Block, 3/20 - Rimin' and Stealin'

Landed Gentry: untitled members
of the landowning upper classes

• P&P

• GUM: Both the Industrial Revolution and colonialism expanded England's economy during its Regency period [1810 – 1820] changing its social structure. Although many new-money, upper, class families known as the landed gentry did not hold hereditary titles. They commonly considered themselves to be: on the same social level as the traditional, landed aristocracy due to their wealth and possessions. 

• P&P theme workshop - Remember that a theme is one sentence that sums up what an author is telling readers about some aspect of life. Here are some guidelines from Perrine's Literature to help you observe a story's theme:
1. "Theme should be expressible in the form of a statement with a subject and a predicate."
2. "The theme should be stated as a generalization about life."
3. "We must be careful not to make the generalization larger than is justified by the terms of the story."
1. "Terms like every, all, always should be used very cautiously; terms like some, sometimes, may are often more accurate."
4. "Theme is the central or unifying concept of a story."
5. "There is no one way of stating the theme of a story."
6. "We should avoid any statement that reduces the theme to some familiar saying that we have heard all our lives, such as 'You can't judge a book by its cover.'"
7. Reno would add that with a large story (a novel) there may be many themes an author portrays.

• Get into groups of three

• Discuss P2 Ch 14 (37) and come up with as many topics, subtopics, and themes that you think the chapter addresses. Here is an example of what I'm after:

• Topic - love
• Subtopic (what kind?) - romantic love
• Cliche? - Love is blind (do not use a cliche as a theme)
• Theme (what about romantic love?) - Austen's Pride and Prejudice develops the theme that romantic interest often obscures the vision and critical observation of those who are in the grip of attraction.

• STC - Rime of the Ancient Mariner (finish)

HW: P&P P2 Ch 17-18 (40-41)

• Be sure to write out a theme the "real" way now for each chapter ; )