fandomhigh | Western Lit. (3/20/06) (OMGLATEY)

[OOC: Sorry, yesterday got busy]

"Good morning, class. Today, we'll be discussing Victor Hugo's 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'"

"Hunchback, or Notre-Dame de Paris as it's known in its native French, Victor Hugo's first full-length novel, was published in 1831, when Hugo was a mere 29 years old. I suppose that a long, somewhat Gothic ode to a catherdral would merit publication at such a young age back then. Try publishing anything of literary worth today and see where it gets you. Hugo would be stuck teaching French class somewhere."

"Discussion questions to consider:

1. Claude Frollo is not represented as being wholly evil, but instead as a man driven to darkness by disappointment and other factors. What aspects of his character make him an atypical villain?

2. In what ways does the cathedral itself act as a character in the novel?

3. La Esmeralda brings the Hunchback water while he's being tortured. Yet, he was the one who attacked her the previous night. Why do you believe she acted so compassionately?"

[OOC: understanding that reading the book would be a feat that not even I have undertaken, answering only one of the questions will get you the participation A. For your reference]

"Please read Poe's The Cask of Amontillado by next class and be prepared to take a quiz on every reading assignment you've had with me."

"Also, please read Virginia Woolf's Ms. Dalloway by April 10."

Miles passes out a sheet describing the upcoming final project.

"Please read one of the listed works..."

*Beowulf
*The Odyssey
*Much Ado About Nothing
*Look Homeward, Angel
*Masque of the Red Death
*The Three Musketeers

"...and prepare a 100-word essay on some aspect of the novel or story. It will be due on April 24th."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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Isabel signed in.

Kawalsky signed in.

Alphonse signed in.

1. Claude Frollo is not represented as being wholly evil, but instead as a man driven to darkness by disappointment and other factors. What aspects of his character make him an atypical villain?

2. In what ways does the cathedral itself act as a character in the novel?

3. La Esmeralda brings the Hunchback water while he's being tortured. Yet, he was the one who attacked her the previous night. Why do you believe she acted so compassionately?

The original French title of the book, Notre-Dame de Paris (that is, Our Lady of Paris) shows that the cathedral (and not Quasimodo) is the subject of the story. The book portrays the Gothic era as one of extremes of architecture, passion and religion; which despite being the cause of many problems are seen by Hugo to be more authentic than the sentiments of his time.

"I think La Esmeralda did it because she thought it was the right thing to do. She was good person, despite her background, and when faced with the choice of either giving him water when he was being tortured or ignoring him, she chose the right thing. If she chose the other, she would've stooped to the level of her attacker." He tried not to show it, but he felt a little bit guilty as he spoke.

"Most villans usually commit acts of evil for personal gain; wealth, power, and the sort. They're usually done to fulfill their greed. Frollo had only been driven mad by his emotional distress and feels as though he failed at what he did, and initially did not have any need to gain everything."

Don't distract from the studies...

He's here because he... well, he doesn't care, but he'll feign it.

After class Isabel stopped by Prof. Raymond's desk. "I wanted to see if there was anything I needed to do to make up for missing class last week."

"We read a short story not on the syllabus -- Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor. If you want, you can certainly read the story sometime this week and come back to me with your thoughts on Monday, and I'll ignore the absence."

"I'll do that. Thank you."

Phoebe comes to talk to Miles after he lets his class out about her Independent Study.

[OOC: *pst* Independent study is after Poetry. Sorry for the confusion.]

Yay.

Western Lit. (3/20/06) (OMGLATEY)

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