(this week's discussion is worth up to 40 points)

Let's try something a bit different. There are TWO major topics for this week's discussion. Select one topic and write your response (always with concrete examples, of course). The topics are broad, so you will focus on just one area of the topic (you'll see). Your responses can be about either topic and any question.

SPECIAL NOTE: to earn maximum points, you will not only put YOUR answer down; you will find examples in the book that you can quote and parenthetically cite to SUPPORT your answer. This is true for both the Post and the Replies. It is like what you have been doing with the outside sources on your other papers, but this time you are using just the main text (called the "primary source." And, yes, this is how literature is analyzed.

ALSO DIFFERENT: your Post this time needs to be about 500 words (that is the typical length of an in-class essay or a mid-term or final essay), and each of your two responses should be about 200+ words (as usual).

topic 1 - If you read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, choose one of these:

  1. One of the greatest conflicts of the novel is between "Old Technology" and "New Technology." How does the novel build a bridge between them?

  2. What does the novel say about the strengths and weaknesses of the human brain and technology?

  3. Are all of the characters in the novel on a quest of some sort?

  4. Clay says, "I'm really starting to think the whole world's just a patchwork quilt of crazy little cults, all with their own secret spaces, their own records, their own rules." Is he right? Are we all members of crazy little cults?

topic 2 - If you read A Man Called Ove, choose one of these:

  1. Backman alternates between the past and present to tell Ove's story. Why would he choose to do this rather than tell the story chronologically? How does it affect the story and the reader's view of it?

  2. How does each of the characters help Ove in his or her own way? (Don't try to discuss them all-just choose two or three).

  3. Why does Ove spend so much time battling bureaucracies? What do the bureaucracies represent to him?

  4. Fredrik Backman calls this book a fable. The purpose of a fable is to tell a story that has a clear moral. What would the moral of this book be for you? NOTE: since the moral of a fable is typically just one sentence (something like "A stitch, in time, saves nine" or "Physician heal thyself") your explanation of WHY the moral you choose is a logical one; yes, as with all of the other topics, you will find examples in the story (quote/cite) to illustrate this.

IMPORTANT FINAL NOTE: this is to be your ideas, your analysis, your work. Do not use the so-called cheat-sheet sites (LitCharts, MasterClass, SparkNotes, etc.), and, yes, it will be really obvious if you are just copying from those sites; I want to see YOUR thinking here.