Reconstructing the Elusive Timeline: February 4, 2020

Focus: How does Morrison experiment with chronological structure, and for what purpose?

Notes: 

Chapter 1 will be included in Friday's Socratic. If you have a reading ticket for this chapter, you may turn it in today or save it until Friday.

There will be no new vocabulary this week.

1. Warming up by dividing on conquering

We have 19 chapters so far...how would you like to portion out the fun?

• For each chapter you're in charge of, list and (symbolically?) illustrate the main events from your chapter, paying careful attention to dates and numbers.

• Events from different periods of time go do on different sheets of paper. They might be living on the same page in Beloved, but we're trying to comb them apart right now.

2. Nailing down Beloved's elusive events into a nicely concrete timeline

• Manipulate them into you think you have them roughly in chronological order (in other words, the order in which they actually happened). It's like putting together a puzzle.

• Create a timeline under the board with as many specific dates as possible. 

3. Reflecting on Morrison's intent

It would have been significantly easier for Morrison to write the book in chronological order or to simply include a few flashbacks. 

• How would you describe the order/structure of this book?  

• What might Morrison be up to here? How does the structure of the book relate to the novel's emerging motifs and themes?

HW:
1. For WEDNESDAY: Bring your book to class for reading time. Also, if you didn't give Part 2, Chapter 1 the attention it deserved, please reread it carefully.

2. For FRIDAY: Read Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 in Part 2 (pages 236-256) and complete your reading ticket. Chapter 1 will also be included in this Socratic and is one of the most interesting chapters in the book.

3. ASAP: Please complete your metacognitive and submit it if you have not done so.