Interpretative Claims About Literature Assignment (in Google Classroom):
Read "Shades" and "Mold of the Earth" by Boleslaw Prus
(I recommend reading each twice) Interpret the stories! Annotate your thoughts, questions, and confusions in the margins.
Choose ONE of the stories to interpret and analyze. Write a TEA paragraph that makes an interpretive claim about the story and support it with evidence from the text. Due Monday @ midnight. (Not necessarily weekend homework!)
Some thoughts to consider:
- What could the author be suggesting about the #meaningoflife?
- What does he seem to think about the place of humans in the great cosmic mystery?
- What might specific characters or metaphors in the stories represent?
*A note about interpreting literature: There is not ONE right answer that we are looking for when we analyze literature. There are many theories about how to approach literary criticism ("deconstruction" is one, in fact), but for now, open yourself up to whatever the lit might be saying to you, rather than trying to find some predetermined, absolute meaning.
Challenge: If you want to try to make a claim about the author's outlook/purpose/philosophy based on both stories, that is possible, and certainly more difficult. If you do so, use evidence from both stories.
