Monday, November 24, 2008

"Eyes Wide Shut" Unit Plans

The unit called "Eyes Wide Shut," which included Franz Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis" will include these two final texts: "A Hunger Artist," and Plato's Allegory of the Den." Click here for a link to the short story and at the left for links to Plato:

http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/kafka/hungerartist.htm

After reading "A Hunger Artist," in your notebook, copy and then answer the following questions:
1. How does the hunger artist justify or rationalize his choices?
2. What do you notice about how the public responds to the hunger artist at various times?
3. How is the hunger artist like celebrities in our culture today?
4. What connections can you make, thematically, between "The Metamorphosis" and "A Hunger Artist"?
5. What questions and comments do you have about this story?

A unit test on "Eyes Wide Shut" will be on Friday, December 5, 2008.

PLEASE USE THE COMMENT FIELD BELOW TO SHOW YOUR CLASSMATES
WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS - CHOOSE ONE OR TWO TO ANSWER IN A COMMENT FOR US TO READ!

2 comments:

  1. What time did hunger artists last, like when did they appear and when did they finally were treated as a past feature?

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  2. Hunger artists are a fictional creation of Kafka - he intended them to seem old-fashioned even in the 1920s. Think of it as a 19th century form of entertainment when all kinds of things were considered exotic!

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