Adolescent Fiction: Unexpected Outcomes

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Unexpected Outcomes

Unexpected outcomes fill the last couple chapters of the Westing Game. Not only does the reader find some characters are not who they say they are, but they also find it might take three deaths for someone to really die. But the surprises don't stop there. The novel starts with a collection of awkward, troubled, dysfunctional characters and relationships but ends with every issue resolved and every character contented. Turtle started out as a awkward, childish young girl. Turtle lacked a good parent figure and role model in her life. In the end she is a successful young woman because of Flora who stepped in as her parent and her uncle who became her role model and friend. She is loved by her husband,Theo, who is finally happy doing what he loves, writing. Crow surprises us by the fact that she was actually Sam Westing's ex wife and then the reader is surprised again by the unexpected marriage of Crow and Ottis. Angela and Dr. Deere call off the wedding but then the readers are surprised again when we find that they end up together in the end after Angela accomplished her dream of becoming a doctor herself. Grace and Jack resolve their differences and end up with a happy marriage. Grace and Jack both of respectable jobs. Doug Hoo goes from being the over pressured teen who aspires only to be a runner to being an Olympic gold mentalist. Mr. Hoo goes from being a grumpy, bitter, selfish man to being a proud father and loving husband. He finally gets credit for an invention. Mrs. Hoo finally gets treated with respect and becomes a successful business woman and finally gets to take her trip back to China. Sydelle Pulaski goes from being an annoying, attention seeking nobody to being a happy married woman. Not only is the outcome of the game unexpected but also the outcomes of all the characters. Each character surprises the rear with their growth and accomplishments.

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Post #9 Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (due MONDAY, 4/30 by class time)

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup explores a number of themes, among them grief, identity, coming of age (Bildungsroman), friendship, love, and others. Kevin, our adolescent narrator, shares his story with us as a poetic narrative which includes poems written in conventional forms and free-form poems. Choose one theme which the book develops, and show its development through the text. As you do so, be sure to consider and articulate how the book's structure (as poems) affects whatever theme you discuss.

Post #7 Warriors Don't Cry (due Sunday 4/15 by 8 pm)

Choices for responses:

1. The title of this text refers to warriors. How are the characters warriors? Are you comfortable with that depiction? Why or why not? Be sure to offer specific description as you explore characterization.

2. While it could certainly be argued that the author of our last novel does place himself in the text, that book is fiction. This text is not; rather, it's a memoir. How does knowing that the book is non-fiction shape your reading of it? Does it cause you to respond differently? If so, how? If not, why not? Consider characters, events, and the historical context carefully as you respond.

Post #6 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (due Sunday, 3/25 by 8 pm)

Post #5 Annie on My Mind (part 2) due Sun 3/11 by 8 pm

You have several different options for your response:

1. How is social transgression framed and treated in the novel? Do you as a reader find that the characters are affirmed or punished for stepping outside of social conventions?

2. We've talked a bit about parallel spaces in texts, spaces in which characters encounter very different experiences. After reading this novel, can we argue that those parallel spaces never intersect? What function might those separate (or not so separate) spaces serve?

3. The story is written in the epistolary (letter writing) tradition. How does that framing affect your reading? Your interaction with characters? Your response?

Post #3 Due by Monday's class (2/20)

For this post, you have three options:

1. Respond to some theme you identify in the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the book.

2. Apply the article's claims to the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the article and the book.

3. Examine the novel as science fiction. How is it both utopic and dystopic in its function? What might it be warning us as a society against? Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the text.

Post #1 Due by Thursday's class (1/26)

Ellen Raskin's novel The Westing Game is a detective novel, yes, but we can tease out many themes as we examine the text. A few we introduced and explored briefly in class today:

the Cinderella effect

the roles of women

identity construction

gaming and strategy

trust (as it relates to other themes or on its own)

oppressive/repressive (think Trites) parents

Choose from a theme on this list or choose a theme you've noted in the text, and write about the way the theme is introduced and developed through the novel. As you show how the theme works throughout the book, be sure to offer specific examples to support your ideas.