Friday, March 20, 2020

Lesson 5 - Mr. P. Reading "Ghosts," Act III With Analysis



Poem of the Day: “No Makeup” by Sharon Olds

Today's Lesson: Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen - Mr. P. Reading Act III with Analysis.  You may add comments and/or ask questions if you'd further feedback. See text and film below for additional learning expereinces.

Reminder:  Look at last Vlog for important info.  See brief excerpt, below:

The State of Massachusetts has set guidelines about our learning experiences. At the time of this posting, there will be:
  • No directed curriculum
  • No deadlines
  • No graded assignments

10 comments:

  1. THIS YEAR's AP TEST: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/coronavirus-update

    What does the first 7 Units mean?

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  2. Hello, Alice. The AP Board gave us a suggested syllabus with nine units. We covered everything, so you are all set! Going forward, When I give out the weekly assignments, I will give you guidance on the AP Board website so you can take practice quizzes and tests. Then, I can open it up to questions on the blog. I will research this more next week (Thanks for the link). Everything keeps changing. The important thing, is that we have covered the material and you are ready. The practice work will help you with taking multiple choice, timing, etc. Hope this helps. ;)

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    1. :D Thank you! It is very helpful.

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  3. Also I showed this video to my family and we had a lot of fun :D
    Thank you Mr. P!

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    1. ;) When my wife heard me performing, she thought I was yelling at my son. ;D

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  4. Hi Mr. P, I'd love to do the book club! I think it'd be a lot of fun!

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  5. Thanks for the performance Mr. P! I agree with Nicole 100%. :)))

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  6. Great! I put up a new post. If students from both AP classes would like to read "An Enemy of the People," I can set that up for Wednesday's post. I can make a separate blog to combine both classes. Thanks for tuning in ;)

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  8. The ending of “Ghosts” is really very tragic for a number of reasons. Mrs. Alving is ultimately left with the horrible dilemma of whether or not to aid her son in comitting suicide, a decision no parent, and especially not one with such little left to live for, should ever have to face. I think, however, that it’s a major possibility that Mrs. Alving would give Oswald morphine because in her mind it would show him exactly how much she loves him, something she’s been trying to do throughout the play to no avail. Mrs. Alving has always spoiled her son silly, and for this reason it makes sense to me that she would “spoil” him even more by letting him overdose on drugs, a decision she thinks will make him happy and therefore make her happy. I think the part that makes this whole thing difficult for Mrs. Alving is her earlier conversation with Pastor Manders, who told her that it was cowardly to give in to your own self interests, only for Mrs. Alving to protest that being a coward means the exact opposite, to give into the interests of others. That conversation is the ghost that will haunt Mrs. Alving while she is forced to decide whether or not to euthanize her child. On one hand she could be brave by staying true to her own beliefs and refusing to give Oswald what he wants, but on the other she could give in to her son’s wishes and commit one last motherly act for him. It doesn’t seem like a difficult decision whether or not to help kill your own child, but given the context of the situation it makes sense that Mrs. Alving is experiencing a massive dilemma. While Oswald was pining over Regina and living freely as a painter, all that Mrs. Alving wanted was to smother him in love so he would not succumb to his genetic destiny of becoming like his father. This is the one moment in the play where Oswald is actually asking his mother for her care and her support, so how could she pass that up? It’s terrible to think about, but in a lot of ways it makes sense that Mrs. Alving would want to aid his suicide. This play reminded me a lot of this Netflix show I watched called “The Haunting of Hill House”, in which a family that experienced an extremely traumatic incident in the past must come together and face the demons that have haunted them for so long. One of the main characters named Steve says that ghosts can be many things, including the embodiment of someone's guilt, regrets, or trauma. Ghosts can even be conversations in Mrs. Alving’s case, which ultimately fuel her decision making down the line. Supernatural or not, the ghosts that haunt us are always terrifying, since they remind us of pain we experienced in the past. It’s our job as people whether or not we choose to be influenced by them, or brush them aside as if they don’t exist.

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