The Stranger
Reading Schedule
Please adhere to the following schedule when reading The Stranger. Review the criteria for each response journal. Please respond to each (typed and in a folder or neatly hand-written and in a folder), which will be counted as homework checks. Please know that you will be selecting one of these responses to expand upon and submit for a grade at a later date. Be prepared for reading quizzes as well.
Pages Journal Due Date
3-39 1 1/14/08
40-81 2 1/19/08
82-end 3 1/21/08
For response journal #1, I want you to stop five times while reading to record your reflections on the existentialism present. For example, you may speculate on your ideas as to how the narrator's reaction to Maman's death fleshes out existential concepts. Then you may stop and ponder what connection his encounter with Marie has to do with the loss of Maman, if any. The whole idea behind this response journal is to force you to examine the existential concepts as you read. Please note page numbers of where you are when you stop.
In response journal #2, I want you to consider how gaps in the text (what’s NOT there) prompt you to unravel author truth/ the novel/its characters. Identify what is missing (on what page)/what information you are not given enough of, then comment on what the lack of information makes you consider. Again, please refer to specific page numbers as you react.
Finally, for response journal 3, go back to the 10 existential introductory statements for which you wrote responses used in class discussion. Pull from your reflections any connection between the statement/class discussion and what you see in the novel. For example, you may consider the statement "We are alone,” then discuss which aspects of this section of the novel connect to it.
All response journals must be labeled and dated. I will check that you do all 3 journal entries (homework checks). Remember that later you will select one of these 3 to submit for a larger grade.