Discussion 1 - Heart of Darkness

1. Critically explain the significance of one symbol from Heart of Darkness to the novella.
2. Trace Marlow's character development in Heart of Darkness.
   
3. What is the theme of Heart of Darkness?
   

Bonus Discussion 1 - The Hollow Men

The shear volume of classic / canonical poetry on the internet is awe-inspiring. I would like to use T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" as a starting point for poetic analysis on the internet.

I've already done a Google search for the poem, and I would like you to read these three versions of the same poem. Note that before the URL, I've named these web pages in the same manner as their authors have. Hopefully this will allow us to begin to distinguish them.

1. The Hollow Men - http://www.blight.com/~sparkle/poems/hollow.html
2. "The Hollow Men" - http://www.columbia.edu/itc/tc/scfu4016/hollow.html
3. A Hypertext Version of T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" - http://www.aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Poem.htm

• Read the identical poems in this order.
• Read each version before you move to the next one.
• Do not scan them, take note of their differences and similarities.
• Make notes as you read to help you understand the meaning of the poem.
• Look up, and then write down all the words you do not understand. I suggest the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, but since you are already online, go to www.m-w.com (The Merriam - Webster Online Dictionary). Note, there's a link to this dictionary in the Links section of this blog.

Questions to consider:

1. Ask yourself, are the poems different from one another?
2. Is one version harder to read than another? Why (Consider colour and layout)?
3. Does the reader's understanding of the theme of the poem change from any particular version?
4. How can a reader be sure of the authenticity of a poem on the internet?
5. What are the benefits and disadvantages to having poetry on the internet?
6. Are there historical or editorial reasons for changes in these poems?
   

This is a bonus discussion topic. You will not be penalized if you do not participate.

SECURITY NOTICE

SECURITY NOTICE - READ AND FOLLOW THESE STEPS FOR CONFIRMATION

1. I (your teacher) will NEVER contact you via email.
2. DELETE ANY EMAIL THAT SEEMS / APPEARS TO COME FROM ME.
3. YOU WILL ONLY EVER GET ONE INVITATION TO JOIN THIS BLOG.
4. THAT INVITATION WILL COME FROM BLOGGER.COM'S USER CALLED "BLOGGER INVITES".

The Blogger.com team invitation will be sent via email by Blogger.com.
That email will look like: From:"Blogger Invites" To: YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS@YOUR_PROVIDER Subject: Blogger blog invitation from Mr. Liconti Date: ANY_DATE

Mr. Liconti wrote:

welcome msg
---------------------------------------

You have been invited by Mr. Liconti to join a blog called ENG4U1 Class
Discussions

Blogger is a free service for easily communicating and sharing ideas on
the web.

Then, there'll be three steps in the email, and a link to follow.

*CONFIRMATION STEP*

1. Read this post, and if you understand what I've written, reply to this message by adding a comment which looks like this:

Firstname Lastname'sFirstInitial (ie, Bob S) understands that he/she will never be contacted via email from the teacher.

If you do not confirm that you understand this message, you will NOT be allowed to post in this forum.

Getting Started, Making an Account

Blogger.com allow members to join blogs via email invitations. Since our blog will only accepts posts from members, you will have to create a blogger.com account.

YOU CAN NOT USE A CURRENT BLOGGER.COM ACCOUNT. MAKE A NEW ONE.

1. Go to blogger.com
2. Click 'Sign In'
3. Click 'Sign Up Here'
4. Read the following points before you continue

• User Name will be the main name associated with this account. It can be anything you want.
  
• Password will remain a secret.
• Display Name will be your FIRST NAME and LAST NAME'S INITIAL (Bob Smith = Bob S). This will be the name that appears when you post in our blog.
  
• Email Address is required to create a blogger.com account. Once your account has been created, you will protect your email address and information. See the following two steps.
  

1. Select Edit Profile
2. De-Select Share my Profile
   

For the purposes of this class, do not attach any pictures, moving images or music to your profile. If you attach any picture, moving image or music to your profile, you will be removed from the blog. YOU MUST KEEP YOUR USER PROFILE INFORMATION PROTECTED FOR THE DURATION OF THIS EXERCISE.

Welcome

This blog will be used as a forum to discuss your reading assignments. You will be evaluated both on your participation in this blog, and the material you produce in response to the topic(s).

Some things to keep in mind:

1. This blog is secure, only members from our class can post.
   
2. Do not add anyone to the contributor list(don't send out an invitation to anyone).
   
3. The ENTIRE world can READ our posts.
4. All posts will be written in standard formal English.
5. I am interested in YOUR ideas. Do not plagiarize. Our schools academic honesty rules apply here.
6. You must write one 250 word(minimum) response in this blog every week (Monday to Sunday). Please note that all posts are time stamped. Your 250 word(minimum) post will be evaluated. Marks will not be posted, or disclosed in this forum.
7. If there is only one topic in any given week, then the entire class is expected to reply to that topic. If there are multiple topics in any given week, once 10 replies have been made per topic, that topic will no longer be discussed. For example, 3 topics per week, 10 students per topic.
8. THIS FORUM IS RESERVED FOR YOUR LITERARY RESPONSES. It is not for posting personal messages to your classmates, or for asking me questions.
9. You may reply to another students posting as long as it is relevant to our work.
10. After you receive an invitation from blogger, read the post called, "Security Notice"(April 2006). Follow those steps.
11. Login into your blogger.com account and set your profile to private.
    
12. The easiest way to read a long series of posts is by clicking on the title of the series of posts you want to read. Look for the titles on the right hand side of the blog in a section called Blog Archive.
13. You can write your response online using Blogger's interface or you can use a word processor, save your work, and then copy and paste it into Blogger's interface. I write this after having already lost a document twice.
14. Posting is done by clicking on the word Comments at the end of an entry. Only publish your assignment as a comment to a posting I have created, do not create a posting on the main page.
    
15. Unless I state otherwise, your assignments will be found in the archive under the current month. There may be cases where I will ask you to write about a topic which was posted a year, or more, ago. I will let you know if that is ever the case.
    
16. The URL is simple, eng4u1.blogspot.com
17. Have fun, be courteous, treat each other with respect, and be honest.