Progression One- Reading and Responding to Texts

Overview:
Progression One will consist of three activities and an essay. Each activity is detailed below. For
Progression One, we will be working with the following readings:

Cormac McCarthy The Road

Article 1-TBD
Article 2-TBD
Article 3-TBD

Progression One Due Dates

Exercise 1: Due September 13, 2016
Exercise 2: Due September 22, 2016
Exercise 3: Due September 29, 2016

Progression One, Exercise One

DUE: 9/13/2016
After reading the first 100 pages of The Road and the supplemental Moodle Readings, write a
rhetorical summary of TWO scenes from the novel. A rhetorical summary is not a recap of the
plot or scene. Rather, your rhetorical summary should provide a brief context of the scene you
have chosen and focus on the implications of the text. You should then consider and explain how
the major themes or motifs depicted in this scene relate to the theories presented in the
supplemental readings. This assignment should demonstrate that you are exploring the larger
implications of the ideas presented in the texts that we have read. For example, what does the
scene you have selected say that your classmates or others may not be aware of? The rhetorical
summary should be 250 words (minimum) for each scene.
When writing your rhetorical summary, consider the following:
*What is the authors intended purpose in writing this scene/essay?
*Who is the authors audience? Why is he/she considering this particular audience?
* Are the authors beliefs or ideologies present in the scene/article? Explain how and why this is
significant to your reading of the text.

*What is the background of this scene /essay? What is happening socially, politically, or
economically at the time of the writing? (Both in the real world and the fictional world)
*What types of rhetorical appeals is this scene/text making? Ex: Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
* What kind of language is used by the author? Figurative, formal, informal, academic, or stream
of consciousness? Does the author use humor or sarcasm?

Progression One, Exercise Two

DUE: 9/22/16
After a lecture on the rhetoric of space, you will be asked to observe and analyze a space or
setting that pertains to a theme or scene in the novel. For example, if you plan to write about the
importance of shelter or food in the novel, you may observe and interact with a homeless shelter.
Why are we as a society so obsessed with the destruction of man and nature? How does the postapocalyptic genre exemplify or subvert such inclinations? Type up a 2-3 page paper about the
rhetoric of a location you have chosen. Students must go to a specific location and record at least
2 pages of notes about how the space of a location changes or influences peoples interactions.
Students must type up their observations in a clear and concise format. (3-4 1/2 pages and notes)
For the Observation Report consider the following:
*How is the location you observed portrayed in the novel? What is altered and why?
*Social interactions: Note the way people act. Are these actions motivated by the setting?
Explain this in contrast to social interaction in the novel?
*How is power and authority exerted in the location of your observation?
* Is there an ideology associated or demanded by the location?
* How does this location shape us? How have we shaped it? How does a space
shape the characters within the novel?
* How does the history of this space create meaning for us? How does the history of the space
within the novel create meaning for the characters?
Progression One, Exercise 3
DUE: 9/29/16
For this exercise you will form groups and create a brief presentation on a major scene of my
choosing. Your presentation should critically discuss the major themes or implications of the
scene. Each group must create a short 5-7 minute presentation that explains the overall
significance in relation to our class discussions and supplemental readings.

For this assignment consider the following:

*How does the setting in the scene affect the characters and their interactions?
*What major theme is represented in this scene?
*How is this setting different from how we know it in the real world?
*What does this say about the rhetorical effects of space/setting on the formation of ideology or
human behavior?
This presentation should explore major literary concepts that influence and shape the characters
in the novel. Provide textual examples and multimedia where applicable.
Essay #1 Prompt
Rough Draft Due: 10/4/16
Final Draft Due: 10/ 11/16
For this essay, you will select a major theme or motif from The Road and explore the larger
implications of it. Your essay should critically analyze the text in conversation with our readings
and class discussions. You are welcome to use outside sources or references. However, this is not
a research paper. Rather this is a critical/analytical essay that should demonstrate your ability to
explicate and analyze critical concepts from the text. What do the ideological, sociological, and
economical concepts, explored in the novel, reveal about humanity in both the present and
future? Does this text suggest that there is hope for mankind? Explain your stance. This essay
should be 4-6 pages in length and follow MLA documentation guidelines. You must include and
cite two of the three outside sources that we have read. I will not accept your essay unless you
have had a conference with me no later than 10/6/16.
Things to consider for this essay:
* How does a setting/space in the novel change a character or influence their interactions with
the world around them?
* You can think of the road the characters traverse as a rhetorical/ideological force, which shapes
their interactions with people and even changes their interactions in various settings and
situations.
* Critically examine one of the many settings in The Road. Describe and analyze how these
settings influences the character.
*Social Interactions (gender codes, us vs. them, social codes, cannibalism, and etc.)
* Lack of Institutions (military, education, police, and etc.)
* Gender & Age (childhood in the everyday world vs childhood in the post-apocalypse, Father-

son relationship in the post-apocalypse, the absence of the mother/feminine)

* Physical Settings (Buildings/ shelters encountered throughout the novel, the road they travel,
hostile territories, dystopia, and etc.)
*Public/Private (Compare and contrast a public/private space from your life and the text. Is there
such thing as private/public space in the post-apocalypse?)
* Post-Apocalyptic World vs. The Everyday World- How is ideology formed or changed in
novel? What does this reveal about humanity?