email me anytime at olipsett@daltonschool.kr and I
will answer as soon as I can. However, I can only guarantee a
response the same weekday if you email me before 7:30 pm.
3. I am happy to answer brief questions by email. If you’d like to
discuss something more complex then it’s better to set up an
appointment, which you can do by email.
Feedback and Grading
1. If something about class is bothering you, please let me know
immediately. My goal and job is to help you! 
2. I am happy to answer questions about your essays in advance
of your handing them in, but I will not edit them for you.
3. If you don’t understand why you earned a grade or believe you
should have earned a higher one, please let me know
immediately. Remember, my goal is for you to earn the highest
grade possible, but that I also have to grade according to the
rubric.
4. Remember that I need to hold onto final copies of all essays.
18
Independent Reading List Terms 1 & 2
You must select your independent reading book for each of the first two terms
from this list. You will demonstrate your knowledge of the book by writing your
in-class essay about it. Be sure to tell me what book you are reading at the
start of each term.
 With my approval you can read a different book by one of the
authors on this list instead.
 It’s absolutely fine if you choose a book your read over the summer,
you just have to be ready to write an essay about it in class.
 You cannot choose a book you wrote a book report on in 9th or 10th
grade since that would constitute doing the same assignment twice.
(This is because of a school rule that you can only get credit for an
assignment once.)
 You also must choose a book by a different author each term (one
Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy etc. book is fine, but not
two)
Terms 1 & 2 (Pre-20th Century Fiction: Choose a different one each term)
1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. The American by Henry James
4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
5. Billy Budd by Herman Melville
6. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
7. Candide by Voltaire
8. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. Daisy Miller by Henry James
10. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
11. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
12. Emma by Jane Austen
13. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
14. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
15. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
16. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
17. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
18. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
19. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
20. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
21. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
22. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
23. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
24. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
25. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
19
We will do six (6) essays, five (5) graded and one (1) as practice midway
through the first term. I will be grading it to the same standards used on
the AP Literature Exam, but you will have three (3) big advantages:
 It will be a question for which your book automatically provides a
great example (on the AP there is a general question with a list of
suggested books to choose from)
 You will have almost twice as much time to write (75 minutes vs. 40
minutes, from bell to bell, so please be on time !  )
 You are free to use your book (the AP Exam is completely closed book)
On the AP you can earn scores from 1-9. In our class you can earn scores
from 10-20, according to the following. I am using the exact same rubric as
the AP Exam does. This is how the two sets of scores match up. (I’m sorry
about the small type, it’s so this will all fit on one page!)
AP Grade
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Equivalent 20/20 18/20 17/20 16/20 15/20 14/20 12/20 11/20 10/20
“The score reflects the quality of the essay as a whole — its content, style, and mechanics.
Students are rewarded for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay
may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise appropriate score. In no case may a poorly
written essay be scored higher than a 3.”
9–8 These essays offer a well-focused and persuasive analysis and use apt and specific
textual support. Although they may not be error-free, these essays make a strong case for
their interpretation and discuss the literary work with significant insight and
understanding. Essays scored a 9 reveal more sophisticated analysis and more effective control
of language than do essays scored an 8. (Note: I will also score some essays as 8.5 which will
convert to a 19/20, this however is not a possibility on the AP Exam)
7–6 These essays offer a reasonable analysis. Although these responses have insight and
understanding, their analysis is less thorough, less perceptive, or less specific in
supporting detail than that of the 9–8 essays. Essays scored a 7 present better developed
analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition than do essays
scored a 6.
5 These essays respond to the assigned task with a plausible reading, but they tend to be
superficial or thinly developed in analysis. They often rely on plot summary that contains
some analysis, implicit or explicit. Although these essays demonstrate adequate control of
language, they may be marred by surface errors. These essays are not as well conceived,
organized, or developed as 7–6 essays. (Note: I will also score some essays as 6.5 which will
convert to a 13/20, this however is not a possibility on the AP Exam)
4–3 These lower-half essays fail to offer an adequate analysis. The analysis may be partial,
unsupported, or irrelevant. These essays may be characterized by an unfocused or repetitive
presentation of ideas, an absence of textual support, or an accumulation of errors; they may lack
control over the elements of college-level composition. Essays scored a 3 may contain significant
misreading and/or demonstrate inept writing.
2–1 Although these essays make some attempt to respond to the prompt, they compound
the weaknesses of those in the 4–3 range. Often, they are unacceptably brief or incoherent in
presenting their ideas. They may be poorly written on several counts and contain distracting
errors in grammar and mechanics. Remarks may be presented with little clarity, organization, or
supporting evidence. Essays scored a 1 contain little coherent discussion of the text.
20
Citizenship Made Simple (Honors English Only)
Please note that these standards apply only to Honors English. Our class is both
larger and has a slightly different format to other classes. Your daily citizenship
is scored out of 5 on all days except Socratic Seminar. If it is your day to be
scribe, you will automatically receive a 5/5 provided you arrive on time.
Remember, you must speak in class to earn credit. Please also be
respectful of others when they are speaking and do not seek to monopolize
or dominate our class discussion.
5




Show up to class on time and working on writing prompt when bell
rings
Bring all materials to class (book, notebook, pen/pencil, handout
packet)
Focused and respectful to others throughout class period
Make one analytical point (statement of an opinion based on
evidence in the text) OR two constructive contributions to class
discussion
4




Show up to class on time
Bring all materials to class
Focused and respectful to others throughout class period
Make any constructive contributions to class discussion

Maximum points possible (but not guaranteed) if you contributed
but are:
o Tardy (one second late is tardy)
o Did not bring materials to class
o Interrupt the teacher or classmates
o Behave disrespectfully toward other members of the class
More than one of these issues will result in your earning 0, 1, or 2
points
3

0
Do not participate in class discussion OR
 Speak a language other than English in class
 Disrupt class
 Sleep in class
 Use any electronic devices in class (unless you are the scribe or it is a
class where we are working on writing)
21
Please remember that everyone can earn a 5 every
day. In fact, that’s the mark of a great class!
After reading The Scarlet Letter, please answer the following four (4) questions.
Please answer each one in a paragraph of 6-8 sentences. This paragraph must
have a clear topic sentence and directly quote from the text of the novel to
support your point. To cite quotations from the text, simply use page numbers in
parentheses.
Example: “ON A FIELD SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES.” (180)
You must make two (2) printed copies of your work. You must hand one in on
the first day of class and hold on to the other one for our class discussions during
the first two days of term. We will use them as the basis of our class discussion
during the first week of class.
Each question will be graded (on the 1-5 scale below) as the equivalent of
one homework assignment as part of your Term 1 Grade.

5: Assignment follows instructions, is of the required length, and exceeds
the requirement for addressing the question or topic; assignment
may contain a few grammatical or spelling errors but these do not impede
a full understanding of content. Your point is supported by textual
evidence.
o This means that your work does more than just answer the
question posed. It offers additional insight, for example by
connecting your observation to our society.
 4: Assignment follows instructions, is of the required length, and
adequately addresses the question or topic; assignment may contain
some grammatical or spelling errors but these do not impede a full
understanding of content
 3: Assignment follows instructions, is of the required length, but does not
adequately address the question or topic OR assignment contains
grammatical or spelling errors that prevent a full understanding of
content
 2: Assignment follows instructions, but is shorter than the required
length (e.g. writing only three or four sentences)
 1: Assignment does not follow instructions or is significantly shorter than
the required length (e.g. writing only one or two sentences)
Questions
1. Why do you think Hawthorne begins the novel with an introductory
section (“The Custom House”) that indicates his nameless narrator is
writing long after the novel takes place?
2. Please describe a social norm of Puritan Society.
22
3. Please explain the connection between the scarlet letter and Hester
Prynne’s identity throughout the novel. In your answer, please make sure
that you explain why you think she refuses to stop wearing it.
4. Who, if anyone, is most at fault in the novel? Please justify your answer.
Characterization in The Scarlet Letter
This term we will be focusing on:
 How an author uses a novel to comment on his or her society
 How an author uses characters to drive plot
 What lessons works of classic literature have for us today
The unifying element behind all three of these questions is characterization.
Direct characterization: An author states what a character is like
Indirect characterization: An author develops a character through his or her
actions, thoughts, statements (words), appearance or the reaction of other
characters
Please fill out your assigned section of this chart with an appropriate quotation.
You will then work with the other experts on your character and finally on the
class as a whole to fill out the chart completely.
Character
Indirect
Action
Hester
Dimmesdale
Chillingworth
Thoughts
Words
(Statements)
Physical/Emotional
Description
(and what this
reveals)
23
Direct
Socratic Seminar (The 11th Grade Honors Version…)
This year, our Socratic Seminars will be a bit more advanced than what you’re
used to. Specifically, they will involve fewer, but more complex and intense
questions. You will need to bring two (2) copies of your questions to class,
one for you to read from and one for me to review.
Please write one (1) question in each of the following three (3) categories.
Make sure that your questions are open-ended, meaning that they need to
be answered by a combination of evidence and an opinion. Make sure that
when you write your question you include a sample answer.
1. World Connection Question: This question connects our reading to the
real world, preferably to 21st century Korea.
2. Universal Theme Question: This question deals with a theme of the
reading and encourages group discussion about the universality of our
text. This is a great place to also bring up information from other classes.
3. Literary Analysis Question: This question requires your classmates to
analyze how the author composed the literary piece. (For example:
narrator, characterization, point of view, choice of words, etc.)
Grading (Questions): You can earn:
 One (1) point for each of the three (3) questions, provided that it is clear,
coherent, open-ended, and placed in the proper category (3 points total)
 One point for providing clear sample answers to the questions (1 point)
 One point for clearly reading your questions in class (1 point)
Grading (Class): Citizenship for Socratic Seminars Counts Double (10 points)
 You will earn four (4) points for asking your questions
 You will earn two (2) points for each time you answer a question in a
thoughtful and analytical fashion, including responses to follow up
question – you can earn four (4) points total this way
 You will earn up to two (2) points for being respectful of your classmates
by being respectful to your classmates by inviting them to speak, not
interrupting, and making sure to share opportunities to participate
 Put simply, if you ask your questions, participate twice, and treat
your classmates with respect you’ll earn 10/10
Sample Questions About The Great Gatsby
1. Nick’s initial impression of Gatsby is based solely upon rumors Nick
has heard. In what ways are rumors influential in our society and
how do they spread?
2. How do people nowadays deal with romantic rejection?
24
3. Why does Fitzgerald utilize first person limited narration? How in
turn does Nick’s admittedly biased and potentially unreliable view
of Gatsby shape our own?
25
So Quickly Was That Way of Life to Vanish: The World of Jane Austen
by Tony Tanner
Adapted from his Introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Mansfield Park
The time in which Jane Austen wrote her novels was a period of great stability
just about to give way to a time of unimagined changes. At that time most of
England's population (some thirteen million) were involved in rural and
agricultural work: yet within another twenty years, the majority of Englishmen
became urban dwellers involved with industry, and the great railway age had
begun. Throughout the early years of the century the cities were growing at a
great rate; the network of canals was completed, the main roads were being
remade. Regency London, in particular, boomed and became, among other things,
a great center of fashion. On the other hand, England in the first decade of the
nineteenth century was still predominantly a land of country towns and villages,
a land of rural routines which were scarcely touched by the seven campaigns of
the Peninsular War against Napoleon.
But if Austen's age was still predominantly one of rural quiet, it was also the age
of the French Revolution, the War of American Independence, the start of the
Industrial Revolution, and the first generation of the Romantic poets; and Jane
Austen was certainly not unaware of what was going on in the world around her.
She had two brothers in the Royal Navy and a cousin whose husband was
guillotined in the Terror. And although her favorite prose writer was Dr. Samuel
Johnson, she clearly knew the works of writers like Goethe, Wordsworth, Scott,
Byron, Southey, Godwin, and other, very definitely nineteenth-century, authors.
If Jane Austen seems to have lived a life of placid rural seclusion in north
Hampshire, she was at the same time very aware of a whole range of new
energies and impulses, new ideas and powers, which were changing or about to
change England--and indeed the whole western world--with a violence, a
suddenness, and a heedlessness, which would soon make Jane Austen's world
seem as remote as the Elizabethan Age. It is well to remember that in the early
years of the century, when Thomas Arnold saw his first train tearing through the
Rugby countryside, he said: "Feudality is gone forever." So close was it possible
then to feel to the immemorial, static feudal way of life; so quickly was that way
of life to vanish as the modern world labored to be born.
Source:
http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/shared/WebDisplay/0,,82344_1_10,00.ht
ml
26
Characterization in Chapter 1 of Pride and Prejudice
As our actors perform Chapter 1, please write down information about the
indirect characterization of your assigned character (Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, or
Elizabeth Bennet) in the appropriate box. This will be the basis for our
discussion.
Character
Indirect
Action
Mr. Bennet
Mrs. Bennet
Elizabeth
Thoughts
Words
(Statements)
Physical/Emotional
Description
(and what this
reveals)
Direct Characterization: (done as a class)
Mr. Bennet
Mrs. Bennet
27
What Pride and Prejudice Can Teach Us About Inequality
By Branko Milanovic
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a
novel about love. It is less universally acknowledged that it is a novel about
money, too.
The date of the story is not explicitly given in the book, and Jane Austen's world,
being intentionally microcosmic and timeless, does not let in a single ray of
external events that would allow us to put an unambiguous date on it. Perhaps it
was her objective to illustrate how eternal affairs of the heart (and money)
are.The circumstantial evidence, however, points to the stage being set during
the Napoleonic Wars, that is, around 1810- 1815. The main protagonist is the
delightful Elizabeth Bennet, second oldest of five daughters from a rich family
headed by Mr. Bennet (the paterfamilias's first name never appears in the book,
his own wife calling him Mr. Bennet). Elizabeth and her family live the charmed
life of English country gentry, a sort of pleasant idleness punctuated by balls and
parties--and the social gossip to which the balls and parties give rise. Elizabeth is
beautiful, intelligent, and, of course, unmarried. Her family's annual income is
around £3,000, which, divided by seven family members (five sisters and their
parents), gives a per capita income of £430 (excluding, as in the rest of the
examples here, the imputed value of housing, which must have been
considerable). This level of income places the Bennets in the top 1 percent of the
English income distribution at the time, as calculated from Robert Colquhoun's
English social table done for the early years of the nineteenth century.
Elizabeth meets a rich suitor, Mr. Darcy, whose annual income is put (by all
concerned in the book) at £10,000. Both he and his somewhat less rich friend Mr.
Bingley are understandably deemed very desirable bachelors by the socially
conscious (and no-nonsense) mother of Elizabeth Bennet. Mr. Darcy's huge
income places him, at the least, in the top one-tenth of 1 percent of income
distribution. Note the huge gap existing between the top 1 percent and the top
one-tenth of 1 percent, or, to use George W. Bush's modern phraseology,
between "the haves and the have-mores." Although these early-nineteenth
century English haves and have-mores freely intermingle socially (and
apparently intermarry), Mr. Darcy's income is more than three times greater
than Elizabeth's father's; translated in per capita terms (since Mr. Darcy does not
take care of anyone but himself ), the ratio is in excess of twenty to one.
It will not be giving away the plot to point out that Elizabeth does have some
doubts about the suitability of Mr. Darcy, who, in no uncertain terms, expresses
his "adoration"--a period euphemism that would be stated quite differently in a
modern book. But rebuffing him forever has an additional unpleasant
implication. Due to English inheritance laws, if Mr. Bennet dies without a direct
male heir, the house and well-functioning estate revert to his obnoxious cousin,
the Reverend William Collins. In that case, Elizabeth has to live on her own
income, which is basically her share of the £5,000 that her mother brought
("settled") into the marriage. Elizabeth's independent wealth is thus somewhat
28
indelicately estimated by Reverend Collins, who also doubles as her ill-starred
suitor, at £1,000. Mr. Collins assumes that she would make a return of 4 percent
on it, and hence earn £40 per year. This is a rather measly amount,
approximately equal to twice the mean income in England at the time. It is an
income that a family of a surveyor or merchant marine seaman could expect.
This is where the love-wealth trade-off makes its appearance. Consider the
situation from the point of view of Elizabeth's mother, worried about the
happiness of her daughter. On the one hand, Elizabeth can marry Mr. Darcy and
enjoy an annual income of £5,000 (we assume that she contributes nothing in
monetary terms to Mr. Darcy and that Mr. Darcy shares his income evenly with
Elizabeth). On the other, she can fall into what certainly seems to Mrs. Bennet a
world of unremitting poverty, living on less than £50 annually. The income ratio
between these two outcomes is simply staggering: more than one hundred to
one. At that cost, the alternative of not marrying, or perhaps waiting until an
ideal lover appears on the horizon, is out of the question. One would really have
to hate Mr. Darcy to reject the deal he is tacitly offering!
But, we may ask, is it any different today? To reset Pride and Prejudice in today's
United Kingdom, we need simply to look at today's income distribution. After
taxes, people in the top 0.1 percent in 2004 made about £400,000 annually per
capita, and those in the top 1 percent earned on average £81,000, while the
average British per capita income was £11,600. The cost of turning down a Mr.
Darcy-equivalent today would still be significant but much less overwhelming:
The ratio between the incomes of those in the top 0.1 percent of the distribution
and those at twice the mean is about seventeen to one rather than one hundred
to one.
Jane Austen has thus not only illustrated the all too common trade-off between
romance and riches but also allowed us to see that although the trade-off itself
may be timeless, the stakes do vary with time and with the income distribution
of the society in which one lives. In more equal societies, we expect that when
decisions about marriage are made, love tends to trump wealth more often. And
the reverse will then be true in very unequal societies. Will love in very unequal
societies, then, exist only outside marriage?
Excerpted from The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of
Inequality Around the Globe.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/what-i-pride-andprejudice-i-can-teach-us-about-inequality/68629/
29
Please fill out this chart, based upon your reading and our class discussion,
to compare Wickham, Darcy, and Collins.
Attribute
Physical
Appearance
Wickham
Darcy
Collins
Social Position
Financial
Position
Personality
Behavior
Toward
Elizabeth
Other Notes
30
Letters in Pride and Prejudice
Letter 1 (Jane to Elizabeth p. 259):
“Since writing the above, dearest Lizzy, something has occurred of a most
unexpected and serious nature; but I am afraid of alarming you -- be assured that
we are all well. What I have to say relates to poor Lydia. An express came at
twelve last night, just as we were all gone to bed, from Colonel Forster, to inform
us that she was gone off to Scotland with one of his officers; to own the truth,
with Wickham! Imagine our surprise. To Kitty, however, it does not seem so
wholly unexpected. I am very, very sorry. So imprudent a match on both sides!
But I am willing to hope the best, and that his character has been misunderstood.
Thoughtless and indiscreet I can easily believe him, but this step -- and let us
rejoice over it -- marks nothing bad at heart. His choice is disinterested at least,
for he must know my father can give her nothing. Our poor mother is sadly
grieved. My father bears it better. How thankful am I that we never let them
know what has been said against him! we must forget it ourselves. They were off
Saturday night about twelve, as is conjectured, but were not missed till yesterday
morning at eight. The express was sent off directly. My dear Lizzy, they must
have passed within ten miles of us. Colonel Forster gives us reason to expect him
here soon. Lydia left a few lines for his wife, informing her of their intention. I
must conclude, for I cannot be long from my poor mother. I am afraid you will
not be able to make it out, but I hardly know what I have written." (p. 26)
Letter 2 (Lydia to Harriet p. 277):
"MY DEAR HARRIET, -"You will laugh when you know where I am gone, and I cannot help laughing
myself at your surprise to-morrow morning, as soon as I am missed. I am going
to Gretna Green, and if you cannot guess with who, I shall think you a simpleton,
for there is but one man in the world I love, and he is an angel. I should never be
happy without him, so think it no harm to be off. You need not send them word
at Longbourn of my going, if you do not like it, for it will make the surprise the
greater, when I write to them, and sign my name "Lydia Wickham." What a good
joke it will be! I can hardly write for laughing. Pray make my excuses to Pratt for
not keeping my engagement, and dancing with him to-night. Tell him I hope he
will excuse me when he knows all; and tell him I will dance with him at the next
ball we meet, with great pleasure. I shall send for my clothes when I get to
Longbourn; but I wish you would tell Sally to mend a great slit in my worked
muslin gown before they are packed up. Good-bye. Give my love to Colonel
Forster. I hope you will drink to our good journey. –
Your affectionate friend, LYDIA BENNET."
31
“Chapter 1: The Argument” from Jane Austen: Game Theorist by Michael Chwe
NOTHING IS MORE human than being curious about other humans. Why do
people do what they do? The social sciences have answered this question in
increasingly theoretical and specialized ways. One of the most popular and
influential in the past fifty years, at least in economics and political science, has
been game theory. However, in this book I argue that Jane Austen systematically
explored the core ideas of game theory in her six novels, roughly two hundred
years ago.
Austen is not just singularly insightful but relentlessly theoretical. Austen starts
with the basic concepts of choice (a person does what she does because she
chooses to) and preferences (a person chooses according to her preferences).
Strategic thinking, what Austen calls “penetration,” is game theory’s central
concept: when choosing an action, a person thinks about how others will act.
Austen analyzes these foundational concepts in examples too numerous and
systematic to be considered incidental. Austen then considers how strategic
thinking relates to other explanations of human action, such as those involving
emotions, habits, rules, social factors, and ideology. Austen also carefully
distinguishes strategic thinking from other concepts often confused with it, such
as selfishness and economism, and even discusses the disadvantages of strategic
thinking. Finally, Austen explores new applications, arguing, for example, that
strategizing together in a partnership is the surest foundation for intimate
relationships.
Given the breadth and ambition of her discussion, I argue that exploring strategic
thinking, theoretically and not just for practical advantage, is Austen’s explicit
intention. Austen is a theoretician of strategic thinking, in her own words, an
“imaginist.” Austen’s novels do not simply provide “case material” for the game
theorist to analyze, but are themselves an ambitious theoretical project, with
insights not yet superseded by modern social science.
In her ambition, Austen is singular but not alone. For example, African American
folktales celebrate the clever manipulation of others, and I argue that their
strategic legacy informed the tactics of the U.S. civil rights movement. Just as folk
medicine healed people long before academic medicine, “folk game theory”
expertly analyzed strategic situations long before game theory became an
academic specialty. For example, the tale of Flossie and the Fox shows how
pretending to be naive can deter attackers, a theory of deterrence at least as
sophisticated as those in social science today. Folk game theory contains wisdom
that can be explored by social science just as traditional folk remedies are
investigated by modern medicine. Game theory should thus embrace Austen,
African American folktellers, and the world’s many folk game theory traditions
as true scientific predecessors.
The connection between Austen’s novels, among the most widely beloved in the
English language, and game theory, which can be quite mathematical, might
seem unlikely. Austen’s novels are discerning and sensitive, whereas game
theory is often seen as reductive and technical, originating out of a Cold War
military-industrial “think tank.” But since both Austen and game theory build a
32
theory of human behavior based upon strategic thinking, it is not surprising that
they develop the same concepts even as they consider different applications.
Strategic thinking can reach a surprising level of virtuosity, but people actually
do it all the time (for example, I hide the cookies because I know that otherwise
you will eat them all). A theory based on strategic thinking is, of course, not the
only theory of human behavior or always the most relevant, but it is useful and
“universal” enough to have developed independently, in quite different historical
contexts.
Why should we care about Austen’s place in the history of game theory? The
most obvious trend in the language of the social sciences over the past fifty years
is a greater use of mathematics. A large part of this trend is the growth of game
theory and its intellectual predecessor, rational choice theory. This growth is
indeed one of the broadest developments in the social sciences in the past fifty
years, significant enough to have broader social as well as scholarly implications;
for example, some claim that the 2008 global financial crisis was caused in part
by rationality assumptions in economics and finance (for example Stiglitz 2010;
see also MacKenzie 2006).
Recognizing Austen as a game theorist helps us see how game theory has more
diverse and subversive historical roots. Austen and African American folktellers
speak as outsiders: women dependent on men, and slaves struggling for
autonomy. They build a theory of strategic thinking not to better chase a Soviet
submarine but to survive. The powerful can of course use game theory, but game
theory develops distinctively among the subordinate and oppressed, people for
whom making exactly the right strategic move in the right situation can have
enormous consequences: women who might gain husbands, and slaves who
might gain freedom. The dominant have less need for game theory because from
their point of view, everyone else is already doing what they are supposed to.
Game theory is not necessarily a hegemonic Cold War discourse but one of the
original “weapons of the weak” (as in Scott 1985). By recovering a “people’s
history of game theory” (as in Zinn 2003) we enlarge its potential future.
Understanding Austen’s six novels as a systematic research project also allows
us to interpret many details not often examined. For example, why do Austen’s
Jane Fairfax and Mr. John Knightley discuss whether the reliability of postal
service workers is due to interest or habit? When Emma Woodhouse paints a
portrait of Harriet Smith and Mr. Elton adores it, why does Emma think that Mr.
Elton is in love with the painting’s subject, not its creator? Why is Fanny Price
grateful not to have to choose between wearing Edmund Bertram’s chain or
Mary Crawford’s necklace, but then decides to wear both? When they meet for
the first time, why does Mrs. Croft ask Anne Elliot whether she has heard that
Mrs. Croft’s brother has married, without specifying which brother? There is, of
course, an immense literature on Austen, and I cannot claim the primacy of my
own reading. Still, a strategic sensibility can help generate and answer questions
like these.
Recognizing Austen as a game theorist is worthwhile not only for the sake of
intellectual genealogy. Anyone interested in human behavior should read Austen
because her research program has results.
33
Austen makes particular advances in a topic not yet taken up by modern game
theory: the conspicuous absence of strategic thinking, what I call “cluelessness.”
Even though strategic thinking is a basic human skill, often people do not apply it
and even actively resist it. For example, when Emma says that “it is always
incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of
marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks
her” (E, p. 64), she argues that men as a sex are clueless: they do not consider
women as having their own preferences and making their own choices. Clueless
people tend to obsess over status distinctions: in the African American tale
“Malitis,” a slaveowner, heavily invested in the caste difference between him and
his slaves, has difficulty understanding his slaves as strategic actors and is
thereby easily tricked. Cluelessness, the absence of strategic thinking, has
particular characteristics and is not just generic foolishness.
Austen explores several explanations for cluelessness. For example, Austen’s
clueless people focus on numbers, visual detail, decontextu- alized literal
meaning, and social status. These traits are commonly shared by people on the
autistic spectrum; thus Austen suggests an explanation for cluelessness based on
individual personality traits. An- other of Austen’s explanations for cluelessness
is that not having to take another person’s perspective is a mark of social
superiority over that person. Thus a superior remains clueless about an inferior
to sustain the status difference, even though this prevents him from realizing
how the inferior is manipulating him. Austen’s explanations for cluelessness
apply to real-world situations, such as U.S. military actions in Vietnam and Iraq.
In this book, no previous familiarity with game theory is presumed. In the next
chapter, I explain game theory from the ground up; game theory can be applied
to complicated situations, but its basic ideas are not much more than common
sense. I start with the concepts of choice and preferences. I discuss strategic
thinking as a combination of several skills, including placing yourself in the mind
of others, inferring others’ motivations, and devising creative manipulations. To
illustrate game theory’s usefulness, I use a simple game-theoretic model to show
how Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Richard
and Harrison in Richard Wright’s Black Boy, and people revolting against an
oppressive regime all face the same situation. Game theory has been criticized as
capitalist ideology in its purest form— acontextual, technocratic, and a
justification for selfishness. But Austen makes us rethink these criticisms, for
example, in her argument that a woman should be able to choose for herself
regardless of whether others consider her selfish. I conclude the chapter by
looking at previous work trying to bring game theory, as well as related concepts
such as “theory of mind,” together with the study of literature.
Before immersing into Austen, in chapter 3 I discuss the strategic wisdom of
African American folktales, such as the well-known “Tar Baby” tale. The tale of
Flossie and the Fox, in which the little girl Flossie deters Fox’s attack by telling
Fox that she does not know that he is a fox, is an elegant analysis of power and
resistance, which I also represent mathematically in chapter 4. These folktales
teach how inferiors can exploit the cluelessness of status-obsessed superiors, a
strategy that can come in handy. In their 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, campaign,
civil rights strategists counted on the notoriously racist Commissioner of Public
34
Safety “Bull” Connor to react in a newsworthy way, and sure enough, he brought
out attack dogs and fire hoses.
In this book, no previous familiarity with Austen is presumed. I provide a
summary of each novel in chapter 5, arguing that each is a chronicle of how a
heroine learns to think strategically: for example, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine
Morland must learn to make her own independent choices in a sequence of
increasingly important situations, and in Emma, Emma Woodhouse learns that
pride in one’s strategic skills can be just another form of cluelessness. Austen
theorizes how people, growing from childhood into adult independence, learn
strategic thinking.
Next I trace the detailed connections between Austen’s novels and game theory,
taking the six novels together. This is the analytic core of the book, chapters 6 to
12. Austen prizes individual choice and condemns any attempt to deny or
encumber a person’s ability to choose. There is “power” in being able to choose.
Austen consistently delights in how completely different feelings, such as the
pain of a broken heart and the pleasure of a warm fire, can compensate for each
other. This commensurability, that feelings can be reduced into a single “net”
feeling, is the essential assumption behind game theory’s representation of
preferences as numerical “payoffs,” and indeed Austen sometimes jokes that
feelings can be represented numerically. A person’s preferences are best
revealed by her choices, as in economic theory’s “revealed preference”; for
example, Elizabeth Bennet estimates the strength of Mr. Darcy’s love by the
many disadvantages it has to overcome.
Austen’s names for strategic thinking include “penetration” and “fore- sight,” and
the six novels contain more than fifty strategic manipulations specifically called
“schemes.” For Austen, “calculation” is not the least bit technocratic or
mechanistic. Austen makes fun of the strategically sophomoric; characters like
Mrs. Jennings, whose manipulations are hopelessly misconceived, best illustrate
(the absence of) strategic skill. The strategically skilled carefully observe others’
eyes, not just because “penetration” and “foresight” are visual analogies, but
because a per- son’s eyes reveal his preferences.
Austen’s commitment to game-theoretic explanation is delightfully undogmatic.
She generously allows for the importance of alternative explanations, such as
those based on emotion, instinct, and habit, but consistently favors explanations
based on choice, preferences, and strategy. Austen’s heroines make good choices
even when overpowered by emotion. Even blushing, which seems to be a
completely emotional response, is regarded at least partly a matter of choice.
Austen acknowl- edges the influence of instincts and habits, but dislikes them:
instinctive actions turn out badly, and habits, such as Fanny Price’s
submissiveness or Willoughby’s idleness, are usually painful or ruinous. Twice
Austen explicitly compares an explanation based on people’s habits with an
explanation based on their preferences and concludes that preferences are more
important. Austen allows that people often follow rules or principles instead of
choosing consciously, but observes that adopting a rule is itself a matter of
choice.
35
Austen acknowledges the importance of social factors such as envy, duty, pride,
and honor but in general condemns them; Austen’s heroines succeed not because
of social factors but in spite of them. For example, when Fanny Price receives
Henry Crawford’s proposal, her family members invoke social distinction,
conformity, duty, and gratitude to pressure her to accept, but Fanny heroically
makes her own decision based on what she herself wants. Even if social factors
affect you, Austen maintains that they should affect only your behavior and not
your thought processes, which must remain independent. Even under the most
severe social constraints, a person can strategically maneuver; in fact,
constraints make you learn strategic thinking more quickly.
Austen also takes care to distinguish strategic thinking from concepts possibly
confused with it. Strategic thinking is not the same as selfishness: Fanny
Dashwood is both selfish and a strategic blunderer, for example. Strategic
thinking is not the same as moralizing about what one “should” do: Mary Bennet
quotes maxims of proper conduct but is useless strategi- cally. Strategic thinking
is not the same as having economistic values such as frugality and thrift: Mrs.
Norris exemplifies both economizing and strategic stupidity. Strategic thinking is
not the same thing as being good at artificially constructed games such as card
games: Henry Crawford likes to win card games but in real life cannot choose
between Fanny Price and the married Maria Rushworth and fails disastrously.
In terms of results, Austen generates multiple insights not yet ap- proached by
modern game theory. In addition to analyzing cluelessness, she makes advances
in four areas. First, Austen argues that strategic partnership, two people joining
together to strategically manipulate a third person, is the surest foundation for
friendship and marriage. Each of her couples comes together by jointly
manipulating or monitoring a third person, for example a parent about to
embarrass herself. Explaining to your partner your motivations and choices,
strategizing in retrospect, is for Austen the height of intimacy. Second, Austen
considers an individual as being composed of multiple selves, which negotiate
with each other in a great variety of ways, not necessarily in a “chain of
command.” Just as a person anticipates other people’s actions, a person can
anticipate her own actions and biases; a person’s self-management strategy
depends on her goals. Third, Austen considers how preferences change, for
example through gratitude or when an action takes on a new social connotation
(for example, when rejected by a suitor, you are eager to marry another to “take
revenge”). Fourth, Austen argues that constancy, maintaining one’s love for
another, is not passive waiting but is rather an active, strategic process which
requires understanding the other’s mind and motivations.
Austen even comprehensively considers the disadvantages of strategic thinking.
Strategic thinking takes mental effort, gives you a more complicated moral life,
allows you to better create excuses for others’ misdeeds, and enlarges the scope
of regret. People do not confide in you because they think you have already
figured everything out; strategic skill is not charming or a sign of sincerity.
Contemplating the machinations of others can be painful, and sometimes it is
better to plunge ahead and not worry about how people will respond. Finally,
being good at strategic thinking risks solipsism: you see strategicness where
none exists, and pride in your own ability makes you think that others are
36
perfectly knowable.
My claim is that Austen consciously intended to theorize strategic thinking in her
novels; the occupation with strategic thinking is Austen’s and not just mine. I do
not present direct evidence for this claim (such as a letter from Austen laying
bare her objectives) but a preponderance of indirect evidence. The connections
between Austen’s writings and game theory are just too numerous and close.
Almost always when a child appears in her novels, for example, the child is either
a student of strategic thinking (a three-year-old who learns to continue crying
because she gets attention and sweets) or a pawn in someone else’s strategic
action (Emma carries her eight-month-old niece in her arms to charm away any
residual ill-feeling after an argument with Mr. Knightley). After Henry Crawford’s
proposal to Fanny Price, Austen includes no fewer than seven examples of
“reference dependence,” in which the desirability of an outcome depends on the
status quo to which it is compared. It is difficult to explain this repetition as a
coincidence or unconscious tendency, and the remaining conclusion is that
Austen explicitly intended to explore the phenomenon.
Perhaps Austen’s most extensive contribution to game theory is her analysis of
cluelessness. Austen gives five explanations for cluelessness, the conspicuous
absence of strategic thinking. First, Austen suggests that cluelessness can result
from a lack of natural ability: her clueless people have several personality traits
(a fixation with numeracy, visual detail, literality, and social status) often
associated with autistic spectrum disorders. Second, if you don’t know much
about another person, it is difficult to put yourself into his mind; thus
cluelessness can result from social distance, for example between man and
woman, married and unmarried, or young and old. Third, cluelessness can result
from excessive self-reference, for example thinking that if you do not like
something, no one else does either. Fourth, cluelessness can result from status
differences: superiors are not supposed to enter into the minds of inferiors, and
this is in fact a mark or privilege of higher status. Fifth, sometimes presuming to
know another’s mind actually works: if you can make another person desire you,
for example, then his prior motivations truly don’t matter. Finally, I apply these
explanations to the decisive blunders of superiors in Austen’s novels.
I then consider cluelessness in real-world examples and discuss five more
explanations, which build upon Austen’s. First, cluelessness can simply result
from mental laziness. Second, entering another’s mind can involve imagining
oneself in that person’s body, walking in his shoes, and seeing through his eyes;
because of racial or status differences, a person who regards himself superior
finds this physical embodiment repulsive.
Third, because social status simplifies and literalizes complicated social
situations, people who are not good at strategic thinking invest more in status
and prefer social environments, such as hierarchies, which define interactions in
terms of status. Fourth, in certain situations cluelessness can improve your
bargaining position; by not thinking about what another person will do, you can
commit yourself to not reacting. Fifth, even though strategic thinking is not the
same thing as empathy (understanding another’s goals is not the same thing as
37
sympathizing with them), one might lead to the other; a slaveowner for example
might be easily tricked by his slaves, but if he took their point of view well
enough to think about them strategically, he might not believe in slavery
anymore. Finally, I apply these explanations to the disastrous U.S. attack on
Fallujah in April 2004.
Why do people do what they do? This question is too interesting to be confined
to either novels or mathematical models, the humanities or the social sciences,
the past or the present. I hope this book shows that it is not at all surprising that
Austen, a person intensely interested in human behavior, would help create
game theory.
38
The Scarlet Letter/Pride and Prejudice Essay Topics
Your essay is due in Class 17 (2 copies – 1 clean with coversheet, 1 with all prior
drafts stapled to it) . You must choose your topic from the five listed below by
the end of Class 15. (You may suggest your own topic up until the end of Class
13 and may write about it with my approval.) I strongly recommend that you do
so earlier, so that you can easily turn in a full draft in Class 16.
Please note that I expect you to do most work outside of class and well in
advance of these deadlines. Your topic is due by the end of Class 15. Your
first draft is due in Class 16. The final draft is due in Class 17.
Your essay must meet the following technical requirements:
 At least five paragraphs (maximum seven) and 1,000-1,500 words
 Double-spaced Times/Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
1. The English novelist Margaret Drabble has observed that Pride and
Prejudice, “has… been highly praised for its accurate portrayal of social
customs, but it is here that we come to one of its more controversial
aspects. Some readers really deeply dislike the society in which Austen’s
works are so firmly grounded: much ado about nothing is indeed the
accusation, and what about the French Revolution and the Napoleonic
wars?” Please discuss whether you agree or disagree with this criticism
of Pride and Prejudice. Please be sure to mention whether you believe the
novel’s accurate portrayal of social customs is a mitigating factor.
2. Austen initially entitled this novel First Impressions. Much of its power
and tension revolves around characters’ changing impressions of one
another. Please consider situations where this occurs and formulate an
essay that answers the following two questions: (1) are these first
impressions justified and (2) are they believable.
3. In addition to being a novel about courtship, Pride and Prejudice is also a
novel about marriage. Please consider what the marriages Austen
discusses in the novel (most notably the Bennets, the Lucases, and the
Collinses) reveal about her own attitude toward marriage.
4. The critic Tony Tanner has observed that Austen deliberately excluded
descriptions of actual places or events from her novel. He adds that,
“[t]his perhaps contributes to the element of timelessness in the novel,
even though it unmistakably reflects a certain kind of society at a certain
historical moment.” Please comment on what themes and concerns of
Pride and Prejudice you regard as universal and which you believe are
unique to Regency England.
5. Both The Scarlet Letter and Pride and Prejudice use the novel form to
comment on social norms within the societies they discuss. Please
identify one or more norms of social behavior that both authors present
and compare how they do so.
39
Pride and Prejudice/ The Scarlet Letter Essay Rubric
Category
Exceeds Standard-5
Meets Standard4
Nearly Meets
Standard-3
Does Not
Meet
Standard-2
Incomplete
and/or
unfocused
No
Evidence-1
Thesis
Statement
Clearly and concisely
states the paper’s
purpose in a single
sentence, which is
engaging, and
thought provoking.
Clearly states the
paper’s purpose
in a single
sentence
States the paper’s
purpose in a single
sentence, but needs
clarification.
Introduction
The introduction is
engaging, states the
main topic and
previews the
structure of the
paper.
The introduction
states the main
topic and
previews the
structure of the
paper.
The introduction
states the main
topic but does not
adequately
preview the
structure of the
paper.
There is no
clear
introduction
or main topic
and the
structure of
the paper is
not
previewed.
Many topic
sentences
are too
vague or
narrow;
development
relies heavily
on plot
summary.
Absent, no
introduction
Body
Each paragraph has
a topic sentence that
clearly states the
main idea and
thoughtful
supporting
sentences that
develop the main
idea.
Each paragraph
has a topic
sentence and
sufficient
supporting
sentences that
develop the main
idea.
Some topic
sentences are too
vague or narrow;
development relies
on plot summary.
Integration of
Quotations &
Citations
At least 1 quote is
included in each
body paragraph. All
quotes are
integrated into the
paragraph and are
followed by analysis.
Citations are correct.
Organization:
Structural
Development
of the Idea
Writer demonstrates
logical and subtle
sequencing of ideas
through welldeveloped
paragraphs;
transitions are used
to enhance
organization.
At least 1 quote
is included in
each of the 3
body paragraphs.
Quotes are not
seamlessly
woven into
paragraph.
Analysis is
incomplete.
Citations may
have errors.
Paragraph
development
present but not
perfected.
Transitions &
flow could be
improved for a
more logical
sequence.
Only 2 of 3 body
paragraphs contain
quotes. Quotes do
not read smoothly,
and are followed
by plot summary
instead of analysis.
Citations are
incorrectly
formatted.
Only 1 body
paragraph
contains a
quote.
Quotes may
be
inappropriat
ely placed in
introduction
or
conclusion.
Absent, no
quotations
used.
Logical
organization but
ideas not fully
developed.
Transitions & flow
are choppy,
detracting from
logical sequence.
No evidence
of structure
or
organization.
Sequence is
therefore
illogical
and/or
unclear.
Not
applicable
Conclusion
The conclusion is
engaging, restates
the thesis, and offers
final insights or
commentary.
The conclusion
restates the
thesis, but could
be strengthened.
The conclusion
does not
adequately restate
the thesis, and/or
needs
development.
The
conclusion is
incomplete
and/or
unfocused.
Absent, no
conclusion
Score
Absent, no
thesis
statement
Not
applicable
Comments
40
As you can see from the essay rubric, a key element of your body paragraphs is
making sure they not only include a quotation, but that they are integrated into
the paragraph. Here is how you do that….
The OCQE System
Quotation Integration
Below is a step-by-step guide to the incorporation of quotations. Follow these
steps and you will successfully integrate your textual evidence into your writing.
STEP ONE
Orient the reader
Write a couple of sentences that situate the quote in the context of the narrative.
EXAMPLE: As Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale join hands on the scaffold, a celestial
light breaks through the midnight sky and shines through the dense clouds.
STEP TWO
Characterize the quote
How would you describe the tone of this quote? What is the author trying to
convey?
EXAMPLE: In a disconnected moment of critique, the narrator interjects and offers
a subjective reading of the symbolic event.
STEP THREE
Quote the quote
Quote the quote. Use correct punctuation. Let the quote flow with the sentence.
EXAMPLE: He explains to the reader that oftentimes the interpretation of a symbol,
“rested on the faith of some lonely eyewitness, who beheld the wonder through the
colored, magnifying, and distorting medium of his imagination, and shaped it more
distinctly in his afterthought” (Hawthorne 136).
STEP FOUR
Explain the quote
Tell the reader why this quote is important. DO NOT simply restate the
quote. How would this quotation support your thesis?
EXAMPLE: The narrator argues that the act of interpretation is a subjective
endeavor. Symbols are only analyzed through the subjective “medium” of our
“imagination.” This analytical prism therefore “distorts” and “magnifies” the
innocuous occurrence, causing the interpreter to envision a world that responds to
the needs of the individual. Dimmesdale believes that the natural phenomenon
signals a sign from heaven. Hawthorne, however, offers a contrasting view. Using
the narrator as his mouthpiece, Hawthorne rejects the idea of divine intervention,
and focuses on the subjective process of interpretation. In a novel imbued with
symbolic language, Hawthorne causes the reader to question his or her own
interpretations. He baits us with symbols only to suggest that the process of
analysis is filled with prejudice and bias. The symbol does not carry inherent
meaning. Instead it reflects our current beliefs.
41
STEP FIVE:
The Final Product
As Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale join hands on the scaffold, a celestial light breaks
through the midnight sky and shines through the dense clouds. In a disconnected
moment of critique, the narrator interjects, offering a personal reading of the
symbolic event. He explains to the reader that oftentimes the interpretation of a
symbol “rested on the faith of some lonely eyewitness, who beheld the wonder
through the colored, magnifying, and distorting medium of his imagination, and
shaped it more distinctly in his afterthought” (Hawthorne 136). The narrator
argues that the act of interpretation is a subjective endeavor. Symbols are only
analyzed through the subjective “medium” of our “imagination.” This analytical
prism therefore “distorts” and “magnifies” the innocuous occurrence, causing the
interpreter to envision a world that responds to the needs of the
individual. Dimmesdale believes that the natural phenomenon signals a sign from
heaven. Hawthorne, however, offers a contrasting view. Using the narrator as his
mouthpiece, Hawthorne rejects the idea of divine intervention, and focuses on the
subjective process of interpretation. In a novel imbued with symbolic language,
Hawthorne causes the reader to question his or her own interpretations. He baits
us with symbols only to suggest that the process of analysis is filled with prejudice
and bias. The symbol does not carry inherent meaning. Instead, it reflects our
current beliefs.
Note: If you are writing an essay about only one book, just listing the page
number in parenthesis is sufficient. If you are writing about multiple books,
as may be the case here, you should also list the author’s name, as I’ve done
in this example.
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As you may have noticed, you will not be receiving a specific grade for grammar
and mechanics on your essay. However, multiple mechanical errors will result in
your organization grade being lower than it otherwise would be. I recommend
going over your work for grammar and mechanics last, after you’ve made all
substantive revisions. Please use this checklist to help you.
Checking Writing for Grammar, Spelling, and Other Mechanical Mistakes
Check off each step AFTER it has been completed.
_____ 1. Read your work backwards, one sentence at a time. Check for spelling errors. Use
a dictionary to find the correct spelling of words you are unsure about.
_____ 2. Check to make you capitalized proper nouns, the first word of each sentence, the
pronoun “I,” and nothing else.
_____ 3. Check to make sure you indented each paragraph.
_____ 4. Check to make sure each sentence has end punctuation.
_____ 5. Check the your use of commas. Did you use them for compound sentences, a list
of items, an introductory word or phrase, direct address, setting off
interruptions, separating adjectives, or in dates? Do you need to add commas?
Make sure you do not have commas separating complete sentences.
_____ 6. Check to make sure you used apostrophes only for contractions and to show
ownership.
_____ 7. Check to make sure you used complex punctuation (dashes, hyphens, semicolons, parentheses, etc.) correctly.
_____ 8. Check to make sure you used commonly mixed pairs of words correctly? Check
these: they’re/their/there, your/you’re, it’s/its, a/an, to/too/two,
are/our/hour.
_____ 9. Read your work backwards one sentence at a time, again. Check for sentence
fragments and run-ons and correct them.
_____ 10. Check to make sure you stayed in present tense (such as is, am, do, take, know,
etc.) or past tense (such as was, were, did, took, knew, etc.) consistently. All
discussions of events in the novels you are analyzing should be in
present tense. (Example: “At first, Elizabeth hates Darcy.”) Also make sure
you have used active voice consistently.
_____ 11. Check to make sure you stayed in third person (he, him, she, her, they, them,
their) throughout the entire essay.
_____ 12. Check to make sure that every sentence has a subject and a verb. Then make
sure that all subjects and verbs agree (that is that all verbs are conjugated
correctly).
_____ 13. Check to make sure that all independent clauses either form their own
sentences or are connected with a conjunction (not a comma).
_____ 14. Check to make sure that each pronoun has a clear antecedent and that it
agrees with that antecedent in person, gender, and number.
_____ 15. Check to make sure that each modifier is placed as close as possible to the
noun or pronoun that it modifies. If a modifier begins a sentence, that modifier
must be followed immediately by the word it is supposed to describe.
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Peer Editing Sheet
Paper Author: _____________________________
Reviewer: ________________________________
Please use this handout to give your partner substantive feedback on her or his
paper. Please be as specific and helpful as possible. Your citizenship grade for
today’s class will depend on the quality of your feedback. Please focus on
substantive issues, although you’re free to mark mechanical errors as well. This
handout has two sides.
As A Reminder, This Is What You Are Aiming For
Category
Thesis Statement
Exceeds Standard-5
Clearly and concisely states the paper’s purpose in a single sentence,
which is engaging, and thought provoking.
Introduction
The introduction is engaging, states the main topic and previews the
structure of the paper.
Body
Each paragraph has a topic sentence that clearly states the main idea
and thoughtful supporting sentences that develop the main idea.
Integration of Quotations & Citations
At least 1 quote is included in each body paragraph. All quotes are
integrated into the paragraph and are followed by analysis. Citations
are correct.
Writer demonstrates logical and subtle sequencing of ideas through
well-developed paragraphs; transitions are used to enhance
organization.
Organization: Structural Development of the Idea
Conclusion
The conclusion is engaging, restates the thesis, and offers final insights
or commentary.
Thesis:
Please write down the author’s thesis statement here:
How is it engaging/thought provoking? How (if it all) can it be improved?
Introduction
What (in the author’s words) is the main topic of the paper:
What will the paper’s structure be:
1. Body Paragraph 1:
2. Body Paragraph 2:
3. Body Paragraph 3:
Is the introduction clear? What works well? What can be improved?
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Body Paragraphs/Quotations
Paragraph #
Comments On
Topic Sentence
Comments On
Supporting
Sentences
Comments on
Choice of
Quotation(s)
1
2
3
General comments:
Conclusion
Does it restate the thesis? If so, how?
How is it engaging/thought provoking? How (if it all) can it be improved?
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