Blog Post #5-- Applying Theoretical Lenses to "On the Subway"-- Due Class #20

In class, we practiced steps we can take to apply theoretical lenses to a text. We read Sharon Old’s poem titled “On the Subway” through a number of lenses in order to select the most relevant and thought-provoking details for analysis. For this post, I’d like to see you continue the discussion by analyzing a quote or two through one lens, and commenting on at least two students’ posts.

Quick-Review of the Steps for Applying Theoretical Lenses: 

1) Select your lens and then write out the language of the lens

2) Re-read the poem and find words, phrases, lines that best match up with the lens language

3) Write about these lines to unlock a deeper meaning to the poem by connecting the lines to the lens language.

Remember—choose only one lens! (Lacan’s mirror stage theory, Freud’s memory theory, W.E.B. DuBois’s double-consciousness theory, Homi Bhabha’s hybridity theory, Judith Butler’s gender performativity theory).

If it’s helpful, you can select one of the following sentence starters to begin. There is no right or wrong way, and these are just a few of a million ways to do it! The only rule is to avoid simply summarizing the plot.

• Lacan would have much to say about Sharon Old’s narrator in the poem “On the Subway.”
• A post-colonial reading of Sharon Old’s “On the Subway” reveals ____________. 
• An interesting way to read Sharon Old’s “On the Subway” is through Homi Bhabha’s hybridity theory.
• A close look at the poem “On the Subway” through Lacan’s mirror stage theory exposes ____________. 
• Sharon Old’s train in “On the Subway” is a literal representation of ___________.
• Sharon Old’s poem titled “On the Subway” is about ____________. 

BRING YOUR MEMOIR TO NEXT CLASS!

Blog Post #4-- Post-Colonial Theory-- Due Class #19

After studying aspects of Post-Colonial Theory, brainstorm a list of questions to ask of our memoirs in order to apply a postcolonial theory to them. Share your top two questions. Make sure to read through all of the comments before you post so that you do not repeat questions. For your 2 comments, your job is to help each other refine the questions we plan to ask of our memoirs.

Examples:

• How does the text represent aspects of oppression similar to that of colonialism?
• What person(s) or group(s) does the work identify as "other" or stranger? How are such persons/groups described and treated?
• What does the text reveal about the politics and/or psychology of anti-colonialist resistance?
• What does the text reveal about the operations of cultural difference - the ways in which race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, and customs combine to form individual identity - in shaping our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live?

Blog Post #3: Due Class #18-- Judith Butler's Gender Performativity Theory

After studying Judith Butler’s theory on gender performativity in class, we brainstormed a list of questions to ask of our memoirs in order to apply a gender lens to them. Share your top two questions. Make sure to read through all of the comments before you post so that you do not repeat questions. For your 2 comments, your job is to help each other refine the questions we plan to ask of our memoirs.

Examples:

• How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
• Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
• How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?

Blog Post #2: Due Class #17-- Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory

After studying Lacan’s Mirror theory in class, we brainstormed a list of questions to ask of our memoirs in order to apply the mirror & gaze lenses to them. Share your top two questions. Make sure to read through all of the comments before you post so that you do not repeat questions. For your 2 comments, your job is to help each other refine the questions we plan to ask of our memoirs.

Examples:

• Which behaviors of the characters are conscious ones? Which are unconscious?
• What conscious or unconscious conflicts exist between the characters? 
• Are the theories of Lacan applicable to this work? To what degree?

Blog Post #1: Due Class #16--Freud's Note on the Mystic Writing Pad

Relate Freud’s theory to either your own life (using personal narrative) or to society (using impersonal analysis). Then comment on two other students’ responses. Write your response directly on the blog and copy/paste it into your google doc.