ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 1
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Announcements:
1. Essay 1 (“First Confession”) is complete. See me if there are any revision
issues.
2. Exam 2 (A Confederacy of Dunces) will be graded ASAP.
3. See me if you have not written Exam 3 (Figaro).
4. Essay 2 (Nine Stories) is next. A complete draft of it is due next time. The
topic will be posted on the website in Course Materials. Sign up today for
your own topic. We will discuss Essay 2 in class today.
5. SI is today in SG 136.
6. See me for your Midsemester Conference.
7. Other?

“Just Before the War with the Eskimos” (39-55)—Repeated from Last
Time for reference as needed.
a) Write and briefly explain one key insight about these
characters—what is most important to note about them?
i) Selena Graff
ii) Ginnie Mannox
iii) Franklin Graff
iv) Eric
b) Key moments:
i) Ginnie insists on getting money back
ii) G waits at Selena’s apartment
iii) G meets and talks with Franklin
iv) G meets and talks with Eric
(1) What’s your theory about Eric? How can you support your theory?
Discuss the role of stereotypes in your conjecture.
v) What Ginnie decides as a result _________________
vi) The sandwich (and dead Easter chick)
c) Writing Exercise: Show Two Sides of Ginnie—give them labels
and explain each concisely in a paragraph. For a variation on
your paragraph writing, thinking about how an idea can be
developed logically and clearly, organize your paragraph
around two integrated (blended in) quotations that show the
two sides of Ginnie:
i) Ginnie as shown in her conversation with Franklin, her
decision late in the story, her actions (and apparent
motivations) with the sandwich and Easter chick
ii) Ginnie as shown early in the story with Selena & her
responses to Eric
 Start your paragraph immediately with a quotation showing
Ginnie’s true nature, giving a lead-in or closing phrase to help
set the context of the quote. Then make your topic sentence,
followed by your supporting explanations and another example
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 2
or two. After that, conclude with a quotation that is also
blended into your context.
o Example of a following signal phrase: “Eric? That you?” a
male voice from another part of the apartment [shouts]
(Salinger 42). [note the adjustments to verb forms to preserve
sentence structure, and the punctuation—a comma is not added to the
quotation since there is already a question mark. The shouted question
is by itself, so only one level of quotation marks is needed here.]
 Example of a lead-in phrase: While waiting, Ginnie
hears “a male voice [shouting] from another part of the
apartment, ‘Eric? That you?’” (Salinger 42).


“The Laughing Man” (56-73). Identify the following characters and elements of the
story. Name one significant point or feature of each, and cite page numbers:
o The Comanches
o The Chief
o The Laughing Man
o Mary Hudson
o The change when Mary joins the games
o Change when Mary stops playing in the games
o The last installment of the story
o The narrator’s condition at the end
 Writing Exercise: What is the turning point of the story? Explain your
reasoning with specific references to the story and cite page numbers.
Other Aspects of the Story to Consider:
o the connection between the Chief’s situation with Mary Hudson and the
Laughing Man story installments—story-within-story.
o
When things go well with Mary Hudson
o When things become strained and when Mary Hudson leaves
o Effects on the Comanches, especially the ending
 reactions to the last installment
 other boys on bus
 narrator
o symbols: “Laughing Man” story  Comanches
 Black Wing:
 Animals:
 Omba the dwarf:
 The mask
 Other?
“Down at the Dinghy” (74-86).
Oral Quiz—“Raise My Hand!”: Provide answers to fill in the blanks and
page numbers.
1. As the story begins, Sandra and Mrs. Snell’s discussion reveals that the
Tannenbaum family lives most of the year in _______ but that they now
are at ______________ (kind of place it is).
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett

MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 3
2. Lionel Tannenbaum, age ___, has a pattern of behavior since he was 2-1/2
of doing this: _______________________________.
3. The reason for one of these incidents by Lionel, as far as Boo Boo can tell,
is that
___________________________________________________
____________
4. On this day, Lionel is
(where?)______________________________________
5. When Boo Boo bargains with Lionel to tell her why he is doing this, Lionel
says: ___.”
6. When Boo Boo attempts to get into the boat at first, Lionel
________________
7. When Lionel answers a question, his answers tend to be
____________________
8. Lionel suddenly takes a pair of goggles, which had belonged to
____________, and _____________________________.
9. When Boo Boo tosses the package with a key chain inside onto Lionel’s
lap, Lionel _________________________________________.
10. Immediately after doing this, Lionel looks up at Boo Boo and
___________, so Boo Boo then gets into the dinghy.
11. Lionel reveals that Sandra said that __________________ “was a big
kike.”
12. Lionel thinks that kike means ___________________________,
when actually it
13. is a term that signifies
______________________________________________
14. To cheer Lionel up, Boo Boo proposes a plan to
___________________________________________________
__________
15. The story ends in these words: “They didn’t walk back to the house; they
__________. Lionel ________.” (can you recall the exact words?)
Writing Exercise: Choose one of the sentences below, all of which express a
possible theme of the story. Select the one that you think best characterizes
the story and explain it in a paragraph (10 minutes):
 This is a story that shows why a parent should never bargain with a
child, nor go to extreme efforts to appease him: the child controls
the parent.
 This is a story of how cruel people can be, such as Sandra and Mrs.
Snell, perhaps because of resentment over class differences, or
because of racial prejudice, or both. This cruelty brings about the
main problem of the story, Lionel’s hurt feelings and retreat to the
dinghy.
 This is a story of a mother who understands more than most how to
deal with a child, showing love and compassion in the face of
injustice and hurt.
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 4
 This is a story of a dysfunctional family, complete with a pervert for
a mother.
 [Other theme statement]: This is a story of _____.
Timed exercise:
Write a plan for an essay that develops this theme. Write only main points and
brief references to examples (a few words only—no sentences), citing page
numbers (10 minutes). Discuss various people’s plans.
Poems:
 William Wordsworth, “My Heart Leaps Up”
http://www.bartleby.com/106/286.html
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Child is Father to the Man”
http://www.bartleby.com/122/68.html
Discuss and note:
 Meanings
 How the concept of the poems connect with the stories we have
read so far in Nine Stories

“For Esmé—With Love and Squalor” (87-114) Begin with a
definition—squalor: condition of being “nasty, foul, dirty, grubby,” “due
to neglect or poverty” (Merriam-Webster). Notice that the name of a
character in A Series of Unfortunate Events is Esmé Squalor, and her
husband is named Jerome (after Salinger himself). The Squalors adopt Violet,
Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, and are not at all sympathetic characters. See
more info. At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmé_Squalor
 characters in “For Esmé—With Love and Squalor”:
i. narrator
ii. bride mentioned on page 87 (?)
iii. influence of the narrator’s wife (87)
iv. Esmé (choir, tearoom) [find keystrokes for the accented e of
Esmé’s name]
v. choir coach
vi. governess
vii. Charles
viii. Sergeant X
ix. Corporal Z = Clay
x. (Loretta)
 Review Questions for later reference:
i. What is the narrator’s basic personality and attitude about life?
What makes him different from others in the setting he
describes occurring in April of 1944?
ii. Why does the narrator go into the church?
iii. What strikes the narrator about Esmé when he first sees (and
hears) her?
iv. Why does the narrator go to the “civilian tea room” and not “the
Red Cross recreation room”?
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 5
v. How do the narrator and Esmé end up at the same table?
vi. What does the narrator notice about Esmé’s
1. Way of speaking and behaving?
2. Fingernails?
3. Watch?
vii. When Esmé asks the narrator if he’s in the “secret Intelligence”
school, he says that he’s in England for_____. She replies that
___.
viii. Give one example of Esmé’s
1. Maturity or precociousness
2. Lack of self-esteem
ix. What’s the unusual question Charles asks the narrator when
they first meet? What obvious falsehood does he then say?
x. How does Esmé protect Charles from hearing things that would
upset him?
xi. How does Esmé characterize her parents’ marriage? What did
her father say that she was lacking in life?
xii. What riddle does Charles shout? What happens the second time
he says it? How about the third time the riddle is said?
xiii. What career has the narrator pursued, or thought of pursuing?
What request does Esmé make for the narrator to do? What
offer does she make? What is her parting hope for the narrator?
xiv. “Several weeks after V-E Day,” in Bavaria, what clues tell us who
Sergeant X is? What is his problem, as far as we can tell?
Describe the mail that is there. What does he write in a book?
What does that reveal?
xv. When Corporal Z (Clay) comes in, what does he point out?
(more than one thing)
xvi. What is the routine with Clay’s letters from Loretta?
xvii. What does Clay notice about X’s face? What has he written to
Loretta? How might Loretta have some insight into X’s
situation?
xviii. What does the memory of the cat during a shelling incident in
France (Valognes) reveal about Clay? About X? How does X
react to the memory of the incident?
xix. Clay mentions listening to ___ on the radio, and going to a ___
later. X replies to these this way: ___.
xx. As a kind of “therapy,” X decides to try to _____. But ____.
xxi. He later sees a package, which he opens by ____. The package
is from ____, and it contains a note which is dated ____ and
says, ____. It also has a section written by ____. The package
also contains ______, which has been _____.

story-structure, theme, and style questions
i. Structure: What are the 3 identifiable time frames (and at least
2 locations) of the story’s narration?
1. 87
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 6
2. 88-103
3. 103-114
4. Last paragraph?
ii. Style: What are the 2 points of view that are taken? (What’s
unusual about them?)
iii. Theme: What is the importance of each scene?
1. The church
2. The tearoom
3. The house in Gaufurt, Bavaria
iv. Theme/symbols: What is the significance of these things from
the conversation in the tearoom?
1. The narrator’s impression of Esmé
2. Esmé’s nails
3. The wristwatch
4. Esmé’s advanced vocabulary (& malapropisms—98, 100)
5. Esmé and Charles’ father & a sense of humor
6. Charles’ riddle
7. Promises to write letters (E) and a story (narrator)
v. Theme: How does the phrase “with all…faculties intact” tie
together 2 points of view and sections of the story?
vi. Theme: What’s the significance of these things from the scenes
at the house in Bavaria?
1. How Sergeant X “sets things right” when he doesn’t feel
well
2. Alvin the dog
3. Clay’s girl Loretta and psychology & letters to her
4. Going to listen to Bob Hope vs. X’s stamp collection
5. Letter from Esmé
o 5-minute note-taking/planning drill: What is the last paragraph’s
meaning within the context of the entire story? Give and support a
plausible interpretation. Fill in this template for a paragraph:
 The last paragraph of the story is about _____.
 It is significant in that it _____.
 First supporting point:______
o List one example by a naming it with a brief note and citing the
page number on which it appears:___
 Second supporting point:_____ (make sure to connect one point to the
next logically; use transitions too)
o Example, briefly noted and cited___
 Concluding sentence:
vii.
 Summarize the story in two sentences, emphasizing 1. what it’s
about, and 2. how it’s expressed: (note: it’s likely that what it’s
about will lead easily to themes. Is this because of the way it’s
expressed?)
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett

MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 7
Write out your thoughts about one of the above topics that we have discussed
as a paragraph with support from examples from the given story. Make
a topic sentence that makes a point, then develop your support logically. (note
that this paragraph could easily be expanded into an essay).
 “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” (115-129)
a) Plot: analysis exercise. (analysis: “separation of a thing into the parts
or elements of which it is composed,” according to Merriam-Webster).
Here, we will note elements of the plot and then arrive at a conclusion—
deductive reasoning.
What is happening during the two phone calls, and what evidence supports
your interpretations? Give page numbers also.
i) 1st phone call (115-127)
 Who is calling
 Who answers
 Who else is involved
 What has happened from Arthur’s point of view
 How Lee responds
 What Arthur reveals about his marriage to Joanie
 What Arthur reveals about himself as well as Lee
 A major change in Arthur’s descriptions/assessments of Joanie
near the end of the call
 What Arthur asks Lee if he (Arthur) can do right then, Lee’s
response
 Interactions between Lee and the girl after the call ends
(note Lee’s lie about being awake reading early on in the call; also note
glances)
ii)







2nd phone call (128-129)
Who is calling
What news is given by Arthur
Lee’s reaction to this
Arthur’s explanation
What Lee does in response
How the call ends
Interactions between Lee and the girl after the call
(note why the call is interrupted)
selected notes:
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 8
iii) the condition of Arthur’s marriage, Joanie’s pattern of behavior,
Arthur’s anger at Joanie, himself, Arthur’s reliance on Lee, Lee’s
responses and reactions
iv) Arthur’s fond memories, the poem he wrote (the meaning of the story’s
title); the suit Joanie bought him, rationalizations about her
v) Note that this is the story of a familiar love-triangle: note the
significance of the names of Arthur, a friend with a name
beginning with L, and an affair involving Arthur’s wife with that
trusted friend. Name the story that this might parallel.
vi) Who is the girl? Given all of the clues in the story, we
conclude that ____.
Begin with the conclusion you just stated here, then develop support for it by
citing and explaining clues in the story, such as those above.
Write out the thought process on this deductive-reasoning process as a logical,
smoothly flowing, and clear paragraph.
 Poem: Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 at
http://www.bartleby.com/70/50116.html
(also in our text) as a counterexample of a theme of “Pretty Mouth and Green My
Eyes.”
Exercise—Working with a Theme: Come up with an illustration of what love
is and what love is not. Make a claim and support it with one example each from
the story and poem. Cite examples correctly (author and page #).
Essay 2 Information. Topic Signup Sheet. What pattern do you see in
all nine stories? Make your thesis insight based on your selected pattern. Come
up with another one if you’d like and add it to the list. Remember that the
assignment is all about analyzing how the pattern unifies the book and what that
unified pattern means or implies, including the lack of meaning.
o Characters
1. Outsiders
2. Heroes (or the lack of them)
3. Maturity (or the lack of it)
4. Change (0r the inability to change, unwillingness to change, lack of
understanding, etc.)
5. Realization made by each main character (or failure to realize)
6. Archetype (select one)
7. Flaw in each main character
o Plot development
8. beginnings
9. endings
10. incongruities
11. turning point in each story
12. climax (or anti-climax)
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 9
o Point of view
13. Adult
14. Child
15. Male
16. Female
o Style of writing
17. Emphasis in dialogue
18. Impressionism: ideas begun or implied, left to the reader to complete
19. Tone: humor, sarcasm, irony, or other feature
20. Seemingly insignificant details in each story
o Themes and meanings
21. isolation
22. The search for love
23. The search for meaning in life
24. Happiness vs. Sadness, depression, etc.
25. Hope vs. Despair
26. Reactions to war
27. The importance of childhood
28. Romanticism
29. Normalcy vs. Perversion
30. Other aspect of Normalcy
31. Weird moment in each story
32. Christian theme
33. Hindu/Vedantic theme
34. Parallel or contrast to a particular religion
35. Parallel or contrast to a particular philosophy
36. Application of motivation theory
37. challenge
38. curiosity
39. control
40. fantasy
41. Work
42. Play
43. Escaping vs. Being Stuck
44. Images of the city and living conditions
45. Family
46. Technology, e.g., phones, etc.
47. Transportation, e.g., cars, buses, boats/ships, etc.
48. Application of a particular psychological concept
49. Patience vs. Impatience
50. Communication vs. miscommunication/misunderstanding
o Symbols
51. Mementos
52. Particular object in each story
53. Symbolic actions
o Motifs
54. Smoking
ENGL 102H, Spring, 2015
Dr. Harnett
MW Week 10 (Wed) Class Notes, page 10
55. Nervous habits, e.g., crossing and uncrossing of legs
56. Names
o Other
Writing Note:
recall methods and options of introducing and integrating
quotations within your context:
1. lead-in phrase/signal phrase
2. finishing phrase (after the quote)
3. sentence and : (colon)
4. integration of partial quote (blend in quote with your
sentence)
 For Next Time:
1. Read the last two stories carefully if you have not already done so: “De
Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period” and “Teddy.”
2. Write your plan and complete draft of Essay 2, showing your thesis
arguing a pattern in all nine stories. Follow the Essay 2 assignment
carefully. It’s posted on the website on the ENGL 102H main page.