For Tuesday's class, be sure to read our first essay from The Best American Travel Writing, "Peak America." Usually when you read an essay for class, I'll give you a brief reading quiz over the material--a very short questions, and sometimes, a single essay question. This not only proves to me that you've read the material, but also, that you can apply it to bigger ideas outside of class and in your own life/culture.
NOTE: I always give you a few questions to consider on the blog as a 'reading guide,' to help you if you find the essay confusing, boring, or even too simple. Like the photograph we looked at on Thursday, there are so many different ways to read a single essay, so I want you to consider as many as possible before you give up on it. ALSO, the reading guide questions often show up in some form on the quiz...
READING GUIDE (to help you read the essay & prepare for the quiz)
1. When the author leaves the Mall of America, he says "we were on a different pilgrimage, in search of a different America" (28). What kind of 'America' is he looking for, and why does he call it a 'pilgrimage'?
2. How does knowing the context of Mt. Rushmore change how we 'read' it? How is it a little like the Weegee photograph we viewed on Thursday? Does it make the work more meaningful? Less? More problematic?
3. The author says that "Rushmore is a ubiquitous American image, tattooed on the inside of every citizen's eyelids" (33). What happens to him and his family when they finally do experience it first-hand? Does it live up to the expectation? Does it transform them? Move them? Excite them? Disappoint them?
4. At the end of the essay, Anderson writes, "There is something childish about this fantasy--the way it tends to conflate virtue and size. Why does goodness have to be huge?" (35). Based on this, what is his critique of not only Mt. Rushmore but the way Americans view history in general? How did he learn this at the monument?
No comments:
Post a Comment