English 11

Today, we read Act III, scenes i-iii.  Answer the study guide questions for tomorrow on these scenes.

I also gave out the final vocabulary words.  Period 3, here are your words:

1. loathesome (adj):  causing feelings of hatred or disgust; repulsive

2. supplication (n):  the action of begging for something earnestly or humbly

3. refurbish (v):  renovate or redecorate (especially a building)

4. denote (v):  to indicate; to be a sign of something

5. subsequent (adj): coming after something in time; following

6. polymath (n): a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning

7. vainglorious (adj): excessively proud of oneself or one’s achievements

8. ubiquitous (ajd):  appearing or found everywhere

9. debauchery (n):  excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures

10. harbinger (n):  a person or thing that signals or announces the entrance of another

11. to become (v):  to look good on someone; to make him or her more attractive

12. corporeal (adj): relating to a person’s body, especially as opposed to a person’s spirit

13. vaulting (adj): jumping

14. husbandry (n): the care, cultivation and breeding of crops and animals

15. compunction (n): feelings of guilt; pangs of conscience

16. equivocator (n): a person who does not speak the whole truth or speaks ambiguously

17. surmise (v): to suppose something is true without any evidence

18. cleave (v): to split or sever especially along a natural grain; OR to join together****

19. palpable (adj): able to be touched or felt; a feeling so intense that it is almost intangible

20. largess (n): generosity in giving money or gifts to others

21. dauntless (adj):  fearless

22. rebuke (v):  scold; reprimand harshly

23. barren (adj):  childless; infertile

24. defile (v):  make dirty or corrupt morally

25. incensed (adj):  enraged; angry

26. sundry (adj):  various; several

27. jocund (adj):  jouful

28. drowse (v):  be dull and sleepy; be half asleep

29. mirth (n):  joy

30. infirmity (n):  a physical or mental weakness

Period 4, here are your words:

1. aptitude (n):  natural ability or skill
2. talisman (n): an object thought to bring good luck
3. harassment (n):  intimidation; aggressive pressure
4. guzzle (v):  to drink quickly or greedily
5. incondite (adj):  crude or poorly constructed (often pertaining to literature); lacking refinement
6. harbinger (n):  a person or thing that signals or announces the entrance of another
7. hilt (n):  the handle of a weapon or a tool
8. purportedly (adv):  claimed to be true
9. herculean (adj): having or requiring great strength (note the spelling)
10. tenuous (adj): not substantial; weak; slight; flimsy

11. to become (v):  to look good on someone; to make him or her more attractive

12. corporeal (adj): relating to a person’s body, especially as opposed to a person’s spirit

13. vaulting (adj): jumping

14. husbandry (n): the care, cultivation and breeding of crops and animals

15. compunction (n): feelings of guilt; pangs of conscience

16. equivocator (n): a person who does not speak the whole truth or speaks ambiguously

17. surmise (v): to suppose something is true without any evidence

18. cleave (v): to split or sever especially along a natural grain; OR to join together****

19. palpable (adj): able to be touched or felt; a feeling so intense that it is almost intangible

20. largess (n): generosity in giving money or gifts to others

21. dauntless (adj):  fearless

22. rebuke (v):  scold; reprimand harshly

23. barren (adj):  childless; infertile

24. defile (v):  make dirty or corrupt morally

25. incensed (adj):  enraged; angry

26. sundry (adj):  various; several

27. jocund (adj):  jouful

28. drowse (v):  be dull and sleepy; be half asleep

29. mirth (n):  joy

30. infirmity (n):  a physical or mental weakness

English 10

Today, students handed in their extended metaphors and we collected eleven new vocabulary words.  Students were asked to read to page 212 for tomorrow.

The new vocabulary words are as follows:
1. sagacious (adj): showing great wisdom/intelligence
2. interlocutor (n):  a person who takes part in a conversation
3. brag (v):  to boast or show off
4. compel (v): to force someone to do something or make something happen
5. leverage (n/v): noun--the power to influence people, things or events/ the power to act effective verb--to support or to take action in order to be more financially secure; to use something to maximum advantage
6. retort (v):  to reply quickly in an angry or witty manner
7. poise (n):  balance/control of bodily movements; showing dignity and self-confidence
8. formidable (adj):  hard to handle or overcome; awe-inspiring in terms of size or excellence; causing fear or dread
9. indict (v): formally accuse or charge with a crime
10. meticulous (adj): showing extreme attention to detail
11. diligent (adj):  hard working; completing work with care and attention

English 11

Period 3:  Today in class, we did a self-test on who controls each student's fate.  Then, we watched different movie versions of I,i.

If students have not already done so, they should bring their five vocabulary words and definitions to school tomorrow.

Period 4:  Today, we discussed the Great Chain of Being, read I, ii, and came up with a list of our next 10 vocabulary words, which are as follows:
1. aptitude (n):  natural ability or skill
2. talisman (n): an object thought to bring good luck
3. harassment (n):  intimidation; aggressive pressure
4. guzzle (v):  to drink quickly or greedily
5. incondite (adj):  crude or poorly constructed (often pertaining to literature); lacking refinement
6. harbinger (n):  a person or thing that signals or announces the entrance of another
7. hilt (n):  the handle of a weapon or a tool
8. purportedly (adv):  claimed to be true
9. herculean (adj): having or requiring great strength (note the spelling)
10. tenuous (adj): not substantial; weak; slight; flimsy

English 11

Today, the students were given this writing assignment:

“When you’ve finished writing the test, write a letter to someone who has irritated you.  Feel free to insult that person as creatively as possible.  Try to fill up an entire page.  Explain how this person’s actions have annoyed you and what you would like to see happen. If you are seriously venting your spleen, don’t overtly identify your subject as I don’t want to read colleagues’ or students’ names.  I you and your friend are exchanging insults, make sure you are both aware of this fact.”

Bring your letters to class tomorrow.

Also, begin collecting good, academic vocabulary words again--your next 5 words and definitions are due on Monday, May 15th.

English 10

Your extended metaphors are due on Monday, May 15th.  Tonight, read up to page 140.  Also, have your investigations ready for the start of class tomorrow.
Begin collecting good, academic vocabulary words again--your next 5 words and definitions are due on Monday, May 15th.

English 11 notes on power in the novel

Power—Period 3

• The Combine, women and Mack all wield power.  When thinking about women, Harding says, “we are the victims of a matriarchy”.  Many patients are in hospital because of women.  Billy is too tied to his mother and has no confidence, Chief was really affected by how his mother beat down his father and took his power, Harding has a terrible marriage and his wife doesn’t help him get better, and the nurse deprives men of their masculinity.
• Mack’s power comes from his personality and his genuine laughter emboldens the men/heals the men.
• Mack has a great deal of power, but not enough to conquer the nurse’s power because the authorities have ultimate power.  The nurse is very controlling and uses her power to keep the men down.  She has the power of the institution and society behind her.  The orderlies get their power from her.  Even the doctors defer to her (nurse is powerful because she knows how to use fear to manipulate even those considered to be above her in status).  As for the patients, if they don’t follow the rules, they will be punished.  The Combine/machinery will punish individuals who step out of line.  When power shifts, she feels threatened.
• This ties in with the power of the Combine.  Whatever the authorities think is sane becomes right.  People like Murphy are agents of change in society.  They challenge society’s assumptions about what is accepted.
• Chief talks about power on p. 137.  He says that he can’t help the others because if he does, he’ll leave himself wide open to attack.  The men actually have power but don’t realize it.  Most of them could walk out of the institution under their own steam because they are voluntary patients.  The institution is society that will punish people who do not follow the rules.
• During the fishing trip, the men realize that they have power that they can use to their advantage…the power of mental illness.
• Mack had a great impact on the patients.  The nurse loses control to him and Mack loses his life to her, but he has a lasting effect on the men on the ward.  Mack was the first to stand up to the nurse and opened up the idea of rebellion, but the nurse always had to win.  She had a ‘don’t test me’ attitude.
• Kesey does a good job of representing the power of sexuality.  Harding fears his own sexuality, Billy fears his too—he has never been with a woman.  Being openly sexual is frowned upon, Kesey wants people to be more open. 
• Chief’s silence comes from his lack of power.  He begins speaking when he begins feeling more powerful.  On p. 8, he says “I’ve been silent so long” and he talks about his story being true even if it didn’t happen.   Often if people have experienced something bad, it’s hard for them to express themselves.  It’s easier to say nothing, but Chief has been silent for so long that he is going to tell his story.  Nurse worked hard to take away all the men’s voices.
• Society is like the nurse and never thinks it is doing anything harmful, but Kesey shows us what society is doing.   With power comes influence.
• Mack uses his power for good. He doesn’t think the patients are that ill.  He thinks they would be fine to be out in society, and this gives them the confidence to leave the hospital.
• Under democracy can be subverted to maintain an authoritarian status quo.
• Power is where people believe it to be.  Mack is in a worse spot than most of the other patients (he’s committed), but because the men believe in him, he has power.

Power—Period 4

• On p. 185, Harding says “this world belongs to the strong…we must face up to this”.  The weak are fearful and hide in their fog.
• Fear is used by those in power to control the weak and gain power.  Harding also talks of rabbits and wolves.  The rabbits are happy to give their power to the wolves.
• The nurse feels very responsible to do her duty…this turns her into a robotic woman.
• Chief at the start of the book hides from those in power.  When he is taken to the shaving room he says “I don’t yell, otherwise it’s just tougher on you”.
• Mack shows off his power on the ward in order to gain authority.
• Size is also used to show power.
• Those with power can manipulate others (Mack persuades Turkle to let in the women for the party).  Nurse gets her power from her connections (to the head of the hospital and Billy’s mum). 
• EST and lobotomies are the ways in which society wields power.

English 11 Fishbowl notes on fear in the novel

Fear—Period 3

• Fear of nurse’s authority is what keeps the men in hospital.  Authority keeps them sick.  A doctor even said this about the nurse “All my veins are running ammonia” showing that everyone fears her. 
• At one point Billy says, “Sure, if I had the guts I could go outside today”.  He doesn’t have the guts because the nurse uses fear to keep him down.  Every time progress seems to happen, the nurse brings up something to make him feel insecure.   As part of her therapy, Nurse keeps telling the men that they cannot fit into society.  As soon as they seem to recover, she brings up something terrible about them to push them back down.
• The nurse’s notebook is a symbol of fear—fear of what is in the book…what could be in the book.  The book forces people to turn on each other.  The nurse has the power of the Combine behind her and she has power over people by manipulating their fears and desires. Powerful people can use fear to control others.  Fear reduces personal power and makes people do things they would not normally do. 
• Laughter is also a symbol.  Some fear it.  When Mack enters the hospital, he opens up a new way of looking at the world to the patients.  They begin to realize that laughter makes a person strong, independent.   The patients have forgotten that they can fit in/be accepted.  Laughter is the antidote to fear.
• Mack shows the patients a way of getting over their fears and pulls them out of the fog.
• The fog is also closely linked to fear.  Chief slips into it and away from reality in order to find comfort.  They become reliant on the fog.  Leaving the fog means leaving one’s comfort zone, but when it clears, Chief finds he can leave the hospital.
• The nurse is also fearful.  She fears losing control over the patients.  Her therapy doesn’t make anything better.  Is this because she thinks the patients are hopeless? She even tries to hide her sexuality/femininity while on the ward. 
• The 1960s saw the beginnings of social change.  Mack is an instrument of social change.
• The Disturbed ward, lobotomies and EST are used as fear tactics to control the patients.  They fear pain and losing themselves completely by becoming vegetables.  The lobotomy cuts to the men’s deepest fears.  When Mack was turned into a vegetable, none of the men in the movie seemed scared that Chief murdered him.  They knew that being a vegetable was worse than being killed.
• Men fear the medicines that are supposed to make them better.
• Mack fears staying on the ward forever and going back to the work farm.  What was his childhood like?  He empowers the men and takes away their fear, but this tires him.
• Harding fears being outed as gay.  “The finger of society” is pointing at me. 
• Billy fears his mum’s judgement. P. 315
• There is a big connection between fear and power.  What’s the best way to gain power?
• Mack is not perfect.
• How does laughter connect to power?

  Fear—Period 4

• Nurse is a symbol of fear for all the men…but each man fears something different.  The patients are scared to change anything, but Mack encourages them and this gives them strength. 
• The goals and conflicts between nurse and Mack show power.
• Mack fears being stuck inside the hospital. Mack was scared and put on a show for the men on the ward.  He becomes fearful when he keeps having to go up against the system.  Chief notes how pale and tired he looks.
• Fear is used to control and manipulate.  An example of this is how Nurse breaks Billy by threatening to tell his mum about Candy.  P. 315
• EST and lobotomy are used as fearful tools of control and not therapies.
• The patients have been milled by the Combine and they see Mack’s freedom and are empowered by it.  Mack become a martyr because he can’t break the system…it breaks him.  His flame is extinguished, but he inspires others to want to leave the hospital and be free. 
• All this ties into the idea of rabbits and wolves.  The men feel that they are and always have been rabbits.  They have given up their power to be “protected” by the wolves (admin). They rely on the wolves to protect them from the harshness of the world.  By the end of the novel they are no longer rabbits, they are now men.
• There is no therapy in this place.  The nurse uses implication and undermines trust between the men in order to rule by fear.  She rules by dividing them as much as possible.
• The fog is a place to go when the Chief feels fearful.  Drugs also cause the fog.
• The concept of big vs. small also fits into the topic of fear as those who are “small” feel  fearful and weak.  Those who are big feel strong mentally.
• The control panel fits into this topic because when Chief finds courage, he realizes he can break it and use it to escape the hospital.
• People with authority act like they have authority and people listen to them.  At the start of the book, the men were afraid of those in power, at the end they were less so.
• How does fear connect to our world and our lives?
• The music is like nurse on the ward.  Her presence can be felt everywhere.

English 11 Fishbowl Notes on society in the novel

Society--Period 3

• Modern society is like the mental institution
• Everyone has a role in the power struggle…nurse has power and is the rule maker
• She’s an example of callous leaders in the real world—some figures who resemble her would be dictators
• Mack and the others are people in society who are looked down upon
• Nurse doesn’t look down on others--she is a tool used by the asylum….the patients aren’t really crazy, they could still be functioning members of society, but they aren’t typical.  The asylum pulls people back from being individuals and tries to fix what isn’t broken
• This is very different from Mack who wants to let people be themselves.
• The patients aren’t really very sick, they are just scared of the world and want to hide in the hospital.
• For example, Harding was just gay.  He didn’t feel safe in society, so he went to the hospital where he felt safe.
• The hospital is a microcosm of society and anyone who doesn’t fit must be changed to fit society’s standards
• Those without power must obey those who do; that’s why the men obey the nurse.
• The hospital is a symbol of society, filled with people who do not fit. 
• The Combine represents evil forces in society that mill people down, make them uniform and the same.  The Combine is also all the rules and expectations set out for people in society.  Nurse Rachet is a representative of the Combine and “the ward is a factory for the combine” page 40.  The nurse wants everyone to be the same and Mack wants people to be individuals.
• Mack allows the men to see themselves for who they are because they have lost touch with that.
• Nurse wields her power sneakily.  She never directly attacks them, she implies stuff.  This is similar in society where people are judged in the same way
• A hint is made about someone and whoever says it sits back and lets the others attack the target.
• Nurse likes people to be uniform and compliant…a repressive society demands uniformity and compliance.  She refuses to change schedules even. 
• Electroshock therapy and lobotomies are also tools of repression and punishment given to those who do not follow society’s rules.
• Consequences for those who don’t act the same way
• Society demands that people conform to its rules.
• Harding notes that the “finger of society” was pointing at him because he was different.  Society beats down those like Mack (the individuals).  Society would rather just lock away people who are different, electrocute it away.  Society would prefer to have an emotionless vegetable than deal with someone with problems (p.250ish quote).
• Nurse’s adherence to a schedule is like how society pushes people into living structured lives…you must go to college to get a job to afford a family  etc.
• Mack was the self-sacrificing individual who helped people find their place/voice in society and he is also a symbol of the way society oppresses individuals.
• Mack’s laughter is his strength and shows he didn’t fit into society’s plan for him.

Society--Period 4

• Society decides who has power and who doesn’t/what is acceptable and what is not.
• The Combine is a symbol of how society affects people—it mills them down like pieces of wheat. The nurse is an official for the Combine (p. 192)
• On p. 64, Harding says “The world belongs to the strong”
• When Mack wears his whale shorts, this shows that he is not wearing the “uniform” society (the hospital) wants to dress him in.  This shows he is an individual who rebels against the rules.
• When the patient in Disturbed killed himself in the toilet, Chief wonders why he did it and said “all he had to do was wait” because the institution would eventually kill him.  The Combine cuts down people and keeps going until you are “fixed” and are the same like everyone else (p.221)
• The machines area what runs the Combine, the machines are the ways in which society controls individuals and supresses their impulses.
• When Chief has a nightmare that someone on the ward dies, the victim is full of rust not blood.  This shows that the hospital has stripped this patient (and others) of their humanity.
• The fog is where the patients go to escape the Combine and nurse’s rules.  Mack reaches into it and brings them out.
• All the people in the hospital are there because society sees them as problems.  They’ve been pushed out of society and into the hospital…and the hospital is no escape.
• Harding has been made to feel shame just for who he is.
• When Mack smashes the glass window, he is showing that society’s rules can be broken/that they are fragile.
• Authority figures are feared by the patients and the powerful use this fear to manipulate them.
• Change can happen when people band together…like the patients who rally around Mack.

English 10

Late investigation sheets are due on Tuesday.  Make sure you have read up to page 61 of the novel.  Answer the pp. 22-28 questions #1, 2, 3 AND pp. 28-32 questions #1, 3, 4 for tomorrow.  Remember, too, that the next vocabulary quiz will be on Friday.