04-27-2010+ENGL1120

Learning Team Discuss the following questions and issues and be prepared to discuss them in class:


 * a. A Midsummer Night's Dream**

i. What is the major theme of this play? (Dave) Love's Difficulty (Ray) The difficulties of love. (Kassie) Love

ii. What are possible minor themes? (Dave) Magic, Dreams (Ray) Dreams; magic; relationships. (Kassie) mischief, magic

iii. How does the play characterize human relationships? (Dave) That human relationships are often difficult. (Ray) In contrast; every character has an opposite. The differences in characters being paired together. (Kassie) From the perspective of the fairies - silly and fleeting

iv. Why the title "A Midsummer's Night's Dream"? (Dave) Because it is about Love in the Midsummer and bizzare magical mishaps in the forest. (Ray) The play is set in midsummer, and when the young characters go to the woods, this is where the fairies try to do their magic, and it is made to seem as a dream. (Kassie) At the conclusion of the story, nobody really understood how they got there

What does the title suggest figuratively? (Dave) That it is about a dream, not reality. (Ray) The characters in the woods at night are dreaming of the magic that is happening; they are dreaming of what they really want. (Kassie) The night is a dreamlike, magical time

v. What is the most significant act in this play? (Dave) In the end, Theseus realizes Demetrius is not in love with Hermia so he arranged for her to marry Lysander in a group wedding. (Ray) Act IV; that is where the magic happens and brings the lovers together. (Kassie) Act Five, Scene One (play within a play)

vi. What is the most significant scene in each act? (Dave) The first scene in each act. (Ray) Scene I (Kassie) The first scene in each act

How does each of these scenes advance the plot? (Dave) Sets the scene for the rest of the act. (Ray) Sets the stage for the rest of the act. (Kassie) They set the scene for the rest of the act while also tying up the previous acts

vii. What is the most significant line in the play as a whole? (Dave) “The course of true love never did run smooth,” Lysander says (Ray) "The course of true love never did run smooth. . . ." (Kassie) Puck: "If we shadows have offended, / Think but this, and all is mended, / That you have but slumbered here / While these visions did appear."

viii. Which characters are most sympathetic? (Dave) Theseus, Lysander's Aunt (Ray) Hippolyta; Titania (Kassie) Titania

Which characters are the least sympathetic? (Dave) Egeus, Helena (Ray) Egeus; Demetrius (Kassie) Demetrius, Helena


 * b. Joe Turner's Come and Gone**

i. What is the major theme of the play? (Dave) identity. (Ray) A search for identity. (Kassie) purpose (and identity....)

ii. What are other significant themes? (Dave) migration, and racial discrimination. (Ray) Migration, racial exploitation and discrimination. (Kassie) human interaction, injustice

iii. How could the events of this play be said to be the result of a cultural conflict? (Dave) The emancipation of the slaves caused many social and cultural issues throughout the nation. (Ray) Even though slavery was no longer legal, men like Joe Turner were still illegally enslaving blacks to work on their plantations. Blacks were working their way north where they were able to escape the likes of Turner (Kassie) Through the dialogue of Seth, there is still a divide between the northern blacks and the freed men moving north.

Values? (Dave) African-Americans had to fight to find an identity in a strange, hostile environment while trying to hold on to their African roots. (Ray) (Kassie) Through the interaction between the people staying at the boarding house, there is a struggle between what the older people have gotten used to and what the younger ones are not willing to accept any longer.

iv. How would one characterize Herald Loomis? (Dave) Having been enslaved by Joe Turner for seven years, Loomis has completely lost his way in life. In the end he finds his song, an independent, self-sufficient song that he can sing proudly. (Ray) He was a deacon at his church, who tried to help troubled and less-fortunate men, and was illegally enslaved to work on a plantation for seven years. Through these years, he lost touch with his religious beliefs and turns against God. He is a troubled soul in search of his identity which he seems to have lost while he was a slave. (Kassie) By the time he arrives at Seth's boarding house, he is at the end of his rope. He is struggling with who he is, what has happened to him, and how he can find his wife.

v. Summarize the play in two or three sentences. (Dave) The play is set in the second decade of the 20th century. It chronicles the lives of a few freed former enslaved African-Americans in the North. It also deals with the conflicts of racism and discrimination. (Ray) The main theme of the play was about Herald Loomis, who was illegally enslaved for seven years to work on a plantation. After being released, he ends up in Pittsburgh, PA, with his little girl, Zonia, and is hell bent on finding his wife who had disappeared 10 years earlier. After finding her, she tries to tell him to turn to the Lord, so to wash himself “in the blood of the Lord” and free himself from Joe Turner, he slashes his chest open with a knife and smears the blood on his face, and then leaves the girl with her mother and goes away. (Kassie)

vi. What is the significance of the time of this play? (Dave) It chronicles the lives of a few freed former enslaved African-Americans in the North. (Ray) Blacks were migrating to the north to escape the illegal slavery. (Kassie)

vii. Why does Herald Loomis come to Seth Holly's boarding house? (Dave) Herald Loomis was forced to work for Joe Turner for seven years, which separated him from his wife and daughter. Heis an odd man that dons an overcoat and hat in mid-August. Loomis is 32 and a displaced slave searching for his wife. He works as a deacon for the Abundant Life Church and at times was possessed by spiritual beings. (Ray) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He needed a place to stay while he looked for his wife. (Kassie) He is travelling with his daughter in attempts to find his wife.

viii. What is the significance of Herald Loomis planting a pigeon in the garden? (Dave) He didn't plant any pigons, Bynum is the one who planted and killed the pigons every day. He danced with them. (Ray)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Bynum is the one who planted the pigeon. It was a ritual for him. (Kassie)

ix. Who is the tragic or comic figure in this play? (Dave) Herald Loomis. (Ray) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Herald Loomis is the tragic figure. (Kassie) Herald is the tragic figure.

Explain (Dave) He spent years tryig to find his wife and when he finds her, he gives his little girl to her and they part ways. (Ray) He is a troubled man who has been looking for his wife for four years traveling north and when he finds his wife, he turns over his little girl to her and says goodbye. (Kassie) He spent years of his life focusing on one task - finding his wife - and once it happens, he's back to not having a purpose.