Studies in Contemporary Fiction                                                    Winter Assignment for Second Semester 2009

 

Dr. Kathleen Burke                     kgburke@rdhs.org

 

Novel for Study                          Black Water  by Joyce Carol Oates

                                                    Plume Paperback

                                                    ISBN: 978-0452269866

Assignment

Read the book closely. It is a page-turner, but do not be tempted to skip ahead. It is deceptively simple. Although this book is short, it is challenging because Oates utilizes stream-of-consciousness.

You will keep a journal of your novel reading experience, which will be due on Monday, August 25. Your journal may be handwritten or typed. The journal may be bound in a notebook or stapled. The attached Regina Dominican Honor Code should be printed, signed, and stapled to the cover of your journal.

The journal will be factored into your first quarter grade. Be sure to allow yourself enough time to read the novel and complete the journal.

We will begin the course by rereading this novel, so it will be a major portion of the first quarter grade. You will help yourself if you have read the novel at least once before we begin discussion.            

This is not a project to begin a few days before the start of school.

In your journal

·        List the characters you meet.

·        Describe them.

·        Explain your reaction to them.

·        Determine the setting for each major event.

·        Make a timeline of major events in the novel. The plot skips between flashbacks and the fictional present, so list these events in terms of the main character’s life.

·        As you read each section, keep a list of any questions that occur to you, such as why the narrator so often repeat certain phrases.

·        As you read each episode, ask yourself

o       What are my experiences with _______________?

o       What feelings did I have as I read about _______________?

o       What did reading about _____________add to myself?

·        Identify the major themes in the novel. These questions should help you define them:

o       According to this novel, what kind of behavior makes for lasting human worth—or human waste?

o       What specific social problems does the author seem to regard as unsolved? What causes are mainly responsible, and how? From where is one led to think that a solution may come? 

o       Evaluate the relative influence upon the outcomes of this novel of the following: physical nature, biological makeup, intimate personal relationships, and society. Generalize, to show what the novelist apparently regards as the chief area in which human destiny is formed.

o       To what extent is a person’s final outcome helped or hindered by forces outside his or her control?  In this novel, are these influences benign, malignant or indifferent? How?