Assignment: Please address one of the following questions clearly and concisely, focusing your discussion on a single theme or idea (at least 2 typed, double-spaced pages total).

April 21: Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford (Read to pg. 93, "Poor Peter")

In the first line of Cranford, Gaskell describes the place as a town "in the possession of Amazons." In other words, Cranford is a place without men, a place whose ruling class is composed solely of women. What are some of the characteristics of this all-female society? What are its values? What are its primary concerns? Is this world a wholly domestic world, centered around the home and home concerns? What do the women do all day? Do any of them work? What does an all-women society look like in the Victorian age? Describe the structure and values of the female society of Cranford in the beginning of the novel.

April 23: Cranford (read to pg. 152, "Samuel Brown")

Though Cranford is an all-women society, men do occasionally intrude upon it or come out of it. What role do the few men who live or visit in Cranford have? What happened to all the men? Why is "poor Peter" forced to leave his home? Where does he go? What is the cause of "The Panic" described in that chapter? What do the women make of the mysterious Signor Brunoni? If the ultimate purpose of a women in Victorian society is to get married, what happens when there are no men to marry in a town? Discuss the role of men in the novel, generally or pointing to a specific example or two.

April 26: Cranford (read to end)

One way of interpreting Miss Matty's financial ruin and Peter's return at the end of the novel is that the novel shows the limits of a society run by women. Women can get along by themselves for the most part, but in dealing with the outside world of business and trade, they need men to help them. If this is so (and it's open to argument) what is colonialism's link with Cranford? What connections to the women have to Britain's imperial project? What are the links between Matty's financial salvation and colonialism? What has happened to Peter since he has been away? Have the colonies transformed him or is he able to pick up where he left off in Cranford? Discuss the "male" world of business and money, the links with colonialism, and Cranford's links with both at the end of the novel.

April 28: Matthew Arnold, "Essay on Celtic Literature"

Arnold's discussion of the differing "geniuses" of specific races may be somewhat difficult to follow. In general, he is making a comparison between the "racial" characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon (the Germanic, Teutonic, English, English-speaking race of people in Britain) and the Celt (the Irish, Welsh, Briton, Cymric, Gaullic, Gaelic-speaking people). How does Arnold characterize the character of the Celtic people? What sort of characteristics are "typical" of the Celtic race? Is he critical or admiring of the Celts as a race? How does the Celtic personality differ from that of the Anglo-Saxon (English)? Why does the Celtic temperament not suit Celts for success in "business and politics"? Discuss the specific comparisons that Arnold makes between the character of the Celt and Anglo-Saxon in his "Essay on Celtic Literature."

April 30: W. B. Yeats, "The Stolen Child," "Chuchulain's Fight with the Sea"

In these two examples of Yeats's' earlier poetry, he adopts Irish myth and folklore to modern poetical forms. "The Stolen Child" is adapted from the Irish folk figure of the "changeling," a faery that steals living children from their homes and replaces them with dead ones. "Chuchulain's Fight with the Sea," is adapted from the sagas of Chuchulain, a first-century Irish warrior who lived in the north of Ireland. How does Yeats adapt the traditional Irish stories to his own poetry? Yeats does not seem to want us to read the poems on a literal level? Why has the child been stolen in "The Stolen Child"? Where has the child gone to? What is the plot of the Chuchulain poem? Who are all the characters Yeats mentions in that poem and what are they doing? Why would 19^th century readers be interested in Irish myth and folklore? What meaning could ancient Irish literature have in the late 19^th century? Discuss Yeats's adaptation of Irish folklore and myth in either one or both of the poems assigned for today.

May 3: Yeats, "Easter 1916," "On a Political Prisoner," "The Second Coming"

In his later poems, written during a time of intense political upheaval in Ireland (revolution, civil war, early independence), Yeats deals with the real political events of his day. "Easter 1916" and "On a Political Prisoner" address the character of Irish revolutionaries he knew personally (the first, of several people, the second of one woman in particular). How does Yeats depict the people that led Irish revolution? Does he praise them as heroes? Is he critical of their methods or actions? What has changed "utterly" after Easter 1916? What were the Irish rebels he mentions like before the uprising? What is Yeats's attitude in general about revolutionary change in his world? What exactly is "coming" to the world in "The Second Coming"? Discuss Yeats's attitude to revolutionary change in Ireland (or in general) and the instigators of that change in one, two, or all of the political poems assigned for today.

May 5: Conrad, Heart of Darkness (read to around pg. 20)

In the first few pages of Heart of Darkness we meet the strange character of Marlowe who begins to tell a strange tale to the narrator of the story, seemingly without any prompting. Even in the beginning of his story Marlowe has a lot to say about European colonialism, the motives for Europeans going to the colonies, and the character of non-European peoples in the colonial world. What is Marlowe's attitude toward colonialism? Do any of his assumptions echo the assumptions of other writers we have read before? Is he sympathetic to or critical of the aims of European colonizers? Are colonized people simply "savage" and colonizing people simply "civilized." Discuss Marlowe's attitudes about the colonial project tin the first few pages of Heart of Darkness.

May 7: Heart of Darkness (Read to around pg. 40)

Throughout Marlowe’s descriptions of his journey deeper into Africa, there are many examples that make it obvious that the journey is not just from one place to another, but to a world (and even a time) that is quite different than the world of the novel’s beginning, in London. How does he describe the "jungle" around the river? What does the jungle do to the works of man (e.g., buildings and machines)? Would you describe the world of the Congo as peaceful? Relaxing? Tranquil? Familiar? Or Alien? Menacing? Deadly? What are the natives like? Describe Marlowe’s attitudes about the world of Africa, as he goes further down the Congo.

May 10: Heart of Darkness (Read to end)

Though he is a European, Kurtz’s attitudes seem to clearly align him with Africa and the jungle. Why does he, a European, journey and live in the "heart of darkness" in the first place? What is it in Kurtz’s character that attracts him so to the "heart of darkness"? What is he, as a white man, seeking in there? Is he completely mad? Or is there logic in his madness? Why is Marlowe attracted to him? Discuss Kurtz’s character and motivation for going into the interior of Africa.

May 12: Heart of Darkness, Achebe, "An Image of Africa" (in the Norton Edition, 251-262)

Achebe believes that Heart of Darkness is a racist book, and therefore should not be considered as an example of one of the great works of British literature. Assuming that Achebe is correct and the book is "racist," should it no longer be taught or discussed in classes? What motive could anyone have for teaching a racist work in a class about literature? What value can be gained from a work that denigrates the people of an entire continent? Discuss the question of Heart of Darkness: "great literature" or horribly "racist."