Writing
Writing about Moral Choices
Sophocles regales his Grecian audiences with his tale of Antigone and her struggle against Creon. As we've seen in the first reading of Antigone, the title character refuses to compromise her belief that Creon and his DECREE (law) that Polyneices should remain unburied violate a higher law, a divine law. Her willingness to break a civil law and sacrifice her life (penalty is stoning to death) provides readers with a character possessed of great strength and power, filled with will and spirit. Most of us are probably unwilling to take such risks or make such sacrifices, although the example of characters such as Antigone may infuse our characters with a jolt of spirit, confidence, pride, so that we might not cower the next time we're faced with an injustice.
Assignment: Write about a personal experience where you were willing to sacrifice something (object, time, freedom, popularity, friendship, etc.) in order to avoid compromising your personal principles or beliefs. Write as if you're telling the reader a story, an autobiographical narrative, including the appropriate details, words, and actions of all involved.
Follow these steps from the online textbook (p. 66-73) linked here.
Gather Details
Putting the Pieces Together
The details of your experience are like the brightly colored pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Put them together and they will create a vivid and coherent picture for your readers.
Events
First, brainstorm the sequence of events that is central to your narrative. Make sure that you focus the narrative by choosing only those events that are relevant to the experience. Then, list the events in a rough outline like the one below.
Events
1. I watched others practicing tae kwon do, the Korean martial art I had always wanted to learn, and imagined that I could do it, too.
2. I met an instructor who taught me techniques and encouraged me to practice hard.
3. I entered a competition.
4. My mom and dad saw me compete.
People and Places Close your eyes and walk yourself through the events you listed. Try to remember as specifically as possible the people and specific places involved in your experience. Jot down factual details, such as names, dates, and numbers; concrete sensory details, which have to do with the senses of touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste; and the specific appearances, gestures, actions, and dialogue of the people involved, including yourself. Keep in mind that dialogue should be recorded as informally as it was spoken. For example, it can include slang and sentence fragments.
As you list details, jot down any figurative language (similes, metaphors, or personification) that will help you describe your experience more clearly and create more effective images. Also try to use precise action verbs—paced or lurched instead of walked, for example—to note events and actions. Take a look at part of the list that one student prepared about learning tae kwon do.
Details about People and Places
Me—Shy, not very confident, age 13, physically scrawny and awkward
Gwen—College student, strong and swift, encouraging—“Hey, wallflower! Why don’t you come help me practice some of my blocks?”
Thoughts and Feelings
Your narrative should reveal what you thought and felt during your experience. In your rough outline, make some notes about your thoughts and feelings at each point. In your final draft, consider showing thoughts and feelings through interior monologue, or what you say to yourself in your head as the events of your narrative unfold. You may also want to shift perspectives by imagining the thoughts and feelings of other people in the narrative.
Submit this assignment on the Antigone Honors Lesson 1 Assignment Sheet.
NEXT: Language Study--Greek Roots
Writing about Moral Choices
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Sophocles regales his Grecian audiences with his tale of Antigone and her struggle against Creon. As we've seen in the first reading of Antigone, the title character refuses to compromise her belief that Creon and his DECREE (law) that Polyneices should remain unburied violate a higher law, a divine law. Her willingness to break a civil law and sacrifice her life (penalty is stoning to death) provides readers with a character possessed of great strength and power, filled with will and spirit. Most of us are probably unwilling to take such risks or make such sacrifices, although the example of characters such as Antigone may infuse our characters with a jolt of spirit, confidence, pride, so that we might not cower the next time we're faced with an injustice.
Assignment: Write about a personal experience where you were willing to sacrifice something (object, time, freedom, popularity, friendship, etc.) in order to avoid compromising your personal principles or beliefs. Write as if you're telling the reader a story, an autobiographical narrative, including the appropriate details, words, and actions of all involved.Follow these steps from the online textbook (p. 66-73) linked here.
Gather Details
Putting the Pieces Together
The details of your experience are like the brightly colored pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Put them together and they will create a vivid and coherent picture for your readers.
Events
First, brainstorm the sequence of events that is central to your narrative. Make sure that you focus the narrative by choosing only those events that are relevant to the experience. Then, list the events in a rough outline like the one below.
Events
1. I watched others practicing tae kwon do, the Korean martial art I had always wanted to learn, and imagined that I could do it, too.
2. I met an instructor who taught me techniques and encouraged me to practice hard.
3. I entered a competition.
4. My mom and dad saw me compete.
People and Places Close your eyes and walk yourself through the events you listed. Try to remember as specifically as possible the people and specific places involved in your experience. Jot down factual details, such as names, dates, and numbers; concrete sensory details, which have to do with the senses of touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste; and the specific appearances, gestures, actions, and dialogue of the people involved, including yourself. Keep in mind that dialogue should be recorded as informally as it was spoken. For example, it can include slang and sentence fragments.
As you list details, jot down any figurative language (similes, metaphors, or personification) that will help you describe your experience more clearly and create more effective images. Also try to use precise action verbs—paced or lurched instead of walked, for example—to note events and actions. Take a look at part of the list that one student prepared about learning tae kwon do.
Details about People and Places
Me—Shy, not very confident, age 13, physically scrawny and awkward
Gwen—College student, strong and swift, encouraging—“Hey, wallflower! Why don’t you come help me practice some of my blocks?”
Thoughts and Feelings
Your narrative should reveal what you thought and felt during your experience. In your rough outline, make some notes about your thoughts and feelings at each point. In your final draft, consider showing thoughts and feelings through interior monologue, or what you say to yourself in your head as the events of your narrative unfold. You may also want to shift perspectives by imagining the thoughts and feelings of other people in the narrative.
Submit this assignment on the Antigone Honors Lesson 1 Assignment Sheet.
NEXT: Language Study--Greek Roots
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