10th Grade English

Our number one goal for English this year is to learn how to write a good, solid essay in a timed setting and to enjoy reading again. We will bounce back and forth between selections that explore Gothic themes and works written by Mississippi authors. Morgan will be responsible for reading one work each month and writing an essay about the work. He will keep a reading journal in which he spends five minutes freewriting about his daily readings. Our hope is that ideas for essays will come from these writings.

General Resources:
Ole Miss Mississippi Writers Page
The Literary Gothic
Resources for the Study of Gothic Literature

September: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

• Since this book is widely considered to be the first Gothic novel, it seems fitting to start with it and to write an essay about what makes a work Gothic.

October: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

• Online resources

November: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• Online resources

December: Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice

• We wanted to work in something modern. Morgan says now that it is Gothic because it has vampires. I argued that Sesame Street has vampires. Now he wants to write a paper explaining why Sesame Street is Gothic. Be afraid.

January:
Black Boy by Richard Wright
One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty

• Morgan has already read Black Boy.
• The assignment for these books is to explore perspective. It is a little vague now.

February: My Dog Skip by Willie Morris

• We don't have any ideas here yet.

March: The Firm by John Grisham

• We don't have any ideas here yet.

April: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

• It's Gothic and Mississippi. Bonus!
  
• Discuss stream of consciousness.
• A few reviewers on Amazon suggest that this work should be made into a movie by the Cohen brothers. Morgan really likes movies, so I might want him to take some time to think about this idea.

I still feel like we are not getting to works that should be covered. I will try to have Morgan at least watch Wuthering Heights, Phantom of the Opera, a Tennessee Williams play or two, and Hitchcock's adaptation of Rebecca.