Reflection on Rabbit Proof Fence and Postcolonial Themes

For your first blog, to be written before Thursday June 25, you may write on ONE of the three topics listed below.  We will be reviewing postcolonial terminology (in coursepak and attached to syllabus) in class and beginning to think about essay topics:

BLOG ENTRY ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

A. APPLY ONE OR MORE OF THE POSTCOLONIAL TERMS TO RABBIT PROOF FENCE: MAKE A CLAIM, SUPPORT WITH EXAMPLES FROM THE FILM

B. YASMIN’S CHALLENGE TO AUTHORITY, HER STRUGGLE, HER TRIUMPH—WHAT DOES SHE LEARN?

C.  COMPARE MOLLY AND YASMIN: WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?  HOW DO THEY DIFFER?

D.  DEVELOP YOUR OWN THESIS OR CLAIM ABOUT THE MAJOR CHARACTER IN EITHER THE FILM OR THE MEMOIR--HER SPECIFIC STRENGTHS, HER GROWTH, INSIGHT.

E.  DEVELOP A THESIS ABOUT A MAJOR THEME IN EITHER WORK, WHAT THE FILM OR THE MEMOIR ("YASMIN") SHOWS US ABOUT LIFE, ABOUT CULTURAL DIFFERENCE, ABOUT HUMAN NATURE.

Note that each of these topics may be expanded into your first essay.  The purpose of the blog is to draft your claim (thesis) and give some examples so we can discuss essay topics in class Thursday.

Key Themes in "Rabbit Proof Fence"

While watching the "Rabbit Proof Fence" although non-fiction, at times I felt was a bit unbelievable, which correlates this feeling I have to one of many themes that were present in the film. The one theme I am speaking of is determination. These three young girls had to be determined in order to overcome this challenging adventure they had to face. Another key theme in the film was courage, because the girls knew the trip they were making wasn't an easy one, and they had to have courage to even begin this journey. Finally another key theme, perhaps the most important, is love. With their love for not only their mother, but for each other, they were able to come out of their trip somewhat successful. Love is what helped fuel their determination and courage, therefore is the most important key theme and element in the film. Without love they most likely would have never embarked on the journey and never would've been reunited with their mother.

Reading List, Syllabus and Requirements

English 260.7492: The Novel

 Summer Novel Syllabus

LaGuardia Community College

June 2015

Professor Phyllis Van Slyck

E103N: OFFICE Hours after class

slyckvan@gmail.com

718-482-5660

Purchase from NEKO (basement of B building):

Coursepak: Summer Novel 260/Van Slyck

Purchase from LaGuardia Bookstore:

Louise Erdrich, The Roundhouse

J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace

Blog: English260summernovel2015.blogspot.com

Sequence of Films and Readings

Themes and Assignments

(all subject to adjustment as we go)

Course Assignments and Grading:

1.     500 word essay on Rabbit Proof Fence and/or “Yasmin” 20%

2.     500 word essay on The Roundhouse 20%

3.     500 word final essay on Disgrace 20%

4.     Weekly blog responses, including research 20%

5.     Class participation and presentations 20%

All essays should be typed, double-spaced, quote correctly from text(s) and follow MLA formatting.  1 and 2 may be revised once.  Essay #3 is your final essay and may not be revised.

Week 1

Introduction: What is a novel? Where do novels come from? What’s new in the novel? “Who” is at the center of the story?  Who was the “other” in the 19^th century?  Who is the “other” now?  How is the novel informed by issues of race, gender and class? START READING THE ROUNDHOUSE!!

Screening of Rabbit Proof Fence (film) and introduction to our blog: create a gmail account.  First blog on key themes from the film; research on this story: The Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 and the Child Removal Policy.

Reflections on genres: novel, novella, memoir, docudrama, historical drama, journalism. What is the difference between a novel and a memoir?  Aristotle said that literature (what he called poetry because all literature was once song/poetry) offers a higher truth than history because it speaks not of what did happen but what might happen.  The higher truth for Aristotle is the truth of the imagination.

“Yasmin,” from How Does it Feel to Be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America, Moustafa Bayoumi.  Blog on your own experience as other, as bicultural, as hybrid, in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Review of terminology relevant to the novel and the postcolonial world—application to readings and film. (In coursepak)

SHORT ESSAY COMPARING RABBIT PROOF FENCE TO “YASMIN”—DETAILS IN HANDOUT

Week 2

“1937” and “Children of the Sea,” Edwidge Danticat

Research for blog on the 1937 Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic and, more broadly, racism under Trujillo and conditions in Haiti, historically and today.

Danticat’s style and tone: what knits community together despite horrific acts?  How do Haitians in these stories communicate, but also damage each other and their own communities?  Short story cycle as contemporary form of novel/novella.

Week 3 and 4

The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich

Research into the Chippewa nation in the Dakotas, the status of the reservation in relation to the law, racism and the incidence of rape in Native American communities.  See especially an article by Erdrich in the NY Times (February 2013) on Native Americans and the Violence Against Women Act and a review of The Roundhouse by Maria Russo, “Disturbing the Spirits” (October 2012).

Dirty Pretty Things (film screening)

Blog on key themes in the film that relate to seeing the “other” as a marketable, usable, commodity; the structure of the film as parallel to a good novel; what would we do to transform this into an actual novel?  What elements are needed?  Blog

SHORT ESSAY ON THE ROUNDHOUSE—end of week 4.

GET A HEAD START ON READING DISGRACE

Week 5 and 6

Disgrace, J.M Coetzee

For blog and research: history of race relations in South Africa: pre- and post- apartheid. FILM SCREENING

FINAL: ESSAY ON DISGRACE and reflection on course themes—end week 6.

“Great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them.” Anais Nin