Hebdomodels (Updated 1/31)

Jump to the update--a fuller hebdomadal example.

This first round of hebdomadals was maybe a little weaker than I had expected, which tells me I did a poor job explaining what I was looking for in class and in the assignment itself.

I reward hebdomadals that are specific, rigorously analytical, and original. These are all challenging qualities to maintain while still writing expansively about both text and meaning and while still connecting your reading to that of Prof. Wolfe.

By way of showing you the sorts of writing I'm looking for, here are two paragraphs from two different writers.

This first paragraph gives us a strong, specific review of the lecture from last Tuesday. Notice particularly how the author doesn't mince words: the sentences are phrased actively and are rich with textual and analytical detail. The author details each connection between text and argument.

The main argument in Ray’s lecture was that Faulkner presented different perceptions of time and space, and the body’s relation to them, through different characters in As I Lay Dying. Ray made his points by cross-referencing answers to questions including ‘How does Faulkner represent time (or space) as subjective?’ and ‘How does Faulkner mix time and space?’ We see subjectivity in the way Tull measures time by the beginning and ending of the singing, while Vardaman measures time in periods of continuous events. Anse puts the concepts of time and space together when he speaks of the long wait and distance of Addie’s burial journey and her passage from earth to heaven, while Dewey Dell combines time, space and bodies while thinking about the baby developing in her womb through the repetition of “New Hope 3 mi.” and “Too soon.” These examples show the variety of perceptions about time and space and the ways the ideas can be merged. They reveal to us something of the characters’ individual experiences, knowledge, opinions, and thought processes.

But, of course, a strong summary was only half the assignment. The second half--in which the topic asked you to expand on or to question the lecturer's argument--called for you to write in your own voice exclusively, and with evidence and analysis of your own extraction. This is the guts of what I'm going to be asking you to do this semester, and I wanted to give you a good example of what this looks like. Lauren (314) contributed this gem of a paragraph:

I agree with the topic of this lecture; however I think that Faulkner’s commentary on the subjectivity of time and space is less profound than his use of character narration to show the importance of point of view. With each character he demonstrates that time and space are subjective, yes, but he also demonstrates how nearly everything else in life is subjective as well depending on the person who is viewing it. For example, nearly every character in the book (maybe with the exception of Cora) views Darl as an outsider, yet he seems to have the most insight on nearly everything. He can pick a person apart, reveal their deepest secrets without words, via observation. We see this when he discovers Dewey Dell’s secret pregnancy and Addie’s adultery. Even something as universal as death, death of a mother at that, is viewed differently by each character. Here, Faulkner not only makes the point that Time is not universal, he makes the point that nothing is universal. Furthermore, if Faulkner is indeed arguing for this fact, he brings up the topic of life’s devastating absurdity. This is evident in Anse. Anse, who has never worked a day in his life and has led a seemingly selfish existence, only becomes stubborn about pleasing his wife when she is dead. Death consumes this family, they are trying their own lives for the request of someone who no longer has a life.

Notice that Lauren is using the lecture topic as a springboard for her own approach to the text, moving from Ray's questions about subjectivity and time to the larger (as she conceives them) questions of subjectivity inherent in the very style of the text's narration.

Note that Lauren is not close reading the text--which I didn't ask you to do this first time around--so her statements about As I Lay Dying tend towards generality. I hope that the next time around you can all offer complex approaches to important textual and analytic questions through the agency of a close reading of a passage from the text.

Please, if you have any questions about hebdomadals or my comments on them don't hesitate to email me: I'm always excited to work with students individually on the way they put their analyses together. You might also consider emailing me a draft of your hebdomadal two or three days early so I can give you some early feedback.

(Update 1/31)

Sebastian (314) takes a different approach than Lauren does above, playing with the counterargument to Prof. Wolfe's position. What I really like here is how comfortably Sebastian moves from discussing the structure of both the lecture and the text to thinking about how these details reveal important tonal ideas.

During today’s lecture Professor Wolfe furthered his analysis of whether the Bundren family is represented as noble and successful heroes or as failing fools throughout their mythic quest in As I Lay Dying. He stuck to his original claim that they deal poorly with their challenges and that Faulkner’s treatment of them is satirical in nature. He initially broke his argument into three sub-questions but ended up focusing heavily on Cash’s character and the question of if the tone of the novel is more grotesque, and therefore pessimistic, than it is heroic. He cited that Cash, arguably the most likeable of the family, did nothing to help Darl, his closest brother, when he was getting dragged off for burning Gillespie’s barn, an action that he himself admits was an attempt to do justice to their dead mother (pg. 232-233). The professor then went on to cite the idiotic cement casting of Cash’s leg and Peabody’s ridiculing of Cash’s inability to acknowledge the stupidity of the situation and Anse’s orchestration of it (pg. 239-240). Professor Wolfe concluded from these examples that Faulkner’s portrayal lends few redeemable qualities to the Bundren family throughout their journey.

The professor’s argument, while very understandable, does not take into consideration the author’s stance on success and failure. In the beginning of the lecture the professor cited an interview of Faulkner’s in which he criticized Hemmingway for never taking any chances. To Faulkner success is not to succeed in something you are already good at but to find something challenging and attempt it regardless of the outcome. They endured “the two greatest catastrophes man can suffer” (lect. 1/19) and not only did they survive them both but were also able to carry with them the burden of a loaded and rotting coffin. The fact that they set out to accomplish something they had never done before with minimal means would, in Faulkner’s eyes, give them the nobility they seem to lack when setting barns on fire and trying to mend bone with concrete. The way in which the family deals with their trials matters not. This line of thinking does however begin to falter when taking into consideration the motives of the family. Cash, Darl, and Jewel display no ulterior motives in their quest but the rest of the family each has their own personal reason for staying on. Dewey Dell’s need for an abortion, Vardaman’s desire for his train set and Anse’s longing for teeth and his secret woman all lead to an uncertainty in what Faulkner’s opinion really was of the Bundrens. When looking at the sacrifices each of the three older brothers make in contrast to the lack of sacrifice in the other three it its possible to see a certain implication. Perhaps in Faulkner’s eyes there exists a need to give up something important of your own in order to truly achieve or succeed.

By the way, don't let these buttoned-up examples steer you away from writing more conversational hebdomadals or from experimenting creatively with the tone and organization of your responses to the texts and lectures. I'd be excited to see you moving away from the stated hebdomadal topics to explore the texts in ways you find more compelling!