AP Lit & Comp 2/20 18
TODAY S AGENDA 1. Finish debriefing ATOTC essay 2. Finish up thoughts about The Revelation G1 look at Adah s character 3. Microcosm/macrocosm examples? 4. Symbolic value of Methuselah 5. Group one: leading the discussion 6. For next class
REVELATIONS 13:1,9 And I stood on the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Thoughts? Who s the beast in this section of The Poisonwood Bible? How about the revelation? Who has a revelation in this section, and what is it?
TERMS TO KNOW microcosm a community, place, or situation which encapsulates, in miniature, the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger it means small world. Here s an easier definition: A representation of something on a much smaller scale. During the Renaissance, it was applied specifically to human beings, who were considered to be small-scale models of the universe, with all its variety and contradiction
TERMS TO KNOW macrocosm the whole of a complex structure, especially the world or universe, contrasted with a small or representative part of it. The Greeks developed this concept to help explain human beings connection with the universe. The paired concept of macrocosm and microcosm presents the idea that there is a corresponding similarity in pattern, nature, or structure between human beings and the universe.
Familiar example: In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck intends for his reader to understand that the characters on the ranch are miniature representations of American society during the Great Depression. The boss & Curley = wealthy, powerful Slim = respected, has autonomy, top of his game Ranch hands & George = average working guys Candy = less respected, very little power because he s elderly and handicapped Lennie = little power due to mental retardation Curley s wife = little power or respect b/c female Crooks = no power or respect due to skin color
From last class 1. Look back through your character s sections in The Revelations. 2. Decide what you believe is most significant about your character s development in this section write it down. 3. Choose five quotes or excerpt that demonstrate this development (or perhaps something important about the overall story). Write them down. 4. Determine which devices Kingsolver uses most prominently to characterize your character: is it diction, figurative language, syntax, tone, selection of detail, etc. 5. Try to figure out one example of microcosm that we see in the novel so far AND one macrocosm.
MICROCOSM The okapi, in the opening scene of the book is free, mysterious, beautiful, all qualities that Orleanna possessed before she became a conquest of Nathan (and women s roles in society at that time.) Orleanna is a microcosm of the okapi, a symbol of the natural beauty of the Congo before it was pillaged by the white man. In the book, Orleanna gives up her personal identity a little at a time trying to be what Nathan expected and a good mother. It took her a lifetime to understand that what she had lost was her own freedom. Her plight, as she comes to see it, is a microcosm of the Congo, a "barefoot bride of men who took her jewels and promised the Kingdom." In the same way that Nathan took her very womanhood away from her, promising her the rewards of heaven, Europeans and Americans took the diamonds and other wealth from the Congo while missionaries offered hope of eternal life and freedom from old traditions and fears.
MICROCOSM The Price family dynamics (a patriarch dominates and oppresses) is a microcosm of the white person s presence in the Congo, perhaps even in other parts of the world where imperialism has/does/will exist. Nathan s failure to convince the Congolese of the value of Christianity is a microcosm for missionaries everywhere who push their religion onto native cultures with a blind sense of superiority and a lack of tolerance or acceptance for other cultures. Methuselah is granted his freedom and destroyed shortly thereafter by predators; the Congo is granted independence and... (what is being foreshadowed?)
MACROCOSM Adam and Eve s experience in the Garden of Eden parallels the experience of the Price family in several different ways.
Hope is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all - -Anyone recognize this stanza of poetry? -Look at how subtly Adah alludes to it at the end of The Revelation. -How does it tie in thematically to the story?
For next class Finish reading The Judges for next class