Teaching "A Very Surprising Narrative"
Part 1: The Handout
Assignment Overview:
We will be reading Abraham Panther's "A very surprising narrative..." and we will use Panther's account as a starting point to examine the ways in which gender tropes began to develop in the following contexts:
·Historical Context
·Social Context
·Links to Other Works
You will come to class with a short response (300-500 words) containing cited information on the location and validity of Panther's narrative. That response will be the starting point of our in-class discussion.
Details:
You will read Abraham Panther's "A very surprising narrative..." and Annette Kolodny's "Turning the Lens" (pdfs provided) and analyze them for historic and social contexts. Link the Panther Narrative to at least one other reading from the class using Kolodny's methods.
Your analysis can consider the following questions:
How trustworthy is the text?
Why would someone tell this story? Why did it become popular?
What makes this work "surprising"? Given what we have discussed in class on issues of gender and race, what underlying message(s) or social norms are enforced here? What norms are broken?
In relation to the other work, how is the Panther Narrative unique? How is it similar? Why do those differences or similarities exist? How do they effect both stories?
Check List:
Did you give a thorough analysis and not just a summary?
Did you include at least one other reading from the class?
Did you discuss the Panther Narrative in its social and historical contexts? Did you model your analysis after Kolodny's methods?
Part 2: In Class Assignment
Students would first break into groups and discuss their responses with each other. Anyone who did not do the homework would be sent home for the day.
We would open the floor to discussion, and each group would show on the board the links that they found to the other readings in the class, making a concept map in markers on the whiteboard demonstrating how the stories are interconnected. Students would mark differences as well as similarities.
Once we have mapped out the reading visually in its context, we would discuss what our findings mean. Students would be encouraged to discuss how gender plays out in the Panther Narrative and why.
Part 3: Included Materials
Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle, ed.Women’s Captivity Narratives. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Kolodny, Annette. “Turning the Lens on "The Panther Captivity": A Feminist Exercise in Practical Criticism.” Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981): 329-345.
Part 1: The Handout
Assignment Overview:
We will be reading Abraham Panther's "A very surprising narrative..." and we will use Panther's account as a starting point to examine the ways in which gender tropes began to develop in the following contexts:
·Historical Context
·Social Context
·Links to Other Works
You will come to class with a short response (300-500 words) containing cited information on the location and validity of Panther's narrative. That response will be the starting point of our in-class discussion.
Details:
You will read Abraham Panther's "A very surprising narrative..." and Annette Kolodny's "Turning the Lens" (pdfs provided) and analyze them for historic and social contexts. Link the Panther Narrative to at least one other reading from the class using Kolodny's methods.
Your analysis can consider the following questions:
How trustworthy is the text?
Why would someone tell this story? Why did it become popular?
What makes this work "surprising"? Given what we have discussed in class on issues of gender and race, what underlying message(s) or social norms are enforced here? What norms are broken?
In relation to the other work, how is the Panther Narrative unique? How is it similar? Why do those differences or similarities exist? How do they effect both stories?
Check List:
Did you give a thorough analysis and not just a summary?
Did you include at least one other reading from the class?
Did you discuss the Panther Narrative in its social and historical contexts? Did you model your analysis after Kolodny's methods?
Part 2: In Class Assignment
Students would first break into groups and discuss their responses with each other. Anyone who did not do the homework would be sent home for the day.
We would open the floor to discussion, and each group would show on the board the links that they found to the other readings in the class, making a concept map in markers on the whiteboard demonstrating how the stories are interconnected. Students would mark differences as well as similarities.
Once we have mapped out the reading visually in its context, we would discuss what our findings mean. Students would be encouraged to discuss how gender plays out in the Panther Narrative and why.
Part 3: Included Materials
Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle, ed.Women’s Captivity Narratives. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Kolodny, Annette. “Turning the Lens on "The Panther Captivity": A Feminist Exercise in Practical Criticism.” Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981): 329-345.
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