Final grades will be posted by Tuesday of next week, although I will try to get things in on Friday.

MH quote of the day:
"Shoulda slept in" - Oso Grande

Reminders:
1. You do not need your computer for our class any longer.
2. You will have a hard copy of every piece of reading for the final.
3. You may use notes, printed or handwritten.
4. If you have an A in Skyward currently, you will be taking an Alternative Exam that does not require studying previously posted (May 10) exam readings.

Make sure for all of the readings for next week's final exam that you are thinking about the work's meaning, but also paying attention to technical literary elements.
Things to look for:
-Use of common "big ticket" literary elements such as: symbolism, imagery, language patterns, etc.
-Extended/ongoing metaphors as well as individual ones
-Use of perspective
-Use of "categories" of descriptors: weather, time, cycles, etc.
-Individual vs. Big Picture details
-How each deals with life cycles and how we treat the inevitable aspects of life, aging, beauty/worth death, etc.

This is not "everything" you'll need, but it's a good checklist for preparation.

Here is the link for most of the final exam reading for both Honors and Standard.  There may be others added in advance, and there will be one or two that are cold reads on the final.  There will be 50 questions, and they will be somewhat evenly distributed between the sources.

Bring your checked out books back to me.  We are filling out hold slips and signing them tomorrow if you do not.  I will not turn in the holds until next week (Monday or Tuesday) but still doing slips.

May schedule, including Finals Week

7th hour, your final read "test" is tomorrow (Wednesday)

Remember, extra credit WAS DUE LAST FRIDAY unless we worked something out in advance

Book "walk through" information.  This is all the info we would have gone through in class today.

Lord of the Flies:

The most important thematic concept from LOF comes from the William Golding quote that can be found in the notes section at the end of the book in which he states that the point of LOF is that no system of government matters if the people who make up the society are not morally sound.  In other words, rules don't matter if people don't follow them.  That's one of the reasons that you may have noticed that LOF doesn't contain an "enemy" that the boys can unite against to give them a common goal.  The closest thing is the Beast, which they know is made up and in their heads but some also believe is real.  The "problem" in LOF is that Jack views the island almost like an adventure camp where Ralph views it as a survival and rescue operation.  Ralph also holds much more firmly to the idea that they should govern as if they were at home in civilization.  There is some irony in this thinking, as "civilization" is currently involved in a war.  Along the way we also meet Piggy, who represents logic but is so defined by his other traits that nobody listens to him.  Simon represents goodness, but is quiet and reserved.  The littluns are representative of the general population who simply operates/lives under the umbrella of the decision makers in society.  The book follows a pretty clear arc as the boys move from civilized to savage.

Slaughterhouse Five:

As we have mentioned in class, one of the most important aspects of SH5 is not trying to explain every aspect of it, or at least not try to fit them all together.  One thing I would highly recommend is to reread Ch. 1 if you have finished the book.  There is a lot of symbolism in the various anecdotes in Ch. 1 such as the Children's Crusade, the anger of O'hare's wife, the "anti-war book" comment, and the recount of the story of the man who dies in the elevator incident.  Each of these, and some others, lends itself to some explanation of what happens in the rest of the book and how war itself cannot be explained, so the next logical effort seems to be explaining our reaction to war.  Special attention should be paid to the Tralfamadorian view on time and the events that "take place" in our world.  Although it seems to be a philosophy, or almost anti-philosophy, about how things work, Vonnegut seems to be using it more as an acknowledgement that despite the fact that we know war is a terrible thing, the nature of humans means that it will never stop.

Fastfood Nation

Worry less about the food aspect of this book, and more about how the argument is constructed.  Schlosser is not a nutritionist, a chef, a food critic, etc.  He is an investigative reporter/author.  The focus on FFN is much more about awareness of not only what we are eating, but awareness of how we think about food and the cultural elements of consumption of anything, but especially food.  One thing you should pay attention to and make note of is how he connects every aspect of the food industry that he studies back to its cultural impacts and connections to things like: socioeconomics, the American dream concept, political connections, how food mimics societal priorities, etc.

The Glass Castle

In reviewing GC, one of the most important style/organization elements is Walls' habit of ending each chapter with a summative "lesson" of some sort.  It's not always stated directly, but often takes the form of a summary of what she learned about life/her family/Rex/etc. through the telling of that chapter's "story."  Focus on Jeannette's relationship with each family member, and pay attention to how she differentiates between how she felt at the time the events were happening with how she feels about them as an adult looking back.  As long as you can identify a "how this helped shape who I am" lesson for Jeannette for the various stories she tells, you'll be in good shape.

Supplemental reading for the final read choice.  As you read your book, you might consider the "origins" of the problems each present.  I found this NPR article on loneliness interesting in thinking about how people connect to each other and to groups, and how we identify ourselves.

Being "Not Rich" at UM is a google doc that I referenced in class and was part of this week's advisory discussion.  While it is college specific, it has some interesting content in general about navigating a world where you don't have the security of money.

Final Read Choice "mini-test" will be Tuesday, May 8 for all classes.