"The Allegory of the Cave" and The Truman Show

"The Allegory of the Cave" and The Truman Show

Here are some sources that will help. Remember to treat Truman and the man who leaves the cave as similar characters. They experience the same “awakening.” So you use a source on Plato to talk about Truman.

http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm

https://philpapers.org/s/Allegory_of_the_cave

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/text-to-text-platos-allegory-of-the-cave-and-in-the-cave-philosophy-and-addiction/comment-page-1/

https://philosophynow.org/issues/32/The_Truman_Show

http://www.joanmaragall.com/fronesis/3/lletres_i_pensament/science/cculture.html

Relation to The Truman Show:

The Truman Show is repeating a story that dozens of other works of popular fiction have used for decades. It is a story that reveals an essential truth about what is happening to society in the 20th Century.

What is that truth? In part, it is about how the media and corporations have begun to surround us with a universe of illusions. From their high-tech control centers, they increasingly script and stage-manage events, creating the danger that we will find ourselves living inside seamless works of theater that we mistake for the world.

Like dozens of characters before him in other works of fiction, the hero in The Truman Show goes on a journey to escape this realm of smoke and mirrors. And then he discovers something unexpected -- what he believed was an open horizon and a way out, is really a wall (http://www.transparencynow.com/truman.htm).

Reading for Thursday 12/28

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_story_of_william_wilson.pdf

Life of Pi

Here is the IMDB.COM page for the film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/

Interviews with the author of the novel:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/nov/26/fiction

http://textualities.net/jennie-renton/yann-martel-interview/

Other articles about the novel/film:

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/French-director-swept-away-by-Life-of-Pi-2565015.php

http://www.theministryrookie.com/2013/02/25/does-the-life-of-pi-prove-the-existence-of-god/

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/25/fiction.reviews1

in Class

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”

1)      O’Connor argued that not only is The Misfit more intelligent than the grandmother but his “capacity for grace” is greater than hers. Do you agree with this? Why or why not? Provide proof of your belief.

2)      Some readers have found the grandmother sympathetic and others have found her a figure of evil, portrayed with imagery often associated with witches. What do you think of her? 

3)      Between The Misfit and the grandmother, who seems to have a more solid foundation in faith?

Definitions of grace: a state of sanctification by God; the state of one who is under such divine influence, elegance and beauty of movement or expression

Quotes from the author:

“All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.”

“Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe it or not.”

“I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's. But behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.”

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”

“While much attention has been paid to the scene between the Grandmother and the Misfit at the climax of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” only passing attention has been paid to a scene early in the story where the Grandmother makes comments from the car about “the cute little pickaninny,” and no explication to date has revealed the Christian mystery behind the Southern manners in the scene. In this crucial passage, through the use of biblical allusion, O'Connor allows the Grandmother the chance to reveal her essential self and prepares the reader for the climax of the story” (Walls).

Southern Culture

http://edsitement.neh.gov/launchpad-flannery-oconnors-journey-through-the-south

The road as a metaphor for life:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8c10073/

Religious Signs in the South:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8a35892/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8c14222/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8c14223/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8c09937/

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Links on Southern Culture:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/regionalism.html

http://edsitement.neh.gov/launchpad-flannery-oconnors-journey-through-the-south

Folow this link for a collection of links about the story:

http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/O’Connor.htm

More on "A Good Man is Hard to Find":
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=7a0d2f82-11ba-4046-80b7-8b3557846338%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4214

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7a0d2f82-11ba-4046-80b7-8b3557846338%40sessionmgr4002&vid=11&hid=4214

http://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=casfac

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/607/784

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall95/Haines.html

O'Connor reading the story and commentary:

http://www.openculture.com/2012/05/rare_1959_audio_flannery_oconnor_reads_a_good_man_is_hard_to_find.html

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jul/05/fresh-look-flannery-o-connor-cartoons

Four collections of essays provide a good range of criticism on O’Connor (These would be found in the Literary Criticism section of a book store or library):

1. The Added Dimension: The Art and Mind of Flannery O’Connor, edited by Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson (1966; rpt. Fordham University Press, 1977).

2. Critical Essays on Flannery O’Connor, edited by Melvin J. Friedman and Beverly Lyon Clark (Hall, 1985).

3. Flannery O’Connor, edited by Harold Bloom (Chelsea House, 1986).

4. Realist of Distances: Flannery O’Connor Revisited, edited by Karl-Heinz Westarp and Jan Nordby Gretlund (Aarhus, 1987).

The Misfit with the grandmother:

Taking the family to the woods:

The author:

"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"

This is an article about villagers mistaking a sex doll for an angel:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/sex-toy-washes-indonesian-beach-locals-angel-article-1.2624725

Magical Realism:

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Magic_realism.html

http://www.english.iup.edu/pagnucci/courses/121/definitions/litdefinition-magicalrealism.htm

This article discusses "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" and magical realism:http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/marquez.htm

Here is a list of fairytales that you may want to reference:http://ivyjoy.com/fables/

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

What makes a story a fairy tale?http://www.voxmagazine.com/blog/2012/10/what-makes-a-fairy-tale/

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jkSzkr4UWDgC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=what+makes+a+story+a+fairy+tale&ots=5INIgjj9fI&sig=-bBpPAXuosHCiUyBu3uFbQmYHOA#v=onepage&q=what%20makes%20a%20story%20a%20fairy%20tale&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-AR9FEgly9wC&oi=fnd&pg=PA64&dq=what+makes+a+story+a+fairy+tale&ots=AcMzBieWQS&sig=UY-nsUqv1cfOsWdlWoEEM7Nr7A8#v=onepage&q=what%20makes%20a%20story%20a%20fairy%20tale&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1esOc6GGtOsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=what+makes+a+story+a+fairy+tale&ots=0d0nbXFdyu&sig=XK7cnjf_z8L06Q5aEzwxBNZbBss#v=onepage&q=what%20makes%20a%20story%20a%20fairy%20tale&f=false


"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"

http://www.academia.edu/1000317/Marquezs_A_Very_Old_Man_with_Enormous_Wings_and_Bambaras_The_Lesson

http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12287

Author's Obit:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/books/gabriel-garcia-marquez-literary-pioneer-dies-at-87.html?_r=0

"The Temp" and "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"

"The Temp" and "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"

The Importance of appearance:
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/the-importance-of-appearances-man-dresses-as-homeless-man-to-prove-nobody-would-help-him-video/592301/

http://www.ridingthetiger.org/2013/03/19/the-importance-of-appearance/

http://www.byui.edu/Documents/Admin_Offices/Advising/PowerOfPersonalAppearance.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/a-facial-theory-of-politics.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/appearances-mean-nothing-or-everything/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/fashion/26looks.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw

Office Culture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/why-you-hate-work.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=OP_WYH_20140602&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=3

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickvaishnavi/2013/03/28/five-must-follow-rules-for-a-successful-office-culture/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/office-culture/

http://www.immihelp.com/newcomer/work-culture-office-environment-usa.html

https://www.themuse.com/advice/rally-the-team-how-to-create-a-cool-office-culture

Culture:

These links discuss cultural differences and also provides a number of links if you go to the bottom of the page. Use the information they provide as outside sources if you are writing your essay about this subject:http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/culture.htm

http://www.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijps/article/view/4510

Here is one on the effects of culture shock:http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=effects+culture+shock&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=tIk6T-mJBaLn0QHXj5GXCw&ved=0CBoQgQMwAA

Links for "The Handsomest Drowned Man In the World":

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=THE+HANDSOMEST+DROWNED+MAN+IN+THE+WORLD&as_sdt=1%2C31&as_sdtp=

This week we will look at “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”, “The Temp” and Edward Scissorhands in class. All three of these stories contain individuals that become part of a community in some way and have profound effects of the people. In “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” it is a corpse that washes ashore that gives the townspeople a new way of looking at their lives, in “The Temp” it is a temp hired in an office that changes the atmosphere of the wor enviroment and in Edward Scissorhands it is a unique young man that forces a rather boring town to see how boring and judgmental they really are. This week pay attention to what these “magical strangers” force the people in the stories to look at it in their lives.