Reading Response Prompts |
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These
prompts are meant to get you thinking about what you have read and
to help focus your thoughts for your reading responses. You can respond
to any of them, or, if you have another idea you would rather explore,
you are free to write about that instead. Even if you choose
to pursue an idea of your own, however, or are not writing a response
that day, you should still spend at least a few minutes thinking about
each of the prompts in preparation for class. In any case, I
suggest doing the reading first, then checking the prompts. For
more information, review the listserv
assignment.
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| Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead:
“Part Two, Argil and Mold, Chapters 5-7” |
The Naked and the Dead was praised for its realism from the moment it appeared. Consider the scene in which the squad hauls the anti-tank guns through the jungle or the battle that follows. What makes the novel’s treatment of these scenes effective? More generally, how does an author achieve realism in narrative prose?
The army Mailer describes is quite diverse in some ways. We see soldiers from various parts of the country and with various ethnicities working together, but we also see a significant degree of anti-semitism, racism, and overall tribalism in the book. (We do not see African-American soldiers because the army was segregated until officially ordered to desegregate in 1948 by President Truman, although little progress occurred until 1951, during the Korean War.) How does this element of the novel affect your response to it? Is this simply realistic detail that Mailer includes, or do you detect a theme here?
General Cummings and Lieutenant Hearn have a peculiar relationship. Hearn admires the general in some ways and is horrified by him in others. Why does Hearn react the way he does to the general? The general, for his part, tolerates comments from Hearn that verge on insubordination or even insult. What does Cummings want from Hearn?
One of the more memorable characters in the novel is Staff Sergeant Sam Croft. Discuss him.
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