Notes for September 20, Bleak House

CLT 361 Notes for Thursday, September 20^th

Ryan began the class by providing ways to go about literary research. Here are the charts and tools he suggested:

1. Lists of characters: provide their names and the instances in the book where they played an important role along with the chapter/page number. This information can be structured in a chart:

Character Name	Instance (What happened)	Chapter or Page Number
Ex. Lady Dedlock	Acting mysteriously…	Chapter 28

2. Timeline of Events or Plot Line: provide a chronological list of key events. There are different ways one can go about this. Here are some examples:

A Traditional Timeline: OR A List of Events:

Date/Page Number- Event

Ex. Page 198- Richard and Ada got married

Page 198- Esther became friends with Rosa

Page 198- Mr. Tulkinghorn died

OR a Plot Line with narrative/literary elements:

3. Foreshadowing chart: create a chart that gives examples of foreshadowing, the page numbers and what you expect to happen.

Instance of Foreshadowing	Page Number	Hypothesis
Ex. Lady Dedlock notices the hand writing on the documents	Page 87	The person who wrote the document knows the truth about the Jarndyce case.

4. Revelations, Discoveries & Uncoverings: create a chart that organizes important information that has been recently revealed.

What was foreshadowed	What was revealed	It’s implications
Ex. Lady Dedlock was acting mysteriously towards Esther	Esther is Lady Dedlock’s daughter	They now have to build a relationship

5. Places & Spaces: List important places from the text, their descriptions or roles in the story, and the page number of these descriptions:

Location	Description	Page Number
London	Dirty, crowded, foggy	Page 92
Lincoln’s Inn	Quaint, safe, pretty	Page 38
Bleak House	Open, large, many rooms	Page 393

*Ryan said he will go more in depth about this next class.

6. Language: make a list of any dialects, idiomatic expressions, literary references, cultural references, footnotes, or word choices that are significant, interesting, or questionable.

7. Diction: make notes of the author’s word choice including words or terms related to profession, question the authenticity or appropriateness of a character’s vocabulary, what the word choice leads us to feel, think or expect, etc.

8. Notable Passages: list any passages that stand out for their emotion or quality of writing.

Ex. sweeping descriptions, energetic/meaningful/heated dialogue, exposition ideology

*Ryan noted that you don’t need to cover each of these, but the one(s) that stand out or the ones that interest you and will help you on the exams by exploring.

Steve then reminded us that the homework that was due today was to have read up to chapter 32 of Bleak House and chapter 3 in CIS. Next week’s homework is to have read up to chapter 41 in Bleak House. Structure will be in charge of administration.

Next, each group presented their prompts which can be viewed through the course website: http://vulgaranalysis.blogspot.com/