Blog Post

Chapter 6:

Joe is in Antarctica, enlisted in the navy as a manager radio operator. Joe has been flying, because his pilot died during a 5 day journey between bases.
Why does Chabon shift points of views?

Bruna: He is writing during world war 2 and wanted duel perspectives

Toast: symbolic, joe is not touched with reality any more

Sarah Jane: Joe has a lot of hatred towards Germans

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Quote

Joe tries to land the plane and crashes it and limps out of the plane, and decides that he does not want to kill the Germans. As he attempts to throw his gun, “The American Raised the Gun up across his chest as if to fire in the sky..... the Geologist..... misinterpreted the situation ….. the American had been in the act of tossing the pistol aside.”(pg.464) Mecklenburg is a non violent person who is high on medicine trying to stay awake, preparing for the man (Joe) who was going to kill him. Mecklenburg tackles Joe by mistake and accidentally gets shot.

David: people often act before they think about something

Sarah Jane: following orders, indoctrinated

Toast: Sound of gone gets lost

Mr. Neal: Nothingness, irony Joe in reality kills a German and its not cinematic, but a wrestling match between a Scientist and Artist

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How does Chabon make the last scene very sad?

Joe: hurt ankle, shot in shoulder, and treading through rugged terrain

German: shot, dead weight

Joe is determined to save the German who he just shot.

Jake: “The shock and fragrance of life, steaming red life”- visually riveting, trail of blood

Toast: Mecklenburg’s death is more tragic than the deaths of him family because he did it with his own hands

Courtney: Joe wants to desperately wants to change the situation

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What does Ice represent?

Jake: Vengeance, Hatred
Sarah: Joe has been in a spiritual Antartica while in New York
Mr.Neal: Lack of connection, solitude

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Antarctic expedition, Joe comes across an abandoned hut and sees, a frozen penguin, berries, radio, morphine

Pg. 467-468
“Although the man’s parachute was far beyond his reach. the man was smiling, and pouring a cup of tea.”
-similar to picture Thomas drew
-moving on from family
-needs to return to his own son
-high on morphine
-closure
-forces the reader to compare both Joe’s
-hits reality and understands life

Poorest super hero was Radioman who can travel through radio waves. The Gold key represents when you care about other people and less about yourself and parallels Joe’s situation. Connection between chapter 6 and 7 to the beginning of the book.

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He must learn to think before acting, I personally accuse by brother automatically before assessing the situation.

The next scribe post is Amanda

Sammy and Tracy's first kiss

4/19/11

• Rosa knew Sammy was Gay
• Joe knew but did not want to considerate
• Joe is selfish
• We never really know really who Tracy Bacon is. He is mysterious
• Mysterious origins in comics- power and greatness
• Mysterious origins in real life-  messy problems

p.352

• sammy works at observation deck in the night shift to be somewhat involved in the military
tone of moment of sammy and tracys first kiss:

• electricity- figuratively and literally
• on top of the world
• romantic
• naive
• surprising
• epic and cinematic- like super hero
• symbol for sparks
• homosexuality in the dark so secretive on top of the world. closeted at this time- night
• cigarette- gemstone of heat. make it precious just like the moment
• not threatening- warm and interesting like rosa and joe

p.353

• sparks last sentence
• manly and powerful
• movie its
• “hot” literally
• sparks symbolicly romance

p.380

middle paragraph to the end
tone:
on top of the world, closed off world
the motif of heat is there again- flame
optimistic- own world, future
natural- different intensity
fantasy vs. reality
undertone that they are in the dark

Scribe Post 4/13/11

To start class today, we began by looking for 3 paragraphs of regular plot, 3 paragraphs of style, and three moments that seem insignificant, but are actually quite important.

Here are the moments that the class came up with:

1. p. 287-288: Moment of plot: Letter received from Superman's comic book publisher accuses Kavalier and Clay of copyright infringment
2. p. 208: Moment of style: Descriptive moment talking about inter-twined paths and how it all fits into the story of K&C
3. p. 262:  Moment of desperation wanting brother back
4. p. 255: Sammy is struggling with sexuality when he feels pang of jealousy when seeing Joe and Rosa
5. p. 216: talking about escapist and its importance to K&C
6. p. 275:  Moment of plot:  Joe creates hero, Luna Moth because of his feelings for Rosa.
7. p. 253: Moment of plot:  Joe and Rosa share a moment with an instant connection.  They have their own made up dream language that only they can understand because of their connection.  
1. Sammy see this and also have this connection through language, and now Joe and Rosa have one now and Sammy and Joe's relationship
2. Right before the kiss, "moths scattered"
1. Moth = Death, decay
1. Foreshadowing the decay of the relationship between Sam and Joe
8. p. 178-179:  Moment of hyperbolic description when the Escapist is trapped.  Important line:  "His (Joe's) sense of bureaucracy, of being powerless to help or free his family..."
1. Joe has repeatedly tried to free his family from Prague by going to the consulate but is blocked by "red tape"

and the next scribe post is,  SJ

Figurative Language

4/22/11
- We began class by finding good examples of figurative language.
- "figurative language is language of comparison," - Mr. Neal
- Pg. 372, "Boyfriend...in the other."
- Words "boyfriend" and "moth" connect; they both are evolving, both have sense of entrapment, meaningful, sudden.
- We wrote in our writing journals about this quote and wrote our own analysis of it and shared with the class.
- We watched a short movie trailer for Kavalier and Clay and saw the delineation of one's perception of the novel.
- We did the same process of analysis for page 165, "There was a dank...knock them dead." This was followed by another writing entry in our writing journals.

Symbols in Parts I and II of Kavalier and Clay

What is the Golem Symbolic of?
The Golem serves as a saviour to Josef and Sam because it is the hopes of them becoming rich through creating a comic book. They both want money and despite the fact that they will use it for different reasons, their goals are pretty similar. Golem is an emblem of hope.

The Golden Key is symbolic of freedom. Freeing yourself from your bonds is the ability to make the thing that is hindering you (society, people, YOURSELF,etc.) less important. Being able to have closure on your problems and regard them as steppingstones rather than the “orange warning cones”.

And the next Scribe is BRUNA!

Scribe Post April 2011

Notes on Kavaleir and Clay:

• What are you confused by:
• How does he get to new york?
• travel restrictions put on Jews, he only get to certain places Lithuania still offers travel passes to Jews, goes to japan, then to u.s because they accept people from japan--restrictions on Jews were gradual (curfew, can’t live certain places, walls on neighborhoods, ghettos, taking Jews out)
• Secret society-cabala came out of Prague---golem made out of river clay acts as protector of Jews. Germans were into cult and wanted to find it.
• To find it they acted as census people and asked what their names were and if they were Jewish---they would put star of David on peoples window.
• process of elimination, narrowed it down to 2 apartments P.44-5 “His face took...”---rips up the records of the Jews because he didn't want it to fall into the hands of the Germans
• Activity on figurative language:
• P.49(middle-third paragraph “A generation....”
• Thought apartment was empty, but it was a brothel. Kornblum knew the prostitutes. Stayed for the night. Ask the kids and they know where the window of the apartment is where no one has been seen. Being compared to a young, blank planet. Empty window-empty planet undiscovered, attraction--gravity. Kids have the knowledge, adults don’t. Intensity added to the window by comparing it to a planet.
• P.58 (second paragraph) “For some reason...”
• Description, gone back into parents apartment, dad has collection of oddities. Giant has tailored suit--needed it to put on golem because in Judaism no clothes on corpses. Labels have fathers name on them. Hyphens compared to stylized bolts of lightning. Writing fast hyphens can be curved, connects two words, lighting connection between ground and sky. His father is very important to him. Striking to him how they need to leave. They are in a shit storm. Reading the writing of a dead man--knows his family can die at any moment.

The danger in Prague forced Joe to escape his hometown and leave his family behind. According to wikipedia, 277,000 Jews were killed in Prague. 345,000 people in total. Joe could sense what was coming. Leaving your family behind in a brutal situation is a tough decision I know I wouldn't be able to make. Would you

Scribe Post: February 1

English Notes February 1, 2011

Final Discussions on K & C

-Sammy decides to leave; he is going to L.A. to pursue the lifestyle he wishes

-Joe tells Sammy can’t leave, because Joe just bought Empire Comics; Sammy responds he may be able to participate from afar

-Rosa crying while preparing sleeping arrangements—she has the opportunity to reclaim her lover but is losing her husband and good friend

-Sammy re-writes the card to say, “Kavalier and Clay.”

-In what ways does this resolve major conflicts and issues?

-Sammy is forgiving Joe and has welcomed him back into his life. He and Joe are a “brotherhood” once more.

-Card may also represent the golden key. Sammy sacrificed for Joe and is now going to claim his own life.

-Issues of Sammy’s sexuality are more clearly defined. Joe is aware of Sammy’s preferences and –in some ways- the Senate hearings were a relief for Sammy in terms of “coming out.”

-The end of the book brings more stability and clarity for Rosa and the other relationships—Sammy to Joe, Joe to Tommy, and Rosa to both men

-Parallel story: Mayflower sacrifices everything he owns for the freedom of another, Big Al… In the primary story, Sammy sacrifices a lot for Joe. He led the life Joe was supposed to lead for a while (husband to Rosa, father to Tommy).

-Golem goes from being light to heavy.

-What is Chabon trying to show with the change in weight?

-The Golem is now heavy with pain of loss, with souls of families.

-Golem was used for to protect Jews; millions of lives filled with suffering or loss are in box.

Scribe Post 1/19/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TemK6CF6lF0&feature=related

Yesterday, brave Beaver Country Day children trekked into the unknown. Some call it vast, some call it beautiful, others call it dangerous, but to Joe Kavalier it is simply Antarctica. In part 5 of Kavalier and Clay, Chabon decides to focus on Joe and his life in the Navy at a base in Antarctica. While Joe isn’t fighting arms to arms in Europe with Nazis, it seems as though he gets his chance. After a tragic carbon monoxide poisoning leaving only Joe and another solider, who goes by Johnny, it seems as though they will never get rescued. One long, cold, wintry day, Joe hears German over the radio. Immediately in his state of cabin fever he tells Johnny that he wants to go after the German, who ends up being a geologist. Johnny fixes up his sea plane and the two head off, midair Johnny dies of a bursting appendix. Joe seems to survive and continues on to clash with fantasy meeting reality. All Joe has ever wanted was to kill a German, and while the one he finds is a geologist no less, there is no stopping him. It is when the two meet that Chabon’s focal point changes to the German geologist, we find that the geologist is fond of Americans and is excited to be able and talk in German, “no less” to a young and educated man. A scuffle breaks out, which in short, Joe kills the German. As he drags the corpse through the tundra, it does not dawn on him until he has reached his destination, that he has murdered a man. In that moment, it breaks Joe’s heart to realize what he has done. Leaving his parents behind, Thomas dying, not saying goodbye to Rosa without knowing she was pregnant with his child had not broken his heart until then. The moment Joe struck the German’s head, reality met his fantasy world, the dream of punching Hilter, just like the Escapist does is suddenly not fulfilled. We then find Joe slowly drifting into depression and drug use. In the cabin that he used, tourists later find the picture of Houdini that Thomas drew for Joe, discarded. By leaving it behind, Joe has left go of his family just like he did when he burnt Rosa’s letters and pictures of their child, Thomas.

THE END

P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4XILM4Etg
Alexys-wanna pick this up?

Scribe Post 1/7/11

On Friday, we talked about Part 3 of Kavalier and Clay. The first thing we did was answer questions the class had about Part 3. There were no questions except for "What leverage does Sammy get over Anapol?" The answer to this question was that Sammy had proof of Anapol directly asking him to "make [him] a superman" for Empire Comics.

The next thing we talked about pertaining to Part 3 was the idea of intercalary chapters. Intercalary chapters are chapters whose subjects digress from the main plot-line. Chapter 13 is an intercalary chapter because it talks about the adventures of Luna Moth rather than Joe and Sammy.

We also talked about how Rosa is an incarnation of Luna Moth. The invention of Luna Moth is a progression for Sammy and Joe that shows the evolution of their work from copy to pure creation. This is because initially Anapol asked them to make a Superman, which was inspired by Joe's anger with Hitler and what he was doing to Joe's homeland and family. The Escapist was powered by anger, while Luna Moth was created from pure imagination. The creation of Luna Moth may have also been driven by the limits that Empire Comics was starting to put on The Escapist. In a prominent example, Jack Ashkenazy, the boss of Joe and Sammy, tells them that they need to tone down the aggression towards Nazis in their comic book because it was causing them business problems. Empire Comics wanted to make a deal with a sock company, but because the CEO of the company was German, he did not want to work with Empire Comics in result of their offensive comic book.



The next topic we addressed was the name of Part 4: The Golden Age. We said that Golden Age had the connotations of money and the high point of careers/relationships, but most importantly that "they don't last". In history, we know that any Golden Age that a country or continent has experienced is temporary, or the nation would be thriving to this day. Some ideas were that Sammy and Joe's "big money" was not going to last, and their comic book company was going to fail later. Another idea was that the two of them were going to break off from Empire Comics and they were going to start doing better than they were before.

Photo Credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcbiyNXPG4ZDurSUAX9DmHvomfIqJ-LH6u76t67pdoAQq6-rDIT76ZfbORdWeKhf6XYy4VgYluT539rUB_mQVNwTKn2vZOaClG2vxoBjH20TJ7kl-_SDob0vasj6E8cufgel_VTJ5p1I/s320/luna.jpg

The next scribe will beeeeeeeeeee ALEXYS!

Scribe Post 10/28

Today in class, we discussed some of our points of confusion within the text.
One of them was when, after the narrator comes out of the bushes after the night in Harlem, he falls down into a hole. The narrator thinks they are cops because they are white, but they are only regular men who want to join in on the looting. The narrator, as soon as he realizes they aren’t cops, turns to run and falls into an open hole. He ends up realizing that there is nowhere else he can go, and it becomes the place where he has an epiphany about his life. This is the same hole where he is living at the beginning of the book, in the prologue.

Important quote: “This is the way it’s always been, only now I know it”
Other times when the narrator has been trapped in darkness by white people:
When he was in the hospital in chapter 11, and he couldn’t move or leave, or even remember his name, and he was being kept there and watched by white people.
His entire life, he has been trapped in his own metaphoric “hole”, and the ideas and actions of white people kept a lid on his self-expression. He has always been stuck, in a way, because everything that happened to him in life was controlled by other people.
Examples:

• When he was sent to college by a wealthy white man, only to be expelled for something that was out of his control
• When he was sent into the city with false hope that he would get a job
• The Brotherhood used him as a figurehead and made his decisions for him

This is an article from The Huffington Post on a similar, but more modern topic:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-christie/post_1156_b_775111.html

We discussed the American Dream, and whether or not it is accessible to all people in this country. We agreed that, at least according to Ellison, the likelihood that a person will be successful in this country depends on which social group you belong to and where you were born. Some people are born in situations which make them more likely to reach the idyllic “American Dream”.

We also discussed that the symbol of his castration during the dream sequence can be seen as a representation of the narrator's loss of identity. He retaliates by telling them that they have stopped him from creating more generations of people for them to oppress. He expresses hope that the next generations will not be as oppressed as this generation.

The next scribe is: Jordan Tucker

Invisible Man Discussion

Today in class we discussed what the symbol of “invisibility” means. He realizes that the is just a puppet. He can make an effect on people, but nobody takes him seriously. An example of this is after he drove Mr. Norton and went to explain what was going on. No matter what he said he was going to be kicked out of collage. Similar to how you humor a child whenever he/she says something, weather or not you believe it. We also discussed how the event of falling into the hole is similar to how he is treated thought the book. The white man was always above him and forces him to stay in the dark.

Confusing things explained:

In the beginning of Chapter 22, Invisible man was arguing with the brotherhood. They were arguing about Invisible man organizing a funeral without permission. They wanted Invisible man to be part of a unit rather then having opinions about things. They wanted to use him as a puppet.

    Clifton was called a traitor for selling Sambo dolls, which is a racial slur. Sambo dolls are dolls that exaggerate the facial features of African-Americans. Another reason is because Clifton did not want to be treated as a puppet by the brotherhood.
    The hole that Invisible man was in at the end of the book is the basement that he was in during the prologue.

The next scribe is... Sam B.

10/18 Symbols in the Invisible Man

In class we discussed some of the recurring symbols in Invisible Man and what they may mean. We started with the Grandfather. We discussed how the Grandfather is one of the first symbols in the book and is returned to after almost all bad situations in the book. The grandfather seems to represent the black man being forever beneath the white man unless he fights to over come it. Another very important symbol is colors specifically black and white. These are symbols that are apparent throughout the book, but shown most powerfully in the Liberty Paints factory. In the factory the Invisible Man has to add 10 drops of a black substance to each bucket of white paint. Eventually the Invisible Man notices the paint has a sort of gray tint to it. This draws attention to the name of the paint, "Optic White." The color white itself is a very multi-layered symbol within the book, and includes White America, America itself and purity in some cases. The third important symbol we discussed was veils. Veils are mentioned few times in the book, but the idea of the Founder lifting the veil can be seen several times, for example with the letters. Veils involve a form of willful ignorance among the characters. The next scribe shall be BARROW!!!

Scribe Post 10/20

In the beginning of class, we had a grammar lesson on parallelism (similar ideas or phrases joined together in the same sentence in a grammatically correct way). This is a good website to practice and learn parallelism: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/

During the Invisible Man discussion, we were asked to think about the key symbols we thought were the most significant and powerful in the book so far.

It was decided that Eyes signify a number of things:

1. The inner and true self. On page 102, the narrator says, "As we approached a mirror Dr. Bledsoe stopped and composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask, leaving only the sparkle of his eyes to betray the emotion that I had seen only a moment before." In this quote, the narrator says that the only evidence of Bledsoe's real emotions is in his eyes.

2. How he is viewed within society and the larger world. Jordan took us to page 336 when the narrator says, "Perhaps simply to be known, to be looked upon by so many people, to be the focal point of so many concentrating eyes, perhaps this was enough to make one different; enough to transform one into something else." He describes how the way the world sees you can change the person you are.

3. Someone's point of view. Karan noted that on page 343 the narrator says in his speech, "Think about it, they've dispossessed us each of one eye from the day we're born. So now we can only see in straight white lines." The message is that they have developed a parochial view of equality. It goes back to how the Institute taught in one way. What's interesting is the use of "white" as an adjective before "lines," which could mean that whites are responsible for their blindness.

Colors of animals was another key symbol. David pointed out that a quote on page 337, "three white men and three black horses," signifies that whites come before blacks and thats how its always going to be.

Also, the juxtaposition of the colors black and white throughout the novel is a symbol of hierarchy of society. Mr. Neal pointed out that Ellison uses these colors at Tod Cliftons funeral because Harelem is rising up and shutting out the brotherhood who abandoned them. They're taking control from whites and gaining power but it's hard to keep it.

We also discussed the distortion in the color white (ex. the coal painted white).

Guilded - wood w/ thin layer of gold; "the perfect image that if you just scratch it shows the corruption underneath." - Mr. Neal

**Remember to continue the conversation on racial stereotypes in the next class.

The next scribe is Courtenay!

Scribe Post 10/12/10 & 10/14/10

These past two classes we have discussed a few topics, first the Invisible Man chapters 11-15, then three readings from the Norton Reader, and lastly writing techniques to use within descriptive writing. Our first class discussions began with the Invisible Man, so we will start with that.

Starting off class, we discussed any concerns or comments that we had about the chapters -- questions, confusion, etc. A lot of the preliminary confusion surrounded how the man actual arrived in the hospital in chapter 11, which was first voiced by Sarah Jane. It was then clarified by Mr. Neal that it was a result of the explosion that occurred in the previous chapter, but we then went into further discussion surrounding the symbolism within that scene. Toast brought up some good points, namely that perhaps his "third eye" represented knowledge, or power in a spiritual sense, and that the repetition of grey was relating to the fact that the man was starting to see the world in different ways, rather than a convoluted black and white vision.

Next, Bruna brought up the idea of the "white man's burden" being portrayed through the Brotherhood. She noted that despite the fact the man was nowhere close to being an articulate speechmaker, it was interesting how they asked him to help them campaign. This then brought the class to the conclusion that they, in fact, just wanted to have a minority to help support their cause through the manipulation of marginalized minorities.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days later, we are brought to the 14th and we start of class with a quiz on our personal vocabulary words. Right after this, we dive into the three Norton Reader essays; "He Said no to Internment," "Saved by Strangers," and "Chasing Evil."

We started our discussion with Mr. Neal asking which story did we enjoy the most and the response was varied. Karan and David expressed their like of "He Said no to Internment," because of the historical interest, after which Noah talked about why he liked "Chasing Evil," because it gave greater depth into a story he already knew about -- then Jordan described how much she enjoyed "Saved by Strangers," because of both the writing style and the humanity that was found within it. Overall, throughout the class there was what seemed to be an almost equal dispersion of who liked what.

After this, we broke up into small groups to discuss the writing styles and techniques within each of the essays. After regrouping as a class, we shared what we had come up with. Style choices that came up were: factual information that wasn't particularly descriptive, but informative, colorful language, and constructing sentences so that they weren't flowery, but still provided good descriptions.

Afterwards we worked on our own writing journals, which Toast shared with the class. It was a lovely story about the French countryside that compelled some people to tears, after which class ended.

The next scribe is . . . Sara Radin!

Scribe Post 10/12/10

Today in class, we discussed the revision of our personal narratives. We were given 15 minutes to work on it in class. We talked about how revision is the action of putting in sentences and taking them out. Revision is also the insertion of descriptive and figurative language. One idea that we didn't say was that editing is NOT revision. Revision is specifically the addition (or subtraction)of language that adds to the essay or piece as a whole. After these revisions we discussed what questions we had on chapters 11-15. A few topics we talked about:
-When the narrator is being operated on, he is getting a lobotomy without his head getting cut open. He is in some sort of machine.
-The narrator believes that the doctors are out to get him and he establishes that the purpose of the operation is to "cure" him of questioning society and how it works.
-The woman at the end of chapter 11 with the red delicious apple is a symbol of Eve, and the meaning behind this symbol is that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge, and the narrator has been reprogrammed to not question things like Adam and Eve did.
-When the narrator finally speaks up in chapter 13, his speech is terribly formed; he doesn't know the name of the leader he tries to mention, and he stutters multiple times. But, in spite of all this, he still manages to speak out and revert back to his earlier state.
-One important thing we took from this speech is that the narrator is not making a speech for the brotherhood because of his good speaking technique, but actually because he is a bad speaker. His lack of speech making skills show in his speech, and the brotherhood is aware of this and have him speak to make him a bad example of his race.

The next scribe is....








THE TAUSMEISTAAA
(Taus)

Scribe Post 10/5/10

Today in class we discussed the latter part of Chapter 10 in Invisible Man, and we talked about making making invisible things visible.

We discussed three events.

1)The narrator walking in on the meeting at the paint factory. Mr. Neal pointed out that this party that he walked in on will come to symbolize the communist and socialist parties of the time.

2) The next event in the chapter we covered was the narrator's fight with Mr. Brockway. The invisible man thought that Mr. Brockway had stabbed him; when in reality, he had merely bitten him. This is an example of the black on black racism that goes on throughout the book, as well as demonstrating the invisible mans anger issues. It can also connect back to his fight in the prologue-he believed the man was trying to kill him, when he really was not.

3)The third event we discussed was Mr. Brockway setting up the accident in the paint factory. This was a symbol for manipulation of power. People in power often manipulate it so that the lower people fight amongst themselves-this accident was a symbol and an example of that.

The next thing we did was discuss how to make things that are invisible, visible. For five minutes, we looked for things that were made in china. We found 34 things. The point was to take an abstract idea-China is the world's factory-and make it visible. We started reading George Orwell's "Down the Mine", which takes an invisible group-coal miners-and makes them visible.

And the next scribe is Sam!

Invisible Man Chapters 8-10 Class Discussion

On a sleepy Monday morning, the 11th grade English class came together. Taus started the questions rolling by asking Mr. Neal what his favorite element was. Lets just say Mr. Neal had a difficult time answering. First siding with Au (gold) and ending with Barium. As a class we then discussed the chapters 8-10 in Invisible Man that were read over the weekend. We analyzed those chapters by going over thoughts or questions us students had come up with. We particularly went into depth of young Mr. Emerson, Taus giving us the lead, “Is there something wrong with him?”, he asked. Mr. Neal replied with, “There is nothing wrong with him per say, but there is definitely something invisible that Ellison is trying to make visible”. With that question said and put out into the minds of us students, books were torn into trying to find the answer.

We began analyzing young Mr. Emerson’s ways and some came up with answers. We first described him, he was nervous, odd, that there was something up with him. Imogene gave a wild guess “He is gay”, Alexys connected the gold cuff links that young Mr. Emerson wore back to Dr. Bledsoe.

In the end as a class we decided that young Mr. Emerson is exotic and probably gay, but was trying to help Invisible Man the whole way by telling him that he did not in fact want to meet with his father because he was a cruel soul. At the end of his spiel he tells the Invisible Man that he already was his fathers prisoner and that the Invisible man should not follow into his footsteps.

Thats it folks....!

The next Scribe-r (?) is EMMY...good luck.

-Imogene Edson

Invisible Man Chapter 8-10.

Reactions on Ch 8-10 of IM

Bruna: Narrator never says his name.

Why? Because he is invisible; symbolism behind every African American person-he could be anyone.

Noah: More of a positive sections.

Jay: Going to NY, how he describes Harlem.

Courtney: Homeless man and the dog?

Reactions to the letter:: "Not fair, game is exposed"

"Vail is being lifted"

Recognizing his invisibility. He is starting to realize the hypocrisy of the social structure.

Kike-Racial slur for a Jewish person.

Mr. Emerson: Nice, polite, how he says; "Have a seat please", he is different.

What is odd? Something he might be hinting at?--

Descriptions of eyes. Mr. Emerson vs. Bledsoe

Symbolism-Exotic bird in the cage. People that have important things to say are often trapped in a cage.

Page 180-Description of office

Foreshadowing what is about to come.

First Paragraph-Jay-"Same as all other white people, foreshadowing it will be different"

Page 187-

"Going to tell the truth"

Bottom of 187-anything odd?; "Jim and Huck Finn; Why go back; So much you can do here where there is more freedom; My father considers me as one of the unspeakables; curious about what lies behind the face of things?"

Ellison makes him seem like he is above every one else-Karan

Beating around the bush, wants to tell IM about Bledsoe's intentions, is he trying to be professional by not speaking directly?-Sara

Everyone's following what they think should be the norm-David

Hiding something from his past that we don't know about-Sarah Jane

Mysterious person in higher power-Amanda

More equal rights, bring out liberties, Emerson does not agree with his father, does not want to follow in his footsteps-Bruna

Mr. Emerson is a homosexual. Mr. Neal is stating it "because he is a professional reader".

Swing his hips, touches his knee, 'unspeakable'

Famous book by Sigmund Freud-Totem and Taboo

Symbols in ch 10 tomorrow.

Next scribe is.... Jake!

Hip-Hop Speaks to Children

Today, Mr. Neal began the class discussion of Invisible Man with a question/statement:
- "I'm interested in your reaction about the book" - Mr. Neal (1:40 PM)

There were many responses throughout the class, and varying opinions.
- "Confusing..."
- "I'm really getting into the book!" - Bruna Gomes
- "...great adjectives."
The class then moved onto talk about Invisible Man beginning with the statue on the school campus:

Statue: Lifting the Veil of Ignorance
The class had different ideas of what the statue represented: Standing man has open hand, offering help, opening the other man's eyes. This discussion led to the point that Ellison is being purposefully ambiguous in his description of the statue. We can't quite tell if the standing figure is helping or hurting the kneeling figure...this image highlights the conflicting themes in the chapter.The statue is the standing man is the founder of Tuskegee, Booker T. Washington.
- "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." - Booker T. Washington

The statue is integrated in Invisible Man as shown on Page 36:
"Then in my mind's eye I see the bronze statue of college Founder, the cold Father symbol, his hands outstretched... I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more firmly..."

Talk about the White Community immersed with the Black Community
- Jordan Tucker talks about subtle racism sometimes present in situations similar to those at University, where white men try to help in a poor area. At times people feel, "It's like a Shepherd leading sheep" (2:06 PM)
- "Norton's character is finding justification in all those atrocities people like the Truebloods commit." - David Jaquet (2:09 PM)

Hip-Hop Speaks to Children
- We listened to "From the Creation" by Val Gray Ward to hear the cadence of a sermon in a Southern Baptist church of the time. We pointed out that Ellison is satirically describing such a sermon on p. 113, highlighting a "new slavery" created by institutes such as Tuskegee (at least in his opinion).

Jordan Tucker shall be the next scribe

"This is Not Just a Book it's literature, it's art"

Today in class we discussed the book Invisible Man and the many events within the book. We came to realize that “ the book is hard to follow and it is very challenging trying to decipher all the events and their symbols”. We discussed the many cultural reference in the book which are done in a dream like state. We spoke in great depth about Mr.Norton visiting Jim Trueblood’s house and the connotations behind the visit, along with the notion of this “animal experiment on blacks”. We see that Mr.Norton is this affluent white man who is in support of social justice and equality for all. It is implied that Jim Trueblood is only kept around because he is the only man in town who has done something like this to his daughter. Having discovered this, Mr.Norton also wants to question Mr.Trueblood and see what really happened. Because of all this questioning we see possibly there is this "experiment" going on with all the African Americans.

Continuing on from the cultural reference we analyzed the message and purpose behind the statue that is at Tuskegee University. While discussing the significance and purpose behind the statue the question we grappled with the most was “ What is the veil of ignorance?”.

While getting past the notion of the veil of ignorance, along with cultural references to African Americans we spoke much about the influence that the South Baptist Church has on this book. We highlighted page 113 in the book as major example of the Southern Baptist Church influence. While in class Mr.Neal showed us what a Baptist sermon might sound like through Nikki Giovanni’s interpretation of “The Creation”.

And the next scribe is..... Imo. :)