Friday, February 5, 2010

Quiz #2 (Take home: Due in class 2-8-10)

On page 188 (vol. 2, ch. 2) of Hope Leslie you will encounter a scene in which the following words are spoken:

‘God forbid! . . . My sister married to an Indian!’

If we were to do a spot-passage quiz on Monday, this would be one of the passages I would ask you to identify. Since we are a bit behind in this course—and since a take-home quiz will conserve ten minutes of class time and perhaps make for a more focused discussion—I’m going to go ahead and make Quiz #2 a take-home quiz.

For Monday, type up a 400-500 word (or 1-page, single-spaced) response to the following questions. Bring your response paper to class.

Who speaks these words? To whom is she speaking? And above all, why does she say them?

To answer the “why” question, think about two things. First, what is going on in the character’s mind that would move her to say them? And, second, why might Sedgwick have included this scene in the novel? What risks do you see her taking, if any? Does it make you think differently of the characters involved?

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