Thor’s Day, February 27: PerspectivesEQ: Why did Jonathan Swift consider satire to be so serious?

Welcome! Gather

pen/cil, paper, wits!

Your Grades – Now You Can Know!

Spring Project Proposals Due! (will take Monday)

Continue Group Projecto Presentations begin

Tuesday (Lilliput)

ELACC12RL-RI2: Analyze two or more themes or central ideas of text ELACC12RI3: Analyze and explain how individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop ELACC12RL6: Distinguish what is directly

stated in a text from what is really meant

ELACC12RI6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a textELACC12RI8: Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal British textsELACC12RL-RI9: Analyze for theme, purpose rhetoric, and how texts treat similar themes or topicsELACC12RL10: Read and comprehend complex literature independently and proficiently. ELACC12W4: Produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to task, purpose, and audienceELACC12W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysisELACC12W10: Write routinely over extended and shorter time frames ELACC12SL1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions ELACC12L6: Acquire and use general academic and domain-specific words and phrases

Today: Group Document – SUBMIT or KEEP

Names of group members Name leader Describe what you think the picture shows Name of the land to which Gulliver travels

Reading Guide – SUBMIT

CLOZE – SUBMIT

Begin Project Prep! Visual/Performance Component should give

class “feel” of the land/people Gulliver visits Content Component – should hit major points

of intro work: Neoteny, Satire as a Weapon, “abuses” of “sacred,” critique of Reason, what you first thought, Apocalypse, Dystopia

Jaron Lanier, You Are Not A Gadget: “Digital Neoteny”The phase of life we call “childhood” was greatly expanded in connection with the rise of literacy, because it takes time to learn to read. Illiterate children went to work in the fields as often as they were able, while those who learned to read spent time in an artificial, protected space called the classroom, an extended womb. It has even been claimed that the widespread acceptance of childhood as a familiar phase of human life only occurred in conjunction with the spread of the printing press.

….With affluence comes extended childhood. It is a common observation that children enter the world of sexuality sooner than they used to, but that is only one side of the coin. Their sexuality also remains childlike for a longer period than it used to. The twenties are the new teens, and people in their thirties are still dating, not having settled on a mate or made a decision about whether to have children or not.

….Children want attention. Therefore, young adults, in their newly extended childhood, can now perceive

themselves to be finally getting enough attention, through social networks and blogs. Lately, the design of online technology has moved from answering this desire to addressing an even earlier developmental stage.

Separation anxiety is assuaged by constant connection. Young people announce every detail of their lives on services like Twitter not to show off, but to avoid the closed door at bedtime, the empty room, the screaming vacuum of an isolated mind.

….It’s worth repeating obvious truths when huge swarms of people are somehow able to remain oblivious. That is why I feel the need to point out the most obvious overall aspect of digital culture: it is comprised of wave after wave of juvenilia.

Some of the greatest speculative investments in human history continue to converge on silly Silicon Valley schemes that seem to have been named by Dr. Seuss. On any given day, one might hear of hundreds of millions of dollars flowing to a startup company named Ublibudly or MeTickly. These are names I just made up, but they would make great venture capital bait if they existed….One finds rooms full of MIT PhD engineers not seeking cancer cures or sources of safe drinking water for the developing world, but schemes to send little digital pictures of teddy bears and dragons between adult members of social networks. At the end of the road of the pursuit of technological sophistication appears to lie a playhouse in which humankind regresses to nursery school.

(Excerpted and edited from Lanier, Jaron, You Are Not A Gadget. New York: Vintage Books, 2010)

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908)[Chesterton was a fierce promoter of a Christian world view, whose fiction, poetry, and especially essays were (and are) widely admired, even by those

who disagree with him. In his most famous book’s final paragraph, Chesterton ponders what he regards as one of the greatest, and most

revealing, mysteries surrounding the life and ministry of Jesus.]

His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He

showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city.

Yet He concealed something.

Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell.

Yet He restrained something.

I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.

[In other words, Scripture tells us Jesus smiled and wept and even got mad, but apparently held something back; at least as far as Scripture tells us, Jesus never laughed .]

Freewrite 100 words: Why not?Review: The Age of Reasonaka The Enlightenment, Neoclassical Age

1670s – 1790s

Major philosophical idea: humans do not need Divine Intervention to solve problems; we must instead be applying Reason.

o Just as Isaac Newton could predict planets’ orbits using mathematics, so we should be able to solve human problems analytically.

o Led to Scientific Revolution

o But not everyone believed that human problems should be reduced to rational, scientific, mathematical equations.

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

Like his buddy Pope – MASSIVELY a misfit!

He’s Irish/English . The English HATED Irish, and vice versa – and that hatred continues!

Irish Anglican Priest – Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin

Critic of the Age of Reason . Reason cannot solve human problems because sins – greed, lust, pride, etc. – are irrational; cannot use logic to repair illogic. Requires change of soul, not change of mind.

He thought such change unlikely, is often labeled a misanthrope,

“people hater”

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

Swift was/is greatest SATIRIST in English language – and perhaps, as many believe, in human history.

SATIRE: making fun of something to make a serious point about it.

Swift wrote that satire’s job is “prompting men of genius and virtue to mend the world as far as they are able” b/c it “laughs men out of their follies and vices”

“Although some things are too serious, solemn, or sacred to be turned into

ridicule, yet the abuses of them are certainly not” – we cannot ridicule Religion or Human Rights, but we MUST ridicule abuses of Religion and Human Rights (“the Swift rule”)

CLOZE – Jonathan Swift: The Art of Righteous Ridicule

1. A major philosophical focus of the Age of Reason is the idea that people do not need

____________ ________________ to solve problems, but should instead use ___________.

2. An idea often cited is that, just as Isaac ____________ used ____________ to figure out

planetary motion, we should be able to to solve human problems ___________________.

3. Jonathan Swift’s objection to this idea is that ________________ cannot solve problems that

are caused by sin, which is the rejection or opposite of ___________________.

4. He believed that changing one’s _________ would not work unless one’s ________ changed.

5. Because he did not believe that people could make this change, he is often called a

______________________, which means “people hater.”

6. Define: satire

7. Swift wrote that satire’s job is “prompting men … to ________ the _________ as far as they

are __________” because it “__________ men out of their ________ and ____________.”

8. Swift wrote that, “although some things are too ____________, ______________, or

_____________ to be turned into ridicule, yet the ____________ of them certainly are not.”

9. Explain this:

Turn In Today: Group Document: Member names, leader,

group’s description of the picture

CLOZE: Jon. Swift’s Righteous Ridicule

REMEMBER: Project Proposal (due Friday, February 28)

For Class Reading and MeSearch, change “this book” into “this idea”

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

Swift’s most famous work, Gulliver’s Travels, was satire which, like most good satire, cut many ways:

SATIRIZED IDEAS and practices of his day;

SATIRIZED GENRES newly popular (parody)

o Adventure Fiction (Robinson Crusoe)

o Travel Writing (Marco Polo)

o Utopian Writing (Utopia)

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

In satirizing these genres – Travel books, Adventure Fiction, Utopian schemes –

Gulliver’s Travels helped launch two new genres that would come to dominate English writing:

Dystopian Fiction: views “perfect” societies (Utopias) that a character finds not so perfect

Apocalyptic Fiction: Usually thought of as “end of the world” stories; a hero inhabits a world gone mad, or maybe just “gone”

Look up: Apocalypse – www.etymonline.com Cozy Catastrophe – www.wikipedia.comSwift’s Satire is a double-edged sword; it cuts against its target and against the reader at the same moment.

1. The act described is ridiculous.

When we do something similar, we are ridiculous.

2. The act is a perfectly sensible response to a perfectly ridiculous set of circumstances.

When we think that someone acting this way is ridiculous, WE are the fools for not seeing that we have created the circumstances.

Brainstorming: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

Content Component

Brainstorming

What’s “weird” about the land and “people” Gulliver sees on this voyage, and how is this due to “perspective”?

How does Swift critique the central assumption of the Age of Reason: that we can solve human problems by thinking?

What “follies and vices” does Swift want us to “mend”? What “sacred” idea does Swift seem to believe we “abuse”?

How does this apocalyptic voyage go beyond “cozy catastrophe” to reveal something about humans?

How is this place both a “utopia” and a “dystopia”?

How is Swift’s satire “double-edged,” cutting both the ridiculous and those who ridicule it?

Brainstorming: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

Performance/ Visual Component

Brainstorming

Performance: Think of what your group can do, or have the class do, that will put the class “into”the tale.

Visual: Think of something you can create – a handout or short PowerPoint – that will help the class see and remember the points and passages you discuss.

Group Project: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s TravelsTen Point MAJOR Grade presented Tuesday-Friday, March 4-7

Each group member must PARTICIPATE AND SPEAK to get credit

Content: Each group’s presentation must answer these questions:

What’s “weird” about the “people” Gulliver encounters on this voyage? Connect any weirdnesses to our discussions of Swift’s satiric perspective.

How do ideas and events advance Swift’s critique of the Age of Reason – i.e., of our belief that Reason can solve human problems?

What “follies and vices” are targeted as abuses of a “serious, solemn, sacred” idea? How does Swift want us “to mend the world as far as [we] are able”?

How does this “apocalypse” go past “cozy catastrophe” to “reveal” something about us?

How is this place both a “utopia” and a “dystopia”?

How does the “double-edged” nature of Swift’s satire show itself here?

QUOTE IN SUPPORT OF YOUR CONTENTIONS!

Presentation: Make this voyage come alive for the class, and be Swiftian about it. PowerPoints, posters, etc. are okay but not enough for an “A”; make it active, even interactive.

Project Rubric: Gulliver’s Travels \ ScoreCriteria \

StandardNot Met;No Credit

Standard Not Yet Met20-60% credit

Standard metPASSING WORK70 – 80% credit

Standard metGOOD WORK80 – 90% credit

Standard Exceeded EXCELLENT!90 – 100% credit

Group Work:

_____/10 points

Most work done by one

Group/member frequently needs redirect or is disruptive

All do some work but not equally

Group or member often needs redirect or is disruptive

Work shared +/- equally

Group or member needs redirecting or is disruptive

Work shared equally

Group members need no redirecting, are not disruptive

All members fully involved at all stages of discussion, writing and presentation

Presentation: Content

_____/50 points

No discussion:

- weirdness

- critique of Reason

- “mend world” of “vices” to defend “sacred”

- uncozy catastrophe

- utopia/dystopia

- “double-edged” satire

- no quotations

Three are thin:

- weirdness

- critique of Reason

- “mend world” of “vices” to defend “sacred”

- uncozy catastrophe

- utopia/dystopia

- “double-edged” satire

- 1 quotation

1-2 are thin:

- weirdness

- critique of Reason

- “mend world” of “vices” to defend “sacred”

- uncozy catastrophe

- utopia/dystopia

- “double-edged” satire

- 2 quotations

Good:

- weirdness

- critique of Reason

- “mend world” of “vices” to defend “sacred”

- uncozy catastrophe

- utopia/dystopia

- “double-edged” satire

- 3 quotations

All are great:

- weirdness

- critique of Reason

- “mend world” of “vices” to defend “sacred”

- un-cozy catastrophe?

- utopia/dystopia

- “double-edged” satire

- 4+ quotations

Presentation AS Presentation

_____/30 points

Presentation runs <15 min.

Presentation runs 15 – 19 mins.

Some group members not focused, disrupt presentations, or fail to participate in meaningful way

Presentation runs 20-22 mins.

Speaker(s) frequently stumble over names / words

Presentation runs 23-25 mins.

Speaker(s) have a few stumbles over words; otherwise, good group focus

Presentation 25+ min., ROCKS:

Good group focus, no stumbles

“Swift Factor”

____/20 points

Presentation consists only of reading notes (trained Yahoo could do that!)

Presentation includes more than reading from notes, but not a lot more. Lilliputian effort.

PowerPoint, Poster, or other Passive aid; Tech-reliant, unimaginative, Laputan

Imaginative, engaging work beyond reading from notes. Smart, dignified, like a Houyhnhnm.

Big, bold, daring, yet impeccably intelligent. A Brobdingagian lesson!

Group Project Score = _______ / 100

Review: Age of Reason, aka Enlightenment, Neoclassical Age (1670s – 1790s) Humans do not need Divine Intervention to solve problems; must apply Reason.

o Just as Isaac Newton could predict planets’ orbits using mathematics, so we should be able to solve human problems analytically.

o Led to Scientific Revolution

o But not everyone believed that human problems should be reduced to rational, scientific, mathematical equations.

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) – Like his buddy Pope – MASSIVELY a misfit! He’s Irish/English . The English HATED Irish, and vice versa – and that hatred continues!

Irish Anglican Priest – Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin

Critic of the Age of Reason . Reason cannot solve human problems because sins – greed, lust, pride, etc. – are irrational; cannot use logic to repair illogic. Requires change of soul, not change of mind. (He thought such change unlikely, so is often labeled a misanthrope, “people hater”)

Swift was/is greatest SATIRIST in English – perhaps, say many, in history. SATIRE: making fun of something to make a serious point about it.

Swift wrote that satire’s job is “prompting men of genius and virtue to mend the world as far as they are able” b/c it “laughs men out of their follies and vices”

“Although some things are too serious, solemn, or sacred to be turned into ridicule, yet the abuses of them are certainly not” – The “Swift Standard”: we cannot ridicule Religion or Human Rights themselves, but we MUST ridicule abuses of Religion and Human Rights

Swift’s most famous work, Gulliver’s Travels, like all good satire, cut many ways: SATIRIZED IDEAS – political and cultural fads and practices of his day;

SATIRIZED GENRES popular in his day (parody)

o Adventure Fiction (Robinson Crusoe)

o Travel Writing (Marco Polo)

o Utopian Writing (Utopia)

In doing so, Gulliver’s Travels helped launch two new genres: Dystopian Fiction: views “perfect” societies (Utopias) that a character finds not so perfect

Apocalyptic Fiction: depicts a world gone mad, or maybe just “gone”

o Look up: Apocalypse – www.etymonline.com

o Look up: Cozy Catastrophe – www.wikipedia.com

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1726)Adapted and edited; full text widely available

[Swift’s most famous work was published anonymously, and both satirized and cashed in on the popularity of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Both books were pure fiction – but gullible Englishmen believed that both were memoirs written by actual shipwreck survivors. Lemuel Gulliver’s four voyages each find misfortune – storm, shipwreck, pirates – resulting in Gulliver’s being cast ashore alone, on what seems to be a deserted island but which proves to be peopled by strange beings radically different from himself, yet shockingly recognizable also. Each voyage gives Swift a chance to satirize different aspect of English life, sometimes using the strange islanders’ bodies and habits to make his points, sometimes targeting Gulliver himself.

Part One: A Voyage to Lilliput

[Gulliver ships for adventure, but his ship miscarries, and he washes ashore alone on an island.]

I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures

across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I could only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. [Gulliver yells and tries to get up, scattering the little men; then] in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe ….When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides….I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself: and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest army they could bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw …. When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it: from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. [This leader gives orders in a strange language, and ] immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak.[By his gentleness Gulliver earns favor with these folk, and soon picks up their language. They feed him and move him by rollers to their biggest house, and begin to teach him their customs.]

The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground …. This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for great employments, and high favour at court. They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education. When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens,) five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him do the summerset several times together, upon a trencher fixed on a rope which is no thicker than a common pack-thread in England …. These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a limb. But the danger is much greater, when the ministers themselves are commanded to show their dexterity; for, by contending to excel themselves and their fellows, they strain so far that there is hardly one of them who has not received a fall, and some of them two or three.

[Gulliver wishes to serve these folk in some impressive way, and one night, he gets his wish.]

I was alarmed at midnight with the cries of many hundred people at my door; by which, being suddenly awaked, I was in some kind of terror …. Several of the emperor's court, making their way through the crowd, entreated me to come immediately to the palace, where her imperial majesty's apartment was on fire, by the carelessness of a maid of honour, who fell asleep while she was reading a romance. I got up in an instant; and orders being given to clear the way before me, and it being likewise a moonshine night, I made a shift to get to the palace without trampling on any of the people. I found they had already applied ladders to the walls of the apartment, and were well provided with buckets, but the water was at some distance. These buckets were about the size of large thimbles, and the poor people supplied me with them as fast as they could: but the flame was so violent that they did little good. I might easily have stifled it with my coat, which I unfortunately left behind me for haste, and came away only in my leathern jerkin. The case seemed wholly desperate and deplorable; and this magnificent palace would have infallibly been burnt down to the ground, if, by a presence of mind unusual to me, I had not suddenly thought of an expedient. I had, the evening before, drunk plentifully of a most delicious wine called GLIMIGRIM, which is very diuretic. By the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged myself of any part of it. The heat I had contracted by coming very near the flames, and by labouring to quench them, made the wine begin to operate by urine; which I voided in such a quantity, and applied so well to the proper places, that in three minutes the fire was wholly extinguished, and the rest of that noble pile, which had cost so many ages in erecting, preserved from destruction. [Gulliver is shocked by the response of the Lilliputians – they are not grateful but outraged, especially the Queen. Gulliver is put under arrest, but helps them win a battle against their enemies, another tiny folk. Then, Gulliver escapes.]

Reading Guide: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s TravelsIntroduction and Part One: A Voyage to Lilliput

1. Gulliver’s Travels satirizes ________________ ____________ by ____________ ____________.

2. Both books were ____________, but readers believed both were __________________________ – perhaps

because although Swift was a famous satirist, the novel was published ________________.

3. When Gulliver wakes on Lilliput, why can’t he get up?

4. What is odd about the people of this land?

5. When Gulliver tries to move, what do these people do that causes him “grief and pain”?

6. “I thought it the most prudent method to _________ ____________” until when?

7. Gulliver says he believed himself “a match for ____________________________________”

8. Gulliver hears a speech by ____________, “whereof I understood _______ _______ ________.”

9. Briefly describe the “diversion” Gulliver sees at one of the “country shows”:

10. What sort of person has to perform this ceremony?

11. What is the reward for winners?

12. What is the danger for those who fail?

THINK ON 9-12: What satiric point is Swift making about politics? (50 words on back)

13. To what emergency does Gulliver respond one night?

14. How does he solve the emergency?

15. What shocks him about the response of the Lilliputians?

THINK ON 13-15: What satiric point is Swift making by describing Gulliver’s “solution”? (50 words on back)

THINK ON 13-15: What satiric point is Swift making by describing the Queen’s response? (50 words on back)

Regarding Questions 9-12:DELRAY BEACH, Fla.—When Mitt Romney meets President Barack Obama in Monday's third and final presidential debate, the GOP candidate will face a crucial dilemma: How aggressive can he be against his Democratic opponent without alienating swing voters?

In recent weeks, Romney has straddled the line between a more centrist message on the campaign trail on issues including immigration and abortion, and aggressively challenging Obama. The latter tone has fired up the Republican base voters Romney desperately needs to turn out on Election Day, but his advisers acknowledge it hasn't played well with the narrowing list of undecided voters likely to determine the outcome of the campaign.

A senior Romney aide, who declined to be named, tells Yahoo News that internal focus groups didn't like the aggressive exchanges between Romney and Obama during the last debate. The aide was careful to note that both candidates were

viewed negatively during those moments—including one in which Romney and Obama seemed close to getting into each other's face. But their reaction was considered riskier for Romney, who has struggled to improve his likability numbers against Obama's after months of negative ads from Democrats.

Ahead of the first debate, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who has been acting as a stand-in for Obama during Romney's debate prep, was instructed to poke at Romney to teach the candidate to control his temper and avoid showing irritation with his opponent. In recent days, according to one Republican privy to Romney's debate prep, the candidate has been working on that style issue again.

Closing Freewrite: How is this voyage a “cozy” catastrophe?

Turn In Today: Opening Freewrite: Laughter Reading Guide: Jonathan Swift,

Gulliver’s Travels: “A Voyage to Lilliput” Closing Freewrite: Cozy Catastrophe

TONIGHT: Watch The Presidential Debate

9 PM: all networks and news stations Focus: Foreign/International Policy Format: Both seated, face moderator (Bob

Schefer, CBS), “Not obsessing time limits” Situation: Election 2 wks, most polls tied Look for: Swift’s “tightrope” idea; Libya,

Syria, Foreign Trade (esp. China)