CarnalKnowledge

Seminarian Requirements:

  1. Read the story.
  2. Read the handout.
  3. Finish debate questions.
  4. Take survey. *** (
  5. SLEEP!
  6. Be awesome in the discussion tomorrow. (Bye-bye “Rocktober.” Hello “Groovember.”)

***If everyone in the class gets 100% on the non-opinion questions, Emily will bake delicious goodies and bring them next Monday!! Otherwise, your grade on the “quiz” does not matter.

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If you consider yourself “boss” at style, tone, and irony feel free to skip the following section. But be warned, there will be a “quiz” on literary terms during the survey you MUST take tonight.

What is style?

Style refers to the distinctive manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects. This arrangement includes individual word choices and matters such as the length of sentences, their structure and tone, and the use of irony.

The above Bedford definition is lengthy and abstruse, so let’s “break it down” into a simple acronym: DIDLS.

Diction: The author’s word choice. Consider the connotations and denotations of the author’s words. Why would an author use “hatred” as opposed to “abhorrence”?

Imagery: The author’s use of descriptive language that appeals to the senses. Consider the pictures an author paints when describing setting or using metaphors. How would the message be different if the author described “red” as (1) the color of a child’s wagon or (2) the color of a soldier’s blood?

Details: The author’s choice of examples and facts—both what he/she includes and omits. Consider the plot and any allusions, anecdotes, or references that might contribute to pathos/ethos/logos. How would the author’s style change if he/she discussed yarn thickness instead of the density of baseball bats?

Language: The author’s use of rhetorical strategies such as irony, over/understatement, sarcasm,wit, or pun. Consider the tone of the author’s work, which may help illuminate the particular strategies used. How would an author’s meaning change if he/she conveys something with or without sarcasm?

Syntax: The author’s sentence structure. Consider sentence or paragraph length and variety, and the use of parallelism, chiasmus, or anaphora. How would an author’s style/tone change if his/her sentences were telegraphic vs. long and involved?

DIDLS helps a reader identify an author’s style. An author’s style helps to reveal tone, which is an author’s implicit attitude toward the people, places and events in a story.

Phew! Now that we have style and tone out of the way, let us focus on the particular strategies used to convey Boyle’s message in Carnal Knowledge:

Irony – a device that reveals a reality different from what appears to be true

Verbal irony – a person saying one thing but meaning the opposite

Sarcasm – verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone by false praise

Situational irony – incongruity between what is expected to happen and whatactually happens

Dramatic irony – discrepancy between what a character believes or says andwhat the reader understands to be true

Pay close attention to Boyle’s use of irony in the short story; particularly how it relates to style and tone.

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About Boyle’s life:

Tom Coraghessan Boyle (a.k.a. T.C. Boyle) was born on December 2, 1948, in Peekskill, New York, with the name Thomas John Boyle. He earned a B.A. from State University of New York at Potsdam and a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from University of Iowa. He is now a professor at USC. He has achieved numerous awards for his work including the Pen/Falkner Award for Fiction for his novel World’s End and the Prix Médicisetranger for The Tortilla Curtain. He has written eight collections of short stories, many of which can be found in major magazines. T.C. Boyle is now married with three children and writes daily.

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Discussion Qs:

The discussion questions will be done debate style! No, don’t fret, this won’t require a 3-inch binder with color-coded tabs. You simply need to address ALL THREE TOPICS defined below, but you do NOT HAVE TO WRITE PARAGRAPHS. You must provide at least THREE QUOTES (with page numbers) to support BOTH SIDES of the topic. For long quotes, you may paraphrase, but mustretain some textual references. Quotes may be repeated if they address multiple topics, but beware of too much overlap. Additionally,if the quotes require context to be understood, you must supply it (i.e. tell who the speaker is/what is being spoken about). However, context is not necessary for every quote! Bonus points for identifying quotes as particular rhetorical strategies (see a full list below—with definitions!).If you are confused about the assignment, Emily will be on Facebook tonight to resolve any questions.

Argument 1:

Pro:Alena says to Jim: “We’re the plague on this planet, don’t you know that?”

Con: Jim Replies: “No, I don’t know that” (280).

Argument 2:

Pro: The eco-movement of Alena and Rolfe benefits the planet. They are justified in their actions.

Con:Alena and Rolfe are blinded by their extremism. Their efforts do more harm than good.

Argument 3:

Pro: Jim loves Alena. He helps her eco-exploits because he believes in the cause, not because he wants to impress her.

Con: Jim does not truly love Alena. He feels a need for companionship and does anything possible to secure it—even illegal turkey-freeing crusades.

***TOPIC OF CHOICE. If you feel particularly creative, you may do two of the above arguments and another of your design. Pick an argument and provide quotes corroborating the pro and con arguments. Choose your argument well!

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Rubric:

We have established a rubric to both alleviate your anxiety over the assignment and engender fairness and objectivity in our analysis of your work.

Total: 10 points

Online survey completion: 2 points

Following directions/turned in on time: 2 points

At-home assignment: 6 points (2 points x 3 arguments)

0 Points: Less than 3 quotes were supplied/ both arguments were not addressed.

1 Point: Quotes were supplied for both arguments, but they did not appropriately address the argument/were vague. No page numbers were included.Excessive overlap in quote choice.

2 Points: Quotes were supplied for both arguments, and they pertained to the arguments. Rhetorical strategies were identified for some quotes.

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The section below is NOT NECESSARY for the quiz tonight, but may help you identify rhetorical strategies in Carnal Knowledge…

Literary Terms:

(Terms courtesy of Mr. Pelseter; definitions/examples courtesy of Emily Balczewski. Feel free to use these to study for the AP Test; they were very helpful last year!)

  1. ad hominem argument -- the fallacy of attacking the character or circumstances of an individual who is advancing a statement or an argument instead of trying to disprove the truth of the statement or the soundness of the argument. Often the argument is characterized simply as a personal attack.

Politicians—fight against the person, not the ideal

  1. allegory -- is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

“Pilgrim’s Progress”

  1. analogy -- compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.

Parables i.e. the scattering of seeds to the scattering of souls

  1. anaphora -- the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism.

“See asyndeton”

  1. anecdote -- short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical.
  1. antithesis -- a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.

"One small step for a man, one giant leap for all mankind."

  1. aphorism --a brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words.

“An eye for an eye leaves the world blind”

  1. apostrophe -- An address, either to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something nonhuman that cannot comprehend. Apostrophe often provides a speaker the opportunity to think aloud.

“O Captain!My Captain!”

  1. asyndeton -- a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples are veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered." Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. More generally, in grammar, an asyndetic coordination is a type of coordination in which no coordinating conjunction is present between the conjuncts.

“We shall fight to the end, we shall fight on the beaches and on the oceans, we shall fight in France”- Churchill

  1. cacophony -- Language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce, such as this line from John Updike’s "Player Piano": "never my numb plunker fumbles." Cacophony ("bad sound") may be unintentional in the writer’s sense of music, or it may be used consciously for deliberate dramatic effect.

“Twasbrillig and the slithytoves”

  1. chiasmus -- "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten"). So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten."

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” – JFK Inaugural

  1. colloquialism -- a type of informal diction; casual, conversational language including slang expressions.

Text Language

  1. conceit -- An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an analogy or metaphor in which, say a beloved is compared to a ship, planet, etc. The comparison may be brief or extended.

“There is no frigate like a book”

  1. deduction -- The process of logic in which a thinker takes a rule for a large, general category and assumes that specific individual examples fitting within that general category obey the same rule. For instance, a general rule might be that "Objects made of iron rust." When the logician then encounters a shovel made of iron, he can assume deductively that the shovel made of iron will also rust just as other iron objects do. This process is the opposite of induction. Induction fashions a large, general rule from a specific example. Deduction determines the truth about specific examples using a large general rule. Deductive thinking is also called syllogistic thinking.
  1. dialect -- A type of informational diction. Dialects are spoken by definable groups of people from a particular geographic region, economic group, or social class. Writers use dialect to contrast and express differences in educational, class, social, and regional backgrounds of their characters.
  1. didactic -- Designed to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson.

Michael Wigglesworth’s Day of Doom

17.double entendre–(or adianoeta) a phrase meant to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué, inappropriate, or ironic.

“Signor Montano” from Much Ado About Nothing, meaning an upward thrust of a sword . . . and something else.

18. epigraph-- In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context.

Quote at the beginning of a chapter.

19. epigram -- A brief, pointed, and witty poem that usually makes a satiric or humorous point. Epigrams are most often written in couplets, but take no prescribed form.

An ancient epigram from Roman poet Martial: "Quintus is in love with Thais."--- What Thais?----"Thais with one eye."----Thais wants one eye; he wants two.

20. euphemism -- the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant, especially to encourage political correctness

“passed away” instead of “died”

21. extended metaphor -- A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word like or as. Metaphors assert the identity of dissimilar things, as when Macbeth asserts that life is a "brief candle." Metaphors can be subtle and powerful, and can transform people, places, objects, and ideas into whatever the writer imagines them to be. An implied metaphor is a more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so specifically explained.

“Love is a rose….”

22. hyperbole --A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true, as in the statement "He ate everything in the house." Hyperbole (also called overstatement) may be used for serious, comic, or ironic effect.

“I am so hungry I could eat a whale”

23.induction -- drawing generalized conclusions from specific observations.The opposite of deductive reasoning.

“The boys I have seen have brown hair” therefore “All boys have brown hair”

24. invective – A harsh, scathing criticism.

25. irony --A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.

a. verbal --Verbal irony is a figure of speech that occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite. Sarcasm is a strong form of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone through, for example, false praise.

b. dramatic -- Dramatic irony creates a discrepancy between what a character believes or says and what the reader or audience member knows to be true. Tragic irony is a form of dramatic irony found in tragedies such as Oedipus the King, in which Oedipus searches for the person responsible for the plague that ravishes his city and ironically ends up hunting himself.

c. situational -- Situational irony exists when there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens due to forces beyond human comprehension or control. The suicide of the seemingly successful main character in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem "Richard Cory" is an example of situational irony.

26. juxtaposition-- placingphrases, clauses, or sentences closetogetherorsidebyside esp.forcomparisonorcontrast.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

27. litotes – A form of understatement in which an idea is conveyed by denying its opposite.

“pretty” and “not unattractive”

28. logical fallacy -- incorrect reasoning in argumentation resulting in a misconception, often an author uses rhetoric to obscure the line of reasoning and promote a logical fallacy.

“Cutting people is a crime. Surgeons cut people. Therefore, surgeons are criminals.”

29. loose sentence -- a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses.

30. metonymy -- Metonymy is a type of metaphor in which something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it.

“White House→President”

31. motif-- a simple element in that serves as a basis for expanded narrative, a pattern or recurrent theme in a work of art or piece of literature.

Beethoven uses similar rhythms or melodies throughout a whole piece.

32. onomatopoeia – a word that sounds like its meaning

“Buzz, Woof”

33. oxymoron – a statement combining two contradictory words, either unintentionally or to reveal a paradox.

“jumbo shrimp” “criminal justice” or “The silence whistles in my ear”

34. parallelism – Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

“I went to Vegas, Atlantic City, and Los Angeles to gamble.” Or “I went to Vegas, to Atlantic City, and to Los Angeles…”

35. parody -- something designed to ridicule another more serious piece; usually long and involved as in a performance or essay.

Lewis Carol is known for his poetic parodies, Saturday Night Live is a good modern example.

36. paradox -- a statement that serves to contradict, but holds a certain truth (different from oxymoron because it uses more than two words)

“Less is more”

37. pathos -- an appeal to emotion, as in an argument

In Juno, the Asian girl talks about how babies have fingernails.

38. pedantic -- displaying learning for the sake of displaying that learning (being showy with knowledge)

Translating Greek just to show that you can do it. Or, as kids, when we were like…Did YOU know? …just to feel special that we knew something.

39. periodic sentence – Main clause is at the end of the sentence. A periodic sentence is the opposite of a loose one.

After wearing a short skirt and getting a detention, I brought in cereal boxes.

40. polysyndeton – excessive use of conjunctions, especially for emphasis

“I ate a hamburger and some fries and ice cream and was still hungry”

41. pun -- A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

“Sell your soles (Title of my barefoot running essay)”

42. reductio ad absurdum -- proof by contradiction. It is form of argument that assumes a claim and then derives an absurd (incorrect) outcome in order to show that the claim is false.

“For example, suppose a man says "more money always leads to better education." Using reductio ad absurdum, we assume the claim and logically conclude, "there should be a direct correlation between expenditures in school systems and academic performance." In reality, we find that the United States, which spends far more per student than most countries, has lower-scoring students, and in the world in general there is little correlation between expenditures and results.”

43. sarcasm -- mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult, often through false praise