Name ______Date ______

World Lit Enriched Period ____

Ms. Liu

Independent Reading Journaling Task

As you read your chosen novels on your own, show your progress through reading logs. For each log, please include the name, title, and brief summary. Then choose from the following options for journaling:

a)Dialectical Journaling: There will be lines that strike you as interesting, funny, poignant, or even confusing. Keep track of them; they will not only make you think, but will help you remember the spirit of the book. In one column of your notebook, mark the quotes/lines, including the page number and speaker (if applicable). In a separate column, explain why you picked it. What questions come to mind? How does it reveal elements of character, style, theme, or symbolism?

There should be a total of 20-25 quotations, or 4-5 pages of sets.

Example (using Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway):

Write down specific lines from the play that you find to be interesting, exciting, or confusing. Include the speaker (if applicable) & page. / Explain why you choose those lines. What issues or concerns do they bring up? How do you feel about the speaker? Why is it significant to you?
1. “She had a right to his arm, though it was without feeling. He would give her, who was so simple, so impulsive, only twenty-four, without friends in England, who had left Italy for his sake, a piece of bone” (22-23).
2. “But she feared time itself…and felt often as she stood hesitating one moment on the threshold of her drawing-room, an exquisite suspense, such as might stay a diver before plunging while the sea darkens and brightens beneath him…” (44)
3. / 1. Since she says this as they’re walking through the streets of London, watching people, she must have wanted to connect with him. But it looks like she cares about him more than he cares about her. To give your arm to someone like “a piece of bone” is like teasing a dog! Why is she still with him?
2. This illustrates Clarissa’s attitude towards time, with its ability to let popularity and youth fade through the years. I liked the comparison of a waiting room feeling the way a diver would see the sea -- both full of the unknown and of joy.
I wonder if she’s actually upset about not being invited to the party?
3.

b)Traditional Journaling: You will follow the same rationale as the Dialectical Journaling above, but in this case you are writing a narrative. It must show any experiences, connections, and reactions to what you read.

Example (using McCullers’ Ballad of Sad Café):

McCullers writes, "It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved…almost everyone wants to be the lover…the beloved fears and hates the lover, and with the best of reasons” (89). I thought about the possible fears that the beloved might have – the confusion, insecurities, and tiring expectations that must somehow be met. At the same time, I thought about the power that the “lover” might have. Maybe this is a reason why there is always a struggle for understanding, as people struggle to be in control of their relationships.

This connects with my friend’s recent break-up, and her confession that she often felt “this big” (motions with her hands) whenever she talked with him. His ability to demean her – even though it may have been unintentional – showed why it wouldn’t work.

I also wondered, “Can both people have the role of ‘the lovers’, or is it there room for only one?”.

Your entries should be at least half a page (about 300 words) each. Refer to quotations in each entry. Aim for a total of 10-15 entries, or about 5 pages.

Goals:

Make the journaling personal. I expect that your journaling will NOT be full of summary; instead, it should reflect what you are seeing in your chosen book.

Please complete the logs neatly; whether you type or hand-write them, staple the pages and hand them in collectively, with your name and heading at the top left. Do not give me whole notebooks or binders.

You may embellish your log as you wish (drawings, contextual references, etc.), so long as you ensure that your entries show effort in literary interpretation.

Note: The final project for your book will be comprehensive and demonstrative of your reading. Details to follow after completion of journaling and reading your book.