Portfolio Assignment 4.2, Portfolio Assignment 9.2

Poem Summary and Character Declaration

As you know, good readers make textual connections. These textual connections are text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world. We’ll be reviewing each of these textual connections throughout the course. For this assignment, you’ll be making a text-to-text connection.

Text-to-text connections are more than superficially comparing characters from one book to another. I often hear students try to pawn off a text-to-text connection such as, “A character in Book A answered the telephone, and so did the character in Book B. That’s a connection.” Well . . . not quite. Let’s try to go a little deeper.

One way to make text-to-text connections is when you have a primary text like The Crucible, then after reading another text, you evaluate the primary text in a different way. For this assignment, you will be given a poem and then asked to apply and compare the primary text, which, in your case, is The Crucible. But first, read and understand the poem below.

Disillusionment of Ten O’clock¹

The houses are haunted

by white night-gowns

none are green,

or purple with green rings,

or yellow with blue rings.

None of them are strange,

with socks of lace

and beaded ceintures.

People are not going

to dream of baboons and periwinkles.

Only, here and there, an old sailor,

drunk and asleep in his boots,

catches Tigers,

in red weather.

• Wallace Stevens

Right away, one of the first questions students ask me when reading this poem is, “What’s a ‘ceinture’?” A ceinture is a beaded belt. When reading poems, imagine the action. We have two areas of action in this poem: the houses haunted by people in their nightgowns getting ready for bed and the drunken sailor probably down at the docks. Once you have the center of action, you can begin to visualize the meaning of the poem.

First, let’s discuss the nightgown people. What are these people like? First of all, they’re going to bed at ten o’clock in plain, white night gowns. What image strikes you with the verb “haunted”? Are these people drifting through their own homes? Are they full of life? Why so much description of what their nightgowns are not?

Second, the sailor who falls asleep in his boots, what is he like? Is he full of life, or is he drifting through his life in plain night clothes?

Third, why is the bedtime, ten o’clock, such a disillusionment? The speaker of the poem (not the same as the poet) is making an observation about how to live life. What do you think it is?

Part 1: Poem Summary

On your own piece of paper, summarize what you think the meaning of this poem is. Also, I want you to include who you think the speaker might be, what the speaker’s tone or general attitude is, and what you think the speaker’s observation about life is. This is the first part of this assignment. This summary needs to be approximately a half-page in length.

Part 2: Character Declaration

Depending on how you complete the first part of this assignment, you are going to create a character declaration using this poem. Choose a character from The Crucible and, using lines from the poem, write a speech that is three-fourths to one-page in length as if you are the character speaking to a group of people of your choice. You can use the lines in consecutive order, split them up, or use a few here or there, but all the lines must be used. Both the poem summary and speech will be turned in with portfolio 1.

Example Character Declaration

An example of a character declaration may help you get the text–to–text connections flowing. I have written a character declaration using the same poem, “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock“ and the character Boo Radley from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. This is just an example to help you create your character declaration using a character from The Crucible.

Boo Radley Speaks to Maycomb

I am your phantom who watches your streets, a figment of your own creation. But really it’s not me who does the spooking, the houses of Maycomb are haunted by white night-gowns. You have made me disappear into a world of your own creation. A world of sameness or a world of malevolence. And maybe it is better that way. Here I sit at the window, in my home, watching Maycomb’s world go by. Each day is much like the next. There is no difference; I can never remember if it is Monday or Thursday. There is only one difference to Maycomb’s ways, in the shape of a boy and girl, who create worlds of their own… worlds of excitement and pretend. These worlds–none of them are strange, just full of imagination. I can picture them with socks of lace and beaded ceintures, playing in one of their games. These kids, this boy and this girl, they have the spirit of difference. They embrace it and they have the courage to walk out their door each morning and challenge the world.

You see, none of you people are green, or purple with green rings, or yellow with blue rings. And it is sad, your insistence on conforming, on staying the same. Why do I stay inside my house? Why do I never go outside? Why should I? The world out there is either black or white – or Black and White, and the people are not going to dream of wild things, exciting things, things like baboons and periwinkles. Inside my house, I can be anyone except me. Only, here and there, I am reminded I’m called Boo Radley. I am Maycomb’s ghost. But who do I want to be? An old sailor, drunk and asleep in his boots, who catches Tigers, in red weather. And maybe I can be, in my Maycomb dreams.

This kind of text-to-text application will help you bridge literature together in a way that all readers should. Textual connections are more than shallow observations; they are tools to create an avenue for characters and literature to come alive. It is the first step to making text-to-self connections, which we will cover in another lesson.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus.

Be sure to save your assignment as a .doc or .PDF file. Please keep copies of all assignments. Independent Study is not responsible for lost assignments.

9.2: Persuade Me

Plan and write a persuasive essay.

Of all the writing you will do, persuasive writing is probably the mode (or genre) that may be the most helpful to you. Whether you are writing college entrance essays, cover letters for potential employers, or letters that address disagreements in regard to business dealings, persuasion is a valued skill.

This particular essay will help you to look at persuasive writing from the ground up—from first finding a “passion point,” balancing logic with emotion, conceding your opponents’ viewpoints while counterarguing, and concluding with a summation of your passion once more.

Passion Points

• Writing about something that you have strong feelings about will result in a more passionate essay. When the essay is passionate, the reader will feel the writer’s excitement and will more likely be carried along with the fervor of the arguments. Therefore, the reader will tend to agree with the writer.

Logical versus Emotional Appeals

• Logical appeals provide concrete reasons that explain why readers should accept a writer’s opinion, and evidence that supplies support for the reasons.
• Emotional appeals attempt to reach readers’ feelings through anecdotes (brief stories) and through word choice (connotations, associations, loaded language, and so forth).

Conceding the Point and Counterarguing

• Conceding the point (“giving in” or acknowledging opposing viewpoints) sends the message that the writer has thoughtfully considered both sides of the issue before making a decision. Therefore, the writer has more credibility.
• Counterarguing is important, because conceding the point without addressing your own viewpoint would be ineffective. Concede the point, and then follow up with your own arguments.

Portfolio Assignment 9.2: Persuasive Essay Part 1 and Part 2

To download the portfolio assignment onto your computer, click here. Answer the questions in the essay charts and submit the assignment with your portfolio 2.

Assignment Submission Requirements

As you begin to write your essay please keep the following requirements in mind:

• This packet will be turned in for a grade. Don’t lose it. Submit in portfolio 2.
• Page length will vary depending on topics. Looking at paragraphs, however, let’s break this down:
• Paragraph 1: Introduction
• emotional argument included
• Paragraph 2: Logical Appeal #1
• Paragraph 3: Logical Appeal #2
• Paragraph 4: Logical Appeal #3
• Paragraph 5: Conceded point #1
• Counterargument #1 included
• Paragraph 6: Conceded point #2
• Counterargument #2 included
• Paragraph 7: Conclusion paragraph
• emotional appeal revisited
• call to action included

Your essay should contain seven paragraphs total. Remember, actual page length will vary, so there is no minimum or maximum requirement.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus and format them in the following manner:

• In the top left-hand side of the page please include:
• the portfolio submission number
• the name of the assignment and lesson number it came from
• your name
• date

Be sure to save your assignment as a .PDF file. Please keep copies of all assignments. Independent Study is not responsible for lost assignments.