Today we watched the last scene of Fences and finished up our unit on drama/theater. We also went over the upcoming paper. At some point soon, I want to start talking about our midterm. It will cover only what we go over in class.
Here are a few last questions about Fences and its last scene.
-- Why does August Wilson end his play with this last scene? Note that it takes place eight years later and that Troy is now dead. What does this last scene tell us about Troy and his family? How does it conclude the play?
-- What do we learn about the other characters in this last scene? How does this scene develop their characters?
-- Here is the last scene of Death of A Salesman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgm1uEKHeY4
I am also including a brief summary of the play: https://www.bard.org/study-guides/synopsis-death-of-a-salesman
How do these last scenes compare to each other? Is August Wilson writing a response to Death of A Salesman? If so, how is he rewriting this last scene?
-- Consider the very last bit of Fences as Gabriel blows his horn for St. Peter to open the gates for Troy. How does this scene conclude the play? What does it tell you about the characters? about the world of the play? Feel free to compare the film's version with the version you read in our anthology.
-- How has his father's death affected Cory? Why does he not want to attend the funeral? What do you think about Rose's compelling him to come along? Do you think that he did the right thing? Why? Why not?
-- What is Raynell's role in Fences?
-- We've been discussing the characters of Fences as individuals. Could we also consider them as archetypes? Here is a definition of archetype: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/archetype For more information about archetypal literary criticism, see this link: https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/archetypal.crit.html To what extent are the characters archetypes rather than individuals? Why? Why not?
Discuss Troy and Gabriel as brothers and as characters arising from magic realism. For more about magic realism, see this handout from Dallas Baptist University: http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/magical.htm Why does the play begin with Troy's story and end with Gabriel's dance?
New questions:
What do you make of Cory's decision to become a soldier? How does Wilson want us to think about it? Why? How does your knowledge of history affect your opinion? How does your experience with the military?
Do you think that Cory will leave the military? Or will he take Lyons' advice and stay in?
Wednesday we are moving on to fiction, beginning with folklore. Our readings are the folktales "Godfather Death" and "Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead." The readings are available on Blackboard, but here is a link to "Godfather Death": http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm044.html See this link for "Coyote and Eagle": http://www.native-languages.org/wishramstory.htm
How do these folktales handle literary elements such as plot, character, narration, setting, and symbolism?
Compare the folktales we've read to folktales in your tradition.
Discuss the ways in which fiction encourages moral behavior. How does this compare/contrast to drama/theater?
-- Discuss Death, the godson, and his father as characters. Consider that, in Fences, Troy wrestles with Death.
-- Discuss Coyote and Eagle as characters. Why does Coyote go to the land of the dead? Why does he not carry out his mission?
-- Look for other stories about Coyote. How does he differ from story to story?
Here are entries that give background about him and Native American cultures:
1 comment:
IN the last scene we see that the whole family came together as one, and they believe that no matter what happened in the past they will stick together as a family. It also how Rose character is very strong and she never gives up on her family and the memory of her husband.
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