Category: Writing

Beowulf: Reading Assignment 1 Answer the questions that follow in the lesson based on what you have read.
What is the setting of “Beowulf?”
How many years passed between the events of the actual story of “Beowulf” and the time it was probably first written?
In which language was the story first written?
What causes Grendel to attack the Danes?
Describe Grendel’s first attack.
How long did Grendel plague the Danes before Beowulf came?
What evidence do we have of a mixture of pagan and Christian beliefs in the story? Provide an example or two.
How does Beowulf find out about Grendel? Knowing what was important to the Anglo-Saxon people, why do you think Beowulf wanted to fight for Grendel?

Read an excerpt from Porcelain and Pink.  Pay particular attention to the stage directions.
Ina Dan I’m going to in a mays iout Silly game. JULIE: /Wormips No. it isn’t. It’s good for the nerves. I’ll bet you’re forgenen how to play it LOIS (Defiantly) No. I haven’t You- you get the tub all full of soapsuds and then you get up on the edge arul slide down. JULIE: (Shaking her head scorn/why/ Huh! That’s only part of it. You’ve got to win down without touching your hand or feet- LOIS: Amporiently) Oh, Lord! What do I care? I wish we’d either uop coming here in the summer or else get a house with two bath tubs. JULIE: You can buy yourself a little tin one, of use the howe- LOIS: Oh, shut up! JULIE: (irrelevantly) Leave the towel. LOIS: What? JULIE: Leave the towel when you go. LOIS: This towel? JULIE: (Sweetly) Yes, I forgot my towel. LOIS: (Looking around for the first time) Why, you idiot! You haven’t even a kimono. JULIE: (Also looking around) Why, so I haven’t. LOIS: (Suspicion growing on her) How did you get here? JULIE: (Laughing) I guess I-I guess I whisked here. You know-a white form whisking down th Enter
LOIS: (Scandalized) Why you little wretch. Haven’t you any pride or well-respect? MLM: Lots of both. I think that proves It. I looked very well. I really am rather cute in my natural state. LOIS: Well, you- JULIE: (Thinking ofoud) I wish people didn’t wear any clothes. I guess I ought to have been a pagan or a native or something. LOIS: You’re a- JULIE: I dreamt last night that one Sunday in church a small boy brought in a magnet that attracted cloth. He attracted the clothes right off of everybody; put them in an awful state; people were crying and shrieking and carrying on as if they’d just discovered their skins for the first time. Only I didn’t care. So I just laughed. I had to pass the collection plate because nobody else would. LOIS: (Who has turned a deaf ear to this speech) Do you mean to tell me that if I hadn’t come you’d have run back to your room-un-unclothed? JULIE: Au naturel is so much nicer.
What stage direction best shows Lois’s frustration with Julie?
A.  (scandalized)
B.  (thinking aloud)
C.  (impatiently)
D.  (sarcastically)

Read the short story. Then respond to the essay question that follows. “Androclus and the Lion” by James Baldwin In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was Androclus. His master was a cruel man, and so unkind to him that at last Androclus ran away. He hid himself in a wild wood for many days; but there was no food to be found, and he grew so weak and sick that he thought he should die. So, one day he crept into a cave and lay down, and soon he was fast asleep. After a while a great noise woke him up. A lion had come into the cave and was roaring loudly. Androclus was very much afraid, for he felt sure that the beast would kill him. Soon, however, he saw that the lion was not angry, but that he limped as though his foot hurt him. Then Androclus grew so bold that he took hold of the lion’s lame paw to see what was the matter. The lion stood quite still and rubbed his head against the man’s shoulder. He seemed to say,- “I know that you will help me.” Androclus lifted the paw from the ground, and saw that it was a long, sharp thorn which hurt the lion so much. He took the end of the thom in his fingers; then he gave a strong, quick pull, and out it came. The lion was full of joy. He jumped about like a dog and licked the hands and feet of his new friend. Androclus was not at all afraid after this; and when night came, he and the lion lay down and slept side by side. For a long time, the lion brought food to Androclus every day; and the two became such good friends, that Androclus found his new life a very happy one. One day some soldiers who were passing through the wood found Androclus in the cave. They knew who he was, and so took him back to Rome. It was the law at that time that every slave who ran away from his master should be made to fight a hungry lion. So, a fierce lion was shut up for a while without food, and a time was set for the fight. When the day came, thousands of people crowded to see the sport. They went to such places at that time very much as people now-a-days go to see a circus show or a game of baseball. The door opened, and poor Androclus was brought in. He was almost dead with fear, for the roars of the lion could already be heard. He looked up and saw that there was no pity in the thousands of faces around him. Then the hungry lion rushed in. With a single bound he reached the poor slave. Androclus gave a great cry, not of fear, but of gladness. It was his old friend, the lion of the cave. The people, who had expected to see the man killed by the lion, were filled with wonder. They saw Androclus put his arms around the lion’s neck; they saw the lion lie down at his feet and lick them lovingly; they saw the great beast rub his head against the slave’s face as though he wanted to be petted. They could not understand what it all meant. After a while they asked Androclus to tell them about it. So, he stood up before them, and, with his arm around the lion’s neck, told how he and the beast had lived together in the cave. “I am a man, ” he said, “but no man has ever befriended me. This poor lion alone has been kind to me; and we love each other as brothers.” The people were not so bad that they could be cruel to the poor slave now. “Live and be free!” they cried. “Live and be free!” Others cried, “Let the lion go free too! Give both of them their liberty!” And so Androclus was set free, and the lion was given to him for his own. And they lived together in Rome for many years. In a well-written paragraph of 5-7 sentences, achieve the following: . Identify the universal theme of “Androclus and the Lion.” Describe how the theme is universal. Explain how the author developed and delivered the theme to the reader.

In examining all of your active viewing notes, consider what the film suggests about emotional, personal, intellectual, or societal constraints—restrictions or hardships—faced. Consider specific scenes that raise, explore, or challenge the idea of these various conflicts in the story line of the individual characters. To clarify your understanding of various themes conveyed by the film, write a descriptive sentence that explains your understanding of the messages or lessons expressed by the film, especially those regarding the various forms of restriction, constraints, or hardships the characters experience on an intellectual, personal, emotional, or societal level.

Case Study 2: Lily Lily is an educator at Little.ly. You have been friends with Lily for years – both at work and socially. She used have really great relationships with all the children at Little.ly and has been a model worker. Lately she has been going through a break-up with her husband and she has been very touchy and losing her temper easily with other staff. You work in the room with Lily but you have shifts that are either end of the day. Over the last three weeks you have noticed that the children in the room are unsettled and crying when you arrive for your shift or also when you return from lunch or programming. The children have been really clingy to you and have been looking at Lily a lot with uncertainty. This has been unusual behaviour for the children as Lily used to be their favourite. Today you saw her lash out and smack one of the children when they didn’t listen to her. The smack was on their bottom and the child was frightened by her behaviour and was crying. She said sorry to the child and gave him a cuddle to try to stop him crying. She did not know that you had seen the incident. Five minutes later you asked her if she was okay. She said yes and asked you to leave her alone to do her job, then she left the room. Given the stress that Lily has been under and her past reputation as a ‘model worker’, is her behaviour excusable? Discuss this in terms of Lily’s legislative responsibilities.

Helping or Linking? Tell whether the sentence given contains a helping (HV) or linking (LV) verb, and underline the verb(s). 1. The rain is pouring down from the heavens. LL 2. Our car was sputtering through town. 3. My white pony is graceful and proud. 4. The chips were old and stale. LV 5. My neighbors are ninety-two and ninety-nine years old. LY 6. Can we walk to the mall? HK 7. Her math book was wet from the rain. 8. I am getting new shoes for school tomorrow. 9. The computer in my classroom was slow today. HV 10. The card game was exciting to play.

In Jackson’s poem “Magneto Eyes Strange Fruit”, the character of Magneto expresses his anger at the treatment of “mutants”. In traditional comics, Magneto is always a bad guy, a villian. Yet, in Jackson’s poem the reader is supposed to empathize with Magneto’s views. Answer the following question: How does the poem rationalize Magneto’s views and present them as something beneficial and necessary for society?

Summarise Anne Applebaum’s essay, ‘The New Puritans’, with a focus on its thesis or argument and its evidence. As part of your analysis, you will need to identify cancel culture used in support of her argument and consider the essay structure, word choices and writing style in the presentation of her argument in this essay. You can also comment whether you find her overall argument (on any basis) persuasive, or not.

Describe object permanence and the A-not-B task. Also, describe their development in terms of the principles underlying Piaget’s developmental theory. Finally, describe this development in terms of how Siegler’s Overlapping Waves Theory might account for it.