I've been super behind with this read, but am starting to really pick up steam now. I found the effect of the back-and-forth between narratives (mostly Charles, Adam, Cathy in this section) and then seeing them all converge to be so powerful!
I also love your thoughts about the names in this book. It's clear the names hold a lot of significance - even the fact that Cyrus' first wife remains nameless...super interesting. My oldest son is named Charles, so I know that the original meaning of Charles is "free man". Definitely keeping an eye out for how that may show up in his character.
It’s been such a rewarding reread so far-I haven’t read it since high school. So many passages I’m preparing to enter into my commonplace journal. I find I can appreciate the craft of Steinbeck’s writing so much more now that I have a lot more quality literature under my belt and now that I’m not reading in order to remember information for a test. I also remember being so so disturbed by the darkness, especially by Cathy, as a high schooler such that I struggled to keep reading the book at times. And I have that same sense of disturbance at confronting such a moral monster, but I have a better handle on facing it/seeing the potential good being set against it, it’s no longer the only thing looking large in the story. And I think it’s very biblical in that respect quite aside from the specific parallels/perversions of well-known biblical stories. We have evil/monstrousness depicted very Bally in the Bible and it’s not always explicitly condemned/given the justice we want it to receive-and it can’t receive that justice because that won’t happen until we get the new heavens and new earth.
Ah the beauty of not reading to remember information for a test! I’m reading Something They Will Not Forget by Joshua Gibbs right now and he talks a lot about this being a problem in modern education.
There is an old Circe talk by Angelina Stanford that talks about giving a test or essay right after someone finishes a book is like asking a winner of a race, “how does it feel” when he/she can barely catch his breath!
Ah Cathy! I think it does take a reread and a mature mind to appreciate mere goodness as much as being appalled by evil
That's such a good way to put it. I love Angelina Stanford. And as someone who was trained as a teacher in more modern education methods/went to public school with those methods, it's been really interesting having taken time away from the classroom and listening to alternative perspectives/methodologies. And that's a great way to put it, I was definitely lost in being appalled, especially since I was just very sensitive in general as a teen
I am so interested in your thoughts as a teacher! I went to Pubic school but my only really teaching experience has been with kids at home. My husband is a teacher in a private school and is always trying to figure out how to test well. He calls it the white whale of education.
I taught private Catholic schools but they mostly used/expected normal teaching/testing methods. I love your husbands description-that feels so accurate. And no one is ever happy with what you decide. You test too often, and you’re overwhelming the kids. A few big tests/projects-unfair that a kids grade is tanked by one “bad” project/test. Multiple choice can be guessed at/people can argue a question wasn’t well-written, traditional writing assignments are unfair to visual/other learners, etc. My most successful assessments tended to be a) Debates/dialogues with VERY clear rules and rubrics about how to earn participation credit, and giving the discussion questions/debate info ahead of time with a writing prep component for kids who wouldn’t be as into the speaking side b) Projects with a mix of creative and writing elements where students could pick from 2-3 options (with Paradise Lost for example one assessment option was to create your own “biblical fanfiction/short story.” Another had to do with creating a graphic novel of a particular section and writing about it too) No matter what I did though I always felt like I was searching for that white whale/perfect assignment just out of reach.
I've been super behind with this read, but am starting to really pick up steam now. I found the effect of the back-and-forth between narratives (mostly Charles, Adam, Cathy in this section) and then seeing them all converge to be so powerful!
I also love your thoughts about the names in this book. It's clear the names hold a lot of significance - even the fact that Cyrus' first wife remains nameless...super interesting. My oldest son is named Charles, so I know that the original meaning of Charles is "free man". Definitely keeping an eye out for how that may show up in his character.
It’s been such a rewarding reread so far-I haven’t read it since high school. So many passages I’m preparing to enter into my commonplace journal. I find I can appreciate the craft of Steinbeck’s writing so much more now that I have a lot more quality literature under my belt and now that I’m not reading in order to remember information for a test. I also remember being so so disturbed by the darkness, especially by Cathy, as a high schooler such that I struggled to keep reading the book at times. And I have that same sense of disturbance at confronting such a moral monster, but I have a better handle on facing it/seeing the potential good being set against it, it’s no longer the only thing looking large in the story. And I think it’s very biblical in that respect quite aside from the specific parallels/perversions of well-known biblical stories. We have evil/monstrousness depicted very Bally in the Bible and it’s not always explicitly condemned/given the justice we want it to receive-and it can’t receive that justice because that won’t happen until we get the new heavens and new earth.
Ah the beauty of not reading to remember information for a test! I’m reading Something They Will Not Forget by Joshua Gibbs right now and he talks a lot about this being a problem in modern education.
There is an old Circe talk by Angelina Stanford that talks about giving a test or essay right after someone finishes a book is like asking a winner of a race, “how does it feel” when he/she can barely catch his breath!
Ah Cathy! I think it does take a reread and a mature mind to appreciate mere goodness as much as being appalled by evil
That's such a good way to put it. I love Angelina Stanford. And as someone who was trained as a teacher in more modern education methods/went to public school with those methods, it's been really interesting having taken time away from the classroom and listening to alternative perspectives/methodologies. And that's a great way to put it, I was definitely lost in being appalled, especially since I was just very sensitive in general as a teen
I am so interested in your thoughts as a teacher! I went to Pubic school but my only really teaching experience has been with kids at home. My husband is a teacher in a private school and is always trying to figure out how to test well. He calls it the white whale of education.
I taught private Catholic schools but they mostly used/expected normal teaching/testing methods. I love your husbands description-that feels so accurate. And no one is ever happy with what you decide. You test too often, and you’re overwhelming the kids. A few big tests/projects-unfair that a kids grade is tanked by one “bad” project/test. Multiple choice can be guessed at/people can argue a question wasn’t well-written, traditional writing assignments are unfair to visual/other learners, etc. My most successful assessments tended to be a) Debates/dialogues with VERY clear rules and rubrics about how to earn participation credit, and giving the discussion questions/debate info ahead of time with a writing prep component for kids who wouldn’t be as into the speaking side b) Projects with a mix of creative and writing elements where students could pick from 2-3 options (with Paradise Lost for example one assessment option was to create your own “biblical fanfiction/short story.” Another had to do with creating a graphic novel of a particular section and writing about it too) No matter what I did though I always felt like I was searching for that white whale/perfect assignment just out of reach.
Those sound like things Aaron has had success with too! But yes, no matter what he gets angry parent emails!